The third seer, capter1

The girls were all laughing at her and making fun of her. She was all alone, nobody wanted to be her friend. She remembered why, she had asked a question and now that she thought about it, she still thought that the question was not at all unreasonable. But then why was everyone laughing at her? It was as if they didn’t like her and took any opportunity they could just to be cruel to her….She snapped out of her thoughts, they were coming closer now and suddenly they all looked satisfied, it was like they actually enjoyed tormenting her.
One girl came forward, looked down at Sam and smiled, the girl reached down and started shaking her…
“Sam! Wake up!” she shifted in her sleep and opened one eye, Lilli was shaking her. It had been a dream.
“Lil, what are you doing here. I thought Mary said you couldn’t come?”
“I know, but Gerald sent a letter that said she must come to Charine for a week so that they could see each other before the island’s tides came in for the winter, she told me to come over and tell you that I can come!”
Lilli, coming, that was great! They would get to spend the week together before school started. That meant they could also work on convincing Sam’s mom that going to Parelle School for girls was a bad idea!
“We have to convince my mom, Lil. What am I going to do at Parelle? The only thing they are going to teach me is how to be a lady and how to talk the right way!” pleaded Sam, sleepily.
“Come on, Sam you’ll be fine. I know you are more interested in other things, but you can at least give it a try. There will probably be lots of nice people there, lots of friends,” Lil said comfortingly.
“Right, that’s not going to happen! You sound just like my mom!” Sam teased.
She could still not imagine herself at Parelle, she could see it now, no friends, no one to rely on. Sure she would always have Lil, but what if something happened to her? She would be all alone, who knows, her nightmare might just come true…
“What?” Lilli had been talking.
"What were you dreaming about?” Lilli repeated.
“Oh, nothing.”
An irritated look crossed Lilli’s face, she knew Sam too well. “Come on, Sam, you have to promise me that you will try enjoying Parelle, just try having fun!”
“I will do anything, for you” Sam added solemnly, trying to hide a smile at Lil’s demands, but definitely not succeeding.
“No jokes?” Lil asked
“No jokes,” Sam repeated, she changed the subject, “so you say Mary went to the island for a week, was she excited to see Gerald again?”
“You should have seen how excited she was, she was practically smiling from the time she found out until when she left!” Lil said looking smug.
Sam looked at Lilli. She was a pretty girl with long black hair and pretty blue eyes. Lil really cared about Sam, and all the people around her, despite her family’s history. Her dad had died when she was little, and her mom had left her with her aunt and uncle when she was ten, nobody ever knew why. Now at the age of fifteen she was the most positive person Sam knew, the two of them were like sisters, no actually more like twins, not only were they the same age but they had the same interests and they told each other everything. Lilli was not as innocent as she looked, though.
“Sam?”
“Mmm?” She asked sleepily.
“I’m hungry, let’s go get food.”
Sam laughed, “But I’m tired!”
“Get out of bed, you big lump of fat!” Lil threw a pillow at Sam, it hit her squarely on the head, and then Lil ran.
“I’m going to get you!!”

Sam lay in bed thinking, she couldn’t understand how one week could go by so quickly, she and Lil had laughed, played, talked, and all in all they had just tried to forget about school. Their week together had gone by so fast that they could not believe that tomorrow they were going to Parelle and they were leaving once and for all. She remembered when they were ten and Lilli’s mom had just left, they had run away together and slept the night in a stable. The next day they had come home to Sam’s house, begging Sam’s mom to let Lilli stay with them forever.
Denise had somehow convinced them that the best thing would be for Lilli to stay with her aunt and uncle.
A lot had changed since then.
Lilli’s uncle was no longer in the picture because he worked on Charine Island at the mill.
Sam sighed, now that she was going to this school, so much was going to change, she just hoped it would be for the better. What if it was bad, what if people hated her and would do anything to get rid of her.

