The Haunted

By Autumn Brooks

Preface:

I never knew I could run so fast. My breathing choking my chest full of agony. The snow has just fallen, as cold as the heart of him when he died. My feet ache of pain as the blood seeps from my fresh cuts. It is dark outside, it's too late to turn back now. Footsteps are shuffling in from behind me, getting closer. Closer. I must keep going, no matter how much it feels like my rib bones will break. It feels like I've run 10 miles now. How can they still be keeping up? If I stop, they will catch me, and that will be it. No more me. What about the chosen ones yet to come? I have to tell them about him. I have to tell them to stay away! I have to tell them not to use things they can track you with! I have to save them, no matter what happens. If I cannot save them, I at least need to know how to reverse the time slot! And with that, Tinnette slowly raised her hands, and let the blue orb drop just as a silver arrow burst through her heart.

Chapter 1: Vivian Oakmore

The alarm clock buzzed franticly as the time wore on to 5:30. I slowly raised my head from the soft pillow, today was the first day of school.

I slipped on my black, studded t-shirt, feeling like I weighted a ton. Well, it was five o-clock in the morning. I slipped on my shorts, just an inch longer than against the school dress code. Ha! It looks like I am going to outsmart them again this year. I slowly, but smoothly smudged on my eyeliner and brushed my teeth, then headed down to the kitchen for some 'Toaster Strudels'.

"Mom? Dave? Er- oh! It's you." I grimaced. There, sitting at the kitchen counter was Evan, the oldest of my brothers, at 18. Evan was also the most handsome of all my brothers. He was quite polite, but he was uber boring. His hair was black, like mine, but his eyes were blue, instead of silver. He was also wearing black and was very muscular, although he didn't do any sports.

"Yeah, It's me. What are you doing out of bed? It's only six!" He tilted his head to the side and stared at me for a second, then realized what he said. "It's six! Oh my! Go get Dave, Preston, and Ethan! We're gonna be late!"

"Whatever." I laughed at him until I wandered into Dave's room, where I found Dave glued to his computer, as usual. Dave was the second oldest, meaning he was 17. He had heard me come in, so he turned off his monitor. His hair was thick and curly, just like Evan's, but not gelled back. He had on his blue 'Secondhand Serenade' t-shirt, which was one of his favorites and he had glowing green eyes. Neon green, if you look real close. He jumped up from his computer and grabbed his bag, not even saying "Hello" on his way out the door.

"Well, that was awkward."

After turning off the light in Dave's room, I headed to Preston's room, where I found him drawing in his notebook. Preston is the youngest of everyone in the family at 15, but he loves it because everyone leaves him alone. Which means all alone time. Preston is kind of chubby, but not fat. He doesn't do sports, either. He looked up at me, his purple eyes sparkling in the sunlight. He was wearing a purple shirt that matched his eyes. He actually looked really nice today. He stood up softly, and paced quickly to my side. We both went to get Ethan.

Ethan Oakmore is my twin brother. Even though we are different genders, we act in the same ways. Ethan was particularly thin, but not as skinny as a twig. His eyes were a gleaming silver, just like a full moon on a starry night. He was five feet tall, just like me. His hair was charcoal black, like the midnight sky. Today, he wore his hair spiky and short, just the way he usually wore it.

He had just finished his homework when I entered the room. Since he's a mind reader, he already did all of his homework he was going to get. All the homework he was going to get this month! He smiled his perfect smile. The smile that got all the teachers to let him pass the semester, even though they barely knew him. He crossed the room like a cat, sneaky but beautiful. He leaned down and picked up his bag, then crossed slyly to me.

"Well, well, well. Late again, are we?" He laughed darkly and headed out the door, pulling my wrist along with him.

We all slid into our cars, ready to get to school. Evan was driving his Ferrari, throwing his bag in the back. Dave was slinking into his Saab, Slamming the door after Preston's entrance into the car. Last but not least, Ethan and myself threw ourselves into my Audi, ready to get this day over with. At last, this day could get interesting.

