Psychic

That night came with another nightmare.

Well, I guess that’s the word you’d use to describe them.

I was back in that dark room, the curtains drawn and the fire glowing. This time I could see his desk more clearly, which turned out to be covered in papers and books. It was like a hurricane had blown through the room. This time there was a sharp and cold breeze coming from the doorway Magnus had exited last time.

The man with the scar was alone as far as I could tell. He was pacing the room, but he wasn’t nervous. Rather, the man looked angry. And anger on a face disfigured like that was not a pretty sight.

Magnus entered the room and the man immediately exploded at him, “Where are my results, novice? How hard is it for you to find this girl?”

Magnus seemed taken aback by the attack, but he didn’t retaliate like he would if this was real life. I knew the Magnus who I saw in school every day was not this mild tempered. “I think your source was wrong, Sir. I don’t think she’s here.”

The man sneered and backed Magnus up to the wall. He was so close that Magnus could practically kiss him, you know, if he was into that kind of stuff. Even his scar looked more prominent and scarier with his face so close to Magnus’s. I was actually a bit scared for the Dream Magnus.

“What’s your game, boy? Are you protecting her?”

“N-No,” Magnus stuttered in a way that disproved his own words, “I just told you that I don’t-“

The man exaggeratedly nodded like he had figured out Magnus’s game and pointed a bony finger into Magnus’s chest. “You’ve fallen for her charm haven’t you? You let your guard down! Didn’t your schooling teach you anything? Creatures like her are manipulative by nature. She will get under your skin because you are the one person she can’t read into naturally. She is a demon in disguise. She will do anything, tell you anything, to get you to be on her side. She is-“

“Enough!”

Magnus’s outburst was surprising, even the creepy man (who I’ve decided to call Scar) was caught off guard.

“What. Did. You. Just. Say. To. Me?” Scar asked threateningly, leaning in close to capture the full effect, getting closer with every forced word.

“She’s not like that.” Magnus said through clenched teeth. “How am I supposed to even know what she is if you won’t even tell me anyways?”

Scar laughed. “Oh, yes, I forgot, you still don’t know. You aren’t on the right level to know. But you don’t need to know, you’re only a novice. You don’t need to know what she can do to finish this. Might I remind you why you are on this mission, boy? You are on probation. Probation that will only be lifted once you complete this important task.”

“It’s not like you let me choose what task I took.”

Scar chuckled, “Cry a river for me. You are the only one who can get to a girl like her without raising suspicion, you know as much. Besides, once you complete this task, you will be viewed as a full member of our society, isn’t that what you always dreamed of? To be seen as just as competent as your brother?”

Magnus kept his gaze down. “Of course.”

“Wonderful.” Scar smiled menacingly, “Then you should know that the girl is at that school. My source is trustworthy, more than you’ll ever be seen as. You know him well, don’t you? He’s already reported his suspicions to me of who he thinks the girl is. You better make sure that you earn her trust, boy. From what he tells me, he’s already gotten close to her. You don’t want to be outdid by your brother, again, do you?”

Magnus reluctantly shook his head.

“You get her to trust you, then you give us the confirmation. Just make sure she doesn’t pull you in, we don’t need another accident like Wallington, do we? Her kind is dangerous.”

A flash of realization flashed across Magnus’s face, but he didn’t let Scar see it. He looked down and clenched his fists. “She isn’t like . . . her.” At the last word Magnus looked straight at me. It scared me so much that I tried to back away, but my feet felt glued to the floor. In fact, it was the first time I realized that my perspective wasn’t straight forward. I was looking at the scene like I was in a sitting position, like I wasn’t supposed to be there.

It was also the first time I noticed that my perspective of the scene was a little blurry, but I had just assigned that to the fact that this was a dream. But now that I was paying attention, it looked like I was witnessing the scene through glass. Like I was trapped in a glass container.

Scar twisted his face to look my way and he snarled, “Witness this all you want, Victoria.” He spat. “You will never escape. You won’t be able to warn her. You will fail.”