“Come on Sam, I really don’t know why you always have to be so difficult! You knew we were leaving at dawn, why didn’t you pack your books yesterday?” demanded Denise, Sam’s mom.
“Mother, I’m coming!” Sam stormed out the house and got into the cart that was waiting outside. She was angry. Why did she have to go to Parelle? Why couldn’t she go to the type of school where it was fun?
Sam looked at Lilli, she looked sad as if she didn’t want to be where she was. Sam sighed, “I’m sorry Lil; I know I made you that promise….”
“It’s okay, I know you don’t want to go, I just wish you would try the school before you judge it,” Lil looked a bit brighter now, she always did after giving, what she thought, was intelligent information. 
“I’ll try… I just never thought leaving would be so hard.”
Denise got into the cart, told the driver he could go and then turned to the girls, “So, Lilli, what do you think Parelle is going to be like?”
“Um, I’m not sure,” said Lil, she seemed surprised to be asked a question by Denise. Denise was normally a very quiet lady, she didn’t even talk much about her job. She was a diamond cutter and had made quite a bit of money out of her profession.
Then there was silence, Sam was staring out the windows at the lush fields as they went by. Lil was biting her fingers, as if it was her who was afraid, not Sam. Denise was just staring at the girls with a thoughtful expression on her face. There was a faraway look in her eyes, as if she was looking but not really seeing.


Many hours later, the gates of Parelle were visible. Sam looked out of the window at what was going to be her home for the next three years. It didn’t look so bad, she thought, at least there were lots of places to explore and hide if she ever got into trouble or ever just felt like being alone.
“Lil. Mom. Time to wake up, we’re nearly there,” she looked at them, Lil wore a blue shirt with brown leggings, Denise wore black breaches with a brown shirt.
They got ready to get out of the cart, and prepared themselves for what was about come. Sam was also mentally preparing herself for leaving her mom and starting her new life, though she would never be ready.
It felt like hours to Sam before the cart eventually stopped, when it did she stepped quickly out and looked at Parelle. It was a beautiful school with a large stable that looked as if it had been standing for many years. The school had an ancient air to it and a beautiful aroma surrounding it. All the buildings were made of a grayish-brow stone and each one of them had vines of holly and other plants surrounding them. The building next to the stable had a delicious smell coming out of it, so Sam presumed it was a mess hall where all their meals took place. The building was a circle shape and instead of a ceiling it had plants all across the roof. There was one more building which could easily have been two, the one section of it was huge, it was the biggest building Sam had ever seen and compared to it she felt like an ant at the bottom of the Freiiz Mountains which lay east from Parelle. The other part of the building was just as big as the first part, Sam remembered when she was little one of her mom’s friends had come over and told her about the two sides, and how the one was where all the classes were held and the other was where all the girls slept. She also remembered the rumours about secret passages, those times were when Sam still dreamed of coming to Parelle.
“Wow!” Lilli had just got out of the carriage and was looking at the giant school in wonder and admiration. Her gaze was drawn mostly to the gardens which were huge and as beautiful as the buildings of the school.
“Ready to go in?” Sam asked, there was a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
“As ready as I’m ever going to be! Let’s go.”
“You go first,” said Sam a little scared, now that the shock had worn away.
They walked into the main entrance of the school which was attached to the building they slept in. There was a lady sitting at a desk, a bottle of ink, and parchment in front of her. She had a stern look to her, and when they reached her desk she frowned at them, “Hello, my name is Mistress Mackhew, I am the teacher in charge of Parelle.”
“Hello, my name is Denise Gates, this is Sam Gates, my daughter, and Lilli Stuarts a friend of hers,” Denise said this sentence very fast, as though she was scared.
“Okay, if you would like me to I will show the girls to their rooms are and you can get on your way. I’m sure you can’t wait to be away from them and alone,” Mistress Mackhew said, a look of smugness in her eyes. She was eyeing Sam in a funny way, as if she thought she might be a trouble maker.
Denise looked shocked.
“Oh, never mind,” Mistress Mackhew said gruffly, probably amazed that any mother actually loved her child. 
They had said all this as if the two girls were not standing right next to them, but now they looked at them and Denise said, “Bye Sam, I think I’m going to go. You have fun and go meet all the other girls, Lil I guess I’m going to be seeing you in spring?”
“Yes, sure,” Lil smiled happily, looking around her.
Mrs. Mackhew showed the two of them where their rooms were as soon as Denise had gone. Leaving them with the parting words, “You get up to any trouble and I’ll send for that mother of yours to roll right back and take you home!”
The girls decided that they would unpack their things and then meet in the mess hall for dinner.

Sam looked at her room, it was a simple with a bed next to the window and two cupboards, each one not very big. It had a basin next to the cupboard. The latrines and washroom were down the passage and were shared by all the girls.
By the time the dinner bell rang, Sam had finished unpacking and was considerably hungry. She joined up with Lilli and walked happily into the mess hall.