Fortnight Field Academy

Chapter 1

Fire. It's often seen as the cause of unimaginable pain, loss, and devastation. While this may be true in a lot of cases, many people fail to look at its positive aspects. Fire gives us light, and warmth, and energy. Depending on your perspective, it can be a monster or a creature of beauty. I personally favor the latter; it calms me in my time of desperation, and seems to make my problems disappear. That's why it wasn't an unusual thing for me to dream about.

That was until a screeching cry blew out my candle.

"Ugh," I sighed, slamming the snooze button on my alarm clock. It's such a rude device for waking me from my peaceful dreams and throwing me into this nightmare of a day. I hid myself under the warm, fluffy comforter and relished in every second I had remaining in my familiar bed.

As I was on the brink of sleep once more. The alarm clock sounded its high, ear- piercing shriek and I immediately sprang to life.

I dragged myself out of bed and made my way downstairs to the kitchen and poured a big bowl of cereal. Hopping up on one of my mom's cushy bar stools, I devoured the food.

"Today's the big day, hm?" Dad asked as he sat down next to me.
I mumbled an incoherent response.

Big was an understatement. This was probably the most important day of my life. It would literally shape my future, because today I would be finding out what species I am.

Yes, species.

You see, we live in a world where most creatures from fairy tales, mythology and bedtime stories are real. Everything from witches to vampires to ghosts walk this earth. However, despite these fables, we are all able to blend into a human society, undetected. For example, zombies aren't brain eating undead creatures, but rather regular looking people that happen to have a strong connection to the dead. Collectively, these non- humans are called Alii (singularly Alius), Latin for "different" or "other."

For the first thirteen years of our lives we are, for all intents purpose, human. Then, around our fourteenth birthdays, we begin changing. Our vision becomes perfect, hearing becomes acute, and - best of all - skin becomes clear. Also, we develop a near- perfect immune system that blocks out basically anything that can make us sick. The "in between" kids are called changelings. Changelings attend special high schools where they are taught everything they need to know about being a full grown Alius. Freshmen year is dedicated to learning the very basics of the supernatural. Sophomore year is when it gets fun. We sit down with Oracles, special future reading Alii that can actually tell us what we will become in a process called the Repertum Ceremony. Our classes are specialized to that species and we learn every nitty- gritty detail.

That's where I am. Today I'll be returning to Fortnight Field Academy in the middle of a forest in Colorado to learn my fate. I could be anything; it's completely random. My mother is a mermaid (no, she does not have a tail) and my dad is a vampire, but I could turn out to be a witch for all that matters. The only rule is two humans can't create an Alius and vice versa. I'm not exactly sure what happens when an Alia and a human have children. That's never happened before.

Now, usually, we become a full- fledged Alius somewhere between the ages of twenty-five and thirty. But for our junior year, witches give us a potion that speeds up the process and allows us to dedicate our last two years of high school to practice using and controlling our newfound powers.

After we graduate we can have normal, mundane careers in human cities, or we could join an Alii society and live separate from humans.

For the time being, I would live on campus in cramped doors with three other roommates I would be meeting today. Yep, this was absolutely going to suck.

"How much longer do I have," I asked between bites.

Dad glanced at his watch. "It takes about five hours to get down there and they're expecting us at three... We should probably leave here at nine." He always liked to be early. Usually, I admired that trait, but now, I just wanted to stay in this house as long as possible. "And we need to finish packing the car," he murmured more to himself than to me.

From there, my mom and I loaded the rest of my boxes into the minivan. My dad, being a vampire, liked to stay indoors as much as possible. He wouldn't burn up or anything, but the bright lights really bothered him. He could see in perfect darkness and explained to me that daylight was so brilliantly white that he often got extreme migraines from it. He had to buy super special sunglasses, made by trained Alii, to block out the sun enough to create the illusion of darkness. He couldn't use them a lot, though, or the magic would wear off. It's hard to find Alii stores, even if you know what you're looking for.

At nine o'clock on the dot, I sat squished between the car door and a stack of boxes while Mom backed out of the driveway.

"Well, here we go," Dad said as he rested his head on the seat.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Here we go."