Lena

"Lena, come see me, if you please!" Anna's sharp command echoes down the hall. From the direction it came from, I can tell she must have returned to the kitchen. She's been cooking all day in preparation for a dinner party she's hosting tonight. Though it still surprises me how, with all her high standards and luxurious preferences, she wouldn't prefer to host those somewhere other than the small apartment the two of us have shared since my father's death a few years ago.

"To rent a suitable venue would be far too expensive, Lena, you know this," Anna impatiently reminds me whenever I ask her about it, "And I don't appreciate my choices being called into question."

It's true that it would be costly. And Anna, despite her high-end tastes, is surprisingly frugal in a lot of cases. I secretly feel the former is part of her insatiable need to keep up the appearance she's forged for herself. Appearances are everything to her, which (combined with a very real fear that's been present for years now) is why she is so strongly against anything to do with magic. It would shatter the pretense of us being nothing more than ordinary humans like everyone else.

"Now, Lena!" Her voices rings out again.

I sigh. I've been so engrossed in the book I'm reading that I haven't wanted to put it down. But I know ignoring my stepmother will only anger her, so I set the book down on my bed and set off to see what she wants from me. Sure enough, I find her in the kitchen kneading dough in a large blue bowl. "Ah, there you are. What was it, may I ask, that took you so long? I should not have had to call your name twice."

"My apologies, Anna, I was distracted," I respond, sincerely hoping I'm not in for one of her lectures. Those can and have lasted for ages. "What is it you need?"

"I need you to go downstairs and fetch the mail. If I know our mailman, it should be there by now. Ordinarily I would do it, seeing as my stepdaughter can barely keep her fire abilities to herself, but as you can see, I'm knee-deep in work here. Snap to it!"

I nod and hurry to slip my shoes on. Anna's right, of course. There have been several times where I've accidentally burned something - usually a letter or document - to a crisp because I can't control my powers. I can conjure and manipulate water, too, but she's a tad less persnickety when it comes to that one since it's come in handy more than once.

The mailbox is indeed full when I make my way down to the lobby. It's mainly bills taking up the small space as well as letters to Anna from her friends, several of which will be attending tonight's dinner. They're very old-fashioned, Anna and her friends, preferring to send handwritten letters to one another instead of texting or emailing. I take everything out and, on my way back to the elevator, notice something peculiar in the bunch.

A letter for me.

How odd, I think, I never get physical letters like this.

Eager to see what it could possibly be about, I decide to open it right here in the lobby. On the front is my full name, address and postal code, neatly written in royal purple cursive. An old-fashioned wax seal holds the envelope closed, but since I've opened letters bearing them before for Anna, I've learned how to do it without ripping the envelope. Inside is a photo, which I decide to look at later, and a letter that's written in the same purple ink as before.

I read its contents carefully, my heart beginning to race. Is this real? I read it twice more, then pinch myself for good measure. Excellent, I'm not dreaming!

I all but rush upstairs, too impatient to keep waiting for the slow-moving elevator to arrive. I wind up taking the stairs two at a time in my excitement, nearly knocking over a man on his way down. "Apologies, sir!" I call out to him without stopping. When I make it back to the apartment, Anna has just set the now-kneaded dough aside so it can rise and is washing her hands. "Anna, here's the mail! I received something incredibly exciting today!"

"Hush, Lena, we don't want to disturb the entire building," Anna scolds me, but her gaze softens when she registers my words. "What did you get?"

I hand her the pile of mail at once, my letter on top. She sets the rest on the nearby island, then reads the letter just as carefully as I did. Her eyes narrow a bit in an ever-steely gaze as she reads it over a second time, then that gaze shifts to me as she pauses to consider the letter's words. "I assume you would like to go to this...Cybele Academy?"

"Yes, I would. More than anything. Please, may I go?" I practically beg her.

"Well...you know how I feel about magic."

"Yes, but this school I meant to help me control mine, which is something we both know I need desperately," I reason, "You don't want me to keep accidentally setting fire to things, do you? I know I don't."

Anna sighs. "Very well, you may go. But you had better stay out of trouble, young lady."

"I will, Anna, you have my word!" I throw my arms around her in a tight hug. "Thank you very much!"

Artemis

I sit near the window in the surprisingly decent-sized bedroom I recently began sharing with my long-lost twin, Lyric Smithson, as I scroll through my Facebook feed and reminisce about the day we first found each other again. Upon learning I have a twin, I had visited her school just as the day was ending. I'd found her in the parking lot with some friends and her girlfriend, in the same moment she revealed to them that she can do magic. Though at that point, she only knew about her clairvoyance. She didn't discover her telekinesis until later. It wasn't long after that day, in any case, that she introduced me to our parents and invited me to spend more time with her and her friends.

Even after they finally agreed to have me move in, though, she never did tell me what was behind the weird door in our living room. I sense that whatever it is, it shouldn't be messed with. So, I've just left it alone.

I hear the bedroom door swing open with a high-pitched wail - those old hinges seriously need taking care of - causing me to snap out of my thoughts with a small jolt, and Lyric walks in holding something curious in her hand. Looking more closely, I see that it's a thin envelope with neat cursive handwriting on the front in royal purple ink.

"This is yours," says Lyric. "I found it in our mailbox. What are you up to?"

"Just checking my Facebook," I answer, taking the letter from her outstretched hand, "Thanks for grabbing this for me."

"No problem," replies Lyric as she moves to sit beside me. "Are you going to read it now or later?"

"I'll read it now, just give me a sec." I close my computer, setting it carefully on the desk, before moving back to the window seat and opening the envelope. I try my best not to rip it, since it really is gorgeous, and pull from it a folded-up letter as well as a small photo. I pass the photo over to my twin, eager to see what the letter has in store.

