Chapter 2

Chapter 2

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I’m awoken by a gentle shake on my shoulder and a voice saying, “Elina, get up. Wouldn’t want to be late on your first day!” I open my heavy eyelids and Remi’s features come into focus. I look at the clock and see that it says 6:02 in bright red letters that hurt my newly adjusting eyes. Now that I’m awake Remi leaves my bedside and goes into the living room. The other two girls are waking up too, rubbing their eyes and stretching their arms in a yawn.

I hear the shower start up in the room that’s beside us. “We take five minute showers each in the mornings, there’s a timer that beeps when you need to get out. It’s just so we can wash our hair and stuff really.” Tanya says, mumbling slightly in sleepiness. I nod and follow the other girls into kitchen where Kierra starts the coffee maker. By the time it’s done Remi steps out of the shower and into the bedroom to change, dripping water on the floor.

As we each take turns taking showers we sip on our coffee, about too tired to speak. I decide to see if any of them have classes with me. Remi, while drying her hair, and Tanya look at my schedule.

“Well, I have Algebra II with you, I think Tanya has Physics with you, and all four of us have Charm History together.” Remi says happily, handing back my schedule. “You and Kierra would have Charm Control together because of the similarity in your powers, but she’s in the level above you. But, I have no idea what one on one Charm Control is… I’ve never heard of that before.” She finishes with a hint of curiosity in her voice. I just shrug and take another sip of my coffee. It’s the best coffee I’ve ever had, it has a silky vanilla taste while keeping the amazing bitterness of coffee.

Kierra comes out of the bathroom and I look at Tanya. “You go ahead, I took one early. I like to get up super early, take a shower, and then go back to sleep.” She explains, and that’s when I notice her head is slightly wet. I give a smile and head towards the bathroom. I see the timer they were talking about sitting on the sink. I remove my clothes and start the timer right before stepping in the shower. Normally I would stand in there and let the warm water soak over me for about thirty to forty-five minutes, but I guess that’ll have to wait until I take a shower at night. I let the water run through my hair and soak it before adding the two in one shampoo and conditioner. Before no time the timer goes off, cueing me to get out. I wrap a towel around my obnoxious hair and torso and head to the bedroom. I close the door behind me and get dressed.

I choose an outfit that has a simple, lacy top, a half sleeved leather jacket, black skinny jeans and a pair of black and white converses. Dad took me shopping before sending me off, despite not having that much money. It was the first time I had really been shopping for my own clothes. Normally I just wore sweatshirts and pants, because I never went anywhere. I look at myself in the mirror and decide I like my outfit. I blow dry my white mane and apply some eyeliner on the top of my eye and the water line, along with some mascara. Growing up I always played with makeup, even though I never wore it out. I guess I got good at it. All around me the other three girls are getting ready just the same. I empty out my backpack, which is small and black leather, and begin to add my school supplies. All Thomas had really said I needed was a few folders with paper in them, and some writing utensils. So I put my two binders, one black and one white, filled with paper in my backpack. I also have a few ballpoint pens that I put in there along with a few packs of gum.

I clutch the necklace that hangs around my neck. It hugs my neck and has a bright blue stone wrapped in silver in the middle. My mom gave it to me for my tenth birthday, I hardly take it off. It was the last thing she ever got me for my birthday, as she was dead on my next one.

“Elina, you ready to go? It’s six thirty-five, breakfast starts in ten minutes.” Kierra’s voice sounds from my right. I look up and realize the other three girls are standing at the door, ready to leave. I nod and follow them out the door, where Remi closes it behind us and locks it. “Oh, and here’s your dorm key, don’t lose it. If you do, you’ll always have to be with us to get back in.” Kierra hands me a key on a metal ring, it’s unlike most keys I’ve seen. It’s silver and it wrapped in gold, with the number 412. I stick it in a small place in my backpack and zip it shut. “Thanks.” I reply.

I start to go the way towards the stairs, but I realize the girls are going the opposite way. I quickly turn around and follow them, Remi and Tanya in the front, Kierra and I in the back. There are lots of other students crowding the hallways. “Where are we going? I thought the stairs were that way.” I jab a thumb behind me, looking at Kierra.

“We’re taking the lift, there are so many and it makes it a lot easier to get to classes.” Kierra explains. “You took the stairs all the way up here.” She laughs and I don’t answer, confirming I did.

“Did you dye your hair like that or... ?” Kierra asks as me. Now it’s my turn to laugh.

“No, I was born with it like this. Lot’s of people think I dyed it though.” I shrug. “My eyes are real too, no contacts.” I answer before she can ask. I could see her eyes staring at mine, so I knew what she was going to ask. Her mouth curves into a smile. “That’s so cool.”

We stop in front of, what I assume is the lift. I thought it would look like an elevator, but I was wrong. It has metal bars in front of a small, wooden room, which does look like an elevator. The metal bars fold out of the way and we go to stand on the wooden platform, along with a few other students. It doesn’t look like many people go on the lift, but then I remember Kierra saying there are lots of them. Nothing happens. The girls just stand there. “Hold on.” Remi tells me, gesturing towards the ceiling where there are metal handles, before we go shooting downward. I latch onto one quickly as I feel like my heart was left on the fourth floor. But the other people in the lift are perfectly still, they must have done this multiple times before. In no time we come to a sudden stop in front of the first floor.

I gratefully step onto the first floor, my legs feeling like jello. I look toward Kierra with wide eyes where she smiles. “Yeah, that’s everyone's first reaction. Come on, I can smell the food already!” We all hurry down the hallway towards the main hall, where I came in yesterday. And she’s right, I can smell the assortments of eggs, bacon, waffles, toast, and coffee. Soon we come to a pair of large doors that are swung open. They go all the way to the ceiling, much like the ones you walk through to get inside the school. I look to the side and realize they’re open too.