Chapter 2: Meeting Dylan and Cole

Now, there's something you probably haven't figured out about me. I am a Vampire. My family are all Vampires. It just so happens that we live in a different dimension than humans…in a land called Renwemsel. Renwemsel, of course, has a population of everything but humans and animals in the human world. So now that we've got that covered, let's move on with the story.

The bell screamed as soon as I stepped into the hallway. A colossal crowd of common creatures entered into the hallway, pushing against me. I looked in front of me, where I saw Evan head butting his way through the crowd. To my right, Dave was making his was towards the wall, his green eyes bearing through kid after kid. I was hit the worst, even though Preston was hugging my side and Ethan was clutching at my wrist.

As soon as we made it out of the crowded hallway, I dropped Preston off at his class. It was supposed to be an Art class. But when I entered the room, there wasn't any furniture…there wasn't any anything. Except for the walls and the floor, which were all white.

Preston went in and stood by a wall, which had a little tag with his name on it, then shooed me out the door so he could wait for his teacher.

As I walked out, I went to go check on Evan in his class. He had a test going on. A pre-test, you know, to show what you know before they start giving you homework. His classroom was a light blue color, a few shades darker than his eyes. I quickly removed myself from the room, after being yelled at by a teacher.

Further down the hallway was Dave's class. It was a dark room, much darker than all the other classrooms. It was labeled 'The Computer Room'. It was so dark in that room that all you could see was the light from the computer monitors. That, and Dave's gleaming green eyes.

The room that was next was Ethan's room...the room of stealth. That room was basically training for the life ahead. It taught you to use your powers correctly and wisely. The room was a dark, stormy bluish- gray, and the walls were covered in spikes. Blood was dripping silently off the spikes, landing on any unexpected student's head.

"Hey there. Enjoy the scenery?" Ethan smirked. He enjoyed making me laugh. This was not the time and place to be cracking jokes at me.

"Ha ha," I choked. "Never heard that one before."

"Whoa. No need to get upset. I was just joking. Geez, ease up a little, Viv. You're going to scare my friends away." He rubbed my shoulders. What I hadn't noticed before was that there were two other guys standing beside him.

"Oops. Sorry guys. I didn't mean to cause a lot of drama."

"Oh, it's fine. Vivian, right? We've heard so much about you. I'm Dylan Two touché by the way." He chuckled.

I could tell by the way he smelled that he was a vampire. His scent was like lavender, suffocating my nose from how much was perfuming off of him. He was about six feet tall, and was shaped like a regular guy. He wasn't too muscular, and he wasn't too skinny. He had cream colored skin, and was covered in freckles. His hair was pitch black, and it was cropped short with spikes. That wasn't the most amazing part, though. His eyes were gold, shimmering like jewels. Those eyes were staring at me, pulling me in with every glance.

I looked at his friend. "And you are?"

"Cole. Cole Wenford."

Again, with the way he looked and smelled like, Cole was a vampire, too. Cole was very skinny, but not all skin and bones. His eyes were a light blue, like the summer sky outside. He was also around six feet tall, and he smelled like pine. Like a car air freshener. His skin was peach colored, but he had no freckles. His hair was also black, spiky, and gelled, but it had red highlights in it. His walk was simmilar to Ethan's, just like a cat.

"Nice to meet you both. See you later, Ethan." Ethan was starting after me, then stopped, noticing I was uncomfortable because of all the blood in the room.

"Bye, Vivian. See ya at lunch." He waved politely, but his face was covered in sorrow.

Chapter 3: Meeting Willow Porters and The Redwoods

It was lunch...finally. I really wanted to sit down and actually meet some new friends. I mean, not like my brothers are mean or anything, but I am a girl, and I need some girl friends.

I chose a table that was at the very back, not only sensing vampires, but werewolves and witches, too. I think I could fit in, being and Empress and all. An Empress (or Emperor), is a person who has the power of a vampire, can shape-shift into a werewolf, and can use the many powers a witch can. Ethan and I are the only Emperors in our family.

