“The School for the Gifted”
Chapter 3
We turned down a few streets, passing an elaborate cathedral decorated with distinctive stones and stained glass windows; it was remarkable. The path we were walking on was made of cobblestone and rubble; the street lights were; old, dusty and spider wedded, most of them also had shattered glass underneath them.
The street was eerie, and it left me with an uncomfortable feeling in the bottom of my stomach, it was like the street was somehow sending me a message that I wasn’t welcome.
I stopped frozen on the spot, looking up at Jai as it all clicked together.
“I’ve dreamt about this street, I’ve been here before—but in my dream it was dark and there was a big, black, evil-looking creature—Jai my dreams aren’t normal, they never have been. I can dream the future, and I don’t like this place at all.” I pointed towards some bushes that boarded the inside of a large black fence; that was where I had seen the creature lurking in my dream.
I could hear the fear in my voice, and that worried me more than what actually could be lurking.
I glanced up at Jai through my hair, which somewhat resembled a curtain of darkness; hiding me from the paranormal world.
Jai noticed my distress, pulling me closer and squeezing my hand.
We started walking again—hand in hand—and it was comforting to know that someone would look out for me, even when I was a pathetic mess or scared into a stupid stage of shock.
“Savanna Ryder...” Jai whispered my name, his lips once again brushing my ear as he spoke—sending lovely tingles up my spine. “You really are different to the girl’s I’ve met—”
“Is that a good thing?” I cut it, suddenly unsure if he was complementing me or giving me a straight—you are too weird answer.
“Yes, but next time let me finish.” He grinned down at me. “First of all, you aren’t a Mundane—you are like me. Secondly, I have only read about the kind of people who have extra powers like wiping minds and those who dream the future. And lastly, you are absolutely gorgeous, you are my princess,” he whispered, picking up my hands and bringing my fingers to his lips; kissing each individual one like it was treasured, causing my cheeks to burn red with obvious colour.
“So,” I started. “I finally think I have found a place for me to fit in and even then—I'm an outcast amongst outcasts,” I huffed, now finding myself strangely upset.
“I promise you—you will never be an outcast in my arms.”
Sage made a gagging noise from in front of us.
“Isn’t our Romeo so sweet? What now, start quoting Shakespeare to impress the ladies?” she sighed and flipped her hand over her shoulder for an extra dramatic finish.
“Five bucks says he already has,” Caleb scoffed.
“He already has.” I giggled, rewarding myself with a mocking nudge in the ribs from Jai.
“Don’t just give away all my tactics, Ann,” Jai joked playfully as he squeezed my hand. “Umm—we are here.”
I looked up, finding nothing worth the classification of a school. The area I was looking at was what I thought to be an empty lot. A few scraps of metal and the occasional piece of rubbish lay scattered around the property, surrounded by a solid, concrete fence which had been painted black and topped with rugged looking barbed wire.
The whole deserted look was featured through the whole street and made this block blend in with everything else, nothing stood out...
Except the bodyguard that stood watch at the entrance to this property.
I had seen this man before. I thought as I let my eyes fall on the guard’s features. He was the bouncer from outside Hades.
He looked impossibly different now; he no longer looked as if he was a criminal or a drug dealer in a creepy film—instead he appeared as if he was a body guard for some royal jerk... but with claw-like fingernails and hypnotic, cat eyes which shone as a beacon from underneath the veil of his hair.
“Umm—Jai, what is Hades clawed-bouncer doing standing in front of an empty property?” I asked, raising my eyebrows in confusion.
“Look closer. It’s hidden behind glamour, you idiot.” Sage snapped, shaking her head in a sign of irritation.
I ignored her comment, but Jai didn’t. “Shut. Your. Mouth. Sage.”
She let out an insanely wicked laugh that left me unsure of what I should be more worried about; her or the monster lurking in my dreams.
“What? Did I offend your little puppet, it aint my fault she hangs on your every word.” Sage’s eyes sparked with flaring anger. “but, yet she is stupid enough to not look past the damned glamour!” she shouted and stood her ground in front of her brother—even though she was nowhere near his height.
Caleb put a hand on her arm, but she merely shrugged it off, continuing to glare at Jai.
