"I'm back" Luna called, stepping over the threshold into her father's open-plan office stroke living space. The room was a large rectangular shape with dark wood floors and beams stretching up to the high ceiling. Most of the rooms in Briddsorrom Castle Boarding School had this layout with only a few exceptions like the greenhouses, dorm towers and the ballrooms. The room was dark with, curtains drawn over the arched windows, small lamps softly lit the corners of the room. This was the usual scene Luna was greeted with after a long day of power lessons. She'd learnt long ago that her father preferred to work in the dark, 'the light disrupts the distillation process!' he'd say, so she knew there wasn't any point in gravitating towards the light switch.  

"Hey Goober, you don't sound very happy". Her father looked up from behind his desk where he sat cross-legged in mid-air. Bottles and potion books bobbed in a gentle circle around his head. In his hands were two chemistry bottles filled with multi-coloured shining liquid, the light from which bounced off his bottle-green hair. "Did something happen?"

"Just the usual..." she said crossing the room with exaggerated lethargic strides before throwing herself onto her favourite end of the sofa with a heavy sigh. She made sure to lay face down on the cushions for extra dramatic effect, her long inky hair spilling over the side of the sofa in thick locks. "They made fun of me for not having a power again", she said, the cushions muffling her response.

"And who is they? May I ask"

"Sabrina and Cassie, they do it in every lesson!"

"Not in my lesson they won't, they'd have to be pretty darn tough to insult my baby right in front of me... or stupid" he added with a smile. He tipped the contents of the smaller bottle into the larger one before setting it down to fizz and splutter on the desk as he lowered himself to the floor. "Besides, you do have a power... you're just a late bloomer!". His response to the 'No power or type' conversation had remained the same over the years but the slow creep of doubt in his tone lately had not escaped Luna's notice. "If it's becoming a problem, I could have a word with them."

Luna propped herself up on one elbow deciding that she'd made her point with her display and that breathing was more important. "I don't think that'll help, they just make comments here and there - it's nothing too bad. I think it's because I'm around them so much, they're in every lesson and I share a dorm with them". She groaned as she returned her head to the cushions, "I can't escape them... they're everywhere". Luna felt the sofa dip under her father's weight as he sat next to her with a thoughtful hum.

"Isn't your friend Lily in most of your lessons too? Why don't you just sit next to her?".

"Because the other teachers aren't as cool as you, they all use a seating plan!" She knew the compliment hadn't gone unnoticed at the sight of his smug grin. "And she's always on the other side of the room" she finished with a grumble.

"Well then maybe it's time to branch out a little, kiddo. Make a few more friends".

"Can't I just skip the power classes?"

"I’m afraid not”.

She sighed as she sat up, trying to think of a way to voice her problems. “Everyone treats me differently... they all spend their break times talking about their powers and their types and I don't have either! I just feel so left out sometimes”. Her father laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. This particular topic of conversation seemed to be coming up more and more as of late, but he’d been prepared for that. From the moment she was born it was apparent that Luna wasn't like other children, with wispy black hair in place of the usual white. As her peers grew older the hue of their hair shifted as their abilities, known as their 'power', sparked into life. Their 'type' on the other hand refers to the race they are a part of, meaning that their hair colour will usually be in the same family as one of their parents. Luna's hair, however, remained the same dull black as it had always been. Unchanged by age, a forewarning that no power or type characteristics were to come.

"True friends will like you for you, not your power." The generic ‘Dad speak’ earned him an eye roll. He looped his arm around her pulling her into a tight hold. He decided that her cheekiness would not go unpunished. "and if they don't", he said, ruffling her hair "that's their loss, not yours!". He stood, indicating that Luna should do the same and turned towards her. He cupped her face with his hands a placed a warm kiss to her forehead. "You know where I am if you need me but I'm sure it'll be fine. Just have some patience, everything will come together. I can see it now, Luna Riley the most popular girl in school with the world's greatest power!" He gave her cheeks an extra squeeze in an attempt to change her grumpy expression before finally letting her go. "Anyway! Let's get to the food hall before all the good seats are gone. I think they're serving chicken curry tonight!"

