Chapter 1

In the Carandan(CAR-on-don) Clan, a 16 year old girl named Ashley hummed a cheerful tune as she wrapped a present for her best friend Eva, who’s birthday was today.

“I hope she turns,” Ashley murmured as she tied the lime green ribbon. “I really want to be able to go to high school with her!”

As Ashley put the tape and wrapping paper away, a small device in the corner beeped. “Time to go, Ash.”

“Alright, I’m on my way!” she pulled on her black tennis shoes, grabbed the present, and began the short walk to Eva’s house.

___________________________________

Eva’s house was all decked out in green and pink balloons, streamers, and lights. Ashley could hear the sound of muffled screaming from inside. She smiled at the familiar sounds and knocked on the door, where she was let in by Eva’s mother.

Inside was absolute chaos. The guests of the party appeared to have started a pillow fight/medieval role play, with pillows and blankets scattered across the room, and a castle made of pillows in the corner. Eva was currently occupying the castle, and seemed very proud of it, until a group of three or four other teens tackled her out of it, allowing another person to claim it.

Ashley stood shocked for a moment, then laughed and placed her present with the others. She scanned the room for where Eva had gone to. Locating her, Ashley made her way through the mess of pillows and screaming teenagers towards her. 

“Happy birthday!” Ashley shouted above the noise. When she made eye contact with Eva, she gasped as information flooded her head. “You turned!” she squealed.

Eva laughed. “I did! I was hoping that you wouldn’t notice until my reveal.”

“You know my ability. Why would you think I wouldn’t notice? I know eeeeeeeverything”.

Eva pouted a little. “Yeah, but I wanna see if there's anything you don’t know.”

“I don’t think that’s ever going to happen,” Ashley laughed. “But, anyway, what’s happening here?”

“Oh, this? Jenna had a great idea to do a pillow fight, and we built a castle that everyone wants to rule. I had it for a couple minutes before Lizzie, Kia, and Alex pushed me off, so now Fabian has it.” She gestured to the blond boy on the pillow mound.

“Let’s take it back, then!”

“Yeah!”

The next hour passed very fast for Ashley. She and Eva were constantly battling Alex and Kia for the throne(Lizzie had left the fight to eat cookies), dodging assaults from other guests, and occasionally snagging a snack from the kitchen. 

The pure chaos stopped when Eva’s mother entered the room and called out: “Who wants cake?”

At once everyone dropped their pillows. “Me!” They all said.

Eva’s mother laughed at their antics. “Alright, everyone sit down and I’ll bring it out.”

People started to sit down in small groups on the floor and in chairs. Ashley ended up sitting with Eva, Lizzie, and Alex.

“Who got the castle in the end?” Lizzie asked curiously.

“We did!” Eva replied at the same time that Alex said: “We would have if you didn’t abandon us.”

Lizzie looked apologetic. “Sorry, I wanted cookies.”

Alex grinned. “You know I’m only joking. That was still really fun!”

“It really was!” Ashley joined in. “Alex, who planned the attacks for your team?”

“Actually, I did,” Alex grinned sheepishly.

Eva’s eyes widened. “Really? Those attacks were amazingly coordinated!”

“Thanks, but Kia helped a lot, too.”

“Hey what about me?” Lizzie interjected.

“Well you left halfway through,” Alex teased.

“But cookies!” Lizzie protested.

“Yes, cookies, Alex! Cookies!” Ashley laughed.

Just then, the doorbell rang. “Oh, I’ll go get that,” Eva said, and walked over to the door.

“Happy Birthday, Eva!” Ashley heard the person say. No way. There’s no way she invited him. Her suspicions were confirmed when she looked up to see the bane of her existence, Justin of the Sheenderin(SHEEN-dur-en) Clan.

“Hey,” the same voice said, snapping Ashley out of her thoughts. “You’re Ash, right? Eva’s told me about you.”

“Has she?” Ashley spoke through her teeth. “And my name is Ashley.”

“Yeah. She said that you're her best friend and that you're a really fun person.”

“Hm.”

“So, Ash, tell me about that power of yours.”

“I know things.”

“Please elaborate.”

Lizzie seemed to have noticed Ashley’s discomfort. “You know the rest of us exist, too, right?”

Justin shifted his gaze to her. “Yes, of course, how could I forget.” He paused for a moment. “Who are you?

“I’m Lizzie of the Rundurn(ROON-dern) Clan!”

