The computer seemed to hold some sort of promise, though. It took her a long time to be able to figure out how it worked; many of the less obvious features were beyond her for a while. One of the weirdest things about this machine was that little white thing. When you move it around, a small icon moved around on the screen...and the thought of pushing those little buttons on the white thing down made parts of the image go darker, and if you did twice it "selected" a different icon and did something new...

She shook her head and returned her thoughts back to the screen. After she'd figured out how to use the computer, it had helped her greatly in the information that she'd needed to know. Even when they come up with a good invention, Normals can't even make it make sense, thought Cuiaree disdainfully. Even if it is useful, well, no culture can be completely without accomplishment. Making a gesture of distaste, she added in her mind, Not that these normals didn't almost achieve complete failure.

Typing intently onto the screen, Cuiaree found out what she'd wanted to know about education. It was easy enough for her to pull the talent of touch typing out of one of the librarian's minds; that sort of thing was Cuiaree's specialty, and everything was pretty easy with Normals.

After a lot of thinking, Cuiaree had decided that she should have all types of Normals in the school she decided to attend. She needed people who were intelligent and could possibly have echo minds, and also could make intelligent decisions; but she also needed stupid people who would follow her without thinking.

After a bit of searching around, Cuiaree realized that she wouldn't be able to find such a school in the city; all of those were already selective by the time they were around fourteen years old. No, she needed to leave the city in order to find what she needed. Searching through more pages online, she located several schools that were mixed ability. All of them were either in the country or the suburbia. Cuiaree copied down the addresses of all such schools that were, as far as she could tell from the maps, a reasonable distance away.

Cuiaree closed all of the windows on the computer and looked over at the clock that was hanging up on a wall in the library. She'd spent five hours in the library, trying to figure out how different things worked and getting the information. It was getting late, and she wouldn't be able to go around today to the different schools.

Oh, well, Cuiaree thought to herself. I found out what I needed to find out, and I can start my quest tomorrow. She opened the door of the library and slipped out, walking quickly down the concrete stairs that were right outside of the library. It had only been a few days in the Normal's world, but she understood a lot more of their culture. It became harder and harder to hate them, rather than pity them, but Cuiaree kept a tight control on her emotions, and kept her hatred burning. All she had to do was remember Calie's dead body, lying on the ground. The blank, cold look in the corpse's eyes was enough fuel to keep the hatred burning for hours.

Cuiaree walked down the street back to the hotel that she was staying at. She kept a wary shield up, seeing if she ever sensed any other Eneni. After all, there was no certainty that they wouldn't end up believing Veheli. They'd go to the larger city first, of course, but sooner or later someone might be coming to look for Cuiaree here.

Inside, Cuiaree had to admit that she felt a certain pang about the fact that there would be nobody to insist that she should be searched for. It was all well enough to have nobody to nag you about doing things, like Veheli's parents did, but it was kind of saddening sometimes knowing that nobody cared for you.

Of course, Tines is almost as bad as a Normal, thought Cuiaree disdainfully. That was the worst insult that Cuiaree could think of, but it was quite, quite true.

She walked into the hotel, and took the elevator up to her room. She put the list of schools carefully into the drawer, and laid down in the bed.

By tomorrow, her plan would be put into action, and it would only be a matter of weeks before her goal was met.

**********

Veheli glared at the newspaper as it if everything was the fault of the said inanimate object. She'd been there hours, at the newspaper stand, trying to find the information that she needed. First she'd looked through the New York newspapers, which was apparently the name of the city that she was in. Realizing that this approach was futile, she went on to trying to look through different newspapers from other cities, but she couldn't find where they talked about the deaths. Veheli was so frustrated that she felt like screaming.

Finally finding the obituaries section, she searched for it through New York and found a few places where it was possible that it had been suicide. Searching through other cities, she again found some more such instances in the past few days. If she'd been frustrated before, it was nothing like the way she felt now. Veheli felt beyond angry.

