"Phoenix. Someone stole communicators. I need you to go fetch them back for me."
"Echo, why am I always hunting down the random bits of technology you manage to lose?" Chandra almost whined.
"I did not lose them. They were stolen," Echo insisted.
"Yeah, you've said that a lot. Half the time you insist they were 'stolen' they end up having been lost in your pile of random bits of technology," Chandra sighed and started spinning in the chair she was sitting in, "Besides, I just got back from a little bit of a misadventure in Florida. At least give me the opportunity to unwind and relax."
"Do you want me to prove it to you then you unhelpful little lobster?" Echo muttered.
"If you must," Chandra rolled her eyes, "And I don't appreciate being called a lobster. I am sunburned. There is a difference."
"And I wouldn't have expected you to be able to sunburn at all," Echo snapped, "I mean you do play with fire."
"The sun is a giant ball of fire. But it is far enough away that apparently immunity to fire doesn't count!" Chandra snapped.
"Whatever," Echo shrugged, "Here. I caught them on camera."
Chandra's eyes widened, "Jace?"
"That's what I thought. He doesn't have permission nor does he have the required authorization to just be able to pick it up whenever," Echo said.
"Leave him be. He's obviously done it for a reason. Damn he's fast," Chandra whistled softly, "The camera barely caught him. Let it slip."
"He stole communicators!" Echo snarled, "I need them back. They were the newer models and might very well have-"
"Sensitive information. Yeah. Yeah," Chandra rolled her eyes, "Alright. I'll chase him down. Where is he anyway?"
"New York. On his way onto a plane headed to D.C."
"Why?" Chandra asked.
"You can talk to him about it when you reach him," Echo shrugged.
Chandra sighed, "You owe me big time for this. I'm not going to yell at him."
"I wouldn't have expected you to," Echo muttered.
Chandra yawned, "Falcon! I'm borrowing your bike!"
"Phoenix! Wait! You're not-" He stopped as she disappeared. "-old enough," he finished as he watched her drive away. He sighed, "I swear. If Echo has to fix my bike again she's going to kill me."
"Phoenix WAIT!"
Phoenix stopped and turned in surprise. It wasn't Falcon as she had been expecting but Star. She sighed, "Yeah?"
"Here, it's from Orriyon." Star held out a folded piece of paper. It had Phoenix's name written on it in what appeared to be Orriyon's handwriting. Phoenix took it and cocked her head to the side, "It's for...me?"
"Yes," Star nodded. Once the paper was safely within the redhead's grasp she turned and disappeared up the stairs.
She stared at the paper. It had her name written on it in baby blue ink but the date on it was strange. It was so far into the past that Orriyon shouldn't have known the Black Lotus beyond the fairy tales that surrounded them. The fairy tales were used to discourage anyone's interest in the guild and it's members. She opened it curiously after looking for any other writing on the outside. Darkness comes with chains of hope and the phoenix shall cease to be. "What?" Phoenix stared at the paper. But she's always referred to me as the phoenix...right? And she's never been wrong? What does she mean by 'cease to be'? "Shadow," Phoenix said. She crumpled the piece of paper in her hand, "Tell Echo she'll have to send someone else after Jace. I've got something else to do." Without waiting for a response she disappeared out the door of the hotel. I need to talk to Elspeth. She opened the door to the house they stayed at, "Elspeth!"
"I thought you promised me perfect attendance?" Elspeth said teasingly, "Of course somethings are more important. What is it?"
"Is there anyway this could've come from Orriyon?" Phoenix handed her the paper.
Elspeth studied it, "Without magic it's impossible to tell."
"Really?" Phoenix sighed. She rolled her eyes, "Do you guys have a lighter?"
"Why?" Gideon asked slowly.
"Because I need a lighter," Phoenix said.
"We don't," Kaechia shook her head.
"Fine. I'll get myself one." Phoenix turned back towards the door.
"You aren't going to steal it are you?" Gideon asked.
"No," Phoenix answered a little too quickly. The truth was she was going to steal one but that was beside the point. Gideon didn't need to know how she was planning on getting her hands on a lighter. She stopped by the school to talk to Lotus. She stopped in surprise when three buses were sitting outside the gates. She hurried up to Lilianna, the only one of them to have perfect attendance, "What's going on?"
"You're the one that hasn't been here," Lilianna shrugged, "By the way, you might want to make more of an effort to be here. You're the treasurer of the student council."
"Huh?" Phoenix stared at her, "What does that mean?"
"It means that you have to compile the budgets of each individual club into a single school wide budget. Well more like make sure the combination of budgets does not exceed the school wide budget," Lilianna explained.
"How did that happen? I didn't sign up for student council!"
"That sucks," Lilianna said evenly.
