The Aldean Chronicles: Hidden

It's the first day of school. I say goodbye to my parents and enter the chauffeured car Sebastian sent.

Thirty minutes later, we pull into an old parking garage in the middle of nowhere. At the front gate is an old, metal, makeshift ticket booth. Manning it is a middle-aged man in an ill-fitting, black uniform.

"Good day, sir. Can I see your authorization, identification and statement for your journey please?" He demands in one breath.

The driver brings out a thick black card with what I recognize to be the Harington family logo in the middle. It's a shield with a red dragon breathing out fire in the middle. Placed on top of the shield is a single gold crown. The man clears his throat and beckons us on. He hands the driver a blue card and keeps peering his neck to see who is in the backseat. The tinted partition blocks his view of my face.

We enter the giant, abandoned warehouse and drive to the front of a big brown gate. He swipes the blue card on a little machine and the gate opens up to another warehouse. This one has a much nicer decor, we drive out and are greeted with a bright, beautiful day.

The driver gives the blue card to the person at this gate and drives off. I let my window down and take a deep breath. The atmosphere here feels charged, it causes goosebumps to rise all over my arms.

"It's still a good hour to your school." The driver, David tells me.

"It's alright," I reply and wind the window back up. I stare out with a queasy feeling in my stomach, I've never been this tense before. The hour's drive to the school passes by quickly. We go through a busy city complete with traffic, skyscrapers and crowded sidewalks. The cars look sleek and expensive, and the people walking around are clad in business suits.

We drive off the highway and towards a less busy district. The buildings here are smaller and the roads less crowded.

We eventually pull up to the school. It has a big, silver iron gate with the school insignia engraved in the middle. The first building we see is a two-story stone structure with a brown roof, the next is the main school building, where classes are held. That building is three stories high, has a red roof and a wide, grassy field in its front. After this is an arena large enough to host two thousand spectators. Then there are the hostels.

David drives in and finds a parking spot close to my building. I decline his offer for help with my luggage even though I need it. Most of the other students have their parents dropping them off. I think of mine and feel so sad, I've only been gone two hours and I already miss them. The hostels each have three floors and are made of red brick. Decorating the front is a carefully manicured lawn and flower hedges. I struggle to roll my bags to the Rose building, that's where I will be staying.

The school has 1,500 students, 300 per class. The girls and boys each have three buildings. Each one has 130 rooms, two students to each. Upperclassmen get slightly bigger rooms and dont have to share.

I reach the front of my building and am greeted by a chirpy blonde with hazel eyes.

"Hello, I'm Cassandra Flores, you must be Iris," I say to her.

She beams and checks her clipboard. "Cassandra Flores. I have you in room 45, it's on the first floor." She hands me a key card to my room and a brown file. "Your class schedules, map of the school. Clubs to join, school brochure".

"Thank you so much, Iris. I will get out of your hair now."

"Don't forget first years have a party thrown in their honor tonight at 8 pm. Try to be there." Her smile is so wide.

"I will." Try. I take all the stuff she gave me, add it to my already stressful luggage and go past the wooden, blue door of the building. I discover from a student that 'first floor' actually means second floor (stupid britsh english) and begin my energy draining journey up the stairs.

I open my room door, I'm surprised it doesn't match the traditional aesthetic of the building. The walls are white and a tiny cylindrical chandelier is hanging in the middle of the blank ceiling. A big white cupboard with two main parts is on the left side of the room. A big window takes up the opposite wall of the door. In front of it is two beds separated by a single desk and chair. The desk has a brown top, brown drawers and the chair is wooden with a dark blue cushion, a single white lamp sits on the table. The other desk and chair are in front of the bed on the right. Beside the cupboard is a door that leads to a bathroom complete with a white ceramic sink, a toilet and a glass shower.

I see someone walking around the room, her side is almost made up. Her brown hair is up in a high ponytail and her skin is a shade darker than mine. She has an oval face, elevated eyebrows and large almond-shaped brown eyes. Her cheeks are full, her nose is straight and she has a well-defined jawline.

"Hi, you must be my roommate. I'm Cassandra or Cassie." I introduce myself.

She sees me and stretches out an olive hand for me to shake. She then eyes me up and down. "Hi, I'm Saraline. Sorry for staring, just trying to figure out what you are."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm trying to figure out if you're good or a legacy."

I laugh to cover my fear. "I'm sorry. I still don't know what that means."

"To get into this school, you have to be really strong or really connected. Just hoping I'm not trapped with someone who's entitled."

"I'm guessing you're what is considered good," I say slowly.

"I am. And please ignore my earlier behavior." She sighs. "It just sickens me that these brats get spaces that could go to people who deserve it but can't come because of financial conditions."

"I completely agree." I nod and say even though I'm exactly what she hates. "So how did you get in?"

Her eyes light up. "It's been my dream to get in since I was six. This school is the best in Illyria. I spent years training and taking all their practice tests. It was stressful but worth it. What about you?"

My dad got me in. "Same, the tests, practice. Dream come true."

She smiles. "Do you need help with your stuff? I can help you unpack, I'm almost done with my side."

"It's alright, I shouldn't trouble you." I go back out to drag the rest of my luggage in. I begin to unpack and we continue to talk about our lives.

"You grew up in the other dimension." She sounds fascinated. "I've never been."

"There it's just called Earth." I joke. "But yes, I did grow up here. This is my first time in the magic dimension."

"Here it's called Illyria. And you should get used to calling here the normal dimension. Others might not be so welcoming to outsiders." She warns.

"I'll consider that," I say. "Will you be going to the first-year party tonight?"

"As much as I hate social events, I will be attending. I'm trying this new 'be more social' thing."

"Me too. Who knows maybe this will be the school where I'm finally popular." I think about my words. "Okay, it probably won't." We laugh.

