A girl with jet-black hair, wearing mostly black with some scarlet, was standing on the edge of a cliff out of breath. She was being chased and was trapped. She was looking for a way out. But the only way was down.
"Nowhere to go and no one to turn to. You're about to see your mother." Said a woman. The girl only turned around, running and dove off the cliff.
Earlier the same girl had light brown hair and was wearing glasses. Behind those glasses she had the bluest eyes anyone ever seen. No one had eyes like her. The girl's eyes had a blue silver look, like her irises were made of real silver. She made her way through the train station pushing the trolley with her luggage on it. She looked down at her ticket.
"Platform 6." She said to herself. She found the train. It didn't look like the other trains but every one else did not seem to notice this. She walked past parents saying good bye to their children.
"I don't want to hear you are causing trouble." A woman said to her 11-year-old son who looked like he didn't belong there. He had sun bleached hair, very tan skin and when he said 'I won't mom' he didn't sound English like his mother but American.
When the girl got on the train she found an empty compartment near the back. She sat by the open window and watched families say their good byes. It was almost time to go when a family of 13 (7 kids and 6 parents), which was made up of mostly red heads, (there were a few blondes and brunets) were saying good bye to each other.
"Nic, look there's your lover boy." A 15-year-old boy said to his twin sister. The girl only blushed and punched him then dragged her trunk to the train. But the boy her brother was talking about spotted her and waved to her. She smiled and waved timidly but ended up tripping over her own two feet. A few of her family members started laughing at her. She got up shooting them a dirty look and walked away in a huff. Her twin and two others followed her.
"Classic." Said the younger girl. The other three followed them on the train. In a little while, the girl saw a few of them pass her compartment with their friends.
The train finally moved out of the station. She found herself looking out the window day dreaming about what it was going to be like in school. It was not like a normal school like she had been going to. But a few months ago she found out she was a half witch. She was happy to know that there was a reason for all the strange stuff that happen to her.
She remembers one time when she was little and a bully was pushing her around. He pushed her so hard that she hit her head off the ground and had blacked out. When she woke up her head was healed. Later, she was told that shortly after she was knocked out, she had gotten back up, looked at him and he just fell to the ground like some invisible person was beating him up. After that her classmates called her Witch Girl. Now she won't have to go through that again.
She was soon snapped out of her daydream by a tapping near the doorway. It was two of the girls from the red haired family (well one of them was the other was blond) and a very black haired girl.
"Hey, is it OK if we sit with you?" The red haired girl asked in an Irish accent.
"Sure, go right ahead." They walked in with their trunks.
"My name is Caroline Mackenzie," She had red hair that was past her waist, fair skin and green eyes. "And this is my cousin, Lizzy Mackenzie." She had blond hair that was a little below her shoulder, tan skin and blue eyes. "And my friend Sarah Flanagan." She had jet-black hair that was to her shoulders, violet eyes, was very thin and her skin was so fair that she almost was white
"Nice to meet you. I'm Gwen Thorn." They talked for most of the trip. Gwen found out a lot of things about them. Lizzy was from America while Sarah and Caroline was from Ireland. How Nicole and Sean Fox, Caroline and Lizzy's two older cousins were in their 5th year and they were both house parents. Maria, Lizzy's older sister, was born the same year as Nicole and Sean and she was in her 4th year. Margaret, Nicole and Sean's younger sister, was in her 3rd year. They said she was a nice person at first but some times she's mean if she doesn't like you. She's always beats up on her younger brother Cornealius (who goes by his last name, Fox.) and his best friend he made last year there, Rupert. Fox and Rupert were now in their 2nd years. They also said that Margaret only gets along with a few people, namely, Tom and Val.
Sarah was an only child. Her father was a wizard and a part of the Council of the Other Realm. Her mother was a Banshee, which explained her jet-black hair, violet eyes, thin figure and white complexion.
It was dark outside of the train when they decided to put on their uniforms. The uniforms were all very plain. They were black jumpers with a white patch over the right side of the chest and a white tie belt. Worn under the jumper was a button up blouse with a black tie. They wore gray knee high shocks with black dress shoes.
