At birth humans are divided into categories.

You could lie and say that this is not the case but it is inevitable. The human race is mentally programmed to divide the weak from the strong.

If we were to be precise there are exactly three different classes. First you have the Mortals, your typical lower class which possess no magical ability and follow destiny like mindless drones. This category makes up eighty per cent of the earth population. The mortals are not aware of the other classes since it is kept secret from them. Magic in the arms of incipient carries would just lead to a catastrophic end.

 Next up the ladder you have the MakeShifter’s which write the destiny for the mortals to follow. This class makes up ten per cent of the population and must possess a minimal amount of magical capability.  They are in charge of writing the different scenarios of things that take place in the world such as natural disasters and where they will occur. This process is done by imagining out the situations, getting the idea approved and turning the idea into a tally card, but more on that possess later. This class is only done strictly by men above the age of sixteen and requires at least seven to eight years of training. While this job involves being locked away in a room the rewards are fruitful giving the MakeShifter’s a longer lifespan of up to one hundred years when the typical Mortal lifespan is just eighty.

Lastly you have the highest class of all, The Scribes. This category processes a high amount of magical power and uses it to activate the events that happen in a person’s life. Their job requires taking the events which the MakeShifter’s create and applying them to the Mortal which they are written for.

For an example if a Mortal was to win the lottery it would be a scribe that would hand you the card. The same applies for death. If you are to die by being stabbed it would be a scribe that would put the dagger in the enemy’s hand. This category is open to both male and female but is mostly done by women. Unlike their name suggests they do not lock themselves away in a room writing out scenarios like the MakeShifter’s but disguise themselves as Mortals and hide themselves among them.
Every Mortal has met either scribe or a MakeShifter in their lifetime they would never know it though. A scribe could be waving their magic around in front of people’s faces and they wouldn’t see anything. Well if they looked closely they might see a shimmer in the air, but that would be all.

Magic is a delicate thing; if it is not handled properly it can disappear. This is why the handling of magic was only left to the slim twenty per cent of the population.

So that it could be contained.

2: Chapter 1

“Melody Coda.”

A hush falls over the room as her name is called. Hidden from the eyes of the crowd a girl heaves quick breaths of air as she stands from where she is seated. Ever so gracefully she walks up the stairs of the stage, the echo of her shoes making the only sounds in the room. The proud instructor waiting for her on the bronze platform is holding a scroll, tied with a red ribbon. Tears of pure joy are threating to fall from her hazel eyes. With a quick smile to the audience she takes the scroll and…

“…Officially becomes a fully-fledged scribe! The crowd goes wild!”

Flipping back to reality I clapped my hands around my mouth making whoops and shouts as if to imitate a roaring crowd. From the top of my bed I made a dramatic curtsey and pretended to wipe tears from my dark sea blue eyes.

Honestly I don’t even know why I stayed in school when I could have run away to join the theatre.

Swishing my dark chestnut hair over my shoulder I danced out of time around my messy room avoiding the many pyramids of clothes and books that resided on the floor. I stopped once to pick up the sleeping Cheshire cat off the floor; carrying him over to the calendar hanging above the bed.

“Only three more days to go Pez.” I whispered while stroking the purring cat.

 “Three more days until I’m out of here.” I gave an excited squeal and hugged Pez tightly. My long hair had fallen over his eyes making him look like he was wearing a wig.

In immediate response my cat shook the hair off its head and clawed at my arm leaving deep red marks; glaring up at me as if to say “Put me down peasant your suffocating me.”

I released my grip on Pez letting him fall feet first onto a crushed sweater, quickly scurrying away to sleep under the bed. It was a pity that out of all the animals I could have chosen to get for my fifteenth birthday I had to end up with Satan’s spawn.

I shook my head in annoyance rubbing the fresh claw marks that would now stay on my arm for about a week. Fantastic… The cat scratches had narrowly missed the black inked tattoo that was near the centre of my wrist. It wasn’t a huge one like the rebels would decorate themselves with, but a tiny cross which had my full name in cursive letters directly underneath Melody Rose Coda.

Well to be honest my last name isn’t actually Coda. It is just the name I have given to myself.

It’s not an unusual affair to give yourself your name; all the teenagers around here do it. Of course we would have kept our family names if we had a family but for reasons untold it was tradition for a children in this area to not know who their parents are. Considering the line of work that I wished to enter I think by doing this separation the higher ups are preparing for us to be rid of all emotional attachment. Sometimes you can get a rough idea of whose child is whose though. The sad thing was you never could verify it for certain.

I live in a small isolated island up in the north Atlantic which is only got a population of about six hundred people. The islands name is “Petoria” but you wouldn’t find us on any world globe or map since we don’t tend to publicise ourselves. I won’t bore you with the details but to be brief the island is divided into three main parts. Birthing, training and battle release. The cycle starts at the west side of the island when a child is born and determined if they possess magical ability’s (ninety nine per-cent of the children pass this test) once this happens the babies will stay with their birthparents until the age of seven which is when all memories are wiped clean of past connections.

My very first memory is waking up surrounded by other kids my age, none of us had any idea who we were other than our names which were written on a bracelet that had been tied around our wrists. It was most probably the scariest day of my life and for many others it was the same. For that reason we don’t talk about it, making it a taboo subject.

For the next nine years our generation was put into dorms and we were told that we had been chosen to complete the tasks that the Mortals (Normal humans) were incapable of completing. This task was choosing destinies to follow. Lastly once we finish the training we will have a big ceremony where we would graduate from the training school and we would be put out into the world to apply that training. We are all clueless of what battle release mission involves but rumour has it that you are forbidden to return to the island until that mission is completed.

Right now I am in the last year of my training with twenty two other teenagers. All of us that remain wish to become scribes, which despite the name isn’t boring at all. Being a scribe would mean going out into the world and performing magic in absolute secrecy.

