In Too Deep

Chapter 13

I headed to Science with Lucas and Violet walking either side of me. We took our seats and waited for class to begin. I was doodling on my notebook when I heard someone clear their throat. I looked up and saw Trina, Camille and Bonnie. Trina had a smug look on her face that made me want to slap her. I rolled my eyes but decided to question her on it.

“What do you look so happy about?” I asked with only a slight bit of interest.

“You haven’t figured it out yet?” She asked and her smile grew.

“Are you going to tell me or not? Because if not then piss off.” I said harshly, I wasn’t in the mood.

“You should be careful not to pick a fight with me again. Next time you won’t be so lucky.” She said. I hope that wasn’t supposed to be her idea of an explanation.

“Is that so? And why is that? Just to remind you I was not the instigator of that fight.” I do love how that situation backfired on her. I think I’d start a fight with her any day if it meant I had the excuse to knock her on her ass again.

“Well let’s face it, the only reason that you won was because you had access to my thoughts. I wonder how you’d get on without that little advantage?” She asked with a smile.

That wasn’t exactly the truth, that day I could sense her magic building around us, but considering I’m not supposed to be able to do that, I wasn’t going to correct her.

“So what you’re saying is that you have found a way to block your thoughts from me?” I asked mockingly. There was no way she would be able to pick that up already. Or ever, she’s really not that smart.

“Well why don’t you try reading my thoughts and see for yourself?” Trina said to me.

“You are giving me permission to access your thoughts? All righty then.” I said, I concentrated on blocking the rest of the classroom noise out and focussed in on her thoughts, and came up blank. I used more force but I got the same result. My forehead was creased with concentration and I was starting to get a headache. Trina laughed at my failed efforts.

“What’s going on?” I hated to ask but I had to know.

She reached for the chain that hung around her neck and pulled it from the cover of her low V-neck shirt so I could see the stone. The oval shaped pendant shone a dark orange, with what looked like black smoke running through it that appeared to be moving. I leaned closer and realised that the black lines actually were moving. A pattern of silver swirls framed the stone, I had certainly not seen a medallion like that before.

The colour of the stone caused me to think back to my class just the other day, where we discussed that Carnelian can be used for magical shielding, especially against a psychic attack. Had Fair Lake planned this before that class? Or was it passed on when the teacher realised how useful it could be?

“This is what’s keeping you out of my head.” Trina stated.

“Where did you get it?” I asked.

“Oh we all have one.” She replied gesturing around the room as the other students laid their own medallions in the palm of their hands. I hadn’t even realised they were all listening in on our conversation.

“Where did you all get them?” I asked again.

“The Academy issued them. It’s protocol when there is a mind reader amongst us.” She said still smug, it annoyed the hell out of me that I couldn’t access her thoughts and she knew that all too well.

“Is that so?” I asked. That seems a little odd to me, this is a place for super naturals to learn and develop their powers and yet they are stopping me from using mine?

“That’s right.” Answered Mr Jackson as he entered the room followed by Bastien. Now why would he be here?

“I haven’t heard of that kind of rule before.” I said.

“Well you haven’t been here long now have you?” Mr Jackson said sounding very patronising. He then turned to Lucas and Violet. “I actually came here to give you two your medallions. It has come to my attention that you have not come to collect yours.”

“This is the first we have heard about it. I don’t know about Violet but I do not want one.” Stated Lucas.

“Me neither.” Said Violet in a small voice, I know she hates being the centre of attention.

Mr Jackson’s smile faltered for a slight instant, but he hid it well.

“Why don’t you take them anyway just in case you change your minds.” Mr Jackson suggested, the smile on his face clearly fake.

Lucas was about to respond but Violet took us all by surprise and spoke up first.

“We said we do not want one and we will definitely not change our minds so you are wasting all of our time here with this conversation.” She said in a strong voice. Mr Jackson’s smile became strained.

“Do you honestly not mind someone knowing every one of your thoughts? Knowing what your next move is, what you are thinking all of the time?” He asked them trying to place doubts in their minds. I respected their privacy and didn’t intrude on their thoughts to see if it was working.

“If it was anyone else then we probably would mind. But we trust Freya, she would not abuse any information that she finds in our minds.” Violet continued as I stared wide-eyed at her. She trusted me?

“Violet is right. Plus she wouldn’t be in our heads all of the time. Do you know nothing about mind readers? They have the option of being in someone’s head and reading their thoughts or just blocking it all out. If mind readers could not do this then they would go insane. We trust Freya.” Mr Jackson didn’t seem to like Lucas challenging his knowledge.

“Yes I did know that thank you very much.” Mr Jackson said through gritted teeth, not even bothering to plaster a fake smile on his face anymore.

“But it’s not just mind reading she can do. Isn’t that right Bastien?” I heard Trina ask.

I had completely forgotten that she was even here. Everyone looked to Bastien and even though I couldn’t get inside his head I could tell that he hated all of the attention. He seemed to shift uncomfortably but stopped instantly when my eyes met his. I couldn’t quite decipher the emotion that shone brightly in his eyes as he hid it so quick.

