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CinderCinder had only just finished changing into her robes when the train arrived at Artemisia. The school uniform consisted of a stiff, long-sleeved black button-up shirt with a black tie and a black sweater vest as well as a black skirt that went down to Cinder's ankles and black socks with black shoes and the robe was, yup, black. The only non-black thing she was wearing were her gloves, and they weren't part of the uniform so they hardly counted.
It was the stubborn black of the entire wardrobe that confused Cinder most of all, especially since Iko and Thorne's uniforms had golden vests over their black shirts, golden socks, golden stripes on their black ties and golden fabric on the insides of their robes. Even Iko's skirt had gold embroidery! Kai's looked fairly similar to Cinder's, except his shirt and socks were white. Looking down at her own black-on-black clothes, Cinder couldn't help but wonder if Adri had bought her the wrong uniform.
So, feeling even more self-conscious than before, Cinder stepped off the train and looked around the sea of students steadily spilling through the open doors, desperately searching for a completely black uniform. But everywhere she turned she was met with golden vests, silver ties and shimmering grey robes.
Cinder felt herself cringe with embarrassment as she shuffled along with the flood. Of course it would be her who'd have the wrong uniform. She hadn't even walked into the actual school yet and already she stuck out a like a sore thumb. Great, just great.
"Oh thank Merlin!"
Cinder turned instinctively to see who had squealed and was met with the sight of a short girl with ridiculously long blonde hair tied up in a braid hurrying towards her. But what caught Cinder's attention the most wasn't the girl's hair, or the fact that she was coming towards Cinder. It was her black-on-black uniform.
Cinder fought back a relieved smile at the sight, knowing now that she wouldn't be the only one in the school with a colourless wardrobe. She'd still stick out, just not quite as much.
The short girl stopped in front of Cinder and grabbed the sleeve of her robe, smiling with delight and relief when she saw that it was, in fact, totally and utterly black.
"I thought I was the only one with a completely black uniform! Everyone else's has some kind of colour mixed in and I was so scared that I had the wrong one! But you have it, so that must mean it's just a rare occurrence. Oh, thank Merlin and Circe and pretty much everyone else!"
The girl sighed with complete and utter relief before glancing down at her hand, which was still holding Cinder's sleeve, and gasped as if she forgot it was there before hurriedly taking it back. She stood there for a few moments, shoulders hunched and smiling awkwardly at Cinder, who just stared at her, not entirely sure of what to say.
Finally, she settled on sticking out her hand for the girl saying: "I'm Cinder." The girl's awkward smiled melted back into relief and she shook Cinder's hand eagerly. "Crescent. But, um, you can call me Cress." Cinder smiled back at her.
"So, Cress. I'm guessing you're new?"
Cress blushed and started playing with a few loose strands of hair. "Is it that obvious?"
"I mostly figured it out because that was me freaking out a few moments ago."
"You're new too?" Cinder couldn't tell if Cress was delighted or scared of the fact that she just met a fellow newbie.
"Yup, and since we're both new and we're also both the only ones as far as I can see who have completely black uniforms, I'm guessing it's a new kid thing."
Cress frowned for a moment, thinking on what Cinder just said before nodding. "Yeah, yeah that makes sense." She agreed.
Just then, a piercing whistle sounded through the air. The sound was so loud and sharp that Cinder and Cress both covered their ears and winced painfully. The whistle was quickly followed by an equally sharp voice.
"All new students this way please! All new students this way!"
Cinder noted with some puzzlement that Cress had gone pale and seemed to be trying to shrink away from the voice. Maybe she's just nervous about meeting all the other new students?
Trying to offer some moral support, Cinder took her hand and tried for a smile, though it probably looked more like a painful grimace. Nevertheless, Cress squeezed her hand tightly and allowed Cinder to pull her through all the other students, towards the sharp voice.
The voice turned out to belong to a beautiful woman with black hair that went all the way down to her waist, warm, honeyed skin and grey eyes. But though she smiled at all the new students in their black uniforms, Cinder never thought she'd seen so much coldness inside one person's eyes.
"Good evening new students. I am Sybil Mira, though you may call me Professor Mira. I am the deputy headmistress of Artemisia School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and I will be your transfiguration teacher."
So this was Professor Mira. She had been nothing but friendly and polite so far, but already Cinder could see what Kai meant when he'd called her a dementor. Sybil seemed to suck all the warmth and happiness out of the world just by being in it.
Sybil gestured to a line of empty chariots, all made of the same shiny stuff as the train. "Two of you in each chariot please. Quickly now, so that we won't be late for your sorting."
Cress immediately looked up at Cinder, pleading with her large blue eyes. Cinder nodded and Cress visibly sagged with relief, causing her braid to start to pool onto the ground.
As Cinder led Cress over to the chariots, she decided to study the other newcomers.
