St. Epiderm

Chapter 1: Unity

(BLAIR)

Blair flinched, just as a Hexside student zoomed by, followed by strong winds that threatened to push her over. She frowned, determination rushing through her entire body. With a burst of energy, Blair ducked her head lower, hugging her knees closer together on her staff, speeding to catch up with the Hexside student. The student whooped excitedly, as if enjoying the whole event, zero pressure on her shoulders.

Then she gave an ear-piercing yell and crashed into the treetops.

Blair couldn't stop a smug smile from creeping up her face. Relief flooded her, for she knew that another contestant would be out of the picture. She was going to win. At the very least, top three would be good enough, right? She suddenly wasn't very sure of herself , as more opponents came into view. The sounds of laughter and screams could be heard, not too far away. Her grip tightened, shoving the self-doubting thoughts away.

She took a quick breath, reassuring herself. Then, Blair sped forward, leaving her opponents behind just like her thoughts.

For that single moment, she was free from everything.

- - -

"And first place... goes to... Blair of St. Epiderm!"

All three principals from Hexside, Glandus High and St. Epiderm presented Blair a trophy together. The students from St. Epiderm sitting in the crowd erupted into cheers, claiming their victory. The girl next to Blair was glaring into the distance, clearly upset at her second place medal, while the third place banshee was beaming widely, waving at their own fellow schoolmates excitedly.

Blair looked around, watching them celebrate happily. She gave a half-smile to everyone, satisfied with her accomplishment. Just then, the last contestant came in, with the Hexside crowd beginning to shout words of encouragement.

It was the same girl from before who had crashed into the treetops, her short, brown hair matted with sweat and leaves, big caramel-coloured eyes filled with joy. But one thing about her stuck out the most. She had rounded ears. Ears that curved at the corner instead of pointing out sharply. She didn't have any wings, horns, tails, colourful skin tone or third eyeballs.

It meant that she was a human! Blair wrinkled her eyebrows, wondering about how a human could be on the Boiling Isles, much less competing in a race here. But no one from Hexside seemed to care about that fact, their happy smiles filling their faces as the human landed awkwardly onto the ground.

Placing last didn't seem to deter the human from being annoyingly gleeful.

"Great job, Luz!" Someone seemed to say to the human. So, her name was Luz? What a human-ish name. But, Blair noticed something else about "Luz". Instead of the normal Hexside uniform with one colour representing the coven track they took, her uniform had many different colours and shades. Didn't that mean... she was taking multiple tracks? Blair felt a pang of confusion, her mind whirring to keep up. Does that mean I could take the Oracle track too?

Shut up, she thought, being in one track is awesome by itself. Why would any sane person take multiple? Wait a minute. That's not even allowed! It's practically unheard of!

Blair glanced around, before realising that her schoolmates and Glandus High students were staring at the human too. An unsettling feeling seeped into her skin, reality crashing hard against her. A human? In the Boiling Isles? That was going to bring trouble for sure. Which might have already did. Blair recounted the time she heard rumours of a human running amok, but she didn't actually believe them.

But the buzz of a human in the Boiling Isles had soon dissipated, with everyone moving on to the next 'juicy' thing that interested their thirsty minds.

"Alright everyone. That's all for today. You may leave now." Glandus High's principal said, in a firm and commanding voice, so when he actually said may, it sounded like he wanted all of them to leave right now.

The harsh voices started to soften to murmurs, as more and more students began to leave. Blair watched on as her friends stood up and left, laughing to each other. Though the feeling of loneliness and envy started rearing its ugly head, she shoved it down. She was fine. She would just go back alone. They were probably busy, anyways.

Yeah, busy with each other, a voice in her head echoed. She strained her brain, trying to get rid of the jealous girl that roamed in her mind. However, all she got was a headache. Think happy thoughts, the good times we had... She felt herself begin to calm down. It's not like she needed someone to walk her home.

But as Blair pushed through the lavender trees and solid rocks alone, her only company being stray bats and the setting sun with its purple waves, she wouldn't have wished for anything but a friend.