Eternity (17 page)

“Well, if you
tried to stop it and you saw it anyway, then maybe you can’t change
anything,” Michael reasoned.

“But what if I
draw something horrible? I don’t want to believe that I can’t do
anything to stop it. I couldn’t live with that.” I shuddered at the
thought.

“If the idea
bothers you that much, then maybe you should stop drawing,” he
suggested. “It might be the easiest thing to do. You have other
abilities that you can work on instead.”

“The easiest
thing to do is not always the best,” I said.

“True enough,”
Michael replied. “I guess that’s your choice to make. Want to play
another song?”

I agreed, so
Michael went back to his guitar. He started playing a song that was
familiar to me, so I had no trouble following along.

When I left the
music room a few minutes later I headed back to the library, but I
ended up stopping along the way when I saw the door to the
greenhouse, which I had never been in before. I thought that maybe
Melissa was there, but when I peeked my head in, the only person I
saw was Mrs. Espenas. I asked her if I could look around, and she
said she didn’t mind.

The plants in
the greenhouse varied from vegetables to types of flowers that I
didn’t even recognize. I stopped to admire some giant blossoms that
looked like bowls, and a plant with beans that were pink and
purple. Still, the roses were undoubtedly the most beautiful
flowers in the whole greenhouse.

“You know,
Melissa cares for those almost by herself now,” Mrs. Espenas said
to me when I stopped to look at them. “She can be very gentle for
someone who has so much passion.”

I smiled,
knowing that she was right. “She loves her roses. She usually
brings a few to our room for all of us to admire.”

“Yes, she asked
if she could on the first day.” She paused and studied me for a
moment. “I’m sure you’re getting tired of people asking, but how
are you?”

“I’m fine,” I
assured her. “Dr. Hughes gave me something that works wonderfully.
I’ll be healed in no time.”

“That’s not
what I meant, dear. Are you coping well with what happened?”

I frowned. “It
was scary at the time, but I don’t think there are any lasting
effects,” I said. I wasn’t really sure what else to say. Mrs.
Espenas nodded and went back to watering the vegetables, and I
continued on my way to the library, where I found the book I was
going to read before I had gone off to find Michael. I settled in
and lost myself in a different time.

Chapter
22

Jack and I made
up the next day at breakfast after apologizing profusely to each
other, though I made no promise to stay away from Adrian and Jack
stopped asking me to. I think he realized that I wasn’t going to
give in and he didn’t want to fight anymore. It was nice to have my
best friend back.

I went back to
the infirmary after breakfast, and when I saw the cuts on my arms
they were healed over. There were still sensitive pink scars
running down my arms, but that was all that remained, so I didn’t
need any more bandages and Dr. Hughes didn’t give me more cream.
She said that it had already done as much as it could, so it wasn’t
necessary. When I asked her if the scars would go away, she said
no, the cream didn’t help with that, but she could make something
else that would. I told her not to bother, thinking it might be
good to have a permanent reminder of what happened.

I spent the
afternoon with my roommates, who didn’t even mention what had
happened. We hung around in the common room and watched TV. It was
nice to be able to laugh and have fun for a while, and to forget
about all of my worries. I still ended up thinking of Adrian, but
not as much as I would have if I was alone. I was still anxious to
talk to him, but I hadn’t found out where he was. Jack had
confirmed that morning that he had moved out of his room, but he
either didn’t know or wouldn’t tell me any more than that.

Monday finally
arrived. I was anxious for the time to pass quickly because I
wanted to get to Calculus. I even barely paid attention in History,
even though Ms. Coleman was talking about Isadora for a change,
instead of Amun. I think she was talking about a time when she was
a slave in ancient Rome, and she fell in love with a gladiator or
something. I’m sure it was very interesting, but I just couldn’t
concentrate.

I decided to
draw in Skills Development, mostly because I could do it without
thinking, which left my mind open to more pressing issues. I did
try to draw the Calculus classroom so I could see where Adrian
would sit, but I drew my English classroom instead. Clearly, I
still had a lot of work to do. It was frustrating me that I was
having so much trouble doing it right, and Mr. Ramirez assured me
that it was normal to take years to fully develop and control an
ability. That didn’t make me feel any better.

