His sole node had been busy. Like a radio antenna he could broadcast his telepathic abilities through the quarter sized beings and that had been a good thing too. He had sensed another close by, ready to attack if it had not been for him pressing a mental suggestion into their mind through the node for it to cease what it was doing and wander off.

Aegir had marked this one, at least he had designs on taking her first. Normally he did not care much one way or the other though it had not been often that he had the first dibs on someone. It occurred only a handful of times but was a particular treat when it occurred. He actual preferred it better most times if a particular target of his had been taken before.

Most were brutal beasts and he was far more gentiler so they giving in was easier. Not just that but their minds usually adapted to such horrors existing on the island. Of course they were all part of an exclusive club being only a small minority since most of the other students weren't harassed at all. And who would believe in the existence of monsters save for other beasts and rape victims of course.

It had been evening when his node relaid that Anne was being bullied, a group of girls had become aware of her fear of fire when they were in the restroom, one of the older girls lighting up a contraband cigarette that she painstaking got a hold of.

They threatened her with the lighter, sparking it up and forcing her into one of the stalls. They taunted her for a small while, grew bored of it then wandered off. The little node observed things from hiding aqnd relaid this to Aegir who was unconcerned with it.

His plans wouldn't be hindered by it though he monitored things to make sure there were no surprises. But that was earlier on in the evening about the time she got back from her strange hike. Now it was getting later on in the day, the sun sinking beneath the horizon.

He was already in her room since dinner he had been in the closet easily scaling the side of the building and using his telepathic skills to open the window enough where he could flow inside the chamber. He closed the window behind him, masking his presence as he waited.

Anne's forehead rested on the cool metal of the stall door, the temperature of the surface soothing to her aching head. The bathroom was silent now, blissfully empty of anyone save herself. It had not been that way long.



Three and a half weeks. That was how long she'd managed to keep it quiet about her scars...longer than she'd expected really. Worse, they'd found out she was afraid of fire. Sighing, she turned and leaned her back against the stall wall. Hopefully they'd forget after a while, or at least not spread it around. She really didn't need that, more people coming to look at her, to mess with her because she was an ugly freak.

She stayed in the stall for a few minutes more, before gathering the energy to wash her face of tears and make her way out. A few minutes walk back to the dorms, a (thankfully) lonely elevator ride up to the fourth floor, and she was already sweating again. This island heat was not the best weather for her to be wearing stockings and a winter jacket, but she had no other way to hide her scars and keep to the school uniform rules...and even then she was sort of bending them really.

Anne spent a moment fumbling for her key, then clicked open the lock to room 418, a double room, though she had it to herself for the moment. Given her luck, that was bound to change soon, but she was enjoying her solitude while it lasted.

The room was dark when she entered, the sun having gone to bed for the day some half an hour before she made it back to her room. A fumbling at the wall, and the overhead flourescants hummed to life with the click of a switch. Another moment of fumbling and the air conditioner turned on, starting to fill the room with cold air. Her shoes left her feet to be nearly arranged next to the door, her bag found a hook on the wall nearby. She removed the books inside and carried them to her small desk, to do her small amount of homework later. Her jacket found its home on the back of the chair, and here she stopped and stretched slowly, rolling her head on her neck and working the kinks out of her muscles.

It had been a long, exhausting day. A boring class to start the morning, a violent walking nightmare to break it up, a few less boring, and thankfully less dream filled classes in the afternoon, after a lunch spent alone (as usual), and the day ending with some light bullying and terrorizing. Her arms fell to her sides, her gaze shifting to the floor as she hung her head. Things'll get better, you'll see. Maybe even make some friends again. Your roommate maybe. she consoled herself, unbuttoning her white school blouse and pulling it off before tossing it into her laundry basket. She shivered a moment as she stood in her school issue white cotton bra, the cool stream of air from the vent giving her goosebumps all over the pale skin of her neck and chest. Her skirt quickly followed her blouse, then her stockings as well, the later silken garment revealing the long track of burns along her right leg as they peeled away.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, she ran her fingertips along the rough flesh of her scars, as usual feeling nothing but pressure. A small blessing, that. She'd heard other burn survivors had to live with constant pain in their scars. All she was, was numb.