It was a few minutes later when a girl with bright unnaturally red hair, with blue streaks, stuck her head in to the compartment. Gwen recognized her as one of Caroline and Lizzy's family members, the one who tripped.
"Hey guys." She was from America like Lizzy. "I came to see if you were in your uniforms but I see you already are." She said.
"Hey Nicole." Sarah, Caroline and Lizzy said at the same time. Nicole spotted Gwen.
"I see you three have a new victim." She said. They all sneered at her.
"Nicole this is Gwen Thorn." Caroline said. "Gwen this is our cousin Nicole Fox."
"Thorn, that name sounds familiar." Nicole said studying Gwen carefully. Then anther red head stuck his head in next to Nicole. It was her twin brother. He had caramel red hair (his real color and hers too) with blue streaks also.
"Nic, Margaret is trying to kill Fox and Rupert again." He said.
"We're not even at school yet and she's trying to kill them. What'd they do to her?"
"It's Margaret, does she need a reason to kill them."
"Yeah that's right. I'm not going to help them. We have to finish our rounds." She was about to leave then stopped. "Oh yeah the lights are going to go out for a second. Don't worry about it, it always happens. See ya all later." She gave them a smile and wink before leaving.
"Why do the lights go out?" Gwen asked.
"That's the way you find out which house you're in." Sarah said.
"And to get on the right track to get to the Academy." Caroline added.
"What are the houses?"
"Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite and Apollo." Sarah said.
"What house do you think you'll end up in?"
"In our family, we all have end up in Artemis House." Caroline said. "But every one in our family thought for sure that Margaret would end up in Ares."
"She is evil and vindictive enough." Sarah said. The door to their compartment burst opened with two red head boys (one had dark red and the other had an orange tint to his hair). They closed the door and quickly yanked the shades closed.
"Do you think she saw us come in here?" Asked the lighter haired boy.
"Not sure. Now would you shut up before she finds us?"
"Hello Fox, Hello Rupert." Lizzy said. Both boys turned around and smiled at them weakly. "What did you two do to her now?"
"We didn't do…" The door burst opened again. The boys whirled around to look at the angry dark red headed girl in the doorway with a brown haired boy standing behind her.
"Sorry I tried to stop her." Said the boy.
"YOU TWO ARE GOING TO DIE!" The girl yelled.
"Meg, we can explain." Said the dark haired one. "You see what happened is…"
"It was all him!" Yelled the other one. "It was all Fox's idea. He made me do it. Please don't hurt me!" He then threw himself to the seat between Sarah and Caroline.
"Traitor!" Fox said glaring at Rupert.
"She's your sister. It's okay if you die at her hand." Meg took a step towards him. Caroline darted out of her seat to get between them.
"Meg listen. What ever Fox did he only did to get a rise out of you." Meg looked coldly at her younger brother not even bothering to look down at her cousin. "Basically he wanted you to react this way."
"I didn't want her to try and…" Caroline elbowed Fox before he could finish.
"Shut up I'm trying to save you arse here." She hissed at him. "So what do you say let him live this time." Finally Meg's cold stare moved down to Caroline.
"OK." She grunted. She turned away and walked out of the door. Tom watched her walk away before looking back at them.
"You two." He pointed at Rupert and Fox. "Next time I'm not going to bother saving you. If she kills you it your own bloody fault." He then walked away. Fox kicked Rupert in the leg.
"Bloody hell, what was that for?" Rupert rubbed his leg as Fox sat down between Lizzy and Gwen.
"That's for being a rat." Fox looked at Gwen from head to toe. "You're new."
"I'm Gwen Thorn."
"Oh hi I'm Fox. That thing over there," Pointing at his friend across form him. "Is Rupert."
"Hi." Rupert said still rubbing his leg. Then as Nicole had said the lights went out. They heard a few screams in another compartment. Gwen felt a chill come over her. Before long the lights came back on.
"Why is it that girls scream?" Fox asked as if nothing happened.
"I think those were the same girls from last year." Rupert added.
"Didn't you guys feel that?" Gwen asked.
"That chill?" Fox said. "That happens all the time."
"That was normal?" Caroline asked.
"Yeah. Didn't Nicole come in here to tell you?"
