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SOPHIE
The darkness washed away, and I strolled down a hallway with marble floors and beautiful ivory walls.
My hand brushing the icy wall wasn’t my doing. I had no control of my movements. An invisible entity steered me in the direction it wanted. The wall wasn’t ivory either but had the same texture.
How in mother’s name did I get here? What is this place?
An unintelligible conversation flooded my ears, and I got pulled toward it. Through the half-opened door, the conversation became clearer.
“If you want Drake to be my concern, then you need to take care of Dreya.”
“Dreya?” a male voice said. “Are you insane? She is a celebrity, Caus.”
Who are Caus and Dreya?
“I can’t handle someone as powerful as Drake and Dreya.”
“I see,” the other male said.
What did Drake have to do with all of this?
“An accident,” the other voice suggested. “I’ll think of how and let you know.”
“It’s going to be an enormous shock to Concordia.”
“Drake is a bigger priority now. So I’m taking care of Dreya. You should prepare for him.”
Preparing for him? What are these two people speaking about?
A searing ache in my head woke me up and a grunt that didn’t even sound like me left my lips.
“It’s okay, Sophie, it’s okay.” Warm hands cupped the sides of my face and the tingling sensation seeped through the ache as the warmth drove the pain away. My eyes closed voluntarily as a tear ran down my cheek.
“It’s going to feel better in a few minutes. Give it some time.” Hank carried on doing his thing. The headache faded away.
A deep sigh came from Hank, but the sensation of the magic coming from his healing made it hard for me to open my eyes and ask him why that sigh.
“I think that should do it. How do you feel?” He lowered both his palms from my face and there wasn’t even a slight pulse.
I opened my eyes and looked at him. “Thank you. How did I get here?”
“One of your roommates came rushing through the doors last night, begging me to come. You don’t remember?”
I shook my head.
He huffed. “The runes inside the walls should help with controlling the level of your headache. What caused it? Do you remember?”
I shook my head again. I didn’t want to tell Hank that I’d dreamed about someone named Dreya and that a man named Caus was going to plan her death and made it look like an accident. They would think I was insane.
He took a deep breath and the lines next to his eyes crinkled.
Footsteps clicked on the floor and Mrs. Beatty appeared around the corner. “Good, you are awake.” She came closer and stood at the end of my bed. “Hopefully tonight, when her legacy reveals itself, we’ll understand if the headaches belong to the mask or the legacy.” A thin smile sprawled across her face. “Is she good to go? She needs to get ready, and so do you.”
“She is good for now. What do you say, Sophie?” Hank asked.
I nodded and hopped off from the bed.
“Your wardrobe is on the bed. Ask Brooke to show you where you need to go,” Mrs. Beatty said.
“I will. Thanks again, Hank.”
“You are most welcome.”
I left and the knots in my stomach twisted as I kept wondering about that dream. Did it mean anything, or was it just my mind playing tricks on me?
I walked up the stairs to my room and opened the door. All three girls jumped and rushed toward me.
“What the hell was that?” Cali asked.
“You gave us such a scare?” Nikki said.
“Calm down!” Brooke told both of them. “I told you guys; Sophie’s headaches are crazy. It was a headache, right?”
I nodded. “Thanks for getting help. Sorry for the scare.”
“Hey, don’t worry about that. So what does Hank say? Why do you get them?”
“He doesn’t know if it’s attached to my mask or my legacy. After tonight, they will know, which reminds me, I have to get ready.”
“Of course, go get your butt in the shower.” Brooke nudged me toward the bathroom.
“I’ll do your hair,” Cali said.
“I’ll help,” Nikki added.
“Thanks.” I closed the bathroom door and sighed as I opened the shower tabs.
A white kaftan robe, a pair of white pants, and white slip-on shoes waited for me on my bed.
The girls couldn’t contain their excitement.
“Come sit.” Cali pushed me in her chair, facing the mirror as she pulled off the towel on top of my head and started brushing out my hair.
