Want to read from the beginning? Table of Contents
~*~*~
Amelia sighed as the two girl left, “I'm glad that went well.”
“Kitty could really hurt Lilly,” Mother Hen added.
“But she could hurt anyone,” Amelia said after a long moment. She stood up and headed to the door, “I'll give those two a day together before I call them into my office.”
~*~*~
“So JL, I know your name and you know mine, but we don't know don't know anything else ‘bout each other. We could do that game where like one person asks a question ‘nd the other answers. Ok?” Kitty asked, swinging their joined hands as they walked. “You'll go first ‘cause you're new ‘nd stuff!” The other girl jumped a little, as if this helped prove her point.
Lilly didn't wait a second for her question, “Will you let go of my hand?”
Kitty shook her head and swung their arms again, “Nope!” She popped the ‘p’, but wasn't silent for more than a second, “JL, why's your name Just Lilly. Isn't that kinda silly?”
“My name isn't Just Lilly,” Lilly tried to remove her hand from Kitty’s grasp, but she couldn't, “There isn't a ‘just’ in there, only Lilly.” No middle or last name for the time being. “Is Kitty short for anything?”
“My names Kitty. No ‘just’ in there either!” She stopped walking at the end of her sentence. “Your questions have all been boring. How ‘bout you tell me why you fell through the ceiling. Couldn't ya have walked through the doors like a normal person?”
Lilly blinked blankly at Kitty for a second, trying to form an answer as her mind was just intent on screaming What’s your story again? Finally, she was able to speak again, “W-well, that was more of an accident than anything.” She chuckled slightly, “This person I talked into sending me here kinda overshot the entrance and dropped me off here.” She used her spare hand to scratch her chin, “And I fell, and it kinda really hurt.” She laughed dryly again.
Kitty however, actually laughed, “So I guess you’re not a cat like me!” Kitty turned to face Lilly, still holding onto Lilly’s hand. “What’s your animal anyway?”
Again, Lilly’s head was being no help, still going What’s your story? on repeat. “Hey, wasn’t it my turn to ask a question?”
“Yes,” Kitty said, “And that was your question, now answer mine!”
Lilly sighed, “I-I don’t really know.” story, story, story story “You see, my tribe, they, uh, they didn’t have any of this odd spiritual stuff.” She brushed some hair out of her face, “It was weird enough getting transported here. Do you think you could explain the whole thing to me?”
Kitty nodded and finally let go of Lilly’s hand, which Lilly pulled close to her body, in order to pull a piece of paper and a pencil out of her jacket. “You know who people ‘re, right?” Kitty asked.
“Of course.”
“Good,” Kitty said as she drew a stick person on the paper, “This is a person.” She drew a circle around the stick person’s head, “We’ve all got a human soul that keeps us alive ‘nd gives us thoughts ‘nd stuff.” She started to draw a triangle over the stick person’s body, “ ‘nd we’ve all got an animal soul in us too. It gives us our emotions” She paused before going on, “Without the human soul, we’d be ‘orrible. We wouldn’t know right from wrong. We’d be like a wild animal, just trying ta get our food and water. With no animal soul gives us a ‘eason to do things. Life would be boring without it.” Kitty drew a square on the left arm of the stick person, “So because we have like two souls, and you only really need one to live, we’ve got all of this ‘xtra energy, so we’ve gotta spend it somehow.” She drew a line from the box to the triangle, “Some people, like me only got a little extra energy, and we can turn into our animal.” She thickened the line, “But some people’ve got more, like Momelia or Flame, and they’ve got like another special skill.”
“Like the person who teleported me here?” Lilly asked.
“Yeah!” Kitty put the paper up, “So do ya understan’ now?”
“Sure,” a hesitant answer, “Two souls, extra one gives extra energy.”
“Yep!” Another popped ‘p’ and a hop to go with it, “But that’s a boring topic, let’s talk ‘bout somthin’ else.” Kitty started walking again, but thankfully not pulling Lilly behind her again, but Lilly followed anyway. The other girl, hyperactive as she is, happens to be Lilly’s guide. As Kitty put up her paper and pencil, she started speaking again, “Why’d those people you lived with never tell ya ‘bout animals?”
“Well, you seen,” Lilly started as she looked out the window in the hallway as she came up with her answer, “We just didn’t think that it was all that important, so we never did anything about it.” They were silent for a second before Lilly came up with her question, “How did you come across this school Kitty?”
“I kinda won a fight with a kid who was ‘ere a bit ago. Stayed in tha dorm for a while, ‘nd when I was old ‘nough for classes, they let me in.” They were passing another window as Kitty was talking, and by the end of her sentence, Kitty was standing in front of it.
Lilly stopped to stand beside Kitty, “What’s so interesting out there?”
Kitty pointed at the building on the other side of a small grass area, crisscrossed by brown dirt walking paths. There was at least one person walking on the dirt pathway. One of the paths led to the building Kitty was pointing at. It was tall and made out of brown brick. Windows were placed at regular intervals along the wall, but they were too far away to see into. The brick looked old, but no vines grew along, like how the old buildings are always shown in the movies. Finally, after a second, Kitty spoke again, “That’s the dorm! We’ve gotta go ‘nd see it!”
There really should be ivy on it now. Lilly thought, but her thoughts were interrupted by Kitty, who was now opening the window they had just been looking out of. As soon as the window was open, Kitty was jumping out of it. She acted like jumping out of windows was a normal occurrence for her, and for all Lilly knew, it was.
Kitty was on the ground outside the window, and she was looking back at Lilly, “We need to get going, so come on!”
“Are you wanting me to jump out the window?” Lilly asked, still standing in the hallway, “Why don’t we just find a door, you know?”
“No!” Kitty jumped as if to prove her point, “Doors are boring, but the window’s fun! ‘Nd I got bored in there. You just need ta get out here, it’ll be fun!”
