Chapter 1

            “What do you mean you’re sending me away?” I asked as I was standing in front of them as they calmly sat down on the couch, my mom’s hand in my dad’s. This kind of news wasn’t something that you would like to hear on your birthday. A birthday was supposed to be about happiness, and spending time with loved ones. But the only ones that remembered my birthday were my parents, only because I didn’t have one. It’s not that I didn’t have one, of course I had a birthday; it’s just that I don’t know what day it was. My parents would always celebrate it on a different day on a different month every year. When I was in the orphanage, they told me that they found me abandoned in an alley way on the side of a building. I’m surprised that they didn’t look for the people who left me there, but at the same time, who would want to come face to face with someone who left a baby in an alley way?

            “Trust us, we looked at Star Academy, and we think it’s the best for you.” My mom started.

            “And don’t you dare think of it as sending you away.” My dad started, but I butted in.

            “You think that this academy will end your problems, wouldn’t it?!” I shouted. “I heard it from all of your friends, I even heard it from the family, if I could even call them my family! They say that I’m just a nuisance because I’m not blood related and that I’m weird! They think that there’s something off about me, but even I don’t know, because I’m myself! How am I supposed to think I’m weird or the things that I do is weird, when I think it’s normal?”

            “Don’t you dare think like that!” My mom tried to cope with me. “You are loved by all of us, blood related or not! We just think…”

            “You just think that if they want me out of the way, they would think that the whole family will be better again? Ever since I got put into this family, I feel like nobody else loves me but you guys!” I said, tears starting to well up.

            “Then why do you think that we’re doing this for you?” My mom got up and put her arms around my shaking body. “It’s because we love you.”

            I broke down and hugged her tightly, letting my tears fall. First off, I hated crying. It felt like all of my emotions just got scrambled together to make it feel like I was just falling apart. Second, I only cried when I felt like something moved me, emotionally. And it wasn’t that much. I didn’t experience that many things in my life to have me go through it. Mom sighed and wiped the tears off my cheeks before kissing each one. A sudden laugh escaped my mouth as I realized that this was probably a stupid thing to get upset over. It was only an academy, right? And if they think I would be able to do better there than where I’m currently at, which, to be honest, I’m doing just fine in, then I’ll trust them. For now at least. They checked the place out and approved of it already. So what could be so bad about it?

            “Now, why don’t you pack up your clothes and your other necessities?” My dad asked rubbing my back in comfort.

            I bit my bottom lip and nodded as I walked upstairs to my bedroom grabbing the suitcase from the guest room. My whole body was on autopilot as I stuffed my suitcase with everything that I had and in about five minutes, my entire suitcase was filled. I even had enough room to fit two shelves of books. Although I was more than likely going to get a uniform for the academy, but just in case we had off days, which we had to, right? It was like any normal school, except it was an academy. A thought crossed my mind when that little fact came up. It was an academy. That is not cheap. How did my parents afford such a place? I shook my head at the thought, I wouldn’t want to keep those types of questions floating around. The real questions and concerns should happen when I get to the place. Getting ready, I walked downstairs and noticed that there were several flickering lights near the kitchen entrance. A smile appeared on my face as my parents sang me happy birthday. Coming closer to the cake, I closed my eyes and wished that this academy would work out for me, just like my parents said.

            “Yay!” My parents cheered together as they went towards the counter and started to cut the cake, creating three little pieces.

            “Thank you,” I said as I took a plate with an end piece that had a single red icing rose on top, my favorite!

            “Might as well eat quickly, your ride will be here shortly.” My mom said as she the light on the front porch.

            I almost choked on my cake from her news. “What?! Already?! I won’t have a day to get rest?!”

            “I know that this wasn’t the best day to choose your birthday on.” My mom said as she quickly put the rest of the cake away in the fridge. “We just didn’t know that they would want you to go the academy this soon.”