                                      ***                                                                                                                                                    

After a nice warm meal, of what was indeed chicken curry, Luna made her way up the stairs to dorm tower ready to settle in for a night of stubborn solitude. She knew the communal area would be full and noisy, it always was this time of night, but a night of watching videos on her phone and wallowing in self-pity sounded much more appealing.

 She gingerly opened the door to the tower and made her way inside. The room was a large circular shape filled with sofas and chairs with an old wood table in the middle. The stairs at the far end of the room lead up to the dorms that wrapped around and above the outside of the sunken communal area. Luna knew the room would be packed but that didn't make the sight any less intimidating. In every direction were students with beautifully coloured hair - with the pastel shades usually belonging to the fairy and pixies, the bright saturated tones belonging to the mermaids and the soft earthy tones belonging to the animal types. It was an undeniably beautiful sight but for Luna, it was just another reminder of her odd condition.

As the years went by her father wouldn't hesitate to tell her how loved she was and how there wasn't a single thing about her he'd change. As much as she appreciated her loving upbringing, it left her woefully unprepared for the very different opinions of the outside world. Her classmates held her at arm's length, not wanting to be involved with something they didn't understand. Only a handful venturing close, who'd ultimately tease her when she didn't have the answers to their intrusive questions.   

She strode across the common room floor as she made a beeline for her dorm room choosing to ignore her dorm mates who huddled in the corner of the room giggling. They shuffled and shifted as she walked past as if to hide something they held between them. She rolled her eyes, wasn't in the mood for their antics tonight.

Luna flung open the door and was relieved to be greeted by a calm empty room with her bed just the way she had left it. She closed the door behind her, shutting out the noise from the communal area and went about her evening ablutions. Perhaps tomorrow would be better, she thought. 

                                                                                                    ***

"Shhh, you're gonna wake her!"

"No, I'm not!"

"You're way too close to her ear. If she ends up bleeding we're going to be in so much more trouble!"

"Stop freaking out! I’ve got this"

Luna blinked at the morning sun that flooded the room in from the window above her head. She cast a sleepy glance over to Cassie's bed to find it empty with the covers pushed messily aside. A good indication that it was time for breakfast. However, Luna’s attention was grabbed by the hushed giggles behind her rather than the quiet rumbles from her stomach.

Luna rolled over to see Sabrina and Cassie looking at her intently, still dressed in their nightgowns. She blinked up at them with a furrowed brow before they both erupted with laughter. Immediately on edge Luna sat bolt upright and began to feel around her face for anything unfamiliar. "What did you do?!" she asked out of irritation when nothing seemed immediately out of place. This wasn't the first time she'd been the butt of one of their practical jokes but waking up to one was a new development. She whipped her head around searching the immediate area until something black and shiny caught her eye. Behind her lay long messy strands of hair scattered around her pillow. 

Her hand flew to the back of her neck to feel the jagged ends of her hair now ending just below her ear. Angry tears burned in her eyes as she spotted the glint of the silver scissor in Sabrina’s hand. Luna leapt out of bed ripping off her blanket and throwing it haphazardly to the side. Not bothering to wait for any remarks her guffawing dorm mates had to say she stormed out the door and down the stairs to the communal area. Weaving around the empty furniture she was thankful that no one was around to see her in this state. Tears ran down her cheeks as she left a trail of black hairs behind her.

Forgoing her signature knock, Luna burst into her father's bedroom. She rushed to his side of the bed and shook him gently.

“Luna?” He slurred as he rubbed a hand down his face, blinking in the semi-dark. He propped himself up against his pillows and yawned “What’s wrong?”. Luna couldn’t bring herself to answer. Instead, she leaned into his shoulder and finally gave in to her sadness. “Another nightmare?” he asked softly as he pulled her in closer. "I know they seem real, Sweetheart, but I promise you they're not". Luna shook her head. Although her hair had caused plenty of controversy in her life, she'd never hated it. It was the thing that made her different, the thing that made her special.

Luna's father rested his hand on her head, doing his best to console her in his drowsy state. He began to stroke her hair when he tensed. He shifted into an upright position, gently pushing her back by the shoulders as his panicked eyes fell to the wispy strands that framed her wet cheeks. "Who did this?" he asked, suddenly more awake.

