Chapter II

The next morning I wake all sore and confused. My neck and back, ache. It feels like I was hiking an impossibly high mountain or something. I remember last night but quickly dismiss the thought. It's just craziness. Mia's craziness. Why am I sore? I rub my hands up and down my arms and they are slightly different. They feel stronger. Toned. I walk to the bathroom and look at myself. 

I gasp. 

I'm changed...changing? It's not possible. My dark hair has reached my hips. I look toned like I worked out. My eyes...they are lighter. There is nothing of the dark chocolate color I'm used to seeing. Honeysuckle looks back at me. The color trembles a bit. Like is not completely settled. It is like the color is just on the surface, not grabbing hold on the iris. Like it wants to expand and change. What's going on? I look away from myself and get ready. I run down the hallway and knock frantically on Mia's door.

"Mia, Mia. Open up!" There are noises inside and Mia opens the door.

"What...oh." She looks at me up and down. "Get in." She closes the door behind me. She waves at me to sit with her in the bed. She looks like some truck has gone through her. Hair messed up, blood-red eyes, her pajamas messy closed to her pixie-like body. I didn't even look at the time. Must be really early.

"What...what is happening to me? This...this..." I struggle to find my words.

"Shhh. Calm down." She tucks behind my ear a loose dark wave. "I told you. You are different, Alice." She pauses and looks at me intently, suddenly becoming fully awake. "It's staring."

"What's starting? Mia, please explain. This is just too weird." I give her the most pleading look I can manage. She sighs. "I will, but this is something that is not easy to comprehend. Alice, for what I can see you are a Blessed child. Also something else. I can't quite grasp it."

"Okay," I say and try to wrap my head around it. She's lost it. Mia catches my eyes and smiles. "Blessed means that you have a gift or several of them. These come from the starts, the universe. That's why your whole life you've felt a deep familiarity with them. It's because you come from them. The starts are like your familiars. They guide you throughout your life. They give you your powers. There are a few others too like you. Each girl or boy has a different gift. You'll find yours in time. But from what I'm perceiving you are something else too. I feel darkness emanating from you. It's not normal..." She stares away from me deep in thought. That is so not good. What am I thinking? None of this is good or normal.

"If what you are saying is true, what does that make you?" She looks back at me. "Well, I'm a Seeker. I sense when people like us are about to undergo the change. I can also sense when our kind is near. I've done this for a long time." She smiles sweetly at me. Suddenly I don't see her as my longtime friend but as a long-ago soul. The smile is not from a seventeen-year-old girl. In her smile, I could see the wisdom and kindness of a much older person. I give her a doubtful smile.

"How old are you, Mia?" Her smile broadens.

"That's not nice to ask. Let's just say that I was present when the witch trials commenced." I gasp in surprise.

"Am I going to be the same?" I ask tentatively. Living forever and ever? Could that really be possible? Do I want that?

"Probably. Although maybe your darkness will influence on that." She flips her shoulder-length blond hair back and goes towards the door.

"I don't know if you noticed, but there is still at least an hour before classes start. I would like to rest a bit." Her tired-looking eyes are back and a smirk rests on her lips. She knows I'm nervous and excited- kind of- because of this change, but she needs her rest too. 

"Of course." I get up, not feeling completely my legs and get out of her room.

Slowly, but steadily I head back to my room. I don't even bother looking at the clock, Mia already said it's too early. 

Mia! My mind runs fast. What's happened in just 24 hours or less? I lay back in my bed facing the ceiling and the thoughts that I can no longer run away from fill my mind, and almost my body from the power they held. The supernatural world might exist! I am no longer just human. I'm more. The world holds so much more mystery than we might think. That I might think. If I'm this "Blessed", what else is out there? Werewolves? Witches? Ghosts? Vampires?

