The taxi pulled up outside the school gates and let Illeanna and her father out. Illeanna looked up at the school in awe as Jaeger scampered out of her pocket, change into a bird and sat on her shoulder.
"This is it?" she asked.
"I believe so," her father replied, and pressed the call button. "This is Mr Raymond, and his daughter Illeanna. We have an appointment with Willow Rosenberg?"
There was barely a noise as the gates opened.
"Yes, we've been expecting you," said Maura. "Please, come in."
Father and daughter looked at each other, then made their way up the path to the head office. Illeanna was rather apprehensive about this. She knew that her parents had fought about this. Her Dad had been swayed by what Bob Moffatt had told him, and also by the changes in herself that Illeanna had admitted to - the increased strength, the dreams... Her mother on the other hand, refused to hear a word of it. Illeanna remembered leaving the room as they yelled at each other. One of her brother's turned to her in disgust and declared it was all her fault. In the end, her father brandished the brochure for the school at her mother and said:
"Have you looked at the facilities they have here? And what they expect us to pay to send her there? It's an all girls, invitation only, highly specialised, even luxury boarding school. It can't hurt for a tour, and from a education perscpective it certainly won't hurt for her to attend, even if all this slayer stuff turns out to be crock after all."
Her mother had finally conceeded the point, but declared if Illeanna showed any sign of being the victim of brainwashing, they were going to pull her out and keep her away from these weirdos.
"Impressive, isn't it?" said Mr Raymond.
"It's huge!"
They made their way up the stairs and into the foyer. Maura looked up at them from behind her desk with a smile.
"Willow will be here shortly," she said.
They stared at her.
"Are you a fairy? Or is that just your mutation?" asked Illeanna, knowing you could get some funny looking mutants.
"Neither. I'm a pixie," Maura replied.
Mr Raymond sat down - fast!
Willow Willow and Kate came down to the gate, Kate bouncing Sarah on her hip.
"Hello, Mr Raymond," she offered her hand to the man. "And you must be Illeanna?" SHe looked at the girl.
"I'm Willow Rosenberg, and this is Kate Connor, one of our teachers."
"Hi," Kate said, offering Illeanna her free hand. "I mainly teach vehicle operation, such a piloting, but you're not quite old enough for those classes yet. I do, however, supervise the younger students, which is why I'm down here. Who's this?" she asked, about Jaeger.
Illeanna
Mr Raymond stood and shook the offered hand.
"I have to say, we're already impressed with your school," he said.
Illeanna shook Kate's hand tentatively.
"This is my pet ka'millian, Jaeger. He's only a puppy," Illeanna replied. "Well, a chick at the moment. Umm, he's a little tempermental, and only really likes me touching him at the moment. He likes to change his shape a lot though."
As if on cue, Jaeger put on the head of a kitten and nuzzled Illeanna's neck affectionately.
"He gets very protective of her," Mr Raymond warned. "We've already had an incident at home where he turned into a large, savage dog and started to attack one of her brothers. Albiet, the attack wasn't unprovoked, but we were just glad that Illeana was able to call him off. She's the only one he'll answre too."
Not for the first time, Mr Raymond wondered if he had done the right thing by letting her have Jaeger of all the ones from the litter.
Willow
"It won't be a problem, Mr. Raymond," Willow assured. "So, Illeanna, do you like animals? I have some great friends here. Have you ever seen a unicorn?" Willow asked Illeanna.
"So, Mr. Raymond," Kate started. "You're from Roswell? I've been there. Back when my dad was alive, he was stationed near there for a while. He was stationed at, well, at the base that doesn't exist," she joked.
Illeanna
"A unicorn?" Illeanna repeated. "Seriously?"
This was like something out of a fantasy story. First she finds out that she's some kind of super warrior and now she was probably going to start going to a school where there were pixies and unicorns.
"Ahh that base," Mr Raymond replied seriously. "Yes, we know all about that one. Try to avoid it myself."
Willow
"This is the main building, the kitchens are in this building, and the cafeteria is upstairs," Willow said. "There are little kithenettes in the dorms, though, in case the girls get hungry for a snack. Slayers get hungry a lot," Willow said. She figured that Illeanna's father didn't need to know that slaying tended to make the girls hungry and horny.
