I thought of it as I rushed toward the hall. The temperature inside the campus was always a perfect seventy-five degrees. Even though we were on top of a mountain, it felt more like we were on a tropical island, or at least that was what I heard one of the other students say.
So, there was no snow today to wade through. Unfortunately, I’d misinterpreted what I’d seen that day. I guessed I’d wanted to see him as a monster, otherwise, I’d have had to admit I was attracted to him.
After all that’d happened to me over the years, I’d decided sex would never be something I’d want to participate in again. I preferred to keep that as far away from me as possible. I also, wrongly, I saw now, assumed if I ever became sexual with another man, I’d do something to kill him.
Last night, as I sat with a sleeping Lysander’s head in my lap. I had felt his dreams. I’d also felt when they’d turned sexual. But instead of freaking out or running away, I was enjoying it. That was what shocked me the most.
Lysander wasn’t a bad guy, and I guessed I always knew that. He was a regular guy, and I wanted him. I wanted all the sexual stuff with him. I wasn’t exactly sure how or why, but the same things the men who’d come into my room time and time again had done to me, I wanted with Lysander, minus the hate and violence.
I guessed the biggest difference was, unlike the evil men, I wanted Lysander. I wanted him sexually.How strange!
I was so caught up in my thoughts I almost ran headlong into an upperclassman and her friend coming at me from the opposite direction. The two must’ve been talking and not paying attention. “Oh, sorry!” I said as I barely dodged one of the women.
“Sorry,” she said, and froze when she saw me.
I looked at her funny and then looked around the area, where everyone seemed frozen.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“N-nothing,” the girl's friend quickly said. “You have a good day!” She quickly pulled her friend away from me. The crowd began walking again, but no one took their eyes off me.
Weird,I thought, and hurried on my way to see if I could locate Lysander.
I found him standing with his friends next to the soda machines, laughing at something Kyle was saying. When he saw me, I was happy to notice his first response was pleasure. It was quickly replaced with trepidation, but the initial response was good.
“Hey, how are you all?” I asked, trying to sound friendly even though it sounded weird coming out of my mouth.
“Hey,” Lysander said. He blushed slightly, and my insides went a little mushy.
I looked at Kyle and Kaylee, who were both giving me the same look the students had out in the quadrangle.
“Okay, so what’s up with the weird looks?” I asked, really perturbed.
Lysander smiled and put his hand on mine before looking at his friends. “We’ve heard rumors about you, or at least your abilities,” he said.
“Well, someone should probably fill me in ’cause it’s like the entire school is avoiding me and looking at me like these two are,” I said, pointing at the twins.
“Is it true that you’re a Quadripartite?” Kyle asked and got a punch on the arm from his sister.
“If I knew what that was, I might be able to tell you.” I was feeling a bit put out by the conversation. “Who called me that?”
“We heard it in Elemental class,” Lysander replied.
“Well, if I am, no one’s bothered to tell me.” I sighed deeply and said I was going back to my room. “If people treat me like I’m going to melt the school at any moment, I might as well go back to living in the asylum.”
As I turned to go, Lysander put his arm on my shoulder. “Don’t go. I think it’s just a shock. Quadripartites are like unicorns in the Supe world. There have always been theories that they could exist, but no one has ever documented one.”
“And how do they know I’m a Quadripartite?” I asked.
Lysander looked at Kyle and Kaylee, and all three shrugged. “Professor Sturgis didn’t get into that. We were just told that if it’s true, we should all expect changes in the school... for our protection.”
“Geez,” I said, frustrated. “Maybe I should just go, and who the hell talks about their students behind their backs?”
I was leaving to go pout in my room, a trait I’d perfected over the last year, but Lysander didn’t take his hand from my shoulder. “Kaden, we all have powers. Some of us are very powerful, and we learn to control them. Even if what they’re saying or theorizing about you is true, that doesn’t mean you can’t control your powers.”
“What if I can’t?”
“Didn’t you already?” he asked.