Lilly sighed, but she slowly climbed out, but with a lot less grace than Kitty. As soon as she was on the ground, Kitty started rushing ahead, with only the word of, “Run!” as a warning, and Lilly had to race after the other girl.
After a good run across the courtyard in order to get to the dorm room, Kitty finally stopped running, and thankfully went through the door on the main level instead of deciding to jump through another window.
The inside of the dorm, when they first walked in, was just a seating area with a few bookshelves and a good number of seats and couches. However, Kitty led them right past all of that, and they headed down a hallway that branched off of sitting area. She was being oddly quiet, but Lilly decided not to question it. After a short minute, they came up to a door that looked like it had seen better days. It had obviously been broken at one point, and boarded up afterwards. Besides that, it was covered in pictures and drawings, all of done by different people.
Kitty opened up the door and held it for Lilly, “Welcome to my room!” As Lilly walked into the room, “Well, I guess it's your room too now.”
Lilly smiled at Kitty as she walked through the door, but once she was on the other side of the door, her smile fell. She should have guessed from the messy door that the room would be a mess, but the room was more than a mess. It was a disaster zone. There was stuff everywhere in the room. Papers covered the walls, and more were all over the ground. Old toys and a few stuffed animals were in random spots. Clothes covered any open spaces left on the ground. The only thing that looked to be even slightly organized was a pile of weapons in one corner of the room. Lilly just stopped in the entrance of the door, not sure where would be safe to step. Kitty, however, just skipped past Lilly and jumped around her room like it was no problem.
“Your room,” Lilly started, “My room, it's a mess. Mine wasn’t much better, but still. Where will I sleep or put my stuff?”
Kitty moved to what Lilly thought was a shelf, and the other girl pushed a pile of stuff off of the shelf and revealed a mattress underneath all of the stuff. “Its supposed to be a bunk bed, but I’ve never had someone use tha bottom one. ‘Nd I can clear off one of the desks ‘nd you can have half the room once I clear it out.”
Lilly attempted to walk over to what would become her bed, “What is all of this stuff?” There was a stain on the mattress, and she had no idea what it is.
“Just stuff I’ve collected over the four years I’ve been livin’ here. You’re bound to get stuff when you’re here for forever. I’ve bought some, but the rest’ve been gifts. I keep it all!”
“Oh, cool,” Lilly said, pointedly looking away from the stained bed, “Where are we going to get me sheets, and stuff?”
Kitty laughed slightly before speaking, “Mama Hen’ll bring you some stuff ‘n your bags while we’re off exploring tha school.” She cleared off some more space before speaking again, “Is that ok with you?”
“Sure, finish our tour then?” Kitty did not notice, but Lilly was trying to get out of the crowded and messy room.
The other girl dropped the pile of stuff she had in her hands on the floor and moved over the slightly less messy floor out of the room, “Yeah! I’ve gotta show ya tha dinin’ room and where we get food ‘cause ya probably don’t ‘member much ‘bout it after ya fell out of nowhere last night ‘nd stuff!” Lilly didn’t get to say anything as Kitty grabbed her hand again and started moving quickly again, leaving the door cracked behind them.
As they basically ran to where the dining room was, Kitty only stopped them for seconds at a time as she pointed out rooms of interest. “Main entrance, where a should’ve come in from!” was pointed out to be large oak doors with metal nails and had more metal beams running across it. The masonry around the doors was ornate, and two older students stood on either side of the doors, looking bored.
When they passed a large archway that looked into rows of bookshelves and a tall man dusting one of the shelves, Kitty hurriedly said, “Library an’ Gufu!” They were almost instantly moving away, but Lilly could partially see the man, Gufu maybe, put a hand up in greeting at the two girls.
Next was a normal sized door with a number of cuts in the front of it, that Kitty said was her main classroom. They also quickly passed the window they had jumped out of earlier and the infirmary from earlier in the day. After that was what Kitty said was the armory, another closed door, but this time made from a heavy metal.
Finally, Kitty let of her hand again, and Lilly rubbed at her hand. To the left were all the wooden tables and benches from last night, but instead Kitty went to right where standing height tables were filled with food. Kitty grabbed some of everything while Lilly grabbed some nuts, fruit, and a chunk of bread. Even if she wasn’t on her world, or a dancer, anymore, she could still eat like one and practice what she already knew. Kitty was rambling about how the food was free for students as they walked through the line, but Lilly was ignoring the ramble.
It was only when Kitty turned suddenly turned and started walking to the sitting tables that Lilly payed attention to what the other girl was saying, “I’m gonna take ya to where all’a my friends are sitting!”
Lilly followed a step behind the long haired girl, idly chewing on a piece of dried fruit. As soon as they reached a table with four other people sitting there, Kitty sat down, pushing the others out of her way. After a second Kitty pointed at Lilly, who was putting another dried piece of dried fruit in her mouth, and Kitty started speaking, “This is Lilly! She’s from a nomadic tribe ‘nd she’s ‘ere for some reason! ‘Nd she don’t know anything ‘bout animals or magic or ‘nyting. So y’all better be nice ta her and help me learn her some things ‘bout everything. Y’all got all that?” She ended her short speech by taking a bite from a cookie that had been on her plate.
Lilly supposed that this was where she was supposed to sit, so she sat down in an empty spot and took a bite from the mixed nuts on her plate, not particularly looking at anyone at the table. After a second though, one of the other people, with hair that looked like silver, at the table reached over and lightly smacked Kitty in the back of her head, “Shut up Kitty and eat something better than a cookie for a meal.” She then turned to face Lilly, showing off golden eyes and a scar on her lip. “I’m Crystal, a wolf, and I hope that this idiot hasn’t been annoying you too much. I’m actually kinda sorry for you because you have to share a room with her.”
Lilly nodded at the other girl, “Nice to meet you.”
