"I know you…
I walked with you,
Once upon a dream,
I know you,
That look in your eyes is so familiar agleam
And I know it's true,
That visions are seldom all they seem,
But if I know you, I know what you'll do
You'll love me at once,
The way you did,
Once upon a dream,"

Dahlia blinked her eyes repeatedly as she woke up in her own bedroom once again. The strange and eerily beautiful song she heard in her dream echoed and ricocheted in her mind. She wondered who had been singing that song, and she could never piece the voice to any of the women she met. She stood and quickly got into her school uniform and headed downstairs to meet with her father before leaving and continuing her normal life. She finished eating her breakfast with her father, before she stood up, grabbed her messenger bag, and kissed her father on the top of his head before saying "See you later Dad!"
Her father called to her as she left the house "See you later, Dahlia! Have a good day today!" After Dahlia left, he blinked and he commented to himself as he continued to eat his own meal "Is it just me…or is she starting to look somewhat like her mother?"

Dahlia rushed to her high school and managed to avoid being late for class. She sat at her desk and took down notes patiently throughout the day. She had a couple of friends in this class, and unfortunately, there were still some bullies from her childhood. She ignored the bullies with ease thankfully. Time flew by and it soon became lunch break. Dahlia sat with her two friends as they ate, and one of her friends asked "Hey, hey, Dahlia. Did you try some sort of new makeup today?"
Dahlia raised an eyebrow and she answered confusedly, "No. Why do you ask?"
"Well, you look sort of different. Prettier than normal! What's your secret?"
Dahlia shrugged and said as she took a bite out of her pre packed sandwich, "I don't know. I haven't done anything differently,"
Dahlia's other friend sniggered teasingly "Maybe she's finally reached puberty,"
Dahlia puffed her cheeks at the tease for a second, and said with some sarcasm and a roll of her eyes, "Ha. Ha. Very funny, Millie,"

Dahlia's attention was soon diverted to out of the window, where she saw the bullies who bullied her during her childhood, bully a shorter and weaker looking student. She stood up and she hurried outside, with her friends calling after her and following her in concern. She soon reached the courtyard and she called to the bullies who were now kicking the student, curled up in a ball and covering their head with their hands, "HEY! Leave him alone!"
The bullies turned to face Dahlia and her two friends, and the first bully sneered "Well, well, looky what we have here! If it ain't the fat hulk herself!"
The second bully laughed, snorting like a pig in the process, "Ahahaha! Ye-Yeah! It looks like she wants our attention after all!"
Dahlia glared at the two of them, as her friends whispered to her "Dahlia, we should get out of here!" She shook her head and said "No. I can't stand seeing people get picked on,"
The leading bully laughed "Oh really? What are you gonna do to stop me eh? Get angry? Ooh! I'm so scared!"
She glared at the bully and she threatened, feeling herself get angrier with every word the bully spoke, "Stop. Or I'll tell the teachers,"
The bully retorted in a mock whiny voice "Ooh! You're gonna be a tattle tale! So scary!" The bullies laughed at her, until something strange happened.

Something grabbed the bully's wrist in a strong grip, and the bully asked "Huh?" as he looked to see what had him. What got him, shocked everyone who was watching the situation. A person wasn't holding his wrist, but a strong ivy vine. More rose from the ground around the bullies and wrapped themselves around them, causing the two to scream. Dahlia gasped in fear and shock. What was going on? How were the vines doing that? Her fear and confusion grew, and as those two emotions did, more vines appeared and attacked the students in and out of the school. Screaming could be heard from all of the students as they were individually wrapped in vines and were pinned to the ground. Dahlia wasn't an exception. She screamed in fright as she tried to run, but only to be caught in the vines and to have the life slowly squeezed out of her. Before she blacked out, she saw a strange dark figure that she couldn't make out and there was a sudden bright flash of light, blinding her and all of the school before she completely blacked out.

*~*~*

Dahlia groaned as she sat up in a bed. She looked around and saw that she was in a white room with green curtains around her bed. Was she in the hospital? No…the beds were too simple to belong to the hospital. Could she be in the infirmary? Was she still at school? Before she could even do anything, the curtains pulled back to show a doctor. The doctor looked very peculiar. He had green hair and green eyes, and his ears were pointed. He had a strange air of regality and pride about him. He said to her kindly "Ah. You're up, Miss Dahlia Harris. You had quite a nasty awakening back there,".
Dahlia blinked and she asked "Huh? Awakening? Wait, where am I? And what happened?"
The doctor raised his hands and said "Easy, easy. We don't want you getting stressed now," He then took out his clipboard and pen and started writing as he continued "As much as I would love to explain everything to you, I'm afraid I have other patients to take care of. Please change into the uniform that's lying on your bed, and meet with Headmaster Ichabod. Don't worry you'll know where to go," He then smiled at her and said before he left to take care of the other patients in the room "Welcome to Heavenly Academy,".

She blinked at the name and muttered "Heavenly Academy…?" as she closed the curtains and changed out of the hospital like gown she was wearing and into the uniform that was on her bed. She then headed out of the infirmary and saw that she was definitely not in her hometown anymore. Where this school was, she didn't know, but it was clearly enormous. She also noticed the strange people that seemed to be wandering around as well.

*~*~*MEANWHILE!*~*~*

"Akio Toranara…I sentence you to 30 years of Hell, and after that you shall be reborn as a praying mantis,"
Screams echoed throughout the dark chamber as the man with a bloody wound in his torso was dragged off by two figures, one with a horse head and the other with an ox's head. The dark figure that gave the sentence looked towards Raven, right before the alarm sounded.

