Destiny Awakened

by C. J. Cooke

  “Sure,” I put a hand on her shoulder before she stepped onto the bus and she glanced in my direction. “You’ve got this” I smiled at her and she nodded before stepping up into the bus that was going to take her to freedom. I watched her through the windows as she walked down the bus and fussed getting the kid situated in a seat whilst trying not to wake her. Once I knew she was busy I pulled the money back out of my pocket and slipped it inside the duffel before putting it into the hold. When I straightened I saw the driver watching and he just gave me a half smile and a nod before turning back to deal with another passenger coming over.

  I headed back to my bike casting an eye out for anything unusual. There was no one around, it was 3am after all. The bus engine grumbled to life as I straddled my bike. I waited for it to pull out before starting the bike up and pulling away myself. It should only take about ten minutes to get back to my apartment. My bed was definitely calling me and knowing that I had to get up at 6:30am for my early lecture was threatening to ruin my good mood. Leading a double life really messed with your sleep.

  Chapter Two

  The alarm screamed at me to get up and, fighting the urge to smash the shit out of it, I turned it off before rolling out of bed. I’d managed to throw on some sleep shorts and a tank top before falling into bed a few hours ago. I should have just slept in my jeans to save those precious few minutes. I was going to be one grumpy ass chick today. Luckily, I only had one lecture this morning, then I needed to hit up the library to finish off a paper. I figured I could get back here by early afternoon and take a nap if I really tried. I stumbled out of the bedroom and across the corridor, into the bathroom. The bathroom was old but more than enough for my needs. There was a sink in a small vanity, a toilet and a shower over an old tub. It was clean and it all worked. It suited me just fine. I turned on the shower to as hot as I could bear in an attempt to wake my sleepy ass up. As I was stripping out of my clothes, I caught a glance of myself in the mirror before turning away in horror. Why is it that movies always show women waking up in the morning looking like a goddess? My normally wavy auburn hair was now a nest of tangles, evidence of the restless few hours sleep I’d had, and I had some lovely dark circles under my eyes. Hopefully a shower would wake me up enough to fight off a bit of the scary look I had going on. The water was blissfully hot when I stepped in. I loved to have scorching hot showers. When I was a kid there was never enough hot water in whichever home I was in. I always ended up taking cold showers. At least with a hot shower I didn’t have to rush through to try and limit my potential for frost bite. Now that I had been blessed with the gift of never ending hot water I spent as much time in the shower as possible. I’d actually found it to be a good thinking place. That and the fact that shower beer is actually pretty good. Nothing like drinking an ice cold beer while the hot water works the kinks out your muscles. Bit early for beer now. I would kill for a coffee though. It might actually wake me up quicker. I hate the nights where I have to get up early the next morning and try and pretend to be a normal person. I am the most unco-ordinated sleepy person. All I will say is thank god for electrolysis. If it wasn’t for that modern day miracle I would probably have accidentally skinned myself one of these mornings. I did not have the necessary wits about me to be able to handle a razor when I was this tired. Best money I ever spent. I quickly shampooed my hair and then slathered it in conditioner to try and fight the tangles. I left it in to do its job while I lingered under the spray for as long as I could before rinsing out the conditioner and grabbing a clean towel. It wasn’t really practical in my line of work to have long hair like I did but I liked it and I didn’t want to cut it when I could just tie it back. It fell to just below my shoulder blades and once it was dry it always had a soft wave to it. Thankfully apart from giving it a quick blow dry I didn’t really have to do anything with it. I wasn’t really all that good at the girly stuff like styling hair and makeup. I suppose it was because I’d never really had anyone to show me. My style of skinny jeans, tshirt and leather jacket didn’t really go with a girly girl look anyway. I always made sure that my legs and back were completely covered. That was where all my scars were. I wasn’t ashamed of them I just didn’t want to see the pity in everyone’s eyes when they saw them. I had grown to accept that they were a part of me. They were my evidence that I had survived. I just didn’t like sharing that part of me with others. I suppose that was why I didn’t really form relationships. I quickly dried off and ran the hair dryer over my hair. I looked in the mirror to see the damage my sleepless night had done. Now that my hair was not resembling a bird’s nest it wasn’t too bad. I spotted a tiny bit of concealer under my eyes to cover the dark circles and coated my lips in cherry lip balm. There was really no need for any other makeup thankfully, because I didn’t really own any. My lashes were long and thick already and framed my hazel eyes nicely. I loved my eyes. I suspected the flecks of gold were due to whatever magical heritage I had.

  I flicked on the news while I picked out my clothes. The news reader was the same as every other morning and she didn’t really catch my attention until she broke into the speech her fellow newscaster was giving. “I’m sorry Carl” she said holding a finger to her ear and listening to whatever someone was reading to her. “We have a breaking news story coming through from a mall in downtown Los Angeles. Yesterday evening a young male, who appears to be in his early twenties, has entered the mall and gone on what can only be described as a killing spree. The pictures which we are about to bring to you may be distressing to some viewers.” I briefly watched the news story unfold. The inside of the mall was clearly the scene of a massacre “… twenty nine people were killed and many more were injured …”. This was bad. This was the worst so far. “… congress went into an emergency session last night to discuss the registration act …”. I did not have time for this shit this morning.

