The Sacred Flame

Invisible... Part One

Chapter 1

Lisbeth stopped, as she always did, to examine the ferocious glare of the monster. It's mouth was pulled back in a grimacing snarl, blank eyes regarding her with both curiosity and disdain in equal measure. Lisbeth shivered. She adjusted her bag on her shoulder before continuing up the steps to the oversized oak doors of Morgan Senior High School.

The old red building was suited to stone monsters: it's stone wall, with black iron spears threatening the sky itself, loomed around the perimeter while the black bars along some of the windows told a story of the school's past Lisbeth shuddered to recall. Even the way creepers had grown over the bricks, reaching longingly for the old clock tower, which was only used for storing old desks or busted lockers, gave the building the sense it had been plucked out of a time of darkness. Morgan Senior High had been a residential school for a while, after they had dismantled the sanatorium; both its previous guises had been places where nightmares were made real. Now it was only a high school somewhere in the middle of North Vancouver.

The gargoyle's twin struck a mirrored pose on the column across the walkway, but somehow, it's menace was diminished by the stony nature of it's eyes. Lisbeth had never been able to properly explain the differences between the two beasts, except that the one on the right never followed her with it's penetrating gaze. Even the thought of it raised the hair on the back of her neck. Her hand hesitated on the door handle at the school entrance, her head turning to glance back over her shoulder to be sure the feline-features of the gargoyle hadn't turned to watch her pass. It still faced the busy street traffic. Suppressing another shudder, Lisbeth dashed into the safety of the school.

The hallways were blessedly empty, the bell for first period having long since sent her peers scurrying to their classes. With twenty minutes left until the first break, even the students playing hooky were still making themselves scarce lest they bring the wrath of the vice principal down on themselves. Lisbeth stalked the halls like a shadow, deftly hugging the corner of a locker to avoid bumping into the vice principal outside his office. Mr. Bradley hardly even glanced up from the papers in his hands. When she was sure he had turned up another hallway, Lisbeth darted across the hall to the partially open door of her math class. Not a soul noticed her enter.

Sometimes her invisibility felt like a superpower. Or maybe it was just that her muddy blonde hair and dark complexion blended in with the speckled sunlight filtering through the poplars outside the window. By the time Mr. Finch turned away from the board, Lisbeth had her notebook open with her notes well underway. The elderly teacher's eyes widened when they met hers, one hand scratching uncertainly at the back of his head. He made no outward comment, but Lisbeth couldn't quite suppress a smile when she noticed him casually pass by his desk to check the attendance.

"Lisbeth, how would you determine the slant height of a cylindrical pyramid?" he asked. He was grinning wide enough to triple the wrinkles cushioning his sharp blue eyes.

Lisbeth's eyes darted down to her incomplete notes. She squirmed in her seat under the scrutiny of her peers. If only she really did have the power of invisibility; she could melt into her chair and disappear. As it was, she had only her homework and an educated guess to save her.

"You take the square root of the radius and the height?"

Disappointment flashed in Finch's eyes. "Close," he conceded. He used a meter stick to point to the formula he had scrawled on the whiteboard. "You need to remember to square it and add the height and radius before you find the square root." His example made, Finch turned back to writing the evening's homework on the board. Lisbeth slumped in her chair with relief.

"Smooth."

Lisbeth's startled eyes sought the source of the strange voice. He was almost a stranger to her. The new boy? She hastily tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, averting her eyes. "I don't know what you mean?"