Omnis Bestia

Chapter Four: Fiducia

"I knew we should've just stayed the night, then we could've been there to help," Nik said as we walked to school the next day. Malik and Nik had gone home the night before, after placing me in my bed upstairs. Mom had been home that morning and had immediately noticed something was wrong. Being the unbearably kind person she was, she didn't pry when she saw the rings under my eyes and instead asked the boys to make sure I was okay. As soon as Malik asked me what was wrong I instantly spilled and told them about my dream. Malik just had this way that made you want to tell him your deepest secrets the moment he looked at you.

However, over lunch I ended up not telling them why  I was so convinced what I'd seen hadn't just been a dream: The mark, which had started appearing as a large puncture wound that had continued to throb, and the twisted silver ring decorated in strange patterns, which I'd chosen to wear under my shirt. I wasn't sure why I'd trusted what the boy had said, but he seemed genuine.

"I'm sure it was just a dream, after all, you weren't really harmed and it's not like elves and such really exist," Malik said as he tried to dismiss the topic. I had been about to press for further discussion when he then turned to Nik, "I need your help with some manual labor. Mr. Yarmen needs help moving some boxes and he said he would break his back trying."

"Ask somebody else, and besides, I thought a stuck up feline such as yourself was too good to ask for help from the likes of me," Nik responded, his green eyes almost glowing with mischief as he mimicked Malik, with incredible accuracy I might add. Nik had always been unnaturally good at impersonations, which if I was being honest always freaked me out a little.

"See now that's the funny part: I wasn't asking." And Malik proceeded to drag Nik away by the collar, the latter complaining and throwing insults the whole way. I knew Malik probably had something he wanted to talk to Nik in private about, but they had left so suddenly in our conversation that I almost followed them, but I was hesitant.

"You want to see what they're going to talk about, huh?" I quickly turned around, slightly startled by the sudden voice. It was that kid who had sat with us the other day, Adi Raymond I believed his name was. "If so then why don't you just follow them? If they've got nothing to hide from you then you shouldn't worry if you're listening in. But if you think they're keeping secrets, then wouldn't it be better anyway to find out now than the hard way?"

What he said did make sense, and before I even knew it I had followed my friends down the hallway towards an empty classroom. They had left the door open just a crack, which was plenty for me to see and hear exactly what was going on in the room.

"What's wrong? If you think that her dream had something to do with the Noctis you would have to be legally stupid, so why else would you drag me over here?" Nik questioned, looking slightly annoyed at spending his thirty-minute break with Malik.

"You should be taking this a little more seriously Nik. Don't you remember anything from what Hornwell has taught us? About how dangerous cross communications like the one Mara described could be?" Nik had a bit of a blank look on his face, which answered Malik's question for him. "That 'dream' means that there are others who are already aware of her presence and that we aren't the only ones watching her right now."

This new information only fueled my curiosity. Whatever was going on, I knew that it had something to do with me and "the Noctis". It also proved that my dream hadn't just been my imagination and that something was going on under the surface. I was tempted to confront my friends on these findings and discover what was really going on. But I remained where I was and continued to listen and watch, waiting to see what else they had to say.

"But her aura wouldn't have developed nearly that quickly. They said she wouldn't even be showing signs until she was at least eighteen. Unless..." Nik began to think, and realization began to dawn on him, "Unless she was much stronger than everyone had been led to believe. But that wouldn't make any sense right? Aliana specifically said she would grow up with average or low-level powers. Enough to catch attention but not power like this. She only had genes coming from one side of the family, and it was even from someone who had never developed much power in the first place."