Reaching Madness

Chapter Two

After I've decided on a beautiful summer dress I grab my school bag and books and head out into the living room.

"Sweetie, go hop in the car and I'll give you a lift" Mum says as she cleans up the left over breakfast stuff.

"All good mum, I'll walk" I smile and go to head out the door.

"Wren we spoke about this, we'll be driving you to school and picking you up for the time being." She says it so slightly that I might not have heard her but the thing is I was waiting for it. Ever since the accident in Melbourne that I can't remember, they don't let me go anywhere by myself. I roll my eyes and walk out the front door, heading for her car.

Mum follows me out a minute later and hops in the car, she turns it on and reverses out the drive. I stare out the window as my mind lingers on this morning's ordeal and what the hell could possibly have happened. I don't even notice we have arrived at my new school until mum grabs my arm.

"Sweetie are you ok?" she asks softly.

"Ah yeah, sorry just in a world of my own" I shake my head slightly to lift the fog and glace around at my surroundings. A small school sits in front of me with students milling around and chatting with each other. I sigh, grab my bag and reach for the door handle.

"It'll be ok Wren. I know things have been hard since... well since Melbourne but I promise you'll make friends and everything will go back to normal." I turn around and give mum a small smile before hoping out of the car. I shut the car door and watch her drive away. As the car disappears around the corner I feel my heart start to race, like this morning on my run. The familiar prickling in my hands starts, I look down and sure enough the black flames are back, dancing across my hands. I close my hands into fists, digging my nails into my palms and trying to calm my breathing. Eventually the flames disappear.  

I glance around to see if anyone noticed what just happened and my eyes collide with a pair of pale green ones. The moment our eyes meet I feel a stutter go through my body and my blood starts to heat. My breath catches and I feel a sense of belonging, of warmth and desire. I drag my eyes away and look at the face the eyes are attached to. The most ruggedly handsome man I have ever seen in staring back at me. I can't help but feel like I know him from somewhere. As I go to take a step towards him the spell is broken by a girl colliding with me and sending my bag that I had been holding falling to the ground.

"Oh I'm so sorry" the snide female voice chimes in followed by a feminine giggle. I glance up from where my bag lay to the culprit. A tall girl with dark brown hair is staring down at me and next to her is an almost identical version only she has blonde hair.

"That's ok" I respond, accepting her apology.

She starts laughing, "Oh, I didn't actually mean it" her and the other girl start laughing louder and louder. I cringe and the prickling starts again.

"Great" I say "I guess horrible bitches don't just live in the big cities" I snidely reply to her, baring my teeth.

"What did you just say to me?!" she screeched and raised her hand, like she was about to slap me but I swear I saw a small shimmer of air move around her hand. Before I could reply the boy from before reached out and grabbed her wrist, dragging her hand back down by her side.

“Suficient, lăsați-o în pace” he whispered to her. What language is that?

“Never” she whispered back as she pulled her hand from his, turned and stomped away with her sister at her side. The handsome stranger turned to me and smiled.

“I’m Luther” he stuck his hand out for me to shake but something in my mind told me not to touch him.

I looked down at his hand and back up before introducing myself, “I’m Wren, who were they?” I asked while bending down to pick my bag up.

“Ah, Emily and Danika Clarke, out and out bitches really” he smirked, causing my heart to jump and my breath to catch. There is just something about him.

"Great, that's just what I need" I state, rolling my eyes.

"Don't worry Wren, I won't let them touch you" he reached out and touched my cheek which caused the skin there to heat and my breath to leave me. Then he turned and walked away, heading into the main building, leaving me standing out the front unable to believe what had just happened.

I pulled my bag higher on my shoulder and headed in the same direction that Luther had gone, I needed to find the front office and get my class schedule. I followed the signs to the front office and walked up to the desk where a small old lady with shiny silver glasses was talking to a tall older gentleman with a dark mustache.

“Hi, excuse me I’m new here and I was told to come to the front desk” I smiled over at the lady who had stopped her conversation and glanced up at me.

“Oh yes dear you must be Wren Davidson?” she asked as she reached behind her and grabbed a file from the tray on the desk.

“Yep that’s me” she opened the file, quickly read it and then handed it to the man behind her.

“Well I’m Mrs. Clement and this gentleman behind me is Principal Collins” she makes quick work of the introductions before continuing. “We’re just waiting for your ‘buddy’ to arrive, but in the meantime, I have printed off your class schedule so please take a seat and have a look over it. Any problems please let me know.” She hands me the same folder she had been reading and then gestured over to the waiting area; turning her back and continuing her conversation with the principal, effectively dismissing me.

