by C. C. Lynch
“What’s up Abbs?” he took a bite from an apricot and continued reading a newspaper without ever glancing my way.
“Have you seen Will at all? I’ve been looking for him and haven’t seen him in almost a week.”
“I think he got the boot from Glaston.” His words were uninterested.
“What do you mean? He was kicked out?”
He shrugged and turned the page in his newspaper.
“Do you have any idea how to get in touch with him? Who will take care of Cinnamon?”
“Looks like you’ve been taking care of Cinnamon without him.” He turned another page without looking up.
I took his chin gently in my hand and forced him to look up at me. My stomach flopped and I shuddered at the contact. Vlaine was watching me patiently. Mentally, I kicked myself and tried to make words form without thinking about how my body was buzzing from touching him.
“Is there any way you could find out what happened to Will? There are so few people I actually interact with here and it would really suck to lose one of them.”
His hand gently took mine and pulled it away from his face, “of course Abbs.”
My hand was still in his and I was taken aback by his willingness to comply. My heart was beating faster by the second. Just in time to break the lock between Vlaine and my eyes, Erik sat at the table.
“Hey Abrielle, Vlaine, what’s going on?” Erik took a bite of a breakfast sandwich and rubbed his hands together noisily.
I retracted my hand from Vlaine’s and smiled. “Hey.”
Vlaine was still watching me. My eyes fluttered nervously between the two.
“So Erik,” I straightened my back and calmed my mind, “did you still want to practice today?”
“What are you practicing?” Vlaine looked back down at his newspaper.
“Her skills,” Erik winked and tapped his fingers together roguishly.
Vlaine looked at me pointedly, “is that not something you should be practicing with your professor?”
“Oh trust me,” I cocked my head at him, “I would love to but my professor wants nothing to do with me outside of class.”
“Abrielle, when have you ever asked to get help outside of the class?” He slapped the newspaper down, making a loud thwacking sound. “Maybe your grade would improve if you made some effort to do some extra work.”
My jaw dropped in shock. “Vlaine, you…” I was a volume lower than yelling. I sucked in a breath and lowered my voice. “I would love to discuss this with you outside and away from earshot of other people.”
“Nah, I’m good.” He looked back down at his paper.
Only Vlaine could go from giving me tingles just by touching me to making me want to punch something.
“This,” I flipped my hand in the air, “this is why I cannot get help from my professor after class. Every single time I try to speak or ask questions I get shut off before I am even finished. And if I am doing so bad why do you have to stop a lesson and go have a meeting about how I did something you didn’t even think I was going to be capable of doing. You’re just,” I stood up quickly, “you’re mean.” I pointed my finger at him. “You’re just mean. You make me trust you then you’re hot and cold just like everyone else.”
1…2…3… I breathed in, allowing myself to feel angry. He was still looking down, seemingly unaffected while my lips were quivering with anger. That was the part that killed me, how apathetic he was towards my outburst. 1…2…3… I took another deep breath to try and rid myself of the miserable feeling welling up inside my chest. Both methods were equally ineffective. I could feel the stinging in my nose that was slowly working its way up to tears.
I put on my best face to act like I was over the small incident with Vlaine and I smiled at Erik. “I’m going to meet you at the building. It’s down the road about a quarter mile and you’ll see a small path leading from the road and into the woods.”
I walked out of the kitchen with grace and poise. I would not let Vlaine know that he upset me. Everything except for the budding friendship of Erik sucked at Glaston. I hadn’t spoken to my mom, Steph, or Nicholas since I got there despite the letters I had sent out each week, no one aside from Erik liked me, I finally found my dream man only to come up with more questions, and there was a group of professors talking about me like I was a sheepdog about to be sent off to a dog show.
I replayed the conversation in my head and slapped myself in the forehead when I realized that I had mentioned a meeting about breaking his wall. I began running to the gymnasium, as if I could outrun the past few minutes. Tears began to slide down my face, I ran faster.
Bursting through the gymnasium door through to the locker room I splashed cold water on my eyes and looked up. They were slightly puffy, but my face was red from running so it would calm at the same rate as my cheeks would. After a few more minutes in the locker room I was presentable, my cheeks were slightly rosy and my eyes were glistening but not swollen. I walked into the gym and walked towards the opposite end of the room where Vlaine and I usually sat. I looked over to our usual seat like a bitter memory and tossed the thoughts of Vlaine aside.
Sitting upright, I calmed my mind and focused on listening to everything around me. I reached to listen to the thoughts of students who were still asleep in their dorms. Midway through watching Liz’s dream through that steamy window I heard the door open. Slowly I backed out of the dream and opened my eyes. Vlaine was sitting across from me, a line of sweat formed at his hairline. He interlocked his fingers in mine as we did whenever we would begin class.
“When do you want to practice?” His eyes were searching mine and he was sincere, thoughtful.
Right now, I thought to myself, all the time. It’s the only thing I look forward to. I cleared my throat, “are you free tomorrow?”
“I’ve got a meeting tomorrow morning but I’ll be free after ten,” his thumb rubbed my knuckles.