Before they were able to speak anymore though, Kitty finally seemed to realize what Crystal had just said, “’M not an idiot! I cans be smart!” Kitty glanced around the table quickly before her eyes landed on the girl sitting across from Crystal. “Joy, help me!”
The girl looked up from her salad, “With what? Just punch her like you usually do.” Kitty seemed to take the advice to heart because a second later, she had pulled Crystal to the ground. Joy pointedly looked away from their fight and instead turned to Lilly, “I’m Jing Lin, but the people here call me Joy. I’ll, uh, follow Crystal’s lead I guess, so I’m a panda, if you know what that is, and since this whole area is new to you, I can help you understand stuff in you need to, so, yeah.” She spoke with an accent, maybe chinese. Except China was not a country here, so it probably went by a different name.
Lilly smiled at the other girl, “Great to hear.”
“Yeah,” Joy smiled back, “And don’t let the weirdos scare you away, all of them here are actually pretty nice. And you can always come to me if, um, anyone make fun of you. I know the feeling.” She wore loose fitting clothes, but it was obvious that she was still bigger than most of the others in the room, however, she still looked comfortable. She had her black hair pushed off her shoulders and looked at Lilly with smiling green eyes, “I’m sure you’ll fit in nicely.”
As they finished their short conversation, Kitty and Crystal finally got up from the floor, neither one of them harmed, and started eating food again like nothing had happened. After a few more bites of her own food though, Lilly pointed at the girl sitting on Joy’s other side, “Who’re you?”
The girl did not react at first, instead staring blankly at the wall across the room, she only turned when Joy nudged her and said, “Tristin dear, say hello to Lilly.”
The girl turned slowly, before continuing to stare blankly, just this time at Lilly. All Lilly could do was stare back into the other girl’s blue eyes. Everyone at their table fell silent, even Kitty surprisingly, as they waited for the girl, Tristin, to speak. Her voice trembled slightly as she finally spoke, “You’re sad; you miss something. You need to stop being so loud.”
Lilly just blinked at her.
The boy sitting across from Tristin finally spoke, reprimanding the other girl, “Tris! I’ve told you, you don’t go around saying things like that. People’s emotions are their own, not yours.” His voice was higher pitched than Lilly expected from a guy, but at the moment, his words were more important. How had Tristin known how she felt?
After a second, the boy turned to Lilly, his eyes the same blue at the girl’s, and his hair a slightly darker blond, “Sorry about my sister,” he had a flat tone. He flashed Lilly a smile, but it looked oddly fake, before continuing, “She can feel other people's emotions. She takes them in and they become her own.” He paused for a second, glancing back at his sister, “Would you mind if I tuned your emotions down? I can tone emotions down or make them stronger, but only so much for each person. Turning your emotions down will help me turn her’s down as well.”
Lilly turned to Joy, who had a hand on Tristin’s shoulder. Joy answered Lilly unspoken question, “Yeah, it’s safe. You’ll just feel less sad.”
Lilly looked back at the boy, “Sure I guess.”
He flashed another fake looking smile before looking at her intensely. He frowned after a second before turning to his sister and whispering with her.
Joy looked back at Lilly, “Feeling better?”
“Not really, but I guess it worked.”
Kitty apparently decided that she had gone long enough without speaking, “That’s Flame. He’s really cool an’ cares lots for Tristin. Could you tell that they’re twins? I ‘ad no idea, but Crystal tells me it’s obvious!”
“Shush,” Crystal muttered.
The boy, Flame, and Tristin turned back to Lilly, Tristin looking calmer now. She spoke slowly at first before speeding up to a normal level, “I’m, sorry. I’ve been told it’s rude to say your emotions. It should be your own right to say when you’re sad or not. Am I forgiven?”
Lilly nodded, “Yeah, sure, I guess. Sorry I’m so loud.” By now, both of them were facing in her direction, and she could see the slight differences in their appearance. Flame had shorter hair, stopping at his ears, while Tristin’s hair went down to her elbows, and her face was more angled than his. Oddly enough though, they were both formally dressed, especially when compared to the casual attire of everyone else at the table.
After a few minutes of small talk and eating, Lilly finally asked, “So, Principal Amelia told me that this is a battle school, everybody grabbed weapons last night, and Kitty has a pile of weapons lying around in her room, so where are all of them? Or do you only bring the weapons to dinner?”
Crystal was the first to answer, “We leave them in the class during break in the day because some people,” Crystal made a point of starting at Kitty, “don’t know the meaning of constraint.” Joy and Tristin both smiled at the comment. Kitty made a point of stabbing a chunk of meat on her plate with a fork.
Lilly smiled after seeing the other’s reactions, “Must be a good story, but what are your classes like? What exactly do you learn?”
Flame was the one to answer this time, “Classes are split by age for the most part, but if there are enough kids in an age group, we’ll do random assignments to rooms. It’s all pretty easy though. Basic reading, writing, and math followed by actual fighting, weapons, and team work stuff. You’ll get the hang of it quickly.”
“Team training?” Lilly asked everyone at the table.
Despite just stuffing some bread in her mouth, Kitty tried to answer, but Lilly quickly gave up on understanding the girl, and she turned to Joy who said, “Team training is where you train with a group, obviously. Typically, there are six to a team, and Principal Amelia or another teacher assign the groups. But, how old are you?”
Lilly thought back briefly to her conversation with the principal earlier in the day, and her age had not been one of the things she was not allowed to say, so Lilly gave her age, “Seventeen.”
Joy smiled again, “That’s great Lilly! You’ll probably get to be in the same class as us, and if you’re lucky, we’ll even be in the same team! We are missing a member, and Kitty is your guide today.”
Lilly nodded and they went back to eating in relative silence because Kitty was somehow humming while eating. Finally Tristin spoke again, and she sounded like the topic matter did not matter to her at all, “They’ll add her to our team. We’re the only group in this age range with five members instead of six.
