Aspen Heights, Book 1: Chosen

Cassie

I stared at Elita, blinking, unable to find words. I couldn't believe my ears.
She just stared right back at me, expectantly. "Wow... I can't believe it! It's so weird," I sputtered. And I really did mean that I couldn't believe it. Who could? It was insane.
"I know," she replied, nodding vigorously in agreement.
It's just... so crazy!" I exclaimed, uncomfortable when silence filled the air between us.
As her story progressed, things just kept getting weirder and weirder, and making less and less sense.
"I know," she repeated.
"And I'm sorry that I've been keeping it from you."
She looked down at the floor, ashamed.
"You're supposed to be my best friend. I'm supposed to be telling you everything. I'm really sorry," Elita bit her lip.
"No, it's fine! I totally understand. It's a crazy story. It's hard to believe and you didn't know how to go about telling me. I wouldn't have know either," I assured her.
I really did want to believe Elita. I decided then that I wasn't going to express any doubt to her, at least for now. If things progressed, I would tell an adult about my concerns for her mental health.
"But you do believe me right?" she asked.
I nodded quickly.
"Of course! I trust you!"
She looked relieved.
"Good, because I was a little worried you were going to think I was crazy or something!" She admitted. We both laughed.
There was a knock at the door, interrupting our conversation. Elita told me she asked Ben over, because apparently he knew about all the chaos as well. And Sophia? Weird. I'd hardly ever talked to the girl.
"I'll get it," said Elita.
When she opened the door Ben barged into the room.
"I'm here! Is everything alright?"
He looked between us, scanning us for injuries maybe.
"You texted me saying it was an emergency! Is everything ok? Are you ok Elita?"
He looked her up and down.
"It's fine," she replied, amused.
"So you're fine? "Ben persisted.
"I'm fine," she assured him, rolling her eyes.
"But you just texted 'emergency'!"
He looked so concerned. Somewhere deep down inside, it hurt me to see how much he cared about her. We had been friends for so long, and I always just pictured us together. I would never tell him that though. I couldn't face the principal rejection or messing up our friendship. Recently it felt as if he had totally abandoned me in favor of Elita. I would never tell her this either though. I had to admire her honesty spilling her secrets today, because I could never do the same. My feelings would go with me to the grave.
"Everything's fine, it's just... I told Cassie everything. I just wanted you to be here but it's alright, I already told her."
Ben's mouth hung open.
"Wait, I'm sorry, you told her? As in you told her our thing?"
Their thing? Gosh.
Elita also looked annoyed.
"Our thing? Ben, we don't have a thing."
She rolled her eyes as she said it, but I saw her smile the tiniest bit and knew that the affection wasn't one sided. I felt like I might lose my lunch.
"Our thing," he repeated.
"You know, the story about everything that's been going on, with your scar, and the school, our thing!"
"Yeah, that's what I told her, and by the way, it was never a thing, because we're not a thing. Why would we have a thing? Only things have things, you know?" The corners of her mouth twitched as she said it. They were being so silly. I attempted to clamp my emotions down and burry them deep inside.
"I mean, we're kind of a thing. I mean, not a thing thing, but like, a thing at least that shares things. And I mean, we're just a different kind of thing, you know?" They both burst out laughing, all blushed and giddy. Ew.
I stared blankly at him.
"I'm so confused right now," I said, shaking my head. I needed to change the subject before I jumped out the window.
"So, did this book ever actually tell you anything?" I asked skeptically, pointing at the thick book Ben had helped her find at the library.
"Kind of, just about the history of the school. Where it came from, and the war between the Aspens and the Hiats and all that," Elita replied, flipping her braid over her shoulder.
"But nothing specific that would really help us," Ben said, hanging his head.
All of a sudden there was another knock at the door.
"Uh oh" Elita whispered, leading Ben into the closet. Had someone noticed him come into the girls dormitories? AH students were usually good secret keepers and didn't rat on their fellow classmates, because they knew that would start a war.
Elita opened the door casually and was taken aback by the sight of Sophia standing there.
"Oh! Sophia! Hi," said Elita.
"Ben, you can come out now."
Sophia looked worried. She spoke in a hushed tone.
"Um, hi Elita... I actually really need to talk to you," she whispered.
"Um, alone?" she added.
"Sophia, are you alright?" asked Elita.
"Yeah, I just need to talk to you alone," she said again, this time with more confidence. Now that was the Sophia I knew.
On closer inspection, Sophia looked a bit disheveled. I could tell she definitely hadn't brushed her hair today. It was thrown into a careless bun, hairs sticking out every which way, and falling into her face. I stood up from my chair.
"Well you might as well talk to all of us, you mysterious creature!" I said.
"What?" asked Sophia, flustered.
"I know all about you Sophia! And all of your mysteriousness!" I informed her.
"Alright...?" Sophia said uncertainly.
"Look Sophia, I'm sorry, but anything you tell me I'm probably just gonna go ahead and tell these guys anyway."
