Incompatible, Chapter 1

Chapter 11

She was lying in the middle of the road. Phillip had to rein his cantering horse suddenly in order to keep from trampling her. His long black cloak billowed behind him as Phillip dismounted to look at the girl. From the tracks he could tell that her attackers had taken advantage of the way the road wound around the cliffs to obscure view. The tracks revealed that the girl’s horse had reared when the bandits arrived suddenly. The girl was thrown from the horse and was robbed. Phillip now looked at the girl. She couldn’t have been more than 13 by the looks of her. Her left eye was swollen shut, cuts and slashes appeared all over her body; she had given the bandits a run for her money but was outmatched. Phillip examined the girl and knew that her wounds gave her little chance of survival. So Phillip wrapped the girl in a blanket and lifted her gingerly. Almost immediately a black stallion rushed forth from behind another bend in the road. Phillip panicked and accidentally dropped the girl, which made the horse calm down a bit. It went over and nuzzled the girl who began to gain consciousness. The horse turned to glare at Phillip Leave now. The telepathic abilities of the horse surprised Phillip, nonetheless he responded, “Will she be alright?” The horse looked at the girl, “With help and time.” The stallion bent down and the girl mounted feebly. “I could be the help.” The horse nodded. The girl sat up, winced and looked at Phillip while looking at Phillip. “How are you feeling?” Phillip knew it was a stupid question to ask but the girl’s stare made him uneasy and he didn’t know what else to say. “I can’t remember anything.” She said, “nothing but fear.” When she said this, shadows flocked to her and she was hidden in a thick, dense cloud of black fog. Phillip made a note in his head to tell his daughter Helena about the fog. “Do you remember your name?” The cloud dissipated as fast as it had appeared as the girl’s thoughts turned to her name. “No.” she said after a long pause. “You don’t remember where you’re going then?” the girl shook her head. “Why don’t you come to my house to mend, it’s only a short distance away and maybe you’ll remember more after a few days.” The girl nodded so they rode off. 2

They arrived at Phillip’s house long after dark. Helena was waiting up for Phillip and didn’t look the least bit surprised when she saw Phillip helping the girl. “How was the ride in?” she asked to no one in particular. “Cold and windy.” Responded Phillip. Helena showed the girl to the spare room they reserved for guests. When she came back, Helena took her father aside. “So what’s the reason behind this one?” Phillip explained the tracks and how the girl’s fall had somehow made her lose her memory. “Why doesn’t the horse know where to go?” asked Helena when he was done. “He’s not her horse. The tracks indicate that he belonged to one of the bandits.” Phillip paused, “Not only that… she has a venix.” Helena looked at her father, “Now you’ve really lost your mind. Her hair is black as ebony! It’s a dark contrast between our blonde hair. There is no way she could be a Sunfire.” “Of course not, no, she’s a Moon.” Now Helena was truly outraged: “How do we know Valkyrie didn’t send her?” Phillip looked at his feet. “One night.” He said, looking up, “If you find something, fine. Until then she stays.” Phillip turned and walked off. 3

Helena went to the spare room to see how the girl was settling in. She found the girl sitting on the bed, “What’s a ‘venix’?” “Have you been eavesdropping?” The girl shook her head; “Phillip mentioned it on the ride here.” “I’ll tell you when you’re ready.” As she studied the girl Helena noticed her wounds and the blood that was oozing from them. “Gracious, how can you even walk?” the girl shrugged. Helena left, but returned with some bandages and ointment. The girl received her treatment without complaint despite the occasional wince. It was then that Helena came up with a name for the girl: Silenia. 4

In the weeks that followed Silenia’s injuries healed and no one came looking for her. As summer passed by and fall approached Phillip decided to enroll Silenia in a school to train her venix, so he sat Silenia down and explained everything to her. “A venix is the power to control either light or shadows. Good people who control light are called Sunfires. They tend to have blonde hair and are much more common than Sunspots. Sunspots are evil people with the Sun venix, they tend to have dirty blond hair. As a result, most people assume that Suns are good. Evil Moon venixes are called Moonsiders and good Moons are called Moonbeams, they all mostly have black hair. Needless to say people assume all Moons are evil becomes Moonsiders are much more common then Moonbeams. The reason I’m telling you this is because next week you are going to attend a school that will teach you how to use your power.” Silenia nodded her understanding. 5

