The Secret Legacy of Pan - English Translation

Prologue

LEE

THE PROPHESIED

I was curious. Very curious. The future was dependent on this girl. The future of a whole nation. And I was supposed to protect her. More than that: My own future was closely intertwined with hers. I was to marry her! That was why I wanted to meet her and registered with the Horton College of Westminster in London.

These schools were all the same anyway. Teenagers or young adults that still had to find themselves. The boys often had loud conversations about sports, parties, or pretty girls. The girls tended to giggle a lot, were generally found in groups, and cared a lot about their appearance, the clothes of others and which boys were currently in style.

As I stepped into the corridor, I felt multiple gazes fall upon me. I was used to this. A few girls had already started making sheep's eyes at me. I saw how they started picking at their clothes, running their fingers through their hair, and wetting their lips.

The school's director, Mrs Hayley-Wood, reacted similarly. Even she was not immune to a good-looking man, no matter his age. If she knew how old I really was...

She guided me around the school personally and introduced me to my future classmates. I was sure that her voice sounded higher and brassier than normal. She chattered away, showed me all kinds of trivial stuff, and laughed like a teenager.

"Here are some of your new classmates, Mr FitzMor." Oh, finally something interesting. Three of those pimped-up, beautiful girls and one boy my age, or at least my alleged age, were standing before us.

The one on the left, the brunette, was extremely pretty. She had put on an exciting shade of eye makeup, wore one of those modern pleated skirts with a matching top, and gave me a flirtatious look through long, thick eyelashes.

"Mr FitzMor, may I introduce", Mrs Hayley-Wood said, standing before the four students. "This is Cynthia, Jack, Ava, and Felicity from your grade. Everyone, this is Leander FitzMor, a new student. I hope you will all take care of him."

Mrs Hayley-Wood shook my hand and took her leave. I paid her no heed. I felt how my whole body contracted in euphoric excitement. Man, I was lucky. Directly in front of me, the pretty brunette, was the girl I had been looking for. The girl that would decide over all our futures. My future bride.

And she was gorgeous.

This would be way easier than I thought. I showed her my alluring smile and she reacted like I knew she would: she melted.

"Leander, what an unusual name", the blonde, Cynthia, said.

"Oh please, call me Lee. All my friends call me that."

I looked deep into Felicity's eyes, and it had the intended effect. She blushed wonderfully. Great. This was almost too easy. I could have had the bad luck of Felicity being one of those losers back there. Like the pudgy one over there: stringy hair, an inappropriate T-shirt. Just then, she sneezed and fell backwards over her own bag – how clumsy. And I just saw a flash of braces!

I could not quite hide a snide grin. Poor girl. The perfect example of a modern wallflower. She would probably end up as a feminist politician or a teacher. Or behind the counter of a supermarket.

I felt a warm hand on my arm. Felicity smiled at me from below with skillful doe eyes. She knew how to ensnare men. She was pretty, seemed determined and brave. No wonder – she was the prophesied.

"Come. I'll show you the classroom." I followed her without complaint. Was it too early for a kiss? After all, that would seal the deal. As soon as I kissed her, she would be enthralled by me. Forever.

"I'm assuming that your next class is English as well", she said and linked arms with me. I nodded. The Horton College was situated in one of those patriarchal buildings from the Victorian times. A lot of stairs, corridors, and niches. Dark niches.

"Is this the classroom?", I asked amused as Felicity dragged me into one of those said niches. She smiled temptingly and pressed her model figure against my body. Then she kissed me. It had been so easy to enwrap her. But I immediately knew that something was not right. Where was the expected sparks? The fireworks? The violin and the confetti? It did not feel like a fulfillment of fate, but rather like a totally normal, deep kiss.

Something crashed before us, and I tore my eyes open in shock. The pudgy girl with the dumb T-shirt had tripped in front of our hiding place and discovered us.

"Sorry", I heard her murmur. This brought Felicity back to reality. She angrily glared at the girl.

"Go away, City. Are you spying on me?" The plain one stood up and glared back.

"Why would I spy on you? Do you think I want to learn how to embarrass myself in public?"

"You don't need to learn that. You do that all by yourself" Felicity hissed, and I applauded her in silence. "Piss off, City. You aren't quite on Lee's level."

"No, but luckily you are. I think you just beat your own record: two minutes after meeting. Congratulations." She bent down to pick up her fallen books and gave one of them to Felicity. "Here. Miss Ehle mixed us up again." Then she shot me a scornful look.

"Don't worry, City. Lee won't mix us up", Felicity had followed the other's look and took the book out of her hand.

"Hopefully. I don't take used products", City explained snootily. My eyes fell on the book. In the same moment, I felt like someone had punched me in the gut with a baseball bat. It said Felicity Stratton.

"Stratton?" I inquired. I heard how reserved my voice sounded. "Your name is Stratton?" Felicity looked at me lovingly and nodded. I knew that the kiss had done what it was supposed to. It always did.

"Yes. For now. But who knows, maybe I'll have a different surname in the future? FitzMor for example."

Behind me, someone was groaning snidely. City was pretending to throw up. The fat bulges on her hips were clearly visible beneath her ugly shirt as she bent over. Wait a minute... City was surely not her real name. I had a bad feeling about this. Still, I had to be sure this time. "And you are City?"

She looked at me as dismissively as I had looked at her earlier. "Yes. But my friends call me Felicity. Felicity Morgan", she explained snobbishly.

Now I was actually starting to feel sick. I had made a huge mistake. I had kissed and bound the wrong girl to me. The chosen one was not the one snuggling up to me lovingly. She was standing in front of me and was nothing like the dream girl I had imagined.