I jump out of bed and go to the full body mirror beside my bed. Indeed, I'm going through something different. Something not entirely natural. My arms, legs, torso; well my whole body has become toner, firmer. At least I don't look like a man. My dark hair has gotten a deeper color and length. My eyes...oh gosh! My eyes. What am I going to do with these? They change their color. That's why the honeysuckle didn't seem attached. Ocean blue, emerald green, mysterious yellow. I look impassively at myself, and weirdly they settle to the light honeysuckle. This is too fast, too new...too different.

In the afternoon, I'm picking numbly at my food when Dean and my friends walk in the common room.

"Alice you're coming, right?"

"Where?" I look up from my untouched plate of spaghetti.

"We are going to the mall this evening after classes. Remember? It's your birthday silly. We need to celebrate somehow." Penelope stares at me with her big blue eyes. The talk earlier with Mia made me forget what today is. I smile at her. "Sure, that would be great. How are we going to go? Mrs. Karp said that no one leaves school without supervision." I smirk at her. She rolls her eyes.

"Let me worry about that, sweetie." She's very persuasive. With her long blond hair and those deep blue eyes, she can get away with almost anything in this school.

*****

I'm in my third class of the day. The class that I hate to be in. Just because of her. 

Megan. 

The 'make drool' of boys and girls. Mean, selfish, manipulative, little Megan. Tall, slender, and long brunette hair. She's a bitch. All the people in the school know it and all want to be her. They all have a love-hate relationship with her, even the teachers. 

She walks by me and grabs a lock of my hair. "What's this Alice? Are you using extensions? Honey, there's no use of trying. You know who's really queen here." She laughs. Leaning a little closer to my ear she whispers. "I think I know who you are." I brush her off and she goes with a sour expression on her face. 

Know who I am? What is she talking about? Thankfully the hour and a half pass quickly. I run away from there with my books firmly pressed against my chest. Megan seemed awfully different today. Can she get any meaner or weirder? I can't believe some girls want to be like her. There is nothing appealing to her. Nothing to aspire. Shaking my head, I head out and mixed with the other students around the hallway.  

*****

"Who are we waiting for?" I ask. We are in Dean's car. It looks that after all we were allowed to go outside of the academy. Dean is in the driver's seat and beside him is Mia. She looks fresh and composed. Like nothing has changed, or like she hadn't told me the biggest, weirdest news in my entire life.

"Penelope dummy," says Dean with a suspicious smile. The door of the car opens and Penelope gets in. She's wiping her lower lip. I look at her questioningly, my brow arching. She smiles. "What? I was ensuring our trip." Typical Penelope, I don't even have to ask what she was doing. Dean smiles and presses down hard on the gas.

When we get to the mall, Mia and Penelope decide to go and do some lingerie shopping. I go to the bookstore with Dean instead.

"So how are you feeling now that you're old?" I roll my eyes at him but smile.

"I'm just eighteen and I feel just fine." He giggles.

"You know, now that you are older and stuff, the boys will find you more appealing." He's teasing me since I've never had a boyfriend or something even remotely close.

"I prefer to wait and see what happens instead of going out like you and making out with the first boy that crosses your path." I snap at him playfully. He laughs and goes to another aisle of books. I shake my head. Dean is a lost cause in the boy department.

I wander around to the Astronomy and Mythology section. I'm deeply focused when I feel someone touching my shoulder. I spin quickly.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Prof. Strauss looks at me apologetically.

"No...Sorry...don't worry." I feel my mouth go dry. How is it possible that I find my professor so irrevocably attractive? He smiles warmly at me.

"May I ask what are you looking for, Alice?" I stare at him blankly. He's talking to me!

"Umm...I don't know yet. I'm just looking." I quickly look back at the books. I'd forgotten they were there. My hand shakes a little when I touch the books. I put them at my side quickly.

"Well then, can I make a suggestion?" I look back at him. Those beautiful green eyes calling to my being. I absentmindedly play with a few strands of hair in my back.

