Seeing Shadows (Shadows 1)

Jenny was a native of Florida and even though this was her fourth winter at Maxwell University, she still faced every chilling day as an affront to humanity.

"Well, your refreshments will help us warm up," I said as she handed me the bottle of wine. "Do you want to start with a glass?"

"Absolutely," Jenny sighed, leaning back on the couch. "I had a killer day today. I think I totally failed my physics exam."

I laughed as I walked into the kitchen. "That's what you always say and you ace every exam," I scoffed, pouring out three glasses of wine.

"When are the boys getting here?" asked Jenny.

"They should be here any minute," replied Sarah. "Let me use the intercom."

With that, she stomped the floor with her foot. "That should do it."

I grinned. "Ah, the wonders of technology." I passed out the glasses of wine. "I'm not sure if I can take Marcus making moon faces at you all night, Jenny. Can't you cut the guy some slack and just go out with him already?"

Jenny spluttered from taking a sip of her wine. "He hasn't even asked me out! How can I go out with him if he's never asked me out?"

Sarah leaned on the arm of the couch. "Marcus is too afraid of rejection," she said. "He sees all the guys you go out with and doesn't want to be one of the masses."

"Geez, she's not a revolving door," I said. "One of these days he's going to have to suck it up and take a chance. Either that or stop staring at her non-stop. If I didn't like Marcus so much, he'd creep me out."

"He's not the only one making moon faces around here," Jenny said slyly, looking at Sarah out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey!" Sarah exclaimed. "Don't compare me to Marcus. At least I make my moves."

"Okay, children," I said clapping my hands, bringing everyone to order. "There will be no mooning today by anyone. Let's just have a nice relaxing dinner."

There was a knock at the door, breaking up the conversation. Sarah opened the door to reveal Marcus with his trademark shy smile.

"Hi Marcus," Sarah said. "Where's Grant?"

Jenny groaned, rolling her eyes as Sarah shot her a killer look.

"He'll be right up. He was just moving some stuff around for his cousin, but I didn't want to be late so I came up ahead."

Marcus sat down next to Jenny, but you could have fit an elephant in the space he left between them on the couch. "Hi Jenny," he said with a smile.

"Hey Marcus," she replied brightly. "How was your day?"

As Marcus, Jenny and Sarah started talking about classes and exams and all the other things that had happened that day, I walked back into the kitchen, taking a deep breath. I had made an effort to seem relaxed when joking in the living room, but I was feeling off. It was as if I was feeling extra sensitized to everything. I could feel my heart beating rapidly in my chest, the sound of the material of my shirt rubbing against itself as I put my hand to my forehead. I thought twice about the glass of wine in my hand and put it down. Ever since I had gotten that weird sensation at the window, I felt as though I couldn't take a full breath.

Get yourself together, I thought to myself. It's Friday night, you're going to have fun with your friends. You will not be weird, you will not freak out. You will be a normal girl if it kills you.

After my less than effective pep talk, I grabbed some plates from the cupboard as I heard a pounding on the front door, much louder than the polite knock Marcus had given.

"It's me, let me in," me yelled. Me was Grant.

As I heard the door open and introductions to Grant's cousin being passed around, I took a deep breath and steeled myself. I had worked hard to give myself a normal social life in the past three and a half years and had almost convinced myself that I could be like everyone else. Just because I had had a few visions didn't mean I was going to go back to being afflicted with them every night.

With that thought in mind, I walked out of the kitchen and into the living room to greet our newly arrived guests. Grant was standing by the couch talking to Sarah, who was leaning in closely to him. A guy, his cousin I suppose, had his back to me and was talking to Marcus and Jenny sitting on the couch. He was much taller than Grant. I would guess about six one, but he was more leanly muscled opposed to Grant's bulky physique.

"Hi Grant," I called out as I placed the stack of plates on the table. "Glad to see you finally made it considering how far you had to travel," I joked.

Grant smiled widely at me. "I had to pretty myself up for you girls. Caitlin, meet my cousin, Simon."

His cousin turned around and my heart started to thud loudly in my chest. I heard a buzzing in my ears and a disconnected part of me wondered what it would feel like to faint. This couldn't be happening. The person I had watched die in my vision couldn't be Grant's cousin. But there was no mistaking his dark brown hair and brilliant blue eyes. I had seen those blue eyes glazed over with agony and fear.

I involuntarily took a step back as I shook my head. I vaguely realized that Simon was saying something to me but it sounded muffled and everything seemed to be happening in slow motion, including his words.