``Somewhere (OVER) the R.A.I.N.B.O.W

[Selene Nightstar]

Breakfast. Summertime. In the girls' dorm, girls with messy hair were eating sugary cereal and joking. Ixchel was normally among them, with a bowl of Reese's Puffs and making Yo Mama jokes, or singing. Now, she was quiet with the knowing of a sobering fact.

She was going to die.

This was the end of her final year at the House of Night. She hadn't finished the Change yet. So chances were she was going to die.

She was just shocked. What about her becoming a singer? When she died, so did all of her plans. Tyler would never know...

She felt a sudden shiver go through her body. She stopped, and then the pain ripped through her small body. She let out a scream, and she toppled to the floor.

Writhing in pain, sweat trickled down her round, dark face. Then she felt a burning on her forehead. Her shirt became soaked with sweat.

She realized then that she had started to complete the Change.

[``the K Y R A]

Liese had long since tired of listening to her peers and classmates mock her German accent and half-decent English- it was tolerable for the first week or so, but then it had grown tiresome. After several months, it was downright obnoxious. Someday they vill shut up.... hopefully.

And so it was a reluctant Liese that trudged down the stairs that morning, dressed in her usual tank top and jeans. Her long hair was brushed and french-braided (courtesy of the girl in the room across the hall), and her usual expression was fixed on her face. Normally, Liese ate her meals in her room. But she had neglected to go shopping and was out of food, and the only two places she knew she could get something to eat was the dining hall (eesh) or the dorm kitchen (also eesh).

She had considered going to the dining hall, reasoning that most girls would be eating in the dorm, rather than walking across the grounds, but ultimately decided against it. It couldn't be all bad, right? Just grab and go.

Liese was halfway down the hall to the common room when she heard a scream only rooms away. Curiousity was her first reaction- a peek inside the room and recognition was her second. Fascinating, she mused. A late Change.

[Selene Nightstar]

Ixchel looked up, glaring.
"Get Alaine, you dumbass!!" she yelled, not realizing that it was in Spanish.

Of course, this girl would probably understand what it was like to be bilingual and different, even though the Changing fledgling was Hispanic and the onlooker was German.

[``the K Y R A]

Liese didn't have to know any Spanish to understand the elder girl's yell. Well, the "Alaine" part was pretty clear, hard to translate a name apart from pronounciation, but the meaning itself was fairly obvious, just going by Liese's experience. She only raised her eyebrows, having read the entire Sociology textbook twice (albeit in German), she knew that summoning the High Priestess was pointless- about 99.99999% of fledglings that started the Change finished it. The other .00001% were dumbasses that spent too much time away from a coven of adult vampyres and Changed while among humans. They never survived, and Liese liked to think that they earned their deaths, fair and square. Pretending not to have understood, she stood in the doorway, knowing that the girl would be fully Changed in moments.

[Selene Nightstar]

Ixchel glared at the girl as the pain started to fade. She picked herself up into a crouch. Her large black eyes were narrowed at Liese.

"I know that I was probably yelling in Spanish, but "Alaine" is pretty universal in every language." she said, standing up. Ixchel was taller than Liese, and although she was still in pain from the burning on her forehead, she wanted to punch her in the face and make it rain or something.

She pushed past Liese.
"It would help you in the future to be useful when fledglings are going through the Change." she growled, her black eyes snapping with fury.

[``the K Y R A]

Liese raised her eyebrows at Ixchel, and as the taller girl passed, she remarked coolly, "And how vould you suggest I help, hmm?" The German girl crossed her arms and turned to face Ixchel. "I vas a Priestess in training. I am not stupid."

She paused to smirk, then added mockingly, "I still know more than you about vampyrism."