"There you are," Claire snapped, "The two of you need to come with me. We're needed in the auditorium to welcome the guest students that'll be staying with us this year."
"Guest students?" Phoenix stared at her in confusion.
Claire sighed, "Yes. Guest students. They've come from another haven, Ascension City to be specific."
"O…kay?" Phoenix followed the two student council members into the auditorium.
"Also we're going to have a new principal starting tomorrow. She seems alright but there's something about her that puts me off," Claire warned.
Phoenix sighed. How did I go from hunting down Jace to wanting Lotus' help getting a lighter to this? Why am I...Lilianna signed me up for student council while I was gone didn't she? How would I be treasurer if I was gone the entire time then? "You signed me up for this didn't you? Smarmy bitch," Phoenix whispered to Lilianna.
"I did. You should be grateful I was kind enough to get you involved in an extra curricular activity," Lilianna sneered, "Ungrateful rat."
"Thanks for that," Phoenix growled. She tried lagging behind to get away but Lilianna didn't let her, even grabbing her wrist to make sure she didn't run off or lag too far. "What's a haven?"
"Another placed like Elendeth. Basically the human population is less or equal to the 'monster' population and the humans know of the 'monsters' existence and are accepting of this fact. There are havens all over the world. However Elendeth is the only haven in the US," Claire explained impatiently, "Do you pay attention to anything?"
"Here and there," Phoenix crossed her arms over her chest and gave the student council president a defiant look.
Claire sighed. Her eyes glowed slightly with a purple-blue light.
Phoenix broke eye contact before the spell could take effect, "So you are what I thought you were. Congratulations, President."
"Let's just go," Claire snapped, "You also missed the arrival of a new student. He's relatively interesting."
"Fine, fine," Phoenix growled, "What's his damn name?"
"Kurai," a coolly calm voice said behind her.
Phoenix turned in surprise. She saw red eyes looking down at her. He was taller than her and looked at her with mild curiosity. She gritted her teeth. He had a similar aura to Xerxes except to a different degree. He had the same complex and the same confidence. He just wasn't overconfident. "Hello Kurai," Phoenix nodded to him. Her nod was just acknowledging his existence and nothing more.
He smirked slightly, "I see. So you really are a good judge of character. I will see you around then, Miss Nalaar."
She growled softly, "Aren't we supposed to be in the auditorium?"
"Yes," Claire turned right and walked down a hallway. The double doors to the auditorium stood before them, "All you two have to do is sit there and look pretty." She led the two of them to an ornately decorated table sitting to the side of the podium where the principal was talking with a woman with blue-black long hair. Her grey eyes studied the principal's face carefully as he spoke. Claire sat down on the chair closest to the podium. Lilianna sat next to her, leaving Chandra to sit next to Lilianna. Students started filing in a couple of moments later.
"Welcome. Welcome everyone. Sit wherever you like," The principal smiled warmly at the group. Chandra recognized Michael and David sitting together. The two of them were apparently notorious tricksters but she hadn't seen anything to prove it yet. She saw Erin digging through his backpack as he walked in, more than likely looking for food. Jace and Ral were absent. She also saw plenty of unfamiliar faces gathering in the back of the auditorium. None of them were close enough to her for her to see much detail but many of them seemed just as uncomfortable as the students. Darkness comes with chains of hope and the phoenix will cease to be. Chandra ground her teeth together. That doesn't mean anything. My job is to make sure they don't feel uncomfortable here. I'm also going to pay Lilianna back for this in full.
"Now. To everyone that doesn't know, the buses outside carried our guest students. Guest students are students from another haven that are going to spend the next school year at this school. This year our guests are from Ascension City. I would like all of you to make them feel welcome. Michael. David. That means no pranks," the principal gave the two blond boys a hard look before continuing, "Also they will be staying in the same dorms as you all. Not that I expect anything bad from you kids but just as a reminder, play nice." He waved his hand, "Welcome to you Ascension City kids. Now on to the next thing on my agenda. This," he motioned to the woman with long black hair and grey eyes, "is going to be your new principal." She wore a black suit and had her hands clasped behind her back giving her a very rigid and professional look, "I will still be here as an assistant administrator so I expect you to respect her the same way you would me."
The entire student body nodded in consent. Claire's eyes narrowed. "That depends on how she treats us of course," she muttered.
Phoenix looked at her curiously, "What?"
"There's a reason we've only ever had one long term principal. Every replacement principal has been driven away by the student body because they didn't know how to deal with us," Claire explained, "It usually devolves into absolute chaos."
"Sounds fun," Phoenix snickered. I don't have time for this. I have to talk to Lotus. She sighed, "How long do these things usually take?"
"It's our job to assign dorm rooms to the guest students," Lilianna sneered.
