Athena was thinking about the energy she had felt from Darren on her way to the music hall. How had she lived all these years without ever sensing a thing like that? She knew she was supposed to report the smallest detail to The Guardians but for some reason, her gut was against it. Athena chucked it up to the fact that The Guardians most likely wouldn't be interested in mere sensings so she decided to get more information on Darren before reporting anything.
So far, nothing else seemed off about the school.
Athena walked into the hall and was relieved to find only three humans around. She walked towards the end of the hall and sat in a chair on the last row. She had just brought out her phone to text Dimitri and find out if his plan had worked when she was hit by a truck!
Well, that was what it felt like when the blonde with pink streaks in her hair sat directly in front of her.
Did she roll around in her perfume or something? Athena thought, while trying to recover from the assault on her senses.
"Hey!" Blondie turned around to face her and Athena almost groaned out loud.
"You must be the new girl!" Blondie continued.
"Guilty as charged." Athena replied with a smile and a wince. Did she have to be so loud?
"Oh! That's so cool! You know, last year I was the new girl. It wasn't that bad though. Once you get through the staring and whispering stage, you'll be fine. And speaking of whispering, you're waaayyy prettier than the buzz around school says you are. I mean, is it your hair? Your eyes? Your amazing skin? You're absolutely gorgeous!" Blondie literally ended her animated chatter with a clap.
How had Athena gotten herself into this?
"Um...thanks?" She responded, not really knowing what to say.
"Oh you're welcome!" Blondie said with a wide smile that reached her warm brown eyes and turned back.
After two seconds of quiet, Athena started to sigh in relief.
"Oh dear!" Blondie turned back again and Athena wished she could just disappear.
"Is everything okay?" She asked.
"Of course not." Blondie replied.
"What's the matter?" Athena asked.
"I'm so sorry." Blondie replied looking a bit put out.
"For what?" Athena wanted to know.
"Being rude." Blondie said with a slight pout.
"What?" What exactly is going on here? Athena thought.
"I didn't even get your name." Blondie said and looked down.
"Oh...it's Athena."
"It's nice to meet you Athena, I'm Moira. And I'm pretty sure you've been calling me Blondie in your head." Moira said with a laugh. "Don't worry. It's only normal. And now you're wondering how I knew what was in your head. What with all those walls you've put up, one would think you're a serial killer or something but I know you're not because your aura isn't tainted." She finished and smiled at Athena who looked like she'd been shot by a stun gun.
"What are you?" Athena asked after she had collected herself.
"Oh, it's not yet time for you to know that sweetie. And I'm handing over control back to Rainbow right about now. I just had to meet you when I recognized your scent. Oh and speaking of scents, take it easy on Rainbow. She really doesn't understand the word "moderation" when it comes to perfume. Bye." Moira said and smiled at Athena.
"Damn woman. She just couldn't wait her turn." Rainbow said with a frown and met Athena's eyes. "Sorry about that Athena. I hope she didn't shake you up too much?"
"You know someone else is inside you?" Athena asked quietly.
"Boy am I glad you didn't think I had a split personality or something." She said with a sigh. "And yes I know about Moira. We've been together for quite some time now and she really needs to start paying her rent." Rainbow replied in a mildly annoyed tone.
Athena didn't know what to make of what was going on at the moment.
"What is she?" She asked trying to understand everything.
"I honestly don't know but she hasn't caused any trouble so far so I'm cool with it." Rainbow said with a shrug. "But wow! I've never really met a supernatural being before!" She said with excitement and peered at Athena. "I mean, Moira talks about them all the time but you're the first one I'm actually meeting!" Rainbow finished in a loud whisper.
"Could you give me a second to take all this in?" Athena asked with a raised hand.
"Sure." Rainbow said and got up from her seat.
Of course she wouldn't have been able to sense a supernatural being that had taken possession of a human body with the permission of the vessel, Athena thought. That was probably why she hadn't sensed Moira.
But willing possession hadn't been heard of in centuries and The Cikla, the governing body of all supernaturals, had banned every form of it, willing or unwilling. Was this why The Guardians had sent her here? To find Moira? She doubted they had sent her of all people to find out who was or wasn't possessed. No, the reason they sent her here was definitely bigger than Moira and until she found out the full story behind her, she couldn't report any of it to The Guardians.
What exactly am I doing? Athena thought and put her head in her hands.
She took a deep breath and lifted her head to find the seat in front of her empty. She took a quick glance around the hall and almost fell out of her chair when she saw Rainbow sitting beside her and looking at her with a big smile on her face.
