Chapter One:

It was one of those days that was surprisingly cold and all you want to do is sit in an over-cushy chair, covered in fuzzy blankets, and sip on hot chocolate. The weather had taken a nasty turn and was now making weathermen change their forecasts immediately. The wind beat fiercely against a window at Harrows Academy, a large school that looked frighteningly like a prison.

One prisoner – ahem, student was sitting at her desk staring dreamily out the window. Her head was resting in her hand and her pencil doodled drawings that only made sense to the artist. She came to an abrupt awakening when her teacher slammed a book on her desk. "Care to join the living again Krystal?" snapped fifty-eight year old Ms. Governty. Krystal blushed and murmured a yes ma'am. As her smirking teacher walked back up to the front of the room, Krystal let a sheet of chocolate brown hair fall in front of her face to block the laughing faces of her classmates. Staring at the doodles in front of her, she could feel her face slowly starting to go back to its normal color. She had been sketching a boy.

Lately she had been drawing this one boy. He had appeared in a number of her dreams and soon it was like he was real to her. His shaggy black hair was unruly and his green eyes were a brilliant emerald. He always wore a pair of round glasses and a shy but nice smile. What really surprised her was a scar; she assumed it was a scar, on his forehead. It was in the shape of a lightning bolt. She didn't know it was possible to have a scar shaped like that but it seemed to make him different enough that he was important. Of course she had never seen him before and had no idea why she dreamed about him.

All of her notebooks now contained drawings of him, all realistic as if he was sitting on that lined paper posing for her. She drew him as often as possible trying to figure out who he was. She hoped that there was a clue in each drawing, something that would lead her closer to who he was. Krystal's thoughts were broken by the nasal sounding voice that belonged to her teacher. She sighed and slowly brought her focus back to geometry.

The bell rang thirty-five minutes later and Krystal quickly gathered her stuff up together. Thank god it's lunch, she thought to herself as she rushed out of the classroom. She couldn't wait to get out of the stuffy room. How were kids supposed to focus on math in such a cramped room? Making her way to her locker, she was aware of someone staring at her. She slowly did a 360 and saw the person who was staring at her. It was a fellow student named Eric.
Krystal didn't believe in labels but had to admit that Eric definitely was a "sci-fi geek". His hair was the color of mud and it closely resembled a fuzzy Q-tip. His eyes were dark both in color and feeling and his skin was that paleness you only achieved by reading comics, playing video games, and whatever geeks did. His T-shirt at the moment was surprise, surprise – a black shirt with a Star Trek logo. Black baggy jeans ended in black converse.

Sucking in her breath, Krystal looked away. His stare was unnerving… never blinking and never leaving her face. Eric had had an apparent crush on her since sixth grade when she asked to borrow his notes in science. She really wished she could go back in time and undo that day. His fascination with her was a little creepy from his following her everywhere, always staring her, and offering to carry her books for her. Her friends thought of it as a huge joke but Krystal really wished that he would just leave her alone. Rushing to her locker, she pushed all thoughts on Eric out of her mind.

After spinning the dial on her locker, she shoved her stuff in and slammed it shut. Mentally making a note to organize her locker, she wedged past other kids to the lunchroom. Walking in, she was attacked by the smell of greasy cheesy pizza. She smiled and inhaled deeply. This and PE was her favorite subjects this year – and lunch wasn't even a subject. She quickly went through the lunch line and scanned the large jam-packed room for her friends. Seeing her waving friend Ginger, she grinned widely and sidestepped some tables and sat down. "Hey girl," exclaimed Ginger, shaking sandy blonde curls over her shoulder.

Krystal responded by rubbing her stomach energetically. "Hungry," was her one word reply. Her other friend Lindsey laughed. "That makes two of us. Oh man, you should have seen Krys's face in geometry! It was so funny, the Governty was so mad at her," Lindsey said with a giggle. Krystal snorted. "It was not funny." Ginger grinned wickedly. "Were you drawing your boyfriend?" she asked, drawing out the word boyfriend.

