Lottie( Until a better name comes up)

Chapter 1
The Little Girl
The girl huddled against the stained, yellow wall, her arms around her knees. Her clothes were covered in dried blood. Her body was covered in raw whip lashes, they had stopped bleeding a few hours ago but the pain had made her body numb. The couple had turned their anger on each other and had been yelling ever since.
She knew that it wouldn't last long. The lashes varied between two sizes, some big and some small. The big ones were an inch wide and a foot long, while the small ones were six inches long and a quarter of an inch wide. She had more big lashes than small one and they were more raw.
The girl had somehow turned the small whip into a licorice rope. She didn't know how or why weird things like that happened to her, they just did. At least they keep their toys clean. She thought. They wouldn't want her to die of an infection until they had a replacement. The girl snapped out of her thoughts as an open hand connected to her skull, knocking her the rest of the way to the floor. Then a hand tangled in her dirty, knotted mass of dark red hair and jerked her up, leaving her feet dangling off of the floor. The woman pressed a single point-tipped nail against the girl's cheek and raked it down, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.
The girl screamed as new pain sank in. Stop! Then the couple froze, neither of them moved. They looked like manikins. The girl wiggled, trying to get free of the man's grip. The girl got free and dropped to the floor. She scalp stung and there were strands of her hair on the floor and in the man's hand. She ran past the statue like people, ignoring the pain ripping through her. She made a bee-line for the door of the small run down shack. She slammed the door open and ran out to the sidewalk. She followed the concrete pathway. The path was bumpy and uneven. The girl could feel the wounds on her legs opening. Everything is spinning. She looked at the nearest house and slowly walked toward it. Her legs stopped working at the base of a tree and her body fell to the ground. The door of the house opened and a woman came running out.
“You pour thing.” The woman picked up the girl and carried her inside. The inside of the house was bright and had rich colors. The woman placed her in a big comfy chair in front of a roaring fire, careful of her wounds. “I’ll go get you a blanket and some clean clothes and a meal.” The woman started to walk away when a man came in the room. “Honey, I thought you were asleep.” The woman was startled. The man looked at her then at the girl and back again. He glared at his wife and punched her, she crashed to the floor with a thud. He kicked her, she screamed and rolled away. She made it half way across the room and on her knees before he was after her again. But he stopped when he got to the girl. He turned and grabbed her arm, yelling nonsense, he threw her on the floor, in front of the fire almost going in. The heat burned her back. The man stomped toward her, when he toppled to the floor.
It took the girl a second to see someone was on the man and had tackled him.


