Ever Afters End in Ice

Chapter One

PART I: RORY

 

Chapter One

 

I had dozed off amidst the Tree of Hope’s branches when Chase shook me vigorously and hissed, “Wake up! The Director’s going to make an announcement!”

“Wha-” I mumbled, trying to resist the urge to fall asleep again. I wiped the drool off my face.

“New kids,” Chase replied. Sure enough, I heard the sound of voices in the hallway. The Director appeared first, then a Chinese girl in a gray military jacket with techy glasses, straight hazel hair, and an expressionless face. She seemed to be in a heated argument with the two boys that appeared behind her, a slender guy with short blond hair and a black haired Russian kid. Walking behind them was a brunette with a thin braid. Still in my dazed wake-up mode, the first thought I processed was, how does the one in the gray  walk backward without hitting anything? I shook off the daze and stood up.

Whispering, Chase said, “Do you think we’ll have a screamer?”

I slapped him, not hard but enough to tell him not to do that, and said, “Don’t make their first day suck too!”

He shrugged with a kind of helpless smile. “Doesn’t seem like that girl has much emotion anyway.” The girl had turned around right now and, as Chase had said, had a blank expression on her face, almost a chilly one.

The Director cleared her throat, and said, “We are happy to invite three new EASers to our camp. Aurora Landon and Chase Turnleaf, I thought I mentioned how you should not climb on the Tree of Hope.” Blushing, I climbed down with Chase and Lena shot us a look (especially to Chase) that said, do you have to do that every single time someone new arrives?

“Let us welcome them happily!” the Director continued. “ They are the first of our Pennsylvania branch. Hopefully, we will expand more.” The Director turned to the group. “What grade did you say you were in?”

The blonde guy started to say, “Eighth-” but the Chinese girl cut him off.

“Yeah, but could you put us in ninth grade?” Chase, Lena and I shot looks that each other that said, I wonder how the Director will react to that, Why do they want to be in our grade, and Chase’s When’s lunch?

The Director swallowed, clearly baffled by such a proposition. “What if we put you in ninth grade, but if you’re struggling bring you back to eighth?” The girl nodded with a smug grin so similar to Chase’s it was shocking. “The ninth graders are over there near the Tree of Hope. They can give you a welcoming tour.” She led the band towards us. “Okay everybody.  Meet… er…”

“Hi, I’m Kate VonLicht. Nice to meet you,” said the Chinese girl. Our first impression of her wasn’t accurate, as she was obviously elated right now.

“Clara Madden-Whelan,” said the other girl.

“Mark Giovanni. Uh. Hi,” said the blonde.

“Hi, I’m Tucker Kokotovic,” said the Russian kid.  Someone piped up from the back. “Why do you guys have such complicated last names?” Kate scowled and plopped onto the grass.

“I dont know, why don’t you ask our ancestors?” When she sat down, a flash of light caught her necklace, a white ribbon with a dragon pendant shaped like an S, with a shard of ice resting in the bottom. It looked way too much like the Snow Queen’s symbol to be safe. Shooting a look to Lena and Chase, they nodded, agreeing to meet up later. Kate sighed and ran her hands through the blades of grass and sat in a tight circle with her friends, talking about something indistinguishable.

Chase got up and asked, “Can we go to lunch now?” This boy never thought about anything but food, did he? Lena and I had no choice but to get up and follow him to the dining hall.