This, if it were to be drawn or animated, would have a cutesy art style and (young) adult themes. Not exactly what I was thinking when I first started writing this, but I'm happy about the direction it's taking. If you need a reference as to what this story will be like, think if the TV show 'W.I.T.C.H' combined with the comic book " I Hate Fairyland! "(but with less blood). Hope you enjoy!

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Introduction

“Destiny is a good thing to accept when it’s going your way. When it isn’t, don’t call it destiny; call it injustice, treachery, or simple bad luck.” – Joseph Heller

The sting took her by surprise.

She snatched her hand away from the old well and looked for what had stung her. A black scorpion crawled up the side of the well and settled on top of it, a tiny drop of blood still on the tip of its tail. She gasped and staggered back, clutching her hand. It felt like a hundred ants were biting it.

When she was a few feet away from the well she glanced at her hand. There was a small wound in the center of the back, but for some reason, it wasn’t bleeding. As she moved in for a closer look, black lines began coming out of it, looking like cracks in the earth. She scratched at the lines in a vain attempt to make them disappear. They kept growing and growing, crawling up her arm at a fast pace. Jumping to her feet, she ran towards the opening in the trees as quickly as she could. If she could just get to her friends…

Her foot caught on a root and she stumbled onto her hands and knees. By now the lines were halfway up her neck, and she felt as if part of her body was on fire. She collapsed onto the ground, her strength rapidly fading. With her free hand, she stretched it towards the path and managed to whisper one word.

“Guys…”

And then she fainted. With her unconscious, the black lines moved much more quickly over her body. The lines expanded until her skin was covered in black. A ripple went through the black and then it slowly faded away. She sat up, brushed her hair out of her eyes, and rose to her feet. Walking back to the well, she picked up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. Then she headed towards the path between the trees again, not bothering to look at the scorpion.

It lay on the edge of the well, lifeless. It was no longer needed, for it had served its purpose.

***

“What’s taking Pio so long?”

“Maybe her backpack fell into the well.”

“If it did, she would have asked us to help her get it out.”

“I don’t know, Pio likes to do things by herself.”

“Should we go check on her?”

“Let’s just wait a few more-”

“Oh look, there she is!”

The girl stepped off the path and looked at her half-circle of friends, each wearing varying expressions of concern and worry.

“Sorry I took so long,” she said. “I thought something from my pack was missing. Turns out it was in a different pocket.”

“That’s okay, Pio. These things happen.”

“Well, I guess we can go home now.”

They all started walking down the hill, chatting about random things that had happened that day. The girl stayed at the back of the group, saying nothing.

She just watched the others, a small smirk on her face and eyes dimly glowing red.

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Chapter One

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Aries Carnero.”

A girl with dark blonde hair jumped up from her chair and walked as quickly as she could to the stage. The hem of her orange gown fluttered as she walked, and the tassel on her cap swung from side to side. When Aries stepped onto the stage, she could hear her family cheering in the stands, along with her group of friends. She smiled wide and accepted her diploma from the principal before going to sit on a chair onstage.

High school graduation was a huge deal in most small towns, and Newtown (or ‘Newt Town’, as some residents called it) was no different. Everyone who had a graduating senior came to the school stadium, bringing their family and friends along with them. Every year at the end of May the stadium would be at full capacity, and those who couldn’t find seats sat on blankets or folding chairs on the grass. It was rumored that the whole town could pack the stadium to the brim.

“Aquarius Chung.”

Fidgeting with excitement, Aries looked over at her graduating class and watched as a dark-haired Asian girl came to the stage. After she accepted her diploma, she went over to Aries and sat next to her.

“Can you believe we’re here?” Aries asked. “I can’t believe we’re here. This is so amazing!”

“Yeah, I can’t believe it either,” Aquarius said. “Four years went by really quickly.”

“All I’m going to say is that I’ll be so happy to never see another ‘Monday Meat Surprise’ again. I almost became a vegetarian just looking at that!”

“What about ‘Tuna Taco Tuesday’? Talk about an ick factor times ten.”

“Yeah, I don’t know what they were thinking with that one; Tar got food poisoning from that, remember?”

“Oh, I felt terrible for her! In bed for a week with barely anything to do? It was no surprise that she was so moody.”

Aries laughed.

“She swore off tuna and tacos after that.”

Aquarius nodded, smiling.

“Which was kind of funny, because her mǔqīn loves fish and her fùqīn loves Mexican food.”

Aries gave Aquarius a blank look. The dark-haired girl sighed good-naturedly.

“Sorry, I meant mother and father.”

“Oh…right, I knew that!” the dark blonde said, grinning.