Raven gasped awake in his apartment and panted as he took in his peaceful surroundings. He sighed as he ran his hands through his hair and he mumbled to himself "It's just a nightmare. Just a nightmare…it means nothing…" He then sighed and got out of his bed and went to go and get ready for school. After getting dressed and changing into his high school uniform, he hurried out of the door with a piece of toast in his mouth. He ran as fast as he could to the school and made it on time as well. He sighed as he sat down in his class and went through the day like normal. He had a lot of friends here, and everyone liked him despite the scary demeanor he seemed to have when he was bored or worse, angry. He dutifully took down the notes as he teachers lectured on and on.

However, throughout the day, Raven noticed more people…strange people. The people he had seen looked very pale and sad or out of place. He figured maybe they were dressing up for Halloween. But then, Halloween was many months away from today. He asked his fellow classmates and teachers if he had seen any of the people he had seen around town or in the school, only to get the same answer: No.

Soon lunch time came for Raven and he had finished eating when a student asked him "Hey, Rave! Can you do me a favor?"
Raven nodded and answered "Sure, what's up?"
The student handed him a heavy box full of decorations and said "Can you take this back to the storage room? Turns out Miyako doesn't want that Birthday party after all,".
Raven answered "OK," He did feel a little sorry that Miyako didn't want to celebrate her birthday today. He didn't know why anyone wouldn't want to, and wanted to ask Miyako. But he decided against it. It wasn't his business and he should stay out of it. He lifted the heavy box with a grunt, using his knees to help him lift, and he walked off to the gym where the storage room was.

When he reached the gym, he found that he was alone. There were no PE classes in the gym nor any students with free time on their hands. He shrugged it off and placed the box in the dark storage room. He then closed the door and started to head out, when suddenly one of the strange people he saw today appeared before him. This person, with hand shaped bruises encircling their neck, groaned "You…! You saaaaw me! Help me!"
Raven stumbled backwards out of fright and he asked "Hu-Huh?!" More of the strange people appeared and they moved closer to him chanting
"Help me! Help me! Help me! Help me! Help me! Help me!"
Raven realized what they were: ghosts, undead, something of that ilk. He screamed in terror as he fell to the floor. The ghosts crowded around him, continuing their ominous chant, and he continued screaming, until a bright white light appeared. The white light blinded him and silenced the ghosts, before he blacked out.

*~*~*

Raven soon fluttered his eyes open and he gasped, jumping upwards to find that he was in a bed in a different place. This was clearly an infirmary, and he face palmed himself as he recalled seeing ghosts and screaming like a little girl. He looked to see a nurse when she pulled back the curtains and she said to him "You're awake. That's good. You really had a fright didn't you?" Before he could even ask questions, the nurse said to him "Please get your new uniform on and go see Professor Ichabod. Oh, and welcome to Heavenly Academy," She then left him alone, with Raven raising an index finger and his mouth gaped open.

He muttered "What…?" He then looked to himself and blushed with embarrassment to see that he was wearing a hospital gown and he saw the very prim and proper uniform that lied on his bed neatly folded. He took the uniform and put it on before heading out to go find Headmaster Ichabod. However, when he reached campus he saw that the people here were different, he wasn't in his hometown anymore, and the campus was huge. He muttered to himself with a face palm "I should've asked for directions!"

Looking around Yayauhqui’s eyes landed on a familiar figure. A tall man with one skeletal leg and a painted face approached her. As always his greetings were cold and shallow but there was a look of joy that danced in his eyes. “Yayauhqui…you look more and more like her each day”…he said, “I see she allowed you to wear your spools.” He gestured to the golden spools in her ears. They were decorated with a small scene of a festival or something similar. She never questioned how the man knew her or why she was in a world that she knew no longer existed. He reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, “There was a letter…” he said quietly, “but it is best that you know in time.” He gave a ghost of a smile before bringing her into a quick and sudden hug and then leaving.

The same dream again, Yayauhqui groaned. It never changed, although their conversations varied greatly but many were about her growing up. She would ask questions that the man would dance around. She knew his name to be Tezcatlipoca but she chalked everything up to her mother’s line of work. Rubbing the sleep from her amber colored eyes the girl headed into the bathroom that joined onto her room and showered before changing into her school clothes and quietly made her way downstairs where her little brother John was already eating breakfast. “Mornin’ Yaya!” He chirped. The boy was her half-brother and unlike her, his entire life had been spent in the United States. He never ventured to Mexico like she had. No, his father was too “American” to allow his son to do that despite his wife being Mexican-American and having several blood ties to Mexico.
Their mother shot her son a look, “I mean Yayauhqui.” The boy still struggled to say his sister’s name, which was Nahautl for “black smoking mirror”. Her step-father absolutely refused to call her by her first name or even her nickname so he stuck to her middle name, which was Rosa, or her last name.

They did not have a very good relationship. It wasn’t physically abusive nor was it full of borderline sexual tension. They simply did not see eye to eye on many things. Yaya’s nationality being one of them. Richard loved her mother and her mother loved Richard. He could tolerate his wife’s occupation which frequently took her out of the country but he could not tolerate the fact that his step-daughter, by all technicalities, was an immigrant. She was a U.S citizen now but his mind was too clouded his by prejudice. To make this tension worse, her mother did not tell him about Yaya’s father. Richard had assumed that Grace had been left by a deadbeat Mexican who’d rather spend money on getting drunk and a donkey than Grace.

