Masked

Gael sat there staring out at the stars, her face all red and puffy from crying too much. She was exhausted but not sleepy. Thoughts of last night with Uroko still flooding her mind made it bearable. Of course, talking about everything that had happened since helped too. The wind blew, causing her to shiver.

Caitlyn watched Gael, hoping to one day be like her. “What was it like?” She was a bit afraid the question would be too forward, but the two girls grew really close in the last few hours.

The classroom had been out of use the whole year, it was the best place for them to go. Caitlyn had her arm wrapped around Gael, and lead her to one of the desks. She was still crying, but it was mostly just sniffling now. She’d gotten the worst of it out of her in the hallway. Caitlyn pulled a chair over and sat facing her. Before she could say anything Gael looked her in the eyes, pleading to know the answer “Did....did I do it to him? It’s not my fault, is it?” Caitlyn shook her head answering “No, I don’t think you could ever do something...” Before she could finish, the tears were rolling down Gael’s face again “But what if it was my power? I’ve never really had one, what if this is it!” She grabbed Caitlyn’s hands, begging “Please! Can’t you read my mind or something? Can’t you figure out if I did this to him?!”

Caitlyn really wasn’t sure if this was possible for her, but she promised to try anyways. She closed her eyes and dove in. She was always warned by Dr. Sahlyana that diving into a persons mind when they were over come by negative emotions could be dangerous, but this was the first time Caitlyn had ever found out why. Gael’s grief over the situation was over whelming, she could feel it becoming her own, she could feel herself getting lost in it.

She tried several times, each time she had to stop. Finding both Gael and herself sobbing uncontrollably when she came back out. They sat there in silence for a while, before she thought of another way. She raised her head so suddenly that it startled Gael. “Did it happen here?” Gael was as confused as she looked “did...what happen here?” Caitlyn shook her head “Sorry. I mean, did you...did you kiss here? At the Academy?”

Gael understood what she wanted to know “Yes..” She turned away blushing “It...it happened on the roof.”

Gael wrapped her arms around her legs and put her chin on her knee, smiling. “It was...everything I hoped it would be.” She was so happy that Caitlyn was able to read the area with her power to find out the truth. All that time she hung around her brother or Uroko, Gael never really knew what it was like to have a girl friend. “Caitlyn...I...”

Suddenly, Caitlyn stood up and bolted for the rooftop door. Gael jumped to her feet, not sure what happened. She followed, yelling after her to wait. The hallways were empty, everyone else had been in bed for at least two hours.

Catherine bolted upright in her bed, sensing the same thing her sister had. From across the room two shadows rushed over to her. She threw the cover off her and began running for the door. Niht and Samuel looked at each other, having been awake the whole time waiting for Gael to come to bed. They rushed after her, whispering as loud as they could so they didn’t wake everyone. When they finally got past the dorms Niht yelled for her to wait “Could you stop for a minute! What’s going on?” She whirled around as quickly as she could “Either shut up and follow or go back to bed!” She was off again. Samuel and Niht shrugged and ran after her.

Caitlyn stood there at the foot of Uroko’s bed in the hospital wing, her eyes wide, skin ashen, with her hand over her mouth. Gael stopped short of the curtain when she saw that “Caitlyn? Caitlyn....what...what’s wrong?” She slowly walked over to look. Gael’s shocked scream shattered the silence of the clinic room. She fell backwards, scooting across the floor to get away.

Moments later Catherine, Samuel, and Niht rushed into the ward to see Caitlyn and Gael clinging to each other, both staring at the Uroko’s bed. Catherine and Samuel rushed over to Caitlyn, and Niht rushed over to Gael. “Gael, what....” Niht asked as he turned his head to see Dr. Sahlyana lying on the floor. He looked over to the others “Sam,watch them!” Before Samuel could say anything Niht rushed off to get the Nurse.

Minutes later, Nurse Forte ran in, her robe wildly thrown on. She’d rushed so quickly that she hadn’t had time to split herself. “What’s happened, Ms. Song!?” The sight of Dr. Sahlyana lying on the floor panicked her, she rushed over checking her vitals, trying to see if she would respond to her.

Caitlyn sat there shocked, rocked in her sister’s arms “She....she’s empty..” was all she managed to get out. The nurse stopped dead in her tracks. She’d heard and seen some terrible things in her life, but this was the first time something really haunted her. Everyone turned to look at Caitlyn, the silence was deafening. Everyone jumped when Gael stood up, in her trance, and walked to the wall to create the doorway.

The Dean and Niht stepped through the doorway. The hissing sound as it close wasn’t heard by anyone. Niht had seen the Dr. on the floor but this was his first glance at Uroko. He understood Gael’s fright. His body was covered in scales again, but his face looked liked something out of a nightmare. The mask created by the scales looked like a real dragon with a large red jewel decorating it’s forehead. The beast looked like it wanted to devour him even though it wasn’t awake.