“You really have thin hair, babe. It’s going to take more than magic to put some volume into this.”
“Then take it up,” Nikki said.
Cali looked at her. “You might be right.”
My eyes flickered to Brooke, who sat on the edge of Cali’s bed, and I got a tug to the hair to look in front of me.
How the hell was I going to do this tonight alone? All of them already got their colors, or their legacy, as Mrs. Beatty had called it.
Half an hour later, I hardly recognized myself with my new hairdo. Cali had taken it up into a small bun as the lower part of my hair brushed the top of my shoulders. A few slants that had a slight curve hung around my face.
She pushed in two white sticks into the bun to end off the hairdo and her make-up technique added the finishing touch to this look.
“So, what do you think?”
My eyes lifted to the reflection of Cali in the mirror. “I love it, thank you.”
She clapped her hands, and I turned around in her chair, resting my arms on my knees.
“Why the long face?” Brooke asked.
“I don’t know if I can do this alone.”
The girls looked at each other as their lips quirked.
“You want us to come with you?” Brooke asked.
“Is it allowed?”
“Of course it’s allowed.”
I nodded.
All three of them scattered to their closets and took out their kimonos. Brooke’s Kaftan was black and blue with beautiful water drops mixed into a curly design. Cali’s was orange and black with flame-shapes mixed into the curly design. Nikki had a beautiful Green and black design, leaves and flowers shapes mixed with the same curly design.
Cali rushed to the bathroom as Brooke started putting on her kimono. She paused tying her kaftan and looked at me. “Get dressed, Sophie.”
I jumped from the chair and went to my bed, where my white kimono still waited.
I felt better knowing that my roommates were tagging along.
The girls looked so pretty wearing their dresses filled with rich color among the black. They took me to a hall that was at the back of the school grounds and Cali opened the side door.
She jumped slightly as a guy with a white tunic stood in front of the door. He was the last in the row and we entered.
“Sophie.” Mrs. Beatty’s voice came from the front. I stood on my toes to see her. “What are you girls doing here?”
“Moral support,” Nikki said.
“She needs us, Mrs. Beatty,” Cali added.
Mrs. Beatty showed her palms. “Okay, girls, come through.”
We pushed through the row that was filled with cat ears, tails, horns, beaks, and wings.
When we reached the front, the most beautiful kimono hugged Mrs. Beatty features. Her colors were slightly different. It had a turquoise type of spiral woven into the same curly design on her robe mixed with black. Hank was here too, and his tunic looked different. The men’s tunics had no sleeves, and Hank’s tunic had blue and white colors. His beak still freaked me out. There was another adult male and female among them. The male had the same tunic colors as Cali, and the woman wore the same tunic as Nikki.
My gaze reverted to Mrs. Beatty’s tunic. It was the most beautiful of them all and I wondered if it was the colors of the Spirit or whether it was because she was the principal.
“Deep breaths; you are all going to be fine.” Mrs. Beatty looked at the rows of third-years. “You will go to the room at the back, and when it’s time, you will come to the stage and line up in a neat order behind the curtain. The older grades will go first, and then it will be all of you.”
Everyone nodded as they stared at me.
“Let’s go, guys,” the Sovereign with the orange and black tunic said. He had bushy black hair and brown skin with orange undertones that brought out the color of his tunic. The four of us followed him first into the room that had plenty of chairs and we plopped down on the first four, followed by the third years. They must have rehearsed this the entire day as they did this in an orderly fashion.
My heart pounded as everyone spoke about what they really wanted to be. Most of them said Spirit.
Brooke leaned closer. “The statistics that a Spirit fae is going to be among them are zero percent. The idiots all have high hopes.”
Nikki and Cali whispered to one another.
“So, what do you really want to be?”
“I don’t know.” I rubbed my hands as I kept thinking about the fire dreams and the last one about Dreya. What did they want with Drake?
