Hurt

Lila walked into the library alone, intending to quickly pick up a few books to study and leave. Fitting in at Starlight Academy, where everyone was so incredibly different, was harder than she anticipated. She wasn't about to leave but she was in need of a few friends. So, as she searched the bookshelves for the volumes she required, she spotted another student, a few years older than her, sitting out of plain view. Lila wondered if she would still be that lonely when she was older. She was about to walk past and continue her day as per usual, but decided to inquire as to why the girl was hiding away.

The older girl wore clothes Lila admired, a leather jacket and worn-down jeans. Paired with her effortless blonde hair, she seemed like the typical cool girl. Which led her to the question, Why is she hiding? Lila, who was standing a few feet or so away from the bookshelves, stepped forward before bending down to talk to her. "What's wrong?" Lila asked awkwardly. Well, it sounded awkward anyway. She was somewhat intimidated by the older cool girl, and her usual outgoing self hid away as she felt the eyes of the girl staring at her. What made her seem so much more powerful than Lila?

And then, she noticed the book the girl had been reading. About angels. Lila felt a shiver slide through her body. Was it possible that this girl was an angel too? A stronger, more powerful angel? That couldn't happen, could it? She looked around desperately for a way to back out of the situation she had gotten herself into, and noticed what seemed to be levitating books. The shelves the girl sat between were shaking. This wasn't Lila's kind of Angel. This one could manipulate objects with their mind, whereas Lila could manipulate minds with her mind. But Angels wouldn't harm Angels, would they?

"What are you?" Adriel asked. Her voice seemed as if she hadn't talked in a very long time. Actually, Lila began to sense a slight vulnerability about her, one she hadn't noticed when she first saw her. Sure, she still felt weak compared to this new angel, but she saw the vulnerability nonetheless. As Adriel stood up, Lila scooped up a handful of books and lined them back up on the bookshelf. She figured that if this girl truly was more powerful than her, it wouldn't hurt to get on her good side.

The next thing Lila had to worry about was Adriel's question. She assumed it meant what species she was, which she wasn't sure she wanted to give away. Could the angel really not know what she was, or was it a test? Not wanting to suffer the consequences if it was truly a test, she replied, "I- I'm an Angel. Like you, right?" Having never been a shy person, Lila was stunned by the way another Angel could make her feel uncertain, the way another Angel could make her feel so overpowered.

Busying herself by picking up the fallen books, Lila wondered at what could possibly make a girl like that want to hide away. And she wondered at how much power Adriel actually had. She decided to ask one more question, saying, "Why are you so lonely?" But not expecting much of an answer.

"Yes. Not quite like you though." Adriel confirmed. Her voice and what she said didn't quite match her appearance. She looked like she wouldn't bother using correct grammar, like she would talk in slang. She sounded more formal. More... old. Lila had been brought up by her mother well, and knew a passable amount of Angel History. Enough to know that some Angels are older than they appear. This scared Lila, who was 14 years old in both age and appearance. This new angel could possess power much greater than her own.

She watched as Adriel attempted to use her powers to place the books back on the shelves, unsuccessfully. Was there an emotional element preventing her from doing this with ease? If the Angel was as powerful as she thought, shouldn't she have better control over her emotions? Or was there something more to the story?

"I don't... understand them." Adriel answered to Lila's question. She didn't understand who. Everyone else? Lila was surprised by her answer. Her own powers allowed her to easily know what people were thinking, or at least feeling. But other Angels, or those whose power was used from the mind, were harder to read. She knew just a couple of things. That the girl was sad and that she was trying to work out who Lila was just as much as the other way around.

As they continued to collect the fallen books, Adriel asked her another question. "What's your name?" That was an easier question to answer. Feeling confident the two had not previously met in her 14-year life, she answered without a second thought. "Lila Montgomery. What's yours?" She hoped the girl wasn't one of the Angels she had read about in books, or watched in movies. Those Angels had extreme power, more than double that of Lila's developing tricks. But why would an Angel like that enroll in a school like this? Surely they would've completed their education long ago?

Lila contemplated this for a while, looking over at the girl. She decided to ask about the girl's age. After all, if she really wasn't that old the question would seem like an attempt at introducing herself. "How old are you?" She instantly regretted it. This could make her seem nosy, and she didn't want to infuriate the girl. But she couldn't take it back now. Not without revealing that the question was more than just for introductions.

