Chapter one

Caelum was sitting in the school counselor's office, not because she had anything wrong, it was simply because her mind was so sophisticated that it was hard for her to barely even have a good and knowledgeable conversation with any other student. The counselor saw her sit in her usual chair; a thick book in her lap, per usual "So, Caelum, I know that the answer to this question is obvious but" the counselor paused, looking to the side questioning if this question was a waste of words or not "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Caelum lifted her head and her gray, subtle eyes darted like a dagger at the council's "A psychiatrist" she said in a very quiet voice "I wish to be a psychiatrist". Her answer was very different from that of which other students would say like "I wish to be a doctor" or "I want to be a politician", a famous musician, a physicist, a mathematician. All professions of the fed into the mouths of students by their doting and hopeful parents. Caelum's answer was simple, sly, and steady; she knew what she wanted and she was going to get it. She wasn't persuaded by her parents to become a psychiatrist, the only driving cause of her hope for the career was her sheer lust for knowledge and the curiosity of the human emotions and the brain.

Caelum left the room, she had a class to attend. She walked down the dimly lit hall, everyone was already in class. Caelum walked past art projects of students who had long since graduated and posters that no one cared to read, but the most important of the two was the art pieces. A regular civilian would think they were antiques or expensive paintings made by masters, and that was true, the paintings were made by masters; in fact child prodigies, some being as young as 10. The school Caelum attend was Opacus, a school for the highly gifted and talented children (The academy's name meant shadow or a cloud that blocked the light of the moon so that it may be dim, the word was Latin) Caelum was one of their students, she was clever, sophisticated, philosophical, a quick thinker, and only in 7th grade, so many assume her to have the mind of a young adult, but Caelum never found the time to think of her "mental age" plus she always assumed it was just because she was very aware of herself and life itself. Caelum didn't find herself as intelligent as others claimed. To her, she was lacking

Caelum lugged her feet across the marble floor. She was headed for the mathematics classroom to have a lesson on high school algebra, there she would find Olivia and Gio, two of her friends. Caelum went up a flight of wooden stairs; its wood was scuffed and its railway wore throughout all the academy's life. As Caelum reached the top of the stairs she could see the large hallway empty of students; the hallway's walls were lined with marble, paintings in the style of the renaissance, crown molding, and large doors that students would seep into when it was time for class.

Caelum stopped at a large brown door and pushed it open; inside the class was practicing in their workbooks on some math equations. Caelum walked in a took her seat at a desk next to Olivia. Olivia was a shy and reserved girl, she was almost like a dim flame but yet she was warm and kind. She loved drawing dragons and magical creatures, she was also very fond of reading intricate poetry and stories. Olivia was quite the writer herself and that's how she got a scholarship to attend the academy. Caelum was a smart girl but wasn't the best at math; for some reason, it was the one thing she couldn't quite grasp a hold of, but still, she managed to learn high school level math just fine. Caelum may be smart on paper and she was she just didn't know it, she was too self-conscious to realize that she was smarter than she already was, the thing she needed most was the thing she was frightened of; opening up.

Caelum turned to Olivia "Do you know how to do this problem?" Olivia pressed her finger onto the page and read the problem, "Oh, well all you have to do is simplify now" Caelum smiled "Thank you". Caelum knew it, she was asking for a lot of help from Olivia, it made Caelum feel exceptionally guilty. Caelum was peacefully doing math problem after math problem with the teacher intercepting occasionally to point out her errors and help her correct them. Minutes passed and so did the pages in the student's workbooks. Caelum felt drained, she worked on what seemed like an incessant amount of math problems, and her dire will to think and solve them was collapsing. "There's nothing more that I can't bear than mindlessly sitting at a desk and doing one thing repeatedly," Caelum thought. And as if the whole world could read her mind, the clock hit 10:30 and lunch was to be served.

Olivia and Caelum parted ways from the math classroom and Gio latched onto Caelum's hand, "I wonder what they're serving today!" Gio said with a smile, Gio was one of the happiest and most cheerful people Caelum ever knew, Gio was like rays of the sun. Her smile hit everyone's eyes when she walked into a room but unfortunately, Gio struggled with Anxiety and depression. Gio would sometimes have to stay in her dorm or be sent home for her terrible panic attacks. Caelum knew that the sad reality of Gio was that every one of her smiles didn't last for long, and soon they'd be replaced with depression, anxiety, and horror. For Gio, all of this was real, and she needed help and love. Gio did manage to get into the school because of her artwork and her violin skills. 

The two girls made their way through crowds of students in the hallway, holding hands so they wouldn't be separated. They made their way down the worn flight of stairs and into the cafeteria. There they met up with two friends, Scorpio and Marigold.

Scorpio was a talented boy, he was a Wiccan, he wrote poetry, he could play the guitar like an angel, and was an artist, he was also the lover of Marigold who was always referred to as Gold. Gold got her scholarship for academia through her fine art and her brilliant music skills, she was a very close friend to Gio and Caelum, and her mother worked at the high school section of the academia as one of the music teachers. Gold's mother was world-renowned and only started teaching in academia for one reason, boredom. Gold's mother was sick of playing on stages and being in the headlines on the news so she decided to teach her skill in hopes of molding some of the students into fine musicians; Gold had her mother's extraordinary talent as well.

Caelum got her food and sat down at a table, Scorpio, Gold, and Gio followed. Olivia didn't join her for lunch at the cafeteria, for she was off in the library or sitting somewhere else eating a packed lunch from home, Olivia had other friends after all and sat with them most of the time. Caelum understood, they would talk in the halls and in classes.

Lunch passed and Caelum had to head to her french class, there was only so much time before she would be late. Caelum scurried down the hall, Gio would normally be clasping onto her hand if it weren't for the doctor's visit she had to attend. Caelum's pace slowed and the hallway was empty, in the wing of the school where Caelum had her french lessons it was always empty, for the 8th graders roamed that hall but were in their classrooms learning about whatever. Caelum clasped inter her books and stopped, a girl just passed, but not any girl, Niya. Niya was a 9th grader like Caelum's brother, Maximilian. Niya had a crush on Maximillian for a while but was soon shut down when he told her, "I don't seek love and I make it very clear, yet it lingers to burden me, away with this nonsense and let me be in peace. I'm sure there are plenty of gentlemen who wander these halls that desire you Niya". After Maximillian broke her heart she was determined as ever to be with him. "Poor girl," Caelum thought, "Imagine being called a nuisance by your crush", yet there was no time to feel disappointed for girls who had love on their minds, what really mattered to Caelum was grades and studying.