Psychic

Monday came around and I was probably the only teenager in the entire school who was happy about it. School meant that I would for sure find Magnus again, unless he would skip like Friday.

But even if Magnus was different, like me, he would still have to care about school. You couldn’t really do anything in this country without an education, human or not.

(I mean, unless you’re a mobster or Steve Jobs or a criminal.)

The whole weekend Amy and Rick knew something was up. I was distant and spending all my time in my room. Which kind of made me like a normal teenager for once.

Granted, all that time in my room was spent trying to look up creatures that could read minds, but I got zilch. I was curious that maybe if I didn’t have a brain tumor or something that I might actually be in one of those books I saw Magnus checking out the other day.

Of course, I had tried to look that up before. There were never any creatures listed that could read minds and still looked human. I had no clue what to call myself. I mean, at least if I had a sudden craving for blood I could easily identify as a vampire, or if I suddenly hated the full moon, I could say I was a werewolf. But, no. I just had to be able to read minds. I just had to be unidentifiable.

But the recent dreams and weird activity with Magnus brought me to try again, unsuccessfully I might add.

It also occurred to me that I wasn’t a supernatural creature, just a human who had extensive use of my brain power or something during my research, Again, I bring up the tumor theory. But yet again, recent events proved it was most likely the opposite.

Magnus showed up late to Mrs. Lu’s class that day. I assumed he was probably thinking of whether or not to skip school altogether, but then smartened up and came.

“Magnus, talk to me.” I whispered to him after ten minutes of silence between us in the obnoxiously loud classroom.

“There’s nothing to talk about.” He said back, not even looking my way.

“There is so much to talk about.” I almost screamed at him with everything pent up inside of me.

“Not really.”

“Are you kidding me?!” I countered maybe a little too loudly.

“Nope.”

I groaned and stared him down. “Alright, what about what happened in the field Friday? You’re telling me that isn’t something we should discuss?”

“Yep.”

I groaned in frustration again and pulled at my hair. I didn’t want to site any of my suspicions out loud, especially in a crowded classroom, even if everyone around us weren’t paying attention. I also didn’t want to say something and have Magnus call me crazy. I had enough people in my lifetime call me crazy, I didn’t need one more, especially when I knew what I saw.

“Magnus, we both know that wasn’t normal. I just need you to explain, please.” I urged.

Magnus finally looked up from his paper, but not at me.

“Mrs. Lu? May I please go to the bathroom?”

Mrs. Lu nodded absentmindedly, too busy trying to get her PowerPoint to work correctly to really care.

Magnus darted from the classroom before I could even protest. I made to follow him, but Mrs. Lu stopped me.

“Mr. Moore already took the pass, Liv. You can’t go until he comes back.”

I knew that Magnus would stay ‘in the bathroom’ for the rest of class just to avoid the inevitable, so I took the coward’s way out of the situation.

“Um . . . it can’t wait Mrs. Lu.” I made sure I made my voice quieter so only she would hear, “You know, lady problems.”

If Mrs. Lu was a male teacher, she probably would’ve let me go without fail, they always let the girl go to the bathroom if you hinted you were on your period, they were scared you’d PMS most of the time. They were just scared of you trying to talk about the whole period thing in the first place, and they hated that awkward conversation.

Hmm, she thought, Liv and Magnus are probably trying to go do something inappropriate if they’re both trying to leave at the same time. I’ve noticed the tension. Should I let her go despite of that?

“Alright, just be back in ten minutes.”

I thanked her and quickly left the room. Unbelievably, I saw Magnus’s figure turn down a hallway. Somehow Mrs. Lu’s talk with me hadn’t lost me as much time as I thought it did.

I ran down the hallway and around the corner just in time to see Magnus stop and lean his head against the lockers.

“Magnus!” I yelled as loudly as I dared, careful not to alert any teachers or students in the classrooms nearby.

Magnus looked up and made to run away, but I said something on a whim that I thought might stop him. “I know about what happened at Wallington!”

I was right. Magnus stopped in his tracks and turned to give me a horrified look. I remember the name popping up in one of the dreams. Something bad had happened there, I was sure of it, and it had something to do with the woman who I’d seen the dreams from. Something to do with what I could do.

Magnus quickly closed the distance between us and looked me in the eyes. I stayed defiant, standing my ground. He winced like he was about to do something bad and moved his hands up.

“Invisibilitatem bulla” The red stone on his necklace flashed and suddenly a clear film surrounded us and hardened before settling down.

“That was magic, wasn’t it?” I said, still staring him down.

“Yes, it was. I needed to make sure no one hears us.”

I grinned like a little kid. Thank god I wasn’t crazy. So there were people like me out there. Or, at least there were people who were different. I didn’t think magic had anything to do with my mind reading powers.

“How do you know about Wallington?”

Ah, that’s goanna get complicated. His reaction to the name proved to me that the dreams must’ve been real. Which meant the woman was real and so was Magnus’s mission. And right now the fact that I knew that name made me look very bad.

“You know about what I can do, don’t you?” I countered.

He stood his ground, “Well, I asked you a question first.”

“Mine’s more important.”

A staring contest ensued, in which I was sure I won. Magnus was too busy staring at something behind me.

I turned around and saw Bryce. From Bella’s rambling this morning, I remember her reciting his schedule to the T, so I knew that he should’ve been in Gym class, not roaming the halls.

