You know that feeling you get at the end of the school year? When the days grow more beautiful by the moment, and the last thing you want to do is stay inside, especially if that inside is a school? That's how Emma Sonnet felt this morning.
Emma did enjoy school, however. She was keen on learn-ing, especially art and history. Math threw her for a loop now and then, but she had to admit that she liked the challenge. Best of all though, school was the place where she was guaranteed to see her friends on a daily basis.
Today was different from most days at the end of the year.
Today was field trip day, something Emma felt she much need-ed and deserved. This meant she and her classmates got to get out of school for a while. Even though school was almost out for the summer anyway, any time away from the grind was a treat.
They were going to a San Francisco art museum called the Legion of Honor. This didn't thrill every student in the group, but it was a place Emma loved to visit.
Plus, her two best friends were there: Dawn and Brett. The three had been friends since freshman year, and they shared many of the same classes and the same sense of humor. But this past year, they shared something much, much greater.
A secret.
Emma was more that your typical high school teen. By day she appeared to be an average teenage girl, but by night-she dressed up in a modified gymnastics suit and fought crime.
Really!
When Emma revealed her secret to her friends, she knew it was an unbelievable story. And that was just the tip of the ice cream cone.
Here's the scoop: Emma was the embodiment of a Muse from the ancient days of Greece when the gods and mortals walked hand and hand. Anyone who studied Greek mythology knew about the nine Muses, each of whom helped to inspire an art form. But none knew of the 10th Muse-the inspiration for justice.
At that moment, however, she, Emma, was methodically ripping pictures of various boy bands off her locker.
"Is your dream boy getting married?" her friend Dawn asked.
"No," Emma explained. "It's just that on the last day of school I want to get out of here as soon as that bell rings."
"You know we still have two weeks," Dawn said, "and they include those little things called finals?"
"I know. And I'm sure I'll be twice as busy as the rest of you then."
Dawn knew exactly what she meant. She understood that Emma's responsibility as the Muse meant she had to patrol the city at night, trying to right any wrongs. And somehow, after doing all that, she still managed to be on Honor Roll.
Dawn was smart too; most of her free time was spent in the pages of a book. And speaking of reading-Dawn knew a lit-tle more about comic books than the average high school girl.
She also read and collected many novels, including her favorite genre: science fiction.
Dawn was not much on the popularity scene, however. A bridge of freckles crossed the top of her cheekbones and over her nose. She dressed in darker, unusual clothes and dyed her red hair lots of colors.
Emma, on the other hand, could have easily played the pop-ularity game. She had the looks: long, blond hair. Sparking blue eyes. Plus a warm and welcoming smile. She also had the per-sonality-she could talk to anyone about anything. But she wasn't into " being popular." It just never felt like her scene.
"I just can't wait for this year to be over," Emma admitted to her friend.
Dawn was surprised. "But you love school."
"I do," said Emma, "but I need a break. A little Emma Time."
"Guess we all need a little Emma Time," Dawn agreed, "but at least we have the field trip today."
"And let me tell you how excited I am about that."
"How excited are you?" their friend Brett shouted from down the hall.
To most people at the school, Brett was considered a geek or a nerd. Probably because of his small stature, thick horn-rimmed glasses and smarts. But for those who really got to know him, they saw another side: a funny, sarcastic young man with a heart of gold.
"Oh good," Brett said, as he checked out Emma's empty locker. "All the boy bands are gone."
It was a buddy thing: they all shared their lockers with each other. Whoever had a class closest to one of the three lockers stashed his/her books there.
"Emma's getting ready for the last day of school," Dawn informed him.
"She's a little early, isn't she?" said Brett.
"I think she's trying to be prepared for a change."
"Our Emma?" Brett sounded surprised.
"Why are my friends talking about me as if I wasn't here?"
said Emma.
But before they could answer, their attention was drawn to the end of the hall as the doors burst open and Grayson Bishop swaggered in.
He was never one for a quiet entrance.
Grayson was the most arrogant guy in school. He was cap-tain of the wrestling team and one of the best football players in school. He was perfect in everything-just ask him-and he wouldn't let you forget it. It also didn't help that his parents were rich socialites, who spoiled him like crazy.
