Ever sat in the hospital bed, staring glumly at her food. She peeked out the window; it was grey outside, and the rain was pouring. She though the weather was appropriate for her mood.

Her aunt had found her passed out on the blacony lying in a pool of her own blood. She'd been rushed to the hospital, and the doctors had barely been able to save her life.
She wished they hadn't.

There was always someone with her now; either a nurse, a doctor or a random cleaning person. She didn't like having close to zero privacy, but she could see why they had arranged it that way; she had tried to commit suicide, after all.

She was going to check out from the hospital today. One would think that that was something positive, but not for Ever. She was going to be escorted straight to a boarding school called Castle. It was for Ever had only read a small brochure her aunt had brought her, so she didn't know all that much about it. All she knew as that it held a very high academic level, that cell phones were not allowed, and that it lay two hours away from California with a car. She'd also been told she would have daily appointments with a shrink there, even though she had kind of guessed that herself.

Her aunt didn't want her to be sent to a mental hospital, which was what the doctors had recommended. Then Sabine had thought of something else; Ever could go to Castle, a special academy for exceptionally smart kids. It was a very exclusive school, and usually you had to go through a long process containing hard physical and mental tests to get accepted, but Sabine was a very successful and rich woman. She had the money and the contacts. She had pulled a few strings and offered a generous quantity of money to the school, and it was the kind of amount no one could ever refuse, not even the most stuck up scholars and professors.

Also, she wasn't completely oblivious of her niece's actions; she knew of her nieces drinking problems, and now this. She could feel in her heart that this was the right choice, and didn't even think twice about sending Ever away. It was a fresh start from everything, and she thought that exactly what she needed. Coming to California hadn't been enough, obviously.

However, deciding to enroll Ever at Castle didn't mean Sabine was shocked and upset that Ever had tried to kill herself. It didn't get any better with Ever refusing to tell anyone why and hardly talking to anyone at all. Miles and Haven had come and visited her once, but all Ever did was stare out the windows.

"Aren't you going to eat that?" The question came from the nurse in the corner of the room. Ever looked up from her full tray of food to the nurse. She looked about fifty, was skinny with mousy brown hair that was fastened in a tight bun on the top of her head. She had a strange smile plastered on her face; it almost looked like a grimace and her facial muscles were so strained it looked like it must have hurt. Ever knew it was completely fake.
Ever shook her long, golden hair. "No. I'm not hungry." The nurse quickly lost her smile, and she opened her mouth to say something, but was stopped by the lady who stuck her head in the door.
She was pretty, and young; to her mid to late twenties, Ever decided. She had short, straight brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. Her skin was fair and looked fresh, and her smile wasn't like all the oth; it was a real, genuine smile. Ever glanced down at the name tag on the pretty woman's sweater; It read Vera.
"Are you Ever Bloom?" Vera's voice was feather light and had a hint of a sounthern accent it it. Ever nodded, and Vera beamed at her in response. "Hi, I'm Vera. I'm here to take you to Castle."