"I'm sorry, you did WHAT!?"
Cheyenne glanced up from her suitcase and emergency backpack to her incredulously furious mother and resigned looking father. "I accidentally caused a cursed fire to rampage my school, kept the cursed sword that started it, half assedly healed those I could and bought myself a ticket to Kookiness to stay with Uncle Pepper and Aunty Lollypop until that new boarding school I've been intrigued in opens so I can continue my education. Like a good little teenager." She went back to stuffing her unburnt shirts in her suitcase. "Not that I enjoy being a pessimist, but I don't think my old school is going to take me back after today."
Her mom sputtered a few moments, trying to decide what to explode about first. Her father, Chive, stepped in. "Honey, I can understand wanting to run away from being a wanted criminal in the magic community, believe me. It happened to your aunt and me during our school days and we had to rely on your Uncle Richard for sanctuary." The look of haunted regret he got on his face was almost enough to make Chey reach for her camera. "I'm obviously not suggesting you turn yourself in to spend the rest of your life in Tartarus, but you should at least go appease the judge and see if you can get a lighter sentence that won't make you an illegal rogue banned from the country."
Paprika, her mother, finally snapped out of it, smacking her father's arm. "Our daughter is not going to eternal jail or doing hellish community service! You know how biased wizard judges are."
"Hooray," Cheyenne said, sliding on her jacket and grabbing her favorite grimoire.
She scowled at her mom for yanking the grimoire away. "Nor are you abandoning your home to attend a boarding school in a different country! How could you think your aunt and uncle are in any way good role models to raise you!?"
"She DID just burn her school and classmates down with cursed fire from a cursed sword-" Chive coughed at the look his wife gave him. "Honey your mother's right. By day 3 they'd be getting you to join their occult bank robbing group or sacrificing some person who cut you in line to a demon."
"You say these like they're bad things, the line cutter got what they deserved. And bank robbings get you rich." She checked her watch and huffed, talking over her mom's next complaint. "Look, you can lecture me all you like but I've made up my mind. There's nothing left for me in English besides wanted posters. I've wanted an excuse to leave for a while now, there are things I want to experience out in the world. And you can no longer stop me."
"Good lord, such disrespect to her elders." She heard the inner voice of reason whisper to the demon, who snickered unfairly. What, so it was only disrespectful when she stood up for herself on what she thought would be the most prudent point of action after making herself an international criminal?? At most it was mental.
"Since I have no time to further argue this cuz I have a plane to catch, I shall have to bid you both adieu with my best wishes. And a really good distraction." She quickly chanted a spell to momentarily blast them both backwards with gusts of wind that whooshed out of her room and down the stairs, keeping them far enough away to give her time to make her distraction. In barely a minute she had every item in the house that wasn't in her room inflating into balloons, not including her screaming parents who were now trapped by the colorful, confetti filled balloons that were previously furniture.
Cheyenne picked her favorite grimoire back up and nuzzled it before giving one last look to the house she'd grown up in all her life. Half for nostalgia, half because even the exterior was slowly turning into a balloon jump house itself and might be about to float. She would feel more guilty if her dad couldn't use magic, if the balloons weren't just gonna pop into harmless festive confetti, or if the constable wasn't literally coming around the corner down the street.
She prepped her foot on the window sill and focused hard on her comfy purple recliner in the corner of her room until it started to float towards to her. She watched it carefully until it was in the right position and then plopped into it comfortably with her suitcase and grimoire snuggled in her lap and on the side of her seat. It would be a long trip to the Tinmouth airport, but with the time she was making she should be there just in time to check into her flight, get through security with her different identity and be safely seated on the plane.
"Are you not worried the Magic Police will catch you at the airport before you can check in safely? You are pretty wanted at the moment." Voice of reason actually did sound concerned for her. Aww.
"I sure am pretty popular right now," Cheyenne said, looking over the arm of her rising chair to the cops panicking outside her inflating house. They already looked like ants from here, before the clouds swallowed her vision of the ground. "I would be more worried if I A) weren't awesome and magically altering my appearance and B) weren't going all the way to the non-magic human side of the country to fly on their "primitive flying machines" to get out of English. Even better it's the quiet rural country part of the non-magic side, most magicks don't even know it exists. If they weren't so self centered about how much greater magic makes us, yeah I'd be worried."
Demon decided to pop in, genuinely curious at this adventure. "It's always a random adventure with you, geez. I hate being trapped, but I will admit you're never boring. Who knows what we'll see when we get there, English is super excluded from so many monsters out there in Randemonium cuz of that damn Tanglefoot Forest. I get bored seeing only magic humans and fellow demons and some prissy angel here on vacation. So many human eating monsters to meet!"