Justin made a noise of recognition. “Ah, the Rundurn Clan. How are things there?”

“Um, good, I guess? I don’t really know.”

“Hm, how shameful. You should always know what’s happening in your Clan.”

Lizzie appeared slightly intimidated. “Uh, okay.”

Thankfully, Eva returned to the group at the moment. Ashley stood up. “Excuse us for a moment.” She grabbed Eva’s arm and dragged her into a corner.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Eva asked.

“Why is he here?” Ashley hissed.

“I invited him.”

“Why?”

“He’s actually really nice, okay.”

“Nice!? The school bully is nice?”

“He’s not a bully! He’s just helping people realize who they are.”

“Helping! What he’s doing isn’t helping!”

“He is! That’s what he told me!”

Ashley sighed. “Do you ever consider the option that people might be lying to you?”

“He wouldn’t!”

“How long have you known him? A day? Two?”

“A week!”

“That’s not enough time to know all these things about someone!”

“Well I just think that you can’t stand the thought of me having another best friend!”

“No, that’s not what’s happening!”

“Well, Justin is a good friend, and you can’t change that!” Eva angrily walked away, leaving Ashley alone in the corner.

__________________________________

Meanwhile, in a field in the middle of the Fromaud(fraum-ODD) Clan, a boy was playing with his siblings. They appeared to be split into two groups, one with two people on horses, and another with three people on foot. One of the horsemen was invisible, and the other only had his head vanished.

“Everyone, Attack!” yells a girl with long brown hair as she waves a wooden sword. The other two raised their swords and cheered in response and charged at the horsemen, who prepared for combat.

“Ugh, could you keep it down?” a voice sounded from a little ways away. All five of the players turned towards the source.

“Come on Nigel, why do you always have to ruin our fun?” The invisible horseman sighed.

The source of the voice, which was an annoyed looking boy sitting under a tree, managed to look even more annoyed. “I’m not allowed to go back inside until you all finish, and I’d rather read than do nothing.” He gestured to the book on his lap.

“You know, you can always join us,” the brunette girl offered.

Nigel scoffed. “As if I’d ever do that.”

“Aw, come on! You could at least try it!”

“No! You should know by now that I’m not getting caught up in any warfare!” Nigel shut his book with a snap and stomped back towards the close door on the back of a thatch hut.

“He does this every time, who wasn’t expecting it?” a blonde said cheerfully. “Let’s just keep playing! Forget about him!”

“Yeah, okay. Let’s go!” everyone shouted.

_________________________________

Nigel sighed. He could hear his siblings going back to their stupid fighting game outside. Ruin their fun? If only they knew… 

“Nigel, why are you back inside before your siblings?” a stern voice said from behind him. Nigel felt all the hairs on his neck stand on end. He slowly turned around to see his father standing there.

A towering 6 foot 7, Nigel’s father was extremely intimidating. He stood with his head almost touching the ceiling, glaring with his arms crossed.

“U-um, I just-” Nigel began, but was cut off before he could finish.

“Well, since you’re back early, go to the store. Get some carrots, apples, and wheat. Make a stop at Lauren’s as well.”

Nigel opened his mouth to protest, reconsidered, and settled for “Okay.”

_________________________________

Knock knock. Nigel anxiously waited outside of Lauren’s shop for the door to open. He glanced around multiple times in the two minutes it took. When the door opened, he immediately entered the shop.

Inside the shop was very messy. Scraps of fabric were strewn across the floor and a sewing kit was laying open on a table.

Lauren was sitting in her “creativeness chair”, as she called it. Her brown hair was disheveled and there were dark bags under her eyes. She was tiredly sewing up a hole in a pink dress that looked way too fancy for Fromaud. 

“Is that for Candy?” Nigel asked, setting down the food he had brought Lauren. He hoped that his father wouldn’t notice the extra money missing.

Lauren set down her needle and rubbed her eyes. “Yeah. She wants the clothes a lot sooner than I thought.” Her eyes landed on the food. “Ooh! Is that for me?”

“Yeah,” Nigel smiled at her eagerness. Even though Lauren was several years older than him(5, to be precise), he sometimes felt like her older brother. It was nice to have a sibling(or sibling-like person) that didn’t constantly tease and belittle him. 

“So what did you come here for? Surely it wasn’t just to bring me food,” Lauren said with her mouth full of apple.

“Uh, yeah, actually. My father wants me to get another cape for Jerry.”