"Alright, Veheli," she said to herself, "so maybe this wasn't the best idea." She stood up, ignoring the odd looks that the man at the stand was giving her. "Maybe you need a map." She walked away from the stand, trying to find some sort of travel store. After asking directions from a few people, she found one.

Walking through it, she found a section that had plenty of maps. Finally, at least something is working, she thought to herself, leaning down to look through one. Finding a map that had most of the world on it, she stared at it. Judging from where Atlantis was, there were two other cities that it was probable that Cuiaree would go to.

I need one city, Veheli felt like screaming. However, she took a deep breath and looked at the map again. She'd wanted to be an enchantress, right? Maybe I can use magic on it somehow… Veheli tried to figure out what state of mind she'd have to have in order for her to get the map to tell her where Cuiaree was. Of course, it wasn't something that a fourteen-year-old could just casually figure out.

Veheli just sighed and stared at the map, trying to picture Cuiaree, to attempt a mental connection, which might point to where on the map Cuiaree was. Trying to sense an Eneni mind in the crowd of numb normal minds, Veheli thought that she felt a wisp of something. Catching it with her mind quickly, she tried to infuse it into the map. A tiny, dim light flashed for a moment on the map, and Veheli turned to where it had flashed.

Noting the name of the city, she stood up and put the map back down on the shelf where she'd gotten it. She walked up to the man at the counter up near the front of the store.

"Hello?" she asked. She smiled at the man, doing her best to give out friendly vibes.

He looked up at her briefly. "Yes?"

"Could you please tell me how I might get to Philadelphia?" Veheli clasped her sweaty hands together, worrying about what might happen when she got there. She'd have to confront Cuiaree, she knew; and whether or not the girl had snapped far enough to kill her, Veheli didn't know. She doubted that Cuiaree would kill another Eneni, but there were never any guarantees.

Oblivious to the worry of the girl before him, the man answered. "Well, there's a subway a few blocks down…just go straight that way, and you'll come to it," he said, pointing.

"Thanks," Veheli tried to smile, and walked shakily down the street until she found where the man meant. It looked odd, there was a street and suddenly, there were stairs that went down beneath the street. Out in the middle of the road? Veheli shook her head. These normals do have some odd things…

She walked down the stairs and blinked a moment. She hated crowds, but that was all there were around the Normal's cities. Once more, Veheli wished that she were back at home with the familiar faces and the limited amount of people.

She quickly found out how to get train tickets to Philadelphia, and, still feeling guilty, gave the woman a few slips of paper and made her think that it had been money.

Of course the money wasn't an issue with Veheli, except a cause for guilt, so she bought the ticket for a train that went directly from New York to Philadelphia, with no stops. It was called the "express" train; apparently not many people used it since it was triple the amount of money to buy that than to buy the other one. However, Veheli wasn't going to have time to try and figure out how to transfer trains and know which stop was hers. There was no time to get lost or anything. Cuiaree could already have her plan in action, for all Veheli knew.

She stepped up onto the train, wondering where she was supposed to put her ticket. Watching everyone else, she sat in a seat and put the ticket in a little clip that was on the top of the seat in front of her. There were two seats on one side of the train and three seats on the other. Veheli slipped into the window seat on one of the two-seat sections and put the ticket to the side and put the stuff that she'd gathered-- Normal's clothing and some food--on the other seat, hoping that these trains didn't get filled up.

Thankfully for Veheli, there weren't many people on the train and nobody asked about the seat beside her. She sat nervously in the seat as the train started to move, worried about her ticket. Nobody had come to collect it; was she supposed to be sitting somewhere else? Would they yell at her, throw her off when they found out? Or arrested, the last thing Veheli needed was to be arrested.

Veheli sat there, biting her lip and her nails alternately, as she always did when she was nervous. She reached over to her sack to get something to eat, trying to take her mind off of her worry. Nobody else here looked worried, and they hadn't given anyone their tickets, either, unless there was something that you were supposed to do before you got onto the train.

As Veheli sipped her juice, somebody came down the aisle between the two rows of seats. They went down the row, clipping the tickets. He stopped and picked up Veheli's ticket.