“What are you going to say to that, huh?” Sage spat, trying to enrage him with the toothy smile that spread across her pretty little face.
Jai did nothing that rewarded his sister with the reaction she was looking for. Instead he just squinted and then raised a brow.
“You wear a lot of make up,” he started, wiping his finger along her cheek; looking for any powder left on his fingertip. “Do you leave a clown imprint on your pillowcase?”
Sage raised her hand towards Jai’s face, but before she could follow through with the motion—Caleb stepped forward, linking his arms around her waist and flinging her over his shoulder, pulling her away from Jai.
Sage struggled in his vice-like grip for a few moments before she gave up and locked her eyes with Caleb’s, giving him a pointed nod of her head before he let her go storming off.
“Jai, it bugs me—you can do so much better, god Damnit! We are ro—”
“Shut. Up.” Jai boomed, whipping the grin right off of her face.
“Oh. This is rich. You haven’t told her, have you? Ha.” Sage giggled and Caleb pulled her towards the destination.
Jai moved so that he stood in front of me, gripping my hands.
“Are you okay, princess?” he asked. “I’m sorry. Sage is just used to being the only girl around here.”
He dropped one of my hands and ran his free one along my cheek, tucking a loose strand of my hair neatly behind my ear.
“I'm fine,” I lied. Truthfully I was totally and utterly embarrassed about them arguing over me, I didn’t want to be the cause for a sibling feud. But I did want to know what he wasn’t telling me, momentarily I felt hurt for not being told, but then I realised that hopefully he would tell me soon enough... hopefully.
“I'm sure your fine—mmm..?” Jai said sarcastically, trying to get me to tell him the truth. It is weird how in the short time we had known each other; it feels like I have always known him, always been able to tell what each other are feeling, and never had to worry about an awkward moment between friends.
If we were just friends?
“I'm just feeling a bit like an outcast, again. Plus I really don’t want to get between you and your sister—”
“Shut up and come here,” Jai rolled his eyes and then shook his head with a smirk plastered over his features.
He held his arms open and stepped towards me at the same time as I closed the distance between us.
I was resting my head in the hollow between his neck and shoulder, his arms curled around my waist, while mine draped behind his head; holding each other close.
We meshed well together. I thought, quickly pushing that occurrence to the back of my mind.
While I held Jai I focused my eyes on the block of land; I imagined peeling the glamour away just like I would peel a banana, effortlessly revealing that was beneath.
The building was modern and neat, looking extremely out of place in the old, cobble stone street. The windows were large and had a dark tint, revealing only shadows of objects behind them. There were at least four stories in height, along with what looked to be roof access. The fence was still the same as I had seen it before; solid with black concrete, surrounding the block with barbed wire. The building was surrounded by shrubbery and blooming flowers, paths twisting around in an almost dance. The whole property looked next to impossible to infiltrate, especially when I remembered that the Hades bouncer stood guard at the gate.
“So...” I tugged on Jai’s hand. “What is the bouncer doing standing there?”
“He works for us,” Jai said, shrugging his shoulders as if saying what else would he be doing here?
I just nodded my head as if I knew exactly what was going on.
“Seth, how are you today? I see you’ve been doing double shifts down at the club.” Jai spoke, his posture changing to one of business. “Don’t need me to speak to any of them, do you?” Jai raised his eyebrows questioningly. Putting authority into his tone, making me wonder for the second time, what kind of influence he had over everyone.
I made a mental note to ask him about that, and this big secret thing later.
“No—no need to trouble you Sir,” Seth said proudly, obviously fond of Jai’s friendship. “I just brought a house with my missus, I truly need the pay, that’s all.” He lowered his head in what looked like loyalty.
Seth didn’t seem like the type to have a wife, he was too well dressed in this outfit; an expensive pin stripe suit with a navy blue tie. It was that, and the fact that he was too tall and somehow reminded me of frightened deer in Jai’s presence that made me think he lived alone. But back at the club he shone with dark confidence.
What loyalty did Seth owe Jai?
“Make sure that you say hello to Rose for us, wont you?” Sage spoke confidently, evidently meaning Seth’s wife.
