Crystal tossed and turned in her sleep. Dreams of the past danced behind her eyelids, challenging her to awaken and pursue them. Dreams of conquest, power, betrayal, and of Kaine. Finally Crystal sat up, grunting in frustration. This was the fifth time in a row such disturbing dreams had bothered her sleep.
The first few days of school had been nothing special. Crystal had been classified in the “normal” group, though that was a mystery to her. There was still some changing of schedules; so thus far, Crystal hadn’t seen the same people twice. Save for Daniel, Crystal hadn’t made any effort to gain new friends; she was still trying to figure out where her fifth period class was.
Just that afternoon, or rather, the other afternoon (Crystal realized it was three a.m. in the morning, with a grimace.) something weird had happened in Biology.
Crystal had been conversing with Daniel, when the teacher, Ms. Hoffmann had stormed in, trailing five kids that Crystal didn’t recognize behind her.
“No, no, no! I don’t care how full the other class is, I won’t have the four of you in the same class together!” Ms. Hoffmann shouted, flopping in her chair. Crystal had a feeling that the woman was going through menopause.
“But Ms. Hoffmann,” four out of five of the children said in union.
“No!” she shouted, “You kids are pure evil incarnate, and I will take this to Mr. Anderson if I must!”
“Oh, please, not the almighty Anderson,” the only girl of the group whimpered, sarcastically.
“Amanda Levy, shut your mouth!” Ms. Hoffmann ordered.
Crystal didn’t hear the rest of the conversation. As soon as the kids had entered the room, the disc had started glowing again. Furious, Crystal reached in her pocket and put her hand on the damn thing, in case it started to glow brightly enough to be noticed. The other day at lunch, it had flared in the middle of Crystal’s dehydrated chicken tenders so brightly, that Daniel had said that he didn’t think chicken was an aphrodisiac, so obviously Crystal must be in love with his body.
Abruptly, the only boy in the group who Ms. Hoffmann seemed not to notice had laid eyes directly on Crystal. Crystal made eye contact, and the disc grew warmer. He had green eyes in the shape of almonds, and his hair was a vivid yellow-blonde.
Finally, Ms. Hoffmann threw up her hands in resignation, and the five moved to take a seat. As they moved, Crystal looked at the girl, Amanda. The disc grew hotter still, and just before Amanda turned her head in Crystal’s direction, Daniel screamed, “Ah, Ah, Ah! Don’t touch me there! That’s my no-no spot!!”
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The classroom erupted in laughter, and Crystal forgot all about Amanda Levy and the strange blonde boy.
Now, at three a.m., Crystal couldn’t quit thinking about them. In her dreams, the blonde and Kaine had been the same person, and Crystal had known Amanda as though they had grown up together. Wishful thinking?
No. Destiny.
“Bullshit!”
“Amanda, watch your mouth,” Ms. Hoffmann hissed.
Crystal walked in the classroom to find Amanda arguing with Ms. Hoffmann. Again. Amanda had been pushing for a different technique to Ms. Hoffmann’s teaching methods. All the woman did was sit up at her desk and talk about her cats. No wonder half of the class was failing and it was only the second week of school.
“Look, just sit down, do the experiment and shut up,” Ms. Hoffmann pleaded.
“All right,” Amanda said, “But I can tell you, I will get an A and still not have learned anything.”
Ms. Hoffmann took offense at that. “Okay, smart-ass,” she snapped, “Go over there and perform the experiment with,” her eyes raked the room for a victim, “Her,” She crooked a finger at Crystal.
Amanda swept her gaze to Crystal. The second eye contact was made, the Crest burned with such a fire that Crystal yelped and looked away. Ms. Hoffmann started to laugh.
“Don’t worry Crystal,” she cooed, “it’s only for one lab.”
“I hope so,” Crystal heard someone mutter. Glancing over at the speaker, Crystal recognized him as Sam Thompson. She knew very little about him, save for the fact that he had hacked into the Duriarb mainframe at least seven times in the past five years and at 6’3”, he was a pillar of the basketball team. Everyone suspected the IRS would be flying overhead in a helicopter, demanding his surrender any day now.
Sam, along with half of the “special” school depended on Amanda for at least three academic subjects. Amanda didn’t seem to mind the free loaders, but she never let anybody copy; she just grabbed the answer and beat them over the head with it. In exchange, she received rides home, free food, and a gift every now and then. But Crystal had never seen Amanda ask Sam for anything. What did he have to offer her?
“Fine,” Amanda said to Ms. Hoffmann, “Who’s our third partner for the lab?”
“Uh,” Ms. Hoffmann was beginning to shift her attention back to her desk, and the various stacks of paper on it, “No, not you Sam,” She said, dismissing the boy's unspoken request. She flipped through a few pages, not answering.
“Ms. Hoffmann,” Amanda persisted.
“Oh, Amanda, just take that blonde boy, Uh… wha-um,” Ms. Hoffmann waved her hand casually in the direction of the yellow-hared guy. “Damn it, boy, what is your name?”
“Kaine, Ma’am,”
Crystal nearly fell out of her chair. She swung her gaze to the blonde boy, a question written all over her features. It was Kaine, who smiled back. Kaine, the white-hared priest guy who had appeared in her bedroom, nearly a month before. It was really him, wearing a blonde wig, or something and green contact lenses. He hadn’t been a dream. Why was he here, why? Crystal was thrown into a complete state of bafflement.
“Don’t worry, Crystal,” Amanda said, misinterpreting Crystal expression entirely, “I don’t think he’ll be chucking any rocks at us.”
Crystal missed the biblical reference entirely. Instead, she felt a strong sense that there was a connection between the three of them. Between herself, the guy calling himself Kaine and that smart-mouthed Amanda. And if there wasn’t already one, there would be one very soon.