            “Then they must really want me there.” I raised my eyebrows as I took a sip of water after I was done with my small piece of cake. To be honest, I didn’t even finish it. My stomach was filled with butterflies, and it wasn’t the good kind of butterflies. It felt like I was going to get sick from all of the nervousness. How in the world could they take me already? It was nighttime, too! How did this academy run?! What kind of academy was this?!         

            “If only the rules weren’t like that,” my mom said hugging me. My dad soon joined our side and we stayed like that. Even if I wasn’t blood related to them, they were my only family. I couldn’t count my ‘cousins’, ‘aunts’, or ‘uncles’, because me nothing as useless and annoying. I know that I wasn’t the kid that they were expecting, but it wasn’t my fault that they chose me. My mom and dad saw something in me that no one else did.

            “One more thing before you go…” My dad said as he looked at my mom and nodded his head.

            My mom brought out a pink little box from her pocket and handed it to me. “Happy birthday, hun.”

            I took the little box, that wasn’t even wrapped because the box was cute to begin with, having a little pink bow on the top side of the box. I took off the top, to reveal a silver clock. It shined brighter than anything I ever saw, but the clock itself looked ancient. The roman numerals on it were all in different types of waves, each number being in its own unique way of being beautiful.

            “Where’d you get this? This is beautiful.” I stated as I took it out of the box and my mom came around and placed the necklace around my neck. Before she could answer, the sound of a car pulled up in front of our house and honked its horn.

            “What? Already? B-but I haven’t even-” I started to say when I heard the car doors open and shut.

            “We’ll send you letters, emails, texts, anything, ok?” Mom said as she hugged me one last time. My dad gave me a kiss on my forehead and rubbed my back before I grabbed my suitcase and carry-on and walked out the door, my parents standing on the porch. Seriously, was this a plane flight instead of going to an academy?! As I made my way towards the car, I noticed it wasn’t a car at all, but it was a black stretched limo that blended in with the darkness of nighttime whether someone passed it along the highway. A man dressed in formal wear was standing next to an open door, where I had to enter the limo. I stopped in my tracks as I turned towards my parents. How in the world could the afford something like this! We weren’t rich and wealthy! Did they do a savings bond for me when I was little and used that towards this academy? Instead of asking them that, I waved goodbye and told them that I loved them. I would be able to see them again, right?

            “Miss Trinity,” The man at the limo started with his polite voice, making me stop being in a stupor. “You’re going to be late if we don’t hurry up.”

            I bit my bottom lip and nodded. With my back turned towards my parents, I made my way towards the open door, feeling as if my life wasn’t ending, but beginning. Once I step foot inside this limo, my new life was going to start. He grabbed my suitcase and once he did, I took a closer look at his uniform and noticed that there was a silver clock stitched onto his jacket. The man looked at me and smiled as he gestured for me to get in the limo. As soon as I did, I noticed that there was a pile of folded clothes on the seat. I counted the folds and there seemed to be five of them.

            “These must be the uniforms,” I whispered to myself. I picked up the navy blue top and examined it. The shirt itself was thin, but the material that it was made of made it feel like it was as thick as whipped icing. And sitting on the pocket was the same clock stitch that was on the driver, only this time it was brass colored. What was with the clocks? Maybe it was the academy’s symbol. I looked down at my necklace. It was also a clock, but maybe it was from the academy? Maybe my parents saw it when they visited it and got it for me? But it looked different from the ones that were on the uniforms. I must have been in a stupor because I just noticed that we weren’t in front of my house anymore. The driver was heading west from where I lived. But…there wasn’t anything out west for miles! I stayed quiet looking out of the windows seeing the countryside pass by. Something didn’t seem right.

            “Are you sure we’re going the right way? I’ve been out here and I know that there isn’t anything out here until we reach the city…” I told the driver.

            “You’re doubting me?” He asked looking at me through the mirror.

            “Well, no, but…” I sighed and slumped back against the seat. “Nevermind.”

            Well that conversation ended quickly. So much for trying to find something to do while I was on my way to my new home. I got out my phone and, of course, I have no service. We were in the middle of nowhere! There was nothing but forest and countryside for miles! Well, talking and my phone were useless for me. What was I supposed to do until I arrive? The only thing that I could think of was sleep. And that’s what I did.