It’s currently the third of august and finally in three days all the trainees and I will be eligible to take the scribes test. It is a great event held by the high council every year for ages 16 and up. Unfortunately we have no clue what the test involves which makes it all the more exciting. They change what is done in the test slightly every year so that if you fail the year before you don’t have an advantage the next time around. Ever since I was seven I always knew that this is what I wanted to do.

I shook myself out of my thoughts once more and pressed my hand on the marked day of the test on the calendar and started to imagine again how I would accept her certificate of acceptance. I could almost feel the goofy grin etched upon my face.

“Oi Melody!”

Before I could react to the shout I felt a hard wack on the back of my head hurtling me straight into the wall earning a huge red mark on my forehead. This will defiantly give me a huge migraine later I thought rubbing my head in pain. I hastily turned around with my fists up ready to fight when I saw blacked haired, freckled boy glaring straight at me. I sighed with relief realising it was just Nate my dorm neighbour but then remembered that he just punched me in the head.

“What in the devils name was that for? I’m awake!”

I could see the vein in his head pulsing in annoyance.
“Melody as much as I love you, when you space out you lose track of time.” He crossed his arms waiting for a response.

I stared at him blankly not having any idea what he meant.
“Nate what are you talking about? I haven’t lost track of t…”

He groaned and shoved the bedside clock in my face which now read Nine thirty six.
“YOU. ARE. LATE!”

The gears clicked in my head and I realised what he meant.  I leapt off my bed like a cat and ran around the room grabbing my trainee uniform that was scattered in-between the pyramids of clothing.

 “They said we had no practise today!” I yelled over her shoulder.

“Well you should have checked your phone!”

He turned and threw me a bottle of water which I caught with one open hand.
“If you’re not ready in the next minute…” Nate looked down at his watch. “I will walk right out of here and tell the instructor you’re wagging.”

I stopped dead and turned my head towards the tall teenager.  I flipped my hair over my eyes to give off the creepy child look.
“You wouldn’t…” I hissed pulling on her best evil stare, trying to intimidate him.

Nate flipped his hair in a sassy fashion pulling that million dollar grin. He leaned against the wall sipped absentmindedly the drink held his hand.  Over the nine years that he had known me my intimation techniques seemed to no longer affect him.
“Fifty nine…fifty eight.”

I cursed him under my breath and spent the next minute fanatically pulling on the tight green and gold trainee uniform with the silver laced belt. Nate was kicked outside while the actual changing was happening of course. Finally after one minute the doors slammed open and I emerged fully dressed in battle gear with my face red and struggling for breath.
“I’m ready!”

Instead of wearing the men’s uniform the proper way Nate had the sleeves of his jacket rolled up to his elbows and his pants covering the thick black combat boots.  I on the other the other hand was wearing correct sleeveless women’s shirt covered with the optional brown jacket. Also I wore a emerald green miniskirt with gold trimming around the edges. Finally for footwear I wore similar boots to Nate’s but instead had four silver buckles going down the front.

I watched as Nate scanned his eyes up and down my figure motioning with his hand for me to do a little twirl. With a huff of annoyance I obliged and Nate nodded his head with approval.

“You look great as usu...Hun you have your shirt on backwards. You know people might get the wrong idea.” He winked seductively flexing his non-existent muscles.

The last comment earned him a slap around the ear and within five minutes we were running across the gravel pathway to the training grounds.

The block of dormitory’s that Nate and I were staying in over looked the court yard. It was spring and was the time of year that many of the trees began to bear fruit and show budding blossoms. The once perfectly carved stone blocks on the ground were now cracked and worn away from the constant amount of use.  

Every so often Nate would slow down and lean against a broken pillar begging for a break. The only disadvantage of having a low rent dormitory is that it was a twenty minute walk from the training grounds. It was a five minute distance if you sprinted but unfortunately Nate was not renowned for his physical abilities, I had to physically drag him from the pillar by his collar to get him moving again.

In the near distance two gigantic sized circus tents were linked to each other with tiny emerald and gold flags surrounding the base. The sun shining above them was piercing bright and reflected off the tents blinding our eyes. As we got closer onto the grass area they began to make out a tiny figure standing outside.  I held up a hand to my face to cover the sun and squinted trying to see who it was. It was obviously not the Instructor because he was too short and was wearing the familiar trainee uniform.

I prayed to god that it wasn’t someone who would rat us out for being late.

 “Hey do you know who that is…?” I called out.

I didn’t receive an answer but I needn’t have bothered asking because Nate had already picked up his pace running at least ten meters ahead towards the figure, who now seemed to be running too.  A light bulb seemed to click in realisation and I chuckled knowing exactly who it was waiting for us.

“JASON!” Nate screamed as he ran/stumbled with his arms outstretched.

“NATE!” came the instant reply.

It looked like a scene from a romance movie when two lovers were running in slow motion towards each other with soft music in the background. In fact that was exactly what was happening, except for the slow motion and music.

About a minute later I caught up the Nate and Jason at the tent and collapsed onto the ground trying to catch my breath. I called upon my amazing acting and clutching my hand dramatically over my heart to give the impression I was slowly dying. Despite my efforts Nate was oblivious to me and seemed to have gotten a sudden burst of energy already hugging the small ginger haired teen waiting for us.

I couldn't lie and say that Nate wasn't an attractive guy. He was drop dead gorgeous with his turquoise eyes and fantastic body. For this reason throughout our childhood years he had always had a swarm of fan girls and admirers wherever he went. I am almost certain that nearly twenty different girls attempted to ask him out in the past three years. All of them unfortunately had been denied and refused until last year he finally got sick of it and announced the fact that he was openly gay and had been dating a gay named Jason in secret for two years. Well that stopped all the fan clubs in their tracks.