Chapter 2
Meeting Emery and The Kearneys
“Take her and go, now.” Yelled a voice. She felt someone grab her hand and pull her up.
“Come on.” Said another voice, she saw a boy maybe a few years older than her, pulling her. “Let’s go.” Then they were running. He led her through the kitchen and out a back door. They ran and ran, she didn’t know how far they ran until they came to a two window stacked house. It was as big as the house they were just at but it was bigger than her parents’. There was a man and a woman sitting in the living room, in front of the fire. They both looked up as the children ran in.
“What happened, Emery?” Asked the man.
“Noki’s dad was going to beat her. I had to get her out.”
“Oh you poor thing. Why don’t you come with me and we’ll get you cleaned up while the boys get you something to eat? Don’t be scared, come on.” The girl squeezed the boy’s- Emery’s- fingers. He smiled at her and nodded.
“It’s okay, she’s my mom. She’s won’t hurt you.” The girl reluctantly let go of his hand and followed the lady. Up the stairs on the right was a bathroom. The bathroom was a light green color, which strongly contrasted with deep red of the living room and the girl’s hair. The woman sat on the toilet and turned on the tub.
“Now why don’t you get undressed while the water warms up and I’ll get you something to wear.” Then she left the room. The girl pulled off her old, crusty shirt and muddy and bloody pants. When the woman came back she let out a squeak and covered her mouth.
The man and Emery ran up the stairs and into the bathroom, crowding the doorway. The man was holding a stick. The girl wondered what it was for. “What’s wrong? Did she attack you?” The man was frantic, looking at his wife then his eyes landed and stayed on the girl. This look was different than the ones she would get from her father and his friends. This look didn’t frighten her. She knew instantly what they were all looking at. She knew it wasn’t normal to have scars and bruises all over your body and she knew that parents should beat and use their children like hers had. The woman sobbed and looked at her husband and smack his arm.
"Does it look like she can attack someone?"The woman sobbed harder.
The man crouched down to her level. “What’s your name, Sweetheart?”
“Don’t have one. Never needed one.” It was true. They never called her one thing always changing and it wasn’t like she would get confused as to who they were trying to get. The woman cried harder. The girl looked at her, she didn’t understand why she was crying, no one had ever cried for her. The man looked sad and his jaw clenched. The girl took a small step back, the man stood up. Emery looked like he was fighting really hard not to cry.
The dad and Emery looked the same with black hair and blue eyes, while the woman, had long brown hair and eyes and was drying her eyes with a handkerchief, that the girl noticed wasn’t there before. She stared at the woman, hard. She was positive that she didn’t have it before.
“How you did that?” She asked. The woman tensed. The water was filling the tub to the top and started to splash over. The girl tried to turn the knob but it was stuck. Stop, they’re going to get mad at me and beat me. The girl started to panic. Stop! Then the water stopped. And started to go backwards and the water was leaving the tub until it was about halfway full.
“Holy hell.” Said the man. She didn’t turn around, she just waited for one of them to hit her. But she felt arms wrap around her and she realized the woman was hugging her. She had never had a hug before.
“You are something special, Sweetheart.”
“You aren’t going to hurt me?”
“Oh no, Sweetheart, no. Did they? The people who gave you those were they your parents?”
“Yes, and others. If I did something odd I would get beat or if I did something bad.” The woman’s grip tightened.
“You won’t have to worry about that anymore.” Said the man.
“We can’t just take her, John. The Norms have different laws than we do.” Said the woman.
“What do you suggest, Malinda? She can’t go back there, they’ll kill her.” John protested.
“We do this the Norm’s way. Get the Norm camera.” John raised his stick and a camera appeared. Malinda let the girl go and she heard clicking. “Turn around, Sweetheart.” Malinda said, gently.
“Why do you call me that?”
“Do you not want us too?” She shrugged it was a lot better than what her parents called her.
“Can I have a name?” John smiled.
“You have no idea how special you are, Sweetheart.” No one had ever called her special before.
“So what I do good?”
“With the right teachers it can be very good.”
“You teach?”
“I will a little but there’s a school that will teach you better than I can. When you turn nine you can go to St. Haris Academy to learn. Emery will go there, next year.”
“I have to leave? I don’t want.”
“Hopefully you won’t have to.”
After getting clean they went downstairs and into the kitchen, where John sat but he wasn’t alone, even though he had put Emery to bed. At the end of the table sat the girl’s parents. Malinda stopped, causing the girl to almost run into her. Malinda picked up the girl and held her tightly to her chest.
“What’s going on, John?” Her voice got deeper and more threatening as she spoke, her brown eyes glaring at her husband.
“I figured we’d do this the easy way, Love. Here, lays a copy of all the papers on Sweetheart and a very important paper that only needs your signature that will let us keep her. All we have to do is give them five grand and she’s ours forever.” Malinda nodded, walked over to John, placed the girl in his lap and signed it.
“There we go. The money will be in your account tomorrow morning. I hope to never seen or hear from either of you ever again. And if I even get the slightest suspicion that you two have been anywhere near my daughter both of you will die and it will not be pleasant.” Malinda growled. The couple laughed and, stumbling walked out of the door.
The girl looked at them. Malinda smiled and sobbed. The girl blinked why was she sad? Malinda grabbed the girl gently and hugged her, crying loudly. “I stay?” She asked. John and Malinda laughed.
“Yes, Sweetheart you get to stay with us. But what should we name you?” John grabbed the paper.
“They really didn’t name you. So I picked one, if you don’t like it we can change it.”
“What?”
“Charlotte Jane Kearney.” The girl squealed. She loved it and it was all hers. She never thought of being able of having a name.
“I love it.”
“Me too. Charlotte Kearney. It’s perfect.” Malinda sat down and placed Charlotte in her lap.
“What would you like to eat, Charlotte?” John asked.
“Welcome home, Sis.” Emery grinned. There was a beep from the stove.
“Dinner’s ready.” John said. He waved his stick and the food, plates, and silverware flew to the table and settled in the right places.
“What is that stick?” She got up and sat in the chair across from Emery and began to dig into the roast on her plate.
“ It’s a wand. When you turn nine you get to have one.”

