Author's note.
I became obsessed with the Finding Sky series and I wanted to live in this world a bit longer, so I decided to write Will's Soulfinder Story.
All credits to Joss Stirling for this wonderful world and the amazing characters!
Chapter 1.
I rummaged through my handbag. Where was it? This was really just like me, to lose it before I can even use it. They wouldn't know who I was. Ah! There it was! I took out the badge and put it on my jacket. With a sense of relief I got out of the plane. It was a long trip, but at least I had slept through most of it. I felt strangely tired, which I shouldn't be, since I slept, but normally I would have been in bed now. I hoped I'd get adjusted to the time-zone change quickly, without really experiencing a jet lag.
After I got my bags I went to the main hall. Wow, there were really a lot of people here. At the information desk I saw a woman with a sign. I could see it was from my exchange program, so I walked over to her.
"You are Linda," she nodded at my badge and held out her hand, "Linda from Holland, I'm Jessa and I will be getting you to the university."
I shook her hand and gave her a smile.
"Nice to meet you, Jessa."
"You're not the last to arrive, I'm afraid we'll have to wait for two more planes. You can wait in the bus if you want to get some sleep, or you can wait in the resting area. Please, just don't wander away from me, or I will have to go and find you."
"I won't, I just need to use the restroom first and then I'll get to the resting area."
She smiled again.
"Great! See you in an hour or so then!"
I followed the signs to the restroom and cleaned myself up a bit. The cold water felt good on my face and I felt freshened up.
After the other students arrived, Jessa got us all to the bus. I sat down to a girl with red hair, she was wearing glasses and she looked really tired. I supposed I looked a bit like that now. She smiled at me and started to say something, but then Jessa began talking through the microphone.
"Welcome to America! Now that we're all here, I can do a bit of explaining. We're heading of to the university now. It will be a 3 hour drive, so for those of you experiencing jet lag, get some sleep while you still can. When we get to the university, Mark will be there, he will take the boys to their rooms. The girls will follow me. We made sure everyone shares a room with someone who will take the same classes as you, so they can show you around. If you have any questions, you can always ask them, or come find Mark or me. I hope you have a wonderful time here, we are definitely excited to have you!"
She put down the microphone and sat down. People began to start talking and the girl next to me tried again.
"Hi, I'm Loretta, from Spain, everyone just calls me Lola though. Nice to meet you."
I shook her hand.
"I'm Linda, from The Netherlands. It's nice to meet you as well."
We spoke a bit about the places we came from, but even though we were from the same time zone, I could tell Lola was way more tired than I was. She excused herself but I waved it off and told her to get some rest while she still could.
I woke up to Jessa talking.
"We're here! Please get your bags and follow me girls. Boys, Mark is out there. Let's go!"
Ugh. She sounded way too cheerful to someone just waking up. Lola gave me a look which told me she agreed.
We got out of the bus and followed Jessa with our bags.
"When I call your name, come get your papers and key from me and go find your room. They're numbered, so it won't be hard to find them."
She started calling of names and handing out keys. When she called mine, I walked over to her and looked at my information sheet. Room 62.
I opened the door and walked in to see a girl sitting at the desk. She was working on a laptop, but turned around at the sound of the door.
"You must me by room mate for this year! Hello, I'm Phoenix."
She got up from her chair.
"Here, let me help you with that."
She took one of my bags and placed it next to the empty bed, then turned around to look at me.
Oh, I was supposed to say something, I was just standing there looking at her.
"I'm sorry," I held out my hand "I'm Linda, nice to meet you."
She smiled at me.
"Jet-lag? I had when I first came here from England."
This news confused me a bit.
"I thought I was going to be paired up with someone from here?"
"Oh, you are! I live here now. I decided to come to America, I've been living here for two years now."
"Oh, sorry. Again."
I could not believe I was that rude.
"That's okay. I know I felt a bit overwhelmed coming to America. I'm sure you must have jet lag and would like to rest up some more."
"I slept in the plane and I slept in the bus. I should be fine."
"It is best to just go right through it. I'll just leave you alone for an hour or so to get settled in. And then I'll come and pick you up for lunch?"
"That sounds really great, thank you."
Phoenix walked to the door and turned around before leaving.
"I think we're going to have a lot of fun!"