  I quickly dressed in jeans, and a tshirt before grabbing my leather jacket and bag then running out the door. With my “job” I could have afforded an apartment if I had wanted to but Alfie’s gym had been a home from home when I was a kid. As soon as I was given the opportunity to get out of the system, I took it straight away not caring where I would end up. Thankfully Alfie cared. There were a couple of back rooms at the gym which he had converted into a small living area when he first bought it, before he could afford to renovate the top floor for himself. The first room was set up as a living room and had a small kitchen in the corner. The sofa pulled out and there was many a night that one of the kids out of my self-defence class crashed with me when they didn’t feel safe going home. Then there was a small hallway which had my bedroom on one side and a small bathroom opposite. Thankfully it also had a door which opened out into the alley at the side of the gym so I could come and go as I pleased. It was kind of essential in my line of work. It wasn’t fancy but it was everything I had always dreamed of, a space that was my own. I couldn’t thank Alfie enough for everything that he had done for me. The jobs I did for Marnie paid well but Alfie wouldn’t let me pay him anything for the rooms so I picked up some classes at the gym by helping out with the kids’ self-defence class. I usually got about two grand a job from Marnie. I knew that she didn’t charge people like the woman last night that amount. She made up the cost with the profits from providing security systems for big corporations. I usually did four to five jobs a month so I was managing to put back a nice amount. I’d been with Marnie for just over two years now and I had over two hundred grand set aside. From the outside I lived like a normal student. My bike was the only extravagance that I had bought and I lived pretty simply otherwise.

  I managed to make it to the coffee shop on the corner with about ten minutes to spare. A latte and a breakfast sandwich should hold me over till lunch time and hopefully keep me awake for the morning. I ordered the biggest latte they did with an extra shot and caramel syrup together with a sausage, bacon and cheese sandwich. Mmmmm cheese made everything good. I ate the sandwich on my way there and had
just started sipping on my latte as I strolled across campus to my lecture theatre.

  There was a strange vibe on campus today. Normally people were scuttling to and from classes but there were always groups hanging out chatting, guys throwing a ball around joking with each other and girls fluttering their eyelashes and giggling at them. Urgh, gag! Even at this ridiculous time in the morning there was usually something going on. But none of that was happening today. I slowed my steps casting my eyes around suspiciously. Everyone had no doubt heard about the mall massacre. There were small groups of people huddled through the quad whispering to each other. Shrugging it off I went into the lecture theatre and got settled in my seat. It was the same one I always sat in. Far rear corner, good views of the room, no windows or doors at my back and clear eye sights to all three exits of the room. Have I mentioned that I sometimes get paranoid? Call it a downside to the job. All the other students shuffled in and took their seats. It was weird that the room was so quiet with just some whispers here and there. It was never a busy lecture because it started at 7:45 but it was still more animated than it was now even if there was only fifteen or so people in here. Normally there was someone going on about last night’s party or game or whatever else it was that entertained them. The hushed silence lingered until the professor walked in and, unusually, was accompanied by the Dean and another man that I didn’t recognise. He wore an ill-fitting suit and a scowl that screamed cop which immediately put me on edge.

  “Students if I could have your attention please?” the Dean said strolling to the middle of the room addressing us. “I’m sure over the last few months you have seen the media reports of the number of attacks on humans increasing and the debate over the regulation and registration of supernaturals.” Murmurs ran through the crowd and scowly crap suit heaved a case up on the desk at the front opening it up and concentrating on the contents inside. Something not good was definitely about to go down. I cast my eyes to the exits checking they were still clear. The fire exit opening to the quad was clearly my best option. “Last night there was an attack on a mall. Twenty-nine people were killed and we are still waiting on the numbers of injured.” The murmurs immediately stopped and everyone just stared in shocked silence. “An emergency session was called in congress last night and the decision for registration was announced in the early hours of this morning. Every student from the age of eighteen on campus is now obliged to undertake mandatory testing. Anyone showing full or partial supernatural heritage will be taken for registration.” My blood ran cold. This did not sound good. I wasn’t going to pass this test. I cast my eyes across the front of the room and back towards the exit. Scowly crap suit glared at me from the front, took out his phone and quietly spoke into it before slipping it back in his pocket with a smug look on his face. All of the doors opened and three armed police officers stepping inside each of them. The Dean turned back to scowly crap suit and glared at him before continuing. “This is a minimally invasive test. Just a finger prick and one drop of blood is required. If you can all make your way to the front, we can get this over with and back to your normal lectures. Come on people quick quick! I’ve got three more lectures to visit in the next forty minutes.”

  Everyone looked around confused. Could they even do this? Surely we had some form of rights here. This couldn’t be happening. When did we start registering people? I suppose the problem came with them considering that supernaturals were less than people. A few students got up shrugging and walked to the front. They were right it was a quick process. Just a drop of blood in a tube filled with liquid that scowly crap suit looked at and then sent them back to their seats. No one else had moved in the lecture theatre. The Dean had slipped out no doubt going to deliver his speech to the next set of unsuspecting students on campus. “If you do not step forward to take this test voluntarily, you will be compelled to do so” scowly crap suit growled at us.

