• Chapter one; School.
    Crux, nothing could wipe away the tears left there, nothing could touch it and make it frown, and none could know it secrets. Tears fell from frustrated students into its soil making it flourish evilly, frowns did not exist there, but order was lost upon the threat of the Gyro threat. A threat not meant to be taken the way the did. The Gyro's were powerful people, and their tiny land was nothing less then a miracle amidst a sea of doubt and ignorance. Science was recognized there, not as witch craft or that of the work of a fiend, but as something of value, a tool. They used it to help keep order in there own country, to help teach people of the miracles that people who knew how to use Atherearium could perform. They knew how to kill the fiends of the land and air, they knew the perils of the unknown regions of their world, and they knew how young ladies behaved towards each other. They threatened to succeed from the empire if their demands were not met, they were not. Yet the rebellion was silenced, as far as most were concerned, with the death of several well known families. It started with the death of the Escoils, then the Moros, the majority of the Whelks, the Gyros themselves, and it ended with the death of the entire legible Quirk family. The academy endured this and much more, and in the years to come it endured more never frowning, though the tears never stopped flowing.
    The academy itself was built to withstand attack by sky-pirates, though the beauty of vegetation had taken up residence among the stones of the outer stones, walls and walkways. Its color was a light tan, but it shone red in the sky come sundown or sunrise. Inside the walls was a more recently built sky scraper of a learning building. The outer panels of it were curved, and black, so light reflected off of them. Twin rivers flowed beside the school, and a lake was just outside the second wall before the third and edge of the grounds. The school, and its island, moved through the skies for much of the year but at the beginning of Cvilim through the month of Lister it lived in Cambridge, and at the beginning of Octoroon it traveled to Gyro to pick up the new students. They were never allowed to leave before they graduated, save for formals and galas of the like. Students lived in dorms with up to three other students. Most students were happy living and learning in the large castle like outer structure. Though out of the forty-five thousand students less then a third lived in the western towers, they being reserved for the lesser or dying families of the Empire. And even less of those were unhappy it was usually a torture subject who wished to leave, but in all the years that Crux had been air borne it had lost none more then a hand full of students, many of whom had fallen out windows into the open air never to be seen again. Most girls were out at the time of year that our story begins enjoying the early summer breezes and sun. Most. One had been sent with the dean's secretary to deliver several folders to the dean of the school. The folders ranged from thin to thick, the thickest being over eight centimeters thick, the thinest under two. The dean scared many as the school was for girls and he was a man. It wasn't simply that fact, the way he spoke, the way he seemed to see you no matter where you were. The fact that no one knew what he looked like or how he got the job. If a student was sent to his office they usually came out scarred for life by the shear thought of being sent back. The student whom accompanied the secretary's name was Polly, Polly Shoo. She was a third year full of good thoughts and intentions, it was hard for her to believe the stories of the shadows moving with the dean, of him being a half fiend half man from the northern most lands. She should have believed. She went in not knowing a thing and came out expecting a disaster. They entered his office and she put the three folders she was carrying down on his deck, the secretary did the same with her two folders. polly backed away ready to leave, as she saw now that the stories were true and that the shadows blocked all light from behind his desk.
    "I see that we are expecting some interesting new students, aren't we?" he said in his worn and cold voice, "Right child?"
    "Yes sir," Polly answered shivering, did it just get cold in there or was that just her imagination?
    "Lets see two more Reeds, a Whelk, and ah... A trouble maker," he said holding up four pictures; one of a dark-sleet haired girl, two of blondes, and a picture of a convict, "Do you know them?"
    "Uh, I think the ones in the center are the Reeds and the Whelk girl is on the far left, and the convict is? I don't know her...." Polly said trailing off as the secretary left the room closing the door and leaving her alone with him.
    "Wrong, the one on the far left is one of the Reeds girls, the other is the one right next to her. The Whelk girl is on the right, but not the so assumed 'convict', and your convict friend is the Quirks Lady," he said cackling, "Do you know her now? Tried to commit suicide forty-nine times in the past seven years, started five bar fights in the last week, and escaped from holding facilities seventeen times, any guesses?"
    "Lady Charlotte..." Polly breathed, she had said the wrong thing as he laughed.