"All of the buildings are connected not only by paths, but by underground tunnels. it gets cold in Ohio in the winter, and nobody wants to be outside in the snow at 6am." Again, Willow refrained from mentioning things she didn't think Mr. Raymond needed or wanted to know. Like the fact that the tunnels doubled as an escape system. She was proud of herself for learning to control her babble-reflex, otherwise she'd be rambling on about all sorts of things he didn't need or want to know, that would probably have him running out the door with his daughter, fleeing in panic.
Illeanna
Mr Raymond nodded.
"I haven't seen snow before," Illeanna said. "I always wanted to. It looks so nice to play in.
"It's also very cold, honey," he father told her. "Trust me, you'll probably be thank*profilesful for these tunnels come winter."
Willow and Joni
As they walked to the dorm building, that was next to the main one, Willow saw a small girl, and called her over.
"Illeanna, this is Joni. She just got here yesterday. You know, the two of you have a lot in common. You both just turned thirteen, and Joni's a Semirellian."
"Hi," Joni said to Illeanna, excitedly. She loved making new friends.
Kate moved right next to Mr. Raymond. "Joni's sister was just killed," she said quietly. "She was turned into a vampire in an effort to get at Joni. She's safer here."
Illeanna
Mr Raymond raised his eyebrows. There was definitely nothing normal about this place.
"Hi," Illeanna replied, eyes bright. "You can call me Ille if you want."
Jaegar moved to the edge of her shoulder in order to sniff Joni. He promptly fell off, but used his wings to steady himself, and flew over to her to further his sniffing.
"Aww, I think he likes you," Illeanna smiled, partly relieved, and partly jealous that she wasn't the only one he liked.
Joni and Willow
"Oh! A Ka'Millian," Joni said, excitedly. "My parents have one. His name is Samson, he usually likes to be a dog, but sometimes he's a goat. Hi Jaeger," she said to the ka'millan.
"What do yu think about this Slayer stuff, Ille?" Joni asked. "I mean, it's weird, but kinda cool."
"Let's continue on," Willow said. "These are the dorms. There's an adult on every floor, but Illeanna and Joni would share this one, here, on the first floor," Willow said, leading them towards it.
Illeanna
"Jaeger doens't know what he likes to be. Whatever's convinient at the time, usually," Illeanna replied. "All this slayer stuff is... taking a bit of getting used it."
"It does indeed," Mr Raymond murmured under his breath.
"Cool, we're roomies!" Illeanna said.
She peered into the room and her eyes widened appreciately.
"Wow, this is way better than I expected."
Joni and Willow
"Yeah," Joni agreed. "I just got here last night, so I haven't really unpacked yet," she gestured to the clutter, and suitcases everywhere, "School doesn't actually start for a couple weeks of course, but that gives me time to learn my way about the school, and about town."
"They're not allowed out by themselves though," Kate warned, "The under-sixteens have to have a buddy when they go out. And they have to have a mobile phone on them."
"Actually, I have to get back to some business, so I leave in Kate's very capable hands for the rest of the tour. We can talk more after your tour," Willow promised, excusing herself to go back to her office.
Illeanna
Illeanna giggled.
"I don't know if I'm officially moving here yet," she said with a sly look at her father. "Dad wanted to know what the school was like before he made a decision."
Mr Raymond coughed.
Joni
"Well," Kate said, "Lets finish the tour. The building on the other side of this is the infirmary. We have a doctor and three nurses on staff. The building behind this one is the athletic building. The first floor is the gymnasium, the second floor is the dance studio, third is the martial art dojo, and 4th is the sparring rooms. Let's check out that building." She said, leading them to the next one.
"It's very cool," Joni said. "They said that some of the classes are electives, and I'm totally taking the dance class. Martial arts are required, but I'm looking forward to those."
Illeanna
"Cool," Illeanna said, her eyes glittering at the idea of taking martial arts classes.
She always wanted to learn.
"I suppose you do expect them to get hurt, and train them to avoid that as much as possible?" Mr Raymond summised, uncertain of what he thought about that.
