Stray
Heart, by MagicianX
Chapter
1
***
Gray
and sullen, the raindrops inched a graceless trail down the length of
the window. When the wind gusted, the drops became smears of silver,
like mercury splattered against a sidewalk. It was a bland, meager
kind of storm, with no real heart behind its moodiness; it existed
merely to dump water on things, spoil the sunrise, then sulk off in a
different direction, leaving behind only a lingering sense of
anticlimax.
Olivia
Engstrom watched it from her be

Stray
Heart, by MagicianX
Chapter
2
***
Olivia
let the gymnasium's double doors thud shut behind her. She stood
beneath their frame for thirty seconds, taking deep, measured
breaths.
The
pounding heat was still inside her, boiling up from her stomach to
her chest. She glanced down and noticed that her fists were clenched;
she made them loosen, leaving pink crescents where her nails had dug
into her palms.
She
started running then, not taking the time to warm up. It wasn't
necessary -- a flare in

Stray
Heart, by MagicianX
Chapter
3
***
There
were times when Olivia didn't think she had a normal stomach. Her
best guess was that some cosmic mixup had occurred, and instead of a
human digestive system, she had been given one intended for a jungle
cat -- a panther, or possibly a tiger. This wasn't usually a negative
(her metabolism burned hot and fast, which was a plus in the
AG-program), but it meant that her belly was prone to producing a
rather worrying assortment of growls, rumbles and sna

Stray
Heart, by MagicianX
Chapter
4
***
A
small balcony extended from the apartment, overlooking the street
below. In the distance, Olivia could see the neighborhood she had run
through that morning, the houses still lit by patches of gold. Beyond
them lay the Highstone University campus, the quadrants of its four
majors clearly divided -- music to the North, fine arts in the South,
science at the West. The Eastern corner was the smallest and newest,
and Olivia could easily pick out the gymnasiu

Stray
Heart, by MagicianX
Chapter
5
***
Bright
and inviting, the morning flowed through Olivia's window with gentle
patience. She lay on her back, watching the sunlight drape itself
across the room. On the table beside her, the alarm clock was blank
and quiet. Its duty had been performed with the usual punctuality,
but was ultimately ineffective, owing to Olivia's decision to unplug
it.
Blair's
voice floated in from the next room, accompanied by the sounds of
sizzling. Her off-key warble was the