Black Magic 6 pt. 1

Greenedale Mansion
Ix woke but refused to open her eyes. They burned with tiredness from the day before. Her muscles ached and she felt a dull pain run through her bones. For five more minutes she tossed and turned in the king sized bed trying to get back to sleep.

     Suddenly somewhere nearby an alarm went off. Ix sat up straight in bed holding her still sensitive ears. She looked around frantically for the source of the noise. There! It seemed to be a bomb of some kind on the table beside the bed. She scrambled out from under the covers and stood up shakily beside the bed. Her legs shook and she sat/fell back onto the bed. Groping for the bomb she managed to fall onto the soft, carpeted floor with a hollow sounding thud. Finally! She felt it! Extending dangerous claws she slammed her hand onto it with all her might.

     A sigh of relief escaped her as the unbearable noise stopped. Falling back onto the floor from her position halfway off the carpet she closed her eyes and basked in the quiet. The beautiful quiet. The beautiful quiet was soon interrupted by a booming voice in her head.

     Nice! It said sarcastically. You broke the alarm clock! Well get up… NOW! The hoarse male voice seemed to echo around in her head. Now come down the stairs for breakfast, the voice said more quietly. Ix held her ears in attempt to rid herself of the voice. It was relentless, until she finally shouted, "Fine!"

     As Ix collected herself and got dressed her protruding black cat-like ear twitched. Footsteps came up what she figured was the stairs. They were light, as if they weighed as much as a bird. Ix quickly pulled on a fairly wrinkled purple and grey striped tank top just as the door opened with a soft click. Her ears and tail shrank slowly back into her body as she pulled on her red and black hat.

      "Oh! I'm sorry, Tom just said that you would be ready and…" a voice sounded from behind her. It was a male by the tone of the voice. He spoke softly but with confidence, a voice that was pleasing to the ear.

     "No, I just got dressed," Ix said turning around. As she stopped and brushed her hair out of her eyes she was able to fully take in the look of the stranger. He had a light tan as if suggesting that he spent time outside but not much time, and he was about her height. He wore a black and yellow checkered button shirt with a collar that went halfway up his neck. Denim jeans hung down to his ankles. He wore plain white tennis shoes with neon green laces. But the most interesting feature was his hair. It was black and it stuck out at different angles as if ruffled feathers.

     As Ix's eyes met his she gasped. They were pure black where the colored part was supposed to be and a pale blue color was where the black pupils were to be. "What? What is it?" he asked obviously concerned for his appearance.

     Ix shook her head, "It's just… your eyes," she said while distracting herself with looking around the room to avoid making eye contact with him again. She shuffled her feet nervously. It was a large, old looking room with decorations covering the walls. But a stuffed wolf that sat in the corner looking at her as if it was alive.

     "Oh," he rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Yeah, I haven't put on my contacts yet. Well I haven't told you my name yet have I? I'm Avis. That means Bird in the old language." Avis smiled.

     "Oh cool," Ix said absently. She kept her eyes glued to the wolf in the corner. "Um Avis, can we move that stuffed wolf? I'm not really comfortable around dead animals."

     "What stuffed wolf?" Avis said glancing over to the corner. "We don't like animals that are stuffed either."

     Ix glanced towards Avis. "It's right the-"she stopped when she glanced back. It was gone. "Nevermind."

     "Okay…" there was a long pause of silence. "Well we need to get down to breakfast or else we'll be late.

     "For what?" Ix looked back at Avis.

     "For school of course! We'd be dead if Mr. Grumpy Face found out that we'd been skipping classes!" Avis said seriously. "Now come on sleepy head! I'm starving!" he said skipping out of the room like a girl.

