Here's chapter 2!

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'Lily, you just flung yourself backwards and hit your head' He gestured to the step. 'Are you sure you're ok?' He actually looked genuinely concerned, especially when I stood up and swayed a little.

'Yes' I lied, pain throbbing though my head. I climbed the stairs heading for my room. The heightened senses really didn't help with the pain, even just the sound of my shuffling feet sent agony raking through the back of my skull. I flung open the door, much to my discomfort, and immediately became aware of what a state I must have looked. My eyes were wide, I was breathing rather heavily, flinching at incredibly quiet noises, and just generally looked crazy.

Mara jumped up of the bed and came up to me. 'Hey, Lily, what's wrong? You don't look so good.' She placed her hand on my shoulder, but I just brushed it off.

'I'm fine.' Pulling my sketchbook out of my bag, I tenderly sat down on the bed and pretended to draw, while Mara went back to continue studying. The throbbing finally eased away after a short while, but I was certain that there would be bruising. My highly improved hearing picked up Trudy mentioning that dinner was ready, and I pulled myself up and headed downstairs, not bothering to tell Mara or Patricia.

Sitting around a Laptop were three other students I hadn't met yet. They all seemed deeply engrossed in whatever was on the screen, well, two of them. A girl with light blonde hair, who was sitting, looking rather bored, was the first to notice me. She nudged the others, who jumped when they saw me and a short boy with dark brown hair slammed the lid shut. A girl around the same height as me stood up to face me and smiled.

'Hi I'm Nina.' She had an American accent, despite this school being in England, and she shook my hand, but I couldn't help but feel suspicious the change of activity as I walked into the room. 'You must be the new girl. This is Fabian,' she gestured to the boy who waved his hand, but was still engrossed in a thick book on his lap that I hadn't noticed at all, 'and this is Amber.' Nina waved her hand toward the blonde who was the first to notice me, but before I had time to even say hello, she had jumped up and stood in front of me, bouncing up and down.

'A new girl! How exciting! Do you know whose room you're sharing? Our rooms already got three people but I'm sure we could fit you in. Do you like Anubis how? To be honest, I think it's really creepy, especially after last year-'

'Ok Amber, give her a break', Nina cut in. 'She's only been here five minutes.' She sat back down, Amber following her, looking disappointed. Fabian was still hooked in his book when Trudy came through, carrying trays of some of the most appetizing food I had ever seen. My stomach reminded me of how long it had been since my last meal and I licked my lips hungrily, settling in the seat next to Nina, who smiled. She was far nicer than Patricia, which was a relief.

As more people began to fill up the remaining seats, I became aware of someone standing behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see a tallish boy with short blonde hair looking down at me. Patricia, who had come and sat down next to me, was giving him the death glare.

'Hey. You're, uh, kinda in my seat.' He had an American accent too, like Nina.

'I'm sorry. I didn't know.' I started to get up, but he stopped me.

'No it's fine. Patricia can just move up one, can't she?' He said, turning to look at her. If it was possible for the scowl that she was giving him to get any worse, then it did. But, much to my amazement, she shifted to over to the seat next to her, making it very clear she wasn't very happy.

'Nice to know we're all good friends here.' Jerome said, obviously sensing the tension. A very awkward silence followed before finally conversations broke out. By the end of the meal I had learnt everyone's names, and was absolutely stuffed since I had never tasted such amazing food before, so I just couldn't get enough. Nina invited me back to her room afterwards, and seeing it as an escape from Patricia, I followed. A girl with dark hair in tight black curls called KT, Eddie and Fabian also joined us.

I sat and chatted with KT for a while, who also had an American accent and that fascinated me, as there were so many Americans in a supposedly English school. It turned out that she, Nina and Eddie all had the exact same problem with Patricia, and each one of them has had juice poured over their heads at some point, so I should be warned, though she hopes for my sake that it's just Americans that she sticks to.

Nina, Fabian and Eddie sat huddled in the corner, murmuring quietly, just out of my newly improved hearing range. They were all looking at Fabians laptop screen

'What are they doing?' I asked KT, looking over at them.

'Oh, I think it's just some history project. They can get really stuck in sometimes.' She replied, but it was obvious that she was lying, so got up, strode across the room and stood over them to see what they were looking at. Instantly they broke off their conversation and Fabian awkwardly tilted the laptop out of my view. 'Hey, I like history too.' I lied. 'Is there anything I can help- what's that?' As I looked at Nina, I noticed her cover something that looked like a locket in her hands, but even though she grasped it as tight as possible, it was impossible not the notice the bright orange flickers that leapt off of it. I recognised them as the same ones that were coming off the dog earlier.

She looked at me, then at her hands, then back at me. 'Can you…see that?' She asked, slowly opening her hands and raising them towards me slightly. 'The sparks, I mean.' I nodded.

'Why?' Nina passed the locket between her fingers a few times before finally answering.

'I really don't know. I can see it, you can, but no-one else.' I looked at everyone else and they all seemed as perplexed as I was. KT came and sat down next to me.

'So much for "some history project"' I murmured to her, but she just ignored me, so I reached out to touch it. The sparks lapped over my fingers as though they were desperate, unlike Nina's.

'They got stronger every time you got close to us, so we wondered if you maybe had any kind of special power or something.' She looked at me expectantly. 'Well? Do you?' I shook my head.

'Not that I know of.' I thought back to earlier with Jerome and the dog. 'Well, I thought I didn't.'

'What do you mean?' Eddie cut in. He was looking at me closely, trying to read my expressions. I explained about everything that had happened since I had arrived; the pull to reach the dog, the orange sparks on its fur, how I was flung backwards afterwards. I expected them not to believe me, but they didn't even act surprised, just incredibly curious.

I passed the locket back to Nina, the sparks trying desperately to reach out to me, as if trying to indicate that I'm there. Nina opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by Victor's booming voice shaking through the walls.

'IT'S TEN O'CLOCK! YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES, AND THEN I WANT TO HEAR A PIN DROP!'

After he was finished, I picked up the sound of a very faint tinkle, and gathered that he actually dropped a pin. Letting out an exasperated sigh at the thought of seeing Patricia again, I pulled myself up.

'See you tomorrow.' I was just about to leave when Nina called out to me.

'Good luck with Patricia.' I smiled.

'Thanks. I'll need it.' And with that I left, followed by Fabian and Eddie who were headed for their room downstairs.

That night my dreams were filled with running, yelling and tearing up random objects. Although, something was different. I was a dog. I wasn't yelling. I was barking. And I wasn't tearing up objects. I was chewing them. I was finally pulled out of the dream by sunrise. Stretching my arms, I fully opened my eyes, only to be greeted by an early morning sky covered with leaves. I sat up quickly, although regretting it immediately, as all my muscles protested.

I was sitting in a bush. The dreams were real. But what was worse…I was completely naked.

Crap.