I step out of my carriage and find myself in front of the gates that lead into my uncle's estate. I take a moment to just look around and admire everything. Compared to my old home this is a fucking castle. After about a minute the gates swing open, my bags lift into the air, and a short lady comes out the front door. She makes a motion towards her with her fingers and my bags fly inside. She gives me a weird look.
"Aren't you coming in?" she yells from the door. With quick steps, I start walking toward her and I hear the gates closing behind me. The sun is just going down so It's probably around 5 PM. Seasons still exist in the other world and as we approach the winter months it's getting darker and darker outside.
I go inside the house and take a look around. It's built in a gothic style but still looks kind of homey. It has two levels up and one down. I quickly spot a small staircase going downwards. I'm guessing that's where the maids and the butler lives. I look to my left and I see the foyer which is right next to the dining room. To my right, there is a small sun parlor that leads to a more normal-looking living space. While I'm observing the house the lady who let me in introduces herself.
"I'm Mrs. March, I'm the head housemaid here. If you need anything, let me know" She says, and before I could even respond she's already gone up the stairs with my bags.
"Letitia darling!" my aunt suddenly says, kissing me on both cheeks. She has a strong British accent which honestly really suits her. She has long silky silver-like hair and her irises are almost black.
"It's so good to finally see you again Ramona" I say and give her a hug. My uncle is standing right next to her, smiling at me.
"Letitia" he says and gives me a half-hug. He isn't a particularly tall man, I would say he's even a little shorter than his wife, but at the same time, he somehow looks like he could take down five people.
Two more people appear on the stairs.
"You must remember your cousins" my aunt says energetically.
"We kind of never met" says the girl on the stairs. She resembles her mother in a lot of ways. The lower half of the hair is just like Ramona's, but hers is much shorter and her roots are dark brown.
Her cat-like eyes scan me.
"Hi I'm Tori, you're Letitia, right?" she takes a few steps towards me and reaches out her hand which I shake.
"Yeah, thanks for having me" I say smiling at her. The boy beside her steps closer too. I would say he's taller than the average person but not outstanding. Unlike his twin sister, his eyes look weirdly normal, his hair however is dark but has some lighter stripes in it.
"Glad you're here, I'm Finn" he says with a half smile also holding out his hand, I guess it's a family thing. I shake his hand and smile back at him.
After meeting my new-old family I got escorted into my room. It's on the second floor, next to Finn's and opposite Tori's room. I think it was used as a guest bedroom or something, it looks kind of boring. It only has a bed, a desk, and a dresser inside. The walls are lined with wood and there's a built-in bookshelf, along with two big windows. At least I'll get to decorate it. I unpack my clothes and as I open my closet to put them in I discover that my closet is already full. I don't even know what I was thinking honestly, this is Elsher I can't wear my old clothes anymore. Suddenly I feel embarrassed about what I walked through the door in. My new clothes look marvelous, not many bright colors, but instead lots of black, grey, white, some red, and of course silver. Ramona must have picked them out.
I put my old clothes back into my bags and put the bags under my bed, I hope I won't have to use them again in the near future. I am absolutely ready to go to bed and I start to make my way toward the bathroom when I see that I also have a couple of books on my desk along with a class schedule. How could've I forgotten about school?
Clearmorth, Academy Of The Arcane
Is written on the top of the schedule, along with the symbol of the school, a crescent moon. I take it into my hands and start reading it.
Monday:
8 AM-11 AM: 1st period - Mortal studies11 AM-1 PM: 2nd period - Ancient languages and their studies
Tuesday
8 AM-11 AM: 1st period - Herbology11 AM-1 PM: 2nd period - Debate
Wednesday
9 AM-11 AM: 1st period - Magical training11 AM-1 PM: 2nd period - Defense/offense training
Thursday
8 AM-11 AM: 1st period - Dance11 AM-1 PM: 2nd period - Art
Friday8 AM-11 AM: 1st period - History11 AM-1 PM: 2nd period (optional) - Humanities
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
At least I won't have to be there all day. I go into the bathroom and take a shower. I've forgotten how nice a hot shower can feel. I almost want to stay there forever but after about thirty minutes I finally dry myself, brush my teeth, and go back to my room.
✧ ˚ · ☾
The grandfather clock in the hallway wakes me. I look at my own clock placed on my bedside table, it's 7:30. I close my eyes for a few more seconds then I decide to just get it over with and get out of bed.
I brush my teeth and put a few strands of my hair into little braids. I feel pressured to make a good impression here. I hope people won't despise me at school for being from Solace, but who am I kidding, they'll probably hate me.
I put on my clothes which consist of a blue pleated skirt, a white blouse, a black leather jacket, and a plain black tie. It's gonna take some time to get used to wearing a uniform to school. I also put some black tights on because it's getting really cold outside and I pair them with regular black docmartens.
After packing my school bag I open the door to my room and walk out into the hallway where I see Tori.
"Morning" she says. She sounds like a fifty-year-old chain smoker, which indicates that she just woke up. "Are you nervous?" She asks me as we walk towards the stairs together.
"Yeah, a little I guess, I just don't know what to expect" I answer "How much do you think they'll hate me?" I say chuckling.
