It was ten o'clock on a Saturday morning and I hadn't slept all night. The anxiety of the meeting with E had kept me up but I had finally decided to go. Only three more hours.

Boredom: feeling weary and impatient because one is unoccupied or lacks interest in one's current activity.

Yep, that sounds like my current state. I sat on my bed re-reading the letters and trying to stay calm. Instead of allowing myself to panic I decided to have a nap seeing as I was exhausted from having zero sleep. I set an alarm so I didn't sleep through the meeting and flopped on my bed, going out like a light.

Fire surrounded me, deep reds and vibrant oranges licking my ankles as it curled around me into a circle. A man stepped out of the shadows a few meters away. He had my eyes but dark brown hair and a tired face. He looked so familiar yet it felt weird to see a mysterious face with my navy blue eyes. He held a hand out and spoke in a deep voice, 'Luci, it's okay, you'll be okay, control it, come to me Luci, it's going to be okay'
A smile crept onto his face before it dropped and he called, 'No, Luci, please don't leave, I'll protect you, I am-'

I sat up quickly and felt tears and sweat roll down my face. Who was that man? Why was he talking to me? How did he know me? What was I saying, it was only a vivid dream. I planted my feet on the timber floorboards and stood up slowly before checking the time on my phone. 12:45, perfect timing. I walked downstairs and put a jacket and my converse on before walking out the door. I began walking down the street when a wave of nausea hit me. Stories of girls being kidnaped and assaulted flooded my mind and I almost turned back and ran into my room to watch Netflix for 10 hours straight. But curiosity got the better of me and I took a deep breath, forcing myself to continue walking. I put my earphones in and chose 'death of a bachelor'. I lip synced as I walked along the sidewalk. After three more panic! at the disco songs I had reached the cornershop and walked towards the coffee shop. I looked inside and saw it quite crowded with all kinds of people. How was I supposed to find E in here? I walked in cautiously and took a seat at one of the few empty booths. A stressed looking waitress came over and took my order of a caramel milkshake before running over to serve a couple who had just walked in. I checked the time on my phone. 12:58. Well I wasn't late at least. I checked Pinterest for a minute until my drink was brought over and I kept pinning while sipping my beverage. I checked the time again. 12:59 and 55 seconds. I guess that E should be here very soon, I thought. I went to look back down to my phone when I saw a tall women walk through the door. Her crimson pencil skirt, pink and green sweater, and blue stiletto heels usually wouldn't look anything but disastrous, although they looked absolutely fabulous on her. Her olive skin looked amazing and black waist long hair was pulled into a half up-half down style. She looked around for a second before her eyes narrowed on me, and I can tell you, I have never felt so uncomfortable. It felt as though someone was looking into my mind, all my memories, dreams, hopes, fears, everything that was mine. She walked towards me, her bright purple eyes, that were absolutely brilliant, still piercing my own. She clicked her fingers and I gasped as my surroundings froze, the waitresses mid run, people mid sentence, the woman continuing to approach me. You could hear a pin drop, it was so quiet besides the click-clack of her 3 inch heels. She reached my table and grinned, "Luci? Hi, I sent the plane! My goodness you have grown!"
She must have seen my confusion because her grin softened into a sweet smile and she sat down.
"I am sure you have many questions, some I cannot answer, but I will try my best."
I had many questions but all I could get out was, "who are you?" I blurted. She chuckled and nodded.
"Fair enough, I am Miss Elnace a teacher at a school called 2E academy," She suddenly looked worried, "sorry, I forgot you didn't know what is going on."
I nodded and all the memories from the past few days flew back to my mind. The blue eyed boy, the fire, the red and the dream from this morning, the one with the strange man. Miss Elnace gave me a smile full of pity and sympathy.
"Do you know that man?" She asked with a small stutter. I shook my head.
"Well that is good, dreams with people you know are never good." She looked down and frowned.
"How do you know that I was thinking that?" I asked, intrigued as well as scared.
She grinned and winked, "I'm a mind reader, it's my job at 2E to teach mind reading and prophecy. That's why I sent that second note, to let you know not to be scared."
Well that made sense, except that this was impossible. All of this was like a fantasy book, like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson or the hunger games. Like a story I had been told as a child. What's next, mermaids and werewolves?
"Well, there are no such things as mermaids or werewolves, although there are sirens and shapeshifters." Miss Elnace muttered under her breath.
"Ok, this is so weird but I have had some weird ass stuff happen these past few days, so explain why I am here." I was different, I don't know why, but I wanted to get to the bottom of why I was a freak. Also why I had to come here on a Saturday instead of watching Netflix and eating junk all day.
"2E is a school for children ages 14 to 18, it actually stands for 'the Eerie academy for Eerie students' but everyone calls it 2E. You obviously know you are not normal, in the best way possible, so that is why 2E is offering you a scholarship."
Miss Elnace clicked again and a contract with a ballpoint pen on it appeared in front of me as well as a pair of sparkly purple glasses framed her eyes.
"You sign, you agree to come to our school, full of people just like you," She gave a half smile, "Luci, this is your chance to escape.
"All you have to do is sign right here"
The woman's purple glasses slid down her nose as she handed the pen to me, not breaking eye contact. I didn't have to do this, right? I mean, being able to do all that weird stuff is normal. Having fire powers that burn people is so normal. And having anger issues that cause you to turn red and become Satan like is- you know what, let's just sign it. I placed my signature on the paper after reading through some boring guidelines including that mum would have to know about this and that I will see her in holidays and that I could never tell anyone about this, blah blah blah. Miss Elnace clicked and the contact disappeared.
"Well Luci, I am very excited to have you joining our school, I'm sure you will love it," She stood up and pulled a paper plane from her jacket pocket, "on here is a list of requirements, dates and transportation." It flew by itself into my hand and I placed it in my pocket. I looked back up to say thank her but Miss Elnace appeared to have disappeared. I left some cash for my milkshake and stepped outside before turning and walking back home, so many questions still unanswered, but a few spots of sunlight peaking through my cloudy reality.

