I winced against the onslaught of images that shoved their way into my head. A spear pierced through my chest, the pain so excruciating that I gasped sharply. I pulled my arm from her grasp to break the connection, stumbling back from her startled expression.
“Uh, what was that?”
I held a hand up signaling to her I needed a moment. Bent at the waist, I put my hands on my knees and heaved in deep breaths. Most of the visions I had weren’t that visceral. The last one that had been this bad has been my mom. It wasn’t a vision that was easy to forget.
“Don’t touch me.” I finally said, lifting my head. “Just don’t.”
“Oooh…” Ayden’s eyes widened, and her mouth formed an o-shape. “You’re one of those. I was wondering but I guess it makes sense given your…” she waved a hand at my clothing. “Fashion choices.”
I glanced down at my dress. “Uh, I just came from a funeral but what do you mean one of those?”
Ayden’s brows shot up. “Oh. Sorry. I didn’t mean.”
I jerked my hand across the air. “Forget about it. Just answer the question.”
“Well, first off,” Ayden shifted and then looked around. When her eyes finally settled, she pointed toward a set of double doors. “You need the whole shebang. It’s not often we have a virgin amongst us.”
I frowned. “Virgin? I’m not a-”
Ayden giggled. “Not that kind of virgin but that’s good to know. I don’t have to walk on eggshells around you when I talk about my hookups.”
Cocking a brow, I allowed Ayden to lead me toward the double doors. “So, you know you’re a Nephilim, but do you know what that even means?”
I shrugged and tossed my blonde hair over my shoulder. “My douche bag dad banged my mom and made me. We’re all one big freaky family.” I hugged my waist as I chewed on my lower lip. I could really go for a cigarette about now.
“Yeah, yeah but do you know what that means?” She lifted her hand and pulled the door handle of the double doors. Like in one of those slow-motion scenes in the movies the large hall sprawled out before me. “You’re not alone.”
Long tables filled with kids of all ages sat around the room. Plates and trays sat in the middle of the tables full of food for them to pick off. Some of them read books. Others chatted with their friends. Then a scream erupted on one side where a set of twin guys about my age were laughing as wind whipped around them, building a cyclone in the middle of the table.
My eyes turned to saucers and I looked to Ayden. Not she or anyone else was freaked out by the tornado the guys were creating. The girl who had screamed was cursing the twins out for messing her hair up not because she was scared.
I gaped at the scene before me and then almost fainted dead away when another boy came up and shot fire out of his hands. It whirled around the cyclone the top of it almost hitting the ceiling.
“And I thought I was a freak,” I muttered to myself unable to comprehend the magnitude of what was going on in front of me.
Ayden bumped me with her arm and laughed before adding a quick, “Oops, sorry.”
I waved her off with a sigh. “I’m used to it. The first time is always the hardest.”
“Gotcha.” Ayden nodded, leading me toward the ones making the ruckus. “I’ve only known one other seer before. We don’t get many of your kind.”
“My kind?”
She smiled as if it were something fantastic to be a rare type of freak. “Someone who’s mom and dad are Nephilim.” She gestured around the room. “Most of us either have one parent who is a Nephilim and one who is human. Sometimes one parent is an actual angel and the other human but that’s pretty rare.”
I frowned. “How do you know what kind I am based on my…ability?”
Ayden stopped by the group before turning to me. “That’s easy because seeing the future is a power only God is supposed to have. You’re technically not supposed to exist but the fallen are far more lenient than the angels.”
I let that thought swim around my head while Ayden jumped into the fray nearby. The moment the twins both red headed and freckle faced saw her they dropped their arms. The dark headed guy making the fire also stopped and the fiery cyclone dispersed into thin air.
“Hey Ayden. What’s up?” One of the twins asked, the other one saw me over Ayden’s shoulder and grinned.
“Oooh…fresh meat.” He sauntered over to me and reached out. I ducked before he could throw his arm around my shoulder and backed up several steps.
Ayden caught the action. “She’s a seer.”
The others collectively nodded in understanding before returning to what they were doing. The guy who had tried to touch me offered me an apologetic look. “Sorry. I didn’t know.”
“It’s fine.” I held a hand up, still a bit dumbfounded by the lot of them.
“I’m Zephyr. That handsome bastard over there is my brother, Bayu.” He gave me a lopsided grin. “And who might you be?”
“Elle.” I quipped simply. I thought I was done with the whole school introduction stuff until I went to college. I didn’t really want to meet new people if I was just going to leave again. I had enough of my own issues to deal with without adding all their deaths to my vault.
“That was a cool trick you did,” I continued, making conversation. “What are you some kind of elemental?”
“Good guess!” Ayden popped back into our conversation beaming. “I was just going to show you the different groups. We’re elementals.” She gestured to herself, the twins, and the other fire guy. “The twins can control wind obviously. Joash and I both do fire.”
“I’m Coral!” A pink haired girl with a pixie cut poked her head into the group. “I can control water.” She swirled her hands in the air, water pooling into the shape of a horse. It neighed and jumped across the air before me. When I reached out to touch it, it splashed to the ground soaking my stockings. “Oops.” The girl giggled. “I’m not that good yet.”
“Normally, the elementals stick together and the mentals do the same but since our liege assigned you to me. I think we can make an exception.” Ayden grinned, proud of herself for her benevolence.
I cocked a brow at her but then frowned and asked, “Mentals?”
The one named Joash answered, “Them lot over there.” He pointed toward the opposite side of the room. Most of them weren’t talking but seemed to be staring at each other intently while the others were flipping pages without touching them. A few of the younger ones were tossing a ball without their hands.
“You would normally be over there with your kind being a seer and all.” Zephyr patted me on the shoulder and then jerked his hand back with a wince. “Oops, sorry.”
I breathed through the attack of a violent death something that seemed to be a theme here at the school. I grasped my head and shook it. “I’m fine. Just hurts more with you guys.”
“Hurts more?” Zephyr exchanged a look with the others. “I’ve never heard of visions hurting before.”
Oh. Well. That sucked. Not wanting to talk about it anymore, I turned to Ayden. “Uh, could I see my room? I do have a room, right?”