She could feel voice of reason scowl at demon as much as she was. "Don't listen to him, he'll be howling in pain and pass out soon enough from that curse you absorbed. Nor should you worry too much about the monsters, there's a surprising amount of peace throughout Kookiness… A-and I use the word 'peace' incredibly loosely, it's more like they're too busy with their own lives and dealing with someone that was rude to them than to an outsider who can defend herself. Just, be polite and you should be fine."
"Or dinner."
"Or a new friend," Chey grinned, used to looking on the brightside after having to live with these two extreme downers. "With so many weirdos I won't be AS singled out as usual! An uber powerful witch over there would be just as weird as… I dunno, a dragon giraffe shapeshifter. Right?"
Reason felt like it was nodding in agreement. "Logically, it is entirely possible. The variety of the different species is probably huge enough that a magic human isn't the weirdest thing they have to pick on."
Cheyenne grinned at the idea, of new monsters in an actual functioning society instead of a territorial "I'LL EAT YOU FOR EXISTING IN MY PRESENCE" one like all the ones she met on her adventures with Uncle Richard. She was looking forward to hopefully finally making some friends that she could actually feel a part of and enjoy spending time with instead of ones that were seemingly just using her. Or laughing at her for not being like them. Or isolating her because they thought she was going to "unfairly" curse them like their jerk friend who deserved it. Granted monsters could still be shallow like humans-or bloodthirsty when they felt like a snack-but… she was also being completely honest when she said that her heart was so excited about what they COULD potentially be to her that it was going to burst.
"Nah not burst. Just beating so fast that this poor chained demon is having trouble breathing as each obnoxious heart beat strangles him. No worries."
"Good." Chey yawned tiredly. "Saves me the trouble of doing it on purpose to smite you. Now sing me something to distract me into sleep before I decide to drown you both out with my mp5 player."
The demon huffed at her, but couldn't resist the excuse to sing in his classic off key voice to annoy the voice of reason and actually help Chey drift off for a nap. Cheyenne was an odd person and she didn't question her weirdness. She snuggled down into her chair, hugging her suitcase and closing her eyes going over her plan one more time.
The flying armchair was speeding along and they seemed to be making good time while the freezing cloudscape was successfully providing cover and hiding them from any potential prying eyes coming from the land beneath them. It should take roughly 2 hours to get to the dingy airport, 3 minutes to dye her normal orange with black tipped hair temporarily to full black and change her facial features to trick any potential posters the magic people might have been smart enough to post, then another 6 hours to get to Kookiness. Putting her arrival at about 8 am in the morning, plenty of time to settle in and think about what her new life was shaping up to be. And wondering how long she'll be able to keep this up until her mother found her and tried to literally drag her by the hair back home even if it required jail time.
Around 8 am in the morning
Cheyenne, grinning like a fool, was gazing out the window at all the passing territory she was unfamiliar with. Guess who's plan worked like a successful mastermind who didn't get caught! This gal's. And now she was in the most species diverse and colorful country she'd ever imagined, holy crap there really WERE a bunch of monsters in the world! What she'd seen helped her excitement, seeing them walking around the airport she'd landed in, the city she had been driven past, even this random forest had "people" hopping around up in trees or small rabbit like creatures staring too intelligently at the car. Scaly people, feathered people, furry like people with fuzzy tails and ears, floating horned thingies. From what she had seen so far monsters apparently came in a whole bunch of different shapes and sizes some even looked human like her but, she could practically FEEL the predatory air radiating off them! Holy shiz did this mean vampires were real too!? And cute fluffy flesh eating werewolves!
"Who gets excited about that?" The voice of reason finally spoke up, she'd also gotten distracted looking at their new surroundings.
"Obviously someone who has a bright outlook on life and can't wait to experience this new life! Dang this is already making me pumped for what the school will be like, surrounded constantly by people like these cool background characters."
"Well now, that's a nice thing to hear." Smiled her driver, a lovely bipedal, talking cheetah with surprisingly good fashion sense. "You picked an excellent time to come, everyone's coming back from vacation to start the new semester."
"Yeaaah," Chey agreed, having been surprised to learn on her journey here that the school apparently begins it's year at the beginning of the year instead of in Autumn. Not that she had any complaints, it just meant that now she didn't have to hide out at her aunt and uncles till it started. This also just meant that all the pre enrolling stuff she had to sign up for when she was researching this school now made a lot more sense of why they asked her to fill out which classes she wanted, which dorm she wanted and so on. Hard to complain if she already did all the hard stuff to get enrolled… Maybe she should have noticed it sooner. Eh what's the point of worrying over it now. Look over there beyond the trees!