Kitty, finally not eating, basically launched herself over the table to hug Lilly at the news. Lilly pushed her away, but not before the last of her fruit and nuts fell off her plate. Once Kitty was not on top of her plate anymore, Lilly could clearly see an envelope that had not been there before.
Kitty must have known who it was from though because she basically yelled, “It’s from Momelia! Go ‘nd see what she wants!”
So Lilly opened the letter carefully, reading it aloud to the table, “Dear Lilly, Please have Kitty escort you to my office in your next available moment. Signed, Principal Amelia.” The whole letter was written in cursive, and it had a wax seal at the bottom.
Kitty apparently took the letter as meaning to head out right away, so she started pulling Lilly away again. All she could do was wave and watch as Crystal tried to get Joy to eat some meat.
Lilly slowly opened her eyes, but closed them right away. She wanted to go back to sleep. She wanted to curl up further into the warm covers of her bed and forget about the nightmare she had the night before. The blanket was course against her cheeks.
But her sheets were soft. She had picked them out because of how soft they were. She didn’t like knitted stuff like this. She opened her eyes again and looked out around where she was. The walls were slightly yellow, unlike the soft purple of her room. Peeling posters were up on the wall, but she couldn’t see them all that well. She sniffed the air, but ended up crinkling her nose up in disgust. The smell of disinfectant was all around her. She was probably in a hospital room.
Did her parents bring her here? Was she hurt so badly? Her arms and face hurt the most, but she could tell that she was sore all over. She probably fell down some stairs, but she didn’t really care as long as nothing was broken. She couldn’t feel an overwhelming pain, so nothing was broken, or she was heavily drugged.
She tried to sit up, but she ended up yelping in pain. She fell right back down into her pile of blankets.
Somebody must have heard her yelp, because someone instantly came to see her. Lilly tried to close her eyes quickly. She didn’t want the nurse to come and tell her what had happened to her because she had probably done something stupid.
Her plan didn’t work because somebody started talking to her, “Child, how are you doing? You should be mightily hurt from that fall of yours. You somehow got away with only bruises and cuts. You should be feeling really lucky right about now.” Lilly listened to the person, a lady she assumed, move to the side of the so she was standing right beside Lilly’s face. She spoke again, “Now I need to look at you again. Make sure you don’t have a concussion or anything, OK dear?”
“A concussion. What do you mean?” Lilly asked while sitting up suddenly, “What did I do?”
“Well dear, you fell from the ceiling just as supper was about to start. You gave all the students a big fright, don’t you know,” the lady said, “Now, I need you to open your eyes completely and face me.”
Lilly did as she was asked, but she immediately closed her eyes and flinched back. The lady had been holding a light to her eyes, “Oww…”
The lady chuckled and spoke, “Your pupils dilate, that’s good. Now tell me dear, do you remember what happened to get you here?”
Lilly shook her head, “No.” She paused, “Where even is ‘here’? Is the light off?”
“Yes dear, the light’s off,” the lady responded, “and ‘here’ is the most well known country in Amroth.”
“Amroth? I, I don’t exactly know… how far away is that from America do you know?” Lilly opened her eyes again and looked around.
The lady spoke, “I’ve never heard of that place before. Is that the town you lived in?” Lilly looked at her in confusion, but ended up just taking in her features. She had salt and pepper hair pulled up into a severe bun, she had bright green eyes. She must have smiled often, because she had smile lines on her face. She wore old and well worn clothing in neutral colors clothing. She looked like a well rounded, happy person.
Lilly remember what she was supposed to be doing, “Not a town. America’s a country. How’d I even get here? My mom must be worried sick about me! I need a phone! I need to call her! Do you have one I can borrow?” Lilly moved to stand up, but the lady stopped her.
She smiled, “I’m afraid I don’t know what a phone is.” She lightly pushed Lilly back down into the bed, “And I must say, I don’t believe you should get out of bed just yet.”
“How do you not know what a phone is, everyone knows!” Lilly asked, trying to get out of the bed, “Let me just use one to call my mother, please!” Her voice was obviously rising, and she was starting to panic.
The lady must have noticed how Lilly was panicking, and she tried to subdue Lilly, “I don’t have a phone, but is there anything else I could get for you? A book, paper and pen, whatever you need.”
“My bag, the one I had with me,” Lilly said quickly. Her phone was sitting in it, she could use it to call her mom.
The lady smiled at Lilly again, “Of course dear, I’ll be right back with that.” She left the room and closed the door behind her.
Lilly needed her bag before she could do much of anything because she needed to call her mom, but in the meantime, she could try and figure out where she is. Definitely not her house, and she probably was not in America. The lack of the lady knowing about cell phones would mean less developed country, but the clean room would differ. But Lilly had been told that she had appeared out of nowhere. How could that be possible? People don’t just appear out of nowhere.
Maybe she had hit her head against the mirror, and was in a super weird dream. That was the best choice. She would wake up soon, and everything would be good. Probably.
The lady walked back into the room, carrying Lilly’s bag awkwardly in her hands, “Here you go. Just remember that you shouldn’t be climbing out of bed just yet.”
“Sure, ok, thanks,” Lilly said as she quickly grabbed her bag out of the lady’s hands. She held it close to her chest, not wanting to let go of it.
The lady decided to speak again, “And if you need anything, dear, don’t be afraid to call for Mother Hen, I’ll come, ok?” The lady, Mother Hen probably said. She meant to leave but stopped to say one last thing, “And the principal will be coming by later to talk with you, so be prepared please.”
“Thanks,” Lilly said as Mother Hen went through the door. As soon as the door was closed again, Lilly quickly dug through her dance bag. She was grasping around for her own phone. She found it underneath some clothing, and she pulled it out. Lilly tapped the power button, willing it to turn on. It didn’t, so Lilly pressed and held down on the power button. The phone also did not power up. It was dead.