Charlotte nodded, excited. She quickly finished her sandwich and Lotk. When she was done Malinda led her back upstairs to a small room with soft blue walls. the bed was soft as Malinda tucked her in, another first.
When Charlotte woke up, it was still dark and the house was quite, well she thought it was until she heard footsteps running to her room. The door opened and John and Malinda came in, the end of their wands glowing bright. They frantically looked around the room and then looked at the bed and relaxed. Malinda sat down next to Charlotte, and expectantly wrapped her arms around the girl. Charlotte could her the woman’s fast heartbeat.
“Are you alright, Sweetheart? We heard you screaming.”
“I didn’t know I was screaming. I don’t even remember what I was dreaming about. I’m sorry.?” John sat on the other side of her and patted her hand.
“What were you dreaming about?” He asked calmly.
“I don’t remember. Sorry.” John slowly and gently placed his other hand on the small girl’s head.
“It’s alright, Sweetheart. We can give you something to stop the bad dreams.” Malinda got up and left. The second she left, Charlotte slowly started to shake. She didn’t have to wait long Malinda walked back in the room holding a vial of blue-sliver liquid. She uncorked it and handed to the girl. Charlotte downed the vial. It tasted like oranges and almost instantly she started to get sleepy again. John picked her up and carried her down the hall to a room on the right with pale yellow walls and placed her in a really big bed. He got in on one side and Malinda on the other side. Charlotte quickly fell asleep.
The next time Charlotte woke up the sun was out and there were noises downstairs. Charlotte walked out of the room, only to trip on the shirt Malinda gave her. So she grabbed the bottom and pulled up until she could see her feet. She walked down the stairs, careful not to trip again. The walk to the living room was shorter than what Charlotte thought the night before.
There were two boys by the window, playing a game. Emery looked up as she came in the room. The other boy had his back to her. His hair was kind of long, coming down to his shoulders in ringlets a deep black color almost a purple. The boy looked up at Emery and realized he wasn’t paying attention to the game.
“Come and meet my new sister.” They got up and put the game away. As they came closer Charlotte noticed they were both taller than her. She guessed the other boy must have been eight, the same age as Emery.
“Lottie, this is my best friend Anoki, but everyone calls him Noki. Noki, this is my sister Lottie.” Lottie noticed Noki had a black eye and it looked like it hurt a lot.
“My old man didn’t give you any of those did he?” Lottie looked at where he was looking, down at her legs.
“No.” Then it clicked. Noki was the boy who tackled the man and that man was his father.
“Good.” He smiled at her. Lottie reached out to the bruise, when she touched it she saw images. Ones of a little boy huddled in a corner while trying to not hear the yelling, to meeting Emery and going to St. Haris. Then they changed to a good looking teen do magic, then lastly to a man, getting married, and dying before he even got to see his baby being born.
Lottie quickly pulled back her hand and the bruise was gone. “Whoa, that feels tons better.” He looked out another window to see his face. “It’s completely gone. Not even my mom or Malinda can do it that well. Thank you, Lottie. You’re really talented.” Lottie felt her cheeks heat up.
“Where’s Malinda?” She asked Emery.
“I think she said something about shopping and to not burn the house down. She said she would like to take you later so you two can pick out some cloths and things.”
“John?”
“Dad’s at work. He’ll be back at dinner time.”
“Do you want to play with us, Lottie?” Noki asked.
“Play?”
“Yeah.”
“No know how play.” Both boys looked shocked.
“Didn’t you have friends? Kids your own age?” She just shook her head. She wasn’t allowed to even go outside. She was never allowed to be around other kids her age.
“That’s OK we’ll teach you. Let’s play hide and seek. I’ll count and you two hide whoever doesn’t get found wins. Got it memorized, Lottie?” She nodded she was good at hiding. They played until Malinda got home and she took all of the kids out to go shopping even though the boys complained the whole time and Lottie was really tired when they got back that was the first time she ever felt happy.









Chapter 3
Two Years Later
“Do you have everything?” Malinda asked.
“Yes.”
“Toothbrush?”
“Yes.”
“Hairbrush?”
“Yes.”
“Underwear?”
“Yes, I have everything can we go now?”
“Someone’s excited.” Emery said from the doorway.
“Can you blame me? I’ve had to listen to you for years going on and on about how great the school is for years and now I get to go.” Emery hadn’t changed all that much, except for his height. His hair was still dark and unruly and his eyes were the same shade of blue. Lottie had been living with the Kearneys for two and a half years. She was a lot better, her hair was rich and healthy, a deep red almost the color of wine. Her eyes weren’t dull and lifeless anymore but now a bright, deep green color. Malinda and John were wonderful people and Emery was like a brother to her and yet she still couldn’t call them family. But Emery still introduced her as his sister to people.
“Are you guys ready yet? I just got your lists.” John had soot on his shoulders, signaling that the mail had come by fireplace. There were several ways they could get their mail; fireplace, owls, just appearing in places-like on tables, in cabinets or just where the person was-, or by regular Norms mail. The Kearneys preferred to get mail by fireplace, it stopped the mail from getting tampered with and it would go undetected.
“We’re ready.” Said Malinda as she grabbed the letter with Lottie’s name on it.
“Can I see it?” The girl asked. Malinda handed her the package and she tore it open. Inside was a list of things she would need, including the dress code, books a list of ingredients, and a wand. The dress code was that she had to wear something yellow every day. It’s a good thing I have a lot of yellow then. She thought. Under that was a paper that looked like it had been handwritten. She realized it was her schedule.
Schedule of Miss Charlotte Kearney - First year - Grade Yellow
Monday, Wednesday, Friday:
· 8:00-8:30 Breakfast
· 8:40-10:50 Household Spells
· 11:00-1:20 Potions
· 1:30-2:00 Lunch
· 2:10-4:30 Charms
· 4:40-7:00 Defensive Spells
· 7:10-7:40 Dinner
· 9:30 Lights Out
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday:
· 8:00-8:30 Breakfast
· 8:40-10:50 Creatures
· 11:00-1:20 Survival Spells
· 1:30-2:00 Lunch
· 2:10-4:30 Transformation
· 7:10-7:40 Dinner
· 9:30 Lights Out
Sunday: Day Off
Charlotte couldn’t stop the small squeal of excitement from escaping. Everyone laughed as she grabbed her suitcase and started toward the door. “Let’s go already.”













