Only a few days ago, Cass had ventured onto the grounds of Starlight Academy to prevent a prophetic drawing coming to life. It had failed. Really failed. Ironically so. Now, she was back, and not exactly thrilled about it. The whole island wasn't enough to sufficiently thin her mental connection to Fordren, but she'd made some progress in muting her presence. It helped if she focused on the here and now, forcing the ever-present link to fade into the background. At least her latest premonition gave her something to focus on; the folded paper in her hand bore a picture of a beautiful fair-haired young man. Handsome didn't suit his looks; his bone structure was too feminine, but the charcoal sketch was nonetheless - well, beautiful. This didn't hold much water with Cass, who had noticed an inordinate number of the island's inhabitants were of model quality. With the exception of Fordren, who wasn't even human, the prettier the person, the emptier their head. As such, she wasn't looking forward to babysitting this student, provided she could even find him.
Behind the guy's shoulder was a bristling black cloud, fairly nondescript. Cass was starting to get used to this; it meant something unpleasant was going to happen, but not life-threatening. Her premonitions, drawn or visualised, were always vague unless concerning immediate death. In fact, until she'd been dragged to this godforsaken corner of the planet, she'd have happily ignored it. But since that wonderful, awful moment in the woods when her mind had been flooded with visions from an angel (of all freaking things), the compulsion to act on her premonitions had been overwhelming. It had awoken some strange instinct inside her, a sense of purpose and duty, and she edged towards a group of kids in the hallway with some hesitance.
"Have you seen this guy?" she asked, holding up the slightly bedraggled picture.
One of the girls cooed at the artwork, causing a spasm of social awkwardness in Cass, but the boy beside her nodded casually. "Passed him on the way here. He's in the courtyard."
After getting directions to it, Cass loped off, uncanny grey eyes scanning every blond-haired boy walking past. Though she was technically part of the student body, she'd merely gone into the library a few times to try and seek out books on telepathy and foresight, resisting the repeated offer to attend classes on how to control her gifts. The courtyard was larger than she'd expected, and Cass carefully navigated around the milling kids, her sketch open in front of her. It wasn't hard to recognise him; she'd been staring at his black-and-white face for two hours. Folding the paper again, she approached him with a grudging expression. "Hey."
She hadn't actually considered what she would say if she found him; she didn't exactly have a gift for conversation. A moment of uncertainty later, she stuck out her hand. "I'm Cass. Who're you?" Had she been more familiar with social behaviour, she might have been appalled to realise that, so far, she appeared to be hitting on him. Incompetently.
Behind the guy's shoulder was a bristling black cloud, fairly nondescript. Cass was starting to get used to this; it meant something unpleasant was going to happen, but not life-threatening. Her premonitions, drawn or visualised, were always vague unless concerning immediate death. In fact, until she'd been dragged to this godforsaken corner of the planet, she'd have happily ignored it. But since that wonderful, awful moment in the woods when her mind had been flooded with visions from an angel (of all freaking things), the compulsion to act on her premonitions had been overwhelming. It had awoken some strange instinct inside her, a sense of purpose and duty, and she edged towards a group of kids in the hallway with some hesitance.
"Have you seen this guy?" she asked, holding up the slightly bedraggled picture.
One of the girls cooed at the artwork, causing a spasm of social awkwardness in Cass, but the boy beside her nodded casually. "Passed him on the way here. He's in the courtyard."
After getting directions to it, Cass loped off, uncanny grey eyes scanning every blond-haired boy walking past. Though she was technically part of the student body, she'd merely gone into the library a few times to try and seek out books on telepathy and foresight, resisting the repeated offer to attend classes on how to control her gifts. The courtyard was larger than she'd expected, and Cass carefully navigated around the milling kids, her sketch open in front of her. It wasn't hard to recognise him; she'd been staring at his black-and-white face for two hours. Folding the paper again, she approached him with a grudging expression. "Hey."
She hadn't actually considered what she would say if she found him; she didn't exactly have a gift for conversation. A moment of uncertainty later, she stuck out her hand. "I'm Cass. Who're you?" Had she been more familiar with social behaviour, she might have been appalled to realise that, so far, she appeared to be hitting on him. Incompetently.