"Who do you think?" She sobbed.

"This is unacceptable", he said, more to himself than to Luna. His grip on her tightened almost painfully and his expression hardened. She knew what was coming. "Stay here, I'll be back in a moment." He brushed past her and headed straight for the door, leaving Luna to wipe her wet eyes on the sleeve of her pyjamas. Her father's heavy footfalls on the marble floor made it easy for Luna to imagine his path down the short corridor and up the spiral staircase. His footsteps like a loud warning to any students unfortunate enough to stumble into his path on their way to breakfast. The bang of the dorm tower's door being thrown open rang down the staircase and sent a jolt up Luna's spine. She brought her legs off the floor and curled into the warm spot her father had left behind, pulling the covers over her head and did her best to tune out the shouts echoing down the stairs.

In just a few hours the whole school was sure to know of Sabrina and Cassie’s cruel prank and those in her tower even sooner with her father's fiery outburst in place of their morning alarms. Embarrassment began to curl in her gut as she imagined how the rest of her day would pan out. Every scenario that played out in her mind only made her dread the inevitable even more. She curled in on herself as if to protect herself from her own vivid imagination, the jokes at her expense, the laughter from her classmates all spinning around in her head like a record on full blast. So loud, so real.

Luna clenched her eyes tight and clamped her hands over her ears in an attempt to shut out all the noises around her. She begged the empty room for silence, the kind of silence that she could usually find in her father's room, cuddled under the blankets but today she had no such luck. The noise in her mind began to mix with the sounds in the real world. The screeching of the birds in the forest outside, the banging of footsteps from the students above finding their front row seats for the unfolding drama, the clanging of kitchen utensils down the hall that made the ringing in her ears echo louder in her busy mind - An endless cacophony of sound.

 And then... silence.

Luna lay still under the covers and allowed herself to breathe. With each exhale she could feel her tension slip away, seeping into the mattress beneath her. She basked in the newfound serenity for a moment before peeking out from under the blankets. The room had changed since she had hidden away, her environment now bathed in an eerie grey glow, making the colours of her surroundings look muted and washed out. She puzzled over the lighting before throwing a glance over her shoulder to the window. Through the small crack in the still-drawn curtains was a sky of solid grey. It must be a stormy morning she supposed. Satisfied with an explanation Luna relaxed against the headboard and took in the rest of her surroundings but something still felt off.

The room looked almost bare with only a few essential items spaced out around it. The tables and cabinets that usually sat laden with bottles, brewing stands and picture frames were partially clear with her father's equipment and various possessions dotted randomly on the flat surfaces, almost as if he decided to only tidy away half of it. The bookcase stood tall and orderly as usual to her left, next to an old full-length mirror, with only one book out of place. The book lay closed on top of the middle row with its pages facing the room.

Luna swung her legs over the edge of the bed and took a step towards the bookcase. She decided to busy herself with fixing the books as she often did around the castle. It was a nervous habit she had inherited from her Father. She stopped in front of the bookcase and picked up the offending book, sliding it out carefully as to not disrupt the orderly row beneath. Strangely enough, she didn't recognise the book at first glance, was this a new book her father had ordered and not got around to showing her yet?

She turned the book over in her hands, grimacing at the odd grainy texture and discovered both the front cover and the spine were completely blank. She furrowed her brow at the wordless cover. She was sure her Father's need for everything to be labelled meant that all the books in his collection had some form of title, even if it was one he had put there himself.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Luna ran her thumb along the fore edge of the book and flipped through the pages. Stopping when she was roughly halfway through, she opened up the book. She blinked at the words in front of her. Although Latin was prevalent in her father's collection, she had never had so much trouble reading a word before. She squinted at the first word on the page and tried to sound it out whilst moving her finger along each letter.

"Guh... guh-sign-ca?" That didn't sound right. She pouted at her failure, Year Seven's spelling bee champion defeated by the first word on the page. How shameful. She ran her finger down the page in search of something more familiar but to her bewilderment, her search came up empty. Every word on the page was an odd jumble of letters too random to be a foreign language. The longer she stood staring at the odd mass of words the more incoherent they became.

