Fading Echoes . • . X-Men Fanfic . • . BOOK 1

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Chapter Four:

It was official. Ekka did not like her new home.

The school itself was fine, and so were most of the teachers, especially her English one. He always helped her whenever she needed it, and was slowly teaching her how to read and write. Her science teacher, Mr. George, was nothing short of mean to her.

He would always choose Ekka when she didn't raise her hand to give an answer, and when she finally stuttered an answer, the entire class would laugh because it was wrong. It made her upset and feel stupid.

One of the students, Delilah Shepard, liked the fact that she knew little to nothing in science, or anything school related really. She would tease her relentlessly after, or during, class. She also had three friends, Samantha, Kendra, and Andrea, who joined her in her teasing. It was pretty harmless, so Ekka said nothing on it. A few taunts here, knocking down her books there, Ekka could live with that.

Ekka had, unknowingly, began to slip back into her old mindset at the Circus. Her father used to say that if they tried to get help from the people who came in, he would cut out their tongue, and they wouldn't get fed for the next two weeks. A few kids had tried, and true to his word, he cut their tongues out, and refused to feed them. Two children died because of that — blood loss and malnutrition wasn't a good combination.

Ekka didn't want that to happen to her, at the Circus and at school. She didn't want to get in trouble if she told someone what was going on. So, she kept it to herself. The only person who knew was Flutter, and she couldn't do much except ruthlessly peck at them.

Instead, Ekka focused on her studies whenever she was alone. She'd focus on writing as much as she could, or her math or science. When the teachers gave them homework, Ekka would finish it, then review it, then redo it on a different paper and see if she had gotten the same answers.

Once she finished studying, Ekka would sometimes go outside, and sit near the woods by herself. It was near November now, and it had been getting kind of chilly, and it was raining for a few days, but Ekka didn't mind. She had had colder nights back at the circus in the lion's cage. Although she had the warmth of several lions all pressed against her, that didn't stop the frostbite from nipping at her bare toes and her nose. Ekka was surprised she had never gotten hypothermia or pneumonia. She had gotten sick once or twice, but Father was always generous enough to treat to her illnesses. He did that to all his children. They were no use to him sick, after all.

Ekka sighed, looking at a squirrel who had been very interested in his nut. He glanced at her, tilted his head, then scurried off deeper into the forest.

Flutter, who had been playing with one of the flowers, hopped into her lap, pecking her long beak at Ekka's fingers. This usually meant she wanted to be rubbed. So, Ekka ran her coarse fingers over her hummingbird's soft coat. The bird made a few noises of pleasure. It was calm, Ekka enjoyed it. She liked the peace and serenity the forest brought. Ekka was never allowed this kind of peacefulness back at the Circus, so she was glad to have the chance here.

Something collided with the back of Ekka's head, and she gasped, jumping up. She felt her head, her fingers coming back with mud and dirt. Another one hit her, at her shirt this time. Ekka turned, trying to find the culprit, but instead found no one.

Then, she spotted a few balls of mud were floating in the air, and then zoomed in her direction. Ekka tried to dodge them, but if the didn't hit their target, it would come back around and try again. Ekka gave up, allowing herself to be pelted with the mud balls, and covered her face in the false hopes it wouldn't get in her eyes. That didn't help.