. . .

B u t t e r f l y

. . .

Large boots slowly walked across the stage, every step fearfully ringing in the dead silence. Fluorescent lights were brightened so the figure shrouded in black suddenly lit up. A male dressed in tattered robes and a large purple hat suddenly shrieked in triumphant laughter, pointing a large wand at a helpless maiden, tied up and gagged with rope, sitting on the edge of the platform.

"I have captured the Princess! Now, all I need is a drop of her blood to complete my concoction! Immortality is mine!!,"bellowed the evil wizard, his voice echoing loudly. The Princess tearfully shook her head, a cry of horror resting in her gagged mouth. He raised a pointed dagger, glinting under the brightness. A loud gasp rose from the wizard's surroundings. He suddenly jolted, and tilted his head to the ceiling.

"Are my ears deceiving me? Has someone followed me all this way to my hidden lair?!"

Suddenly, a large shout came from the side. The lights focused on a short youth, drawing a long saber from the side of his waist and large poofy shorts covering the top of his thighs, purple hair--

Wait.

Purple hair?

Young, youthful Athenians don't have purple hai-

"CUT! CUT CUT CUT CUT CUT!!"

Olivia Vertigo guiltily removed her tiny beret from the top of her head as Mrs. Marlowe angrily stormed over from the opposite side of the theater, her fellow actors and actress trying hard to stifle their laughter.

Of all the days when Gabe's gerbils had to attack her twenty gallon cowboy hat, it had to be when he forgot to tell her.

Chapter III

around the table, there be twelve

Gabriel Silk sneezed.

Charlie looked anxiously at his friend as they started down they descended down into the dining hall for dinner. "Caught a cold?,"he asked, hefting his large textbooks onto one hand.

The long faced teen shrugged, but tugged on his new blue cape reassuringly. It had become a habit of his once he learned with delight that all of his clothes would be sent to the Salvation Army (though it wasn't as if he could actually still fit in them) and Gabriel would be bought new ones. Mai, to his complete unconcern, hadn't taken it too well. He and Charlie walked through the long pathway as Gabriel filled his friend in on what Fidelio had told him at lunch break about the new, and apparently endowed, students.

"Self-detonation, huh?,"Charlie said thoughtfully. "Fido also said he has the ability to reform himself?"

"Guess it comes with the package."

To his extreme disappointment, neither Fidelio nor Olivia had the slightest clue on what Josephine Piety's endowment could be. Charlie hopes that the two of them would be on the good side; he didn't like to imagine what a human bomb working for Manfred would be like. Much less a girl with some other, still unknown power. After all these years at Bloor's, Charlie knew that without information on a certain endowed, consequences could be deadly.

"Charlie! Hey, Charlie Bone!"

Said teen turned around and was instantly engulfed in a one arm squeeze by the storm-bringer himself. Lysander was standing right behind Charlie, rolling his eyes but gave him a warm smile. Tancred chuckled and punched Charlie on the shoulder. "Has our little traveling brother finally earned himself a chance to lose his virginity? So whose the babe we're talking about here?,"he asked, a large, wolfish grin making it's way onto his face as he rubbed his hands together, sparking tiny electric bolts. "I could give you some tips on -- Ouch!"

"Shut it Tanc!,"cried Charlie, flushing with anger. After a short glaring contest between the two friends, and his loss, Tancred held his hands up and smiled apologetically.

"Okay, okay! Sorry, Charlie!"

While Lysander cooled Charlie down, Gabriel quickly told Tancred about the Piety siblings. The older teens gaped.

Tancred turned to Lysander, his brow furrowed. "Hey, wasn't Piety...?"

The African nodded. "Josephine Piety was -- is -- in mine and Tancred's English class with Mr. Carp. We met her this morning,"he explained to Gabriel and Charlie, who, in turn, made noises of disbelief.

"Do you know what power she had?,"asked Charlie earnestly. Tancred shook his head.

"I accidentally shocked her with my...you know,"he said, trailing off. The three others nodded; they did know. "But she was just like anyone else. Surprised, confused, but didn't do anything to me to get revenge or something. Honestly, I didn't think that that girl would be one of us."

They had entered the vast dining hall, a great mass of students already entered and filed into their seats were seen. Charlie and Gabriel waved to Tancred and Lysander, before splitting up; the latter going to the green caped table and the former to the blue.

