Summons

Ariana walked into the light as she shielded her eyes. She found the set of stairs but this time it was going upwards. She followed the line of newly appointed students upwards and spotted Edlyn at the very top. She kept her gaze on her and watched her walk on to the stage with the others. Ms. Hadley was already standing infront of the stage and looked at the crowd waiting in the auditorium. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the freshman of 18XX!" She announced with her stoic face.

The people in the auditorium started to cheer and applaud as the new students stood awkwardly in stage. Once it settled down, the freshman started to descend the stage. Ariana tried to weave her way through the crowd and made it close enough to to Edlyn and her family.

"Edlyn, I will write you an invitation to go shopping for the new semester, oh and get some tea together! Please wait for my letter!" Ariana shouted happily as she waved her hand. A tall, fair skinned woman turned around and stared at Ariana. Her eyes were icy blue and her hair tumbled down her shoulders in soft blond curls. She pushed Edlyn into a tall man's arms. He had periwinkle coloured hair and red eyes but his face had a gentler look.

The woman stomped right up to Ariana, raised her hand and slapped her across the face. The impact was so hard that it knocked her to the floor. "Stay away from my daughter!" She spat as she looked down on Ariana. "She doesn't need anymore of your people in her life."

Ariana gingerly touched her already swollen cheek and looked up at Mrs. Abela's face. She slowly got up and straightened up her back. She released her cheek as her family members rushed behind her. She grabbed the sides of her dress and curtsied elegantly.

"I apologise for my rudeness Mrs. Abela. I should have greeted you and Mr. Abela first before I extended an invitation to Edlyn." She said respectfully before she raised her head. "How do you know my daughter's name?! Are you some sort of scammer? Conartist? She doesn't need anyone else in her life! See Eli we should have stopped Edlyn from taking this exam!" She said as she stared daggers at Ariana.

With a gentle smile Ariana raised her hands and started to move them as she spoke. "I disagree, your daughter did quite well in the exam. She has received a ref ribbon for placing in the top 10%, if anything you should be proud that she put her best efforts into the exam." Ariana said proudly. Mrs. Abela's eyes rounded with surprise as she watched Ariana.

"Who are you?" Mrs. Abela asked as she turned to her daughter for clarification. She saw that Edlyn tried to break free from her father's protective arms and she turned back to the girl standing before her. "My name is-?!" She started to say but Ms. Hadley's clapping interrupted them. "Ariana Drake, we are summoning you now!"

Mr. Waldemar raised his hand and Ariana was instantly swallowed up by darkness. "This is absurd! This does not follow the normal protocol of the students!" She heard her grandmother's shouts echoing.

"That's right the child hasn't even prepared what she wanted to say to the council!" She heard Lady Zula shout. "Silence! We act according to our headmaster. If you have grievances I suggest you take it up with him. For now Ms. Drake will be coming with us to discuss her test score." She heard a male voice say but she had no idea who it was. She patiently waited as she walked around in the darkness.

She heard a rumbling sound and looked up. She saw slivers of light breaking through. She stopped moving and watched as the walls of darkness disappeared. She opened her eyes and sitting before her were five people. In the center she recognized the Headmaster, to his right Mr. Waldemar and Ms. Hadley.

To the left, was the male faculty member with the brown mop for hair and a very muscular male sitting beside him. He had short salt and pepper hair, tanned skin and light green eyes. "Ms. Drake welcome to your summons." The Headmaster said in a calm and soothing voice.

Ariana grabbed her dress again and curtsied to the board. "The pleasure is all mine. I just wished I was able to bring along my little project I was working on." The Headmaster raised an eyebrow as he watched her straighten up her back.

"Oh... you don't feel intimidated by us or have any questions for why you were brought before us so early and unconventionally?" Ariana gave them an angelic smile. "Why? You already explained that the top 3% would be summoned. Whether it be now or later, makes no difference to me." The Headmaster held his gaze with Ariana for a few minutes. The silence in the room was tense and the other board members started to squirm.

"Ha! My goodness child you are definitely Lidia's grandchild!" The Headmaster started to roar as he slammed the table. Ariana held her smile and nodded her thanks as she watched his face. "Enough of that, enough! Come here child let me take a look at you!" He said as he motioned Ariana to move closer towards him.

"Look at your face! Emily didn't restrain herself at all! Rain, could you please heal this child?" The man to the left of the Headmaster let out a high pitched squeak. He looked up and Ariana could see his dark grey eyes peaking through the gaps of his hair. "Yes sir!" He shouted and raised his hand.

