Specials

Prologue

The following is an exchange between the author and someone who reads a lot of the author's books:

Dearest Author,

I have noticed that in all of your books, there is some huge thing happening that causes a ton of death and crap, and possibly the end of the world. That's all good and stuff, but I was wondering if you could possibly maybe write something on a smaller scale? Kids with powers having fun? I don't know... It's just a suggestion.

Thanks,

A Reader.

Dearest Reader,

Thank you for the letter. You bring an interesting perspective into mind. I will consider it. Actually, I think I have a fairly good idea for something, bringing up the same school from the story Ultramatrix, Tanya's School for Gifted Children. Except, no maniacal supervillains bringing down the world this time. I promise.

From,

The Author.

****

The blonde woman sat at her desk, her hair that was usually in a neat ponytail released and spread across her blue sweater, making her look uncharacteristically young. Spread across her desk were pictures, thousands and thousands of pictures. And she recognized every face. There were two pictures of every student, one from the start of the year and one from the end of the year. This was her beloved graduating class, finally leaving her fine academy after five whole years. The photo sets were further divided into two piles: Those in the hero course and those in the... other course. The woman looked across the pictures with a twinge of pride. In the first pictures, all the students looked fluttery, scared, and young. In the other, they looked older, hardened, brave, and ready. The ones that came here out of shape or downright fat had slimmed down, their bulk replaced with muscle. And all the students had their minds trained, to increase intelligence, cleverness, and to encourage quick-thinking. It was part of what made the blonde's school so great. Tanya grinned to herself, turning now to pictures on her computer, the new intake of students. It was going to be another exciting year at Tanya's School for Gifted Children.