 

They know that they have to be careful though. On Petoria there no is law against being gay it’s just seen as being a bit abnormal. The thing that they must look out for is being caught showing affection. While no one really cares about whom you are with it is frowned upon to hug or kiss your partner in public. It’s all a bit stupid but then again it’s just another way of prepared those kids who want to grow up and be scribes. They try to make people unaware of what romance or love is in their lives to prepare them for work. I do remember that there was a brief period of time earlier in the year where they tried separating so they didn’t end up hurting each other. After about a month Nate became so insufferable missing Jason that they got back together for good. Six months later and they’re still going strong.

Despite being the same age Nate was nearly a head taller than Jason. It also seemed that Jason’s voice had not yet broken making him sound very mousy and high pitched. To make matters even worse he had a petite, slender figure that made him mistaken for a girl more than once.  

Finally my breathing became normally I sat up suddenly realising that her hair tie had fallen out during the run making my normally silky hair very fuzzy and full of knots. Hastily i tried to flatten it out but was caught by the sharp eye of Nate.

 “Well well isn’t this a fine look Miss Coda. I suggest you wear your hair this way more often. I predict you will attract all the men.” He winked with a sly smirk.

“Pfft like you look any better!” I shot back motioning to his hair that was now sticking out in all directions and the droplets of sweat upon his brow. He simply laughed and ran his hand through his hair making it fall to his left side still keeping one hand around Jason’s shoulders.

“Oh Hun I always look good. I don’t even have to try, isn’t that right Jason?”

The red head snapped out of his daze and looked up at Nate coughing awkwardly.
“Whatever you say Nate… Let’s go with that…” He wiggled his way out of his grip and made a dramatic scene of backing away slowly. Despite his terrible acting his was not able to stop the small giggle that was escaping his lips.

Nate fell to his knees and held his head down, his messy hair covering his turquoise eyes.
“Please don’t leave me Jason! I can change my filthy ways!”

Jason tapped his foot and looked as though he was thinking hard. He stroked his chin slowly with thought.
“Well…I do suppose I can let this slid…”

He didn’t even finish his sentence before Nate launched himself onto Jason nearly making the ginger fall over.
“I knew that you couldn’t stay mad at me!”
Jason’s look of surprise was priceless as Nate wrapped his hands around his waist once more.

“I swear…Whenever Nate see’s you he goes from being a surplus commander to a child seeing his favourite toy.”

Nate turned around (taking Jason with him) and poked his tongue out in a childish manner. I responding in a similar manner.

“Ha-ha! I will take that as a compliment Mel. Maybe I should see you guys more often.” Jason responded cheerfully.

“I agree to that solution.” Nate spoke looking into Jason’s eyes making him blush a deep red. I on the other hand simply groaned.

“Oh get a room you two.”
With perfect aim I threw one of my combat boots at the two make them scatter in fear of being pelted in the head.

“Fine we will keep it G rated for the wandering eyes. Happy?”
Nate got back on his feet brushing dirt of his uniform glaring at me. Although Jason had seemed to have fallen face first in a lone puddle of mud and was whimpering silently. Despite however much I took great joy in pushing around Nate there was no way I could ever stay mad with Jason. Pulling on the thrown boot I belly crawled over to where Jason was sprawled out on the ground.

“Sit up” I instructed.

He responded straight away and I tried to hide my  giggle as the mud made Jason’s hair stand up making him look like a thug. From the brown jacket pocket i pulled out a clean handkerchief and began to wipe of the mud that was now latched on Jason’s fiery hair.

“Now you’re not thinking of stealing my man are ya!” Nate called out.

His answer was another pelt in the face with heavy black boot courtesy of mwah. Once i knew my target had been hit I took a moment to celebrate with a fist pump and then returned my concentration to Jason’s hair acting as though nothing had happened.

“Learn to train your man Jason or I will have to break him”

“I wouldn’t worry he should be tamed by the end of the month.” He grinned evilly ignoring the protests of Nate in the background.

I let out a small chuckle and finished getting the mud of his hair, running her fingers through it making it spike slightly. The Redness of his hair clashed with his uniform horribly and made him stand out however he choose to ignore this fact. Like Nate he had freckles but his tanned complexion mostly covered this unless you looked closely.

“At least I know that he is in safe hands with you. You two are really cute together.” I whispered so that only Jason could hear.

He gave me a warm smile in thanks blushing slightly and the two of us stood up walking over to where Nate was pouting.

“Come on you big sulk.”

Once again I grabbed him by the collar and dragged him over to the two golden flaps marking the entrance of the training camp. The wind had picked up and was making the loose flaps fly around whipping us hard in back like whips. As we crept inside the entranceway I stopped and turned around whispering to the two.

“Remember we are technically late so be as quiet as you can and try to blend in.”

Jason and Nate nodded and they pressed themselves to the inside of the tent and shuffled their way inside. As hard as it was I tried hard to ignore the ticklish feeling of Nate’s cool breath on my neck making me shiver. We made our way around the corner and began to hear the booming voice of their instructor Logan.

“When you’re out in the real world you have to think on your feet! Not waddle around like a bunch of ducks!” We heard him screaming.

It was typical to assume that he was yelling at another newcomer who stuffed up one of the exercises. It was a rite of passage to be broken by the instructor. I was very laid back when it came to work so the instructors never really had any effect on me.  I was once a rebellious child; I used to go from teacher to teacher and was never broken once. I only spent only one hour in Logan’s class and I was pushed to my limits, eventually losing it and began to behave just so he would leave me alone. I couldn’t count the times though that Jason had broken down in tears because Logan had yelled at him. Logan had chosen to give up on Nate all together seeing as everything he told him went in one ear and out the other and he just didn’t seem to give a damn.