She couldn’t call her parents. She threw her phone at the wall and watched it fall on the floor, the screen now shattered. Lilly moved to stand up and retrieve it, but was stopped by the door opening again.
A new lady walked through the door and picked up the phone that Lilly had thrown against the wall before moving towards Lilly, smiling, and holding it out to her. She spoke in a soft voice, as if not trying to scare Lilly, “I assume this is yours?”
Lilly snatched it out of the lady’s hands, her fingers running over the screen, and her nails slightly snagged on each one. “Yeah, it is.” The lady pulled up a chair and sat beside Lilly’s bed, but she stayed silent and kept her smile on her face. Lilly decided to break the silence, “Are you the principal?”
The lady did not react for a second, so Lilly decided to stare at her. Her eyes were a dark blue, but they somehow still seemed clear, and her hair was blond and going gray, cut rough and uneven, but still seemed soft, like she had just watched. Her face had worry lines, but unlike Mother Hen, there were no laugh lines.
When she spoke, Lilly startled slightly, she had been deep in thought, “Yes, I am, the Principal at least, Principal Amelia.” After that, they fell silent again. The lady, Principal Amelia stared at Lilly, and Lilly looked back at her, nothing that her plain clothes still screamed an air of sophistically. It was a bit unnerving to sit in silence with a stranger, but something made Lilly want to feel calm. Finally, the principal sighed, shook her head slightly, and spoke again, “I need to know your name and how you got into the dining hall from the ceiling.” She spoke with the same calm voice, which went against the commanding words.
Lilly though, still answered, “I’m Lilly, from America. I literally just fell through a mirror like Alice and I landed here and I kinda just want to go back home, and I don’t know how I got here because you can’t just appear out of nowhere,” The words all came tumbling out at once, quick and rapid fire.
Principal Amelia sighed again, “Do you have a last name Lilly?”
“Of course I do,” Lilly responded, “Griffith. I’m Lilly Emily Griffith and I kinda just wanna know how I got here because this is kinda creepy.”
“Please stay calm,” principal Amelia said, “I also do not know how you got here, but I have a few theories.” She paused for a second before asking a question, “Do you know anyone with the ability to transport? Because this may all be a case of magic gone wrong.”
“Magic?” Lilly breathed. It was another second before she spoke again, “No I don’t because I know as well as you that magic does not exist, so stop pulling my leg! Just let me call my mom!”
Principal Amelia obviously tried to backpedal, “Calm down Lilly! We have no knowledge of phone. Just lie back down and I’ll be back with you in a few minutes, ok?” Lilly nodded her head and the principal put the chair back where she had retrieved it from.
Amelia walked out of the room, closing the door behind herself. She walked over to Mother Hen in as few steps as possible before speaking in a rush, “We need to take her in.”
Mother Hen did not bother looking up from her paperwork, “She just appeared out of nowhere in the dining hall. Once she’s out of my care, she can apply to the school like any other student. You know the drill.”
“No, no, you don’t understand,” Amelia rushed, reaching out to the nurse, “She doesn’t know about magic and she doesn’t have a presence in the spirit world!”
“You don’t mean?” Mother Hen said as she looked up at Amelia. Her reading glasses started to fall down her nose, but she made no point the fix them, “Gufu’s actually right?”
Amelia nodded, “He just might be. Get him and bring him here.” Mother Hen instantly stood up and left the room, and Amelia called out after her, “And tell him to bring a map!”
Amelia sat down while she waited for Mother Hen and Gufu to return, and she started to clear off the desk that Mother Hen had been sitting at. After she was done, Mother Hen and Gufu came into the room. He had apparently enlisted Mother Hen ino carrying a pile of books for him while he only had a large piece of a paper that was rolled up. His glasses were falling down his face. He sat down the paper and pushed his glasses back up over honey brown eyes. He spoke quickly and with a lisp, “You think I’m right?”
Amelia smiled as she anwswered, “Yes, your alternate world theory.”
He ran a hand through his brown hair, “What makes you think that?”
“That girl that came in last night, Lilly, she has no presence in the spirit world.”
“No knowledge of magic?” Gufu asked.
“None,” Amelia confirmed.
“That’s just what I thought would happen! Are you sure?”
“Almost positively,” Amelia confirmed, “Just tell me, on your map is there a country or a city named America? That’s where she says she’s from.
Gufu unrolled the paper to reveal a map. All three people crowded around it, looking for any reference of America. After a few minutes, Mother Hen was the first to give up, “I can’t find it. I’m just going to say it doesn’t exist. What’s more important is what we’re going to do with her.”
Amelia also looked up, “I want to take her into the school. Keep her close and safe.”
“But we’re out of room in the school,” Mother Hen sighed, “We can’t take her in.”
Gufu finally looked up from his map, “There is one bed left.”
“No,” Mother Hen said, raising a hand to her mouth, “With Kitty?”
Amelia nodded, “With Kitty.”
“Will she let that happen?” Gufu asked, “Will Kitty really go with this?”
“She probably will if we ask.” Amelia stood up, “I’ll go and warn Lilly, if one of you two could get Kitty for me?”
Gufu stood up, “I’ll get Kitty.” He left quickly, leaving all of his supplies behind.
“Is this really a good idea Amelia?” Mother Hen asked, “You know how Kitty is, is it a good idea to leave Lilly with her?”
“Having a friend will be good for Lilly, and Kitty can be friends with anyone. I’m sure that everything will work out fine.”
Mother Hen sighed, “If you say so, I’ll trust you.”
Lilly had been sitting on the bed and staring up at the ceiling, but she sat up as the door opened suddenly. Principal Amelia walked into the room and sat down in the chair by the bed again. She smiled at Lilly, “Good news for you Lilly. We’ve decided to take you into our school.”
Lilly shook her head, “I don’t want to go into your school, you can’t keep me here. Take me back to my school and let me call my family!”