Chapter 4
Cherry, 8-inches, Rigid, Phoenix Core
They all piled in the car, Noki with them. Noki hadn’t really changed either, his hair was the same length but he grew, much like Emery into a lanky twelve-year-old. His arms and legs too big for his body and he wasn’t yet in control of his limbs so he kept knocking things over. They were headed to Salera’s Wand Shoppe. When they parked Malinda and Lottie walked in the shop while John took the boys to get their books and herbs.
The small shop looked really run down on the outside, but like all wizarding shops it was really extravagant inside, unless you were a Norm then it just looked run down inside and out. The walls glowed a dull blue and the walls were lined with boxes no bigger than a brick that went inside the wall and there were separate rows of boxes like a Norm’s grocery store.
“Keep your ears open, Sweetheart. When you walk by your wand it’ll make noise.”
“What type of noise?”
“It depends on how the wand acts.”
“What do you mean?”
“All wands act differently like mine made fireworks in the box. Emery’s made a shield so big it took us an hour to get it and Noki’s barked at him.” Lottie nodded. They walked quietly and slowly as they waited for a noise. They walked and walked but didn’t hear anything. Farther down Lottie spotted a boy, alone and walking when a loud roaring came from a box, the boy stopped and turned. Lottie saw a jagged scar along his face. He didn’t look any older than herself.
“Do the sounds have anything to do with how good of a witch you are?”
“No, but it will tell you what type of magic you’ll be best at. I’m best at charms. That boy will be great at transformations.”
“What do the color grades mean?”
“They represents what your specialty is, each color has a certain thing they’re good at. For the Yellow Grade it’s Household things, like learning how to enchant a teapot into whistling Dixie when the tea is done. All students start out in the Yellow Grade then get separated into the other groups, if they belong in them.” Lottie nodded, but couldn’t look away from the boy. He wasn’t handsome but he wasn’t ugly either. Lottie didn’t know how he was going to get his wand down; the box was about five feet above his head. The boy looked up at the box, thinking, then he jumped. He grabbed the box with ease and lightly landed on his feet.
Lottie gasped. She had never seen something like that. The boy turned to them and walked back down the aisle, he stopped when he saw them and shifted his feet.
“That was really cool.” Lottie said and the boy snapped his dark blue gaze to hers. He didn’t say anything, he just looked with no expression on his face. He walked by her and to the counter. She and Malinda started walking again. They were on the fifth isle when Lottie could hear music. A soft sound. She stopped and looked around, no one there. Then she realized the sound was muffled.
“It’s coming from a box. Look that one’s moving.” Malinda stated in an excited tone. Lottie looked up and sure enough a couple of boxes above her head, there was the noise was coming from and the box was rattling. Malinda reached up and grabbed the box, handed it to Lottie and the music stopped. They walked up to the counter, there stood an old, stout witch.
“Hello, dear did you find one? What did it do?”
“It was making music. Like a music box.” Something about the witch was making her nervous. “What does that mean?”
“Let me see the wand, please.” Lottie placed the box on the counter top. The witch opened the box, inside laid an eight-inch piece of wood, one end was board and dark were as the other was more pointed and a gray color. The board end had a pretty design on the end that made it look like it was rope and the farther it went down the smoother it was until it was completely smooth half way down and faded to gray.
“Cherry, eight-inch, phoenix core, rigid. Very strong and powerful. The fact that it was singing means it doesn’t have a specific talent. It can be used for many things or none of them. It does not have a specific use, but be careful if you misuse the wand or disrespect it then it will fail you on your next wand. It’s very stubborn and high end. It is very demanding of its owner. That will be ten fifty.” After the exchange they left.





