The Gifted

Chapter 7

I had woken almost three hours ago and I was now sitting on the grass in the courtyard with Bella, Tom and Darcy. Gracie was at a committee meeting and I had no idea where Cam was. Leaning on my elbows I tilted my head back soaking up the suns rays. The morning had past quickly with English and magic for beginners. I had found out Bella was in my English class, making it that much more bearable. Her gift was telepathy which was kinda scary knowing she could be reading my thoughts any minute.

"Hey Tom, Darcy, what are your gifts?" I questioned.
"Mines telekinesis," stated Tom followed by Darcy, "I'm a healer."
"Oh cool," I said with my voice giving away some of my jealous emotions.
"Don't worry, you'll discover yours soon enough," said Gracie sitting down next to Bella.
"Hey, Grace", I stated. "How was the committee meeting?"
"Terrible, nobody can ever agree on anything."
With a small chuckle I asked what they discussed.
"We're trying to organise a ball for the end of the year, it's not going so well." Grace said with a frown on her face. Silence surrounded us as nobody felt the need to talk, just to bask in the warmth.

The day passed by and soon enough me and Gracie were walking over to the place Rivers took me yesterday. Grace took in her surrounding and turned to face me.
"So where do we start teacher?" I asked her.
Smiling she pulled out a book from her bag.
"Oh I thought we're fighting?" I said in dismay.
Gracie turned the book to a certain page and handed it over to me. "Soon enough, we need to figure out your abilities first."
Sitting down I scanned the book which contained ways in which to stimulate a dormant gift. Oh this is going to take longer than I thought.

"Are we done yet?" I whined to Grace.
"It's only been an hour and a half." She replied.
Closing the book, which I had read most of, I handed it back to her.
"I'm done for today, let's continue tomorrow."
With a nod Grace took the book had shoved it back into her bag.

As we where waking over to the little cafe near the courtyard Gracie suddenly stopped, spinning to face me.
"OMG! I know what your gift is." She exclaimed wide eyed. "I have been thinking about how I couldn't feel your emotions the first day but then when you pushed me, i could feel everything. Like it was heightened." She rambled.

"Continue," I stated not liking the suspense.
Looking me in the eyes she did just that, "Lyra, you have the ability to enhance or weaken someone's powers, you have the gift of augmentation."

"Well doesn't sound as cool as telekinesis or telepathy," I grunted.
"Lyra you have no idea how rare this is, there's only one other gifted that has this ability.
Oh crap, I thought, what the hell am I getting myself into.

Gracie and I had met up with others at the mess hall and Gracie disclosed my new found gift. After many questions and short answers I dragged my body to my dorm. Making my way up the stairs Cam flanked my side.
"I never got to ask, what is your gift?"
"I guess to sum it up I have the gift of mind control," he responded not looking very happy.
Looking at the frown on his face I asked, "Why do I think you hate it?"
"Well you wouldn't be wrong, it gets frustrating having an ability that gets portrayed as a bad gift."
"Is that how you get all the girls?" I laughed trying to lighten the mood.
Abruptly stopping he grabbed my arm. "I would never ever do such a thing."
"Oh sorry," I mumbled as we continued our way up the stairs.

Now that I was taking in Cam I noticed how good looking he actually was, like a model off a Calvin Klein ad. Cam sensed I was staring at him and he cast a smile down at me. Quickly turning away a tinge of red crawled to my cheeks. Soon enough we parted ways after a short hug.

"Ugh" I exclaimed as I dropped onto the couch.
My body was healing from the torment it went through when Cam and I had spared, but when I dropped onto the couch my elbow caught the corner, sending a split of pain down my arm.
"Owe!" I yelled grabbing my elbow.
A soft knock of the door grabbed my attention. As I opened the door a face I wasn't expecting came into view.

