“Hot dogs, get your hot dogs!”
“Buy one get one free!”
“Worlds best!”
“We guarantee you’ll love our product or you’ll get all your money back!”
I push through the crowd unnoticed, people walk looking at everything everyone has to offer. No one notices as I reach out grabbing someone’s wallet, taking their money before returning their wallet to their pocket. So distracted they don’t even notice, it blows my mind.
“Satisfaction guaranteed!”
“Half off!”
“Teacher discount!” People scramble around like chickens with their heads cut off, too many options. Their jewelry shines in the light taunting me. Everyone scrambling around, hair perfect, clothes spotless, kids with their parents, buying everything in sight. Disgusting.
I get to my corner, the jewelry and coins chime as I toss them into a wet cardboard box, the paper money getting wet.
I sit down pulling my blanket around me as I cough before reaching out and setting my hat on the floor. People walk by, never casting even a glance in my direction. My hand floats up running over the sharp point of my ear and I pull my hair over it before clearing my throat.
“Gather round, heed my call
For tonight we honor the lost souls
The ones who hunt in the dead of night
The souls that mourn all through their lives
The ones who beg
The ones who die from their hunger
The ones who are all alone
The souls that are lost
Who the gold light calls to
Who fight for their life
Let’s honor the living dead
Let’s honor the living dead”
As I sing, they all turn towards me, their eyes glazing over as I call to them. They empty their wallets into my hat as they’re stuck in my trance. Even when my song ends the magic calls them over.
----------------------------------------
I shiver and pull the blanket tighter around myself as I sit on the cold concrete. The rain starts pouring down onto me. I lay down as I start crying. Suddenly something is dropped down onto me. I look up to find a man standing in front of me before looking down at the coat he threw onto me.
“What’s your name?” He asks.
“I don’t do that,” I say, my voice quivering.
“That’s not why I’m here.” I look him up and down before answering.
“Chloe.” He nods as he sits down next to me, his hat hiding his face from view.
“My name is Benjamin.” I don’t answer and he smiles warmly as if he was an old friend. “That was quite a show you put on today.” I look down at the floor.
“What do you want?”
“You’re very powerful.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“What happened to your parents?”
“They died,” I whisper, my voice shaky. He nods slowly. “What do you want from me?”
“I am the headmaster of Eastwind School for the Mythical.”
“I’m not mythical, I’m a real person.” He chuckles but nods.
“You are real but you are not a normal human. Mythical as in different types of creatures.”
“I am a human,” I muttered, looking down at the water dropping on the wet concrete.
“No, you’re not. Your parents never told you but you can tell when you sing, how people do exactly as you will them to. There has to be something that tells you you’re different from other people.” My hand starts to fly up towards my ears but I squeeze it into a fist pulling it back down.
“I’m normal,” I whisper.
“What is it?” His voice changes and I feel the will to tell him what he wants to know. I take a deep breath and shake my head though and he looks at me wide-eyed.
“No.”
“How about this, I’ll give you shelter if you tell me.”
“My ears, my parents cut them when I was younger and they healed weird,” I say pulling my hair back to show him my ears.
“They’re pointed.” He whispers. “You’re an elf.” I turn to look at him wide-eyed.
“Are you crazy or something?” I ask freaking out. “No, elves don’t exist, I’m a human.”
“I’ll explain it all to you later.” He says standing up. “First let’s get you somewhere to dry off before you catch a cold.” He bends down picking up his coat he threw on me and holds it out. I look around debating whether to stay or to scream for help before standing up and taking the coat from him. “Do you have anything you want to bring?” I grab my box and pull my hat on before turning and finding him walking off, I run after him and he leads me down the street. He turns walking down the path towards a giant tree overlooking a black brick house, the eyes dead as if someone had taken its heart from it. The door is put in a little crooked, the right side a little higher than the left. Not a single noise is made, not even from the crunchy broken brick path that we walk down. He opens the door and I walk through to a house all lit up, beige walls, red lamps lining them lighting the way to the heart of the house.
The man stops taking his hat off and hanging up his wet coat. I take this time to decide whether or not to turn and run. He’s not young but he’s not old, but he doesn’t look normal. His amber eyes glow as if made of fire and his brown hair gleams, shining bright in a way nobody’s hair does. He’s tall and lanky and is dressed in a suit. He seems like a respectable man…if he is a man at all. The fire burning deep in his eyes makes me question if he’s human. It’s too real like it’s coming straight from his heart to his eyes. “The guest room is just down here.” He says walking down the hall. In front of him is a door made of white wooden planks. He reaches out turning the silver knob and I find myself bracing to run from whatever comes out of the room. Oh stop being stupid, nothing's going to come out of that door, that doesn’t happen.
