Temptations {Open}

[annabelle marie williams]

The library was quiet, it was a Friday night and most people were out trying to get into the local club. Anna never really felt the need to go to the club. She didn’t like the idea of getting drunk with strangers in very loud and crowded places. However, a glance up at the clock told her that the majority of those who had gone to the club tonight would have been kicked out for trying to get in whilst underage. Anna usually got in, she looked eighteen, but she also held her fake ID, she had it made when she was really depressed and thinking of using it to get out of the country. She had decided that since the school was so quiet she would stay out of the limelight. That meant she would retreat into the library, it had become something of a refuge for her these days. Nobody ever came looking for her here.

The book that was open in front of her was titled ‘Greek Mythology’ It dealt with every myth that was to do with demons, gods, goddesses, and even the occasional monster. One way or another. Many of the myths within the text made her scoff however there were some that were intriguing enough to make her feel the need to delve even deeper into them. As much as she liked hearing about Greeks and their myths, she hated the idea of any of those strange things happening to her or anyone else. Some demons didn’t choose to be that way. They were fallen angles. They had absolutely no say in whether or not they wanted to become a monster and that was something Anna couldn’t stand. She would never take away someone’s free will and never wanted hers to be taken away either. Even her powers - as cool as they were - were something she only used when she had no other choice or when she lost control.

Anna had the potential for great power, if she ever chose to use it. She chose to use only one of her two powers. One that wouldn’t affect another person’s life. She was a Precognition. She could see the future, depending on what course a certain person was taking. For instance, if someone was thinking about moving to New York City, she would have a vision of them there. But, say they changed their mind and decided to go to Arizona. Then the vision would change just as the person had changed the course they were on. Her visions never failed to fascinate her. But, her other power was Mind Control. Something she would never want. She didn’t like the idea of taking away someone else’s control over themselves and always tried to avoid anything that would tempt her to use that power. She had only ever used that ability once and it was in self-defense, to save her own life.

Anna was taking a short cut to get back to the orphanage before she got in trouble. It was late on a Saturday night. She was passing a bar. The details were still a little fuzzy to her, but she did remember that he would’ve raped her and then killed her if she hadn’t made him stop. She shuddered away from the memory and pulled her knees up to her chest, and she began to balance the book on top of them. It wobbled a bit but then she started reading again, and pushed all memories of that horrid night away from her subconscious.

[kenneth james archer]

The club downtown was were Kenneth Archer could be found on nights such as this. Truth be told he spent more time down there than he probably should have. By now the bartenders and security figures were starting to learn his face, though they didn’t know him by name yet. Because of this reason he decided that it was time to take a bit of a break from the place, just to be sure he didn’t become too familiar to any of the people who worked there. He might not be great in school, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew it was only a matter of time before someone there figured out he was underage. Just a few more years and he would be able to get in without having to worry about things like that.

So now he was at the school while almost everyone else was out having a fun night out. Of course there were still some people around, but not really the people he liked to talk to, or at least none that he had seen thus far. He had been in his dorm for most of the night, but there was little for him to do there. Then again, there wasn’t much to do anywhere under the watchful eyes of their instructors. Instead up staying up in his room all alone and feeling even more bored out of his skull he had gotten up and decided to take a bit of a wander about the grounds.

There was always a lot to look at around here, and there always seemed to be something more to see whenever he walked around the confines of the building. God only knows where the funding came from to keep the place running. Most of the parents of the students had severed all connection with their children, that was the sad reality they lived in but life was tough so there was no use crying over it.

His feet had managed to lead him down to the library, a place he rarely went to. Well, he did need a novel for an assignment. His grades were never fantastic, but he never failed either and this was a pretty major assignment. Deciding it was in his best interest to find some material to actually do the assignment on he entered the library. He had never really liked it all that much in here. It felt as though even the sound of his footsteps were unwelcome here sometimes. It was too quiet. Like that eerie quiet that always precedes a death in horror movies. The smell in here was a combination of dust and wood polish the librarians used to clean off the tables. Not exactly an appetizing smell.

