Cardina

The School

"Lawny! We're here!" Lea said excitedly. Alanis looked out the window of the train. Below the bridge was the beautiful medieval gothic castle, the place she was forced to finish her schooling at. For the next 6 years that would be her home. O'Lans' School for Cardin Children was at the base of 5 mountains, hidden by magic. The school was surrounded by thin light grey and white trees scattered for miles, huge gapes were in between many of the trees. A thick layer of fog roofed in most of them. The trees and fog abruptly stopped in a 5 mile radius around the school. From the outside anyone could see that the castle was made of light grey brick stones with many brightly colored stained glass windows. The grand entrance doors were gothic styled and wooden, they were gigantic like windows. There were paths leading away from the castle to the dorms. The fog on the paths covered the small dirt ground. The dorm buildings were more modern looking with different styles for the different gifts. The water building was made to make the outer walls look like water but still keeping the walls impossible to see through and it sat in the middle of a large lake. The earth dorms were carved out of the Earth mountain side. The air building was rested on a cliff high up on Air Mountain and made of one way glass on the outer walls. The fire dorms were matching to the castle on the outside but the inside as completely modern like the others but with medieval candles, torches and chandeliers and the stain glass windows were yellow, orange and red.

"Oh joy." Alanis said with a roll of her eyes. Lea laughed and playfully elbowed her best friend.

"Are you excited Kat?" Lea asked as she looked over at her other best friends.

"Yes! I wish we could've started sooner!" Katlyn said and everyone nodded in agreement.

"I don't get why you all like this so much." Alanis groaned.

"Because it's exciting to find out that we're not some freaking bunch who can control elements or sprout fur or fangs." Martin said slightly annoyed.

"Yeah fun for you all. Come talk to me when you're in my situation." Alanis muttered angrily.

"Whatever Princess." Christo said sourly.

"Oh shut your f-----"

"Princess Alanis! Your guards are here to escort you to your seat for the assembly." The conductor told Alanis as he barged into their private coach room. Alanis stood up and grudgingly followed the 4 guards. They guided the princess to her private balcony seats in the grand theatre. Her best friends followed excitedly behind them. The 8 of them sat down right as the Headmaster came on stage.

"Hello students! Welcome to a new exciting year at the gifted school (loud cheers). We have a lot of new faces including our Princess Alanis!" The Headmaster said and a spotlight shown on her. Alanis sat there awkwardly and in shock as people cheered more. Hero elbowed her and muttered "stand up and say something". Alanis stood up and walked towards the balcony edge.

"Ahh....hi? I am Alanis O'Lans and I-----"

"SPEAK UP!" Some guy in the seats below shouted.

"And I am the lost princess..." Alanis finished and scurried back to her seat. Loud whispers started throughout the theatre.

"It's ok Lawny." Jazpard whispered as he rubbed her arms.

"Alright, okay. All first years will be lead on a tour that covers the whole school grounds and where their dorms will be but the upper class men will go to their dorms immediately after the new rules are discussed. Since the princess is starting classes here, we will be enforcing the rules more strictly. No one is allowed out of their dorms after 9:30 on school nights or 12:30 on other nights. No one is allowed to go into the forest at all, unless you're with a teacher or other staff. Everyone must wear the uniforms to the code, any questions you may ask your dorm advisors. And the number one rule is no fighting or using gifts against other students unless in class training." The Headmaster said. "Now upper class men go to your dorms. First years A-J follow Professor Mirror, K-T follow Professor Wizen, U-Z follow Professor Baker." The Headmaster said. Everyone stood up to leave but as Alanis and her friends got to the door, her guards stopped them.

"Professor Malcolm told us to keep you here." The biggest, buffest, scariest looking one said.

"Excuse me! I know I am new to the whole princess thing, but last I checked the princess does not take orders from some principal! Let alone his guards!" Alanis snarled at them.

"Sorry M'lady but you're not scaring us." Guard 2 said.

"She might not be, but I think we are." Oliver said as Jazpard, Martin, Christo and he stepped forward.

"A bunch of 16 year old boys aren't either." The biggest guard said.

"Get out of my way or god so help me, you will----"

"Princess Alanis! I am here to give you and your friends a personal tour." The Headmaster -Professor Malcolm- said as he strolled up.

"I do not want a tour, I want to go to my dorm. Which building is it?" Alanis stated.

"Actually we haven't placed you in a building yet... because of your special case we---"

"My special case?" Alanis questioned. "Oh do go on and tell everyone what my special case is!" She shouted.

"Well ummm--"

"Forget it! Does Lea have a roommate?" Alanis huffed.

"No, b-"

"Then I will stay with her until this matter is cleared up. Where is her dorm?"

"Her dorm room is in the Water building... Ah roooomm... 124." Professor Malcolm said as fumbled with his papers.

"Okay, I will be leaving now. Lea would you like to join me?"

"Yes."

"Do we need a key or something?"

"Yes, here." Professor Malcolm said as he gave her the piece of paper. There were 2 keys attached, they looked really old.

"Thank you Headmaster, does anyone else want to go to their rooms?" Alanis asked as she turned towards her friends. They all nodded yes and she held out her hand. The Headmaster placed the other papers in her and she said goodbye. She turned and started to walk, her friends and her guards followed. She passed each paper out then turned to the smallest guard.

"Do you know of an Andrew O'Lans?" She asked.

"The King's adopted bastard, yes every---"

"Don't you EVER call my brother a bastard! Don't even think about it until you know what happened." Alanis warned as she got right in his face.

"Yes M'lady." The guard said with a gulp.

"Do any of you know where his room is?" Martin asked as Oliver calmed down Alanis.

"Yeah he's in the Fire building." Guard 4 said. "But you can't see him until lunch."

"Okay." Hero said calmly and they all separated, they went to their different buildings. As Alanis and Lea got to their building they were shocked. Many people had told them about the water walls and that the building sat on the lake in the middle, that there was nothing between the building and lake's surface. They hadn't believed them until now. They watched the soundless waterfall of the walls crash into the lake but they couldn't see through the water. They watched as 3 laughing girls ran and jumped straight into the lake when they came up their appearance changed. Their hair became lighter and it still looked perfect. Intricate design littered their faces, arms and bodies. Their clothes changed too, they wore bikini tops that were the same color as their hair and tails..... One was pink, the other was blue and the last was purple. They whispered something, laughed and dove down. Alanis, Lea and the guards walked on the small rock path that lend to the building, Alanis and Lea were constantly looking below the surface. Inside of the building looked completely different, so modern.

"Up here!" Lea shouted as her and Alanis raced upstairs. Lea got to the door first and jammed her key into the lock. Alanis was right behind her but slowed down as she saw people staring. She walked the rest of the way to the dorm. The dorm was beautiful, you could see through the waterfall wall that shown the lake. The other walls were gypsum like most modern buildings. There was a balcony matching the outer walls, a private bathroom and walk in closet. One bed, one desk, two bedside tables and one dresser were all the furniture in the room. Alanis ran and jumped on the bed, Lea followed.

"What should we do!?" Lea asked.

"Don't know I just wanna see Andy." Alanis said sadly.

"Well then we need to ditch the goons."