• I stared into the morning gloom. “Hey, mom” I called to my mom from the backseat as she drove.

    “Yes, honey? Don’t tell me you’re still upset.” There goes her bell voice. She always tried to sound whimsical whenever she was talking me into doing something.


    “Why do I have to go to a stupid boarding school? Can’t I go to-to...?" I paused, trying to think of the place "To wherever it is that you and dad are going?” My mom and dad are biologists and have been insisting on me going to some boarding school for a few years. It was one of those snobby, rich-people schools.

    “It’s Madagascar, Ley. And besides, you’ll just love this school!” There she goes again with that bell voice.

    I’ve seen the brochures for it, and it was nice and all, wrapped up in the Croatan forest of North Carolina. Beautiful climate, sunny days, nice city, good people, near a beach… I just couldn’t believe my parents wanted me to go there for three years! It’ll be my eighth, ninth, and tenth grade years… three years wasted.

    I realized we had gotten to the airport. I reached for the door handle, but stopped. This would be one of the last times I would see my mom. I got out of the car and tried to sound as happy as possible, “Bye mom, love you!”

    “Love you too, L-“I shut the door. I didn't know whether to be happy about getting away from my parents, or upset .


    I strolled out of the airport, luggage in hands. It was at least 15 minutes away from East Trinity.

    “Okay, so I’m supposed to be there by Five P.M.…” I checked my watch. It was three. I got out the seventy dollars my mom gave me to spend on my birthday next week.

    “I guess I could do some birthday shopping...” I murmured. Now all I need is a tourist map…

    “Need some help?” I turned to see who the source was. It was a guy that couldn’t have been more than a year older than me. Tints of red stood out in his shaggy brown hair.He seemed to eye the silver "E.T." embroidered on my blue school jacket.
    “Uhh… Yeah, I’m kind of lost. You have a map I could use?” He stepped closer, I could almost feel heat radiating off him. I looked up to see his face. I smiled.
    “Yeah, right here.” He whipped out a map folded like a brochure and handed it to me so fast that I wouldn’t have seen it if I had blinked. “I’ve had to keep one handy because of all the tourists.” He chuckled “They need to get a tour guide; they’re really starting to annoy the locals.”
    “So you live here in N.C.?”
    “Yeah, this-“he made a waving motion with his hands “Is the best place I’ve ever lived at.”
    “I’ve been hearing that a lot around here” I noted. He chuckled again. “Oh yeah, my name’s Leytala. Ley, for short.” I looked down to the map.
    “Okay, Ley nice to meet you.” I could almost hear him grinning. “My name’s Az.”
    “Az… that’s a weird name... I’ve never heard it before.” I looked up to face him again “What’s it stand for, A-Z are my ABC’s?”
    “Good one!” He laughed “Hey, I’ve never heard Ley before, either.” I grinned and looked back down to the map. Maybe this place isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
    I could feel his dark brown eyes burning a hole in my skull. I looked back up.
    “Anyhoo, you’re not going to have to worry about me. The only time I’m going to be around town is on the weekends. So I’m not going to be a bother to the locals.” There was another downer about the school. You were almost never allowed out of the campus.
    “Really?” I couldn't figure out what his expression was while he paused. “You’re going to be living here?”
    “Yeah, my parents are making me go to some boarding school near here.” I paused, trying to remember the name, forgetting it was on my shirt. “East Trinity, I think.”
    “Oh, well I have to go. Bye.” He said, as expressionless as a drone.He turned icily and stalked off.
    “Well there goes the not-so friendly welcoming committee.” I mumbled. “What’s his problem?” Oh well, at least I had picked out a couple of spots to do some shopping.

    “Hmm…. Maginkets, eh? That’s a weird name for a jewelry store…” Cracks flowed through the display window like veins. The interior was a dark purple. Creepy. “Oh well, mom always says you can’t judge a book by its cover...” I sucked in a lungful of air. Here goes nothing!
    The inside of the store was dark. Very dark. It was only lit by a few candles that were dotted among the room. I drew in another lungful of air. It smelled like incense. The lady standing behind the counter reminded me of the gypsies you sometimes see in movies. I walked down an isle that was labeled by a paper with the word “ring” scrawled across it. A lot of the rings looked like they should have been in the renaissance section of a museum. One glinted in the dim light. I stopped to look at it. It was much more modern looking, like it belonged in the 18th century instead of the 17th or 16th. The deep blue sapphire was encrusted in the light, pure silver the ring was made by. It was surrounded by swirling engravings. The sapphire was almost the shape of a raindrop, I noted. "Ah, you like the ring of Okeanos don't you?" I turned to see who it was. It was the old chubby lady that was behind the counter a minute ago
    " Uh... Yeah I guess..." The ring enraptured me; it was like I was supposed to have it. I stared into the dark blue eye.
    "For you, it will be fifty dollars." Fifty dollars? I looked into the raindrop. Well, mom always says to never turn down a deal...
    "I'll take it."
    "Wise choice, young one. This ring was destined for you." Okay, you can cut the yoda crap now...
    "Here" I handed her five tens and took the ring. She smiled and flipped back her long black locks of hair.

