18Happy 4th everyone! Hope you enjoy Chapter 2! What are your plans for today? Probably family and binge-watching Jane the Virgin with my husband! Please read and review!
Chapter 2
It moved.
The book moved.
Not just moved, but came hurtling at her to the point where if Jane hadn't ducked, there was no doubt she'd have a rather unattractive bump on her forehead. And while people would believe her if she said she ran into something—her clumsiness was nowhere near secret—she really didn't want to have to explain. Especially when she was a terrible liar and that book was not supposed to have moved.
"Um," a tentative voice said, "Jane?"
Shit.
She had completely forgotten Elle was in the room. Not that she wasn't supposed to be there or anything; they were roommates, after all.
But still. Did Elle have to be so quiet now?
"Did that just happen?" Elle asked, pulling the curtains to her four-poster bed open all the way. "Did that book just fly across the room?"
How was Jane supposed to answer that exactly? Obviously it flew across the room. It just wasn't supposed to.
Shit. Shit.
Not again.
Now Jane couldn't brush it aside as some random occurrence that happened to have befallen her since this time there was a witness, and Elle was not the type of girl to just pretend that nothing had happened. Jane would just have to face it directly.
"Uh …" As quick as Jane normally was when it came to thinking of some reasonable explanation, this particular moment left her with nothing. "Yes. Yes, that just happened."
Elle's perfectly plucked thin brows furrowed together. "But how?" she asked. "I thought you were animus."
"I was." Jane tried to block out Elle's rushing thoughts. Normally, this was rather easy for Jane to tune her out, but her own thoughts were already convoluted with worry which meant Elle's thoughts had an easier time of breaking through the barriers Jane had put up. "I am," she amended.
Elle teased her bottom lip with the edge of her teeth. "What happened?"
The jig is up, Cabot, Jane thought to herself before slowly opening her eyes.
"I was writing my Numerology essay," she said, hoping her voice didn't sound as shaky as it felt, "and I couldn't find my textbook. I could have sworn I had it on the bed with me. Before I could even get up to look on the desk, it came at me."
There was a tense moment of silence where neither girl spoke. Then, "Is that even possible?" Elle looked at Jane with bright blue eyes. "Can somebody read thoughts and move objects with their mind? Be an animus and a physicus?"
Jane shrugged. Her heart was racing, and her body was tense. She didn't want Elle to know how shaken she truly felt.
"I, uh, don't know," she replied.
"Did Depogare mention anything during training?" Elle asked. "Or Jarvis, during history?"
"No," she snapped and then winced at the abruptness of her voice. "Sorry. I didn't mean to snap, Elle."
"Don't worry about it," Elle murmured with obvious sincerity. She looked at her hands in her lap. There was another pregnant pause before she asked in an uncharacteristically shy voice, "What are you going to do?"
"I don't know," Jane said while groaning, throwing her hands on her face and lying back on her bed, a few inches from her textbook.
All she wanted was to be normal—as normal as a peculiar could be, anyway. She had revealed her true nature at a young age. While it made it difficult to keep friends—Jane seemed to have no problem making them—her parents were always supportive of her and even encouraged her to attend the Academy for Peculiars after both Ethan and Will came to recruit her.
It might have taken nearly eighteen years, but Jane finally had friends and a place where she felt like she truly belonged. In fact, last year she had struck up a friendship with Brielle, a fellow animus and Numerology student who happened to be from the Aqua dorm—technically residence hall, but everyone referred to them as dorms—the bitter rival of Jane's own dorm, Ignis.
Now there was a good possibility that that was ruined. Jane already stood out in panpi society, she didn't think she'd stand out amongst her fellow peculiars. She definitely didn't want to.
"You should go to the dean," Elle said, her voice firm. "Ethan has been around since the twelve hundreds and he's an animus. If anyone would know what's going on with you, it'd be him."
