For the second time in a row, I did not recognise the bed I woke up in.
This was getting to be a bad habit. I pinched myself and winced when I felt pain. Damn. Yesterday wasn't a dream. I was at a school for people with superpowers, and today was the day I was supposed to take a test....
"Shit!" I groaned, wishing I could turn around and just go back to sleep. That thought was abandoned when I heard a knock at the door.
"Get up, Princess!" West sounded like he'd been out there for a while, based on the fact that he sounded pissed. Then again, pissed off could have been normal for him - I barely knew the guy. "You have a test to take, dammit!"
"Go away!" I groaned, closing my eyes. I didn't want to take a test, and this soft bed was very comfortable...
I screamed when my bed sheets erupted into flames, tumbling out of the bed and face-planting the floor. Furious, I glared up at a laughing West. "Are you fucking crazy?!"
West raised an eyebrow. "Are you burned?"
I scanned myself. "Uh, no...."
"Do you require medical attention?"
"Obviously not!"
"Then shut up and get dressed." West turned and began walking out of the room. "If you aren't dressed in five minutes, you will be sorry," he promised, glancing over his shoulder. He was deadly serious.
The door shut and I let out a screech of frustration. This boy! Had he never been around the female population? What girl could get dressed in five minutes? Darn where was Amy when I needed her?
Smash!
I winced when the sound of glass shattering echoed throughout the room, ducking behind the bed. There was the sound of a door flying open, and then I heard West's voice.
"Seriously?!" he yelled. I cringed. He sounded furious.
"I didn't mean to! It was an accident!"
The room was trashed. Every window had been completely shattered, glass covering every available surface. Added to the burnt bed, it looked like a bomb had gone off in here. I'd not even been in this school a day, and already my room was ruined. The teachers were going to hate me.
Just to make things worse, there was a knock on the door. "Hey, T. You up?" Amy called. "You need to get to your test in ten minutes."
I leapt across the room before she could open the door, wincing when a shard of glass sliced my foot. I opened the door just wide enough to stick my head out. "Hey, I'll be down in a sec. Just give me five."
It was depressing to see that Amy was fully dressed and immaculate. She wore a pair of leggings and a vest with black boots, a deviation from her normal style that had me wondering what exactly she was going to be doing in class. What was even more infuriating was that it was around nine o'clock in the morning. I thought that Amy was supposed to be catching up on missed sleep. Normally I would have been happy about this new development, but given that I was hiding both a boy and a massive pile of mess in my room....
Amy studied me for a moment before her eyes narrowed. "What exactly did you do?"
Before I could respond, I felt a warm body at my back. West poked his head over mine, and even though I couldn't see his face, I could tell he was smirking as he spoke. "She trashed her room in less than ten minutes. Good morning."
Amy frowned before pushing past us. I watched as her face went from confusion to horror in two seconds flat; for the first time since she'd found out my father was Drydan, Amy looked completely nonplussed. Her mouth gaped open like a fish.
"Er... close your mouth you'll catch flies?" I said hopefully, quoting her from yesterday in the hopes she'd laugh.
Amy shook her head, blinked a few times, then finally spoke. "Tiffany, I love you and all.... but this is totally on you guys." She held up her hands in a surrendering motion. "I'll just.... Yeah. I'll wait outside." She turned and left. I turned to West, whacking him in the shoulder.
"This is totally your fault!"
He snorted. "What the hell did I do?"
"So you're telling me you didn't set the bed on fire?"
West shrugged before giving me a wink. "Not my room though, is it princess?" He laughed and left, leaving me mad enough to want to smack him - in the face this time. I winced when I heard the sound of running water in my bathroom, then ran and opened the door. The ensuite was flooded.
"Oh for fuck's sake."
***
Fifteen minutes, later, after having finally found clothes and visiting the nurse to heal my cut foot, Amy led me out of the building. I'd not had the chance to visit the dining room, but as always my best friend had been armed with cereal bars. I had no idea how I would have survived without her. It made me glad somewhat to have powers, even though I was scared as to what Mr Shoal would say when he found out about my room.
The one good thing about waking up late was that most students were in class. I watched as a girl ran past us, her books floating behind her. Unlike the students in the corridor yesterday, she didn't stop and stare at me for being Drydan's daughter. I was thankful for that, since the staring would be yet another stress I was not in the mood for.
Finally, we approached a large building. (I was beginning to realise that this place didn't do anything in a size small, or even regular.) This building looked like a school, and it was confirmed when Amy spoke. "Ok, this is the classes building. You'll be here for most things on your timetable, although some elemental classes will be in other areas of campus."
I shuddered at the memory of that timetable. The day before I'd only really glanced at it whilst nodding along to what Mr Shoal said, but that one glance had been enough to realise that my classes would be hell. They started at eight and ended at six every day. That was not including the twice a week classes I had for Midnight elementals on Tuesday and Thursday nights from nine to ten pm. Nor did it include the Mythos meetings I was supposed to have on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Apparently I had to attempt to catch up with years of knowledge I should have been taught long ago. I couldn't rely on Amy to tell me everything.