The trees opened to show a big open field, a wide circle of red brick buildings waiting at the end of the now cobblestone road. She hadn't expected this school to be so big either, the brochures hadn't done it justice.
Chey closed the trunk and waved happily at the nice cheetah lady, turning around to stare at the first building she was in front of. Just… dang. The architecture looked fancier than she first suspected and now she was excited all over again at the prospect of getting to see it up close and meeting all the new "people" roaming around campus! There were also a lot of cat people, look at all those cute fwuffy tails! Were there students that could fly too? She should befriend them so they'd give her rides to places when she really doesn't want to walk or enchant something. Were there horse people?? She sure hoped so, she loved-
"Are you Cheyenne Amela Firebolt-Eclair?" Who the hell??
She whirled around to face the person who knew her full identity and froze seeing a messy black haired boy with glasses standing behind her, with cold ice blue eyes that felt like they were staring straight into her soul. Cripes she wasn't even exaggerating when she said her soul felt like it was turning to ice, even the demon was swearing and struggling as ice came over it's chains! Who the hell was this!?
He stared at her a while longer, huffing when she didn't give him confirmation. "I will take that terrified stare as a yes. Nice to meet you new student, I am Hyli No-Evil, student president and am here to guide you around campus and to the admissions office to get your ID picture taken once our second guide arrives. And I'm to deliver your schedule, dorm rules, class list, and provide answers to anything else you may need assistance with." He passed her a folder from his clipboard containing all the papers he listed and waited for her to take them.
She didn't mean to be intentionally rude, she really didn't. But every nerve inside her felt like this dude was going to rip her open and slurp out her life force like pad thai! Oh my god was she dying?! Should she blast a spell at him and run away!? Would he kill her while she did?? Or wait and hunt her until she was alone like in bed peacefully dreaming and THEN freeze her solid and toss her off a building?? She didn't know what he was going to do but felt 99% positive it would result in freezing her and killing her within the next 24 hours and she was NOT about to give in to meet death so easi-
"Damn Hyli, she's only been in your presence for 10 seconds and you terrified her so badly?" Chey gasped and shook her head, that voice that sounded like warm honey had snapped her back to reality. Wait, or had she actually died in the past few seconds and was in some afterlife right now??
She looked back to Mr. Death Freeze who now had some gorgeous adonis hanging around his neck and was staring at her with way too attractive aquamarine eyes and a smile that had more sex appeal than she'd ever noticed in her life. Sorry, maybe she HAD died and gone off to one of the afterlifes, this guy was obviously either an incubus or an angel.
"I'm going to slap you till you're unconscious, then kill everyone. Starting with both these pricks," Demon growled angrily, not having appreciated being almost frozen and now almost drowned in the nice light new guy was radiating.
"Nothing's ever good enough for you though," Chey muttered out loud, shaking her head hard to get back to her normal state of thinking. She sure hoped she wouldn't be this starstruck with every student she met here, geez. What a way to start the new year.
New guy tilted his sunkissed blond head. "It's not? Granted I am a LITTLE picky on certain things but, how would you know new girl?"
"You are EXTREMELY picky on everything, Sinbad." Hyli sniffed, giving a little smile at the tongue that got stuck out at him. "But I don't believe she was talking to us." And there were the ice orbs staring through her again. "My guess is that demon chained to her soul said something rude to her and she was simply responding. Alright, now that our second guide has arrived and should make you feel less terrified, let's-"
"Whoa whoa, no. How the hell did you know I have a demon trapped inside me!?" Hyli turned back around to look at the shocked Cheyenne, her expression more intrigued than the panicked it should be. "Not even my family and most of the church believed me, how did you accurately come to that conclusion so fast with no hints?! And while we're at it how did you know my real name when I know damn well I put down an alias on all my paperwork! Are you a highly ranked spy for whatever government Kookiness has? And a mindreader?? Is that why your gaze is so disturbing??"
'Sinbad' snorted out a laugh amidst his confusion, and Hyli gave her the same tiny smile he'd given a few seconds before. "No I'm not a mindreader or highly ranked spy, but kind of close. I'm a soulsucker." Given the expectant stare she kept on him, he gave her more information. "I can see people's… I guess 'stats' is the closest word, when I look at them long enough. All souls have different attributes depending on species and what they've done in their lives to either darken or brighten their souls. And if they appeal to me, I eat them. Worry not, you do not appeal to me."
