"Bye, Mom! Bye, Kayla! I'll see you for Christmas!" I called over my shoulder as I walked toward the majestic building that was my new school. As I walked inside, I looked around in awe at the glittering chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and the beautiful tapestries hung on the walls. I was so busy admiring the place that I walked right into a girl who was walking down the hallway in the opposite direction.

I shrieked as we collided and both tumbled to the ground. "Ouch," I groaned, as I landed on my sprained wrist. It was healing, but it still hurt sometimes.

"You okay?" the girl asked, looking at me with a concerned look on her face.

"Yeah--actually, no," I muttered, looking at the ground.

"Let me see your wrist," she commanded. I held it out obediently. "I'm Rosemary, by the way. Rosemary Bush."

"I'm Crystal." I had no idea why I was talking to a complete stranger. It was so unlike me. "Crystal White."

"You're new, aren't you?" Rosemary asked curiously. "I mean, you have all your stuff with you." I just nodded. My hand was starting to get this weird, tingly feeling. At first, I thought the thing with the frost was going to happen again. But this felt different. It was warm and made the pain go away, but not by making it numb. It felt like she was healing my sprained wrist, but that wasn't possible.

"Um...what are you doing?" I inquired nervously.

"Shhh," Rosemary whispered. I looked at her face, and I nearly screamed out loud. Her eyes, which were brown a second ago, were now turning this weird green color.

"Oh my gosh, Rosemary, your eyes!" I gasped.

"Oh, it's fine." She let go of my hand and her eyes went back to normal. I looked at it. Completely healed. I couldn't even tell it had been sprained.

"Woah. Okay, what did you do?" I felt lightheaded.

"Let me explain," Rosemary started. "Everyone who is invited to this school has a special super power. We are called "the gifted". My power is healing. In this school, in addition to regular studies, you will have extra classes in which you learn to use your power. Do you have any idea as to what your super power is?"

"Um...I think so," I said quietly. "But I guess I'll find out."

* * *

"Oh, cool, you're in Mrs. Crow's homeroom!" Rosemary exclaimed as she looked at my schedule. "I am too." I had just walked out of the headmasters office after getting my schedule and information about where my dormitory was. "Oh, and look at that, you're in dormitory #5! That's my dormitory too."

"Well, at least I'll know someone," I smiled.

"Look, the dormitory is right here. This is where we will be sleeping each night. Since it's lunchtime, everyone is in the cafeteria. Otherwise, it would be super crowded here." She opened the door to our room. "And take a look inside! There's two beds left, you can choose one. I don't care which one you take."

I walked in and dumped my stuff on an empty bed and looked around. "It's a nice room," I decided.

"Oh, look, who's this?" I heard someone else say. I whirled around and saw a short girl standing in the doorway. "Who are you? What's your super power? And what's your name?" She walked inside and flopped down on one of the beds.

"I'm Crystal, and I don't know my power yet," I explain. "Well, I think I might know, but I'm not really sure."

"Yeah, well, lunch is almost over. So if you want food, you better hurry." She sounded like she wanted to get me out of the room.

"Oh, right! You haven't eaten. Come on, Crystal. Let's go to the cafeteria."

I let Rosemary lead me out of the room. I could tell the girl wanted Rosemary to stay, but she didn't say anything. As we walked away, I heard the door slam. I frowned. She wasn't standing by the door. How did she slam it? Once we were out of earshot, I asked Rosemary, "Who is she? Why is she not being nice to me? And how did she slam the door when she wasn't standing near it?"

"Her name is Aria Venta. She has the power to control wind. And she's not mean. She just doesn't like change. Don't worry, she'll definitely warm up to you," Rosemary explained.

* * *

I woke up in the middle of the night to loud screaming. I bolted out of bed as Rosemary threw on the lights and Aria wrenched the door open. Outside, the hallway was a disaster. Kids were running all over the place. I pushed my way through the crowd and tried to find what was causing the commotion. When I finally saw it, I stumbled back and nearly vomited onto the floor.

It was the dead body of a student.

Aria took one look at the body, gave a tiny gasp, and fainted right there.

"Aria? Aria!" Rosemary shouted as she grabbed her hand and tried using her healing powers to help her. I looked around at everyone, and there was this one lady that my eye was drawn to. She was wearing a long black dress and had long, black hair with green streaks. She looked at me, and we locked eyes. Instantly, I got this feeling like I had seen her somewhere before. Then, she looked away, and the feeling was gone.

"That was Mrs. Crow," Rosemary said. "She's actually pretty nice."

"Yeah, well, I feel like I have met her before," I murmured.

