Chapter Four: The New Kid is a Total Loser

It wasn't often that new students enrolled. At most, there would be one every other month, but the particularly strange thing about this kid was his immediate arrival. When new students came in, they were brought in on weekdays. Jayce LeBlanc showed up in the middle of a perfectly good weekend.

He walked through the iron fence with hesitation, afraid he'd miss the invisible door. When he came through, Louisa, Armina, and a few of the curious younger kids waited. Jayce met them at the end of the path, sporting his new blue uniform. He looked awkward in it as if he lived in nothing nicer than sweatpants and hoodies.

"Welcome, Jayce," Louisa said, clapping her hands together.

A second behind him was Mari Warner, one of Armina's least favourite people. She'd been granted the power to compel men with her voice - a siren, only without the sharp teeth and the mermaid tail. It disgusted Armina that Mari could force people to like her.

What really brought up the sickness was the new guy's expression when he looked at Mari. He was scared and enchanted all at once like he wanted to kiss her but feared she might gut him like a fish.

To Armina, Mari was just a stuck-up brat with weird hair.

"Um, hi," he said, brushing his short bangs down. They popped back up. He rolled his eyes. Armina guessed he'd just gotten a haircut and preferred it long. With his hair spiked up and to the right, a scar popped out against his pale complexion.

Mari halted next to Jayce. He scooted away from her. She crossed her arms and sighed. "This is Jayce LeBlanc. His parents are family friends. My mom told his parents about the school while he gets his powers under control. We cool?"

Louisa spoke up. "Why don't you all head back inside?"

Everyone turned to leave. Mari broke through the group and led the way.

"Except Armina."

Armina swiveled back around, intrigued. "What's up?"

"Well, I thought you could show Jayce around. He'll be staying here full time, so here's the key to his room." Louisa dropped a key in Armina's hand. She wondered why his parents wouldn't collect him on the weekend like most kids. Everyone who stayed full time had dead parents or ones too afraid to accept their child was different.

Jayce scanned the front of the mansion. He gasped at its size. Armina had grown used to living in a house with enough rooms to classify as a school.

Jayce tried to brush his hair once more, then stuck out his hand to shake.

Louisa glared at Armina as if to say, don't you dare.

Armina narrowed her eyes. "I don't do formalities. You might drop dead." She showed off her gloves. "These are a precaution, but they don't always work."

"Good to know," he said, sounding unsure he wanted to attend the Academy.

Armina wondered if his parents were afraid and sent him off without his consent. She almost pitied him. Almost.

"Well, let's get this done with."

The tour was made quick, giving Jayce barely enough time to gawk.

Whenever he tried to strike up a conversation, Armina announced, "Please save questions for the end. Thank you and enjoy the rest of the tour."

Finally covering the second to last room, Armina paused. She crossed her arms and looked at Jayce, expecting the questions to pour out of him. The doorway to the commons was silent, but it wouldn't be for long.

"What's with the uniform colors, and what's yours?"

Armina cleared her throat and pushed back a few rogue hairs. She had yet to get it properly cut and cursed herself for making such a rash choice. "Blue is the lowest level. Yellow is intermediate or possible progression-"

"So I'm pretty much useless?"

"Sure." Armina rolled her eyes. "Most of the school ends up blue. Yellow is normally temporary. Then there's red. That's my colour. Well, not my colour, but my category. I look better in black."

Jayce almost laughed. He was nervous around her, more so than the other kids. Mari had probably filled him in on her power.

"Look, kid-"

"I'm seventeen."

"This school isn't for the weak. We've got strenuous classes for everyone, no matter the power. Just wait until we get to P. E."

Jayce's gentle green eyes narrowed as if he'd just realized his place and didn't accept it. Armina found it entertaining when ants tried to fight wars with big-footed bullies. "I've been through a lot, Amanda!"

"Armina," she corrected.

