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Intuition

     
    Doom.
    Impending doom.
    That’s what Luke had been feeling all morning
long. He hadn’t had a vision yet, and he couldn’t shake the
feeling. It was making him twitchy.
    He always felt off before a vision, but it
had never been this sharp, this all-consuming, this distracting.
Usually he had a slight sense of everything intensifying. It would
wash over him, all his senses suddenly heightened, as if a veil had
been lifted to reveal what’s truly there. His vision was more
focused, his hearing more sensitive, more precise. He was more
aware of everything he touched—the feel of the chair he sat in or
the ground under his feet, how the wind slid across his skin.
Smells became more dimensional, more distinct.
    He and Sera half-jokingly called this
intensity of his senses impending doom because his visions
were almost always about something bad. But the term didn’t only
refer to the imminent event—it was also about Luke, that he was
doomed to failure. No matter what he did, he couldn’t stop anything
from happening. Which drove him nuts.
    And today, he’d woken up with this feeling so
strong, this impending doom, and had fully expected a vision to
take him right away.
    But it hadn’t.
    He’d waited, laying still for as long as he
could, but then he’d had to get up, had to move. He’d had to see,
hear, smell, and feel the world with his magnified senses.
    He adjusted the strap on his backpack so it
wasn’t cutting into his shoulder. Their hike up the mountain today
was just what he needed. Clear his head, take the edge off.
    But even as he stood in the parking lot at
the bottom of the trail, he still couldn’t help wonder what it
meant, why it was taking so long for the vision to come. And wonder
if this time the impending doom was going to more fully live up to
its name.
    His intuition was telling him something was
coming. He just didn’t know what.
    Luke shook his head, shook off his thoughts,
focused on where he was, what he was doing. Maybe this enhanced
awareness was just a new aspect of his gift, rather than an omen.
Whatever it was, he wasn’t going to worry about it. At least,
that’s what he told himself.
    It was a perfect morning—bright, clear, and
cool. Just the way he liked it. If not for the feeling of impending
doom, he’d be completely stoked. Even so, it was good to be on a
mountain with his sister. He tugged the zipper of his navy fleece
jacket down halfway and looked at Sera as she climbed out of their
car.
    This was a favorite escape for them,
particularly in the fall. By the very beginning of October, Vermont
was in full color-spectrum splendor, and there wasn’t a better
place in the state to take it all in than the top of Mt. Mansfield.
It was becoming tradition for he and Sera, this hike. Just the two
of them. They could let down their guards, not worry about having
to hide their abilities from everyone else. It was a relief—Luke
could already feel himself relaxing into the day, and it had barely
begun.
    His grin just got wider at the thought.
    “What?” Sera said. Her brow furrowed like she
thought his smile might be laced with teasing, and she glanced down
at her clothes. That almost made him laugh.
    “Just glad to be here. Nothing like
fall.”
    Sera looked at him for a minute and her face
broke into a matching grin. “Yeah, I know what you mean,” she said.
“Let’s go.”
    The first part of the three-mile hike to the
top was a mile-long access road with a gentle grade. Luke breathed
in the early morning autumn air. It smelled like a forest—dirt,
damp, and green. Within those smells he could detect all the
distinct scents of the inhabitants of the surrounding
wilderness—plant and animal. It was an exhilarating rush
experiencing the world like this, all his senses abuzz.
    “So,” Sera said, breaking into his thoughts,
“what do you think about Mom—”
    “—and Dad?” Luke said. “I know. Did you see
her this morning when she got off the