26 - Arrival

Achilles' fingers drummed nervously on the wheel as Rutherford came into view. He'd made the trip so many times before, but he'd never felt nervous about it. He'd always felt he was in control of the situation - any situation. And if he wasn't, then he'd just gain that control. But the current situation had an unknown variable, and her name was Jubilee Hall.

Something was off. The air was wrong. It felt electric, and almost thick enough to choke on. This change in the environment he knew made him feel uneasy. He briefly wondered if he was imagining things, if it was all in his head, but then decided that that wasn't the case. His senses never lied, and there was no reason for them to start lying right then.

Gravel crunched under his tires on the familiar path after he passed the iron gates. Nothing had changed at his old school. The only thing that changed was his ability to focus, which he felt he'd gradually lost as he'd neared the school. His gaze moved of its own accord to a fourth floor window in the dorm building, and, for a moment, the world around him disappeared. He hit the brakes hard, moments before his car could hit a tree.

A curse died under his breath as his focus returned to the window with an odd fascination that frightened him. He climbed out of his car and walked closer to the dorm building, keeping his gaze on the window. He knew what was beyond the window. He couldn't see, but he knew what was there. He closed his eyes and turned around to walk back to his car. He felt like the needle of a compass, always pointing to the North. To her. She was the North. He realised how aware he was of her presence. He could almost feel her heartbeat and hear her thoughts. He wondered how hard it would be to...

He closed his eyes again, and there she was, almost within reach. He imagined taking one step closer, and then another, and reached forward.

There was a jumble of thoughts and images that could only be a dream she was having. The general feeling of it made his hair stand on its end. Then the feed changed, and was replaced by semi-coherent thoughts. She'd probably woken up.

He took a step back, and left her mind. The feeling was so different to the one he got when reading other people's minds. Hers stood out. He could see all the other minds as well, but hers was like a bright beacon, and it drew him to her like a moth to a flame. He had to take a moment and marvel at the difference - her mind was much more complex than any other mind that he'd encountered. The brief connection he'd made had left him the impression that there was so much more going on beyond the dream she was having. Hidden processes, layers upon layers of mental activity, and something akin to a nuclear reactor - a core of raw power, shining dimly through everything he'd seen. That was something he'd never encountered before. It was something part of him wanted to investigate, but another part of him promptly rejected the idea, and he felt fear. He gave a shiver, and felt goosebumps.

Making a connection to Jubilee Hal's mind gave him a sick feeling of achievement, as if he were somewhere he wasn't supposed to be, as if he were breaking some rules.

That's so stupid, he thought. There are no rules for reading people's minds.

He wondered how easy it would be to place a thought, an image to hurt her, to torment her, to drive her crazy. An illusion, only for her to see and to fear.

No.

He turned around and walked back to his car, unable to stop himself from looking back, over his shoulder, to the dark window

What the hell is wrong with me? He asked himself. The will to hurt others had never been there. Not without reason. When on assignment, the reason why he did what he did was... purely professional. He never harmed another living being just because he could. And he could.

'What are you, Jubilee Hall?' he mumbled.

His hand hovered over the door handle, and he couldn't convince himself to leave, not just yet. He glanced at the window one more time, and froze.

The girl he'd only seen in the photo was looking straight at him.

~*~

Jubilee tossed and turned in her sleep, in the middle of what she jokingly called "a routine nightmare". There was nothing specific about the dream, just a general feeling of dread that woke her with a start, lingered for a little while, and then was gone. But something was off. She was always the sole spectator of her own nightmares. In the riptide of this dream, however, there was someone watching. The dread turned to terror as she became more and more aware of the watcher. Whoever they were, they were close. Close enough to reach, close enough to touch.

She woke up with a start and choked. The air felt thick, almost material, and her head swam. Her conservation instinct kicked in and she remained still, analysing the change in the atmosphere. Electric was the only word for it. She moved her hand in front of her face, almost expecting to see sparks. Seeing that nothing happened, she breathed in, then out, glad that oxygen reached her brain, but was still terrified.

The watcher was there, somewhere near, and very real.

Her breath hitched and she sat up and inched closer to the wall on her right. Mara, the switchblade, was still sticking out of the side of the closet. She reached out and grabbed it, gripping the handle until her knuckles turned white. There was little a knife could do against a threat she couldn't see or describe, but it was better than nothing.

The watcher was located somewhere to her right. The courtyard was to her right. Her only comfort was that it was four floors below. With that thought in mind, she crawled to the window, moving slowly, switchblade in hand.

She half-expected a face in front of her window, some ghoul or zombie, some mythical creature she'd never dismissed as unreal. But there was nothing there to go "boo!". Instead, on one side of the gravel path stood a car and a boy.

He looked up, eyes wide in surprise, and stared at her for what seemed like a terrifying eternity. She couldn't move or look away, and felt that even if she did move, run off and hide somewhere, he'd still be watching her.

Surprise slowly left his face, and was replaced by a hateful glare. Quietly, he broke eye contact, climbed into his car and drove away.

'Oh, god,' breathed Jubilee, watching his car head for the garage. She gripped the handle of the switchblade tighter, and slid to the mattress in fetal position, shaking with fear.

I always thought I was alone in my head, she thought. Looks like I was wrong.