Kenny wandered among the bookshelves, considering a few options he picked out half heartedly. All of these books seemed too girly for his likes. Where were all the good choices? He continued along passing the well thumbed and dog-eared books that many students had taken out at one time or another. Every now and then there would be bright shiny new books that caught his eyes simply because they contrasted against their bedraggled companions. There were books like ‘The Name of the Rose’ which he didn’t even bother to stop for except for the brief moments it took to read their titles.

Eventually the young man came to the end of yet another of the seemingly endless rows and spotted something he had not expected to see; a girl his age. And a pretty cute girl at that. Maybe the night wasn’t completely spoiled staying here at the school. He quietly made his way over to her table, aware of how horrifyingly loud his footsteps seemed in the calm silence of the library. “Hey,” he whisked a bit of hair away from his eyes, “Haven’t seen you around, you new here?” he asked. Surely he would have noticed someone like that. Still, his greeting sounded like a bad variation of ‘do you come here often’ and even he wouldn’t use that line in seriousness.

[annabelle marie williams]

Anna looked up from her book with a start as she heard another voice snap her out of her reverie. When she read, she just completely zoned out of the world. Which was a good thing; it was sort of like a safer version of getting drunk, being able to forget all sorts of horrible things. But, also bad when she was no longer aware of her surroundings. Her chocolate brown eyes wandered up from his shoes to his face as she studied him. He was about her age, cute-with green eyes and brown hair, and had a small scar above his left eye.

Anna wasn’t exactly new she’d been there for about a week. But, he obviously had never seen her before. “Maybe I don’t want to be seen.” She said. But, she immediately looked down at the floor, and flushed bright red. ‘Maybe I don’t want to be seen.’?! She repeated in her head. How much more lame can I get? She asked herself, rhetorically. “I’m kind of new.” She admitted. “I’m Anna.” She hadn’t realized that she had still been balancing the book on her knees, into it toppled to the floor. She sighed. Things like that happened all the time to her. Klutzy, clumsy her. She got out of the chair and picked up the book. She’d lost the page she was on when it fell. It didn’t matter though, she remembered that she’d been reading about Aphrodite and Athena, the daughters of Zeus. One smart, and one the goddess of beauty and love, both rivaling and trying to out-do the other.

How pathetic. Anna had thought after a few seconds of reading their story. Fighting when you’re family. If she had any family left, she certainly wouldn’t be fighting. Well, then again, maybe you have to lose something, before you realize how important it really was to her. And, after all, sisters were born to be rivals. Born to be compared to each other and born to argue about stupid things. And they wouldn’t even realize their mistakes and foolishness until it was too late. But, she was probably just reading too much into it. Goddesses never died, for one thing. And it was just a myth, after all. She straightened back up to her full height and looked over at him, unsure of what to do next.

Anna hadn’t really seen him around the school either. Well, she sort of had. She’d looked at him, but hadn’t actually seen him. That happened sometimes. You can look without seeing, with what you’re looking at actually registering itself in your mind. And that had happened to her a few days ago; she’d buried herself in the map of the school, trying to figure out which classes to go to next. All that she’d actually understood about him was that he seemed popular. Then again, everyone seemed popular to outcasts. The same thing could’ve happened to him.

He could have seen her without actually seeing her. Looked at her and probably thought, “Poor little new girl, she’s so confused and lost.” That was what most people thought when they saw her. If they even saw her, sometimes she was all but invisible to the world around her. But, she liked it better that way, she wouldn’t have to make small talk and be social.

[kenneth james archer]

When her head snapped up it was the first real look he got at her features. As he had supposed, she was definitely a pretty girl, above average he would say. She wasn’t perfect, but who was? She was definitely the type of girl who, to him, looked as though they had never done a dishonest thing in their life. Not usually his type, but he couldn’t write her off too quickly after all you never could judge a book by its cover. Besides, a good girl now and then was a refreshing change from his usual line up.

