I crossed my arms and moved as far back as I could. I felt ridiculous mentioning this. Didn’t everyone have a gut instinct? Plenty of people and movies and books had talked about it.
“Sometimes I get a feeling, like an instinct or impulse to do or not do something.”
“Can you describe the feeling?”
So she wasn’t going to dismiss this? I kind of hoped she would, but she’d been my guide at this school. I trusted her and knew she would take this seriously.
“It’s probably easier if I give you an example. The other day I was walking across campus, and I had the sudden urge to stop walking. A second later a rugby ball soared right in front of me, exactly where I would have been if I kept walking. I probably would have ended up with a black eye.”
Hannah was staring at me with wide eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me about that?”
I shrugged. “It didn’t seem like worth mentioning.”
“Can you tell me about another time?” my mentor pushed.
I shut my eyes and tried to think of one that would convince her.
“How often does this happen?” she asked before I could answer.
I blinked my eyes open. “Every few days? Sometimes it’s so natural that I don’t recognize it until later. Like taking a different route to class or thinking I should wait before doing something. There have been big ones. I was at the mall with my friends and had the instinct to go into a store we’d already been in, and one of the employees told us a man had been following us and she called security.”
She wrote something down. “That makes sense. It would feel very natural for you.”
She believed me? This wasn’t normal? Well, what was normal at this school?
“And she had a premonition last week,” Hannah said with a smirk.
I shot her a look, letting her know I didn’t appreciate her bringing this up. Mrs. Hedgings already believed me. We didn’t need to bring up my fantasy.
“Interesting. Will you describe it?”
I groaned. “I touched someone and had a sort of vision of the two of us. It felt like a memory, like it was familiar, but it couldn’t have already happened. So Hannah said it might be a premonition.”
She nodded and added a note.
“See, she’s a strong psychic,” Hannah gloated.
“You are correct, Ms. Jefferies.” Mrs. Hedging returned her attention to me. “I apologize for not including this in your assessment. I think we were both overwhelmed that day. Most students mention any psychic abilities, but of course, you didn’t know to.” She tapped the end of her pen on the tip of her nose. “Your schedule is already more than the majority of your peers, and it doesn’t seem like you necessarily need direction on how to use your abilities.”
“Is there a way to stop the nightmares?” I cut her off.
She titled her head and lowered the pen. “Why would you want to do that?”
Seriously? Because they were awful?
“I don’t sleep. Not often or well. The nights I’m too exhausted to stay up is the only time I allow myself to sleep. It’s been better since I got here, but I think it’s because I’m so worn out each night that my mind is too tired to dream.”
“You avoid these dreams?” She seemed confused.
“I hate the nightmares. They’re so vivid, and I experience what the victims do. For years I’ve tried to figure why I see them. I can’t stop them. I’ve never been able to figure out where one happens before it makes the news, so what’s the point? They’re just torturing me.”
Her frown deepened. “I understand. I’m not sure why you have these nightmares––if there’s a greater purpose or not––and before we make any decisions, I would like the divination teacher, Ms. Chronis to meet with you.”
Hannah gasped, and I turned to her. “What?”
She covered her mouth and looked between me and my mentor. “Nothing. I just didn’t know that she took students.”
“Only in rare cases,” Mrs. Hedgings replied.