The Pravus

Chapter 1

Kia stood at the edge of the sidewalk, staring at the huge building looming in front of her. Just to be safe, she checked the address and then the name on the building once more, making sure she was truly at the right place.

"Oh, crap! They can't be serious."

Kia stared in bewilderment. The school was enormous; much larger than a high school needed to be for a town of under three-thousand. Obviously, however, someone had a vision or maybe more like a fantasy. The building was in the shape of a castle, nothing fancy, just a plain, simple castle. All four corners held large cylindrical towers, that seemed to blossom at the top into the usual staggered brick wall encircling them. Kia had no idea if they were functional or just for show, but honestly, she didn't care. If the outside looked this ridiculous, she could only imagine what the inside held in store for her. Honestly, she was afraid to find out.

Unwilling to go inside yet, she continued her appraisal of her strange new school. Small royal-like windows adorned the towers at equal distances down the outermost edge; the typical diamond tip window at the top rounded down to a squared off shape at the bottom. Each tower displayed a huge flag, each a different color, and not just a normal color, but ones that she knew would glow in the dark due to their incredible, and annoying, glow. This wasn't a high school, it was a spectacle. Kia sighed and once again, checked the address on her admittance paper, matching the numbers to the ones on the building in front of her. The same once again. Damn.

Kia glanced nervously around feeling self-conscious all of a sudden, as though the thought of being seen in front of this establishment would decrease her status by association. Just standing there made her flush with embarrassment. She wanted to run, but she knew she didn't have much of a choice. If her parents found out she had skipped . . .

At a fast walk, she headed for the front entrance, deciding that standing there out in the open was far worse than being hidden indoors. At least inside she was in the same position as everyone else; they had to be in there too, after all.

Once she reached the steps leading up to the large main doors, she paused, taking in the immense size of the building once more. A sense of dread made her shiver. She felt like if she stood there much longer, every window she could see would open in unison and suck her in, confining her to hell. Yes, she knew she had a very creative imagination; this was something she had always been proud of. Even so, the feeling overwhelmed her, urging her onward.

Just inside the doors, Kia stood in the foyer of her new school with an incredulous look upon her face. This just gets better and better, she thought miserably to herself. For a moment she couldn't decide which was more comical the inside or the outside. For the moment they were pretty much equal, but she had a strong feeling her opinion would soon change.

Closing her eyes, she willed this nightmare to end, but no matter how hard she wished for it, the halls remained before her in all their glorious splendor. If only her old friends could see her now. Thank goodness they couldn't. She sighed with acquiescence-so this was her new school, "Knights Heights High School". Couldn't they have come up with anything better than that?

Glancing down the main hallway to the very end she could see the small double doors leading to-what she was told by the crude hand-drawn map in her hands-the "gym-cafeteria". From where she stood, she could barely see the entrances of the six halls branching off from the main. She thought she could see a sliver of different colors at the beginning of each one, but she would have to go and see to find out for sure and she wasn't willing to do that just yet. Although she was curious, her unwillingness to be there kept her rooted to the spot.

I can't go to a school like this, she told herself and at that moment, she seriously considered skipping her first day. Surely it could wait until tomorrow. Couldn't it? It wasn't like it was at the beginning of the term or anything. Being the new kid was bad enough, but starting halfway through the term made it even worse. Everyone was going to stare at her and watch her every move. Small town, new girl, equaled the most excitement these poor people had probably seen in a long time. Kia sighed deeply.