Kate Connor
"Of course. I mean, anyone could get killed just crossing the road. But because they're Slayers, evil will flock towards them. At this point, they could fight on instinct, and probably kill some demons and vampires, but the more training they receive, the more likely they are to survive. Slayers do have advanced healing, but that doesn't make them invulnerable. So yes, we train them to keep them safe," Kate said, in a long-winded explanation, as they toured the gym building. "The music hall is the next building. It has soundproof studios and a concert hall."
Illeanna
While Illeanna looked around in awe at the gym building facilities, Mr Raymond was please to see there were some cultural classes and amenities. Least not everything would be blood and gore.
"I have to say, I am impressed," he said.
Illeanna grinned at Joni.
Joni
"Over there is the weapons hall and staff quartes," Kate pointed, "BUt they're not allowed to use weapons, other than wooden stakes, until they've learned some hand-to-hand. And first they practice with fake weapons before we even let them use real ones." Joni looked a little disappointed.
"I want to use swords. Then I can be a real Jedi," she said. Kate laughed.
"Apparently Joni likes to pretend her telekinesis is the Force." Joni nodded.
"Through here we have the pools. There are 5 different pools. A regular Olympic one, an Olympic one just for laps, a shallow pool, a deep diving pool, and a saltwater pool with no chemicals. One of our teachers is a selkie," Kate explained. "And the building to the left is the ice rink."
Illeanna
Illeanna giggled.
"A selkie," Mr Raymond repeated.
Well, at least they were resonsible about handing the girls weapons. Although the idea of his baby girl having a weapon at all made him nervous.
The amenities were impressive though.
Kate Connor
"Well, you've learned that demons and vampires are real, you'll find that most of the other mythical creatures you've heard of are real as well. Our gamekeeper is a centaur. Let's walk down to the stables now, before we head over to look at the classrooms, and make our way back to the office." She led the way down the path towards the stables.
Illeanna and Ryder
"Centaurs? Cool!" Illeanna exclaimed.
Mr Raymond shook his head incredulously as they walked down the path. The stables were soon in sight and they could see a young man sweeping them out.
"Do we get to learn to ride the horses too?" Illeanna asked.
Joni
"Of course," Kate said. "Hey Ryder, I'd like you to meet Joni and Illeanna. Joni just moved in yesterday, and Illeanna will hopefully be joining us soon," Kate said tactfully. Joni waved. She'd never ridden a horse before, but she wanted to.
Illeanna and Ryder
Ryder leaned his broom against the wall, and wiped the sweat off his brow as he walked over.
"Good afternoon," he said, giving them a nod.
"Hi!" Illeanna said.
Joni
"I've never ridden a horse, but I'd like to," Joni said. Kate nodded. "Of course you can. But now we need to double back to the last building on our tour. This building has the classrooms, and the three-story library." She led them back to that building.
Illeanna and Ryder
Ryder gave them a nod, then got back to work.
"Three storey library?" Mr Raymond repeated.
That certainly suggested that normal education was not at all neglected in the face of all things fantasical.
"I can't wait to learn to ride," Illeanna said. "I've always wanted to learn."
Kate Connor
"Yep," Kate said. "Along with a science lab, a computer lab, and a bunch of classrooms. They get history, math, science, english and all the other required classes. When the girls graduate from here, they will have a valid diploma from a very exclusive private school. Believe it or not, we do push our girls to go to university, if it's what they want."
Illeanna
Mr Raymond nodded as Illeanna pulled a face.
"Just how does, erm, fighting evil effect their education?" Mr Raymond asked.
Kate Connor
"Well, if they went to public school, they'd probably have a lot of problems. But we make allowances here. For example, if something, like a demon or a vampire got in the way of them completeing an assignment, they can have an extra day. And there's always an instructor available to help them one on one." Kate explained. She really hoped that Mr. Raymond agreed to let Illeanna come to school here. She'd hate to think of the girl dying young, because she was untrained.
"And it's not just about training and schoolwork. They're encouraged to have fun, too," Kate said.
