12 Chapter 10

My body trembles in response when a thousand sensations race through my skin. Strangely, I feel a jerking sensation yank me forward into a blinding light, almost as if I’m being dragged by a string. In what feels like slow motion, I’m strutting abruptly into some kind of vision.

Murky and indecipherable at first, until I take a closer look at my surroundings. I look around in astonishment, gaping at what used to be the building of my parent’s apartment home in New York. I whirl around in shock, bewildered by the sight of everything.

I can hear the bustling and loud blaring noise of the cars and people moving about on the streets of Manhattan. I can feel the cool evening breeze on my skin, and can even inhale the aroma coming from the hot-dog stand a couple of feet away.

This feeling is bizarre, like an out-of-body experience, except all my senses are entirely active and alive.

Glancing around again, one minute the night is as peaceful as it can get in New York City, and in the next minute a large blazing ball of fire comes crashing down from the sky on my former home.

The ground trembles as if attacked by a severe earthquake, everyone jerks forward, and an uproar erupts.

~*~*~*~

I jerked upright with a scream, and warm arms suddenly wrap themselves around me. “Coral, you need to calm down,” Her soft voice murmurs in my ear, her arms fastening around me as she rubs my back in circles just like my mother used to when I was terrified as a kid. “Your safe, you're okay.”

Nodding, I clung onto her for a long minute, taking in deep shaky breathes, before pulling away. Letting out a long sigh, I run my hands through my hair and wonder why I agreed to do this again. “It was different this time.”

“I know,” She replies, standing to her feet she moves around the room and steps into her kitchen to get me a glass of water.

Since Steven couldn’t sit around and wait for me to finish my therapy session due to a business meeting in the city, Amelia felt it’d be better if we commenced today’s therapy out of her stuffy study.

Walking back, she hands it over before settling back on her seat across from me. “You told me everything. Why do you think your dream was different this time?”

“I don’t know.” I shake my head, gripping onto my glass tightly.

Raising it to my lips I swallow desperately until the glass was empty before slamming it on the table separating the both of us, sucking in another deep breath I lean back against the couch.

"Okay, let me ask you this. When your apartment caught on fire, were you ever outside?”

“No. I was asleep in my mother’s study... I think,” I reply, confused. “I remember hiding beneath her desk for some reason and woke to the sound of a massive explosion. Suddenly, there was fire everywhere.”

“What about the scenario you just painted out, have you ever seen it before?”

“All the time on the news, it’s still ranked top of the list on the internet.”

“Alright, let me explain plainly what you just related. It appears you underwent what scientist call astral projection. An intentional out-of-body experience that implies the existence of a soul or consciousness called an "astral body", that is detached from the "physical body", is capable of travelling outside it throughout the universe. Only, it appears you didn’t astral project now, just sometime before the incident. For any reason, do you think it’s real, that it happened right before the fireball struck your apartment?”

Hesitating, I stare at my hands and bite down on my lower lip, before nodding slowly. “Yes, I do. I don’t know how but, I always could like you said "astral project" out of my dreams if I tried hard enough. Though, as of late, I haven’t done it.”

Astounded by my response, it takes her a few seconds before she asks. “And at any point in time did you ever tell anyone about this?”

“My parents, but then I was forced to see a psychiatrist by my step-father for over six months. And after that, my parents separated for almost a year. When my mum was away for a long business trip, it was just the two of us for a while. I guess he didn’t know how to handle my…”

I trail off, searching for the right word to characterize how I used to be, before spitting out in bitterness. “Eccentricity,” I say, using the term my childhood therapist once used to describe me.

“I was always the odd kid growing up. I could see things others couldn’t, I was always attracted to nature or fire which kind of now explains itself, I often talked about how I’d "project" out of my dreams and I guess I distressed my father a lot.”

Chuckling without humour, I remember how I used to get into fights with friends who often called me a liar. Who said I was crazy or I was making things up, and for a while, I believed them. It was so upsetting for me growing up with a strange ability, and even though my mother always reassured me I wasn’t crazy, it took a while to believe that.

“Without my mother's knowledge, he took me to see some crazy therapist who diagnosed me to be schizophrenic. She had me on medications that messed with my head and I attempted suicide once because of it, when that happened I guess it frightened him so much he quit taking me to see her and he threw out all my medication. Honestly, after my mother returned he could have concealed what he did from her, but rather he told her everything and apologized to me.”

“What transpired after that?”

"My mother kicked him out of the house, and for a time I was frightened they were getting a divorce. It was only after I was determined to let things go, did I comprehend, that my mother just wanted to give me the space I needed to truly forgive him for what he did and put everything behind me.”

“Have you told anyone about-”

“Hell no,” I deny immediately, glaring. “And I hope you won’t either. Especially to Steven. I don’t need him worrying about me even more than he should. Besides, the past is the past and I’d like to forget it happened.”

"Okay.” She nods, surprisingly understanding. “Do you want to know why you had these abilities as a kid?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“It’s because you developed into your powers a lot earlier than any elemental.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I might not have had the powers of an elemental, but after I found out about my family I studied everything I could about them. I’m not sure if you know this yet but, there are other schools Steven built for defects and humans like me who grew up knowing the identities of elemental’s. It’s located in England and I studied over there in high school. From the little I know, or can draw up with my theories, your abilities to the astral project come from you being an elemental conjurer. And because you’re an Elementalist, I think that is why you developed so quickly without even knowing it. I’m sure you’d be taught this once you start school but, within every elemental, there is a special ability they possess that’s different from their powers to manipulate an element. Maybe yours is to astral project.”

“But I never experienced any of the symptoms Steven mentioned, and apart from being intrigued with fire or nature as a kid, I’ve never been able to use my powers. Even my tattoos appeared precisely on my 15th birthday.”

