Chapter one

The mysterious letter

Rosalie smiled to herself as she saw the little feather on the floor. She picked it up and turned it this way and that under the light, smiling again at the flickers of green, blue and red. She placed the feather in the palm of her hand. It was so fragile, so beautiful. She ran her finger along the shaft gently, thinking absent mindedly of being late. Somehow, although she knew she had to be at least ten minutes late by now, she felt she couldn't leave the feather, not on the bathroom window sill. She glanced back at it again. It was perfect in every way. She took a deep breath, breathing it in. One last look, for the road, she thought, then, tearing her eyes away from it at last, she slipped it carefully into her pocket.

"Sorry I'm late Miss." said Rosalie, as she burst through the classroom door.

"That's twice this week Rosalie. This is unacceptable. You do realise i cannot let this go unpunished anymore." said Miss Cereno, glancing up from the papers she was marking. "Detention. Friday after school."

"Yes Miss. Sorry again Miss." said Rosalie, sliding into her seat and rummaging in her back for her text book. She couldn't find it. Damn.

"Um...Miss?" said Rosalie, raising her hand.

"Yes, Rosalie?" said Miss Cereno.

"I...er...forgot my book Miss"

"Double detention. Share with David for today. I am very disappointed in you." She said harshly glaring over her spectacles at Rosalie.

"Spent too much time staring at feathers." muttered someone to Rosalie's left.

Startled, she gazed wildly around, looking for the owner of the voice.

"Over here."

There was a girl sitting next to her. A girl Rosalie didn't recognize. A girl who had never been there before.

"Er...sorry to bother you again Miss." called Rosalie, raising her hand tentatively into the air again.

"What is it now Rosalie?" said Miss Cereno, not even bothering to look up from her marking this time.

"Who is...er...sitting beside me?"

"That is Kumico." said Miss Cereno. "She's here to keep up on her arithmetic while she is on holiday from her other school." She finished, with a look of great distaste.

Rosalie glanced round at the girl. On holiday from her other school? That's odd, she thought. All the schools around here have the same holidays.

"What other school?" Rosalie asked quietly.

"A special school." muttered Kumico with an unpleasant smirk. Somewhere far off, the bell rang. "A school that, by the looks of it, you will know a lot about very soon" With that she gathered up her things and left without so much as a backward glance.

Rosalie thought about what Kumico had said all day. What special school? How would she know a lot about it? She was utterly bewildered. She was just thinking of what a special school could be when something caught her eye. A pale grey feather had just dropped onto the desk in front of her. She glanced around to see if anyone had noticed, no one had however, they were all too busy revising. She slid a hand out from under her jumper and picked up the feather, tucking it into her pocket with the one from earlier. She would look at it later.

Rosalie sat down in an empty seat by the window of the school bus. It was rather empty because there was a football game on at school that night so not many people wanted to go home. She would never understand football. Never. She slid a hand into her pocket and drew out six feathers. She set her back pack on her knee then laid the feathers on top. The newest feather, the grey one, was the same as the others, the same size and shape. Probably from the same species of bird. But where are they coming from? She wondered. You see, for the past few months, Rosalie had been finding these feathers everywhere. She would be walking somewhere or doing something then suddenly a feather would catch her eye. She fingered them all gently, not wanting to damage them at all. They were impossibly fragile. Then another thought struck her, how did Kumico know about the fathers? She glanced around but Kumico wasn't on the bus. Yes, it was a mystery. The bus stopped outside her street with a jolt.

"Hey mum!"

"Oh! Hey Rosalie. How was school today? Did you get in anymore trouble?" replied her mum from the kitchen.

"Well..."

"Well what?" her mum asked warningly.

"Igotanotherdetention." said Rosalie quickly.

"Rose! Not again!" said her mum exasperatedly.

"I know. I know. Sorry mum. I really had to go to the bathroom so I was late for English. I promise it won't happen again"

She walked into the kitchen and kissed her mum on the forehead and then she quickly disappeared up stairs before her mum got angry.

"You always say that!" her mum called after her.

Upstairs, Rosalie flopped down onto her bed, exhausted and confused. She groped about for her television remote. Finding it, she turned the TV on.

"In other news, Lincoln Street High School in Kent has had some unexpected visitors today."

Rosalie sat up. Lincoln Street High School? That was her school.

"Two owls, one an Sooty Owl and the other a Great Grey Owl, were spotted flying in and out of the school this afternoon."

Owls? The feathers! They must be owl feathers! She thought excitedly. She sprung up off the bed and plunged her hand into her back pack, fishing out the feathers just in time. Two pictures of large owls appeared on the screen.

"These feathers match perfectly!" she screeched, unable to contain her excitement.

"What did you say love?" came her mum's voice from downstairs.

"Nothing mum!"

So these owls that had been visiting her school were actually visiting her!

"This is very strange behaviour indeed as neither of these breeds of owl is native to this area. More on this later."

Rosalie glanced at the TV again. It had gone onto a story about the world's largest flowering shrub. She sighed. If these birds weren't native to Kent, where were they coming from? And why?

She went over to her computer and opened up the internet.

"Where is the Sooty Owl found?" she said to herself as she typed.

Almost instantly a list of helpful pages popped up. She chose the top one.

"The Sooty Owl (Tyto tenebricosa), also known as the Greater Sooty Owl, is a medium to large owl found in south-eastern a Australia, Montane rainforests of New Guinea and have been seen on Flinders Island in the Bass Strait." She read aloud.

Well, that certainly isn't native, she thought.

"Where is the Great Grey Owl found?"

"The Great Grey Owl or Lapland Owl (Strix nebulosa) is a very large owl, distributed across the Uppermost Northern Hemisphere." She muttered again.

That's definitely not native either. Hmmm, she thought.

She flopped down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. Why would owls be coming to visit her from Australia and other far off places? What was this special school? Could the two things be related in any way? She shook her head frantically, as though trying to clear it of all thoughts.

"Dinner!" shouted her mum

authors note: hello! i hope you enjoyed my first ever chapter of my first ever story! it would be great if you could review it, even if it's to say how much you hated it. constructive critisism is welcome. next chapter soon. im quite happy with this one so fingers crossed you liked it ! :)