“Ugh, Jerry again?! I never want to meet your family. They sound so self absorbed!”

Nigel laughed. “Well, Kat’s okay. But the rest, yeah pretty much.”

“Well, let's get that cape, then,” Lauren threw her apple core into a bin in the corner. “Yesss.”

As Lauren handed the cape to Nigel, the door opened and a little girl walked in. She had curly, shoulder-length blonde hair and she wore what looked like a wedding dress and veil with a pearl necklace. 

“Jennifer!” Nigel said happily. He hadn’t seen her in what felt like forever. 

“Hello Nigel. Lauren, are the clothes ready yet?” Jennifer spoke in a very sophisticated sounding voice that seemed almost musical. 

“A few of them. The pink dress for Candy is done, and Kil’s suit is completed as well.”

“Wonderful. Give them to me, I will deliver them.”

Lauren handed the clothes to Jennifer. “Take care of them. They’re pretty valuable here.”

Jennifer nodded. “I know.” 

_________________________________

A long ways away, Jennifer entered a very secret place. “I have Candy’s dress and Kilian’s suit.”

A cheerful voice echoed throughout the dark room. “That’s brilliant! Right guys?!” 

A chorus of small voices sounded in agreement.

“Now come join us, Jenny! We’re playing Werewolf!” the same voice invited.

Jennifer made a slightly disgusted face. “No, thank you.”

“Come on! Please Jenny?” A very childish voice asked.

Jennifer sighed. “Fine. But it’s not because I want to indulge in such fruitless activities.”

The laughter from their game carried out into the dark forest around their fortress. The animals opened their eyes and howled/buzzed/made noise along with them.

End chapter 1 

Chapter 2

“Woah!” Ashley exclaimed as she gazed up at the school. It was massive, even bigger than she thought. She looked around at the other new students. Spotting Eva across the crowd, Ashley waved to her, but Eva turned away. Ashley noticed with a sinking feeling that she was with Justin.

“Hello,” a voice came from behind Ashley. She jumped in surprise before catching herself. Turning around, Ashley saw a kind looking redhead maybe a few years older than her.

“Uh, hi,’ Ashley stammered.

“You’re Ashley of Carandan, right? I’m supposed to accompany you for your first day. My name is Clara. I’m from Sheenderin.”

“Nice to meet you, Clara.” Ashley inwardly groaned. Just her luck that she’d be stuck with someone from Sheenderin. That clan was full of stuck-up, bratty bullies.

“-r first class?” Ashley was jolted out of her thoughts by Clara asking her a question.

“Uh, first class? It’s, uh,” Ashley rummaged in her bag for her schedule. “Advanced Potions.”

“Wow, what a coincidence. I’m actually also in that class. Maybe the teachers did that on purpose?”

“Maybe. Where is it?”

“Well, follow me.” Clara led Ashley through the front doors of the school. Inside was absolutely gorgeous. The entryway was entirely made of a strange type of pale rose colored stone that almost appeared to be glowing. The ceiling stretched up higher than any ceiling Ashley had ever seen before, and appeared to have some sort of writing on it. It was hard to tell at that distance.

Clara beckoned to her, and Ashley hurried down a side hallway next to a grand staircase that spiraled up to the next floor of the building. 

This hallway was less grand than the entryway, yet it was still beautiful. It seemed to be sloping down underneath the school, and the hallway got steadily darker, with the rose colored stone giving way to a more familiar color. Finally, Ashley and Clara were met by a large stone door. A group of about 10 other students were gathered in front of it.

“What’s going on?” Ashley asked.

“He hasn’t opened the door yet. I bet he’s preparing some grand entrance,” a redhead answered her question. Ashley found herself struck by the brightness of his unusual neon pink eyes. Surprisingly, her ability didn’t seem to work on him.

“Do you think he’ll come through the floor again?” a blonde girl asked.

“No, he did that last time. He won’t do it again for a while,” a boy beside her answered. 

As they talked Ashley became more and more nervous. This teacher seems strange. I hope he’s nice. The other students seem fond of him.

Just then, a ‘Wheeeeeee’ was heard from above the group. Ashley looked up to see a very old man with a beard longer than his body drop from the ceiling with a rope around his waist. His arms were outstretched as if he was flying. 

The students moved out of the way of him as he untied himself and dropped to the floor. “Gooooooood morning students!”

“Good morning, Professor Epic,” the students responded.