He opens the door for me, stepping back before he lifts his eyes, piercing me with his burning gaze. I take a deep breath before walking through the door into a small room. The walls are a warm calm green, plants line the room, a little bed against the wall, plants grow on the ceiling above it. I walk over to the bed and look at the little pillow sitting in the middle of the bed, perched atop it a delicate glass butterfly. Purple crystals glitter giving it the illusion of moving. Behind the bed built into the wall a ledge holding golden candles, ribbons of wax dripping down them. The fire moves, leaning towards the door, I look to find him standing in the doorway, all the fire around the room seems to bow towards him. I turn back to the candles and find a fake window behind them, it makes it look as if it looks out deep into the woods.
The far wall is covered in paper butterflies, so delicate I don’t dare touch them for fear of breaking them.
“There are clothes in the dresser.” He says, pointing at the white wood dresser covered in leaves that grow over and around it. “Goodnight.” He says before turning and leaving. I set my stuff down on the bed before walking over to the dresser and opening the drawers. In the top are a PJ top and bottom. I grab them and head back over to the bed before I freeze, then turn towards the wall, sticking my hand out. I reach through the cold leaves before hitting metal. My hand wraps around it, turning it and opening a door and I slowly walk through the walls of leaves into a room that must be the bathroom, and just like the rest of the room, covered in plants and flowers, the walls, the ceiling. I look up and see a plate of metal in the ceiling, I press a button and water walls from it onto the floor. What kind of room is this? What is wrong with this man?
----------------------------------------
I stumble through the house not knowing where I’m at before finally stepping into a room to find the man sitting at a table covered in food, his hair glossed back, in another suit. He looks me up and down, assessing me.
I’m in ripped-up black jeans, black army boots, a red tank top with a see-through black top on, and black fishnet arm warmers.
“I didn’t pin you as a dark girl.” He says as he stands up, he doesn’t move though, instead, he gestures to a seat. I walk over sitting down.
“You don’t know me,” I mutter as I run my hand through my hair.
“Let me guess,” He says sitting back down. “You started dressing like this after you lost your parents?”
“You know nothing about me,” I say annoyed, my hands clenched in fists.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“I know more about you than you do.”
“Like what?” I hiss turning to look at him with a look on my face that would usually send men bigger than him cowering.
“Well, I know more about your heritage than you do.” I roll my eyes. “You’re an elf.” I take a deep breath as I squeeze my hand into a fist.
“No, I’m not.”
“And how do you know you’re not an elf?”
“I’m not little.” I’m actually pretty tall. “Oh, and elves aren’t real.”
“So, vampires aren’t real? How about banshees or sprites?” I roll my eyes.
“I’m not a child that will fall for your fairy tale stories. Those are just myths.”
“Then explain this.” He says calmly, raising his hand and waving. The candles around us go dead before fire roars towards the ceiling. I jump, pushing my seat back from the table as I back away from him, but then I’m surrounded by his fire.
“What the hell!” I shout, looking around for a way out. He stands up and somehow the fire grows higher caging me into the room as I freak out watching him walk over to me, hands outstretched as if he needs a weapon. No, this is fake, he drugged me or something. This can’t be real.
“This is all real, and I am the headmaster of Eastwind, a school for magical creatures like yourself.” I shake my head fast, eyes clenched shut.
“I’m not… no,” I say to myself softly, but desperately.
“All I’m asking is for you to take the time to listen to me.” I shake my head as I take a deep breath.
“Listen very carefully to my words,” I whisper, slowly lifting my face looking him deep in the eyes, I focus all my energy on him as I open my mouth.
“The beast that roams the woods
That stocks the night
His eyes dance with fire
As the suns roar towards the sky
Day by day
Time goes by and he’s all alone
The fire dies as the sun goes down
As he goes down
The sadness overtaking him
That beast that roams the woods
That stocks the night
Forever alone” As I sing his hair loses its shine, the fire in his eyes dies as the fire roaring around us dies to nothing. His breathing gets hard as his eyes tear up at the sadness and loneliness coming over him. I turn to flee but he reaches out grabbing my arm and I turn back to look at him wide-eyed as I struggle to try to pull my arm from his grip; it’s as tight as a vice grip.
“Please.” He begs tears falling down his cheeks. “Stop, stay, stop doing this to me. Make it stop.” My breathing gets harder as I struggle against him. “Please, stop doing this to me.” I close my eyes pulling it all back in. It’s so hard, like pulling a person back over a cliff. Finally, his hand drops, and I step back. I watch silently as he walks to the table pulling out a chair and sitting down on it his shoulders bent over, his head hanging low.
“I need to go,” I breathe, wide-eyed.
“Wait.” He says holding his hand out.
“No, thank you for letting me stay here but I need to go.”
“I can help you.” I shake my head.
“No one can help me.”
