Volume 1 Chapter 1

Elizabeth stared at the unoccupied dorm room in front of her. Her boxes were stacked neatly in one corner of the room, the wall bare, even the bed was just a bare mattress. She took a deep breath, doing her best to fight the tears from coming. My first time away, without my parents. I can do this. No need to freak out. It’s going to be fine.

Elizabeth looked over to the second bed on the other side of the room. Her roommate, a complete stranger, would be arriving any minute. The college had paired them up based on some form of compatibility, purposefully choosing a local girl to help her adjust to her new life easier. I was so nervous during that entrance interview, I wonder if they truly got to know me that well to make the right choice. Ah well, hopefully she’ll be nice.

“Hi! I’m Gabrielle, but everyone calls me Gabby! It’s so nice to meet you!!”

Oh God, not that nice. Elizabeth looked over to the doorway where the voice had come from. She did her best to not let her eyes pop out of her head. Standing there was a beautiful, slim, large chested girl with blonde ringlets cascading down her shoulders. Her smile was huge and seemed to overtake most of her face, except for her sparkling green eyes. She was dressed in a classy pink sweater and grey pants with high heeled shoes that probably cost as much as the rest of the outfit. She was carrying a box of items in her hands, a teddy bear spilling out of the top. She shifted the box slightly and reached out her hand to offer a handshake to Elizabeth.

“Hi, I’m Elizabeth. It’s nice to meet you too.”

Elizabeth’s shock was based on the fact that she felt like the two of them couldn’t be more opposite. Elizabeth had an olive complexion with straight black hair that stopped at her chin. Her wardrobe consisted of retro and band t-shirts with jeans and tennis shoes. While she had overcome her shyness in high school, she was still rather reserved and preferred to take the backseat in most conversations. Maybe her outgoing personality will mean I won’t have to talk much.

“I’m going to major in Biology. Do you know what you want to do yet?” Gabby asked, her smile slightly smaller but still hopelessly cheerful.

“I’m not really sure. Education, probably, but I might change my mind.” Elizabeth did her best to return the smile despite her nervousness.

“I hear you. I want to do marine biology because I love the ocean. But sometimes I stop and wonder if that’s really what I want to do, you know?” Gabby spoke with her hands, waving them wildly and throwing them up in the air as she spoke.

“I guess that’s sort of typical, right?”

“Yeah, if we knew what we wanted to do already, we’d probably be total weirdos!”

You have no idea.

Gabby made her way back to the door, huge smile returning to her face. “Well, I’ve got a ton of stuff to unload from the car. I’ll be back!”

Elizabeth nodded, reaching into one of her own boxes to unpack. “Yeah, sure, see ya.”

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Elizabeth’s Journal, August 23rd

I passed on going out to the big meet and greet on campus tonight. That many people in one place? They’ll break us into groups and have us say something interesting about ourselves. I can just see it:

“Hi, I’m Elizabeth, and I have claws on my fingers and toes. Oh, and I can read minds too.”

I’d be completely overwhelmed. High school was a total nightmare. The first test I took after my powers showed up was horrible. Everyone’s thoughts streaming in at me while I tried to concentrate on my work. I thought to myself “WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP!!” but everyone actually heard it. I tested alone from that point onward. I’ve spent the last three years since then meditating and doing my best to keep up the barriers between my head and everyone else’s but when you put me in a huge crowd like that, it gets difficult.

The claws are different. They stay in most of the time. They can even come in handy occasionally, but it’s not the kind of thing you want to show off. When I get angry, they pop out. I guess it’s like when you piss off an animal and it bares its teeth and claws at you. Some kind of gut instinct. Beyond the freaking people out, I’ve also ended up ruining some good pairs of shoes when the claws on my toes busted through. You would think all the meditation I do for my telepathy might help me control it, but no such luck. Teenage hormones and all that B.S. I’m not the person you want to get in an argument with. Thankfully I’ve never injured anyone yet, but I always kind of hold back, just in case.

I suppose there are plenty of people on campus who are familiar with dealing with powered individuals. We’re not that rare. I was the only one at my high school, but it was also a pretty small town. There are no doubt quite a few others here on campus. I hope I’ll get to run into them! I guess I could have gone to the meet and greet to find them, but how exactly could I have even gone about identifying them?

I wonder how well I’ll sleep tonight, being my first night on campus and all. I haven’t had a true night’s sleep since my powers emerged. My defenses completely breakdown when I enter REM sleep and I end up picking up others’ dreams and spare thoughts all through the night. It’s impossible to tell which dreams are my own. I guess there’s no time like the present to find out…