When she said she didn’t want to be seen he wasn’t sure how to take it. Her tone sounded friendly enough, but her words suggested that he should get lost. “Well, I’m good at finding people,” he said, choosing to laugh it off. After all, he loved a challenge and if this girl was going to present herself as one, he was even more intrigued than he had been at first. He didn’t like girls who were too easy. But then again, he’d never attempted to pick one up in the library before. Today was a day of firsts. Because she tipped her face away from him he didn’t see her face flush with colour.

When her book hit the floor he was going to move to catch it, but it looked like she had it so he remained standing, his hands in his pockets like usual. “Kenny,” he introduced himself. He preferred to short form of his name to his full one at all times. Kenneth wasn’t exactly a flattering name. “So how new is new? he asked. She surely couldn’t have been here too long. Of course the subject of arrivals at the school were sometimes very touchy subjects given the nature of their admittance. Some students made the transition a lot easier than others who had lost their family and their homes the day they had inherited their powers.

Taking the seat across from her he didn’t bother to ask permission first; it was a free school after all. Besides, she was probably just as bored as he was with the lack of people to talk to. Worse came to worse, at least he could still kill a few hours by taking to her for a little while. He liked to know as much as he possibly could about the goings on of the school, and that included new students. He needed to know where they came from, what their powers were, any gossip or horror stories that trailed along behind them from old schools. It was just his thing. “Where are you coming from?”

It was always interesting to know where someone had been before. Back where he used to live (he couldn’t really call it ‘back home’ anymore) everyone came from the same area but here people came from everywhere trying to escape the people who would love so much to gather them all together and get rid of them in one fell swoop. They had students from all over the USA and Canada, as well as a few from abroad. It was one of the many cool aspects about attending a mutant school. Of course, having powers was pretty cool too. “So what are you in for?” A question usually asked by prison mates was someone appropriate here. They came here because they could all do things that no one else could.

[annabelle marie williams]

Anna ignored his comment about finding people. After all, some people didn’t want to be found. Some people wanted to hide away from the rest of the world and never come out. He seemed a bit unsure of whether he should take her harsh words as an insult or the kind tone as a joke. But, he evidently decided to laugh it off instead. She couldn’t help but smirk a bit; it was obvious that he wasn’t sure what to make of her. She was different from the other girls he’s met, that much was plain to see from his expression.

Kenny introduced himself, and Anna just nodded in response. She also wasn’t sure about what she should think of him. She didn’t really have much experience with boys, but she’d seen quite a few that were sexist pigs and she wasn’t up for another one of them. She wasn’t quite sure how to respond to his question about how new she was, so she just shrugged. “I’ve been here for a few days.” She told him. She didn’t mention the part where she’d been avoiding other people the entire time, practically hiding away in the girls’ dorm, the library, and any other place that wasn’t vacant too often.

Anna’s eyes followed him as he sat down across from her. She didn’t really understand why he was even bothering with her. No one else had, and she’d been fine with that. He asked her where she was from and she had a lot of responses, some of which not so nice. “It doesn’t matter.” She decided on saying. “I’m here now…the past is in the past.” She said, with a certain finality to her words. She hated to talk about herself. Where she came from, what her family was like, anything like that. It just made her so mad. Why couldn’t people move on? And what was with the same basic question every single time?

Anna pondered that question for a few minutes. It was obvious that he meant to ask her what her powers were by that question. But, she didn’t know how to answer it. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to tell him her powers or not. She decided to tell him the power that she wasn’t ashamed of, the one that she could talk about freely without anything bad becoming of it. With a sigh, she told him. “I’m a Precognition. I have visions of the future.” She admitted. She always called herself a Precognition because that was easier to say, but not everyone knew what that meant. Hell, she hadn’t found out what that meant until a few days ago in the first place.