Jane sighed. Somewhere deep down, she had a feeling she'd eventually have to talk to Ethan about this, especially considering this wasn't the first time something like this happened. She managed to avoid it the past four years, but two days into her sixth year and she couldn't keep hiding it anymore. At least it was only Elle who knew. She had no idea what would have happened if she moved something during class.
"I know," she said, defeated. A small ache started to pinch her mind. "I'll make an appointment with him once I finish this essay." She shifted her eyes so they rested on Elle. "You have to promise you won't tell anybody, Elle. Especially not your brother. I know he's an Aqua and is already supposed to hate everything Ignis, but everyone knows he goes above and beyond to be an entitled asshole—no offense, of course."
Jane watched as Elle winced at the mention of her twin brother. Andrew was definitely a sore spot for her.
Elle smoothed her wince out with a quick flip of her long, curly blonde hair over her shoulder. "Come on, Jane," she said. "We've been friends since Year One and I barely even talk to my brother, even when we go home during vacation. You know I won't tell anyone, but if it'll make you feel better—and if you really do make that appointment—I promise not to tell anyone."
Jane smiled but it did nothing to relieve her tension. "Thank you." She sat back up, intent on finishing her essay. "Now, if you don't mind, I need to write about the fact that my birth month is a Master Number and how that affects me as a person."
She grabbed the text that ousted her secret and paused. As with her other experiences moving objects with her mind, her first physical contact with said object shocked her like static electricity. Slowly it faded and Jane pushed it to the back of her mind. She told herself she wouldn't worry about it right now, not until her upcoming appointment.
While Jane continued to write her essay, Elle excused herself to grab some snacks from the Dining Hall, even though lunch ended an hour ago. It took another half an hour before Jane finally finished it. She never felt more accomplished than when she typed the last period in a rather extensive essay, one that happened to not be due for another two days. Her Sunday was now completely void of any academic requirements—save for a quick Astrology reading—which she would take full advantage of by sleeping in. At that moment, Elle threw open the door, stepped inside, and slammed it shut behind her. Jane jumped at the unexpected noise, and Elle softly muttered an apology.
"Okay, what happened?" Jane asked, setting aside her book and laptop in order to give Elle her full attention. "You're acting all dramatic and you never do that unless you're having boy problems or family problems." She narrowed her eyes. "Did your mother write you again politely requesting you not come home for Thanksgiving?"
Elle's parents—and Andrew, to some extent—treated her like the black sheep of the family on account of her being born July 26 instead of July 19 when she was due, automatically guaranteeing herself in Ignis rather than Aqua. This meant that she was the one member of her entire family—generations of family—to be in Ignis rather than Aqua. For the most part, she had gotten used to her family's shame; although, it might have been difficult had Elle never met Jane in Year One and Jane's parents didn't treat her like their second child.
"No," she said, plopping down on the edge of Jane's bed. "I ran into Matt in the dining hall."
"Matt?" Jane's emerald green eyes widened. "No way."
"Way."
"You know," Jane began to tap the tip of her chin with her index finger, "I'm actually surprised you haven't run into each other before now. He is an Ignis, after all."
"Yeah, but he takes different classes than I do and doesn't really hang out in the common room," she explained.
"I still can't believe he's an Aries," Jane murmured more to herself than to Elle.
"Well, his birthday is April 20, so he's technically on the cusp." Elle shrugged her shoulders.
"Okay, I know this is a dumb question, but I have to ask." Jane took a breath before she went on. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah …" Elle let her voice trail off, lying back on the bed and resting her hands flat on her stomach. "I thought I was over him, you know? I mean, I should be. It's been five months. But then I saw him, and just for I moment, I forgot that I was."
"Maybe you're not supposed to be over him," Jane said. Elle snapped her eyes from the ceiling back to her friend despite the fact that she was now looking at Jane upside down. "I don't mean that you're going to get back together or anything. He was your first love, Elle. I don't think you ever get over a first love. Once you come to terms with that, that's when you'll truly be able to move on."
