Severance (Book 1: Rise Of Chaos)

Chapter 13

Mia awoke from her slumber gasping, the same nightmare she'd had before racing through her mind. Wink lifted his head to stare at her, wondering why she was scared. Looking down at the tangled sheets at her feet, Mia ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to calm down. She sighed, slowing her heart rate and breathing down, then laid back on her bed, looking up at the darkened ceiling of her room.

Closing her eyes, Mia tried to get some sleep but knew that it would be pointless. Turning on her light, she sat up in her bed and rested her head on her chin. Wink jumped up onto the bed, looking up at her curiously. Taking him in her arms, Mia kissed his forehead and cuddled him into her. "Hey buddy...sorry for waking you." She said, and Wink replied by purring in her arms, making Mia smile a bit.

The dream was happening now whenever she tried to sleep, and it was murder on her already screwed up sleep cycle. As if it wasn't bad enough that there were no windows in this place. Stroking Wink's fur slowly, Mia tried to think of things to calm her down. Phoebe was one of the things that came to mind, and she smiled, even if the memory itself was tinged with sadness. She hoped that she would be able to visit the brownstone again someday and see them.

After she had gotten back from her mission with Trisha and Ren, she had pretty much collapsed into bed. Being a Proctor was already as tough as she thought it would be, but she had never backed down from a challenge before, and she wasn't starting now. If anything, it was to prove herself. To herself, obviously, but she felt like it was for more than that. For someone else maybe. Ridley's face popped into her head, and her eyes widened.

Mia shook her head. "No way." She didn't need to prove herself to him. She was strong and becoming a powerful Proctor already, she didn't need his approval. All she needed was to learn how to control her powers, and she would take care of the rest. But then again, Ridley was the person teaching her this stuff in the first place, and she had noticed over the past few days that he was already being nicer towards her.

Leaning her head against the headboard, Mia realized she was in a rather unique position. She had never interacted with a boy for this long and this closely before. She'd never had any boyfriends in elementary or the few years of high school she had, and certainly not any outside of school. But Ridley barely qualified in that category. She barely knew him, and he didn't really seem like her type.

Besides, all they did most of the time was fight with each other. Something Mia had learned long ago was that relationships based on arguments didn't last long. Her parents were a perfect example of that. But, her parents made her realize that she and Ridley had at least that in common. That didn't excuse anything though. He was her teacher, nothing more. However, that made her think of her Companion Seal, and what Trisha had said about bonds.

Mia elected not to think about that anymore. Instead, she decided that it wouldn't do her any good to sit around in her room and think. She thought that maybe she would try out the library for real this time. Getting up out of bed, she quickly showered and dressed in her clothes, which even though they were the same ones she had worn for almost a week, they were perfectly clean and smelled fresh. "Magical washing machines." Mia muttered as she got dressed.

Opening her door, she turned back to Wink. "Stay here, ok?" Wink meowed in what she hoped was an affirmative tone, and she closed the door behind her, knowing well that Wink could just teleport out whenever he wanted. Walking down the halls of the Junction, she tried to remember where the library was. Recalling what Ridley said about the rooms finding you, Mia just kept walking and hoped for the best.