Numb was exactly what she felt as she slid on an oversized, long sleeved, white cotton shirt, then reaching under it to remove her bra and toss it into the hamper as well. Now clad in nothing but her panties (the same school issue as her bra, seriously, what school issued underwear?) and the shirt, she sat down at her desk, intent on finishing up her homework before she turned in for the night.

The little node squirmed beneath the door of room 418. Small enough to go unnoticed it hid though, talking no chances. In addition to using and projecting powers through it Aegir was able to use their senses as well and he did so now seeing through it's eyes.

It had occurred to him that Anne might open the closet to get out bed cloths, something he had not accounted for as her fingers grazed over her scars as she inspected them. He sensed a thankfulness in her since she failed to feel any phantom pain in her scars though Aegir studied them in detail now that they were revealed fully to him.

Thus far he had only her memories of them to deal with and he now saw the real thing save for her facial ones. He studied her as a whole though he did not see anything particularly gruesome about them. Perhaps the abnormal for him had become normal after all.

He figured that if she needed anything out of the closet he had three options. The first had been distasteful to him in that he could pounce on her straight away, the others were more appealing. One was that he could simply suggest to her that she didn't want or need anything in the closet. The other was touching the portions of her brain that could perceive him and suppress them temporarily to effectively make himself invisible to her. The last was most appealing to him and one that he would do to deceive her perceptions should it come to it.

Though it did not seem as if she were going to gaze into the closet or take anything out which had been perfect for him. A musky scent did roll off him though, hinting at his arousal and though it was not often that he had to contend with that matter it was a big hint that he was around should someone be familiar with the scent.

Few were, however, since there were not many that he preyed on multiple times but even so the smell tended to alert people that something was amiss. It was a minor problem to deal with though since he scrubbed out her olfactory senses to it as soon as he smelled it.

He watched on, a small measure of voyeurism touching him as he did so. His mind filling with images of her fast at work in her under garments while doing her homework. The coolness of the room from the air conditioner whooshed about the node and even here in the closet Aegir came to feel it though not as bad as if he were in the room.

A part of him just wanted to burst out of the closet and take Anne, a primal part of him though there was another that assumed that he would have some fun with her first before that. He enjoyed giving others pleasure and while either way he expected her first time to be memorable he could at least make some of that pleasant in her mind, a stark contrast to what he had unleashed on her earlier in the day.

At the time he patiently waited, no actually he wasn't too patient this time around. Reading her surface thoughts was an easier matter for him to handle since he did so constantly so he knew the questions of her homework and projected the answers into her mind as each question came up taking a second or two to form these thoughts in her head as if she considered the question for a brief moment before answer the question with the vast knowledge that he possessed ... he wasn't so hot with philosopy though since that required a degree of creative thought that he did not possess. Of course he had basic knowledge of it and even had one or two minds that he could draw on there for assistance should he need it.

It seemed his concerns about her approaching the closet were unfounded, for the moment at the least. Though, it did occur to him that all she had in the small storage space were uniforms, jackets, and a long winter coat. It seemed Anne didn't really own much in the way of casual clothing, or if she did, it hadn't made the trip to the school with her. And the node hiding by her doorway needn't have bothered, as she was seated with her right side to the doorway, leaving her completely blind to its presence.

Unaware of her two "guests" Anne remained focused on her homework, some Math A116 equations to solve (Calculus, fairly easy for her even without help), a short literary criticism for English A210 (Jane Austen....yay ), and finally, a summary of her professors lecture from this morning (she'd make something up...honestly she regretted choosing that course). Nothing terribly thought provoking, or time consuming really...she just took a bit of pride in her grades. Her almost complete lack of a social life certainly didn't interfere with her studies...