     Ix chuckled at the sight. She walked out of the door and looked around. Following the sounds of Avis skipping she walked down a hallway and came to a flight of spiral stairs. Stepping slowly down the stairs she found hunger pangs beginning to bombard her as well. Once again following Avis's steps, she came to a large hall with doors that had colorful stickers and signs on them. She turned her head from door to door looking at each sign with curiosity as she walked. Finally she arrived at the Dining Hall where many others where gathering. Searching the busying room for Avis, she found him at the far side of the room with a group of boys and girl so she began weaving through the crowd in his direction.

     Something weighed her foot down suddenly so she couldn't lift it. She realized this too late and fell onto the soft carpeted floor. Rolling onto her side Ix found a hand stuck inches before her nose. Following the limb she found the rest of the person. It was a girl with hair so orange that it looked like it had been dyed. Sparkling eyes glowed a bright green color and freckles dotted her light colored cheeks. A gold colored chain with a heart shaped locket at the end dangled from her neck. She wore an unbuttoned jean jacket that went halfway down her torso. It gave way to a hot pink cami beneath and blue denim jeans that hung down to her bare ankles. She didn't have any shoes on that Ix could see.

     Grabbing the hand Ix smiled. "Thanks," she said as the girl helped her up.

     The girl returned the smile, "No problem, you're new aren't you? I'm Vulpes."

     "Ix," looking around she found she had lost Avis. A sigh escaped her mouth.

     Vulpes looked around, "Well we better wait for everyone to get here for breakfast. You know there are almost twenty kids here?"

     "Wow, it must take forever for everyone to get to breakfast." Ix said glancing around. Suddenly she realized something. "Is everyone here a hybrid?"

     "Yep, every hybrid below the age of eighteen in Greenedale City lives in this mansion. Including me, I change into a fox, that's what Vulpes means in the old language." Vulpes smiled. "What about you?"

     "Um, I don't know… some kind of big cat I guess."

     "Cool! Show me!" Vulpes said eyes alight.

     "Maybe another time…" Ix said looking away from Vulpes's curious gaze. The day before was still burned into her mind.

     "Oh," was Vulpes's response. The sparkle in her eyes faded a little. "Oh I think it's time for breakfast!" she said just as a bell chimed loudly and the chatter faded away.

     "Friends, family, juvenile delinquents! It's time for breakfast!" a man's voice rang out in the silence. Looking over towards the source of the voice she found a large man that looked like he was in his seventies.

     "That's Tom, the guy who runs this house," Vulpes motioned towards the standing figure. That must be the guy who woke me up this morning, Ix thought. The man was wearing suspenders with a gray coat that had many colorful buttons on it. His gray hair was neatly combed back to reveal a face wrinkled with age. The only thing that seemed alive was his eyes. They burned with a silent greyish blue fire. His hoarse voice sounded confident and it reached in every corner of the room.

     "But first, I'd like to introduce a newcomer, Ix please step up here," Tom voiced and Ix started making her way through the small crowd. As she came up to Tom she felt eyes stare at her, some with curiosity, others with approval, a small amount with contempt.

     I'm not going to show my weakness! Ix thought silently growling at herself. She found the courage to lift up her head and stare back at every pair of eyes. She found Avis and Vulpes relatively near each other and locked eyes with them. They smiled back, a silent thumbs up.

     Finally Avis broke the daunting silence. "Well can we eat now?"

     Tom clasped his hands together, "Yes! Let's eat."

     As some began to sit down others went into another room which Ix assumed was the kitchen. She found Vulpes and sat beside her. When the servers came up they started small talk over the other hybrids and Vulpes introduced them. Ix couldn't remember so many names, but she tried her best.

     "Alright now what's your Greenedale name going to be?" Vulpes said once their conversation reached an awkward silence.

     "My what?"

     "Your Greenedale name is something in English instead of the old language. If other students or teachers find out that you're a hybrid they aren't fair with you anymore. In school and other stuff I'm Bridgette."

     "Um I don't know," Ix sighed. More names to remember?

     "Well…" Vulpes glanced around, "Uh Alice! Like that book Alice in Wonderland!"

     Ix thought it over for a minute. Finally she smiled, "Okay, Alice."