Disclaimer: I do not own Charlie Bone, if I did then the books would come out more than once a year.
Chapter One: A New Teacher
The warm night air clung to the woman's skin as she walked briskly toward the school. Her red-blond hair was crackling in the warm breeze before falling back down to just above her waist. Bloor's academy never thought I'd be showing my face here ever again. She thought as she clutched the car keys in her pocket checking to make sure they were still there. Maya Asher was the woman's name, and she had recently applied at the academy for a teaching job. That's where she was headed now, to an interview with one Mr. Bloor. She looked up at the ancient building disgust plaguing her young features. "Get on with it." She told herself.
Walking up the steps she rapped hard on the oak doors. The one who answered the door did not look happy at all. "What in gods name do you want!"
Maya looked at him thoughtfully Wouldn't want to meet him late at night. "Hello, my name in Maya Asher. I have an appointment with Mr. Bloor today. I'm supposed to meet him for a job interview."
"New teacher eh?"
She smiled sweetly at him, "Hopefully." 'Cause if I don't get the job not only is the plan shot I'll need an another job.
"Ah, well. Come in, told me to take you to his office he did." The man beckoned her in and she followed him down the hall. "Right in here miss." He gestured to the office door labeled Bloor. "Good luck to yah.""Thank you very much," She said. He simply waved a hand and walked away. The atmosphere around this place one might find at a funeral home not a school. She eyed the plaque on the door. No creativity what so ever. She turned the knob gently and opened the door. A well-built middle aged man looked up from his paper work and upon seeing her smiled.
"Ah you must be Miss Asher, pleasure to meet you. Dr. Harold Bloor, but I suspect you already knew that." His smiled never reached his eyes as he held out his hand. As she shook it she made a metal note about that smile. "I was quite impressed with your resume Miss Ashers. Over seven years of art school and at one of the finest art schools in Spain. I also took the liberty to call one of the teachers on your recommendation list and I found that you were being modest on this transcript. Top in the class quite impressive indeed," She smiled gently thanking whatever god there was that they had let Mrs. Frieten in on the plan.
"Thank you sir."
"Well I can think of no reason not to hire you so I guess I need not say it but you have the job Miss Asher. I'll call down Mr. Tredale from the art department; he is the head teacher in Art and will gladly help you on the way. You are his first assistant teacher so be gentle."
Maya laughed, "Thank you so much Dr. Bloor, words can not express my gratitude." Truly.
After a few minutes a man dressed in a green cape came down. "Ah, Dr. Bloor would this be the new assistant teacher?"
"That it would be. Maya Asher I'd like to introduce Carlson Tredale. You may show her to her quarters and introduce her to the ways of the school and the art department." Dr. Bloor said in a tone that clearly said we were dismissed.
I nodded my head and followed Mr. Tredale out the door colliding into someone. "Oh I'm sorry." I looked at the man and couldn't help but stare. He was around my own age and wore a black cape. For a boy his black hair was long and he had it pulled back into a ponytail. The 18th century wants their hairstyle back, she thought. When she saw his face she froze. His eyes were wide in recognition too.
"Manfred I'd like you to meet Maya Asher. She is the new assistant teacher in the art department. Miss Asher, this is my son Manfred Bloor." Dr. Bloor said from his chair.
"Nice to meet you." She held out her hand. Please don't recognize me. Manfred took it and she could have sworn she felt the sensation of burning before he let go.
Damn, I thought he was supposed to have graduated. This is a major set back; Manfred can not get in my way. She contemplated this all the way down the hall. She stared at her hand wondering whether she had imagined the intense heat that had come from the boy's hand.
Mr. Tredale saw the worried look on Maya's face as he unlocked the art room. "Don't let Manfred get you down." He told her smiling. "He really isn't at all as scary as he makes out to be, but he is endowed so it would be a good idea to watch your back with him around."
"Endowed?"
Mr. Tredale pushed open the door. "The children of the Red King, they have special powers. Manfred, if I remember correctly, was able to hypnotize people by looking into their eyes."
"Was, sir?"
"I believe that he may have lost that ability but gained another power, something much stronger." Mr. Tredale sighed. "And you can just call me Carl. So what do you think of your new classroom?" He asked waving a hand at the art room before them.
Maya's mouth was open gaping at the beauty of the room. Never before had she seen such an immense amount of paint, clay, charcoal, and any art supplies under the sun. Her own art studio didn't have a fraction of what was in this room. Nearly every shelf was filled with supplies and tools; those that weren't were clean and waiting to be filled with students' work. "I can't believe this. This room is incredible." She ran her fingers over the tables wanting nothing more than to touch everything in sight just to be sure this was real. She was in heaven, never mind that she was at Bloor's academy. "Do you have a kiln?" She asked.
Mr. Tredale chuckled. "In the room off to your right." He watched as she opened the door and gasped in delight.
"Three kilns!? It's official I'm definitely never leaving this room. This place is an artist's dream come true. Well at least this room is, now the mansion it resides in… not so much." He laugh heartily at her exasperation and she smiled guiltily.
"Well unfortunately we must continue on to where you'll be staying. You have your things with you am I correct?"
"Yes, but it's all in my car…no don't worry about it," she said as he tried to offer to get it. "I'll deal with it in the morning. I love early morning walks."
"Alright then this way." He led her to her chambers and before turning in he told her about the goings of Bloors. "All three meals are held in the cafeteria where both student and staff eat. There are three different departments: Art, Music, and Drama. Art is green, Music-blue, and Drama would be purple. Each student wears a cape of their department, as do the teachers of those departments. Teachers and teacher's assistants that don't belong to any specific department wear black capes. Are you with me so far?"
She stared blankly at him, "Capes?" She said in disbelief.
"Yes, is there a problem with that?"
"No not at all." Except a major fashion problem, well it could be worse. Having real uniforms and not being able to wear jeans and such. She shuddered inwardly. "Please continue."
"Now the endowed children that I had mentioned earlier go to the King's Room for a two hour homework period. The other children will proceed to their classrooms. That is the basics of the school, along with the department classes are the usual English, History, Math, and such. If you have any questions feel free to ask me any time. The first day of the semester is tomorrow so rest is needed"
"Yes, thank you." He nodded and left.
Maya sighed heavily and fell onto the bed. So far, so- there is no need to say that Maya say that and everything will go wrong. Like things aren't bad enough, Manfred of all the no good, idiotic people on this planet why him? He should have graduated. Most likely he stayed to work for his father and great-grandfather. He is still an idiot. She got off the bed and walked back to the art room. For awhile she sat there at the window looking out at the field and ruins. He isn't the same person anymore. I know, I know.
A/N: Love it? Hate it? I don't care which one it is but tell me what you think about it. I love criticism so if you have advice for me bring it on. The only ones I own in this particular chapter is Maya Asher and Carl Tredale (who is the art teacher cause I didn't see the replacement for Mr. Sparks (whatever his fake name was) name so I made one up). Next chapter to be posted soon!