Luna shut the book carefully as if to not disturb the deafening silence that had crept up upon her. She glanced up at the bookcase once more, its tall stature looming high above her head taking up more space in the room than it should. Each shelf was peppered with blank and gibberish covered spines sitting proudly amongst the ordinary, mocking her confusion. Her reflection in the mirror beside her remained still despite her fidgeting hands.

Worry niggled in the pit of her belly as she stood, disconnected from a room she knew so well. She wanted to call out to her father or venture out of the room to see for herself what had become of the commotion upstairs when-

"Luna."

The book tumbled to the floor with a loud 'thud' as it narrowly missed Luna's bare foot. Luna's head snapped around to the doorway where her Father was slouched. "What are you doing?" he asked in a monotone voice.

“I, um...” Luna stuttered trying to regain her composure. “I was just looking at the books...” her Father remained silent and made no effort to move into the room. His expression was blank and his eyes gazed, half-lidded at nothing in particular. “Is something wrong?” she asked when he made no effort to respond. His figure swayed slightly in an imaginary breeze, his head lolled to one side as he stood blocking the only exit. “Dad?” 

A tense moment passed as she stared at his unmoving form before his head began to vibrate and spasm as in ways his neck shouldn't allow. Luna flinched at the sudden movement and tripped as she backed into a nearby table. She crumpled to the floor where she watched in horror as her Father's face contorted and twisted into someone she didn’t recognise.

His left eye slid down his face and came to rest low on his cheek. The other ascended beyond his brow line. His mouth tilted as his lips thinned until there was nothing left but a gaping hole that held sharp discoloured teeth. His skin shifted to a shade of sickly grey.

Its head fell towards its chest as if being let go by an unseen marionettist and stilled for a moment. Luna's blood ran cold. She wanted to call for help but all the breath in her lungs had frozen. She wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go, but more than anything she just wanted her Father, her real Father, to save her. She felt her energy drain out of her body, her arms began to shake under her weight until one of her elbows gave way in a jerky movement. The creatures head rose enough for her to see its blood-shot eye stare at her through muddy green bangs.

A deafening crack rang through the room as the door to the en-suite bathroom was blown off its hinges by some unseen force. A long dark corridor unfolded before her and stretched far into the distance with a thin rectangular door at the end of it.

Luna scrambled over the upturned door and bolted down the corridor trying to put as much space between herself and the creature as possible - it’s twisted mangled features still burned vividly in her mind's eye making it difficult to see the long dark road ahead. A dull ache was making itself known in her sleepy leg muscles, she filled the pain under ‘things to whine about later’ and pressed on. Behind her, she could hear a set of footsteps steadily closing the distance. Each echoing step was being punctuated with wet rattling breaths. A part of her brain told her to look behind to see how fast the creature was gaining on her but the adrenaline only kept her racing forward, her mind unable to handle any command more complex than ‘run’.

Her feet hit the floor hard as she ran, hard enough that each step created ripples in what she thought was a solid floor. The warp of the floor was unwelcome as it resulted in Luna’s ankle bending at an uncomfortable angle. Luna fell awkwardly on to the uneven ground as it raised and fell to the rhythm of a wave. She steadied herself on the adjacent wall but quickly withdrew her hand as if she’d been burned. Thick black liquid covered her hand and sluggishly dripped down her forearm. Luna looked at the dark wall, shiny black liquid was pouring down from the ceiling, it began to pool at the edges of the hallway and lick at her bare feet. The breath on her shoulder snapped her out of her confusion and her attention was on the door once again, so close now but not close enough. Her feet carried her forward meeting a growing resistance as the liquid swallowed her feet and climbed her legs. The doorway stood in front of her now, its shiny reflective surface a jarring contrast to the murky hallway. There was no handle. No lock. No sign that it was anything other than a silvery wall, but there was no other option now. A thunderous crack announced the ceilings defeat in its war against gravity and was the final warning before the corridor and Luna were submerged under the inky water.