From what I could imagine, Rose would look similar in appearance to Seth; overly tall and fashionably wise.
The more that I looked at Seth, the more that I noticed about his strange appearance, his skin was faintly sparkly and tinged red in the sunlight, making his yellow cat eyes shine like the sun itself.
“Rose will be very happy to hear from you, Miss.” Seth spoke quietly but I could see the faint trace of a smile lurking on his face.
Suddenly alarm sprang on Seth’s face as he noticed me for the first time. “Who do we have here? A little Mundane?” he said, quickly adding a bit of weight into his voice, a menacing tone that would scare off a small child if need be. The pupils in his eyes dilated, making me think of a cat ready to pounce onto it’s pray. He looked to be sizing me up as his eyes scanned over me, muttering something underneath his breath.
“Savanna Ryder, pleasure to meet you.” I stuck out my hand and waited for him to take it, but he didn’t. He just screwed up his nose and raised a bushy eyebrow, keeping his gaze locked with my outstretched palm.
I let me hand slip back down to my side, this time I was the one to mutter underneath my breath. “Stupid man. Not polite. I should show him what I'm made of.”
I looked up at him and felt a sudden burst of anger towards his attitude. “Okay, here is the deal buddy—either, you can shake my hand or go to hell. What will it be?” I spat.
Seth’s attention was instantly turned back on me, first he looked a little bit astonished, but then gradually he regained his composure and smiled.
Caleb and Jai were leaning against the concrete fence with broad smiles over their faces, before suddenly bursting into laughter. Eventually they were holding their stomach with one hand and supporting their balance with the other.
On the other hand, Sage looked furious at my display of manners.
“Ha. I like your attitude little one,” Seth said as he opened the gate to the property, letting us inside only once I managed to shake his hand. But that was before storming off in front of the others.
Seth seemed like a nice enough guy really, but he had officially pissed me off. First he doesn’t shake my hand, then he likes my attitude and then he calls me little.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Savanna, you’re lucky that you were talking to Seth and not Bannie. Geez, Bannie would have ripped your head off without a second thought if we had allowed him,” Caleb said before he started to make horrid noises that I was sure were meant to resemble my head being torn from my body. It wasn’t a nice mental image, and noises that Caleb created didn’t help whatsoever.
Caleb stopped making the noises and my anger slipped away, leaving my mind to wander back to the conversation.
“...if we had allowed him,” I remembered Caleb saying, which led me back to questioning what authority these three had over everyone.
“What do you mean: if we had allowed him?” I asked Caleb, stopping in my tracks and crossing my arms over my chest, which only caused Jai to sneak a look at what I had on offer; because my crossed arms worked more effective than a push-up bra. “Caleb?”
“Savanna.” He said, pointedly avoiding my question and throwing a look over his shoulder at Jai for assistance.
“Caleb!” I repeated.
“That’s my name—don’t over use it,” he said smugly, happy enough with himself that he allowed a self-satisfied grin to spread over his features.
“Jai...” I whined like a little kid. “What aren’t you all telling me?” I said, with an expressing that I hoped looked like pouting over my face.
“You are cute, when you’re frustrated.” He answered, swinging his arm over my shoulder and clasping my hand that I had reached up to entwine with his.
“You can’t avoid the question forever.” I muttered as he pulled me along the remaining path that led up to the building.
“I know, we will talk about it later.” He kissed my forehead and dropped his arm from around me as the door approached.
I spun to face Caleb, “What exactly is Seth?” I asked, figuring he was one who would most likely answer me. Underneath his joker attitude, he was a smart kid.
“Seth is a Warlock—” Caleb started.
“—was a Warlock.” Sage cut in, and I was surprised that she didn’t seem as hostile as earlier.
“Sorry. Seth was a Warlock, but his title was changed when he was stripped of his power. Technically, now he is a Half-Warlock, but everyone thinks of him the same way as they used to.” Caleb replied.
“What did he do?—I mean, to get his powers stripped?” I asked curiously as we made the final steps to the entrance.
“A kid got killed, Seth was there. No one could prove that he didn’t do it.... I think he was innocent—” Jai said, finally coming to a stop.
“Can we play twenty questions some other time?” Sage huffed as she came to a stop beside her brother.