Phoenix growled softly. I swear. She yawned and did her very best not to fall asleep during the replacement principal's speech. The woman put a worryingly large amount of emphasis on rules and following them. Phoenix's eyes narrowed, "Looks like this is going to be very interesting." She saw Michael and David speaking quietly to each other. Both of them had mischievous glints in their eyes. She smirked, "Let the fun begin."
A fittingly mischievous song played over the intercom. The old principal hit his forehead with his palm hard enough that Phoenix heard it across the stage. Claire smirked, "Here we go."
The new principal was covered in chalk as a tripwire set in front of her activated. She had stepped into it and it had released a rope that was holding a gallon paint bucket full of chalk dust that sat over her head. The entire student body started laughing. Michael and David shot out of the auditorium, both cackling maniacally. Phoenix noticed that the Ascensions city kids looked apprehensive. The black haired woman, Mrs. Haliel, clenched her fists but her voice was calm as she spoke, "Thank you. For the warm welcome. I'm pleased to see that we might have something to work on together in the future. That is all. Thank you." She stalked off the stage and out of the auditorium, "I'm going to go clean up."
Michael and David slid back into the auditorium, "That was fun!" They had matching grins plastered onto their faces. No matter how many hard looks the two got from administration and the teachers the glint remained in their eyes. They exchanged a high five.
"Alright, alright. Now that the fun's over how about everyone goes back to class. Student Council if you could show the guest students around that would be great. Michael, David. I will see you two in the office. Now," the principal nodded.
The students got to their feet and returned to their classes. The student council waited in front of the stage. The Ascension City kids gathered around them. They were certainly an odd bunch. Phoenix noticed a girl with cat like features resembling Jace's as well as the expertly suppressed discomfort and anxiety of many of the students. She cocked her head to the side.
"Chandra will be taking the girls and leading them through the girl's dormitory."
Chandra sighed, "That'd be me." She rolled her eyes in annoyance, "Alright. C'mon. Let's go take a look at the amazing girls' dorms." She allowed her dissatisfaction with her job to come through loud and clear. She led the way out of the auditorium, "So...this obviously is the main building." Why the hell am I a guide. That's stupid. It's not like I'm good at that kind of job. Of course then again it is not the weirdest thing I've done without wanting to. She continued to the girls' dorm, "Alright. So the top and the bottom floors are pretty much exactly-Jenny. Aren't you supposed to be in class?"
"Well yeah but I was hungry and I heard from Tina that they got ice cream so I was getting some ice cream and-Hi! I'm Jenny! Welcome to Elendeth and this amazing private school that no one knows the name of because it's-"
"Jenny," Chandra sighed, "Just get your ice cream okay? Not that I don't appreciate the assistance but I really don't need you getting in trouble alright?"
"Sure." Jenny nodded. She grinned happily, "I look forward to being friends with you guys!" She grabbed a chocolate ice cream and darted out of the room.
Chandra sighed.
"She's quite the handful then?" A girl with black hair and deep blue eyes said. She had a bright pink bow in her hair that contrasted drastically with her hair and eyes. Chandra found her eyes consistently drawn to the bow, though appearance wise the girl was probably at least a year older than her. Chandra nodded, "She's just...talkative. It's not like there's anything wrong with her. She's always happy and has an infectious personality that makes it hard to be anything but happy around her but she does get quite annoying sometimes." Finally. One of them speaks. I'm tired of the vacant stares I've been getting.
"She's like Debby," a smaller girl that looked younger but almost identical to the first speaker said happily.
"Hm, yeah. The first speaker turned to Chandra, "I'm Isabelle by the way. This is my little sister, Cristi."
Chandra waved, "Chandra." She turned back to the room, "Anyway. The top and bottom floors are pretty much identical. Boys aren't allowed in here, just like girl's aren't allowed over there, after the sun goes down. Also the opposite gender is not allowed in the halls that hold the rooms unless headed to the top floor. However that rule isn't exactly enforced on weekends or after school because we can hang out in someone's room if we like but only on weekends and afternoons after school." It's like talking to a giant mass of a brick wall. She sighed, "Anyway, you guys will probably be closer to the top floor. Lilianna, the chick with the long black hair that was sitting at that table next to me and the Student Council President, and I share a room. I'll point it out and if you need anything you can come to one of us or the Student Council President. You'll have to ask her for her room though because I don't know where it is nor do I care."
"Why not?" Cristi asked
"We...uh. The two of us don't get along well," Chandra shrugged. She stopped in front of her door. It's unlocked. Why? She opened the door cautiously just in time to see Jace jump out of her window. She darted over to it, "What the hell are you doing in my room?!"
"Nothing," He called back.
She looked around, "I'll talk with them later."
"Who was that?" a purple haired girl asked.
Chandra sighed, "A kid that lives with me outside of school. He's...shy." She shrugged. That's the best way of describing it I guess.