X X X X X X X

Emma Tolly was normally immersed in daydreams about the expansive blue sky or the twinkling night stars, and her fingers would tingle but she always had a right mind not to transform in front of everybody. But sitting along with a couple of her friends from Art, waiting for dinner to be served, Emma noticed something odd. Something incredibly odd. Tonight, there was no tingling. There was no internal uplift of soaring into the sky and the imaginary sight of the sun's warm breath lifting her high up above the clouds. Moreover...Emma felt that something large missing from inside of her body.

Something that should be forever belonging inside her, was gone.

Emma pressed a trembling, ivory hand up to her mouth, quietly excusing herself from the table. She quickly made her way through the throng of students piling in, but her gaze kept to the floor, instinctively lifted and turned toward a far right, where a figure was partly shrouded by shadows, only black, glittering eyes that shone in the dark was the only thing Emma could see about the person. But it wasn't looking at her at all. The strange looking eyes were staring intensely at the far end of the room, the Art table. Emma followed his gaze and saw a tall brunette slurping her soup loudly, and sat quite close to where Emma was sitting before. Brown eyes lifted to meet her own large, gray ones in a curious glance.

In that moment, Emma felt her arms familiarly tingle again.

Her power had came back.

X X X X X X X

Tancred burped contently, patting his stomach; he was lucky today and got an apple. Lysander nudged him in the side and nodded silently to the front of the hall, at a raised platform where many adults were sitting on top of. In the middle was a wide, powerfully built man wearing a black cape, his dark, black eyes leisurely contemplating the three tables. It didn't take a genius to know that that man was the Headmaster of Bloor's Academy. He stood up, raising a large hand for attention, and, immediately, the entire room quieted.

"For this new year, we have two new endowed joining us,"he said in a loud voice. "Josephine and Roy Piety, stand up."

There was a small shuffling and Tancred saw the brunette, sitting only but three students away from him, face Dr. Bloor, her face steady but wary. He turned around and scanned the tables for another figure standing up. A slight boy, slighter than even Billy, was in almost near likeliness of his sister, with dirty blond hair and brown eyes, raised in acknowledgment and interest. The doctor nodded to them both, and faced the silent tables again.

"I am also honored to say that, for this year, we also have a famous musician in our midst. Miss Noelle Inigo, please introduce yourself."

As a chair scrapped backwards, in one fluid motion all the students turned their heads to face the Blue table, where a lone girl was smoothing out her skirt.

"Good evening." Her voice was strong but rather hoarse, like she had just gotten over a bad cough. For some reason, Tancred dimly thought he had seen her before.

Whispers were spreading like wildfire in the room, but the girl paid no attention. She was short, very short, and had a surprisingly thin frame. Her chin was tilted slightly upwards, curly sepia colored hair pinned back by a velvet ribbon, and slanted purple eyes were fixed only on the raised dais. Even though she had a bit of an arrogant aura around her, the girl was undoubtedly very pretty. And, Tancred noticed with a twitching grin, very nicely endowed in the chest area.

Lysander, who obviously knew what was going on in his best friend's head and was a complete gentleman when it came to the opposite gender, whacked him soundly across the head. A sharp blast of a wind and loud crack of thunder rang in the dining hall. Most of the older students just sighed and held onto their quivering plates and textbooks.

"Ow!! Sander, what the hell -- !"

"Tancred Torsson! Control yourself!!,"roared Dr. Bloor. Tancred sucked in his breath and let it out slowly, closing his eyes. The wind had already died down, but he wasn't going to risk having a detention on his first day back. The Headmaster continued. "After supper, the endowed have two hours of homework in the King's Room. You two understand the workings of Bloor's Academy from the Rule Book?"

They nodded hesitantly. Dr. Bloor smiled. "Then pray, Pietys, that you two will not chose the wrong side. This is a new year, with new rules, new beginnings -- and new ends,"he paused for a dramatic effect, unaware or perhaps ignoring the two siblings' confused gazes. "Welcome to Bloor's Academy."

"DISPERSE!"

X X X X X X X

Wincing, Jo pushed back on the surge of the crowd and grabbed onto Roy's wrist. The two stumbled out of the dining hall and up the long path lined with dusty paintings and gold frames. "Honestly,"she muttered, quickening her pace to a fast-walk, oblivious the curious glances from the passerbys. "King's Room this, King's Room that. Does anyone even mind telling us where the King's Room is?!"

