Nadia the Fire Witch - (on hold)

Chapter 1

Lyndonburg blackout every night. Store by store, block by block, the residents close up shop. And by ten they're already sleeping in their little beds. The streets become a ghost town. Nothing alive is out and up at that hour. Save for the stars and the moon, lit up like Christmas trees. Hooting owls and an accompaniment of crickets. And a sprinkle of working lamp posts.

A perfect time for a little break in.

Nadia glided across the street. A grayish smudge, distorting the all-encompassing dark, with her faded, black tee and jeans.

Her thick ponytail swished in the cool wind. A black-blue that blended with the dense night. Lighting up her skin like a match. She'd been told she'd gotten it from her Arawak great-grandmother. But the rest...the rest was from her parents.

A walking Starbucks caramel frappuccino sans cream like her mother. Lean and powerful like her father. Neither can't not claim her.

A mix bag of nuts was what Nadia called it.

She cut through the manicured grounds and ducked behind a huge oak tree. Her target was up ahead, thirty or so yards away.

A brick and mortar mansion loomed out of the shadows. Its garret windows, six on each side, glinting in the moonlight, with x-shaped balustrades. Sniffing down in disapproval at the grounds below. Side wings on each side led around back, to a courtyard Nadia found out online where most of the students have their lunch.

In the middle, was the statue of Mayor Ezekiel Holt atop a white, marble pedestal. He stood erect, back straight, hands hidden behind his coat and feet together. The sculptor must've been commissioned to make the mayor's statue during a bad time. Because his face was immortalized in pissiness. If you can even call pissiness a word.

But the real thing of beauty laid beyond it. Past the single, blush brick walkway that ended at concrete steps. Flagged by lifesize bobcat bushes ready to pounce on unwanted visitors. And to red, double arched doors. With the large, ornate block overhead:

Lyndonburg High School

"Finally," breathed Nadia. "It's been so long."

Nadia stared entranced at her new school in all of its austere beauty for several minutes. She'd been waiting for the day to come when she can go back to school. Her body tingled and Nadia couldn't help to think that for once, her parents couldn't have chosen a better town to move to.

Her lips curved into a smile but then a shadow wiped it right off her face. Something had passed by the window.

Nadia's heart jumped into her throat. She leaned around the tree and clutched onto the bark for a better look. But slipped and fell on some tree roots for her trouble.

"Shit," whispered Nadia. She stood up and dusted some dirt off her knees. She searched the windows but whatever or whoever she'd saw, they were gone.

It couldn't have been a teacher or the janitor. Maybe, a duppy?

The school definitely had that austere feeling to it. Nadia shook her head, her ponytail swishing at her nape. She tightened her hair tie and made a mental note not to talk to anything when they're other people close by.

Nadia ran as swift as the the wind and reached the top of the school steps in seconds.

Nadia stood in front of the doorway. The key to her new life. She took a deep breath and reached out her hand. It felt cool.

"This is what a school door feels like," gushed Nadia, her hand trailing down the faux reddish grain to the silver handle. "It's been so long."

Nadia checked left and right. Not a soul in sight, as if she could see them anyways.