"This yours?" he asked.

The girl nodded mutely, feeling an irrational fear.

"Are you travelling alone?"

Again the girl's worry got the better of her as the possibilities were running through her head as she nodded it in an affirmative gesture. Maybe it was illegal for people under a certain age to ride alone. Maybe she was too young, and they'd bring to her prison. Maybe--

"All right, then," he smiled at her and clipped the ticket. "Have a nice trip."

Veheli nodded and slumped back on her seat, relieved. Strangers had always scared her, and this was even worse, because she didn't know any of their laws or anything. I'd better stop her, thought the girl exhaustedly. That's all that matters, that these people don't die.

Looking out the window, Veheli realized that she might have to do something drastic to save these people. If she even got there in time. The pessimistic voice that always seemed to live in Veheli's head seemed to be getting stronger and stronger, but the changes that the Eneni girl would succeed in what she was doing just felt so slim…

Watching the trees fly by out side the window, the girl closed her eyes tiredly. The weight of the worry that the past two days had carried suddenly hit the child, and the rhythm of the train lulled her into a well-deserved sleep.

Cuiaree looked out of the window at the school. She opened her mind slightly, trying to sense the auras of the people there. The school appeared to suit the girl's purposes, so she decided on this one.

No, wait. Looking down on the list, it felt ... wrong, like she ought to be someplace else. She looked down the list, trying to pinpoint where that feeling was coming from. Opening her mind further, she let her eyes roam the list until she found the school that was pulling at her.

Looking at the address of the school, Cuiaree checked out her map. She could clearly see the street that it was on, and quickly selected a bus route that would take her right by it. She waited at the stop, checking her watch. The busses here didn't come as often as they did in the city, so the girl had to wait for a while in the cold, shivering and rubbing her hands together to warm up.

At times like this, I really wish that I were advanced enough to create some sort of bubble around me, she thought to herself. If she was more advanced, she'd be able to keep herself warm. However, that sort of power was years away.

It occurred to Cuiaree at times that perhaps she was making a mistake. Not in killing off the Normals, of course, they deserved it. Though there were nice normals who seemed intelligent, the girl always forced herself to forget about them, convince herself that they were just acting like that for some ulterior motive.

No, the problem was in acting too hastily. When Calie was killed, I snapped, Cuiaree finally realized. I'm not upset that it made me want to kill normals, I'm glad that it showed me the truth...but I shouldn't have left so quickly, before I had more spells at my disposal.

Cuiaree looked around, taking a quick break from her thoughts. There were a few other people waiting for the bus. One of them was a young woman, probably in her twenties. She was using one of those cylinders, the ones with tobacco in them that were set on fire and they put in their mouths. The woman accidentally blew the smoke in Cuiaree's direction, and the young girl coughed, trying to hide the sound. Whenever she saw instances like this, the girl almost thought that the Normals wanted to die. After all, why else would they do so many things that were fatal to their health? There was no reason to use it, and yet they did.

They're a suicidal race, Cuiaree reasoned with herself. I'm doing them a favor, if they want to die it might as well be quick.

It was a big scary, though. Cuiaree liked understanding, and that was one thing that she didn't do with Normals. Why did they do all these messed up things? Why couldn't they make them better? The drugs...they made no sense, at all. Back home, some people used drugs that were dangerous, but it was always stuff that enhanced your powers, either slowly or stuff that stimulated the brain and you had more power for a few hours, sometimes even a few days.

But here, there was no point to the drugs, no reason at all to use them, and yet many normals did.

The Eneni girl shook her head, baffled. How could a race that obviously had intelligence be so stupid? For they did have intelligence, Cuiaree had to admit that. They were so stupid most of the time, but they did have the potential.

The bus finally came, just when Cuiaree's fingers were starting to feel numb. She looked down; they were completely red, and hurt a little from the sharp cold that they'd been it. It felt kind of like knives, such strong cold, and the girl was once again thankful that winters never got that cold back on Atlantis.