Most of them were first-years, as was to be expected, but, just like Kai said, there were some who were way past that age, most of them burly-looking boys, all of whom looked to be in around their seventh year, except for one who was standing next to a particularly tall boy who might have been in Cinder's year, though that might just have been her eyes tricking her since the taller boy could have looked down on Sybil.
They each got into a chariot. Cress looked at the space where the horse should be curiously and glanced around as if expecting them to come trotting into view.
Sybil finally stepped into her own chariot and clapped her hands.
Immediately, all the chariots shot off the ground. Cinder and Cress grabbed frantically at the rails to keep themselves from falling out. A few kids did actually fall out, but the chariots just swooped back down and caught them before they could hit the ground.
The world became a blur as they sped off. Cress said something, but Cinder couldn't hear her over the sound of the wind in her ears. She shut her eyes as they began to water from the stinging air and settled for holding onto the chariot for dear life. A few of the other students were screaming.
When the chariots finally landed, it wasn't gentle. They bounced and rocked on the ground and Cinder almost bit her tongue from the rough halt. When she finally dared to open her eyes, she noticed Cress with her braid completely undone and her hand over her mouth with tears brimming in her eyes. She must have actually bit her tongue.
Looking around at the other chariots, Cinder couldn't help but notice that the other students weren't much better. They all had hands over their mouths from biting their tongues, were slumped over with a case of jelly legs or were just staring straight ahead of them and shaking on the spot.
The only one who was seemingly unaffected by the rough ride was Sybil, who elegantly stepped off her chariot and started marching away, gesturing for the students to follow her.
With some difficulty, Cinder pried her fingers loose from the chariot's rails and shakily stepped off, swearing to herself that she would never step in one of those death traps again for as long as she lived. Judging by Cress's pale face and how she could barely walk without her legs immediately giving way, she was of the same opinion.
Still marching ahead, Sybil gestured for the students again, this time with a command, "Come on, hurry up! We don't want to keep the headmistress waiting."
The students obediently started stumbling after her, and Cinder finally managed to lift her chin to look at Artemisia.
The school was a gigantic castle, like Hogwarts, but Hogwarts was charming in its medieval style and elegance. Artemisia wasn't charming and, though it was beautiful, it was also terrifying. It was made entirely of blinding white stone, and the pointed roofs of the towers and spires were made of the same shiny stuff as the train and the chariots. The main body was composed of a giant, hexagon shaped building about three stories high with two tall, thin towers protruding from the sides. There were five other towers connected to the main building with gilded bridges, each a different colour: one gold, one silver, one metallic grey, one black, and one that was made entirely of glass.
Cinder allowed herself a gulp at the oddly imposing sight and found herself wondering how the other students could stand to live here.
Sybil led all the new students to a set of great oak double doors. She turned around to face them and smiled thinly. "Behind these doors is the Great Hall. It is here that you will gather to eat with all your fellow students every meal time. Right now, you are about to be sorted into your houses. Once you have been sorted, you will sit at your house table and, after dinner, will follow your house prefects to your dormitories."
Having said all she was required to say, Sybil turned around once again and raised her hands in front of the doors. They opened slowly, groaning as the gap into the Great Hall slowly widened, revealing five long tables. The staff table was set against the far wall facing horizontally, and the other four were set vertically, each one seating over a hundred students. And all of them were staring at the new students. At Cinder.
She gulped and started to fidget with the hem of her left glove, sure that, in a room full of so many people scrutinizing her, one of them would see the odd glow of her hand.
She held her breath, waiting for someone to point at her and loudly ask about why she had such a weird hand. She waited like that for what felt like an eternity.
Only when Sybil started marching through the central aisle did Cinder finally dare to breath. The new students hurried to follow her mercilessly quick strides and, when Sybil finally stopped in front of a hunk of rough-cut rock, they all came to a clumsy, stumbling halt.
Cinder glanced up at the staff table, trying to see her new teachers. Her gaze alighted on the woman sitting at the centre of the table in a chair that looked suspiciously like a throne. A sheer veil covered her face entirely so Cinder could only see faint shadows of her eyes, nose and mouth. She couldn't even tell if the woman was smiling or not.
Sybil stepped up so she was standing next to the woman and gestured to her almost reverently.
"This is Levana Blackburn, headmistress to this prestigious academy. She sets the rules, and you must follow them to the letter, else be faced with punishment. Your teachers will punish any rule breaking as they see fit. The only constant will be a loss of house points. It is also entirely up to your teachers if your actions deserve your house to earn points. Now, your headmistress will explain to you the process of the sorting."
So this is Levana. The lunar headmistress who Dr Erland warned Cinder to avoid, yet here she was, with nothing but a table, a rock, and a bunch of students between them. Great.
Levana stood up in one fluid motion. Cinder could imagine a serene smile spread across her face.