“What else can she do then?” Mr Jackson asked when Bastien didn’t answer. Why wasn’t he answering? Bastien hesitated for a moment, he was about to answer but Mr Jackson was impatient and turned to Trina and raised his eyebrow in question.

“Deflecting spells.” Was all she said.

“To quite a high skill level.” Bastien added. Well I guess all hope of him being on my side just went down the drain. Mr Jackson nodded and smiled somewhat victoriously.

“Mind readers can’t perform those spells.” He said to me with an all too knowing smile. I was about to reply when I heard Bastien’s thoughts for the first time.

’No, don’t tell him that you have already had this conversation with me, please. He asks for any updates on powers of new students. I am going to be in a lot of shit if he finds out that I already discussed this with you and haven’t told him. He isn’t very forgiving and tends to hold grudges. Will you do this for me? Please?’

I looked in to his eyes and they were pleading with me. Ok so when it suits him I can hear his thoughts but no other time? I still didn’t have access to his mind I could only hear the thoughts that he wanted me to hear. I sighed and thought my reply back to him.

’Fine, but you owe me an explanation for all of this.’

This exchange only took a few seconds. I looked to Mr Jackson and shrugged.

“Some can, some can’t.” I knew my response was flimsy but it was the best I could say without going against what Bastien had asked of me. He was about to say something but Smithy walked in with two men at his sides. What was he doing here?

“Mr Jackson, Bastien, Freya.” He greeted us but looked straight at me, his eyes telling me to pay attention. “Mr Jackson it has come to my attention that you are going against one of your promises as a head master of a super natural institution.” While Smithy was saying this to the head teacher he was sending his thoughts to me just as Bastien had done only a moment ago.

‘Have you found anything else out since we last spoke?.’ Even though it was just his thoughts I could hear the urgency in them.

‘Nothing further until this.’ I thought to him in reply.

“Excuse me?” Mr Jackson asked confused and completely oblivious to our conversation.

‘How are they blocking everyone’s thoughts? I heard about the situation, but not the cause of it.’ Smithy asked me through my mind, needing me to tell him more about the situation.

‘Medallions.’ I replied and showed him a picture in my mind.

‘Let’s see what I can do about that.’ He replied mentally.

“May I remind you that you signed a contract to best provide for your students and help them develop their powers? You do realise that if you do anything to hinder this then you could face legal action?” He said aloud. Mr Jackson’s face was picture perfect. I so wished I had a camera.

“So you know about the medallions?” Mr Jackson asked whilst glaring at me.

“Seriously? You are actually blaming this on me? I only just found out! How the hell was I supposed to tell him?” I said acting innocent and completely pissed at being ‘falsely accused’. Which until a moment ago was actually true. He seemed to accept my answer but only because he couldn’t think up an actual way of me being able to tell Smithy. I’m guessing he really doesn’t know anything about mind readers.

“You should know that we have eyes and ears everywhere. We know everything that goes on around here.” Said Smithy.

‘Everything?’ I heard that thought come from Lucas’ mind, but it wasn’t his thought.

No one was paying any attention to me so I snuck a look at Lucas; he looked at me with confusion in his eyes. He ran over in his mind what he was thinking when that appeared in his mind. I fished around in his mind a little bit before I came up with the answer I needed.

It had come from Lucas’ sensing power, apparently he senses more than just what people are like with his power and can also sense people’s thoughts it would seem. But surely that would be blocked just as my power is?

I guess Lucas’ power must work differently from mine, his work with Alex was clearly paying off.

‘Can you get anything more specific?’ I thought to Lucas. He had faced away from me again now as to not attract attention. He didn’t react to this new form of conversation and my guess would be that he knows a lot about all different kinds of super naturals, not just mind readers.

I could tell he was concentrating but couldn’t come up with anything more useful. I also noticed that he was straining himself mentally, he was trying too hard. He isn’t used to this power of his and I don’t know what kind of effect it can have if he pushes too hard so I intervened.

‘It’s ok, what you have found out is good enough. It’s more than I managed to get. Relax, don’t try so hard.’ I thought to him and heard his silent agreement.

“Oh is that so?” Mr Jackson said aloud with an odd expression on his face. Mine and Lucas’ conversation went unnoticed from everyone except Smithy who sent me a mental question mark asking what I had found out.

’He’s definitely up to something but I can’t get past the medallions to find out what. Lucas managed to use his sensing power on Mr Jackson, but couldn’t pick up on more than paranoia about you knowing what goes on inside this place. We have got to do something about those fancy necklaces.’ I thought to Smithy.

‘Already on it. I will try and sort something out as soon as I can.’ He replied.

‘Just pretend to know what he’s up to and it should put him on edge. Maybe enough to delay his plans.’ I thought to him.

‘Let’s hope so.’ He thought back to me.

“Yes, we know everything. You need to sort your act out before we come down hard on you. Just remember that we can do more than just sue you.” Smithy said to Mr Jackson.

The threat was clear in his voice and the head master nodded in response. I wasn’t sure if he thought Smithy knew of his plans or not but if he has any common sense he will be more careful with whatever he is planning. But with him being more careful it will also be a lot harder to figure out his plans.