“Professor Epic?” Ashley whispered to Clara.

Clara gave a little laugh. “That’s what he insists we call him. Nobody knows what his real name is.”

“Oh,” Ashley responded, feeling a bit dumb. She tried to make eye contact with Professor Epic, but her ability was blocked by his glasses.

“Now let’s all go make some POTIONS, because that’s what we do in this class.” Professor Epic sauntered through the now open door with the students filing after him.

Inside the classroom was exactly what you’d think a potions classroom would be. 6 desks, each with 2 chairs at them, and a cauldron on each desk. Cabinets lined the walls, each filled with jars of various potion ingredients. 

The other students each walked to their desks and sat with their deskmate. Ashley looked to Clara for help, who smiled apologetically.

“Sorry, but I already have a deskmate.” She pointed to a brunet boy who seemed to be fiddling with a robot of some kind.

“Oh.” Against her better judgement, Ashley found herself a bit disappointed.

“But, your deskmate will be Sadie, and she’s really nice!” Clara seemed to be trying to cheer Ashley up.

“Okay then.” Ashley walked over to the desk that Clara had pointed to. She recognised the girl sitting there as the same one that had mentioned Professor Epic entering through the floor. She looked up as Ashley approached.

“Hi! I’m Sadie! What’s your name?” She was obviously very energetic and social.

“I’m Ashley.”

“Ooh, that’s a really pretty name! What clan are you from?”

“Carandan.”

“I’m from Glonderif. What’s it like in Carandan?”

It’s-” Ashley began, but was interrupted by Professor Epic. 

“So today you’re going to make some Droughts of Instant Death, as requested by someone who will remain anonymous. Near the end of class, we will test your creations on some of the rats that have been plaguing my walls. Commence!”

“Ohhh, I don’t want to test it on animals!” Sadie protested.

“Oh, well,” Ashley flipped through her potions book to the right page. “We have to test our potions on something.”

“Who even requested a Drought of Instant Death? That’s a horrible thing to request!”

“I don’t know. The first ingredient is a drop of demon blood. Can you turn the flame on?” 

“Fine,” Sadie sighed as she reached for the knob under the cauldron. 

Ashley walked over to one of the cabinets on the wall. She noticed another student also walking over there. It was the boy with the neon pink eyes.

“Hello,” the boy greeted her when they met at the cabinet. 

“Hi,” Ashley opened the cabinet and reached for a small vial labeled ‘Demon’s blood’. Straining on the tips of her toes, she found that she couldn’t reach it.

The boy laughed. “A little short, are you?” He reached up above Ashley’s head and retrieved two vials. Handing one to her he said: “Here you go. My name’s Jamie, by the way.” Before Ashley could answer, he had returned to his table. 

Back at Ashley’s table, Sadie had started the fire successfully, and was patiently waiting for Ashley to return. 

“Here,” Ashley set the vial down on the table. “I’ll get the rest of the ingredients now as well.”

When she returned to the table with the last ingredient(a live black widow inside a glass jar), several of her classmates had already started their potions. Clara’s partner was energetically mashing the belladonna berries with a mortar and pestle.

“Okay, ready?” Sadie asked.

“Yep. First ingredient is the demon blood,” Ashley picked up the vial and carefully tilted it over the cauldron so that only a drop fell in. The liquid inside that was previously clear slowly turned dark red.

“Okay, next is the belladonna berries,” Ashley peered at the recipe.

“Here!” Sadie held out a mortar with the mashed up berries. “I mashed them up while you were getting the spider!”

“Cool, thanks!” Maybe Sadie wasn’t such a bad partner after all.

Ashley scraped the berries into the concoction, and watched it turn a purplish color. “Good. That’s the color it’s supposed to be.” She held out her hand to Sadie. “Spider, please.”

Sadie gingerly picked up the jar by its lid. Every time the spider moved, she would flinch and hold the jar farther away from her. She seemed very relieved when Ashley took the jar.

“Don’t we have to kill it before it goes in?” Sadie asked, still very shaken from holding the spider.

“No, it’s supposed to be boiled alive.”

“Oh, right. Okay then.”

Ashley took a deep breath, unscrewed the lid of the jar, and immediately tipped the jar upside down over the cauldron. Tapping the side of the jar, she dumped the black widow into the pot and watched it sink beneath the water. She knew it was dead when the potion turned black.

“Perfect. We’ve finished.” 

