Chapter 3

August 26, 1990

It was 5:00 when Coralis’ alarm went off, but she was already awake. She barely slept. She was as excited as she was anxious about where she would be ending the day. Nadilla had already left for her school. She hadn’t been able to call her, so she had no idea how she was doing, if she liked it. She was hoping that she would be able to write to her. They had realized that even if Nadilla was able to send her a letter as soon as she arrived, odds are that Coralis would already be gone by the time it gets to their group home, so they decided to check if it would be possible to send letters to someone in another school. They had been apart a few times in the past, but not for the last couple years, so it felt odd to be without her cousin. She missed her.

Martha said that she would pick her up at 6:00. Coralis was ready and waiting at 5:40. All of her belongings were with her. She didn’t know if she was going to come back or stay on the school ground for Christmas holidays, she didn’t even know if elementals were celebrating Christmas, but even if she would come back, she didn’t want to leave anything of hers here: she couldn’t trust the staff to keep it safe and she couldn’t be sure she’d come back to the same home. Everything she owned could fit in three large suitcases and a backpack.

Martha was right on time and like he said he would, Petaan was behind the wheel. Coralis saw the car pulling in front of the home. Her backpack was already sitting on her back. She grabbed 2 suitcases, rolled them through the front door, then ran back inside to grab the other one. She didn’t bother to say her goodbyes to anyone in that place.

“Ready?” said Martha, as she placed the suitcases in the trunk of the car.

“Definitely,” said Coralis while handing her backpack to Martha.

“Good to hear! Remember what I told you when we met: I am to take to the baggage registration desk, but I cannot go with you through security.”

“Yes, I remember that. I’m sure that I will be fine. Once I get to the airport in Glasgow, there will be a transport to take me from Glasgow to a pick-up location, and from there, a special bus to take all the students to school. Do I remember that part correctly?” said Coralis while attaching her seatbelt from the backseat.

“Correct. However, there is something that I did not tell you: you will not be travelling alone, even if I won’t be with you. We do have another student who lives in this region. Like you, it will also be her first year. We will meet her with her parents at the airport, before registering your luggage,” Martha paused for a minute, then continued. “Hmm, I think humans have a limit on how many suitcases travellers can register, or charge extra for additional ones.”

“Oh! Are her parents going to fly with us? Or like you, they won’t go beyond the security? I also know about the baggage limitation. I never took the plane before, but I heard stories. When Roberto gave me my ticket, I called the airline company to verify. I will only have to pay extra and it’s fine. I have enough to cover the cost. I couldn’t risk leaving anything behind.”

Martha looked at her with sad eyes. She didn’t know what to say to that. She would have offered to cover the cost, but because she was also going to be one of her teachers, she was worried that it could be perceived as favoritism from other students. Some teachers had children attending the school, so a guardian role wasn’t going to be a problem, but there wasn’t much she could do.

“No, they won’t be travelling with you,” said Martha.

The rest of the ride was in silence, both deep in thoughts. Coralis didn’t know what to think about this girl she was going to meet. Was she a full-blooded elemental, like her, but raised by elemental parents? Or like her, was she raised with humans. Maybe her parents were also involved with bad people. She was looking forward to meet her, but she was also nervous.

Martha could feel the conflicting emotions radiating off Coralis. She wasn’t worried that it would cause an accident, but she was wondering how a 10-year-old child could have such a raw aura, when she hadn’t even started school yet. It definitely was time for Coralis to start elemental school: she couldn’t have stayed hidden in the human system for much longer before something bad really happened, something that could expose them all. She heard stories about human orphanages and she saw Coralis’ files from the CMMA agents, but wondered if there was more to them. Intense emotions could cause the aura to develop elemental energy at a younger age.

Once they arrived at the airport, Petaan got out of the car to go get a cart and placed Coralis’ suitcases and backpack on it. When done, he turned toward Coralis to hug her.

“Best of luck to you. You will see, our world is not as scary as humans want it to be! I do not know when I will see you again, but I am sure that this wasn’t the last time that I drove you somewhere. Take care, little mage.”

“Thanks! See you next time!”

Coralis grabbed the cart handle and went inside the airport, with Martha walking in front of her, toward the agreed meeting place. It didn’t take her long to find Suzanne and Jonas.

“Oh hi Suzanne! It’s been some years, but you haven’t changed one bit!” said Martha. “This must be Victoria!”

“Yes yes, she is! Same for you, I’m sure you’re still the best potion teacher to have ever lived!”

Suzanne introduced her husband and daughter to Martha and Coralis, and Martha introduced Coralis to them.

“This is Coralis. She will be going to school with Victoria, she’s also a first-year student. Coralis is on a particular situation, so I am acting as her elemental guardian. I will let her explain her situation to Victoria, as she feels comfortable.”

“Why none of you are coming with us on the plane?” blurted Coralis. That was something that was bothering her when Martha explained to her the itinerary, but didn’t dare to ask at the time. She felt some pleasant energy coming off the group, so she decided to ask before the adults left.

Martha and Suzanne looked around them, to make sure no one was paying attention to them.

“I use a different transportation system,” said Martha. “As for Suzanne and Jonas, there is no point for them to travel halfway across the world, just to come back right after arriving at the pick-up location. When you get older, you will be able to travel differently, but because of your current respective family situation, it is safer that the both of you travel through commercial flights: it doesn’t raise unnecessary suspicions.”

