Free Eternity by M.E. Timmons Page A

them
magical.”
    “Ah. Well then
I guess I must tell you. You also have the ability to draw the
future. Have you ever spent much time drawing in the past?”
    “No, I never
really did. I had other interests.” I had barely even coloured as a
child since all of the coloring books at Pembrook were scribbled
over, and I had never taken art class in school.
    “You should try
it sometime. You may be surprised. Your third ability is that you
are resistant to fire, which is always handy. If you know someone
with a fire ability you can practice with them.”
    “My roommate
does, and I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”
    “Good. It might
be a little frightening to try at first because it’s hard to allow
yourself to be burned, but I assure you that you will not be. The
flames should lick harmlessly against your skin, whether you
concentrate or not. It isn’t something you need to practice, but
it’s good to get an idea of what it feels like.”
    “Is it a common
ability?” I asked.
    “No, I can’t
say that it is. The only abilities that are truly common are those
involving control of the elements.” He stood up slowly. “I hope I
have been of help to you. You seem like a remarkable girl.”
    I told him that
he had been helpful, though I still had a hard time believing that
I actually had three abilities instead of just the one that I knew
about. We parted ways, and Mr. Ramirez led me back to psychology,
talking the whole way about others he had met with abilities like
mine, though I wasn’t listening.
    Later I ended
up being the first one in the room for calculus. There were still
five minutes before class started, so I got out a pen and a blank
sheet of paper. I had no idea how to start, so I just kind of sat
there with my pen hovering over the paper. Finally, I brought the
pen to the paper without having any idea what I was going to do,
and something strange happened. It was like I had lost control of
my own hand, so I just let it go so I could see what happened.
    I was quite
absorbed with what I was doing, so when I finished and looked up, I
was surprised to see that the classroom was full, and the teacher
was about to start class.
    “That’s quite
the drawing,” the person who had sat down beside me said, and I
nearly jumped a foot in the air. I glanced quickly over at him and
confirmed that is was, indeed, Adrian. He was leaning back casually
in his chair, but his eyes were serious.
    “Not really the
subject matter I was expecting,” I commented, examining the
picture. It was clearly a drawing of Melissa, who was holding a
rose and smiling. It was actually a much better drawing than I was
expecting since I had no experience, and it was quite
realistic.
    “You didn’t
know what you were drawing?” Adrian asked, sounding confused.
    “No,” I
answered. I didn’t have time to explain because class started
then.
    Calculus ended
up being the only class in which I had to do any work that day. The
teacher handed out assignments at the beginning of class to test
our previous knowledge of the subject, and told us to work alone or
in pairs. I chose to work alone. I figured I would get less done if
I was working with Adrian, though he continued to distract me
anyway. He asked about the drawing, and I told him about my
ability, though I neglected to tell him that I had two others.
    “That’s odd,”
he said. “I thought you were a witch.”
    “Why would you
think that?”
    “Actually, I
don’t know. You just seem perceptive.”
    “Well, I
thought the same about you, and you’re a werewolf. Isn’t the full
moon coming up soon?”
    “Yes, it’s in
two days.” He wasn’t happy about that at all, but he tried to hide
it. Of course, he didn’t know just how much I could see.
    “Do you enjoy
it?”
    “I enjoy being
a wolf, but I don’t think I’ll like being locked up beneath the
school for a whole night when I could be running free in the
woods.” For some reason he was lying about both. I could