Taking a bite of her practically steaming pizza, Krystal's eyes narrowed. She swallowed and jabbed her finger at Ginger. "How many times do I have to tell you that he is not my boyfriend? I don't even know who he is, he just appears in my dreams." The discussion was cut short however by the arrival of their own teacher, Ms. Governty. "Krystal," she said in a sickly sweet voice, "Do you think you can come down to my room I have something I need to talk about with you and it would make it easier if we did it now."

Krystal knew that saying no was not an option so with a longing glance at her pizza and a wave to her friends; she trudged behind her teacher out into the hallway. The hallway was empty and the only sound was the squeaking of her sneakers and the clicking of Ms. Governty's high heels. They reached Room 29 and they walked in. The door slammed behind and Krystal and she refrained herself from jerking and satisfied herself with a twitch. "Please," said Ms. Governty startling Krystal. "Sit," she said with a motion to a front row seat.

Krystal lowered herself down and unsure of what to do with her arms, crossed them across her chest. She had no idea what this was about though she had a vague idea that it had to do with today's class. "Now, who exactly is this?" Ms. Governty asked with a smile that looked like a cat that had just swallowed a canary. She was holding up Krystal's notebook and it was opened to a page that Krystal had labored over for hours.

Jumping out of her chair, Krystal tried to grab the notebook but grasped empty air. "Give it back," she shrieked. She would not have this woman hold her notebook captive! Ms. Governty had snatched it back and her grin turned decidedly wolfish. "Now, now Krystal. Calm down and just tell me," she coaxed, seating herself on her desk. "Give it back," Krystal snarled, gritting her teeth and balling her hands into fists. Hatred coursed through her and she felt her fingers tingling. And then it happened.

It probably took her two seconds to realize that her geometry teacher was screaming and jumping up and down… and that Ms. Governty's desk was in flame. The heat scorched Krystal's face and eyes. Her jaw was dropped but shut it when she felt Ms. Governty shaking her. "I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU DID IT, BUT YOU DID IT! YOU SET MY DESK ON FIRE!" screamed the teacher. To Krystal's horror, someone heard the screams and ran in.

Eric's eyes were as round as saucers as he took in the scene around him. Krystal managed to break free and run to the desk, ignoring the burning sensation taking over her body. Her notebook was on the table, flames devouring the drawings she had worked so hard on. She let out a choking sob and started to reach her hand in to grab the notebook. Clammy cold hands grabbed her arm and her head swung around to see Eric. "What are you, stupid?" he shouted, shoving his face in front of Krystal's. Krystal wrenched her arm out of his grasp and ran from the room.

Racing through the hall, she ignored the calls from Eric and the warning looks from janitors. Shoving open the doors to the field, she burst out into the open air. She gulped in fresh air and let the cold wind whip around her. She knew that people would soon follow her so she began to run across the concrete and onto the grass. She reached the lone tree at the back of the field before her legs gave out and she collapsed. There was no sound other than her ragged breath.

She lay there trying to catch her breath before she slowly raised herself up into a sitting position. She closed her eyes and leaned against the thick trunk. She felt so empty without for her notebook. It was like the boy had disappeared in the flames along too. Letting the wind blow over her, she sat for what seemed like forever especially compared to what had just happened. In reality it had only taken about five minutes. She opened her eyes in surprise at this thought. It had seemed to drag on and then be over in just a c couple of seconds. Then she saw something in the sky.

At first all she could see was a black dot but then it became larger. It was obviously a bird but what kind of bird? It was much too bulky for an eagle and too small. Then it dawned on her. It was an owl. This was an incredibly dumb idea considering owls do not come out at twelve noon yet here was one flying right at her. It was a beautiful tawny owl and in its beak was an – an envelope. Krystal's eyes widened as it flew right up to her and dropped the envelope in her lap and then took off. With trembling fingers, she lifted it up and looked at it. In spidery green ink, it was clearly addressed to her.

To Miss Krystal Hayden

In front of the birch tree

London England