[kenneth james archer]

A few days was a good enough answer for him. There was a very good chance he might have passed her in the halls in that short span of time, but who could really tell? In a school like this he had to be very aware of his own space and things going on around him. Every now and then some student did lose control, and all the other students knew to get away quickly, no matter how strong their power might be. Those things were better left to the teachers. “So, how are you liking it so far then?” he knew how nervous some students got during their first few days here. He had never felt anything of the sort, he had just joined the flow of the school and soon enough it felt like he had been there forever, but not everyone was as confident as Kenny.

He held his empty hands up at shoulder height to prove he meant no harm by his question, “That’s cool. There’s a lot of people here not willing to discuss that kind of thing so I understand,” he said, lowering his hands back to the table top. Once there, he drummed the fingers of his left hand on the tabletop, producing a small, repetitive sound. It was just one of those tendencies that he had when he was running out of topics to talk about. This young lady certainly wasn’t giving him much to go on. Maybe he had read her wrong and she did want him gone. Whatever. He wasn’t doing anything wrong so he’d stay right where he was. He gave her a friendly smile from across the table.

When his next question was met with only silence the drumming of his fingers sounded even louder among the shelves of dusty volumes. Now he remembered why he stayed away from the library so much. It was too eerie for his liking. He wasn’t going to push her for a answer. He had met quite a few of ‘them’ who didn’t like to talk about their powers. He couldn’t really see why, it wasn’t their fault, but each to his own. Kenny loved his power personally, but he thought he had one of the coolest abilities of all. After all, who wouldn’t want to be able to change their looks at will to resemble whoever they wanted to? It was certainly a nice little trump card whenever he needed one. The teachers were always on his case to be more responsible with his powers, but what were the good of having them at all if you couldn’t use them for a bit of fun?

“Ah,” he said with a smile, “There’s not a whole lot of students here with your ability.” Out of the whole school, he had met only a small handful who shared in her talent. There probably were more of them about, but they simply didn’t run in the same circles he did. “That’s a nice little trick, huh?” he smiled, not meaning it in a derogatory way. Seeing the outcomes of situations would definitely come in handy, no matter who a person happened to be.

“So what year are you in anyway?” he asked. He would bet probably his grade, or maybe one lower or higher, but not much more of a difference between them than that. But who knew? The ways things were these days kids always looked older than they were, or they tried to. He was guilty of that as well, but it was a useful thing to be. After all, the older someone thought they were, the better. If they could pass for twenty, why not exploit that?

[annabelle marie williams]

Anna didn’t know how to respond to his question once more. She wasn’t quite sure if she felt like she belonged there. But, it was really the closest place to home that she’d ever known. Everyone there was either just like her or sort of like her in one way or the other. She had never been nervous about being there. It wasn’t that she was full of herself. For one thing, she had every right to be there just like everyone else. And also, because she didn’t care what people thought of her. “It’s alright, I guess.” She said with a shrug. She really wasn’t giving him much information to work with. But she didn’t like letting people in, it was just one more way that she could be betrayed.

Anna couldn’t help but shoot him a glare at his comment. The only reason that people don’t like talking about themselves is because of nosy people like you. She thought, savagely. “There might just be a reason for that. Maybe one that you don’t even suspect.” She said, rather than being rude about it. Not everyone had the same reason for not wanting to mention their past, and Kenny just goes right ahead and pegs them as all the same. It was really annoying. But, even more annoying than that was when he started drumming his fingers against the desk. But, he smiled at her, like he was trying to be friendly. She returned it, but only half-heartedly. She really wasn’t all too thrilled with Kenny.

His drumming fingers against the wooden desk all but echoed throughout the empty library. It was a miracle that the easily pissed off librarian wasn’t yelling at him. He seemed to be a bit smug and cocky. “Oh, yeah, then what’s your power?” She asked him, after a few seconds of silence. His slightly arrogant look had been distracting her from her book and at the same time irritating her to the point where she felt that she had to ask to wipe that smirk off his face. How would you feel? Being questioned by a complete stranger?