Oddly, she found even this light workload easier than usual, as answers seemed to appear with barely any effort on her part. Perhaps she was so wired from her day that her mind was working overtime? As the room cooled down further, she stretched once more, happily this time. She was a snow bunny at heart, more at home in a blizzard than a sauna. Goosebumps stood out on her bared skin, but she barely noticed, so happy was she to finally be comfortable.

With the ideal atmosphere and unasked for assistance, her homework was made short work of and dispensed to her shelf. After briefly thinking over the next day's class schedule, she selected the appropriate books and took them to her bag, sliding them in one after another, in the correct order (so what if she was a bit obsessive compulsive?). That done, she was almost ready for bed (she'd shower in the morning, before anyone else woke up), with only one last thing to do.

Pulling her hair back, revealing her entire face for the first time that day, she slipped an elastic band around the long mass of black-violet strands, leaving it in a loose ponytail cinched at the back of her neck. Her blind eye was closed, the eyelid and surrounding skin sharing the cracked, broken texture of that side of her body, certainly not a pleasant sight, but not nearly as hideous as she thought it must appear to others. Now prepared for bed, she shuffled towards her closet, intending to set out her uniform for tomorrow.

The node was unintelligent, a tool, and while Aegir could have directed it he did not as it hid on her blind side. Of course it was not seen even if it were small and rather stealthy though like it's parent it was slow moving.

Homework whizzed through Aegir found that Anne didn't need much of his assistance. The answers to most of the questions had been there in her mind and only needed a small prompting to come to. But she finished all her assignments in a timely fashion allowing her to go through her pre-bed rituals.

Really ... he didn't know what all the fuss was about the scars since he could now see them though in his experience he knew that humans enjoyed having something perfectly symetrical. It was one of the criteria that they had for deeming someone of something good looking, something asymetrical was often ugly though there were some symetrical things that others found rather distasteful. It was all so confusing and he'd never understand it fully even with the minds that he had consumed in the past giving him a greater insight into the human psyche.

He supposed that Anne fit in to that symetrical 'ugliness' due to the scars that riddled half her body given the way she thought about them and the pains she went through to conceal them from others. He supposed the later was to avoid stares or talking about it much though he guessed that it was only a matter of time before others found out about her secret.

As she moved towards the closet and opened it up she had not perceived him there at all. Her senses of him had been suppressed, even touch should she graze him accidentally. She was close enough to touch to wrap up in his tentacles and drive her back to the bed. He'd have no problem in divesting her of the little clothing that she wore and his tentacles did sway a little in anticipation of just that though he convinced himself to wait still as all three of his shafts hardened with desire.

He shifted a little to get out of her way knowing full well what she was after. One tentacle lifted up to touch her cheek again though it hovered there without making contact, not that she feel it if he did with her dulled senses.

All he had to wait for now was for her to sleep, he had no need to wait long now ...

She saw nothing, felt nothing as she opened the closet, even when she reached right past the creature hiding within to pull out a hanger and the uniform hung neatly upon it. She considered for a moment, then pulled out another jacket as well, since the first one was a bit too worn for her tastes. Closing the closet door with her hip, she stepped back to her desk, tossing the day's jacket into the laundry, and laying her uniform for tomorrow across the top of the chair.

Blinking slowly, she rubbed at her good eye, almost sure she'd seen something out of place in her room near the doorway. She glanced back curiously, but couldn't see anything obvious...so dismissed it as a sign of exhaustion. Turning back, she moved to her dresser and selected a fresh pair of undergarments, and a pair of white stockings, laying them all on the seat of the chair, then placing a towel over the pile, prepared for her shower in the morning.

Done with her nightly ritual of readying herself for the next morning, Anne turned to the window, slinking over and starting to pull the blinds closed. Instead she looked out across the moonlit grounds, her gaze following the moving figures below, students returning from late classes, prefects walking their rounds, instructors and staff milling about as their work day ended. It felt odd, in a way...she was a part of this school, but she couldn't help but feel detached. She barely knew any of the other students, their names at most, and to her professors she was just another face in the crowd. Her reflection met her eye, and for a moment she worried another vision was going to paralyze her...(the dull ache in her head flared for a moment as the inhibitors quashed a weaker pulse of her curse completely, its power spent earlier in the day on two other visions)...but nothing happened. Unsettled by her own reflection, as she always was, she turned away and closed the curtains tightly.

