Seduced by Intention

~Verana's POV~

It was the day after orientation, the last day I had to get settled in before classes started, and me and Halley were laying about without a clue as to what we would spend the day doing. Sure we could be out exploring the buildings and grounds, but where was the fun in that? If anything, laying here was more entertaining.

“You know,” Halley started, propping herself up on her elbows. “We should really find out where our classes are at least, I don't want to get lost on the first day.”

I sighed and rolled onto my back, staring at the ceiling. “You have a point, but I really don't want to get up, I'm comfy.”

“But V, please? I'm so bored. Can we at least see what they have for recreational shit around here? Maybe we'll find something to do. It beats sitting here all day.”

I dug me hand into my pocket and took out my phone, it was about an hour until noon and we had been laying here for about two hours already. I guess going for a walk wouldn't hurt, but I still had no motivation to move.

“Come on, maybe you'll see that girl again.”

I sat up at that remark and Halley started giggling. Damn her, she knew what would make me move.

I sighed again and ran a hand through my hair. “Alright. But it's not because you said that, I'm just really bored too.”

She smiled. “Sure it is. Come on, get dressed.”

***

Half an hour later we found ourselves in the outer courtyard. The sun was shining brightly and it was pleasantly warm. Maybe Halley was right, being outside would do me some good, it was better than laying about.

“Hey Halley, can I ask you something?” I looked over at her, sitting beside me on one of the many benches lining the courtyard.

“Sure, ask away.”

“Well, I was wondering...have you ever had any indicators as to what your Gift might be?” I was mildly worried, I hadn't had any sign of what my Gift was, and both my parents had different Gifts, so what would I get?

“Well no, not really. I mean, I might have some sort of affinity for fire, but then again, I may just be really clumsy and burn myself a lot.” she laughed.

“Hmm, ok. I was just wondering.”

“Why? Do you think you know what yours might be?” she leaned forward, almost eager to hear what I had to say.

I fidgeted a little, I know she's like this, but it still makes me a little nervous when she leans towards me like that. “No, I have no idea. Both my parents have different Gifts. My mum is a Telekinetic, she can move things with a thought, but she can also read minds. That made it really hard to sneak out, but it also helps her in her work; she's a lawyer. As for my dad, he's really good with money and numbers, he can tell if stocks are going to rise or fall just by focusing on each company's symbol. So he plays the market a little, but he's mostly an accountant for the firm downtown back home.”

“Well that's kind of boring. But your dad playing in the market means you guys must have a fair bit of money.”

I looked at my hands, “Yeah, but it also means he's not home a lot. Being as good as he is, a lot of other firms bring him out for consultation.”

“Oh, that sucks. So, you don't know which Gift your going to get out of the two of them? Hm, bummer.”

I laughed. “Yeah it sucks. But hopefully when classes start up I'll figure it out. I guess our first day we're going to be going through all the classes and taking tests to see if we have that particular gift. That should be kind of exciting.”

Halley bounced up, standing in front of me with a wide grin on her face. “I know what we can do, let's go to the library. I hear they have books that list all the types of Gifts, maybe if we look through them we can get a bit of an idea what ours are.”

“You know, that is a good idea. I like that sort of thinking. Let's go.”

***

We got back to our dorm an hour later and flopped onto my bed. We were successful in finding the books we wanted, now we just had to take a look. Unfortunately, they had several books on the types of Gifts, so it looked like we had quite a bit of reading to do.

“Okay, so let's take a look-see at what we got.” Halley said, reaching for the first book in sight, then handing me the next.

I flipped through a couple pages aimlessly, it was all boring stuff, like the kind of Gifts my parents had. That, and I felt no particular draw to any of it. After a while though, Halley squeaked.

“Oh, maybe you're a Phoenix! Like you can't die, well, you can, but then you come back in a fire-y blast.” she made a hand motion to mimic an explosion then flipped her book around to show me the page on Phoenixes.

“Halley, Phoenixes are rare, no one's heard of one in decades, maybe even centuries. I highly doubt it.”

“Okay then, how about a Re'an? They're rumored to be almost like Succubi, strikingly beautiful, able to enchant others with just a touch. That would be cool.” she flipped the book around to show me again.

“Re'an are Irish sprites, I definitely do not have red hair and green eyes. Sorry, but not me either.” I mean yeah, it would have been kind of cool to be like that, but as far as I could tell, I had no Irish in me. Or at least, I hid my ancestry quite well, I even ditched the accent I used to have. My parents still had the Aussie accent, but I wanted to fit in, not stand out, I learned to hide mine.

Halley flipped through a few more pages in the book before going wide-eyed and getting a grin so huge the Cheshire cat would be jealous. “Awe V, maybe you're a Shifter. That would be way cooler than a Re'an or a Phoenix. You could like, transform into an animal and shit, that would be wicked!”

She showed me the page once more, adorned with drawings and diagrams on Shifter physique, and writing explaining the history of their kind. I felt a weird tingle looking at the page, but maybe it was just the detailed drawing of a Shifter mid transformation that got me, it was pretty graphic. There was no way I could be a Shifter, it wasn't in my history, hence, not possible.

But something about that page still got me, I felt strange just looking at it. I shook it off and checked the time. We had been sitting all day looking through these books. I decided it was time to take a shower and get ready for bed. I wanted to be wide awake for tomorrow, especially since we were going to be tested to find out our abilities.

I grabbed my shower bag, muttering a 'see you in a bit' to Halley, and headed off to the girls showers. I still couldn't get over that weird feeling when I looked at the Shifter page in that book. It was so strange, it didn't make any sense to me at all.

I shook my head free of the thought, and pushed open the door to the showers. I set my things down on one of the benches and opened the door to one of the shower stalls. At least they had individual cubicles. I don't think I could have showered if they were all out in the open.

The hot water eased my muscles and dulled my mind of all thought. It was relaxing, and after that weirdness, I needed to relax. I heard the door open and then someone else get into one of the cubicles. I guess I wasn't the only one who thought a shower would be nice right now.

When I was finished, I shut off the water and dried off. Wrapping the towel around myself, I stepped back out and started getting dressed. While I was brushing my hair I caught a glimpse of the other girl getting out of the shower. I nearly dropped my brush in surprise. It was the girl from orientation, the red head. Shit.

I finished brushing my hair and shoved everything back into my bag before hurrying out of the bathroom. I wasn't ready to face her yet, especially not after the night I had. I would just have to buck up later...much later...maybe in a couple months. I want to at least know my abilities before getting to know someone else, maybe it was me being weird, but I wanted to be confident in who I was before truly meeting her, it would make a better impression.

Getting back to my room, I tossed my bag back in the closet and hung my towel on the back of the door. Halley had passed out while I was gone, so at least she wouldn't notice how rattled I was. I got ready for bed and climbed under the blankets. Tomorrow would be great, I just knew it. I also knew I had to stop being a coward when it came to that girl. Sooner or later I would have to meet her, and that made me both excited, and nervous. I pushed all thoughts from my mind and snuggled into my blankets deeper willing sleep to hurry up.