"You know," Elle began, the right corner of her mouth twitching up, "for someone who's never been in love before, you sure know a lot about it."
"Of course I've been in love," Jane said, giving Elle a knowing look. "Teemu Selanne. Hello." She grinned at the mention of the Finnish hockey player. "I also know how to make you feel better too."
"Oh?" Elle pushed up her brow. "And how's that?"
"Let's sneak out tonight and go to Ultra," Jane said. "We haven't been since last term, and I hear Liv's brother is bartending. Apparently he's way cute and has the English accent Liv has. Plus, I think we both need to dance tonight."
Elle's grin turned into a full-fledged smile. "I think you're right," she agreed.
After making plans with Elle to go to Ultra tonight, Jane knew she would definitely need the extra hours of sleep. She interlocked her fingers and pushed them out, stretching before setting her laptop on her nightstand and standing in order to do the same with her body.
"I think I'm going to grab a snack considering I missed lunch," she told Elle, currently on her own bed writing something. More lyrics, no doubt. "Do you want me to get you anything?"
Elle didn't look up when she said, "Raisins. I forgot to grab something because I ran into Matt." When Jane reached the door to their room, Elle called, "You know, while you're in the Ack Building, you might as well go talk to Ethan if he's available." Her lips curled into a smirk. "What? You didn't think I'd forget, did you?"
"Of course not," Jane retorted, not bothering to hide the dryness in her tone.
She closed the door behind her and exited her residence hall. Since she was a Year Six, she didn't have to deal with stairs anymore. It would take her a few moments to cross the grass and paved driveway before she reached the academy building. Ignis students were the only students who really used the main entrance to get to their classes due to the fact that their dorm was to the south, directly across from it. Just west of the dorm, several feet from the cliff the academy was built on was the astronomy tower, used only by upperclassmen. While the position of the Ignis Dorm provided a beautiful view of the island itself, she was much more drawn to the ocean, the endless horizon Aqua was afforded. Even now, she couldn't help but glance in its direction, watching the waves for a short moment before heading to the building. She flashed her identification to the two guards—both of them shifters—but Horace and Bob were quite familiar with her. This was afforded given the fact that despite the numerous times she entered the building this way, she never ceased to remember that the top step was a little higher than the previous two, causing her to trip and fall forward. Today was no different.
It was Bob's turn to help her up and Jane thanked him through her laughter at her own clumsiness. "I swear I'll learn," she claimed, tucking the student id back into the hemline of her pants since she had no pockets or purse with her.
"I'm sure you will," Horace said with a nod.
Instead of heading straight back to the Dining Hall, she headed to the left, to the West Staircase, and climbed it until she reached the second floor. From there, she made a right and continued walking down the hall, only stopping once she was in front of the familiar, dark oak door, the last one on the right.
Might as well get this discussion over with, she thought to herself.
Jane frowned when she saw that it was closed. Ethan always welcomed students to his office no matter the day or time. In fact, he insisted everyone call him by his first name. He even had a hidden passageway that led to his bedroom on the third floor so he could rush to his students should they call on him afterhours by pressing a button on his desk that alerted him of such an occurrence. She never had to use it. Yet. But she knew the students who had and they had nothing but great things to say about him.
So why was his door closed? A meeting with professors, perhaps?
Furrowing her brow, Jane decided the best thing to do was knock.
"Enter," the voice on the other side of the door instructed.
Enter?
As Jane grabbed the doorknob and turned, she tried to figure out who was in there because it most certainly wasn't Ethan. It almost sounded like—
"Oh."
It was.
Professor Depogare.
His head was bent over a pile of papers on the desk, a red pen in his right hand. He must be grading papers, which meant he had gave his underclassmen trainees an assignment on the first day of school. How completely like him.
"Oh?" he questioned, sounding almost offended by her slip of tongue. He pressed his brow together as he regarded Jane with his midnight blue eyes. She knew that, technically, there was no possible way eyes could be that dark, but Depogare was the exception to that rule. Granted, she had never been close enough to him to confirm her hypothesis, but every time she looked at him during training, all she could see was midnight. She couldn't even distinguish his pupils from his irises.
