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I walked towards the highly equipped gate of my school. The weighty steels and laser security system no longer intimidated me despite being the only one who had to get scanned every day.

Like everyone else, I had a normal school life, except my school wasn't for anyone to attend. In fact, it was the school of geniuses - the Ultara Academy of Gifted Young Women. It was founded by a bunch of female scientists and inventors over two centuries ago.

After the light on the steel door flashed green, the enormous iron gate flung open, revealing the view of a great wilderness that surrounded the medieval buildings from a distance. White summits of towering mountains stood as their backdrop. It made everything seem like you were staring at a life-size postcard.

I attended the Ultara Academy with an exception- I didn't have to live in the mansion provided by the school. When the year started, all students would pack up their stuff to live in the mansions- but not me. I wanted to be with my best friends, but Mom had made a secret agreement with the headmistress that it was best for me to stay at home, and if you ask me, that was a bit odd and kind of unfair.

As I strolled along the gravel pavement across the campus, I heard someone whistle to me from a distance.

"Cam?" I called out, "I know it's you."

"Guess where I am?" she replied in a singsong tone.

I tried to follow the sound, but I couldn't make out where she was because of the echoes. The morning sun rose high above the horizon. I had to shade my eyes to look. When the breeze blew gently, it brought a palpable, sweet, alluring scent up to my nostrils.

I walked toward a dark oak tree, following the familiar scent. And there she was, hiding under the canopy of dark green leaves while swinging her long slim legs over a tree branch. All 5'8 of Camilla Logan, in a short checked skirt, a white cotton blouse, and a black blazer was on the tree. Unlike me, Camilla is a younger version of Miss Universe, so even in a school uniform and a monkey behavior, she still looked like she was fresh out of a runway show.

"It's not fun playing hide-and-seek with you," Camilla said, with a sulky expression. She kicked her feet rhythmically in the air as she glared at me. "How could you know where I am, for Pete's sake?"

"I pick up your scent from across the campus," I smirked at her.

"Not again, Vivienne," she said, rolling her eyes at me, "You've been playing that kind of trick since eighth grade!"

This brought back a memory. When we were in eighth grade, our biology teacher described how animals could trace smell and sound, and even sense things before they happened. And I had asked Ms. Grace whether humans could do the same thing, and she had said, "Yes, we can do that for survival. Everyone is naturally gifted one way or the other."

I was so fascinated by these simple facts that I started noticing things with all my human senses.

"What?" I shrugged at Cammie, "I'm just making better use of my nose, and it's not a trick, it's a natural gift!"

"Yeah, whatever," she said. "But I'm telling you - your smelling ability is as good as a puppy's."

"Well, I will take that as a compliment, then," I said with a smile. "Now tell me what you're doing up there?"

"Waiting for you to show up,"

"Can't you just wait like a human?" I said, "Come on, get down!" I beckoned to her from the ground. My mom would be paranoid if she saw me doing that, but this school is full of freaks. They get used to all kinds of weird behaviors the same way they get used to the explosions in our chemistry labs.