By the time I woke up, the driver was pulling up into a bumpy driveway. I tried to look out of the window, but I couldn’t see anything else but the blackness of night. The uniforms that were sitting on the seat were now gone. The limo stopped abruptly and the driver got out of the car. It felt like I was in one of those kidnap movies where the kidnapped person gets taken away somewhere in the night and the kidnapper won’t talk. The driver opened up the door and helped me outside. I strained my eyes to try to see where we were at, and in the distance, there was the academy. It was huge, almost looked like a mansion. Behind the academy were different buildings that I could only guess were the dorm rooms. So, there was something here in the countryside after all, but how come no one could see this? I mean, this place was huge, it was impossible to miss! It was as if they made this to not be discovered by anyone.

“H-how far away from the road are we?” I asked as I turned around and tried to look past the limo.

“I’m sorry, Miss Trinity, but that information is prohibited.” He said as he got my suitcase from the trunk. He started to walk in front of me, wheeling my suitcase towards the iron gates that were surrounding the academy. No, I don’t even want to call it that. The place was a mansion; there was no doubt about it. It felt like I was in one of those fantasy stories where there was more to a place than meets the eye.

“Are you coming?” He turned around and stopped waiting for me to come with him.

I nodded and met his side, not saying a word. As we got closer to the mansion, I noticed that there was something shining near the top of the roof. It was a circular golden glow that seemed to get brighter the closer I came towards it. Weird. Why didn’t I see it when I was back at the limo? And when we got to the iron gates, I noticed that the glow wasn’t just a random circle on the top; it was a clock. It’s huge pointers were together, both of them pointing to the roman numeral 7. But…that wasn’t right. It was still night time! I took out my phone and saw that it was midnight. Why didn’t the clock say midnight? Maybe it was broken? My driver handed me my suitcase as he went over to a little box that was on the wall holding the gates together and punched in a number, then saying something in what sounded like Latin. He stepped away and the gates began to open up on their own, making no noise, as if there was no rust on the entire thing.

“Come on, you still have a long way to go until you get to your dorm.” He started as we both walked towards the building. It was massive and more clear the closer I got to it, the dark of the night not even bothering my eyesight. Not only was it massive, but the structure of the mansion itself was beautiful, like it was built in the Victorian era; beautiful and elegant with a touch of gothic style. The cream colored stone looked smooth and fresh as if it was built yesterday. There wasn’t a scratch or a smear of bird dirt on it. Even the windows looked like they were shining as if they were just washed. The whole feeling of the building gave me a feeling of fantasy and a little bit of mystery. Something about it just made my blood rush and the closer I got to the building, the more my whole entire body felt like this was my real home. My driver rang the door bell, the sound ringing throughout the entire place. The sound was so loud that it could wake up the nearest neighbors. The doors opened up to an older gentleman dressed in a black suit with a red tie. And, just like everything else here, he had a clock stitched on his suit, only instead of it being brass, it was a bold gold color. What was with this school and clocks? His swooped gray hair told me that he was more than likely in his 50s, his glasses hung low on his noise, but it didn’t seem to bother him. The man bowed his head and a bright smile appeared on his face.

“Ah, Trinity, we’ve been expecting you.” He looked at me and then at my driver. “Todd, you know where to go.”

“Yes, sir.” He bowed to the older man and walked away with my suitcase in hand. He must be dropping off my things at my dorm room. I didn’t even get to say thank you! I looked back at the older gentleman who just mentioned for me to come into the school. Once I stepped inside, I noticed the fanciness of it. In front of me was a grand staircase with a red carpet covering the entire floor, as if this was at a celebrity event. The walls were a royal blue and by some of the empty walls were memorials of what may be the founders of the school. A big chandelier hung above us, lighting the room, and another thing I noticed was that the roof was made of glass, nice touch!

