Measured Words  

The lecture hall smelled like old carpet and over brewed coffee.

Sera sat in the third row of the lecture hall to the right. Not so close as to stand out, but not so far as to look like she was hiding. She had her notebook open, her pen poised between her fingers, but she wasn't taking notes. Not today. The creature inside her was awake. Not agitated, not angry. Just… alert. It liked listening to her psychology lectures, it liked learning about the human mind.

Professor Halvorsen's voice echoed off the walls, smooth and bored. He was younger than most of the faculty—mid-thirties, maybe—with the tailored blazers and manicured beard to prove it. He liked his TED Talk energy, liked leaning against the front desk with one hand in his pocket while he gestured with the other. He didn't lecture. He performed. And he was his biggest fan.