Watcher.” I paused to take a breath. “I thought the reason you wanted me with you was so that you could teach me things that no one else can? Why send me off to high school—aren’t there more important things going on here?”
“Part of your learning process is going to be in school. You need to be with people to test out your lessons from me, but there’s an even better reason for you to go to school.” I started to interrupt her, but she silenced me with a stern look. “It’s very important that you experience ordinary days now, while you have the chance. Your life is not going to follow the same path as other people. You are what you are and you can’t change it. The encounters you have now will help make you a better Watcher later on.”
I heard what she was saying, but I wasn’t listening. “You can’t make me.”
It was cruel to threaten Ila when she was the one who had opened the door into this magical new world, but I knew what kind of power I had. No one could ever make me do anything I didn’t want to again.
“I can’t make you do the right thing. All I can do is tell you my opinion and hope that you’re woman enough to listen.”
Her words stung. At that moment, she sounded a lot like Dad. She was going to shame me into doing it .
“You need to experience relationships with people so that you don’t become a Watcher who lives out in the woods with her animals, never knowing or caring what’s going on in the real world. There is a greater purpose for you to have the powers you do. It’s not some random thing that happened to you. We all have responsibilities from our circumstances. Even, if we didn’t ask for them. The truth is that you need to understand people more than any other person, because of your abilities. You’ve kept yourself isolated for too long already. What better way to acquaint yourself with people than in high school?” she asked.
When I didn’t respond, she said something that changed my mind.
“What, are you afraid of going to high school?”
I wasn’t afraid. I just didn’t want to bother with it. I’d already scored high on my ACT the previous spring and my home schooling records were all in order. I would have no trouble getting into a decent college. High school would be a formality for me, a waste of time.
I didn’t want Ila to think I was a wimp, though. After all, I’d just found out that I could see with my eyes closed and blast fire from my fingertips. Why should high school frighten me? But it did . As irrational as it was to say it, the prospect of going to school was scarier than the end of the world at that moment.
That’s why I had to do it.
“So when do I start?” I asked in a defeated voice.
“Tomorrow, my dear,” she said.
Ila held out her arms and I walked into her embrace. She squeezed tightly and whispered into my ear, “Everything is going to be fine.”
Then she released me and turned, saying, “It’s getting late. We need to be on our way.”
I silently followed Ila out of the woods and to the barn where we worked side by side to fill the goat’s trough with sweet feed and to scatter cracked corn on the ground for the chickens. When we finally made our way up the steps to the cabin, it was late in the afternoon. Ila left me alone to make dinner and I lingered on the porch, watching the sun dip down behind the hills surrounding the meadow. The day had gone by quickly. When the cooler breeze of approaching night touched my arms, I shivered. It was hard to believe that my first full day in the mountains was already almost over.
And even harder to believe that tomorrow, I’d be going to school for the first time in my entire life. The thought of driving up and down the road every day wasn’t a pleasant thought either. That would be a challenge in itself.
And then there was the wall.
I would have to see the thing
“Part of your learning process is going to be in school. You need to be with people to test out your lessons from me, but there’s an even better reason for you to go to school.” I started to interrupt her, but she silenced me with a stern look. “It’s very important that you experience ordinary days now, while you have the chance. Your life is not going to follow the same path as other people. You are what you are and you can’t change it. The encounters you have now will help make you a better Watcher later on.”
I heard what she was saying, but I wasn’t listening. “You can’t make me.”
It was cruel to threaten Ila when she was the one who had opened the door into this magical new world, but I knew what kind of power I had. No one could ever make me do anything I didn’t want to again.
“I can’t make you do the right thing. All I can do is tell you my opinion and hope that you’re woman enough to listen.”
Her words stung. At that moment, she sounded a lot like Dad. She was going to shame me into doing it .
“You need to experience relationships with people so that you don’t become a Watcher who lives out in the woods with her animals, never knowing or caring what’s going on in the real world. There is a greater purpose for you to have the powers you do. It’s not some random thing that happened to you. We all have responsibilities from our circumstances. Even, if we didn’t ask for them. The truth is that you need to understand people more than any other person, because of your abilities. You’ve kept yourself isolated for too long already. What better way to acquaint yourself with people than in high school?” she asked.
When I didn’t respond, she said something that changed my mind.
“What, are you afraid of going to high school?”
I wasn’t afraid. I just didn’t want to bother with it. I’d already scored high on my ACT the previous spring and my home schooling records were all in order. I would have no trouble getting into a decent college. High school would be a formality for me, a waste of time.
I didn’t want Ila to think I was a wimp, though. After all, I’d just found out that I could see with my eyes closed and blast fire from my fingertips. Why should high school frighten me? But it did . As irrational as it was to say it, the prospect of going to school was scarier than the end of the world at that moment.
That’s why I had to do it.
“So when do I start?” I asked in a defeated voice.
“Tomorrow, my dear,” she said.
Ila held out her arms and I walked into her embrace. She squeezed tightly and whispered into my ear, “Everything is going to be fine.”
Then she released me and turned, saying, “It’s getting late. We need to be on our way.”
I silently followed Ila out of the woods and to the barn where we worked side by side to fill the goat’s trough with sweet feed and to scatter cracked corn on the ground for the chickens. When we finally made our way up the steps to the cabin, it was late in the afternoon. Ila left me alone to make dinner and I lingered on the porch, watching the sun dip down behind the hills surrounding the meadow. The day had gone by quickly. When the cooler breeze of approaching night touched my arms, I shivered. It was hard to believe that my first full day in the mountains was already almost over.
And even harder to believe that tomorrow, I’d be going to school for the first time in my entire life. The thought of driving up and down the road every day wasn’t a pleasant thought either. That would be a challenge in itself.
And then there was the wall.
I would have to see the thing
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