Her jaw cracked in a mighty yawn as she shuffled to the light switch, sinking the room into blackness, only barely illuminated by the alarm clock on her desk and the wan moonlight slipping beneath the curtain. By memory she returned to her bed, pulling back the covers and settling in, pausing to set her alarm before she turned over and pulled the blankets up to her chin, one pillow beneath her head, another hugged tightly to her chest with her legs curled up beneath it (childish she knew, but she'd never managed to outgrow it). As exhausted as she was, mentally and physically, it took little time at all before she was sound asleep, the blanket rising and falling slowly in time with her breath.

Aegir, being use to there murky depths of the water so casting the room in darkness did little to hinder his sight, bright light would given his sensitivity to it though there was nothing to be seen as Anne took her place beneath the sheets.

He waited as she drifted off. sensing her subconscious mind taking over he waited a small time longer as REM sleep came naturally to her.

It was then that he acted, flowing into her mind, projecting a little essence into it as he manipulated it. After what appeared to be 8 hours of sleep she woke up, a gentle prodding at her shoulder as she was shaken. "Wake up, Anne." The voice deeper than she remembered it but recognizable given that she could see Mark glancing down at her, he smiled at her though she had been aware that her room wouldn't be co-ed, so who was her roommate? Mark? That didn't seem right but he was her now. Mark. of course was from the orphanage ... she looked around seeing that there were two beds here, one already made though that portion of the room had a distinct emptiness to it as if it were not lived in. No posters or pictures, no nick nacks, nothing at all.

From her memory it was her old room, the room was as she rembered it though Mark appeared a little older than she remembered. It was no Lewis' towering over her but she was filled with dread all the same ... Leslie ... if Mark was here it reasoned that she was too and she recalled how her last visit here had prompted her to leaving hastily.

But like her earlier day dream, this felt real enough. It had to be a dream she reasoned since she briefly thought of Leslie earlier thus subconsciously she was here again. "You've overslept yet again, didn't you hear the alarm clock? No, apparently not, stupid question."

She awoke in a familiar room, not the one she had gone to sleep in however. Someone was prodding her shoulder, telling her to wake up. Who was that? It sounded like Mark. What was Mark doing in her room? He wasn't suppos-

She sat bolt upright, looking around in a sleepy daze, panicking slightly as she realized where exactly she was. Her eye darted to the other bed in the room, the one Leslie slept in, only to find it empty...more than empty actually. It felt as if that side of the room hadn't been lived in at all. Slowly she turned her head to look at Mark, rubbing sleep out of her eye blearily. Even he didn't look right, older than she remembered at the very least.

This has to be a dream...I'm a thousand miles away from both of them now... she thought to herself, taking a moment of guilty pleasure to enjoy just looking at Mark again. If this was a dream, at least it wasn't a nightmare, not yet. Yawning she slid to the edge of the bed and stretched.



She blinked a few times, glancing again at the empty bed in her room with her.

"S-sorry...but h-how did you get in? Y-you're not supposed to b-be in the girl's dorm...." she smiled faintly as she said it though, not displeased at all to see him now that she knew this was a dream. "Oh, and w-where's Leslie? I n-normally have to h-help her get dressed in t-the morning." She turned her head away and pulled the elastic band from her hair, finger-combing her locks into their usual concealing veil. Mark had seen her scars before, and been sweet about not asking too many questions...but she still felt exposed with her face uncovered.

"Leslie?" He questioned and for a moment he didn't seem to recall but searched his memory, "Oh, Leslie ..." he gazed at her as if he didn't believe the question though he should have associated with Leslie, he did have a thing for her but that was awhile back.

"She got lucky, don't you remember a few years back she got adopted by those rich folks, who couldn't have anymore kids ... who's daughter died in a car accident. Leslie remind them of Sharon, a little younger but they whisked her away all the same.