"This stone you see before you is the Sorting Stone. Once you place your bare hand on it, the stone's material will change, sorting you into one of our four houses:"
Levana stretched out a hand over the Sorting Stone.
"Gold, for the confident, the brave and the rash."
The stone shuddered and its rocky exterior melted away, so it was now a gleaming hunk of soft gold.
"Silver, for the gentle, the quiet, and the kind."
The stone shuddered again and became silver.
"Titanium, for the resourceful, the innovative, and the clever."
The stone turned into a gleaming metal.
"And finally Regolith, for the resilient, the loyal, and the stubborn."
The stone became a rough, black substance before finally settling back into its original ordinary grey rock state.
Levana lowered her hand and looked down at the new students gathered before her. "Professor Mira will call out your names year group by year group. Once your name has been called, step up and place your hand on the Sorting Stone. Once you have been sorted, Professor Mira will alter your uniforms to match your house colour. If you are ever expelled, they will revert back to their completely black states, to symbolise how you no longer have a place in this school. The sorting begins now."
Sybil waited for Levana to settle back into her throne before pulling out a long list of names. "First years: James Charleston?"
Cinder watched as the boy made his way up to the Sorting Stone and placed his hand on top of it. It shuddered, slight ripples running along its surface, when it finally settled on gold. An enormous cheer rose up from the Gold table as Sybil showered the boy in golden sparks, changing his uniform so that it matched the ones worn by Thorne and Iko.
Cinder lost focus after that, watching in a daze as all the first years came up and were sorted to the accompanying cheers of their house table. Following them were the second years, then the thirds, the fourths, the fifths, until finally, though it felt like barely more than a minuteā¦
"Sixth years! Jackson Wynn?"
One of the burlier boys from earlier came up and was sorted into Regolith. Cinder watched with little interest as Sybil changed his uniform so that it matched Kai's and he went over to the Regolith table.
Her heart had begun pounding and her anxiety restarted all over again. Soon, she will be walking towards that big rock, walking closer to the woman she had been expressly told to avoid.
"Crescent Darnel?"
Cress shot a fearful look at Cinder as she stepped up to the Sorting Stone. She was visibly shaking.
"Aces." Came Thorne's voice from the Gold table, "Is that all hair?"
A chorus of sniggering ran through the Great Hall and Cress ducked her head, cheeks flushing strawberry red with embarrassment. Cinder glared at the Gold table, vowing to give Thorne a good strong slap for that later.
Cress ended up being sorted into Silver and the cheers of her new house managed to drown out the sniggers. She couldn't seem to join them fast enough.
"Ze'ev Kesley?"
The tall boy from earlier started making his way forward. Cinder couldn't keep her eyes from widening. This kid was her age? He looked at least nineteen.
Apparently she wasn't the only one of that opinion, since the hall soon filled with surprised mutterings. Ze'ev hunched his shoulders and glanced around awkwardly at the attention. He was clearly leagues out of his comfort zone.
But as he looked back at the Sorting Stone, he squared his shoulders and reconstructed his expression so it was perfectly formal and blank. He marched forward in an oddly soldier-like manner and placed his hand firmly on the Stone. It sorted him into Regolith.
"Cinder Linh?"
Cinder took a deep breath and let it out again before stepping forward. It took all her effort to keep her gaze trained on the Sorting Stone. She found herself waiting once again for someone to shout out to the entire school about her fake hand and leg. But the hall remained silent as she finally reached the Stone. She reached out a hand to touch it.
"Miss Linh."
Cinder froze and glanced up at Sybil, heart in her throat. Sybil's smile was cruelly amused as she gestured to Cinder's hands. "You're supposed to touch the stone with your bare hands."
Blood rushed to Cinder's face as she hurriedly turned away and whipped off her right glove. The other students laughed quietly at Cinder's mistake and she felt her cheeks darken even further.
Just wanting to get this over and done with, Cinder all but smashed her palm against the Stone. It shuddered, just like with everyone else. Ripples splayed across the surface and Cinder could swear her hand sunk into the stone a little, before it finally changed to a shiny metal. Titanium.
Cinder hurriedly pulled her glove back on as her new house cheered. As Sybil changed her uniform to a metallic colour, Cinder risked a glance at her new headmistress. Was it just her, or was Levana looking at her with a particular intensity? Probably just her.
As Cinder made her way to the Titanium table, she finally felt herself relax. This was her new school now. She had a house and friends. So long as she can keep her limbs hidden, she'll be fine.
A/N: Oh, I wouldn't bet on that Cinder. So, that was the sorting! Did you like the process and the houses? And we've been formally introduced to Cress and sort-of introduced to Wolf. Don't worry all you Scarlet fans, she'll show up soon ;) . Next chapter will be the first one not centred on Cinder. Can you guess who will be the star? Please review!