"Adriel." The name rung a bell, and Lila remembered her home, with her mother sitting on the end of her bed, calmly reading her stories of the great Angels. Thousands of years ago, they occurred. Could Adriel really be one of them? Those Angels had immense power, double or triple that of her own, and coming face to face with one was not on Lila's to-do list. She also wondered if Adriel had a last name. Probably not, she thought. Angels traditionally don't. The only reason Lila had a last name was because of her father's vampire family. Since her family was unsure at her birth whether or not she would be supernatural, they decided to do things the human way. It helped with getting through life as a supposed human much easier.

Adriel... The name was starting to sound really familiar. But she didn't seem to remember what she did exactly. She had a bad feeling about it, though. A very bad feeling that she couldn't shake, a feeling that she had just met a very powerful - and potentially deadly - Angel. Lila tried to reassure herself, remembering her mother had named her after a great Angel, so maybe Adriel was just a namesake?

All the books had been picked up and returned to their places on the bookshelves, so Lila didn't know what to do. The way she was intimidated by the girl didn't help either, as part of her wanted to run away. Regardless, the significantly bigger part of her was curious as to who the girl was, where she came from, and how.

When Adriel laughed at Lila's age question, she immediately knew her fears were confirmed. She had not met a student a few years older than her, she had met a student a few thousand years older. The laugh, rather than lightening the mood, made Lila tense. She clearly looked uncomfortable in the situation, and her eyes widened at every word Adriel spoke.

"That's complicated." Yes, Lila thought. The situation had got complicated. She had just met an Angel thousands of years superior to her. "I've been in this- for seventeen years. I've existed for about... Seven thousand." Seven. Thousand. Years. That was a lot compared to Lila's fourteen. Five hundred times as much, to be exact. There was no way Adriel missed her reaction. Her jaw dropped, she stiffened up and her eyes almost popped out of her head. This was crazy. And though she assumed there were others of similar age in Manta Carlos, she never expected to meet one so quickly.

"You look younger." She continued. Yeah, she was. For each year Adriel had lived, Lila hadn't even lived a day. For every year Lila had lived, Adriel had lived five hundred. So it was perfectly rational, in this situation, to freak out.

"Y-yeah," she stammered uncertainly. "I'm fourteen." She sounded pretty pathetic. This girl would probably look straight past her feeble developing powers and young age. And then came the question of what would happen to Lila? Would the girl take pity on her, or would she make her worship her like a god? She had the power to do either.

"So- uh- why did you knock those books over? Were you angry?" She asked. She had to get a little bit of information about the girl, at least.

When Adriel was shocked at Lila's young age, she started to feel self-conscious. She had always been the leader of her human friendship group, but it seemed it was different here. Here, she knew she wouldn't have power over people like she used to, because her manipulation trick wouldn't work as well or for as many. Being thought of as weak, powerless, too young made her worry about not only people's opinions, but what they would do to her. Being new to both the school and island, Lila had no allies, little knowledge of other species and developing powers. Not ideal for doing well here.

Lila's question changed Adriel's expression yet again, and for a moment she seemed like any other shy 17-year-old girl.

"I didn't mean to. I was... upset." Upset, thought Lila. A sad 7,000 year-old Angel was talking to her. That made it sound more strange than it felt in that moment. This was the first time Lila forgot about the superiority of Adriel and instead felt like she needed to let her talk, either to take her mind off of the situation or so she could open up about it. Then, she started to wonder what it would be like to be that old. Would the years seem to go quicker? Would it get boring? And how painful would it be, to watch friends, family and allies grow old and die? These questions Lila wished to ask compiled in her mind, but she knew this was not the time, especially for the last one. Instead, she asked, "Do you want to talk about it? Or... something else?"

"So what can you do?" Adriel asked her. Lila knew what she would be able to do in future, but less about what she could currently do. For example, her flying was good, at low heights and slow speeds, but she had gotten to almost 100 feet before and had hovered above the ground going at a faster than sprint pace. And then there was the mind manipulation. She had perfected this art on humans, but on other species it was unclear how it would work. So she explained, "I can fly, and I can manipulate some people's minds - like, put a thought in their head and convince them to do something, but I'm still working on both of them. That's basically why I came here. And, of course, to be with other gifted creatures."

Hoping she hadn't said too much or given Adriel a false impression of what she could and couldn't do, Lila asked, "You must be pretty powerful, right? I mean you're 7,000 years old! What are your powers?" Although she assumed one would be to do with moving objects with her mind, due to the books falling off the shelves, it would be helpful to know exactly what the Angel was capable of. The girl made her curious. She was obviously pure Angel, and was probably very different to Lila.