1 The Beginning

I had awoken to a rustling sound just beyond my window, as I slowly approached the window, I was surprised to see a long dark figure staring back at me with bright white eyes. I stared for what seemed like hours till the figure disappeared back into the dark. I walked back to my bed, and there I sat for a while before I laid back down, the next thing I knew the sun was up. So, I started to stretch and yawn to hopefully get myself to wake up enough that I could get out of the bed. I had remembered the night prior thinking it only to be a dream, "why was I so worried about a dream," I shrugged it off and chuckled.

As I got ready for school looking at myself in the mirror my dark black hair was a mess and my blue eyes were shining brightly I fixed my hair, my mother yelled up the stairs, " Artemis, are you awake?" I rolled my eyes before shouting downstairs "Yes, mother, I'll be down in a minute." So, I grabbed my bag, opening my door and walking into the long hallway towards the stairs, I suddenly got a shiver that ran down my back as if someone or something was watching me. I started to run down the stairs, not paying attention to where I was going, I ran into something that felt like a brick wall. I looked up only to see my older brother scowling at me, and all he said was, "Watch it squirt." So, I stood up fixing my clothes before going into the kitchen, right before entering the kitchen, there was a pleasant aroma swirling around the kitchen door.

I walked into the kitchen to find my mother at the stove, and a pleasant cinnamon smell was floating in the air. I noticed that my mother had been making me French toast for breakfast, "Artemis, why did you wake up so late this morning?" I hung my head at the sound of that I didn't like disappointing my mother," I am sorry, mom I didn't get much rest last night." She just nodded at me, so I grabbed a couple of slices of French toast. Recalling what I had seen last night as I dismissed it out of my mind reminding myself that it was just a dream.

I got up and thanked my mother before grabbing my things and rushing out the door and down to my bus stop. As I stood in the fresh morning air waiting for the bus, a slight breeze sent shivers up my spine, why was I getting this cold feeling when it is not that cold. As I stood there staring down the road, I couldn't help but wonder where Genius was, and he was slightly late even for him. I shrugged it off; he will be here he never misses the bus, right as I started walking towards the street to see if I could see the bus. I began to hear some rustling from behind me in the bushes, and my heartbeat began to speed up; I was terrified. At first a small bunny came from behind the bushes, I started laughing at myself because I allowed myself to get scared of a small animal. But I have this feeling like someone is watching me. I moved toward the bushes kneeling down to see if there were any more animals in there but I didn't see any, so I turned around focusing on the road once more.

Then suddenly out jumped Genius, I let out this blood-curdling scream that was so loud it could have woken the dead. He just looked at me and proceeded to fall over laughing, and I kicked him" Genius, what are you trying to do give me a heart attack." He stood up, wiped his face, and smiled, "I'm sorry princess, I couldn't help myself." After a moment, I realized that he was joking around with me. I was just on edge from my dream the night before. But Genius had this bad habit of scaring the living crap out of me because he thought it was funny. I told him one of these days he is going to give me a heart attack. So, as we waited there for the bus, Genius just kept looking at me, and I couldn't understand why. "Why are you staring at me?" He just smiled, "I can't believe you screamed that loud; you almost blew my eardrums." I smacked his arm, "sorry, I have just been jumpy today."

I turned back to the road and noticed that the bus was approaching our stop, when the bus arrived, we climbed the steps. We started looking for a place to sit when we noticed that the back two seats were open, we walked to the back of the bus and took our seats. The moment we did, the bus driver closed the door and proceeded on his way to our school. Genius let me get the window seat because he knows I like to look out the window on the drive to school. The scenery is just so beautiful, but I never seem to notice what is going on around me as I admire the scenery.

Suddenly, the bus came to a sudden stop, so I looked up and realized we had already arrived at school. Genius was looking at me, and he had a worried expression on his face "are you ok?" I nodded my head. We got off the bus with the other children, when something caught my attention from the corner of my eye. When I looked over, I noticed the same figure from the night before, the one with the bright white eyes was watching me. Genius noticed I had stopped behind him and approached me to ask if I was ok," Yes, I thought I had seen someone over there by the tree." He grabbed me gently by my shoulder and rushed me along to class the first bell had already rung. Had I been standing there that long that I hadn't noticed the bell.

The first period seemed to last forever; I kept watching the clock, hoping that it would just move faster. Mrs. Phoenix was going on about the history of the phoenix, odd I know she was talking about her last name. I finally was able to focus on the last thing she said about the phoenix being able to bring itself back to life from its ashes. The next thing I know the bell was ringing, so I got up and walked out of class. I was walking towards my locker where Genius was already waiting like he usually is. "Hey princess, what are you doing for your birthday this weekend?" I shrugged my shoulders "I'm not sure why?" "Well don't plan anything I have something I want to show you for your birthday." He kissed my forehead, "Bye, Princess, I'll see you after class." He just disappeared into the crowd of students,

So, I closed my locker and walked to my next class. As soon as I walked into the classroom, I noticed the most popular jock of them all sitting on my desk, and I couldn't help but wonder what he was doing sitting on my desk. Oliver King was sitting on my desk, and I had no clue why. I slowly started making my way to my desk; he looked up at me" Are you, Artemis Cage?" I shook my head yes, I couldn't seem to get my mouth to form the words that I needed it too. "Well, you're my new tutor so that I will see you after school today." Then he just walked away, leaving my mouth wide open, so I took my seat by the window, I was trying to pay attention to what Mr. Dew was saying, but I couldn't focus.

How could he drop in here and tell me that then leaving without letting me respond? I had been talking to myself for so long I hadn't even noticed that the bell had rung. My classmates have already left, and so has Mr. Dew. So, I got up and started to walk towards my locker, once I turned the corner heading towards my locker Genius was already there and waiting. Genius looked so worried; no it wasn't worried that was on his face he looked pissed. "Genius what's wrong with you? He stood straight up and came stood right beside me" I can't believe you agreed to tutor Oliver." Well, Genius, I didn't exactly have a choice; I wasn't aware of it until I walked into class. But I am ok with it, and I don't know why but I have some pull towards him even though I don't think he notices it.

The moment those words left, my mouth Genius eyes went from green to straight black, and he started growling at me like a dog, no not a dog something else. Through his teeth, he growled "YOUR MINE," I slowly started to back away up. "Genius you're scaring me" I wasn't sure what was going on I just kept backing up because he was scaring me, I have never seen Genius like this before. His growling got louder, so I turned around and started running towards the school entrance, not knowing if he was following me. When suddenly I ran into someone and bounced right off. I looked up to see that it was Oliver that I had just run into, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to" He helped me up off the ground when we suddenly heard a loud howling coming from inside the school. Oliver grabbed my hand and started running, and I didn't understand what was going on I just seen the man that I had known basically my whole life slowly turning into something I had never seen before here…