To Their Own Devices

[Headmistress Briarthorn]

In another flash, the group was in the Cloak Room, the room of strange mirrors and coat racks.

"Alright. I have dragged you kids around the world long enough." Briarthorn said to them as they oriented themselves and boggled at their surroundings. "We are now at the Academy. Talon and I are going to fetch more students. You all are allowed free run as long as you obey a few rules. One, do not mess around in here. These portals can lead to dangerous places. Two, do not leave the gates of the Academy. The doors should not open for you, so that should not be an issue. And three, do not enter the clocktower above my office."

Briar then said a quick chant, and a stack of books, one for each student, appeared. "These are the rulebooks. Familiarize yourselves with them. Also, your rooms should all have your names on them, so feel free to acquaint yourselves with both them and your roommates if they have arrived already."

The woman then looked to Talon, who nodded, and the pair went deeper into the Cloak Room and eventually disappeared from sight, leaving the teens to their own devices in the massive Academy.

[Ethan McCordy]

Ethan hesitated for a brief moment in the silence that ensued. And then, before the almost annoyingly cheerful girl had a chance to try and talk to him, he bent and scooped up his pile of books before turning and exiting the 'Cloak Room.'

It took him a moment--and a helpful point from a passing student dressed in green and red--for Ethan to find his assigned room. Once there he ducked inside and then sat down on one of the freshly made beds. The young werewolf sat there for several long moments, trying to decompress from everything he had seen and done in the past two days.

Then he pushed his glasses higher up on his nose and reached for one of the rulebooks he'd been given, fully prepared to read them cover to cover before his first official day of school began.

[Prince Adashan]

Prince was doing his very best to maintain control at this point. It very nearly took every fiber of his immaculate being, to keep himself from screaming out in horror. The fact that his Father was chuckling about the entire situation was not helping matters either.

Prince pouted at his reflection in the mirror, while his Father finished packing his suitcases for him. Oh sure, he'd already picked out, and arranged everything, but only his Father had the magical knowhow to fit it all inside a single suitcase.

“OK, Princess, time to go.”

If looks could kill, Prince was fairly certain he would have commited patricide by now. Several times.

His Father took hold of his left arm, and picked up the suitcase with the other. The next moment, they were standing in what he assumed to be the infamous 'Cloak Room' at the Academy.

“OK, Princess, we're here. And look at that, you already get to meet some of your classmates. Play nice.”

Prince stared in horror, as his father simply left him standing in a room full of strangers. Strangers, who were all staring at his brilliant, pastel pink hair and eyes.

“It's not fair!”

[Mattie Sykes]

"This place is so neat!" Mattie exclaimed cheerily to her companion, the blue-haired beach-bum elf boy they had picked up last on their teleporting journey. Valandil just smiled slightly, nodding. Whether he was smiling in agreement or smiling in humor at her excitement was difficult to tell, but Mattie didn't mind either way.

He was the only one of the other kids who had taken her up on her offer to go exploring and sight-seeing. The others had all left to go find their rooms right away in order to get settled in first. Mattie sighed slightly, her wide eyes shifting back and forth and trying to take in everything all at once.

They passed by a large fountain in the center of the courtyard, and Mattie hesitated for a moment, expression becoming somewhat quizzical. "Wow. That's really . . . life-like, huh Val?" she wondered aloud. On top of the grand structure stood what looked like a male student of the Academy, dressed in a somewhat messily put-together version of the uniform. His face was fixed into a petulant scowl. She made a face to match it, then laughed. "The artist really went for realism on that one, huh? Looks like he's got gas."

"That's not a statue," a helpful passer-by suddenly chuckled. Mattie and Valandil turned to the person and the older girl smiled. "That's your punishment if you act up around here. Briarthorn'll turn you into a statue on top of the fountain for a day."

Mattie's eyes went wide, though not from fear or shock, but rather excited awe. "Whoa, really?!"

"What did he do?" Val questioned softly, and the older girl snorted.

"A more apt question would be what doesn't he do. That's Rocky Jones. A regular trouble-maker around here. I'd stear clear of him if I were you."

"Thanks for the heads' up," Mattie called as the girl turned to hurry off on her original purpose. The two fifteen year olds cast one more curious stare in 'Rocky's' direction before shrugging and heading off again themselves. "So lets' check out the dorms next," she said cheerily. "I still say we need to have House names or something. Maybe I can petition for it while I'm here. That'd be neat, wouldn't it?"

The mixed girl continued on her cheerful stream of chatter as they walked and Valandil listened to it with a smile and a few nods, his arms crossed lazily behind his blue-haired head.

[Headmistress Briarthorn]

"House names? Girl, what're you talking about? This ain't Hogwarts." A voice said behind them. They turned and saw a tall, sleek, gorgeous black girl with long dreadlocks. She moved like some sort of predatory animal, and from her haughty gaze and casually superior demeanor, she obviously considered herself high on the food chain to boot. She was dressed in, like everyone else they had seen, the uniform. "Plus, how'd you even seperate the classes? Because it doesn't matter what anyone says, in the books, it's split two ways--Gryffindor and the scrubs. And I ain't in the scrubs."

Mattie was not entirely phased. "Well, I dunno, I guess it would depend on different things. Like how Slytherin was all people who wanted power, and how Gryffindor was the brave people."

"I can already tell you you ain't the first person to bring this up. Briar ain't got a sorting hat and she ain't gonna get one anytime soon." The other girl replied with a smirk. "Kate Myers."

"Mattie Sykes, and this is Val Jones." She responded.

"So, he's an elf, what're you?" Kate asked, a calculating but friendly look on her face.

"Oh, I just ran into a pixie and starting seeing stuff so he called Briar and said I should come to school. What're you?"

"Werecougar. And no, that doesn't mean I turn into a MILF under a full moon. I've heard that more than once." Kate said, her voice easy, almost a purr. "Nice to meet you. Oh, and you might wanna go get into your uniforms. Hanover and Briar freak if they see people out of their uniforms."

"Who's Hanover?" The boy, who was for the most part quiet, asked.

"Werewolf, head of security. I try to avoid him. He's stronger than me and that makes the cat a bit edgy." Kate said, stretching a little.

"Why do we need the uniforms on? Does it help magic find us or something in case some dark wizard attacks or something?" Mattie asked, a bit too enthusiastic given the subject matter.

"Ain't no dark wizards here except the ones trained here." Kate replied as she subtly gave Val and Mattie an appraising eye. "If something happens and you get an injury that woulda killed you, the uniform takes it and shreds itself instead, teleporting you to the Nurse's office when the magic breaks."

"That is so cool!" Mattie exclaimed. "What if I..."

"Not allowed to use the uniform's power unless it's an emergency. It's one of the big rules." Kate said as soon as she saw the look on Mattie's face.

"Darn." The girl replied. "Wait, dark wizards got trained here?"

The werecat looked at Mattie and Val's unknowing looks like they were the dumbest people on the planet. "The Shadow War. Wizards trained here on both sides of it."

"The Shadow War?" Val asked.

"Oh no. History teacher's an elf who's older than dirt, not this little honey." Kate answered. "Trust me, you'll learn all about the Shadow War. I plan on sleeping through history. I heard it all already anyway."