At one time, all the other jocks of the school would gather around him as if he were king. But after certain events earlier that year, most of them now kept their distance. They were thrilled to play sports with him, but nobody wanted to be his pal anymore.
But Grayson didn't notice. He assumed all the guys wanted to be his friend and all the girls wanted to go out with him.
These days, most of the students just wanted him as a casual acquaintance.
Grayson was a good-looking guy. His deep brown eyes highlighted his boyish face. His slick black hair had a streak of white in the front, a trademark since he was born. He had a wrestler's build: a large, muscular upper body and firm legs.
To top it off, he always wore the latest, most expensive clothes. And on his right hand, his high school ring glistened in the sunlight, his own personal icon as the school's pride and joy.
"Don't make eye contact," Emma warned her friends.
"Don't make eye contact."
"Hello, Emma." Grayson approached her, ignoring Brett and Dawn. "Would you like to be my partner on today's field trip?"
"I don't think we've had to do the partners thing since sixth grade," Emma informed him.
"Then let me be your guide. My family practically paid for the entire museum."
Emma didn't believe that, but she learned long ago that it wasn't worth arguing with Grayson. "I've already got my guides." She motioned to Brett and Dawn.
"You really need to hang around with more influential peo-ple," said Grayson.
"I do," Emma agreed. "When they show up, can you intro-duce them to me?"
"There 's gonna come a time when you'll need me,"
Grayson said, "and if you keep treating me this way, I may not be there."
"Then I guess I'll have to open that jar of pickles by myself," Emma joked.
"You can try running it under hot water," Brett said. "I found that always works."
"Or pound the lid on the counter," countered Dawn. "That should loosen that baby up."
"Maybe I should write this down." Emma leaned into her locker and reached for her notebook.
"You guys really are a bunch of nerds," Grayson said as he turned to walk away.
The three of them began laughing. Grayson didn't let on if he had heard them or not.
"So you're not going to miss our daily fun with Grayson?"
Dawn asked.
"No," said Emma. "I won't miss that at all."
She closed the locker and they all headed for their separate homerooms.
The field trip was scheduled for second period. It would be chaperoned by Emma's first-period history teacher, Mr. Coco, and her old Western Civilization teacher, Mr. Rivers.
Mr. Rivers was Emma's favorite teacher. Emma enjoyed learning about ancient history and Mr. Rivers always made it interesting. He appreciated having a student excited about the world of the past.
Dawn suspected that Emma had a crush on Mr. Rivers.
Emma vehemently denied it. But they all feared that recent events had made Mr. Rivers suspicious about Emma's noctur-nal activities.
Emma's first class felt as if it might last a century. Mr. Coco was reviewing some high points of the museum's collection and their roots in what they'd studied that year. The moment the bell rang, Emma raced for the door.
Dawn and Brett were right behind her.
"Where's the fire?" Mr. Rivers asked them as they flew through the doors to the courtyard towards the waiting bus.
"It's museum day!" Emma exclaimed.
"Good to see you're excited," Mr. Rivers said. "And I'm sure that has nothing to do with you missing the rest of your classes today."
"No," Emma replied. " Not at all."
To their horrible surprise, Grayson Bishop was already on the bus.
"I saved a seat for you, Emma," he called out of his open window.
Which was pretty funny, since he was the only one on the bus at that moment.
Emma ignored him and took a seat with Dawn. Brett took the seat in front of them and turned around to chat.
Slowly, the other students filed onto the bus. It was a rela-tively small group-they'd all just fit on one bus-all select-ed by Mr. Coco and Mr. Rivers, students they knew who would appreciate the museum.
All the faces around them were well known. Most were acquaintances. But just as the seats were almost full (the only empty ones were next to Grayson and Brett), an unfamiliar girl stepped onto the bus.
All chitchat stopped, and everyone stared. Not only was she a stranger, but she was a beautiful stranger.
She had long, red hair that glistened like velvet. Her eyes were brown and sparkled in the light. She had a thin, very well-defined figure, highlighted by the navy blue designer suit she wore. But though all eyes were upon her, hers were focused upon the ground.