I motioned behind to Nate and Jason and I crouched down into the shadows so that Logan and our class wouldn’t see them as we went past. There was a bunch of crates leaned against the edge of the tents so the only options were to go around them and risk getting caught, or make the climb over them. Personally today I didn’t feel like being yelled at so I placed her foot on the top of the first crate pulling my body weight up onto it.  

I was crouched there waiting and a moment later I felt the weight of Nate as he climbed up onto the crate as well. He looked at her and motioned with his hand for me to keep going and he would help Jason. Not waiting for him I crawled over to the next big crate pulling up onto it. Too be honest we probably looked ridiculous but the crates were also in the shadows and our dark green uniforms seemed to blending in. The only thing that would possibly give us away was if someone looked hard in that spot and noticed Jason’s hair.

 As we kept moving I looked down and realised that we were at least on top of four large crates. It was a bit too late to remember if I had a fear of heights or not. We started moving slower because the crates were now beginning to creak and wobble dangerously.  My balance was becoming hard to keep consistent, constantly waving my arms like a mad woman. Nate and Jason were right behind her and were holding hands so they each didn’t fall off.          

The moment I stood up I heard a huge creak and in a split second I realised that the crate was empty and it would not support all three of our body weights. I turned around and attempted to whisper shout at Jason not to come up any higher.  It was too late.

About half a second later I felt the crates give way and gravity took hold of the three of us, hurtling us straight down to the floor.

“Well Mel you had a good run… this it.” I thought in those brief seconds before I closed my eyes.

I felt the hard thud of the ground and an immediate throbbing pain in my left wrist. My ears were still ringing but I could make out the sounds of Nate swearing under his breath about three meters away and Jason giving him words of comfort. Well at least they were ok. Without opening my eyes I moved my wrist praying that it wasn’t broken. The good news it wasn’t broken just bruised. The bad news…

I opened my eyes slowly to see the tall shadow of Logan towering above my head with the look of death plastered upon his face.

“I am so glad that you decided to bless us with your presence today Miss Coda” he pronounced every syllable with a tone of deadly rage.

“I am sure that you would love to tell us all why you chose to make such an entrance THREE DAYS BEFORE EXAMINATION!”

I swallowed a gulp and looked up at Logan trying not to show the nervousness in my eyes.
“Sir…I can explain…”

 

3: Chapter 2

Well this was not the situation that I had hoped to be in.
It turns out that not only did we break about five different rules but we also destroyed almost one hundred dollars’ worth of training gear. Whoops…

The three of us had our heads facing the floor as Logan commenced to scream at us for ten minutes while the rest of the class were snickering in the background.

“Do you have any idea how much time you wasted and damage that you caused?! Now I have to clean up your mess…actually no scratch that THE THREE OF YOU will clean this up and you will stay behind for extra lessons.”

“Um sir..” Jason began to speak up.

“Pipe down twinkle toes I’m not finished yet!”
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jason bow his head again in fear.

Logan may be shorter than most of us he was currently making us feel as though we were three feet tall. Rumour had it that he even intimidated the other instructors.

“Jason Fall I really expected better behaviour than this, follow the example of your sister for crying out loud!” Logan motioned to a red head that was standing in amongst the trainees. She was looking with disgust up at Jason but it was obvious that she was basking in Logan’s praise.

“So…rry sir won’t happen again.” Jason just managed to whisper out. His face was almost the colour of his hair with embarrassment.

I felt terrible! the three of us wouldn’t be getting yelled at if I had just gotten ready on time and not dragged Jason and Nate into it. I made a mental note to beg their forgiveness later. Chocolates, flowers the lot.

“Hmph It had better not. You’re lucky that you normally have a good record unlike these two.” Logan quickly turned his piercing gaze to Nate. “Now you…ARE YOU SLEEPING!”

I quickly sneaked a glance to the side and had to bite my lip to stop laughing. Nate was standing all right but his eyes were closed and you could see his chest as it moved up and down with slow consistent breaths. I couldn’t quite tell if he was faking or not but I could hear silent giggles from Jason who was quickly shut up with another death stare from Logan.

“You want to sleep in my class do you?” He smiled with utter rage ignoring the laughter coming from behind him. I don’t know if it was just me though but I felt the room’s temperature drop a few degrees. The whole room went silent immediately as Logan walked around myself and Jason until he was standing directly behind Nate. A part of me desperately wanted to wake him up because I knew what Logan was about to do.

From his back pocket Logan pulled out a pair of dark green gloves that seemed to be glowing with static and sparks otherwise known as “The Shockers.” Everyone in the class flinched as he pulled them onto his hands, like the rite of passage everyone had gotten a good taste of The Shockers.  Logan now had a genuine evil grin on his face as he lowered his hands over Nate’s sleeping head. The result was almost instantaneous. As soon as the fabric touched his head Nate’s eyes had burst open and he dropped to the floor like a rock rubbing his head in pain. I could tell that it was taking all of his will to not shout out every swear word in the English language.

Just to make things clear the shockers don’t harm you in any way. They’re used to ‘kick-start’ brain activity to put it simply. They are a common tool that’s used at the island hospital. The whole sensation is a bit of a shock to the head though (hence the name.) Although Logan never uses them for longer than a quick tap on the head because he believes that two seconds should be long enough for us to start concentrating again. Well amen to that.

“Nice of you to join us Mr Simons. I hope that we didn’t interrupt your little nap time!”

Nate glared back up at Logan and stood back up so that he was eye level with him.
“I am terribly sorry sir it’s just all that shouting was a bit of a bore so I started to drift off…”

Everyone stifled a laugh while Logan’s left eye twitched.
“Well congratulations smart arse you just earned yourself a solo clean-up duty until every splinter of wood is removed from the mess you created. Starting from now.” He pointed a stubby finger to the tangled web of crates and equipment that we produced.

“Oh dear Christmas is ruined!” Nate exclaimed with his hand over his heart as he started to walk. “It looks like I will never see joy again!”

