I woke up the next morning to the sound of birds chirping. It was a nice way to wake up. I felt refreshed. I swung out of bed, and noticed I was still in my clothes from yesterday.

Yesterday.

Suddenly my mind started buzzing with everything I had seen yesterday.

I was a Myth.

Which means fairy, unicorn, phoenix, mermaid, and uh...something else I forgot.

I froze where I was standing, and slowly sat back down. My legs felt like jelly. I would have dismissed it as a dream, but here I was, in the same room with the six girls I had entered the night before. My breath felt like it had been sucked out of me.

"That's what I felt like too," a quiet voice said. I whipped my head around, searching for the voice. It was Sophie, at the bed near the wall. She was wearing a green short sleeved blouse and a black skirt. She also had a black headband in. She noticed my attention to her outfit and blushed. "They have clothes for us in the wardrobes," she said, gesturing to wardrobes on the wall across from each bed. I stood up slowly, and walked over to my wardrobe. I opened it, and lined up perfectly, were lilac colored short sleeved blouses and black skirts. There was also a basket with hair accessories on one of the shelves to the side, all black. "Well at least there's some variety to the school uniform," I murmured. I picked up a clip that looked like a flower. I reminded me of my butterfly clip (which was the one thing I had sense to take off the night before).

Suddenly, music boomed throughout the room. It was so loud I almost jumped out of my skin. It was a weird jazzy song I've never heard, but looking back I don't think I noticed not was too loud. Sophie and I jumped a little, and Anna and Talia literally jumped out of bed. Amy sat up, looking terrified.

Audrey, however, jumped out of bed, threw her pillow across the room, and kicked her bedside table, demolishing it, all in one swift movement.

I stared at her a little, in awe and a little scared. Her mouth moved, but I couldn't hear her over the insistent pounding of the music.

She moved her mouth again, screaming. I barely caught the words. "How do we stop it?!?" she shouted. I shrugged helplessly. My ears felt like they were about to explode. Talia had put a pillow over her ears.

Suddenly, the music abruptly stopped. My ears buzzed with the sound of silence. Then, Ms. Catalona's voice came over the intercom. "Good morning girls," she said sweetly. "I trust that by now you are all awake," she continued with amusement in her voice, "so I'll tell you what to do next. Go to the main room and, once you are all together, go to the dining hall where we were last night. I'll meet you there. Oh, and girls," she added, "welcome to your first day of class."

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Only Taylor had been awake enough last night to remember how to get to the dining hall, and even then we would've gotten lost if a tall, thin girl with blonde hair that reached her knees hadn't told us how to get there. It was the same as before, but there were already students in there. As, um, unicorns and stuff.

I looked around the hall. Were we supposed to go to the tables we were at yesterday? Or were we supposed to wait?

Suddenly I saw a hand waving. It was Ms. Catalona, beckoning us over. With relief, I began walking towards her, the other girls following close behind.

"So girls," Ms. Catalona said when we reached her, "are you ready for your first day of class?"

The tables were pulled together like they were yesterday. We all sat, though Tess hesitated. Ms. Catalona gave her a look, and she sat with a huff. The floating platters began serving us. Ms. Catalona picked up her fork. "You might as well eat, I know you're hungry. No one ate dinner last night. They usually don't," she admitted.

As she said that, I realized I was famished. I picked up my fork and began devouring the scrambled eggs as fast as I could. Ms. Catalona continued. "Now, in about a month, you'll get your own, personalized schedule. But for the time being, you'll all be in class together so you can get used to it."

"I am never going to get used to this," Tess grumbled. Ms. Catalona laughed. "Trust me, you will. Be glad you have an academy. When I was a girl, all I had was my guild."

"Your...guild?" Taylor asked curiously. Ms. Catalona waved her hand casually. "I banded together with a few other girls with the same condition as me. We wandered until we found the Elder Council...or more accurately, they found us. We worked jobs for them until Myths were banned. So Natasha started this academy. And I've been teaching here ever since."

Anna, the girl in my dorm room who didn't talk much, spoke up. "So, who else was in your guild?" she asked, eyes wide. Ms. Catalona smiled. "Well there was Natasha of course," she said. "And then Mariah, Sumiko, Janessa, April, and...Alice." Her voice quieted on the last name. For a moment, she was silent. Her eyes looked a little sadder. Then she brightened so quickly I thought I must have imagined it. "Now most of us teach here, and we brought in a few more teachers, like Greta." She laughed. "But now it's time for you to go to your first class, which is meditation with Sumiko--I mean, Ms. Iseri."

