Prologue
The room was dark. Silence filled the space except for the light scratching of pencils on notebook paper. Not one of the twenty-seven high school sophomores spoke a word, which was rare, creating an unnatural silence. Just enough light to write shown from the overhead projector at the front of the room where it showed a complex graphing equation. Through the dim light, shadows dance with every movement made no matter how slight.
I shivered. I loved darkness; it was the cloak in which I hid myself from the world's unconquerable evils. But shadows were different. In total light or total darkness, there are no shadows. And that was how I liked it.
Shadows are evil, uncaring, unmerciful creatures of the night. I was their enemy as they were mine. They had won a battle, but the war was far from over. My friend would conquer them; lock them away it was his destiny. But he was vulnerable to their power. It was my duty to protect him from the evils of both our and their world. I stood in the way of the Shadows the taking over the world. It was hard though.
The one who would bring peace to the world and I were worlds apart in more than a few ways. For one, to me it was 2006 ADE; to him it was 1591 BCE which presented more than a few difficulties in getting there. The second while not quite as tedious was still a pain, I live in Northwestern Indiana; he lived in Egypt. And finally, the third, while not hard to get around was annoying to other people which in turn annoyed us. I am a normal… well semi-normal teen with normal middle class parents; he on the other hand, is the Pharaoh, God on earth, ultimate political power in all of Egypt. Luckily for me, he doesn't let the power get to him so his head hasn't swelled. Still it is an annoyance.
"Your tendency to daydream may get you in more trouble than you're ready to deal with one day Miss. Anders." the teacher said curtly, noticing me staring blankly at the wall.
"Huh?" I snapped back to reality and part of the class snickered, earning a glare from Mrs. Hammond.
She was a middle-aged woman that always had multicolored rims on her glasses, and wore bright colored clothing that often seemed somewhat eccentric but her class was best at what they did, merely for the reason that she taught in a way that everyone in the class could follow her. Mrs. Halley Hammond was often ridiculed for her methods in and out of the classroom. But that was generally by those who were not in her classes, and didn't know her very well. Her class was fun however, and she had a habit of passing out candy to those who did well on homework. Actually she had a habit of passing out candy to the class for odd holidays that most if not all of the classes had never even heard of, or for no apparent reason at all.
We learned more than mathematics in her class however, for she took it upon herself to give us countless life lessons and tid bits of advice on life every chance she got. The only thing I resented about her was the accursed nickname she called me.
"Princess, have you finished your worksheet?" I winced, there it was. She almost always called me that, but I've never heard her address anyone else by it. No. It was reserved for me. The weirdest part of that, was that I could never bring myself to ask her to stop. Maybe I'm just too nice.
"Yeah." I replied, having finished the two-sided sheet of questions, along with the one on the overhead as extra credit before I began daydreaming.
May I see it please dear?" She asked walking over to look at the top of my desk. Another thing about her, she was always polite, and asked us to be as well. If an adult entered the classroom to give a note to one of the students or to Mrs. Hammond, the entire class would stand up from their desk and say in unison "Good morning, how may we assist you?" then wait to be told to sit again. If someone spoke out in class, you were made to stand and formerly apologize to the class for your rudeness.
"Yes, you may." I replied handing my paper to her, not wanting her to see my maps and scrolls I have on Ancient Egypt. Though I prefer to call it AE. Then I remembered, she knew already. She sensed a mood swing in me shortly after I got the mission and pretty much pried it out of me.
"Very good!" she praised loudly in a singsong voice that caused me to blush slightly. "Would you prefer me to grade it now and enter your score, or would you like to take it home and make any corrections you may find?" She asked, looking at me from under her bright red, blue, yellow, and green rimed glasses.
"If you graded it now I would appreciate it. I won't be here tomorrow or Friday, I have some personal affairs to settle that have to do with AE." I told her in a hushed voice. She nodded returning to her desk and filled out an excused absence form for her and me to sign, so I wouldn't be counted as truant. It also made it unnecessary to call my grandfather about not attending.
Lets just say he and I are not exactly on best terms. My twin brother, little sister, and I have basically lived with our grandparents since our mom and dad work long hours and want us to go to a decent school. One that is not in the city they live in. Grandma died of cancer a year ago and grandfather blamed me for it and the trouble began.
The bell rang seconds after I signed the paper and got my homework list for when I would be gone. I gathered my things and left for my third of five classes in the day, literature. My best subject in any case other than this one. The teacher hated me. I don't know why… maybe it's because I have a habit of doing all of my writing projects ahead of time and to the very longest it can be within specifications, so it takes longer to grade my work. If she assigned a book project between 3 and 5 pages long, mine would be a line short, if that, of 5 pages.
She also likes to berate her students using extensive vocabulary.
Currently though we were studying Shakespear's play "Julius Ceasar". I should have nothing wrong for her to deride me for. however the home work had nothing to do with said play.
"How exactly does this exercise go along with the chapter?" I mumbled to myself as I looked over the worksheet she had passed out to the class.
"Perhaps your comprehension of the materials I cover is insufficient, Anders. I'll cover the basics for you again though if you please." She responded to my question in a voice loud enough for the entire class to hear and look up at us. Unaware that she had been standing behind me, I jumped and spun around in my chair. For the second time that day, the class laughed at me. This time however, the teacher, Miss Borass, wore only a smug expression.
I returned it with a glare, looking at the pathetically simple page of questions in front of me. The 'Be' verb. She must be kidding. Sitting up straight in the chair I responded in an even tone that dripped hidden venom. "I am adequately aware of any knowledge you could possibly have to pass on to me. If you would please return to the scheduled lesson, I have little time for insignificant conversations such as this, and I'm sure the rest of the class would like to finish up as well." I responded, activating my own vocabulary, usually reserved for her and other adults that demand proper speech, like my dad.
She glared at me and returned to her desk, sat down, and began to write on a small lavender piece of paper. I sighed. Great, detention. Just what I need now oh well, it's not like I'd bother showing up anyway.