Free Fall (Pyramid of Gold)

I live by a certain set of rules. They are quite simple: I try to stay out of trouble and avoid notice at all costs. With notice comes heightened attention from the PA, and I don't need any of that. The public is a problem too. Even though Protectors are very careful about defending our secrets, wraiths themselves are not always so cautious. If you act strange, if you throw around your Ability, people will find out. And when they do, life becomes hard at best, and unpredictably dangerous at worst. More often than not wraiths who blew their invisibility veil end up being relocated to another country. I don't want to be uprooted: first of all, I love my city. And, secondly, relocation would mean a new Protector and full reevaluation, things I have reasons to be cautious of.

But even if you're careful and tactful about your Ability, people who are close to you might eventually put two and two together. That's why I avoid close contact with humans. It doesn't mean that I'm lonely: I have plenty of buddies. We drink beer, watch hockey, hang out in bars and do other things young people do. It's just that I always maintain a safe distance. I've never had a best friend, and don't plan to. I tend to switch jobs every six or so months. And, of course, any long-term romantic relationships are out of the question. The risk is too high.

My rules are simple, but it doesn't mean that following them is always easy. Keeping secrets is hard. Being different hurts, especially when no one can know how you feel. Sometimes the abyss that separates me from everybody else feels especially dark and menacing. During such days, in a strange and perverse way, I'm actually looking forward to the tests. Because the Protector is the only person on Earth who truly knows me.

With Claire, I felt the temptation to break the rules for the first time in a long, long while.

#

We met in a diner near the campus the next day. I came a bit early and spent half an hour sipping tea and wondering what the hell were I doing here. It was stupid no matter how hard I tried to come up with a reasonable excuse. I liked Claire, and that was the problem. Being attracted to someone physically I could deal with: there was no danger in a fleeting connection. Being drawn to someone, on the other hand... that was dangerous and foolish. There was no future in which I could fulfill these wishes and not pay a heavy price.

It's just that she was so completely unimpressed with the future, unlike me, who obsessed other the future every minute of every day. Claire was happy and alive here and now, and the warmth of that happiness was infectious. It made things brighter. And my world, as it turns out, was in desperate need of color.

'Hey, Matt! You came!'

She landed on the seat opposite of me with a thud. There was another logo on her t-shirt, and she was carrying a grey backpack with school books on her shoulder. Other than that, Claire looked just like yesterday: punk-rock and magnetic.

I shrugged.

'There's food here.'