“Trinity,” The man said, making me jump at his voice. It was so soothing, but whenever he wanted attention, it sounded like there was a bit of irritation.

“S-sorry,” I bowed my head towards him. “I was just starring in awe at this place. This is really an academy?!”

The man smiled and looked around the room that we were in. “Yes, this is really an academy. I know that it might not look like much, but…” He stopped and turned towards me again, observing my expression. “You don’t know anything, do you, my dear?”

I shook my head and frowned. “I’m sorry, sir, but no, I don’t. I just came here without any knowledge of what this place is for, except for school. I mean…that is what an academy is for, right?”

“Then let’s have a little tour and history lesson, shall we?” He smiled and mentioned for me to follow him. We walked to the hallway that was to our right and we passed by gigantic portraits of some men dressed up in different colored suits. And something that was repeating in here…that same clock stitch that was on the pocket. And each one seemed to do something with the zodiac signs. One was holding the scales, representing Libra. Another one had a lion on its side, representing Leo. “These gentlemen are the original founders of the school; the Original 12. Powerful men with a wonderful vision of how this school should be run…that is…” He trailed off as if he didn’t want to go on with this history lesson. “That is until one fateful day…” He shook his head and sighed, a slight laugh coming out of his mouth. “But nevermind that, you will learn about that later. It’s kind of hard to talk about such things…”

“Are you related to them? And what’s with the zodiac?” I asked him as I passed the last picture of a man representing Capricorn. There was no answer. I looked around the whole hallway looking for him, but the older gentleman was gone! In thin air! And now here I was alone in an academy where I had no idea where to go! I sighed and crossed my arms looking around the corner as it lead to another hallway, the big windows were illuminating light on the floor. But…the moon wasn’t full at all tonight! Where was the light coming from?? That’s when I could feel a presence with me in the hallway. I froze and took in my surroundings. Slow footsteps could be heard echoing throughout the hallway. I tried to strain my eyes to see past the shadows that the lamps in the hallway didn’t illuminate. I saw a figure coming my way, and with each step that it took towards me, it was another step I took back. The soft footsteps against the carpet kept getting louder, and in the light that the figure passed, I could see that it was a boy. He looked around my age, maybe a year or two older. From the light, he had dark blue hair and black rounded glasses. He looked tired from the looks of it, too.

“Sorry about that, he can be a bit of a bore sometimes,” he finally spoke to me; his voice was soft and soothing as he stopped in front of the light. My eyes went wide as he stretched his arms and immediately went to the back of his head. His outfit was a deep royal blue; long sleeves occupied his arms and the back of the top trailed down as if the outfit was made for a soldier in the past. His jeans were clean, and his shoes were polished and seemed to be brand new. Was he a student here or a teacher perhaps? His outfit looked like he could belong in a higher position. Compared to him, I felt like I was poor beyond belief! And I wasn’t even in my uniform yet.

“Uh…” I started, trying not to stutter from the new encounter. “Where did he go exactly?”

“I took him back,” the boy answered as he looked at his shoulder, furrowed his eyes and wiped off what seemed to be a piece of what looked like dirt on his shoulder.

“Took him back…where?” I asked again, hoping that I wasn’t irritating him.

“Sorry, but that’s personal.” He answered as a smile formed his lips. “So, you’re Trinity, right?”

“Right…” I answered as I was wondering what this boy was doing here instead of what I thought would be my tour guide of the school.

He looked at me and raised one of his eyebrows, as if he was waiting for me to ask him something. “Well??”

I repeated his action and looked around me wondering what he meant. “Well, what?”

“I was expecting you to ask me who I was. That’s how it goes, doesn’t it? Two people meet, they ask who they are, and then they go on from there?” He asked, his posture going into a more relax pose, the smile never leaving his face.

I relaxed my shoulders and did a sigh of relief. Why was I expecting him to say something entirely different? And another thing…why wasn’t I using my head right now? I’m smarter than this, I swear!

