The Scions

Chapter One

My life is complicated. I can't imagine what it would be like if I was just a normal girl. But I'm not. And I'm starting to think I never will be. 

It started on the first day of classes, my freshman year of high school. My best friend, Aly, meets me at the door. 

"Schedule," I say quickly, and she thrusts it under my nose. I sighed. "We have English together. That's it." 

"What did you expect, Merlyn? You're like the smartest person in the school." Considering I was a freshman, I seriously doubted that, but I chose not to say anything. 

"I guess we go our separate ways now then," I said, and we parted ways. English was fifth period. so at least I had that to look forward to. 

I walked into first period history and saw someone already sitting on top of a desk with his feet in the chair. 

I shoved his feet out of the chair. "Chair for sit. Desk for books." He rolled his eyes at me and didn't move. 

"What's your name?" He asked instead. I hesitated. I didn't trust very easily, and he seemed like the guy who was on the varsity football team, and he would have one AP class cause his parents and barely pass it. 

"I'm Aleyn," he said when I didn't respond. "There. Now what's your name?" 

"Merlyn," I said slowly, already knowing that I was going to hate everything about this guy. But I saw shock register on his face when he heard my name, like he already knew something about me. Something big. 

The teacher walked in the door right as the bell rang. "Take your seats, students," She said as the last stragglers filed into the room. 

Aleyn finally twisted around in his desk and landed squarely in his chair. 

The teacher started class with the usual boring stuff that every teacher would say in every class period, just like the had every year, so I opened my book to read. 

"Excuse me," The teacher called. "Would you mind answering the question on the board?" 

I did, flawlessly, without looking up, and went straight back to reading without sparing the teacher a glance. 

She yanked the book out of my hands. "If you think that you don't need to pay attention in my class, then would you mind explaining to me the American Revolution, in detail?" 

Once again, I did, even going as far as to name the founding fathers, what they did, and each and every battle that took place. I did it in less than 5 minutes, then went back to my book, which the teacher had laid back on my desk as soon as I finished talking. 

That was the thing about me. I'm ridiculously smart. Not that I'm bragging on myself or anything, but I am. I could read in class and my brain would still absorb all of the information being thrown at me no problem. The only problem was that the teachers didn't really seem to understand that. 

The rest of the day passed pretty much the same way. To my dismay, that kid Aleyn was in every single one of my classes, and I questioned my luck. 

At the end of the school day, I was waiting for Aly when he walked up to me. 

"Listen. You're Merlyn, right?" As if we didn't just accidentally spend the whole day together. 

"Yes." I said, wondering why he cared. He was clearly a jock. And only one person, besides my family, had ever cared for me. 

"There's a lot of things that you don't know about, and the most that I can tell you right now is that I am supposed to keep an eye on you. To protect you."

"Protect me from what?" I asked, more bored than interested. 

He faded away into the crowd. "It'll make more sense soon, I promise. Things are coming, things you can't begin to imagine!

I just had time to think that if I couldn't imagine them, then he definitely couldn't, when Aly walked up to me. 

"Hey. Heck of a day, huh," 

I nodded. She had no idea.

................................................................................................................................................................

The rest of the week passed relatively quickly. Teachers went over the same norms and classroom rules that they did every year, and I continued to ignore all of them. Nothing remotely interesting happened until  Friday. The day started off like normal:

"Merlyn. I am not going to tell you again. Put that book away or I'm gonna ban you from ever bringing books to my class again." 

I smirked at her. I knew I was being a bit stubborn, but school was boring right now, and I really wanted to finish the book. The teacher walked over to me and unceremoniously plucked the book from my hand and closed it without letting me put my bookmark in. 

I shrugged. "Take good care of it," I said lightheartedly. "It's signed and probably worth several hundred dollars. 

The teacher just glared at me and walked away. I pulled a different book from my bag and kept reading. 

This had happened several times before, and the teacher just picked up the phone and dialed the office. I almost laughed as she had to look up the number. They said it so much on the announcements that I already had it grained into my head. 

I didn't hear the rest of the call, but nobody had ever actually done anything to me before, so I kept reading. 

The rest of the day passed much like this. By seventh period, I was almost done with the second book that I had started in first. I knew I would calm down as the year went on, but I was tired of hearing the rules of the classroom every day. 

Thirty minutes before the last bell rang, something very peculiar happened. Thirty minutes in, Aleyn suddenly tensed up. I noticed because, as much as I hated to admit, we had kind of become friends over the last week, and I liked to keep an eye on him. 

He flinched, like he had just gotten some bad news. We were supposed to be doing independent work, and the classroom was silent, but the teacher was on her phone, and Aleyn slipped up to me, quiet as a mouse, and whispered, "Get ready." In my ear. Then he slipped over to his desk like nothing had happened, and wouldn't say anything else to me for the rest of the period. 

The teacher glanced up just as four men in suits burst in the door right as the announcements came on. 

"Attention students and teacher. Locks, lights, out of sight. Locks light out of sight." This was what they said on the announcements when there was an intruder in the building, but the announcement came kind of late. 

The men stepped into the room, and the teacher stepped up. "Excuse me, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave. You're trespassing on school property," And I watched Aleyn wince. 

The man, clearly in charge, pulled a gun. "We are here for one reason," He said. "Where is Merlyn Elmore?"