"Anyway ... I let myself in," his eyes rolled in the direction of the opened window, just outside it grew an old elm tree and it was an easy leap to the ledge outside her window that ran around the entire building. "I got concerned when you didn't show up to breakfast so I figured either A you overslept or B you were having a secret tyrst with one of the boys ... or girls ... either way if you were here I could watch from the window."

He grinned obviously teasing her with the last comment as he smiled down at her. There wasn't anyone that he was aware of that she was close to, at least not in such a way. So, unless you hurry you're likely to miss breakfast, there's not much left now."

She blinked slowly at the explanation, a small frown gracing her features. Leslie...had been adopted? But...Leslie and Mark hadn't been at the orphanage. After a moment, she shook her head slightly, chalking it up to the mutable nature of dreams. Pieces of her life had blurred together, formed an unusual mix of people and places, that was all. Best not to dwell overlong on it.

"Right, I m-must have...forgotten or s-something," she lamely tried to cover up for her apparent gaff. Rising from the bed, she put her hands on his shoulders and nudged him towards the window, pushing gently so she could get some privacy to put on something other than her nightshirt.

"Well l-let yourself back out t-then...I'll chang-hey!" she exclaimed as he made the crack about her being with a boy (or girl) and then made it worse by bragging about his spot to watch from. Huffing, she slapped him upside the back of the head, not too hard. "G-get out of here before I p-push you out...jerk..." she smiled to show she didn't mean the last part, but kept nudging him towards the window nonetheless.

"Thanks f-for waking me up. I'll g-get dressed and be down in a m-minute."

"Tragic what happened with her parents, first her father committing suicide then her mother wasting away from breast cancer ... got bad there at the end too." He explained as if that made more sense, as if she would fill in the blanks in that. Either Leslie left to go home to take care of her mother or became an orphan when the later died leading to her adoption, she never spoke of any other family that she had been aware of so it was unlikely that any existed to take her in. Mark probably had closer contact at the end then she had with her former room mate or she was still here and left when both her parents died.

"Aw, I can't stay and watch?" Mark kidded as he was persuaded to the window. His eyes skimmed down her body then back up it as he was rewarded with a playful slap at the back of his head before opening the window back up that he only recently closed.

He stuck a leg out of the window setting it on the ledge before turning to face her. "Alright, I'll meet you in the mess hall then, I'll scrounge up some food for you as well. Bacon?"

He asked, pausing only as long as it took to get an answer before stepping out onto the ledge. He fiddled with the window a little, it was easier to open and close on the inside obviously but not impossible to do so from this side. Once it was closed he departed hoping off the ledge to grab at a nearby branch only to shimmy down it to the tree where he contorted back into it and then climbed back down the tree.

When next she saw him he was at the mostly empty mess hall where staff was busy with clean up. True to his word he scrounged up a tray of food that rested before him at a table empty save for himself. There were a few other students here at other tables eating, late bloomers she supposed, though there were not many of them.

She blinked a few times at the story, a frisson of dissonance shivering through her. Something was wrong...Leslie's parents were still alive...weren't they? Her head felt muddled, both by sleep and the lingering, hidden exhaustion she had not yet recovered from. It was just a dream anyway...no need to worry about it.

She sighed and gave him another push as he teased her about staying to watch. She frowned and shook her head at him as he climbed out the window.

"No bacon! Cereal or pancakes are fine." she grumped at him as he slid out of view. This felt familiar to an extent. Mark had been a bit mischievous, treating Leslie and she as kid sisters more than anything else on most days. She smiled softly as she closed the window tightly. It was nice to see a familiar face, even if it was only a distorted dream.

