“This is it.”
Jayde peeled her eyes away from the mermaid dragging a sailor underwater to find Mr. Crea opening a door. She hurried forward to look in and was surprised by how large it was. There was a bed against the north wall, a desk in the south-east corner, a small dresser and bookshelf on the west wall, and a curtained window in the east wall. There was a door leading into what looked like a bathroom in the north-east corner, surprising her even more since she had always assumed a private school would have huge community bathrooms. The room did seem extra large though, seeming to be missing something, like another set of all the furniture.
She entered the room, just happy that the walls weren’t asylum white, but a dark beautiful blue. She rolled her suitcase to the end of the bed and pulled the duffel bag over her head to set it on the bed. Jayde walked to the window and opened the grey curtains to let some of the sunlight in. The view from the window was pretty great from the room. It was mostly trees, of course, but she could see the lovely fountain in the circle drive as well and would be able to watch the wildlife whenever they wandered out of the forest. Jayde was looking forward to seeing how the tree filled horizon would look once the sun was dipping behind them.
“Alright, Miss. Vaninee, you’ll have your own room due to just now learning how to control your natural characteristics, and the fact that vampires can get a little territorial.” She turned away from the window to see Mr. Crea setting the large suitcase by the desk. “If you need anything, the first room we passed is the dorm supervisor’s. She’ll be able to help you. If you have any questions about the new information about yourself, I’ll be in my classroom. You have two classes with me, so you’ll get to know where it is.” He stepped forward and handed her a key. “This is for your room. Although most students know better, there have been some issues with students stealing from others, so may want to keep your door locked. I hope you have a good rest of your day, Jaydelynn.”
Jayde watched him bow slightly then walk out, shutting the door behind him. She studied the key, wondering at the green mark that was deeply etched into both sides of the top part. She shook her head, looking back at the closed door as she thought about how old-worldly this place was with all the bowing and ‘miss’ that or ‘sir’ this. She wondered if she would have to get used to having to call all of her professors by ma’am or sir.
Sitting on the bed, she looked around the room again. This would be ‘home’ for the next couple of months, her place to sleep, do homework, and relax. This was the only secure space she had to escape from her reality and the people who occupied it. It essentially felt to her that it was the start of a new life. It was going to be a very terrifying adventure.
The start of the adventure would be unpacking and making the bed. However, she didn’t feel like doing anything more than exploring the castle and being lazy. With a soft sigh, she laid down and stared over at the desk. The laptop and her schedule sat there untouched. Just like Mr. King had said they would be. If she was honest with herself, Jayde was afraid to look at the schedule and find out that the classes would have crazy names with professors with unpronounceable names. Honestly, that might make the situation more real with no chance of it being some weird dream.
An image of her mother’s face came to mind as she thought more on the situation she had been thrown into. Natashia had been sad, maybe even a little remorseful, but Jayde had been able to tell that if given the chance, Natashia would have done the same thing all over again. Questions filled Jayde’s mind, one that seemed the most important continuously repeating in her mind.
Why?
Jayde stood up and went to the desk, staring down at the laptop for a moment. She sat down in the chair and opened the laptop, seeing she would have to set up the password, email, all that. Huffing out an irritated breath, she spent a good twenty minutes setting it all up. Once done, she opened a brand new Word document and stared at it for a moment as she let all the questions stir back up in her mind. Slowly, she typed out the header, addressing it to her mother. Despite having had the opportunity to ask Mr. Crea the questions crowding her mind and wanting to have answers, it was more important to her to get those questions answered by her mother.
Staring at the screen again, Jayde muttered, “I could have gotten into a lot less trouble if I’d known.”
For her, it really was the act of continuously lying to her that really hurt. Why wait to tell her what she truly is for a whole seventeen years? Beyond that, why didn't she just know from the beginning? How could it have been possible to hide it? Was magic really that strong? All of the questions burning her mind came out in a wild flurry of typing. It was a combination of questions and text-yelling about the whole messed up situation. In the end, the letter was only about five pages long, but Jayde felt a lot better, like she had been able to push the boulder crushing her off of her chest.
Sitting back in the chair, Jayde realized she had been at the castle for a whole hour. It being early afternoon, the two o’clock sunshine wasn’t coming through anymore since she was on the east side of the building. She thought about possibly emailing the letter to her mother, but she still felt so hurt she didn’t care nor want to at that moment. Jayde realized she needed to talk with her, to fix the rift in their relationship, but she was still mad enough she just lacked the motivation too.