"I wish I was popular. Some people are just famous everywhere they go." She sighs. "Like Princess Katya or Prince Greyson."

My heart beats faster. "Who?" I feign ignorance.

"Okay, I know you're not from here and all, but you can't tell me you don't know the Aldean royal family." She raises her eyebrow. "You know, the family who run the country our school is located in."

"I've heard of them," I say. "Queen Freya, Infant Sebastian?"

"Infante Matteo, only his close friends and family call him Sebastian. At least that's what the articles say."

"Can you explain that Infante thing? It's all just so confusing."

"It's from Earth actually. An Infanta and Infante are children of the King who isn't the heir. Here, it's the title given to the royal who loses the election. In this case, Infante Matteo."

I nod. "Okay, I'm getting it now. What about the grandchildren of the former King?"

"The direct descendants with the fryma e dragoit are born with the prince or princess title. When they pledge their alliance for the first time, they become crown prince or princess. Which means they're eligible for the election. The current title holders are crown Princess Katya, the Queen's daughter. She's a third year. And Infante Matteo's son, Crown Prince Greyson, he's a second year."

I pick up a neatly folded pile of shirts and put it in my closet. "And how would you describe them? Like, how are their personalities?"

She laughs. "You really have not been following the news." She moves over to help me with my clothes. "The royal family has been losing their touch since the last election. What's keeping them in power is the conservative majority group." She examines one of my dresses, it's a blue, floral print maxi dress. "Also, their powers. We're scared they'll torch us if we complain too much." She pauses. "You're not like a crazy supporter of them, or something?"

I shake my head. "Of course not. I don't even know them. Strictly confidential. So, you were saying about their personalities."

"Right, so the last generation was Queen Freya, Infante Matteo, they're twins, and their cousin, Princess Marie. A few years to the election she died in an attack. Nobody can prove it, but they definitely had something to do with it." I nod, I can see Aunt Freya as a murderer. "As for the current generation. Prince Greyson has always been...freer than his family members. He has a bit of a bad boy reputation. It was pretty clear to everyone that his cousin was going to win till last semester."

"What happened? What did she do?" I press.

"Right before summer, she lost control of her powers and destroyed the art room. People don't feel safe putting their country in the hands of an erratic fire queen. Her mother released a statement, tried to clear it up but the damage had already been done. A lot of people still love her though. She still has a pretty good following, so does Prince Greyson." She retrieves her phone from her bed and pulls up a social page.

"This is Princess Katya's." She shows me her phone screen. The handle is Katya Harrington-Becker, her page seems nice. There are pics from this summer, of events with her mum and meeting what I assume are diplomats. Her profile picture is her, standing in a heavily decorated room, complete with shiny wooden floors, thick purple curtains and expensive paintings. She's posing in the middle wearing a pink dress and glittering jade jewels. Her blonde hair is let down and her brown eyes have a certain sparkle.

There's a recent picture of her and another girl posted just an hour ago. "Okay, we'll just ignore the fact that there's no 'back to school picture with Jamie," Sara says under her breath.

"Jamie?" I question.

She sighs. "You really don't know anything about this world. Luckily, I love talking about this kind of stuff. Just because I don't like going out doesn't mean I don't like gossip." She gets comfortable on my bed. "So, she's dating Jamison Mctavish, he's a fifth-generation combatant. He and princess Katya have been together since their first year. They always post these cute back-to-school pics. Let me pull up his page."

"Woah," I'm taken back when I see it. "That is beautiful." He has dark, silky brown hair and startling grey eyes.

"I know, he looks so good, doesn't he?" She agrees. "Although it's good they broke up, the rumors were brutal." She rocks her head from side to side. "I should stop assuming you know all of this. Some of her skeptics said she's just dating the exact replica of her father. Consort Maxon is the head of the military in Aldean and also a combatant." I remember Sebastain mentioned that.

"Can we see Prince Greyson's page next?" I ask.

She switches to his account. "What? What the... He deleted all his former pictures." She looks so sad. "No fancy cars, or cool trips. Now it's like the male version of Princess Katya's. That's boring, it looks like his mother finally took control of it." His profile picture is him in the same room as his cousin, he's wearing a dark blue suit decorated with medals. His dark brown hair is cut short and he has the same light brown eyes as everyone else in his family.

"Lillian," I mutter. "I do not like that woman."

"She was the absolute worst during the interviews. I respect her but she should calm down sometimes."

"Yeah, the interviews," I say. "That's where we both know her from." I open my bottom drawer to find some objects arranged neatly. "What's this? Did you get it?" She shakes her head.

I sit on my bed and go through the things. There are two boxes, one with a new phone and the other is a smaller velvet box. There's an envelope with a letter inside placed under them. It's from Sebastian. The note reads:

'Just wishing you luck on your first day of school. I got you a new phone that works better in Illyria. Don't worry, it's all set up. I added Katya, Grey, Lillian, Frey and I's numbers on it. I also have a present for you, it's in the other box. You'll find a debit card in the envelope, you can use it for emergencies. Be sure to call me if you need anything.'

I open the second box and find a pretty necklace with a gold chain and a tiny diamond pendant. I stare at the necklace for a long time, it is the nicest thing I've ever been given.

"Who's it from?" Saraline asks. How do I answer that? Because, it's actually from the Queen's brother who is my biological father will not fly.

"A friend. Nothing important."

"Hence the diamonds." She questions further.

"A rich friend." I shrug. "Doesn't matter. Now, what are we wearing tonight?"

She glances down at her blue jeans and black top and says. "I'm not changing."

I'm also wearing blue jeans, mine are a lighter shade than hers. I straighten my purple and pink t-shirt before hopping off my bed. "I can't wait for our first party here. This better be fun."