They were silent for a few minutes as the principal continued to read off names. Aries searched for her family and friends in the stands and smiled when she saw them.

Her parents were grinning from ear to ear, immensely proud of their daughter’s accomplishments. Next to them were Aqua’s parents, who were also very proud. Around both sets of parents were their friends and their parents.

Taurus Bronson, the girl Aries and Aqua had been talking about, had waist-length brown hair and a plain but nice face. She was sitting with Cancer Jones, a somewhat quiet girl with chin-length red hair (that was actually red, not orange), and the twins, Gem and Ini Duval, who were standing and constantly clapping and bouncing on their toes, making their shoulder-length dark green hair (which they had dyed as children to frighten their parents) flop around.

A row down from them was Leona Robinson, a tanned blonde whose personality was as big as her hair. Her friends often joked that since her hair was so big, it looked like a lion’s mane. With her was Virgo Smith, who loved all things pink and had even dyed her waist-length hair pink as soon as she’d turned thirteen, and Libra Miller, an African American who adored cheetah print and chose to wear her black hair in an afro because she liked it that way, not because she wanted to fit a stereotype.

In the next row was Sagittarius Pointer, a girl who had dyed her shoulder-length hair blue on a dare and was a total packrat when it came to anything she found interesting. She was with Capricorn Anderson, who’s mild Waardenburg Syndrome had turned her chin-length hair white at an early age, but she didn’t let that, or the minor hearing loss in her left ear, get to her.

Finally, there was Scorpio Bleak, a girl whose dark hair fell halfway down her back. She had dyed a streak of her hair red about a week ago, surprising her parents. Pio normally didn’t do much with her hair. She was simply sitting in the stands, hands folded in her lap, staring straight ahead. Aries didn’t think this was weird; Pio liked to do things her own way.

“Pisces van Schmitt.”

The principal’s voice calling out her other friend’s name snapped her back to the ceremony. She fidgeted in her seat again as she watched a shy girl (who was famous for ‘accidently’ dying her waist-length hair light green at age twelve) timidly walk up to the stage. After accepting her diploma, Pisces came over to Aries and Aqua and the three of them clasped their hands together and squealed with excitement.

“We’ve officially graduated! I can’t believe it!” Pisces whispered in a giddy voice.

“I know, right? It’s just a shame you can’t be up here with us,” Aries said somewhat somberly.

“Hey, I’m proud of the grades I got, and you guys should be proud of yours. I mean, how often has our school elected not one, but two valedictorians?”

“She has a point, Ari,” Aqua stated. “While she didn’t get to be valedictorian, Pi was still ranked third out of all our graduating class.”

“I guess that is something to be happy about.”

“Well, I have to go, but good luck with your speeches guys!” Pisces said, waving as she walked off stage.

Aries and Aquarius had to wait a few minutes as the rest of their class accepted their diplomas. They were both semi-impatient people, Ari more so than Aqua, so when they were finally called to deliver their speeches, they both almost literally jumped out of their chairs. Early on they had decided that Ari would speak first, since she had pulled ahead of Aqua in the class ranks by two points during final exams. Ari stepped up to the lectern and took her speech out of a pocket in her gown.

She had been preparing for this since her freshman year.

***

In the stands, Libra wasn’t really listening to Ari’s speech. Instead, she was focused on Scorpio, who had barely moved the entire time the ceremony had been going on. Something about how the third youngest of the group was acting seemed… unbalanced. None of her other friends acted like something was amiss, but Libby had had years to familiarize herself with her friend’s subtle ticks, and Pio appeared to have lost hers overnight. Clearly, something was wrong.

But how would she go about solving this? Not for the first time, Libby hated that she was incredibly indecisive. On one hand, she could outright confront Pio and ask her if she was feeling okay. On the other hand, she could tell her friends about her observations and get feedback on what they thought. As she puzzled over this dilemma, Ari finished her speech and the crowd erupted into applause. Pio clapped politely, and that made Libra narrow her eyes a bit.

Scorpio was rarely, if ever, one to be polite.

As Aqua came to the lectern, Libby leaned back slightly in her seat and sighed in frustration. She felt like she should tell her friends, but what if they didn’t believe her? They may have known each other for quite a lot of years, but the fear of them doubting her words refused to go away. Maybe she had to collect more evidence before deciding on how to proceed.

When Libby looked back at Pio, she froze. Scorpio had turned around and was looking at her, dark eyes piercing. Forcing herself to remain calm, Libra stared right back and gave (what she hoped was) a casual smile. Pio continued to look at her, expressionless, until the crowd applauded for Aqua, who had just finished her speech. Eye contact broken, Pio faced forward and Libby let out a sigh of relief.

If that wasn’t evidence, she didn’t know what was.