I had to sneak a smile, you had to give credit to anyone who could stand up to Logan and get away with it.

“Now Coda.”

Damn now it’s my turn to get yelled at. I braced myself for the worst of Logan’s wrath and a whole bunch of different ways to say sorry.

“Have you learnt your lesson or would you care to join farm boy in shovel duty?”

I shook my head rapidly.
“No thanks sir I promise that this will never happen again.”

“Damn right it won’t. Now we just wasted half an hour of training, so you and Twinkle toes had better catch up or you will go on clean-up duty like Nate.”

I recognised that as a dismissal so I grabbed Jason and we both stumbled back into the crowd of trainees hiding ourselves in around the middle. That was way too easy. He must have used up all his energy on Nate so when it came to me he just didn’t care.

“Will there be any more distractions?”

“None at all Logan-me-boy!” Nate shouted from behind the pile of crates.

I watched as Logan took a very deep breath and chose to ignore him. With a wave of his hand he motioned for all us trainees to move into the next room for the simulation training.

It turned out that when Nate was put on cleaning duty it really meant that Logan wanted him out of his hair during training. So Nate would have to stay in the room until he was finished.

“Traitor.” Nate hissed at me as I walked past. I knew I was in the sight of Logan so I didn’t reply but I crossed my eyes and poked my tongue out at him just for fun.

I then found myself being packed tight within a bunch of male trainees as we walked down the thin corridor that connected the two large tents. The first tent was just a measly rabbit hole in comparison to this one. It was set up like a circus tent with sparkling gold beams supporting the dark green canvas. In the centre of the tent was a huge platform with a screen that hung down from the roof. The only things that were on the platform however were a small table with a deck of cards and a few mixed up everyday objects.

All of us gathered around the stage while Logan went straight up onto the platform. The sun reflected through the canvas making his light blonde almost look white. From there he took role call and went over the exercise we were going to do today.

“Alright so all of you know that the official scribes test is in three days and the ceremony following closely after. Not all of you are going to pass the first time around, I will probably be stuck with most of you next year…” a look of disappointment briefly crossed his face.
“It’s common knowledge that I don’t like you guys and you don’t like me so let’s try to get as many of you out of here as possible.”

I couldn’t help but like the fact that he was always straight to the point.  Another whole year with this guy? I will pass this test even if it kills me!

“If you have been studying and applying practical exercises like any decent person you should be able to just pass. However…” He paused and looked around at all of us.

“The judges are not looking for who can just pass any challenge with the flick of a switch. They are looking for someone who uses initiative and creativity to control the surroundings they are placed in. So to be clear, Even if you don’t pass every test you could still get through. But this will only happen if you show awareness.”

It wasn’t very often that Logan stopped shouting long enough to give advice, but when he did it was always good and extremely complicated…

“TWINKLE-TOES WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING!”

We all turned around to see Jason who had edged his way closer to the back of the tent during Logan’s speech. All of the colour trained from his face the moment that he was spotted.

“Bathroom sir…”

“Lies, you were gonna try to sneak out to see Nate weren’t you?!”
His gigantic voice seemed to bounce off the walls. Did he ever stop yelling?

Jason seemed to not be able to communicate words so he just nodded his head shakily.

“Well since that’s what you want you are forbidden to leave this room! Also twinkle toes you should treat my words like gospel so listen up next time.”

Silent as a mouse Jason weaved his way back into the group of trainees and popped up next to me.
“Nearly got away with it…” he muttered under his breath.

“What you can’t stay away from lover boy more than five minutes? Shame on you.”
He pushed me slightly with a smile on his face. “Shuddup”

When I looked back up Logan had picked up the deck of cards that were on the table and was displaying them for us to see.

“Ok revision time. What are these called?”

Jason’s sister raised her hand in a petite fashion.
“They‘re called Tally cards and they are what a scribe uses to perform their line of work. Each card has a different coloured border around it signifying what its purpose it. A Gold bordered card will equal good fortune and luck while silver symbolises romance and love encounters. Finally a black card means death and misfortune.”

Logan nodded his head with approval.
“That’s correct. Each card has a unique purpose to the holder and will give a different scenario. When you graduate you will all get a pack of Tally cards which will have symbol on the back of it that will be specific to you.  I assume that most of you already know your symbol.” The cards that Logan had in his hand were his own and on the back of the card he was showing us was a golden lion stamp.

“Now stay put and don’t move while I get the program simulation started up.” He disappeared behind the screen leaving us all standing to talk to each other.

Every child that was born on this island was branded with a little symbol on their bodies mine was the little wavy cross on my wrist. I knew that Nate’s was a purple sun that was located on his ankle but I’d never seen Jason’s before. Now that I think about it I don’t remember when mine was done; must have been when I was little…

I felt Jason nudge me slightly bringing me back to my senses straight away.
“What?” I blurted out.

A shriek of high pitched laugher came from right near me. I turned my head to see Jason’s sister Savanna laughing her head off. I cringed her, laugh was almost similar to a kookaburras.

“What’s so funny?”

She stopped her laughing and smirked at me, flicking her hair out of her face revealing the silver snowflake insignia on her cheek.

“Oh nothing it’s just so funny that its only three days before the biggest event of our lives yet you and that disgusting black head chose to treat everything as a joke.” She then continued to smirk like she was the flipping ice queen.

“Don’t you dare call Nate disgusting!” Jason yelled at her.

She hardly seemed fazed by him at all.
“Oh yeah that’s right your ‘dating’ him. And here I thought that you couldn’t bring any more shame to us.”

All the trainees were beginning to stop talking wondering what all the yelling was about. Logan would probably expel Jason if he came round the corner and caught him stuffing up again.

“Why you little…” Jason was now rolling up his sleeve and advancing towards Savanna. Before he got anywhere near her I pulled myself between the two of them and grabbed him by the shoulders.

