Don't believe anything they told you on the flight here. That was the first thing they told me when I went into Dr. Dray's office. Second thing they told me- all my stuff would be thrown out or burned except for one item of my choosing. Third thing they told me was that I had a roommate and her name was Maxine Runnells. That was my crappy first day at Hamilton's school for the psychically gifted.

"Hey, are you Drina Malek?" spinning around, I turned around to the source of the voice. A girl of average height with strawberry blond hair pink highlights and punk clothes looked at me defiantly, daring me to comment on this strange outburst. "Yeah that's me. Who's asking?"

"Your roommate is, you stupid girl."

"Oh so your Maxine Runnells. Somehow I expected someone who looked prissy not some punk wannebe."

"You're not as stupid as you look for a tall freak. What do you have, giant blood in you?" she smirked.

"Nah but at least I'm not some short blond idiot who looks like she was dressed by aliens."

"Not bad. The name's Max and anyone who can be so insulting is cool in my book. Yes I'm your roommate and this is one of the weirdest school's you will ever see. Only the psychic and orphaned come here, and some of them are medically insane, but we lock them up at night. I just happen to be in that category." Max was trying to hold back a smile at this point.

"So you're giving me the tour around here? And what is your power?" I queried.

"Yeah I guess I'll give you a tour. My power is de- and re materialization."

"Which is?"

"It is the ability to completely destroy something and to remake it or make a dense object even denser."

So awesome was the first thought that turned up in my head. The next one was how dangerous that ability made her.

"What's yours?" came a voice that disturbed me out of my reverie.

"My ability is to shape shift into any animal or person that I want to."

"Nice," she looked thoughtful at this point. "So does this mean you can break out of this hellhole whenever you want to?" it took me a minute to think about it.

"Maybe, I think they are going to take my DNA so that I can'tleave. I don't change my DNA when I shift so it's sorta of hard for me to stay on the run." I didn't tell her I had tried before.

"Let me guess you've tried before?"

"Yeah," I muttered.

"How many times?" Max asked

"From which place? It all depends on where. From my home when my parents were still sober and still cared? None. Everywhere else maybe hundreds of times, and all because they had my DNA." I sounded offended even to my own ears. "You'd think that with my power I could stay on the run till I was eighteen but the longest I've been gone was three months."

"Three months longer than I have," she stated with no emotion, and had the kind of carefully composed face of someone who was hiding their bitterness. "You know the one thing that everyone here has in common besides having powers? We all want to escape and there are some who will try to buddy up with the authorities to achieve that goal." At this point there was a group of supremely smug students that walked by us, and a girl smirked at Max.

It was the kind of smirk that said the wearer was more talented, smarter and in every way better than you. Then that girl spoke up. "Why are you wasting your time with that piece of trash?"

"I think that is my business not yours. I'm sorry, what is your name?" I replied tersely.

She snorted, "My name is Angelica. I'm the president of the student council. Speaking of which, Max don't you have a case before the jury tomorrow? If I remember correctly it's about the destruction of the headmaster's office?"

Angelica started to grin while she was saying this, and by the end of the interrogation, her smile was as wide as the Cheshire cat's. But Max's hands clenched and unclenched at her side. She was probably trying to keep rein of her temper. "Yes I do, but I think you already knew that." Angelica just smirked even more.

"Of course I knew. I know everything that happens in this school, even what's going to happen, oh by the way Max; I suggest you don't do that prank you are going to do. Just a word of advice," she swept past us, her pack following closely behind.

"What is her deal?" I queried, in a very confuzzled way.

"Oh she's one of those people who I told you about: One of the ones that would do anything to get out of here. The quagmire is she can see the future, which wouldn't be such a problem if she wasn't a snitch. In point of fact she would be damn useful if she wanted to be on our side and cause pandemonium for the staff. Conversely she is on their side, albeit seemingly, and causes hell for us. Makes me so, so what's a good word for mad? I hate using weak words; they don't properly convey the full depth of my feelings." I fought off a smirk myself when she said this.

"Hmm how about ballistic?" I recommended.

"Thank you lovely word ballistic. It sounds almost like it means. It is an almost onanamanapoeia.' She beamed at me then went back to her tirade.

"Where was I?" Max inquired.

"She makes you so ballistic?" I added obligingly.

"Ah yes she makes me so ballistic, I could almost throttle her scrawny neck every time I so much as pass her in the hallway.' Max looked satisfied now that she had ranted to her hearts content.

"Are there any in her group that I need to keep an eye out for?" my voice was getting a little tense probably because my body was coiled to shift at any minute. That was its natural response whenever I was in danger or annoyed, or both.

"No just her. They're like sheep. Get rid of the shepherd and they are helpless. Enough about her. I need to show you to the dorm."

So we went down a long hallway and took several turns to end up in a corridor lined with doors. She opened one and showed me in. The inside was huge complete with two queen sized beds and walk-in closets. The bathroom was en suite and inlaid with marble; the shower was huge and had a ledge you could perch on and let hot water pound down onto your skin. The tub was a work of beauty complete with jets. The room itself was a midnight blue with gray shadowing some parts, making it look like mist. There was a lamp post in one corner that looked so real that the painting seemed to emit light.

"Whoa. This is really….." I stopped my words getting lost in the painting that I seemed to be in.

"Is the word you're looking for perhaps stunning?" Max beamed. "Yeah all the rooms are like this but each have different backgrounds. You get the room with the painting that most suits your personality. I think Their theory is that it encourages your powers."

"OK, what is so bad about this place that everyone wants to leave?" my remark rang through the room.

"Because no matter how pretty it is, no matter how good the food, no matter that you have others like you around, it is still a cage, a gilded cage I'll give you that, but a cage nonetheless. You can't even go outside; you are only allowed to keep one item from the outside. Besides you have absolutely no technology or new books. They want to keep us isolated from the outside world and the only time we get any news is when someone new comes here. "

"Like me?" I whispered

"Like you, but the others come with different powers." Max answered me.

"So have any tried to escape together?" obviously this was a new idea from the look of shock on her face. Then a look of slow satisfaction. "I'll take that as a no."

"And you would be right. But if we got specific ones together we would have a real chance at it." A glint came into her eye; I should have recognized that it was a sign that what I was proposing was either do or die. Unfortunately I didn't see it till the end was near, and when sides were clearly chosen and defined.

A/N: I hope you've enjoyed this first peek into the story and that you will stay on for more chapters. Please tell me what you think and if you have any suggestions for later chapters, please suggest away. Ideas are always welcome. Oh and before I forget future chapters will not be quite so long. Love Olivial