by M.E. Timmons
Chapter 11
Physical Defence sounded like a really fun class, so I was excited for it. Of course, since it was the first day, and only an hour, we didn't get to do anything. The teacher, whose name was Victor, was young, very fit and tall, and he had long brown hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. He told us that we would be learning how to defend ourselves from attackers, so it would be a very physical class. We would learn aspects of different types of martial arts. Victor said it would be difficult and tiring, but the school thought it was a necessary class because "people fear what they don't understand, and if someone sees you use your powers, they probably won't understand".
I wasn't summoned to meet with Omeye until I was in psychology, which wasn't nearly as interesting as I'd hoped. It was Mr. Ramirez who came to get me, and he led me to an empty classroom on the second floor. Inside, already seated, was an ancient looking man with dark, leathery skin and thick glasses that magnified his beady little brown eyes. When he turned his eyes on me I was rather surprised by how strong and deep his gaze was.
"Come, sit," he said to me. His voice was very quiet, yet clear. I sat in the chair that he indicated, and Mr. Ramirez sat beside Omeye, who was across from me.
Omeye held out his palms and asked for my hands, which I placed in his. His skin felt soft and delicate. He closed his eyes, and sat there for a few minutes like that, just holding my hands. Finally, his eyes opened.
"I sense a lot of power hidden deep within you, but it is too deep for you or me to reach, so I will not dwell on it. I also sense that you have three distinct abilities, which is very rare. Most heroes only have one. Do you know what any of them are?"
"Yes, sir, I can see auras," I told him.
"Yes, and I don't doubt that you understand their meaning well. You do not know of your other abilities?"
"I know of other things that I am good at, but I wouldn't call any of them magical."
"Ah. Well then I guess I must tell you. You also have the ability to draw the future. Have you ever spent much time drawing in the past?"
"No, I never really did. I had other interests." I had barely even coloured as a child since all of the coloring books at Pembrook were scribbled over, and I had never taken art class in school.
"You should try it sometime. You may be surprised. Your third ability is that you are resistant to fire, which is always handy. If you know someone with a fire ability you can practice with them."
"My roommate does, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind."
"Good. It might be a little frightening to try at first because it's hard to allow yourself to be burned, but I assure you that you will not be. The flames should lick harmlessly against your skin, whether you concentrate or not. It isn't something you need to practice, but it's good to get an idea of what it feels like."
"Is it a common ability?" I asked.
"No, I can't say that it is. The only abilities that are truly common are those involving control of the elements." He stood up slowly. "I hope I have been of help to you. You seem like a remarkable girl."
I told him that he had been helpful, though I still had a hard time believing that I actually had three abilities instead of just the one that I knew about. We parted ways, and Mr. Ramirez led me back to psychology, talking the whole way about others he had met with abilities like mine, though I wasn't listening.
Later I ended up being the first one in the room for calculus. There were still five minutes before class started, so I got out a pen and a blank sheet of paper. I had no idea how to start, so I just kind of sat there with my pen hovering over the paper. Finally, I brought the pen to the paper without having any idea what I was going to do, and something strange happened. It was like I had lost control of my own hand, so I just let it go so I could see what happened.
I was quite absorbed with what I was doing, so when I finished and looked up, I was surprised to see that the classroom was full, and the teacher was about to start class.
"That's quite the drawing," the person who had sat down beside me said, and I nearly jumped a foot in the air. I glanced quickly over at him and confirmed that is was, indeed, Adrian. He was leaning back casually in his chair, but his eyes were serious.
"Not really the subject matter I was expecting," I commented, examining the picture. It was clearly a drawing of Melissa, who was holding a rose and smiling. It was actually a much better drawing than I was expecting since I had no experience, and it was quite realistic.
"You didn't know what you were drawing?" Adrian asked, sounding confused.
"No," I answered. I didn't have time to explain because class started then.
Calculus ended up being the only class in which I had to do any work that day. The teacher handed out assignments at the beginning of class to test our previous knowledge of the subject, and told us to work alone or in pairs. I chose to work alone. I figured I would get less done if I was working with Adrian, though he continued to distract me anyway. He asked about the drawing, and I told him about my ability, though I neglected to tell him that I had two others.
"That's odd," he said. "I thought you were a witch."
"Why would you think that?"
"Actually, I don't know. You just seem perceptive."
"Well, I thought the same about you, and you're a werewolf. Isn't the full moon coming up soon?"
"Yes, it's in two days." He wasn't happy about that at all, but he tried to hide it. Of course, he didn't know just how much I could see.
"Do you enjoy it?"
"I enjoy being a wolf, but I don't think I'll like being locked up beneath the school for a whole night when I could be running free in the woods." For some reason he was lying about both. I could usually tell when people lied because I could see their guilt and fear.
I didn't confront him about his lie because he probably had reasons behind it and I didn't want to offend him. I lapsed back into silence again so I could work on my assignment. I ended up being the next one to break the silence anyway. I couldn't control my curiosity.
"Why do I never see you around school?" I asked. It was true that I had not seen him anywhere other than at the ball, even though I saw everyone else I knew regularly.
"I eat in the dorm. I don't like noise."
"If you don't like noise, then why did you go to the ball?"
"I was hoping to see you there." He looked straight at me as he said this, and he wasn't lying.
"When did you see me before then?" I asked. "I didn't see you before that night. I would've remembered if I had."
"I saw you in the library with Leewood. I didn't expect to see anyone in there before classes started, but there you were, poring over old books like there was something you desperately needed to know."
"There was something I needed to know, and I never found it."
"Then perhaps the library is not where you need to look."
"There's nowhere else I can look. It doesn't matter anyway. I don't expect to find answers."
"How badly do you want them?"
I frowned. "I don't really know. I want the truth so that I don't have to question it anymore, but I'm worried that the truth isn't what I want or expect it to be."
"What do you want it to be?" Adrian asked softly.
"I want it to be nothing. I want to find out that there's nothing wrong with me at all, that I'm perfectly normal."
He looked surprised. He hadn't known what answers I was even looking for, and it wasn't what he expected. "Why would you think there's something wrong with you?"
"It's kind of a long story," was my answer.
Class ended then. Adrian collected his things and then smiled at me before quickly departing. I headed to the cafeteria, since it was time for supper. When I got there, the first thing I saw surprised me. Melissa was standing in the corner talking to Mrs. Espenas, and she held in one hand a single rose. It was exactly like in my drawing, which shocked
me. I actually stopped in my tracks, though I was standing in the doorway. Someone cleared their throat behind me and I realized I was blocking the way.
When I sat down and Melissa joined me, she explained that the rose was from her last class, which was Botany. She had just been talking to Mrs. Espenas, who was the teacher of the class, who said she had a lot of talent with caring for roses, which was what they had spent the class doing. She was really excited about it, so I listened to her talk happily about it during the rest of the meal, all the while pondering my newfound ability.