He goes and pulls out a cream-colored book. On its cover, there are line traces of constellations and drawings of mythical creatures. I entranced by him and his hands. Wait, why hasn't he busted me for being out of school campus without supervision?

"Star Lore: Myths, Legends, and Facts, by William Tyler Olcott it's a great book. It's an easy read for a clever girl like you. I've noticed that you have quite a passion for my class." I take the book from his hands and look through some of its pages. It does look interesting and easy to read. By some miracle, my hands don't shake while I look through the book. I look at my professor.

"Thanks, Professor Strauss." He smiles shyly.

"Please call me William. We are not in school. The term "professor" has always made me feel old." He walks with me to the cash register talking about how he has always loved the universe and the reasons he chose to study it. I'm surprised by the conversation, and I realize that he must not be that much older than me. I'm dazzled by him. His movements. His voice. His eyes.

"Pro...William, if you don't mind me asking, how old are you?" He pauses and looks at me puzzled. I must stop asking people's ages. I play with my hair again and I'm conscious that my cheeks are turning pink. I hope that's all that is turning a different color. "It's just that you sound relaxed...carefree. Not like the other professors at school." I look down to my feet and I hear a little laugh. Quickly I glance up to see his amused face.

"I'm 21, Alice. I finished my BA and quickly was hired by the academy. I'm very lucky to have a stable job so young." I smile back at him and we get to the cash register.

He grabs my book from under my arm and checks it.

"Hey what..." I start, but he doesn't let me finish. 

"I heard your friends the other day talking about celebrating your birthday." He pays the lady and hands me the bag. "Happy Birthday, Alice." He whips a huge all-perfect-teeth smile at me. I blush. 

"You shouldn't have..." I shyly look down at my feet.

"Why not? You are one of my brightest students. You've earned it."

"Thank you," I say shyly at him. We walk in silence out of the store.

"Well, I guess I see you back at school." His eyes linger a little bit too long in mine. Then he walks away. I stare at his back not sure what to do. Pro...William just bought me a birthday present. To me! I think I might be hyperventilating now. I take quick shorts breaths and pivot around and find Dean coming out of the store with a bag in his hand. 

"You bought yourself a birthday present?" Dean pulls me out of my shock.

"No...This is a gift from Wil...Professor Strauss." Dean stupefied face makes me giggle stupidly.

"What? Stop staring at me like that." I laugh even more.

"The hottest professor in school just bought you a birthday present?! Seriously?!" We walk back towards the main entrance of the mall to meet with the girls. All the way Dean's teasing me and asking details about our encounter.

"Okay, fine Dean. It may be a big deal that he gave me a gift, but he said that I was the brightest student in his class. It doesn't mean anything. Stop it! And please don't tell the girls, is enough with one of you nagging me about it." I smile at him shyly and keep walking.

Back at the school, each of them gives me their gifts and surprise me with a birthday cake. It was a small celebration. Just my friends. I'm grateful that Penelope didn't throw something bigger. I'm not much of the party girl type. While we are eating in the common room I get texts from my mom and a few other family members wishing me a happy birthday.

After today's eventful day, I glance at my wristwatch. 9:30 pm. I'm thinking of going to the library for quick light reading. The rest of my friends have gone to bed. Everyone except Penelope, she said she had to pay back the guard for letting us go out today. "Pay", right, typical. She's just a little too boy crazy. Dean and she must be one and the same. They both act a little too reckless for my taste around boys. I guess not having the experience myself, just platonic thoughts here and there, doesn't help me understand their lustful haze. 

I head to the library and on the way there, I feel a cold chill ran down my spine. I turn, but there's no one there. Just keep walking, I think to myself. A little further and it feels like I have two watchful eyes on my back. I'm not alone. Every couple of seconds I look behind me. Still nothing. I walk faster past the library and head back to my dorm. Turning again. Nothing. 

Climb the stairs, open the door, and get inside, the trip to the library long forgotten.