THESE HIDDEN WINGS

[100.1]RED'S COLOR CLASS: THE STRAGOI

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"V-Vampire."

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"FOCUS, BLOCK OUT all de noises 'round yuh,"

-and the world went silent as I stared down at the pebble nestled in silk.

'Shut yuh eyes an' reach into de higher plane, then let de energy flow within – feel yuh stream an' let it rise-'

I took a deep breath out, my eyes shut, trying to reach out as Miss Almulese words floated passed my ears.

The sound of her footsteps strolling between our rows becoming fainter as focused on the pebble and the steady beat of my heartbeat.

'Envision both the entrance and the exit, the red cushion and the other'

I pictured all of this in my mind trying, creating a whole reality wrapped up in my discreet imagination.

This was an opportunity to see if I could move the pebble.

To see if my crazy theories about the Prime and my father were true. If I could move this pebble as Miss Almulese had done before then I wouldn't have to live with this guilt, feeling like I was an imposter to all my friends who had suffered in the outside world because of what they were.

Even though, undoubtedly it would break something inside me to know that I wasn't who I thought I was.

I wanted to know if I could lift this peddle calling out all these mystical forces in the air that Miss Almulese was talking about, but I also felt terrified, knowing once I discovered I was not human there was no going back to that safety.

There would be a whole other journey of self-discovery and I wasn't even sure I understood this version of myself but still-

I had to know.

I had to know what I was- if all this was just a farfetched conspiracy my mind had conjured or if Gravis's words meant much more than I ever thought possible.

How many things had been kept from me, for my supposed safety?

I let myself sink within me reaching for something inside me, anything. Heck, I didn't even know what I was doing but this felt like the movies I had watched with Buddhist monks, almost as if I was simply meditating.

With the silence, I could feel the vibrations in the air, one melting through me and a gasp, causing my eyes to flutter open.

My eyebrows scrunched at the stale pebble still on its iron throne looking back at me in its disappointment.

I slowly turned to the side seeing that the girl beside me had her stone already vibrating.

Everyone else opened their eyes to look at the first student who had managed to achieve this, but as soon as it started vibrating it stopped, sitting there as idly as mine.

The girl looked back at it in frustration.

"Why did it stop?" she huffed.

"Because you lost your concentration child," Miss Almulese replied, looking straight at the girl, then glanced back down at the stone, "a loss of concentration is a loss of connection-" she replied, looking around at each one of us, "Don't stop once yuh feel de magic inside yuh, or yuh risk breaking' de connection. Basic magic be mostly harmless, but ceasing' more advanced forms could bring grave harm to yuh and anyone nearby. Keep going."

I blinked at this glancing one more time at the girl's pebble before looking down at mine.

"Focus-" Miss Almulese began again, this time the sounds of her soft bare footsteps stopping just beside me my heart pounding softly, as her voice resounding a few paces above my head-