"She did but only to tell us the lights were going out." Lizzy said.
"She can be such a dizes sometimes. I love her but she forgets things once in a while." Gwen realized that Sarah's uniform had changed. The patch wasn't blank any more, her tie and belt were purple and there was a strip of purple on the top of her socks. Gwen quickly looked down at her uniform. Her belt and tie were scarlet. Then she looked at Lizzy and Caroline's too and they were the same as hers.
"Hey, congratulation! You're in Artemis." Gwen looked up at Fox. "We should head back to our compartment we'll be there real soon. See ya all later." Rupert and Fox left the compartment.
"And now you have almost met our whole family." Lizzy said. "You only have to meet my sister and that will be everyone."
They got to the train station. The girls got their trunks off the train. They were told to put their trunks under the sign of the house they were in. After they did that they had to go find the 5th year house parents, who just happened to be Sean and Nicole. They were both sanding at the gate entrance.
"Artemis's Midgets over here!" Sean yelled. Nicole turned around with an annoyed look on her face. "What?"
"Don't call them that!" Nicole said to him.
"They are midgets. I'm telling you we were never that short our first year."
"Yes we were."
"Yeah, you were. You still are!" Nicole only rolled her eyes and turned back round to the first years.
"Artemis First Years over here!" Nicole called. They stood there until they were sure all the first years were there. "Hello first years welcome to Athena Academy. I'm Nicole Fox."
"I'm Sean Fox." In a very dull voice like he really wanted to get to the school so he could go straight to sleep.
"We're your house parents. So you can come to us for help or advice."
"My first piece of advice to you all is go to her or the 4 other house parents."
"Sean!" Nicole snapped.
"What? Do you honestly want them taking advice from me?" Nicole only stared at him. "OKAY!" Nicole turned her attention back to the first years.
"Yes, we are open to you any time."
"Unless I'm asleep. If you wake me up, I'LL KILL YOU!" Nicole shot him another dirty look.
"Any way! Since it's your first year you all get to walk to the school in the dark. Don't worry after this year you won't have to do it again."
"Unless you get our sucky jobs your 5th year." Nicole elbowed him.
"Now lets go. Sean bring up the rear." She walked out the gate Sean let the first years go past him.
"I'm always bringing up the rear." He mumbled to himself as the first years passed him.
They walked through the village that was only lit by the street lamps. They came to the end of the village. It was pitch black they couldn't see a thing except for a castle in the distance. That had to be the school. Nicole held out her hand. A little light appeared in the palm of her hand before flouting into the air. Sean had done the same thing in the back of the group. The group of first years walked through the spooky darkness. All of a sudden there was a scream and a dark haired girl ran into Gwen. There was laughing of boys behind them (even Sean). The girl turned to them and yelled at the boys, one of them being the American boy, in Spanish.
"Jerks!" Lizzy Yelled at them. The others rolled their eyes and continued to walk.
"Sorry for running into you." The girl said to Gwen in a thick accent.
"It's OK. You had a reason."
"Yeah. My brother and his friends thought it would be funny to scare me. He knows I'm afraid of the dark. I mean you can't see what's out there." She said. "I'm Jimena Estes-Lupe."
"I'm Gwen Thorn, and she's Caroline Mackenzie and her cousin Lizzy Mackenzie."
"Yeah well my brother's the dark haired one back there." She motioned her head back. "His name is Carlos. Do any of you have bothers?"
"I have a younger bother." Caroline said.
"Then you know what it's like."
"Yeah but I at lest get away from him for a few years before he starts coming here."
"Your lucky." They got to the school. They took a quick tour around the castle before headings to the north entrance, which leads out to the housing they were going to be living in. The house was four stories and made of brick. They looked like they were built a few 100 years after the school. Nicole and Sean led them into common room. There were two sets of stairs on either side of the room. The stairs on the left led up to the girl's dorm and the stairs on the right side led to the boy's dorms. Nicole and Sean split the group up to led them up to their dorms.
Gwen, Lizzy, Caroline and Jimena all got a room together along with a girl Jimena met on the train. Her name was Kara Hanna. Gwen went to bed her thoughts coming back to her thought she had earlier. 'I'm in a new place with a new life.'
