It Started in a Graveyard
"Grant our passage into the Spirit World." Elemae spoke clearly, he eyes closed. "Keep our circle safe from those who promote evil and seek to harm." she continued. Elemae and her three friends sat in a graveyard in a circle, cross legged, eyes closed, hands together, waiting. "Is anything gonna happen?" Miranda, sitting opposite of Elemae, whispered. "Shh. Don't break the circle. And I'm not done yet so shut up." Elemae replied. "Father, can you hear me? Please, come down and speak with us." she continued, her voice a monotone. "We can get in big trouble messing with the dead, ya know." Miranda retorted, opening one eye to glance at Elemae's expression in the flickering candlelight. "I said, shut up! I know what I'm doing, Miranda." Elemae, or just Mae, as her friends referred to her as. "Guys, its getting cold." Lennie whispered, eyes squeezed shut, her hand gripping Miranda's tightly. "Not scared, are ya, Lennie?" Miranda said, her one open eye floating over to Lennie's face, anxious and self-conscious. "Stop teasing her, she's never contacted the dead before." Lacey pointed out, defending her younger sister's pride.
After several minutes, nothing happened. The four girls were getting nervous and anxious. Lennie a bit apprehensive. "What are we doing here?" Miranda asked, her shoulders relaxing. "Don't break the circle!" Mae hissed. Miranda hadn't let go of Lennie or Lacey's hands, to show Mae, she held up there hands in the air. Mae shut her eyes in reply. "I just hope you're as good at contacting spirits as you are-" Miranda couldn't finish the sentence. Suddenly, behind Mae, a loud crash rang out in the quiet midnight air. The candle flames flickered, and all four girls' eyes flew open, looking for the spirit.
"Look!" Miranda almost shouted, jerking her head in the direction of the noise to avoid breaking the spiritual circle. Behind Mae lay a fallen over gravestone. A large crack jutted through the middle, almost severing the stone in half. "Mae," Lennie began shakily. "Whose grave was that?" Mae broke the circle and got up from the ground, walking cautiously over to the gravestone. Lennie gasped and Miranda cringed when Mae heaved the stone up off the ground, its crack growing deeper. Beneath it lay a bouquet of crushed yellow Daisies. Daisies that Mae had lain there the day before. "It's my father's." Mae told them.
EEE
"We did it!" Miranda shouted into the three girl's faces. They were walking home form the graveyard, Miranda hyped up because for once, their séance worked. She was the only one who felt like talking, the only other sound was the gravel crunching beneath their feet as they made their way towards home. "You know," Mae started, her head cocked to one side, staring at Miranda's excited expression. "you were always the skeptical one, Miranda." she said. Miranda made a face at her. "You're just spooked." She retorted. Mae ignored it. She was more worried than spooked. More annoyed than spooked. She was pretty much feeling any other emotion besides spooked, but Miranda's maturity level was too low for Mae to explain that to her. "I say, lets just get back to the Institute before Justine finds out." Lennie said, eager to break their bickering. "She won't find out. She hasn't before, and we've been sneaking out here at midnight every New Moon for two years." Lacey pointed out. Lennie wanted to join the girl's group so badly that Mae was almost reluctant to let her tag along. Lennie felt that the group was far more mature than any other clique and was eager to grow up all too quickly. Under the influence of Lacey, Mae let her in. It was her first time being involved in a séance, and it just so happened to be the one that was successful.
"You guys aren't aware of the consequences, though." Mae told them, even though the statement was directed at the too-excited Miranda. "We've brought back a spirit of the Other World. This is far more serious beyond what you three understand." she said gravely. Lennie and Lacey stared at her with looks of confusion while Miranda rolled her eyes. "You just think you're so much more mature than us." Miranda remarked. "I don't think," Mae said. "I know." Miranda made an unconvinced noise with her mouth. Her eyes narrowed into little slits as she stared at her judgmentally "You're no more mature than Lennie over there. You're the same age as all of us. You're head just still swollen from when Justine said you were 'so wise beyond your years.'" Miranda shot back, her tone mocking. Mae remained calm, controlling her temper that Miranda knew all too well to tamper with. "Age is a number. Your maturity isn't determined through your age. Your maturity level is determined through how well you handle things. For example, Miranda, here, thinks everything is a joke. And when something serious comes along, she can't contain her childish habits no matter the gravity of the situation." Mae said, her tone collected but she displayed a smirk on her face, knowing that Miranda would probably need a dictionary to understand what she just said. Though, Miranda did not respond, and they walked home in silence.
EEE
Jace Wayland made his way into the large room. Desks were lined up and down in neat rows, some of them already occupied by students. In the front of the room sat a desk, larger than the ones the students occupied, littered with papers, a globe, and a skinny grey cat who was strewn across the papers. He lay with his head in alert, his emerald eyes darting back and forth in between the few students. Jace found a desk in one of the rows farther left and towards the middle. The grey cat watched as Jace lay his jacket across the back of the chair and perch himself on the desktop and began picking at his nails. The cat meowed disapprovingly at him. Or was it at him? Who cares, Jace thought he's just a cat.
Not after too long, the class grew to a number of seventeen teenagers, all around the same age as Jace. Although, seventeen was all he expected. Seventeen kids was all anyone was expecting. To their surprise, and eighteenth walked through the double doors of the classroom, and calmly took her seat, seemingly unaware that seventeen pairs of eyes were set on her.
"Alright, everyone, seats please." said the teacher who had just came through the recently shut double doors. She was short, wearing a grey and white flannel shirt with a black shirt underneath with a pair of dark grey skinnies and tennis shoes to match. She had straight, dark hair that fell to the center of her back and bangs that reached past her chin. She was adult looking, but young. Far younger than anyone in the class, Jace thought. And when she walked up to the center of the room, Jace noticed a long, white tail with black stripes hanging down to the back of her shins. She had cut a hole in the back of her jeans to accommodate it.
"I assume you're all ready." She said, bringing her hands together and turning to face the class. "My name is Miss Elemae. Or just Elemae, if you want. I really prefer it without the formal title. Welcome to my class, Shadowhunters."