Awakenings (Elemental Series - Book 1) (27 page)

“Heathe had other concerns. One was you being able to see them…the Guard…no one other than a Guard member is able to see others of their kind… a fact I’m sure Jen has told you about.” He looked at Jen. “Jacey, I can only tell you from my limited observations, but I do believe you are the anomaly. We’ve never had a student who has not experienced an Awakening attend here. I’m sure all of the specifics of an Awakening will be explained to you in your classes. I want you to know we, and I mean all of us here at St. Nemele and those not in the school, are here to help you and want to understand exactly what is going on.”

Hidden within the words he didn’t say, I could tell Herecerti knew more about me and what was going on with me than he was willing to reveal. I remembered the picture of my parents in Celeste’s office and believed it had something to do with it. I knew now was not the time or the place to be asking, so I made a mental note to bring it up to Hudson when we got home. He had to know something.

“Vincent, I take it you have no concerns in taking Jacey on for the next while?” Herecerti asked.

“None,” he responded.

“Hudson, are there any concerns you would like for me to address?” Herecerti asked.

“No, sir. I know Jacey will be all right as long as she’s here with us.” He turned and looked at Jen and then at me and smiled.

“I know there’s going to be some, let’s say, growing pains, as we all learn what needs to be done with you, Jacey. However, from what I’ve seen today, you are a force to be reckoned with.” He got up from his desk and opened the door to his office.

Jen, Hudson, and Vincent exited first. While I was passing Herecerti, he grabbed onto my right hand and flipped it palm up. He stared at the Seeker’s mark still branded in my palm and said, “I need for you to be hyper-vigilant of this today. If your hand starts to have any type of glow, or anything else, for that matter, I need you to come directly to me, understood?” he told me more than asked me.

“Sure,” I answered, not feeling very sure of anything.

“Should I be looking for something or someone, or maybe be waiting for something?” I asked, now a little nervous as I remembered what my last two encounters with my onyx-eyed ‘friend’
were like.

“There’s nothing you need to worry about in those respects here. It’s merely a precaution I wish you to take,” he said, sounding more sure than he looked.

“Then I hope not to see you later,” I answered with a smile.

“You’re going to be fine, Jacey. You remind me a lot of both of your parents. You’ll learn all about them and everything else jumping around in your mind.” He tapped a gentle blue finger to my right temple.

“Thanks,” I said, turning to enter Celeste’s office and meet up with the others.

“We have our schedule and I’ve compared it to yours and Vincent’s. It seems Herecerti made it possible for all of us to have our breaks together, so Hudson and I’ll meet you in the concourse out back at first break,” Jen said.

“All right,” I said apprehensively. I was worried about the classes I was going to attend, but I was more worried about how I was going to respond to Vincent for the remainder of the day. I knew some of my thoughts were neon-sign readable, so I needed to find a way to hide most of them, sooner rather than later.

Along with my Vincent dilemma, another thing gnawing at me had to do with the color red. I definitely hadn’t forgotten the chill I got from the redhead earlier today.
Note to self, find out who she is and avoid her at all costs.
I needed to get Jen alone before she took off with Hudson and ask her a few things before I was left to my own wits for the next couple of hours.

“Do you think you could show me where the washroom is before you guys take off?” I asked Jen, praying she’d catch the ‘
hey I need to talk to you’
look in my eyes.

“I have a copy of our schedule and I can get us to class on time if you want to go to the washroom first. Hudson and I can wait for you guys in the hall,” Vincent said.

“Thanks,” I said.

I grabbed onto Jen’s hand before she could protest and pulled her out into the hallway. I had no idea where I was going, but Jen didn’t pull away, so I figured I was heading in the right direction. When we were about five doors down from the office, Jen spoke up.

“Spill it.”

“Spill what?” I asked as I continued down the hall, waiting to see if the universal sign for the male and female washrooms were the same in this dimension.

“I know you don’t really have to go, so I figured you needed to talk about something,” Jen said, stopping both of us dead in our tracks.