The rest of the
morning and early afternoon continued to move extremely slowly
until it was finally time for Calculus. I had come up with a plan
so that I wouldn’t have to worry as much about Adrian avoiding me.
Instead of going in and sitting down, I waited for him to arrive
outside of the classroom. When he finally got there he completely
surprised me. Instead of trying to walk by me as I expected, he
came right up to me and hugged me, which he had never done before.
He was careful not to touch my arms, so it was a little
awkward.

“You’re
alright?” he questioned, and I nodded. “Good. Do you hate me?”

“Of course not,
Adrian,” I assured him.

“You probably
should, you know. Any sane person would. I’m really sorry.” I could
tell he meant it.

“Don’t worry
about me,” I said. “You should worry more about yourself. You need
to learn to control your temper before it ruins your life.”

“It already
has, Juliet. I can’t live with myself like this, and I don’t know
what to do. I never want to hurt anyone ever again. I don’t even
know what came over me on Friday. I just saw you hugging that guy
and I got angry, and it took hold over me before I could control
it. It could happen again at any time. I should be locked up.” He
was almost panicking.

“Adrian, you
know it’s not your fault. It’s just part of what you are, and
you’ll get over it in time like everyone else.”

“By then it
could be too late,” he said, and I could see the fear in his eyes
as well as in his aura.

Mr. Dawes, the
Calculus teacher, poked his head out the classroom door. “Class
started five minutes ago. Get in here, both of you,” he commanded.
He waited until we were in our seats before resuming the class,
which left us no chance to talk again.

When class was
over Adrian was forced to go back to his solemn isolation by Paul,
who had come to get him. He gave me a quick kiss goodbye and
slipped a piece of paper into my hand before he exited the room. I
looked at the paper when he was gone, and saw that he had quickly
scrawled on it where he was living, which happened to be on the
fifth floor of the north wing. He included the room number and a
warning that there was usually someone around to make sure he
didn’t sneak out.

I found Jack in
the cafeteria where he was eating and working on an assignment at
the same time, though he stopped doing both when I sat down.

“Did you hear?”
he asked. “A couple of vampires got in trouble today for feeding on
other students. I think one of them got kicked out of school.”
Vampires not being allowed to feed on other students at school was
one of those rules that was strictly enforced. Parents wouldn’t
feel too good about letting their kids go to a school that allowed
vampires to feed on them, especially because it could become
addictive to the one being bitten.

“Well, at least
the school gossip no longer relates to me,” I said, smiling. “Did
the students give consent?”

“Of course they
did. Apparently it feels really good or something. A lot of people
were involved. Remember Kyle, the guy who was with us on our first
day? He was involved. The headmaster herself caught him and a
vampire in an empty classroom upstairs during lunch time
today.”

“Sounds like
quite the scandal,” I commented. I could hardly imagine Kyle, who
was in half my classes, being into something like that, but I
couldn’t help but be glad the attention of the school had shifted
from me. I could already tell that less people were looking at me,
and there were a lot of eyes on a table of vampires in one corner
of the room. They didn’t look too happy.

When I finished
eating I went to the north wing to try to see Adrian, but the place
was swarming with teachers, which I figured had something to do
with what Jack had mentioned, so I went back to the south wing
instead. I found Heather sitting alone on a couch in the common
room reading a book, so I joined her there.

“Hey Juliet,”
she greeted me, putting her book down. “Did you hear about the
vampires?”

I smiled.
“Yeah, Jack told me about that at supper,” I answered.

“You must be
glad that everyone has something else to talk about.”

“Yeah, it’s a
bit of a relief,” I said.

“That’s good.
Actually, there’s something I wanted to tell you about. Mrs.
Bainbridge met with Amun. I didn’t hear their conversation, so I
don’t really know exactly what was said, but I think it happened
earlier today or maybe sometime yesterday. I heard her mention it
to Victor this afternoon. It seems like all of your teachers have
been talking about you.”