Mr. Rivers stepped onto the bus behind her.
"Can I have your attention please?" he bellowed, assuming he had to quiet the bus down, but they were already silent and staring at the new arrival.
"We have a new student with us today," Mr. Rivers said.
"She just moved here from the midwest, and though she won't officially begin school here until next year, she's going to attend some classes to get familiar with us. Her name is Gloria Merrick, and I expect you all to welcome her to our school."
There was a murmur of greetings from the students on the bus. Gloria made her way down the aisle looking for an empty seat.
"I think the new girl needs to sit with me," Grayson bel-lowed.
Gloria quickly sat next to Brett.
"Good choice," Brett told her.
Gloria smiled shyly.
"So where are you from originally?" Dawn asked.
"The midwest," Gloria replied at almost an inaudible level.
"What state?" Emma asked.
Gloria told them, but over the roar of the engine, they could not hear her. Instead of asking her to repeat, the girls smiled and nodded as if they understood.
"What brings you here?" said Emma.
Gloria shrugged and looked away.
Emma looked at Dawn and shrugged.
Dawn mouthed: "Shy?"
"I guess so," Emma said out loud. It must be tough being the new girl in a new school. But she was only making it more difficult on herself by not talking to those who were making an effort to speak to her.
As the bus continued on to the museum, Emma noticed something different about this field trip. The bus ride was not as noisy as usual. That was because most of the guys on the bus were staring at Gloria.
"It really must be spring," Emma said to herself.
The door to the bus opened and the students began filing out one by one.
"Let's try to act like adults," Mr. Rivers shouted after them.
"I would like them to invite us back next year."
The visit was a free-for-all. The students were allowed to explore the museum at their own pace. The only requirement was to write a one-page essay on the piece of art they enjoyed the most.
Emma, Brett and Dawn fell immediately into their clique.
"Would you like to join us?" Emma offered, as they passed Gloria on their way in.
Gloria shyly shook her head.
"Have fun then," Emma said, picking up the pace before Grayson could reach them.
He did catch up to Gloria, however: " Hey baby, you need a man to show you around." But his words appeared to go unheard as Gloria walked away from him.
"She wants me," Grayson said to the guy standing next to him.
"What?" the guy said angrily.
The guy was Mr. Coco.
"She may not be very friendly," Emma said as they made their way through the museum, "but at least she doesn't fall for Grayson's lines."
"Does anybody?" said Dawn.
"She is kinda pretty though," Brett said.
"So you and all the boys on the bus thought," Emma said.
"It's like all you guys never saw a girl before."
"A what?" Brett said.
"You're gonna see two girls kick your butt in a minute,"
said Dawn.
"Bet you wouldn't say that if one of them wasn't a super-hero," Brett said.
"We'd still be able to take you," Emma grinned. " Now come on, I want to look at art."
"Since when did you get so cultured, Em?" Dawn asked.
"Since she left the milk out overnight," Brett joked. The girls didn't get it.
"I've always liked art," Emma said.
"Who's Art?" said Brett.
"Is he going to be like this all day?" Emma groaned.
There was no need for any response. They knew he proba-bly would be.
"Let's go in here," Brett suggested as they passed one room.
It was marked: ANCIENT GREECE.
"Uhm, no," said Emma. " I think we've had enough of that."
"Oh yeah," Brett laughed.
They walked on.
None of them noticed that Gloria was following closely behind them. But she stopped, and then turned into the room of ancient Greek artifacts. She slowly walked from object to object, reading all the place cards that accompanied them.
On one wall hung a sword and shield. The place card only said: "Ancient Greece: Origins Unknown." Gloria was enthralled by the amazing detail carved into both pieces. And they shone so brightly, reflecting the room's track lighting.
Gloria caught her reflection in the blade of the sword. For a moment, it felt as if her own eyes were hypnotizing her. She reached out to touch the sword, but he blade was surprisingly sharp and cut her. Her blood dripped onto the blade.
Suddenly Gloria felt as if everything around her was spin-ning. The last thing she remembered was the reflection of her eyes in the blade.
Red, glowing eyes.
