ALTHOUGH THE SCHOOL YEAR HAD JUST BEGUN, FAITH DETESTED EVERYTHING ABOUT THE WALT DISNEY WORLD ACADEMY. The world was too bright and fragrant for her liking as vivid flowers spanned the grounds as far as the eye could see. Her nose wrinkled and her lips twitched as she raised a hand to keep herself from going blind while she sought refuge beneath the shade of the bloomed cherry blossoms that lined the academy paths.

She preferred the shadows and the safety their darkness ensured. She possessed more secrets than fingers on her hand— not all of which necessarily belonged to her—and the darkness helped keep things hidden. She wasn't prepared to have her personal confidence unveiled to the public, but didn't fall under the disillusion that her presence at the school would eventually bring those secrets to light.

While the student body mingled and meshed like a living organism as they cluelessly navigated around the campus, whispers clawed at Faith's ear. These whispers gradually increased like the trickle of a faucet to the roar of a fountain. Eventually, her own inner voice was lost to the dozens that chattered and vibrated within her mind.

"Kill that one... his father destroyed me."

"That one deserves a fate crueler than death."

"No, not that one, the child beside her."

"No! My desire for vengeance should be quenched first."

Listening to the banter between each voice was like enduring the wrath of nails against a chalkboard. Faith pressed a palm against her forehead to calm the sensory overload, yet her efforts were fruitless. She internally chastised and scolded the voices—crying out for them to shut up in muttered gasps under her breath—but they only drowned her out with their own complaints and demands. She buried her face into her knees, begging for silence. Only once the moment of anticipated bliss came, she almost wished it hadn't. For Faith knew it wasn't her own doing that quieted the voices, but the chilling presence of someone far less welcome.

"Je ne t'ai pas vu depuis un bon moment, moi petite Foi." The figure was but a silhouette as the sun created an ironic halo effect around them.

Faith had no doubts about the identity of the girl before her as familiar knots twisted in her stomach. "Bonjou, Desirée."

"What?" Desirée scoffed, rolling her eyes while her lips remained curled back in a smile too wide to be deemed natural. "No love for your big sister?"

"For the time being I'll tolerate your voice over those of our friends." Faith's eyes slowly adjusted, allowing her to focus the details of her sister that she'd practically forgotten. Her dark hair that was slicked back to perfection. The charms and carved figurines that clacked with every step she took. Anyone else might have looked tacky, but Desirée instilled fear.

Desirée clicked her tongue while her expression turned smug. "Having some issues?"

"Annoyed," Faith corrected, brushing away the blades of grass that stuck to her black jeans. "How do you deal with them?"

"The voices?" Desirée asked, almost like the thought had never occurred. As if she were just naturally talented when it came to the dark arts and had no problems taking the dark spirits that came with those gifts. "Try listening. The other side can be quite helpful if you understand how to interpret their advice."

Faith crossed her arms, nodding her head while she frowned. "So then what are you doing here?"

"Someone's in a bad mood," Desirée commented.

"It's not like you have anything to learn," Faith reiterated, unease creeping into her tone. "So why here and why now?"

Desirée's intentions had always been complicated. She was insensitive and malicious, only ever looking out for herself. Any moments in between were rare, but all the more off putting. She was the type of person who looked at others like business transactions. If you didn't have anything to offer, you weren't worth her time.

"Dear old dad sent a message from the great beyond," Desirée replied, remaining vague enough that if anyone other than family were to have overheard, the would remain none the wiser. "Said I was to show up here and await further instruction. I can only assumed you received something similar."

Faith slowly nodded. "And the others?"

"I haven't seen them," Desirée admitted, "but I've got eyes and ears everywhere. Dad never was one for sharing his plans, so I adapted."

"You weren't exactly an open book either," Faith's tone held a bitter edge. "So is there a reason you took a few moments of your precious time to meet? I'd like to start making my presence known around this place."

"How entirely out of character," Desirée noted with an amused chuckle. "But I had a similar intention: to make my presence known."

Faith tensed. "So I can go?"

Desirée scoffed, regarding her sister with indifference. "Do I have control over what you do?"

Faith shook her head, eyeing her sister with a look of distrust and skepticism while she made an effort to leave; however, she hesitation as her sister sighed with an amused chuckle.

"Well... not yet at least."

Faith glanced over her shoulder, but to her own dismay she'd been left alone. She released a silent breath of relief, allowing her posture to loosen as she shook herself free from the feeling of suffocation she endured whenever near her sister.

