Chapter 7
We had to be at the cafeteria before five o'clock that evening for orientation. We all changed into our new school uniforms before we headed there. A woman met us in the foyer who introduced herself as Georgia Hughes, and told us to call her Georgia. She was a witch, and I figured she was probably a teacher, though she didn't say. She directed the returning students to go in and sit down, and the new students to wait out in the foyer with her.
"I feel like I have to go in there and sit under the sorting hat," Jack whispered to me. I smiled.
When we were finally ushered in I realized that he wasn't too far from the truth. We were all led up to the far end of the room, in front of the platform. There were a few older looking people standing there staring down at us.
"Silence, please," called a severe-looking older woman who stood in front of the podium. I realized that she was the headmaster. Everyone in the room obeyed her almost instantly. "Thank you, and welcome to another year at Winterwood Academy. My name is Virginia Bainbridge. Those of you who are returning should know how this night works, but I must explain it to the new students.
"You will first be sorted into your respective groups by Mr. Wilcox and Mrs. Espenas. We will then eat. After dessert has been finished, the new students will receive their room assignments, and everyone will get a sheet of paper with a list of courses on it. The ones that are required will be in bold, and there will be a description beside each course name. You will all choose your courses, with a minimum of three and a maximum of seven. It is most often recommended to take five. After we have finished with that matter of business, a few speeches will be made and then the night will be over. Don't forget that there will be a ball tomorrow night starting at seven o'clock in the ballroom. Classes will not start for another four days as we organize everyone's schedules and wait for last minute arrivals.
"And now, I have held your attention for long enough. Mr. Wilcox will now address you."
Mr. Wilcox happened to be an ancient-looking man dressed in a grey wool suit that hung off his skeletal frame. He moved very slowly but with surprising grace up to the podium. A younger woman stood close behind him, who I assumed to be Mrs. Espenas. She had very dark curly hair that was poorly tamed, and she was wearing a dress that reminded me of Easter.
Mr. Wilcox called out all our names, one by one, in alphabetical order. Once the student was up on the platform, he would proclaim that they were either a vampire, werewolf, witch/wizard, or hero, and what wing they would live in. The vampires lived in the north wing, the witches and wizards in the east wing, the heroes in the south wing, and the werewolves in the west wing. The process only took a few seconds for each person, and I wasn't paying much attention because I was nervous. The only name I paid attention to was Jack's, and he was put in werewolf class, as expected. I almost wished that I was a werewolf so that we could be in the same wing as him, but when I remembered the temper that seemed to come with being one I quickly changed my mind.
My name was the last to be called, since my last name was White. I walked up the three short steps onto the platform and stood in front of Mr. Wilcox. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, and it was a little unnerving. I waited patiently for them to proclaim what I was, but Mr. Wilcox just stood there staring at me with his sharp grey eyes and looked puzzled. A whole minute passed, which was much longer than anyone else was on stage.
"Well now, I'm not quite sure what to do with you," he finally said. He turned to Mrs. Espenas. "What do you make of this one, Val?"
"I don't quite know, Wilcox. I've never seen anyone with a white aura before."
I realized then that they figured out what people were in the same way that I did, and had the same problem that I did. So much for my hope of learning the truth.
"What can you do, child?" Mr. Wilcox asked. The skin around his eyes crinkled as he squinted at me.
"I can see people's auras," I told him. "Like you, I've never seen anyone else with one like mine."
"Is that all you can do? I don't think there has ever been anyone who could only do that. I believe you have other abilities that you don't know about, but I don't think you're a witch. We will just have to put you somewhere and see how you do while we try to figure it out." He turned to the rest of the room, who were all watching intently, and somewhat impatiently, because they wanted to get started on dinner. I couldn't blame them, since it did smell delicious. I didn't think anyone but those close to the platform could hear what had been said. "Hero class, south wing!" Mr. Wilcox finally proclaimed.
I was about to leave the platform and join everyone else, but Mr. Wilcox held me back. "There is a man," he told me, "who can read your abilities. He has been retired for a few years, but he lives close by. We should be able to bring him here within the next couple of days."
"Thanks, but I doubt that I can do anything else," I told him.
"You never know. It's worth a try, and he's always happy to help."
I didn't argue. We both left the stage, and I went to sit down. For that evening the tables had been brought together to form four long tables so that everyone would be sitting in their groups, so I didn't get to sit next to Jack, who was with the rest of the werewolves. I sat with Sydney instead.
"What took so long?" she asked, and I could see a few others looking at me with interest.
"Nothing," I answered, evasively.
The food arrived then, so we ate. There was roast chicken with all the usual side dishes, plus spaghetti, an interesting-looking salad, and multiple types of breads and spreads. Dessert consisted of three different types of pie, a fluffy white cake, and some oatmeal cookies. I tried a bit of everything because it all looked so good, even though I was left feeling stuffed.
Once the dishes were cleared some of the teachers came around with sheets of paper with our names on them. I received two, one of which was my room assignment, and the other was a list of courses. I chose the ones that sounded most interesting, since I didn't yet know what I wanted to do in the future. I had never really felt like I had many options because I had no money or people to support me.
When we had all handed our sign-up sheets back to the teachers a few people said some words, mostly about how great it was that another year was starting and all that stuff. I didn't pay much attention. When we were allowed to leave I found Jack, and we made our way back to the north wing to pack our things and move to our new rooms. I was excited to meet my new roommates, and Jack was excited to get out of the north wing and away from the vampires. He thought they were "creepy and untrustworthy". When I pointed out that he hadn't even talked to any of them, he just shrugged. I actually found the vampires rather interesting, though the one who kept looking at me did freak me out just a little bit.
Packing didn't take very long because I hadn't really unpacked to begin with. I was careful not to wrinkle the dress I was borrowing for the ball as I laid it gently in my suitcase on top of everything else. I found Jack waiting for me in the common room when I was on my way out, and we left the north wing together. I said goodbye to Jack when we reached the west wing, and I continued on to the south wing with a pounding heart, excited to see my new home.