Chapter 4

"So you see Uncle P. She's new…she's different and we don't know what she can do." Charlie tried to explain. Tancred nodded "She's in Manfred's class, but we have no idea…no idea at all, but she's drop dead gorgeous!" he said, but then immediately went red as everyone stared at him. Lysander chuckled and sighed deeply "He does have a point though. Manfred has been trying to get her attention for a while. She's the only girl...No...She's the only person in all of history to ever say no to Manfred."

Paton stared at the children and went into "deep thinking mode." Julia made some tea and Emma and Oliva returned all happy and excited again. Just one thing was still a problem. Who was this new girl?

Charlie groaned "The annoying point is that we don't even know her name. She's been here for a week. She gets straight A's and the teachers leave her alone and don't even call her by name. She's…well…weird." He finished with a shrug as the others nodded.

Olivia looked at everyone else with wide eyes. "Look, I'm really sorry, I really am. Just ever since I spoke with her…" she gulped hard and looked at everyone's blank faces. "Yes I know… she did actually talk with me. She told me her name was Alice Haven. We got along very well; she isn't that bad at all. "she glared at the faces staring at her in disbelief "She may be scary and gothic like…but she really is a doll." Then Emma sighed and finished off "And as I was looking for Olivia, I found Manfred in front of them both and just as I walked in Olivia walked out like nothing happened. He must have hypnotized her." she said as both girls nodded.

Paton put his hand on his chin and thought about it. "Well, this girl is of some importance to Manfred or maybe just another tool for the Bloors. If Olivia is right about Alice then maybe we might be able to save her from the Bloors wrath, but if she's one of them since she hasn't done anything about Olivia she might be worse than we thought. Then again, we have the choice of her being afraid of him or she is still curious and learning."

The children looked up at him with questioning faces. Paton got up from the table. "Just keep an eye on them for now. Keep us posted, if anything else unusual happens, lets us know." He nodded then headed for his armchair.

*****

Sitting in the Kings Room, everyone sat in their normal seats. Manfred had already given his announcements and everyone had started homework. Suddenly the door creaked opened as two blue eyes peeked in. Everyone stared in shock.

What was she doing here? No one understood. Had she walked into the wrong room?

All the thoughts were interrupted as Manfred's voice broke the silence. "It's about time you joined us." The room's eyes shifted to Alice Haven who now stepped into the room, one eyebrow up higher than the other. Her wavy orange shoulder length hair stood out clashing against her dark black eye-lined eyes, black nail polish, and black belted boots. All eyes lay on her as she scanned the room to find a seat. The only available seat was next to Manfred. Everyone could see as her jaw tightened. "Looks like you lucked out." She grinned stiffly her eyes now on Manfred who grinned evilly back at her. Alice took the time to slowly blink and roll her eyes. She passed Zelda as she headed to the other side where Manfred was. Zelda looked the most furious out of them all. Alice somehow felt the bad attitude towards her and stopped right in front of Zelda.

Everyone was still in shock as they continued to watch in silence. After a long glare between the two girls, Alice threw her bag on the ground and sat down at the table. She had started her homework, but something bothered her. Alice lifted her head and found all eyes on her. Her eyebrow lifted once more and she sneered "If I were you, I'd get back to doing homework."

Looking back down at her homework she didn't say another word. Whispers were heard throughout the room. Everything was different now.

Alice Haven was endowed… but what is her endowment exactly? Were the Bloors interested in her or was it just Manfred? What does Alice have that they want?

There were still many questions the children still had yet to be answered.