It'd been hell the last day and a half. Getting Marked by a Tracker in front of my "friends," and having them abandon me. Having my parents pick me up only to show nothing but disgust. Finally getting to this school and not hacking my brains out anymore. It'd been quite the introduction into the world of vampyres.

Let's start from the beginning. I was walking home from school with friends when we stopped by Burger King, where my parents agreed to pick me up. I went to use the bathroom, and there was a woman in robes turned away from me standing by the stalls. Her head turned towards me. She had a filled-in crescent moon on her forehead with spiral tattoos trailing down both sides of her face, and she was staring right at me. All I could think was crap. She raised her finger towards me. Next thing I knew, I was alone on the dirty bathroom floor, coughing my lungs up with a headache so strong, I could hardly see.

One of my friends finally came into the bathroom looking for me, and they found me curled up on the ground with my hoodie over my head. I tried my best to hide my new Mark while she helped me up and out to our table. One of them immediately pointed out the empty crescent moon on my forehead. They all took a turn to look at the tattoo in disgust, before saying nothing, and promptly leaving me alone in the Burger King. I sat at the table with my head down, and waited for my parents, scared.

I felt like I was dying. My dad had nothing but hatred in his eyes. I caught my mom peeking at me, and noticed a flash of sympathy on her face before her expression hardened. They were anti-vampyre. They said nothing. At least they picked me up. Sometime between getting in the car and going home, I passed out.

Next thing I knew, I woke up inside the school's infirmary. My parents didn't even say goodbye. A beautiful woman was by my side when I woke up. She was quite tall, standing at 5'10". Her figure was slim and toned. She had long, flowing bright platinum blonde hair that curled up at the ends with blazing blue eyes. "You're awake." She smiled as my eyes fluttered open. Her crescent moon was completely filled in. "Your parents brought you here. They said you'd fallen unconscious in the car." She gently caressed my forehead where my new Mark was. "Welcome to the House of Night."

I'd heard about this place before. This is where all the kids who get Marked end up having to go as they'll die without being near an adult vampyre for the entirety of the Change, which lasts for four years. Even being here, at any point during the Change, your body can reject it and you'll still die. Great.

I know as a human, we could die any day. However, it's not something we typically think about, as our chances of dying are typically low until we start getting older. It was a lot to process that I could just drop dead any day now because fate decided to turn me into a bloodsucker. Ugh. The woman sat by my side as I was lost in thought. "So how long have I been asleep since I've gotten here?" I wanted to have a rough idea of the time. I felt disoriented.

"You arrived here around 4pm. It is now 11pm." She analyzed my face. "I'm Cassandra, the High Priestess of this House of Night. I'm glad you're here, safe." Her voice felt calming. She placed her hand on my forehead, and I felt myself drifting back to sleep. I saw her eyes widen as my eyes were closing.

I was no longer in the infirmary. In fact, it felt like I was no longer present in this realm at all. I was floating above a group of people in a circle. It was dark, with candles lit, and some people were standing in the middle next to a huge table. Suddenly, I heard a scream rip through the dream and I was startled awake.

In reality, I glanced around the infirmary where I'd been brought to. Cassandra still stood by my side. It seemed like she had something important on her mind. "As a new fledgling, you'll begin a new life as you undergo the Change to become an adult vampyre. Whenever a new fledgling comes to the school, they are allowed to choose their name. Whether you'd like to keep your human name or change it, is completely up to you." Cassandra folded her hands and waited for a response.

Change my name? I'd never thought about it before. I guess this was one of those once in a lifetime opportunities. I closed my eyes, and thought of all of the names I liked or thought were cool. My human name was never really special to me anyways. "Artemis." I opened my eyes. Cassandra's lips curved into a smile. "After the way my parents treated me on the way here, I don't want to be tied to them any longer. If I have to pick a last name, make it Nightingale. That's my favorite bird." Cassandra nodded.

"Artemis Nightingale, welcome again to the House of Night." She extended her hand to me. I took her hand, stood up, and followed her out of the infirmary and into the hallways. "I'll give you a short tour of the campus." We walked not far down from the infirmary. "This is my office here, if I'm not in my classroom, I'm usually here during the school day when you need me." We quickly continued on. I felt my forehead as I rubbed the indentations on my skin made by the crescent moon shaped Mark. I wasn't gonna get used to that for a while.

"Here is where the classrooms are, along this long hallway. The hallways that branch off lead to other areas of the school." She spoke matter-of-factly and I made sure to make a mental note.

We headed into a hall branching off on the left, where I noticed a lot of paintings on the walls. They were portraits of past High Priestesses. We happened upon a door, which opened outdoors to the courtyard, where there were a bunch of buildings. I noticed how dark it was outside. "This courtyard will lead you to all of the dorms, the teachers have their own, the kids share a building but have separate floors. Co-ed sleepovers are not allowed." It seemed like Cassandra made sure to emphasize this point. I'd seen a bunch of cute vampyre fledglings running around, they probably had an issue with that.

Continuing on throughout the courtyard, we walked up to another building, this one appearing to look more like a church. It would've stuck out if it hadn't been built with black brick. It actually looked pretty, especially in the moonlight.