Just then, she clapped her hands loudly. "Everyone, back to your rooms! The teachers will deal with this! Everyone, back to bed!"

As Aria groggily tried to stand, I hauled her to her feet and me and Rosemary helped her back into our room.

* * *

The next couple weeks passed without incident. I was doing well in most of my classes. I say most because there was one class I was completely failing.

"No, Crystal. Channel strong emotions and try to bring out your power." Mrs. Crow was trying to get me to turn a needle to ice.

"I can't!" I cried, frustrated. "I'm not good at this." Also, I'm getting pretty distracted trying to figure out where I've seen you before, I added mentally.

Mrs. Crow sighed. "Come on, Crystal. I know you can do it. Think about your family getting attacked by an evil, and how you would feel."

"Okay," I said uncertainly, grasping the needle in my hand. "Um..." I pictured my mom and dad being tortured to death, and Kayla as that poor girl we found outside the dormitory the other day. That did it. All of a sudden, I felt a rush of anger and fear, and my power went loose. My hands went numb, and the room's temperature dropped to freezing. I clenched my fists and tried to control my power, but I couldn't. I panicked, trying to stop the ice and snow swirling around me, but it just got faster and faster. I screamed, and then I blacked out.

"...Crystal? Crystal, please. Are you okay? Crystal!" I heard as I came to. Mrs. Crow was leaning over me. "Oh, good, you're awake," she sighed.

"What happened?" I asked, struggling to sit up. Mrs. Crow pursed her lips. It was around then I noticed the entire room was covered in ice. Icicles hung from the ceiling, the walls were covered in frost, and there was a thin layer of snow on the floor.

"Oh..." I whispered, struggling to fight back tears. I would never be able to control my power. It was hopeless. "I'm sorry."

"No, Crystal. I know you can do this. We will try again tomorrow, okay? I can't have you join the regular class until you can somewhat keep your powers under control."

"Okay. I'll go to my room." I rushed out of the room before the tears could fall, ignoring Mrs. Crow calling after me. I bolted up the stairs that led to the dormitories, and only after I had burst into dormitory #5 and locked the door did I allow myself to cry. I didn't deserve to be at this school. Sure, I had a power, but what good is that when I can't even control what it does? I could accidentally freeze the entire building!

"Crystal? What's wrong?"

I looked up through teary eyes and saw Rosemary standing in the doorway, looking concerned. "I'm sorry, it's just--I can't seem to control my powers."

Rosemary walked inside and sat next to me on the bed. "Look, I think you should first learn how to create small amounts of ice and snow. Then, worry about making big amounts and having to control it."

"But I can't," I whispered.

Rosemary sighed. "Have you watched Frozen?"

I stared at her like she had grown another head. "Duh! Only about, I don't know, 5 times? Of course I have watched Frozen!"

"Well then, think of yourself as Elsa. How does her power get out of control? How does she manage to control it?"

"Fear makes it go haywire. Love helps her fix the mess she had made," I answered.

"Exactly. Maybe you should try something along the lines of that," Rosemary said, standing up. "I have to go back to class. I'm supposed to be in the bathroom, but I wanted to check in on you. See you later!"

I smiled at her as she left the room, and the flopped back down onto the bed. I doubted this love thing would work for me, but maybe I would try it tomorrow during my next session with Mrs. Crow.

* * *

That night, I heard screaming again. And that time, I knew what it was. I ran out into the corridor, and sure enough, there was another dead body on the ground. But this time, his head was lying on the floor next to him. I covered my mouth with one hand, and stumbled towards the bathroom. I locked myself in one of the stalls and threw up in the toilet. What was going on? Why would people be killing, and beheading, students?
I cleaned myself up and went back out into the hallway, avoiding the area where the body was. Once again, I saw Mrs. Crow standing in the shadows on the side of the hallway, unnoticed by most of the students. I met her eyes again, and I got that strange feeling again. But this time, I was sure I had seen her before I came to this school. And, for some reason, I was getting a feeling that she was behind the killings. But that was ridiculous. Mrs. Crow was really nice, and besides, she was a teacher. She would never kill her own students. No, I was just being paranoid.

But, just then, she gave me a sinister smile and a chill went down my spine. Why was she smiling evilly at me? But after I blinked and looked at her face again, it was a warm and reassuring smile. Now I was sure I was being paranoid. Mrs. Crow was a kind and wonderful teacher who would never harm a fly. I was just imagining things because seeing the body of a beheaded student had shaken me up. I shook my head and turned toward dormitory #5. I should probably get some sleep.