"My name is Fitz," he added, taking another step towards her.
Fitz? What kind of weird name was that? She looked at his face, looking for a clue that showed that this was all one big joke. "It's not a joke," he said, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. Maybe he did.
Her knees buckled. For the past few weeks she had hoped she would meet a "match", someone with the same problems as her. And now that she had found him, she felt like the whole world had turned upside down. He grabbed her arms to hold her tight so she wouldn't pass out. "Calm down, Alice. I'm here to help you. We've been looking for you for twelve years."
Twelve years? And who did he mean by "we"? And more importantly, what did he want from her?
The walls were closing in on her and the hallway began to spin.
Air.
She needed fresh air. She jerked free to run for the door and nearly tripped before her shaky legs found their rhythm again. She breathed in and out deeply as she ran down the steps of the school. The smell of the fires scorched her lungs and white flakes of ash blew into her face, but she paid no attention. She wanted to be as far away from the strange boy as possible. "Alice, come back!" Called Fitz behind her. She increased her pace and sprinted across the square, past the large fountain and across the rolling grass to the sidewalk. No one barred her way: everyone was inside because of the smoke. A fire had broken out somewhere nearby her school.
She heard his footsteps coming closer. "Wait," Fitz called out. "You don't have to be afraid." She didn't listen and used all her energy to run, suppressing the urge to peek over her shoulder to see where he was. She was halfway to the crosswalk when the sound of squealing tires made her realize she had dashed into the street without looking. Her head turned to the side and she stared into the eyes of a terrified motorist who was trying with all his might to stop his car before it ran right over her.
She was dying.
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From then on, everything went very quickly. The car swerved to the right, drove right past Alice, schooled on the sidewalk and collided with a lamppost. The heavy steel hulk snapped at the bottom and raced towards Alice.
No!
That was all she thought; she was acting purely on instinct. Her hand shot up and her mind drew a force somewhere deep in her belly that flowed out through her fingertips. She felt the energy hit the falling pole, pushing against it as if it were an extension of her arm.
When the dust settled, she looked up and gasped. The bright blue lamppost hovered above her, somehow held up by her mind. She didn't even feel the thing, even though it was undoubtedly leaden. "Put that pole down," a voice with a familiar accent warned, snapping her out of her trance. Without thinking about it, she lowered her arm with a scream. The lamppost whizzed toward them. "Watch out!" yelled Fitz. He pulled her aside, a split second before the lamppost thundered to the ground. The impact blew them over and they rolled on the sidewalk. Fitz's body broke her fall as she lay crosswise on his chest. Time seemed to stand still.