"Hey asshole get out of the way." I muttered as I shoved a sophomore down the stairs.

"Nadia!" Sounded a high pitched squeak. Miranda stood halfway down the staircase holding the shoulder of the scrawny nuisance.

"What?" She pitched him the rest of the way down then jogged towards me.

"Hey you never texted me back." Her black hair ran flew in long waves behind her as she approached me.

"Yeah I had an issue." I responded while making my way to AP Statistics.

"An issue issue?" She asked softly while sidling up next to me, her multi-buckled boots slamming into the tile.

"Saying it twice doesn't-"

"You know what I mean." She huffed grabbing onto my elbow. "What happened?"

"It got a little too much. I lost control of it briefly… Someone passed out." She released her nails from my skin and sighed.

"Good God Nadia. You shouldn't keep all this energy," She motioned wildly in the air, "bottled up. You should be practicing!"

"Practicing?" I asked hesitantly. Her brown eyes lit up.

"Yes! Practicing!"

"What if I hurt someone?" She raised an eyebrow, "Someone important." I corrected.

"You won't." She insisted. I saw a flash of blond hair from the corner of my eye.

Sadie strutted over casually folding her hand over the cross carefully placed around her neck. Her skirt clung tightly to her small waist accentuating the length of her legs. She held her US history book close to her chest as she stopped in front of me.

"Hey Bigfoot. Daddy said some guy came to the church looking for you." She sneered while tossing her head to the side, a flash of pink catching my attention.

"I know I heard." I grunted.

"Janie recognized him. Said he was some leader of some cult." She smacked her gum loudly against the side of her cheek.

"Janie thinks she knows everyone." I scoffed.

"Yeah that's because she's popular." She retorted.

"Or because she's slept with half the people in this damn town." I laughed. Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly but her grin stayed in place.

"At least she doesn't have make deals with the devil to get someone to like her."

"Oh you caught me." I placed a hand to my heart and groaned, "However shall I escape my loneliness now?"

"Oh aren't you so funny. If you and your stupid mother-"

Heat burst up my neck and spread throughout my cheeks.

"Don't you dare talk about my family!" I growled.

Her face began to swirl, the streak of pink slowly melding its way into her eyes her mouth and finally wrapping itself around the walls. I faintly heard someone shouting my name but all I could see was the twirling mass of colors.

"Sadie. Do you hear me?" I growled watching her slowly nod her head, her eyes no longer blinking and her face void of an expression.

"Good. I want you to open that window and throw yourself-"

I stood in front of the mirror watching as my irises took on varying degrees of blue and purple. I placed a trembling finger on my cheek and stared thoughtfully at my disappointing reflection.

"You're such a bitch." I whispered.

My eyes took on a shade of red and then orange. Why couldn't I be normal? Like everyone else? My eyes began to sting as the drops of red seeped out of the corner of my eye and down my face. The image began to dissipate as the redness streaked down onto my collarbone.

"Nadia?" I was swallowed by blackness, my head pounding in a rhythmic beat. My temples pulsed as I felt a cold rush of air.

"Nadia?" I cracked open an eyelid only to be blinded by the fluorescent bulbs streaked along the ceiling.

"What?" I grunted.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Something hard slammed into my shoulder roughly.

"Hey!"

"You've really done it now!" Miranda came into view, her raven hair tied into a ponytail. Her face was contorted in anger as she furiously bit on her nails.

Sadie. Oh shoot. I closed my eyes.

"Yeah. Yeah. Now you remember! If people didn't think you were different before then they'll think so now."

"I'm not different." I whispered.

"No? Then how did someone ordinary just convince Sadie to take off her heels and lean out of the third story window. My lids flew open.

"She didn't jump, did she?"

"No of course not! I grabbed her in time!"

"Wait. What happened to me?"

"You just stopped and fell. It was strange. I thought maybe someone had hit you but the nurse didn't find any bruises."

"That's weird."

"Yeah… Your moms on her way. When Sadie snapped out of it she started screaming about how you had possessed her. She claims she saw the fiery gates of hell when you stepped into her mind."

"What a load of-"

"Crap? Junk? Yeah I know but the rest of the student body doesn't." Her voice squeaked. "And here I was getting ready to find you some cool practice grounds!"

"Practice grounds?"

"A new club opened up in Crawford and since we both are eighteen now I figured you could practice on the bartender."

"Ha ha. Very funny." I said monotonously.

Suddenly my mom stormed in. Her eyes were narrowed but the moment she saw me her expression softened.

"Oh Nadia!" She ran forward and grasped my shoulders. I watched over her shoulder as Miranda slowly stood and backed out of the white washed room. Mom finally backed up and sat down on the edge of the cot.

"Mom…"

"No. It's okay. It was going to happen eventually." What with the change of mindset? "I met the person we thought was a recruiter." For a moment I completely forgot about the situation I was in.

"Well?" I asked excitedly.

"Well he's not a recruiter. He's the headmaster of a school… A school for people like you." Immediately my heart sank into my stomach.

"For people like me? There's nothing wrong with-"

"I know. It just… It isn't safe anymore."

"I won't hurt anyone else I promise."

"No for you. It's not safe for you. I'd rather you go off on your own terms than be forced to leave on someone else's.

"I'm normal. I'm normal! I just-"

"Honey you're not! You're special you're different! You can't stifle your gift any longer, you must embrace it."

"But I want to go to a normal college and-"

"That's not an option anymore Nadia." She placed her hand on my shoulder. "I invited the man who came to the church over for dinner. He wants to talk to you about this school. I'm sure he can clear up this mess with Pastor John's daughter."

"What's his name?"

"Professor X."