{Prologue}
The shattered pieces of my soul are left broken and forgotten. Screaming, fear, depression, crying, anger and violence is all I've even known. The banging, the yelling, the weeping still rings in my ears, reminding me of my violent past. The ringing isn't the only unwanted souvenir of my prior years, along with it are the mocking voices, and the dream. The dream that revisits my unconscious mind every night. It causes the screaming, the terror, the drive to pick up the shiny silver blade that lies in the depths of my bags. Just like he did. The scars that stretch over my body are only skin deep, but the scars in my soul will remain there forever. They same time eases pain, but what if my time means forever? He caused the scars. I'm only human. I make mistakes. And I have proof of almost every single one etched into my skin. I remember his fake cries, his dishonest begging. I remember the evil, thick crimson liquid pouring out of him. The way his eyes looked, angry and hateful. His false apologies. The pain in his eyes. Though it was only physical. Not even close to mine.
{Chapter 1}
"We're here," the taxi driver said impatiently. I reached into the pocket of my expensive jeans and pulled out a twenty dollar bill. I put it into his large hand and stepped out of the mustard yellow cab. Quickly, I walked around to the back, and lifted the trunk. I pulled out the denim luggage from the shallow space, and shut it firmly. The cab drove away, leaving its tracks in the white snow. In a hurry to get away from the blasting cold wind hitting my face, I walked to the building that was only a few yards away from me. From behind me, I could hear the gates closing, and finally locking in everything that remained inside the barbed wire gates. I walked into the warm building, relieved to feel the warm heater's air thawing out my porcelain skin. I looked around, seeing a wooden door with a somewhat transparent frame. On it had the word 'Office' on it. I took a step toward it, slowly opening it. It creaked to a stop as I walked in.
"Welcome to Wings & Stones. How may I help you?" A woman asked, not even looking up from her paperwork.
"Um, I just got here. I'm supposed to be attending," I replied, walking up to the marble desk.
The woman finally looked up at me, peering at me through her thick, rectangular glasses that lay on the bridge of her small, thin, straight nose. Her dark red lips were pursed in a straight line.
"Name?" She asked, turning to an old, yellowing computer.
"Waverly Olive Zanetti," I answered.
Once she was finished clicking and sorting through information, she said, very quietly, "Schizophrenic pyromaniac."
Then, she looked at me, searching my face to see if I had heard her. I stared back at her with blank, innocent eyes, portraying the idea that hadn't even acknowledged the fact that she had spoken. She tore her eyes away from mine, and spun her swivel chair to a bulky printer to get a paper I hadn't even realized had been printing. She handed me a gray sheet of paper, boring my information such as name, room number, grade level, etc, and a smooth golden key. I stuffed the key deep into my black jeans as she started talking.
"Now, here at Wings & stones we have rules. Curfew is 10:00, which means you must be in your room by that time. No leaving the campus under any circumstances. Other than that, your regular school rules. Oh, and remember. There are cameras everywhere. My name is Miss Sandra," she said. "Your room is on the 3rd floor, 12C. Now, scatter."
I walked out the office, closing the heavy, squeaky wooden door behind me. I walked down the vacant halls, till I found a metallic, scratched door labeled elevator. I pressed the button with the arrow pointing up. It flickered orange a few times, making me wonder how old this facility really was. I tapped my fingers against my thighs, and hoped that the elevator would be empty when it opened. A few seconds late, my hopes were confirmed and I stepped into the plain, vacant elevator. I pressed the third number from the bottom, and waited as the elevator slowly passed the second floor.
"Here we are," I murmured to myself as I stepped out. Above me, I saw three arrows joined hanging from the ceiling. The one on the very top said 1C-10C. The middle one said 11C-20C. I didn't even bother looking at the very last one, so I headed straight down the hall. I shortly found my room after, and fished out the key from the depths of my jeans. I stuck it into the lock, and turned the knob. I dragged my luggage in, and closed the door behind me.
"Well, hello there."
I almost jumped across the room, and turned abruptly.
"Now, now, no need to jump out of your pants. My name is Haven," A girl with short, black hair with a bright, purple streak running through it. Her dark brown eyes sparkled with humor. The corners of her thin, red lips were pulled up in a smirk. She wore a black and purple plaid flannel shirt which overlapped her black leggings that hugged her curves. Her feet were bare, just her toes had black nail polish on it. She walked over to be and extended her hand.
"Your name?"
"Waverly," I replied, putting my hand in hers. She shook it, and then let go. A girl shorter than her got off of a bed and walked over.
"And I'm Shiloh," she said with a comforting smile. Out of nowhere, she gave me a hug, then broke away after about three seconds. She put her wavy, dark brown hair behind her ears to reveal her butterscotch gold, big eyes.
I smiled uncomfortably. Haven suddenly took my luggage and stuck it underneath one of two empty beds. They slipped their arms through mine and led me out of the room and down a series of stairs which were all the way in the back of the hallway.
"I hope you don't mind me asking, but where are we going?" I asked.
"To meet the others," Haven said simply.