“Great,” I pulled my hands from his, “I will meet you here around ten thirty tomorrow. Thank you for your time Mr. Josnic.”
I closed my eyes and repositioned my seating to continue searching the other students. It took half a minute for the guilt to force my eyes open so I could apologize to Vlaine for being so cold but when I opened them he was nowhere in sight. I hadn’t even heard the door open but it was no surprise, Vlaine was elusive.
Erik strode in a few minutes later wearing a roguish smile. He sauntered over to me and kneeled down.
“Sorry about that,” I flicked my wrists, “Vlaine can get under my skin like you could not imagine.”
He laughed, “I’ve known Vlaine for a long time. He seems to have that affect on the womenfolk.”
“Oh really?” I arched my brow, “because no one here talks to him. In fact, I have never seen a girl talk to him before.”
He tapped his finger to his head, “you only see what Vlaine wants you to see. He is a manipulator, remember?”
Anger erupted throughout my entire body. Not only did I trust Vlaine, but I could feel that Erik was lying. I knew when Vlaine was manipulating me, but the rest of the school avoiding him was not something that was implanted into my head at all times. I had no idea why Erik would lie about something like that, but it only proved to worsen my already dour mood.
“He would have no reason to manipulate that into my head, Erik. It’s not like something like that would play into his favor.
“Of course it would,” he laughed, “you’re a healer, you live to save lives and make the underdog happy.” He inched closer, “what wouldn’t you do to make an outsider happy?”
My brows furrowed at his invasive truth towards my character. Of course I had a soft spot for anyone that was in any sort of pain, be it physical, emotional, or what have you. There was only one way I was going to prove to myself that Erik was being deceitful, and it was through telepathy. I pushed myself into his mind as well and rapidly as I could. He had a block but it was not nearly as strong as Vlaine’s. I knew how to go aroun
d it and find the fracture.
Just as I was about to go into explore his mind he put his hand on my face. Erik’s thumb rubbed the outline of my ear. Instantly I melted; the comfortable warm sensation spread from my face down the rest of my body. I had to break eye contact with him to avoid drooling on myself
“That was really good.” His voice was soothing, “it took you six minutes to break into my barrier by being angry.” His thumb rubbed my cheek softly and hand traveled softly down my face to my arm and to my hand. “Try breaking the barrier by being calm.”
I was mad for six minutes? That was impossible, I was never mad that long. I stood up abruptly and rubbed my hand on my forehead.
“Thank you for offering to practice with me,” I smiled, “but my mind is not in it. I guess the whole Vlaine situation bothered me more than I thought.”
He raised his hand to touch my face and I slapped it away. There was something strange about how his contact affected me. “You are so sweet,” I tried to sound sincere, “but my boyfriend back home would get so mad if he knew you kept touching me like this.”
“Your boyfriend?” His expression made it obvious he did not believe me.
I was such a terrible liar, but I knew I could show him a memory to help make my lie seem more believable. I imagined the first day of school when I was pretending to be Nicholas’s girlfriend. The date was on the blackboard in the background. I touched him and showed him ten seconds of the memory, long enough to let him see the interaction but not long enough to catch on to the fact that it was faked.
“I see,” Erik squinted disapprovingly.
“Yeah,” I backed up, “sorry for wasting your time. See you tonight!”
I ran out of the gymnasium and to the stables as quickly as I could. The one person I was becoming friends with was playing some sort of game with my mind. Whenever he touched me I felt so serene and calm. It had to be his ability, but I could not understand why he would want to force me to be comfortable.
I wished I had a phone so I could talk to Steph. If I told her that some guy I had just become friends with was trying to control or influence me in any sort of way she would tell me to steer clear of him and would send Nicholas after him. She would also say something to the effect of “sweetie, that’s what your fist is for.” Just thinking about how Steph would toss her hair back and instruct me to deal with Erik made me feel better.
Cinnamon was restless in her stall and I wanted desperately to ride her and allow her some exercise. Just as I began to pick her hooves I heard a voice behind me.
“You want me to teach you?”
I jumped and turned to face Draxe. “What?”
He leaned against the door of the stall, “do you want me to teach you how to ride?”
“Maybe another day, I just want to be alone right now.”
What was I saying? My dream man just offered to teach me how to ride a horse that I had wanted to ride since the moment I saw her. In defense, my interactions with men that day were all terrible and I did not want to find out how things could go wrong with Draxe.
I needed a girl’s night. I jumped at the realization that I was not a prisoner, I was a college student. I did not need to stay at the school and I did not need to attend every class. In fact, none of my classes had an attendance policy.
I leaned against the other side of the door, inches away from Draxe. “Actually, do you have a cell phone that gets reception here?”
For a moment he looked panicked, but quickly replaced the expression with a demure smile. “Yeah, but it’s in my room. You can use it when I get back with Buttercup.”
“Thank you!” I hopped up with excitement.
“No problem,” he tapped his hand on the stall and walked away.
