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An uneasy feeling twisted relentlessly in Damian’s stomach as he straggled uncharacteristically behind Ewen and Emile while they made the walk from the dorms to the main campus. The term break had provided Damian with refuge from his problems but now that he was back at school he needed to be on high alert.
He frantically scanned his surroundings while Ewen and Emile silently judged him with their shared side-eyes.
The source of his anxiety wasn’t the new term or the chance that he’d be separated from his friends in their new classes. No, it was something much simpler yet so much more complex.
A secret.
At the end-of-term gala, Anya confessed something that sat with Damian long after they’d stopped dancing. He still remembered how it felt to hold her small hand, how he twirled and dipped her, how she looked up at him with big, earnest eyes before she uttered those words so softly, and right away he understood — it was meant only for his ears.
Yes. I can read people’s minds.
It felt like the Earth had tilted off its axis, up was down, left was right, but for a split second everything made more sense. Of course Anya Forger was a mind reader, it explained only everything about her.
Memories of all the times — and there were a lot — when she had said or done something peculiar played clearly in his mind one after the other. Interacting with Anya always left Damian feeling frustrated, like she was an annoying incomplete puzzle that he would never solve, but now that she’d handed him the missing piece on a silver platter, he couldn’t bring himself to place the final piece in his Anya puzzle, so he quickly retreated to the familiar comfort of denial.
In the moment he'd brushed her off because logically, he knew this was no different than the usual nonsense she spouted, but deep down he knew it was because it rattled him and he couldn’t accept the humiliating fact that she had been reading his mind since day one.
Every single embarrassing thought that crossed his mind, every secret he held dear, the roller coaster of feelings he experienced every day, even the confusing ones that made his heart flutter and he wasn’t yet brave enough to confront.
Anya was privy to it all.
That didn’t sit well with Damian. Besides, how do you even talk to someone who knows what you’re going to say before the words leave your mouth?
He decided the best way to navigate this minefield was to avoid Anya altogether and retain what little dignity he had left.
“Oh, look. It’s Stubby Legs,” Emile noted, with his usual contempt.
Immediately, Damian felt his heart rate soar. There she was directly up ahead with the Blackbell girl, giggling over something stupid as if she couldn’t access everyone’s deepest desires at the drop of a hat. He really ought to be a lot nicer to her. Who knew what she was capable of?
“Watch out Boss Man, she might force you to dance with her again,” said Ewen, now on guard.
Damian swallowed dryly. That was the least of his worries.
The girls quickly noticed their presence and Anya skipped towards them with Becky in tow.
“Good morning, Sy-on Boy!” she delightfully shouted across the courtyard.
Panicked, Damian could only think of one thing to do.
“Ahhh! I… uh, left my bag back at the dorms.”
Ewen stared at the bag he dutifully carried every morning completely baffled. “But… I’m holding your bag.”
Damian squealed, “Don’t wait up for me!” before bolting off.
Was it cowardly? Yes, but it was significantly less embarrassing than being around Anya.
He spent the rest of the day continuing to run from his problems. If Damian spotted Anya he’d sprint hard in the opposite direction. Thank god they didn’t share classes together anymore, it made things a lot easier. This plan of his worked so well, that he’d made it to the end of the day without having to interact with her even once.
Damian breathed a huge sigh of relief at the heavenly sound of the dismissal bell. He was in the clear and could retreat to the safety of the dorms… until tomorrow, where he’d have to do this all over again, and the day after that, and the day after that… and every single day til he graduated from Eden!
Just twelve more years to go, no big deal, just the longest game of cat and mouse ever.
His face fell with dread. Who was he kidding!? Anya was nothing if not persistent. She wouldn’t leave him alone just because they didn’t go to school together anymore, she’d hunt him down no matter where he ran and demand he invite her over to his house like usual.
Utterly defeated, Damian grabbed his bag and shut his locker only to be met with the faces of two incensed girls.
The brunette one spoke up first. “You’ve got a lot of nerve, Damian Desmond! Do you know how rude it is to dance with a girl and then pretend like she doesn’t exist!?” she berated him, and Damian swore he could see steam coming out of her ears.
“I thought we were friends now,” Anya pouted. Glassy, green eyes gazed at him and were paired devastatingly with her wobbling lip. It was an expression he was all too familiar with and one which always filled him with instant regret.
“–the Boss Man only danced with her out of obligation!”
“So what, he still danced with her!”
“It was against his will!”
While his friends argued with Becky and valiantly defended his honour, Damian struggled to find the right words to answer Anya. He wanted to apologise for giving her the cold shoulder and say, ‘yes we are friends but I don’t know how to be friends with a mind reader!’ but every time he went to speak, he choked on his words. How did Becky do it? How was she so okay with it? He had so many questions.
Once again, Anya's eyes met his but now they shone with hope, she took a hesitant step towards him and all at once he knew she had heard his entire thought process.
“Sy-on Boy, do you… do you finally believe me!?”
