Claimed By Darkness

CHAPTER 4

I searched the shelves hurridly, trying to find as much information as I could about Caspian and his previous disciples. Jude sits next to me skimming through the books, occasionally our arms would touch, causing this fluttery feeling to erupt in my gut. Which leads a million different questions and panicked thoughts, I try to convince myself I am just hungry.

"Here's another one, 'Caspian's Journey Through the Shadows.'" Jude says ending the silence.

"Pile." I state before returning back to the book shelves. We had found around eight books so far that was relevant to the information I was looking for.

"You feel stressed." Jude randomly states out of nowhere, I look up at him questioningly. "What?" I ask.

"I can feel you're tressed and afraid."

"Right, I forgot you were a child of Gianna!" Elves claimed by Gianna could feel others emotions and sometimes see what they were thinking. Not to mention they were usually VERY smart.

"Why are you stressed?" He asks.

"Well, new school, new powers, and everyone's either afraid of me or they hate me."

"I don't hate you and I'm not afraid of you."

"You're different." I say.

"How?"

"I don't know, I can just feel it." As soon as I said it I knew it sounded stupid. Before Jude could reply, another voice rang out.

"Jude! Want to come hang out with us? We're going outside to the field."

I turn to look at who was speaking, it was a group of girls and boys. Some of the girls were in my dormitory, but I also recognise them for bitching about me earlier in the library.

"No thanks." Jude replies looking bored.

"Why not?" One of the girls say.

"I'd rather stay here."

"With her?!" A boy says, staring at my slim figure.

"Yes with her." Jude bites back.

"Seriously? She's like super weird." The boy says again. I pretend to be reading one of the books I had found, trying not to let his words get to me. 

"Just get lost, I already said no." Jude says with a more annoyed tone. They seem to get the message and they walk off. 

"Sorry about that, I talked to Finn like once in our dorm and now he thinks we're best buds." Jude tells me. 

"It's fine, I don't care." I say, "why are you hanging out with me anyway?" I saw him wince slightly at my forwardness but I didn't care. 

"I'm not sure, I just like hanging out with you. You're different, and I mean that in the best way possible! You stand up for yourself, and you're funny, smart, pretty." I saw Jude's cheeks go pink at the last word and the flutter in my stomach became more intense. I looked at Jude more properly than I had before, he was a lot better looking than I originally thought. Broad shoulders, sharp features, his messy brown hair. 

I cough, "thanks I guess I don't trust people that easily." 

"Me too." He smiles at me, and I smile back. 

----- 

I felt less embarrassed at dinner, I had hardly eaten anything all day so I ate my food quickly and ignored the stares. 

"Good evening everyone, I hope you all enjoyed your meals." Ms Murphy's voice booms across the eating hall. "I just have some quick announcements before you all retire to your dorms." 

Suddenly I felt a little spark within me, I shivered. That was weird. 

"Lights out at ten o'clock sharp, I don't want to see you roaming the halls." 

I felt it again, my body started to feel warmer than usual. 

"The caretaker has asked me to tell you to stop writing on the bathroom walls!" I heard people laugh when Ms Murphy said that. 

My body was burning, I shook my shirt trying to cool down but it didn't help. I look towards Mr Faye to see him looking at me, concern on his face. My face felt like it was on fire. It's okay, I thought, I read about this earlier. You will feel large amounts of heat before being able to generate energy. This was normal. 

"Okay that's all for tonight! Please start heading off to your dorms!" 

I felt relieved after Ms Murphy said that and I got up quickly. 

"Are you okay Odette?" Mr Faye asks from behind me. "I'm fine, I just feel a bit hot." 

"It's January, it's like ten degrees outside... Odette tell me what's really happening." He gives me a knowing look. 

"You already know what's really happening." I hiss at him. The burning had subsided and I felt normal again. "It's gone now anyways." I say before turning on my heel and walking out the door.