The Blye Woods

Chapter 1

The filtered sunlight shone through many windows. Alway a clear, yellow hue.

...

Allen yawned.

He pulled himself up and pulled his dark, apprentice robes around him and shuffled out of bed.

He turned to the clear window in the corner of the sparsely furnished room, and put on his glasses.

The Light was bright today.

...

The chirping of birds woke Kiarra the morning of her test. She held the hem of her long nightgown.

It was the day of her test. As she passed the pretest with flying colors, she was taking the test earlier than the other children. It excited her like a child, but also made the butterflies in her stomach extra jumpy. "Hemea!"

¨You called, miss?¨

¨Hemea, today's my big day!¨

¨I know, miss. That's why your mother sent me. You should get ready.

Hemea pulled a silken dress off a hangar and said, "Close your eyes, Kiarra, because you will swoon at my handiwork."

...

"WOAH!" Kiarra cried as her eyelids flipped open. Hemea had her splendid in a violet gown, laced with white and the collars high. There was red, white, and purple roses sutured on lace that covered much of her upper skirts with billowed underskirt with only the upper ones to keep it down. The poufed snow-white sleeves were very soft to touch and felt like the sensation of snow. Hemea had given her a pair of leather gloves, stylish and cozy. She loved the neat fox fur trim of the collars, making her look confident if she kept her back straight, and not at all like the previous testers, in a nervous racking air when they came to the testing ground. Kiarra didn't know why.

...

Kiarra stood beside the Ready students in the Waiting Platform. It was completely white room with rows of metal, hard beds and, placed on every light-colored nightstand, packets of white-powdered meat, biscuits, and a carton of milk for food. A white trunk was placed in front of every bed, though they were instructed to take nothing with them. She glanced around. Many of the girls were talking loudly, some tense, some loud and not caring and conversing about who was great, and who was normal, and who was way too nice. She wondered what she would fit in.

Suddenly Kiarra noticed a lone girl sitting on her bed, nibbling half-heartedly on a biscuit. She walked over to the female, sizing her up. She appeared tall and lean, her face long and jagged. Her pearly hair glimmered when light hit it, making it appear shiny. She wore a simple summer dress sprinkled with silver moons and cadmium yellow stars, a light cord at the waist. What really caught Kiarra's attention was her necklace.

The gem, a leaf shaped ruby piece, did not matter to her. The cord did, though. The string was light gold, appearing to be knitted together in an intricate pattern. The pattern reminded of something Kiarra had seen before, but she just couldn't place it.

The girl caught Kiarra's gaze and self-consciously fiddled with her necklace. Kiarra admired the girl's long, pale fingers and with a start realized how well the girl blended in with the stark room, her skin paler than anyone she had ever seen before, the ruby and the stars the only splash of color on her. She looked like a ghost.

Kiarra mustered up the courage to sink down into the mattress next to the girl, smiling uncertainty. The girl gave Kiarra a wary glance before straightening up and turning away. She frowned, uncertain what to make of her. "Hello!" she said weakly.

No response.

"Are you prepared? For the test?"

Kiarra swore she saw the girl shake her head.

"How old are you?"

The girl held up ten fingers first, then two.

"Me too!" Kiarra exclaimed. "You must be taking the test early, like me. But there's one thing I don't get: why don't I know you? You should be in Clear like I should be but I managed to skip Almost along the way. Was that the case with you?"

Then the girl opened her mouth to speak, and Kiarra thought happily, she's finally talking to me.

Inhuman sounds came from the depth of her throat, and a girl's weak, warbled voice emerged, "It's something much different."

Kiarra almost shrieked. The girl, with horror splayed across her face, closed her mouth and covered it with two hands, waiting to see what Kiarra would do.

She must expect me to call her a freak, she thought. Is this why she is taking her test early? It must be her condition that qualifies her. Then, what are those sounds?

The girl was still waiting for her to speak.

Kiarra gathered her breath. "Look," she whispered as calm as possible, "I think it's kinda cool. Is this why you're taking the test early?" The girl nodded. "How can you talk then?"

The girl began fumbling in her pocket to take out a piece of paper. Kiarra took it from her large hand. I trap evil in my body. I can control everything but my voice. When I talk, they have a chance of escape.

"Then how do you communicate?" Kiarra inquired.

A white mist rose from the girl's ruby and materialized in front of Kiarra. She nudged the girl, confused. What was this white mist, shaped like her new friend?

A voice echoed in her mind. Like this.

Kiarra jumped, expecting to see the girl behind her. The girl's form was still beside her, but every still. She began to get panicky. "Hello? You aren't dead, are you?" she cried, shaking her violently.

Of course I'm not silly. I'm right in front of you.

Finally realizing the truth, she whipped around, face the white mist that was shaped like the girl. "How?"

How can I live with evil trapped in me? My spirit would be contaminated. My soul lives in my ruby necklace, and the chain links me back to my body. That way I can actually communicate. And no, I am not dead.

"Oh, and I never asked for your name. What is it?"

Raythe.