Suddenly, he tilted his head and asked in his heavy Southern accent, "What happened to your face?"
Oh shit.
She must already have a lump forming on her forehead thanks to her textbook, which wasn't what she wanted given that she was going to go to a club tonight.
"Oh, nothing, really," she said through nervous laughter. Hopefully it didn't sound as fake to him as it did to her. "Just ran into something again. No big deal. Happens all the time."
He didn't seem to be amused by this in the slightest, and judging by the look on his face, he didn't believe her. Jane knew she was bad at lying but certainly he knew how clumsy she was. She had tripped in his classroom more than a number of times and he had no qualms about commenting on it. He wouldn't know how she really got the lump, right? There was no way.
Jane tried but failed to suppress a shiver as it slid down her spine. She knew that given he had been her professor for the past five years, she should be used to the deep, rich velvet tone, but she couldn't help it. He had the sexiest voice she had ever heard in her entire life. The fact that he was Southern was icing on the cake. His ancestors came from Russia too, so whenever he got frustrated, his Southern accent took on a Russian tone—which was weird but still just as sexy.
"Miss Cabot, is there a reason you've interrupted my grading other than to gawk at me?" he asked with a sneer.
It was just too bad that voice came out of … that. Not to say that Professor Depogare was unattractive. For the most part, Jane was one of the few to admit he might have been passable when it came to his looks if it hadn't been for that jutting nose of his that looked as though it had been broken at least three times. He was tall, just over six feet, with broad shoulders and a fit body.—from what she could tell at least. The black and white suit—the same black and white suit he wore every day—hid whatever semblance of a physique he had, but Jane was willing to bet that underneath all of that, there was an Adonis-type body. There had to be.
Because, besides that distracting nose, he had a pretty nice face. It was sculpted and sharp, with high cheekbones, a straight nose, and a mouth, which if it wasn't scowling and frowning all the time, might have been actually nice to kiss. Of course, his hair was a different story. It was constantly messy and hung in his face like copper-brown curtains draping in front of windows. It was longer than she preferred, crawling down the nape of his neck like vines, but somehow, it fit him. Jane knew that Depogare was born sometime in the thirteen hundreds and only looked like he was in his late twenties, but if he just cut his hair, he would easily pass for someone in their early twenties. As long as he didn't open his mouth and reveal that he was, quite literally, an old soul.
Wait a minute. Did she just think it'd be nice to kiss Depogare's mouth?
"Well?" he said, thankfully breaking her out of her disturbing thoughts.
"Uh, sorry," she said, hoping she wasn't turning red, but knowing full-well that she was. "I was looking for Ethan."
"Dean Curtis," he corrected sharply. "Yes, well, he and Professor Campbell are on a recruitment. As if Ignis could use another one."
Jane was certain the last flippant remark was more for him than for her. He was Aqua's RH director after all, and any animosity he felt toward Ignis, and vice versa, was to be expected—even between professors. At least it explained why both Ethan and Will were gone. Normally when Ethan was gone, Will took over as dean. Since both were gone, Depogare was temporarily in charge. He must hate being second choice to Will. At this revelation, Jane felt herself smirk despite her attempt to stop it.
"Is there something funny, Miss Cabot?" he drawled, raising one questioning brow.
"No, sir," she said. "Thanks, but I'll just come back."
Without waiting for his response, Jane headed out the door and didn't allow herself to breathe until she reached the first floor. She thanked God she was an animus and her thoughts could not be read by Professor Depogare. Although technically, blocking out other people's thoughts was one of the first things a mental was taught and reading thoughts without a person's permission was thoroughly forbidden. She didn't know what would happen if he knew her thoughts, but she was certain his reaction would not have been pretty.
Food.
That was what she needed.
Her lack of sustenance was the only reason she could think of that explained why such thoughts invaded her mind in the first place.