“Jase this is exactly what she wants. Just ignore it; you know if you hit her you will be kicked out of the program.”

I put my hands gently on his fists lowering them slowly.
“This isn’t you.”

Even though the anger still showed in his eyes he listened to me releasing the tension in arms, letting them fall to his sides. Hastily while he was less angry I started to walk him away from Savanna to the other side of the stage. We hadn’t even gone two steps before she shouted out.

“That’s right let Mel do all the talking since we all know that you can’t stand up for yourself!”

Jason flinched slightly but I kept pulling on his arm to keep walking.
“Ignore it.”

“Why did you even apply for this scholarship? You don’t have what it takes to be a scribe; you’re too emotional for your own good!”

I almost groaned, seriously could she not hear herself? She sounded like a spoiled brat. I mean it was normal for her to be verbally revolting but she was really going out of her way today. In terms of social standing in this class Savanna seemed to reside in the popularity triangle. Her good looks were the main thing that got people to be attracted to her.  She had the same scarlet red hair as Jason and she styled it so that it was in a tight bun on her head with curled bangs on the side on her face. Other than that she had a great body which got her lots of male admirers. Honestly she wouldn’t have to rely so much on sex appeal to get friends if she just acted nice for once.

Both Jason and I made our way to the other side of the stage and shuffled into the side of a group of female trainees. I knew that Savanna was still glaring at us so I turned my head towards her discreetly and gave her the sweetest smile I could muster. That was sure to keep her infuriated for a while.

“Why don’t you just cut her off, she is so annoying.” I whined to Jason.

“I have considered that many…many times but honestly she is the only family that I know exists. I can’t let go of that.”

It was very true that they were very lucky to know that they both were related. It wasn’t verified for certain but they both looked almost like twins except for the fact that Savanna wore twenty tons of makeup. When they entered training Logan had just automatically called them siblings and it had just kind of stuck.

“Fine. But you have to admit she is becoming unbearable. Do you know how much I have to restrain myself from slapping her one?”

I finally saw a smile back on his face but he shushed me with his hand when Logan reappeared back onto the platform. I had to bite my lip to stop laughing when he didn’t realise Jason and I had moved and he ran out towards the tunnel looking in to see if we had wagged.

“Oh sir”

I raised my hand and put an innocent look on my face. I nudged Jason to do the same.
“We are right here.”

I should have known that Logan was not in the mood for jokes…

“Great I was looking for you Coda. Since you so kindly volunteered you can do the first virtual exercise in front of the class.”

The Screen started flashing multicolours as I walked up the stairs onto the stage. Like a quiz game whatever colour that it landing on represented a different category of task. It was a good thing that no one in the class suffered from seizure attacks.

In the centre of the stage Logan had brought out a small lead box on a stand which had a foamy liquid covering the top. The idea was the place your hand over the foam and the computer would decide which task would be best for you to complete and would set up a task that would be unique for you. Beside the box was a set of blank tally cards that were only activated for practice uses only.

I dipped my hand slowly into the foam letting it wrap over my fingers pushing my hand down until eventually I could feel the cold steel pressure plate of the box. It was weird feeling that I don’t think I will ever get used to, it made shivers run up my spine every time.

I had to keep my hand in for five seconds until the flashing lights on the screen slowed down to the point where is just landed on a single colour. 

Green.

The simulation gave off a piercing light and a second later the room had been virtually transformed into a high school gym. The platform still remained but I watched as all the other trainees and Jason moved over the bleachers that had just appeared to watch. It was the newest model simulator so you could actually smell the sweat and odours that came with the gym, making it more realistic.

“Lock-On challenge” A robotic voice echoed through the room.

I picked up the practice tally cards and attached them to the clip on my uniform belt, fastening it tight.

“Coda listen up!” Logan shouted from the bleachers. “You know the drill for this so I’m only going to say it once. In twenty seconds seventy different types of teenage human holograms are going to appear around the room. From analysing the pictures that will appear on that tally cards you need to find the human that they are meant for.” Logan had said this speech so many times before it was word perfect from the textbook.

“Once you think you have found the right person you need to touch them on the shoulder. Once you do that the program will stop and we will tell you if you got it right. If you’re correct you pass the exercise however if you get it wrong you fail and pick up extra lessons…”

“What’s the current time record for this Logan?” I said interrupting him.

I watched as he glanced down at his clipboard scanning through the notes.
“The fastest time right now is fifteen minutes and thirty seconds set by Cleo Rasima.”

I grinned and started to feel the adrenaline pump through my blood.
“Set the timer for ten minutes.”

“You really want to make that stupid mistake again? The last time you rushed it I had to give you extra duties for a month since you were so off from the right answer.”

I flicked a lose piece of hair out of my eyes absentmindedly. “That was ages ago. I have been practicing since then.” I hope I sounded more confident than I felt…

I knew that we didn’t have a lot of time and Logan would just give in eventually. Sure enough a moment later the screen became filled with a blinking red timer set at ten minutes.

“Take your mark.” The robotic voice echoed.
I quickly glanced at Nate who was giving me a thumbs up with a little encouraging grin. Even though he was smiling I could just bet he didn’t think I could do it. Last year was pretty humiliating when I failed so I guess he doesn’t want to witness that again.

I placed myself in the starting stance with my hand gripped firmly around the deck of cards. I gave a quick nod to Logan for him to start. The countdown began and I tried to block out all the sounds around me and ran all the possible scenarios through my head.

“Seven, Six, Five…”

The next four seconds past in a flash and the room became deadly silent when the countdown hit the buzzer for me to move. Like Logan had said holograms looking like typical high schoolers appeared around the room instantly.

 Another good thing about the holograms was the fact that they were programed to become suspicious if a scribe waved her magic about in them. So really the hardest part of the exercise was to perform magic without any of the seventy holograms realising it.

