Untouchable (Untouchables, #1)

by Sam Mariano

Glancing back at me as he leads me up the stairs, he asks, “Who do you want to be?” Good question. “Still trying to figure it out, I guess. I have a few different destinations in mind, but I’m trying to be realistic. I know my ultimate destination depends on a lot of different things, so I’m making a few different plans that I could be happy with.” His tone amused, he remarks, “You’re always prepared, aren’t you, Ellis?” “No one can be prepared for every eventuality, but I do my best.” “Throw out the conditions. If you could be anything, if the world would just open up and let you have anything—what do you want?” I ponder that as I follow him to his room, trying on different lives, sifting through all the daydreams I’ve had about my future to see where they lead. “Well, I want to live somewhere with a cool, colorful fall, as we discussed before. Snow at Christmas. The whole nine yards.” Nodding briefly, he says, “That’s a given.” “I’ll probably want to get married and have a child or two. To play in the fall leaf piles,” I add. “A solid reason for procreation, if I ever heard one.” I crack a smile as he turns on the light in his bedroom, then I go over and climb onto his bed. “I want a job in a field I’m interested in, something I can continue to study so I’ll never get bored, but I also want to make a positive difference in other people’s lives. Ideally, I would like to be a professor or maybe a psychologist. Then I could study what interests me, and also apply what I lea...