"Real nice." Chey and the angel/incubus said at the same time, making them glance to each other and share a smile.
"Why thank you, since you SHOULD take that as a compliment." He ignored her eye roll to check his watch and nodded. "And now thanks to Sinbad and his chronic lateness, we're 6 minutes off schedule. I hope you're both prepared to speed walk to the admissions office and girls' dorm."
Sinbad sighed long and hard, turning his head to the sky. "How very unfair, I don't think me or new girl deserves this kind of punishment."
Hyli helpfully picked up Cheyenne's suitcase and nudged them to follow when he started walking. "And I wouldn't have to deal such, vicious, unfair punishment, if your lazy butt had been here on time to help me greet this late new student to our lovely large school. But, since you weren't."
He stared at them both with those eyes, making Chey cough and pick up her backpack to get in line behind him and Sinny to stare challengingly at him before getting bored and sighing again, then joining Chey in a line behind him. Hyli nodded and began walking, pointing out certain buildings, informing Chey about how life worked around here, answering her questions, and fending off random people that suddenly appeared to ogle over the hot blonde with aquamarine eyes that did seem to be glowing and attracting them.
She squinted at him, ready for more answers. "Alright so Hyli's a soulsucker, and can stare into the depths of people's' souls to see if they're worthy of his taste buds. What are you and why are you glow attracting people?"
"Technically, it's because my family genes are responsible for keeping an eye on the soul quality of the living and seeing if they deserve to rot in the Soul Mines or not." Hyli said absently while Sinbad breezed over it and said, "Well, that's not ALL you are now is it Hylikins? I am glad you asked new girl! I'm a full blooded siren from the Atalantic Ocean. If you want to get technical, I'm the prince. Well, one of them. My twin brother is the other." He smiled at Chey's shocked look as she tried to process what to question next. "Thus why I'm unintentionally glowing and attracting the masses. Would it blow your mind to know our dear Hyli here is also half siren?"
Hyli sighed at how fast she swiveled her head to him. "Out of all the unusual facts he just threw at you, THAT'S the one that caught your attention?"
"Half sorry! But come on, you certainly don't seem like the ah, glow attract and mate/kill kinda guy."
"What, and I am?" Sinbad asked with a dramatic gasp.
"I mean… given what I just saw," Chey grinned at his offended scoff.
"But I didn't wed or behead any of them! I simply walked past them like a normal person!"
"This time," Hyli murmured, accepting the smack on his arm Sinny delivered.
"Most times. Or else I'd be way too tired to do anything."
"Ahhh, so THAT'S why you're constantly late?" Chey couldn't resist asking, laughing when he glared at her with those too gorgeous eyes. She would admit she felt a certain amount of pride hearing a bark of laughter from Hyli the Stoic. So I'm not completely socially awkward, heck yeah!
"Well now would you look at that, we made it to your new home." Chey glanced up in surprise, admitting she thought this was just another random building like the administration office. Well shoot now she was excited again! She waited semi politely for the girls at the table to hand her her new key and have her sign in on their resident list, then again waited semi patiently when another girl with cat ears and a tail walked her and her luggage up to the 3rd floor to her room and got a bit wide eyed seeing what her new space looked like.
Larger than her room at Magus Academy, and it looked like she and her roommate had all of the essentials; mediocre bed, nice sized desk, a closet with a dresser and a door off to the side that she desperately hoped led to their private bathroom. She leaned back to see the other name that was next to hers on the door, squinting when it read 'Locket'. Was….was that really a mother given name? Surely it was an alias. Which then pissed her off, why was THIS chick allowed to apply with an alias and get away with it when Cheyenne wasn't!
She turned her head at the sound of cat girl's quiet cough. "You'll have plenty of time to get acclimated to your new surroundings and design it how you like later. But your tour guides are still downstairs waiting to walk you around the rest of campus."
"Oh right. Guess that'd be helpful." She took one last look at her new currently empty of personal belongings but full of potential room and grinned before closing and locking the door. Now her curiosity on her new roommate was rising, wondering what kind of person she was. Was she going to have a unicorn as a new best friend? A unicorn named after a locking device? A mermaid trapped in a tank that would have to be pulled around in a wagon? A tiny brownie that would clean their room so she wouldn't have to?? She couldn't wait!
Well, apparently she'd have to. She almost forgot she had a tour with two interesting monsters around the rest of this too pretty monster filled campus. This was easily the most excited she'd been to start a semester at school in her young life.