Illeanna
"What if training is fun?" Illeanna whispered to Joni.
"How does it fit into the usual school day?" Mr Raymond asked. "I suppose you can't really schedule when evil shows up, can you?"
Joni
At the front of the classroom building, Kate showed Mr. Raymond the master schedule, which was on the wall. It explained all the classes and times.
"The younger girls have 3 classes before lunch, and three after. Some of the classes, like astronomy, are taught after supper, of course. They do have a lot of classwork. Illeanna would be taking a science, a maths, a history, English, demonology, a foreign language and a martial art, but they don't have every class every day. The other spaces they can fill in with an art or a music, and they can switch their electives each term." Kate explained.
"I'm signed up for painting," Joni said. "I like painting."
Illeanna
Mr Raymond nodded.
"I know you haven't been open long, but how well do your student perform overall?"
"I don't know what I'd pick," Illeanna said thoughtfully.
Kate Connor
"Well, this past year, our standardized test scores have been high, and nobody failed. And we do have a couple hundred girls here, so that's pretty impressive," Kate said,
Illeanna
"That's good to know," Mr Raymond replied. "Her mother was somewhat... aprehensive about sending Illeanna here."
"That's putting it lightly," Illeanna muttered, well remembering the fight.
"However, while there are some, ahem, interesting aspects about the school, I don't see any reason why Illeanna can't come here, since you're making education and survival equally important."
Joni
"Of course, " Kate said "This is still a school. We want our girls to thrive intellectually as much as they thrive physically. What's the point in keeping them alive, if they spend their lives on welfare, or in fast food jobs, because they didn't get a good education?" Kate grinned.
Joni rolled her eyes. "Lessons are so boring, though."
"We spice them up here," Kate promised.
Illeanna
"Does that mean I can come here?" Illeanna asked her father.
"Yes, I think so," Mr Raymond replied. "But if your mother starts giving you the third degree when you come home on holidays it's because she doesn't believe in this slayer stuff no matter what evdidence is put before her and she's afraid of you being brainwashed."
Illeanna giggled.
"I mean it honey, try not to give her any reason to susbstanciate that idea."
"Okay."
Joni
"Okay," Kate said. "Let's go to Willow's office and get the paperwork filled out. Joni and Illeanna can go hang out for a bit."
"Let's go raid the kitchen," Joni suggested. "I'm hungry."
Illeanna
Mr Raymond nodded and followed Kate to the office.
"Okay, cool," Illeanna said.
She clapped her hands together gleefully.
"This is so exciting."
Willow and Joni
"I'm very glad you decided to let Illeanna attend school here," Willow said "There is nothing more exciting than school, ever."
"Did I mention she was the biggest nerd ever?" Kate stage-whispered to Mr. Raymond.
~~~
Joni looked around the kitchen. "I wonder if there's any choclate anywhere." She opened one of the pantry doors, and saw a big brick of chocolate on the top shelf. "Easy way to fix that," she said, floating the chocolate down to level.
"Want some?" She offered to Illeanna.
Illeanna
Mr Raymond chuckled.
"I rather liked school myself," he admitted. "I have to admit, if your acedemic facilties had not been this good, we would not be having this conversation."
*********
"Ooh, yes please," Illeanna replied, holding her hand out politely for some chocolate. "Chocolate is the best thing ever. Telekinetic?"
Willow and Joni
"Well, I think education is, like, the most important thing ever. I still kinda wish I had gone to Oxford or Harvard or Yale when I was accepted, but then I had some personal emergencies, and then the world almost ended and I had to save it. I wound up going to the local Uni in Sunnydale. I just finished my first degree online," Willow said, a little sadly. She really loved school.
"Willow, the forms," Kate reminded gently. "Willow has a one-track mind when talking about school."
~~~
"Yep," Joni said, giving Ille a big piece of chocolate. "How about you?"
Illeanna
Mr Raymond chuckled as he waited for the forms and a pen to be passed to him.
**********
"Advanced Sight," Illeanna replied.
She took a bite out of her piece of chocolate and thoroughly enjoyed the taste.
Joni and Willow
"How does that work?" Joni asked, savouring her chocolate slowly. "How far can you see?"
