Down End Road

I had instantly began packing for the society’s ‘summer school’ the moment I had gotten home. Our housekeeper had been astonished by my cleared-out closet and after telling her a very long lie, she had left lacing a plate of cinnamon cookies on the desk by my door.

I thought about the society, my mind racing over every detail about the strange organisation. I stuffed two suitcases with as many shorts, blouses, t-shirts, baby-tees, strappy vests, jeans, dungarees, toiletries, shoes, underwear and socks as possible. My louis-vuiton suitcases were packed and ready to-go by Saturday morning and all I had to do was pack a few little handhold bags and say my goodbyes and I was off.

By Sunday morning, the weekend seemed to have come to a close too soon and it took every ounce of my willpower no to cry and tell my parents I wasn’t going to the school. “My baby girl studying to become a fully-fledged member of the society of the civil.” My father said, his pride in me shown plainly on his face. I felt unshed tears begin to water my eyes but quickly breathed them away.

The tug I felt in my chest becoming more and more prominent. My mother’s Tiel suede shoes clicked on the floor as she ushered us into the dining room for one last family breakfast for three months. She elegantly folded herself into her chair straightening out her velvet turquoise blazer and white chiffon blouse. My father followed shortly after her, holding an old dark brown, wooden box. He was wearing a white shirt with a pleated straight-leg trouser and a brown blazer.

I cocked my head to the side and stared at the box questioningly. My father gave me a kind smile collapsed into his chair at the dining table, right across from me.

My parents sat together their hands intwined together on the table. My father stared at me his eyes brimming with tears but he quickly coughed with as much macho as soon as he could, swallowing his tears.

My mother however, just smiled and pushed the box in front of me. “This dear happens to be another family heirloom, call it a going away present,” she said tapping the side of her nose with her free finger. I delicately took the box in my hand and stared at it for a long while, studying the ornate carvings.

There were two dragons etched into the sides with a black powdery-paint colouring the carved lines. I glanced over to my parents then gently unclasped the box.

The hinges were stiff and creaked, when I lifted the lid to reveal a gold ring filled with a black stone in the middle. The pitch black stone was uncut and rough but interesting and beautiful none-the-less.

I looked at my parents who nodded for me to put the ring on. I slipped it on to my index finger, it fit perfectly and felt light even though it was a very big ring.

I turned the ring this way and that only to find a small pair of wings engraved into the bottom of the band. “That was you great-grandmother’s ring it was handed down through the generations and now its yours.” My mother explained her voicing thickening towards the end. I gaped at her in shock. It was a gorgeous ring and did not look cheap.

“Wow... I don’t know what to say... this is... thank you guys.” I reached across the table and gave their intertwined hands a gentle squeeze. My father coughed gruffly again and for the first time spoke. “The jewel is obsidian. It is said to have been forged from the breath of a dragon. Although I don’t know how true that is but it’s a cool backstory all the same.” He said, his words reminiscent of the past. I had heard stories about dragons from an early age but as I had gotten older those stories faded into memories.

“Thank you so much guys... for everything, the school, the necklace, the ring everything I don’t know what I would have done without you.” I exclaimed, tears were stinging my eyes again, so I distracted myself and hugged my parents.

It was Monday morning, I had packed my bags into my jeep and was in the drivers seat taking a minute to breath and think. Alone. Should I do this? Should I go back inside?

The tugging in my chest told me no to and that I should get to that school-camp-thing, now. I put my key in the ignition and started the car. A loud rumble came from the engine and I was off.

Even though End road was only a couple blocks from here, I still needed to move my bags there and since my parents weren’t allowed on order grounds, I decided to take my car.

I took several sharp turns and five minutes later arrived at a very busy-looking intersection. Furthermore, it was people I didn’t even recognise. A flurry of cars filled with yelling teens and suitcases filled to the brim with clothes, told me that they were all here for the same reason. The order of Hamilton.

I had never imagined there would be this many people coming here. I suddenly turned my head at the low growl coming from a motorbike right next to me.

I stared intently at the black triumph Bonneville. The rider of the gorgeous motorcycle turned his head to me. His chunky black helmet hiding his features.

