• tab I walked to school slowly, the cold wind blowing my brown hair into my eyes. I blink and tuck the strands behind my ear, bundled up in a jacket against the cold. The world was washed in gray- the sky pale, the trees faded, and the concrete a dismal black.
    tab I ignore the chattering in the halls of my high school and shove my backpack into my locker. As I was walking towards homeroom, Cara Peake bumped into me, scattering my books onto the floor. I imagined she’d laugh and say some rude comment, seeing as her beach boy entourage was, but she smiled apologetically and bent over to retrieve my lost books. Her blood red curls bounced when she stood up and handed me my things.
    tab “Sorry,” She said sincerely, then continued on down the hall. Bewildered, I ran to class and was seated.
    tab The day went past slowly, and the classes dragged on and on. In biology right before lunch, Mr. Pryce decided to assign us seats. He ended up putting me at a table with Raquel, right behind Sasha and her partner. The beautiful African American was being polite to me, but she and Sasha- the oddly pink haired Asian- kept looking at each other.
    tab The two girls gave off an odd vibe, cheery and pure, but secretive. Needless to say, I wasn’t paying very good attention to the teacher. When the bell rang, I gathered my things and hurried to lunch.
    tab I sat down at an empty table, not bothering to get food. I pushed my glasses up my nose and pulled out a book. I hated to mention it- even to myself- but I was a nerd. Reading Pride and Prejudice in the middle of the day, alone.
    tab While I had my nose buried in my book, I saw something. A woman stood by my table, watching me. She just stared, and I slowly put my book down. She wore a white dress and had long hair that looked… gray. In fact, she was completely washed out- the dress, her hair, and even her skin. I waited for her to say something, but she stayed silent.
    tab “Can I help you?” I asked her, disturbed.
    tab It was then that I noticed that the people near me were laughing. Guys and girls were sitting at their tables, pointing and laughing.
    tab “Loner Lily, talking to herself!” A meaty football player howled, surrounded by his cronies.
    tab “Yeah, Lily,” Another voice called out. “I don’t think your glasses are working!”
    tab Confused, I looked at the woman, whose blank face was calm and still. Talking to her self? What were they talking about? The woman gestured to herself, than pointed to me. I stared at her, uncomprehending.
    tab They can’t hear me. They can’t see me.
    tab I jolted in my seat, bringing on another bout of laughter. Fear trickled up my spine. Was she a ghost?
    tab Look, the woman demanded. Watch.
    tab The woman drifted across the cafeteria, and my eyes followed. Her hand floated up and pointed at three girls, Steffi, Raquel and Sasha. They sat together laughing, their giggles like pealing bell chimes. All of their eyes shined in three different faces.
    tab Sun children, she stated. Fae.
    tab I blinked and shook my head. The next time they laughed, I recognized something else in their soprano squeals. I heard a stream bubbling, birds chirping, and the rustle of fall time leaves. The… ghost trailed away to the lunch line and nodded at someone else. She was tall, with pretty blonde hair around her shoulders and pale skin. She was someone I’d never seen before, so I guessed she was new.
    tab Wild. The voice was fading little by little. Moon tied.
    tab Confused, I tried to understand what moon tied meant. My mind drew a blank. Suddenly, I had a vision of a forest, moving by at the speed of light until it was just a blur of green and slashes of brown. I saw a flash of ivory fur, and the gleam of eyes.
    tab Before I could flinch, the woman was across the room, looking down at a frail, tall, black haired boy. His name was Skyler Mironescu, and we had gone to elementary together. He sat alone, looking distant.
    tab Cold, she said, her voice now a whisper. Dead.
    tab And then I saw blood, a lot of it.