~~~
Willow handed Mr Raymond the forms and a pen.
"Sorry. I get excited talking about education. I've tried to instill my love of knowledge onto the girls, but some don't take it so well," she confessed.
Illeanna
"I can see with acuracy, lets see - I haven't actually measured it - up to half a mile away? Of course, that's assuming flat ground," Illeanna giggled. "I can't see through hills although I call see insects climbing up a tree from a hundred feet away. And I can choose to zoom in or out. Like right now I'm choosing to have normal 20-20 vision."
**********
Mr Raymond started filling out the forms.
"I do understand," he assured her. "I've tried the same with Ille, but..."
He shrugged.
Joni and Willow
"Yeah," Willow said. "This is why we try to spice things up here. Me make Maths games and science games, and have History tournaments and games. We try to make learning fun." She watched Mr. Raymond fill out forms.
~~~
"That is very cool," Joni said. "My range isn't very far yet, but it's getting stronger like, okay," She lifted a bag about 5 meters away. "That's about as far as I can go. And the heaviest I can pick up is about my own weight. So I can do this," she said and levitated herself about a foot off the ground. "I'm getting stronger, though. Once, at a tournament, I saw Isaac Hanson fight in a match, and he is so good! I hope I get as good as him."
Illeanna
"Well, whatever gets them learning," Mr Raymond said, moving onto the next page.
**********
"Apparently this slayer stuff improves senses," Illeanna said. "I'm wondering if that mixed with my Advance Sight will make me be able to see even further. That would be awesome."
Jaeger decided he had enough sitting on her shoulder. He jumped down, turned into a puppy dog with bug eyes and started exploring the room.
Willow and Joni
"That's what I say," Willow said.
~~~
"Yeah. I've already noticed some things are. . . sharper. Like smells and sounds. Plus there's this whole super-strength thing. Yesterday I squeezed the toothpaste tube to hard, and the toothpaste shot all across the room. I was able to mostly put it back into the tube, except the part that didn't want to come off the wall," Joni giggled.
Illeanna
Illeanna giggled.
"I woke up the night of my thirteen birthday after a weird dream and I felt different right then. I thought that that's what everyone felt when they turned thirteen," she said. "I found out later that it was all this slayer stuff and that people don't really feel any different. Such a disappointment."
**********
Mr Raymond filled out the last page.
"There you go," he said after signing. "Now, we will have to return home so that Illeanna can pack. When would be the best time for her to return? I know it's not long until school starts."
Joni and Willow
"We should go back to the main building so your dad won't have to look fo you," Joni suggested.
~~~
"Well, school starts on the 6th, most girls will be coming in between 3rd and the 5th, being that the 5th is a bank holiday, so the parents have off to help their kids settle in. She can move in at any time before then, if you all want," Willow said.
Illeanna
"Probably," Illeanna said. "Here, Jaeger!"
Jaeger went bird and flew back up on Illeanna's shoulder, then changed into a fluffy snake and draped himself across her shoulders.
Joni
The girls started to walk up to the main building.
"So, have you ever been to a YIRAAS tournament?" Joni asked.
Illeanna
"Every year," Illeanna replied. "I'm looking forward to when I can complete."
Then she waved to her Dad who was approaching from the other direction.
Joni
"Me too," Joni said. "Although, if being a Slayer is as bad as they told my parents, we might not even be alive next year. But that's not a good way to think."
Illeanna
"Umm, yeah, no," Illeanna agreed. "I refuse to even consider the possibility."
They closed the distance between them and her father.
"Settling in already?" Mr Raymond teased.
"Yep," Illeanna replied.
"Well, we need to get going," he said. "Maura's calling a taxi for us. Say good bye to your friend for now; I'll meet you out front, okay?"
"Okay."
Joni
"Bye," Joni said, giving Illeanna a quick hug. "See you soon."
Illeanna
"Bye!" Illeanna replied, hugging her back. "See you in a few days!"
Waving, Illeanna walked after her father and met him at the gate as arranged. Soon the two were on their way home (with Jaeger in the form of a mouse in her pocket).