“Do you know
anything about what Amun said?” I asked. Even though I had
different beliefs, I couldn’t help but be a little curious.

“Yeah, the
headmaster was quite clear about his opinion. He confirmed
everyone’s suspicions. He said that you are Isadora, and you took
away your memories and powers sixteen years ago. He also seemed to
think it best not to tell you so that you wouldn’t have the burden
of knowing, but I figured I should tell you anyway. I’d want to
know if it was me.”

I couldn’t help
but laugh. “You can’t be serious,” I said.

Heather didn’t
laugh. She continued to look quite serious. “I’m telling the truth,
Juliet. You really are a goddess. You may not believe it now, but
someday you will.”

“Would you
believe me if I told you that you were a goddess?” I asked, still
smiling at the absurdity of what she was telling me.

“Probably not,”
she admitted. “Of course, I don’t look like you, and I’m not as
powerful. I also have a normal aura. It’s different with you
though. There’s actually a lot of evidence that you’re choosing to
ignore, and even more than you’ve told me about. I heard Ms.
Coleman saying you have the keys to the three villages on Asantis.
Is that true?”

“It is, but
it’s not like I’ve always had them. They were given to me on
Christmas, so it could very well be a mistake. Maybe Amun is just
having a little fun by tricking people.”

“I kind of
doubt that, silly. Can I see them?”

“Sure,” I said,
and I pulled the chain from around my neck, where I kept it
whenever possible. The three keys were still there, looking every
bit as beautiful as they did when I had first seen them. Heather
held them in her hand as if they were the most delicate things on
Earth when I passed them to her, just like Ms. Coleman had.

“They’re
incredible!” she said in awe. She ran her fingers over the
intricate pattern on the white key. “I can’t believe you didn’t
tell me about these!”

“Well, I was
sure you’d see it as more evidence, as you clearly do. To be
honest, I haven’t really thought about them much since I got
them.”

“But they are
more evidence! I don’t understand how you can possibly deny that
you’re a goddess.”

“Keep it down,”
I said, looking around us to see if anyone was listening. Luckily
there were only a few people in the room, and most of them seemed
preoccupied. A bushy-haired girl reading a book a few feet away
looked at us funny, but she went back to reading when she saw me
looking back.

“Look, Jules,
I’ll keep this to myself. I understand that people may see you
differently if they know the truth, and you’re my friend. You can
trust me. Sometime you’re going to have to face the truth yourself
though, whether you like it or not. Personally, I think it’s
awesome. Just think of all the amazing things you’ve done and what
you’re capable of doing.”

I sighed. “Even
if it were true, it wouldn’t make any difference. I’d still be
stuck just being me, at least until I died.”

“Yeah, I guess
that’s true, and we can hope that you don’t die any time soon. You
might want to stay away from Adrian to avoid that happening.”

“That’s what
everyone tells me, but I can’t do that,” I said. “He has no
intention of killing me anyway. It’s not his fault if I get in his
way.”

Heather shook
her head. “For such a smart girl, you can be really stupid
sometimes.”

“You’re
probably right about that,” I agreed.

Over the next
week I noticed something that bothered me. Pretty much all of my
teachers treated me differently than they had before. It was
subtle, but it was happening. I even noticed changes in their auras
when I was around, and their emotions confused me. There was
generally a lot of fear and awe. Even if I was a goddess, I
couldn’t understand their fear. From everything that I had learned
in History, I knew that the gods were not at all dangerous. I
thought perhaps it was just a general reaction to being around
someone they thought was powerful. I would’ve found it amusing if
it wasn’t so disturbing.

I first noticed
the change the day after I talked to Heather. Ms. Coleman called on
me more in History when she asked questions. I didn’t even have my
hand up, but I knew most of the answers because of all the time I
spent in the library. Still, it was a little unnerving. She even
asked me a question that she didn’t know the answer to, and she
seemed to expect me to answer it. I had no idea what the answer
was, of course, and she seemed disappointed.