BLOOD OF THE GODDESS-TOUCHED

CHAPTER SEVEN

BIRTHDAY BLUES

LYKAINA'S POV

I was in my room, feeling wary about what today would bring.

Yesterday was a disaster, the worst kind.

To make it worse I kept thinking about stormy eyes and his voice.

“Ugh! You haven't even read anything to make a difference in your physiology class idiot.”

“Who are you talking to?” Grandma Elara asks as she walks into my room.

“Oh, no one grandma,” I said feeling mortified that she caught me talking to myself.

“Well what's all this about?” She asks gesturing to my anatomy notes and textbook sprawled across my oak reading table.

“Uh, I was trying to catch up and stay ahead in my anatomy class,” I say while trying to gather them. I won't be doing any more reading this morning, I need to go get ready for school.

“How is that going so far?” Grandma asks while tracing the numerous diagrams and scribbled terms in my anatomy textbook.

“It is going very well grandma, you should know me well enough to even pose such a question,” I lied through my teeth to grandma.

I didn't read a scratch and I haven't even updated my notes since I was supremely late for the class yesterday. I have been a mess thinking about every single thing that happened yesterday. And him.

“I know exactly what you are capable of darling, sorry I even asked. Well you have to be ready in the next 10 mins. We don't need you being late again,” grandma says with a kiss on my head.

“Be ready in 5 so you can eat properly before leaving for school. I made your favourite, meat girl,” she says with a chuckle.

"Oh, Grandma, you are the best. I thought you were on a mission to make sure I lost my love for meat?"

“Well, I have to treat my baby extra special, your birthday is tomorrow, and you deserve nothing but the best.”

“Oh, Grandma, you know you really don't have to go to such lengths,” I said while standing up to give my sweet grandmother a hug.

“You are my sweet, fiery, stubborn baby. Of course I have to go to such lengths,” Grandma says with a laugh.

“Now, hurry, go get ready or you'll be late again,” she says as she walks out of the room.

After an uneventful breakfast with Grandma, I got to the university earlier than usual. This gave me time to select the best chair to sit on.

I took a lot of care to pick what I consider the best seat, not in front so I don't get categorized with the nerds and close to the window, so I have a means of getting distracted if the class becomes too boring.

I opened my physiology textbook, Grandma made sure that I had all the textbooks for every single course I was offering this session.

I was going through the first chapter, studying and preparing for the class when other students started trooping into the class.

“Hey, yo! If it isn't Thorne herself. So you got in here, I am not surprised though you've always been a brainiac,” Johnson Stark, my nemesis at Skyview high school said as he came to stand in front of me.

I slumped back on my chair, it's wooden frame creaking beneath the weight of my frustration.

My head began to buzz at that moment, not like a headache but like a swarm of bees had taken up residence in my skull.

“What do you want, Johnny?” I asked using the nickname he despised so much.

“This is the department for medical students, those that study idiotry are not here, maybe you should go out and check the corridors. I'm sure you'll see someone who could give you an apt direction to your department."

Johnson always made me be on my guard. The buzzing in my head has settled on a low hum, but I need Johnson out of my face.

“It's not surprising to see that you still maintained your superior streak, I guess it comes as part of the freaky hair package. Don't worry I am in the right department,” he says while blowing me a mocking kiss as he walks away.

Johnson cannot be in this department with me. This was supposed to be my fresh start, I don't need that relic from my past here.

The thought of dealing with Johnson here made the buzzing in my head increase.

“All right, settle down everyone. Let's get down to business,” Dr. Claudia, the lecturer handling us in Physiology said as she walked into the lecture hall.

“We won't be doing any introductory classes. You are all above that, so read up on that,” she says as she places her glasses on the bridge of her nose to look at all of us.

“You all are aspiring to become medical doctors, I don't tolerate a lot of things and one of them is laziness. You must always be at the top of your game, you must study before and after my lecture,” she says with a face so cold it could freeze us all.

“If you don't do this, you will fail. This is not a threat, it is a fact. If you can't handle it, you can always apply for a change of discipline.”

“She is so intense,” a girl sitting behind whispers to her friend.

“Now open your textbooks, today's lecture will be on homeostasis.”