Yaya quickly brushed her hair into a bun before sitting at the table to eat breakfast with her brother. The large ear spools that had been a present on her eighteenth birthday a few weeks ago caught the attention of her brother. As she explained how in the Aztec world, jewelry was very normal and in high demand. Their mother was smiling as she listened to her daughter. “Okay you two, it’s time for school.” Richard said as he walked into the kitchen. There were times when he wasn’t a total ass to Yaya, the mornings before school were usually those times.
John groaned as he went to get his backpack at a sluggish pace while his sister cleaned off the table and gave their mom a hug goodbye.

To Grace’s surprise her daughter was beginning to resemble her father. It was terrifying to say the least. The ear spools, her straight dark hair, and the shape and color of her eyes belonged to her father. “Have fun at school!” she called behind the three as they walked down the drive way. John was the first to get dropped off, leaving Yayauhqui and Richard alone for a half an hour drive. Grace wanted her children to go to good schools; it cost a bit extra and it was a longer drive but her kids were getting a good education. “So…Garcia.” He said, glancing at the girl briefly before putting his attention on the road. “What’s the deal with those earrings? Are they some sort of sp*c—“ That was the first time that he had ever called her that. It hurt deeply that in his eyes she would never amount to anything. She was his step-daughter! She called his parents grandma and grandpa, she went to school and got good grades. She didn’t end up pregnant like he thought she was going to.

Yayauhqui sat in silence as the man continued on, tears gathered in the corners of her eyes as she listened to him. Richard wasn’t bad…just a dick. He made sure she got food and a home but that couldn’t make up for everything. The girl snapped as he tossed out the racial slur like it was nothing. He had pulled over to let her out a block from the school since it usually was packed with parents dropping off their kids and she really didn’t want to be seen by him. Her body acted on its own accord. Her nails lengthened and her hands began to turn into paws then the rest of her body followed the transformation; her tanned skin was replaced by spotted fur, her bones shifted to those of a large cat and she even grew a tail. Richard tried to jump from the car but his seatbelt kept him anchored to the seat. He screamed when her paws were raked down his arm, fumbling with the buckle, Richard finally freed himself and was able to leave the car to seek help. His wife was notified quickly.

Yayauhqui tried to leap from the car but she was stunned by a brilliant white light and soon fell into darkness.

---

Practically shooting up from the bed the girl was frightened. Where was she?! This wasn’t her house. Did she die? Wait was it all a dream and she had fallen asleep at school again? The curtains were pulled back to reveal a man wearing a set of purple scrubs. He looked similar to Yayauhqi; he had long dark hair that was tied into a topknot and he had tanned skin. The man’s face was streaked with paint much like the man from her dreams. “You’re awake,” he smiled before dropping the curtain to talk to her for a little while. “Welcome to Heavenly Academy. Is there anything that you remember before this?”

She nodded, “Yeah my step-dad was being a prick again and…I had paws…What the fuck am I on?!”

The man laughed before patting her shoulder, “Don’t try to think too hard. There’s a uniform for you to change into so you can go meet Headmaster Ichabod. Nice spools by the way,” he said before showing off his own. They were small blue disks with little shards of obsidian and other stones pressed to the surface to make an intricate pattern. Yayauhqui wanted that obsidian! The man smiled again before leaving the girl to change into her uniform before heading out to find her way around.

---

Jan sighed as his three ‘brothers’ as they called themselves rushed into the bathroom to fight over the mirror. Together there were a grand total of four boys and two girls in the house. Their sisters were only two years old. Jan was the oldest by a six month difference with Johann, and then came Hans who was fifteen and then finally Frederic who was fourteen. Jan wormed his way into the mass of boys in the bathroom as they all brushed their teeth. They were quite close, calling each other bruder. Johann, Hans and Frederic even called Jan’s father their dad even though their mom hadn’t married Jan’s dad. Jan was feeling sick to his stomach again. The reflection that stated back at him was different than the face that he grew up knowing.
His straw blond hair was white and the same length as his wavy hair if it were to be straightened. His green eyes were gold, but that transformation had been going on for a while. It had started out slowly with small gold flakes appearing in his eyes and gradually growing larger and larger. Jan’s skin was a few shades paler and there were vibrant crimson stripes on his cheeks and forehead.

However, despite all of these radical transformations he was still the only one who could see them. Fisting a handful of his straw colored locks, Jan began to hyper ventilate. T-that was not him staring back in the mirror! It couldn’t be…Jan didn’t look like that!

His brothers yelled for their dad and mom.

The thundering boom of his father’s heavy footsteps alerted Jan to the fact that his father was running up the stairs. Lighter steps behind the heavier ones let him know that Amber, his dad’s girlfriend, was right behind him. Surely his sisters would have been left with his brothers downstairs. “Jan?!” His dad grabbed him by the shoulders. Jan was helped to his feet but the face still staring back was not his own—even if they shared the same facial expression. “Jan!” Amber’s voice echoed around the room as she grabbed him from his father and brought him into a hug.

They had an odd relationship. She was the mother that he always wanted but he couldn’t help but feel as if he was betraying his birthmother. He never called Amber “mom” or anything similar to the title but she was content with it. It was known that Jan had a panic disorder so they thought it was another panic attack. Jan calmed down after a while but he was still scared.
“Boys get ready,” Amber barked to her sons, Jan was going to stay home today to help care for his sisters.