  The rest of the students slowly stood and filed to the front and I slipped to the back of the queue. I cast my eyes over to the doors again. The room was locked down. There would be no escaping taking the test without a fight. My best option was to take it, fail and then look for an opportunity to slip away later. The twelve students in front of me filed through the test all quickly passing and going back to their seats. I hadn’t thought this through. Going last essentially meant I was now doing this with an audience. I steeled myself and approached scowly crap suit. He, surprisingly, scowled at me and I fought the urge to roll my eyes at him. “Not much need for you to take this is there?” He growled at me. “You’re a runner if ever I saw one, you already know that you’ve failed.”

  I smirked at him and silently gave him my hand. Fuck him if he thought he could intimidate me. He pricked my finger and turned it over to drip my blood into the tube he held. It immediately turned gold. Strangely, he looked confused about this considering that he had been so confident before. The guards around the room closed in on us and I dropped into a defensive stance. Scowly crap suit pulled out what looked like a car key fob from his jacket pocket and clicked the button before a mother fucking shimmery portal opened on the wall right next to me. I was so shocked by the sudden appearance of a portal which, lets face it, no one had seen in real life, that I failed to see the fist flying at my face and the guard rush me from behind before scowly crap suit punched me straight in the left temple and the bastard guard body checked me sending me sprawling through the portal. It was like being pushed through a cold wet curtain and I landed hard on the other side smacking my head on the floor, sliding along the tiles and crashing into a wall. It hurt like a bitch and white light flashed across my vision as I tried to pull myself up but collapsed back to the floor. I could feel blood running down the side of my face and I thought I was going to throw up. Don’t get me wrong I can take more than a couple of punches to the head but portal travel was just too weird for my stomach to take and it would serve them right if I threw up all over their shiny floor. I managed to pull myself together and look up just in time to see scowly crap suit step through the portal and close it behind him, like he did this every day. Dick!

  “Was that really necessary?” a stern female voice said before I felt hands lifting me up from the floor and helping me into a chair. A waste paper bin was quickly shoved into my hands but the urge to vomit was fading and I didn’t think I was going to need it. I quickly took in my surroundings. I was in some kind of office. Most of the walls were lined with bookcases. There was a huge desk in one corner and a sofa set against the far wall. The woman who had helped me up off the floor had stationed herself between me and scowly crap suit almost like she was protecting me. The only other person in the room was a man sat behind a desk glaring at scowly crap suit as well. At first glance it seemed like these two were actually on my side.

  “She’s a runner. I needed to get her through before she even had chance to think about it.” He said shrugging his shoulders clearly not giving a shit.

  I didn’t bother wiping my blood from my face. Let it run and make a mess of the shiny floor. I won’t be the one cleaning it up. Scowly crap suit just glared at me more like it was beneath him to be in the same room as me. He strolled across the room like he owned the place and placed my now gold test tube on the desk before clicking the portal button again and stepping back to it. “She’s your problem now” he said before stepping through and closing the portal behind him.

  The man at the desk who I hadn’t noticed at first while I was flying face first into his floor, picked up the tube and gave it a confused look before raising it up to show the woman next to me. She couldn’t keep the surprised look from her face and they just silently looked at it until I couldn’t take it anymore.

  “What the fuck is going on?” I screeched. I’ll admit it wasn’t my finest bad ass moment. I pulled myself up off the chair bracing myself on the desk and feeling more pissy than I ever had in my life. I was trying to do a stern bad ass stare but I think my wobbly legs were throwing it off a bit.

  T
he woman seemed to shake herself and turned back to me clearly trying to paste a smile on her shocked face. “Come,” she pointed me towards a chair in front of the desk, “sit down before you fall down. Something needs to be done about this Dominic they can’t treat them this way.” She said turning towards the man behind the desk. I sat down in the chair and she produced a handkerchief from, I don’t know where, and gently pressed it against the side of my head. I was so taken aback by her kindness that I didn’t even bat her away which would have been my normal reaction. She was clearly distressed about the treatment of me and it seemed like the smartest idea was not to make any enemies here before I knew what was going on. She fussed over me for a little while before she seemed satisfied and sat down in the chair next to me. “I’m so sorry that they have treated you this way dear. We had no say in what was happening and we only learnt that they could potentially be sending someone here a few hours ago. Let’s start at the beginning because I’m sure all of this is more than a little confusing for you. Firstly, let us introduce ourselves. This is Headmaster Farsight and I am Professor Octavia. I don’t know what they would have told you on the other side, before they clearly brutalised you, but you have been brought to Packlands Academy to learn how to control your magic. The new laws that the humans have made mean that any halfblood supernaturals on Earth, such as yourself, have to be brought to one of our Academy’s so that we can classify your magic and teach you how to control it to prevent anyone losing control and further … incidents occurring.” She grimaced at her explanation. “Granted, the means of getting you here were not supposed to be so violent.”