10:00 AM September 13th 2026

New York Preparatory Academy, New York, NY

It started out a nice day. Except for that stupid article. But the weather was nice. Really nice. Like most days that change the course of history, they are stereotypically either really nice weather or very terrible weather. It’s never just an average blah kind of day. Today it was an absolutely gorgeous Fall morning.

The leaves had just started turning colors, the sky was an unbelievably deep blue for that time of year, and it contrasted incredibly with the red brick buildings of the grounds for the New York Preparatory Academy for the absurdly rich and spoiled. That last part about the absurdly rich and spoiled wasn’t actually part of the school’s name. That was just something Anna’s big brother, Kyle, would say to cheer Anna up about going there.

But it was a really beautiful campus. Austere red brick facades on emerald-green manicured lawns, obsessively landscaped formal gardens, shingled rooftops, and fall leaves. That was why Anna Watkins was deep in concentration, working on a watercolor pencil landscape sketch when Sara White approached unnoticed and kicked her sketchbook out of her hands.

Confused and startled Anna shrieked in surprise and jerked her head up to see who had interrupted her while she was in the zone. Seeing it was the most popular – which everyone knew meant richest – girl in school, Anna contained her sudden urge to destroy the first person she saw. But her nostrils flared, and she pushed the few strands of hair that had escaped her bun back over her ears in a nervous habit.

“What the fuck Sara?” So, what that they weren’t allowed to swear at school. Sara’s behavior was bullshit.

“You think Liam Ecclestone would ever be interested in a freak like you?” The brat’s golden curls jiggled around her porcelain face as perfectly painted glossy red lips spat scorn at the girl sitting on the ground.

“Um, nooooo…” Anna arched one pale eyebrow unsure of what had spawned the current confrontation. "I’m not even sure who that is?” Unable to scoot back as she was leaning against a tree, Anna rose in one smooth graceful movement. That only seemed to infuriate her opponent more as Anna towered a full five inches over the other girl once standing.

“Stop pretending you aren’t into him. Gina saw you say ‘Hi’ to him before school this morning.” In a moment of clarity that made even less sense, Anna was able to place the interaction that seemed to have garnered her this unwanted attention.

“Look, I was just being polite to someone who was polite to me. He said ‘Hi’ so I said ‘Hi’ back. There’s no interest between us from either party.” Remembering her mother’s words that it’s harder to de-escalate a confrontation than to escalate it and that no one really wins in a fight, she tried to reassure Sara that she was not ‘competition’.

Anna had noticed that Sara had shown up with her little clique of bullies. Not that they were there for intimidation or anything, just that the five of them went everywhere together. But Sara’s shrill accusation that Anna was ‘into’ someone had drawn kids from around the school grounds. There hadn’t been a real knock-down drag-out fight yet as the school year had only started that week and everyone was aching for some drama and gossip. A crowd was forming, and Sara had noticed she now had an audience.

“Well, good! Wouldn’t want a freak like you who bleaches her hair white for attention thinking she was good enough for a man like that.” It was all verbal poison and vitriol from Sara who didn’t seem to want to de-escalate anything. A sigh escaped Anna that she couldn’t quite suppress. Her hair was naturally white, all of her hair. This made for a striking contrast against her dark tan skin. It was eye-catching. And who the fuck called a teenage boy a man? The dumb bitch trying to let him know she was willing to let him in her pants, that’s who.

“It’s naturally white. I asked my parents if I could dye my hair dark to look more natural, but they said that they weren’t going to let me change the way I look just because an insecure little cunt like Sara White is afraid a shallow boy that only cares about looks will like me more than her.”

It was wrong. Everything her parents preached was for her to stay out of fights and avoid conflict. Yet she was done tiptoeing around the girl who had made the lives of half the students at school miserable for years. If the spoiled little princess wanted to throwdown with ‘the next Harbinger’, Anna was more than capable of beating some sense into her. She was having that kind of day and in that kind of mood.

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“You expect us to believe that you have skin that dark with hair that white. Puh-lease!” Sara scoffed and glanced at her gaggle of girls who laughed along with her. "That’s complete and utter bullshit.”

“I come from a magical family. Sometimes magical abilities affect the way a person looks.” She paused for a moment to let that sink in with the crowd. It couldn’t hurt to remind Sara where she came from and what picking a fight with her really meant. "You would know that if you had been smart enough to pass any grade and not just had your parents bribe the school into advancing you so you could still play with your friends.”

“You bitch!” The shorter girl gasped.

