One (One Universe)

tease, trying to hide my sadness that our weekends together are pretty much going to be gone between basketball and homework. Trying to make it sound like I’m not curious about the private sessions.
    He sits up and looks at me, right into my eyes. “I would never hide anything from you. Over the last few weeks… You’re my best friend here. My best friend ever. I’m so glad you transferred to Nelson, so glad I found you. Mer, I…” But then he trails off and stares at his hands, shakes his head like he’s frustrated.
    My heart races again because part of me knew what he was going to say, what he decided not to say. A peace floods me because I know it, but I don’t have to deal with it. Not yet.
    I don’t know what I would say back.
    “Me too,” I say. Nelson High would suck without him. I don’t let a second of dead air pass because neither of us wants it. “I’m so glad you refused to quit stalking me.”
    He smiles, takes my hand, squeezes it, and leans in to kiss me, softly, teasing me with the combination of his nearness and distance. I turn toward him, swing my leg over, and settle myself on his lap, facing him. He holds his hand a few inches from my face, and a pretty good puff of air comes from it and brushes my hair out of my eyes, away from my lips.
    “Showoff,” I say. I grab his hands, which he’s still keeping carefully outside my shirt, and remove them. He looks at me with one eyebrow up, and I float up and away from him. The wind takes me backwards, and I check that there’s still roof below me. I don’t want to make him jump off to get me or anything.
    “Yes, I get it.” Elias rolls his eyes, grinning. “You’re very impressive, too, Miss One.”
    I smile back, but something twinges in my heart. I know I’m still a One, but something about being with Elias has always made me forget it. I don’t need anyone to remind me, especially not him.
    He stretches his arms up toward me, his smile softening. “Now come back down to me before I have to make camp up here for the night and call someone to get me down in the morning.” His fingers curl in, beckoning me, and weirdly, the wind blows in another direction now, bringing me right to him when I let myself descend.
    He draws me close. The feel of his arms against mine makes my skin warm all over, and when he buries his face in my neck and breathes hot against it, I feel warm on the inside, too.
    The rest of the bread and apples roll down the steep slope of the roof for the birds and ants to eat tomorrow. Elias kisses my eyelids, my nose, and I let my head fall back so he can kiss my throat, too. We sit there for a long while, kissing eyes and lips and ears and necks, until he squeezes me against him, his signal that we’re going to take off. And we do, and it’s perfect, and maybe better than it was the night before.
     
    Mr. Hoffman and I have been meeting for months now. Slowly, it’s changed from me doing lots of written work to him quizzing me orally. He drills me on theories about mutations, which gene components match up with which, which chemicals and treatments would push further mutation. When we talk about these things, especially, my arms and legs fidget with excitement. During these sessions, the words I want so badly to say sit on the tip of my tongue. I know, firsthand. Elias and I can fly. We’re Ones who have been Seconded.
    As amazing as Elias is, though, he can’t give me the Hub. He can give me some of what I’ve always wanted, but not all of it. Flying around Nebraska with my high school boyfriend is fine, but what happens when we have to grow up, want to go to work, make a difference?
    I want to know how it works — the One-plus-One-equals-Super mystery. I want to figure out what it is about Elias and me that makes us work together, makes us absorb each other’s powers so seamlessly. I’ve always wanted to find out about the Oneness, and this adds a whole new layer, a whole new mystery.
    A hundred years ago a kid in my position would have raided my parents’ files from work or some books they had lying around. But no one’s had paper books or files for decades, and my parents always have their readers with them. Even if I could snag one, they’re password-protected, especially the work stuff. I’m sure there are some really old books on what I’m looking for somewhere, but they’ve got to be locked down at the Hub.
    Freshman year, they took our class on a field trip there, but I pretended I was