“Wha– no! I mean… yes. I-I-I don’t know!” Damian stood there flush faced while Anya studied him curiously. What was she thinking about? Was she reading his mind again? She definitely was. He wanted the ground to swallow him whole.
A high pitched, distressed sound escaped him and Damian declared, “I won’t let you hear them!” He desperately stuck his fingers in his ears and ran away, again, shouting, “LAA LAA LAA!”
To his surprise she chased after him, so he shouted even louder, hoping it would ward her off and keep her out of his head.
He took a left here and a right there, but Anya remained undeterred, following closely behind him in the corridor. Damian didn’t see how he’d get out of this one. Maybe if he hid in the boys' bathroom? Yes, that was perfect, if she had even a modicum of shame, she wouldn't follow him in there. Suddenly, two long legs and a cane appeared before him and stood between him and the promised land.
So close.
“What is this commotion?” Mr Henderson’s voice bellowed. “You two know better than to run and scream in the halls. Utterly inelegant!”
Damian and Anya hung their heads in shame, neither brave enough to look their housemaster in the eye.
“Both of you, come with me,” he demanded.
This was the worst hand Damian could have been dealt.
It was the second time he found himself in Mr Henderson’s office being forced to write an apology reflecting on his poor behaviour and it was all Anya’s fault. A tired sigh escaped him. Anytime he got involved with her, he always found himself in trouble.
Mr Henderson watched them like a hawk, the tick tock of the clock and scritch scratch of their pencils on the paper were the only sounds that filled the office, but when Mr Henderson stepped out for a moment, Damian heard Anya quietly speak up from beside him.
“I’m sorry I got you in trouble, I understand if you don’t want to be my friend anymore…” her hair obscured her face but he could hear her softly sobbing. “But please don’t tell anyone,” she pleaded in a tiny voice.
“I’m not a gossip, why would I tell anyone? Worry about your friend, she’s the blabbermouth.”
Anya looked at him, wiping her tear stained cheeks. “Becky? She doesn't know I can read minds,” she sniffled.
HUH!?
Her best friend didn’t know, so why’d she bother telling him? A look of puzzlement crossed his face. Anya waited for his response, but as the silence grew louder, her posture wilted. Damian was so worried about his own secrets coming out, he hadn't considered that he wasn’t the only person feeling exposed.
Anya had shared a big secret with him — and only him, apparently — but he was being a lousy friend. Every day she was subjected to everyone’s raw and unfiltered feelings about everything under the sun, including herself. He didn’t envy her.
Damian’s embarrassment took a backseat. He wasn’t sure what he’d done to earn Anya's confidence, but now he had to prove she’d made the right choice in trusting him. So, he cleared his throat and sat up straight.
“I won’t tell anyone,” he reassured her.
She thanked him with a warm smile, beneath it was the tacit understanding that this was their secret now.
Silence befell the office again and they went back to finishing their written apologies. This new reality where he was friends with a mind reader was a little freaky, but Damian was surprised at how quickly he’d accepted Anya’s powers and how comfortable he was with all this supernatural stuff.
“I’ll try not to read your mind if you don’t want me to. I don’t want you to think I’m a freak.”
“That’s… that’s not it. I just– you have to admit, it’s really weird that you know everything about me and I don’t know nearly as much about you.”
Anya snapped her head in his direction. “You wanna know more of my secrets!?” Her sparkly, green eyes stared at him with open mouthed wonder.
A furious blush graced his cheeks. “It’s only fair.”
“But… I already told you my biggest secret.”
Stupid, he scolded himself.
“Right, well, uh, how does it work exactly? Your powers I mean.”
“I don’t know.”
“Can you turn it off?”
“Sometimes.”
“Is it magical?”
“No.”
“So, you were born with it?”
“No.”
“If you’re a mind reader, why are your grades so poor?”
She shrugged.
“Do you know anything!?” he questioned in disbelief.
“Umm, just that my powers don’t work when it’s a new moon.”
Damian narrowed his eyes at her. She knew just about as much about her powers as he did — which was to say she knew absolutely nothing! But he still made a mental note of that scrap of information.
Mr Henderson returned and this time he regarded them in his usual genteel manner. He collected their apologies and even invited them to stay for tea, but Damian politely declined. He wanted to keep talking to Anya and deep down he hoped that’s why she also declined to stay back.
“I trust you’ll solve your differences in a more civilised manner next time,” he stressed before dismissing them.
Walking side by side and very sensibly down the hall, they picked up their conversation. Damian asked Anya a plethora of questions, not just about her mind reading powers but about her.
He learnt that her favourite colour was yellow, she absolutely despised carrots and for her birthday she wanted… a silenced pistol!? Would her parents really buy her such a thing?
“—when I read people’s minds, I see what they see. I guess it’s like– a bit like I’m watching a movie of all their thoughts.” Anya tried her best to explain.
And Damian tried his best to understand. “Mm-hmm. You know, back in the olden days, you’d have been burned at the stake for having such witchy powers.”
“WHAT!?” Anya gasped in horror.
Damian huffed a laugh and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Relax. They don’t do that anymore… I think?”