My eyebrow furrowed. We reached the bottom floor. Shiloh opened the door, which led us to the back of the building. To our right, was a door that had a sign that said in all caps 'EXIT.'
Shiloh opened the door, and I stepped out. In the middle, was an old, ceramic fountain that didn't have any water in it, and looked like it hadn't in centuries. There were a bunch of clusters of people, and Shiloh broke apart and went to a group of people a couple of yards away. Haven led me towards the center, which had 14 people, I counted.
"Hey guys. This is Waverly. She's Shiloh and I's new roommate," Haven introduced.
A chorus of 'Hey!'s and 'Hello's and 'Whoa, a new kid' erupted from the group.
One guy rolled his eyes, but a kind smile was on his face. He had tan skin, and green eyes. He had jet black hair, almost as dark as mine. He had a build, not overly muscular, but slightly. He extended his arm.
"I'm Ace," Ace said, still with the amazing smile that was so effortlessly flawless on his face.
"Waverly," I said stupidly, shaking his hand. I could feel all my blood rush to my face. He laughed. I noticed his plain, black long sleeve shirt and his black skinny jeans, that looked great on him.
"I'll introduce you," Ace offered. "Chace, Emerson, Anderson, Emmalynn, Jailynn, Rain, Blain, Rhyler, Kyler, Blair, Klair, Drake, and Blake."
I nodded and smiled, even though I knew I wouldn't remember all these names later. I noticed everyone's name rhymed, except for Raven and Chace. Then a moment after, I remember about Haven and Ace.
Then, they all turned to continue their conversations, the amazement of me wearing off.
"Come on, I won't let you be ignored," Ace said kindly with that amazing smile, and gently touched my elbow motioning me to follow him.
I nodded, and followed.
"So, where from?" Ace asked, trying to make a conversation.
"Laguna Beach," I answered simply.
He nodded. "Do you like it here so far?"
"Um.." I started, not really sure how to answer the question. After all, it was a reformatory school. "Well, everybody's been nice to me. So far, at least."
Ace laughed, and before long he weaved me through a bunch of trees and to a lake that looked like it was starting to freeze over.
"In a few days, it'll freeze and we'll be able to skate on it," Ace said looking at me. "Do you skate?"
"Roller. Kind of," I answered, my cheeks flushing red.
Ace chuckled under his breath and sat down. He patted the space next to him, and I sat down with my legs folded.
"So… how old are you?" He asked, looking at the icy water.
"Sixteen," I responded. "How about you?"
"Seventeen," he answered.
I nodded, not sure what to say next.
"What got you in here?" Ace asked, tearing his eyes away from the icy lake. He looked me deep in the eyes. His gaze almost made me gasp, it was strong, and almost like he could peer into my soul. A tingly feeling bubbled from inside of me. It seemed like he had grabbed my soul, and was pulling me up. Then, his look softened, and I felt like I had just been released after being choked, released and free. I saw a look flash in his eyes. Anger? Frustration? Both? He quickly looked away before I could interrogate. He looked back at me, and I remembered he had asked me something but I couldn't remember what it was.
"I beg your pardon?" I asked in a polite tone.
'What got you in here? Ya know, sent to a reform school?"
I pursed my lips into a straight line and looked at my feet.
"Oh, I get it. It's alright, you don't have to tell me," Ace replied with understanding.
He touched my arm, and reflexively, I snapped it back.
"Um, thanks," I muttered, standing.
"I'm gonna go unpack. Um, bye," I said, and quickly walked away. Once, I was out of eyesight, I ran. I didn't know why I was running, because I'm pretty sure he wasn't following. Once I got back to the courtyard, I walked normally.
"Waverly! Over here!" I heard what sounded like Shiloh's voice.
I walked over uncertainly, since she was surrounded by a couple of people I obviously didn't know.
"Hey!" Shiloh said with a smile.
"Hi.." I replied cautiously.
"I wanted you to meet some people," Shiloh explained.
She put her arm through mine. "This is Jude, Jonah, Connor, Violet, Carson, and Hallie," Shiloh introduced. "Guys, meet Waverly."
"Waverly! I love your name!" Hallie said. She had red, curly hair and sea green eyes.
"Thank you," I said out of instinctual politeness.
"Hey," the guy named Carson said.
I just nodded. The other one, Jude just smiled a hello, and Violet smiled a shy smile. Connor was engrossed in what looked like an iPod Touch. And Jonah just looked at me with cautious eyes. I looked into his intense, dark brown eyes, and then looked away.
"Waverly Zanetti," I heard a loud voice say. I turned, seeing a small, fragile girl poking her head out from a door leading to the inside of a building.
"Bye," I said, walking over to the girl.
"That would be me," I told her.
"Alright then, this way if you would, please," the girl said with a sweet smile. She was short, maybe about 5'1, and she had long, light brown hair that hung down in brown ringlets down her back. I followed, my mind wandering, the thinking about the fact that I was trusting this stranger, having no idea where she was taking me.
"If you don't mind me asking, where are we going?" I asked politely.
"Someone's on the phone for you."