He looked both ways down the hallway before diving into the supply closet that I knew held extra sports equipment. I got curious, but before I could say anything on the subject, Magnus muttered something and the film around us disappeared.

“This place is too public, even with magic hiding us. Meet me at the field after school, this time I promise not to chicken out.”

I stood there in shock while he walked around me back in the direction of the classroom. He couldn’t just leave me there hanging, could he?

I mean, he had finally told me the truth, or at least part of it. He was using magic, I was not crazy. And, by the look on his face, he knew exactly who I was, what I was. If I could get him to tell me about what was really going on in the dreams, then I could finally get some answers. I needed to know about Wallington, about Victoria, about the mysterious scarred man and why he needed me.

I walked back in the direction of Mrs. Lu’s class, but I head bumped a door and fell down within seconds. Leave it to Liv to injure herself because she was thinking too hard.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Liv!” Bryce apologized, offering his hand for me to take with an apologetic smile. I took his hand and held my head once I stood up, which hurt immensely.

“It was my fault, I wasn’t looking where I was going.” I said.

Yeah, well you shouldn’t have interrupted me. His thoughts screamed out. I was about ready to punch the guy for that, but he didn’t know I knew what he was thinking, so a punch would really be out of context.

“By the way,” I added, “what were you even doing in the supplies closet?”

“Just getting a new basketball for coach,” He flashed his award winning smile.

Definitely not lying.

Yeah, those thoughts were definitely believable.

“Okay.” I said awkwardly. I didn’t know whether it was acceptable for me to leave now, or if it would be rude.

Bryce’s face brightened up like he got an idea, “Umm, you and Bella are like best friends, right?”

I nodded.

“Well, I was wondering if you could tell me where her favorite place to eat is. I want to take her out, but for the life of me I can’t remember where it is.”

I sighed, “The place on Mongolia Drive that has the good breadsticks. And then afterwards you can take her to the ice cream parlor. She loves their red velvet mania ice cream, plus they’re the only place I’ve seen with more toppings than a Yumolicious.”

Bryce grinned, “Thanks, I won’t forget this Liv.”

I smiled back, but I was still unnerved by his whole persona. He was one of those people who acted so nice and caring on the outside, but whose thoughts screamed out their true character was anything but.

(Yet again, Bryce reminded me of Luke from the Percy Jackson series.)

Though, I had only recently noticed the change in character. Before a couple of weeks ago, Bryce hadn’t seemed too bad. I mean, he was still a jerk, but not on the level he was now in his mind.

He patted me on the back and headed back to the gym, but I was still wary. Bryce was one of those people you just didn’t like very much for almost no reason at all.

By the time I made it back to class, Mrs. Lu had gotten the PowerPoint working and I was way behind on notes. I barely even registered Magnus because I was too busy copying off the notes from the girl in front of me.

Bella was able to catch me in the hallway, and after experiencing me chasing after Magnus, she knew something was up.

“Okay, are you and Magnus hooking up or something? Because I know for sure that you aren’t on your period.”

I started to explain the story when I realized that I had never explained anything else about it before. She only knew about the first dream, and that was it. She didn’t know about Magnus’s ‘magic red stone’ or about the dreams most likely connected to a strange woman who might also be a mind reader. She didn’t know that they were real. She didn’t know anything, and maybe that was for the best. The last thing I wanted to do was rope her into all of the strange things going on.

“We are not hooking up.” I assured her. “I just needed to talk to him about something and he was avoiding me. It kind of has to do with the reason I can’t read him.”

You were definitely doing something inappropriate, her thoughts sang out.

“No we weren’t!” I said defensively.

She nodded, “Sure,” in a voice that suggested she did not believe me at all.

I can’t wait to surprise Bella. The thought rang out above the others of the school. It was Bryce, and the image that came with it told me that he was around the corner with a surprise.

I smiled at Bella.

“What?”

Bryce tapped her shoulder and she turned around to a banquet of red roses. He smiled genuinely and flashed his supermodel white teeth. “Bella, would you join me tonight at Shooting Star for dinner and a date?”

Bella nodded, unable to speak. Bryce handed her the flowers and bowed over exaggeratingly. The crowd that had gathered cheered as he kissed her on the cheek. Teenagers were suckers for a good romance.

“I’ll see you in math, okay?” Bryce said, still showing off his smile.

Bella nodded and Bryce ran off.

“How did he know that was my favorite restaurant, Liv? Did you get a read from him?”

I chuckled. “Oh, no. I was too busy caught up in the romantics to read him. I guess we might never know.”

Bryce was shady, but I would know if he ever did anything to hurt Bella. All I had to do was read his mind and I would know if he was feeling guilty about something, about hurting her in some way. I could pull the overprotective best friend card if I needed to. Besides, she would thank me if I found out the truth about her boyfriend. No one wants to be dating a liar.

Bella was jittery from the experience and leaned on my shoulder as we walked to class. “Isn’t he just the best boyfriend ever, Liv? Isn’t this just the best day ever?”

The dreamy look in her eyes was contagious. You couldn’t help but to be happy when your friends were.

I smiled at her and thought about the incident with Magnus earlier. You know what? Maybe today will be a good day. Maybe I’ll finally learn what the hell was going on in the world around me.

Maybe I’ll finally get some answers this afternoon.