She dressed quickly, a nostalgic grin turning up her lips as she found clothing she'd left behind at her old school. A baggy pair of khaki cargo pants covered her legs, drawn tight by a string at her waist. Knee high white socks covered her feet before she slipped them into similarly colored cloth slippers. The oversized nightshirt came up over her head and was tossed onto her bed to deal with later as she moved to her dresser and pulled a simple white cotton sports bra out. Tugging the snug garment on, she turned in place, looking over her shoulder to make sure the back wasn't twisted. Lastly, she dug a light-gray, longsleeved shirt from a drawer and pulled it on. A pause to brush out her hair on the way to the door (making sure her face was covered) and she was out the door.

She smiled brightly as she spotted Mark seated at the table, and shuffled over to join him, ignoring the other students completely. She'd never been close to any of them anyway.

When he saw her enter the mess hall he gestured towards her. In front of him she could see that there was a plate of pancakes and a few sausage links next to it. There was syrup in a cup-like device. As she drew near enough he spoke, though gazing at him now she guessed that he was about 19 or so.

His blonde hair comb in such away that his hair looked ruffled and unkept. He smiled at her though as she neared, he was obviously older than she last seen him and she simply assumed that she was too judging by her reflection in the mirror when combing out her hair.

"Sorry. They ran out of bacon," he explained the presence of the sausage on the plate. He paused then broke into a grin. "Well, some of us were busy while others slept in ... I got a surprise for you but eat first, I'll tell you all about it when your through."

He shot her another smile, rose and pulled her seat out for her. Waiting for her to be seated he sat again after pushing her seat in for her. His head rested on his hand as he gazed at her lazily, already have eaten, waiting for her to finish.

Mark sat on her left, he tended to remain in her field of view for the most part aware that she couldn't see him otherwise. He smile hardly able to contain a grin from spreading over his lips from time to time.

She tilted her head curiously as she looked him over. She couldn't help but smile again, looking at his permanently ruffled hair. She shook her head as she sat down, smirking playfully as he pushed her seat in for her.

"Just as w-well. I said n-no bacon anyway." she plucked up a pancake with her fingers and rolled it into a tube before dipping it in the syrup. Now thoroughly saturated, she took a big bite, making a happy sound. It had been a long time since she'd had pancakes like this. She arched an eyebrow at him as she continued to eat, pausing between bites to give him a level look.

"Y-you know I don't l-like surprises....this b-better not be a p-prank." she chided, with a serious expression. She didn't think he'd pull something drastic on her...but it was best to warn him off in advance, just in case. Despite her warning she was more than a little curious what the surprise was. She tucked into the pancakes eagerly, giving in to her sweet tooth and completely emptying the syrup container. She picked at a sausage link, but left the rest untouched. She never had much of an appetite for meat anyway...

She watched him out of the corner of her eye as she ate, enjoying the simplicity of the situation, the relaxed feeling that washed over her. She'd started to forget what it felt like to not be alone. What with the way he kept grinning like a child, she couldn't bear to keep him waiting too long, a warm smile gracing her features as she pushed the plate away and looked at him expectantly.

"Yeah, I know ... just about everyday we celebrate your birthday er ... the day that you were found, Get reminded then. Now eat up! Not kidding about this, I don't have a death wish you know." He grinned again urging her to continue. He could hardly contain himself it seemed.

"I know, I know about the bacon thing but the had three sausages left over so I snagged them just incase you wanted them." He watched her eat taking his eyes off her just enough to flicker about the room so he wasn't staring at her the entire time but as she finished he smile again digging into his pants pocket he pulled out a key ring with half a dozen keys on it.

He plopped this down in front of her, the grin still on his features as he did so. "Coming here earlier I passed by Mister Jacobson, he had an arm load of books and struggled to unlock the supply closet, I guess to store them away. Anyway he left the key in the lock and forgot about them.

"You know he's got that fine Porsche too a few weeks back so I thought we'd skip classes today and take it for a little ride. You know there's that candy factory, the Hersey's knock off that I thought that we could stop at and tour, unless you'd preffer algebra over free samples ..." he chided, still grinning at her as he laid everything out for her.

Of course on a teacher's salary a Porsche was hard to come by, not impossible Anne assumed pending outside circumstances, inheritances, loans and even gifts from a sugar mamma.