"Honestly Rain, inside voice please. Now Ariana tell me about this innovative idea you have. Lidia has been teasing me non stop and I just couldn't wait another second." He said as his purple eyes sparkled with anticipation. "Umm Headmaster," Ariana started to say but the Headmaster frowned instantly.

"No, no, no, no please call me Caelan. Oh better yet papa Nakia, if I had a cute granddaughter like you my world would be ten times brighter unlike those grandsons of mine... not cute at all." He said sweetly, Ariana could no longer keep her curiosity hidden. "How do you know my grandmother Mr. Nakia?" Ariana asked. The Headmaster sucked in some air and placed his hands over his chest as if his heart had been struck.

"No, not Mr. Nakia! Papa Nakia please! As for Lidia and I, well I guess you can say we go way back. School mates, then we joined the military together and I married her best friend so we are like family." The Headmaster admitted. Ariana nodded to his response and felt that the burning sensation on her face finally stopped.

Ariana brought her hand up and touched her cheek, it no longer felt swollen or tender. "Thank you Mr. Rain." She said politely but the man just shook his head. "Not Mr. Rain..... Rain is my first name." Rain said in a miserable voice.

Ariana waited to hear his last name but he silently slumped into his chair. "Honestly Master, if you didn't have me around how in the world would you survive with the opposite sex?" A familiar voice said as he zipped through the room and stopped behind Ariana. Breeze wrapped his arms around her and placed his head onto her shoulder.

"Forgive my Master, his name is Rain Yakov, next to him is the muscle head-oops, I mean Pascal Dabney... ha... ha... ha... cough... um then of course our beloved Headmaster, then Gautam Waldemar and the oh lala Ms. Paloma Hadley." Breeze said before letting Ariana go and zipping infront of Ms. Hadley.

"Paloma now that I am a satyrs, why don't you and I get to know each other over dinner?" He said in a low voice as he flashed her a devilish smile. "Breeze!" Mr. Yakov shouted as he stood up. "Alright, alright." Breeze said as he picked up Ms. Hadley's hand and placed a small kiss onto her knuckles. "Until next time, my lady." He said with a wink and zipped behind his Master.

Ariana coughed trying her best not to laugh. She then looked at the board and gave them a big smile. "Esteemed board members I would like to begin by saying that I have come up with a permanent solution to your drought and food shortage. Though it is not a quick fix solution but it is a long term solution that can provide jobs and education. I propose we build a new Academy but for horticultural purposes." Ariana said confidently.

A loud bang was heard and Ariana turned her head to Mr. Dabney. "What you said is offensive and insulting! How dare you propose we build an Academy for your whore culture!" Mr. Dabney spat causing everyone else to internally groan.

"Horticultural Pascal, hor-ti-cultural. She is talking about a farming school." Ms. Hadley said as she rubbed her temples. "Oh." Mr. Dabney said as his face flushed. "Misunderstanding, considering her... cough... mother's background." Mr. Dabney continued. Ariana's face darkened as she heard the words leave Mr. Dabney's mouth.

"Why don't I dumb it down for you Mr. Dabney so you can follow along. We buy two pieces of farm land that are side by side and offer the families jobs during the construction of the Academy or different land if they choose. We make a very big building so that people can grow vegetables and fruit inside it while students learn how to cultivate-wait-no learn to make better crops. We can do it in a way where the crops take up less space and yield higher quantity and quality produce." Ariana said as she looked up and gave Mr. Dabney a sly smirk.

"We have magic users who want to learn and contribute to society, we involve them and teach them how to control the soil, water and sun light for each stack of crop. I had a prototype built and even had strawberry sprouts thriving and herbs fully grown. With a rotation system in place people would no longer have to worry about disease, drought or season for their food."

"While we educate the students on how to build their own systems, take care of fields or turn their fields into green houses. We could also make some side revenue by selling the prototype as an at home system that anyone could use. As for the funding of the project, scholarship for students and funds for outside projects, I have already run the numbers and I can invest about 99% of it."

Ariana finished her rant with her chest pumping, she couldn't help herself. She felt so passionate about improving living conditions and projects that she lost herself. She looked at everyone and saw the shock on their faces.

"Ms. Drake are you trying to say if we don't partake in this project of yours we will be seeing the competition by next year?" The Headmaster said as he dropped his gaze to his hands. Ariana gulped and tried her best to stand her ground. "You are either with me or are against me! Choose your side wisely." Ariana replied with more conviction then she felt. The Headmaster's body started to violently tremble causing the board members to jump out of their chairs and took a step back.