Anna’s look softened a bit. “I suppose so.” She said. She really so no point in it. Some people could move objects with their minds. She could only have visions that could change and weren’t always reliable. It could be annoying at times too. She couldn’t completely control it, sometimes; she just was pulled under and into a vision. She experienced what was happening to someone or looked down on it. If she was experiencing it through first person, she felt the terror and the she saw the horrible scenes that happened to the person in her vision. When she looked down on it though, she still had to experience the horror of what was happening.

“I’m a high school junior.” Anna told him, simply. “And you?” She asked. If he was going to ask her endless questions, she would throw them right back at him. She’d given up on her book by then. It was closed and had been doggy-eared so she could go right back to the page she had been on. That is, if Kenny ever allowed that. She wasn’t sure why, but she was getting the vibe that Kenny was one of those guys who thought they could have any girl they wanted and do whatever the hell they pleased with no consequences.

[kenneth james archer]

Kenny nodded, deciding not to press the issue any further. Obviously she didn’t want to discuss how she felt now that she was at the school, and he wasn’t going to force her. After all he had only mentioned it with the hopes that it might spark a conversation; apparently he was wrong. That was alright, honestly, there were more exciting things to talk about than conditions here at the school. None came to his mind at the moment, but they’d come eventually. Hopefully.

Woah, he didn’t know what she had found so offensive, he certainly hadn’t meant for his comment to be interpreted that way, but from the hostile look he received she apparently thought that his assurance that she wasn’t the only one who found it hard to talk about their past she had thought something different than what he had wanted her to. What he said was true; most of the students here didn’t talk about their past. He might be an ass, though he’d be the last person to admit it, but even he had enough tact to leave something like that alone when prompted to. So he didn’t know what her problem was. “I didn’t say there wasn’t,” he said easily, leaning back in his chair. “I’ve heard enough stories that I’m sure I can suspect why some people don’t want to share theirs. That’s why I wasn’t going to pry.” If she was offended he knew better than to try to soothe her, likely it would just cause another problem. Better to just move onto another subject and just drop that one where it was.

Still with the hostility. He shook his head with a small smile, not knowing what he had done to deserve it. Maybe it was just adjusting to the school. Everyone reacted differently to it. She was probably just stressed out or something. “Me? Well I’m a morphed,” he smiled. He loved his power. It was definitely one of the easiest to cope with. He abused it, but who in his place wouldn’t? Besides, it wasn’t like he ever really hurt anyone too seriously with it. Some people couldn’t take his jokes when he used his power, but whatever, most people didn’t mind. “It’s pretty wicked,” he said with a devilish smile. “Only into other people though. No animals or anything like that. Even that’s a little out there for me.” His power wasn’t exactly the strongest one out there. It wasn’t as though he could do any damage with it like some people could. He had to admit that sometimes he wished he had one of those really cool powers like manipulation, but he had always thought his ran up a close second to the more attack worthy ones.

“Senior,” a grin crossed his face. “High school senior of course.” So he had been right, they were really close in age. He would have placed her in his year though if he had to choose one. She just looked older. And the way she acted too, she just seemed a little more mature. Well, he never had been a great judge of age anyway, so he was happy to be even a year off.

[annabelle marie williams]

Heard stories. Anna had nearly laughed. Unless he was extremely empathetic, the “stories” probably weren’t a big help for him to understand what some of the people there had been through. He was smiling at her hostility, which she found weird. Was he amused by her obvious annoyance toward him? And how the hell did it come to this? She had gone to the library to read some Greek Mythology and now she was talking to an almost complete stranger about something personal. A “morphed” was just code for someone who could transform. Change their appearance to mimic another’s. It was a cool power, but it could also be dangerous.

If you were to copy someone else’s appearance. There are so many things you could do. You could kiss your boyfriend’s best friend as someone else and no one would know the difference. Or you could sneak past security in the White House by acting like a senator and then kill the president. The possibilities were endless. They were deadly. “Do you use your powers often?” She asked. She wondered what he would do with them if he did. Would he play petty jokes on people? Or would he do something more serious and think of it as entertaining?