"Easy there!"

Jo halted, fallow eyes narrowing on her shoulder where a large tanned hand was stopping her.

"Piety, was it?,"the voice asked, a nervous smile hanging onto his lips.

"Torsson,"she curtly nodded and shrugged off Tancred's grip. "What do you want?"

Before the blond could respond, a tall African teen standing by Tancred, who Jo had failed to notice, interrupted the two. "My name is Lysander Sage, and we're also one of the endowed,"he spoke, sweeping into a short, gallant bow. "Tancred and I had hoped you and your brother would let us show you the way to the King's Room, Josephine."

"It's Jo,"she replied automatically, and perhaps because of something in Lysander's low, calming voice rather than Tancred's coarse, husky one that she took his word for it. With her free hand, Jo waved toward the large double doors leading to the academy grounds. "Lead the way, Lysander."

X X X X X X X

Charlie, for one, was immensely flabbergasted as Fidelio had approached him as he had stepped out of the dining hall and out into the crisp night air on the grassy plain leading to the King's Room, excitedly shouting incoherent phrases that he painstakingly made out was something like 'Inigo...here...bamboo...flutist...' and other things that Charlie wasn't sure was English. So he answered with the infamous one worded question.

"What?"

The happy-go-lucky violinist swallowed a giant gulp of air and beamed. "Noelle, Noelle Inigo! She's famous!,"Fidelio said, slower and clearer. "You must've seen her before, Charlie Bone, else you probably live on the sun!"

"Why the sun?"

"Because everybody on Earth has heard of her! Even the astronauts that go in their rocket ships to the moon or Venus or Saturn has listened to her play!,"Fidelio cried, making wild hand gestures to emphasize his point. Charlie quickly back stepped, narrowly avoiding a flying finger. "She's a famous musician! A bamboo bass flutist!"

"Bless you."

Fidelio nearly pulled out his hair in agitation. Shifting his textbooks into his other hand, Charlie chuckled,"Kidding, I'm kidding, Fido. But I'm pretty sure I'd never seen or heard nothing about Noelle Inigo. Besides tonight, of course."

"Anything, Charlie."

"Huh?"

"Uh, never mind,"Fidelio shook his head. Just like his friend to mix up (at least he hoped mixed up) his nouns, even at age fifteen. "But not even on T.V.?,"he pressed on. "Or the newspapers, magazines, or on the radio? Hasn't even Benjamin told you about her? Noelle Inigo's a prodigy!"

That struck a chord in Charlie's memory. At once, he told Fidelio about that strange music from Mr. Paltry's room and the girl. "Maybe I've heard of that bamboo bass thing on the T.V. when I was at Ben's before,"he shrugged. Fidelio sighed and shook his head, but the two were momentarily interrupted by the sight of Gabriel running towards them, his floppy brown hair seeming even floppier than usual.

"What's up? Have you heard about that Inigo girl?"

Without stopping to say hi back, Charlie and Fidelio took another minute to fill their friend. To Charlie's slight relief, Gabriel didn't have the sort of disgruntled expression on Fidelio's face or the exclamations of horror as Charlie told him that he had no clue who she was. He just snorted into his hand and said,"Well, there's just another piece of evidence that Charlie Bone clearly doesn't belong in the Music department. Anyway, I've just seen Em and Livvy having a 'girl chat' with all their 'girl friends' (here, the boys simultaneously rolled their eyes) and heard about Inigo there."

Gabriel answered Charlie's silent question. "Nothing much to say though. She was kicked out of her old school for something-or-other, was home-schooled for a year or two, then heard about and got accepted into Bloor's. Her family, she's an only child, lives in the Heights, says Olivia. And that's it -- "

"You three! Stop loitering around here and get to King's Room! And Gunn, get to your dormitory!,"bellowed a familiar voice as sleek, black Oxfords came stomping across the lawn. "Gods know that I have other stuff to do than look after a bunch of sniveling little buggers!"

"Manfred,"the three groaned under their breath. The dark haired man stormed up to them, his sallow face contorted with rage.

"Well!?,"he shouted, flinging his arms up in a very Fidelio-esque manner. "Get on with it!"