I take a seat and open the folder to look over my schedule and see what classes I’ve been enrolled in. Human Biology, English, History, a study period and Math make up my schedule for my first day. I breathe a little sigh of relief when I realise I’ve been put in all the same classes as I was back in Melbourne. For a time I was worried my parents might decide to change up my subjects since they didn’t agree with a couple of my choices. As I finish looking over the schedule the door to the front office opens a short blonde girl bounces in the door and up to the counter.

“Good morning Mrs. Clement, sorry I’m late” she gushes.

“That’s ok Lucille. Miss Davidson?” she calls my name so I gather my things and head over to the desk.

“Wren this is Lucille she will be your ‘buddy’ and show you to your classes. Any questions please speak with her.” she dismissed us with a wave of her hand and carried on with her work.

“Hi Wren, it’s so nice to meet you!” Lucille beamed at me before continuing.

“I’m so glad I get to be your buddy, we’re going to be such good friends. Now what’s your first class?” she hooked her arm through mine and led me from the office.

“Um, it’s Human Biology with Mrs. Rogers” I stated while trying to keep up with her quick pace.

“Oh amazing! We’re in the same class. Perfect you can sit next to me and then I can walk you to your next one” she smiled at me again and quickened her pace just as the bell rang to signal the beginning of the school day.

We walk through the door to Human Biology and Lucille ushers me to a twin table towards the back of the class. Most of the students are already seated when we arrive and so I end up seated next to a tall muscular boy with sandy blonde hair. He smirks at me.

“New girl, what’s your name?” he asks as he leans forward, crowding my space. “Wren” I state, busying myself with grabbing a notebook and pen.

“Ah strange” he says as he rubs his chin with his hand.

“What’s strange?” I bite and he grins as he utters his response. “Well Emily told me that the new girl she knocked down was ugly and fat. But that can’t possibly be you since you are neither of those things” he winks and turns back to his books and pulls out his phone. I blush and look down at my things just as the teacher walks in and begins the class. What an interesting first day this was turning out to be. 

My first two classes go quickly and before I know it, it’s time for history. This is the first class that I don’t share with Lucille so after she shows me where it is, I’m on my own. I walk into the class room and look for a seat towards the back, as I make my way down to an empty one I notice that it’s right next to Luther. Composing myself I take a seat.

He glances over at me but says nothing. How strange, it seemed like perhaps we could be friends this morning when he stood up for me. I turn to say something to him but am cut off by the teacher.

“Good morning everyone. Today we will be starting on the history of Hillshore as promised” a few groans go around the class as he says this but he just grins and continues.

“Hillshore was founded back in 1645 by the Dragos family who arrive here from Romania. I know I know” he said putting his hands up in defense. “Australia wasn’t colonized until much later than that but old texts that have been found indicate that this town was founded much earlier than the rest of the country.” He grabbed an old looking book from his desk and held it up for us to see. “The theory is that the Dragos family were part of a clan in Romania known as Elementali, their leader Vlad Tihomir propositioned Andrei Dragos and Marius Miroslav to take their families and find a place that had no inhabitants, here they could expand their clan.” Mr Lithlo sounded so intrigued and in awe of the history of Hillshore that even the biggest sceptic would be inclined to believe this nonsense. I sit back in my chair and continue to listen to his impressive storytelling.

“Once Andrei and Marius arrived here, they decided that it best they not report back to Vlad and keep this place a secret from everyone. Here they would raise their families away from tyranny.” He sat down at his desk and turned on the projector, displaying a slideshow of the town, symbols and relics filled the screen. “It is believed that the Elementali had special ‘abilities’ that they could manipulate the elements and control people’s minds. Andrei and Marius established a town here which eventually drew more people to it, as the town grew word spread of a town where magical things happened” Mr. Lithlo dimmed the lights, I looked over at all the students in the class and most were intrigued, hanging on his every word.

“Of course as word spread, it got back to Vlad and soon he discovered where these traitors now resided. Vlad travelled all the way here and tracked down Andrei and Marius to kill them and their families. According to the literature, there are six forms of elementali; Ignis – fire, Animo – mind, Aqua – water, Terra - ground, Caeli - air and the strongest of all, Tenebrae. Now Vlad was a Tenebrae, someone who could control every element but also take life by stealing the souls of his victims. The only thing left behind was a symbol stained on the ground, like this one” Mr. Lithlo gestures to the screen and in the moment my breath leaves me.

It’s the same sign! The symbol that was marked in the ground this morning, after the man disappeared. My heart starts to beat quicker and my mind starts racing. I don’t even realise that I’m hyperventilating until I feel a warm hand on my arm. I look over and Luther is staring at me with concern written all over his face.