Project Griffin (Discontinued)

Chapter 8 (First Day)

"First day of Foxfire!" I said as Marla, Tenner, and I appeared on campus.

It was stunning. Six different colored wings, each with its tower, curved around a giant pyramid. The grounds were huge and stretched a long distance. It was set in the middle of some desert, but the climate wasn't hot at all. The shining pyramid gleamed in the morning sun, practically blinding me as we approached.

"This is massive!" I cried.

"Yeah," Marla said unenthusiastically, "You get used to it."

We walked inside the pyramid and into a sea of students. Or, prodigies. Isn't that what elves call them?

We met up with our friends and waited for the morning announcements.

"Good morning, prodigies. Hope you enjoyed the Opening Ceremonies."

A voice resonated out of seemingly nowhere. But I was more focused on sulking about the torture that was the Opening Ceremonies the day before.

"For those who don't know me, I am Magnate Leto. The Headmaster of Foxfire."

He named some more random things that didn't apply to me and even said,

"Whoever hid a muskog in my office will receive punishment when I figure out who you are...."

This caused Terin and Plyor to high-five quietly.

Soon, we were off to our separate wings. Kayla, Leo, Mars, Lyle, Terin, Plyor, Quill, Marla, and I went to the Amber wing, and Kai, Grey, and Tenner went to the Emerald wing. Soren, Faren, and Karlie headed off to the Ruby wing.

It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.

In Alchemy, I was glad I had not had the chance to study chemistry. This made it easier to soak up information without conflicting thoughts.

Elementalism was a blast. I almost got zapped just coming in the door.

The Universe was fun, Multispeciesal Studies was confusing, Elvin History was boring, and PE wasn't terrible, but it would not be in my top three favorite subjects.

The last thing on my schedule was Hydrokenisis lessons.

Turns out, Linh was my Mentor!

"You're a Foxfire Mentor?" I exclaimed when I saw her.

Linh shook her head.

"The Council sent me here just to teach you. Hopefully, because you trust me. I think. Do you trust me?"

"Of course!" I replied. Linh was the closest thing I had to a mother right now.

The lesson was fun. There was so much to do with water.

Linh also told me stories about when she was The Girl of Many Floods.

"I've heard about some of those," I said. 

Then I paused. It felt weird to know Linh's backstory when she barely knew me.

After, I met back up with my friends near the Leapmaster.

"How was everyone's day?" I asked as I approached.

"Empathy lessons," began Leo, "Were... interesting."

I decided not to press the subject.

"I manifested in Ability Detecting today," said Grey.

They snapped their fingers. The books I had appeared in their hands.

"Cool!" I said, "You're a Conjurer!"

Grey nodded and handed me back my books.

"It's pretty cool," they said, "but I was hoping for a cooler ability."

"I hope I get a cool ability," said Kai, "like a Charger, or something rarer!"

"Maybe you will get another ability," said Mars said to Grey, "my Elvin History teacher-er-Mentor said it was rare but possible."

"How was your day Kai?" I asked

"My day was fine," said Kai, "But isn't it hot in here?"

Nobody else felt hot.

"Weird," said Kai, "maybe I'm just sensitive."

The rest of the week was super fun except for the fact that Kai didn't come to school near thend.

"She has a fever," Karlie answered when I asked, "couldn't even get out of bed."

On the weekend I got a panicked hail from Kai

"Hey Griffin," said Kai, "can I come to your house? Just us?"

"Umm.., sure," I replied, "I can't promise about Marla and Tenner. Because they live there."

Kai nodded.

We arrived at Rivershine. Kai pulled me aside.

"Is there somewhere more private we can talk?"

"Er, I don't know...." I said. Kai was acting weird. 

"Please, it's important."

"Ok, follow me."

I led her down to the side of the lake, further from the house.

"I'm freaking out, Griff!" she said, "I'm scared."

She began to vibrate a bit.

"What's going-"

Suddenly, Kai burst into orange flames that raged and flicked in the air.

"Ahh!" 

I screamed and pulled the lake water on top of her, dousing the fire and making her whole body steam.

We both stayed silent and stared at each other.

Kai started to bawl and burst into flames again, this time brighter and larger than before.

This time I didn't put it out.

"What's going on!" She sobbed.

"This is not good," I said, "Not good at all."

"I'm a Pyrokinetic!" cried Kai, "This is awful!"

I didn't know what to do. There wasn't a way that I knew of to shut abilities off.

"Kai, you have to calm down," I said, "You're going to set the forest on fire!"

She sniffled and started to calm down. The flames lowered and eventually disappeared.

"What do we do?" asked Kai.

"I don't know," I said, "but we shouldn't tell anybody."

Kai nodded.

She pulled out a home crystal and leaped back to Skysoar.

I sat down in shock.

What was I going to do?