"Rivers," I said somewhat confused. After the other night I didn't think he wanted to see me.
Looking down at my arm I noticed that I was still holding onto it.
Reaching forward his fingers made contact with my skin and a tingling feeling shot through my body.
"What happened?" Rivers asked with what Looked like concern on his face.
"Oh I just hit it on the couch," I stated taking my hand of my arm. As I did so his hand also fell back to his side. The concern on his face quickly vanished replaced by an expressionless one.
"Come with me," he stated with no room for question.
"Why?" I questioned him.
"Please," He said taking me off guard not expecting him to say that.
Nodding in agreement I followed behind him.

After a 5 minute walk we stopped in front of the building he told me he lived in the night before.
"Why are we here?" I asked.
Without a response he continued on inside. Having to jog to keep up with him he opened the wooden doors. Stepping into the building was a large common area used for less important conversations. To the right and left where sets of stairs.
Rivers pointed to the left, "the left wing of the building is used for meetings and things like that." "On the right is where the rooms are."
"How many rooms are there?" I asked Rivers.
"Four," he replied
"What! Only four, but the wing is huge."
"So are the room," he rebutted

Talking a few turns into elaborately decorated hallways with high callings Rivers came to a stop. Pulling out keys from his pocket he unlocked the solid dark wooden door that lead into his room. Taking my first steps into the room my jaw almost hit the floor.
"OMG! This is amazing." I gasped. The room was huge with a large bed covered in black silk sheets in the middle on the left wall. Directing in front of us was a large glass window that over looked the forest. To my left was also a couch and tv. A door in the right corner lead into a lavish bathroom with marble counties and a hug shower and bath that took up not even half of the room. Finally he opened the double doors beside the glass window that led out to a balcony. There was a couple chairs with a table and vines that hung over the railing.

"It's beautiful," I whispered
"It sure is," Rivers said looking directly at me.
Breaking eyes contact I wandered back inside. Walking over to the bed I ran my hands along the soft, silk sheets, it felt expensive and it most likely was.
"Why do you live in such a large place, why don't you stay in a dorm?" I inquired.
"Rich parents," was all he said.
Not knowing how to respond to that I decided to change the topic, "so umm what were you doing in the forest last night?" I said trying to play it cool.

"I went for a walk," He robotically said obviously not wanting to answer my question truthfully.
Figuring he wasn't going to elaborated I changed to topic again, "Hey, what's your gift?" I said turning to face him.
"Illusion manipulation but I also read some people's minds if they're open to me. I can make people see what I want them to see." He stated
"Try It on me," I stated.
"No," Rivers quickly said.
"Why not, it's let like it's gonna hurt me," with that argument he gave in and turned towards me.

"Fine but there is rules, you have to lay down and if you want out say so."
With a nod I lay down on his bed as he sat beside me. His hands lightly touched the sides of my head sending a shivers down my body. A light warmth spread from his fingers to my head and the room started to go slightly fuzzier and fuzzier until I was standing in a completely different place. The scenery around me was stunning, Rivers had placed me on a beach along the coast of Greece. The sunset cast a orange glow on the crystal blue water. The sand was soft between my toes and the warm wind gentle swayed my hair across my face. This I though, was perfection, and soon enough the magical landscape slowly evaporated and I was left lying back on Rivers bed. Looking up at Rivers a smile was spread across his face.

"How did you know I've always wanted to go to Greece?"
"I didn't, you chose the place," he stated
"But I thought you did that," I replied
"I can but your subconscious overtook mind, I don't think that's ever happened before,"
Laughing I sat up," Yeah my gift is augmentation." I said.

"Lyra that's amazing, it must mean you come from a strong gifted family." River replied.
I laughed, "yeah the thing is, I didn't even now I was gifted until I came to this school, let alone knew that my parents or grandparents are gifted. Sitting in silence Rivers phone buzzed in his pocket, "do you mind?"
"Not not at all," I said honestly.
With a nod he walked back outside leaving me alone in his giant room. I hadn't realised how tired I was until I lay down onto his bed and placed my head onto the soft pillows. Before I knew it my eyes where shut and I drifted off into sleep.