Chapter 1

The door creaked open as Sarah Ford, my adoptive mother, walked into the room. You see, both of my parents died when I was little, but I was adopted when I was four.

"Nightmare again, Annah?" Sarah asked.

My real name is Saviannah Ariadne Hadia, but my adoptive family insisted on calling me 'a slightly more normal name derived from my first name'.

Sarah pushed a few strands of my dark wavy hair off my face as I nodded.

One look at the green clock on my blue bedroom wall confirmed that I was going to be late if I didn't get ready right now.

I was starting a new school today; it was in Upper East Side Manhattan.

As my 'Mom' walked out of the room I quickly got dressed, pulling on black skinny jeans, a sea green t-shirt and black high top sneakers. I brushed my hair so that it fell down my back in waves, leaving a few strands to cover my face.

Satisfied with my appearance, I whizzed down the stairs, two at a time. As I opened the oak kitchen door, the smell of warm pancakes and maple syrup greeted me. A good breakfast to start what would hopefully be a good day.

Today, my adoptive father, Jim would drive me to school. It was the middle of the school year.

I practically inhaled the pancakes, but not before drowning them in maple syrup. They were delicious. I washed them down with a glass of orange juice.

After that, Jim and I walked out the front door to his battered red Ford Mondeo. (A/N kinda ironic that the ford family have a ford isn't it?) Its tan leather seats were hard and cracked with age. The sides and bonnet of the car were dented in multiple places.

After several attempts the back door reluctantly opened and I flung in my school bag then myself.

A few minutes of painful silence later, Jim set off. The engine spluttered to life and the tyres squealed as the car sped down the road.

In about twenty minutes, we arrived outside a modern looking building. It was made of red brick with large windows covering it. Over the front door a blue and white sign proudly announced that this building was 'Saint Helens Academic Boarding an Day School'. Admittedly it did take me a while to read this thanks to my dyslexia. At first it looked like 'Antis lhanse Dacecami Dabgroin nad Ayd lcohos'.

I opened the car door and walked out, jims ice blue eyes shone as he smiled encouragingly at me.

My sneakers made no sound on the hard concrete as I walked towards the large glass doors. The wind blew my nearly black, wavy hair around my face. The silver flecks in my green eyes shone silver in the warm city sun.

When I reached the door, I put my hand forward and pushed it open.

Inside was a large and modern reception area with a large glass topped pine desk, behind which sat a plump old lady with white hair and a friendly smile.

As I approached she said, in a well practiced voice, "Welcome to Saint Helens Academic Boarding and Day School. My name is Mrs. Green, how may I help you?"

"Ermm, I'm Ariadne Ford, I'm new here." It came out sounding more like a question than a statement.

"oh yes dear, here's your schedule, you have Math, English, Music, Art and Latin today." With thart Mrs. Green handed me a sheet of paper before continuing, "Get your teachers to sign that and bring it back here at the end of the day."

I nodded and walked off. I would be one of the few non-boarders at this school.