                                                                                                    ***                                                                       

Luna's hand found the cool sleek surface of her father's full-length mirror and she fell face first onto a familiar floor. She threw herself aside, expecting the suffocating wave of black liquid to follow her, but as she turned she was meet only by her own horrified expression staring back at her on the solid surface. She stared back, waiting for the image to warp and distort into another horror, but nothing happened. The reflection only sat still, her chest visibly rising and falling under her dry pyjamas, her tear stained face framed by choppy strands of black hair.

And just like that the sounds of the real world returned, the birds tweeted their morning songs in the forest outside, the soft footsteps of the drowsy students above, the sizzling of breakfast being made in the kitchen - a symphony of everlasting sound.

A grumbling voice echoed down the hallway accompanied by the thud of bare feet on old marble. Luna froze from where she sat, fearful that the familiarity of her surroundings would all fall away if she dared to move.

“-meeting with their parents, as if I’m not busy enough!” came the voice as it grew louder “Stupid girls... We’ll see how they like a months’ worth of detenti-“ Her Father cut himself off as he spotted Luna, his fearsome scowl softened “What happened, Sweetheart? Why are you on the floor?” Luna didn’t dare look at him, not when he was standing in the same place as he was the first time, not when she’d already watched his feature twist and contort in sickening movements. “Luna, what’s wrong?” His tone shifted to match the growing worry evident on his face. He stepped into the room and quietly shut the door behind him, careful not to make any sudden movements. He walked into the room and settled on the floor next to Luna as she continued to not meet his gaze.

She stared at the mirror. It leaned lazily against the wall about a foot away from the bookshelf. It stood at roughly 4ft tall and was about 10 inches across. The gold gilded frame reflected its age with inconsistent patches of colour. Luna decided to count the patches, anything to distract her from the discomfort she felt with her ‘father’ so close. Her breath was coming out in short sharp pants as she watched him from the corner of her eye. Worry was etched into every line of his face and his posture showed his thinly veiled tension loud and clear.  

Luna didn’t want to tempt fate but her need for comfort was rapidly out-weighing her caution. “I think...” she began, “I think I had a nightmare”

“In the five minutes I was gone?” Luna meet his gaze for the first time since he had entered the room. His eyes were soft and gentle, resting just below his knitted brow and high above his lips, right where they should be. His sleep-ruffled hair stuck out wildly in all directions, its deep bottle green contrasting against his peach toned skin. He looked real.

“I don’t know what happened”, Luna said in a small voice. “You came in but... it wasn’t you”. She bit her bottom lip to stop it from trembling as she forced herself to continue; “and there was a corridor over there”, she pointed to the closed door to their left knowing fully well that what lay beyond was just a bathroom. “And it tried to drown me.” She didn’t need to see her Fathers look of alarmed confusion to know that she wasn’t making sense, but she just couldn’t bring herself to recount it all in detail. A voice of worry in the back of her mind told her that it’d happen all over again if she did and she couldn’t help but listen. The face of the monster drifted across her mind's eye, her resolve snapped and she sobbed loudly into her hands. She almost didn’t hear her Father ask if he could hug her over the rattling breaths of the monster in her mind. The warmth of his arms was all the enticement she needed, shuffling closer to her real father she let herself be rocked until the monsters face slowly faded.

                                                                                                ***                                                            

Luna watched her legs as she swung them out in front of her, letting her heels bump gently against the legs of her chair. Her shoulders were bunched up high around her neck, her arms rigid and straight, as her nails dug into her cushioned seat leaving small crescent shapes in the ageing fabric. She glanced up at the closed double doors in front of her and grimaced. The doors were arched and rimmed with gold. A large gold hourglass was embellished on the white wood where the two doors meet. A small gold plaque fit snugly into the brickwork beside it, announcing to all the owner of such a grandiose entrance.

Headmaster's Office

In a way, Luna wished she hadn’t made such a fuss of her silly dream and just brushed it off as a stress-induced vision of some kind. The Headmaster wasn’t an intimidating man by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasn’t often that one found themselves seated outside of his pearly white doors after scheduling an emergency meeting. Luna lowered her head and continued her nervous leg swinging, choosing this time to swing them out of sync with each other, just to spice things up.

