Mage Catalyst Read Free Page A

them again that they would have returned to normal and that this was some kind of visual disturbance brought on by a migraine. No such luck, when I opened my eyes and gazed into the mirror – the strange eyes were staring back at me.
    What the hell was happening? This kind of thing just doesn’t happen in the real world. There was no rational explanation for it. This had to be some kind of hallucination or a weird reaction from cafeteria food, and that’s when I remembered Sarah’s comment about my eyes being dilated. So she had seen it too. It wasn’t just a hallucination. That didn’t make sense though, surely Sarah’s reaction would have been stronger if she had seen glowing blue pulses of light travelling over my skin. Was it possible that she couldn’t see the pulses, but only the strangeness of my eyes? This theory was certainly supported by that fact that I couldn’t see the pulses in my reflection in the mirror. Was it possible that the change to my eyes was allowing me to see the particles on my body?
    This idea didn’t bring me much comfort. I was still seeing things that shouldn’t be there. In all likelihood I was simply going crazy. But at least the unbearable pain had gone. I had to be grateful for that at least.
    I threw some more water over my face and made my way back out into the quadrangle. I got about half way there before another strange feeling came over me. It was as if I was wearing a wet suit or a thin layer of PVC over my skin. I could kind of feel the blue lights on my skin moving across my flesh. It was an uncomfortable feeling. I made it to the row of benches outside the toilet block before I had to stop as my legs had become rubbery and difficult to control. I took a few deep breaths and steadied myself.
    As annoying as this was, I much preferred this to the headache, as at least I could open my eyes now.
    “Mr Wills, is there a problem?” A curt voice broke me out of my reverie. Crap, Saunders! I looked up to see him bearing down upon me with a determined expression upon his face. He’d obviously come out of one of the classrooms.
    “No, sir… No problem,” I replied, trying to avoid eye contact.
    “Sitting there staring at your hands is not the best way to gain an education, young man.” He smiled smugly as if he’d just made the funniest joke.
    “No sir, I’m feeling a little woozy,” I mumbled, keeping my eyes downcast lest he noticed my eyes.
    “Why aren’t you in class?”
    “I had to go the bathroom.”
    “And yet you’ve been sitting there for at least five minutes, are you planning on spending the rest of the class sitting on this bench?”
    “No sir,” I replied, still desperately trying not to stare straight at him.
    “I don’t believe you, I think you were planning on skipping class.” Out of the corners of my new eyes I saw him smiling at me, his hands turning to lock around behind his back, his pose a classic 1950s old English schoolmaster. “Maybe even the rest of the day too.”
    I didn’t respond as I was desperately trying to decide what to do, anything further said on my part would probably result in detention. I could almost feel his eyes penetrating into the top of my head in an obvious attempt to assert dominance. He was just waiting for me to say something so he could increase my days in detention. I remained silent.
    “Look at me when I’m talking to you,” he barked.
    I cringed as I tilted my head to look at him, awaiting the inevitable explosion as he noticed my crazy eyes.
    “Two days of detention, Mr Wills.”
    I didn’t say anything. Had he noticed my eyes? He wasn’t acting funny though – what the hell was going on?
    “Have you nothing further to say for yourself?” he said.
    “No sir,” I said, eyes cast back down, my mind working in circles. He must have seen my eyes. How could he have missed something like that?
    “Then off to class with you,” he ordered, and he turned and headed back to his classroom.
    I watched