Pearl Academy I The Emergence

Chapter 2

On the 8th full moon of the year, on the year of the Red Moon, will begin the emergence of Oearlian Gate. The Keeper will keep watch over the Novice for the appearance of Tirkeah is imminent.

The order: simple observation until the extraction is complete. There should be no interference with the natural order of things.

-Excerpt from The Journal of Lunatics from the year of the Dark Moon

*****

I tap my pencil against my desk anxiously. Really, what was Karen thinking? She knows how I get when I hyper-fixate on things. It wrecks my brain. I hate not knowing things. I'm pretty sure I've been staring at my algebra equations practice problems for nearly an hour waiting for her to get back from dropping off Allison and Toby. I drop my pencil and lean back into my chair.

Am I being transferred? How could I? I mean, I haven't done anything to warrant such a drastic action, have I? I've gone to therapy, done my schoolwork, and played it safe. I didn't tell anyone about what happened two months ago, although my therapist might've figured it out from our last talk. I hear the door open downstairs and I nearly throw my chair across the room by how fast I get up. "Karen?" I call out her name, stomping my way down the stairs.

She places her purse down, waving a hand at me. "In my office! I'll be right there."

I stare at her confused, but I do what she says anyway. Her office is adjacent to the living room. Her door was wide open as always. She only ever closed the door when she was working on something serious. All her walls are made up of shelves filled to the brim with books. Us kids are allowed to go crazy in her library. She made it feel like...a home. I can't imagine any other foster parent that can do that for a group of kids like us. "Alright," she comes in and closes the door, "it took me a while, but I found your file."

This is not a good sign. I begin to feel myself panic and that feeling from this morning only gets worse. I've had that file in my hands before. I have committed it all to memory. And do you know what it holds? Nothing that holds any sort of insight as to who I am or where I came from. There are documents of my given name and age and then there's the report from the police about how they found me.

Karen sits down in her old swivel chair with my file in her hands. "I haven't seen this file in years! But you'll need it." She flips it open and folds her hands together. "As you know, Kelly, you're turning 16 in a few we-" She sighs and tries to start again. "Kelly, now that you're turning 16, I think it's time for you to start thinking about your future."

I'm not sure where this is going but I keep quiet. "I've tried my best to give you the best education that I could, but I've noticed how bored you get sometimes, honey." Her eyes soften in sympathy. "I can't stand it when you get that far-off look on your face. It makes me think that you're searching for something more and I can't give that to you. You're so bright, Kelly." I think I just felt my stomach drop to the bottom of Earth's core.

"So, we're going to send you to a prestigious academy two hours from here. Oh, don't look at me like that! You'll love it there," she exclaims. I hear the hint of doubt in her voice that she tried to hide but failed miserably. "What did Dr. Cale say about my transfer?" I held on to my hope that she was against it. One can only hope.

"She agreed with me." My hopes are dashed! "She told me that she has held no concerns about your mental well-being for the last year." I should have stayed in bed. I should've stayed quiet in my room and not gone down for breakfast. "But what about the group home? Why can't I stay?" I ask, bewildered.

It isn't uncommon to have teenagers in foster care. In fact, they are overrun with them. Was it too much to ask to stay here for these last two years? With all the comings and goings, this is the only place I have called home. I can't just leave! "I know it's hard to accept, but you don't belong here anymore, Kelly. You have the chance of a lifetime! You, Ryan, and Makayla are all so academically gifted. Please, let me do this for you. Say you'll go."

I don't see a way out of this one. Karen isn't exactly wrong for doing this. I have been getting bored with my lesson plans. The only thing that has been on my mind for the last year was the sudden burst of nightmares and hallucinations that had developed on my fifteenth birthday. Maybe going to this school will be good for me. "I can think about it, Karen. I don't even know the name of this school or where it is exactly." Two hours. That's what Karen said earlier. The school is two hours from here. "You said it was two hours from here? Two hours in which direction?"

Karen visibly flinches. "I wouldn't send you there if Dr. Cale hadn't okay-ed it in the first place, Kelly." A sprout of nausea develops at the pit of my stomach. "S. Cerelia Pearl Academy for The Gifted is in Ellenboro." Her eyes mirror my dread. "Ellenboro, West Virginia." I felt the world stand still for one simple second. It felt like the longest second in history. It was no fault of Karen, but she turned everything upside down with those three words.