title: Burned {1st in a series called The Psych Quartet}
genre: queer fantasy / mystery
category: YA/NA (I really canāt decide how to categorize this binch)
setting: northeastern Maine; present day
themes+tropes: identity (the loss and rediscovery thereof), generational trauma, found/chosen family, dangerous love triangles, magical school, unsolved mystery left behind, lovers to enemies, defying unfair expectations
vibes: a lone house burns to the ground on a wooded hill; an impossible garden stretches across an expansive roof; verdant hills swallow a secret campus like an enormous bowl; illicit underground fights; whispers from the past bleeding from a yearbook in the library; bloody lips and scarred nailbeds
āOh, maybe thereās a past life coming out inside of me
Maybe itās the song Iām singing
Maybe everythingās just turning out how it should be.ā
-Maggie Rogers, Past Life
When he wakes up in a strange room with little memory beyond his own name, Neil Grant soon finds out he is a super-human called a Psych with the ability to control fire. He is jostled into life as a student at Harmonium, a sanctuary where young Psychs can master their skills. Neil wrestles with the typical slew of issues faced by any eighteen-year-oldānamely, heās shocked when he finds himself struggling to decide which of two boys to let into his charred heart.
All the while, Neil explores the underbelly of this new society and discovers that he may be at the epicenter of a mystery that his mother left behind. He enlists the help of some new friendsāincluding a gregarious roommate, a warm but no-nonsense tutor, and a mysterious stickler for the rulesāto guide him through the enigma his life has become. When their peers on the outskirts of the social order start to go missing, Neil begins to shove jagged pieces together; as he starts to define the edges of a disturbing theory, he tiptoes further and further into dangerous territory.
An appalling betrayal forces Neil to make a choice: fight or flee. But what if the line between the two is thinner than he realizes? As memories return to him in infernal flashes, Neil starts to blaze a new path, a new identity, and a new life as someone seeks to flip the Psych order on its head.
characters:
{more in depth profiles to come soon!}
Neil Grantā18, Libra, INFJ, Fire (Protagonist)
disaster gay//literal flaming homosexual//nature photographer//amnesiac with a desire for Justiceā¢//often angery//mommy issues//impulsive as h*ck
Ruby Kingstonā21, Taurus, ESTJ, Earth
genius TA//astrology hoe//color red stan//friend turned tutor turned bestie//skilled fighter, pacifist by choice//reporting live from not her business
Alex Floresā19, Pisces, ENFP, Nature
plant lover//social butterfly//bisexual king//roommate//secret vulnerable softie//rule breaker//funky shirt enthusiast//hot and he knows it
Caitlin Valentiniā18, Virgo, ISFJ, Water
sword wielder//glorified hall monitor//strategist//natural leader//misunderstood queen//loner//desperate for purpose//hot and she knows it (but doesnāt care)
Clark Destellaā19, Aquarius, INTP, Base
dark and brooding//orphan//the saddest boi youāll ever meet//catches feelings too quickly//a ghost of his own past//controversial af//anxious puppy
Jayce Malveauxā28, Gemini, ENTJ, Light
newly-appointed headmaster//well-meaning but sort of bumbling//definitely hiding something//obsessed with coffee//fun bc French accent
His final shreds of memory are already curling, charred at the edges, drifting between his fingers in gray wispsāblurry polaroids, set ablaze and tossed to the side.
He knows his name. He is Neil Adrian Grant; he has been for eighteen years. Somehow, he has at least this.
Those eighteen years contain every moment heās lived, but someone has shaken up his existence and dumped those moments into an incinerator, leaving behind a hazy residue that only hints at memories. His heart is a generator behind ribs, working doubly hard because his lungs are only doing half their job, each breath a short, frantic gasp for air.
He doesnāt know where he is.
A sense of stubborn pride germinates in him. Sure, staying at Harmonium will help him hone his abilities, prevent him from inciting accidental arson whenever heās feeling moody. But mostly, it feels like the truth has frozen over and it will take a pair of hot hands to melt it back down.
Bushes that sprout waxy white gardenias line an overgrown walkway through the garden, giant banana leaves hanging in their path. As Neil follows Alex through the flora, names of flowers jump to the front of his mind: calatheas, ghost orchids, fire lilies, even a few cacti stand tall, pink and yellow flowers nestled among their spines. Neil is overcome with the feeling that he needs to capture, to preserve. He sees himself crouching down in the vegetation and lining up a shot; the phantom of a camera is heavy in his hands.
Thereās a clearing to their right with a pond; lotuses drift across the waterās surface, dragonflies dart flower to flower. A baby palm tree sprouts at the pondās edge.
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