"You!" He started to say in a very loud and demonic voice. Ariana raised her head and stood tall. "You... you are absolutely adorable!" He shouted before jumping from his chair and pouncing on Ariana. She let out a small squeak as he embraced her and rubbed his cheek against hers.

"So cute! So smart! Of course we will invest! How could we not invest in our perfect score student! Lidia was right, my mind was blown away!" Ariana tried to break free but his hold was too tight. She now knew what a cat felt like when they met a very friendly child.

"Perfect score?" She managed to ask as he finally let her go. "Why yes! You asked I just forgot to tell you! See many students are often whispered too by some naughty pixies but you need to fight temptation and believe in your own capabilities to be able to succeed. You however kept focus and managed to get a perfect score! See Waldemar the child just proved her genius there was no way she cheated!" The Headmaster proclaimed. Ariana looked over to Mr. Waldemar. He averted his gaze and gave a mumbled apology.

"Now tell me how did you come up with the funds?" The Headmaster asked as his face light up. Ariana could feel sweat collect on her temples. "Fine jewel collection. The small pieces were sold off to jewelers while the larger, more valuable pieces were auctioned off. It created enough revenue to pay for this project and my tuition at the Academy. Everything else will have to be paid with my savings I got from working at the cafe." Ariana admitted bashfully.

Something flashed in the Headmaster eyes as he turned his back to Ariana. "Rain do what we discussed." He ordered and Rain walked over to Ariana. His hand was glowing as he touched her ribbon that was already tied around her neck. It turned red and the the very ends were bronze stars.

"We had to come up with a new ribbon for someone like you I hope you like it." The Headmaster said as he kept his back to Ariana. "I love it papa Nakia!" Ariana shouted happily. The Headmaster's started to flush a bright red as a giant grin appeared on his face. "You can go back now. Have Lidia book another appointment with us to see your prototype and designs for the new Academy." The Headmaster instructed as he waved his hand in the air, shooing Ariana away.

Ariana silently stared at the Headmaster's back then looked at Ms. Hadley with pleading eyes. "Ariana are you alright?" Ms. Hadley asked causing the Headmaster to come back to his senses. He quickly faced Ariana and felt his heart break into a million pieces.

"The Grand Council... they want to imprison me." Ariana explained as she grabbed the front of her skirt. "What why?!" Mr. Dabney shouted causing Ariana to flinch. "I did something in self defense and they are saying I risked the life of Lord Romanoff but Grandmother thinks it's because of my mother." Ariana replied quietly but Breeze used his magic to amplify her voice so everyone heard her perfectly clear.

"Your mother... Lady Zula?" Rain asked as he stroked the stubble on his chin. "No." Ariana answered as she shook her head. "Lady Zula adopted me. It's might be because of biological mother... Evangeline... Evangeline Gaurita." Ariana admitted with great strain. Mr. Waldemar rushed over and grabbed Ariana's chin, forcing her to look up.

"Everything is the same.... except the eyes... Evangeline's eyes were like alexandrite... green during the day but red at night. You can't be her daughter, there is no way." He said with horror in his eyes. Ariana slapped his hand away and narrowed her gaze.

"You can believe what you want but I am telling the truth my mother is Evangeline and she's dead!" Ariana shouted in frustration. Mr. Waldemar became furious and raised his hand to strike her but the Headmaster caught his wrist, stopping him from doing anything foolish. "Can you prove who you are?" The Headmaster asked suspiciously and Ariana nodded her head. "I have my mother's birthmark under my shoulder blade."

Mr. Waldemar pulled his hand free and looked at Ariana menacingly. "Anyone could get a tattoo." Ariana matched his gaze. "I look like her." Ariana rebutted. Mr. Waldemar tossed his head back and laughed. "Illusions and high level magic can do the same thing." Ariana closed the gap between them and pulled on his collar.

"Look she died giving birth to me and I know next to nothing about her but if you want proof I have none. All I have are the words from the water and light elementals. I will never be the jewel eyed priestess, I will never be loved by the magical creatures or spirits like she was but I have been blessed by three different elementals, including the 5 dark familiars tied to Deagan Shade. So unless you can call them up and verify my claim you'll just have to believe me." Ariana said darkly before she let Mr. Waldemar go.

He stepped back and adjusted his clothes. "You are nothing like her." Mr. Waldemar said bitterly as he watched Ariana closely for a reaction. Ariana smiled and gave him a quick wink. "So I've been told. I have my father's attitude but my mother's looks." Ariana said in a mocking tone. Ariana's words struck a nerve with Waldemar. "Who is your father?!" He demanded but Ariana crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a sly smile. "Like I would tell you."