One (One Universe)

tired, but…”
    “They would have teased me,” Elias interrupts. “They would have teased me, and they would have hugged you. They would have been so happy that I have a girlfriend, that I… And I would have made a joke about how someone’s playing their damn expensive drum set that they never used, you know?”
    Elias clenches his jaw, squeezes my hand hard. He doesn’t yell — he can’t, not here — but still. I’ve never seen him this angry. Never.
    “Elias. Elias,” I say, plaintively. He looks down at me, blinking hard. “They’re just tired. They’re working really hard here, right? You heard the presentation.”
    Elias shakes his head and clutches me to him, like I’m a substitute for both of them right now. I wrap my arms around his waist and squeeze him back, as hard as I can.
    Elias strides out of the presentation hall, and I trot to keep up. He wants to get out of here, but I want to talk. I can’t keep what he said about the genes off my mind.
    “You said you were never powerful. Your One, I mean.”
    Elias nods. “Never could really do more than blow out candles on my birthday cake.”
    “Then how are we flying so fast? I mean, we’re fast , Elias. We’ve gotta be going over a hundred miles an hour now. The only reason we’re not going faster is…”
    “Our skin. I know. I already got windburned.” But he’s not really behind the words he’s saying. He looks at me, hard in the eye. Burning. Wanting to know something. “Can you float higher now?”
    My heart beats a mile a minute, and I actually feel like I’m going to do it now. Float. I haven’t felt this shaky around Elias since the first week I met him.
    My voice is barely above a whisper. “I could only go up like four feet before…you know.”
    Elias’s eyes widen. “Mer, we’re clearing 30, 40 feet…”
    “I know,” I say. I nod rapidly and swallow. “I know.”
    If I’m going to tell him about practicing on my own and about Mr. Hoffman, this is the time. This is when I need to do it. I can’t decide. I can’t. The two choices thrash around in my head. Tell him and keep this whole thing honest. Get closer to solving it together. Use Elias’s connection to figure out how we can fix the Oneness…but how can I do that to the boy I love? How can I admit that I’ve been keeping things from him, trying to break away from him?
    There’s plenty of time to tell him that. Plenty of time.
    Except we won’t be having this conversation again, I can feel it. He’s closing up more by the minute, since Nora and Lia walked out on the stage, not themselves.
    “I’ve been practicing,” I murmur, almost hoping he doesn’t hear me. He stops dead in his tracks, and my words rush out in a flood. “I’ve been practicing on my own, trying to go higher, and ever since we flew, I can, Elias.”
    “And?” he asks, his eyes boring holes in me.
    “And what?”
    “What else aren’t you telling me?”
    Shit. Shit, he knows. He knows me too well for me to keep a single thing from him. I lower my eyes, stare down at my shoes. Then I think, no, I have to do this for real. I owe it to him.
    “I’ve been studying with someone. The grad-level chem.”
    “Who?”
    “One of my teachers from Superior, he’s — ”
    “What’s his name?” Each word that leaves his mouth punches me in the gut.
    I can’t look away from him, but I can’t say anything either.
    “It’s Hoffman, isn’t it?” Elias’s eyes burn.
    “Uh…yeah.” I stand up straighter. “Yes. So?”
    “Did he take your blood?”
    “It was mostly o-chem work, theories, tests.”
    “Did he take your blood, Merrin?” There is an edge of urgency to his voice that makes my heart stop.
    My eyes flare wide, and I nod.
    Elias breathes in sharply and mutters, “We have to get out of here.” He squeezes my hand and practically drags me down the hall with him.
    Our entire walk out is fast and silent. The doorway chirps its goodbye to us as it registers our cuffs leaving the building, and I don’t even get a chance to look back at the Hub before we’ve made it through the garage and into Elias’s car. I don’t know if I’ll ever see it again, and just the thought of that makes a lump rise in my throat.
    “Mer.” Elias grabs my hand, squeezes it till my fingers scrunch together and it almost hurts.
    I don’t want to look at him, suddenly. I know he’s upset. I know, even though I never met his sisters before this, that there’s something wrong,