Black Shadows- Chapter 1 12/02/2012 - Willow Nothing to do and nothing more to complete. The exam started exactly 2 minutes and 13 seconds ago. Which means 57 minutes and 47 seconds to go until the exam is over, but first I have to wait and wait and wait. Listening to the ticking of the clocks, the scratchings of pencils and the footsteps of the staff. Now and again you'll hear a cough or sneeze from a neighbouring student. SkyHill School for plain and very ordinary students, except me. I'm Willow Luciana Beatrice Meadow. I am 16 years old and live with my mother Lucia Beatrice Meadow and father Roberto Samuel Xavier Meadow. I also live with my grandmother on my father's side Beatrice Louisa Georgia Meadow. She's old. She is exactly 89 years old today. So in my eyes that ancient, but deep down she's still a youngster. She used to be an actress. Grandma B as we call her walks around the garden reciting her words from an old film, it looks like she's auditioning again. She's crazy but we love her; the craziness runs through the family I guess. Our house consists of an old victorian house. Beautiful handcrafted fireplaces sit in every room. Each one a style of there own. Amongst the ceilings the wooden beams still sit, all shiny and freshly polished. The downstairs rooms each with a walkway and no doors; my mother hates to clean doors. She also has a case of OCD. Everything has a place and should never be moved from that place except in my room. At the moment everything is boxed up or covered under White sheets. I'm decorating you see. The beige painted walls have been changed to turquoise, except one wall which I have painted a full#moonlake scene. The same lake my younger brother Maxi drowned in a year ago. The plain turquoise Walls have photos of family and friends all in a big collage. Anyway, I'm sitting in the exam hall waiting for the time to be over. My pencil tapping on the desk, tap tap tap, are in time with the tick tick tick from the clock at the other end of the room. Not knowing what to do I grab my pen, turn the exam paper over and start to draw. My eyes go blank and I let my hand draw. I don't know what I'm drawing but it's certainly something dark. I can feel myself scribble. There's a tap on my shoulder which makes me jump out of my zone. Looking around the hall, I see empty seats at there desks. Beside me I see a boy. Ice blond hair, He's crouched down, looking at me. His eyes glow violet, his hair sits messily on his head; sticking up in all directions. "You ok?" he asks quietly. "I don't know?" I reply the same quiet voice. He stands up and holds out his hand. I slip my hand in his, and he pulls me up. I wobble as I try to gain my strength. He let's go and grabs my elbow to keep me balanced. Leading me out of the hall, still keeping grip on my arm making sure I don't fall over; his touch his soft yet firm. We walk into the empty hallway, turn left towards the doors what lead outside. Neither of us say anything. As we get nearer something happens. I feel the need to run. Run as fast as I can without stopping, but I restrain myself. I walk outside without talking to the boy holding onto me. The air is fresh, the grass recently mowed, fluffy White clouds floating in the blue sky. That's when it happens..... People running towards us. A group of them, but why? They aren't students but yet they are about the same age as us. I wonder what they want? This is... "Willow? Run," the boy whispers in my ear. I turn to him and for that split second our eyes are locked. I shake my head. I'm staying put. I want to find out what these people want.... The running figures are much closer to us now. A boy who has chestnut brown hair, twin girls, a girl like hermione granger. They aren't slow at running, but yet they aren't as fast as me. I'm probably stronger than them as well. But there is one thing in common between the boy standing next to me, the four running at me and myself.....we all have unusual eyes and are all wearing black. They have all stopped in front of us, and are now standing in a straight line like soldiers, but why? Are they waiting for a command or are they just acting up waiting for us to attack first? I will never know, because I black out. Waking up with a searing pain running through my body. I'm lying on a wooden floor of an unknown building. I start to tug at my clothes. The heat in the room if hot. But not just hot, extremely hot. It's like a desert but stored in a square room. Theres no windows, just a door and a light above me. The floor is roughly sanded, the Walls painted a pale blue. This is