"-And I have to do well here." The desperation was thick in his voice like this was a life-and-death situation. He jabbed his finger through the air in Armina's direction. He wasn't intimidating, but Armina stepped back for fear of being a jabbing victim. "I have to..." His jacket sleeve slipped back, revealing a fresh circular scar on his forearm.

"I see that." She nodded toward Jayce's arm who suddenly grew self-conscious.

Armina grabbed his hand as he went to pull the sleeve back down. She rolled it up to get a better look. Her gloved fingers ran across the mangled skin. She wondered how such an anxious guy had gotten himself into trouble.

"What did you do to deserve this?"

Jayce bit his tongue and gulped, but didn't pull away. Peering into Armina's big brown eyes, he said, "I made the mistake of flying. Someone shot me down, thinking I was a nice poultry dinner."

"You can fly?" No wonder he'd been assigned blue. There were at least a dozen students who could do that.

Shaking his head, Jayce replied, "Yes, but not exactly. That's not my power."

"Then what is?" she asked, finally pulling away. Despite Louisa and Andrew's concerns, Armina hadn't hurt anyone in years so long as she wore the gloves. She received a heavy breath of relief from Jayce as he realized he wouldn't die under Armina's touch.

Armina studied him closely for the first time. His face was somewhat handsome and mature but did not hide fear well. There was a small scar on his cheek and a beauty mark just beneath his eyebrow. His eyebrows were darker than his caramel-brown hair except for a spot above the beauty mark where it had turned strawberry blond. Jayce's eyes were hooded, the tips of his green irises tucked under his eyelids. His body was on the thin side, but he looked to be in good health aside from the scars. He stood a few inches taller than Armina but wouldn't be joining a basketball team anytime soon.

He whispered in her ear, careful for his lips not to touch. "I'm a shapeshifter."

"You're a-"

A cry rang out through the commons, echoing off the high ceiling. The sound came from Wendy, a four-foot-tall six-year-old with curly red hair that skulked into the room. She held her thumb in her mouth trying to soothe herself, but the tears kept coming. Her big blue eyes were red and looked deeply pained. Wendy wore her weekend clothes, a denim skirt with leggings matched with a flowery t-shirt.

Armina peered to his left to find Jayce, but he had already appeared kneeling in front of Wendy, holding out a hand. Wendy took it with her free hand and shook it.

"I'm Jayce, and you are?"

She hesitated, then popped her thumb out of her mouth. The tears halted, remaining as drying stains on her chubby cheeks. "Wendy," she mumbled.

"And what has such a sweet girl like you so upset, Wendy?" Jayce seemed calmer around her than he did with Armina. Armina was almost jealous.

A little louder, the redhead replied, "Suzie said she didn't want to be friends anymore because I'm a freak."

"And why did she say that?"

"Because I can do this." Wendy did a short demonstration for Jayce. She placed her hand on his forehead. While his eyes shut, Wendy's turned milk-white. Afterward, Jayce looked queasy.

He turned back to Armina. "Did I just see my dead ancestors?"

Armina nodded. "Wendy here is able to contact the dead."

"That doesn't make you a freak," Jayce said, his words bitter as if someone had accused him of the same thing. "That makes you special. Strong, even. Now you go tell Suzie that she can eat-" Jayce caught himself, remembering the audience. "Tell her that she doesn't deserve your friendship."

Wendy scrambled away, a new sense of determination in her heart. Armina let a smile slip as her tiny form ran away, hands balled in fists.

Jayce stood and turned to face Armina again. "Sorry. I'm a younger sibling, and I got my fair share of bullying. I just hate those kinds of people."

Armina could tell there was so much Jayce wasn't telling her. If she could read the secrets behind his eyes, maybe she could help. But then again, she didn't owe him any favours.

"Onward to your room?" she asked.

"Sure."

For just a second, Armina thought she saw malice on Jayce's face but brushed it off as a trick of the mind. She took off down the hall, a possible friend or enemy in tow.