The Letters
A week later, Petrova got up from her bed, stumbling to the bathroom and splashing cold water on her face. After toweling off her face, she felt slightly more awake and dragged a comb through her dark, wavy hair. She padded back into her room and pulled on her clothes: a ribbed black tank top and black bomber pants, adding her usual earrings: a black industrial earrings on one ear, and a gold cuff earring and double stud earring on the other side. As she made her bed, a crinkle of paper made her pause, then begin to toss her bedding onto the floor. There it was, under her pillow: a creamy white envelope. Holding it up to the light, she squinted at the stenciled letters: NSS. Shaking her head, Petrova tossed the envelope onto her bedside table for later and went down to breakfast.
Sergei finished his last push-up and got up, lazily tossing his blankets back onto his bed before grabbing a fresh bundle of clothes and disappearing into the shower. Fresh from his cold, vigorous shower, he half-heartedly started straightening his bedding. When he heard the crackle of paper, he stopped and started pulling the blankets off, unceremoniously throwing them onto the floor behind him. When his bed was stripped of bedding, he saw the envelope, slightly crumpled from being under his pillow all night. Running a hand through his wet hair, he squinted at the envelope, where three letters were boldly imprinted: NSS. But at that moment, his older brother yelled down the hall for him to hurry up or else they'd be late for the basketball match. Without a backward glance, he left the envelope on his bedsheets and raced out of his room, leaving his bedding on the floor.
Isadora pulled her covers over her head as her mom started clattering her pots and pans on the stove. At last, she tossed her covers off her head and slowly got out of bed, rubbing sleep from her eyes as she looked through her closet for something to wear. After pulling on the floral summer dress, she brushed her hair, plaiting it to the best of her ability, and added pink flower bangles with matching earrings. Flopping back onto her bed, she sighed gustily. There was nothing to do around here. Her mom was busy with clubs, and her dad was usually doing work. She had no siblings. Rolling over and staring at the wall, Isadora froze, hearing something crunch under her pillow. Reaching under it, she pulled out the piece of paper and opened it slowly.
Stephen's alarm clock shrilled. He groaned as he tumbled out of bed, grabbed his clothes and started to change. Sitting down at the breakfast table, he poured his chocolate cereal into a bowl, adding a trickle of milk afterward. After gobbling down his hasty breakfast, he went back to his room and sat down on his bed to play video games. But as he sat down, there was a crunch under his pillow. Peeking underneath, he pulled out the envelope and stared at it.
After lunch, the four children gathered downstairs. They were all clutching their letters, glancing warily at each other. Sergei was first to speak, flapping the letter energetically in the air.
"So, are we going or not?"
"Do we have anything else to do?" Isadora asked. "Because I don't."
"Neither do I," Stephen agreed, Petrova nodding. Sergei muttered something about 'basketball matches', but he followed the group as they moved off.
The building was not out of the ordinary. But as soon as they all stepped inside and showed the pretty clerk at the front desk their letters, she changed. After introducing herself as Leta Flaite, or just Leta, she led them to a discreet hallway at the back of the room, smiling mysteriously. As soon as she had passed across the threshold, she changed appearance drastically: her honey-blonde hair was in a high beehive, and she was clothed in a dark purple cloak. She led the now extremely excited children to a classroom where a small company of people, young and old, were all sitting cross-legged on the floor, their eyes closed and breathing coordinated. A woman with long white hair was sitting in the middle of them, and seemed to be conducting the energy of the room. Leta cleared her throat, and as soon as the woman opened her eyes, the hypnotic, coordinated spell on the room broke. The students glanced around for a moment, before breaking into soft chatter at the sight of the newcomers. Leta addressed the woman:
"Ceres, they've come." Although the latter had white hair, her face radiated youthfulness, and a touch of mischievousness. She had a straight aquiline nose, full peach lips, and lively amethyst eyes, which, as they came to rest on the children, filled with a fire that made all of them stand straighter, throwing their shoulders back, feeling like they could take on anything in the world. As it turned out, they would soon have to.