The slight throb behind my eyes spasmed and the pain grew. I ground my teeth as my hand flung to my head and pressed my eyes shut.
“You okay?” Brooke touched my arm.
“Just a headache.”
“Sophie?” Hank’s voice came from next to my chair and when I opened my eyes, I found him crouching next to me.
“It’s a headache,” Brooke said.
“Come with me.” His beak moved as he spoke the words.
I got up from the chair, and he took me to the corner at the back.
He put both his hands on my temples, and I could feel the familiar buzzing sensation that sprawled from his hands. It became slightly warm as he scoffed. A deep sigh was expelled through his lips, and I couldn’t even open my eyes to look at him or ask him what was happening to me.
After around a minute, he lowered his hands. “I think that should do it. How do you feel?”
“Your hands sure are magical.”
He chuckled. “I will order you a stone to help with the headaches.”
“A stone?” I asked.
“They are what we call healing stones, and they are excellent at keeping headaches under control. If your headaches don’t go away, we might have to find your fated-bond creature.”
“What?”
He smiled. “They haven’t mentioned the fated-bonds yet?”
Brooke had but she barely scratched the surface. I shook my head.
“When magic is too strong in one individual, the best is to find the creature that matches you.”
Drake flew into my mind, but I pushed it away fast. “That’s if I’m not a creature myself.”
“I think your legacy is fae.”
“Are the ears going to hurt?”
The crow’s feet next to Hank’s eyes appeared. “No, it doesn’t hurt. The arch will only remove the mask, the part that protects our little ones until they are sixteen.”
“So everyone gets pointy ears?”
“Only the fae.”
“Thank you, Hank.”
“You are welcome.” His eyes still smiled as the yellow beak covered the area where his mustache used to be. I went back to my chair and plopped down next to Brooke.
“Feeling better?”
“Much. Hank’s hands are pure magic.”
“That’s a healer summed up as best as one can sum them up.”
Bickering started among the third-years.
“I can’t wait for my pointy ears,” one girl said.
“That’s if you are a fae. Get used to the color green, guys. Many of us are going to come back wearing green-Changpao tunics,” another girl said, speaking super-fast.
Paper balls, empty soda cans, and water bottles got chucked her way. She ducked and dived to dodge most of them.
Cali and Nikki laughed.
“Definitely a wind fae,” Brooke said.
“She is not wrong,” Nikki said, using her theater voice.
The wall glowed, and the edge expanded into a huge oblong. Mrs. Beatty, standing on the stage next to a pointy archway with white glowing light, appeared inside the oblong.
Shushes filled the room as she spoke.
“It looks like a porthole.”
“Oh, you saw one before then, to know what they look like?” Brooke said, and I couldn’t help snorting a laugh.
“If portholes were real, this place would definitely be where they exist. I always imagine it looking like that.” I motioned at the wall.
“It’s the projection coming from the Sterilian guard at the back.” Nikki leaned over Brooke, and I turned my head toward the back. A woman with blonde hair wearing the same color tunic as Mrs. Beatty sat on a chair. A curvy device covered her eyes. She almost looked like an X-man character and not a fae.
I looked to the front as Mrs. Beatty spoke about what a special year it was for the third graders. They had reached a milestone that was going to showcase their legacy and place them in this world. Her words were touchy as she spoke, to whom I assumed were all the parents.
I wondered what Mom and Dad would’ve thought about all of this. Would they have accepted that I wasn’t normal? Frances and Daniel had tried their best to get rid of the headaches. It had scared them both. But if Mom had known what I was, would she have accepted it?
I looked up at the screen again as Mrs. Beatty mentioned my name.
Hank motioned for me to come, and Brooke, Cali and Nikki got up too.
“Good luck, guys,” Nikki said to the rest of the class as we met Hank at the entrance.
We followed him through the hallway and turned right into a narrow passage that had long black curtains on the left. The walls muffled Mrs. Beatty’s voice, where laughter followed. I wished I knew what she had said.