Her Father was the first to break the silence they’d fallen into since they’d been told to sit and wait. “Whatever this is, we’ll get it sorted out. I just got a message to say that my lessons have been covered for today, so I'll stay with you, ok?” He placed his hand over Luna’s and squeezed, but her hand remained tense on the chair. “You never know,” he said with a brighter tone, “it could have just been a very short nightmare”.

Luna looked up at him with a pleading expression. The two looked at each for a moment before he signed in defeat. He sat forward, leaning his forearms against his thighs as he chewed on his bottom lip. Luna couldn’t help the stab of guilt she felt for stopping his attempts at lightening the mood dead in its tracks. He was, by his own admission, a “worry bucket” and she knew his jokes and brighter tones were mostly for his own benefit when he felt he could do nothing else in a situation out of his control.

She leaned over to rest her head against his shoulder, a comforting gesture she knew would be understood. “You know, if you keep looking like that you’ll give yourself frown lines” he said, resting his head on top of hers. “You’ll end up looking older than me.”

“I’d have to frown for a thousand years to look older than you.” She quipped, allowing a little mirth to slip into her tone. “I’ve got time.” Luna felt his smile against her hair and for the first time that morning she couldn’t help but have one of her own.

Without warning the door flung outward to reveal a man who looked entirely too awake for this time in the morning.

“Luna! Mark! My favourite Father-daughter duo, to what do I owe the pleasure?” The Headmaster beamed down at the pair, his metallic gold hair was pulled back in a lazy ponytail that spilled down his back, his white robes shared the same gold embellishments as the door in the form of embroidery and bright hourglass pendant hung from his neck. He looked well for a man of 70, his age only evident in the crow's feet that hid behind his owlish glasses.

“There’s been an incident” Luna’s Father explained as he got to his feet with Luna mimicking the action a moment later.

The Headmaster’s eyes drifted from her Father to Luna and settled on her scruffy bob. “A new hairstyle I see! It’s nice to see such a drastic change, my dear!”

Mark visibly cringed as Luna hung her head. “It uh, wasn’t voluntary, Sir” He said in a serious tone, lowering his voice towards the end of his sentence.

The Headmaster’s smile wavered slightly as he stepped aside. “Oh?” He paused for a moment, eyeing Luna’s dejected posture. “I see,” he said as he stepped aside, gesturing them into his office.

It always took Luna’s eyes a moment to adjust to the brightness of the large circular office. High windows poured in sunlight that bounced off of the crisp white walls and the polished marble floor. Clocks of different styles set to different time zones covered the wall behind the large solid wood desk and high-backed chair. All of them worked, yet none of them ticked. Luna stepped into the room leaving the Headmaster and her father to exchange hushed words by the door. The word ‘suspension’ was all she allowed herself to hear before tuning out the rest. The Headmaster took up his seat behind the desk as two chairs fazed into existence for the pair to sit in.

“How can I help?” the Headmaster asked over folded hands. His eyes inspected her ‘hairstyle’ from the lone long strands around her face, a feeble echo of her hairs past length, to the jagged ends around her jaw. He eventually settled on her face and gave her a sympathetic smile. Luna's jaw clenched as both adults watch her expectantly. She stared into her lap and shook her head refusing to relive her horrid nightmare. "Perhaps it'd be easier to write it down" he suggested before producing some paper and a pen from his desk.

                                                                                                  ***                                                                  

The Headmaster hummed as he straightened the many pages of Luna’s essay against the desk, he held up his index finger as he stood and glided to a shelf on his left. He reached for one of the three shabby books that perched on the edge of the shelf and began to flip through its dog-eared pages until he found the page he was looking for.

“Try and give this a read, my Dear”. He handed Luna the partially illustrated book before he returned to his seat. Luna’s arms crumpled under the weight, it wobbled for a moment before her Father hovered his open hand above the two-page spread taking the weight out of it. Luna rearranged herself in her seat with the now weightless book comfortably in her hands.

Her Father peered over her shoulder. “What is it about?”

“Power mythology!” The Headmaster beamed with the triumphant look of someone who’d explained everything despite explaining nothing. “An old friend of mine gave it to me whilst I was studying in Italy, beautiful place...” His chair creaked as he leaned back turning his attention skyward.

