It took me a half hour to stumble back to the academy in a slight haze. My hair was a post-hurricane mess, and my white school shirt had a jagged tear near my elbow from catching on a branch. I probably looked like something out of a horror movie, but I ignored the looks around me as I sprinted back to my dorm. I needed to get somewhere safe- somewhere where this entire supernatural world couldn't reach me. But there was nowhere I could hide, not anymore.
This was my life, and I'd been the one to demand answers better left unspoken. I couldn't go back to my human life- but at the very least, I could escape into a book for a few hours.
I must have fallen asleep at some point because when I next opened my eyes, a rich sunrise drifted in through the curtains. I was startled into alertness, panicking that I'd overslept, but a glance at my alarm told me that I was awake earlier than I had been in a long time. I was too jittery to fall back asleep, so I wasted the next hour compulsively cleaning my room, and alphabetizing my book collection. It calmed my mind a little, or at least enough so that I was able to button up my school shirt without shaky hands. I was lucky that I had a spare shirt, but I'd have to go into town and buy a stitching fabric to mend yesterday's damaged uniform.
I spent the next twenty minutes searching my room for my phone. At one point I'd been tempted to find Rhea and ask her to call it- before remembering that I'd placed it on silent yesterday. It eventually turned up under my bed, having fallen off while I'd slept. The screen was lit with two missed calls from my parents, and handful of messages.
Mum had texted, Are you ok? Haven't been able to get onto you lately.
I quickly typed out a reply and hoped she wouldn't ring in response.
All good here. School's been really busy. Haven't had time to ring. No need to worry.
I wouldn't know what to say if I spoke to them. My entire world had been flipped upside down, and then somersaulted a few times for extra measure. I didn't want my parents to hear anything but a happy, bubbly account of their daughter's first time away from home. Mum would never have let on, but I knew she'd been worried to let me go initially. If I slipped up and told them even a sliver of the truth, they'd want me home in a heartbeat. And while that wasn't such a terrible idea, I couldn't endanger them in such a way. I refused to drag them into the mess I'd created with Lucas and Nick, and I didn't even dare to think of what Leclair would do if she discovered that my parents knew the truth.
I left my dorm for home-room in a slight trance. After a few minutes seated in silence, Gabby leaned over from her desk and prodded for an explanation for my presumably wretched expression. I managed a faint smile, but found myself unable to answer. Fortunately, I evaded her questioning without too much suspicion; even during a study period, the class was bustling with overlapping conversations all fighting for dominance. I simply kept my head down, beyond thankful when the bell finally rang.
I was tempted to feign an absence-worthy disease for the rest of my classes. I exited the room with the other students, still undecided, when Lydia appeared in the hallway and fell into step beside me.
"You've been excused from your next class." She simply stated. "The headmistress would like a word with you in her office."
I stopped in my tracks, causing a grumble as the flood of people were forced to move around us. "What for?"
"You'll find out in a few minutes." I could tell she knew more than she was saying, but I didn't have the energy to prod.
We turned and headed back down the corridor toward the main entrance of the building. There weren't many students on the first floor, so I didn't have to face their curious looks as we crossed the lawn.
Eventually, I managed, "You always seem to be here for me when I need it."
She took it as praise, not seeing it as the intended accusation. "That's the job of a witness, in part."
"A friend told me a little about witnesses." I admitted. "He said that you might have 'spelled' me into inviting you to meet Lucas that day at the airport."
Lydia laughed, the sound frustratingly sweet. "Of course I didn't spell you. I don't possess the power to do any such thing. I merely observe. Fate always seems to place me when and where I need to be to see the truly memorable stuff."
I'd always been intrigued by Lydia's status as a witness, which seemed more like a job than an identity. I needed a decent distraction and finally seemed able to string together full sentences – for the time being – so I kept probing. "Did you always know you were a witness?"
She seemed surprised by my question, but not unwilling to answer. "Not exactly. Even as a child, my head was filled with hundreds of images and memories, and it seemed only natural to assume that they were from past lives. I knew in the same way that you know the sky is blue, or that your parents love you. It was pure instinct. But it wasn't until I began here at Faith Heights as a scholarship student that I realised what exactly those feelings labelled me as."
"You came through Faith Heights as a scholarship student?" I vaguely remembered her telling us as much in home-room, but I'd thought it was a meaningless comment. Something to try and comfort our class through the interviews' chaotic stresses.