"Here is our Temple of Nyx. This is where we hold our sacred rituals during the full moon and certain events throughout the year." She paused and thought to herself for a moment. "I'd take you inside, but you'll see it two nights from now, as it'll be a full moon." I was tempted to ask to go in anyway, but Cassandra had started making her way down to the next building in this giant circle. There were walls surrounding the entire House of Night. "And finally," She said as we gazed upon a barn that had been painted black with vines growing up the sides of it. "This is the stables where we keep our horses, and where Equestrian Studies is taught."

We circled back around and she brought me to the place she'd pointed out as the student's dormitory earlier. I finally spoke up. "So how do the dorms work here?" I was looking at everything in awe, and enjoying that I wasn't dying anymore.

"You have one roommate and sleep in the same room, as well as having a shared bathroom." We walked in and upstairs, where she led me to my dorm room. "You won't be starting classes tonight, that'll give you some time to rest and process what's going on. You'll meet your roommate later, if you're awake when classes let out. Blessed be, please come see me if you need anything." Cassandra bowed, and left me in my new room.

I walked in to see two full size beds on opposite ends of the wide room. When I looked at the second bed, my Pokemon comforter from home was there? Huh? How did my sheets get here? As I questioned that, I lifted my comforter to see my pokeball sheets underneath the comforter. Oh my goodness.

I laid on my bed and just stared at the ceiling. I didn't even know where to begin with my thoughts. This was wild. I didn't know if it was necessarily a good thing that I was left alone to think. I'd already had class once today, so I was glad I didn't have to go again. Would my parents ever come visit? Or my so-called friends? I always knew deep down that they weren't really my friends. It was still weird to know I might not see them again. Perhaps for the best.

I looked over at my nightstand, and there was my phone. I was surprised I hadn't looked for it before now, but I was still in shock. When I checked, no one had called or texted me. A dreadful feeling was brewing in my heart. I was alone. I was a completely different species, and I was truly alone.

After some mindless scrolling through TikTok, the room to my dorm busted open, and in came a girl with dark brown, shoulder length curly hair. She noticed me and we locked eyes. They were mossy green. "Hiii! It's nice to meet you! I'm Blaire." She was short, bubbly, and bursting with energy. She had a Boston accent. I estimated that she was close to my height.

I smiled at this new girl who introduced herself to me, and sat up on my bed. Before I could say anything, she started jumping up and down. "Yay! I've been dying for you to finally get here." Blaire was beaming at me with unbridled enthusiasm, and it was a little overwhelming.

"Aw, that's adorable!" She looked at my bedsheets underneath me before looking back at me in an endearing way. "Cassandra usually asks parents to bring their belongings from home to ease the… transition of, well… everything. It was noted that fledglings react better when they have their familiar stuff in a new environment." She looked at the floor, noticeably sad. Blaire was quite the babbler, although I didn't mind it so much after the hours of silence. At least there wouldn't be any "awkward" silences.

"My name is Artemis, it's nice to meet you." I stood up. "I was upset that I hadn't gotten a chance to pack up my stuff before my parents dumped me here." I stared back at my sheets, thinking of home. Or my old home, rather. I looked back to Blaire, who was still staring at the floor. "So how long have you been here?"

Her eyes shot back up to mine, and her smile returned. "Only about three months. Time flows differently here than in the human world, at least it feels that way. It feels like I've been here forever!" She kept smiling at me. "Which also means it's felt like forever that I've been without a roommate! I'm so glad you're here." Blaire's uniform had an insignia on the chest, and I remembered Cassandra mentioned something about classes. "What is that?" I pointed at the insignia.

"This is the symbol of our grade level. Since we are third formers, it's the Labyrinth of Nyx. It symbolizes the beginning of our journey!" Blaire seemed proud. Talk about school spirit. She took a long look at my Mark. "So how did it happen?" I wavered.

I thought hard. My mind raced back to the bathroom at Burger King. "I can't really say; the last thing I remember was being in a bathroom with a stranger, then waking up on the floor." The woman in the bathroom was a blur. Why was she in there by herself anyways? Was she waiting for me, or could this have happened to anyone?

"I got mine in a parking garage," Blaire broke my concentration. "The bastard got me when I was leaving school." Sounds about right. "I didn't think I'd be taken right back to a different school, though." She sighed, sounding disappointed. "Sometimes I miss being human. Not that being a vampyre is a bad thing, it's just…" Blaire trailed off, trying to find the right words. She made eye contact with me. "I think you'll know what I mean." She smiled once again. "Oh yeah, your schedule is on your vanity. That's where they always leave it for the new fledglings," she smirked. "I need to get some sleep, it's been a long night." Blaire pranced to her bed and dove head first into her pillow. She raised her head to look at me. "I get the feeling we're going to get along just fine." Does she ever stop smiling?

I smiled back. "It was fun talking and getting to know you. I'll see you tomorrow, Blaire." She acknowledged me, and dropped her head back into her pillow. I walked over to my bed, and looked at my vanity. My schedule was just laying there, as expected. I grabbed it and laid down in my bed. I decided to give my schedule a closer look. "Let's see here…"

As I analyzed it, it read:

Artemis Nightingale

First Period:

Vampyre Sociology 101 with High Priestess Cassandra

Second Period:

Literature 101 with Professor Iara

Third Period:

Fencing with Professor Scipio

Fourth Period:

Music with Professor Thalia

or

Drama with Professor Freya

or

Poetry with Professor Marcel

Lunch

Fifth Period:

Parkour with Professor Gwendolen

Fencing? What in the world? I must've been exhausted, as I'd fallen asleep looking over the schedule the third time.