"Read it out loud," Lyric encourages, examining the photo with interest.

"Dear Miss Smithson," I begin, "we would like to let you know that you've been joyfully accepted at Cybele Academy. This unique school is home to those with supernatural powers and abilities of all types. We extend this invitation for you to join us and hone your abilities, to unlock your full potential and embrace who you truly are. We hope you will be joining us soon and that you have a wonderful summer."

"You should go for it," Lyric's words are out of her mouth the moment I finish reading. "I bet you'll do really good there. I'll miss you, but still, I think this is an awesome opportunity for you."

"It does sound pretty exciting!" My eyes, I'm sure, are bright and full of enthusiasm. "But I bet you're just trying to get rid of me," I can't resist teasing.

"Oh, yeah, you're a real thorn in my side," Lyric plays along with a laugh. "But seriously - I'd do it. Or at least, I would if I'd gotten a letter, too. But it's okay," she adds hastily, seeing the expression on my face change to one of guilt, "I mean, I'd love to get to go, but I wouldn't want to leave Casia or my friends either, y'know? Oh, and here – check out the photo. You'll love it."

The picture is of a large, beautiful building with several trees and an overwhelming number of rose bushes around it, a bright full moon in the background. I can't help but admire the beauty the photo has captured. It's like something out of a fairy-tale. To be fair, though, my sister and I are both suckers for this kind of imagery, the kind that oozes magic and shadows and mystery.

I smile down at the photo as I look forward to seeing school in person, though the thought of facing this new environment without at least one familiar face around makes me a little nervous, especially since Lyric's proven herself often to be the more confident of the two of us. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I know I'm going to miss you like crazy, though. I should probably go show this to our parents, huh?" I place everything back in the envelope. "Promise me we'll keep in touch, okay, Lyric?"

"I promise."

Evelyn

I swim gracefully in the cool, peaceful lake near my home, feeling free and weightless as if the light, gentle waves can take every one of my worries and allow them to separate from me and finally drift away. My long brown hair flows around me as I swim, eyes closed and spirits high. This is nothing if not a blissful form of meditation for me.

My thoughts are interrupted, though, by the sound of my dad calling my name, telling me he has something for me. I poke my head up out of the water to see him standing on the shore, holding what looks like a letter and waiting patiently for me to approach. I wave to him and quickly swim back to shore, my fins carrying me there in mere seconds. I can't switch back to my human form at the drop of a hat, though - my mermaid tail has to be dry first. So I sit on the shore, right on the water's edge. "Hi, Dad, what's up?"

"This came for you," he says. "I already took a peek at it. Sorry," He adds apologetically. He doesn't normally ever read my mail like that, since he's always done his best to respect my privacy, but I can understand why he would want to read this letter as soon as I see it. He hands it to me and, after giving the photo the admiration it deserves, I give it a good read. When I finish, I look back at my dad with a wide grin, my excitement strong. "Oh, my God, this is fantastic! Can I go?"

"Yeah, of course you can," replies my dad. "You'd leave in about a week, when school starts up again for everyone else. Is that okay with you?"

"Of course, why wouldn't it be?" I reply as I stand up to hug him. "Thanks so much, Dad!"

He laughs. "No problem, kid. I went there when I was your age, spent four or five years there. You're going to love it, I promise."

Kaiden

As someone who has made several centuries' worth of mistakes, I never thought I'd see the day the universe would grant me a shot at a new beginning. But to my shock, that gift has come in the form of a letter.

You see, I have spent at least that long trying to get my vampiric powers and, more importantly, my thirst for blood under control. But it's all been in vain. More times than I can even count now, I have violently lost what little control I have and killed dozens of people in a single night. In many cases, I would wind up hypnotizing them involuntarily beforehand, which means the pain they felt was dulled, but that makes it no less despicable.

And every time I came to my senses, the overwhelming guilt I felt recalling everything I'd done was so strong it threatened to crush me under its weight. It still does, to this day. So many people. Gone. All because of me.

The guilt became so strong that I eventually decided to turn myself in willingly, confess everything I've done. I figured that if I was executed for it...well, it would save so many lives in the long run that it would be worth it, right?

But to my utter shock, that didn't happen. Because I'd unknowingly confessed my sins to another vampire, he instead locked me away in a reinforced room underground, made of nothing but brick and stone, lit only by torches. The shackles I was placed in are so thick and strong that not even I, with my superior strength, can break free from them.

Good. At least everyone else is safe from me.

Even so, I loathe this vampire with a passion because despite promising to help me gain control of myself when he first locked me down here, he has done no such thing. He gives me however much blood I need to survive, but nothing more than that.

Which brings me to the events of today. For the first time in several days, I hear the locks on the door to my little prison click one by one until the door swings open to reveal that same vampire...only he isn't alone. Another man is with him. "You have a visitor, boy," growls the former, "Says he's got a letter for you." He turns to the stranger and adds, "Are you going to read it to him, or shall I?"

"Allow me," the stranger gently responds, unfolding the letter as he enters the room. Even in the dim torchlight, I can make out his features a bit more clearly now. He looks to be more kind than the hateful man in the doorway, and he has a professional air about him.

As he reads the letter aloud in a crystal-clear voice, I can hardly believe the words are real. Am I truly getting out of here? Going to a place where I can gain control for real and put a stop to all the death?

The vampire in front of me smiles. "I understand how much of a shock this must be to you. But I assure you, Kaiden, that I will help you in whatever way I can. Ah...I haven't introduced myself yet, have I?"

I wordlessly shake my head.

"My apologies, then. My name is Mr. Darkblood. I'm a teacher at Cybele Academy."