We all nodded.
The School for the Gifted. I thought, imagining holding up my fingers in the air for quotation marks.
It was pale and bigger than I had first thought, it was roughly the four stories high, but it was what looked to be the length of two football fields wide. The tinted glass reflected the outside world and I couldn’t see clearly what was on the inside. My reflection showed me that my long hair was knotted horribly and sitting around my face in a nest, my eyes seemed to show more violet than blue today and there was a cloudy texture which hid the emotions which were captured beneath.
My mother had always told me that I was gorgeous, but I thought she was only saying that because she had to. I had never believed her until now, not that I thought I was gorgeous, but I had something. I had my own beauty about me, my own odd style.
It made me who I am.
Jai was right in one way or another, there was something beautiful about me, but you just had to look past everything else to find it—not that I would admit it to anyone.
On the other hand, Jai was definitely a stunner. His prominent jaw line stood out, rarely having any stubble. The small kink in his nose didn’t matter, it didn’t stand out unless you were staring—which I happened to be doing a lot. His blonde hair was always styled in a natural tousled look, making it look simple yet affective. But it did dangle slightly too long in the front, nearly masking his liquid chocolate eyes that glistened with colour in the right light.
I had never really believed in that eyes are the windows to the soul bullshit, until now that is. Jai’s eyes seemed to capture my thoughts; the chocolate colour appeared to mix until it was dancing with other shades of brown that I couldn’t manage to name—it was like his soul was coming out to play.
The shirt that he wore today was a snug fit, illustrating his muscles perfectly, causing my mind to wander off and imagine what it would be like to run my hands over his chest.
I quickly shook that thought away once I realised that I wasn’t the only person using the windows reflection as a chance to check someone out.
Caleb was nearly melting as he looked at Sage.
Sage looked at herself.
And Jai was looking right at my reflection, meeting my eyes in that round-about -way.
I blushed a shade of crimson that I didn’t think was possible, and bit down on my lip as I looked away. Jai tried to stifle his laugh but didn’t succeed; instead disguising it with a cough that honestly failed miserably.
Instead of focussing on my love life, I stared straight ahead. The door to the School was large enough for a fully grown man to be doubled in height and still have plenty of room to walk underneath. It was an old wooden door that had gold hinges, brass ornaments and golden swirls engraves all over it.
Sage reached forward and pushed a large iron key into a slot in the bricks that I wouldn’t have even noticed. The lock was concealed behind a brick that lifted up and slotted in above the hole. It was well designed and obviously there for security reasons, only allowing those people that are common with the building to gain access.
The large door opened automatically, white sparks flying out from underneath it whilst the golden swirls which were engraved into the wood spiralled with colour. Cool air gushed out from the doorway into our faces as we stepped through. The room looked like a grand ballroom and a hallway rolled into an eye catching display. Leading off this room there were five elaborate arch ways, all taking a different path, all of them with a golden plaque labelling the direction they went in: north, south, east, west, central. It reminded me of a museum, everything was gorgeous and planned with precision. The walls were a colour which placed somewhere in between a cream and a white, there were priceless paintings of abstract art; creatures, people and patterns all enclosed inside large golden frames, dates etched into canvas going back to BC. The floor was made of two different tiles; the first was cream with tiny little symbols, almost making it look like it was shattered. The second was white with a bold unopened flower, looking like it wanted to break free. The tiles were arranged in such a way that I couldn’t identify the pattern, but they were clearly layed out in some sort of order. Looking up at the ceiling was like looking into an artist mind, there were clouds and angels mixed through it with floral designs sketching the outer edges. It was astonishing, reminding me of the Sistine Chapel.
There was a young boy, maybe the age of ten, sitting in the far corner with his glasses pushed high up on his nose. He was nerdy looking with scraggily hair that was tucked neatly behind his ears, his face was hidden behind a large leather book and he didn’t appear to realise we had walked in until my shoes made a loud squeal over the tiles.
I really had to learn to pick up my feet.
The boy looked startled for a few seconds, before scampering to his feet and bowing his head. Jai and Caleb sighed as if they thought this was unnecessary, but Sage looked like she was enjoying every second of it.