As soon as I passed that test -if I passed the test -my life was over.
"Cheer up, T. I'll tutor you in everything I can, and everyone you met yesterday will help with the other elemental classes. Your timetable should be nicer after that." Amy tried to be reassuring.
After this morning, that was hard to believe. I nodded anyway and followed.
Amy strode purposefully down the hallway, barely paying attention to the few people in the hallways. The people we did run into reacted typically, avoiding Amy like the plague whilst gawping at me and West. I tried to follow suit and ignore their stupidity as we reached a set of steps going down to the basement floor of the school.
"This is the testing floor. It's not just for newcomers like you: Mythos uses this room for training exercises. The test you're about to take will examine your reaction to dangerous situations with different elements, as well as your psychological response. The psych test isn't important for most students unless they show up as complete nutjobs, but since you're joining Mythos they'll be paying attention to that part of your test too. The one thing I need you to remember is that no matter what happens, you're safe, okay?"
I couldn't help but be alarmed. I hadn't thought that the test would genuinely be dangerous, and already I could see what looked like a teacher in a lab coat at the end of the hallway. The corridor we were in had a large panel of glass that looked into a room. Even though I wasn't in it, something about the room felt odd. "What do they make you do?"
Amy sighed. "It's different for each person. All I can say is that it will test all ten elements." She tapped her fingers nervously against her thigh, and I realised. Something about this area made her nervous. "You okay?"
Amy jumped, shaking her head to clear it. "Yeah I'm fine. Just... bad memories."
Dimly, I recalled the conversation between Uri and West the night before. Uri had defended Amy after West had implied she failed her test. What had happened to her?
I didn't get the chance to ask. By now we had reached the end of the corridor, where the man in the lab coat stood. He held out a hand. "Hello, Tiffany. I'm Dr Nilsson." I shook it. He was a child of Midnight, which made him Amy's half brother. "I'll be taking your test today if you just follow me." He pointed at a bench that had been placed in front of the glass wall and gestured at West and Amy. "Sit there, you two. You know the drill."
They sat down obediently as the doctor led me to a door. "Once you step inside, walk over to the large X marked on the floor. We will then lock the doors and start the test. The test will take a combination of the information provided to me from the finders that brought you here, as well as dangerous situations, to test your reactions. Based on the way you behave, we will get an idea of which elements you have an aptitude for. Any questions?"
I shook my head, took deep breaths, and decided to get over it. Without looking back, I opened the door and slowly walked towards the X, noticing as I did so that I could no longer see Amy and West where the glass wall was. It must have been a two- way mirror. They could see me, but I couldn't see them. It was a little unnerving to know that I was being watched.
As soon as I stopped on the X, there was a loud click. I was locked in. I glanced around for a few moments. It was just a very large, very empty room. Nothing seemed to be happening. If anything -
I gasped when I felt something wet and sticky touch the skin of my ankles through my now wet socks. When I looked down, I saw that the floor had changed from concrete to mud. Mud that I was rapidly sinking into. I started trying to wade out of it, but it wasn't water. The thick mud had me well and truly snared.
It reached my neck. I started shaking as it slithered up my chin, screaming for help. I looked around me for something, anything, to get me out of this hell. All I saw was mud.
A light suddenly flickered, and two-way mirror suddenly became see-through. West and Amy sat outside the test room, staring at me and not doing anything. I saw red. Were they just going to let me die?
And just as suddenly as the mud had started sucking me in, it stopped. I pulled my arm up, surprised. The mud had now dried and become... sand? Slowly, I pulled myself out. As soon as both of my feet were firmly on the ground, the sand solidified into concrete. I could no longer see Amy and West.
Rain suddenly poured from the ceiling, coming down in buckets. I was drenched in moments, shivering. Barely able to see, I tensed, paranoid as to what would happen this time.
A baying, shrieking sound began, causing me to panic. I recognised that sound from not more than twenty-four hours ago. Vampires.
They wouldn't be crazy enough to lock me up in a room full of them... right?
Something toughed the back of my neck. I screamed and whirled around.... to find nothing. Even if something had been there, I couldn't see a thing in the downpour. Hoping that I wouldn't look like a total idiot, I focussed on the rain. Stop, I commanded.
Holy shit, it actually worked! I grinned, relieved. There were no vampires in the room, and even better, I could actually see.
Two elements down, eight to go. Almost as soon as I had that thought, the temperature of the room shot up. It didn't take long for me to realise why.
Fire.
The flames encircled me, leaving not an inch of space for me to get through, and pressed closer and closer. I was starting to be very glad that I hadn't put on my best clothes for my first day, since clearly I was going to have to bin them after. I winced when I felt a lick of flame touch my elbow, burning a hole through my sleeve.
Unlike the first two elements, I felt less scared when it came to the fire element. Probably because I'd spent so much time around Lily and West, and hadn't been affected when it came to my bed. Hoping it wouldn't kill me, I reached out a hand and touched the flames. It felt uncomfortable, but otherwise fine. Assuming that I wouldn't die, I walked straight through them.