"Yes, sir," the three voices sullenly rang as one.

Charlie and Gabriel walked off to the little building placed off to the side, built up with sturdy rocks, as Fidelio hurried across the grass to the inside of the academy. Manfred frowned after them, but turned to look up at the tall building, right at the attics in his great-grandfather's room, where the lights, once rarely put on, were lit. For a moment, his fathomless, coal-like irises widened and the air around Manfred heated up to an impossible degree. But he stopped, drew back his gaze onto the roasting grass, and sighed, rubbing his forehead where a splitting headache was occurring.

He made a mental note to sneak some nicotine past Cook.

X X X X X X X

Jo loudly scooted into her chair, after forcibly helping a protesting Roy in his, avoiding eye contact with the rest of the people in the room.

She knew who was where, mentally picturing the eight other people inside the King's Room. There were two black haired twins, looking so delicate, as though they'll break the second you touch them with the tips of the fingers, and almost doll-like, sitting three chairs to Jo's left. A tall, wiry boy with damp brown hair was sitting beside the twins, twirling a pencil between three thin fingers, bored eyes fixated onto the ceiling; Billy, the albino from earlier, was talking quietly with a very pretty blond, her large gray eyes concentrating on her homework, but she gave a nod and a twinkling sort of laughter every once in a while to show that she was listening; the Joshua what's-his-name picking leaves, pieces of paper, and other strange clumps trash off his cloak; and Lysander and Tancred, discreetly sliding into chairs closest to Roy and herself.

"Is this all of the endowed?,"Jo asked to no one in particular. Her answer came from a very unexpected source.

"Nope,"said the wiry brunette, his face still facing on the gray stone ceiling, but his eyes, like an iceberg's underside Jo noted, had moved so they were focusing on her. "There's still Charlie-the-picture traveler and Gabriel-the-psychometric."

As if on cue, the door creaked open and two teens, both males, entered the threshold. Dumping their books onto the table and slipping into spare seats, they were upright with attention when Lysander stood up, clearing his throat.

"As you've most likely heard Dr. Bloor say this in the dining hall, two new endowed are here, joining us,"he began, looking at the group who were either glaring daggers at him, following his words with regard, or doodling on a sheet of paper, with complete incognizance."Jo and Roy Piety, sixth and first year." Lysander cleared his throat again and continued with a louder voice. "Dorcas Loom has graduated early due to her outstanding marks in language and artistic ability. I'm still the one in charge here, and I expect no roughhousing or trouble-making in the the King's Room, though,"he added with a rueful grin." I'm sure that that's just wishful thinking."

There were loud shouts of 'hear, hear!' going around the table, and Lysander spoke once again,"Now, for the benefit of the new students, everyone, introduce yourself."

He sat down and murmurs of names went around the room. The wiry teen's was called was Dagbert Endless, a very strange last name, Jo thought; the twins were Idith and Inez Branko, though she couldn't tell which was which; Joshua Tilpin, who gave Jo and Roy such a dazzling smile that, for some reason, they felt their lips lift up and beam back; and Billy's full name was Billy Raven and the blond was Emma Tolly. The two boys that came in at the last minute were Charlie Bone and Gabriel Silk. Tancred just nodded toward the siblings, without any introduction.

"In the King's Room, all the endowed work on their homework until eight,"Lysander explained, opening a large and heavy looking textbook. "There's no talking allowed, but give it a couple of weeks and you'll get used to it."

And so, the minutes ticked by as they all set to work.

It was so silent that Jo was feeling very itchy and uncomfortably warm, even though it was a cool September night. She gathered up her courage to ask if there was an AC anywhere, but though better of it, and decided on a note to Roy. She ripped off a piece of notebook paper and scribbled onto it.

Aren't you bored?

-J

Through the corner of her eye, Jo saw Roy grab onto the tiny sheet and write something onto it before slipping it back to its owner.

Sure am. But there's nothing much to do, except the homework. You should get working on it, Jo.

:D

She frowned and hastily passed it back to her brother.

Meanie butt. )XO

Stupid.

Nice comeback.

Dull, slow-witted, simple-minded, mooncalf, nitwit, imbecile, ninny, tomfool, idiot.

I bet you don't even have the brain power to process it all do you?

