Getting a Book

Lila wandered aimlessly through the library. It wasn't usually her scene, but she had been visiting there regularly over the last month. She didn't really see the appeal of a massive room filled with hard-to-find books when all of it could be found on a handheld device anyway. But, she always had a reason for being somewhere and today it was to adventure through the school and find all the different cliques of people. The library had seemed quiet at first glance, but as she walked between shelves she spotted a boy, one or two years older than her.

Being the first person she spotted in the library, Lila approached him. He looked as if he were searching for something, probably a book. What else would he be looking for in a library? But anyway, she had seen these library halls enough times (meaning twice, three times at most) to get the general feel of how the books were sorted. "Um, hey," she said softly, as they were in a library, "Are you looking for anything?"

She sounded calm, as usual. She didn't get nervous when talking to strangers. In fact, talking to strangers was easier for her than talking to someone she knew. They always had history which she often didn't bother remembering. Meeting people for the first time felt fresh, interesting, new. And what's more, new people had new stories, and secrets and plenty more. She wondered what this guy was hiding...

"Angel?" Lila questioned. He could mean a lot of things by saying that. Was he looking for an Angel? That would be easy, Lila was one herself. If he needed an Angel, he had been very lucky. But why would he search for an Angel in the library? Sure, she had met another Angel there, but it wasn't exactly the gathering place for the species. No, that wasn't it. But then what did the guy mean?

Maybe he was just pointing out the fact that Lila was an Angel? He might, if he was able to detect one from just appearance and voice, but she'd never heard of someone doing that before. And while other Angels might be distinguished from other species, Lila had grown up a human, so without her wings spread she seemed like one of them. It was a possibility, sure, but the guy's voice didn't sound accusatory or in awe, so why would he say something like that?

But then Lila exited her self-centred wonderland and returned to the conversation, studying his face. It wasn't relaxed like hers, it looked shy, nervous even. He wasn't very tall, but clearly a bit older than her. Why would he shy away from a younger girl? Surely he would have all the confidence in the world! But she knew his type. And then it dawned on her. He wanted a book on Angels. Ohhhh. It all made sense then. If she hadn't been so sure that the Angel comment was something to do with her, she might've figured it out sooner. "Oh. Yeah, those books are over there," she said, pointing a few aisles to his right.

"I'm Lila, nice to meet you," she replied with a questioning smile. She was most certainly not a bookworm, but her time in Manta Carlos had suggested otherwise. Granted, she barely read anything whilst she was at the library, but she had picked up a couple of textbooks and met a few people. She wondered if she should start reading more, but then decided against it. As much as she found awkward quiet people interesting, she wished to remain her overly confident self.

So what did she think of Victor so far? She knew he was nervous, but it couldn't possibly be because of her... Could it? No, he must always be this way, she thought. Also, he seemed new. He didn't know his way around the school library, so he couldn't have been around for too long. And she got the feeling he would be interesting. Yes, he seemed like an easy target. If used right, Victor could be very useful in telling her what she wanted to know. But she had to make sure there wasn't a hidden aspect to him she didn't know about.

Lila laughed softly at the leader comment. It was that obvious? After what? A minute or two of talking? Maybe this guy held a hidden power she didn't know about. Or maybe she just appeared to be bossy to others here. Despite this, she was amazed at the guy's closeness to her real ability when he asked about brainwashing. "Well, not exactly brainwashing. More like... persuading very well. What I mean is it can be resisted, it doesn't always work." But she wasn't about to reveal the entirety of her power to Victor, she needed an element of surprise if she was to use it on him in future. So instead she just directed a question back at him.

"So, are you gifted too?" She asked, thinking of how that statement could be reworded to not come off as boasting or something similar. Oh well, she thought, if it doesn't work manipulation is always an option.

Maybe once she worked out a bit more about Victor she could decide if he was of use to her. But for now, she continued to look at him, faking innocence, with her green eyes staring at him closely.

"You're a time traveller?" Lila asked, a hint of surprise in her voice. Well, that was a strange change in events. Would the power still work on him? Sure, the ability to time travel stemmed from the mind, making it much harder to manipulate, but he had seemed so vulnerable before. Powers must make everyone seem so different. Maybe not having powers was something she related to her old friends who were easy to control.

Still, she wanted so badly to test her power on him, but she knew that would be foolish. If he could truly time travel, he could make terrible enemy. She would have to wait.

But she despises waiting, it frustrates her to no end. So she started fidgeting, playing with her hair, looking around, trying to distract herself from the temptation. She didn't care that Victor was probably a very nice guy. She didn't care that playing with his thoughts could put him in danger. All she wanted was to use her power for the first time in a month. But she had to be responsible.

Not time travelling then. Controlling the flow of time. Manipulating it. That sounded interesting, and to Lila, was debatably more useful. Victor had the power to kill someone, by just getting in the right position. It would be cool to have, she thought. But then something else occurred to her. She wouldn't realise if he had done anything to time, because she would be still carrying on at real time pace.

But when Victor explained the situation, and demonstrated it, she got confused. Why would that happen? She had not power relating to what the guy was doing. Yet she could see time frozen. It was a scary experience. To see everything, everyone, unknowingly stuck in a position was eerie to say the least. But how could she be immune? Did Victor look suspicious? She hadn't done anything, yet something had happened. Something which she seemed to have no control over.

"I- I don't know. Has this happened before?" She asked, hoping this was not an isolated incident. Her confidence levels dropped and she was left utterly confused, staring at frozen time. What had happened? Why was this happening to her? But for some reason, there was an aspect of time freezing she quite enjoyed.