    When are one of these taxis going to stop...? I was standing outside of the store trying to catch a taxi. Maybe if I'm lucky a bus will come by, and then I can catch a ride to school by that... I fiddled with my ring. Boy, that lady in there was really weird. I looked across the street and peered into one of the windows. Maybe I can hang around in there while I'm- Some one came out. I realized who it was right away.
    "Hey!! Over here!" It was the guy from the airport. Az, I think. He stopped walking and turned. I waved. His eyes popped out, but he turned to walk again. Suddenly, he stopped and looked over at me. His eyes flickered to the ring I put on and then to me. He had a mixed expression of bewilderment and smugness. He turned and chuckled darkly.
    The school looked like it should have belonged in a fairy tale, not North Carolina. It had multiple buildings; they were all centered on one circle in the middle of the campus. This really does look like a college campus. My mother had told me how the school used to be a college, but was remade into a boarding school for teens. I walked by the cafeteria, around the circular grove, and straight to where the office was. These people have a weird way of laying out their schools… The inside of the office was very small and cozy. It had creamy colored walls, and reminded me some how of a cabin in the woods. I crossed the room to talk to an old lady sitting behind a desk. She mumbled something and pointed to a poster on the wall. Not much of a talker. It was a map of the school; all of the buildings were labeled with things like “Science” or “Library” and other school related rooms. One of the buildings was labeled ‘Girl’s Dorms’. That must be it. It had a list of people’s names on it along with what room number they would live in. I looked down the A’s for my name. “Let’s see…Afen, Agan, ah Aglaia! Room 125. Hmm.” I studied the map again. On the opposite side, there was one named ‘boy dorms’ I looked down the list, this time looking at first names instead of last. I found two names that were even close to Az, one of them was Azaria Vulcan and Enzi Baldormero. It’s probably Azaria. His room number was 253. Another name, maybe 3 lines down shared the same number. Griffin Ziorah. “What kind of messed up names are these?” I muttered, “Ziorah? And Azaria? Who comes up with these names?”
    “Look who’s talking, Ley.” Great, more unfamiliar voices. But this one wasn’t totally unfamiliar.
    “What? How do you know my-“I turned to the source.
    “He chuckled again “Weird seeing you again, isn’t it?”
    “Listen, Az. I don’t know how you keep finding me, but I don’t put up well with stalkers!” I growled, “And you best be backing off, buddy!”
    “Whoa whoa, there, Ley!” He faked a scared face, “I’m not following you around, we just keep ending up at the same places, is all!”
    “Shut it, Vulcan!” I growled “And besides, you acted like you hated me when you walked out of the café earlier, too! What’s your problem?”
    “Oh, getting feisty now are we?” Teasing, now.
    “What, is this all a game to you?” I thought I knew the answer.
    “No, no! It’s just-” I glowered at him.
    “Well? What is your problem?”
    “It’s just that-” he sighed, “I-” He struggled “I can’t tell you.” I was about to quietly yell at him again. We were in an office after all. “You’ll find out what it is soon enough, anyway. I’m probably in trouble already, anyway…” He trailed off. I glowered again. “Look, the least I can do is show you how to get to the dorms.” He tried to sound as if nothing had happened, it didn’t work.
    “No.” I was fuming. I wasn’t going to take a ten minute walk with some body that had ticked me off three times in one day.
    “Come on, Ley. I’m really sorry for how I acted.” He was desperate “Please?” he breathed.I could feel my heart melting.
    “Okay.” I whispered. I wanted to say no, but part of me screamed to go with him,“I’ll go.”

    I stared at the ceiling from my bed. I blinked, fresh memories flooded back. Az had taken me to a more secluded pathway in the forest. It took about twenty minutes to get here, even if that walk should have taken around five minutes.