The School in the Woods

Prologue

My name is María González, and I'm an elemental attending The Academy of The Gifted, or ATG.

You may be wondering what that is. First, let's start with the elementals.
Well, sometimes when a baby is born, that baby gets special powers or mutations, which all varies of course, depending on your zodiac.
It's all up to a game of chance, whether your zodiac decides to give the elements or not.

The zodiac will choose a certain baby, corresponding to their month.
I'm an Aquarius, so my element is air. Same goes for Gemini and Libra.
The fire signs are Aries, Leo, Sagittarius.
The water signs are Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces.
The earth signs are Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn.

They all get some sort of powers corresponding to their element. Some get them right away from the moment they're born . Others don't get them until they're old, and other never realize they had such powers. They can manipulate air, earth, water, and fire. Every once in a while, elementals along with powers, get mutations. A Taurus girl starts looking like Groot or an Ent from the Lord of the Rings, just not as tall. A Leo's body turns into never ending flames, scorching everything around them. An even rarer occurence is when elementals are able to control anything correlating to their element. Water signs creating rain or moving liquids like blood. Fire signs creating electricity or attracting lightning. Earth signs making plants grow or causing earthquakes. Air signs being able to fly or cause tornados.
I was more fortunate I guess. My sign is air, so guess what. I'm an air bender, like Aang in the Avatar. But at least I'm lucky. Some air elementals get huge wings or their body transforms into a gas state, which means their body won't solid like ours. Some mutated elementals are shunned by society, because well growing branches out of your arms or wings isn't really well, normal.

You'd think that they would praise you for being a chosen one, someone able to be part of the elements, but society still has deemed that anything not normal looking is bad. Sometimes, elementals will go rogue. These elementals are extremely volatile and life-threatening.

But that's where the Academy of The Gifted comes in. It was founded 30 years ago by Juno Wethers, an elemental who was tired of children who never fully learned to control and accept their elements due to the fact of the stigma that surrounded elementals.
The academy had normal studies like math or reading like in a regular school, but instead of Gym it had Element Training/ Self-Defense. It has a uniform like any other school. I'm starting my first year here as a Fourth Year at ATG.

Most kids start as first years but my mom was too scared to let me go to a boarding school all on my own so I started late. That also mean that I have to take remedial classes during the afternoons and the weekends, which sounds like a bummer.

Junior Cycle
First Year (12–13 years)
Second Year (13–14 years)
Third Year (14–15 years)
Fourth Year (15–16 years)

Senior Cycle
Fifth Year (16–17 years)
Sixth Year [or Final Year] (18–19 years) -Graduation

Sometimes, advanced elementals are enlisted to the "army" the school has. They train and then are sent out to stop rouge elementals or neutralize threats. Buts that some elite type of stuff that I'm never going to be involved in.
Nonetheless, I'm very ecstatic to be able to join a prestigious school like this

I'm nervous, but I know I'll be ok attending ATG.