Anna was the oldest by five minutes but Ada was the most adventurous. Jan helped Amber feed the twins as his dad went to work and his brothers went to school. His dad and Amber had been together for five years already and Jan hoped that they’d be together for a long time. He lacked a stable mother figure in his life. It seemed like once a mother figure came in they quickly left. They were quiet save for the babbling of the twins. Both girls had been born prematurely causing them to learn and hit milestones a little bit later than other two year olds but they were precious gifts to the blended family. Jan stopped when he smelled the familiar strong smell of floral perfume. He usually smelled it at night and in the mornings so to smell it now was odd. Amber didn’t wear perfume nor did anyone else.
He doubted his dad or brothers would have worn floral perfume.

“Jan will you go get their bath ready?” Amber asked as she began to clean the kitchen once the twins were fed.

He nodded and walked slowly upstairs, fearing the reflection in the mirror.

Jan peaked his head in and seen his usual reflection, the face he’d come to know just with gold colored eyes. As he started the tub and adjusted the water to the desired temperature he glanced once more into the mirror out of curiosity. Perhaps his stress had finally gotten to him.

To his horror there was another figure behind his reflection.

It was a female figure with long flowing white hair and gold eyes framed by thick white lashes. She had similar facial markings that his reflection did. The woman was smaller in size than Jan; she maybe came up to his nose. They had many similarities; their noses, chin and the shape of their eyes. Suddenly there was an overwhelming aroma of sweet smelling flowers that blocked his senses, making Jan think it was another panic attack.

---

Downstairs Amber wondered what was taking Jan so long. The bath didn’t take long to get ready and they didn’t need much water since the twins were toddlers. “Jan?” Amber put the twins in their playpen before heading upstairs to check on the teen. Water had seeped into the carpet halfway down the hall and she could hear the water still running. One of her worst fears was that Jan was dead. Ivan had confided in her that only a few years ago he had found a suicide note from Jan. The teen reassured his father that it was just to vent his emotions and nothing more.

But Amber was still worried.

Jan was her son; well at least she’d like to think of him as her son. She cared for the boy greatly as if he were her own.

Amber found the bathroom to be empty save for the half inch of water that moved away from the full bathtub. Quickly turning off the water to go find Jan the woman searched every room, calling his name. Already in tears she called Ivan who was a forty minute drive away. Stumbling over her words Amber kept searching before sinking against the wall. A tiny while startled the woman who dropped the phone and scrambled into the corner as she caught sight of something white poking out from under Jan’s bed. Whatever it was the thing was alive because it had moved.

“J-jan?” Amber called again, this time the little ball of white moved around under the bed to reveal a tiny fox face. Amber screamed loudly and threw a discarded pair of underwear at the poor fox. The small, frightened animal scooted closer to the headboard in fear. Amber slammed the bedroom door behind her and she ran down the stairs to get to her daughters. They were happily playing with each other, unaware of the fox in the house and that Jan was missing.
Forty minutes later Ivan arrived home.

Amber told him about the fox in Jan’s room and how Jan went missing. Ivan carefully made his way up to Jan’s room at the end of the hallway. He held a tennis racket in his hand as protection as he opened up the door and found the frightened fox cowering in the corner. The fox’s fur was as white as pure virgin snow but there was a large red mark on its forehead much like the small tattoo that his first wife Rin had on her shoulder.

“Jan?” He called; the tiny fox perked it ears up and looked at the man.

Ivan moved closer to the tiny fox as it began to make a noise to try to scare him away. “Jan? It’s me.” He said, gently reaching out his hand to the fox before getting his fingers swiped at. Rin had many books about foxes, some were still in the house as a matter of fact but there had been one that Ivan had found on Kitsunes. It had all sorts of notes written in red ink along the margins and free spaces. They were notes that pointed to a greater knowledge of Kitsunes than the author probably knew or had gotten wrong. As he coaxed the fox from the corner, Ivan knew without a doubt it was his son.

There was a bright light that hurt Ivan’s eyes as well as Jan’s. Luckily Jan was small enough to bury his head in his father’s arms.

---

Jan woke up what seemed like hours later. He was in a strange room that didn’t look like his home in Berlin. The boy pat his body to make sure he was still alive. Seeing his hands sent the boy screaming. The markings that were on his hands mirrored the ones he had seen earlier before his world suddenly got a lot smaller. His nails were long and thick like claws. “I see you’re up.”
The nurse was a cheerful woman with light blonde hair and gray eyes that slanted upwards. She had fox ears and a tail which really confused Jan. “Don’t worry. You’ll get filled in once you see Headmaster Ichabod.” She told him with a cheerful chirp as she handed him a set of clothes that he recognized as a uniform. On top of the uniform was a necklace that held a small clear crystal in the shape of a ball that was being held to the black string by a silver claw. “Quickly change into these and head north.” The woman left to allow Jan some time to change.

There was a small mirror next to his bed on the wall and once again the strange face stared back at him but this time it felt familiar as if he was used to that face staring back at him.

Dahlia walked through the campus, unsure of where she was going or if she was even heading in the right direction. As she walked she noticed that a lot of the people she passed seemed to be around her age, if not older, and they were staring at her as she passed. It seemed as though they were trying to figure out who or what Dahlia was. She noticed that some were whispering to each other under their breaths. She wanted to ask someone for directions, but she really didn't feel comfortable with how the people were staring at her. She couldn't hear what they were saying though and she just continued on her way to who knows where. She saw that the most noticeable building on the campus was the one that had a large clock tower attached to it. She figured that this Headmaster Ichabod's office would be there.