As I approached the table, I saw that seven people were already sitting at the table, including my youngest brother, Preston. I sat in between two girls, balancing my plate full of pizza on one hand. I lightly set down my Pepsi, then set down the tray. One girl seemed to think I was cool and turned to look at me.

"Hi, I'm Willow Porters. What's your name?" Willow was very thin, but about as tall as me. She had no scent, and she didn't smell of wood. She must be a witch. Willow had cream skin and red hair. More like a dark, maroon red. Her hair was in ringlets, but pulled back in a sloppy bun. She had black eyes, like coal burning in a fire. Even though all of these features made her sound evil, she is actually super nice.

"Uh, Vivian. Vivian Oakmore. You guys can call me Viv, though." I smiled. Preston perked up too.

"Wait," Willow looked shocked. "Oakmore? You're Preston's older sister?" I nodded. "Wow! You're so.....so pretty!" She squealed. Oh my.

A guy dressed in red leaned over to me from across the table and whispered in my ear. "I'm Will. Nice to meet you."

"You'll have to forgive Will. He does that to every new girl in school. It totally freaks them out." He rolled his eyes. "By the way, I'm Edmund. Nice to have you here."

A second passed, and the bell rang for recess. Recess was two hours long at this school, since it's a boarding school and we have school almost all day. I jerked up from my seat, stumbling towards the exit. I snuck around the corner to the girl's dormitory. I slipped into my new room, room 203, and plopped down on my bed. Today was wild. Everyone was so nice.

I sat up in the bed. "I have to call Ethan!"

I grabbed my cell phone and held down the number 2: that was Ethan's speed dial number. The phone started ringing. After five rings, Ethan picked up. His voice was clear on the other end of the line.

"Hello?"

"Hey Ethan, it's Viv." I breathed.

"Ethan? Come on! Hurry up! Mr. Murray's gonna leave without us!" A voice boomed at the other end of the line, his voice ringing in my ears.

"Ethan? Who is that?" I waited for his response.

He laughed until he started coughing, then answered me. "Ha. That's Ace. He's one of the guys in my class. He's a pretty cool dude." He breathed deep, and then he was acting cool again, as if nothing ever happened. "So how was your day? I hope it was exciting! Also, I, uh, was wondering, what is your dorm number? I could visit sometime if you like."

"My day was fine. I made a couple new friends: one werewolf, three vampires, and one witch. They're really cool. So I guess my day was exciting." I took a deep breath. "My dorm number is 203. What's yours, Ethan?"

"Uh, let me find it first." I heard rustling on the other end of the phone. "Ah ha! Room number 809. I guess I'll see you soon. I got to go. Mr. Murray is going to yell at me if he sees me on my phone. Bye!" The line disconnected and I threw my phone onto my desk.

I started off into the hallway when Rae and Willow bumped into me. They're my roommates. How cool.

Rae was nice. She was a vampire. Her scent was of roses and her hair was a deep, blood red. Her eyes were black, and so was her wardrobe. She was insanely vampire perfect.

We all grabbed our things and headed to the auditorium to hear Mr. Woodwitch's speech. He was basically talking about our new clans: We couldn't exchange clans unless both groups are willing to trade, choose your clans wisely, blah, blah, blah. We heard it all.

My clan was made up of a total of 10 people: 2 emperors, 2 elves, 4 vampires, 1 witch and 1 werewolf. I picked these people by their advanced fighting techniques. The people I chose are: Storm (Elf), Odette (Elf), Rae (vampire), Willow (witch), Preston (Vampire), Ethan (Emperor), Evan (Vampire), Will (Vampire), and Edmund (werewolf). The tenth person is myself, if you were wondering.

Our clan was then submitted, our colors chosen then, too. Our clan name was the 'Blue Dragon Clan.' Our colors were light blue and gray.

After the assembly was over, it was time to fight another clan. 'The Emerald Clan' they called themselves. It was the clan of my own brother, Dave.