Encounter

The Gift

Everything was fuzzy. It was black out and I couldn't hear a thing. Then voices exploded around me. They sounded like I was a million miles underwater or I had cotton in my ears. My own name came through a few times by many voices. I couldn't place them however. I opened my eyes to bright lights. I covered them instantly and then opened them much slower. They adjusted and I saw Shaunee and Zoey sitting there. I sat up and saw Stark there too. 

"Sky! You're awake thank god... We thought you died." zoey said and squeezed my hand. I didn't even realize she was holding it. I put a hand to my head. My hair was pulled into a braid but the bangs were left out to hide my mark I guess. Or maybe they were just too short. 

"Zoey... What happened?" I asked. "In the street..." I look from zoey to Shaunee and then Stark. Zoey sighed. She looked at Shaunee and said something I couldn't catch. Shaunee then got up and walked out muttering something about calling Thantos. 

Zoey pulled my hand towards hers. "Sky, we were hoping you knew. you'd been gone for hours. We found you starting to reject the change. Thank god we did. Thantos got some warning about death from her gift and Nyx told me about you in the street. What happened?" 

I rubbed my head and thought hard. Stark was looking out the window trying to look intimidating or at least. "I remember Nefret.. I saw her and went after her. I set my phone up on the brick wall... She got into my mind and told me about Jack. Why didn't you tell me he was killed?"

Zoey looked to Stark and then sighed. "We didn't know how you would react." She said simply. 

I continued on with my encounter. "But I pressed back, broke through her barricades and told her her life's story on how she became who she was." I shivered remembering the dark tendrils that followed her everywhere. "and those damn tendrils." 

Zoey looked shocked. "You pressed into her mind?" She asked and I nodded retelling what I saw in there. And then how she just vanished like i was dreaming. "See anything else" she pressed.

I nodded. "I saw Jack. He grabbed my elbow. It sounds crazy but it happened." Zoey looked to the door and stood up when Thantos walked in.

"Thantos, Sky has a gift." she said immediately. "Just like Nefret." Thantos looked at me and nodded. She was elegant and beautiful. I didn't even know her age. 

"Then we shall make sure she doesn't fall onto the same path." She said and walked in further. "Sky you must stay inside the castle walls for now. If Nefret knows you have the same gift as her she may try and pull you with her. If you have to leave then you MUST be accompanied by a vampyre. Understood?" I nod and open my mouth to ask a question when there's a Knock at the door. 

It opens and Zoey hides her mark with her hair as does Stark and Thantos. She steps aside to let whoever it is inside. I sit up and strain my neck to see who it is. A hand pulls back the curtain and steps in front of it. 

My breath catches in my throat. "Steven?" I jump out of bed and run at him hugging him harder than I've ever hugged anyone in my life. I pulled back when he didn't hug me back and looked at him. He was staring at me and then moved my bangs aside. He sighed and traced the moon on my forehead. 

I stepped back and looked him with all the hurt and rage I had. Then I felt myself crawling into his mind. I narrowed my eyes and then they widened. He has liked me. Since we were kids. Being away from me for at least a month has hurt him in ways that he didn't even realize.

"Sky listen, when i- When I saw your mark i thought you had changed..." He started and I shook my head tearing up. I tore my eyes from him and pulled from his mind. "When I told you to leave I saw the hurt in your eyes and... I have to admit, It hurt me to see you like that." He said finally after a long moment's pause.

"Bullshit." I said. And looked at him. "If you loved me you would have walked me to the House of Night instead of sending me off like that!" I scream at him and push past him and into the sunlight. My arms burned and blistered and then my face did. I sprinted to my dorm and heard someone call out behind me. 

I didn't care if it was Steven or Zoey. I wanted out of that room with everyone watching me. I crawled into bed and covered myself hugging a bear I had gotten when I was little and kept around for these purposes. 

I felt like I pushed away the only person I liked.