I could almost feel the glare he was giving me so quickly snapped my head back to the road again. I fiddled with the obsidian ring my family had given me. Sliding the band side to side with my thumb.

My necklace was hanging around my neck on top of the I had on. I had decided to wear a blue blouse on top of the vest and paper bag jean shorts. Overall, I had initially like the outfit, but now it seemed to casual and too proper all at once.

I was suddenly jolted out of my thoughts by the sound of a loud honk and screaming. I looked to the road again, only to see a girl yelling from the back seat of a Mercedes s-class and holding up the road. The father was in the passenger seat, his face dismal and weary.

However, her mother looked worried and agitated. She waved an apology to the rest of the cars and then turned in her seat so she was facing the very... pink girl in the back. A few short words were exchanged and then the car started moving again.

I instinctually looked to both sides of me. Looking for peoples expressions, only to find the motorcyclist shaking his helmeted head. I smiled at the scene. Then after a few breaths calmed down.

The long line of traffic lightened up on Downey avenue and a couple turns later I was driving through the ginormous black wrought iron gates.

The melodic crunch of gravel against tires filled me with a sense of familiarity and calm. My hands moved to ten and two on the steering wheel as I parked in the large gravel drive.

Clusters of teenagers stood spread out in the drive. The steps of the manner were cluttered with teens, yelling, talking, greeting. It was such a vibrant contrast to what I was used to seeing. The once pristine white brick was now dirtied with boot prints. Sure enough, Maverick was in the middle of it all.

His bright platinum blond head a beacon through the mess of students. He was wearing ripped jeans and a black t-shirt with a pocket. I saw a boy in a black helmet walk towards Maverick give him a big brotherly hug.

I took that as my cue to stop staring at them and get out of my car. I walked round the chunky car and opened the boot and started unloading my bags.

Crash. A girl with brunet hair and tanned skin dropped her fifth bag on the ground and attempted picking it up with her pinkie finger. I jogged over and picked the bag up. “Hey, you need a hand there,” I asked timidly.

She moved her other bags away from her wrist and looked at me and then back down at her bag. “Oh thanks, packing can be such a pain, especially when you run out of suitcases to put your handbags in.” She said in a thick Texan drawl.

I laughed at her explanation, then she stuck out her hand. Her bags awkwardly falling along her arm. “Hi I’m Ally Anderson. Maddison, fifth year here.” She introduced. I nodded and gave her hand a slight shake. I nodded my head again in hopes of stalling my answer.

Why had she said Maddison? What was going on? That’s when I remembered the different orders. My mother had given me a book to read up on the orders and I faintly recalled the order of Maddison dealing with the laws of the society.

Their portal was the moth portal. A portal filled with different types of winged insects who happened to record everything with a mind link to some sort of weird paper. “Hi, I’m Myra Remington, Hamilton... actually it’s my first year here so...” I trailed off, her shocked expression causing me to raise an eyebrow.

“What?” I asked. My curiosity was peaked when her brows furrowed and her eyes drifted to my necklace. “Wow its just... the Remingtons are kind of notorious for their gifts and betrayal, although I doubt anyone even remembers it was so long ago... Like the only reason I even remember the story is because I spend a lot of time reading the moth scrolls and stuff... Wow I can’t believe they let you come here.” She said her sudden change in expression, of one of confusion to sudden remembrance.

Her eyes widened and I shifted in my place. Her mouth formed an oh shape and I cut her off after her first apology could turn into her fifth. “Look it’s fine its actually kind of good that you told me, I’m not too familiar with this place and its... traditions.” I said struggling to find the appropriate word. I walked away from Ally and came back with my two suitcases in hand.

“Yeah, you must be freaking out right now, I mean coming here for your first time can be pretty scary, even with all the preparations they give you.” She explained. I shook my head and laughed, “I only found out about the whole society thing like five days ago.” I said my smile thinning out.

Her face flushed and she mouthed the word wow. Too stunned for words, apparently. “Wow well, I guess we gotta’ get you updated on the happenings of everything. Or at least all the drama.” She said elated at the thought of gossip. I lifted my eyebrows playfully, before she actually started gossiping, much to my surprise.