The next week Silenia rode the stallion she had gotten from the bandits, now named Lucian, and rode to school. Are you nervous? Asked Lucian, Silenia shrugged. The school’s headmaster, Cole Dawson, knew that Silenia was coming and ushered her to the room where 7 classmates were already waiting. Mr. Dawson gave a quick list of names: David Priscilla, Lawrence, Diane, Jessica, Alyssa and Michael. All of them were Sunfires. Dian and Jessica went to discuss a certain move. Lawrence and Michael walked around talking about whatever book they had just read. This left David, Silenia, Priscilla and Alyssa to themselves. “Dawson was smart about the pairings. David’s good at explaining things.” Commented Alyssa. “So how does this all work?” asked Silenia. “We pair up and help each other learn, sometimes we have mock fights with each other. Dawson takes some of us aside sometimes but most of the time he just gives us pointers.” Explained Priscilla, “We should split up, classes are starting.” Priscilla and Alyssa went off on their own.6

“Try grabbing that shadow.” Said David pointing to a dark corner. Silenia stretched out her arm and pinched at the shadow. “Now pull it toward you.” She did, and was surprised when the Shadow spring toward her. “It’s supposed to do that.” Said David when she jumped back and accidentally let go. “Eventually you’ll be able to pull the shadow just by thinking it.” He added. “Can you do that?” asked Silenia. “Sometimes, only if I’m concentrating very hard.” He admitted. 7

In just a few weeks Silenia had gotten to the point where she was having sparring matches with David, like all the other pairs. The two were perfectly matched but there was one move that David could never block: the Rose. While keeping David occupied with thought-controlled shadows Silenia would use her hands to make a rose-shaped shadow. She would then throw it like a dart at David, causing the thorns on the rose to shout out and further occupy him. The last part was when Silenia would trip him causing the attack from the other shadows to become stronger. Naturally Silenia would call the shadows off and catch David’s fall. Mr. Dawson watched the move several times, and studied it hard; he was impressed with his student’s progress.8

It was deep into winter when Valkyrie came. Silenia knew Valkyrie was one of the few Sunspots, but nothing else. Mr. Dawson tried to keep it that way. He felt it coming and he wanted to at least protect his students. “Priscilla, get them out.” He said. “Why?” asked Diane. “She’s coming.” He whispered. At that moment the doors to the school flew open and a woman with dirty-blonde hair strode through the shattered doorframe “It’s been a long time Dawson.” Said the woman. “I’m surprised you didn’t come sooner.” He said, motioning for the students to get out while they could. Silenia backed off but fell into a classroom doorway. The others followed her example, David stuck with Silenia and they both watched in horror as Mr. Dawson tried to combat Valkyrie but was struck down like a fly. “David,” whispered Silenia, “you have to get the others out of here.” “Where are you going?” David didn’t get a response, Silenia stepped out from the doorway and faced Valkyrie. Before she could do anything, Silenia was performing the Rose. David rushed up, grabbed the unconscious Mr. Dawson and snuck one last glance at Silenia. Valkyrie hit the ground with a thud then vanished. Silenia grabbed her cloak and went to find her classmates, who were all standing outside the door. Priscilla was taking charge, as usual, and told everyone to go home. Alyssa was tending to the now irritated Mr. Dawson. “Where did she run off to?” he asked, “For goodness sake Alyssa, I don’t need your first-aid I’m just fine. Now answer my question.” Priscilla, David and Silenia went over to Dawson, who repeated his question. Silenia shrugged. “Whoa.” Everyone looked at David, who appeared to be having one of his visions. “A house… burning. Scorched and charred. People. There ware people standing outside the remains. Someone died there. Someone is missing…” David blinked; the vision was over. Alyssa ushered her patient out of the cold, “Like it or not you are getting my first-aid.” “I think I’ll head home.” Said Silenia, she whistled for Lucian and bid her friends goodbye.9

When Silenia arrived at home, panic overtook her: David’s vision had been for her. The house was smoking from a dead fire. Silenia rushed inside and saw Valkyrie standing over Phillip. “Now my revenge is complete. Although it is too bad that I couldn’t get the daughter.” Silenia’s voice was shaking with anger when she shouted “She’s gone and you’ll never get her. She doesn’t live here anymore.” But Valkyrie was already gone. Silenia rushed to Phillip, but he was already dead. It happened because of me. Thought Silenia. In that instant she knew what had to be done. She packed a bag containing whatever food or money hadn’t been burned by Valkyrie. Silenia went back outside, mounted Lucian and left with nary a sound. 10