Chapter Two: First Encounter
She decided that the library was her best bet for the next few hours. It would be relatively quite, and probably would contain few students. It was fairly easy to find. It didn't help, however, that even in the short ten minute walk that she had been gawked at the entire way there. Who can blame them? I am a sight to see. She could only imagine how alien she looked to some of them. Her white hair and dark sapphire blue eyes were an odd occurrence, especially with her fair skin.
Once arriving at the library, she realized how normal everything seemed, and how much she had once desired to be normal. As she slithered through the door and wandered stealthy to the back of the stacks, she felt almost blissful. When she remembered the Perinoxidone in her bag, however, reality flooded back to her.
Out of them all, it was certain that she was indeed, the least normal. She found a dark, uninhabited corner, and pulled it out; glaring at it for a moment, recalling the first time she'd experienced it.
The beast had hit her suddenly. More suddenly than usually. She had been refusing to feed it, and when it grew annoyed with that game, it bypassed her carefully built defenses and overtook her.
She had been studying with her music "teacher." The scientists of Program U constantly tested her amazing ability to memorize everything thrown at her. One minute she had been playing Mozart's 11th sonata after ten minutes of studying it, and the next, ripping the piano apart in a frenzied rage to taste the scientist's blood.
A guard had shot her with a tranquilizer dart full of Perinoxidone. She had paused in midflight, and dropped to the ground like a dead fly, only to awake five hours later with a horrendous headache and a bad attitude.
The class bell pulled her from her memories, and the doors at the front of the library opened quickly. She groaned at the thought of a crowded room full of teenagers, but grudgingly tucked the Perinoxidone into her jacket pocket and slid further into the back of the library.
It was dark back there as she wandered between the stacks. Silver's eyes adjusted instantaneously and she made her way through them with stealth and ease. She paused just inside a door, thankful no one had really noticed her yet. It was empty, except for a few pieces of ratty furniture and a small lamp. She figured that no one would care to bother her here. It was far from the sunny lobby, and obviously hadn't been used in awhile. Her sensitive nose picked up a human, musky scent, like burning woodchips. It was pleasant. Glancing over her shoulder, she made sure no one was following her and quietly shut the door.
Browsing the shelves in the room, she found a rather interesting looking book tucked on the bottom shelf, beneath several novels about Captain Forecast, a second-rate controller of the weather, and old newspapers. It was bound in leather, sweet, crisp smelling leather, encrypted with gold filigree.
Paranormal Oddities: The History of Superheroes and Their Leader Ezra Sky
Silver's brow furrowed as her intelligent brain began to rapidly spin with this new information, just from the title of the book. Ezra Sky, the founder of Skyhigh. She flipped open the cover of the book, and searched for a copyright date.
2nd Edition: 1872
A second edition. Published in 1872. No, that couldn't be right. Silver kneeled to the floor lightening fast. She wasn't sure of Ezra's age at death, but the mortality rate of men in the United States averaged approximately 77 years of age. She flipped further into the book, focusing on a picture. It was a copper sketch, popular of the time. The man in the picture was the exact same face she had seen in a portrait hanging in the fashionable lobby of Program U. The same face…1872…Ezra Sky…recently deceased…
The door suddenly flew open. She jumped to her feet, planted in a defensive stance, prepared for an attack.
It was a boy. Just a boy, though seemingly menacing, only a teenager. By the looks of it, he seemed the type to also be seeking a quiet, undisturbed place. He smelled of the burnt woodchips, and Silver realized he must inhabit this room frequently.
He looked at her expectantly, as if she were to say or do something. She simply stared at him, unsure of what she should say. Should she apologize? No, she decided. He was a student, and it was clear that this room was not a classroom, nor his private sanctuary. Any one could have dwelled in it should it please them.
He turned from her, and sat in the creaky arm chair adjacent her. Pulling a book from his bag, he ignored her effectively. She studied him a moment, then returned to her place on the floor, still positioning herself for sudden flight if the situation should call for it.
He was quite attractive. Due to her "condition," the scientists limited Silver's interaction with other males at Program U, so she never really had any contact with the opposite sex. Somehow though, instinctively, she knew that this specimen would indeed be considered eye-catching. She wondered if his hair was a soft as it looked. Longer than most she'd seen on men, his hair fell to his shoulders in a dark curtain. His dusky brown eyes had a smoldering look to them that made her stomach tighten in an unfamiliar way.
Silver pulled her eyes away from him and concentrated on the book before her. She had a mystery to figure out.
Warren watched the new girl out of the corner of his eye. He had noticed her earlier in the day, but she looked as if she didn't want to be noticed. He was generally uninterested in her activities, unlike Ethan and Layla had been when they first saw her.
"Who do you thing she is?" Layla had whispered excitedly when she had walked by the group. "She's very pretty."
"Yes, she is," Ethan agreed with a starry look in his eyes. Warren had shrugged and returned to his novel. However much he had friends in Layla and Will, he was still warming up, no pun intended, to Ethan, Zach, and Magenta. Zach was annoying. Ethan, still slightly intimidated by him, and Magenta…well, Magenta was just herself.
Warren would never admit it to Layla, but he had thoughts she was very beautiful. Fair all over, tall, and lean. How stunned was he to find when he made his way into his private reading room to find her there, clutching a large text at her side, and an ominous look on her face. There seemed to be no fear in her. She simply looked at him with those cool and level sapphire eyes. They regarded each other for a moment, and Warren was unsure how he should react. Choosing the conciliatory option, he sat in his favorite chair, and gently opened his novel.
He knew she stared at him for a moment, and then seated herself on the floor, where he assumed she had previously been before he'd opened the door.
They sat in a comfortable silence for a half hour or more, when the stillness was broken by her shuffling. She stood gracefully and soundlessly exited.
Warren shut the book as soon as the door clicked shut. He sat there for a few moments, suddenly realizing how lonely it was in the dark little room.