“At least bitches don’t get known for being easy like you, skank!” Anna shot back unconcerned as Sara dropped her bag and handed her coat to one of her friends in preparation for the fight she’d been looking for.

“I’m going to kick your freak ass.” The crowd let out a collective ‘ooOOOOhoooo’ of appreciation.

“You sure you want to do that?” She was more than willing to fight and deal with the consequences. It would be her first offense, she was a decent student, and her parents would support her decision even if it was against what they would encourage. Okay. Her dad, the pacifist, would be hella disappointed. Her mom would one hundred percent approve of Anna’s choice to beat the ever-living hell out of this obnoxious immature little shit. Maybe. "You know who I am.”

“You can’t hide behind mommy’s skirts forever. Eventually, you’re gonna have to take your medicine like the upstart piece of trash you are.” For a moment, Anna couldn’t believe she had just heard what she’d heard. Did Sara White, the girl who called on her daddy’s wealth and power to threaten, bribe, and coerce everyone from classmates to teachers, to school officials really just accuse Anna of hiding behind who her mother was?

“Bwahahahaha!” Laughter erupted out of her, and the pale-haired girl doubled over with uncontrollable amusement. The crowd watched in stunned awkward silence. Then a few chuckled while others smirked. "See?” Anna straightened as she caught her breath. "They get it.” She gestured broadly at the giggling teens around them.

“Get what?” Bewildered disgust twisted Sara’s face and Anna took pity enough on her to explain.

“That was funny. That you, who only have anything because everyone is afraid of her father, accused someone else of hiding behind their parents.” Unable to stop herself, Anna giggled again. "It’s funny.”

Sara had been glancing around at the crowd whom she had thought were on her side. Now she realized that maybe they were not rooting for her but laughing at her. She balled up her fists and lunged for Anna only to stop short when Anna pulled her hands up to a ready fighting position and each fist flared with balls of cool white light. A crisp chill wave blasted out from the white-haired girl and her hands frosted over with ice.

“Oh, what the heck. Kicking your ass without magic is going to be so much more fun.” She shook her hands and dissipated the spell. Where the balls of summoned ice had been moments before were just bare knuckles now. Then she swung a hard uppercut into Sara’s stomach driving her fist through the girl’s diaphragm.

The teens around her screamed with delight as the biggest bully in school doubled over gasping. ‘Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!’

“Oh, for fucks sake!” Anna muttered under her breath. "Why do teenagers have to be such animals.”

“That’s not fair!” Shrieked one of Sara’s clique. "You’re bigger than her.” The girl threw a bookbag at Anna.

“And there’s five of you who wanted to fight over some boy whose name I don’t even know.” Snatching the bookbag out of the air, Anna hurled it back with superhuman strength at the girl who had interfered sending her sprawling on her back several feet away.

Meanwhile, Sara had caught her breath and rushed Anna. Which was a mistake. With a general air of unconcern, Anna backhanded Sara across the face. Her head jerked to the side with a split lip before she fell.

“Anyone else want a piece of me?” It looked like one of the three girls from Sara’s clique that were left standing might have been about to step forward when an adult could be heard shouting. The group who’d been chanting ‘fight, fight, fight’ let out a collective ‘ahh’ and a few ‘booo’s’ and parted to let a teacher and several security staff through.

“Anna Watkins? Fighting with magic? What would your mother say?” The teacher tisked her disapproval.

“Hit hard, hit fast, make sure they don’t get up.” The teacher scowled at Anna as she quipped the famous Camina Wattkins quote almost automatically. “Hey, I didn’t use magic to fight. Just to try to convince her she didn’t want to fight.” Shrugging, Anna pointed a finger briefly at Sara then collected her belongings while trying not to scoff at the girls who were now worried about getting in trouble. "Besides, Mom says it is the moral obligation of the strong to stop bullies and protect the weak. Didn’t we just cover that quote from her in modern history class?”

“Get out of here everyone.” The teacher frowned, her face looking like she had a bad taste in her mouth as she made expansive shooing gestures with her hands to send the gathered teens off. "Not you five.” She whirled and pointed a finger at the three trying to help their two fallen comrades slink away quietly with the disbursing crowd. "You are going to the dean’s office with Miss Watkins. We need to have a chat with your parents.”

And the day was still gorgeous. Multicolor leaves rustling in a brisk breeze under a sunny azure sky. Anna sighed up at the heavens in resignation. Was this really what Michael and the angels had in mind when they chose her?