Kenny could only change into people though. So it meant he wasn’t as strong as some people. But, that was a good thing. No one would want to be freaked out by some talking rat or some stalking crow. It would be weird and more than a little creepy. “Senior.” She repeated. So he was about her age. One year older. So why was he interested in her? And why was he grinning at her like that. She’d never been the center of anyone’s attention before in her life. Now, here this guy was, and he was putting some interest in her. She hadn’t even been noticed before at her old school and she’d only been there a few days.

“Of course.” Anna said, as a response to him saying that he was specifically a “high school senior”. She couldn’t tell whether or not he looked like a high school senior for sure, since his power was being able to change his appearance. Thirty years from now he could still look the same if he really wanted to.

[kenneth james archer]

A small smile came to his face as he recounted all the times he had used his powers. He usually just did it as a bit of a joke, never anything too terribly serious but Kenny wasn’t exactly a serious guy. Sometimes he did it on request by someone who didn’t believe that he was being truthful about his power, or someone who just wanted a bit of a laugh; impressions were a speciality of his. Once in a while he was known to use it to cheer someone up when they were really down, but they had to be really good friends for him to do such a thing since it was so outside of his usual nature. His most common use for his power was to tease some of the students around the school. He never thought he took it too far. Every once in a while someone did get upset but they just couldn’t take a joke. “A fair bit,” he answered her, still with that smug smile upon his face, “Why, would you like to see it?” he asked raising one eyebrow just a fraction.

True, he wasn’t the strongest, and definitely not the smartest, of all the students here, but he was proud of his little trick, even if had caused some problems when they had first begun to surface. He thought that his ability suited him. It enabled him to do things he had always wanted to do, but never had been able to. Such as know what people really said to their friends and get some people to admit things right to him that they wouldn’t normally have. It was pretty neat. “It’s pretty wicked. There are so many things I can do with them.”

He could tell that the threads of conversation were starting to dry up, more his fault than hers since he had been the one to come and talk to her in the first place. Even if he did leave right now, at least he had talked to her once, which left the door open for a second conversation, an opportunity he wouldn’t want to miss. Even if she was a little frosty toward him, she still intrigued him, though truth be told most of the girls on campus ‘intrigued’ him.

His fingers still tapping away at the desk top he looked a her curiously. Perhaps now would be a good time to leave her to her book. He started to consider the idea as he waited for her response.

[annabelle marie williams]

Anna pondered that for a few seconds. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to see him using his power or not. For one thing, it would be cool. To watch him as he changed his form to mimic another’s. That would be pretty interesting. But, for another, it would also seem like she was just trying to make up some reasons for him to stay and talk to her some more. But, her only other alternative was telling him to get lost and reading on a Friday night. Which was normal for her to do, but even as she just thought about it, it sounded pretty boring.

Kenny did say he used his power a “fair bit”. Which to her sounded like he used it whenever the hell he wanted to. So, he must know what he was doing. “Sure.” Anna said, deciding that it was better than being alone and bored. She was wondering about whether or not to ask what he often used his powers for. She was a bit fearful of what the answers would be. The possibilities were endless. Some of them were gruesome and some of them were downright rude and just plain disgusting. But, when you’ve got amazing powers, why wouldn’t you use them?

When Anna looked back at him, he was regarding her with a curious look on his face. She had also noticed that their conversation was beginning to go downhill and she partially blamed herself for it. She was acting a bit cold to him, with one worded answers and icy stares. After all, he was only trying to be friendly with her…although his so called “innocent” flirting with her was more than a bit annoying. She had a feeling that he did that with nearly every girl her met, which just irritated her that he would be so inconsiderate and sexist as to peg every girl in one of two groups. “Flirt With” or “Have Sex With”.

Anna snapped herself out of her reverie and back to reality. She tended to “zone out” and just let her mind wander fairly often.