"Don't be ridiculous, they won't hate you, or...well at least they won't hate you because they got to know you, they'll hate you because they hate spades" Tori says in a sarcastic voice.
I already like her.
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" I say tilting my head back as we walk down.
"Calm down, It'll be fine you can hang out with me and my friends. I swear they'll be cool with you not being from here"
"Well, I kind of am though" I say.
"You know what I mean" She says
We finish our conversation as we get closer to the dining table. Finn, my aunt, and my uncle are already eating breakfast.
"Good, you woke up" Ramona says
"So, we wanted to discuss some house rules with you Letty, with all of you actually" My uncle says, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
This already sounds bad.
"What does that supposed to mean?" Finn says giving his parents a weird look.
"It means that you won't be going out every single night with your friends and doing god knows what." Says Desmond.
"Dad, we're seventeen" Tori says "It's not like you can force us to stay home"
"There will be consequences if you don't comply with our rules" Ramona says, giving her daughter a fierce look.
I can't help but feel jealous. Not of the stupid rules we have to follow, but of the way my aunt and uncle are parenting us. I don't think my dad ever cared about what I did as long as I came home alive and in one piece.
"You're not allowed to bring boys or girls to your room without the door being open, curfew at 10 PM on weekdays and midnight on weekends, you have to have at least a B average, and you need to attend at least one event with us a month" Ramona explains.
"I don't know what happened during your sleep, but you've clearly lost your minds" Tori says
"Come on Let" She says to me.
"Yeah, I just lost my appetite" Finn says.
All three of us stand up from the table, I grab my bag on my way out and we start walking to school.
We walk in silence for some time, trying to process what the fuck just happened when Finn speaks.
"Sorry about that, not the best first impression of our family" He says with an awkward laugh.
"I swear they're usually cool, I don't know what changed in the past eight hours" Tori says.
"I think you're forgetting where I lived just two days ago. I'll survive having to 'go to an event' I say with a sarcastic laugh.
We walk on the muddy path that leads from the gates to a brick road where we stop.
"Why are we stopping?" I ask but as soon as the words leave my mouth a bus with the speed of light stops in front of us.
"What the hell" I say quietly
"Come on" Says Tori motioning toward the vehicle
I get onto the bus, it looks like a double-decker but the top deck isn't a full one, there are a few seats up there and there is railing on the sides of it. Immediately I notice that the driver looks rather...how do I say it, ogre-like. I look around and spot a few more weird looking faces.
"Staring is rude, you know" Says a blonde guy from the upper deck. His legs are up on the railing and he's reading some kind of a book. I just give him a weird look and move on.
"Sit" says Finn and we sit down to a foursome. Tori has the empty seat next to her where she puts her bag and Finn immediately puts his feet up there.
I stare out the window. I have to admit, Elsher is gorgeous. It's October 30th which means the sun comes up pretty late, I can see a city in the distance but other than that it's all mountains.
We are still at the bus stop, I study the landscape. I watch as some light peaks over the huge mountain range and the fog slowly starts disappearing from the heat of the sun. Suddenly the doors close and the bus moves. I get jolted into my seat.
"Is this like in Harry Potter or what?" I say pretty loudly since the bus is so loud I think it might fall apart.
"What?" Finn and Tori say in union with the calmest voice ever, like we're not going with 10 lightyears per second.
The bus comes to a sudden stop. I try to collect myself after this disturbing experience and I look out the window again. The city that I just saw in the distance is now in front of my eyes. We've arrived.
Tori and Finn stand up, I follow them. The bus stopped right outside of our school and I can already see a bunch of people. They're beautiful, human but just with a touch of magic. Finn spots someone and goes off with him.
"Clearmorth" I read to myself.
I've never been to a real school before. Back home it was just my study group, and I don't think the knowledge I acquired there will be of any use for me here. Suddenly my stomach starts to cramp up and I'm getting anxious. Everything happened so fast I guess I didn't even have time to think about what's it gonna be like.
"It'll be fine" Tori says grabbing my hand with a smile on her face "It was scary for me too at first but you'll get used to it. After all, you're from Solace"
"You're right" I say smiling back and taking a deep breath.
We walk through the gate and up the stairs. Some people are looking, some ignore us completely. I look like one of them luckily, they'd never be able to tell that I'm half Spade. I notice one person, the blonde guy on the bus. He's sitting on a bench with a girl on his lap and talking with a bunch of other people.
"What do you have first?" Tori asks
I reach into my bag looking for my schedule
"Mortal studies" I reply.
"Ugh, let's hope you guys don't do math today, other than that it should be easy" She says
Me and Tori part ways and I'm left looking for my classroom. The school is huge. I used that adjective a lot these past day but compared to Solace this is a whole different world. As I wander the hallways I think of my dad. How do I tell him that I want something different than what he had planned for me? Maybe I want to pursue art instead of fighting in the army, or maybe I want to study herbs, or maybe, just maybe I don't want to live in constant fear for my life. I still don't get why we had left all those years ago and even after one day here, I feel closer to my aunt and uncle than I felt to him all my life. I know he's hiding something but I just don't know what it is.