In the Shadows

1. Florai High School

Sophia walked up to the massive building, and took a deep breath. The building looked old, but it wasn't run down at all. It was made up of 8 towers. Each tower had a spire on top of it, and every spire had a statue on it. Spiralling around every tower, was some kind of flora, or vegetation. 

Sophia felt a tap on her shoulder, and twirled around. "Hi," a girl, who looked around her age, said. "Are you Sophia Doe?" 

Sophia nodded.

"I'm Trin. Trinity for long." Sophia looked confused. "I'm in your form," Trinity explained. 

"Are you going to show me around, or..." Sophia made a gesture with her hands. 

"Sure!" Trinity declared. Wow. She was so... excitable. Sophia was not. She was more of an all-I-wear-is-black-and-all-I-do-is-sleep kind of girl. 

Sophia soon learnt that the 8 spires represented the 8 parts of education: the arts, the sciences, mathematics, English, languages, pastoral care, the humanities and supernatural studies. In the middle of the eight spires, was a field. Apparently, this was where all of the sports happened, except for swimming, which was at the back of the grounds. This field was also where everyone hung out at lunches, usually with picnic blankets and lots of junk food. 

                                                                                     ***

Emma walked into the form room for the first time in 3 months. Almost everyone was already there. She had the same class as last year, and she loved it. She had seen Bella and Hanna already, because they lived together, but other than that - and she had seen her boyfriend, Killian, a few times over the summer - she hadn't seen anyone there since their end of school summer party.

Emma was an angel. Literally. Her parents were angels as well, and she was living on earth, without them. They were up in heaven. But at least, she had her brother. Well, he wasn't technically her brother. 

Dominic had been human, but he was abandoned by his parents when he was 7. Emma had found him, and they soon became very close. Emma wanted to be with him forever - as friends, nothing more. I mean, they were 7 - so she went through her parents' history books and found a story about how angel blood could turn a human into a half angel. 

So, she stole one of her mother's needles, pricked herself and put the blood in Dom's hot chocolate. Now, he was stuck with her for life. Dom was in the other form. Apparently, they had a new girl. Emma would have to meet her. 

"What are you thinking about?" Bella asked her. Bella had just come up behind her. 

"I just missed this. I missed you guys, I missed Killian. Believe it or not, I even missed Matt."

Matt was not the most social of people, unlike Emma, and her best friend Bella. They were the kindest people you will ever meet, and never said a bad word about anyone - except to each other, of course. Last year, a faerie called Hanna had joined their form, and the three of them had become inseparable. 

                                                                                     ***

"So, this is Lorna, Kara, Peter, Peter and Barry. They're my best friends," Trinity explained. "Guys, this is Sophia." 

They all muttered something along the lines of hey, hi, I'm Kara, how are you, or something like that. Later that day, at lunch, the group built up the courage to ask her the bug question everyone at this school had to answer.

"So, Sophia, why are you here?" Barry asked.

"What do you mean?" Sophia asked.

"Well, this place isn't exactly normal. What's your peculiarity, as some like to call it?"

"Oh, right. I'm a mutant. I can control people."

"Cool. To what extent?"

"I could make you jump off the roof," she claimed, pointing up to the 30 foot high roof. 

"Jeez."

"You?"

"I have super speed," Barry announced. "But I'm nothing compared to Kara."

"What can you do?" Sophia asked her.

"Oh, well, I'm an alien, to tell a long story short," Kara explained.

"Speed, strength, flying, cold breath..." Barry was muttering. Trinity and Lorna laughed. Sophia finally felt at home. Weird. She felt at home among all these weirdos.