We walk inside the dining hall and I can’t keep my mouth shut. My head twists and turns trying to look at all of it. It’s big enough to fit at least two thousand kids. There are rows of tables, kids already seated and eating. I want to count them, but I don’t have time. I see that there are rows of lights along the walls and the ceilings, floating orbs of light, no electricity needed. I’m guessing someone’s charm is to create light. Along the walls is a bar where there is food as long as the eye can see. I follow Kierra, Tanya, and Remi and pile my plate full of waffles with whipped cream and several strawberries on top. I also grab some bacon and a cup of coffee with vanilla.  

Once we sit down at the end of a table, where there are very few kids, I look around some more. At the very front of the large room, is a place where the teachers are sitting. They have their own long table that is sitting up on a stage, making them more higher than the students. There are about ten teachers on each side of one man in the middle. He’s got thick brown hair that’s at medium length, not too long but also not too short. It’s combed back to give him a professional look, and his eyes are silver, beautiful. He looks bored as he sits there, head resting on his folded hands. He looks to be in his thirties, but has the eyes of someone who has lived for decades.

“Who’s that?” I ask, pointing to him.

“Hmm?” Kierra asks, mouth full. She turns around to look at where I’m pointing. She swallows and responds. “Oh him, that’s Audric Allore. He’s the Dean of Charms. He’s like our principal.” She stuffs another piece of bacon into her mouth and I decide to take a bite of my delicious waffle. It tastes amazing, the best waffle I’ve ever had. I had always thought my dad made the best waffles.

“He looks young, but he also looks old. How’s that?” I ask once I swallow my food. This time it’s Remi who answers.

“That’s Audric Allore. He’s the Dean of Charm. He’s actually a five-hundred seventy-two, he’ll be celebrating his five hundred and seventy-third birthday this year!” She exclaims in a whisper, almost as if it’s forbidden to speak of. She must’ve known by my shocked expression what I was going to say next. “His charm is immortality. At the age of thirty, he just stopped aging. He founded this school. The name Van Fascino, translates to Of Charm. Van being dutch and Fascino being italian.” She finishes her lecture and takes a sip of orange juice. I just stare for a minute, wondering how she knows all that. “You learn a lot of the school’s and the CS’s history in Charms History.” She says, as if she can read my mind. Then I remember that she might have actually read my mind.

I’m about to say something when a guy plops down in the seat beside Tanya. He’s african american, like Tanya, has brown curly hair and a cute face. He’s pretty tall, at least four inches taller than Tanya. I’m surprised when he puts his arm around her and plants a brief kiss on her lips, causing Tanya to smile and blush unconditionally. “Good morning, girls.” He waves to Remi and Kierra.

“Oh, Elina, this is Lucas. My boyfriend if you didn’t catch that.” She explains and then turns to him. “This is Elina, the new girl. She’s our new roommate.”

“Oh, well nice to meet you Elina.” He smiles at me sweetly and holds out a hand for me to take, which I except. “Nice to meet you too.” I reply.

“You like it here?” He questions, taking a sip of Tanya’s coffee.

“Um, yeah, I’m liking it alright.” I respond truthfully. “I’ve already made some friends, Kierra, Tanya, and Remi have been very kind to me.”

“Yep, they’re all sweet hearts.” He smiles back at Tanya briefly and then looks back up to me. “What’s your charm?” I’m about to answer, but Kierra does it for me.

“You’ll never guess Lucas, she can control energy!” She answers excitedly, watching Lucas’ expression. He grins widely.

“Wow, really?” I nod and show him what I showed the girls last night. He laughs in amazement. “That’s amazing!” I blush slightly and look down at my food.

“So, what’s yours?” I take another bite of my waffle.

“Animation.” He responds simply, I look at him questionably, wondering what that could be. “Here let me show you.” He reaches in his backpack and takes out some notepaper and a pen. He draws a quick circle, and then puts his hand over it. After a few seconds, he removes it, but there is no longer a circle drawn on the paper, but there’s a white bouncy ball. My mouth extends into a grin.

“That is so cool!” I exclaim. He throws it and it bounces along the walls.

“Yeah, it’s alright. I still have a lot of practice though.” I watch the ball bounce around the dining hall, until it stops when a boy catches it with his hand and lays it back on the ground. He’s in the very far corner of the room, eating alone at a small round table. I can’t see much of what he looks like, only his black skinny jeans, grey hoodie that has the hood pulled over his head, and he’s wearing a pair of tight black cloves. He’s hunched over his food, eating slowly. I stare at him, trying to figure out why he’s alone.

“And who’s that kid, the one eating alone?” I turn back around to the girls and point behind me.

Their faces all fall into an expression of sadness and fear. “That’s Nathaniel Greenfield.” Kierra replies simply.

“Why is he all by himself?” I question further. Tanya sighs and answers.

“His charm is Death.” Another simple reply. “You touch him on his bear skin, and you die. I hear his powers started on his fourteenth birthday, accidentally killed his parents and little sister. He’s been here ever since, everybody is afraid of him, even the teachers.” They all look back down at their plates and remain silent. I look at him again, and then back to my food. I couldn’t imagine living with that. I barely live with someone else murdering my mom, if I had killed one of my parents, or especially both, I wouldn’t be able to handle it. I also can’t help thinking how sad it is that he’s all alone, with no one, just because everyone’s afraid.