Mr Jackson glanced around the classroom of eavesdropping students.

“Perhaps we could discuss this more after we’ve had a chance to rectify our misjudgement, privately.” Mr Jackson suggested to Smithy, who agreed.

Mr Jackson showed Smithy and his men out of the classroom and we were dismissed, everyone buzzing about not having to do any work, and no doubt gossiping about me even more. The whispers continued throughout the rest of my classes for the day, I seemed to be all anyone was talking about.

“So do you have a plan?” Violet asked me later that day. We had finished all our classes for the day and Lucas, Violet and I were all in mine and Violet’s room trying to figure out our next move.

“Well whatever our plan is we will have to be a lot more careful now. We don’t know what they are planning or who is involved. The only thing I could sense from them is secrecy and weariness, and that their plans revolve around you Freya.” Lucas explained.

“Yeah I kind of guessed. I don’t know what they are planning either thanks to those medallions. I don’t even know if they really are who they say they are. Smithy is on our side and I can count on at least part of the police force but we need to get two things straight. The first is that you two do not need to be a part of this, this is obviously my mess-“ I began but was interrupted by Lucas.

“We are helping you with this whether you like it or not.” He said.

“We aren’t going to let you face them alone. Whatever they are planning I reckon it’s going to get messy rather quickly.” Violet added.

“But you could get hurt-“ I tried again but was interrupted by Violet this time.

“And so could you. Also our training with you is going well, so you have no excuse not to let us help.” I scrambled for a response, I hate it when they’re right. “So that’s settled, we are in this, whatever this maybe, together. What’s the second thing? I hope it’s better than the first one.” Violet said leaving no room for argument.

“We can’t trust anyone.” I stated.

“Agreed.” Both Violet and Lucas said in unison. I sighed, I knew it wasn’t fair to keep them in the dark any longer if they were set on helping me.

“If you’re both so adamant about helping me-“ I began but Lucas interrupted me.

“Which we are.” He stated.

“Then I should probably fill you in on a few things that I’ve found out since I’ve been here.” I began. I had their undivided attention now. “I didn’t come here for the education, I was suspicious of Fair Lake as soon as I had heard about it. This amount of power all in one place was bound to spell trouble.” I told them.

“I kind of had a feeling that might’ve been the case.” Lucas said. I looked at him questioningly. “You just don’t seem to really need help with your powers, which is a good thing, as it doesn’t seem like they’re intending on helping you anyway.” He added.

“Have you found anything to confirm your suspicions?” Violet asked. I nodded.

“I didn’t tell you this because I didn’t want to put you in danger. I was doing some snooping the other day and I found some student files.” I began. “But these files were all marked deceased, with all of the causes of deaths marked as accidental.” I continued.

“Could that be the truth?” Violet asked. I shook my head.

“There were at least 100 files all the same.” I said and Violet gasped. “There’s more. All of the students who died are all female.” We all sat in silence for a moment while this information sunk in.

“So either someone at Fair Lake is killing off female students, with someone within the Academy covering it up. Or-“ Lucas began. “What other option does that leave?” He asked, unsure of what else it could mean.

“I don’t know, but there’s no way they can all be accidents, there’s too many.” I told them. I explained to them what happened when Smithy and I visited Mrs Adams.

“Imagine losing your daughter like that, trusting that she would be safe here, and then getting that call.” Violet said, shaking her head in disbelief.

“There’s one thing for sure, I’m not stopping until I figure it out.” I said, determined.

“But what are you going to do when Violet and I head home in a couple of days? Violet and I will be visiting our parents and you’ll be here alone.” Lucas said concerned. He obviously remembered our art class together when I had said I couldn’t draw what I didn’t have. I had no family to go home to.

“I will stay here and see if I can do a bit of snooping. It should be easier seeing as there won’t be as many people around.” I replied.

“But are you sure you want to do that alone? If you wait until we get back we can do it together. Or we could just stay here this weekend instead of going to see our-“ Violet began but I cut her off.

“No. You two go and visit your families. You’ve already planned it, we can’t afford for anything to look suspicious. We have to act normal. Have a fun, worry free weekend, I will be fine.” I said leaving no room for argument.

“Ok, but you must update us on anything and everything that goes on when we get back.” Lucas said.

“Agreed.”

Lucas headed back to his dorm to get a start on packing, which allowed me to quiz Violet.

“So how’s it been going?” I asked, she looked confused.

“What do you mean?” Violet asked.

“You and Lucas dating, you two didn’t need to hide it from me you know.”

“Apparently we weren’t hiding it from you anyway.” She blushed.

“I didn’t mean to intrude, I try and stay out of your minds as much as I can, I don’t want to invade your privacy. But you felt guilty about keeping it from me, which makes your thoughts so much louder than normal. It makes it almost impossible to ignore what you’re thinking.” I explained.

“It’s ok, I’ve been wanting to tell you but we were trying to keep it low key, just to see how it goes.” She told me, I waited for her to elaborate. “But it’s going well, I think. I really like him.” I smiled.

“I’m glad you took my advice.” I said with a wink and she laughed.