I loved the way she said that. Like we were her crew, and she'd never keep anything from us. Even if I couldn't say the same for myself.
"Fine," Sophia replied reluctantly.
So Elita let her in and we all got comfy, preparing ourselves for whatever revelation was coming.
"I know you all are aware of the war between the Aspens and the Hiats, but you don't know the full story," she began.
"What do you mean?" Ben replied. He was sitting with Elita on the beanbag and their legs were touching. I tried to focus on Sophia.
"Well, let's start from the beginning," she said, taking a deep breath in preparation for her speech.
"Since as long as anyone can remember, these two groups, the Aspens and the Hiats, always hated each other. And in each group there was someone who had dominion. I guess you would call them an emperor or king or pharaoh, whatever! But there was one man, his name was Abadon. He was the worst... I guess he still is the worst. He was born an Aspen, then eventually he married the Hiat king's daughter. When the Hiat King died, of course he became king, even though he was an Aspen. Even though he himself was born as an Aspen and came from Aspen descent, he absolutely hated every other Aspen. He considered himself a Hiat through and through, regardless of the truth in his blood.
When his first daughter was born, he found out she was 'more Aspen than Hiat'." Sophia made quotations marks with her fingers. Her story wasn't rich in detail but I had a feeling it was long and she was being concise for the sake of time.
Elita looked confused.
"What do you mean? How can you know how much Aspen is in a person? Or how much Hiat?"
"Well, for the Aspens and the Hiats it was more physical characteristics," Sophia explained.
"You looked and acted like an Aspen, or you looked and acted like a Hiat. It's just certain things that you're born with, and they can simply tell.
But his second daughter was born 'more Hiat'.
He named his first daughter Charlotte. She was kept hidden from everyone. He didn't want anyone to know she was an Aspen."
Ben jumped in. "But she wasn't, she was also part Hiat."
For once, Ben was being slow. Sophia had just explained this.
"It didn't matter, she looked Aspen, so she was. Years past and eventually Charlotte broke loose. She went to the Aspen community where she was accepted. She loved it there. But her father was extremely angry. Eventually Charlotte fell in love with an Aspen. Her father was so furious that he banished her and her unborn child when she was only 16 years old."
Elita cocked her head. "So Charlotte was pregnant?"
"Yes," Sophia replied.
"Here's the thing, to hide his daughter he sent her here, to Aspen Heights. No one really thought anything of her. She was just a student. But after less than a year, she left. She went down to the Aspens and stayed there."
"What do you mean down? The school was built way after all this happened," Elita cut in.
"No," Sophia replied, shaking her head.
"The Aspens and Hiats have been here for hundreds of years. They're still here!"
Ben stared at Sophia.
"What?"
"The school was built above an entire kingdom. Two kingdoms."
Elita looked sick.
"So you're telling me these people are still here?"
"Yes. And although most of the Aspens were destroyed, Charlotte got away. She got away with her baby."
Ben was catching on now.
"Who was born a full Aspen," he murmured.
"Exactly. So for years everyone's been looking for this girl. Charlotte's daughter. According to legend, she is the chosen one."
Sophia paused, blowing out a breath she had been holding.
"They call her the Elita."
We all froze and turned to look at Elita.
"What?!" Elita exclaimed. "They call it the what?!"
"They call Charlotte's child the Elita." She repeated.
"Elita means chosen one, and for years they've been searching for her. The remaining  Aspens, to harness her power in order to restore their abilities which were stripped away from them in the way. The Hiats, to kill her, to destroy the Aspen decent line forever."
Elita made a squeaking sound and Ben grabbed her hand.
"But this Aspen, Charlotte's daughter, she's not me! Right?" Elita asked, her eyes begging Sophia to tell her it was all made up. Her voice was high and panicked.
"The thing on your neck you call a birthmark isn't a birthmark Elita, it's a scar. I mean you were born with it, so technically it is a birthmark, but it's there for a reason, not just coincidence. All Aspens have one. And on top of that, your mom gave it power. A lot of power! It holds all the Aspen power... ever!"
Elita's eyes grew wide.
"What do you mean?" she gasped.
"I mean that all the Aspens that died, well, their power didn't die with them. It was put into... you could call it a rock I guess, and then, when you were a just a baby, your mo her transferred the power to be stored inside you."
"I don't understand, I don't have any power."
Sophia shook her head.
"Of course you do, you just don't know how to use it. But I can teach you."
Elita looked skeptical.
"What? You?"
"I'll teach you how to use your powers," Sophia repeated.
"So that way, when the day comes, you'll know what to do."
"When is this day?" Elita was fidgeting like crazy.
"Your fifteenth birthday." Sophia replied.
"That's next Friday!" Elita squealed.
"That's the day of the dance," I added.
"Then we have a lot of work to do and we need to get started as soon as possible!" Sophia exclaimed, clapping her hands together.
She looked serious and determined, but also a little bit excited too.