The School for Wisps

1.

Fifteen-year-old Kirana Larson was jerked away from her daydream as her parents chatted at the dinner table. Grumbling, she tried to recall what she had been thinking about before she had been rudely interrupted. It was something about a castle and a snail. Epically failing in her search, she nudged her mom with annoyance.

"Oh sweetie, we're moving again!" Her mother beamed down at her. "Your father has found a new posh job that will earn us a lot of money! Aren't we lucky?" Kirana grunted something incomprehensible and buried her head in her arms. Her mother stopped for a moment, confused, and then continued, slightly less excited now.

"We're moving tomorrow. I've already contacted your new principal and he said he'll be delighted to have you there! Darling, if you get in trouble, be quiet and take it with your head bent. Don't worry about that. Your school is the best in the country! You'll make lots of friends, I know it! Oh my baby, you're going to high school next week already! Doesn't time pass quickly! It seems like just yesterday you were in diapers! I just have the dearest daughter..."

Kirana had the feeling that if she listened one second longer, she would throw up. Moving again? And to a new school as well? They had just moved here five months ago! She had just made new friends and gotten comfortable with the teachers at the...

...middle school. So, she was going to a different high school. At least that made sense. Oh well, she only cared about where this weird new high school was. In space? In the middle of nowhere? How about at the bottom of the ocean! Despite her feelings, Kirana burst out laughing. Her parents looked pleased, and glanced at each other, as if to say, "See, she's enjoying the news already!"

Kirana sat alone on the steps of their new house. It was massive and clean. She thought it looked too much like a mansion. Maybe it was a mansion. There were eight bedrooms, three guestrooms, a greenhouse, a gigantic pool, fifteen restrooms, a simply magnificent foyer, two dining rooms, an attic, six garages, a basement, a stable for horses, and a servant's quarter (which was superb as well.) All that occupied just a little over three quarters of the house. There was also a big kitchen, a den, a family room, a beautiful front yard with marble statues, and a spacious back yard, which had the greenhouse, which had a large variety of fruits, flowers, and other assorted plants. The pool was in a converted-from-bad-to-awesome abandoned barn, which was on another piece of land next to the house. That was also theirs. There seemed to be no end.

All in all, Kirana thought it was nothing compared to her old house, and it was positively a dump to her first house, the one she had before she had moved the first time. The first house was twice as big, and the second one was three times bigger! "Oh well," she sighed. "Nothing's perfect." She scrambled to her feet and went inside to find a bedroom she liked. Her father, who came out carrying a load of boxes, ignored her as she shoved past him into the foyer.

---

It was the first day of school. Kirana waited impatiently on the corner for the bus.

"What's taking it so long?" she huffed. Tapping her foot against the sidewalk, she leaned against the STOP sign post. One glance at her watch verified that she would be late if the bus wasn't here in the next two minutes. She glowered down the empty street. Even walking could be faster. An abrupt SSCRREEEECCHH  interrupted her thoughts, and fog filled the road. When it cleared, Kirana gasped.

A massive larger-than-life yellow school bus stood in front of her. Through the tinted windows, she could see people's shadows. The door slid open with a small hiss.Inside she could see nothing but murky blackness and the silhouette of someone sitting in the driver's seat. Kirana peeked at her watch again. One minute now. But... was the bus even safe? It looked like a giant yellow time bomb! 30 seconds...... 29 seconds...... 28 seconds......

She had no choice. Kirana hesitantly stumbled up the steps to the bus. The door silently shut behind her. It was time to face the music.

On the bus, Kirana's eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. Immediately, she wished she hadn't, for, inches away, in the driver's seat, sat a crooked old crone with stumpy black nubs for teeth and dingy strips of gray hair around her face. How old was she anyways? It looked like she belonged in a museum! Kirana cowered from the hag and sank into the nearest seat with her backpack. Suddenly, the old lady started to sing in a rasping voice. She sounded like a bucket of rusty blots!

Kirana swiftly fished out her phone and twisted in her ear buds. Loud, catchy music covered up the raucously dreadful singing/rasping. Finally relaxing, she sank into her seat and glanced over at the driver, who was now wiggling along to her horrible song with obvious delight. Some of the song still came through Kirana's ear buds to her, so she turned the volume louder. Abruptly, the bus jolted to a stop. Out of the window, Kirana could see a gray landscape that went all the way to the horizon. It looked like someone careless had left the vacuum cleaner running, and had mistakenly sucked all the colors up except gray. She could see people outside, so she unscrewed her ear buds. The bus driver happened to glance back at her, saw her ear buds, grinned at her, and stopped her song in mid-melody.

"You've got a good brain, dear," she croaked. Kirana almost fainted from the smell of her breath. Before she could take another gulp of air, the door of the bus slid open. Facing her loomed her new school, gray as the landscape, and imposing as an eagle. Draped across the drab walls was a large banner proclaiming:

Welcome to the Academy for Wisps!