Here, Jo quickly ripped out another piece of paper as the other was all used up.

DX(

This is the reason why I used to want to sell you in a yard sale.

This is also the reason why I tried to design a way to sneak you onto the nearest space shuttle and send you into an orbit around Earth.

Ha. Ha. Ha. Please don't kill me.

No, don't get me wrong; I will slaughter you. Just as soon I find a suitable weapon.

...Like a giant, fluffy teddy bear?

Try a giant, sharp butcher's knife.

Jo nearly laughed out loud as she watched Roy pale at her words. With renewed spirits, she turned back to her horrible calculus homework and math book, clicked more led into her mechanical pencil, and started working on the first problem.

X X X X X X X

Ten minutes, Jo thought sullenly, clutching her hair with one hand and looking at her watch with another. It's only been a freakin' ten minutes.

To say that she was starting to really hate math was an understatement.

Jo mentally growled and forced her eyes to concentrate on her homework, the numbers and variables swimming dizzily in her mind. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples; maybe that would help her think better. Jo sighed when it didn't work, and pressed herself to think math. Math. Ma..th. M...a...h. Jo started to nod off as her chin slipped out from the palm of her hand, forehead crashing to the tabletop.

"Ow!," Grimacing, Jo rubbed her head and frowned at the snickers going around the room. Perhaps because of the sudden broken tension that Charlie Bone decided to speak up.

"Jo, right?"

"What's it to you?,"she waspishly replied back, her temper unintentionally flaring from her previous embarrassment. Charlie paused, but continued on.

"Er...I'd like to welcome you to Bloor's Academy?"

"No welcome needed,"Jo replied, massaging her forehead. That crash really did a number on her. Who knew that a stone table could hurt so much? She squeezed her eyes shut as Charlie continued talking, his voice merging with the others as Gabriel got up to quiet them all down, a loud rambling chorus of 'what?'s and 'who died and replaced you as leader?'s occurred in the room. Jo could hardly intake Roy's own whispering in her ear.

"I said: what's your endowment?!," Charlie shouted over the clamor, afraid that the new girl was partially deaf or something. "Can you hear me?!"

Jo snapped.

"No, I can't hear you, dumbass!! Because of your entire idiot group of friends who can only prattle and babble like the world's going to end!"she shouted angrily, a bright red mark on her forehead. "Shut up! Shut up! You are all just--"

Tancred shot upwards, his chair falling down with a clatter behind him, as the entire room quieted as a low, ominous wind picked up around their feet.

"You don't want to finish that sentence,"he spoke softly.

"Tanc...,"Lysander said warningly. Tancred ignored him.

"Who says that we even need care about you, you stupid girl? Your endowment is probably as petty as your brother's!" Tancred nodded to Roy, who was nervously twiddling his fingers, looked up in surprise. Lysander moved to restrain his friend if necessary; be it male or female, Tancred could punch anyone's lights out, endowment or not.

"Don't you dare attack Roy!,"Jo yelled, also standing up. "You don't even know what his endowment is!!"

Tancred sidestepped that. "Well, at least I don't act like a sissy or something when faced with a stone table, Piety!!,"he bellowed back. "And don't expect me to go all soft on you because you're a girl!"

Jo's eyes widened furiously. "I hit my head!!,"she roared. "You want an honest answer, Torsson!? It had HURT!!"

"GOOD RIDDANCE, THEN!!"

Throughout the argument, Charlie had noticed something very... off. There was no wind blowing around their ankles anymore, there was no pelts of rain splashing in the King's Room, there was no outrageous booms of thunder or snaps of lightning. Even as the shouts and shrieks escalated, Charlie saw that even Tancred's hair seemed droopy, instead of its usual spikiness, crackling with electricity. Perhaps it was because the storm boy had also noticed, he left has latest insult die in his throat.

Tancred flexed his fingers, looking over his hands and arms in confusion. The room had its focused attention directed at him. He looked up at Jo, bewildered. "What did you do?,"Tancred asked hoarsely, flipping up his chair was his foot and limply sat down in it as if he had lost all his energy. Jo looked guiltily to the floor and mimicked Tancred, sitting back in her chair.

"What's your endowment?,"Charlie asked softly. Roy made a protesting sound but Jo shook her head, slumping back onto her chair.

"I nullify."

X X X X X X X