And with that I woke up, sitting up in a straight 90 degree angle. My skin was clammy and my hair matted with sweat. I was breathing heavily, my throat sore, and the rapid thumping of my heart confirmed that the dream was just that, a dream. Despite how realistic it seemed, I was still in my bed at the Andrews’ house. I was not in a dark room with the new kid and a man with a nasty scar.

But something set me off about this dream. It seemed more real than the last one.

What if the dream was real?

I already knew that mind reading was somehow possible, so why not other stuff? Why couldn’t the dream be real?

But if it was real, then who was I in the dream? Magnus’s expression when he looked at me, it was fearful. He couldn’t even call whoever I was by name. And then Scar looked at me with such repulsion that I knew he must’ve personally hated whoever I was. I was seeing the scene from the eyes of this Victoria, someone Dream Magnus feared and Scar hated.

But if the dream was real, then that would mean that Magnus was actually looking for someone – someone that was possibly me? Scar told Magnus he was the one who had to find that special someone because of a unique ability he possessed. It wasn’t a coincidence that I couldn’t read him, was it?

So if Magnus was looking for me, and if my not being able to read him wasn’t a coincidence, that meant Scar was looking for me. And judging by his urgent tone and body language, he really needed me. He also looked like he really needed to get rid of me.

But that would also mean that Scar knew what I could do, and he possibly knew who I was. He spoke of my mother in the first dream like he knew her.

And it also looked like Scar wasn’t telling Magnus everything. It wasn’t until Scar mentioned Wallington that he looked at whoever I was like he understood what was going on.

Then did that mean whoever I was in the dream, the mysterious Victoria, was like me? Was she a mind reader too?

I arrived at school that morning confused and preoccupied. I couldn’t wait until after school for Magnus to tell me everything. I needed him to tell me now.

I needed to know if what I was seeing was just a figment of my imagination or not.

Bella rambled endlessly on about Bryce on our way to first period. It was easy to zone out and get lost in my thoughts and other peoples’ thoughts, so easy in fact that I bumped into a large mass and fell to the floor.

Oh, shit. The person thought, a boy’s voice who I knew.

“Let me help you up,” Bryce held out his hand for me to take, which I did gratefully.

“Thanks, I’m sorry I didn’t see you there. I was lost in my thoughts.”

I’m sure you were

(Yep. Bryce was still an asshole, even if he was dating my best friend.)

Bella smiled and hugged Bryce quite forcefully. “Hey, Bryce. What are you doing here? Isn’t your first period on the other side of the school?”

Bryce shrugged, “Yeah, I just thought it’d be nice to give my girlfriend a walk to her first period.”

Bella beamed, “Okay!”

I stifled my laughter and went on walking to history, leaving Bella and Bryce to do their couple things. I might not have liked Bryce, but if he made Bella happy, I was okay with that. His outward thoughts didn’t seem too bad anyways. At least they weren’t as bad as I’d expect from him.

But I wasn’t greeted by Magnus’s glum face in history like I expected. In fact, Magnus wasn’t even there.

I spent the whole day lost in my thoughts again. Many a teacher commented on my zoned out state, scolding me on not paying attention in their very important lessons. Even Mr. Peterson took a moment out of his daydream about Mandy Dawson to tell me to start writing down the notes.

By the time school ended, I was a nervous wreck. Now that I had come to terms with the fact that my dreams might possibly could be real moments that I was witnessing through someone else, I desperately needed Magnus to fill in the holes.

I refused the ride home from school from Bella, which she wasn’t as suspicious about because Bryce stood as a distraction next to her when I told her. Besides, I think she didn’t want to make a pit stop at my house if it meant spending less time with her new boyfriend.

By the time I got to the ice cream store by the woods, my back was killing me. I took that moment to criticize the American schooling system and their stupid homework before building up the courage to enter the terrifying woods to see Manus again..