I quickly shuffled my way over to the corner of the room dodging most of the holograms as I past. I sat myself down and pulled out the tally cards. To a mortal the tally cards would just look like regular playing cards. When you became a full ledged scribe you would finally get cards of your own and for every mission that you took on they would change in accordance to the person. Instead of having the full set for practice I only had twenty odd cards with me. Instead of being blank they now had different colourful pictures with the three different coloured borders painted on. From a quick glance I had at least nine gold, eight silver bordered cards with three black cards in the set. This probably meant that the person I was looking for was very popular with a lot of luck in love.

 I scanned through the golden cards first; these mostly had pictures of animals on them. The one that caught my eye was a card showing the picture of a magnificent golden tiger; from training this meant that the person was physically strong. The next showed a snowy tree owl, Wisdom. The rest of these golden cards confirmed that this person was an athletic runner and also held high marks. This nearly ruled out half the people in the room.

Next the Silver bordered cards. These cards give the scribes not only the relationship preferences of the Mortal but also the appearance of them. Ok so from the cards it was clear that this person liked big breasted women. I ruled out the females in room once I made sure it was a guy. One a second silver card the female had long wavy blonde hair. This meant that the mortal I was looking for most probably had brunette hair seeing as they are most compatible with blondes. Another half of the room I ruled out and I began shuffling the cards quickly trying to save as much time as possible.

“Three minutes left Coda!” Logan’s voice boomed over.

A little part of me was beginning to panic and my hands started shaking as I got to the black cards. A belt, house and wooden chest were the only pictures. For a moment I was lost and I started to lose myself to nerves, burying my head in my hands trying to decipher it. How did it all connect?

“YOU CAN DO IT MEL!” Jason screamed out from the silence.

“DID I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO TALK TWINKLETOES?!”

Although Jason was shut up quickly by Logan he had snapped the panic out of me. I clipped the cards back to my belt hurriedly and I stood snapping my glances around the room. I power-walked my way in between mortal holograms trying to find the missing link to the cards. Of course Jason, Savanna and all the rest of the trainees would know who it was. Logan would currently have the image of the Mortal up on a screen that was out of my vision.

“One minute to go!”
I sped up my power-walk to nearly a run whipping my hair as I craned my neck to see as many holograms as possible. I nearly gave up until I saw him.

Right near the back was the missing link. He had very long dark brown hair that was tied up in a ponytail and his build was extremely muscular. I confirmed everything by seeing the small bruise right under his eye.

Logan had started the countdown from thirty seconds and I ran my way through the crowd trying to reach the boy. He kept walking so I had to dodge my away around nearly thirty other Mortals in order to reach him. It became a blur as I reached him and touched his shoulder stopping the exercise.
 

4: Chapter 3

All the holograms disappeared just as quickly as they came. The only one that remained was the one that I had touched and the rest of the room returned to its original state.

Unfortunately I did not realise how fast I was running when I went to touch the Mortal. The funny thing about Holograms is the fact that they are…Transparent. If there was a slow motion replay, it would have shown me gracefully face-planting into the floor and skidding at least two metres on my face when the timer hit zero. I was wincing in pain but I pulled myself up and dragged my injured body to the frozen Hologram. I tapped my foot and waited patiently for Logan to reveal my results.

I looked up at all the trainees to see them gawking at me with surprised expression on their faces. Logan had a weird look on his face as well. I tried to look at Jason for comfort but his eyes were cast downwards. I could understand him though; my hair was sticking up on its ends from the stress and droplets of sweat trailed down my face. I could go out looking like this for Halloween! The only sound in the room was my exasperated breathing. I begged that someone would at least sneeze to make it all seem not so serious.

Logan was the one who broke the silence by clearing his throat.
“Before I tell you what your results are I want you to explain why you choose that particular hologram.” These words made me even less confident that I had gotten the right answer.

I shuffled my way to the right so that Logan and the rest of the class had a clear view of the hologram.

“The reason I choose this one was because of his figure and his aura that he emitted.”
 I was responded with multiple blank looks so I explained further.
“His social standing was obviously high up and the golden tally cards stated that he was very athletic. Knowing this I looked for someone who had a muscular build and also was surrounded by lots of females..”

‘Pause for effect.’ I thought with a grin.

“..The reason he gave himself away was the tiny bruise located underneath his left eye. From a quick glance it may look like a birthmark but if you really look hard the mortal has used concealer to cover up the worst of it. The black cards indicated a belt and treasure chest. From the bruise I assume that he suffers from abuse at home and the chest is meant to signify how he keeps it all buried from everyone else. This is the mortal I have chosen.”

I pulled all the remaining confidence that I had and plastered it on my face trying to assure myself that this was definitely the right hologram.

“Melody you completed the program in nine minutes and fifty six seconds.” Logan said.

I wanted to let out a cheer for breaking the record but his face gave away no emotion telling me if I actually got it right or not.

“Coda you got the facts that it was a male. Also the fact that they had a strong attraction to women was correct as well. However the fact about the family abusing was the one that you were unsure of right?”

“No sir I am absolutely positive that this is the right person.”
I secretly crossed my fingers behind my back for good luck.

“At least try to not look petrified Coda.” He smirked. “You got it right.”

It took me at least a good ten seconds for me to process those words.
“Pardon?”

“You heard what I said Coda, you set the new record by four seconds…”

“Sir may I step outside for a moment? I’m feeling a bit dizzy.”

He gave a nod and motioned to the tunnel. “Five minutes.”

I practically flew off the stage towards the tunnel, my jacket fell off behind me as I ran. Logan and I knew full well that I was feeling fine. I just wanted an excuse to go tell Nate. I didn’t have to run far though because I turned the corner and collided with him head on.

Nate fell to the ground in pain but I simply dancing around him pulling his arms to get him to stand up. He swatted me away as if I was a fly.