“Maybe it’s because you never needed to experience them as of yet, I can’t give you an accurate guess because I’m no scientist, but unlike every other elemental conjurer it’s pretty obvious you are unique.” She smiles. “Just like everyone that comes from your father's side of the family. They’re the only elemental’s with the power to control more than one element."

"But-"

"Plus," She cuts me off. "To prove my point further, you also told me of your ability to heal on your own. Usually, when an elemental has a unique ability to use telepathy or heal, it is done with the use of their powers. You don’t have to do that, your body heals itself on its own-”

“That happened only once.” I interrupt, feeling defensive. I guess it’s because she’s obligated under code to keep whatever I say during our sessions a secret, but I tend to trust her with a lot of my secrets lately.

A few days ago, I became alarmed when by chance, I sliced my hand with a knife while trying to divide an apple in two. It was a small cut and didn’t even hurt, but I was stunned when the cut automatically healed itself before my eyes.

Just to be sure I wasn’t seeing things or turning crazy, I pressed the knife to my wrist after spending a couple of minutes psyching myself out and ran the blade down my skin. Just like the cut, the wound healed quickly.

“Anyways, you obviously can astral project. I have no idea what else you can do but I think you need to reawaken that ability within you. Just so we can be sure what you saw during your hypnosis happened.”

~*~*~*~

When I told Steven it will be best for me to move into one of the dorms since it appeared odd for a student to live with the Dean, I didn’t anticipate he'd accept the idea so quickly. It's practically as if he was intending to send me away, which kind of hurts now that I’ve thought about it.

Steven had to be at the academy for an important staff meeting with the teachers, Dana’s busy at the infirmary, and the twins had gone home for the weekend.

So Steven called his secretary, who demanded from one of the female fire elementals, to give me a ride to my new dorm. And apparently, that little demand didn’t sit well with her.

Lia, the girl whose conversation I’d discreetly eavesdropped on my second day here was, unfortunately, the fire elemental sent to pick me up. Despite the flow of leg traffic from the students, she drives like a crazy maniac, and I’m pretty sure my body is going to be spotting a few bruises by the time I get to my destination.

She drives down to the end of the road and stops abruptly in front of a beautiful 2-story glass cabin, one which looks very familiar to me. It doesn’t have a flag to identify what dorm it is and I wonder why she’s dropping me off here. Turning to me, she snaps in anger. “Get down!”

I do so wisely, not wanting to poke the angry beast even more. I might not know much about fire conjurers, but I’m smart enough not to mess with people I know have the power to pretty much set me aflame on the spot. I’m glad she was patient enough to let me get my suitcases from her backseat before I slammed the door close. I let out a small huff when she swivels the vehicle abruptly around and drives away with a flip of her hair.

That vile, little… ugh! No wonder that guy hated her guts.

“Don’t take it personally," A voice suddenly mumbles behind me and I turn with a startled scream. Amused, the female standing a few feet away stares at me while I place my hand to my racing chest. “Lia is rude and violent to everyone.”

“Who?”

“The drama queen that just dropped you off.”

“Oh, her.” I hook my thumb over my shoulder and snort. “Not surprised.”

I study the petite girl standing before me and wonder if she’s my age or older. I mean she’s short with a small build but she also doesn’t look that young. With copper brown hair in a messy ponytail and huge glasses perched on her button nose, she kind of looks like a nerd. Dressed exactly like the types you read about or see on TV.

And if that wasn’t a dead give away that she is, the large textbooks she has tucked beneath her armpits are. I glance at the elbow-length gloves on her hands but chose not to ask about them, considering I’m sporting my pair of black gloves.

Instead, I stepped up to help ease some of the load since they look like they weigh a lot. Giving me a grateful smile, she shifts the rest of the books to one gloved hand and held out the other.

“Hi, the names Eva McGill. Now, I might be wrong but I’m guessing you’re the new roommate we’re supposed to be expecting.”

“Coral Ray, and I think I am.” I sigh, glad to meet someone who appears nice. Releasing my hand, she moves towards the cabin and gestures for me to follow.

As soon as I step inside, I’m faced with a homely decor of the wide living room. To the left is a spacious kitchen, and set in-between is a dining table that sits precisely eight people, while ahead is a wooden staircase leading up to the second floor which has an open railing.

Eva drops her books on the blue couch in the living room and I do the same, before following behind as she leads me upstairs. On the top floor, there are 6 doors along the corridor to the left, and another 6 along the corridor to the right. Looking both ways, I wonder who else lives here. She stops in front of a door at the end of the hall to the right and unlocks it, motioning me inside.

“This is your room.”

The first thing I notice when I step in is a twin-sized dresser against the wall facing the door, a desk and an alcove window seat with soft cushions is across the room, and red fur carpet covers the entire floor. To the right side of the room is a door leading into a small walk-in closet and I sigh out in relief to see one.

“No bathroom?” I ask when I step out of the closet, glancing at Eva whose leaning on my door.

She hooks a thumb over her shoulder. “Bathroom is down the hall, there’s only two in the entire house so we all have to share.”

Placing one of my suitcases by the dresser, I pull the other upon the bed with a grunt and start unpacking. “While you get settled in, I’ll be downstairs reading. Tiffany, Camille, and Beatrice will be back tomorrow from their trip home so it's just you and me.”

“Do they also live here?”

She nods and steps back to leave. Hesitating for a beat, she swivels back to face me. “Hey, I’m also about to make dinner, what do you want to eat?”

“Ohm, you don’t need to bother about me. I’m tired and would prefer to sleep the rest for the day off.”

“Alright.” She shrugs, and I watch her leave, before turning my attention back to my clothes.

When I was done unpacking, I drop on the bed and close my eyes, falling asleep as soon as my head hits the pillows.