“Well, either way, I’m Hojoon, I don’t have a lot of time, but I can show you around for a bit. Mr. Old back there would take forever to go through this entire school.” He laughed.

I laughed at his comment, although I didn’t think that the older gentleman was boring or that old even. But even I could tell that he was just playing around. He seemed to be that type of guy.

Hojoon smiled and looked down the left hallway where the windows were and gestured that way with his hand. “This is the History wing. Students of every year will share this wing, no matter what they have. Although, some of us think that’s a bad idea, it was required.”

He walked over to the windows and gestured for me to come towards him. I stood by his side and he pointed out of the window. “And over there is our garden. I know that you probably can’t see it right now, but flowers and plants of all kinds are being planted. The ones who have an excellent green thumb are the only ones allowed to enter it.”

“Why?” I asked. Oh that was such a stupid question! “I mean, why can’t students just take walks through it?”

“Some are afraid that they will destroy some of the plants.” Hojoon sighed sadly, then he looked over at me. “But I don’t see why they wouldn’t let you walk through it.”

My cheeks began to get hot when he said that. Was he flirting with me?

“Of course being a new student and all,” a smile appearing on his face as he looked back out of the window. “Well, that was this little wing, small, I know, but there’s more that you need to see in so little time. Let’s go,” Hojoon smiled as he turned around and started to walk back to the entrance of the school. I looked around me and soon enough, my feet were following him, until I was at his side.

“So, you know about the founders of this school, right?” Hojoon asked as we walked to the center staircase.

“Just barely…the man didn’t really tell me the much detail, except that there were 12 men that founded this school.” I explained.

 “Well, I’ll just save the rest of that for you later. Let me give you a gist of how this school is divided.” Hojoon said as we stopped at the top of the stairs. He looked over to his left and pointed with his hand. “Here is the main dividing between the students. Two groups are on each side of the school in this upper wing. Over in this right corridor, we have the studies of Air and Water.”
            “Wait, Air and Water?” I asked with a confused look on my face.

Hojoon looked over at me with a bit of an open mouth as he slowly lowered his arm. “That’s right, Air and Water. And over in the other corridor is where they study Fire and Earth. Don’t you know what you are?”

“What are you talking about?” I asked in all honesty. “Air, Water, Fire, and Earth? Is this the science wing?”

“Science wing? No, this is where you… Oh my…you don’t know anything do you?” Hojoon asked his eyes going wide for a moment.

“Well, I just got here, and my parents didn’t really say anything about this place, except that it’s the best for me.” I shrugged.

“And here I thought that Mr. Old was just giving you a history lesson of the place.” Hojoon bit his bottom lip. His hand shot out and grabbed mine as we headed down the Air and Water corridor. The doors were either a light gray or a sky blue, with the brass numbers 1, 2, or 3 on the top. At the end of the hallway, there was another hallway. Hojoon stopped at the end and turned to his right, which didn’t seem very well lit.

“Come on, guys, you still have to be here.” Hojoon was saying to himself as we stopped in front of two double wide doors that were heavily decorated in a red and gold color, swirls going into a pattern with two standing lions on the side of the doors. Hojoon opened up the door to reveal a library. It was the biggest library I’ve ever seen; the shelves almost reached the ceiling, ladders as tall as the shelves were resting against them. In the middle of the library was a big circular desk, two computers and a stack of books occupied the inside of the desk, but there was no librarian working. Well, it was past midnight after all. Hojoon looked back at me and realized that he was still holding my hand. He let go of it, and muttered a small “sorry”.

“What is going on here?” I asked him as he kept going all the way towards the back. As we kept getting closer, voices seemed to fill the room.

“Guys, we might have a problem…” I heard Hojoon say. I stepped up behind him and in a little study corner of the library, a group of boys were sitting together. Some were sitting close to each other, and some were sitting as far apart as possible. They all wore the same uniform that Hojoon was wearing. Were they a special group or something? Student council, maybe?

“What seems to be the problem?” A boy with black hair asked and when I showed myself to the group, he lifted his chin towards me and leaned back into his chair crossing his arms. His expression was cold and irritated, with a bit of interest as soon as I stepped in.“Ah, the new student.”

