Chapter One: New Beginnings

Adriane Charday stared at the sky while petting Dreamer. Thunder boomed as lightning split the sky. Something felt missing. It wasn't the fact that Storm was gone. Although Adriane missed her very much, that still wasn't it. She looked down on the ground and the twigs and leaves began to move. They swirled around until they took form of the Fairimental, Gwigg. He connected with Adriane ever since Ravenswood became the home to Avalon. "Adriane, I have some news to give you," he said with a rough voice. "what's wrong?" Adriane asked, fear rising inside her. "You and the other Mages must find the Lost World. No one has ever been able to find it since Avalon was lost. You must also find the three new Mages before you seek out your quest. They need to be trained. I think you'll take a special interest in one of them. Each of you is assigned a new Mage due to their powers. Good luck, I hope you do well," he said and disappeared.

Alexia uncomfortably shifted her backpack straps. Her shoulder-length dark brown hair fell over her brown eyes. She looked up at the grayish blue sky and took a deep breath in as she walked up the steps to her new school. She was just starting middle school and was very nervous. High schoolers swarmed around their friends in the halls. Alexia choked back a scream as people pushed her to the wall. She noticed a swarm of people in the middle of the hall.

She walked up to the swarm, she squeezed her way through to the front. she found herself face-to-face with lists of classes and people's names. Alexia noticed everyone left as soon as she got to the front. Her shoulders slumped. Well, a great beginning to a new school year, she thought sarcastically.

She scanned the lists for her name. She stared at her's for a bit, then, typed it in on her phone so she wouldn't forget. She looked up five rows and her heart stopped. Adrian Galindo... Her biggest crush ever, even though she never really met him. She only saw him the year before at a Catholic camp and immediately fell hard for him. She shook her head and stormed down the hall to find her best friend Emily.

As she waited for her friend to arrive, a familiar girl popped in front of her. "Hi, Alexia!" she said, cheerfully. A little too cheerfully... Alexia almost recognized her immediately although she wished she didn't. The girl was Ana Marie James. But most call her Ani. Alexia forced a grin. "hey...Ani...have you seen Emily?" she asked, the thought suddenly hitting her. Ani frowned," that's what I was going to ask you." Alexia sighed and looked around.

That's when HE came in.

Adrian.

The most handsome boy Alexia has ever seen. She nearly exploded when he passed by her. He had shorter hair and it wasn't hidden under a beanie this time again. He wore a striped collared shirt and jeans. His sneakers only seemed to make him look cooler.

Suddenly, the bell rang. Alexia growled as she remembered she didn't find Emily or find her class already. "Hey, Ani, do you know where this class is?" she asked Ani, while showing Ani her phone. "um..." Ani looked around for a minute. A grin spread on her face," Clara!" she called out and a curly blonde haired girl turned around. She walked up to them. "yeah?" the girl, Clara, asked.

She was so pale, Alexia thought she was the girliest vampire that had ever lived. "can you help my friend go to class?" Ani asked. Friend? Alexia asked herself. "she has the same class as you, so, yeah. Gotta go!" she said and left Alexia with the stranger. Alexia silently followed the girl class before noticing a girl with dark hair walk by. She glanced at Alexia with interest but continued to walk away. Who was that? Alexia thought curiously and walked to class. As Alexia sat through the boring Creative Writing class, she thought about how school was going to go that year.

Second hour went by pretty quickly. Which is odd because it was Social Studies. Alexia sighed as she slowly walked through the halls to the cafeteria. She packed a small lunch and ate quickly. As she began to walk out of the cafeteria, she almost bumped into Adrian.

Adrian?!

Their eyes locked. She shook her head and ran away. She almost bumped into someone else. A girl. The dark-haired girl she'd seen earlier that morning. "uh, e-excuse me. I'm sorry!" Alexia said to the girl. A playful glint danced in the girl's eyes as if I amused her. Alexia flushed. "it's okay," the girl said with a straight face.

Alexia stormed away and just sat outside. A couple of minutes later, the girl came out. She marched up to the guys who were playing soccer and joined them. Alexia noticed a flash of silver and gold light from the girl's wrist. Her eyes widened in interest. What was that? she thought to herself. She studied the girl with immense interest. She noticed a curly auburn haired and a long blonde haired girl wave to the girl. The girl strutted up to them, then cracked a grin.

Alexia smiled as she realized the girl wasn't a loner. Suddenly, a girl attacked her. Alexia whipped around to find her best friend Emily. She busted out in laughter and hugged her friend who hit her for hugging her. Alexia noticed something flash blue on Emily's wrist. "what's that?" Alexia asked as she pointed to Emily's bracelet.

A light blue stone in the shape of a fish, flashed on her bracelet. It was Aquamarine. Alexia stared at it with fascination. "oh, I just found it during the summer. You know how I have arrow heads at my house? I found this with some of them," she said. Alexia nodded in understanding. "if you find another one, could you give it to me? 'Cause that is SO awesome!"

Emily gave her a strange look then replaced it with a smile. Alexia felt someone staring at her so she turned around. She saw the dark-haired girl, the blonde girl, and the auburn girl staring at them. "uh, Emily, are those girls staring at us?" she asked but Emily did not reply. She stared back at the other girls. The auburn haired girl nodded and turned away. "what was that about?" Alexia asked. "nothing," Emily said. Before Alexia could ask anything else, the bell rang. Alexia and Emily parted ways and headed to their classes.

Alexia kept wondering about the beautiful gems she saw and why Emily shared something with those girls. It wasn't fair to keep your best friend out of something major. Alexia decided she was going to watch Emily very closely from then on.

When she got home, she ran outside stared at the big hole in her backyard. Something glinted in the sunlight. Alexia bent down to pick it up. As she closed her hand her hand around it, she began to float. Alexia didn't realize until she was two feet off the ground. She closed her eyes tightly and reached for anything that was near the ground to pull her back.

When her fingers closed around something soft, her eyes flew wide open.