“So, are you all sixteen?” I ask, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, that’s why you were put in a dorm with us. You’re usually put with your age group. But the ages vary around here. We have kids as young as ten, and some as old as twenty-five.” Remi pauses to take a bite. “The older ones don’t have regular classes like science and math, only Charm control. This school isn’t like high school, you don’t leave after a certain amount of years, you stay until you learn to control your power. Well, you’re required to stay until you finish high school, but if you don’t have your charm under control by then, you don’t leave.” Remi finishes. I take a moment to process this, what if I’m here forever?

“How long have you guys been here?” I wonder out loud.

“Remi; seven months. Kierra; this is her second year. Me; six months, and Lucas; six months.” Tanya replies, mouth full of egg. “So not that long.”

“When did the school year start?” I ask yet another question.

“September fifteenth, but it all depends whether you stay here over the summer or not. If your power isn’t all that dangerous, like Tanya’s, they usually let you go home, but if yours is--” Lucas is cut off.

“--like mine, you have to stay.” Kierra finishes duly, moving her eggs around with her fork. “We get Christmas’s with our families though, either you get to go home or they get to come here. That is, if your family wants to come here.” I try to think of whether I would be allowed to go home for summer and Christmas, but the more I think, the more I realize that there is no way. I’ve already killed three people. I don’t know if my dad would come here for Christmas or not, he said we would get to see each other, but I’m still unsure.

“Well, it’s seven fifty, we should probably get going.” Remi tells us, sticking her phone back into her pocket and then turning to me. “It’s better to leave before all the students get in the hallways.”

I nod and follow them with my plate to dump it and then back to our table. I take my own phone out of my bag.

“What’s your numbers? I might need them in case I get lost or something.”

After we exchange phone numbers, we grab our bags and get ready to leave. Tanya gives Lucas a quick goodbye kiss and we head towards the door, where some students have already started making their way to their own classes. I notice that Nathaniel is already gone. I shake it off and continue down the hallway. Remi and I say our goodbye’s to Tanya and Kierra as they make their way back onto the lift to their first period. Once it turns eight o’clock there’s a loud ring of a bell.

We make it to our own classroom, where the door is already open. Remi robotically goes to her seat, which is in the middle of the classroom. She pats the seat next to her where I sit down. I watch as she takes her math book out of the small little basket under her seat and a folder out of her backpack, I do the same. We watch as the rest of the students come in, and I find myself searching for Nathaniel for some reason. I don’t know, I think I just feel sorry for him. I want to get to know him, be his friend, because it doesn’t seem like anybody else is going to.

Remi tells me as the teacher walks in that her name is Mrs. Swart. She looks to be in her mid thirties with her honey blond hair pulled up into a bun, leaving some to frame her face. Her lips are thin and bear a tiny bit of lipstick and she has a mainly flat figure. Remi tells me that she’s nice, if not strict at times. She introduces me to the class and to her, with a slight Italian accent, and then I return to my seat where she has us open our math books and start on some problems. This is going to be a boring first period in my school for kids with powers.

We leave algebra II with our backpacks heavier than they were before due to the heavy math books that now reside in the them. Homework on the first day, great.

Since we all have to use the lift, we meet up in there. Remi’s next class is on the fourth floor, Tanya’s is on the second, and mine and Kierra’s is on the third. My next class is Charm Basics I, which I have alone. Tanya and Remi have it at a different time and since this is Kierra’s second year she has Charm Basics II. I’m excited to actually have an interesting class.

“You’ll like Charm Basics, it’s pretty easy and also interesting.” Kierra informs me as the lift is shooting upward. I’m trying to listen to her and hold on at the same time. “The teachers name is Mr. Bryson, he’s also pretty cool.” The lift comes to a jolting stop and we step out among the sea of students. We walk along the hallways until Kierra stops in front of a door.

“Well, this is where I gotta stop. Your class should be somewhere down there, room three fifty-two.” She smiles at me and waves goodbye. I walk until I find my classroom where the door is already open, five minutes until class starts. Most the kids are already in here and most of the seats are taken, besides a few toward the back corner of the room where Nathaniel sits. I notice that nobody is sitting within three desks of him. He’s got his hood up and his nose buried in a book. I stare at him for a few seconds before making a brave decision. I sit down in the seat next to him, causing his head to jerk up quickly in surprise. He stares at me, perplexed with the brightest green eyes I’ve ever seen. They stand out especially well since the rest of his close are dark. He’s got a cute face, but it’s drenched in sadness behind the confusion.

“Hi.” I say with a smile, one that he does not return. He turns his head and looks around him, as if I would be talking to someone else.

“A-are you talking to me?” He asks, his voice is small and seems hoarse, like he hasn’t used it in years. He’s got a british accent, that causes him to sound sweeter than he looks.

“Yes, you.” I laugh slightly. I put out my hand for him to shake. “I’m Elina.”

He stares at my hand and looks back up at my face. “You must be new here if you’re talking to me.” He looks back down at his book. I pull my hand back to my side.

“What’s your name?” I ask, even though I already know it. It would be weird if I let him know I already knew it.

“Nathaniel.” He mumbles, not looking up from his book.

“What are you reading?” He looks up at me and stares, eyes squinted.

“Are you not afraid of me?”

“Why would I be?” I reply innocently.

He lifts up his gloved hand. “My touch kills people.”

I shrug my shoulders. “So?” His eyes widen at first, and then squint.

“Either you’re stupid, or brave. Honestly, I don’t know which is worse.” Goes back to reading once again. I sigh heavily and turn to look at the front of the class, where the teacher has walked in and started taking stuff out of his bag. He’s a middle aged man with a slight belly, a balding head with a grey beard and thick, round spectacles. He’s wearing a pair of black pants, and a white buttoned up shirt with black suspenders reaching above his shoulders.