Lydia nodded, causing her blonde hair to cloud around her shoulders. "Yes, but I didn't go through the typical induction process. I was brought to the school at a very young age, and already knew what the program was from a past life. Even though the applications are open to all ages, Faith Heights is especially picky in accepting young children on scholarships. For the most part, they retain a record of the exceptional applications, so to re-evaluate when the children are a little older. More capable of keeping our secrets from their families."
"But you were an exception." I remarked.
She gave a sly smile. "I didn't really give them much choice. When a second grader announces in their application that they're aware of werewolves and witches and reincarnated soulmates, it's hard not to allow them into the school."
I could tell she was trying to lighten the mood. My nerves must have been showing. Still, I appreciated the attempt.
"If you were a scholarship student, does that mean you have a soulmate?" I'd never seen Lydia socialising outside of class with other teachers or staff. But it wasn't as if she lived on campus. She probably had a whole other life outside of Faith Heights Academy.
She cleared her throat, and I worried that I'd entered painful territory. But a second later, she smiled. "I don't have a soulmate, per say, but I am in a loving relationship with a mortal I met in town. I don't.... I honestly don't know if he's my soulmate, but I am happy with him. I love him very dearly. But I always hate to use the term 'soulmate'. It's not as if ordinary love is secondary to the concept. They're both beautiful entities that anyone would be lucky to experience. When you announce that you have a soulmate, all it means is that, in one lifetime or another, you chanced upon someone you loved deeply, and found yourself unable to live without. Your souls fit together, but that doesn't make it any more powerful than love."
She pointed to my chest. "That palpation you felt when you met Lucas? That had nothing to do with him being your soulmate. That was simply your soul recognizing someone from a past life. Leclair and most others will probably tell you differently, but I think that when you love someone, it's your heart that tells you. Not your soul."
"And your heart is telling you that the man you met in town isn't your soulmate?" I knew I was overstepping, but I couldn't stop myself.
Lydia sighed, shaking her head softly. "No, but to earn a soulmate, you have to be ready to share everything with them. Two halves of a soul can't become one if there are secrets corrupting the space between them. Henry doesn't know anything about the supernatural. I often consider telling him, but what would be the point? I might have to leave town at a moment's notice to perform my duties. Witnesses have a gut instinct telling them where and when to settle. We are always present for the important moments of history, but there's never any warning when these instincts will flare up."
We were nearing Leclair's office. With the forest's shade and the morning light, it looked as if a blanket had been thrown over half of the building.
Lydia tone made it evident that Hernry was an unsettling topic for conversation, so I asked, "What moments of history have you witnessed?"
She beamed, as if letting me in on a great secret. "The usual for witnesses, I suppose. Wars, social and government movements, famous births and deaths." She paused. "Meeting powerful supernatural beings at specific times in their lives."
"Have we ever met before? In past lives?" I felt a little arrogant in asking, but couldn't resist.
Surprisingly, Lydia nodded- though the movement was stiff, painful. 'Well, we only met in passing. I didn't know who you were at the time."
I could tell there was more to the story, but we'd reached Leclair's door, and with that came an uncomfortable silence. Lydia quickly left me with only a reassuring smile, and I turned to hesitantly knock.
Leclair took her time approaching the entrance, long enough for me to wonder if she'd even been expecting me. But she opened the door with her usual flourish, and led me inside without a word. Something about her posture had me concerned. It was less like her usual bearing, formal yet warm, like a stern mother. This time, Leclair looked the part of an upper-class CEO, dressed in a tailored black pantsuit.
She marched in thick black heels to her office at the back, behind the interview room. I presumed I was meant to follow, and promptly trailed after her.
The desk in her office was scattered with loose sheets of paper. My file was there, splayed open for Leclair to peruse at her leisure. I'd only seen mine and Lucas' photographs clipped to the front page- and I would have given anything to read what else was inside. Maybe it would have explained why my connection to that spiritual, energy-abundant world Lydia had me poking around in was so unhinged. But now wasn't the time to ask Leclair for a favour. Her arctic blue eyes seemed to lower the temperature of the room, and her lips were set in a pale line.
She walked to the window after closing the door behind me. "I've asked you here today to discuss a matter of the school's security. And I'm afraid that you've become very central to the problem at hand."
I took a seat opposite her desk and asked rigidly, "What exactly is the problem?"
She smiled, almost sadly. "I know that you're fully aware of what is going on, Lila. We can't very well have a demon and angel feuding on school grounds, can we?"