Visions (The Daevas #2)

16 | Weird Day

It was a week after I was secluded in my dorm room that I started to avoid Victoria. I avoided her dark knowing gaze, her wicked little smile, and glances whenever we pass by one another. Gabriel and Georgie were always with me; even Shersten and Hugo, the love-struck couple who were my friends knew that there was something strange about our schoolmate, though with Shersten, she understood the girl somehow.

I told Georgie everything that had happened and how Victoria could possibly be my sister, Anne. She didn't like Victoria now when I told her about the stares I got and the odd presence I felt whenever she was nearby. Gabriel too, though he still wanted to know more about her.

I'd been whimpering because I was afraid of Vittoria. I was afraid that-if she really was Anne-she would kill me. I was sure now that Anne was the one who sent those two red letters. The thing was...how could she possibly enter my room? I mean, I understood how the first letter got inside my room; because she might've told a staff here to join it with my black welcome invitation from the academy...but the second one...

Timing. Yes, timing. Whenever I would be out of my dorm with Georgie, I sometimes noticed that Victoria was nowhere to be found. But after a few minutes, she would be back with a lonely and cold expression on her face; like the angel of darkness herself. There was another thing too. Anne was immortal. Anne was a Daevas princress. She could use her power to do certain things that were dark and evil. I knew the real Anne now, and she wasn't the sweet sister I knew once. I told Gabriel about my thoughts about Victoria, and he believed that it could be possible, what I was musing about.

"But we have to be completely discreet. Let's not make it too obvious that we're on to her as she is to us," Gabriel murmured for only me and his sister to hear. We were walking down the yellow-lighted massive hallway of the academy, heading toward the gym. Every one of us got dressed already in our school phys ed garb in our respective dorm rooms. I glanced outside the window, seeing nothing but dark clouds and pouring rain and biting wind.

"I MISS THE RAIN!" Georgie yelled up above the noise the students were making. Another weird thing about this school: all the high school grades were joining together when it was time for physical education. What was that all about? How could we fit inside one lousy gym that would only fit one level of the high school section? I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, and patted Georgie's back instead, trying to ignore my thoughts.

"I mean," she continued on, "why doesn't it rain anymore? It's so weird." She was sarcastic, of course.

I felt Georgie's pain. Really.

"Aww," Shersten said, pouting and giving Georgie a quick hug. "It's okay. I miss New York's steady season too. The rain is too awful for me. Wish it would change into winter or better yet!" she exclaimed, brightening, her gray eyes sparkling so much, she looked so cute. "Or better yet," she repeated, "it could be summer! Wouldn't that be totally awesome? We'd get a nice tan and swim in a pool and drink smoothies all the time under the hot sun..." she dreamed on.

G sighed. "But the bad thing is: it's been raining for days now and worse, it doesn't even have summertime here in Woodville."

Shersten stopped dead in her tracks. She slowly looked at Georgie with horrified eyes. "You mean..." she stammered. "You mean there's no sun here? Ever? Just rain and winter?"

"It used to be always wintertime," I explained. "No rainy days, no sunny days, no autumn or spring. Just complete wintertime."

"Remind me to go to Hawaii when we have our school brakes," Shersten mumbled, her eyes dazed at the thought of a part in America that only had one season, and, in this case, two.

"And remind me," Georgie hissed to no one in particular, "to come with you."

"We will, we will," Hugo assured them both, grinning.