Nightworld Academy: Term One(Nightworld Academy #1)(23)

My story pours out and for the first time, the jigsaw pieces slot together. I tell her about my childhood visions of Christmas time and knowing what gifts I'd receive, my waking dreams that predicted what would happen at school. I knew my mother was pregnant before she did. I kept quiet because I knew I'd have a sister and the day she would be born.

With a wavering voice, I tell Sofia how the visions became disturbing and I'd see car accidents or incidents that later appeared in the news. That they became darker still. I saw my best friend's dog die and was powerless to help, because I couldn't see the time and day. I only knew when the incident with Denny would happen because Tyler checked his phone for messages before looking for his victim. I saw the date and time.

"This is one thing we can work on," says Sofia. "I'm positive you can learn to pinpoint the dates your visions will happen. Have you had any recently, since the incident at your old school?"

I ignore how my heart beats faster and the thoughts that want to push in. Instead, I focus on Sofia's face and hope I can fool her in the same way I've managed to lie to others for years.

"No."

Sofia's lips purse. "Hmm. If you had, that would be helpful. We could utilise this by working on what you saw. We could try to predict the event."

"And stop it?" I suggest. Hope springs in my heart that I can stop whatever may happen to Jamie. That this vision can be prevented.

"Changing the future by interrupting someone's actions is rare. It's significant that you managed this in the past with your schoolfriend, but that was a fluke." Sofia reaches out and lightly touches my hand. "Don't worry. We can work on honing your skills. I can teach you to guide your visions with divination. If you focus this way, then hopefully they won't happen randomly."

As she speaks, Sofia's pupils dilate, and she blinks at me before withdrawing her hand.

"I sense how much unhappiness this gift has caused you. We can change that. I teach divination classes, but as you already have the gift, we can work on helping you hone that."

My eyes go to the stones and bowl in front of us. "What? Now?"

"It will help me to see how much I need to teach you." She gestures at the stones. "Pick two that you're attracted to. Don't think about it, just be guided by your heart."

Seriously?

I reach out and take two of different sizes.

"Now drop them in the scrying bowl." She gestures at the silver bowl filled with liquid on the table.

Hesitantly, I release both stones and they land inside with a quiet splash. The water ripples.

"And study the water."

Tarot cards I could deal with, as I've friends who've dabbled with them. Bowls of water? Weird. I peer at the pattern dancing across the surface, doubting I'll see anything.

In the centre, a face appears then grows smaller as if someone zoomed out a camera. I bring my face closer until all I can see is the images flickering under the water. The room around me retreats as I watch events unfold in the same way images flicker through my mind, as if viewing a TV.

A face comes into view and my relief this isn't Jamie drops away when I see who. Tessa's face. She's at a party dressed as a vampiress. Cardboard ghosts hang from the ceiling and painted gravestones decorate the bottom of the walls. Cobwebs form a canopy beneath the ceiling. Halloween? Tessa moves across the room, speaking words I can't hear above the loud music, and then the images disappear.

Instead, I'm staring at a bowl of water.

"Did you see anything?" asks Sofia, with eager eyes.

"My friend."

"What happened?"

I bite back frustration. "I don't know. I only caught a glimpse of her and where she was. Then the water stopped showing me anything."

"Only a few seconds?" Sofia chews on her lip. "I suppose that's a start. We can try again tomorrow."

"No. I need to know now. I have to see what I need to stop." I reach out for the other stones and Sofia takes them with a frown.

"I don't think we should. I'm unsure how you'll react to forcing the visions–if you did, this could trigger more. I'd like you to tell me how you're feeling later, and if everything is okay, we can try again."

I could protest, but I share her worries. I need to know what happens to Tessa, but if forcing this could lead to my random visions worsening, I need to leave trying until another day.

I have time. Halloween is six weeks away.





Chapter Fourteen





MAEVE



My excitement about attending a potions lesson disappears within ten minutes of attending Professor Turlington's class.

I imagined jars of rare ingredients and vials filled with mysterious liquid. Cauldrons and strange smoke drifting from inside. I pictured myself mixing them together and producing something magical, while taught by a man in a long black cape.

Instead, today's lesson is a 'theory', taught by a middle-aged man in a tweed suit, as we sit in rows of desks the same as any of my normal subjects. Long benches with cupboards above and below are at the back of the room. Is that where the potion making happens?

The professor spends ten minutes at the start of the lesson searching the room for a text book; a search that involves emptying several cupboards and leaving papers all over the floor.