“I’ll tell you as soon as we find the washroom,” I said, sounding kind of pathetic.

“Look up,” Jen said, pointing to a sign on the door directly in front of me.

Who would have guessed—the universal signs were the same. We were standing directly in front of the girls’ washroom. Jen held her hand up to the door and it opened instantly.

“I don’t think I’m gonna get use to that any time soon,” I said, going inside.

It was set up like any other school washroom I’d been in. There was a row of doors with toilets behind them. Across from them was a wall-length mirror reflecting the stalls. In the center of the room was an all-purpose tub.

I walked over to the sink and turned the water on, pretending to wash my hands. Jen caught on and came over beside me, joining in on the hand washing.

“Spill,” Jen said.

I kept my voice low, just above a whisper. “I can handle the class situation. I’m sure Vincent will funnel the brunt of the questions and anything else flowing my way to a reasonable level—so right at this moment that isn’t what I’m really worried about.” I looked at Jen, expecting her to be able to just figure it out. From her silence, I knew she was completely clueless.

“Did you notice a redheaded girl at the beginning of school hanging out in the front with a bunch of people?”
I really hadn’t figured out yet if the people-beings who attended here didn’t mind being called people. Mental note to self—I needed to find out what the proper word for them was.

“No, I didn’t,” Jen answered.

“Well, I noticed her and she noticed me, and let’s say if looks could kill, I think she’d be quite happy if I was pushing up daises.” From the look on Jen’s face, I could tell she caught on to who I was asking about. She was about to answer me when we heard a toilet flush. We both shut up and looked at one another like two kids who’d been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. A bathroom stall opened and the redhead I’d been trying to get some info on sauntered out. Before the uneasy silence became completely unbearable, Jen broke it.

“Chanary, how are you?”

“Fine, Jen. Who’s your little friend?” she asked, sounding much more annoyed than curious.

“This is Hudson’s sister, Jacey. Did you see Heathe this morning?” Jen asked, now causing my interest to pique.

“I did. I think your friend here caused quite a stir,” she said while washing her hands in the sink. She didn’t spare me a glance. She finished and went over to the paper towel dispenser and tore off a couple pieces in short, violent bursts.

“Okay, then, hi Chanary, I’m Jacey.” I figured I’d try and be as polite as I could, considering I felt more annoyed at this point than I should’ve. I’d dealt with girls like this at almost every level of schooling. The pretty, popular, not so nice—that
is in private, overly nice in public, usually man situations—kind.

She didn’t say a word. She looked at me through piercing green eyes and nodded once. She then turned her back on me and left the washroom.

“So, I guess that answers my question on who the redhead was this morning.” I chuckled slightly, not whispering any more.

“She’s not someone you really want to mess with, Jacey. She’s known for her quick temper,” Jen said, looking very serious.

“I only wanted to know who she was so I could avoid her. I have no idea why she doesn’t like me. Why’d you ask her about Heathe?” I asked.

“Heathe’s her brother. Heathe and Vincent have been best friends for like forever. They pretty much grew up together. She kinda has this thing for Vincent.” Jen finished, looking at me like I should know what she was thinking.

“I’ve already made a mental note to avoid her and I don’t think I’ll have a problem doing that.” I tried to sound more confident than I felt.

“What’s with me and washrooms?” I asked, trying to bring some jocularity to the situation.

Jen smacked me on the shoulder as we both left, chuckling. We stopped outside the washroom and walked right into the middle of a conversation between Hudson, Vincent, and Chanary.

“Hey, Jacey, have you met Chanary yet? She’s Heathe’s little sister, the Sentry guy we were talking with earlier,” Vincent said. I guess he hadn’t noticed we’d just met in the washroom.

“Hi, Jacey, nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you and can’t wait for all of us to get together.” This new polar opposite of the original Chanary I’d met in the washroom not thirty seconds prior said. I was sure now I’d see this version every time Vincent was around. I was also sure I wouldn’t forget the real one. I can play this game, I thought, bring it on.

