Cassiopea's School for the Gifted

Ch. 3

"Ready to go?"

I nodded, adjusting my backpack.

He led me from our dorm to the castle and somehow knew exactly where he was going in the huge building. We came to some big doors that had stained glass windows.

"This is our first class, Magical History. I think you'll really like it."

We headed in and I followed him to the back of the room to a small group of people.

"Hey guys, I want you to meet someone!"

They all looked up at him and then at me. I felt awkward with all of their gazes on me. I wasn't used to it.

"This is Arion, he's new. He doesn't know much about magic and stuff so we gotta help him."

Finn stood next to a girl with white hair, "Arion meet Eira, Eira meet Arion."

He moved to the next person, a girl with short blonde hair, "Arion meet Circe, Circe meet Arion."

Then he went next to a girl with a buzz cut, "Arion meet Noa, Noa meet Arion."

He went so fast I didn't have a chance to say hi to them individually so I awkwardly waved when he was done.

The girl with the buzzed hair rolled her eyes, "Dude, you're way too energetic for this early in the morning. You're scaring him."

Finn stuck his tongue out at her which made me laugh a little.

Noa smiled at me, "Nice to meet you, Arion. You'll like it here, I promise."

"Alright everyone find your seats! We have a new student amongst us, will you raise your hand?"

I raised my hand slightly after I sat down. Everyone looked at me.

"Would you like to introduce yourself? Your name, powers, and something about you?"

"Um, my name is Arion... I'm from New York."

They seemed to be waiting for me to say more but when I remained silent a kid near the front called out, "What's your power?"

I looked over to my right and saw Finn and his friends looking at me expectingly.

"Uh, do I have to say?"

The teacher looked shocked, "N-no it's perfectly fine if you don't want to say. Welcome to this school. Okay if everyone will take out their textbooks and turn to page sixty-five, we will continue from where we left off yesterday."

As I took my book out of my bag I let out a small breath.

It was going to be harder than I thought to keep my powers a secret. Of course with everyone there being magical, if your power wasn't obvious or something you could see then people were going to ask you about it.

**

I'd been staying with Finn and his friends all day, but it was lunchtime, and I was kind of nervous. I wanted to get closer to them but how was I supposed to do that if I was keeping part of myself a secret from everyone?

"Hey, we should do introductions!" Finn said suddenly.

"Hmm?" The girl with white hair, Eira I think, asked.

"So Arion can get to know us better. K, dorks, state your name, age, pronouns if you're Noa, and what kind of magical being you are."

"You start."

"He already knows all that about me, we're roommates."

Noa rolled her eyes, "Fine I'll go first. I'm Noa, I'm seventeen, my pronouns are they/them but don't sweat it if you mess up, and my power is diamond mimicry."

"What's that?"

Suddenly Noa became shiny.

"I can turn my whole body into diamond."

"Woah..."

She smiled and then turned back.

Oops, I meant they. That was going to take me a bit to get used to.

"I'll go next..." the girl with short blonde hair said shyly, "my name is Circe, I'm sixteen, and I'm a wing manifestor. On command, I can turn my arms into big bird wings that I can use to fly."

I smiled, "That's cool."

She smiled back.

"I'm Eira," the girl with the white hair spoke, "I'm also sixteen and I am a light energy manifestor. I can create, shape, and manipulate light energy. Along with travel through light."

I gulped.

She was the exact opposite of me. Oh gosh. If anyone there could discover my secret it would have been her.

I cleared my throat, "That's cool. I thought you were an angel, honestly. Are there any other energy manipulators here?"

She smiled, "A lot of people think I'm an angel because of my hair and light complexion. And no, I'm the only one."

I nodded and began eating again.

At least there was only one.

**

I walked into my living room at home, "Hello mother and father."

"Hello, Arion. Sit."

I nodded and sat down, ready to have a conversation that I really did not want to be having.

"So now that you've been there for a week, what have you learned?"

"Um, well the school is really big. And there are all sorts of different creatures there. My roommate can shift into a hedgehog. His friends have cool powers too, one can change into diamond, one can turn her arms into bird wings, and... uh the last one can control energy."

They looked at me seriously.

"What kind of energy?" My father asked.

I gulped, "Um she is a... she's a.... light energy manipulator."

"You made friends with an enemy?" My mother asked, shocked.

"No, she's really nice. And she doesn't know my powers. She isn't an enemy."

My father glared at me, "She will be when she finds out what you are."

"No one will find out though. I already told Cassiopea and Cassia that I want it to be kept secret that I am a dark energy manipulator."

My father shook his head, "What else have you learned?"

I talked for a bit about things I learned in classes but they didn't seem to care.

"Alright, I've heard enough. Go back to school. Don't get too close to that light girl."

I nodded.

When I got back to my room I laid on my bed and stared at the ceiling.

I really wanted to be friends with Eira. Just because our powers combatted each other didn't mean we couldn't be friends... no matter what my parents said. People with water powers could be friends with people with fire powers.

Ugh.