Ace of Minds

02: The Sibling

She decided to ignore them. They were probably wondering who had invited a bum to their prestigious, magical school. As she continued walking while pulling the hem of Elswood's coat, a pale guy ran towards them. He was wearing a maroon sweater with a Z symbol on the left side of his chest. The white collar of his dress shirt stuck out beneath the maroon sweater and he was wearing a pair of black pants.

She looked back and forth between the guy and the other students. They were all wearing identical outfits.

Great, thought Irene. Never mind the majestic school area, it was still a boarding school and they had uniforms.

Behind the guy was a girl that looked exactly like him: tall, pale, blond, with freckles on her face.

"You must be a new student!" beamed the guy who was out of breath when they finally reached Irene.

Irene glanced at Elswood who just gave her a shrug.

"Yeah."

The girl whispered something to the guy. Whatever it was, it alarmed him. He shifted his gaze to Elswood with his hands shaking. Then he looked at the girl again and nodded. After that, they exchanged what could be the creepiest smile of smile history.

"Good morning, Sir Elswood," both of them bowed.

"Hey, kids."

The girl cleared her throat. "Since you're a new student, you must come with us!" she said in a total made-up cute voice. Then, she nudged the guy.

"I'm Hank Sherwood."

"I'm Cecil Sherwood. People know us as the Sherwood siblings," she said. "My brother is the student body president and I'm his second-in-charge. The job has been passed down in the Sherwood household for generations."

Irene really hated that smug smile. Maybe the girl—Cecil—wasn't aware she was doing it, but she looked like she's going to write books like Keeping Up with Sherwoods or something in the future.

"Anyway, we're responsible of escorting new students," continued Cecil.

Irene looked at Elswood again, raising an eyebrow. The man just shrugged while looking somewhere between constipated and about to crack into a laugh fit.

Elswood showed his set of perfect teeth in a big smile at the Sherwoods. "I guess my daughter will be in good hands then?"

The siblings nodded eagerly.

"Well, my daughter is new here, like really new. I hope you guys can guide her well. I'll be counting on you." He patted the Sherwoods' heads.

"Of course, Sir!"

Irene had never seen someone as enthusiastic as the Sherwood siblings. Just looking at their smiles gave her goosebumps. She tugged Elswood away from the crazy siblings. "You know them?" she asked.

The man shook his head. "But I think they know me."

"Like I haven't noticed," Irene muttered. "So now you're going to leave me here with these creepy people? Then, I'm going to start studying about freaks?"

Elswood frowned. "We are not freaks, Irene," he said calmly, though there was a sharp edge to his voice. "This is where you've always belonged. You'll find people like you soon after you're free from the Unknown title—"

"Unknown?"

"Well, we haven't figured out what your talent is. We call people like you Unknown."

Irene huffed. She didn't just arrive here looking like a loser—she was one.

She closed her eyes for a few seconds. She hoped it was all a dream, a very adventurous dream. But she shook her head when she realized everything surrounding her was as real as she was.