Key of A.C.E

Chapter 1

October 9th 2012- London

"I don't know what to say. No one got full marks. Well, all except one." Mrs Belpois handed back the science exam.

Of course, thought Axel. Max does it again.

"Well done Miss Kappel, full marks," the teacher said as she walked past Axel and Max.

Axel froze, realising that for once, Max wasn't the top of the class. He spun his head to see him glancing over at the girl, brow furrowed. I... don't know how to react. He's always gotten the highest. And she got full marks? Could she be cheating? He peeked over his shoulder to observe the girl. She had pale blonde hair and ice blue eyes. She wore the standard grey and maroon uniform, consisting of a blazer, a tie and a pleated skirt. The two girls both beside her and behind her sighed in frustration, one even lightly banging their head on the table. Evidently, the two girls around her seemed to know what was going on. Determined to bring his friend to justice, he decided to observe the girls and see whether she had cheated.
"How many times have I told you? Do anything but that! Getting full marks isn't an option for us. You have to be mediocre. MEDIOCRE! You get it?" Cecilia Kappel was sitting in the courtyard, along with Erika Strobel, a loud, quick tempered lousy friend with no motivation. Her short dark marron hair was definitely unnatural but it wasn't dyed or colour, it was real; just like her dark purple eyes. Axel could hear her from the next bench over and he could certainly feel his ears ringing.
"Erika. We all know she's just built this way, there's nothing we can do," Adeline Renaud defended. "But seriously Cecilia. Couldn't you have gotten at least one question wrong?" Adeline was much more level headed with medium length brown hair and brown eyes. Average in every way, he noted.
Cecilia folded her arms, whilst continuing to display an emotionless face. "You're the one to talk, Little Miss popular. You should stop with all the pop culture references, unless you want to be in the spotlight."
Erika scowled, clearly offended. "Well, I... I... We... We wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for our good for nothing fathers."
Axel paused. "I'm going to stop now," he said turning to face Max.
"Oh?" he said slamming his book shut. "Why so?"
"I think they're being forced here by their fathers. And they don't seem to like very much. They're probably some rich kids who were forced to come here," Axel theorised.
"Or... they are runaway girls who came to here to keep away from trouble or attention."
"Either way, we can't follow them. It's an invasion of privacy." Max sighed as he got up. Axel smiled and followed him.
"Is the lab ready?" he heard Adeline say.
"Yeah, though it could kill you. You still want to do this?" Cecilia asked.
"Positive," she replied.
"Never mind," Axel told Max. "We are going to follow them after all."
The girls didn't do much, eat, classes, lay around. After all the lessons ended, the girls headed to their dormitory, the second floor of the school. Those who were fortunate enough had a room all to themselves like Adeline, but some, had to deal with Erika's unnecessary bickering, like Cecilia. If you were even more unfortunate, you'd end up with someone who wasn't even your age, which wasn't ideal for the girls' early morning homework rush. The girls all met up at the old school warehouse, an empty storage shed, that reeked of sewage and garbage. It was kept there to remind the students of the hardships people went through during the World Wars, but now it was nothing but abandoned.
The girls headed through a red door which led to the sewers. Holding their breaths, Max and Axel weaved through the coiled path down. Despite the smell, there was no sewage water or rat, just a... train?
"A train?" Axel asked. "That's not something that supposed to be in a sewer, is it?" Max shook his head, clearly fascinated. The two entered, believing that the girls had taken refuge there, and began to search. They had searched the train entirely, every nook and cranny.
"This is a simple train. Why can we find them?" Axel asked. He straightened up as he realised something. "We haven't checked the roof."
Without any other options Max shrugged. "Sure, why not. What's the worst that could happen?"
Upon saying so, the doors closed and the train started up. "Why would you say that?" The train began to move forward. "Isn't there a wall in front of us?" The two boys rushed to the conductor's cart where they tried to move the various lever. As they began to run out of options, they began kicking the door, trying to take it down.
With the blink of an eye, the two boys found themselves in a somewhat packed train. People with pointed ears and animal ears jumped and wobbled as the train rode on. The train came to a halt at a brightly lit platform, where only one train was present. They got off, unsure of what to do next.
"Are... Are we dead? Is this heaven?" Axel asked, pinching his cheek.
"Why would heaven look like a train station?" he replied. The two wandered aimlessly, exploring the new location. When they tried to leave through the gate, they found their usual passes to be malfunctioning. The security guard who was watching, took them aside, but Axel explained that they were just there without any reasoning. The guard who was perplexed took them away, to not disturb the crowd.
"I'm telling you; we boarded that train with no ticket or anything like that," Axel proclaimed. "We just got on the train underneath our school."
"We never placed a train under a school," the security man replied.
"If you didn't then we wouldn't be here," Max mumbled. "Look, all we want is to go back to our school. It's not a very complicated request, is it?"
The man sighed before talking into his walkie talkie. Moments later, a tall man with pale blond hair and extravagant suit appeared. "Sorry for the inconvenience. I will take it from here." The security guard left them and the man took his seat. "I'm William Anderson, the director of this station." He gave them a smile. "So, I hear that you took a train from a school. Would you mind describing where it is, and what kind of school it is?"
Axel began to explain what had happened. "I see. Then I will personally escort you back." He took out a small tablet from his pocket and printed three tickets. Three pieces of paper came out from the top edge. He handed one to Axel and Max and they all boarded the train.
In the blink of an eye, they found themselves back in the sewers. However, the train was as empty as a ghost town. William Anderson got off and looked around. "Boys would you tell me something? Do you have a Cecilia in her school?"
The boys shared a glance. "Yeah. She's our classmate; she's really smart and has the top grades," Max replied. Axel was surprised. Max didn't usually claim that someone was better than him.
"And would you describe her as... emotionless?" he hummed. Max nodded. "That's wonderful news!" Axel raised an eyebrow. Describing someone to be emotion less is 'wonderful news?' he thought. He shook his head, dismissing the bizarre thought. "You see, I'm Cecilia's father."
"But you have different surnames," Axel said. "Cecilia Kappel, right?"
William smiled. "She ran away from home and changed her name, just like Adeline and Erika." He smiled brightly, making his small wrinkles visible. "Well then. I suppose I should talk to the principal and bring her home, shouldn't I?" He went up the stairs and out of sight.
"They really are runaways! Just like you said!" Axel proclaimed.
"But something doesn't add up," Max said. "Why did he ask if she was 'emotionless'? He could've used so many different words to describe her so why that?"
"Maybe they don't get along. That's probably why she ran away."
"No. Something was off, his smile, his suit, his attitude. It creeps me out." Max zoned out for a moment. He blinked a couple of times before looking up at Axel. "Either way, we have to find Cecilia and the others." Axel stated that they weren't there. "We immediately jumped onto the train without searching the sewers." Axel nodded and began to run around. He stumbled upon a half-opened metal door, and he proceeded on without thinking.
The door led to the playground of the old school building. As they appeared from behind another metal door, they saw Erika with her pale pink dress and black tights. She picked up a few flowers from the overgrown field then walked around. She scanned her bracelet by the keyhole of one of the doors before opening it.
Max and Axel walked in, just before the door closed. They saw Adeline hooked into Cecilia's computer, with needles and wires. "What... what are you doing?"
Max looked around; he could see a small, worn-out sofa, a few pillows, a blanket and a medical kit. There was also a small laptop half opened playing gentle piano music.
Cecilia and Adeline exchanged looks, before glaring at Erika. "Whoops."
"Well? Now what? Should we go back in time?" Adeline asked. "They'd forget everything. Problem solved. I bet they follow us because someone got full marks on their test."
"Go back in time?" Max asked. "You can do that?" His eyes twinkled in excitement at the thought of time travel.
"But that's not why we're here," Axel said. "Cecilia, you have a visitor. We met him at the station."
"Sanctuary station?" Erika asked. "You don't think... He's here?"
Adeline began to pull the wires out of her. She put on her hoodie. "Let's go."
The three girls rushed to the sewers. William was standing by the train with the principal.
"I left my time turner in the lab," Adeline blurted. Erika growled. "I'm sorry," she said sarcastically. "I had needles and wires attached to me. Of course, I left it there!" She rushed back up the stairs, the metal door creaking behind her.
"I'll deal with your father," Erika stated.
"Then I'll look after the others," Cecilia stated.
They both took something out of their pockets, a small bag containing coin sized cookies. They took one each a cookie and ate it. They began to glow white, and in a flash, their clothes had changed.
Cecilia wore a light blue vest with lilac accents and a pink turtle neck shirt. A short light blue skirt sat on her hips, over a pair of pink leggings. On her pointed elf ears hang pair of blood red earrings dangling upon a silver chain, which was mostly hidden by her short, slightly messy hair.
Erika wore a purple and pink patterned yukata with black leggings and black trainers with purple laces. She had a small ocean coloured obi sash which stored two light pink fans. Unlike Cecilia, her hair was wavier, longer and was kept in a ponytail. 

