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lightning storm.”
    “Where’d the
heck you learn tha’?” Kieran, the only one eating, held his burger
halfway to his mouth.
    Heidi shrugged.
“Earth Science. Chemistry.”
    “Okay.” Kieran
didn’t sound too sure.
    “Heidi’s got a
photographic memory,” Zoe explained.
    “No shite?”
    We all nodded.
It’d been like this since second grade.
    “Something
happened to us while we were in that room,” Heidi insisted.
    This is
wrong, in so many ways. “Maybe from the lightning, or the
Uranium mine,” I said.
    “I bet it was
from when we were blue.” Rylee added.
    “Then why
didn’t he,” Seth said, pointing at Kieran. “Not get affected? Why
just us?”
    Kieran leaned
forward, and set his burger down. “Maybe you guys have some
defunked gene from living in Elliot crap-hole.” He held up a hand.
“Sorry, mates. ‘Didn’t mean that like it sounded.” He bit into a
French fry and chewed. “Maybe something’s in the water or the soil
and you guys absorbed. Remember, I just got here.”
    “You might be
right,” I said. “The five of us had been friends since first grade.
Maybe there’s something in the soil and then when the storm hit –
or we got hit in the mine – it messed everything up.” I shook my
head, totally confused. “Can this really be happening?”
    Seth
straightened. “Five senses and there’s five of us. And dude,” he
said looking at me, “It’s totally happening.”
    Everyone sat
silent and barely moving. Except Kieran, who kept on eating his
burger and fries.
    Zoe let out a
long sigh. “So, what do we do? Should we tell someone? Maybe my
dad?”
    “Heck no!” Seth
pounded the table with his fist. “Think of all the crap we’re gonna
get away with this year at school. Getting straight A’s, some
serious pranks, there’s so much shit. We’re not screwed or dying,
we just got hit with some awesome super-ability.” He stared at each
one of us. “So we gotta keep this our little secret.”
    “Little?” Heidi
asked.
    Seth shrugged.
“Fine. Our big-ass secret. I say we don’t tell anyone.” He turned
to Kieran. “Can you to that?”
    Kieran raised
his hands in mock surrender. “Don’t worry ‘bout me. I’m not tellin’
a soul. I want ta see what you kin do with yer new bits.”
    “I think we
should tell my Dad.” Zoe took a sip of her coke. “I mean, what if
something’s wrong? He’s already doing my bloodwork. I could tell
him about my hearing.” She chewed her lip.
    Heidi spoke,
“What if we get cancer or some growth or worse…”
    “Like what?”
Rylee said. “We wake up dead one morning?”
    Everyone
laughed. Gotta deal with the nervousness somehow.
    “We tell your
dad if we have to,” Seth said. “If he says something about the
blood results, we go from there,”
    “Or we get
sick,” Heidi said not sounding convinced.
    “Sounds good to
me,” Seth said. “I don’t want to be smellin’ crap all the time.” He
sniffed. “Actually, I think it’s getting better. When we were all
scared, I could smell somethin’ weird. Now it’s changed – a bit
sweeter.” He scratched his head.
    “Maybe you can
smell fear and joy and all that shite.” Kieran reached over and
grabbed the pitcher. He shook the empty jug and glanced behind him.
“Where’s our waitress?”
    I looked
around. The college guys were gone, and Abigail probably went out
to have a smoke break.
    A sharp intake
of breath beside me made the hair on the back of my neck spring up.
Zoe grabbed my arm with a vice-like grip.
    Don’t be
hurt. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
    Color drained
from her face and her lips trembled. One shaky finger tugged at her
earlobe. “Abi’s in trouble.”
     
     

Chapter
7
    Zoe
     
    Get away.
Leave me alone! Abi’s cries rang inside my ears.
    Grab her.
Shut her up, dammit. A male voice hissed. One of the college
kids playing pool! Earlier Seth had referred to him as
Dipshit .
    My heart
hammered against my chest. As my skin froze, I didn’t