“You may rise. Now return to what you were doing, boy.” Sage ordered the small child around. He only had the confidence to nod and side step back to where he was sitting, before thrusting the book in front of his face.
“Colin...?” Jai said, waiting for the little boy to look up. “How are you? You are not frightened by Sage again are you?” Jai walked over and knelt in front of the small boy with his eyebrows raised.
“I—umm–I'm okay. I didn’t mean to look frightened—Sir.” Colin stuttered and folded the book in his lap.
“I will always look out for you, kid, don’t worry.” Jai whispered just loud enough for us all to overhear. He then stood up, scuffed Colin’s hair up a bit and then walked back over to us. The book was instantly back in front of the boys face.
“Stop being so nice,” Sage huffed and walked off in front of us into the archway that read west. Caleb mock punched Jai in the shoulder and then jogged off after her.
“Walk home without us. We are filling in for Ms. Ayer in Biology for the second half of the day. Jai—bring Savanna home, she needs to find out sooner or later.” Caleb thought to both Jai and myself, I knew this because I saw Jai tense at the last sentence.
Jai turned to me and crossed his arms over his chest. I grinned up at him and mimicked his posture, opening my mouth to speak.
But before I could say anything, Jai spoke. “People who think they know everything are really annoying to those of us who do...” he bent towards me and whispered. “I will explain everything later, I promise.”
“Promise?” I asked, raising my eyebrows and putting my hands on my hips.
“I promise,” he whispered, kissing my cheek before he tugged me towards the arch labelled ‘Central’.
“Where are you off to now?” I asked, peering around at my new surroundings. The hallway was similar in design to the entrance we had just come from, except now there were bookcases after bookcases that lined the walls, surrounding us. There were numerous doors that lead of the main hallway; each of them had tiny golden plaques hanging above the door frame. One of the doors had ‘Restricted’ written above it, which only made me want to go in there more, to find out what really does happen behind closed doors.
Jai seemed to know exactly which corners to turn and which doors lead to another passageway. I felt like a tiny mouse which had been dropped inside a maze, excepted to find the cheese. It would take me forever to learn which ways which, let alone find the metaphorical cheese.
“Jai, where are we going?” I asked again, this time I stopped walking, pausing to see how long it would take for him to realise I wasn’t following behind him anymore. He had reached another corner by the time he had figured it out. “Jai?”
He paced back to where I stood. “Sorry my mind was off in another world—I’m taking you to meet the professor, then we can lounge around as much as we like.” He grinned at me, taking my hand in his as he pulled me into step next to him. “You okay with that?”
“Definitely the lounging part,” I giggled, swinging our hands between us. I wasn’t sure what to make of seeing this Professor. I had no idea what to expect from him, and what would be expected of me. “Jai, who is he?” I asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.
“The Professor—hmmm—he is a very old friend of mine, emphasis on the old,” he laughed. “He was the one who got Sage, Caleb and I to attend here, we used to attend a private school at the Courts, but once...” he trailed off into silence, and we stood there for a moment whilst Jai was stuck in his mind. He shook his head before speaking again, as if physically tossing that thought away. “Umm, Alex —Professor Alexandrus—is a good man, trust him.”
“I trust you,” I whispered, tucking myself under Jai’s arm, seeing that he needed comforting from whatever was going through his head.
Jai’s change of expression throughout that small conversation was enough for me to realise that whatever he wasn’t telling me was haunting him on the inside.
One thing he said caught my attention, and I hoped that it wouldn’t cause emotional pain. I asked, “What are the Courts?”
He sniffled slightly before speaking, “Can I add that to the list of things to explain later?” he asked cautiously, testing to see how much I would take before I became impatient with him.
In all honesty, I am normally horribly impatient—which is why my reply shocked me a little. “It is most definitely added to the list. I can wait for your answers.”
I suddenly realised that we had reached the room we came looking for, the obvious sign being the large gold plaque that read,
“PROFESSER—Prof. Alexandrus: Defender of Mankind.”
But I didn’t even notice the plaque, the only reason I stopped was because Jai had knocked on the doorframe with his free hand.