“You compelled me, that’s one of your powers. It shouldn’t have worked on me though, your power is immense, you need someone to help you learn how to control it.”
“I…I can’t,” I whisper.
“Because that would mean accepting that I am right and that you aren’t normal. At my school though you won’t be different. You will be just like everyone else, you will learn how to use your powers.”
“You can make this stop?” He can make me stop doing all this stuff?
“No.” He says shaking his head. “I can teach you how to use it though, how to control it.” I am silent for a second before taking a step closer towards him.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I shouldn’t have done that to you.” He shakes his head.
“You’re fine. It was just a lot, and as I said, usually it doesn’t work on me, for your age you shouldn’t have that much power.” Even as a freak I’m a freak. Great. “Give me until tomorrow morning. Then if you want to leave you can, but if you choose to stay you can come to my school.” I take a deep breath before nodding.
“Fine.” I owe him this much for what I did to him, I’m a monster. The way he begged me to stop- I can’t get it out of my head.
“Follow me.” He says standing up slowly. He still looks so weak though, so I reach out, taking his arm softly and helping him up. As soon as my hand hits his skin though the color jumps back into him, the fire burns uncontrollably in his eyes and the candles explode around us. He steps back and I scream backing away from him to hit the fire. It doesn’t burn me, it just tickles my skin. “Sorry,” he says and the fire dies to a faint warm glow. “I just wasn’t ready for the amount of power you have…”
“I didn’t do that,” I interject, freaking out. I can’t control fire.
“No the fire wasn’t you, you were worried about me and unconsciously sent power into me. More than I was ready for.” I clench my hands into fists crossing my arms over my chest. He turns to walk out and I hurry after him. He leads me through the halls, knowing each turn in this never-ending maze. We step into a library and he walks over to the books pulling some off the wall and putting them down on a table. “If you want to ever read about something you can find it in my library. These few are about elves, just in case you want to learn about them.”
“So let me get this straight,” I say, being very careful not to get too close to him or touch anything. “You believe that I’m a little person that makes presents in the north pole?” He rolls his eyes.
“Those are Christmas elves and if you were a Christmas elf you wouldn’t have this much power. All they can do is make toys. They can’t even make electronics or anything though, no one ever talks about Christmas elves, they’re like Uncle Jim. He’s there but everyone is too embarrassed to admit they’re related to him.”
“So what kind of elf do you believe I am?” I say. He freezes and turns to look at me.
“I don’t know.” Excuse me? You have the audacity to accuse me of being a mythical creature but don’t know what kind?
“I’ve never seen anything like you. Once we get more of a grip on your powers we will be able to classify you.” I walk over, looking at the book he left open on the table. On the page is a picture of an elf, a normal boy, and a girl with pointed ears. Next to them is a list of powers and the different types of elves.
“What’s a dark elf?” I hear a crash and look to see that he dropped a book onto the floor.
“Nothing.” He says walking over and shutting the book. “That’s not for you.”
“They’re pretty powerful, what if I’m a dark elf?” He shakes his head.
“That’s a choice and there’s no way you’re a dark elf.”
“Why not?” I ask, offended.
“Because you’re nice, you don’t want to cause people pain. You aren’t evil.”
“You don’t know that.” He rolls his eyes again walking away with the book and placing it high up on the shelf out of my reach.
“Yes, I do.” I huff a breath and he laughs. “Young kids these days, it’s not cool to be evil. Moving on though, follow me.” He says walking off, I run after him.
“How old are you?” I ask, scared to find out the answer.
“About maybe 5 million years old,” He replies. I freeze, looking at him wide-eyed.
“Yeah, right!” I laugh. This guy really is crazy. “As if you would still be alive.” I scoff.
“I’m a phoenix, every time I die I’m reborn.” I run after him.
“Liar!” I say stepping in front of him and looking him deep in the eyes. He takes a deep breath as if getting ready for something. Oh, no…I’m not going to do anything… you monster Chloe. I step back fast crossing my arms back over my chest. “Phoenix’s are birds.” He nods.
“I can turn into a bird too.” I step to the side and he continues walking, expecting me to just follow. I look back, I could make a run for it, but not only is there little chance I’ll find the door, I told him I would stay. I sigh and run after him. I freeze looking around a giant tile room, the room looks fireproof, why am I in here? Why is he standing in the middle of the room looking at me?
One second it’s Benjamin there and then the next he goes up in flames and a bird comes screaming as it flies straight at my face. I scream, ducking my arms over my face but the bird turns, flying around the room. The bird is gold and red, its tail is made of fire and a faint blue hue surrounds it. It flies straight at me again, claws outstretched, but this time I don’t scream and duck, I nail it with my eyes, next thing you know I’m across the room and Benjamin is standing right in front of where I was. I step back, my eyes going wide as I look around. I didn’t do that. Benjamin looks around before turning around and finding me. I open my mouth and close it but no words come out. “Believe me now?” I cross my arms stamping my foot.