She was proven correct when she entered the large building and went up to the front desk. A secretary who sat there noticed her, looked up from her paper work, showing her third eye on her forehead, and she said "Ah, Dahlia Harris. Headmaster Ichabod's been expecting you. Please, head to the third floor, center room,"
Dahlia nodded and said "Oh, Thank you," before she followed directions and headed upstairs to go and see this Headmaster Ichabod, and find out what exactly was going on. She was sure that by now her father was worried sick about her. She soon reached the double doors that were there, and she was about to knock when they opened by themselves. There was a tall man with long white hair, standing in front of the large window, his back to Dahlia, as he said to her, "Come in,"

Dahlia hesitantly entered, closing the door behind her, and she was about to ask when he spoke again "I know you have many questions, but could you be patient. There are three new students along with you today, and I would like to answer all of the questions with everyone here,"
Dahlia raised her eyebrows and muttered "Three others?"

*~*~*

Raven walked towards the large building with the large clock tower, looking warily as he did. He thought he was going to encounter the strange Halloween people who came up to him in school again, because everyone he saw here looked just as unusual as they did. He was terrified that he was going to get mauled here by a huge crowd. He continued walking, never noticing that some of the girls were looking at him admirably. He appeared calm and confident, everyone here would never have guessed that he was really terrified right now.

He soon reached the building and he was told to go upstairs by the same secretary. He nodded to the secretary and said "OK…Thank you, Ms…Treeman," He continued walking upstairs, and when he reached the double doors, he knocked and a voice echoed from within
"Come in,"
He obeyed and walked in to see an old man with long hair facing away from him and a girl, and looking out of the window. The Headmaster said to Raven, "Please. Take a seat,"

Raven was silent as he sat down in a chair next to Dahlia's. Raven asked "So…what is-",
The Headmaster silenced him with a statement "Save your questions. Two more new students are to arrive here shortly, and I will answer all of your questions at once. I do not like to repeat myself,"
Raven raised his eyebrows at the seemingly haughty and irritable tone. He looked to Dahlia and he asked "So, do you have any idea what's going on?"
Dahlia shook her head and said "Unfortunately no. I'm Dahlia,"
Raven nodded and said to her "I'm Raven. Nice to meet you,".
Dahlia answered with a small smile "Likewise,"

Smoothing out the plain black skirt that mad up part of the female uniform, Yayauhqui sighed as she picked her way through the crowd of students; some waved and smiled at her. Those that waved shared the same dark hair and ear spools, although theirs had been decorated differently than hers. Everyone else seemed to be curious about her but she brushed them off. She was used to getting strange looks anyways. Not everyone back home had elaborate ear spools decorated on every surface with intricate lines.

The students wore a plain black uniform with a white dress shirt and black tie, all genders wore fastened vests. On their sleeves were small colored bands that tied around their biceps. Each had a different symbol, showing which dorm they would belong to. To even further show who, to be more specific, they belonged to on the bands was also another symbol. On the armbands of the new students there were no dormitory symbols nor was there much of an indication of anything, as their bands would be black. Their colored bands would be given to them once their heritage was discovered. Yayauhqui touched the black sash around her sleeve as she walked.
Halfway to the Headmaster’s office she bumped into someone.

“Hey…”

Looking up she seen it was a boy. He looked just as normal as she did save for the color of his eyes. They were a brilliant shade of green with large flakes of gold in them. “Sorry about bumping into you,” his voice held a slight German accent. “I’m Jan by zhe vay. And you are?”

“Yayauhqui,” she said with a smirk. Not many pronounced her name correctly on the first go. After several failed and butchered attempts at her name the girl giggled and gave a nickname, “Just call my Yaya, my mom is really into the Nauhatl language, which is indigenous to Mexico.” She explained as they walked. Jan smiled and listened to her. Jan’s small armband was the same, undecorated black armbands as hers.

“Are you new here too?” he asked.

Yaya nodded, “Yeah…it’s weird here but I like it,” she said to him as they entered the clock tower building, as Jan had called it. The secretary greeted both of them and directed them to the Headmaster’s office.

Jan and Yaya were surprised to see two students there already; a girl and a boy who were just as confused as they were.

“Welcome Jan,” the Headmaster greeted Jan first who sat closest to the girl, “And Yaya…huqui…”He pronounced her name slowly but got it right. She smiled and bowed her head slightly, she muttered a soft thank you before taking the last seat.

“So why are we here?” Yaya asked, Jan nodded as he looked at the Headmaster.

Dahlia and Raven both looked to see the other two students enter, and they remembered the names that the Headmaster had called them by. When Yayauhqui had asked the question that was on both of their minds, the Headmaster smiled and said "All four of you are here, because you are now new students at Heavenly Academy," Dahlia raised an eyebrow and she was about to ask, but the Headmaster continued "All four of you have gone through sudden changes and had strange experiences, have you not? Such as turning into animals, or seeing things others could not,"
Raven shuddered as he remembered the strange people that surrounded him and begged for his help as he stuttered "Y-Yeah…", while Dahlia nodded as she recalled how ivy vines just suddenly attacked everyone at her school.

The Headmaster continued "Your previous schools wouldn't be able to accommodate for people with special abilities such as yourselves, and your communities would've certainly treated you four unkindly for not being…human. This is why Heavenly Academy exists. There are many 'inhuman' people such as you four, and this is the only safe haven for all of us,"
Raven asked "Wait…what do you mean by us not being human?"
The Headmaster answered "I mean what I said. We're not exactly humans. That includes you four. The gods and creatures of all of the mythologies from around the world exist, and they occasionally foster children with a mortal. You four have mythological lineage in your blood, and therefore you have your parents' abilities,". He chuckled and said as he made a small ball of electricity appear in the palm of his hand, to prove that he wasn't lying, "I, myself, am a son of Zeus,".

