1

Aria

"As you go out into the world, you will inevitably hear so many conflicting beliefs from so many different people. Everyone has their own personal sets of beliefs, whether you interpret them to be right or wrong. Some try to make others share their beliefs, some simply defend their beliefs, and still, some people have no beliefs at all. They just see things as they are, never delving deeper into life's little mysteries. Those people will never know of my family's existence. Maybe that is a good thing, or maybe it is a shame. Only time will tell..."

"The thing about supernatural creatures, or whatever you want to call us, is that we do exist. Yet, very few know of us and even fewer believe in us. We hide in plain sight. Never showing the extent of our powers or the magnitude of our abilities. Never completely being who we are. We are forced to hide our true selves because the humans can not handle our superior existence because they ARE-"

"Mr. Bradbury?" A tall, red haired girl in the front of the class shoots her hand up high in the air and waves it impatiently, interrupting my sister's report that she is currently reading aloud to the class.

"Yes, Olivia?" A deep voice comes from just over my shoulder and his voice sends shivers down my spine. God.. his voice. 

"What does this have to do with anything? Halona is rambling on and on about people's beliefs when she was supposed to be doing a project on the origin of witchcraft and the resulting trials.." Olivia drawls out in a bored tone, as my more volatile sister stares her down, with a look of pure hatred consuming her beautiful features. I can sense the storm brewing within her and they all better hope that she doesn't let loose. No one wants that.

"If you would shut the f-" Halona begins, only to be cut off as my other sister stands up quickly, cutting off the profanity and saving her from detention or worse. 

"Mr. Bradbury, before she was so rudely interrupted" a pointed glare at the offender, who has the good sense to squirm in her seat "her oral report does involve those topics. This is simply an opening that ties into the point of her story. She will get there if given the time to finish her presentation." Moira says quickly, trying to defuse the situation, as always.

She is usually the voice of reason behind Halona's take-charge personality. Halona tends to act first and think later, so Mo is always there to do the thinking for her. She weighs the effects against the consequences and is usually able to save Halona from herself. Although, not always.

"Very well. Olivia, please stop interrupting Halona's presentation or you will be asked to wait in the hallway until after the end of class. Halona, please continue on with your report." Mr. Bradbury says with a bone-weary sigh. Clearly, his day isn't going any better than mine is. I feel ya, teach. I feel ya.

Halona smirks in a gloating, victorious manner at Olivia, before continuing her presentation, her words clear and decisive. My mind drifts away, tuning out her words. I know what her report says because I am the one that helped her write it. Just as I have done since I was ten years old. Halona has needed help with her work since we were in elementary school, leaving me and Moira to keep her grades up.

It's not that she isn't super smart. She is. She is just a bit academically challenged. She just is not interested in her subjects so her mind wanders off when trying to learn. Having trouble hearing the lessons and retaining the knowledge is her only problem. I am so caught up in my own thoughts that it takes a minute before I hear it.

"Ms. Piper." Comes a gruff voice floating through my subconscious.

"Ms. PIPER!"

I jerk my head up and turn to look up at the gloriously handsome teacher of mine, Mr. Bradbury, my breath catching in my throat at the sight of him in all his beautiful, nerdy glory. He is even more magnificent when he is angry. It takes me a moment to stop the heavy pounding of my heart before I can answer him. "Uh, y- yes?"

"Care to give your oral presentation sometime today?" He asks me, somewhat sarcastically. I blush crimson, the word oral sending my mind to a dirty place. I am the only one in class who has not presented yet. In this case, he was saving the worst for last, lucky me.

I see a muscle in his jaw tick as if he could read my thoughts. That thought mortifies me and I turn away quickly, picking up my folder and moving to the front of the class. Each step I take is filled with dread and my stomach sinks lower. This must be like what the witches in my paper felt like as they moved towards the stake, facing down the imminent threat of certain death. Each step sank me further into despair, just knowing that something truly horrible is about to happen.

Finally, I have passed the desks and I turn to look out at the sea of faces, all staring at me. Some were bored, some smirking at me, and two similar faces gave me encouraging smiles. I look at my sisters and take a calming breath. Then I begin to speak. I did my report days ago, getting all of my information from my grandmother, Agnes De Meath. Aggie is a witch herself, so who better to gather information from?

I read from the paper in my hand, thankfully without stuttering or getting tongue-tied. When I am done, I quickly scuttled back to my seat, glad that it is over. I really hate standing in front of people and being looked at. It sends my anxiety meter through the roof.. My sisters clap for me, ever the encouraging ones, even though the attention embarrasses me to no end. Mr. Bradbury stops by my desk and looks down at me.

I brace myself, expecting to be scolded or slighted in some way, as per the usual. He only ever says unpleasantly rude things to me. I nearly fall out of my seat when instead of a scathing reproach, he places his huge hand on my shoulder and says "Very good, Ms. Piper."

