StV: Accelerated Transformation

Ms. Campbell was frowning. "Have you been doing anything different lately, Abby? Working out more? Pushing yourself?"

"No, not really." Abigail Johnson was puzzled. "Why?"

"You're changing faster, I think. It's hard to say for sure, but I think we should move your next appointment up. Can you come by in two weeks?"

"Sure," said Abby. "I, um, I have been learning sorcery. From Sophia."

"You've been what?" asked Ms. Campbell. 

"Learning sorcery," Abby told her. "Apparently I have a talent for it."

Ms. Campbell looked thoughtful. "When you say 'sorcery', do you mean..."

"Like this," Abby told her, and went through the words-and-gesture that Sophia had first taught her. Ms. Campbell flinched back as the gust of wind touched her face and ruffled her tightly-curled hair. 

She stopped, took a deep breath, and held up a hand. "I know we call what Sophia does 'sorcery', but that's just a way of saying that her power as an Anomaly allows her to--"

Abby shook her head. "Her power as an Anomaly is just a sensitivity to certain kinds of energy. Learning to shape and use those energies... that's sorcery."

"Huh. You sound very certain of that." 

Abby shrugged. "That's how it feels to me, too. And that's how Sophia explained it. Lyceus, too, now that I think about it."

Ms. Campbell blinked several times in rapid succession. Then she paced away, stopped at the door, and paced back to the cot where Abby was sitting. "And you started learning this when?"

"...Three weeks ago."

"Abigail..." Ms. Campbell sighed. "I suggest you put a pause on your studies. Whatever you may be learning, it seems it's also accelerating your transformation into... well, whatever you're transforming into."

Abby considered that for a long moment. Then she said, "No." 

"No?"

"I'm transforming anyway. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. I can't avoid it, so there's no reason not to lean in if that will let me learn sorcery."

Ms. Campbell's face went through about four different expressions in less than a minute. Finally it went completely smooth, and then she nodded. "All right. Next checkup's in two weeks. Let's see where this is going."