Free Luminosity by Stephanie Thomas

with a shrug of my shoulder I let him know that I’m as shocked and confused as he is.
    “I know it is a lot to process. It is. It’s hard to think about the Dreamcatchers coming from the same source that has given us our abilities. It’s hard to comprehend what the serum truly did, and why we need a weapon in case it was a mistake ever putting it in the drinking water. I sincerely hope, despite the recent Visions of an impending attack—” Daniel looks at me when he says this. “—that we never have to see the Beacon in action.”
    A boy who sits a few seats to the left of me muses aloud, “I never knew about any of this stuff. It’s all so…so…amazing.”
    Instructor Daniel flicks the lights back on and the projector turns off, stealing away the image of the Institution in the process. “We have a lot that goes into our history, ladies and gentlemen. Some you will learn as you continue your education here at the Institution, but there’s much of it that you won’t ever be able to find out. We must trust in our Keeper that it is best this way, for sometimes too much knowledge is a dangerous thing.”
    Gabe laughs and whispers, “Then they shouldn’t make us sit in class all day long.”
    Brandon, Connie and I giggle along with the sentiment, and I peek up at the Instructor to see if he heard. Luckily, Daniel is busy answering a question from another student, and we are in the clear. The class dissipates into their own conversations, little groups and discussions forming about what we just learned.
    “Well, it seems we learn something new about the Institution every day, don’t we?” Connie picks her multi-pocketed book bag off the ground and slips her digipad into it.
    “This place certainly has its secrets.” I chew on my lip, the words bringing about an uneasy feeling, like a premonition of things to come, without an actual Vision to accompany it. “Too many secrets.”

Chapter Eight
    I don’t remember my parents at all, but sometimes I dream about them. I know they are dreams and not Visions because I never wake with my eyes glowing, or the headache that usually follows. The people and events in my Visions usually feel strange and disconnected. But when I wake up from a dream about my parents, I feel as if I know them, as if I’ve always known them, as if they are disappointed in me.
    In one dream, I’m about to take part in the Seeing Ceremony. I am ready to officially act in my role as a Seer, but I am young. Too young. Usually, you do not get to this point until eleven or twelve years of age, but in my dream, I am maybe three, and I feel so lost and abandoned on the stage, standing in front of a hundred strangers. They are all wearing white, faces void of any emotion or indication that they care for me even a little bit. In the middle of the crowd, the only two people in color are my mother and my father.
    They look totally different than I do. Instead of jet black hair, my mother has curly ringlets of gold, and my father’s head is bald, reflecting the glimmering overhead lights. Mother is wearing a polka-dot dress, red with white dots and a high collar with buttons that stop just under the chin. It’s classic and beautiful on her, and no one else looks as radiant as she does. My father is wearing a red suit, one that looks far too expensive for a Seeing Ceremony, but maybe he wanted to look his best while watching his daughter earn her raven’s wings.
    I realize, though, that I am the only person on the stage, and I suddenly feel very alone. I begin to cry for my parents. They don’t react, and instead keep staring at me as if I am a complete stranger. How can I know who they are, but they do not know I am their daughter, waiting for them to come and get me, waiting for them to hold me and hug me and assure me that the rest of my life is going to be okay? I can do this. I can handle the pressure of being one of the greatest Seers the Institution has ever had. I can handle the pressure