Heart of the Red King

Chapter 1

New Students; New Secrets

It was another day at Bloors and quite boring at that. The endowed all sat in the King's Room quietly doing their homework. There was a sudden loud chatter coming from outside and the doors burst open. A girl and a boy stood at the doorway.

The girl was fairly skinny for a 12 year old. She was of normal height. She had inhuman red eyes with no pupils. Her hair was ebony black reached her mid-back and layered in a peculiar way. She seemed to have no emotion whatsoever. The girl seemed to have an odd red aura. She looked at each child at the table giving them all the shivers. Her eyes stopped straight at Charlie's and he began to shiver then they went to Manfred's dark coal eyes and he couldn't help to shiver as well. Her eyes finally went to Asa's. She glared into his golden eyes and he made some sort of wimpier sound. She wore some baggy black pants and a tight red shirt with what seemed to be a black dragon. She wore a contradicting blue cape.

Then there was the boy. He was twelve as well and slightly taller than the girl. He had ghostly grey eyes. His hair was oddly black and white. The different strands were in random places. The hair flew every where and its longest point was right below the shoulders. He also seemed to be emotionless. A glint of rage could be seen far off in his hollow eyes. He wore baggy black pants and a loose-fitting white shirt with a picture of a black flame. He wore fingerless black gloves and his cape was green.

"Who are you?" growled Manfred.

"We are new children here a Bloor's," said the boy.

"We were told to go to the King's Room," completed the girl.

"We too are endowed as you might say," the boy continued.

"What are your names?" snarled Asa.

A glint of amusement was seen in both their eyes. Their monotone voices became a bit enthusiastic.

"I'm Kaida Beastlyheart," the girl said calmly.

"And I'm Ryu Beastlyheart," said the boy.

"We are the Beastlyheart twins," the girl ended.

Ryu and Kaida sat down next to each other. Ryu sat next to Charlie while Kaida sat next to Emma.

"Hello," whispered Emma.

"Hello," replied Kaida with her usual monotone voice.

"I'm Emma Tolly," Emma introduced herself, "What is your endowment? I can turn into a bird."

Kaida gave a sly grin, "Pleased to meet you, I suppose. My endowment is-"

"You two stop talking and get to work!" Manfred growled.

Kaida snapped her head towards him and gave a challenging glare. Manfred tried to stare back but those pupiless blood red eyes gave him the shivers. He simply turned back to his books and continued writing.

It seemed an eternity before they finally escaped the room.

"I'll wait for you outside," Ryu said as we walked out the door.

Kaida quickly gathered her books and was almost out the door. Suddenly, someone grabbed her shoulder.

"Hey!" the person said roughly.

Kaida calmly turned around and asked, "Yes?"

"I know you have it. Now give it to me!" Manfred growled.

Kaida replied looking into his eye, "Have what?"

She then quickly left the room. Outside she saw Ryu talking to three boys. Not really talking though. He was listening to the somewhat but intently watching for his sister. He gave nods every now and then. When he saw his sister, he pushed through the boys talking to him and went towards her. The two then walked off.

"They're a bit weird," Lysander commented as they made their way to the gate.

The two others nodded in agreement.

"Beastlyheart," Charlie mumbled, "that name seems familiar. I'll ask my Uncle Paton when I get home tonight."

"I'm glad it's Friday," agreed Tancred as they stopped outside.

"Well, my ride is here," said Lysander running off.

"And so is mine," Tancred said.

Charlie waved as they left and waited for his ride.

"Charlie!"

He turned around to see Olivia and Fidelio going towards him.

"So how was the King's Room?" Fidelio asked.

"We heard there were two new Endowed," said Olivia.

"Yes there are. Ryu and Kaida Beastlyheart. Ryu is in art while Kaida is in music," Charlie responded.

"What are their endowments?" Olivia asked.

Charlie thought for bit and replied, "I don't know. They never said. But they seem to frighten Asa and Manfred. They frightened all of us especially the girl, Kaida. Ryu is also quite peculiar."

"Charlie!"

Charlie turned and saw his mom waving at him.

"My mom is here," Charlie said, "Bye!"

He ran off and got in the car. His mother got in too.

"Honey, the Yewbeams are over," she said.