“So, you don’t like having friends?”

“No, I just don’t have any.”

I turn back to him and the corner of my lip curls upward. “What if I wanted to be your friend?

And that’s when I see him smile, it’s a small one sure, but it’s there. It shows the kid who is there under all that hate and fear that’s been pushed down upon him. “I’m not going to get rid of you am I?”

“Nope!” I pop my ‘p’. “You’re stuck with me.”

He opens his mouth to say something else, but is interrupted by the teacher starting class. Satisfied with myself, I turn to the front of the room once again, smiling widely.

“Goodmorning, class!” He tells us cheerly. There is a mixture of Good morning, Mr. Bryson’s “First of all I would like to introduce our new student.” He gestures for me to stand up. My shaky knees wobble as I stand. “This is Elina everybody. Elina, I’m Mr. Bryson. I hope you enjoy my class.” All the kids turn to look at me. I give a smile and a nod before sitting back down.

Some kids are still looking at me, especially since I’m sitting by Nathaniel, but once Mr. Bryson starts the class, they give him their full attention. “I want you to take out your charm sheet I gave you yesterday.” He hands a girl at the front of the class a sheet to pass back to me. Once it reaches me I scan over it.

Charm Identification Sheet

Name:_______________________

Charm Type:______________________

• ______________

• ______________

• ______________

• ______________

• ______________

I quickly take how a pen and write my name down and wait.

“For Charm Type, I want you to write down; Charm Interaction.” He says it slowly as he writes it on the chalkboard. I’m surprised to see an actual chalkboard instead of a white board.

I quickly do as he says, not wanting to fall behind.

“Now on write; Charm Augmentation on the first line. Charm Bestowal on the second. Then Charm Mimicry or Absorption. Charm Negation. And then Charm Sensing.” He writes these down on the board and I follow. “Now, take out a piece of loose paper, and take notes.” There is a loud scruffling of paper from all around the classroom, I turn to Nathaniel.

“What are we doing?”

“For this class, you got to learn the type’s of charms and what they do for the test at the end of the year.” He explains simply.

“If you’ve been in this class before, then why are you here?” I question, putting my binder back in my backpack, a new piece of paper on my desk.

“I choose to take it again every year. It’s a fun and easy class so…” He trails off with a shrug. The teachers voice causes me to face the front once again.

“So, we’ll start with Charm Augmentation, which is simple. Augmentation means; the amount of which something is increased. Therefor people with Charm Augmentation can enhance or weaken the power of others. This makes them very dangerous if they choose to be.” I scratch my pen across the paper quickly before he can continue on.

“Next we have Charm Bestowal. This charm is very rare, and can be very powerful. In all my times of teaching here at Van Fascino, I’ve only come across one person with it. With this charm you have the ability to bestow powers onto another being or jump-start latent powers. I know that some of your charms didn’t start until later on in your life, right? Well someone with this charm, could’ve started it earlier.” As I hang onto every interesting word, I almost forget to write it down.

Someone towards the front of the class raises their hand. Mr. Bryson points to her, gesturing for her to speak. “Mr. Bryson, I’m still confused. If they have to power to give someone else a charm, doesn’t that mean they have every charm imaginable within them, so to speak?”

“Ah, great question Holly! In fact, they do, except they can’t access them like you and I can access our own. The only way they can reach that power, is to give it to someone else. They couldn’t use it to their own extent.”

Throughout the rest of the class, I learn that Charm Mimicry or Absorption, is basically where you can copy another person’s charm, or take it from them and use it as your own, with a lot of practice. Charm Negation is the ability to cancel out another person’s charm, and Charm Sensing is where you can see when someone is Charmed, and can tell what charm they have. I already knew this one of course from Isaac.

“I hope today’s class has been an enlightening one. For homework I want you to find the definition for each of these charms, and write it down. Acid Generation, Animal Mimicry, Biological Manipulation, and Body Part Substitution. You can find them in your books under the category Personal Physical Charms. We’ll talk about them tomorrow. You’re dismissed.” At those words everybody starts scrambling to pick up their things. I look under my seat and sure enough there’s a book sitting under my desk labeled “Charm Basics”. I stick it in my backpack along with my other things.

I look up just in time to see Nathaniel scrambling out the door. I hoist my backpack on my pack and run to catch up with him. I touch him on the shoulder and he turns around to see me and his face falls. “What?”

“I was just wondering what class you had next, I have physics.” I ask.

“Well, I have Algebra II next.”

“What about Charm History, and then Charm Control?” I ask again.

“Yeah, I have Charm History then Charm Control after lunch.” He replies duly.

“Save each other a seat then?” I smile, but find he’s not smiling back.

“Why are you being nice to me? I’ve been hateful to you and I could kill you with just a touch, I don’t see why you want to be friends with me.” People push past us, trying to get to their next seat.

“Because,” I sigh with a honest smile. “I don’t think you’re what everybody says you are.”

“I’m dangerous, I wouldn’t want to hurt you.” He argues.

“Then don’t. You’ve got your cloves and everything, right?” He tries to find something else to argue with, but draws a blank. “Exactly. So, see you at lunch.” I smile and turn away before he can respond. I go to meet Tanya for Physics.

After an extremely boring hour of Physics, Tanya and I meet up with Remi and Kierra to head down to lunch, thankfully because I’m starving. I decide to tell them about Nathaniel.

“So, you know how you were telling me about Nathaniel at breakfast?” I start, getting weird looks from all three of them. “Well, he’s in all my charms classes, and he is actually pretty nice.” Their weird looks turn to horrified ones.

“You’re not trying to become his friend are you?” Kierra hisses at me.

“What? Why not?” I reply innocently.