Chapter 5
The Boy with the Scar
After they left the shop they found the boys looking at brooms. Lottie rolled her eyes. She didn’t care much for brooms, in her mind brooms were made for cleaning and not riding.
“Come on, let’s go or we’ll be late.” They drove several streets away till they found a bus which had St.H.W.A. on it. John pulled over to the side of the road and they all got out. There wasn’t really anyone around but it seemed like the closer they got the more people there were. Next to the bus there were hordes of people gathered. FaLoty saying good-byes, students boarding or luggage being put away. Malinda led the children to the front of the bus, while John got their bags.
“Now, I want all of you to be good and I want you boys to look out for Lottie. If I find out she gets picked and on and you two knew about it but didn’t do anything, you will regret it on break.”
“Of course, Mom. We’ll look after her.”
“We’ll keep our eyes on her, Mrs. Kearney. Don’t worry.” Malinda smiled. She hugged them all and kissed their cheeks. Inside the bus was really nice. There were separate compartments for the students to have privacy with their friends, each compartment held six seats and a table, along with a window. There were stairs, indicating another level. Lottie stuck close to Emery and Noki as they walked up stair after stair. They were on the fifth level when someone called out to them.
“Emery, Noki over here.” They turned and Lottie saw a girl with long black hair, and mocha colored skin sitting next to a blond boy with the same skin color a couple of compartments over.
“Come on, they’re friends of ours.” The three walked over to them.
“Hey, guys.” They sat down, Noki next to the other while Emery and Lottie sat on the other side.
“Who’s the cutie?” Asked the boy.
“This is my little sister, Lottie. Lottie, this is Gsilla and Preston. They’re in our grade.” Lottie nodded. She always got nervous meeting new people.
“Hi, Lottie. Is this your first year?” Gsilla asked.
“No, she’s been sick for two years and just likes wearing yellow.” Sneered another boy with long black hair, straight as a pin, with black eyes. His friends laughing behind him.
“I do like wearing yellow.” Lottie said, softly. Everyone but the her and the boy laughed. Lottie noticed he was wearing red, unlike Emery and his group who were wearing blue.
“Leave her alone, Weedy.” Snarled Emery, slowly rising. Lottie looked at Emery. What a strange name. It was only when she looked back at the boy, did she realize it wasn’t the boy’s name. Emery was making fun of the boy. Lottie, quickly glared at Emery and he stopped laughing.
“That’s not nice, Emery.”
“What he said to Gsilla wasn’t nice either.”
“Two wrongs, Emery.” She turned back to the boy. “What’s your name?” The boy seemed taken back by the question. He answered anyway.
“Naveed Raheem, why?” It was Lottie’s turn to be shocked. Not only had she not really expected him to answer but she also didn’t expect him to ask why.
“Being called out of your name. It doesn’t feel too good does it?” In an instant his whole demeanor changed. He snarled at her.
“Look boys, we have a bleeding heart. I wonder how it would feel to give you one.”
“I wonder how it would feel to rip your arm off.” A new voice sounded. Everyone turned toward the newcomer. Lottie instantly recognized those deep blue eyes. It was the boy with the scar but he didn’t look at her, just at Naveed. His eyes looked like they were burning.
“She was trying to be nice to you and you go and threaten her. If you so much as even think about hurting her again, I won’t hesitate to rip you to pieces.” He growled. Naveed glared at the boy. The boy was shorter than Naveed, but Lottie could tell he was stronger than he looked, plus his height made him quicker too.
“Come on, the bus will start soon let’s go get our seats.” The three boys turned and walked away. The boy turned away too.
“Wait, why don’t you come sit with us. There’s plenty of room.” Lottie said. He looked at her, his blue eyes a little darker with suspicion and surprise. “Come on, I won’t bite.” She smiled and patted the seat next to her.
“What’s your name?” Emery asked.
“Damien Hecker.” But he was looking at Lottie, talking to her instead of the other boy.
“Hi, I’m Lottie.” Lottie smiled. She could tell there was something different about the boy with the scar.






















Chapter 6
The Trip
“So, are you new as well, Damien?” Gsilla asked. He nodded. It had been like that way for the last half hour since he sat down. He wouldn’t speak unless it was to Lottie. The children sat eating their lunches. Emery, Lottie, and Noki all had different sandwiches and soups with juice. When they pulled their food out they laughed. Malinda had switched their lunches again. Lottie had Emery’s tuna fish sandwich and shrimp jumbo; Emery had Noki’s tofu, olive and lettuce and tomato and his vegetable soup, while Noki had Lottie’s grilled ham and cheese with her tomato soup. They all switched and Lottie noticed her lunch was double than normal.
She looked at it confused, a stomach growled and she looked at Damien. He didn’t have a lunch. I wonder how she knew. Malinda always knew things, like if Noki would show up for dinner or end up spending the night. She never complained, she would just smile and welcome him. Lottie divided her sandwich and soup in half and pushed half to Damien. He looked at her.
“Go ahead, Malinda always makes more when it’s needed. So it’s okay.” Damien grabbed the lunch and started to eat.
“Aren’t you guys mad at your mom?”
“Why?” Emery asked.
“She got your lunches mixed up. What if you guys weren’t sitting together?”
“Mom always gets our lunches messed up. But she just knows things. It’s cool.”
“Yeah, she always knows when if I end up over there weather I was there all day or not. She never told me to go home and complained. Just set a place for me at the table and made sure the sheets were clean on the bed.” Noki said.
“You don’t live there? I thought siblings lived together.” Damien asked. Lottie noticed for once he wasn’t talking to just her. Then she laughed.
“Damien, Emery and I live together. Noki’s a friend who comes over a lot. He’s not our brother.” Emery grinned. Lottie knew he had caught her saying ‘our’, implying that they were siblings.
“I didn’t notice. Your scents are all mixed together. So I just figured….” Everyone looked at him. His use of words was odd. Our scents? Does that mean he can smell us?
“Can you smell us?” She asked softly, worried she might scare him off.
“Can’t everyone smell scents?” He asked.
“Only if someone has on perfume or cologne. But we can’t smell everyone.” Damien looked down.
“So I guess that means you can’t smell animals then too?”
“No, we can’t. Can you?” He nodded. “I saw how well you jumped at the store. Malinda said that you would be good at transformation. Maybe that’s why you can do things that we can’t.” Damien shook his head.
“My dad, from what my mom told me he only stayed in his animal form more than anything. She said that she had only saw him in his human form twice. He died a couple of years after I was born.”
“You think because he stayed in his animal form that his senses were better and he passed them to you?” The boy nodded. Lottie thought about it, she shuddered at the thought of getting anything from her parents.
“There are worse things to get. Some people get fatal diseases or deformities from their parents.” She stated.
“What about you?” Emery tensed. The subject of Lottie’s parents was not a topic that was talked about.
“Hmm, I don’t know. I don’t look like them. Do I, Emery?”
“No, you look nothing like them.”
“My temper isn’t as bad as theirs were. So I guess I don’t get anything from them.”
“Lottie, there’s more to parents then looks and their tempers.” Preston said.
“That was all I ever saw of them. And I’m smarter than them too.”
“That was all you saw?” Gsilla asked, clearly shocked. Lottie nodded. She knew that there were good parents but her weren’t.
“Your mom seems really nice. I saw you guys getting on the bus and she made you extra lunch so you could sure it with me.” Damien voiced. Lottie sat there she hadn’t thought of Malinda and John as her parents and they never pushed her to call them so. But that was what the deal that was made years ago was about. She had never seen those people again. She looked at Emery, who smiled at her. The longer she looked at him the more her vision blurred. He pulled her to him as her throat tightened and closed. “I didn’t mean to upset her.”
“You didn’t. She’s just realizing something we did that she didn’t.” Now she knew why no one pressured her into becoming a part of their family. Because to them she already was.
























