A Girl Named Zero: Camp Coven

Chapter One

I was staring out the train window and just feeling a million miles away. Michalo was seated behind me. Ever vigilant that I might just suddenly explode and vaporise everyone in the state. He was always so serious. I mean he doesn't look much older than I am. I'd say he was in his mid-twenties at the most. He is a licenced class A Hero. He had to be with me at every moment. He even stood outside the toilet while I went. He had slept in the room beside me in the orphanage. For someone that was always with me, he never made an effort to get to know me. Maybe he was just worried that if he had to kill me he'd be sad if he knew me. Man, that is so messed up. Anyway, here I am on the train, the first leg of my journey to Coven camp. I had to catch it to a village where a carriage was waiting to take me to the camp. It was a secret location that only the drivers of the carriages knew the location of. Well, I guess the camp teachers and counsellors would know the location as well. Oh and the high council. "You seem nervous" Michalo said leaning forward and talking to me from behind my chair. "Worried I'll blow up?" I asked him sarcastically. "I'm ever vigilant of that Zero" he told me in all seriousness. He then added, "I just meant that it's understandable if you are nervous. It's okay to be nervous". That was probably the nicest thing he's said to me. "Uh thanks," I said. "In all fairness, I don't think you'll actually explode. I'm more worried about you becoming corrupted" he told me. "Dark witches are a terrible threat to everyone" he said. I sighed feeling tired behind my eyes. He surprised me when he moved and sat beside me. "You have to understand why the high council is frightened of you Zero. You can create, enhance, destroy and even bring the dead back to life. No witch has ever had every affinity before" he explained as if i wasn't aware of my powers. "I know that Michalo, I promise I won't go dark. I just want to find somewhere I fit in," I told him to which he smiled. "Don't we all Zero" he told me. "Do you know anything about the camp? I've never actually been camping before" I told him feeling small. "Well I can't really say anything about the Coven Camp. It's pretty secretive amongst elite witches. I can tell you about the Caste Camp I went to though" he told me which peaked my interest. "I'm interested" I told him. "Well, I was given a scholarship much like yourself. I came from a tiny border village but my abilities were always above average so the high council of Castes offered me a place at Caste Camp to have the chance to join the best castes in the country" he explained to me. "Then you ended up picking the heroes caste?" I asked him. "Actually no, they approached me and asked me to join" he told me with a wide smile across his face. "You seem like you enjoy it" I stated. "I've fought giant beasts, rogue witches and even barbarians. It's been fun and quiet an interesting time. Now here I am with possibly the most powerful witch there's ever been. They'll sing about me in generations to come" he said sounding content with his decisions. "I don't care about that legacy stuff myself. I just want to be happy here and now" I told him. "End of the line" the conductor suddenly called out walking through the carriage and into the next one. "Yes I'm nervous" I said to Michalo quietly as we made out way off the train. We stepped off the train and into the bright sunlight. We made our way out of the station and in the pick-up area was a carriage. There was a man standing outside with a large piece of paper that read "Camp Coven". A couple of other women walked over to it. We lined up, Michalo was behind me. "Name?" The man with the paper asked. "Sarah Jacobs" the first girl told him. He opened the door and nodded "You may enter" he told the girl. "Name?" He asked the next girl. "Heather Michaels" she told him. "Enter" he told her and she did so. "Name?" He asked me next. Michalo stepped forward and gave the man a letter. "Ah the special case" he said as if he'd been expecting me. "You may enter with your guard" he told me and I stepped up and into the carriage, followed by Michalo. The other girls were whispering and looking at Michalo and myself. The driver closed the door and a minute later we could feel the carriage moving. There were no windows but it was still illuminated inside the carriage. After a moment the girl named Heather introduced herself to me "hi I'm Heather". "I'm Zero" I told her with a small smile. "That's an interesting name" Heather said. "It's the name they give orphans" Sarah told her, stating the fact. "I'm Sarah" she told me barely looking at me. "Were you really an orphan?" Heather asked me curiously. "I am but I like my name. It's not really a label for me" I told her. "That's an interesting way of looking at it" Heather told me. "What's with Mr serious?" She asked me reffering to Michalo who was sitting as still as a statue. "The high council assigned him to me" I told her. Sarah sat forward nearly falling out of her seat. "Did you say the high council? Wait did you actually meet them?" Sarah asked astounded. "It's classified and she can't tell you any more about it" Michalo told her sounding very serious. "Don't worry about him. He's actually pretty cool" I told her. "I didn't think they allowed men at the camp" Heather said. "He's a special case" I said sarcastically mimicking what the driver had said earlier. "What's your specialty?" Heather asked me casually. I'd practised my answer to this thoroughly. "Matter manipulation" I told them. "What's that?" Sarah asked. "I think it's a new type of magic" Heather stated. "It is" was all I said. "What's your affinities?" I asked the two girls. "I can make golems out of different types of earth" Heather said. "Wow that sounds really cool" I said wondering how well I could do that myself. "I myself have two affinities" Sarah said sounding prissy as if she was above the both of us. "I can create lightning and I can also charm people" she told us before raising her nose. She then snapped her fingers and sparks came out. To ne it seemed like her powers were very boring but she obviously thought they were the best there is. "So what can you do with matter manipulation?" Heather asked me generally curious. I looked at Michalo who nodded at me, giving me permission to show off something simple. I pulled a playing card out of my pocket, showing the girls the Queen of hearts on the front of it. Then I held my hand over the front and moved it to reveal that the Queen was now gone and replaced with Sarah wielding two powerful lightning bolts. "Any two-bit illusionist can do that" Sarah remarked looking at the card. Heather rolled her eyes at Sarah as if the girl was already beginning to annoy her. "I suppose that depends if you made it look like it changed or whether you actually changed the picture" Heather said then winked at me and I found myself smiling. Sarah scoffed as if we were nothing to her. I had a feeling Heather would make a good friend and Sarah could possibly be an issue. I suppose I would have to wait and see. After meeting these two I was looking forward to meeting the other girls at the camp.