“One wrong move, and he could kill you like that!” She snaps her fingers to demonstrate exactly how fast. “Just one touch to the bare skin, and your heart stops! Please be careful, Elina.”

“He won’t hurt me. I just want him to have a friend, nobody should be alone.” I explain, remembering all my years at home, that I wished I had a friend. That I prayed my powers would go away so I wouldn’t be so lonely.

We reach the dining hall and I am instantly hit with the amazing smell of homemade cheeseburgers, fries, chicken, and who knows what else. I pile my plate full of chicken strips and fries. I reach into one of their many refrigerators and grab a coke. I then proceed to follow my friends to the table.

Once I sit down I twist the cap off my bottle of coke and drink it with satisfactory. It doesn’t even taste like coke from back home, it tastes even better. Why does everything in here taste better?

Tanya, Remi, Kierra and I all talk until Lucas gets to the table, then he joins in. As we talk I can’t stop my mind wandering back to Nathaniel, and where he could be sitting. I want to go join him, but I figure I would start being a pest. Better to let him have his space for now.

“So, next weekend, we should all take Elina into town with us!” Tanya exclaims, causing me to snap away from my thoughts. “A town?”

“Yeah, and not Vatican City. There’s actually a small town called Eden, not too far from here, it’s within walking distance. It has a mall and lots of other little shops and restaurants and houses. A lot of charms live there, and they take any kind of money. No matter what country it’s from. Also a lot of the teachers live there in the summer, since it’s so close. We are allowed to leave school grounds on the weekends and even after school if we are back before curfew. We should go!” She finishes excitedly.

“Yeah, I think that would be fun.” I smile back. I want to ask more about it when a girl quickly sits down in the seat next to me.

“Hey guys!” She says, taking salt from the table and putting it on her fries.

“Hey, Meredith.” They respond, leaving me confused.

“Oh, Elina this is Meredith, Meredith this is Elina. Our new room mate.” Remi explains. Meredith turns around and waves at me. She has straight, dirty blond hair and pretty blue, grey eyes. I can’t help but notice her strange clothing style. It’s actually not that strange, just a lot different from what most the people around here wear. She’s got on a black top with pink and green floral designs, a pair of green skinny jeans, and some choca shoes.

As the six of us talk, I notice how jumpy and spazzy she is, but she’s also nice and smart. Her friends have actually nick named her spazzy. Her charm is Plant Manipulation, where she can create, control, animate, or manipulate plant life. She showed us by creating a small, white daisy in the palm of her hand. She also likes these shows called Doctor Who and Sherlock, and tells me how I need to watch them. I promise her that I will once I get some free time.

“Well, I guess we should head to history, it starts in fifteen minutes.” I say, putting my phone in my backpocket. We dump our food and start to head towards the lift, where I’m surprised that Lucas and Meredith are joining us. As we walk I decide to walk beside Meredith.

“So, how long have you been here?” I ask, making sure to weave through the crowds of people.

“Just started this summer. In June. Well I started living here in June, but this is my first school year. I like it a lot. Do you like it?” She answers, and asks quickly.

“Yeah, I’m liking it a lot too.”

We get to the class room door and I see Nathaniel in the corner by himself, like he was in Charm Basics. I see that my friends want to sit towards the front of the room, and want me to sit with them. I tell them sorry, that I can’t.

I plop down in the seat beside Nathaniel, where he looks up from his book, and actually smiles at me. “I was beginning to think I imagined you talking to me.”

“Nah, you’re not getting rid of me that easily.” I tease. “Do you ever take your hood down?”

“Never.”

“Oh come on,” I pull his hood down, and am able to see his black hair clearer for the first time. It’s not too short but also not too long. It’s just the right length to where it sticks up in a cute mess, causing me to giggle.

“That is why I don’t take my hood down.” He says in a slight grin, pulling it back up. “It’s a tragic mess.”

We don’t have any longer to talk as the teacher walks in. It’s another man, except this time he’s younger. Late twenties maybe. He’s got strawberry blond hair, bright blue eyes, and a kind face. He’s wearing black pants and a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up casually and the top few buttons left unbuttoned. “Afternoon, class! I hope you did your weekend homework. If you did please pass your papers up to the front.” He says all this as he’s putting his stuff down. He’s also got a slight English accent.

“While you're doing that I would like to introduce you our new student, Miss Elina, can you please stand up?” Once again I stand up for everybody to look at me strangely for sitting next to Nathaniel. “I’m Mr. Hurwitz-morales, it’s a mouthful. Everyone else just calls me Mr. H.” I nod as to say okay, and then sit back down as the ruffling of papers start to die down.

“Does anyone remember what we were talking about before the weekend?” His paces around the front of the room until a girls hand pops up. She’s got beautiful long blonde hair that flows all the way down her back to her waist. “Yes, we had just begun talking about the founding of this school.”

“Ah yes!” The teacher exclaims and quickly grabs a piece of chalk and writes down a year. “1514, the year this school was founded by our very own Dean of Charms. I want to talk a lot about the history of this school this year, because… does anyone know why?” This time a boy with curly red hair’s hand shoots up. “Because this year we will be celebrating the five-hundredth year anniversary of the school.”

“Precisely!” Mr. H says happily. “I hope you all are taking notes.”

At these words there is once again ruffling of papers. I quickly take out my own binder and turn to a new page, writing School History, at the top and boxing it in.

“So, Dean Aduric Allore is the founder of this school and the Charmed Society, aka C.S.” He starts and I quickly write this down. “But he founded the C.S. after the school, so we are just going to talk about the school for now.”

