Playing with Forever

Chapter 18: Absorbing It All

I hardly slept that night. It was late by time I arrived home after being kicked out of Sam's, and all that I'd learned whizzed about inside my mind. There was immortality in the world. There was magic in the universe! A whole world I knew nothing about had just been opened up to me. Literally—I had the chance to be a part of that world. Not that I wanted it, but I still had the chance.

I panicked upon seeing Birdie in the morning. How was I supposed to talk to her and not spill all of this new knowledge to her? I had to keep it a secret, I knew that, but it felt so huge and like it was right on the tip of my tongue at all times. How had this been kept a secret for so long? How hard had it been for Sam not to tell me?

My plan was to escape the house that morning as fast as I could, maybe claiming a school project I had to work on, or maybe an extra volleyball practice, but the words died on my lips as soon as I saw my family.

Auras, the color clouds—they had them! There, shimmering around their forms were translucent clouds of color. I saw Nate first. He darted past me on the way to the kitchen with a shouted, "Hi Abby!" I looked after him, marveling at his aura. A thin veil of purple light surrounded him. It was light, like the color of construction paper we made crafts out of.

I heard the scraping of a knife on toast as Birdie made her breakfast at the kitchen counter. Still worried about spilling some of my new knowledge, I nonetheless turned the corner, wanting to see her aura. Hers was a forest green, darker closer to her form and fading along the edges, lightening in hue to a second type of green. I'd thought maybe she and her son would have similar colors, but they were unique.

"What are you staring at?" Birdie asked.

"Huh?"

"You're just staring at me. It's kind of creepy."

"Oh." I blinked, quickly looking away. I'd been gawking at her, just taking it in. "Sorry. Just tired."

"You want coffee?"

"No, I'm alright. I have to take off early, though." I checked my phone. It wasn't all that early anymore, and if I didn't leave then, I wouldn't be able to catch Sam before class. I had more questions to ask, and I was impatient. "Crap. Gotta run! See you tonight. Bye Nate!"

They chorused a goodbye as I ran out the door to my car and took off for school.

The first thing I said to Sam when I saw him before school was, "How does the whole being able to order me around thing come in?" I asked. He darted a look around to make sure no one had overheard me. "Relax, there's no one here. Now give me an answer."

He sighed, then gestured for us to take a seat underneath our tree. I thought idly that I should start a running tally of how many sighs he had heaved while giving his explanation. The night before he had racked up a lot of them. "Power comes with immortality," he eventually explained. "It is a package deal. Some of it is rather nice when you are trying to get out of a pickle."

My eyebrows shot up. "A pickle?"

"An unwanted situation."

I knew what the term pickle meant. I just didn't think it was a word in his formal vocabulary. "Only some of it?" I asked, returning to our conversation.

"Only some," he agreed.

"What about other stuff?"

"It is not so nice," he replied moodily.

"What else can you do, Sam?"

He thought for a moment. "It has to do with that you were talking about earlier, seeing auras."