I couldn’t help but giggle as I reread the plaque, was it just me or did anyone else find it strange that a mother would call her child the defender of mankind? My giggled turned into near hysterical laughter, bending me at the waist as my thoughts wandered. I could just imagine this man as a small child running around with a handkerchief in his pants pocket, only keeping it there so when the time came he could pull it from that pocket and act sophisticated in front of his peer. There was something about this erratic thought that left me with the opinion that handkerchiefs were only meant for old people, why this occurred to me I didn’t know.
My mind was jolted back to the present moment when the door in front of me caught my attention. This door was different to any door that I had ever seen before. I wouldn’t have even named it a door if it hadn’t of been what looked to be the only entrance to this room. The door was made of a blue liquid that was sparkling with golden flakes, the liquid wasn’t held in shape with glass like I would have expected—it was just hovering in midair in the shape that closed off the entrance.
It reminded me of an alcoholic beverage I had been given once by a bar tender with a wicked smile. At the time I hadn’t realised that he was glamoured, but I soon figured it out when a stranger knocked the drink from my fingers and told me not to drink the fey wine unless I wanted to become a faery. From then on I only ever ordered regular drinks or beverages I knew of.
I was once again jolted back to the present moment when the door opened; not pushing backwards as a regular door, but simply disappearing into thin air—or maybe it evaporated?
“Don’t stare at him...” Jai whispered into my ear, giving my hand a squeeze before dropping it. I gave him a puzzled look before becoming astonished at what lay before my eyes; the walls looked strangely sparkly like they had been painted with silver glitter glue, the floor was of thick royal blue carpet, but was oddly covered with a low layer of fog—which struck me as utterly out of place because we were inside.
Anything could obviously happen in this school; I had to prepare for the weirdest. I thought as I glanced around the room.
There was an old man sitting in a large leather chair behind a mahogany desk, facing his back to us. There was an enormous screen on the black wall that had his attention, as well as mine. The screen was filled with pictures of creatures and patterns, much like the images in the paintings that I saw as I walked through the building. I didn’t get to define the image in my head, as the projector was swiftly turned off and the man in the chair swivelled around to face us.
Suddenly I understood why Jai had told me not to stare.
The man was old—very old—and his grey hair was receding to near nothing. He was wearing an expensive looking brown suit, with last century cuff links, and silver horn-rimmed glassed. His face was wrinkled, the lines in his forehead deep enough to look scarred, the hollows before his eyes looked like the skin was ready to tear and the skin underneath his neck was sagging horribly.
If I hadn’t already known there was life after death, I would have presumed that his man was proof that there was, he looked well past his used by date.
“Jai, my boy, who did you bring with you?” spoke Professor Alexandrus, his voice giving off a frail and weakening kind of tone.
“Professor,” Jai nodded, smiling. “This is Savanna Ryder”—he placed a hand on my shoulder—“she is one of us, extremely gifted. And Alex, if you don’t mind me saying, I think she is stronger than even you...”
“Is that supposed to be an old joke, Jai?” grinned the Professor, waving his hand in a gesture to sit down. We both sat down on rather frayed, cushioned chairs.
“Ha. No. I leave Caleb to the humour. But what I was referring to was that Savanna seems to be stronger than the average, she has potential—” Jai said, staring sharply into the old man’s eyes.
“Has she now?” the professor smirked, scanning me with his eyes to see what strength I may have, sizing me up just like Seth had. I had felt like I was being examined ever since I stepped through the front gates, what was Jai hiding from me?
I pulled my hand through my hair nervously and stood as still as I could in the silence that enveloped the room.
“She is interesting, that is for sure. Needs to learn to hold her ground, and not let her emotions be shown to the whole world.”—Of course that was when I blushed—“The self confidence needs to be worked on as I can see that she doesn’t like this much attention payed to her, the colour is rising in her cheeks and she fiddles with her hair when being observed. Needs training. Could use her beauty to her advantage in covert ops though... ” The Professor drummed his fingers alone his desk as he looked back and forth between Jai and I. “She can train with you and the other two, but do not let her get in trouble, or I will put her into a class. Is that clear Jai?”
“Crystal clear. But, Alex, she will also need advanced training from you...” Jai trailed off, tousling his hair beneath his fingers.