“Seems like everyone knows about me already here…” I whispered to myself.

“Why’d you bring her to us?” A very young boy with dirty blonde hair asked with an irritated voice. He looked like he could be the youngest out of all of them.

“Yano!” The same boy with black hair shouted at him.

“She doesn’t know what she is.” Hojoon answered very quickly as if he didn’t want them to start a fight.

“At least she knows who she is.” One of the prettier boys, not that all of them were cute, they were, it’s just that this boy seemed like he was the ‘pretty boy’ of the group. He smirked and stood up crossing his arms. “Then let’s show her.”

“Hansol, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Hojoon said.

“No, Hansol’s right. Let’s show her. It’ll give her a good idea of what this school is all about.” The boy from the beginning said. Hansol did a triumphant smile as if he won the lottery and sat back down in his chair.

“P-Goon, is that a good idea?” A boy with semi long red hair asked, giving P-Goon a questionable look.

“There is only one way to find out, A-Tom.” P-Goon said. “Please, take a seat.”

I nodded as I pulled out a chair and sat in front of the boys, Hojoon deciding to join them as he took a seat next to Hansol.

“Firstly,” P-Goon said as he leaned forward. “When is your birthday?”

“I…I don’t know.” I answered truthfully.

“What?” Hojoon’s eyes went a little wide. “You don’t know your own birthday?”

I shook my head and decided not to let them know my back story. I didn’t really want to talk about it, especially with a bunch of strangers.

“This is a really big problem, then.” P-Goon scratched his head. “If you don’t know your own birthday, then you would have to start from the beginning.”

“She can’t! From the looks of it, she’s Hansol’s age!” Another member butted in. “There’s no way that she can start from being a first year at her age!”

“Kidoh’s right, P-Goon.” A boy with short white, almost silver hair said. “We would have to either show her, or it’s possible to have her pick out one of the four and try it out herself during classes, waiting for the surprise to come to her.”

“Seogoong has a point. I say that we show her.” A boy with periwinkle hair said. “Besides, we wouldn’t want to have a new student in the nurse’s wing on her first day of school.”

“Like that hasn’t happened before.” Yano laughed, but the boy gave him a hard glare.

“Oh, wow, now you’re agreeing with me for once, B-Joo?” Hansol asked.

“Did it sound like I was agreeing with you?” B-Joo moved his glare over to Hansol.

“BOYS!” I shouted, making them stop arguing and quiet for once. “Can you just please tell me what’s going on?”

P-Goon glared at the rest of the boys and mentioned four of them to stand up; Hansol, Yano, Seogoong, and Kidoh. “This school isn’t for the ordinary. You see, we possess powers that are not natural. Don’t be afraid, this academy helps you take control of your element in the proper way. Hansol?”

Hansol raised his head with the same smirk on his face as if he was about to show off the best thing in the world to me. B-Joo just rolled his eyes and sneered at Hansol behind his back. He raised both of his hands together and his eyes turned a bright blue as his veins in his arms were glowing a bright blue. And right in his hand, a little ice crystal formed, in the shape of a snowflake. My heart stopped for a moment at what he just did, my mouth agape slightly and my eyes widened. I could see P-Goon stare at me hard, probably making sure that I wasn’t going to faint. I put my back more against my chair and eyed Hansol in disbelief.

“I-impossible.” I said.

“Oh, it’s possible.” Hansol answered in a ‘know it all’ tone. “Just wait until it’s your turn to find out with element you possess. You’ll have a lot of fun with it once you get used to it.”

Kidoh looked over at Hansol and rolled his eyes as he raised his hand and with a quick flick of his index finger, a line of fire shot out, melting Hansol’s creation.

“I hate you.” Hansol glared at Kidoh as he crossed his arms. In the back, I noticed Hojoon laughing a little bit at what happened between the two. I couldn’t help but to hide my little giggle.