I scribbled down notes as fast as I could, making plans for topics I needed to read up on once I got home.

By the end of the lecture I was so exhausted, but the main problem was that the low buzz in my head had increased. It is sharper now, a hum that made my teeth ache.

My skin felt wrong too, stretched too tight, like I was about to burst out of it. I flexed my fingers, half expecting them to double in size or do something equally freaky.

“Happy birthday, Lykaina,” I muttered, sarcasm dripping. The guy sitting on the table close to mine glanced up, eyebrows raised.

Great. Now I was that weirdo muttering to herself.

“Hey, do you have Dr. Newman's note on pericardiocentesis?” The boy sitting beside me asked.

“Uh, we've not had any lectures with Dr. Newman. He's supposed to be taking us on surgical procedures,” I said looking perplexed as to why he was even asking such a question.

“Oh, the class president said he called for a lecture, outside the normal timetable. I'll ask someone else, it seems you weren't even aware of the class in the first place.” He said and left to go ask someone else.

How could I have missed a surgical procedure class?? I slapped my face. I need to catch up. I can't afford to be behind any class.

Great, my chaotic day yesterday has made me miss a very important lecture.

I scribbled the topic the boy said, making up my mind that I won't leave the campus today until I am all caught up.

I gathered up my notes and my textbook, slung my lab coat on my shoulder and went to the library so I could get Dr. Claudia's study test done, and get caught up with my surgical procedure class.

I finished with my study test and made my own note on the lecture I missed.

I then flipped open my medical journal to go through yesterday's anatomy notes.

As I was going through my journal, my eyes darted to the clock. Nine pm. Three hours to my birthday.

Grandma must have waited for me to come back for a while now.

I began to close all the books I had opened before me.

Grandma Elara may not be my real grandmother, not by blood, but in every way that mattered, she was mine.

Grandma loved me fiercely, spent her old money on me without bounds, and never once made me feel like I didn't belong. Because of this I try my best to make sure that she is happy with me, and I will definitely make her unhappy if I don't make it back in time to help her with everything she's planning for me.

I stood up immediately after packing my books, the buzzing in my head spiked, and my pencil twitched on the table, rolling an inch. I snatched it up before it could pull another stunt, my heart thumping.

“C’mon, not here, not now,” I hissed under my breath. My lab coat, which I hung over the chair I was sitting on, slipped to the floor, and as I bent to grab it, a ripple of energy licked down my spine, cool, sharp, alive. My notebook pages fluttered, though the library windows were sealed shut. My breath hitched. This was bad, very bad.

I turned and looked around and saw that I was getting the attention of some students that were still studying. I guess they planned to stay up late studying.

I don't need any witnesses to see what is about to happen.

I needed out. Now. I packed my books, grabbed my lab coat and bolted for the exit. The librarian, a stern woman with a bun tighter than her scowl, glared as I passed.

“You are making such a quiet exit now Miss Thorne, the rest of us can't hear you at all,” the librarian said in the driest sarcasm I had ever heard.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, not slowing down.

I pushed through the heavy library doors and spilled into the night, the cool air hitting my face like a slap. I gulped the air in huge gasping breaths, the scent of the pine tree just beside the library and damp earth grounding me. The buzzing in my head dulled, but my nerves were still frayed from my near episode inside the library.

I began a slow trek to the gate, my sneakers scuffing the stones on my path.

Yesterday's chaos at home and in the anatomy class replayed in my mind. Now today's near episode had me deeply disturbed.

I had always been able to keep it in control and just play with it when I was absolutely alone.

I remember the first time I made my toys dance in front of Grandma, I didn't even know I was doing it. I was so young, just five years old then.

Grandma didn't understand it either, but she was afraid for me.

“You have to keep it hidden, Lykaina. People can do very horrible things to you if they find out what you could do.”

This has always been her warning to me. She spent a lot of money trying to understand it and even stop it, but all to no avail.

Now I am beginning to lose control over it, in public places too.

Zarek's cryptic words in the garden.‘you’re not what you seem, are you?' His voice, smooth as whiskey, had burrowed under my skin, and now they continued to echo inside my head as I walked to the cab station, took a cab and went home.

‘Who am I?’