The wind was raging, and leaves were flying everywhere. I watched as people began to huddle in doorways, waiting for it to be safe to move between buildings. I steadied myself against the wind and pushed forwards towards my dorm. As the wind tried to move me, I felt a warm spot where my necklace lay, and a surge of energy propelled me easily through the quad. As I reached the double doors to my building, a torrential downpour opened up over the campus and rain began to pound the pavement.
I rushed to my room, just in time to see Dustin closing the door behind him. "Katie, I was just coming to look for you." He grabbed me and pulled me close. "I just spoke to Brian. I think we need to talk."
He opened the door and led me back inside. "Why didn't you tell me what was going on?"
I sighed and sat on the bed. "Because I didn't want to worry you. And I didn't really know what was happening. I wanted to ask Brian first, so I would know whether it was worth bothering you with, or if it was just another harmless side effect of the Link."
"Brian seems spooked, so I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say it must be something important for him to be coming all the way back here from Connecticut. His flight leaves in an hour."
Oddly enough, knowing Brian was on his way made me feel calmer. "What exactly did he tell you?"
"He said you were experiencing things that he wasn't familiar with. Something about Auras. He told me to stay close to you and not to trust anyone we don't know. Do you want to tell me about these Auras?"
I let my head fall back on my pillow. "Well, when I see someone who is "supernatural", as you guys call it, there's a strange colored glow around them. The color corresponds to whatever they are."
He looked confused. "Give me an example."
"Okay, you and Dani, for instance. You guys are ringed in a green glow."
"I'm glowing green?" He sounded a bit unnerved.
"Not always. I haven't figured out the timing. Sometimes I see it and sometimes I don't." I felt frustration creeping back in.
"What other colors have you seen?" He moved to the bed and crawled up next to me.
I put my head on his shoulder and sighed. "Remember the girl from Art History who loaned me her notes? Mia? She glows yellow. Brian says she's a werecat. And your friend Victoria? She glows rainbows."
"Rainbows?" He looked at me, disbelieving. "Are you seeing unicorns too?"
I glared up at him. "It's not funny. Do you have any idea how freaky it is to see what I've been seeing?" I considered smacking him in the chest for his insensitivity.
"I'm sorry." He looked ashamed. "Poorly timed joke. Go on."
"Anyway, Victoria has multiple colors surrounding her and Brian said it's probably because she's a shape shifter and her energy is always changing, or something like that."
He frowned. "So, the other day when we were at the coffee shop, you were seeing colors around her? Is that why you almost squeezed my hand off?"
I nodded. "It unnerves me every time it happens."
"Anything else?"
"Yah, one more thing. That teacher from my English class. She glows bright white and casts spells on people."
His brows shot up. "She's a Magic Caster?"
"That's what Brian said. He told me to stay away from her. He thinks she may have been casting some kind of spell on the class and he's not sure if she's dangerous."
Dustin let his head fall back against the headboard. "This is pretty serious stuff, Katie. I don't understand why you didn't tell me."
"Because you said that you wanted things to be normal for a while. I didn't want to come running to you with another problem."
He reached out and put his hand on my cheek, and I felt his energy rush through me. "I want you to tell me everything. No matter what. I don't want you to go through any of this alone."
I nodded. "I know, I should have. I was kind of hoping it would just go away. But it seems to be getting weirder. I saw Victoria today and she let me borrow her hairbrush. When I held it, I had some sort of strange vision. Remember how you said she liked to change into a lion?"
"Yah..." he said, slowly.
"One minute I was standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom, and the next minute I was in a field, surrounded by lions. They were playing and didn't seem to see me at first, but a few moments later, one of them started running at me. I closed my eyes and screamed, and when I opened them, I was back in the bathroom."
"Jesus. Katie, this is beyond anything I have ever heard of. No wonder Brian's freaked out."
I looked into his eyes, my heart thundering in my chest. "Things get stranger every day."
The window began to rattle. "It's getting bad out there." Dustin looked outside. "I hope Brian's plane can land."
Just then, our door flew open and Dani and Shawn rushed in. "We're supposed to head to the gym!" Dani yelled. "There's a hurricane warning for our area. The weatherman said it just appeared out of nowhere, like some freak storm!"
I threw Dustin a tortured look. "A gym full of Supernaturals?"
He pulled me up from the bed. "Grab a blanket. You can cuddle up to me and keep your eyes closed, if it will make you feel better."
"What's wrong?" Dani frowned.
I shook my head. "It's a long story."
"Brian's on his way back," Dustin told her.
"What? Why?" She looked confused. "What's going on?"
"We'll have to tell you later. It's not something we can talk about around other people." Dustin handed me the blanket off my bed. "We better get to the gym."
The four of us headed into the hall and found it clogged with other students. Everyone was panicking. Dustin held me close to him and plowed through the masses towards the exit. The rain was coming down sideways as we hurried across the quad, to where people were slowly filtering into the gym.
I looked around and realized there were a ton of Supernaturals there. Everywhere I looked, there were people ringed in different colors. Green, yellow and rainbow. When I turned back to Dustin, he was standing next to a guy who was glowing a deep brown color. I looked at him curiously. "I've never seen brown before," I murmured.
"What?" Dustin bent down to hear me.
"Nothing." I shook my head. The only Supernatural I hadn't seen yet was a werewolf. It appeared that the boy next to Dustin was my first.
The gym was packed. Dustin and Shawn found a small patch of floor next to the wall and pulled us towards it. Dani and I huddled together while the boys talked. "Do you think we will be okay here?" Dani looked worried and leaned her head on my shoulder.
I was about to respond, when I felt a rush of energy hit me like a punch in the stomach. I gasped and bent over. When I looked up I was staring into the eyes of an angry man. "Where are they?" he screamed.
I had never seen him before. "What?" I looked around. I was in an unfamiliar room, tied to a chair.
"Tell me where they are!" He punched me in the stomach again.
I closed my eyes and began to cry.
"Katie, it's okay. We'll be safe."
I opened my eyes and I was back in the gym. Dani was sitting next to me, my hand in hers. I let out a shaky breath as I looked around. "Dustin," I whispered, hysteria creeping in.
All the sudden, one of the windows in the gym shattered. Dani jumped with fright.
Dustin came rushing to my side. "What happened?" He took my face in his hands. I linked my eyes with his and tried to telepathically project the images to him. He gasped and pulled back. "What was that?"
"It's what I saw when I touched Dani." Tears were streaming down my face.
"Oh, my god." He sat next to me and pulled me into his lap.
People rushed around, trying to clean up the glass shards on the gym floor, and patching the broken window as best they could with a flimsy blue tarp.
"What the hell is going on?" Dani looked at me, frustrated. "Dustin! Is she okay?"
He shook his head. "I don't know. Hopefully Brian will."
I buried my head in his shoulder, and squeezed my eyes shut. I didn't want to see anymore. I was physically and emotionally drained. Dustin gently rocked me back and forth, and despite the loudness of the gym, I fell into a merciful sleep.
"Katie." Dustin kissed me awake sometime later. "Can you stand up?"
I opened my eyes. "What?"
"The storm is over. The worst of it passed by a little after you fell asleep, and it's heading out to sea. We can go back home."
I struggled to get to my feet, but my legs were weak.
"It's okay. I've got you." He swept me into his arms. I put my head on his shoulder and instantly fell back to sleep.
Author's Note: A storm to make things interesting. Katie's internal turmoil has taken a tangible form. What's the craziest storm you have ever been in? Comment below and let me know! Luvs as always!! AMð