Cinnamon nuzzled my arm and I turned to see she was nearly out of water. As I walked to get her some more I saw Draxe entering the school. I filled up the bucket and gave him the benefit of the doubt assuming he needed to use the restroom or something.
“He’s a guy,” I exclaimed loudly. There was no reason for him to use the restroom.
Draxe was nowhere in sight when I searched for him in the school so I made a beeline to the Portrait of Dr. Gachet to listen if they had gone to the secret room. After hearing nothing for a few moments I slipped back downstairs then heard muffled voices on the first floor.
The noises were coming from the same room my literature class was in. I put my back up against the wall, controlled my breathing, and listened. The first one to speak was Draxe.
“She wants to call Steph and I told her she could use my phone. You’re going to have to play best girlfriend for a day.”
“No,” Vlaine’s voice was angry, “I’m not babysitting Abrielle today.”
“So what, you are going to just let her hang out with her friend?”
My stomach clenched from hearing Draxe’s accusing and bitter tone. What was wrong with me hanging out with Steph?
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I? She’s not going to say anything about the school.” Vlaine’s voice was quiet and defensive.
“That’s not the problem and you know it. The other schools know we have a replicator here. What if one of them sends a scout while she’s out playing teenager?”
“Have you not seen the new addition to the school Draxe? Open your friggin’ eyes, they already have. Have you not noticed Erik’s here from Valdor?”
“He is not a scout. They would have had to start the transfer application months in advance.”
Vlaine growled in aggravation. “Oh, you don’t think they have a telepath there that saw something just like Abbs did when she saw you?”
Draxe snorted. “You’re getting paranoid, brother.”
“You’re naïve as shit, Draxe,” Vlaine gritted. “I’m the paranoid one, but you want me to play Steph for a day because she wants to see her friend. I’m not going to deceive her like that, not again. She would know the second she saw me anyway. This is just ridiculous and if you’re so concerned, then you do it.”
“You are useless. I’m going to ask permission from dad.” Draxe was annoyed, “guess I will act the part of the best friend that you already know everything about.”
A clatter happened and Vlaine whisper-yelled, “leave dad out of it. He’s going to send her to the tank the second he has a chance. If you make him think something is wrong he’ll do it.”
I was done snooping; I needed to know what was going on. I rounded the wall and entered the room. “Want to tell ‘her’ what the tank is?”
Vlaine was clutching Draxe’s shirt but let go once I entered the room.
“Damn it,” he muttered and rubbed his temples.
“Vlaine, do you want to go for a walk?” My voice was calm, much calmer than I felt.
He glanced sideways at Draxe. “Yeah,” he threw his hands up in defeat, “let’s go for a walk.”
That was easy, I thought to myself and followed him outside to the horse trails.
“What is the tank?” I wasted no time getting to the point.
“The ‘think tank’ is where Glaston’s best and brightest go to be used for practical things. You know where your gifts can actually get utilized for some worthy purpose. I know you are on the list and they want you once you prove you’re a replicator.”
“So the tank is where the smartest and most talented kids go. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
“It’s good I guess,” he shrugged, “but then your life is dictated by people who think they know what is good for you rather than you making decisions for yourself. You’ll be told you are using your skills for something and will just have to take their word that they are telling the truth.”
I laughed, “That sounds inevitable, doesn’t it? I mean, that’s what an occupation is anyhow. It sounds like a great job for those of us that don’t have an issue with authority.”
He shrugged and kicked a rock. “It’s a catch 22. There are really three ways to go. Be a professor at one of the academies, go into t
he tank, or run away from Glaston and hope you never get found or that anyone cares to find you.”
“Why is it such a big deal that you have a replicator? Are there bad guys or something and you want my supposed replication for assistance?” I sounded ridiculous asking that.
He smiled, amused. “I think the idea is to keep tabs on you to make sure you don’t become the bad guy.”
“There are other schools that apparently want to spy on me or something. How would keeping all this from me make me trust Glaston or want to be on their side?” There was an obvious edge to my voice. It felt terrible knowing people were talking about me and my future but not including me.
“Abbs I don’t really prefer you to be on Glaston’s side, but the headmaster does. I just care that you’re safe.”
I ignored his statement and continued on with my questions. “What are your gifts?”
I must have surprised him with the question because his eyebrows rose momentarily. “Manipulation, telepathy, and flight.”
“You cannot fly,” I giggled, but was unsure if he was telling the truth.
“No I can’t,” he laughed, “but I can do this strange kind of explosive energy wave, thing. It’s cool, but pretty devastating.”
“So what does manipulation cover?”
“I can manipulate minds, other people’s powers, and my own appearance.”
“How many times have you manipulated my mind?” I wanted to know the answer, but was afraid of what he would say.
“None, I have just changed my appearance so I could scout you at your old school.” He looked at me nervously.
“What was the purpose of going to the concert with me?”
Dimples made a debut as a nostalgic smile spread. “Remember that boy that was playing the guitar? Well he was a plant. I wanted to see how you were at scouting gifts other than telepathy. I also wanted to get into your mind a bit more to see what kind of person you were.”