Walking up the steps, the girl shivered in the sudden blast of heat. Once she was out of the cold, she couldn't stop shaking as her body slowly warmed up. She whispered a small charm and some money zoomed into her hand, and she passed it along to the man. It would be too exhausting to do a mind control charm right now, after having been in the cold. Cuiaree hated the cold.

She went to take a seat on the right side of the bus, where she'd be able to see the school building, to see exactly what it was that seemed to draw her in. She looked out the window silently, watching as the trees passed by. Some areas here were beautiful, but those spots were rare; this was shown as the bus passed by an area with sewage and garbage, gross sites along with smells that made Cuiaree's stomach lurch. She held her breath a moment, afraid that she'd loose the meal that she'd just tucked away this morning before she went looking around the schools.

Thankfully, it was soon over. Looking around, Cuiaree could tell that none of the other passengers found the smell out of the ordinary. The entire city smelled awful to the Eneni, she felt sick most of the time simply from breathing in all of the awful fumes that her body wasn't used to.

Looking out the window again, Cuiaree saw a building coming up, one large enough to be a school. Reaching out her mind, Cuiaree could sense the teenagers in it, which affirmed her belief.

Perrin Middle and High School. It didn't look like anything special; that was for sure. The dull red bricks that made up the building looked old, and none of the school was very aesthetically pleasing. It was rather large, but so plain, it looked almost like just one large cube. The entire school was just one big square, and Cuiaree was sure that she'd never want to go to a place so devoid of any sort of magick.

However, as the bus that Cuiaree was on drove by it, she could tell that yes, this building was where the pull was coming from. Cuiaree meant to go there, to find something, though quite what she wasn't sure. So she'd endure this place for a while, until her plan was carried out, because she knew that she had to, that there was a reason that she felt the pull. There was always a reason.

"Well, now," she whispered quietly, addressing the school despite the fact that she knew it was an inanimate object. "You'll be the base of my operations. You, dull building, will be the downfall of the Normals. A large destiny for such a broken down place." The beginnings of a smile began at the sides of Cuiaree's lips as the bus drove past, though it was not a smile to warm the insides of a person.

Rather, it was the smile of a madwoman who was about to bring the world down into the depths that she herself inhibited.

*******

Jessica gave a little gasp in the middle of the class. What was that feeling that she just had? A feeling of complete dread, the gnawing in the pit of her stomach that told her that something awful was going to happen. The girl didn't even notice as her breath came out in gasps, nor as she clutched her hands together and twisted them.

"Jessica?" asked the teacher, Miss Lerie. From the sound of her voice, it sounded as if that had not been the first time she'd asked. .

The girl jumped. "Yes?" she asked a bit too loudly. It was quite obvious that she hadn't been paying attention, especially from the way she'd literally leaped out of her seat for a moment when her name was said.

The titters from the other students echoed around the room. Jessica looked over to the other kids, and all of them were laughing at her. The girl threw her head into the air, with her chin up, making it obvious that she didn't care what the other kids thought. This, however, only sent the kids into further hysterics, as it always did.

As always, Jessi pretended to be blind and deaf, and completely ignored them.

The teacher sighed and shook her head. "Will you please read the next section in the book?"

The girl obediently looked down and started reading out of the book, still ignoring everyone else. It was a lonely life, she'd admit that. It wasn't a life that she'd willingly choose, although she made the appearance that this was what she wanted. Every year, in the beginning, Jessi tried to make friends with the other kids, and in the beginning she sometimes almost succeeded. But then, she seemed to forget each time how she should act, and after a month or so she was so fed up with trying to be someone else that she acted even weirder than she normally was.

Yes, she always seemed to say to everyone, Yes, I am different, so let me show you how different I can really be.

She'd been doing that for years, and only recently had she learned that it was a common defense mechanism. Jessica resented that on two accounts: first, that it was common, but more the fact that it was supposedly to shield herself, to make herself safe. These kids don't bother me, she insisted to herself, So it's not protecting me from anything. It's just who I am.

Funny how she always argued with herself.

