Eternity

by M.E. Timmons

  Chapter 13

  Over the next couple of weeks, Calculus grew to be my favourite class. I liked History because the class was always interesting, and Skills Development because I was getting better at my drawings, and Defence because it was a good workout, but it was still Calculus that I looked forward to the most every day. I didn't care much for the subject itself, since I found it quite boring, but I liked talking to Adrian. No matter how rude or sarcastic he was, I always felt like he actually listened to me. I was definitely falling for him, despite his rough personality, but he hadn't tried to kiss me or anything since the ball and I never saw him outside of class.

  Strangely enough, it wasn't until about a month after I made my second drawing that it came true, by which time I had pretty much forgotten about it. I was walking in the hallway with Heather, and we were on our way to lunch after getting our butts kicked in Physical Defence. My opponent, who was actually smaller than I was, had hit my leg pretty hard, so I was bruised and limping a little bit. One second we were talking about the school food, and then suddenly Heather stopped walking. I recognized the image instantly. I stopped too.

  "What's wrong?" I asked her, instantly worried.

  "Nothing's wrong," she answered, "I'm just trying to listen to something."

  She walked over to the main stairs, which we had just reached, and sat down so that she could concentrate more on what she was hearing. I came and sat with her while she listened, and she didn't explain what was happening for a whole five minutes. It was actually a little scary, especially because of the expression on her face. It was like her mind was somewhere else.

  "That was really weird," she said when she was finished listening.

  "What were you listening to?"

  "I could hear Ms. Coleman talking to the headmaster. At first I thought it wasn't important, but then they mentioned you." She looked at me funny.

  "Me? Why would they be talking about me?" I asked in surprise.

  "They were talking about your aura. Mrs. Bainbridge said she had only ever met one person with a white aura before. You'll never guess who it was."

  "Really? She met someone with a white aura before?" I exclaimed. I was getting excited. My heart started pounding almost immediately.

  "Yeah. That person was Amun."

  That put a damper on my excitement right away. I thought it was neat that my aura was the same color as a god's, but that still didn't tell me anything about myself. I said as much to Heather.

  "Sure it does," she said. "They think you're Isadora. Mrs. Bainbridge even said she's planning on calling Amun to ask if you are, so they'll know for sure. They have no other way of knowing because there are no known paintings or photos of Isadora, so no one knows what she looks like except those who have seen her with their own eyes. Apparently no one has seen her for a while."

  "I'm not a goddess," I said with a level of certainty. "I would know if I was. It seems ridiculous that they would even consider such a thing."

  "Well, there's more. Ms. Coleman said she talked to some guy named Omeye, though I don't know who that is. Anyway, she said that he said you have a lot of power within you, but you can't reach it. He couldn't tell how much power exactly, but he said it felt like more than he had ever felt in someone before."

  "Omeye is an ability reader," I explained. "I met him on the first day of class. He told me that I had power I couldn't reach when I met with him, but he didn't say it was unusual."

  "Well it still seems like there's a bit of evidence, no matter what you believe. You could really be a goddess. Wouldn't that be amazing?"

  "I don't know if it would, because I'm not one," I said firmly. "I don't think I'd want to live that long anyway. Things would probably lose their charm after a thousand years or so."

  Heather still wasn't convinced by my doubt, but at least she agreed not to say anything to anyone else. I didn't even think of it again until the next day, when we were in History. Ms. Coleman was telling us another story about the gods.

  "After about a hundred years, Isadora came up with a new idea. She didn't like having to go from village to village, always an outsider. She also didn't like constantly carrying the burden of her powers. She wanted to try to live an ordinary life, so that's exactly what she did.

  "She found a woman and her husband in a small city in Greece. The woman desperately wanted a child, but she was having trouble. She had lost three babies already, and it was a constant source of pain to her. She was pregnant again, but her baby was already dead, and she didn't know it yet. Isadora decided to take the place of the dead fetus in order to be born again to a family who would be happy to have a child.

  "This may seem like a very strange idea, even unethical, but it was one of the few ways by which she could really start a new life, and the woman really wanted to have a child. Since Isadora was so powerful, she could not only be born again, but she could do so by her own terms. She decided to hide her powers and her memories from herself until her new physical form died.