    "Ha, she's no longer a Quirk, she was married at one point she just recently changed her name back," he said moving, she thought she could see a grin on his face, "No this is dear little lady, is the last heir to the Quirk title, its unfortunate that she must be pardoned before she can ascend to her positions, though I doubt she wants it."
    Polly stood gaping, she thought that- no knew that Lady Charlotte was the last Lady Quirk since the rest had fallen during the massacre years ago. The dean cackled again and the shadows moved.
    "You never knew! Ha, thats good," he said moving what she thought was his arm, "And then there's Cecilia Whelks, she gets her kicks out of serving at a local diner down in Dormon, family was also victim in the massacre the raged years ago. Ria Reed has issues and tends to fight with her sisters. And Emile has supposedly tried to kill herself three times in the past year as well, though I heard through the grapevine that she'll never succeed."
    The girl shook, she knew that that could only mean one of a few things.
    "One of a thousand," she whispered, "And she's in the same boat as us."
    "So you'll make the necessary adjustments, I presume?" The dean said with another cackle.
    "Yes sir, but only if you'll stop Mary Sue from becoming a torture girl," Polly said with an edge of defiance.
    "And why would I do that?" he asked the shadows moving forward with him.
    "Because otherwise, sir, they'll be placed with the more dangerous of crowds," she said smiling wickedly, his way of thinking was rubbing off on her.
    "I could care less bout the Reeds girls," he said spinning his chair, moving the shadows so light could shine through into the room.
    "I'll move Mai in there too, and," she paused, "The Quirks girl as well."
    "Now your catching on," he said wickedly still facing the wall light streaming through the murky red glass window, "But who will take her place? Surely you can't hold the pain and keep the electricity flowing, otherwise you would've been chosen by them."
    "How about you chose, and take two," she said cocking her head to the side wondering how listeners heard his thoughts, "We don't take kindly to their kind."
    "You've just made the biggest mistake of your life," he said turning his chair, "You should leave though, while I'm feeling generous."
    "Yes sir," Polly said bowing her head and backing out of the room, the door having opened of its own accord.
    She was thoroughly shaken, and needed time to settle down before she went back to her studies. She never could shake the feeling that she had done something terribly wrong, yet wonderful at the same time, that day. Her heart speeded, thudding in her chest. From excitement and fear, girls like Emile were bad news. And none would enjoy knowing that another had joined them. As for the Quirk heir, she had no clue. Lady Charlotte had a son, no daughters. Perhaps it was an underling brought up to begin the family a new. She didn't know who the girl was, and it didn't help that her picture was blurred. She knew Cece because Cece was nominated seven ,times in their tower, for the coveted 'nicest lady' award. That and her sister, Tala, talked about her a lot in homeroom. She just hoped that Cece wasn't exactly the way Tala was. It was bad enough that they had to put up with Emile, but another Tala was out of the question. In fact they had all hated Tala until around the middle of their second year when she just suddenly stopped flirting with them. They didn't miss it at all. The teachers, however, missed having her just flirt. In fact there had been rumors of what had happened to make her stop the least believable were the most credited for real by the teachers. Then again it was Tala they were whispering about, no one would have been surprised if she and Garrett had hooked up. But none of the students would have cared less, even if she had. All they knew was she had stopped flirting and that was good enough for them. Polly thought of Mary Sue, her best friend, and the torture they put people with known electrical immunity, through. They plugged them in, turned it up low first just to get an understanding of how immune they were to its charge. Then as punishment, or in rare cases, for fun; they turned it up to unbearable levels. Only girls from their tower were put on the list, and usually it was girls from the south, down by the Caressed islands, who were chosen. Some died, most endured, some even prospered and flourished like flowers under it. She had been tested her self, though they had taken her out of the program, it was too late. They had sent to many volts through her and it rippled out her leg, damaging it badly. It could have been fixed but the girls higher up the food chain liked watching her stumble in P.E. so it had never been helped, all the nurse could do was put an ice pack and a bandage on it and hope it healed on its own. It didn't. Polly stopped at the top of the stairs on the second floor. It never seised to amaze her, the way the colors danced through the stained glass window. She watched the sun set, setting the hall ablaze with red and golds. She hurried on, she had to get to the dinning room, or risk not getting dinner. It never once crossed her mind that electricity had a different affect on fiends.....
    END OF CHAPTER ONE.