“Right, so those girls over there are Genevieve and Heidi Leviticus, there non-identical twins who totally fall over themselves just to get noticed by Maverick Landon and Alexander Griffin but we’ll get to those two later, anyways, they’re Jefferson, you know the green thumbs, when they stepped through and came out with their full on gifts they basically only came out super fast which is why they are totally gonna’ transfer I just know it.” She exclaimed.

“Wait what do you mean by stepped through and came out with gifts. You mean when they went through the portal thing.” I asked, she nodded her head, humming an ‘hm’.

“Yeah, so basically we are born with extra gifts in our bloodstream but they don’t fully come out until, you know we step through, its really cool.” She said I nodded in understanding before she continued on with her ‘update’.

“Right, so next is Henry Dale, he’s apart of Jay, he practically runs the circle of meat-heads over there. He has excelled strength and a little bit of extra speed.” She said pointing to an intimidating circle of boys and a few girls.

He had curly brown hair with honey eyes. I remembered reading up on how the order of Jay were like the police of the society. They commanded a portal that was more desolate than anything else but was perfect for imprisoning criminals.

Their portal was like a dessert that moved in slow motion. The time there went slowly. You could be left there for eighteen years and come out looking only two years older. I nodded my head in understanding. She rambled on and ticked off names one by one on her fingers.

We stopped at a small table set up in the salmon foyer. She picked up a piece of a paper, read it over then started walking over to the stairs. Her bags dangled freely from her wrists and moved side to side every time she lugged her suitcase up another step. I copied what she did and looked down at the table.

I found a sheet of paper that had my name written at the top. Unlike Ally’s mine had a second sheet of paper attached to it. On the second sheet was a separate schedule. The first block read that I was supposed to go to the study as soon as I arrived. “Hey Ally um... I gotta go where do you want your bag?” I asked. She dismissed me with a shake of her head.

“Nah girl just drop it at dinner.” She said her accent drawing out the ’ur’ in girl, I nodded in agreement. Then with one last jut of my head went up the marble staircase turning corners here and there.

The map on the back of my first sheet of paper turning out to be incredibly useful. Three sharp turns later and I was at the study. I knocked meekly on the tall dark oak doors.

A muffled ‘come in’ sounded from the other side of the door and I slowly turned the brass knob. The key that I had seen in the key hole, with the colourful tassel, when I had first come here was no longer there.

I opened the door and was greeted by a smiling Cassandra and Ben. Although Cassandra looked much happier than Ben did. However, I couldn’t blame him, even though the manner was enormous the idea of living with a hundred other teenagers sounded awful. I plastered a small smile on my face. “Hey you wanted to talk to me...” I trailed off. Cassandra nodded and Ben's smile tightened.

“We just wanted to make sure you had everything you needed or if you had any questions,” she said her dazzling smile lighting up the room.

“Um no not really. The sheet here has everything I really need. Um, I guess the only question I have is when do I get my room key?” I asked.

“Oh, here you go sorry we’ve had a problem in the past with the keys and seeing as your family isn’t the most liked we figured it would just be an extra safety precaution.” She said, her smile turning into one of sympathy. I warily took the heavy metal key and placed it in the pocket of my shorts.

“Oh thanks, umm... one more question?” I asked. “When will I see you guys again?” I asked an undertone of worry betraying my voice.

“Oh you’ll see us frequently, we teach a lot of the classes here, we have instructors come from all over, but we teach your collective grade, it doesn’t work like normal schools, we teach two sets of year groups at a time. For example, yours is 18-20 year Olds, just because we are a smaller institution.” Ben said, a look of ‘don’t mess with me kid’ plastered on his face. I nodded in understanding.

“Great well, I’m going to go get set up in my room and I guess I’ll see you at dinner?” I said a question in my voice. Cassandra nodded then ushered me out with one final goodbye.

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so since Chapter 7 kind of didn't work out i am posting two updates in one day as an apology, again so sorry readers. Anyway comment on who your favourite character is and what you think about Genevieve and Heidi.