My house is a one storey red brick home. Pretty boring, but after dad died it was the best we could do with mums small income. Maybe with me gone it will make it easier for her to cope, without any extra expenses from me. I walked through the door and saw mum sitting at the kitchen bench. I went to say hi when I noticed that she was crying. My mum never cries, ever.
"Mum?" I slowly approached her, "mum, what's wrong?"
She looked up startled, tears dripping from her green eyes, now bloodshot from the tears. She wiped them away and sniffed.
"Hey darling, I'm fine," she saw my unconvinced face and sighed, "I just got a letter saying that you have been accepted into 2E."
My eyes widened, "you know about 2E?"
She patted the seat next to her and I sat down as she pushed a plate of apple slices towards me. I took one, still shocked that she knew about 2E.
"Yes, I know about it, your father went there as a child before he came here and met me, before he died." She let another tear roll down her face. "He loved you very much, Luci, please remember that. He would be so proud of you."
I took a deep breath and exhaled, taking in this new information.
"Why didn't you tell me that he was like me, that you knew about the stuff going on?" I was suddenly full of anger. I felt betrayed, lied to.
"Trust me, Luci," she looked even sadder now, "I would have told you but if you knew it could have put you in danger."
I remembered the boy with blue eyes, "as in, people would use it against you, try to convert you to join them."she added.
It's made sense now. That bastard, how naive I was to even speak to him.
"Luci, I have a shift now but just try to relax and read over what you need to take and sort through your stuff." She smiled, a few tears remaining in her eyes, before she picked her bag and keys up. She walked to the door and told me bye and that I can call her whenever I needed to. I walked up to my room and sat on my bed before opening the paper crane.

Luci Aubrey falls,
We are very happy that you have accepted our scholarship and will be attending our academy. I hope you understand this is not a normal school but a school for people and creatures ages between 14 and 18 who possess some power or magic. The first day of school is on the tenth of April so we would expect you to be here by the 8th. Transportation to 2E academy is by plane. Please go to carton bookstore on the 7th of April and give them the ticket below. They will know what to do.
We hope to see you soon.
Sincerely
Madame Edraele, headmistress of 2E

Requirements:
5 plain notebooks
Pencils, sharpener, eraser
Any personal technology
Mufti clothing (we have the same week as you and you will have uniforms on schooldays but weekends you can wear your own choice of clothing)
Any personal items e.g. jewellery, photos, anything you feel you should bring
uniforms will be provided along with toiletries, textbooks and a dorm room

Woah. This is so cool but also so freaking scary. I put the letter on my dresser as well as a white plane ticket with navy writing.