Dahlia and Raven were stunned with what they heard, unsure if they should believe what they were hearing or not. They didn't know whether he was telling the truth, or if this was some strange, complicated, and elaborate scam. The Headmaster dismissed the ball of electricity and he opened a door in his desk and said "I have all four of your schedules for your classes. They're all tailored according to the powers you've demonstrated earlier, and they will be further tailored as you discover your lineage and make friends," He handed the four of them, four slips of paper that showed their class schedules and what dorms they'll be staying in.

Jan listened carefully as the headmaster began to explain things, strange things that shouldn’t have happened to kids their age. Jan looked at the other three as they absorbed what was being told to them, the dark haired girl seemed to be taking it easier than the others. He was curious about his lineage and he wondered if it had anything to do with his mother. The boy closed his eyes, which had reverted back to much of their original color. It seemed to make sense, although the idea of every mythological being having children with humans was as farfetched as Jan shitting out rainbows. He looked at the slip of paper that he had been given.
Glancing at Yayauhqui’s paper he learned that they were in at least one of the same classes: Animal Shapeshifting. He faintly remembered turning into something much smaller than his current frame of 5’11 and 169 pounds. Jan couldn’t place the animal and the more he thought about it the more he was sure that it had been an animal that his body somehow turned into. There was an irritating fog that clouded most of his memories from what seemed like only twenty minutes ago, give or take a few minutes.

The girl beside him was quiet as she read her paper, “So…it’s just the Greek and Roman Gods? It’s every God from every civilization that has ever graced the earth?” She asked, her amber eyes moving from the paper and to the headmaster. One of her hands, the one that wasn’t holding the slip of paper, travelled to her gold ear spools. To her talking about the gods of religions of the past was fairly normal but just like the others she was wondering if this was some sort of joke. Her finger tips traced the small golden figures on the ear spools as she thought. Her teeth worked nervously on her bottom lip as she studied the paper once more before glancing at Jan’s.
“We could all have siblings here, right?” she finally asked, “People just like us…who have experienced the same strange happenings?”

Jan grew curious about the talk of siblings before he remembered his sisters and brothers, a frown grew on his face as the thought about his family. “Vhat about our families, Do zhey know vhere ve are…vhat ve are?”

He spoke the one question that Yayauhqui had wanted to ask; had she killed her step-father? What of her mother and brother? She glancedat Dahlia and Raven, the seemed to be confused and in disbelief. Surely this wasn’t some grand joke that their families, or lack of, had planned together because well…Jan was from Germany and her mom never went to Germany nor did she know anyone from Germany. If this was some weird dream that all of them were sharing then what the hell did they all get drugged with?

The Headmaster answered Yayauhqui's first questions with a smile and said "That's correct. Every single God from every civilization that has graced Earth with their presences. And yes, technically you could meet your half-brothers or half-sisters here," However, the Headmaster's eyes narrowed slightly and grew serious, as though he was sending a silent warning, when Jan asked about their families. He smiled again kindly and he said to him "I wouldn't worry about your families. They're all safe and sound," Dahlia didn't like the sound of the Headmaster's answer, and she wanted to question it further, but she could tell that he wasn't going to be forthcoming to their answers. She silently decided to get her cell phone, and try and call her father later, make sure he's ok.

Raven on the other hand, didn't have a family to check on. He knew that his friends should be ok…if those people didn't decide to go after his friends. Raven looked at his paper and he gulped in fear when he saw one of his classes: Necromancy 001. He shivered silently, but didn't say anything. He didn't want to show that he was afraid. Besides, maybe the Necromancy class wasn't really dealing with the dead…he hoped.

The Headmaster then said to them with a smile, "Well now. Since there doesn't seem to be any other questions, I should let you know that the school day is over for today, but you can all go to the library and get your textbooks for your classes and go find your dorms," He then closed his eyes and smiled at them saying "I hope you enjoy your time here at Heavenly Academy,"

There was something seriously wrong with the Headmaster’s statement. Jan hoped that his family hadn’t been killed nor did he hope that somehow they had forgotten about him. He always was afraid of being forgotten by his family, it was one thing that he feared the most. He watched Dahlia try to call someone and he wondered briefly if cellphones would work here, well wherever they were. Given the okay to turn loose, he wondered where their dorms were and well… what they were themselves.
Jan sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. He wondered how long it would take for others to see him as he truly was—the way that he sees himself.

Yayauhqui looked at Raven’s paper and a slight pout came to her face, “Why do you get the fun stuff?” Her little brother was an avid horror fan, well so was their mother so it rubbed off on Yaya as well. There were a few other classes that she could already tell were going to make her homesick. One of them was a Mesoamerican History class. Like she didn’t know that already, “I’m Yayauhqui by the way, you can call me Yaya.” She said to Raven with a small smile. She wondered if the meaning of her name had anything to do with who she came from…or whatever the headmaster meant.

Dahlia didn't start calling her father until she was out of the Headmaster's sight, figuring that he would stop her. She speed dialed her father's cell phone and the home number multiple times only to get the same result: No service. She sighed and swore under her breath as she put her cell phone back into her vest pocket. She started to think that maybe she would have better luck if she was off this academy's campus, that was until she felt someone's eyes on her. She looked to see that it was one of the new students, Jan. She sighed through her nose in relief. She had thought that Jan was the Headmaster catching her trying to call her father. She said "Ah, what a relief. I thought you were the Headmaster,". She then said "Your name's Jan, right? My name's Dahlia. It's nice to meet you,"

Raven paled at Yaya's question and pout and he answered her "If it is possible, I would be happy to switch classes with you!" He didn't like his schedule at all. All of his classes dealt with horror type subjects. The only thing that didn't was History...of the Underworld and its Lords. Raven felt like he was ready to cry when he finished reading that class name. When Yaya introduced herself, he smiled at her and said "It's nice to meet you, Yaya. My name is Raven, Raven Kurose. Nice to meet you,". He was glad that she didn't seem to be scared by his outwardly and seemingly dark appearance. Many people back at his home told him that he reminded them of a vampire or something like that.

