“Listen Gabrielle, this is … difficult to explain to someone who has not grown up knowing,” Leanne said.
“Knowing what?”
“The truth about what we are.”
“What we are?” The conversation was becoming cryptic.
“Oh, Leanne, you are doing a monstrous job of telling her.”
My roommate gave Oliver a dark look. “Fine,” she huffed, “you tell her.”
Oliver took both my hands in his and looked me in the eye. “Honey, we are all supernaturals.”
Chapter 3
“What?” I could feel my eyebrows knitting together even as I smiled. I looked back and forth between Oliver and Leanne, waiting for them to tell me they were kidding. They looked serious. “What do you mean you’re supernaturals? Tell me you guys are joking.”
After a moment of tense silence, Leanne spoke quietly. “Of course we’re serious Gabrielle. You don’t get accepted into Peel unless you’re a supernatural.”
I raised my eyebrows, catching on to what she was implying. “So I’m a supernatural?” I couldn’t believe I was actually entertaining the thought. “I mean, what even is a supernatural?”
“You’ll find out what you are soon,” she said hesitantly. “Your powers will surface at the Awakening.”
“That’s what the Awakening is?”
“Yes, and that’s why only juniors and seniors attend Peel,” Leanne said. “We’ve all reached puberty, and we’re considered adults within the supernatural community; we’re biologically and socially ready for our powers to be Awakened.”
Her brow furrowed. “It’s strange that you wouldn’t know this. Everyone who attends Peel has usually known about his or her true nature since childhood.”
“I was adopted at the age of five. Any ties I had to my biological parents were severed then.” I didn’t know why I said it. I wasn’t entertaining these thoughts. Except that I couldn’t help but consider it. Maybe that’s why I saw the man in the suit. Maybe I was different.
Leanne and Oliver exchanged a troubled glance. I looked between them. The first seedling of belief sprouted. This wasn’t the way two people would act if a joke went on for too long. In fact, it might explain why everyone knew more than I did. Or maybe I’d accidently joined a cult, and I was as crazy as everyone else.
“But how would the school know I was a legacy?” I asked. “I’m an orphan. Even I haven’t been able to track any relatives, living or dead, and I’ve had over ten years to search.”
“I don’t know,” Leanne said. “Someone must have informed them of your existence. But who?”
***
I slept restlessly that night. The wind whistled outside my window, only adding to my nightmares. The man in the suit was at the back of my dreams, calculating. At some point the dreams dissipated, and I took comfort in the dreamless sleep.
I woke up to midday sunlight streaming through my window and a rapping on my door. For one blissful moment I lazily stretched my limbs, happy. Then I remembered the events of last night.
I briefly wondered whether I could actually be a supernatural. Impossible—but perhaps true. The thought, however, was soon eclipsed by another that had nagged me.
It was Leanne’s final question that I couldn’t get out of my mind. Did someone from my past know of my existence? Why hadn’t they contacted me? Who were my parents, and where did I come from? These were all questions orphans asked themselves, but now answering them seemed vitally important. My future appeared to rely on it. I promised myself that as soon as I was settled in, I was going to do some sleuthing.
I heard the door open and a sassy voice chastise me. “Girl, get up! I know you are jet-lagged, but geez, it’s almost 3:00 p.m. Even I don’t sleep that late.”
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. “Why can’t you be like every other guy—hopelessly banned from the girl’s dormitory?” I asked.
“Because I’m amazing.” I felt Oliver remove my blanket and the pillow covering my face. “Now get your ass out of bed and get changed.”
I groaned. “Why do you care?”
“I care because I don’t want you to look like a homeless person tonight on your date.”
“I’m not going.” I threw my pillow at him.
He caught it and threw it back at me. “And I’m not leaving until you agree to come with me—unless you’d truly prefer to stick around and hang out with all the other supernaturals.”
He had a point. “Okay, okay. Just give me five minutes to change.”
I noticed Leanne was nowhere in sight; she had probably scrammed as soon as she could.
Oliver perched himself on my desk, arms folded.
“Let me clarify,” I said. “Give me five minutes to get changed privately.”
Letting out a melodramatic sigh, Oliver left the room.
I quickly threw on some clothes, brushed my teeth, and checked my reflection in the mirror. The blue-eyed, black-haired creature staring back at me looked wild and lovely. Sometimes I didn’t recognize myself in her.
My gaze didn’t linger long. I slipped on some sandals and headed out with Oliver to my version of hell—shopping.