As soon as I was on the other side of the flames they vanished, leaving nothing more than a trail of smoke in the air.
Wind threw me up into the air next. That one was almost fun. Like with the water, I controlled it.
I barely managed to avoid the lightning bolts thrown at my head, but like with fire, touching them seemed to be fine. Clearly house of fire elements worked differently than some of the others.
The ice element test managed to shock me again. I was panting on the floor, trying to get my breath back, when the ground tilted at a sharp angle, making the room into a humongous slide. I probably would have found it fun if that hadn't been followed by rumbling.
Take it from a girl with experience: outrunning an avalanche is not fun. How I managed to make the ice stop inches from my face is beyond me.
The tests for the plant and metal elements were almost as bad as the earth test had been. I got strung up by a bunch of vines high in the air whilst hundreds of spiders approached me for the plant test, and chained to the ground whilst water rose around me for the metal test. A part of me wondered how someone who failed the tests would even be alive after all of this.
The penultimate test was the darkness element. The room went pitch black, and again I could hear the sound of vampires. I felt breath hot against the back of my neck, and had to grit my teeth from screaming. Again, I had to remind myself that the teachers would not be crazy enough to let a vampire near me.
Something touched my leg. I jumped about a mile, shaking. The people running this test had clearly realised that after my experience with vampires, that was the one thing that filled me with dread. There was a tap on my right arm, followed by a hiss. I whimpered, internally freaking out. Amy wasn't here to protect me this time.
Amy.
This was the darkness element, and I was being an idiot. If there was one thing yesterday should have taught me, it was that when in doubt and in the dark, always ask one question: what would Amy do?
If yesterday was any indication, Amy would have conjured a knife and killed the damned vampires. She'd have done it without hesitation, and without a second thought. I held out my hands in front of me, barely able to see, and tried to copy what she had done, mentally imagining that a knife was in my hands. After what felt like a decade with all the heavy breathing at my neck, I finally felt the cool metal of a blade at my palm. Gripping it tightly, I swiped it at whatever was by my neck.
The scene changed. Now the room was filled with bright lights that nearly blinded me after the pitch black I had just been in. I blinked rapidly, trying to get my vision back. When I was finally able to see clearly, a woman walked in. But not just any woman.
"Mum? What are you doing here?" My voice was hoarse from all the screaming I had done throughout the test. Mum smiled.
"I came to drop your stuff off." She was still in her work scrubs, and now she studied her fingernails as though they were more important than her own daughter. I frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"You're staying here for good, Tiffany." She glanced up from her nails, her tone cold and hard. "You're a freak, and I don't want you anymore."
Tears came to my eyes. "B-but you said you loved me! You said -"
"I lied." Never had my mother sounded so brutal. "Who could care for a pathetic girl like you? You're not special! You couldn't even defend yourself from a group of vampires! You're pathetic. Worthless. You don't even deser -"
"Shut up!" I yelled, filled with fury and self-loathing. She was right. I couldn't defend myself against the vampires and I wasn't special. Did she have to be so cruel about it though?
Except a weird thing happened when I yelled. Mum flickered. Like a hologram. My eyes widened when I realised what was happening.
"You're not real..."
As soon as I said that mum winked, vanishing. The light levels in the room dimmed, dropping down to a normal level of brightness, and the door opened. Amy ran over to me, hugging me tightly.
"I would have helped if I could! I'm so sorry you had to go through that. That was one of the worst tests I've ever seen! Are you okay?"
I was on the verge of tears after all that. Even though my mother had been an illusion, her harsh words stuck with me. I would not be the damsel-in-distress if it was the last thing I did. Refusing to cry, I nodded. "I'm fine." I croaked. Amy held my hand tightly as I left the room, where we joined the doctor and West.
"I'm sorry about the test," the doctor began when I glared at him. "But good news. You passed and demonstrated skill in all ten elements!" He beamed. "You can begin classes, daughter of Drydan!"
West snorted. "No offence, doctor. But as her guardian, I'm telling you now: no way is she taking classes today after that."
Amy nodded. "And as her best friend, I agree." Without another word, she began pulling me back the way we had come as the doctor protested, West right behind us. Only when we were finally outside the school building did she stop.
"Sorry he was such a dick. You won't be taking classes today." I knew the teachers would likely be pissed about that, but it was clear that Amy didn't care. "If you want, you can come with me to the training rooms since I know you won't want to be cooped up all day."
I nodded. Amy really did know me too well. "Could you teach me some stuff too?"
A wolfish grin came across her face. "Thought you'd never ask." She threw an arm around my shoulder as we began the trek back toward the dorm building. "Oh and by the way since it's now official..." She let go of me and stopped in front of me, holding out her hand for me to shake as she smiled.
"Welcome to Weatherstone High!"
_____
Dedicated to DarkEmeraldGem for her useful comments. Thank you!