“Nice to meet you Dahlia,” Jan said with a slight, shy smile. He looked to the other two, who were walking a little ways in front of himself and Dahlia. Yayauhqui smiled as she fiddled with her schedule, “I don’t think the Headmaster would like us switching classes. What happened to you before you woke up here?” she asked, figuring that the others would have done the same as she did.

Jan spoke up, “I vas tiny. Really tiny…and not human, Vhat about you?”

“Same as you. But I was just a few feet shorter than I am now.” Yayauhqui stated before turning to Dahlia and introducing herself. Walking through the large campus was a hassle as the students stopped to stare, making Jan feel as if he were a bug under a microscope. The campus was large, far larger than any of them could have possibly known. They were in a large plaza type area where the students walked to their classes and dorms. Off to the left was a large cluster of buildings, a sign pointing in that direction read Dormitories. Directly across from the dorms was the gate to the school. The weather out there matched the weather inside of the gates but there was a city road just outside and Jan couldn’t hear the cars driving by.

The buildings were scattered around, signs pointing to what was located inside of each building.

“Vhat dorms do you all have?” Jan asked, looking down at his slip of paper.

“Americas.” Yayahuqui said.

Jan’s paper read Asia. Beside that the parenthesis was blank. Clearly something else was to go there. “I vonder vhat is supposed to be zhere,” he questioned out loud. The group was stopped by a tall and lanky man with straw colored hair and pointed ears.

“Ah the new students!” He said with a wide smile, “Welcome to Heaven Academy. I am Darian, head of the welcoming committee.” He explained. Jan asked about the blank space and the man smiled once more.
“That is there because you are all new students. After your first year it will be filled in. Here are your dorm room numbers.” They were each handed a small book with their room number printed on the cover. “The student handbook; it outlines what you can and cannot do on school grounds or otherwise.”

Yayauhqui flipped through the book briefly before looking at the others.

Jan looked at his room number with a questioning glance.

Room number 32:Kit.

He looked at the dark haired girl’s as well to see if his was the same as hers.

Room number 2:Tez

“Vhat is kit?” Jan asked Darian.

“It’s how we sort you to be with those who are just like you. It’s easier to have students grouped together by what their parent was and what part of the world his or her mother or father came from.” Darian shrugged as he began to point out the different dorms although they had large signs out front with the dormitory names on them.

When Yaya asked Dahlia, Raven, and Jan what happened to them before they came here, Raven and Dahlia answered after Jan and Yaya spoke. Raven spoke first, shivering as he recalled "There were a bunch of weird people. They just appeared out of nowhere and crowded around me, begging for my help. I had no idea what was going on,"
Dahlia winced at Raven's answer and she commented "Wow. That sounds rough,"
He then asked Dahlia "What about you? You probably didn't go through something as scary as that,"
Dahlia answered "I was actually pretty scared though. Ivy vines just suddenly started acting on their own and attacked everyone in my school. I thought I was going to die,"
Raven raised his eyebrows and he commented "OK, that does sound scarier actually,"

Dahlia and Raven tried to ignore the people that were staring at them as they walked on with Jan and Yayauhqui, until they reached the sign that read 'dormitories,'. Dahlia and Raven looked at their schedules and Dahlia answered Yayauhqui "Mine's Europe-British Empire,"
Raven looked at his and he whined "Mine reads the Underworld!" He honestly felt scared again. Why did everything about him in this school involve the Underworld?!

Soon the Head of the Welcoming Committee approached them and greeted all of them. Dahlia and Raven accepted their handbooks with thanks and looked at the covers to see their room numbers.
Dahlia's read Fae: 16 while Raven's read Yam: 03

Dahlia and Raven listened carefully as Damien pointed out the different dorms and Raven noticed that one of them was very dark in color and he gulped when Damien said that was the Underworld dorm.

Looking at the dormitory that he was going to be staying in Jan noted the obvious Asian influence in it's desgins. "There is one thing that I must mention before I head to class," Darian said, "All of the dorms are seperated according to gods and non-god beings. Yayahuqui, Raven, your dorms are within the god section and as for you two, Dahlia and Jan, yours are in the non-god section of your dorms. Well see you guys later!" Darian said before jogging away to let the new students find their rooms.
"God?" Jan asked with a curious face.
"Yeah--gods from every religion." Yayahuqui pointed to the dorm windows. On one side of the buildings the windows were larger and what could be seen of the curtains and other things within the lower level dorms, they were richly decorated. "Sometimes they have a higher importance than other mythological beings and this school must be structured that way," she shrugged.

Jan nodded, understanding her point but he wondered why there was such a split in the students. "Any idea who you belong to?" he asked everyone.

The dark haired girl gave a half-hearted shrug, "If the meaning of my name is any indication then yeah."

Jan shot her a curious look as she mentioned her already hard to pronounce name. "It has a meaning?"

