Chapter 1

Tiberius

School Troubles

Have you ever seen something that you just can't explain? Maybe someone with a single eye right in the middle of their head or a dog the size of a school bus. If so you either are insane or able to see through the mist. Well until a few days ago I thought my sister and I were insane.

My name is Tiberius Lagrange.

I am thirteen years old. Just a few weeks ago I was living with my mom and half sister Mara, while attending River End Middle School. My life was pretty normal except for the strange things I saw every now and then. Then about a month ago a new teacher came to my school.

My normal English teacher Mr. Deek went on leave due to "personal matters" and was supposed to be gone for a while. That is when my worst nightmare came into my life Ms. Connors. She was short black haired with striking grey eyes that could see into your very soul, with a voice that made nails on the chalkboard sound like my favorite song.

Being dyslexic already made English hard enough but with a teacher that pushed me harder then my own mother it was like torture. She expected me to read out loud in class and when I got a word mixed up I could swear I saw her eyes turn reptilian like a snake. To make things worse she also taught my little sister who like me was dyslexic meaning we both noticed the same things about our beloved teacher.

If it wasn't for my friend Lloyd Green, Mara and I would never have made it out of Ms .Connors class literally. He was my age with curly blonde hair and green eyes. Like me he was an outcast more so because of his strange habits such as making strange noises when agitated then purposely like me. Another reason may have been the constant limp in his walk. Even though he may have had weak legs he still moved pretty fast when he smelled food.

So by the end of the first week I dreaded going to class even more then normal, which was really something considering my previous feelings about the subject. So on the Friday of the first week Ms. Connors was there I was told by her to stay after school for extra help. Little did I know so were Lloyd and my sister. Needless to say I was surprised when I got there and they were there too. Quickly getting over it I sat down so that I wouldn't have to hear the teacher speak only to hear her screech about me not moving fast enough.

When I reached my seat she handed out worksheets that had strange pictures on them like birds carrying people off and a dog breathing fire at some snake looking creature. Not seeing what this had to do with English Mara raised her hand to ask a question.

"Yes girl what do you want?" Hissed Mr. Connors

"I was just wondering what do pictures have to do with extra help in English?" questioned Mara sounding annoyed with the way she was acknowledged

"Ask Mr. Green he looks like he understands how the pictures will help you."

Looking over at my friend I had never seen him so nervous before so I knew something bad was going to happen. He started to make the noises he usually does when he gets agitated and pulled the reed pipes he sometimes played out of his pocket. At the time I could only think how pointless it was but then Mara screamed.

Any other time I would have found my teacher turning into a half human half snake thing awesome but right then and there I wanted to scream. Even though I was terrified I got up. Letting my protective instincts take hold I got up and ran to my little sister before anything bad could happen. Across the room Lloyd started playing a song on his reed pipes that sounded like Mozart, which seemed to draw Ms. Connor's attention towards him.

"Your music will do nothing satyr."

"We'll see" was all Lloyd said before he continued to play.

All of a sudden vines grew out of the floor and started to bind the creature to the ground. Thinking her subdued Lloyd turned towards me only to be sent flying by a recovering Ms. Connors. Watching my friend go flying made me mad but I had to protect my sister so I took the full force of the hit when my teacher hit me with her snake like tail and knocked me to the floor. Despite the pain I got back up again only to jump in the way of another blow aimed at my sister. By then Lloyd was back on his feet only this time he had no shoes and he didn't have feet, instead he had hooves.

Now it looked like we were surrounded by monster on both sides. One a crazy snake lady the other a goat boy. Now scared out of her mind Mara began to scream, while I was still trying to pick myself up again. Deciding that I would die fighting to save Mara, I got back up once again and grabbed the nearest object I could find. Too bad it was only a text book because Ms. Connors only chuckled when it hit her. Following my lead Mara threw another one only for the same thing to happen.

Suddenly Lloyd got in front of us and began to once again play his reed pipes causing more vines to sprout from the floor. Turning around Lloyd handed me ring he always wore. It had the design of giant trees all around it except for the blood red gem stone in the middle. He then handed Mara a bronze knife Ms. Connors had dropped during all the commotion. At the time I was like what the heck she gets a knife and I get a ring.

"Hey Lloyd besides the fact you have hooves and we are fighting a snake women what am I supposed to do with this ring?"

"Press the gem stone on the ring and think of a sword and it should become one."

"Right like that can happen" I snapped sarcastically

"Just do it if you want to live" said the exasperated goat boy.

With out any better ideas of my own I pressed the gem and thought of a sword. In my hand appeared a sword that was about three feet long and made out of the same material as the knife. Now I could at least fight back. The vines didn't hold for long and once more my teacher tried to kill me. My instincts took over; I jumped out of the way of her tail and used her approaching fist as a springboard to vault over head. I didn't even have time to wonder how I did it before she attacked again. Now a sword appeared in both of her hands and I could only roll under the blades to avoid losing my head.

Getting back up on my feet I saw Mara sneak up behind the creature and stab her knife into it's back only for the armor it was wearing deflect the blow. The creature turned around and swung it blades only for me to run it through with my sword. Now with my blade impaled in her chest Ms. Connors could only scream as she crumbled into dust.