While Coralis was thinking about Martha’s answer, the group walked toward the registration desk. She was wondering about what she meant by different transportation system, but felt that it wasn’t a good idea to ask because of where they were: it was probably an elemental way of transportation. Then it dawned on her: the sticks that she had to buy for school. One was actually a wand, but the other one was meant as transportation, to fly. Apparently, there were even some sports played on them. Maybe Martha was using that to fly to school.

She was also curious about Victoria’s family. What did she mean by current family situation? Clearly, her mom was also an elemental, but was Victoria also raised with human? Maybe her father was human. She wanted to know and decided that she would try to find a way to ask while on the plane. She was about to start a new life, so trying to make friends sounded like a good idea to her, even if she didn’t want to be talking about herself.

She was still deep in thoughts when they arrived at the counter. As soon as the clerk was done and her suitcases left on the conveyor belt, they headed toward the security area. Martha, Suzanne and Jonas said their farewells to Coralis and Victoria, then left.

Coralis and Victoria waited for their flight in silence, sometime looking at each other, but neither of them knew what to say. Victoria’s parents warned her that she couldn’t talk about the elemental world to anyone, even to another elemental, if she was in public surrounded by humans. She couldn’t risk anyone overhearing her. Victoria wanted to know everything about Coralis: if she had siblings, where did she grow up, why her parents couldn’t come to the airport.

As soon as the plane took off, Coralis couldn’t hold her tongue anymore.

“Is your dad human?” said Coralis. She figured that it would be a safe question. “Hmm, I don’t mean it like that, I’m sorry I’m nervous, that’s not the word I’m looking for.”

“Yes,” said Victoria, looking at Coralis. She understood what she was trying to do: she also wanted to know everything about her and attempted to talk in code. She didn’t think Coralis was actually nervous. “My dad sounds like a robot sometimes, but I assure you that he is not. He is fully human… same for my brother. He is younger than me.”

For the entire flight, Victoria spoke about her family. Despite her mother being an elemental, she was raised in a human environment. She didn’t have many friends and they were all humans, so Victoria was excited at the idea of becoming friend with someone who was an elemental like her. However, Coralis didn’t say anything about herself. She mentioned having a cousin her age, who went to a different school, but didn’t say anything else. She was fascinated by Victoria’ stories. She never had a family. She heard a lot of family stories, but they were never good: children staying in orphanages or in out-of-home settings never had good stories to tell.

When they got to the airport, in Glasgow, someone was waiting for them, waving a sign that said “Victoria Millous & Coralis Golmar”. Coralis looked at the man holding the sign with fascination: she was wondering what he was. He was tall, very skinny, pale skin and short red hair that were so pale, they almost looked white.

Once they arrived at destination, Coralis and Victoria got off the car and were about to go grab their suitcases in the trunk. The driver stopped them immediately.

“There is no need to take them, young ladies. I will bring them to the bus cargo. Your luggage will be waiting for you in your dorm at the school.”

“Oh! I didn’t know that,” said Coralis. She made sure that all of her suitcases still had an identification tag on them and thanked him.

“Oh yeah, my mom told me about that, but I forgot about it,” said Victoria.

The driver left and they found themselves in the middle of a crowd full of teenagers. Figuring that they were also elemental students going to the same school as them, Coralis thought that it was safe to ask Victoria if she knew what kind of elemental the driver was, but didn’t want to sound stupid, so she decided it was best to keep it to herself: she was going to learn all about that world in the coming years anyway.

Dozens and dozens of yellow buses appeared in the sky and landed on the ground not far from them. Coralis was fascinated, but she was still processing the idea that not only she wasn’t human, but that there were a lot of other creatures who also turned out to be real, some of them are even going to go to school with her: clearly, not all students in the crowd were mages. She hadn’t fully registered that she was about to board a bus that came from the sky. Her friend, however, looked very comfortable. She must have obviously travelled in these buses a few times in the past, probably when visiting her mom’s relatives.

When they arrived at school, Coralis couldn’t believe what she saw: it looked like a castle coming out from one of those children’s fairy tales. 'I guess I should have expected something like that. If I am real, and flying buses are real, then a lot of what there’s in these bedtime stories must also be real. Makes sense I guess,' she thought.

Buses didn’t land on the school ground all at once. The ones transporting first-year students landed first. Drivers instructed them to walk in a single-file line, up to the main entry door. Beyond that door, there would be long tables where the school administrators would hand them their schedules and tell them where they were going to be sleeping. They would then go to their dorms and meet back up with the rest of the students in the dining hall, where Principal Arthurio would give them a short welcome speech just before curfew.

She was glad to see that she would be sharing a dorm with Victoria. There were three other girls with them: Maribel, Anna and Tricia. Maribel and Anna were earth mages, but Tricia was a water mage. Victoria introduced herself as a water mage.

“What type of mage are you?” asked Victoria to Coralis when the other girls turned around to empty their suitcases.

“I am not sure actually,” realizing she would need to reveal something about herself, she hoped that Victoria wouldn’t take pity on her. “I never knew my parents. I was told my mother was a water mage, but that they were not sure about what kind of mage my father was.”

“Oh! Well, I guess you will find out soon! I hope that you are also a water mage, because it would make it easier to practice water spells together.”

In the dining hall, a light snack was served. Victoria and Coralis ate on the flight, but couldn’t stop anywhere to eat when traveling from the airport to their flying bus terminal, so these snacks were very welcomed. She was so fascinated by everything around her, from the various type of beings among the students, to all the paintings hung on the walls, that she didn’t listen to anything that the principal had said. She figured she could ask her roommates later on, once they were back to their room. Some paintings had a traditional fixed image, others seemed to be moving. Everything felt so surreal to her, but she also felt like somehow, she was home.