“I do not train beginners...” he said curiously, raising an eyebrow at Jai.
“I am aware of that Alexandrus; however, I would like you to assist Savanna in some of the upper training. I am positive that you will be impressed.”—Jai held out his fingers ready to put one down with each comment he was about to say.—“She has had her powers since she was fourteen, an oddity if I do say so myself. She dreams the future. She can wipe memories. I’m reasonably sure that all of her charms are stronger than an experienced elder. And there is probably more...” Jai spoke emphasising quite a few words in his speech. The way he rattled off my crazy shit reminded me of a mother reading her child’s good report card, so proud. I couldn’t keep the smile on my face as I thought, Jai is proud of me. It left me feeling vaguely full of joy.
“I am not sure whether I actually believe you Jai. What you are telling me is highly unlikely.” The Professor just shook his head. “Would you care to show me, Miss Ryder?”
I was nervous, what if I couldn’t do anything because of the nerves? What if I made a fool out of myself and Jai? What if the professor got grumpy at Jai for apparently lying to him? What if....
I needed to calm down, and not be such a worry wort. Chill. I thought, taking a few deep breaths and stepping forward a step, so that I stood directly in front of the mahogany desk.
“What do you want me to do, Professor?” I queried with my head held high.
“What did you dream about last night?” the Professor said in obvious disbelief.
I took a deep breath and started. “I walked down this very street. It was like seeing everything in black and white, everything was colourless. Only one or two of the street lights worked and they were all covered in grime and spider webs. I remember seeing lots of dirt and rubbish that I was sure to be filthy. The ground beneath my feet was a cobblestone path mixed with chunks of rubble.”—I closed my eyes, remembering back—“In the distance there was a distorted silhouette, twisted by the darkness. As I got closer I realised that the creature was similar to an enormous black dog, but it was more savage and definitely had the remains of glamour left on it. Then I woke up screaming.” I huffed out the end, glad to open my eyes again. Jai looked like he was shocked at the details which were involved in my dreams; it looked like he wanted to do something to keep me out of my own head.
The Professor looked at me like I had just lied that my dog had eaten my homework, and that he knew that I didn’t have a dog.
“Savanna... tsk, tsk.” Professor Alexandrus shook his head. “Are you going to pretend to wipe someone’s memory now?” he said mockingly. He seemed like a nice enough man; I just needed to get him to believe him in order for him to help me with the many things about myself that even I didn’t understand.
“Fine,” I snapped at the Professor and turned around to face Jai. “Okay, Jai. Can you say a word out loud and then keep repeating it in your head. When I ask you to say the word again, please tell us...” as I spoke I tried to hide my emotions. I didn’t want everyone to know how much I really didn’t want to take away any of Jai’s memory, and how nervous I was about it.
“Memory,” Jai spoke out loud before closing his eyes. Truthfully he didn’t need them closed, but he clearly thought that it would be a good idea, and I didn’t object.
I focused my attention on Jai, this time he allowed me to get into his head. In all honesty, this was an extremely intimate thing to do, and I realised exactly just how much when I found the images of me dancing around his head. I felt the colour burn my cheeks as I focused on the task at hand. The word Memory, was bouncing around as he repeated it over and over again.
“Memory-memory-memory-memory-memory-memory.”
I twitched my fingers slowly and the word was erased, replaced by the need to remember what he had just been thinking, and frustration.
“Jai, what was the word?” I asked him, bitting down on my bottom lip. He opened his eyes and stared at me happily, but I could see the confusion tensed in his eyebrows.
“Honestly, I can’t remember. Which I think was the point, but now it’s really bugging me,” he laughed. “What was the word?” he said looking like he was pouting. “Seriously, well done. But now, tell me the damned word.” He stuck out his tongue at me cutely.
“Memory,” the professor nodded. “The word was Memory.” At least the Professor looked like he somewhat believed me now—a little bit at least. “Savanna, I will train you myself when I can. I will let you know when that will be, but for now, I want you to pick up some basic skills with Jai.” The Professor looked me in the eyes then and smiled, a true smile, not a fake.
Jai gave the Professor a two fingered salute before placing his hand on the small of my back and edging out of the strange door.