He moves away to the front of the class, turning to face the students, seemingly making eye contact with everyone but me. "Alright class, you all did very well on your assignments and I was suitably impressed by each and everyone's reports.. I will be sure to let Mrs. Saunders know just how seriously you each took this assignment. As some of you may have heard, she is returning on Monday so this is my last day here. It was wonderful getting the chance to meet you all. You were wonderful students to have the honor of teaching."

Just then, the bell rings and the students eagerly shuffle out. I stand up, confused by his words..

"What does he mean by today being his last day? He is leaving? I thought he was the teacher?" I ask the girl beside me who is actually still at her desk. Everyone else bolted like the hounds of Hell were after them. The girl's name is Vivica something or other. I think..

"Nope. He was just subbing for Mrs. Saunders. She has been out for like a month but apparently, she is coming back now, so he will be gone. Too bad. He was hot and actually pretty cool to have as a teacher. Mrs. Saunders is a raging witch. No one missed her." Vivica gives me a smile and leaves the room.

I hurry out of the classroom, catching up to my sisters in the hallway. They are just slamming their lockers closed when I reach them. Halona turns and sees me making my way toward them.

"Hurry up, Aria. I am ready to get the hell out of here." She turns to Moira, "Toss me the keys, I am going to wait in the car."

"I'm heading to the car too," Moira tells her and the two of them start talking.

My sisters leave the school as I head to my locker in the very back of the large building. I am new to Hamlet High, having only been here for a few weeks and I still manage to get lost if I am not careful. This place is like a maze and my locker is located in the center. My sisters' lockers are right inside the main entrance while my locker is in between the teacher's lounge and the boy's locker room, in the back forty of the school. Just another one of life's little unfair ticks.

I turn the corner and the smell of stale coffee and boy sweat hits my nose and my stomach churns in disgust. It always smells revolting back here. Only a couple of students are in this hallway because very few lockers are located in this section of the school. Basically, these are just the leftovers. Figures, that is what I would be assigned. Story of my life.

Opening my locker, I pull out my bag and shove my notebook and my Intro to Vampirism textbook into the bag, next to my Applied Magic book. Coming to a school for supernaturals is a whole different world than the regular high school I came from. At my old school I only had math, science, history and English.

Maybe a few electives, like home economics and intro to health science. Now, it is Intro to Vampirism or Witchcraft 101. Chem lab has turned into cauldrons and eye of newt. Instead of cooking up soup for class, we learn to brew potions of strength for the mystical creatures roaming the halls. It is a completely different world than what I am used to and I am still experiencing a bit of culture shock.

My sisters don't seem to share my problem because they manage to fit in just fine. They each of a circle of friends and boyfriends, besides the fact that they are each other's best friends. They were here for only one day before they had everyone eating out of the palm of their hands. They have no problems fitting in here considering that they are witches, just like my grandmother. The three of us are triplets, born under the same full moon, yet I am nothing like them. It's like they are powerful twins and I am just made of the extra, non-working bits.

My sister Halona was born with the power of fire and earth magic. Clorokinesis is the technical term of her powers, we just recently found out. She can conjure fire and even small storms. She can use nature, making flora and fauna bend to her will. When she is angry, she is truly a force to be reckoned with. Each day she grows more powerful, although they rarely use their powers.

Moira was born with light magic. She can create and manipulate visible light. She can draw strength from the sun and channel its energy into a burst of light. She also has the power to heal, which she got from our mother. Mom was one of the most powerful witches to come from the De Meathe line in over one hundred years. She was truly magnificent and her healing powers were unparalleled.

I am the odd one out because I wasn't born with any powers. At all. In fact, I am apparently the first person in my family in over three hundred years to be born without even a hint of powers. Both sides of my family are long lines of supernaturals and I am just, well, me. Nothing special about me. The only power I have is invisibility.

Not the cool, Mrs. Fantastic kind of invisibility. Nope. I just have the power to exist without being seen. I can walk into a crowded room and no one notices me. Hell, I can't even get the cute boy at the coffee shop to look at me when he hands me my drink. He sits it on the counter and moves away, without so much as a 'have a good day'. What's worse is that he chats everyone else up. I stood in line for forty minutes waiting for him to hand me my drink that had been made for thirty-five, while he talked movies with a sixty-five year old woman. Laughing and joking with her. That was when I realized the true extent of my invisability.

It has only gotten worse over the last few weeks. It is like I don't even exist anymore, without my dad around to see me. He was the only one who ever took the time to pay any attention to me. To look for me in the crowd and to hear me above all the other noise. I always felt like he saw me and understood everything about me, loving me despite my differences. He was my person. 

The thought of my parents brings a rush of tears to my eyes, a drop spilling from my lashes and trailing down my cheek. I try not to think about them often because when I do, I innevitably break down. Every. Single. Time.