Principal Amelia sighed again, “Lilly, calm down. I suppose I should tell you the bad news.” She paused before speaking again, “We’ve had a theory for awhile that there are alternate worlds, and we believe that you come from one. We just don’t know how you got here.”
Lilly blinked at Principal Amelia. “What?” she whispered, “A different world?” Somewhere in the back of her mind, Lilly knew that the phrase ‘her world fell apart’ would fit, but if you have no world, how can it fall apart?
Principal Amelia continued to talk though, “Yes, so staying here at my school will probably be best for you. You can learn about everything here at your own pace. You’ll only have to worry about your classes. Reading, math, history, military, and fighting. Understand?”
Her voice was still at a whispered volume, “But, another world?”
“Is that what you’re caught up on?” Principal Amelia sighed, “We don’t know how you got here, so we don’t know how to send you back. It’ll be best for you to stay here and adjust to this world.”
“But I’ll never go home again? I’ll never see my parents, David, Emma, Maria ever again? I’ll never have another dance class? What about the future I wanted? What will happen to it all?”
“You will make a new future. Everything from your past is gone, you can make a new life here.” Lilly’s eyes started to tear up, but the principal stopped her, “You can cry later, right now I need you to listen. Understand?” Lilly nodded her head slowly, and Principal Amelia pointed at the door, “Soon, another student is coming in here to show you around. She’ll be your roommate and your guide to this school.”
“Ok, I guess,” Lilly said, her voice growing in strength again.
“Good. You will only give her your first name, Lilly, not Lilly Emily Griffith or anything else like that, ok? And your mother named you after the first thing she saw after you were born. And you’ve had a nomadic upbringing. Your tribe didn’t care about the spirit world, which is why you don’t have an animal. Understand?”
“I guess, but why?” Lilly asked quickly.
Principal Amelia made to answer, but she stopped. “Hush, she’s coming. I’ll send a note to call you to my office later, and I’ll explain everything I can.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the door opened again. A tall but skinny man with large glasses came in, and a girl followed him. Her face was pulled into a pout, and she was messing with the end of her long black braid.
The girl moved out from behind him, showing off how tall she really was. Taller than average, and taller than Lilly at least. Her skin is also pale, like she rarely goes out into the sun, but her skin helped pronounce the freckles that spot her nose and cheeks mostly. She narrows her ice blue eyes, and Lilly glances away from the girl’s face, suddenly embarrassed to be caught staring.
But the girl moved her hand up from the bottom of her braid, sitting near her waist, to a golden locket around her neck, and Lilly’s eyes follow the movement. The girl decides to speak after that, “So you’re the girl that got Momelia ‘n Mama Hen ‘n everyone all riled up? And I’ve got to share a room with you?” Her voice was just barely hiding hostility.
Out of the corner of her eye, Lilly saw Principal Amelia suck in a quick breath. She looked like she was about to move to stop the conversation, but the girl started laughing loudly, bent over. Once she had stopped laughing, she straightened up and smiled at Lilly, “Well, good job! It’s hard to surprise Momelia here!” She lightly slapped the principal back as she walked forward to Lilly, “‘N you sure surprised her, fallin’ from the sky and stuff!” The girl laughed lightly again before sticking her hand into Lilly’s face, “I’m Kitty by the way! I’m gonna need your name if we’re goin’ ta share a room!”
“I’m Lilly, just Lilly.” she reached out to grab Kitty’s hand and shake it. However, Kitty grabbed Lilly’s hand and pulled her into a tight hug instead.
Lilly immediately put her hands up to protect her face, but no glass came out at her. No glass was shattering anywhere. She seemed to fly right through the mirror. The sensation was like she was rushing through a smooth lake, propelled by something other than herself.
She was confused at first. Why wasn’t her skin being ripped apart by shards of glass? Why wasn’t she feeling pain? Why wasn’t she bleeding? Why? How?
How long had she been flying? Seconds or years? Was she moving or was everything moving around her?
Was everything around her white or was it so dark that she couldn’t see? Did a pencil just pass by her face? Did her hand really just hit a book? Did she really see a pair of long lost ballet shoes? Or was this all her imagination?
After a very long while, or possibly a very short while, everything changed. She had weight now (or had she not realized she was falling not flying earlier?). She was definitely falling. Face first somehow.
Now a pressure was against her. She wasn’t going froward or falling now. She wasn’t moving at all. She was being pushed up against a surface. Time had returned to her. She was trapped for a few seconds, but than what she was trapped on broke. And she was falling again. This time, she wasn’t unsure of her surroundings. She could clearly see where she was falling. Straight down onto a wooden surface. A table perhaps?
She hit face first, the rest of her body hitting just after.Her breath was gone. She was bleeding now. Shards of glass were beneath her. Lilly flipped over, glass dug into her back. She didn’t care. She need to breath. She did.
Thinking came easier after that. She could see that above her most of the ceiling was reflective, except under where she had fallen.
She sat up and looked around widely, at first she only noticed that her dance bag was still gripped in one of her hands. At least that wasn’t gone. Then it registered. She wasn’t in her bedroom. She wasn’t anywhere she recognized. She was on a wood table. The walls were made out of rough stone. There was a chill in the air, but the delicious smell of stew. There were people everywhere. All were holding bowls of food, some were sitting of wooden stools while others were still standing.
They were all staring at her. They wouldn’t look away.
Lilly though it could be a nightmare, she had just passed out from falling into the mirror, that’s all, so she reached down and pinched her arm. It hurt and she was bleeding from yet another spot. She wasn’t in some weird nightmare.
The people were still staring at her as she fell over yet again and blacked out.
“Lilly, aren’t you joining us? Or are you too busy brushing your hair?” Meredith asked as she stood ready to walk out the door.
“Yeah, yeah. You know I never miss a class,” Lilly laughed, “I even come when I’m sick, you know. I just need to put my hair up and tie my shoes.”
“Just hurry up!” Meredith shouted and began to walk away.