"Are you done?" Rainbow asked, her smile still in place.
"Yeah." Athena answered with a sigh.
"Cool." Rainbow said and brought out a neon pink notepad from a bright orange tote bag just as smallish black woman walked into the hall.
Athena hadn't even noticed when the class had filled up.
"Good morning class!" The lady called out in a voice that didn't match her body frame and murmured responses came from the class except Rainbow whose voice was probably loud enough for ten people.
"Oh dear." The woman said with a hand on her forehead. "Now, most y'all know not to give halfhearted responses in my class, so consider this a welcoming gift. By my next class I expect to find your thoughts about Beethoven's era written on paper with an attached disk containing a video clip of you playing any of his works with any musical instrument of your choice."
The groans that came from the students were definitely not halfhearted and the woman smiled and said "Now that's more like it."
Athena turned to Rainbow who was scribbling on her notepad with a yellow pen shaped like an ice cream cone and whispered "Is she always like this?"
"Yup." Rainbow whispered back.
Athena groaned inwardly and sat back in her chair while the woman arranged what looked like music sheets on the wide desk in front of her.
"Okay. So before we go into today's lesson, I've been informed that we have a new student in class today. Athena Hall please stand." The woman said and looked around the class as Athena stood up.
"Yes ma'am." Athena said as she stood up and felt all eyes on her.
"Well, Athena dear, I'm Rosalind Saint but you can call me Miss Rose. Now would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself and why you decided to take my class?"
Remembering the story The Guardians had made up for her, Athena smiled and said. "Of course not. I moved here from Olympus City because of the nature of my parents' work. We've had to move around a lot and I decided to take music classes because everywhere we've moved to, music has been a constant for me. The connection we've had over the years has been what has seen me through all the sudden changes in environment." It wasn't entirely a lie so Athena spoke easily.
"That's very touching." Miss Rose said and dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. "You can have your seat Athena and I really hope you enjoy this class."
Rainbow nudged Athena's side when she sat down.
"That was so believable! But you're not getting off that easily with me." She said with a wink and focused on what Miss Rose was saying.
Athena rolled her eyes and started thinking about chocolate chip cookies and a certain pair of hazel eyes.
***
Professor Robert Steiner was having trouble locating the reason for his nervousness. If he was sure about one thing, it was that it had to do with supernatural powers. He'd always found humans rather dim when it came to such matters.
Was it really so hard to believe that powers beyond them and their technology existed?
He had faced humiliation a million times while trying to convince his friends and colleagues who had started to think he was crazy. So he'd packed up his things and moved to Holton to start a new life. He stopped trying to convince people but that didn't mean he was going to stop researching.
He was a believer in the supernatural world but he was no fool. He knew he had to earn a living and engage in a few social activities in order to blend in. Hence the job as a highschool History teacher. He had grown attached to Ives High over the past year and was still on his quest to know more about the workings of the supernatural world. All he had so far were journals and books written by some of his ancestors who had been on the same path as he.
Now, if only he could identify the source of the strange feeling he was having today, he could get on with preparing for his class. He knew of the boy that didn't even know of his peculiarity and the eccentric girl whose waves seemed to be fluctuating from time to time as though she was human and supernatural at the same time but he'd decided to study them and had found out that even they had no idea who they were so he had let them be. He was a seeker of knowledge but he didn't want to be the reason someone's life was thrown in upheaval so he didn't approach them concerning it.
Since he knew of those two, he also knew something or someone else had come into the picture and was making him jumpy.
The sound of the bell made him yelp a little and he laughed at himself.
"Get it together Robert." He said as he shook himself and got up to prepare for his class. Hopefully, he was going to be over what he was feeling by the end of the day.
***
"Your Majesty!" the demon cried as it stretched out before its mistress' throne.
The woman on the throne was petting the snake that was curled around her neck and sipping from a dark red goblet.
"Yes?" She asked in a quiet voice, her eyes rolled back as she savoured the taste of her baby's blood.
"A crack has been spotted in the east wall, Your Highness." The demon answered still facing the ground. No one dared to look the queen in the eye.
"A crack? In the east wall?" She asked with the ghost of a smile on her full lips that were painted black.
"Yes Your Highness." The demon responded.
"Interesting..." The queen said and grinned, showing perfect white teeth as she turned to face the head of the cobra she was petting. "...it's about time don't you think, Scriosta?" She asked the snake and received a long hiss in response.
The queen laughed as she dismissed the demon with a wave of her hand.
Night was coming.