Page 6 of The Knights of Gaia

“Interesting,” a voice echoed out of nowhere.

I looked around for the source of the voice, but my eyes found no one.

The voice spoke again. “How did you know I was here?”

Whoever he was, he sounded amused…I think.

“Can you see me?” he asked.

“You’re invisible,” I told him.

“Oh, I am well aware of that,” he chuckled.

Yep, he was definitely amused. But at least he sounded friendly.

“The question is: if I’m invisible, how could you know I’m here?” he asked me.

“I…I don’t know,” I admitted. “I just felt that someone’s here.”

“Interesting,” he said again. “Can you always sense invisible things?”

“I don’t know. You’re the first invisible person I’ve encountered. And wait.” I chewed on my lower lip. “Did you just call yourself athing?”

“Of course not. You must be imagining things,” he said lightly.

“Maybe I’m imaginingyou,” I replied.

“A pretty girl imagining me? I’m flattered.”

I could sense the smile in his voice. And for some reason, it made me blush.

“If you’re really here,” I said quickly, “then who are you?Whatare you?”

“Maybe I’m a spirit.”

I looked up at the twinkling, multicolored lights orbiting the tree. “No, you’re not a spirit. The spirits speak inside someone’s head. And your voice is coming from right here, from the world outside of my mind.”

“How can you tell?”

“Well, when I hear someone speaking inside my mind, it kind of echoes differently than when they speak normally.”

The invisible stranger was quiet for a few moments. I bet he was studying me, which honestly made me a bit antsy. I tried not to squirm.

Finally, he said, “You aren’t like other girls.”

“No.” I sighed. “I’m not like other girls.”

“Good. Other girls are boring.”

I definitely wasn’t boring. Actually, most people thought I was a little too interesting. Ok, make thatwaytoo interesting. I certainly didn’t fit the mold of the perfect Gaian citizen. It’s not that I tried to get into trouble; I just had an unfortunate knack for getting to the truth, and that made me pretty unpopular. No one liked to be told they were lying. No one enjoyed getting caught with their fingers in the cookie jar.

I probably should have stuck to minding my own business around other people, but I wasn’t very good at that. My mom liked to say I was like a cat: curious, independent, impulsive…and always getting myself into trouble.

“So you can turn yourself invisible. I’ve never seen anyone do that.” I winced at my own statement. “Ok, so of course I’ve neverseenan invisible person. That’s kind of the whole point of being invisible, right? I just meant that…well, until now I’ve never heard of anyone who can make himself invisible.”

A low chuckle over my right shoulder made me jump. He’d moved.

“Do you always talk this much?” he asked me as I turned toward him.

---