Lilly quickly finished putting her hair up in a bun, “I’ve been here since I was four! I know when to hurry.” Lilly heard the door shut slightly as she bent over to tie her shoes up her ankles. She shoved her bag into her cubby, which was falling apart after twelve years of disuse, and ran out into the other room just as her name was being called on the roll.
Meredith lightly hit her shoulder, “Took you long enough. Ready for two hours of ballet?”
“You know it,” She laughed slightly at her friend, “I’m always ready to out-dance you.”
~*~*~
“My feet hurt Lilly!” Meredith complained.
Lilly pulled her bag out of the cubby, “Maybe if you practiced something other than pop dancing, you wouldn’t hurt so much.”
“You wound me Lilly! To think that you, the master of all dancing, would ever thing that pop dancing isn’t worth anything!”
“Yeah. Sure. I totally said that.” Lilly lightly put her ballet shoes in her bag and put on her sneakers, “I’ve got to head home. Still got homework to do.”
Meredith laughed, “Have fun with that. I’ll be in front of my TV, with my poor feet in a salt bath.” She left the room after saying that and left Lilly by herself. She was often the first student to come in and the last one to leave. The only person who ever stayed later was the owner, Maria.
Lilly had been going to Maria’s studio since it had opened twelve years ago. Her adopted parents had been trying to get a fun activity for their four year old to do outside of the house. Lilly had been hooked since day one. She used dance as her escape, her money-making, and, hopefully, her ride throughout college. Maria was positive that Lilly could eventually get a full time job in dance anywhere she wanted.
Today was no exception to Maria’s insistence, “You could do ballet in Russia. Right where the first Nutcracker was performed.”
“You know I don’t speak Russian Ms. Maria, even if they do have beautiful ballet traditions there.” Lilly walked out the door and closed it behind her, effectively stopping any comments from Maria. She got into her car and drove home to start her homework.
~*~*~
School was, as usual, boring. Lilly went from class to class and talked with friends. She passed her tests and did her work, but she never excelled. Everyday was a countdown for the moment in which she could go to dance. Little in her life compared to her dancing.
With her school day finally over, Lilly headed towards the studio to dance. Today, she didn’t have practice, but she helped Maria teach the less experienced students. Maria helped the youngest while Lilly worked with the older students who had more practice.
By nine, at the end of the class, both Maria and Lilly were exhausted. Maria’s dark skin was gleaming with a layer of sweat, but she still made a point to talk with Lilly, “In a few years, you can have your own studio in the middle of New York City, training Broadway’s next big star.”
Lilly laughed and said with fake hurt, “You mean I’m not Broadway’s next big star?” She walked to the door, “See you tomorrow Maria.”
~*~*~
“David, is my eyeliner messed up? I’m afraid I smudged it.”
David, a tall boy with blond hair and brown eyes glanced at her face, “Perfect as usual Lilly. Why are you even worried? It isn’t like the crowd can even see your makeup.”
“The talent scouts are coming to this recital. I need to look good for them.” Lilly leaned closer to the mirror to make sure that David was telling the truth. As he had said, her makeup was flawless, even the eyeliner around her brown eyes.
“Why are you even worried about the scouts? You’ve got another year until you need to worry about college. They’ll be trying to get us old seniors to go to their schools, you know?”
“Yeah. I know, but it’s always good to look ahead though.” She turned around to show him the top of her bun, “How’s my hair? Is anything out of place?”
David glanced her over, “No, not a hair out of place. You look fine.” She turned around and jumped when David suddenly leaned in, “Wait, is that a pimple I see on your nose?”
Lilly rolled her eyes, “David, I know that there are no pimples on my face.” She reached around and grabbed a towel from behind her, “Lean down David, I can’t reach you up there and your makeup is messed up.” He leaned over as she fixed him up quickly. She lightly pushed up in the direction of the stage, “Now, get up on that stage and dance for me David.”
He started to walk away, but Lilly called out to him, “And remember, hands above the waist when you catch me!” He waved his hand and left her view just as his cue was called
~*~*~
“Emma! Get off!” Lilly laughed as her younger sister jumped up on top of her after the recital. She accepted the rose from Emma.
Her sister was talking, “You looked like a fairy! You floated all o’er the place!”
Lilly made sure that her sister was safely on the ground and her blond hair was out of her eyes before talking with her parents. She hugged each one of them, “Thank you so much for coming. You know that means a lot to me.”
He father smiled at her warmly, “You know we’ll travel anywhere to watch you dance.
Lilly turned to her mother, “Ma?”
“Beautiful as ever Lilly dear. Now go get changed. We’ll go out for some ice cream.” She spoke softly.
Lilly nodded and walked behind the stage. People are always surprised when they first see Lilly with her parents, as they look nothing alike. Both of her parents and her sister all had darker skin that Lilly did, her father said from an Italian heritage, while Lilly was paler, northern European. Her dad had dark red hair and small dark green eyes, while her mom had curly blond and deep blue eyes. Her sister had a mixture of features - Mom’s eye shape with dad’s eye color and mom’s hair. Lilly on the other had had stick straight hair, only good for putting up, and large round brown eyes. While the rest of her family looked like gods in their face shape, Lilly was stuck with a slightly rounded head, freckles, and a small nose that always seemed to lean to the left. Annoying really.
And there was one reason for all of these differences. Lilly was adopted. Her parents had wanted children, but were unable to, so they had adopted Lilly. Much to everyone’s surprise, when Lilly was nine, her sister Emma-Leigha was brought home. Her now seven year old sister, though annoying at times, was the best thing that had ever been brought home. However, Lilly had always been envious of one thing about Emma. She knew exactly who her birth parents were while Lilly didn’t have the slightest clue in the world. Though not a normal occurrence anymore in the world, Lilly had been dropped off at an orphanage’s doors with only a blanket with her name embroidered on it, her only knowledge of her birth parents.