“Love you, too.” Kidoh fake smiled at Hansol as he made a heart in his hands and blew into them and a little heart silhouette made of smoke floated out of his hand towards Hansol, who sneered at the smoke and waved it away, making it fade. “I’m a Sagittarius, hence why I possess the fire element. P-Goon forgot to mention that little detail. That’s why your birthday is so important to know.”

“I was getting to it, Kidoh,” P-Goon said in an irritated voice. “And because of what Kidoh did with Hansol, that’s why we have separated classes for each element. As for the signs of your birthday, you’ll get to learn about that in astronomy class.”

“It helps ease the tension between them when they are practicing their elements in separate classes.” Seogoong explained as he went over to one of the windows where a planted flower was sitting. With a single touch of his hand, the flower began to open up on cue. It seemed like he was giving it energy as the flower itself was giving off a radiant glow.

“Green thumb.” Yano whispered as he did a single blow of air from his lips. A huge gust of wind filled the room as if there was a hurricane in the room and the flower instantly closed up, refusing to gain anymore energy from Seogoong. A-Tom was watching Yano from behind and a smug smile formed onto his lips, as if he was proud of what he did.

“Air head…” He glared over at the young boy.

This was happening all too fast. I put my hand towards my head trying to piece everything together. Elements…powers…there was such a thing? The fantasy world was real?

“You ok?” P-Goon asked.

“No,” I answered. “It’s not every day that these kinds of things happen.”

“Welcome to the real world,” Hansol told me.

Real world. That’s what he said. So, this was the secret world that was hiding from humanity for who knows how long? I was almost waiting for a unicorn to show up at the window to add to the effect.

“P-Goon, we should get going, it’s getting late and classes start early tomorrow for most of us,” A boy with short brown hair that was parted in the middle said. “Besides she’s probably seen enough and tired.”

P-Goon nodded and looked over at Hojoon. “Hojoon, thank you for bringing her to us. That was a smart thing to do. Hansol, why don’t you take her to her room?”

My heart raced as Hansol smiled towards him and nodded his head. I could see Hojoon give P-Goon a look of concern about his decision. It was like he didn’t exactly agree with him.

“Alright, let’s go,” he smiled as he helped me up out of the chair, his hand freezing cold.

“Wait,” I said before we left the library. “What do I do? I don’t know what element I am. How do I know where to go on my first day of classes?”

When I said that, it would literally sound like I was crazy…to a normal person. But these boys weren’t normal. Not in the slightest.

“Hansol could explain it to you on your way back.” P-Goon answered. “As for now, just get some rest for your classes.”

Before I could say another word, Hansol practically dragged me out of the library. I looked behind me and looked at Hojoon one more time. I never even said thank you to him. Once we were out of the library, I took my hand away from Hansol’s, trying to warm it up.

“Oh, sorry about that.” He apologized as we started to walk back through the same hallway that Hojoon and I passed, going back towards the stairs. “That’s one of the side effects of being able to control water.”

“But it was ice.” I pointed out.

“Uhm, hello? Ice is frozen water?” Hansol laughed as I didn’t think that through.

“Oh well, sorry!” I said in a sarcastic tone. “I learned in books and movies that water and ice can be two different elements.”

“Can be two different elements. In our world, you can do anything with it. After several years of practice, you can advance.” Hansol corrected me.

“Which comes to my question; how in the world did you do that?” I asked as we descended the stairs.

“Your birthday decides on what you control.” He answered with a little smirk on his face knowing that that information didn’t help me in the slightest.

“Ok, thank you captain obvious for pointing that out, but did you not hear me back there? I don’t know my birthday!” I stated.

Hansol opened up the doors and we both headed outside. The limo and my driver were nowhere to be found out in front. The cool, autumn breeze gave me chills as we headed down a rock trail behind the academy towards different buildings. The buildings weren’t as fancy as the academy itself, but they were just normal dorm rooms, right?