Chapter 7
The School
Five hours later the bus rattled to a stop in front of a two story, brown building. As they walked off of the bus Lottie noticed everyone was splitting up by colors. There were six color: Yellow, Green, Red, Blue, Grey, and Black. Lottie and Damien walked over to the yellow group. There were people of different ages ranging between nine through nineteen.
Once they were in their groups Lottie noticed everyone was huddled in age groups she also noticed that the yellow group was the largest. Each group was lead into the building by a teacher. Like the bus the inside of the building changed from the outside. The building was so tall she couldn’t see the ceiling. There were doors lining the hall walls. The walls were brick and the floor was tile and there were colored parts in random places. Each group was led by a teacher.
The teacher that led Lottie’s groups was a tall man with pointy ears, and long white and green hair, tied back with a black cord. He led them up seven flights of stairs to a big room with brown walls and lining the walls were yellow doors. On the doors were signs that held a number and names or the people who resided in the rooms.
In the middle of the room was a big fire pit with a large yellow fire inside. The man stopped, causing some students to crash into each other. Damien steadied Lottie was one boy stumbled into her almost knocking her to the ground.
“Alright, everyone.” He turned to look at them. “My name is Likon Grandion, I’ll be your headteacher as long as you’re in yellow grade. There will be four a room. To get your rooms you have to draw a number. Then your name will be on the door as long as you’re with us. Second years and above you can put your things away and get ready for dinner. First years, go to the fire and draw out a slip.” The group split up and Lottie noticed a set of stairs and realized that must have been how they were able to fit so many students.
The students made the draw quick. It wasn’t long until they realized the papers were blank. After the last student pulled the paper Lottie looked at slip to see a number: 368
“What number do you have?” Damien asked.
“386. You?” He nodded. For once she wasn’t nervous about sharing a room with a boy. Something about Damien made her feel comfortable with him. “Ready to go to our room?”
“Yeah.”
“Two-digit numbers are on this floor, one-hundred and up are up those stairs. The level of the floor is what to room numbers begin with. If you have any questions come and ask me.”
“I guess ours is on the third floor.” Damien nodded and they walked to the stairs. Each floor was the same, just different numbers on the doors. There were a lot of students of all ages, races and species.
“I’ve never seen so many creatures getting along so well.”
“Does it bother you?”
“No, I think it’s great.”
“Good.” He smiled



















Chapter 8
THE NEW ROOMMATES

Lottie and Damien walked up the stairs, Lottie was tired and out of breath. Damien didn’t even look a little tired.
“Come on, it’s not much farther.” Damien urged softly.
“How are you not even a little out of breath?”
“I walk a lot.” They make it to the door to see another boy and girl. Both are in their teens. The girl has long green hair and pale white skin. The boy however, has light blue hair and orange skin. If he had green hair then I might mistake him for a big carrot.
“Oh you two must be our new roommates. I’m Olivia and this is Felix. Nice to meet you.” Olivia walks over to them and holds her hand out. Neither of them shook it. Lottie didn’t because of her visions and Damien because… well he doesn’t like people. Lottie noticed that Olivia’s eyes were a deep blood red. Marking her as a vampire. Lottie had never met a vampire before; they prefer to stay with their own kind.
“I’m Lottie.” She looked at Damien, who stayed quite. She sighed. “And this is Damien.”
“He’s so talkative. Does he ever stop?” Damien looked at Olivia, confused.
“Sarcasm, Dame. She wasn’t being literal.” Olivia smiled, showing fangs. Lottie stood frozen, she couldn’t look away or move. Unexplained fear flooded her.
“Lottie.” Lottie blinked and snapped out of the trance. She looked at Damien and her fear instantly faded. He was looking at her.
“I said let’s put our stuff away.”
“I’m sorry, Lottie. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Lottie looked at Olivia, who had moved across the room, as far as she could go. Her red eyes full of tears.
“It’s OK. I’ve never met a vampire before. It was just a natural reaction. I bet it won’t happen again. Just don’t stand above my bed while I’m asleep.” Olivia weakly smiled at Lottie’s lame joke. Lottie walked to one of the beds on the end, Damien following.


