He stops his pacing and sits on the edge of his desk. “Dean Allore was born in 1441, France. His family, being very rich, moved to this castle which is basically in the middle of no where, in 1450 to escape the war between France and England. It was almost pointless as it ended three years later, but they didn’t know that. They stayed in Italy though. He lived here all his life.” Mr. H pauses to take a sip of his coffee, and to give us time to write some of this down. I look at the notes I have so far. I already wrote down what Remi told me at breakfast.

• Dean Audric Allore: born 1441, France.

• Founder of C.S. and school

• Family moved to Italy because of war between France & England

• Stayed in Italy

• Stopped aging at 30

• School founded 1514

“As most of you know, Allore has the charm of Immortality. At age thirty, his charm kicked in, and he stopped aging. He watched his parents and siblings - he had eleven, seven sisters and four brothers - grow old and die. I guess that can turn anyone bitter. So after that he was determined to find out why he didn’t age. He eventually found other people with charms, and decided he wanted to help them control it. So when he was seventy-three, he transformed this castle into a school. It was small at first, only a few students, but over the years it grew. Now we have around two thousand students, that reside in about five hundred dorms that were once just guest rooms.” He took another break to let us write some of this down. I am surprised to find my hand in the air. He points to me, and I speak my question.

“He never had a wife, or any children?” I tilt my head sideways a little.

“No, he never did. I guess he knew that they wouldn’t live as long as him. He supposedly fell in love with one of the students about twenty-something years ago. But that may be just a rumor, I wasn’t here at the time.” He answers my question with a smile. “Great question, Elina.”

He looks up towards the clock and I do the same. “Well, we only have about ten minutes left, so I’m going to have to wrap it up for today. Any more questions?”

A girl with dyed green hair raises her hand and asks; “What was the exact date the school was opened?”

“December seventeenth. The week following up to that day we are going to have a sorta, founders week, and then on the seventeenth we will have a large dance. I can’t tell you guys anymore than that though. Just know that it will be a lot larger than our yearly Halloween, Christmas, and Easter dances.” He smiles widely.

More kids ask questions.

“What was his parent’s names?”

“Helena and Gustavo.”

“What about his siblings names?”

“Elijah, Absolon, Adrian and Adrianna - the twins - Cain, Halette, Madeline, Raina, Isabeau, Eleanora, and Nanette. You have no idea how long it took me to remember all those.”

At this the bell rings and everybody starts grabbing their things. “You only homework is to study your notes!” Mr. H yells out over the rustling. I look over towards Nathaniel. I notice that he’s putting up his multiple notes. I didn’t even take that many. But as I see his face I see it’s even moodier than usual. Almost like he wants to cry.

“Charms control next huh? I’m so excited.” I say in a cheery tone. He doesn’t respond this time, only packing up his bag and heading towards the door. I throw my leather bag over my shoulder and follow him. As I walk beside him in the hallway he doesn’t say anything like usual. Soon my friends catch up to me.

“Isn’t that class just amazing!” Remi exclaims beside me. She then sees who I’m walking beside and her happy expression turns to fear. They all distance themselves from me a little. I look at Nathaniel, who doesn’t seem to be paying attention, so I step back to walk by my friends.

“Yeah, I really liked it.” I reply truthfully. My heart pangs as I realize that there isn’t a kid within five feet of Nathaniel, even in the extremely crowded hallway. They aren’t even hiding it. They smush together visibly to get as far away from him as possible. He just keeps his head down and keeps walking.

“Are you excited for Charm Control?” Kierra asks from the other side of her.

“I’m nervous and excited.” I tell her. “I’m also scared. My charm can be extremely dangerous if I don’t control it, and I don’t know how well I actually can control it.”

“That’s the way mine is. I thought the same thing, but don’t worry. It’ll be alright.” She assures me, putting a hand on my shoulder.

I reach the Charm Control classroom door and say goodbye to my friends. I follow Nathaniel through the open doors and realize that it’s not like the other classrooms. It’s a large round room with a rock floor, unlike the carpeted classes I’ve been in today. There are no desks, but there are lots of props and a curved chalkboard along one of the walls. I don’t know what a lot of the props could be for. There is one large table in the middle of the room with feathers sitting on it, on one side is a table with a few lit candles, there are some pillows on the floor on another side, near the chalkboard is the teachers desk, and one small table has some potted plants on it.

We all file in and I follow Nathaniel, standing beside him on a side where there isn’t any tables. The teacher flows in gracefully, her wavy blue hair swinging back and forth behind her. She looks young, with a figure full of curves and a face lacking wrinkles. Her eyes make me look twice, they’re a bright beautiful violet. “Afternoon, class!”

“Afternoon, Ms. Woodhouse.” The class - except Nathaniel and I - reply in unison. He looks even more upset than he has been all day. Ms. Woodhouse shines a brilliant smile at all of us.

“So, did you all practice this weekend?” Her accent, like many others, is slightly Italian. There is a series of nods from the class. As she asks this another man comes in, he looks to be about seventeen or eighteen. He’s got short black hair and brown eyes. He’s standing with his hands behind his back and is rocking back and forth on his feet.

“Okay, I want all Plant Manipulation groups at this table.” She points toward the table with the plants. “All Fire Manipulation Charms at this table.” Points to the table with the candles. “All Air Manipulation here.” The table with the feathers. “All other Charms over there.” She points to the side with no tables, but only large pillows. “And I want all Water Manipulation to go with Bryan here. He’s a seventh year Water Manipulation student. He’s going to take all of you to the pool for practice today. Be careful not to get wet.” She points to the boy beside her. As she finishes everyone moves to their places and the Water Manipulation group gets led by Bryan out the door and to the pool that I didn’t know this place had until a few seconds ago.

