Dance of the Moons

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

            The sun’s brightness stung my eyes as I left the library.  I blinked and concentrated on forming a protective layer over my eyes, like sunglass contacts.  When I opened my eyes again the sun was no longer blinding me.  Being a witch had its perks from time to time, I thought smugly.

            I had been at the library, studying for my test and working on a paper.  My mind was still with those thoughts, and it took me a moment to register the familiar (although not especially welcome) face across the street.  He was talking to someone I didn’t know, and he didn’t seem to have seen me.  Quickly I ran back into the library, hoping he hadn’t noticed me.

            I was so not in the mood to deal with David.

            Still, I couldn’t help but wonder: why was David there in the first place?  I had seen him a few times around campus, but I checked the records (okay, I manipulated the office aid into telling me, but that’s basically the same thing, right?) and he wasn’t a student here.  He could just be visiting friends, but most of the werewolves were day students, commuters, and if he could see them at home, why bother visiting?

            Not that it mattered.  I didn’t care why he was on campus.  He could do whatever he liked.

            I peeked out a window.  David was still there, his dark hair looking like it had copper highlights in the sun.  For a werewolf, he wasn’t bad looking; he as just annoying.  I tried probing his aura, to see what I could read.  After all, he was on public property.  That meant I had a right to know why he was there, right?

            Okay, so maybe I was just nosy.  Most witches were.

            Aura reading is like martial arts: it takes a long time and much practice to advance, and some people never become masters.  Although I had been practicing for years, I wasn’t near mastery, or even proficiency.  The easiest to read was a person’s present aura.  With more concentration (and skill) the past and present could be read.  The future aura is generally vague and inconstant, as the future is always in motion.  The present sometimes changes too.  The past aura rarely does; the only times it does change is when a person’s feelings toward the past change.  This is most common after a grieving period ends.  The past is the hardest aura to read, because it is the one most heavily guarded by one’s subconscious mind.

            Humans, especially young humans, were like open pop up books.  Only a handful ever proved to be a challenge.  Shifters were more difficult, some more than others.  Horse Shifters, whom witches historically got along best with, were the most open to aura readings.  Witches’ auras could never be read.  Before anything else, even before leaving the house, a witch child learns to protect the mind.  Our power is much more in our thoughts than our limbs.

The ease with which one reads auras varies, much like height is one a wide range.  Some witches were gifted in certain areas.  When I was younger it was determined I was gifted in aura reading, and had been studying that more so than the other areas.  I read tea leaves well too, and often read the leaves of people whose tables I clean up after at the café.