What does a celestial council of elders look like anyway? All I can think of is freaks in cloaks traveling in balls of light. Can I do that? Note to self, see if you can travel as a ball of light.

Why did they want to see me again? I mean they are the ones who picked me to come to this school, they obviously knew what they were in for. What I want to know is why the heck did they pick me? Who said this was a good idea? Because let me tell you, whoever they are, obviously wasn't paying close attention.

On a side note, I should really go over the dumb schedule they gave me because I ended up missing breakfast for this. Which makes me cranky. A girl has to eat. Cyrene kept rushing me, apparently, the elders are not very patient people.

Cyrene led me to what I always imagined a council room to look like. There is this semicircle of chairs around a marble table. With exactly 17 people in the chairs, which I discovered after silently counting to myself. Each has on a cloak, hood down thankfully, with a symbol on it. A symbol for their types of magic they use, I guess.

But I couldn't help but notice not a single one of those symbols matched the one I saw when I got chosen.

"Emery Ellison, nice to meet you," One man said.

He's tall with a clean-shaven face. His hair is really long and slicked back into a ponytail. He smiles at me.

"Emery, we want to know exactly what happened to you when you went into Crystal Keep, can you tell us?" A woman spoke up.

She is old, with wispy grey hair. Her face seemed to droop naturally, and her stature looked small and frail.

"I already said, I don't really remember. I got into a fight with my roommate and I went there to hide. I can't really remember anything after that," I lie.

"Nothing at all?" A young-looking man asks.

They all needle into me with their eyes. I squirm in place and avoid meeting their eyes. Cyrene places her hand on my shoulder and eyes me.

"Emery, we can tell you're hiding something," The old woman said.

"No, I, well... it's hard to explain."

"How so?"

"I had this freaky dream like I was talking to myself, my older self. It's nothing really, I was just stressed out. I probably just fell asleep or something."

They mumble to themselves talking in hush voices so I couldn't exactly hear. I look to Cyrene; she gives me a reassuring smile. I feel like I am on trial for something, and no matter what I say they will automatically come back with a guilty verdict.

I subconsciously rub my hand and hold it close to my body.

"Can you tell us about the dream?" they ask.

I feel like they know something I don't. Something they aren't going to tell me.

I shift in place and look down at my shoes. The shoes came with the uniform. They aren't required according to the first couple of pages of the student handbook, but you do have to wear black shoes. The only black shoes I own are really worn down and in desperate need of a break.

These shoes are too shiny, too new looking. It's obvious that I haven't ever worn them. It highlights how new I am at all of this. It makes me feel like I am walking in the shoes of a stranger.

"Emery," The old woman said causing me to snap my head up and pay attention again.

"It's nothing really, I was just stressed out and delusional. It's just a bunch of nonsense." I say.

They don't seem convinced.

"Why did you guys pick me?" I shoot back.

They glance nervously at one another.

"No offense, but didn't you think this was a bad idea?" I gesture to myself.

"We should stay on subject," the man said.

"What about me screams Caster material?" I cross my arms.

"Emery," Cyrene gives me a soft warning.

"Trust is a two-way street, you want me to tell you what I know, well I need to know who did this to me. I have some thoughts on this, to say the least." I snap at them.

"We don't know," Another council member said.

She was very round, super intimidating looking. Her eyes were like black pits of darkness. Just looking at her gave me chills.

"What do you mean? You guys did this, how can you not know?" I push.

"Because, we didn't do this to you," she admits.

The others look at her with glares and hushed protest. I guess they didn't want me to know that part.

"Then who did?"

"We are working on figuring that out."

"Are you telling me that there are people out there who can do this to anyone they want to? Isn't that like extremely dangerous?"

"Well yes, but we are working on apprehending them," A man spoke up.

"You don't even know who they are!? Or why they did this to me!? How exactly are you going to catch them before they do this again?"

"Why do you think they picked you?" The old woman asks.

"How should I know, cruel sick humor? Your guess is as good as mine."

"Have you had any contact with casters before coming here?"

"Other than Dariyah who punched me in the face on live television, no."

"Are you sure?"

"Are you calling me a liar?"

"Emery, calm down," Cyrene placed her hand on my shoulder.

"Ms. Ellison we are just trying to find out anything we possibly can. No need to get all worked up about it."

"No need to get worked up!? My life has been turned upside down, I had to share a room with a girl who tried to kill me! I can't even eat in the cafeteria without someone coming to pick on me. Now you're telling me some witches did this to me without your permission. Freaks who are still out there and could do this to someone else, or even come after me again and you want me to calm down! It's because of you people that I'm even in this situation. And you don't even have any leads or a way to turn me back to normal. All you can do is put on a fake smile and pretend that this doesn't suck for all of us!"

They all go stark still and silent.

I instantly snap my mouth shut, I did it again, I said the wrong thing.

"Thank you, Ms. Ellison, that will be all," The old woman said.

I gave a tight nod and quickly turn and walk out, Cyrene on my tail.

"Hey, slow down. What was that?" She catches me by the shoulder to stop me.

"Just don't okay. This sucked enough as is without me finding out that what happened to me was really illegal and not the plan. I don't want to be here; I don't want to be like this! Who did this to me? Why did they do it? You don't even know and neither do the people who are supposed to know! So, excuse me for freaking out!"

"Emery if you want to fit in here you are going to have to move past your prejudice," She grabs me by both shoulders and makes me face her.

"I don't want to fit in here! I want to go home!"

Students walk by us and eye us as we block the walkway.

"You aren't going to go home, so you might as well get that idea out of your head right now. No magic in the world can undo what has been done to you. You are just going to have to live with it. Now I can help you adjust if you let me, but I won't tolerate xenophobia and bigotry," She looks me hard in the eyes.

"I'm just overwhelmed," I whimper, tears slipping past my eyes. "This is a lot to take in. I don't mean to be, a bigot, it just comes out that way. I'm sorry," I sniffle and look down at my shoes.

"It's okay. We can work through this. I'm your mentor from now on, just think of me as a friend. You can come to me for anything. I'm going to be here for you 24/7 as you go through this rough transition in your life. I'll teach you everything I know, by the end of this year you will be caught up with everyone in your class." She grabs my chin and makes me look at her face.

"Okay." I nod.

I guess that's all I can do in a situation like this. Just suck it up and learn everything I possibly can about my new powers. That way if the freaks do come for me again, I'll be ready. I should make the most of my time here, find out everything I can. If the elders aren't going to be the ones to fix this, then I guess it has to be me.

I'll figure out who did this to me and why. And when I do we are going to have some words. No one gets the best of Emery Ellison.

"Now we should get started if you want to have any clue as to what's going on here at Belmore."

I take a deep breath and calm down, wiping my tears.

"I'm ready," I said.

She grabs my hand in her own and leads me towards some answers.