Ten minutes later, I was at the spot Magnus confronted me at yesterday. I figured that he would at least show up. Our meeting had to be important to him at least. He couldn’t have forgotten so quickly that we had agreed to meet up.

After waiting for five minutes, I decided to turn around and go back to the street. The problem was that I had yet again forgotten which way was home and which way brought me deeper into the woods.

I sighed loudly and headed in a random direction, chosen because it looked a bit less thorny than the rest.

I soon found out that it had been the wrong direction when I entered a field. In the middle of the field there was a boy with jet black hair sitting cross legged with his head down in deep concentration – Magnus.

I headed over to him, quite frankly more than a little annoyed that he decided sitting in a field was worth more of his time than talking with me.

“Magnus!” I yelled, quite unnecessarily.

Magnus turned, startled. I stared him down and his eyes got wider. What was with him? Why was he surprised that I was here? We did agree to meet up after all.

“You can see me?” He asked, bewildered.

“Yes, of course I can. Now please tell me what the heck is going on. I came back here to know what you know. You said you’d explain something to me, so spill the beans.”

Magnus’s whole attitude changed, “No, there’s nothing to say.”

I scoffed and stepped a little closer to him. “No way, Magnus. You promised me answers.”

“Yeah, well I changed my mind.” He said, turning away from me. “There’s nothing I know that you need to know.”

I got angry almost immediately, I refused a short car ride home to carry a heavy backpack through the woods just to wait on a boy who didn’t even want to see me anymore. That was a little more than unfair. “Excuse me?” I said, walking up to him.

“No! Don’t get any closer!” Magnus warned. I ignored him and got about two feet away from him when I hit a solid surface.

“Ouch! My nose!” I squealed, holding my now throbbing nose. God, I hoped it wasn’t broken.

Magnus got up from his seated position and held his hand up. He muttered, “Invisibilitatem bulla evanescent,” his red amulet flashed bright with a reflection by the sun, and a shimmer went through the air. Somehow I knew that the invisible barrier that had once separated us was now gone.

“Was that Latin?” I questioned, not even bothering with the other questions running through my mind, like, what the hell just happened?

“Yes, I’m surprised you knew.”

I huffed and crossed my arms, “I’m smarter than I look.” And then the serious questions popped into my mind again. “What was that just now? Was that . . . magic?”

Magnus’s exterior turned defensive again. “Just go away, Olivia. Just forget that you ever saw any of that. You’d be better off for it.”

“Are you serious? What was that barrier thingy? Was it supposed to hide you or something? Is that why you were surprised I could see you?”

I was putting two and two together so fast that Magnus couldn’t keep it up with his excuses.

“I shouldn’t have done that.” He muttered under his breath. “You don’t need to be asking questions. It’d be safer for you if you don’t.”

“But I want answers.” I fought. He had left me with way more questions than answers after that little show.

“You need to go, now. Go before they know you’re here.”

I stood my ground. “No. Who is the mysterious ’they’?”

Magnus’s eyes turned darker and his amulet got a little brighter than it was a second ago. “Just go. Let me be alone.”

I faltered for a moment. Magnus was back to his usual defensive exterior, which I figured I liked a lot less compared to when he finally let down his guard yesterday. Magnus hadn’t answered any of the original questions that I needed answered. I hadn’t even gotten to ask him about the dreams.

“Go now!” He yelled, his expression getting terrifying as his amulet flashed an even brighter red. The air around us got a little warmer and I knew it was all somehow connected to his anger.

I reluctantly pivoted on my feet and walked away. When I got back to where the woods started again, I looked back. Magnus was sitting again, only this time his back to me. I could see his chest rising and falling, trying to calm his heart.

I turned away and ran the rest of the trek through the forest, trying to make the distance between me and Magnus as far as possible. I didn’t want to be this close to him when he was acting this strange.

Something wasn’t right about Magnus, and it was more than just my inability to read him. And I would find it out soon enough.