She began to flutter her fans, creating a large gust of wind. William showed no fear. On his back, a pair of light green wings appeared, they were translucent and they went through his clothes. Erika swung her fans at him, using the razor blades attached to them as a weapon.
Cecilia took this moment to ask the boys what they had done. "You got on the train? We should move the train." Large pebbles flew at her. She stopped them mid-air with a wave of a hand. She closed her eyes and put her fingertips together. She breathed slowly. A thick glass cocoon formed in front of her. She opened her eyes again and fell to her knees. Despite the amount of power that she used; she didn't display nor feel any pain.
Erika, upon seeing this, closed both fans, put one back in the sash and closed her eyes. She waved her other fan gently over her head, making her slowly disintegrate into smoke. The smoke made its way through the small cracks of the glass. She took the form of a human again.
"You know the cause?" Erika asked. Cecilia nodded slightly. "Great; what's taking Adeline so long?"
The metal door opened to reveal the brunette. "I'm here. I'm here." A large thumping was heard. William was using his telekinesis to throw a large rock at the glass barrier. She turned the dial on her bracelet. "Twelve hours should be enough." She glanced over at the other girls. "Ready? One, two, three." They pressed the bracelet's dial at the same time; this made the bracelets glow white engulfing everyone.
The girls found themselves back in the classroom.
"I don't know what to say. No one got full marks. Well, all except one." Cecilia watched as the teacher walked up to her and placed the paper in front of her.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I can't accept this score, because I cheated." The teacher's smile faded.
"You what?" she questioned. "If that's the case then you'll get a zero on your report card."Cecilia nodded.
Outside, Adeline, Cecilia and Erika sat on the same bench. "That was one way to do it," Erika went. "Oh! No! You're report card! You're getting a zero!" she said sarcastically.
Adeline chuckled. " Yeah. We got to be more careful from now on. We don't want this to happen again."
"I'm glad you got the highest," Axel went. "I was close behind, on fourth." When Max didn't reply, he waved his hand in front of his face. "Max?"
"Sorry," he mumbled. "I've just been thinking. Why did Cecilia admit that she cheated?"
"Maybe she felt guilty," he suggested.
"No. If you look into her eyes, it's almost like she has no feelings. She didn't seem to care about her report card." He looked over at Axel. "Something fishy is going on and I'm going to figure out what."