The Ring of Fire

Chapter 5

Their 8 o'clock bus zoomed into their view and came to a stop in front of them. The bus tended to be a bit unpredictable as it either came a few minutes early or a few minutes late but it was never on time but yet it made sure that they weren't late. So the students who boarded the bus had taken to reach the stop fifteen to twenty minutes before its arrival.

The children boarded the bus and the bus started with a roar, soon it gained speed and buildings started to pass. Castor was sitting with Edin behind Emma and Alice.

"So, do you know about the class test supposed to happen today?" asked Edin facing Castor. A sudden look of unease appeared on Castor's face, he had absolutely forgotten about the test. It was unusual but that didn't mean that it never happened. He was considered an excellent student and scored top grades in his year, but that often didn't mean that he liked to study certain subjects at certain points of the day. Like if it were a sunday afternoon, he would rather take a nap or eat ice cream than cramming maths. "I may or may not have forgotten about it?" He had meant it to come out as a statement but it turned out as a question. They spent the next few minutes of the ride, going through their maths topics, not that it helped much.

Soon the bus came to a halt outside the school's main gate. Their school "CALRITE INTERNATIONAL" looked a lot like a medieval building. It had a huge backyard with a tiny fountain in the center. The front had a huge gate with a beautiful carving of a stag standing tall and proud. The path inside the gate was a paved road that was decorated with pretty potted plants on both sides. From outside, the school looked a lot like a palace and resembled a place of enjoyment, which rather fit perfectly because the school was once owned by the duke of Calrite. Calrite had once been a small village that went by the name of Pagus. It had been surrounded by forests that the natives called the Pagullia. The area had been very fertile and many of the rich and the powerful wanted to own this piece of land. Over the years this land has been handed down a long list of such nobles and finally with the death of the duke, it became an independent state but still had great importance because of which it is now the capital.

The interior of the school was completely different and resembled that of any typical school. The paved-up paths led to a door big enough to fit an elephant. It was carved with pictures of stags. The doors had the faded lining of the old gold paint, which were once well polished under the supervision of the previous headmaster but was now left untouched.

Just past the door was a huge desk filled with piles of papers, a computer and a telephone. The desk sat in between two wide staircases. Beside the oak doors were shelves lined up with a variety of prizes the school had received over the time. The staircase to the left led up to girls' lockers while the one on the right housed the boys' lockers. The whole corridor was filled with those except around the middle where the principal's office and staff room occupied the space. At the other end was another staircase, which merged the two sides. The second, third and the fourth floor held all the classrooms; the fifth held the laboratories and the library in a confusing pattern and the sixth floor had the storage room and a room dedicated for music and drama to the right of the end of the corridor. All in all, the structure of the palace was confusing when fit into words, breathtaking when first viewed, yet maze-like to those who knew little to nothing of the rooms.

Emma loved the school, it reminded her of the castles she had seen in the countryside. It reminded her of her mother whom she missed. Emma had been five when they moved to live near the Coolwaters'.

She had felt alone when she first came, but then she met Alice, sweet, mischievous little Alice. Alice had been the one who managed to draw Emma out of her shell and as much as she loved her, she knew that she had to hide some secrets in order to protect her.

Emma had a brief idea of what happened to Albert. It had been similar to what happened to her mother, but while Albert's body had no sign of harm, Emma's mother's body had been mutilated.

She bit back the bile that was trying to rise in her throat and managed to maintain her bored face.

She missed her old Alice, the one who would crack jokes at the behaviour of her classmates and teachers, for right now Alice looked as if she were trying to merge into the shadows. She seemed as if she wanted to disappear and Emma couldn't blame her.

She hated the pitying and sympathetic glances that were sent towards Alice and Castor. Even Edin looked positively furious. Every time they got to class teachers gave them a sympathetic look and a wide berth. The old Alice would have taken full advantage of the situation to put up some pranks but now, Alice looked so dull that she wondered if she would ever hear her laugh. Emma wanted to change this and from the glares Edin was giving his peers, it was obvious that he thought the same. The situation had presented itself a few weeks ago, when Alice went to the washroom and Caster had holed himself into the library. Edin had been standing near the snack store when Emma dragged him towards one of the cafeteria tables. She then proceeded to raise herself onto the tables and threatened their schoolmates to treat Alice and Caster as they usually would and if they didn't they would have to face dire consequences. These short bursts of bravery always left Edin and Emma herself surprised. The tact however seemed to work as the students tried to neutralise the expressions. Some successfully managed to do so while others looked merely constipated. Emma had a good laugh along with Alice, Castor and Edin whenever that happened.

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Author's Note :

•The places Calrite, Pagus and Pagullia are completely fictional, any resemblance to real life places are completely coincidental.

• Pagus is a latin word that translates to Village.