Beyond the Veil

Chapter One

          He was watching her again. Serena could feel his eyes boring into her back. She refused to turn around and acknowledge him. She knew that in doing so she would only encourage his odd behavior. Instead she shifted in her seat so that her back was to him and turned her music up just a little bit louder.

          Why couldn't he focus on the reading assignment like everyone else?

          Slouching closer to her text book, Serena tried to focus her attention on the art of diagramming a sentence and not the boy sitting on the opposite end of the classroom. Not only did she not want the attention he seemed so intent on giving her, but she didn't appreciate the nasty side effects that came along with it.

          For one, the other girls hated it.

          They didn't say so directly, the didn't need to. Serena's curse took care of that. Not that they knew anything about that. God no. She couldn't imagine what they'd say or do if they did. Her social life was pretty non-existent as it were, she'd be a total outcast if they knew the truth.

          If they knew she could read their minds.

          It wasn't as glamorous as it sounded and offered no more insight into the minds of her peers. It wasn't mind reading in the sense that Serena went in and started rooting around in search of their deepest, darkest secrets. In fact, the reason it was a curse was because Serena had no control over it at all.

          Including making it stop.

          Mostly she heard surface thoughts, the streaming consciousness to be more precise. Most of the time it was about as interesting as a Facebook feed with thoughts about what to have for lunch, or opinions on the previous night's episode of the Bachelor.

          That was on a good day.

          On bad days, Serena found herself bombarded by the fears, hopes, and weirdness of her peers. It came in waves, each more intense than the next, and left Serena with headaches so severe she swore her head was going to explode. On rare occasion there were physical side effects, like nosebleeds or brief blackouts that left her feeling confused and disoriented. These events were few and far between, but left her feeling awful as a result.

          The worst, however, was when she started to lose her sense of self and found it difficult to separate her own thoughts from those around her.

          That was where the music came in.

          The music, quite literally, saved her life.

          While Serena had no way of stopping the wave of thoughts and emotions, she could block it out. After months of trial and error she had found the sweet spot. It was the point at which the volume was just enough to block out the thoughts, but low enough that she could still hear her teachers when they lectured. The use of electronic devices was not permitted in class, but Serena had become especially adept at hiding them.

          The bell rang, its shrill shriek audible over the heavy bass pumping into her ears. Serena hastily gathered up her things and made a break for the door. It wasn't an uncommon practice for her and while people stared, they also were courteous enough to move.

          The boy, as though predicting her actions, jumped up to follow. For a terrifying moment Serena thought he might make it to the door of the classroom before she could, but the feeling was short lived. A sigh of relief escaped her when halfway to the door he was cut off by Lila Malone.

          "Hey, Sebastian," she chirped in that annoying sing-song voice that normally grated on Serena's nerves. In that instant, Serena had never been more grateful to hear her voice.