I go to the side with the large pillows and find one to sit on as the other kids like me are going. I realize that Nathaniel is also on this side. Ms. Woodhouse moves to the front of the room again.

“I just want you all to wait patiently while I come around to each group to explain what you all need to do.” She says, gliding over to the table with the candles. Some kids pull out books to read, others turn to talk to their friends and some sit quietly.

“What’s wrong?” I decide to ask Nathaniel.

“I just hate this class.” He mumbles, nose buried in his book that I now realize is a Stephen King book called The Shining.

“Why?” I ask gently, cocking my head to the side. He sighs heavily.

“Because I’ve been in it for three years, and nothing’s changed. I still kill everything I touch.” My heartbeat quickens at the harshness of his voice.

Ms. Woodhouse finally gets to us. She starts talking to a few of us, then to another, then Nathaniel, then me.

“Ms. Faith. I just want to say, it’s an honor to work with someone with a charm as powerful as yours.” She starts off, shaking my hand. I smile nervously back at her. “I don’t really know much about your power, because there’s only ever been one case of it as far as we know. I read as much as I could. What I understood, is that you need to start out with controlling your emotions. Try emptying your mind of all emotions, and then use your energy to pick up the pillow you're sitting on. That’s what I want you to practice today, that’s easy enough right?” She finishes explaining with another friendly smile.

“Yes, ma’am.” I answer with what I hope is a similar smile.

“Good.” She says. “I’ve got to go practice with Nathaniel now.” Her face loses the bubbliness it had just before and is replaced with mild fear. She quickly tries to hide it. “Good luck.” She strides off towards Nathaniel, who is sitting down with a cardboard box. I watch them for a few minutes. It seems that the box has in it a few mice, and she’s trying to get Nataniel to touch them without them dying, but he fails every time. I frown as she keeps her distance, even though Nathaniel can’t hurt her unless he touches her with his bare skin, which is completely covered beside his face.

I tear my eyes away and try to concentrate on my own emotions. I try to push them all into the back of my head. The fear of being here, the excitement, the sadness that comes whenever I think of my mother, the loneliness I feel as I miss my dad, all of it. After a few minutes I think I’ve successfully cleared my mind, and I try to pick up the pillow. White energy flows through the air and picks up the pillow, but as excitement rushes back through me it explodes. I jump back in surprise and look at the floating feathers in frustration.

Ms. Woodhouse notices what happens and calls another boy over, one that looks about the same age as Bryan. He’s got curly brown hair, a lot like Tony’s from the plane, and a beefy figure. He does something with his hands and all the feathers and ripped fabric come back together to form the pillow again, and then he leaves to fix another that has burst into flames. “Try again.” Ms. Woodhouse tells me, and I do the same thing over again.

The whole class I try this over and over. Most of the time the same thing happens, the pillow explodes, flies across the room, or rips in half. The curly haired boy -- who’s name I found out is William -- fixes it every time. I don’t know what his charm is called, but it’s pretty cool.

Toward the end of the class, I finally get to where I can make the pillow float in mid air for a full minute, and then I let it gently come back down. In another burst of excitement, it explodes on the floor just the same. But at least it’s something.

“Good job!” Ms. Woodhouse cheers me, clapping. “It’s almost time to end class though, so rest up. You need to stay after for your one on one Charm Control class.” I listen to what she says, and lay on my back on the hard floor. I do feel exhausted, like my energy is depleted. I look at my phone and the clock says 3:23 on top of my lock screen of my mom, dad, and I. I smile at it as I click the screen off.

Soon the bell rings, piercing through the loud chatter of students. Everybody starts to pack up to leave. Nathaniel looks extremely tired, almost like he could fall asleep right there on his feet. But to my surprise he walks over to me.

“Exhausted too?” I ask the obvious and he nods. “I would come with you, but I got to stay for one on one Charm Control.”

“Oh.” He replies in a small voice. “Well, I’ll see you after then. At the library maybe?” He then realizes what he’s said, and adds. “I mean, if you want to. It’s okay if you don’t.”

I chuckle warmly. “I would love too, Nathaniel.”

This causes him to actually smile. “You can call me Nate.” And with that he walks out the door, leaving me the only one in the room with Ms. Woodhouse.

“He’ll be here in a few minutes. Eat this until he gets here, it’ll help you gain your strength back.” She hands me a Hershey’s chocolate bar.

“You’re not teaching me?” I ask with a hint of sadness, peeling open the chocolate bar.

“No, but you’ll like him.” She smiles at me warmly and heads toward the door, with a final “Great job today, Elina!” Before leaving.

I sit on one of the pillows that are still intact, and eating chocolate as I wait. The chocolate melts in my mouth, and I try to savor the flavor, eating it slowly. As I finish it, I desperately wish I had more. I also feel a lot better than I did before eating it, Ms. Woodhouse was right, it does replenish your energy.   

I hear footsteps and I tense up. Soon someone walks into the large room, someone I did not think I would see here. It’s the Dean, Mr. Allore.

“Hello, I hear I’m teaching you a--” He stops mid sentence when he sees me. He stares at me with wide, silver eyes. I almost feel intimidated. Someone so old is standing here before me, in the school that he founded. He starts to walk towards me slowly, like he’s seeing the ghost of someone he knows is dead.

“Noelle…?” He asks slowly.

“No, I’m Elina. Noelle’s my middle name.” I respond nervously. His face loses some of the shocked expression, but not all of it.

“Is your mother’s name Noelle?”

“No, her name was Lindsay Faith. My dad’s name is Dalton.” At this is face loses all shock, and is replaced with confusion.

“Oh, I’m sorry, my mistake. You just… You just remind me of someone.” He waves it off casually, but I still want to know more. I don’t ask, despite my curiosities.