Chapter 9
THE DINNER
Lottie lays in bed, it was night and all of the lights were off. In front of her eyes she saw a flash of yellow fangs, dripping blood. Then she thought back to dinner and everyone around a circle table in the dining hall. Lottie was drinking apple juice, she closed her eyes to savor the flavor. She saw a flash of dark, blood red eyes. She felt fangs pierce her skin and her eyes snapped open. She threw the cup and screamed, seeing the once gold liquid turn red. Everyone looked at her then the cup of dark red liquid on the table. I want to disappear and go back to my room.
She closed her eyes, trying to block out the whispers around her and the eyes burning holes in her, trying to not lose control. She felt a slight breeze and the voices stopped. She slowly opened her eyes to see the pale yellow walls of her room.
How did I get here? I was just in the dining hall. She sat on the edge of her bed. She liked her roommates. Then she had a flashback to the four of them hanging out before dinner. Felix told her he’s a fey, which is why his skin was orange. Olivia was talking and showing the kids around, while Felix walked behind everyone. Shortly after she appeared in her room, she could hear footsteps running down the hall. Damien appeared in the doorway, slightly out of breath. They didn’t say anything, just looked at each other, Lottie’s eyes watered and stung. Damien pushed off the door and sat next to her on the bed. She sniffled and he wrapped an arm around her and had let her lean on him. When she stopped crying she looked at him. He smiled at her and handed her a glass of water with his wand.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Do you want to talk about it?”
“Emery is my adopted brother. My real parents were horrible people.” Her eyes started to water again. Damien handed her a tissue he had conjured.
“They knew one. A vampire. I wasn’t even five and they let him drink from me. They let him-” She sobbed.
“You’re not there anymore. They can’t and won’t hurt you again. You’re safe now. You’ll always be safe with me.”








Chapter 10
THE NIGHTMARE
Lottie still laid awake. She could hear soft breathing from her roommates. She heard a quiet squeak, she held her breath. She saw a shadow on the ceiling above her bed. It was spread out like a spider, clinging to the wall. She blinked and gasped, bright red eyes and yellow fangs gleam at her. The man smiles at her, a wide creepy grin. The eyes came closer and she screamed.
Charlotte jerked awake, instantly she saw a pair of fCharlotter deep blue eyes, but they were different. The pupils were silted, like a cat’s. She reached her hand out and it touched fur, as soft as silk.
“Damien?” The cat eyes blinked at her once.
“Lottie, are you alright?” Felix asked. The lights flicked on. She blinked and saw a small, black panther, lying next to her on the bed.

*********************************************************************

Lottie sat at the table, slowly eating her eggs and bacon. It had been a week since her disappearance and nightmare. Every night Damien would change in his panther form and would sleep at the end of her bed. She still had nightmares, her mind would keep flashing back to the man’s face with the bright red eyes and yellow fangs, he didn’t have any hair but he had pointed ears. Damien had changed back earlier but he didn’t leave her side.
“Lot, are you alright?”
“I’m fine, just tired.”
“Did you get any sleep last night?”
“Yeah, just had a nightmare.”
“Are you OK? Do you want me to write Mom to send you dream potion? I’m sure she’ll be more than willing to have something to do.”
“No, I’ll be fine.”
“Do you have them often?”
“No, my mom gave me a potion to keep them away, but I guess it wore off.”
“So now you’re going to try to get through them by yourself?”
“She won’t be on her own. I’ll help her get through them.” Emery’s head snapped to the boy beside her, glaring at him.
“What do you mean you’ll help her? You can’t always be there when she sleeps.”
“I can try to be.” Emery snorted, earning a smack on the back of the head by Preston.
“What was that for?”
“Leave him alone.” That started an argument between the two and neither one of them noticed when Damien placed his hand on Lottie’s head. She looked at him.
“I’ll be with you as long as you want be to be, okay.”
“Okay.”



