Yay, finally getting back into writing! This story has been nagging me to get written for a while now, so I am pleased to post the first chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 1 – The Arrival

My hands were shaking as I stood on the curb while Bruno, our ahem...butler got my schoolbag from the boot. My mother said she would arrange for a small car for me so that I can drive myself to school - I am 18 after all. I guess there is some explaining to do.

A few weeks ago...

My name is Aveline Williams, a pale average height girl with ordinary green eyes and ordinary shoulder-length brown hair. I lived with my grandma Jen from when I could remember in her wooden double-storey house, one of those with the panes that are painted white and had green window sills. The front garden had rose bushes, herbs and all sorts of flowers happily growing together. I helped my gram plant most of them. We had two cats, Salt and Pepper, who loved sunbathing on the veranda. I knew my mother lived 'somewhere' and that my dad passed away when I was very young. Gram never wanted to talk much about my parents, let alone explain to me why I was living with her and not my mom, so eventually I had stopped asking. Even though my life wasn't perfect, I was happy.

I had gone to Greenfields primary and high school. I had two best friends, Jane Riley and Dexter Charles Wittleton. We called him Dax. The other kids called him Charles Whitless. The three of us had our own band. We even recorded some stuff that Dax remixed which came out pretty cool. Some would call us the odd-balls of the school. I thought that we were awesome and they sucked. Hey, I even had a boyfriend in my matric year – even if it was only because he lost a bet with friends and had to take me to prom as punishment. It wouldn't have worked anyway.

Then we matriculated. Jane was going to college the next year and Dax was offered a computer programming job with a company which he accepted. He said he didn't want to waste more time being told things he already knew. I wouldn't have been surprised if it was true, he did know a lot. But perhaps it was also partly because his parents were alcoholics and he wanted to move out. I was offered a job at the nursery where I used to help out part-time during school holidays, but when I told my grandma about it she said that I didn't need to work as my parents had already provided for me. That was the first I heard of Eden Hall. And that I wasn't human.

She said that I was Avelorian. We looked very much like humans in our natural form apart from unusual eye colours and wings...you read right, full-on wings like birds or angels. My gram made me take off the necklace I wore my whole life which apparently was a charm my mother had given me that concealed my natural form, but nothing happened. No wings appeared and no freaky eyes stared back at me in the mirror. I was just starting to think that perhaps my gram was just getting a bit old... Then she changed herself in front of my eyes! She had chestnut coloured wings and hair with some grey streaks in them and unusual luminous green eyes. I went completely quiet for a bit and had to sit down. My gram made me some hot chocolate while I tried to get a grip on things. My whole 18-year-old world had just gone freakazoid... When I got some sugar into my body and calmed down a bit I peppered my gram with all sorts of questions of which she couldn't answer most.

Normally Avelorians learn how to disguise themselves in the human world from when they are young. Why I had been raised to believe I am human I didn't understand. Grandma said I would have to ask my mother. Avelorians also had special powers called affinities. Most only had one, rarely more.

A week later I was put on a bus with my two suitcases to finally meet my mother and live with her. And go to Eden Hall, college for Avelorians. I had told Jane and Dax that my mother wanted to get to know me and that I would be living with her for the next four years – which was partly true. The four year part, that is... Part of the curriculum at Eden Hall was to learn how to deal with the awakening of our 'affinity', our unique power. This included shape shifting, affecting the elements, healing and creating illusions, to name a few. This usually happened somewhere in your 18th or 19th year. We also lived to about 140 years. Cool, hey?

My mother lived in a house not much bigger than gram's, but she had a butler, housekeeper and gardener. They did everything for her and would now do the same for me – as if I would let that happen! She looked a lot like the photo gram gave me of my parents, just older. Apparently she spent most of her time in her art room, painting. That was what Anna, the housekeeper, told me. The whole room had paintings stacked neatly in corners, some covered. Many of them were pictures of winged people, Avelorians. She didn't let me look at them for long before introducing herself to me in a very business-like manner. I had felt very disappointed. She had grey wings and shiny long brown hair. She was elegantly dressed in long black pants and red blouse. Her smile seemed forced.

"Aveline, I am very happy that you decided to come. Consider my house your home for as long as you need to complete your studies and adapt to adult life. Anna will brief you with the house rules. This, as you can see, is where I live my art. I do not want to be disturbed when I am here and ask that you do not come in here without my permission."

So much for a warm welcome...

"Yes, ma'am..." my response sent a fleet expression of pain to my mother's face, but it was gone just as quickly. Surely she couldn't have expected me to suddenly call her mom? Why was she so cool towards me?

"Eden Hall only teaches you what you need to know to survive as an Avelorian. You will be expected to study part time towards whatever degree you want. You do not have to decide immediately, think about it and Anna will make the necessary arrangements."

Anna asked me to follow her before I could ask my mother anything and I was taken to an attic room that had a very good view of the forest surrounding it and a huge manor-like building in the distance. There were a few houses I could see on the way here. Apart from that it was just forests for miles and miles. It was quite isolated from the hustle and bustle of city life I was used to.

"What is that building over there ma'am...?"

"You can call me Anna dear, I don't bite," she said as she opened up some more windows, "and the building you see is Eden Hall, your new school or should I say college?"

She watched me silently as I looked around the room. It was decorated in shades of cream, white and light brown. The furniture was old style, but well made. I could always add my own touches later. After all, I was kinda forced to come here and will have to live here for at least four years. I already missed gram, and Salt and Pepper...not to mention Jane and Dax. I wondered what they would think of this place? There was a four-poster double bed (omw...), side tables and writing desk for me to study on. A huge wardrobe in one corner and an en suite bathroom with a bath, one of those old ones on gold claws. The taps were golden too. I took a closer look and noticed that the water would be coming out of the mouth of a gold dragon. So, I'd be bathing in dragon spit every night. All right...

"If there is anything you need Miss Aveline, please don't hesitate to ask," Anna was saying from the bathroom doorway.

"I will, thank you Anna, and please just call me Ava."

And that is the story of how I came to live with my mom. No one asked why I was still in human form. Mother did look at me with a frown when we had dinner the night before my first day of school, but said nothing. It was awkward and I didn't feel comfortable to talk to her. Since I had arrived four days earlier I hadn't seen her until that night. What was I to do? I didn't wear the necklace anymore, but still looked like my human self. Perhaps I was only a human?