"All names mean something, Jan." Yayahuqui said with a small smile. Her mother would be proud; Grace did not raise her daughter to be uneducated. "Many people no longer choose names based upon their meanings like they did several hundred years ago. Some even make up names now."
Jan smiled, his green eyes crinkled around the corners. "I assure you zhat my name is not made up." He joked.

Dahlia and Raven looked to Damien as he mentioned the fact that all of the dorms were separated by Gods and Non-Gods, before leaving. After Jan and Yaya commented on what they just heard, Dahlia asked all three of them "Doesn't that sound at least a little…wrong to you guys?"
Raven shook his head and said "It doesn't really sound that odd, does it?"
Dahlia didn't answer. She just kept getting a bad feeling about this school and how it was structured seemed to add onto that vibe. Raven on the other hand was much more concerned and scared about the horror type dorm and classes that he had to attend to. The four of them never really knew how divided the students really were just from Damien's statement.

Dahlia shrugged mumbling "I have no idea, honestly," in reply to Jan's question. After Yaya answered with the mention of her name, Raven asked after Jan "What does your name mean?"

After getting an answer, and Yaya teased Jan, Dahlia smiled hesitantly and commented "Raven's and my names have pretty obvious meanings…"

"My name means Black Smoking Mirror." Yayauhqui said with a shrug of her shoulders, "My mom is an Archaeologist who is nuts for the Aztec culture--specifically for the religion. I guess that all of our names reflect something that our parents couldn't pin point." Yayauhqui gave a slight smile, "I'm going to find my dorm, you guys wanna meet back out here?" she asked.

The buildings that surrounded them formed a semi-circle, each building was a different shade of gray stone that matched a cold winter's day. The upper level windows were smaller than the ones on the ground and second levels; those were obviously meant for the children of the Gods while the ones up higher were for those who descended from other beings. The dormitory that Yayauhqui was to call home was slightly smaller than the others, it was still imposing but not terribly so like the dorms labeled "Europe" and "Asia"--she noticed that there was a distinct difference in the dorm that Raven was going to live in. It had a dark presence that fit it's name "Underworld" perfectly. It seemed that the gods of the Underworld of all religions lived there. Probably because they were very different than the rest of the students.

All of the buildings conformed to the Victorian style of building. On the dorm labeled "Americas" there were two balconies--one to each floor. The lower level balcony was larger and much more grand than the upper level one. It wrapped around the circular portion of the building and wound it's way around to the other side. It resembled a castle more than anything else she could think of. The spires matched those of the other dorms but a flag waved from the very top of the building. Down below she couldn't tell what it had on it but she could see the color of a plain, earthy brown.

Entering the dorm, she noticed that the door had been carved with a shallow relief of a small map of the Americas: North and South. Each dorm had these strictly for decorative purposes and nothing more.

---

Jan nodded before the girl left, he'd meet her out here again. Taking his leave to his new home, the boy smiled and said goodbye to the others before jogging to the large dormitory. The blond teen ran a hand through his hair before studying the building before him. They all looked like large Victorian styled homes made of stone, he guessed it was due to the taste of the headmaster rather than some other reason. His dorm was a lighter shade of gray that the others and it had vines of a large plant running up the sides and across the panes of windows. Like the others it was far larger than the average Victorian styled home, extending back father than it did in height. The rooms along the bottom portion were larger than the ones up closer to the top. It was segregation. He felt odd about this ordeal but he couldn't speak of it because that simply could have been a design.
The words of the dark haired girl ran circles in his mind: the gods of religions usually were more important than the other beings.

Jan pushed his dizzying thoughts aside as he entered the large house. His finger tips lightly grazed over the map on the door. To his surprise the inside of the dormitory far different from the outside. Everything held an Asian flare. It was done simply and beautifully. The students inside glanced at Jan and he noticed several with the tails and ears of foxes or some other mammal. They bore a striking resemblance to his reflection earlier as well.

"Hello." He said awkwardly, his eyes became transfixed onto the floor.

Some of them smiled and waved back, offering hellos while others simply ignored his presence in the room all together.

Dahlia and Raven nodded in response to Yayauqui's question about meeting up after seeing to their dorms. Raven looked to the dark creaky building and felt scared. Dahlia could tell and she said to him "Good luck,"
Raven answered "Thanks," before he headed into the house. The house was dark and was almost barren except for the necessities. It seemed abandoned as he walked carefully. A girl, just like the people he saw in the gym earlier, phased through the wall and she moaned pleasantly "Hello~!" effectively making Raven jump.
He answered "Uh…Hi?"
The girl moaned pleasantly "Your dorm is up there…I'm Miranda, one of the ghosts serving here…" Raven's eyes widened and he asked while he paled, "Ghost?" He then hurried up to his dorm trying to get away from the ghost, keeping himself from screaming. He soon reached his room and slammed the door. He at first sighed, but then he turned and saw his roommate, who was clearly a bit older than him, and had shark like teeth with red eyes. His roommate greeted creepily "Hello~!"

Raven's scream echoed throughout campus and he soon ran out of the dorm. He panted as he caught his breath and waited for the others.

*~*~*

Dahlia entered the Europe dorms and saw that everything was neat and looked almost like a rich manor, with the exception of sections being overgrown with certain plants. One of the seemingly prim and proper people of the dorm looked down on her and said "Ah, you're the new fae. Your dorm is over there…"
Dahlia answered him politely "OK, thank you," She then headed for where the plants ruled. She soon found her room and saw that her roommate was a girl with blue hair and bright blue eyes.
She said to her politely cheerfully, "Hi! I'm Regina! It's nice to meet you,"
Dahlia answered her with a nod "It's nice to meet you too,"