Exceptional

Chapter Eleven

A man was walking past with Miss Felicity. When she spotted us she began to approach us, the man following behind. "Amelia, I've been looking all over for you... what on earth are you doing all the way out here?" She said reminding me of a nagging mum. She then spotted the cards. "Ahh these are.." she stopped as the man knelt down onto the grass we were sat on. "Curious... may I?" He asked gesturing that he wanted to pick up the cards. "Errrm.... best leaving them where they are for now, you can look through the information book though," I replied passing him the book, "yes they're made to accompany a book series but the cards and theirs meaning are a lot clearer than tarot cards!"

He flicked through the book for a moment. "This is Professor Henry, he's our tutor and divination teacher," Rose said with a smile. It dawned on me that he was here to validate that I could divine. "Have you had any premonitions of late, I've heard you can guess the weather," he said still flicking though the booklet. Rose continued talking, "yeah, she's predicted rain between 9:15 and 9:25 tomorrow morning!" I blushed from embarrassment. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see," Miss Felicity said optimistically. I wish I was as optimistic as she was about the whole thing.

"Could you do a reading please," professor Henry asked. Now I was turning red, what if I couldn't do it? I'd look like an idiot but... what if I can... that means I have a definite ability. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves before asking, "what is it you'd like to know?" I leaned my back against the tree to relax my posture. "What do you see about this Academy?" He asked. Pretty vague question but I guessed he wanted a past, present, future reading. "May the light guide me to the answers I wish to seek..." I said whilst saying his question in my mind.

I opened my eyes and was instantly drawn to the card in the middle of the three tiered semi circle around me. "This ones definitely future," I said... talking to myself whilst putting the card to the right side in front of me (giving me room to put the present in the middle and past to the left) however, I guess the teacher thought I was talking to him. "What makes you say that?" He enquired. I sighed... can he not just leave me to it? "I feel like I'm gonna burst into tears when I see the right card, I never cry but my eyes have that feeling and why it's for the future... well I don't really know why but I just know," I said whilst scouring my eyes at the other cards.

I then went on to pick a card near my right foot (my legs are crossed by the way so it's to the left of me) "present," I continued before saying, "past," to the card on the top corner of my right side. I placed them into there correct places before turning the first card. The past. "The Grove," I said showing the card, "the Grove is like a safe haven, a place where people can go to mend your heart...so this was a safe place for everyone to be in the past!" I smiled at the notion before having a really bad feeling. I looked in the corner of my eye... it was the future. It was bugging me. I've never been able to choose a card that quickly... just what was it?

I knew I needed to turn the present card first. I placed the card down facing up and went on the pick up the next card. "Movement... there's a change going on, good or bad I don't know yet but something is definitely changing about this place," I said wary of the card, although movement usually means that a good change is possible with my gut feeling about that last card I'm not so sure it's a good thing. I put it down in its place to pick up my final card. I felt the blood drain from my face when I saw it. "Amelia... what's wrong, you've gone really pale," Miss Felicity said causing me to lift my head from the card.

"It's... Chaos..." I whispered barely getting the words out of my mouth... usually this card means a storm is brewing for an ordinary teenage girl this can mean a petty fight or drama but I knew... deep down I knew something is wrong. I gasped when I felt drawn to another card. I put chaos down and slowly picked up the card in the middle row on the left. "Well that's new," I said looking at the card.. everyone was looking at me to explain, "Vision, I've never picked it up before but it usually means the next card you pick will depict the future but I'm not drawn to any other card!" I looked up to Professor Henry who was still holding the information booklet.
"Could you please pass me that?" I asked anxious to know what the card meant. He lent his arm to me passing me the book. As I grabbed the book my hand brushed against his and... everything went black.

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I woke up to a banging headache. My head throbbed with pain. "Owww... does anyone have any painkillers?" I said opening my eyes to see that I was in the headmistress' office. "How did I get here?" I asked still holding my head. Rose came over with two paracetamol and a glass of water. I quickly took them before noticing that everyone was sat on chairs facing the grey chaise longue I was lying on. "Amelia... the card was literal..." Rose said which really confused me, "and you're eyes..." Now I'm really confused. I guess they could see that.

Professor Henry sighed before saying, "when you touched my hand to get the booklet you went into a trance, you were saying things... for seeing events to come." That's what she meant... a genuine vision. "You said a sort of poem, it went like this...'Deathly pale, wakes at night, tall and male, vicious bite, sealed away, wild rose bud, needs its prey, royal blood'." The professor continued. "Well that's easy... a vampire!" I laughed. "Well we guessed that... what we don't get is 'Rose bud' and 'royal blood'!" Rose also laughed. I thought for a moment, "I think I know about the Rose thing... I specially said 'wild rose bud'... the buds probably irrelevant but the fact it's a wild Rose variety isn't!" I explained whilst getting up to make a cup of tea from the freshly brewed pot on the coffee table in the middle of all the chairs.

They were completely lost. The most famous vampire book of all time and not one of them could think of it. "In Bram Stoker's Dracula the branch of a wild rose is placed on the coffin in order to stop the vampire from leaving its coffin before they kill it, I wouldn't be surprised if a rose branch had a rose bud or two on it!" I said with a smile. The lot of them looked at each other like a bunch of gormless idiots. I'm pretty sure Rose whispered 'how did I miss that!' To herself. That got me thinking about what she said earlier... my eyes. "What's wrong with my eyes... please don't say they're all blood shot and horrible like Aphrodite in the House of Night books!" I pleaded...

I can deal with blood, I can deal with feet but I can not, I repeat CAN NOT cope with eyes. Sharp objects near eyes, sore eyes, conjunctivitis, that scene from the film Would You Rather? where the guy slices his eye open.... no no no no no NO!!! It knocks me sick! "Relax Amelia your eyes are fine, look!" Rose said passing me her compact mirror from her pocket. I checked them thoroughly.. there was not a scratch or change or blood spot to be seen! "What's the big fuss then!" I grumbled, they got me all freaked out for nothing. "When you were having the vision they changed colour..." Chase replied, "they glowed purple." What the frig... is the nice way of putting it. "And that is what the poem meant about royal blood," Miss Felicity stepped into the conversation. Now I was lost.

"Royal blood?" I asked, I didn't care about royal blood I just want to know what purple eyes have to do with royal blood. "You're name Amelia... Blackwood was the name of the previous Royal family, as I was saying yesterday I wouldn't have taken a second thought about your name if the incident with your family hadn't happened and now your eyes..." she was trying to explain but I felt like saying just spit it out already, "the Royal Blackwood family had a gift that ran through their generations, their eyes glowed purple when they used a certain amount of power!" Oh my god I know where she's going...