"I hate it when she does that," she muttered.

The moment of isolation lasted less than a second as she was met by an opposing force. All she saw was a blur of pink before she was knocked onto the ground.

Faith didn't hesitate to snapped at whatever or whoever was the source behind the incident. "Watch where you're going!"

The girl that had run into slowly stood, dusting herself off while muttering a half-hearted apology. Despite the girl's attempt to hide her face behind her blonde baby-doll curls, Faith noted the tear stains streaking down the girl's cheeks.

Although she would be nowhere near as flamboyant as her own sister, Faith saw this moment as the perfect time to begin collecting strings from behind the scenes. Taking Desirées advice, Faith opened up to the voices, absorbing the information they offered.

"So... Kitten," Faith broke the lull of silence. She spoke with more confidence that she actually felt, relying on showmanship and the voices to lead her onward.

The girl flinched and seethed at the nickname. "Don't call me that."

"Then what should I call you? Klutz?" Faith asked, crossing her arms with a bemused smirk. "You haven't exactly made the best first impression."

"My name is Madeline, Madeline O'Malley," the girl said with a cute little 'harumph'.

Faith chuckled, belittling the girl as she looked her over. "For a hero's kid, you certainly have an attitude."

Madeline gaped. "How did you—"

"Know?" Faith interrupted, finishing the girl's sentence to add dramatic flair. "I know a great many things. Some of which you may not have told anyone else. Besides... the pink frilly clothes and picture-perfect hair don't help your case."

"Don't judge a book by its cover!" The girl insisted, crossing her arms as her lip jutted into a pout. "Just because my mother is Marie doesn't mean that I'm weak and innocent."

"Oh really?" Faith scoffed with a light smirk.

"Yes!" Madeline exclaimed as she continued her tangent, "To be quite frank, I hate these stupid clothes and their color. They're terribly constricting and stick out like a sore thumb compared to most of the other students. Don't even let me start on how much I despite my hair—"

"Then change it," Faith countered.

"What?" Madeline asked, caught off-guard as her train of thought was interrupted.

"Cut it. Dye it." Faith shrugged. "Do anything to it, what do I care."

Madeline grew quiet. "My mother would freak if I changed anything about my appearance."

"Well..." Faith feigned innocence with a spark of mischief. "Your mother isn't here, now is she?"

That realization slowly dawned on the blonde. "No? She's not..."

"And what mother doesn't know can't hurt right?"

Madeline grew more energetic, falling for Faith's charismatic charm. "Yeah..."

"Then what's stopping you?"

"Nothing!" the girl exclaimed with delight. She turned on her heels, calling back over her shoulder as she skipped back toward presumably the dormitories. "Thank you!"

Faith flinched at the momentary gratitude, rolling her eyes at the chipper display. However, her lips slowly curled back into a grin as she muttered inaudibly under her breath. "No. Thank you."

"Is she the one?"

"Yes." Faith slowly nodded. "I think she might just nicely fall into place."

"Shall we begin?"

"Not yet." She shook her head. "Rewards come to those who wait."

However, she was shaken from her own thoughts as Madeline returned but a moment later, out-of-breath and hardly prim and proper anymore.

"You're back?" Faith's brow knitted with confusion.

"I didn't get your name," Madeline explained, huffing to catch her breath.

"Faith," she replied, "Faith Facilier." She flicked her fingers, seemingly pulling a card from mid air when in actuality she'd retrieved it from her jacket pocket. "Here. Contact me if something comes up."

Madeline looked momentarily confused. "Why?"

"Consider me a benefactor in your efforts here at the academy," Faith explained.

Madeline giggled as if some double meaning had been issued with the card. "If you wanted to stay in touch to remain friends that's all you had to say."

"Right..." Now Faith was the one who looked confused. Yet Madeline accepted the card anyway and returned back to her merry way toward the dormitories.

Perhaps there were some perks to attending the academy. She'd had her doubts at first—no matter how much she claimed otherwise—but if she enough of this student body was as naive as the girl she'd just met, then she might just pull off fulfilling her debt to the other side. One day she might actually reclaim her own life.

The thought of being freed from the voices pushed her onward into the main building as she meandered down the hall toward the main office to finish her enrollment. She'd procrastinated as long as she could, but now it was impossible to avoid the inevitable any longer.

"Watch out WDCA," Faith murmured, eyeing the world of conquest. "The name Facilier is back."