Airen

Chapter 1

The whistle blew loud and shrill, and Megan forced her hands to stay at her side instead of flying up to her ears. The clicks of Madame Desdemona's heels became louder as she checked the students to the left of Megan. Megan looked down at the cot where her only friend, John, was standing, and smiled. John's eyes widened and he glanced behind Megan, then back to her. Megan's eyebrows scrunched, and she jumped when Madame Desdemona's voice pierced her ears.

"Was that a smile I saw?"

Megan shook her head, and looked at the floor.

"No, Ma'am. I fell out of bed last night. It was a grimace."

Desdemona nodded, and then brought her club hard against Megan's ribs.

"Just in case." Madame Desdemona hissed.

Megan winced, and steadied her feet as Madame Desdemona continued her role call. Megan watched her slimy black hair proceed down the hall, and as soon as she heard the door slam shut on the other end, she collapsed on the floor. John rushed to her side, and bent own to look at her with worried eyes.

"Megan? Are you all right?"

"Yes, John, I just got a club pounded into my side, and I feel fantastic." Megan answered, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

John looked down, and whispered an apology. Megan slowly worked her way to her feet, and then hobbled over to her bed.

"John, did you find anything in the library?" Megan whispered.

The library was off limits to students, but Megan had to know about the small black flower mark on her wrist. John looked curiously into her eyes as she self-consciously played with the strings on her glove that covered her mark.

"I'm sure its nothing, Megan. Its probably just a tattoo that your parents gave you."

Megan nodded, and then painfully stood up. John offered to help, and Megan was about to accept when another whistle blew five short blasts. Megan and John looked at each other in disbelief. One of the children had escaped. The whistle blew again, and Megan scooted into her place in line. In front of her another girl by the name Karrie, and behind her, John had his eyes cast to the floor. Madame Desdemona's screech came from behind Megan somewhere, telling the long, uniformed line to move forward. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, Megan stepped at the exact same rate that the rest of the students.

School guards fell in to step beside the long line of look a likes, and led them to the Hall. Megan looked up at the high, dark ceilings and grimaced. The room was set up with a thousand dark brown chairs with numbers on them. Megan walked quietly to the chair with her number, 246. All of the even numbers were girls, while the odd numbers were boys. John came and sat to the left of her, his number was 245. Megan nodded, forcing her face to stay sullen. Suddenly, Master Raven's voice slithered through the speakers and crept into Megan's ears.

"A young boy has unfortunately left our presence today, and I wish to inform you of his crime. This boy will be tortured, and then killed. So this gathering is to warn you, Hopeless Cases. Any others caught aiding an escape or trying themselves will reach the same fate."

The moment of silence that hung in the air after Master Raven was finished sent a chill own Megan's spine, and she glanced toward the door. Madame Desdemona stood at her husband's side, and surveyed the crowd of silent students with her icy eyes.

"Megan, look at 229's seat." John whispered beside her.

Megan looked at the row in front of her, and noticed the seat was missing. two girls were sitting right next to each other.