The Elemental Night School, The Dawn of Echoburne: Book 3 ♛

Chapter 5

Chapter 5: (Introducing Valarie, James, & Rhiannon)

~Valarie~

I take a chair in the local café, closing my eyes and smiling as I welcome the bold, flavorful aroma of coffee beans and deliciously flavored syrups. I had just finished my tour of the school, and was now ready to stop for a minute and relax. I walk up to the front counter and order a macchiato, and after paying for it thank the employee and return to my seat. My element is air, and the memory of making little waves out of the beverages that my mom used to decorate the table with suddenly comes to mind. I cannot wait to visit my parents after I go out on winter break. I will have so much to tell them, how I am improving, the friends that I am making, and what new things I am learning about my element.

~Rhiannon~

I am in the school dance studio, instrumental music playing loudly from the stereo system as I dance like I do most afternoons when I had finished all of my classes for the day. I am practicing my ballet as per usual, though I wasn't the sort to wear the stereotypical ensemble of tights, a tutu and a leotard. Instead, I simply wear running shorts and a singlet top, though my feet are donned with my trusty pointe shoes, which I am currently practicing my pirouettes and other spins on. My long hair whip around my head in an arc as I turn, my momentum enough to keep it from hitting me in the face.

I finally stop, turning after doing sixteen consecutive fouettes in a row, before neatly sticking my landing. I grin to myself, panting from the hard work but happy nonetheless that I have finally nailed my goal. My muscles would ache later on, but to me there wasn't any better feeling than a few sore limbs when I knew I'd been working at something. The song I have been dancing to gently fades to the final notes and then ends, and I walk over to the stereo to select another, humming contentedly to myself as I went.

~James~

I am in the school workshop, my face calm and relaxed as I tinker about with an engine that I have managed to build from scratch. There is no purpose to it really, other than the fact that I have been bored and wanted something productive to do, as I have already finished all of my assignments for the time being. This sort of thing was pretty basic mechanics to my bright mind. When I slot the last component into place and secure it, I step back to look at my handiwork, as if trying to figure out if I can now find a use for it simply by studying it in excruciating detail.

I glance at my watch and decide that I would aim to find a use for the engine I have constructed later; right now I have to go and find Rhiannon. With a slight heave, I lift the heavy metal contraption and move it somewhere where it would be safe and wouldn't get in the way of other students. I dust off my clothes, though my shirt is still smeared with a few grease stains from working with the engine parts. I am not bothered by this however, it wasn't unusual for me to have dirty clothes after messing around with an invention. Whistling a cheery tune to myself, I strode out of the workshop room and head down the hall towards the dance studio, knowing that my sister would undoubtedly be there.

~Darin~

After the new boy introduces himself to us, stating that his name is Marcus, I turn to Selena, as I find her too staring at something.

"What are you looking at, Selena?" I ask her. She points to a boy I have never seen before. "So I have seen almost every student in this school, but never him. He looks unusual." She says. The boy has brown hair and grease smeared over his suit. Must be working in mechanics.

I just shrug, returning to my conversation with my friends.

"Sweet! Its always fun to hang with a group! As long as Selena doesn't feel uncomfortable with all these boys." Jase say teasing her not really caring that he doesn't know her very well."Ooh! One question. Where are we going to get the ice cream? Because you gotta go to the right place or else the ice cream is terrible! Trust me. I would know."

I stop abruptly in my tracks as soon I as I hear Jase's advice. "Really? I did not know that. What cafeteria is best?" I ask, turning to look at Jase. "I would not know, as it is my first day here."

"See that is the thing. I don't think any of the cafeteria's here have some good ones but I have not been to all of them considering I am also kinda new here. What about the one by the Chemistry room? I have not been there yet." Jase says.

"Sure. Let's give it a try." I say, approaching the cafeteria. When we walk in I greet the employee working at the front desk. "So I will have one scoop of pistachio and one scoop of fruity swirl. What do you guys want?" I ask the others.

"Pistachio? Really?" Jase says to Marcus. Jase then turns to the employee at the counter and ask for one scoop of mint chocolate chip and one scoop of chocolate peanut butter. "Yes! The BEST kind ever! Although, if they had peppermint, I would have gone for that instead of mint chocolate chip." he says to the group.

"Okay I would like strawberry and chocolate." Selena says, smiling politely at the employee.

"Really Selena? Going all basic? Everybody has had that." I say, smiling as I shame her before placing my order of mocha caramel and double fudge swirl.

"Ok guys, I can pay for this." Marcus says as he waits for the total cost of the ice cream. Once he pays for it , he grabs some napkins, walking over to the center clearing and looking to select a table.

~Taylor~

As Darin leaves, I sigh and go to my room. I do all my homework and practice my element, though I spill a glass of water in process. Nothing much happens except that I watch a few episodes from my favorite show, then go to bed.

~

I woke up in the morning. It was around 5 am. I got up and dress in a baggy grey t-shirt with some long denim jeans. I grab a helmet and walk down the hallway. My breathe shows in front of my face in a misty cloud, as I exited the school. It is barely dawn so the sun was barely up. Dew clings to the ground.

I get my backpack on and type a code on a lock that connects my bike to the racks. I put the chain in my bag and start riding my bike.

I ride around for awhile and find what I was looking for. My little plot of land that a stable and horse tack. I see my horse trotting around. She is a white horse with a beautiful white mane and blue eyes.

"Sky? Come here, Sky." I whistle a note and the horse comes immediately. I put on my helmet after putting my bike in the stable. I take off her coat and brush her. Then I put a saddle blanket on Sky and then a saddle. I get on her and ride for awhile, trotting along beside a stream. I jump off, wanting to cross the stream

I check my watch, seeing I have a little more time left before school starts. I start sloshing through the water, but suddenly I felt something brush against my legs. Sky rears and I scream.

"Sky!" But soon my voice is muffled as I fall backwards into the chilling water. I see the long curling body of a snake and scream, bubbles errupting from my mouth. I flounder around, but my eyes recognize the snake's appearence despite all the foam in the water from my thrashing. It was a coral snake or something like that. I recognized the yellow band around it's neck. Suddenly I feel a pinch on my arm and I bolt up out of the water, shrieking.

"It's piosunous!" I scream to myself. I kick at the snake and jump out of the water, black already starting to tint my vision. I attempt to run towards the direction but I don't know how far I got as I collapse on the ground, my body shivering and my vision going completely black.