“Tell me more about your crazy person school.”
“Eastwind.” He says walking over.
“Whatever,” I mutter.
“We take anyone, no matter what you are, or your ability or powers.”
“Even Christmas elves?” I ask playfully.
“Even Christmas elves.” He chuckles. “You have been paying attention.” I glare at him, no duh Sherlock. “We will teach you everything you need to know about your powers and by the time you graduate you will be able to control your powers and you will know everything you need to know about this world. You don’t have to come if you don’t want to, though. I need to know your choice now.” I could argue and say that he said I had until tomorrow morning but it would most likely be to no avail. I let out a heavy sigh.
“Yes, I will attend your school.”
“We will leave for Eastwind tomorrow.” Great. I’m more of a freak than I’ve ever been.
----------------------------------------
I walk through the library reading about elves. Abnormally attractive faces, yeah right. My eyes are mud brown, my hair a dirty ashy brown. A few even bleed blue, don’t want to find out if I’m one of those.
Then there are different kinds of elves, wood elves, Christmas elves, high elves, none of them mention dark elves though. There’s also a giant list of powers.
Some can construct stuff out of energy, they can manipulate the elements, warp reality, absorb abilities. Hey, maybe I can turn into a bird, like Benjamin. Some elves can even bring other elves back to life. Then there are some more helpful defensive abilities, to move things with their minds, change their appearance and call a friend, isn’t that what a phone is for though? Then there’s teleportation, that’s what I did, the ability to manipulate light, shape-shifting, and, oh, immortality. This also comes along with the fact that I can heal, even if my limbs are chopped off and I’m decapitated. Don’t want to test that out any time soon though.
I walk next to one of the shelves running my hand over the spines of the books, something burns my hand and I pull it back fast looking to find a plain brown book with a red metal bird on it. It looks like Benjamin, well Benjamin when he was a bird. I grab it out ignoring the burning and set it down on the table.
Inside are beautiful drawings of phoenixes, apparently, a phoenix grew close to a girl, they were raised together and were like sisters, the girl was injured and dying and the phoenix’s tears healed her and she became a phoenix, she could turn back into a human though whenever she pleased, the genes were passed on for generations. They can control fire and light, they are reborn every time they die, oh and a little new thing their cries can bring giants to their knees.
There are so many types of… creatures. Banshees, werewolves, vampires, sprites, nymphs, sirens, dragons, leprechauns, cyclopes, hydras, kelpies, and so much more.
I blow a strand of my hair out of my eyes and look up, my eyes hit a black book hidden above the bookshelf, I would say it shined but it did the complete opposite. It sucked all the light around it in turning it to darkness, it was as if the air and time around it had frozen. I set my book down and stand up cracking my fingers.
“Book!” I say holding my hand out. It doesn’t move though so I sigh rolling my shoulders back, trying again. “I wish for the book! Bibbidi bobbidi boo! I want the book! Aco book!” I stomp my foot pissed and look back up at the book before taking a deep breath and willing my energy towards the book, I recoil as my energy touches it but take a deep breath focusing. “Come,” I say calmly, the book comes flying off the shelf towards me. There’s a blur from beside me and then Benjamin is on top of the book tackling it to the ground. As he touches it all the color drains from him and he goes ghost white.
“This is not for you.” He says standing up hugging the book to his chest as if wrestling with it. “This is evil, that’s the one thing we do not tolerate at Eastwind, we do not teach students who have gone over to the dark side.” He says throwing the book back to where it was hidden above the bookshelves. “Understand?” He asks, turning to look at me.
“Understood,” I say really fast, scarred I did something to get him mad. He nods before looking at all the books on the table.
“You’ve read all these already?”
“Not all of them, I just read the chapters that I really need to know.” I don’t need to know everything about every single creature that walks this Earth. He nods walking over to see what books I’ve read through. He looks down at the phoenix book open on the table and laughs as he lifts it up, the table under it burnt black and falling apart. My eyes go wide. “I… I had no clue!” I gasp. He just waves me off.
“I’m surprised you were able to get it down. It should have burnt your hands really bad.” I look down at my hands but they look fine.
“I’m…I’m fine.”
“There’s food at the table if you’re hungry.” He says placing the book back before disappearing. I place the rest of my books back before going to find him at the table. I sit down but don’t eat anything. “So the outfit,” He says pointing his fork at me. “Why do you choose to wear it?”
“It helps to keep people away.”
“You choose to push people away?” I shrug and he nods as if that simple statement told him so much about myself.
“You didn’t wear black beforehand though?”
“No, but I’ll never be that girl again.” He goes silent letting it drop.