I quickly slam my locker and turn away, blinded by the stinging in my eyes. I have only taken approximately two steps when I plow into what feels like a cotton and polyester covered wall of pure, hard steel. Falling backwards, I land in an undignified heap on the floor, bruising my tailbone and dropping everything in my arms.

"Son of a b-" I mutter beneath my breath, feeling the stinking pain in my bottom. That is going to leave a bruise!

"Are you okay?" The wall asks, shoving a huge hand my way, palm up. "Here. Let me help you up."

I swipe at the tears on my cheeks and look up at the gorgeous guy standing in front of me. I have seen him around the school a couple of times and we have a class together, but I have never in my wildest dreams spoken to him. He is a big time jock and a werewolf or something like that. I can not for the life of me remember his name, though. He smiles at me and my insides turn to goo.

Without thought, I slide my small hand into his and his fingers close around it, dwarfing my delicate limb. With barely a flick of his wrist, I am standing upright and knocked off balance once more. The sudden momentum pitched me forward, making my head spin at the quick motion and he catches me against his firmly muscled chest. He is no Mr. Bradbury but he is so handsome that my heart pounds against my sternum.

"Sorry about that. Sometimes I don't seem to know my own strength and all that shit." He grins at me. "I'm Mason, by the way. We haven't gotten the chance to meet before."

"Hi. I'm Aria."

"It is nice to finally meet you, Aria." He lays a massive hand at the small of my back and absently strokes in comforting movements. "Care to tell me about the tears? Are you okay?"

"Um, I was just thinking about my parents." I am not sure why I said that. I don't even know this person so I most definitely shouldn't be discussing such private matters with him. Especially not this sore of a subject. Yet for some reason, I feel like I can trust him with my problems.

"What about them?" He asks me, obviously curious.

"They passed away. A little over two months ago."

"Damn, I am so incredibly sorry to hear that." He pulls me into a tight hug. This stranger; he offers me the comfort that I have been missing out on in the last few weeks.

He stands a foot or two taller than me and he is about double my size, with muscles for days. He could break me in half with his pinky if he felt so inclined, of that I haven't a single doubt. It doesn't escape me that he is a predatory creature, yet I have never felt safer than I feel right now, nestled in his arms. Even though I have known him for less than three minutes I lean into his embrace without embarrassment and soak up his comfort. Dang, but I really, really needed this.

His hands creep up my sides to rest around my waist, his massive thumbs only inches away from the under side of my bra. Before I can even think to move away from him, he pulls back slightly. "So, would you maybe want to g-"

"School was dismissed a while ago.. Care to explain to me what the two of you are still doing in here?" An annoyed voice asks from behind me. A voice that I recognise all too well by the tingles it elicits in me.

Mr. Bradbury.

I try to pull out of Mason's arms, but he holds me tight, not relinguishing his grip on me, despite the teacher's glare being directed at us. "Actually, we were having a private moment."

"Well, I suggest that you get to where you need to be or else you can resume your 'private moment' in detention on Saturday." Mr. Bradbury snaps back, seeming to not have the patience to deal with Mason's sass.

Mason pulls away and looks down at me. "To be continued, beautiful." He gives me a grin and a wink before he moves past me, his arm brushing my chest lightly. I stand still and listen as he moves around the annoyed teacher behind me and enters the boy's locker room.

I bend over to pick up my bag that lays forgotten on the floor. I hear a sigh and then Mr. Bradbury moves to stand in front of me, blocking my path. "Care to explain to me what that was all about, Ms. Piper?"

"I- um, I ran into him. Or he ran into me. He, uh, he helped me up and we were talking." I stammer, flustered by how intently he is looking at me. His gorgeous green eyes seem to be staring straight into my soul and I really don't like it. He makes me so nervous.

"Sure. That explains why his hands were roaming your body." Mr. Bradbury scoffs, acting as if I were some randy teen caught getting felt up by the quarterback under the bleachers. "You kids really need to behave in a more proper manner. School is not the place to behave in such a-"

"With all due respect, as of the last ring of the bell, you are no longer my teacher. Save your lecture for someone who gives a damn." I have no idea where that little outburst came from, and judging by the look on his face, I can't tell which one of us is more surprised by my words. Completely mortified by my burst of temper, I gather my bag tightly to my side and move past him quickly. I need to make a quick escape.

I am just rounding the corner when he seems to recover his senses. "Ms. Piper Come back here.."

I pick up my pace. Hearing him behind me only serves to spur me on, his footsteps pounding loudly as he gains on me firing ip my flight mode, because I have no fight in me. "Aria!"

I round another corner, having no clue if it is even the right hallway. My only thought is to get away from the teacher that I just yelled at. God, I still can not believe that I did that! What the heck was I thinking? I sprint down the hallway and round another corner.

"Aria!"