“Then you will decide.” Hansol answered as he went into one of the buildings. In the entrance, there was a counter with a girl working behind it. She was putting away some papers, and behind her was a huge row of hangers. And on one of the hangers, there was one lonely key. “Morning, Sue. I’m here to bring our new student to her dorm room.”

The lady smiled and nodded, turning around and grabbing the key. “Hurry up,” She told Hansol as she smiled at me. “I hope that you enjoy it here. Do you know the rules yet, hun?”

“No ma’am.” I shook my head.

“Oh sure, treat her with respect.” I heard Hansol whisper.

“Well, no need to worry about that, information about everything is in your room.” She reassured me. “It’s not hard at all, just a couple pages and-”

“Ok, ok, that’s enough; I know that you’re using your time to talk so that way I could be out of here quicker.” Hansol rolled his eyes as he grabbed my hand and we both entered the elevator that was right next to the counter. “Oh, by the way, you do know that it is technically morning, right?”

“Rude!” The girl shouted as Hansol looked at my key and pressed the number ‘3’ button.

“What was that all about?” I asked.

“Boys and girls both have a certain time when they can be in each other’s dorm. We can only visit before classes in the morning. Some owners of certain buildings don’t mind it, while others hate it; meaning that they don’t want any of it to happen, just outside of the buildings. Your owner obviously doesn’t like it.” Hansol handed me my key. I examined the brass key and the first thing that I noticed was room number at the base. Green metal vines swirled around the body of the key, the detail of it was so extraordinary that they added in little green leaves on the vine. “Are you coming?”

I looked up and saw that Hansol was out of the elevator waiting in the hallway for me. My cheeks blushed from embarrassment as I exited the elevator and met with Hansol. The hallway reminded me of one of those very old, creepy hotels because the lights that were hanging on each side of the doors were very dim. The walls were a dark brown and the carpet was a wine red; the doors were black and in the middle were the silver numbers. I looked back down at the key again and saw that my door was ‘13’.

“Oh boy, lucky number thirteen.” I sighed as we started to walk down the hallway and stopped at the end. “Well, thanks for taking me to my room, I guess.”

“You guess?” Hansol raised an eyebrow.

“Well, yeah, I mean I didn’t get a lot of answers from you, but I guess I’ll wait,” I shrugged my shoulders as if it didn’t matter to me, but in all reality it did. As I put my key into the keyhole, Hansol put his hand on my wrist, trying to get my attention.

“Look, I just want to point something out. In order to know your element, you do need to know your birthday. I wasn’t just being a smart back there…well, maybe just a little bit. But that’s beside the point. When you get to the Element wings tomorrow morning, two men will be standing at the top of the staircase; they check to see if every student attends classes, unless they get told by a nurse or…” He paused trying to think of a word. “Teachers tell them otherwise. They will know that you’re a new student, trust me, they’ve been told. You, not knowing what your element or when your birthday is, will have to decide what element you decide to take up then and there.” Hansol finally explained to me.

Nerves flew around in my stomach when he told me that last part. “But, what happens if the element that I choose doesn’t work out?”

“It’ll take some time to really know if you can do it or not,” Hansol answered as he realized that he was still holding my wrist. A smile appeared on his face as he took my hand, my palm faced up. What was he doing? “Don’t want your owner to get anymore madder than she already is.” He raised his other hand and, with his eyes turning a bright blue again, he concentrated as he moved his fingers and began to draw in the air, leaving little blue lines floating. I couldn’t tell what it was from all of the circles and waves to it, but then he blew from his hand and the spaces got filled in with ice. The object floated down into my hand and I noticed that it was a rose made out of ice. What he made was beautiful and impressive; what was even more impressive was that it wasn’t melting at all! “For you. Goodnight.” Hansol smiled and winked at me before walking back to the elevator. My cheeks were burning red at what he just made for me. I guess you could say that this was a late birthday present. A smile formed on my face as I entered my dorm room. I couldn’t really focus on what was inside as I set the rose aside on a counter and when I found the bed, I immediately went to sleep, dreading the first day of school. Welcome to the real world.