That didn’t mean anything today though. She had the tradition of ice cream after a recital to complete.
As she walked out of the studio, she saw David talking with a number of scouts. It was a good thing that they were going after him because he has always been an excellent dancer. She had hoped that many people would go after him because he had great talent, in ballet and out, and he has been great help as a male dancer, which has always been necessary for many dances.
~*~*~
Back at their, as Lilly liked to imagine it, beautiful house, Lilly was looking for a clear spot on her shared bedroom’s floor to place her dance bag. She just needed to put it down while she was sleeping because tomorrow was full with working and practicing at the studio, but it was hard to find a place to put her bag because the floor always has large piles of clothing, books, toys, trophies, and other various items. She glanced around one more time around and saw the perfect spot in front to the full length mirror in a corner of the room. She quickly walked over to the spot, wanting to get to her bed and sleep.
What she didn’t see however, was the marble right under her foot. She stepped on it and she felt her foot fly out from under her body. She tipped forward. Right into the mirror.
Power: Able to control anyone’s emotion and transformation
Weapon: Two Charay Khyber Knives
description: Blond mid ear length hair, blue eyes, taller than average
Family: Twin Sister Tristin and dead parents
History: Orphaned by a carriage crash along with his sister Tris and raised by a family friend. He has been trained in how to act in court because his family is a close adviser to the king.
Miscellaneous: Even though he can control emotions, he can only feel emotions on a very watered-down scale and rarely feels emotions worth mentioning.
Description: She had longish silver hair and yellow eyes and tanned skin with small, old scars from her time in a pack and doing odd jobs. Specifically, one on her lip and burn scars on her arms and legs.
Family: Unknown if any are still alive, but at one time she did have a large family.
History: She was born into a wolf pack. She lived peacefully for a few years as the alpha’s daughter and future leader. A large, uncontrolled forest fire seperated her from the pack. When the fire died down a month (ish) later, she found no trace of get pack left. Crystal assumed that they had all either died or they left, believing her dead. She than spent a few years wandering, doing odd jobs, before settling down and going to the school.
Miscellaneous Information: She prefers to get her own food than having it severed to her. Crystal also hasn’t given up hope that she will eventuality find her old pack mates. Rumors have gone around school that she might have killed someone in the past, but really, who knows?
Fun Fact: Crystal was originally created by a third author at the time of the original project who had no desire to write anymore. They have given permission to use the character and any ideas pertaining to her. They wish to draw/animate the story at some later point in life. Crystal is also the only character to not have an age change between the two makes.
Name: 晶 林 (Jing Lin/Clear Grove) but she calls herself Joy
Age: 17
Animal: Panda
Power: Transformation
Weapon: Laminated Longbow made from bamboo and Huanghuali hardwood
Description: She is of a different lineage than the other characters, we would call her of Chinese origin. She had black hair and green eyes, and Joy also is the most heavy set of the most mentioned cast.
Family: She has her grandmother, who moved with her. Last contact with her parents and younger brother was many years ago.
History: When she was a young child, her parents sent her and her grandmother to a new nation in hopes that they would live a better life. Since that time, her new country has become more militaristic and contact between the nation’s has been cut off. She had not spoken with her parents in a number of years and had never seen her brother in person. When she first started to interact with her new neighbors, she picked up on a new name, Joy, that would be easier for others to remember and would allow her to fit in more. Her grandmother has never approved of her name change.
Miscellaneous Information: Her name means Clear Grove. Many upon seeing her, believes that she would not be good in a fight, but she is always better than they expect. She wishes to one day bring the rest of her family to her.
Description: Black hair that reaches her knees when braided, pale skin, and icy blue eyes.
Weapon: Modern Karambit
Family: No known family
History: She appeared at the Academy at a young age, and she was basically adopted by all the teachers. She unofficially attended many of the classes to keep herself occupied. Before she was taken up by the school, she is know to have lived on the streets by herself or wandering with a number of nomadic tribes.
Miscellaneous Information: She loves to eat anything sweet. She often fights by quickly switching between animal and human forms. She has the best understanding of the school grounds and organisms nearby because she loves exploring in her free time.
Power: Automatically feels any/every emotion felt by anyone within a certain distance
Weapon: A Chinese hook sword pair
Description: Blond mid jaw length hair, green eyes, average hight
Family: Twin brother Flame and dead parents
History: Orphaned by a carriage crash along with her brother Flame and raised by a family friend. She has been trained in how to act in court because her family is a close adviser to the king.
Miscellaneous: Tris and Flame are both from the royal family
Description: Shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes. A small amount of freckles along her nose. Just a bit above average height.
Family: Mother, father, sister, and pet ferret
History: She was adopted by her family at a young age. She lived a perfectly normal life, in all bit one aspect. Dance. She was above average with her dancing, and she believes that dance will be her ride through college.
Miscellaneous Information: The main character of the story and had lived on Earth all her life. She’s thrown into this new world against her will and is struggling to understand everything.
This will be the template that we will use for the more major characters in the story. The main purpose is for us to keep everything organized with. As we continue to develop the character, the sheets will be rebloged and updated.
I am the other admin! You can call me mod fenn (short for fennec…cuz animals…punzz) I’ll be mostly in “charge" of the art and my characters tristin and flame, Hope you enjoy this blog!!
Hello, welcome to the Animals Project. My fellow admin and I decided to restart a project from a few years ago. A story we would never get around to finishing, Animals. This is us working together to get this story written for our enjoyment (and anyone who wishes to read). I’m admin angora, and I’m the main author. I’ll be in charge of the majority of world building, character development, and writing. The characters that are completely mine are Kitty, Lilly, and Joy, but more on all characters will be later. Feel free to ask me if you have any questions. After the other admin introduces himself, I’ll start putting information about the story. Thank you!
discoholicmusic
dailybridgerton
origamiaround
titsay