“Yay!” Sadie exclaimed. “Professor Epic!”

As if he had been summoned, Professor Epic appeared next to their table. “Yes, children?”

“We finished!”

“Alright, just hang out for a bit until everyone else finishes.” he hopped away to check on some other students.

Sadie turned to Ashley. “This was fun! What do you want to talk about?

“I don’t know.”

“Hm. I know! What are your hobbies?”

“I guess, reading? I don’t really know. I like learning things.”

“Ooh, interesting! I like dancing and hanging out with friends. Do you know anyone else who goes to this school?”

“Yes, actually! My older sister Violet, she was transferred to Sheenderin a few years ago. Do you know her?”

“Violet? Of course I know her! She’s the head of the Student Council! She’s so cool!”

“Oh, wow! I had no idea she was doing these things. That is really cool!” Of course Violet’s in the Student Council. Violet had always been a very social and talkative person(like Sadie). Everyone liked her and she was always better at everything that Ashley. Better at making friends, better at being nice, more attractive, better at sports, etc. But even though Ashley slightly resented her for all these things, Violet was still her sister, and she was still happy to hear that she had made all these accomplishments.

“How long has it been since you’ve seen her?”

“A few months, I think?”

“Wow, that’s a long time! I could never imagine being away from my brother that long!”

“You have a brother?”

“Yeah, he’s 3 years younger than me. His name is Sal.”

“Cool.”

“Okay, students! It seems as if everyone has finished brewing their potions. Let’s test them!” Professor Epic reached into a small hole in the wall and pulled out a struggling rat. 

“How did he do that?” Ashley asked Sadie.

“What do you mean?”

“He just pulled a rat out of the wall! What do you think I mean?!”

“Oh, I see! It’s, like, a part of his ability. His ability is an area of affect thing where he can literally control everything in a specific area. That area is his classroom. He hardly ever leaves it! It’s a really cool ability, and really useful!”

“Oh, I see.”

Professor Epic walked over to Jamie’s desk first. He was paired with a very nervous looking boy with glasses. Professor Epic pulled out a pipette, picked some of the potion with it, and dropped it into the rat’s mouth. 

The rat immediately stopped squirming once the potion touched the back of its throat. It was dead. 

Sadie squirmed uncomfortably.

“Are you okay?” Ashley asked her. 

“Uh, yeah. I just don’t really like dead things,” Sadie gave a small smile.

“Oh. This class must suck for you.”

“Not all the time! Last class we made strength potions!”

“Oh. That does sound much better.”

While the two were talking, Professor Epic had reached their table. “Your turn!” He did the same routine with their potion. 

Sadie hid her face.

The potion was dripped into the rat’s mouth. It squealed once, and died. 

“Is it over?” Sadie asked.

“Yes, it is.”

“Congratulations!” Professor Epic bellowed. He was once again standing at the front of the classroom. “All of your potions are satisfactory! You are free to go!”

As the students filed out Ashley leaned over to Sadie. “What happens when the potions are not satisfactory?”

“Um, were either not allowed to leave early, or we have to do it again.”

“Oh.”

Ashley and Sadie parted ways after class, and Ashley was met at the door by Clara. “I see you’ve met Sadie. She’s nice! It’s good to see you’re making friends!”

“What are you my mom?” Ashley was still a little bitter about Eva.

Clara laughed. “I’ve been told that before. What’s your next class?”

“Ability Management.”

“Ah! What’s your category?”

“Enhancement.”

“That's not the same as mine, I’m in the ‘other’ category for people that have pretty unique abilities that they didn’t know what to do with.”

“Oh. What’s your ability?”

“I can eat wood just like any other food.”

Ashley laughed. “That’s a great ability. Mine’s that I can see a basic profile of everyone I make eye contact with.”

“What do you mean by ‘basic profile’”

“I can basically see their name, ability, clan, siblings, and some basic trivia facts.”

“That sounds really useful!”

“Yeah, it kind of is. Where are we?” Clara had led her into what appeared to be a garden behind the school.

“Oh! I’m part of the Gardening Club, so I just come back here in my free time. Oh, look! There’s Emerson. Hi, Emerson!” Clara waved.

A small blond boy with red antlers looked up and waved.

“Who’s Emerson?” Ashley asked.

“He’s one fo my friends in the Gardening Club. You might know his older brother, Justin?”

“Oh,” Ashley could not keep the disgust out of her voice.

“Yeah, Justin’s not a very nice person.”