"Why!" grunted Charlie.

"They said there was some very important guest over," replied Amy Bones.

------

Billy Raven sighed as he thought about when he watched all the children leave. He truly envied them. He shook his head. He sat alone on his bed imagining the parents he will get later. There was absolutely nothing interesting to report. Suddenly Blessed appeared.

Bored, Billy decided to talk to him, "Hello, Blessed."

"Hello," grunted the dog.

"Anything new?" asked Billy.

"Yes. New animal. Scary and dangerous," replied Blessed and began to whine.

As if on cue, a shadowy animal entered. It was already dark out so it couldn't be seen well.

"Scary animal," whimpered Blessed.

The animal had gleaming red eyes much redder than his own. Its figure seemed to be that of an extremely large wolf/dog. It gave a menacing growl as it seemed to be intently watching them.

'Those eyes' Billy thought 'those eyes are like that girl's. Those eyes are like- like- like Kaida- Kaida Beastlyheart.'

Billy snapped back into reality.

"Wha-?" Billy gasped.

The creature was no longer there. Only a lingering draft could be felt and a bloodcurdling howl could be heard.

"Animal," murmured Blessed, "Said stay away from Charlie. Gave howl. Now cold."

------

Everyone in Charlie's house was getting ready for their guest. The Yewbeam sisters were frantically perfecting everything. Even Paton was getting dressed up.

"Who's coming?" Charlie asked his uncle.

"Hmm? Oh, very important endowed people. They are said to be very powerful," replied Paton.

The doorbell rang. The guest had arrived.

------

A cloaked figure was waiting in front of 9 Filbert Street. There was a slight breeze making the figure seem more ghostly. With a sudden burst of wind, another cloaked figure appeared. It was slightly smaller. They looked at each other and nodded. The two headed for the door and the taller one rang the bell. Benjamin, who lived in number twelve, attentively watched the figures with interest and curiosity.

------

Maisie opened the door and looked surprised at the two small cloaked figures. "Are you two the guest the Yewbeams are expecting?" she asked.

The smaller one looked up and gazed at Maisie with her luminous red eyes. Maisie shuddered. Then the red-eyed one nodded.

"Grizelda, you're guest are here!" Maisie called out.

"Why must you yell?" growled Grizelda, "hello. Come in. Please take a seat. We'll be ready in an instant."

The two silently took a seat a patiently waited. The Yewbeams were down in an instant. Charlie was there as well.

"So," began Venetia, "why are you back?"

An unfamiliar voice began to fill the air, "You know why, Yembeam. We will not surrender to your plans, fool."

"We just wanted to welcome you back," tried Lucretia.

"What do you take us for? We have powers above your own. I suggest you not meddle in affairs that aren't your own."

There was a sudden burst of wind. Paton was surprised and burst a few lightbulbs.

"We will stay no longer," the bigger one says as an odd wind began to blow.

"Just to let you know," began the smaller one, "you the Yew beam sisters excluding Paton and Charlie are now enemies of the Beastlyhearts along with the Bloors. We are the last and only descendents of Catriona, daughter of the Red King, and Donovan Beastlyheart, the Red King's most trusted companion besides his leopards. Leave us be or face our consequences."

The front door blew open. The Yewbeams screeched in surprise. The two figures disappeared as quickly as they came.

Charlie turned to Paton with a shocked expression. "Who were they?"

Paton slowly turned to him. "Come to my room later. I will tell you."

------

The two cloaked figures were sitting upon the large clock tower. It was unknown how they got there. There were no stairs leading to the very top. They sat staring into the moonless sky. It was dark as the clock stroke 12 midnight.

The smaller one reached into its cloaked and pulled out some necklace. It was the right half of a heart. It had what looked to be a black dragon with gleaming red ruby eyes crawling on it. It was filled with elaborate designs and bordered with the characters of some ancient language. It was as large as a medium-sized male adults thumb nail. It was made of a dark magical stone.

The bigger reached into its cloak and pulled out a charm as well. It was shaped as the left half of a heart. It had a white dragon with ghostly grey diamond eyes. It as well had elaborate designs, ancient language borders, and thumbnail-sized. It was made of a white magical stone.