Elsewhere later that same evening, a young man smiles happily to himself and hums, “Oh the fun we are going to have-.”

A young woman approaches from behind and interrupts him, “So, your little trick failed. What do we do now?”

 The young man turns around innocently replies, “Absolutely nothing. We left no trace behind and they aren’t onto us yet. Just take care of things on your end and leave me to my games.”

The young woman frowns but turns away. She stops a few feet away and says, “Don’t let emotions cloud your judgment, #32.”

The young man tilts his head back to look at the early night sky and replies, “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” The young woman lets out an indignant snort and stomps away. The young man smiles gamely and mutters, “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” And as if in reply, a shooting star flashes across the night cosmos.

*

Albert Cross was annoyed with the week's detention he had been given by Miss Starr, but even he had to grudgingly agree his rash actions in the library warranted such discipline. In fact, if he thought about the incident, his actions warranted much more of a severe discipline then that was given. With a sigh, Albert undresses for the night, before happily laying down in his bed and closing his eyes for an early night’s sleep. It was only the first day and he was utterly exhausted.            Jonathan Walker in the bed across the room glances up briefly, before returning to oiling his blade. Within minutes, Albert is sound asleep and dreaming. Within in his dreams, Albert opens his eyes and finds himself standing near a full-length mirror. The dream-self of Albert frowns in confusion but takes a step forward.

The floor is translucent like water, creating ripples with each step he takes. The cool floor beneath his feet feels strange, a jello like substance that was solid. Reluctantly, Alberts, dream-self halts before the large mirror and glances at his reflection.

 A little girl with identical dark hair and gray beryl eyes gaze back at him. The face bears an almost eerie resemblance to a young woman with gray hair. Albert mutters, “You’re even following in my dreams? Please cut me some slack.”

The little girl of about six years old frowns back and says, “You already know who I am. You just have to try harder to remember.”

Albert frowns back. “Who are you?”

 “You’ve always known who I am,” the little girl stubbornly answered, before pausing to glance behind her. With a sober expression, the little girl turns hastily to face him. A loud roaring wind suddenly begins to blow as the floor beneath his feet begins to shift agitatedly. Struggling to stay on his feet, Albert unsteadily wobbles on his feet as the roar of wind only grows louder and tears at his clothes. The little girl mouths something, but he is unable to hear. Albert tries to lean in and listen, but he is unable to hear anything except for the faint utter, “Shadow.” The force of the wind, suddenly slams into the mirror, causing the mirror to burst in large shattering pieces that violently aim for him.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Albert sits up wide awake in his bed gasping. His eyes flicker around the room to find the light of the bathroom on. Albert slows down his breathing, remembering his dream. Frowning, he wipes the cold sweat off his face with his sleeve. How many years had it been since he dreamed about that little girl?

 As a child, he had always dreamed of the little girl who grew up in the mirror image of himself within the mirror. But that suddenly the little girl stopped growing once he turned six years old, she had never grown past that age. The dreams of that girl only grew less and less frequent over the years until they suddenly stopped. Yet, the strangest thing was that whatever the little girl said to him in his dreams would always come to be. When he told his parents, they believed it was a primitive way of his sub-conscious to develop a type of premonition ability.

Albert’s VEX watch suddenly starts vibrating on his wrist. He reaches over and answers the unknown caller. A young woman’s nervous voice can be heard stuttering, “Um, is this a bad time, Albert?”

 Albert shakes the sleep from his eyes and says, “No, it’s alright, I was just getting ready to go to bed. What’s wrong Tanya?”

 “I, uh, just wanted to apologize for today’s misunderstanding. It was all my fault, that you got into trouble with Miss Starr,” Tanya sincerely whispered.

 “No, it’s fine. Miss Starr was right, I should have kept my temper in check,” Albert replied. After all, that was the entire reason for his entering the Academy.

  “Um, could I make it up to you? I baked some cookies and would like to give them to you. I know it wouldn’t be right for me to come up, but would you come down to the lobby and meet me there?” Tanya quietly asked.

Albert glanced at the closed bathroom door and opens his mouth to say, yes. When the image of the little girl in his mind flashes through his mind. “Now’s not a good time, but I would gladly accept tomorrow,” Albert kindly stated.

“Okay,” Tanya said with dejection in her voice. “See ya, Tomorrow.”

Albert feeling a bit guilty says, “For sure, see you tomorrow,” before ending the call.

 A flush can be heard from the bathroom as Jonathan emerges and stares at Albert. “So, who was that? A date on the first day of school,” Jonathan cheekily asked.

 Albert snorts and grabs one of his pillows and tossing at Jonathan’s head. Jonathan easily ducks and says, “Please bro, you can surely do better than that.”

Albert snorts and says, “Hey, who here got detention on the first day of school for using their abilities?” Albert points to himself. “That would be me, good sir. The coolest and strongest badass in this room.”

 Jonathan smirks and replies and says, “Maybe, but you don’t have to be such a dick about it. You got caught, dummy. Next time use your brains a bit.”

 Albert snorts and lays back down on his pillow. “Shaddup and let me sleep, I’m tired,” Albert muttered turning his back towards his friend.

 “Right,” Jonathan muttered under his breath and sat down on his bed to read the latest romance novel in the Nightfall series involving Jacob the wolf changeling, Edward the Vorpal and Bella, the Esper. What could he say, he grew up in a household filled with women. Three older sisters and two younger sisters would do that to you. So, what if his vice was romance novels, it was better than being on social media sites with the never-ending drama.