“That’s an understatement.”

“Maybe. I generally try not to interact with him too much.”

“Smart.”

“Well, do you want to meet Emerson?”

“Why not.”

“Emerson! Come here! I have a friend for you to meet!”

Ashley was slightly taken aback at Clara referring to her as a friend, but shrugged it off as a slip of the tongue. There’s no way they were friends that fast.

Emerson walked over to the two of them. “H-hello. My n-name is Em-emerson. N-nice to m-meet you. Ashley noticed that he spoke with a slight stutter.

“Nice to meet you, too, Emerson. I’m Ashley.”

“Oh!” Emerson made a noise of recognition. “I’ve h-heard your n-name before! Do you k-know my b-brother?”

Ashley sighed. “Yeah, unfortunately.” She expected him to protest against her complaint, but he instead nodded in understanding. 

“He is k-kind of b-bad at being n-nice.”

“That’s an understatement.”

Clara laughed a little. “So, if you two are done being mean to Justin behind his back-”

Ashley cut her off before she could finish. “He totally deserves it.”

“I didn’t say he didn’t!” Clara held her hands up in the ‘I surrender’ pose. “Just saying that we should get to our next class.

“R-right,” Emerson brushed off his blue shorts as he joined Ashley and Clara in exiting the garden.

Clara walked  Ashley to her next class, parting with Emerson at one hallway. His ability category was ‘animal based’. Ashley didn’t know what his exact ability was because he always stared at the ground, so she could never meet his eyes.

“Here we are,” Clara stopped in front of a large wooden door.

“Oh, okay,” Ashley prepared to step inside. “I’ll see you after class?”

“Yes! Next is the Clan history period. We’ll be in different classes again, but after that is lunch! You can meet my friends!”

“Cool. See you then.” Taking a deep breath, Ashley opened the door to the classroom.

Inside was the most people she had ever seen in a classroom together. Granted, the classes in the schools in Carandan were rather small, but Ashley could count maybe around fifteen students in the class.

“Hey Ashley,” Ashley turned to see Alex standing beside her.

“Oh, Alex! You’re in the enhancement category, too?”

“Yep! My ability is photographic memory.”

“Mine’s that I can see a basic profile of everyone I make eye contact with.”

“Oh, that’s cool! What do you know about me?”

“Well-” Ashley mat Alex’s eyes. “Oh! Lizzie’s your sister?”

“Yeah, she is! Unfortunately, she’s too young to go to Magia Academy this year, but she’ll be here next year!”

Ashley noticed another bit of information that had already made itself right at home in her brain. “You’re from Alderin?!”

“Oh, um, yeah. I know, it’s strange that someone from Rundurn was spotted into Alderin. I guess they liked my ability?” He shrugged.

“Maybe.” Ashley cast her gaze on the other people in the room. “What happens in this class?”

“Um, I’ve only been here for a few months, but the teacher’s really nice! We just basically talk to each other about strengths and weaknesses of our abilities and how we can improve upon them.”

“Oh, that sounds fun.” Ashley looked around the room. “Where’s the teacher?”

“She’ll be here soon. She’s usually late.”

“Okay then.” Ashley walked over to one of the desks, choosing the seat in the second row, first from the right. Alex sat down next to her as she prepared to wait for the teacher.

She didn’t have to wait long. After only about a minute, a tall woman with honey blonde hair walked through the door. “Hello class! I know we have at least one new student, so allow me to introduce myself. My name is Professor Archer. Today, your discussion partners have changed to accommodate the new student or students. Your new partners will appear momentarily.”

Ashley watched as Professor Archer seemingly wrote a list of the partners in the air with a colored light. The list read:

Lucy & Tina

Aurea & Crystal

Heidi & Kia

Phil & Olivia

Ashley & Karl

Angela & Alex

Sadie & Kilian

Ashley was apparently paired with someone named Karl. She looked around for him in the classroom. Everyone else was slowly finding their partners, the only ones left were a blonde girl, a brunette girl, and a pink haired boy. Ashley decided to take her chances with the pink haired boy.

“Hello. Are you Karl?”

“Oh! Uh, yep, that’s me!”

“Cool. Um, so we’re supposed to discuss our abilities?”

“Yeah. So, uh, my ability is that I can create music using anything. I know, really useless, right?”

“Not necessarily. There are some ways that could be useful. Like, if a distraction is needed, you can provide one even if you don’t have anything that can normally make music.