She didn't put her mind into the reading, just spoke the words mechanically. The sounds came out of her mouth with absolutely no expression, and anybody could tell that she wasn't even listening to herself. Thankfully, she didn't make any mistakes in reading, despite her obvious lack of interest and attention.

The feeling of dread, though, that was still there. It was lessened, sure, but the dread...Jessi would feel much better if her feelings weren't normally correct. Usually she felt happy about her odd knowing; right now she was just hoping that right now, she was making a mistake.

The day I hope I'm making a mistake, thought Jessi wryly as she finished reading the section and looked up at the teacher. The teacher just nodded.

"Shari?" she called.

The girl smiled and gave a flip of her hair. "All right, then," she said, with the distinct voice of an airhead. Jessica knew that the girl was actually nicer than most of the popular girls, and didn't make fun of many of the "nerds". Shari was a bit lacking in intelligence, but nonetheless Jessi tried her best to answer the girl's questions without the curt voice she normally assumed.

The girl started reading, and often stopped, having to sound out the word. Miss Lerie helped Shari with a smile, the type of smile that Jessi never got.

Even the teachers hate me, she thought, not sure exactly how she felt about this. I guess that I just rub everyone in the wrong way. Some of the teachers did like Jessi, but many of them didn't. They felt that she was showing off, even though in truth that hadn't been the girl's intent at all. Why does everyone think I'm showing off? Jessica asked herself. She'd often thought before she acted, wondering if it was showing off. The girl often kept quiet about the information she'd known, just so that people would be more accepting of her.

There were a few friends, of course, the people whom Jessi sat with, got along with. But no really close ones, nobody who Jessica could confide in, talk to. Nobody really understood the girl, tall and alone and trying to be cold to try and chase away her worries about being a bad person.

The bell rang, and Jessi quietly gathered up her books, trying to seem as small as possible. She put her head down and looked at the floor as she walked to her next class. It was Spanish, a subject that the girl hated. It was so frustrating, not to have something academic come to her easily. Spanish didn't come to Jessi, that was for sure. She was just barely maintaining a B in that class, which, for someone who liked to have all A's and almost always did, was bad.

Looking down at her stuff, Jessi realized once again that she didn't have a pencil. Sighing, she went up to the teacher's desk.

"May I have a pencil please, Miss Garcio?" she asked, sighing and running a hand through her hair.

The teacher looked up sternly at her student. "Jessica, this is the second time this week that you've forgotten to bring some sort of writing utensil. One more time and I'll be forced to give you a detention for being unprepared in class.

Jessi nodded, sighing to herself. She forgot everything; papers, pencils, everything. She often missed homework, although that was more due to laziness than forgetfulness, though both were the cause of her disorganization.

"Why don't you ask someone in the class for a pencil?" asked the teacher.

This was the reaction that Jessica hated. She didn't like going around asking kids for things; it made her nervous. First she went up to Helen, a girl that she normally got along with. "Hey, could I borrow a pencil?" she asked, hoping that this could all be over and done with.

"Oh, sorry Jessi, I only have one," murmured Helen, looking down at her paper. Jessica nodded and attempted to smile.

Turning to the other person that she got along with, a boy named James, and she tried again. "Hey, Jamie, can I borrow a pen or pencil or something?"

"I don't have any either," he said apologetically. "Sorry."

Not wanting to ask anyone else personally, she called out, "Does anyone have a pencil?"

Nobody volunteered one, which got Jessi mad. She knew that certain people in the class always had spare pencils and pens, and that they simply didn't want to share them with her, even if she needed one. This stung Jessi as distinctly unfair, since she'd always made an effort to lend other people things when they needed them.

Anger and frustration boiled up inside of the girl, and it started to overflow. Jessi felt like hitting somebody, it was all so unfair, she hated being up here in front of everyone. The frustration built up, and the girl felt like a caged animal, and lashed out.

"ARGH!" she screamed. The class would have laughed at her, except for one minor detail.

When she'd screamed, the frustration had reached a peak, and a pencil had flown off of Miss Garcio's desk, and hit the wall with a crack, breaking in two.

Nobody had touched the pencil at all.