definably not my room or house. I start to scratch at my wrists remembering what my counsellor had said to me. She had stated 'Willow if you feel like you don't understand anything or have no one to talk to, don't take it out on your self by scarring your skin. Scream. Scream as loud as you can." That's what she told me to do, so that is what I will do. Standing up in the centre of the room, I take in a deep breath. I open my mouth and out comes a high pitched scream. I keep it going for a good few minutes, until I feel the tears well up in my eyes. Then they start to fall. I sink to the floor and start to properly cry. The tears run down my cheeks and fall onto the wooden floor, disappearing through the floorboards; not knowing where they will end up. A hand appears on my shoulder. I don't look up to see who it is, but I recognise the grip; soft but firm. It's the boy from before, but what's he doing here? I hear someone shuffling about and soon he is sitting next to me, holding something out. I take it and wipe my eyes. Holding it out to him so he can take it back I see it's a pale grey hoody, now stained with mascara and eyeliner. Looking up I hope he sees the sorry look in my eyes. "Your shivering. Put it on," he says taking it out of my shaking hands and wrapping it around my shoulders. Slipping my arms through the sleeves and zipping it up, I smell aftershave mixed with something else, which I recognise but I can't quite put my finger on it. "It's lavender," he says quietly. "How......how did you know what I was thinking?" I asked. "It's kind of complicated Willow," he replied. "I have time," wiping away the left over tears running over my cheeks. He nods in response. He stands up and moves to sit against the wall. So I do the same. "Ok. We have powers. I can mind read and put thoughts into heads. The other four who you will meet later have powers too. The brown haired boy, Kyle, can hold his breath underwater for as long as he wants, the twin girls Tala and Scarlett, can shape shift into animals or someone they are close to, or create a whole new person. And Elsa can levitate things using her mind or herself. Then there's you....." he said. "Me? What can I do? I know I'm strong for someone my age and that I can run fast but I'm not special......am I?" I answered back. "That's exactly what you can do. Your stronger than you think you are, and your speed is unbelievable. Oh and we don't age when we hit seventeen. As soon as our seventeenth birthday our body changes and we don't grow old. It's what happened when you started to draw on your exam paper. I've experienced it and know how horrible it is," he replied quietly. I nodded trying to take it all in. Was I dreaming? Or did I actually have powers which I didn't know about? How could this possibly be right? Turning my head to look at him I remembered that I still didn't know his name? "Carlos Summers," he answered. "Can you stop doing that please? It's freaking me out," I asked. "Sorry but your projecting your thoughts. You don't know how to lock up your thoughts, but I can teach you, so I won't be able to read them unless if I really try to. It will take a long time, but for now I will take you to your room and show you around if that's what you would like? Or I can get someone else to?" he says quietly. "I'd like you to please, but first stand up and fight me?" I asked. "Hang on what?" "Fight me? I know I'm a girl but still.......let's fight," I said. "Ok if your sure?" he answered jumping up to his feet, so he's standing above me. He's obviously taller than me. I only go up to shoulder height on him. His eyes start to glow brighter than before. A silver sparkle appears as he laughs at me. I didn't realise how gorgeous he is. I turn on my feet so my back is towards him. I feel his breath across the back of my neck. My breathing quickens, my pulse races, closing my eyes I hear his footsteps. A grip appears on my shoulder and as quick as a flash, my hand reaches his wrist and he's flying over my head and into the wall opposite. His head hits the wall with a crack. Before I even see him he rushing straight towards me. I push out my fist and it catches him in the stomach. Grabbing his top I lift him up off of the ground and swing him over my head and flat onto the wooden floor. It creates splinters flying around the room in every direction. Still holding onto his shirt I see Crimson red. Blood. It's running from his head. "Summers?" I whisper. I gently slap him across his face. His eyes flutter open, and he smile at me. Reaching up with his hand, he places his palm on my cheek.