Luci Falls
Plane 3, swaps airport, 7th of April
Destination: 2E academy

Interesting. I began packing things; stationary, a few photos of me and mum, a few personal items like jewellery and makeup. I wouldn't pack my clothes until tomorrow since it was only the 5th of April and my flight wasn't until the 7th. My mind was racing with ideas of my new school and how it was going to be. I had always gone to the same school and lived in the same house. This was going to be difficult but if I got to find out why I'm like this then it is worth it. It had to give me some answers to this never ending puzzle.

The next day passed in a minute, with me and mum planning and picking outfits for school. I chose some new notebooks, picked my clothes and spent the day with mum who wouldn't stop crying. She told me about how I will have 10 weeks at school per term plus 2 week breaks in between before summer break which was 6 weeks. She told me that I could either stay there during breaks and come home at summer break or come home all holidays. I told her I would decide when the time comes.
Finally, the 7th of April rolled around. Mum woke me at 7:30 and made me pancakes, while we talked about things we could do during the summer. I was really going to miss her, and the house. I have never been close with mum until now but she was still my mum and I loved her. I was definitely not going to miss my school though. Yesterday, mum had received an call stating that I was being 'temporarily suspended' so mum told them that I was leaving anyway and hung up. We didn't hear back from them. She made a big fuss of checking my bag again to make sure I had everything before we hopped in the car and began the 2 hour drive to carton bookstore, a city away. We followed Siri's directions and ended up at a small bookstore and coffeehouse in the outskirts of the city. We got out and I grabbed my bag before walking inside. The bell dinged and a woman came up to us.
"Hi, welcome to cartons bookstore and coffee house, how can I help you?" She asked with a smile.
I looked behind her and saw only one other person, a 30 year old or so man, and had to look again when I saw a pair of horns on their head. He looked up and smiled before going back to his coffee and novel. I looked at the women and gulped,
"um hi, my name is Luci, I have a plane ticket." Wow, slow clap for my social awkwardness. She giggled.
"I get it, can I see your ticket?" I gave her the ticket and she studied it before handing it back to me with a smile.
"Fantastic, come with me and we'll get you on your way," I looked back at the horn man, slightly scared. "He is a saytr," she smirked, "you still new to the origin world?"
I nodded, finally understanding something. Mum had told me that the origin world is the first world created before someone found a connection to our world. Creatures started coming here and breeding with humans and children would start showing powers or magic at the age of around 14-16 and then were introduced to the origin world. The reason we know about something some magic creatures such as sirens, shapeshifters and elementals was because of humans who have snuck into the origin world or have magical family and snitched on us. Obviously no one believed them but created stories about magic and creatures, luckily not exposing the origin world. We had to be protected so that humans didn't find our secrets. Obviously dad didn't really care since he told mum but she kept this secret so I guess it was fine.
The waitress smiled and started walking towards the bookshelf on the far wall. I turned toward mum and saw that she was trying so hard not to cry. I gave her a big hug and she sobbed into my shoulder before looking at me in the eye.
"I love you, be good, I'll see you soon and call me whenever you need me," she sniffed, "your father loves you so much, he really does, if he could see you he would be so proud."
I frowned as she walked out and got in her car. Why would he last words to me before I left be about my dead dad? The waitress cleared her throat and I saw a levitating very old leather book in front of her. She opened it and it flicked through pages on its own before stopping. The waitress motioned for me to stand in front of it and hold it. It felt smooth and heavy, and radiated power and wisdom. The words on the page were in very scratchy hand writing and was composed of 6 paragraphs, all with a title.
"Read these words," she pointed to a paragraph titled 'spell to get to the swap system', "then you will be transported."
I read the words in my head and nothing happened. I looked up, confused.
"Out loud." She sniggered.
"Oh, sorry." I blushed deep red and began reading.

'To travel from the human land,
You will need a helping hand,
To the origin world you must go,
Only by the swap system, thou must know'

I thought that it hadn't worked until I felt the floor disappeared and I screamed as I fell through a black hole before hitting a soft surface. I stood up and wobbled for a second. I looked around at what appeared to be a passage and saw a big beam of light in front of me. I walked toward it and gasped when I saw the inside of swaps airport.

Hello, I am very sorry this is up a couple days late, I was under a bit of stress from other commitments but it won't happen again. Please vote and comment! Thanks, Tia