  "She was very successful in her attempt. She lived like a normal person, and she was well loved and cared for. She was happy, and when she was older she fell in love and got married. Of course, she couldn't have children of her own, but she never knew why.

  "She was murdered before she turned thirty. As soon as her body died, she was free again, and she had her powers and memories back. She was saddened by the life she had lost, but she had enjoyed her chance to be normal. From then on, being born again was something she did many times, and Amun did it as well. It was probably what kept them from losing their connection to the ordinary world because they got to be part of it, if only for a short time. It also allowed them to have a chance to live without the memories that haunt those who live for so long."

  I wasn't sitting next to Heather during that class because I was sitting with Jack, who knew nothing of what Heather had told me. When Ms. Coleman finished the story, Heather looked at me, and I could tell that she saw this as more proof that I could be a goddess, but I was in no way convinced.

  Adrian was very moody that day. I knew it was the day of the full moon again, so I didn't take it personally. I was worried about him instead, and surprised that he had actually come to class. He really seemed to hate the full moon, but I still didn't know why. I couldn't figure Adrian out at all most of the time. I could see what he was feeling, but I couldn't understand the reasons behind his feelings. He hardly said a word to me the entire class.

  That night I decided to do something very risky, but I wanted to help Adrian and I didn't know what else to do. I was also curious, which I was beginning to think was a fault of mine. I snuck quietly out of bed at around 12:00. I think Rhea was awake, but she didn't say anything to me as I put on some clothes in the dark and left the room. I almost knocked over a vase that was on a table by the door, full of some roses that Melissa had taken from her botany class. One of the roses fell out, and it made no sound as it hit the floor. I picked it up and took it with me. It wasn't until I was out of the dark room that I saw it was red.

  There were always a few teachers or staff patrolling the halls at night to make sure students were in bed, and I unfortunately did not have the gift of invisibility, so I was forced to be careful. I had to sneak by Ms. Hughes in the front foyer, but once I got to the cafeteria, my way was free.

  I took the stairs down to the pool, which looked eerie in the dark, and from there I found the second set of stairs that led deeper underground. There were still lights on by the stairs, though I suspected that they were only on for the one day of the month when there were people passing by.

  I was a little surprised that the thick doors were unlocked and unguarded, but I managed to get through the first two without any trouble. I found trouble at the third door though, since that one was guarded, and by Mr. Ramirez. To say he looked surprised to see me would be an understatement.

  "You're not exactly allowed to vis
it your friends down here, Juliet," he said. "You should get back to bed before you get in trouble."

  "I didn't come to see Jack," I replied. "I came to see Adrian."

  "I don't care, and trust me, he's the last person you want to see right now. That kid has no control yet, so he's extremely dangerous."

  "Well, maybe I can help," I suggested.

  "No. Go back to bed." It didn't seem like he was going to change his mind. I decided I would have to take drastic measures.

  I suddenly moved past him to the door. He wasn't expecting it, so he was slow to react, and by the time he did it was too late. I was through the door.

  The sounds that met my ears when I opened the door scared me. I could hear howling, clawing, snarling, and growling. Some of the doors to the individual rooms were rattling.

  "Juliet, get out of here. This isn't the kind of place you want to be in," Mr. Ramirez was saying.

  "I suggest you go back out the door and shut it," I told him. "I'm going to open one of these doors, and I don't know what will happen when I do."

  "Then I'm staying where I am. I suppose you don't know this about me, but I can create energy fields around people that others can't get through. Unfortunately I can't create fields that prevent determined young women from opening doors that they should stay away from."

  "I don't think I'll need your protection." I didn't think Adrian would hurt me, though I couldn't be sure. I had never seen a werewolf up close before.

  I found him in the third room on the right. I don't even know how I could tell it was him, but he somehow seemed familiar. He was also the most out of control, as Mr. Ramirez had said. I didn't hesitate to open the door anyway.

  I realized right away that I had made a mistake in believing that he wouldn't hurt me. The first thing he did when I opened the door was come at me. He wasn't in his right mind, and he didn't even stop to see who he was attacking. He went for my throat.