“So, you’re here for one on one Charm Control. What’s your charm might I ask?” I notice a hint of a French accent, that’s faded and been replaced with some Italian and English.

“Energy Bending.” I tell him simply. I get another shocked expression, and then one of realization, but he doesn’t say anything.

“I see why they called me to do it.” He says, taking a few smaller pillows out of his bag.

“Why’s that, sir?” I ask politely.

“Because I’m the only one who’s seen someone with this power before. There’s only been one case of it that we know of.” He tells me.

“I assume Ms. Woodhouse had you practicing clearing your emotions, yes?” I nod, confirming his question.

He then pulls up a pillow of his own and sits in front of me, criss cross. Something I would not expect someone who’s five-hundred and seventy-two to do.

“The reason she had you doing that was because emotions are the base of your power. They fuel it. When you experience strong negative emotions like anger, frustration, and hate, it can be dangerous unless you know how to control it. Emotions like love, happiness, joy, etcetera, is less dangerous. It can actually fuel your power to do beautiful things. When doing certain… tricks, for lack of a better word, you will have to find those emotions inside of you. Basically thinking a happy thought.” As he explains I find myself intrigued. It was interesting learning about the schools history and other powers, but learning about my own is completely fascinating. “You have the most powerful Charm as all. Energy based charms are already the most powerful, but being able to bend energy is like having all those charms, and some from other categories combined.” Now he’s smiling at me. “You’re going to do great things, Elina.”

“So, lets get started on the happy emotions before we try and deal with the negative ones. They’re harder to master if you don’t have your positive ones in control.” He folds his hands together and leans on them, resting his elbows on his knees. “I want you to find a happy thought, the happiest thought you can think of, okay?”

I nod and search my brain, closing my eyes. It’s hard to find it through all the bad memories. I finally find it. It’s a day from when I was seven. My mom, dad and I are on vacation. We are sitting on a blanket that’s in the middle of a field in North Carolina. The sun is shining down on us warmly. My mom and dad are smiling and laughing at each other, drinking wine and eating finger sandwiches. I’m running around with our small dog named Fluffy, a half eating peanut butter sandwich in my hand. The dog yelps at me playfully, licking at my legs that poke out from my pink sundress, my white hair blowing behind me in the breeze.

I smile to myself thinking of the memory. I hear Mr. Allore say, “Open your eyes.” and I do. I notice that a beautiful light is engulfing me, making the room brighter than before. It feels like the sunshine from that beautiful spring day on my skin. But the more I think about my mother on that spring day, I think of how she’s not here anymore, how someone took her from me. How I’ll never have another spring picnic with her again, how someone took that from me. Rage flows in.

As soon as the rage comes, the energy turns from white to dark red, consuming me in an explosion like image, and I can hear the breaking of glass.

“You need to calm it down!” Mr. Allore tells me in a surprisingly calm voice. “Find that happy memory again Elina, I know you can do it!” I do as he says, and picture that day again. As I do the light dies down, and eventually goes away completely. The lights have all been blown and the window on the door is broken. I reach up and notice there’s a tear on my cheek. I quickly wipe it away.

Mr. Allore is no longer in front of me, but he’s lighting candles all around the room. He then comes to sitting in front of me again, handing me another chocolate bar. I open it with shaky fingers and pop one in my mouth.

“It’s okay, that was actually good for your first time.” He tells me and I can see in his eyes that he’s telling the truth. “You saw how you can do beautiful things with your power, and you also saw how destructive it can be.”

I nod, taking another bite of chocolate.

“May I ask what your happy thought was?”

“It was a spring picnic day that my parents and I had while we were on vacation in North Carolina.” I tell him duly. “Nothing interesting.”

“One of your parents, are they deceased?” He asks gently.

“Yeah, my mom. How did you know?” I tilt my head. He ignores my question.

“You need to have a memory or thought that doesn’t involve your mother. It can always lead to you thinking about her death, which can result in things like this,” He gestures around the room at the broken glass. “happening. Try again, but with a different thought.”

I close my eyes again and try to search for one. When I can’t find a memory, I think of how I want my future to be. It has me, with my powers fully in control. I’m using it to help people. I have a house in a beautiful neighborhood somewhere, I’ve got a nice husband and two kids. They’re playing in the street with their friends. We’re having a barbecue, all my friends that I’ve met here are there with their husbands. I’m happy.

I open my eyes and realize that the same thing is happening. White energy is engulfing me once again in a beautiful light, one that’s sparkling like stars in the sky. As I think more of my future, small, white snowflake like shapes form and are sprinkling down on me and Mr. Allore. I try to add more to my thought of the future, so I add my dad. But as I add him, I find that I can’t add my mother. My energy turns dark red once again and the snowflakes are gone, I accidentally blow out all the candles before I get it in control again. We are left in darkness.

“It was better that time, you were able to hold the good thought or memory, and when it turned bad you got it under control quickly.” Mr. Allore praises as he walks around and lights the candles once again. Once he’s done he looks down at his watch.

“Well, it’s time for you to go. Now, I don’t want you practicing this unless I’m here. It could be dangerous. But I do want you to practice clearing your mind of all emotions. Once you are able to do that easily, it will be easier to get in control of your negative emotions and possibly use them to your advantage.” He smiles at me, almost with a smile of fondness, like he’s known me for years and is seeing me once again. Like I’m an old friend. “I’ll see you tomorrow then… Elina.”

I start to gather my things. “Thank you for helping me.” I say, my hand on the door frame.

“Oh, you’re quite welcome.” He says happily. I smile and head out the door.

I’ve got to meet up with my strange new friend in the library.