“But what does-“

“I wish I could have stayed longer but my internship was only for a year”

“I see but-“

“But it’s a good thing it was! I ate nothing but carbs the entire time! Haha, imagine that!”

“Headmaster!” Mark smacked his hand down on the desk, the noise snapped the Headmaster out of his reminiscent daydream and his hazy expression faded into something that mimicked professionalism.

“Right, right, yes. My apologies.” He leaned forward, folding his hands under his chin and cleared his throat before continuing. “When I read how Luna here found herself in a familiar place that turned out to be not so familiar, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d read about that scenario elsewhere...”

Mark leaned forward, his eyes widening in a silent plea for the Headmaster to stay on track despite his lengthy pause.

“When I was in Italy… “, Mark hung his head in defeat. “I read that book cover to cover and nothing I studied that year was more intriguing than-“

“Reality Warpers”. The two adults turned to Luna as she spoke. She traced the words with her finger making sure she’d read it right. “That’s... that’s what I am?”

“Precisely”

Mark’s mouth fruitlessly opened around words that didn’t come. He yanked on the edge of the book to inspect the writing at a better angle. Luna plopped the book into his lap as she turned to address the Headmaster. “Does that mean I have a power?” she asked, her eyes growing wide.

“Of course you do, my girl! Everyone does!” He leaned over the desk to pat her head. “And with a hair colour like yours, it’s no wonder it’s something so rare.”

“So...” Mark pinched the bridge of his nose clearly struggling with a fact that his boss and daughter had accepted so easily. “She ‘warped reality’, in such a way, that she created a version of me that tried to harm her?”

“I don't believe it was intentional," the Headmaster said as he leaned back, lacing his fingers and resting them around his middle. "It seems to me that she temporarily created a copy of this world, albeit a very small section of it.” The Headmaster nodded himself mulling over Luna’s tale of woe in his mind. “But as she is quite young, the world wasn’t copied exactly as it should have been.”

“That’s why the books were weird!” Luna exclaimed as she pieced it together for herself. “I knew they should have titles, I just couldn’t remember the name of them!”

“And the more you noticed these flaws the more apparent they became!” the Headmaster agreed, sharing Luna’s enthusiasm. “I believe that your emotions play a large part in controlling this power of yours and the more you began to mistrust your surrounding the less they resembled the real world”. Luna found the Headmaster's passion for the subject to be infectious. She subconsciously mirrored his attentive posture and wide-eyed smile, but it seemed not everyone was so greatly affected. With an elbow propped up on the desk and his forehead in his hand, her Father stared down at the open book in his lap as he flipped through the pages - his brow in a deep furrow.

“I’d still like to know how we can prevent this in the future and how will this affect her schooling?”

“Well, I’d like to think that most of the things she learns in her lessons can be transferable to some degree”. This seemed to mostly appease her father as his frown began to fade. “But for the more complex issues… I can think of someone who’d be willing to help”. He finished with a wink to Luna.

“You’ll really give me private lessons?!” She asked, unable to hide her disbelief.

“It’d be my pleasure.” He smiled.

“And these lessons will prevent her from creating anything dangerous, will they?” her father interjected. 

“With time. As with all powers and the youngsters trying to wield them, practice is the key. But for now Luna I will say this.” The Headmaster reached across the desk and took Luna's hand as his expression changed into something more soft. “There is nothing you can create that will ever harm you, everyone is impervious to their own power and you are no exception. Remember that and you’ll have nothing to fear.” Luna beamed at his words. She had a power. She had a reason to attend her lessons. She looked over at her Father who now looked only mildly concerned with the outcome of this meeting.

One of the many clocks lining the walls began to chime, signalling the end of breakfast and the beginning of class time. Luna leapt to her feet almost immediately. “Headmaster! May I borrow this?” she asked, taking the book from her Father's lap.

“Of course,” he said, a little taken aback by her sudden outburst. She turned to her Father and tugged on his hand.

“Come on! We’ll be late!”

“I thought we were taking the rest of the day off?” Her Father asked letting himself be dragged to the doorway regardless.

“Nope!” she said with a smile wider than any she’d had before. “I have a power to learn about!”