By the time I got back to my room I was exhausted, both emotionally and physically. What had happened in the past 2 months? Everything had been so simple, and normal, and now everything was completely upside down, and worst of all, I didn't have my mother to turn to, there was still another month left of this school term before I could see her and talk to her again, would she even know how to make me feel better? All I had was Parker, and I couldn't talk to her about this, I had been warned not to talk to anyone. I lay on my bed deep in thought, not knowing where to go from here, wishing I could just turn it all off, I still had an hour before I needed to go down to breakfast, but honestly I didn't have much of an appetite. I knew I needed to eat something, I had also missed dinner last night, but I didn't know if I could face everyone, more importantly if I could face Parker while knowing that each minute I spent with her I would be lying to her, or keeping secrets from her. I dozed off again and this time, I was relieved to have slipped into a more regular dream, I was back at home, chatting with mom about a boy I had grown rather fond of, I didn't know the boy, I could picture him perfectly in my imagination while dreaming, but I knew he didn't exist, I definitely had never seen him before, he was just a figment of my imagination, but a very good looking one at that.
"Mila, are you still in there? Hellooooo! It's time for breakfast, are you coming? I went down and you weren't there and now I've been waiting here for 10 minutes, come on sleepy head." Parker was banging away at my door ripping me away from my pleasant slumber. "Ok, ok, just give me a minute!" I quickly jumped up and chose the nearest outfit I could which, as it turned out was completely mismatched, that fact ordinarily wouldn't have bothered me all that much until I eventually made it outside and Parker was dressed to the nines, as she does… sporting calf length skinny jeans, a baby blue cotton loose fitting vest covered by a white crouched poncho, and white ankle strapped sandals. She had always been so stylish, or perhaps because she was so beautiful everything just happened to look amazing on her, I'm almost sure that if she was wearing the mismatched blue bootleg jeans, yellow vest and navy cardigan that I had slapped on, she still would have looked good, she had that way about her, like everything was instantly drawn to her, magnetised, and she had never been a snob about it, she was always just Parker… my best friend Parker. "So how'd you sleep? I slept like a baby. I swear I could sleep for days at a time in these beds." I almost didn't hear her, I was still so preoccupied with my thoughts, 'um yeah, I slept alright thanks." I said as she looked at me with a sideways glance. "You ok there bud? You seem a bit… distracted?" "Is that a question or a statement? I snapped back at her. Argh, I'm so sorry friend, I guess I just have a lot on my mind, I'm still trying to come to terms with all of this, my brain feels a bit fried at the moment…" "I hear you sister! It still feels like quite a bit to take in doesn't it?" If she only knew the half of it, I thought to myself." We sat down to breakfast and I decided that despite my reluctance, I still needed to eat something, being this stressed and starving at the same time could not be healthy! I conjured up an omelette with cheese, peppers, bacon and avocado with a slice of toast on the side. I must admit I felt a great deal better after having eaten. We made our way up to the classroom, Miss Smallwood still seemed to be a little on edge after this morning's happenings, I felt a bit bad for having put her through that, but if I hadn't then she wouldn't have gone to Principal Rose and I wouldn't have known about this whole invoker thing, and I would have been left alone to figure it out for myself, so I guess it all worked out as it should. "Good morning class, please be so kind as to enter your dream domes, I have programmed them with an assignment for each of you, once you have completed your assignment you may leave for the day." A roar of excitement erupted around us, this was our first assignment, but I had a sneaky suspicion that everyone was more excited about the fact that we could leave right after and have an entire afternoon to ourselves. "Enter Dream Dome," I said, and then "Activate Dream Dome." Once I had slipped into my chair. Just as soon as my Dome had activated, I heard Principal Rose's voice sound, "Good morning Mila, I trust you have had a better day thus far? I have made a few changes to your dome, you will now be able to access all recorded history relating to the powers of Invoking, upon selecting a report, the images and information will flash before you, instantly uploading them permanently to your mind, this should help you gain a little more understanding of your power, ordinarily materials as sensitive as this are saved for your Fifth year here at Whimsy, so please take your time with it as it is a lot to take in, please also try not to discuss the information with others outside of Fifth year, now it will take a few sessions in order upload all of the information, however, once completed you will have gained a vast amount of knowledge pertaining to both the Invoke and Whimsy abilities, thereafter you will have personal training on how to further control your abilities, I will personally be training you. I trust this will suffice?" I was a little more than impressed by how quickly Principal Rose had managed to change the entire setting of my Dream Dome, and how fast she had managed to upload all of the information regarding my powers. "Thank you Principal Rose, I'm sure that this will help ease my mind, and answer all the questions I still have. I will get started right away." "Very well, if at any stage you need to talk then just call on me, I will be at your disposal at any time, day or night, goodbye Mila." I just sat there in my Dome for a few minutes, thinking things over, and surprisingly enough I wasn't feeling tense or scared or overwhelmed, I was feeling rather unique and special and well taken care of, it was the first time that I had felt something like this since the day I arrived here, sort of at peace with it all. I cleared my mind of all thoughts and focussed only on Invoking. Within an instant, images, newspaper clippings, reports and studies all started to flash before me. It felt as though I had only been in the dome for an instant when the images came to a stop and Principal Roses' voice sounded again, "Mila, you have been at it for seven hours, you had better call it a day and head out for dinner, you can continue tomorrow." Seven hours??? Holy moly! "How did that happen? It feels as though no more than two hours have passed?" I said, "When you go to sleep at night, does it feel as though you have slept for seven or eight hours by the time you wake up the following morning? You see, your Dream Dome works at hyper speed, as do your dreams, for every hour that passes in dream time, 3.5 more hours pass in reality, Mila, the term is almost over, it may feel as though you have only been here for one term, but that is not the case, it feels as though it has been only one term, but in reality, you will have been here for an entire year, why else do you think our classes are divided into terms and not years? When you go home in a month from now, you will be going home for Christmas break… now I don't want you over doing it, it is a lot to take in even for more experienced students, so tomorrow I will set a timer for the dome to stop after 4 hours." WHAT! I thought to myself, no one had let us in on that little bit of useful information! Or maybe they had? Dammit! I seriously need to stop missing so many meals! "Thanks Principal Rose, I would appreciate it." And with that I got out of my dome and headed down for dinner, just as I walking along the hall I began to feel the weight bearing down on my shoulders, forcing me to acknowledge how much that session had actually taken out of me, I was completely exhausted, and all I could think about was a nice hot shower and some shut eye, so that's exactly what I did.