“Nice to meet you, too. I’m sure that whenever Vincent and I have a spare minute, we’ll be able to meet up and get to know one another…a little better,” I said, sounding as sweet as I possibly could without making myself sick.

Jen and I didn’t miss the look I got from Chanary, but Vincent and Hudson did as they were comparing the schedules Celeste had given us. When I finished, both of them looked up with very inquisitive looks on their faces. I’m sure it was because of the unfamiliar syrupy voice I’d used while talking to Chanary. Once she noticed the guys looking at us, her mood and demeanor changed.

“Can’t wait. Well, hope to see you at lunch,” she said, more to Vincent than to me. She turned on her heels and walked away. Jen elbowed me in the ribs. I looked at her and she mouthed the words, ‘be careful’ while at the same time trying to hide a smile.

“We all better get going,” Vincent said, taking my arm to turn me around to head in the opposite direction than Chanary. Before I was completely turned around, Hudson came up to me and embraced me.

“You’re gonna be fine. I’ll see you at break.” He let me out of his bear hug and turned away before I could even respond. He and Jen headed off in the same direction as Chanary.

“That was weird,” I said to Vincent.

“He’s worried about you. He knows you’re going to be facing a lot in the next while, Jacey. It’s quite obvious he wants to help you through everything but he knows you have to do some of it on your own.”

“But, I’m not really alone, am I?”

“No, you’re not,” he replied without the slightest hesitation.

So, this is Nemele and I survived the first hour without breaking a sweat, so to speak. As Vincent and I headed to my first ever class here, I found I wasn’t worried about all the things Hudson was concerned about. I was more worried about a certain redhead I was sure could cause me some real drama. That was something I knew I wanted to avoid, but at the same time, I realized even if I’d been able to avoid her today, there would’ve come a time where she and I would have met…so I could wallow in thoughts of what was to come with her or because of her, or I could worry about that later. I chose later
. Let the fun begin.

Chapter Eighteen

New Girl,
Surprise!
Who needs training?
Well obviously—
That would be me.

W
e walked back down the flight of stairs which had originally led us to Herecerti’s office and veered right. We came to a floating wooden door with a symbol on it which reminded me of a stick figure with a cross under it. We stopped.

“Where are we?” I asked before Vincent was able to reach up and open the door.

“At your first class,” he replied. He then tried to reach up and open the door but was stopped short by me grabbing his hand before he could touch the symbol.

The instant our skin touched, a flurry of butterflies attacked my stomach. Only through sheer willpower was I able to anchor myself while I held his hand.

“But…what class is it?” I asked, sounding a tad bit like I was hyperventilating.

“It’s the first class we
all
take when we arrive here. It’s called Origins.”

“Jacey, you have nothing to worry about. I’ve seen what you can do and this—this will be a piece of cake for you. I’ll be here with you,” he said, looking into my eyes.

When he finished, he gently squeezed my hand. I looked up into his sea blue eyes and found he’d replaced the blanket of calm which I’d forgotten about until it was back, securely in place, and without question, needed.

Vincent let go of my hand and held his hand up to the symbol on the door. It glowed as it had for Ms. Hullen earlier, and then, the door opened. He looked down at me and smiled. We both entered, Vincent first, followed by a still apprehensive yet more emotionally calmed me.

There were literally one hundred and one things running through my mind the instant the door opened. The first being,
What am I doing here?
followed by a flurry of what if’s
.

I wasn’t entirely sure what I expected to find, however, once I crossed the threshold, I was pleasantly surprised to see the room looked like an ordinary high school classroom. Well, most of it did. There was a visionary at the front of the room and desks scattered throughout the rest of the space. Not all of the furnishings were ones you’d see in a human classroom—there were a number of open areas without any type of furnishing. I assumed they would be used by other beings who didn’t utilize regular chair-desk combos. The room was already filled with students. They ranged from elves, fairies, humans, and some beings I hadn’t even imagined before.

I initially thought I was going to walk into a room full of people—beings, whatever’s—who all looked at me the same way Chanary did. Like I was somewhere I shouldn’t be, because I didn’t belong.