Gabe was embarassed that Lateef had noticed that he was trying not to stare at the eyepatch. "I, uh, sorry, didn't mean to be rude..." he sputtered.

So he had noticed the unusual brightness. He thought he had been imagining things, but now someone else had seen the same thing, too. Gabe still had the feeling that their meeting was somehow familiar, and the other guy had said that, too. Maybe they had met somewhere before. But that was impossible, wasn't it? He was halfway across the world, he had never been to Italy in his entire life, nor had he been out of the United States, until now.

Lateef walked off calmly saying something about being late to class, and it was then that Gabe realized that the bell had already rung. He hadn't even noticed, he had been so distracted by the odd meeting. Glancing at his schedule he began to search for his next class.

-----

Sophie nudged Alicia as Shad was answering the teacher's question. "It's that guy again," she whispered. But something struck her about what the boy had just said. They weren't as powerful as they used to be...Assuming mortal form...

"Another lost student finds his way into my classroom," the teacher smirked as the door opened and Sophie looked toward the front of the class to see her brother walk into the classroom. The teacher was asking for a name as he checked his attendance sheet. "Hey, Gabe!" she shouted

Gabe looked up and noticed his sister, and was instantly taken aback by what he saw. Some kind of huge, tufted beast was draped lazily over the desk next to Sophie, with a great, grinning maw full of sharp teeth. Gabe blinked and the figure became a normal girl of mixed race with a wild mane of black hair. Telling himself to snap out of it, he took the empty seat in front of his sister.

Sophie turned to Alicia. "Alicia, this is my brother Gabe," she told the other girl.

Gabe looked at the girl and mumbled an almost incoherent greeting, hardly believing what he had seen.

"Ms. Harris, this is not social hour." the teacher barked.

"Okay," Sophie said.

"That means be quiet!" The teacher responded sharply.