We walked up to the entrance on our left, and Hank opened the door. Mrs. Beatty’s voice became clearer as we climbed the four steps that led to the back of the stage.
Big black curtains hung in columns as we zigzagged our way through it. The stone archway finally came into view, the white light igniting the way forward.
“So let’s give her a big welcome home. Sophie Emerson.”
“Break a leg,” Brooke whispered as she nudged me slightly forward while the audience applauded. My heart galloped as I walked toward Mrs. Beatty. I didn’t want to wipe my sweaty palms on the white tunic, scared that I would smear the white dirty.
Please don’t burn, please don’t burn.
Mrs. Beatty motioned for me to stand on the raised platform right underneath the archway. I swallowed hard, trying to get the lump in my throat to disappear.
She smiled, and her dimples showed. Her smile had the same effect as Dr. Bryanston’s eyes. I could feel the slight change in my heartbeat, beating slower.
She leaned closer. “It’s going to be okay, trust me.”
I stepped onto the platform, lifting my chin to stare at the light above.
A couple of sniggers came from the onlookers, and I lowered my chin.
Round tables spread over the room occupied by the parents that had come tonight. Drapes hung from the roof, and faint fairy lights, among the ivy that crept up the wall, gave it that mystical vibe. Every person in this room wore their tunics.
Warmth caressed my skin and the buzzing sensation that had come from Drake and Hank’s touches seared through my limbs. I closed my eyes as the warm waves of wind caressed my face. My heart went back to its rapid beat. Calm down, Sophie.
Gasps filled the room and my eyes flung open. The light above me turned to a greenish blue hue.
Mrs. Beatty eyebrows raised as she stared at me before her lips fanned into a smile. My gaze fluttered back to my tunic. The hem was black as the turquoise and black filled the rest of the design. It rushed up the material of my kimono . Mrs. Beatty motioned me down, and I stepped off the platform. The color in the archway changed back to white.
“Sophie Emerson,” Mrs. Beatty said. “Spirit fae.”
Goosebumps spread over my skin, and my tunic matched the colors on Mrs. Beatty’s tunic. The crowd applauded again.
“Meet me tomorrow morning around seven at my office,” she said. “You are free to go.”
I walked back the way I’d come, dazed in thought, to Brooke, Cali and Nikki.
“You are a freaking Spirit fae. No wonder your headaches are so bad, Soph,” Brooke said.
“What?”
“Oh, man. You know how rare it is?”
“She is just like all of us, Brooke, pointy ears, and magical,” Cali spoke. “Congrats on nailing down the rarest type of fae there is.”
I didn’t like her tone, but I followed them back to the hallway.
Cali pushed the door and Hank smiled as he stood with crossed arms against the wall. “The color suits you. Mrs. Beatty thought you might be Spirit.”
“Mrs. Beatty knew?”
“She had an inkling. Spirit’s headaches are the worst.”
The third-year students started pushing and squeezing against me, and I said goodbye to Hank.
“So unfair,” the one girl said.
“Lucky bitch,” another one popped through.
“Congrats,” the girl that had made jokes tonight said.
“Thanks,” I said, pushing through the throng of third-years until I made it to the end of the hallway, where Brooke waited. Cali and Nikki had disappeared.
Brooke laughed. “No wonder Drake was so adamant about finding you. Spirit faes are like magnets to all griffins. I feel sorry for you with the unwanted attention, girl.” Brooke chuckled. “Lindy is going to love that.”
“Lindy?”
“The last time I checked, Phoenix Griffin is still part of the griffin race. Even if they’ll never admit it, they are just as pathetic as the normal griffins with Spirit faes.”
I still didn’t know how I felt about that. Drake was stupidly handsome.
“Are Cali and Nikki okay?”
Brooke huffed. “It’s Cali. Don’t pay her any attention. It’s a bit of green-grapes if you ask me.”
