Marks on my Wrist

my first chapter i hope you like it.

 

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

 

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.

           I guess I knew all along that she was there watching me. I saw her, a couple of times trying to hide from my view but not really succeeding. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short kind of like a pixie. She had it spiked up in the back, and in the front it was longer and put to one side covering her right eye. She wore a dress that was maroon, elegantly long and simple. All-in-all she did not belong in a public high school setting.

         Okay I’ll admit at first I didn’t think she was looking for me but that assumption changed very quickly. When I saw her and she looked back at me she winked. And well I just kind of figured she was therefore me. That and the fact that every time I asked someone if they saw her they looked at me like I was crazy. So when I finally went to the bathroom it was no surprise that she found me there.

          She was standing by one of the many porcelain sinks opposite of the stalls. When I came out of the farthest stall, you know the one made for handicap people, I looked at her. Now, when I finally looked at her in a close view I realized she was absolutely mesmerizing. She had the bone structure of an American Indian but her skin was as white as a ghost. Her lips were a glassy dark pink that oddly complimented her hair. But the thing most astounding about her was her eyes. They were so shiny and silver that the color could catch even a blind mans eyes. Okay maybe not a blind man but you know what I mean, they were amazing.

           We stood there looking at one another for a long time before she finally spoke.

           “You are Kylaine daughter of none, am I correct?” her voice was the sound of the sweetest flute.

           “Y-Yes, but my last name is priest,” I looked at her, stunned at her very presence.

           “Well then let’s do this,” she said rubbing her perfect hands together. “Sorry this is my first time doing this on my own. Okay!” as she said this next part she looked kind of in a trance state. “Kylaine daughter of none you have been summoned to the House of the Roses on the third day of the fourth month of the year, to fulfill a destiny laid out for you before your birth.” Now her eyes centered on me and the fog that had taken over her eyes was gone. “Ah there we go. Boy I bet your gonna do great things. Not because I’m your tracker but because I can just feel it. Well hey don’t tell anyone that I was talking to you. Okay? I really would get suspended. Trackers aren’t supposed to socialize with there subjects.”

           As she talked on I felt this gnawing ache in my left wrist. I looked down to see a newly made, un-bloomed rose tattoo. The stem on the rose wrapped around my wrist to the back of my hand and spread out to the bottom of my fingernails. The outline of just the rose was a shiny black and the stem was green.

           The girl looked down at my wrist and looked back up at me, “I told you, you were special,” was all she said about that. “Here is your map to get from your school to the Rose House. They will be expecting you. Good-bye Kylaine daughter of none.” And then she started to walk out of the bathroom.

            “Wait,” I said as she was headed out the door. She turned to look at me.

               “Yes?”

               “What is your name?”

                “Oh I don’t have a name, no tracker does honey.”

                When she had left I sat in the bathroom for a while trying to think of how to get away from my foster parents. They were really uptight about letting me go places because I had left and not come back before. It wasn’t like I wanted them to worry, I just didn’t enjoy being under their roof. The man didn’t like me, or maybe it was that he liked me a little too much. But I really don’t talk about that.

                  Finally I figured I might need to go back to class. When I was about half way back to class I figured it out. I wouldn’t go home; I wouldn’t even go back to class! I would sneak off campus and go straight to the Rose House.

                  Sneaking off campus was a little more difficult than I thought. Teachers were everywhere. The first place I went was the student parking lot but saw that Mr. Talon was pacing around the entrance which meant that idea was bumped. The next place I went had like five teachers, of course the day I wanna sneak off campus right. So I realized I really didn’t care if I got caught I mean come on I’m not a baby.

                     I went to the one place they would never think to put security, the front gate. By the time anyone saw me I would be off campus and they couldn’t do anything because I was already off. That is exactly what happened too.

 

 

       * * *

 

                     The dilapidated building looked scary at night. It wasn’t falling apart like you would think; it just looked bad and old, really old. The shingles on the roof were not very far from caving in and the glass windows were broken and boarded up. The gate had holes from where dogs and other creatures I didn’t even want to think about had gotten through to hide in the abandon house from a storm.

               I sat looking at the house for a long time when a man appeared beside me. Now don’t get me wrong, he scared the hell out of me but for some reason I kind of knew he was there. Just instinct I guess. The man stood in a silver cloak that was held not by a string but a very pretty rose broach. His hood was on so I really couldn’t see his face but his hair flowed out of the hood in a wave of gold.

             “Name please,” he said in a husky and harsh voice.

            “Um… Kylaine… my name is Kylaine.”

            “Oh yes we have been expecting you Kylaine daughter of none, my name is professor Astric. We were actually expecting you later than this.” He said with a complete change from his harsh voice to a sweet husky tone.

           “It was kind of easier to sneak of campus then my foster parents’ house so I came early. Is that okay?” I asked this shyly as if he would turn me away in the cold because I had skipped school to be here.

           “Well we’ll just have to send them a letter saying that you are safe that is fine. No trouble at all miss Kylaine, no trouble at all. Now lets get you inside you must be exhausted. Did you walk here?” he looked at me and shook his head.