"Meditation?" Tess said incredulously. "We need to meditate?"

Ms. Catalona gave a small, secret smile. "It helps more than you would think."

"What's the matter Barbie Knock-off?" Audrey said raising her eyebrows. "Meditating too peasant-like to you?"

Tess flushed with anger and embarrassment. "I was just asking a question," she grumbled.

"Point to Team Audrey," Audrey whispered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This time, we didn't get lost but that was because a nice redhead girl showed us the way. Ms. Iseri's door was made of bamboo. We knocked, and she opened the door. It was the pretty Asian women that Audrey had pointed out earlier. She was wearing a long, green dress with a white jean jacket. "Come in children," she said sweetly. I had expected her to have an accent, but she didn't.

The room was light blue, and the floor was cleared with several mats lined up. Candles were placed around the perimeter of the room.

"So we're actually going to meditate," Tess said deadpan. Ms. Iseri blinked in surprise. "Yes. What did you think we were going to do?" Tess just grumbled and sat down on the nearest mat. We followed her example and sat down too.

"Meditating is a very important skill for Myths," Ms. Iseri began. "First of all, the transforming process is very dependent on your thoughts and emotions. So, to transform, you must be able to control your inner self. Also," she continued, "young Myths have the rare ability to see into the future." At this, half the class perked up. "However," Ms. Iseri continued, "you do not get to control what you see." Tess groaned in exasperation.

"When you truly clear your mind," Ms. Iseri continued, "you see a mirror. This mirror is your Soul Mirror. Everyone's looks different, and yours shows you what may be in store." A faint memory stirred within me. Hadn't I seen a mirror before? That showed me strange things?

"You probably won't reach that level today, but I do want you to try and relax."

The lights dimmed, and soft music began playing. I closed my eyes. Ms. Iseri began to speak. "Pretend you are a blade of grass in a field. There is a slight breeze. Feel the wind move you."

I tried to feel it. I swayed a little. Blade of grass, I said to myself. Sway like a blade of grass.

I fell over instead.

I picked myself up delicately, my side roaring with pain. I clenched my teeth. Why did everything have to hurt so much?

Ms. Iseri was immediately there. "Take a deep breath," she instructed. I did, and she placed her cool hand where my side throbbed. "Breathe again," she said. I did, but it didn't stop it from hurting. I winced as the deep breath moved my chest. "Now," she whispered, "think of an ocean, as if you are flying above it. Do you see it?"

I conjured up a bird's eye view of an ocean and nodded.

"Now you are a feather," she whispered, "and you are slowly floating down to the ocean. Are you falling?"

I could imagine myself falling, but not like a feather. I shook my head.

"You are a feather, you are weightless, light, delicate, nothing more than a breath," she described. Suddenly, I no longer felt tied to the earth. Weightless, light, delicate, nothing more than a breath. I was floating down, side to side, towards the ocean. I nodded.

"Take a deep breath, and when you exhale, that is the wind pushing you down towards the ocean. You flutter. Nod when you reach the ocean."

I took a deep breath, and exhaled. I fluttered down, softly, delicately. I got closer and closer to the deep blue water. And then, just barely , I touched it. It was cool and calming. I nodded.

"Good," she soothed. "Now imagine the water flowing up your body, renewing every part of it."

I smiled. The water felt good, curling up my body with a soft glow.

"Now grow into a bird. Bigger, stronger, yet still light enough to fly."

I did so.

"Now fly up into the air, and towards land. When you reach land, sit on a tree branch."

I flew over to land, and searched for a tree. There was one! I dove, enjoying the wind rushing through my feathers. I landed lightly on a branch.

" Now take a deep breath, and open your eyes."

I frowned. My eyes were open. I could see the tree, and the ocean beyond that.

"Open your eyes Sierra," a soft voice said. A cool hand threaded itself through my fingers. Fingers? birds didn't have fingers...

Suddenly I remembered. I wasn't a bird, I was Sierra Claget, a human girl! I was meditating! My eyes snapped open, and I almost fell over with a gasp.

"Another useful effect of meditation is it can help heal you," Ms. Iseri said smiling. "Now it's time to go to your next class. Dismissed."