“I guess, yeah! Yeah, that's a use for it! What’s your ability, then?”

“When I make eye contact with someone, I learn basic trivia about them.”

“That- that sounds way more useful,” Karl laughed. “Can you use it on me?”

“Sure!” Ashley lifted her gaze to meet his. “You don’t have any siblings?”

“No, but I wish I did.”

“You don’t want siblings, trust me.”

“You have siblings?”

“Yeah, two older sisters, Violet and Tallulah.”

“Cool.”

“What, no ‘Oh, I know Violet!’ or ‘Wow, you’re Violet’s sister?’”

“I genuinely don’t know who Violet is.”

“That’s not possible.”

“Apparently it is! So who is Violet?”

“She’s the president of the student council. She’s also always been really popular, so I’m assuming she still is.”

“Oh, that’s probably why I don’t know her. I don’t pay attention to popular people.”

“Ah. That does make sense.”

Karl and Ashley talked through the class about random things, like life in their clans, hobbies, and other things.

End Chapter 2

Chapter 3

There was a commotion in the hallway to the Wastian history class. Ashley looked to Clara and Karl, who looked as confused as her. People’s voices were overlapping each other’s, but Ashley could make out a few words.

“-can’t believe-”

“-oh my god-”

“-is that Dalia-”

“-who would do this-”

“-that’s disgusting-”

“-someone from Wastina-”

“-Endem attack-”

“-shredded-”

“What’s happening?” Ashley asked Clara. 

“I don’t know,” Clara responded. “It sounds like it was an Endem attack, maybe on someone from Wastina?”

Ashley pushed through the crowd, her curious nature making her desire to see what was happening. However, when she reached the front, what she saw was not what she was expecting.

The sickly sweet smell of rotting fruit couldn’t have prepared Ashley for what she saw. There was a body in the hallway, a pool of blood slowly spreading across the floor beneath it. It had been shredded to unrecognizability, and the pool of blood was slowly spreading. The person’s bones and insides were fully on display. A bloody cheese grater with several strings of flesh hanging off of it lay next to it.

Ashley was hit with a sudden wave of nausea. Her vision swam and she clamped a hand over her mouth to hold in her breakfast. 

“What’s happ- oh,” she heard from behind her. Karl and Clara had followed her through the cloud. Clara seemed relatively calm in spite of the body, whereas Karl was having a  similar reaction to Ashley, albeit not as severe.

“Oh, this does seem like an Endem attack,” Clara said. “Poor person.”

“How are you so calm?!” Karl half shouted.

“I’m just not a very squeamish person. I do find this rather disgusting, though.”

“RATHER disgusting? This-this is a person SHREDDED by a CHEESE GRATER!” His voice went up several octaves.

“You seem rather distressed,” Clara hummed. “Let’s go someplace elsewhere.” She led the two of them away from the body, through the hallways, and into a smallish room with several minifridges, cushions, and pillows.

“Stay here. I’ll be back soon. Lock the door after me.” After saying that, Clara left. 

Karl and Ashley exchanged a look. Ashley decided that it was probably a good idea to listen to Clara and locked the door.

Karl sat down, still looking a bit nauseous. “This does not feel like how a school should.”

“Yeah, I would never have guessed that I’d see a murder scene on the first day of school.”

A knock sounded on the door. “Hello, are there people in there? Can you let us in?”

Ashley’s head shot up “Who’s that? Do you know them?”

“Oh, yeah. That sounded like Olivia, so I’d say that Olivia and Olympia are probably at the door. I’ll let them in!” Karl got up and undid the lock on the door, opening it to reveal two girls.

They looked exactly identical to each other, they were even wearing the same dress, tights,  boots, and goggles. When they walked into the room, they stepped in unison, with the same impassive expression on their faces. 

“Hello Karl,” the one on the left said.

“Hello Ashley,” the one on the right finished.

“How do you-” Ashley started.

“I am Olympia,” the one on the left interrupted.

“And I am Olivia,” the one on the right ended the sentence.

“Where did you-” Ashley started again.

“To answer your question-” Olympia started.

“It has to do with-” Olivia continued

“Our ability” Olympia finished.

“You learned my name from your ability?” Ashley was confused. Olivia and Olympia’s goggles were hiding their eyes, so she couldn’t get a profile on them. “What’s your ability?”

“They have weird time-based abilities, but that’s all anyone really knows,” Karl supplied.