           “I had no money and no car so I had to walk. And where are we going into this is the address the woman gave me but this is an abandoned house.”

          “Oh I am sorry I completely forgot to take the surrounding image off the school.” Professor Astric waved a hand right in front of my face and then went back to his normal stance. “There you go all better.” He said then turned to the abandon house.

           The change was abrupt; the house went from well a house to a giant mansion right there on Howard Street. It was big but not that big, it had a creamy red color for the main paint coat but every twenty feet on the paint was five roses put in a bouquet. The roses all had a different color the colors were blue, red, silver, gold, and black. The door to the “school” was a pretty mahogany but I didn’t see it for long because someone came out and said the professor’s name.

              A very small man about the size of a large three year old (and a voice to match) came at a rapid pace down the front stairs.

            “Professor Astric, I have come to relieve you of your duty tonight. Everyone is waiting for you to start the year off as only you can.” The older short dwarf wiggled his eyebrows and turned to me, “what is your name miss?” 

             “Zamer this is Kylaine a student that has just arrived.” Professor Astric said and gave me a shove with his hand toward the door.

              “Okay Astric but she needs to get seated right away. The magic starts soon. Ha ha, get it magic ha I find myself hilarious.” The man kept talking as the professor and I went inside the school.

              Okay when I say this school was amazing I mean, well, wow. The hall was in all green marble and red curtains against mahogany doors. Two large doors at the end of the entrance hall were open exposing a wonderful room filled with people and light. I had been walking towards it without even knowing it until professor Astric came to the side of me.

            “Kylaine let me see your arm so that we can put you in the right place in the Gathering Room.” He said and stopped me. I held up me arm to him and heard his very soft intake of breath. He stood looking at my tattoo for a long minute before he stepped back from being so close to me. “Seems I have been mistaken, see I thought you a mere blue rose which you are not. Black is the highest level Miss Kylaine. You are a very high level witch.”

            Now before he said that I thought I was just dreaming but something happened when he said the word witch. I didn’t feel as if I was one of those scary warts on the nose witches from the movies. I felt alive with a power I didn’t know existed until this point, a very strong power with a magnitude I knew even to other magical people would acknowledge.

            “So what does that mean?” I asked him just to make sure what I thought I knew.

            “I’ll let your mentor tell you that.” He said. He started walking toward the well lit room with a huge smile on his face, like he had just won a prize or something. He waited at the door for me to go in first, so I did. The room was filled with kids my age and older. I’m seventeen by the way; I turn eighteen in a few months. All the kids had on dress pants or black skirts and white button up shirts, that is all except a very few student and well, me.

            All the students were sitting at a high number of round tables placed in circles around the very large room. I automatically noticed the smallest group of people in the room. There were three people all at one table in the smallest circle of tables. They all were talking to each other and no one even came near them. At once I really wanted to be with them. I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s like the biggest craving you have ever had times twenty. I looked over at the professor and he was looking at the crowd to.

        “Ah there he is,” he said then started walking toward the group I was so drawn to. I kind of felt relieved when he walked straight toward the small group of people. As we got closer I realized that the three people were all my age or a couple years older. There was a girl around my age; she had dark red hair that waved perfectly around her face. She was holding the hand of a blonde haired boy. Across the table from them sat a guy about twenty years old. He had long black hair that spilled over his shoulders and covered some of his face. He was staring at his rose tattoo that was identical to mine.

        It was as if he heard us coming because his head popped up to stare at us as we came up.

     “Ah Professor Blaine, I have brought you a new student.” Professor Astric said pulling me along. And it was then that I finally saw his eyes. Blue, but not the normal blue, no these were a transparent blue. His eyes were kind yet hard in a way.

    “And what would your name be?” Professor Blaine asked in a smooth low voice.

     “Kylaine, Kylaine Priest.” As I said this I began scratching the inside of my elbow. It a nervous twitch I’ve had since I can remember. It felt as though he was looking at my soul.

    “Well come and sit. You are welcome. Japer I believe it is time or your speech.” Professor Blaine said never taking his eyes off me.

    “Oh yes, yes you are right Asher. Please excuse me.” And with that Professor Astric walked to his podium.

    “Hello Kylaine, I’m Dreamer, and this is Errin. Welcome to the Black Roses.” She had a sweet voice and she reached out and touched my hand.

   My reaction was so sudden, first I was standing there and the next thing I knew I was seeing her at ninety-four. She was sitting in a chair smiling as she took her last breath. It felt so real that a single tear dripped from my eye.

    As I came to I was still standing there and she had just taken her hand away from mine. I smiled weakly at her and slid into a chair across from her. Errin leaned over to her and whispered in her ear and she looked at me.

    “Its okay, I understand what you saw. Errin told me what you did. He is a power reader.”

    “What exactly did she see?” I had forgotten for a moment about the professor sitting next to me.

    “My death,” Dreamer said off handedly like it was nothing. Like I had just seen what she ate or breakfast that day. Professor Blaine was appraising me from the side as I shook off the feeling of death.