Chapter 11
The Transfer
Lottie sat in Likon’s household spells class when a tall blue skinned lady with really long black hair walked in.
“Mister Grandion, may I speak with Miss Kearney for a moment, please?”
“Of Course, Principle Chilton.” Likon looked at Lottie and jerked his head toward the door. She stood up and placed a hand on Damien’s shoulder as he tried to stand up. She shook her head as he looked at her. Lottie followed the principle out to the hall.
“Do you realize what you did yesterday? I would have talked to you then but I was away on some business.”
“I moved. I was in the dining hall, then I closed my eyes and I was in my room.”
“What you did is called flashing. There’s many different way to transport yourself. Flashing is complicated and uses a lot of concentration. A first year shouldn’t be able to do that.”
“Am I in trouble?”
“Oh no, Dear. You’re not in trouble. We’ll just have to figure out where we need to put you.”
“What does that mean?”
“We’re going to see what color grade you belong in.”
“So I won’t be in the yellow grade anymore?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“Oh, I see. How do we do that?”
“Well we’ll have to have you go through some tests.”
“Will they hurt?”
“No, they won’t hurt.”
“Okay, can I go back to class now? I’m pretty sure Damien is worried about me.”
“Yes, of course. Have a good day. I’ll see you at dinner.” Lottie walked back to class and sat down in her seat.
*********************************************************************
“What’s wrong, Lottie? You’ve been quiet since this morning.” Of course Damien would have noticed the difference. He was very observant and he never left her side. Over the week that they had been roommates they had grown closer. She felt like she had a younger brother. She found out that he had been reluctant to come to school, he feared leaving his mother. He had said that ever since he could remember his mother had been sick he had called it cancer.
He said that it was an illness that Norms got when a chemical in their body makes the cells turn poisonous and effect other cells until it would spread and kill them. He had said that it was painful, that sometimes his mother couldn’t get out of bed or even eat. He said that the pain would come and go but for a few years it had gotten really bad. It had gotten to the point of where they had to let a nurse live with them. But then he said it was like the pain had disappeared overnight, that had been a few weeks before he had gotten the letter.
He had told her about his father, that he had died fighting with another panther trying to protect him and his mother.
Damien had been two at the time. Damien had showed Lottie a photograph of a woman and man, smiling. The woman was short with short, jet black hair and sliver eyes. She was holding a small baby with black hair. The man was really tall with black hair and dark blue eyes.
“You look like your father but you have your mom’s straight hair.”
“My mom says that too.” His smile was wide but his eyes were sad.

*********************************************************************




“Lottie.” She blinked. The look on Damien’s face told her that she had spaced out of a while. “What’s wrong?”
“They’re going to make me transfer color grades. They’ll make me do tests and decide were I’ll go.”
“Oh, I see. When do the tests start?”
“I don’t know. She didn’t say.”
“I’ll be with you. No matter what color grade they put you in. You’re then only person who didn’t shrink away when you saw me or try to use me for something. You also didn’t freak out when you saw my scar.” She smiled at him.
“Thank you.”

















Chapter 12
The Tests
News of Lottie transferring spread fast. She had been told that she would have to take the tests that morning. She didn’t know what she had to do she just knew that there would be five tests, one for each of the other grades.
“Are you nervous?” Noki asked, across the table?
“Why would she be? It’s not a pass of fail test. It’s just to see where she goes.” Preston noted.
“Yeah but everyone is excited to see the results. And everyone is also making bets on where you go.”
“Leave her alone. She’ll do just fine.” Emery butted in.
“I’m not nervous. I just want to know what the tests are.”
“They aren’t going to give you anything you can’t handle.” Damien said as he shoveled a forkful of eggs in his mouth. Lottie looked at her breakfast and pushed it away.
“You should eat something, you don’t know what’s going to happen since they change the test every year.” Gsilla said gently, but Lottie’s stomach turned.
“Here.” Damien handed her a small square tablet. It was the size of her thumbnail and was yellow. “Eat it.” Lottie popped the pill in her mouth and instantly her body felt warm and relaxed.
“Feel better?”
“Yes, thank you.” He smiled at her and went back to eating. Lottie pulled her plate back in front of her.
“Excuse me.” Lottie turned to see a short boy in a green shirt and jeans.
“Yes?”
“Are you Charlotte Kearney?”
“Yes, why?”
“I’m the newest transfer so I thought I should give you some advice.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “If that’s OK.”
“Some advice would be nice.”
“First, take your time. There’s no limit. The tests can go on for days . Second, this isn’t a pass or fail test, the grade highest will be your color. Thirdly, don’t get nervous. There might be a lot of people there since the tests a public. Just focus on your tasks.” The boy started to walk away then stopped. “Another thing, the scores are decided on by the head teachers. Good luck.” Then he walked off and sat at his table.
“I bet she had someone else transport her. No first year would be able to that on there own.” Lottie heard someone say.
“But I didn’t. I just wanted to escape.” Lottie spotted a group of people huddled at a table, all different ages and colors, all of them glaring at her.
“Shut up. She didn’t cheat. I saw it. Everyone was too shocked at her outburst to cast any spell.” Lottie’s eyes landed on Naveed. Her wore a blood red t-shirt, hands in his pockets.
“She has a lot of power and it came out when she became stressed. It happens to all of us. She wanted away so her powers made it so. Stop telling lies.” He glared at the group when he said the last part. The group turned around and stopped glaring.