Seraphina Kane
Mr. Harper stood in front of the classroom droning on
about some battle fought centuries ago; his monotone words lolling everyone
within earshot to sleep. Sounds of
fidgeting students spoke volumes on his inability to hold anyone’s
attention. The fact that it was the last
class before the weekend only added to restlessness filtering through the
students. Propping up my chin on my
hand I try desperately to keep my eyes from glazing over.
Glancing at the clock I sighed, 10 more minutes. A note from Mia, my best…well my only friend
lands on my desk.” Ashton’s staring at
you. Again!”
Ever since Ashton,
the newest and hottest arrival at Douglas High School, arrived two months ago
Mia has been alerting me to his constant staring. He had longer than average
brown hair and the bluest eyes I had ever seen. Those eyes seemed to hypnotize me; rendering
me mute the entire time I was caught in their gaze.
Mia
constantly told me that he was looking at me; however I never seemed to catch
him. He, of course, always caught me
and would lift one eyebrow as if ask, “What?”
Because of this I
knew what to expect when I turned around, but did it anyway. As soon as I
looked at him he raised his head, looked me straight in the eye, lifted that
one eyebrow and mouthed the word,
“What?”
I wanted to kill Mia; however my thoughts of murder were quickly
interrupted by Mr. Harper.
“Miss Kane, if you are finished staring at Mr. Collins
would you be so kind as to answer my question?”
Heat climbing up my neck as the class began to snicker. Wishing the bell would ring, it did just
that. Mr. Harper looked at the clock, it shouldn’t have rung for another 10 minutes,
scratched his head and mumbled something about teenagers and hormones before
sitting down at his desk.
Wishing myself invisible I made my way to my locker, Mia
was standing there tapping her foot looking intently down the hallway, ignoring
me.
“Mia, you have to stop.”
Jumping as if I surprised her she blinked, “Stop what?”
“Telling me that Ashton is staring at me when he isn’t. I
have never been so embarrassed in my life.”
“Oh, that.” She
waved her hand in the air as if it was nothing.
“Forget about that. I have some
excellent news.” Mia’s excellent news always scared me, plotting to make me
popular was like a hobby for her.
My dad died when I was a baby, so it was just me and my
mom. I use to ask her about my father, but she would always change the subject,
I guess it was too hard for her. We moved around so much that I never had time
to make friends. I never really tried to
make friends, because I knew we would just move anyway and mom seemed to get
testy if I mentioned having one, so Mia was an oddity.
Long ago I realized I was forgettable: brown hair, brown eyes, average height and
weight. Occasionally even my own mother would walk into a room and not notice
me. I was fine going unnoticed. In fact I was used to it.
Nudging me, Mia nodded her head across the hall. Turning, I notice Ashton standing by his
locker. I really wished he was staring
at me, wished he was interested in me.
He glanced up, our eyes locked; a glazed expression went across his face
before he blinked, shook his head and gave me an odd look.
“OMG…you saw that,
you have to have seen that!” Mia squealed.
“OK, back to my news.
I got us an invitation to Julie Crowley’s party this weekend.”
I winced as her
voice went up at least two octaves, surely every dog in the area ears where
perked at attention.
“You do know what this means right? Make-over!”
With what was surely a look of dread upon my
face I glared at her.
In a sing song
voice she said, “Ashton’s gonna be there.”
I reluctantly agreed.
Wearing Mia’s clothes, staring in her bedroom mirror I
decided I looked like a hooker. It
wasn’t as if any of this was going to land me a date with Ashton. He hadn’t looked twice at any girl in the
school, why would he start with me.
Mia looked over my shoulder as I tugged on the hem of the
skirt, wishing it was just a few inches longer.
Mia blinked, tilted her head to the side, “Hmm that skirt is shorter on
me.” A smile spread across her face, “You
look hot.”
“No, I don’t.”
“See Sera, that’s your problem. If you think you look hot, act like you are
hot, then you will be hot. Hotness is nothing but a state of mind.
Standing at
Julie’s front door Mia looked at me, smiled and whispered, “Act hot.” Pushing
open the door, she walked in. Taking a
deep breath, I walked in. Ashton was standing away from everyone he looked
at me then purposely began walking toward me.
I’m hot. Played
like a mantra in my head. Before either
of us could say anything the party erupted in screams as two a creatures
entered the room. They had to be over 7
feet tall, with leathery black skin, wings and bright red eyes that glowed. Looking around the room they sniffed the air. Their gaze landed on Mia, “Her.” Mia screamed.
I yelled her name and
the creatures looked at me. An evil grin spread across their face reviling a
mouthful of sharp teeth. “No, she’s the
one.” Ashton let out a curse, grabbed my arm and ran.
As we bolted across the street my mother runs out of the
house yelling my name. One of the creatures grabbed her from behind and twist
her head completely around. Screaming, I
lunge toward her. Ashton threw me over
his shoulder and ran into the woods.
Looking up from my mother’s crumbled body her killer smiles and begins
flying toward us.
“What are those things!”
“Unseelie.”
A swirling mass of light in the trees yanked my focus off
what an Unseelie was, but before I could ask we ran through it. My insides twisted as if I was on a downward spiral
of a roller coaster and I closed my eyes to keep from being sick.
Hearing a gasp I open my eyes finding myself in the
middle of what appears to be the same woods, but we were alone.
“Put me down!”
“I’m sure you have questions. You were not supposed to find out this way.”
“Find out what?
What were those things what did they want?”
“They were Unseelie scouts and they wanted you.” He held
up his hand to stop my next question and continued. You are a fairy Seraphina Cane, a Seelie
Princess.
“A fairy, right…umm not sure how you arranged that scene
back there but…” My mouth kept moving,
but nothing came out.
Smiling at me he
continued. “Haven’t you ever just wished
for something and it happened?”
Still unable to speak, I nodded my head.
You were kidnapped as a babe. Your father King Donovan
has been looking for you ever since.
Testing my voice, “Who
was the woman who has been raising me?”
“She was a witch who thought having you would bring her
good luck. Her spells hid your magic from us, making it difficult to find you.”
“I have a father?”
“Yes, would you like to see him now?”
“More than anything.”
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