“This had better be good.” He mumbled while he attempted to stand up.

Nate had obviously gotten very into his work. The whole area was now clean but he seemed to be wearing half of it. All the crates had been crushed and the pieces were tied onto a long piece of sting which now dangled around his hips. All of the equipment was stacked up like a giant Tetris game into a mini tower which he created a few feet away.

“Guess what I just did.” I said in a sing-song voice.

“Signed your death wish?”

I responded by hitting him over the head again making him swear in agony. The back of his foot kicked the Tetris tower making it sway back and forth, leaning dangerously closely to falling.

“Fine I take it back! What did the amazing Melody Coda accomplish today?”

“Now that’s more like it. I’d have you know that I just did the lock-on challenge.”

“Oh damn did I miss you failing for the third year in a row?” He replied with sarcasm

I raised my hand to hit him again and he flinched automatically. Satisfied I lowered my hand and continued with my news. Logan would call me back in soon.

“You just missed me COMPLETING the Lock-on challenge and setting the all-time record!”

His eyes instantly widened with surprise.
“Seriously! Mel that’s great!”

He grabbed my hands and we spun around doing a little celebration dance. As we were spinning I decided to finally let back my head and gave screams of delight. Through all the dizziness I saw him do the same.

He must have been spinning around for nearly a minute until my hands slipped and we both went flying in two directions, collapsing on the ground in a fit of giggles.

“MEL TIMES UP GET YOURSELF BACK IN HERE!”

I grabbed Nate by the wrist and pulled him back through the tunnel to the simulator room. He didn’t even bother to protest.

As we entered the room we found ourselves in a safari simulation. A blonde haired trainee was in the middle of doing her training test. By the looks of it she wasn’t doing too well.  The two of us almost bended into the lush green scenery as we joined up with the group.

I could sense Nate’s eyes scanning for Jason so we weaved our way through the crowd until we came to Jason who was sitting by himself. I waved to get his attention motioning to Nate who was no longer standing behind me.

I laughed as Nate plonked himself straight onto Jason’s lap without any warning sending them both crashing to the ground as the chair gave way. Luckily the sound of the crash was drowned out by the animal noises being projected, as part of the safari simulation.

Logan however turned his head at that exact moment and managed to just catch a glimpse of Jason’s hair. I held my breath but Logan was too busy marking the other student to pay any attention to Nate’s dramatic entrance.

Once they had picked themselves off the floor we continued to watch silently as the girl struggled her way through the task. She ended up going over thirty minutes so Logan had to stop the clock. Out of all the effort that she put in she didn’t end up completing it.  

The girls name was Aliyah I’m pretty sure. I wasn’t friends with her very well but she had mentioned to me recently the idea of becoming a scribe seemed too great a challenge for her. So she decided that she would just throw the test so that she could stay on Petoria.  It’s a waste though she was quite good at working out mind games.

She exited the platform and took her seat with the trainees and another student took her place on the simulator. For the next two hours each student went up and did a separate test while Logan would scribble notes of some sort on his clipboard. Jason also went up to do a challenge at one point, He was given the “Execution challenge”. What this involved was using the black cards (One of them would show a death scenario) and Jason would have to find a way to complete the task without giving himself away to the chosen person. This was by far everyone’s least favourite task and the hardest one to give to Jason.

The person that he was chosen to do had two possible death scenarios.  The mortal would either be stabbed or die in a car crash. The car was obviously unavailable in the supermarket simulation so Jason grabbed the black bordered card and pressed it against the knife that was located on the mix-match household items Logan had placed out. The card disappeared, its magic sinking into the object. From there Jason discreetly handed the knife to the supposed enemy of the mortal, ending the task. Doing a death task was always the hardest to do so Logan always turned the simulator off before you saw anything.

Whenever someone enters scribe training they think that it’s all going to be fun and games, living life without any regrets. I still remember the first thing Logan told us in his class.

“…If you are here for the money or the thrills of having power of a scribe you don’t have what it takes. Through this training you are going to have to end lives. Yes you will also create better futures for some people but there will come times that you will be given the assignment to kill a mortal. If you don’t think you can handle this responsibility then you have no place in this class. I may sound strict but if you can’t follow orders when they are given you are no use as a scribe.”

Those words were constant motivation for us to not to think about what we had to do, but why we were doing it.

Nate came back to sit down, his hands were shaking uncontrollably as a side effect from what he just did. Even though it wasn’t a real mortal the sensation was very real. Nate stood up and hugged him, whispering words of comfort in his ear while I heard Logan scribbling last minute notes.

Finally half an hour later we had gotten through every student in the class including Nate. (As much as Nate annoyed him it was his obligation to train him before the exam.)

“Alright.” Logan mumbled shutting down the simulator for the final time.
The dark circles settling under his eyes showed that he was tired out from all the paperwork he had just done. It was now five thirty and the sun was just beginning to set, making the sky a peachy colour.

“That’s it for today you are all dismissed except for these people.”
He listed off eleven different names including mine, Nate’s, Jason’s and Savanna’s.

Logan motioned for us to remain in our seat while we waited for the unlisted people to leave through the tunnel. Once the final person left the room Logan turned to face us with a tired expression on his face.

“No you are all not in trouble.”

We all breathed a sigh of relief. That was the answer to the question that everyone as thinking.

“Do you know why the exam is different ever year?” he asked out of the blue.

Confusion crossed all our faces. This was an easy question; it was because they wanted to have the trainees prepared for whatever was thrown at them.

“The reason we do this…” Logan continued “Is so that we know how you would react to an event on a daily basis. We want to assess you on what you would choose to do without the added stress of examination.”

He looked at us as though he was waiting for us to understand his words. He gave a groan when he was only rewarded with blank expressions.

“Do you get what he’s trying to say Mel?” Jason whispered in my ear.

I shrugged my shoulders in reply.
“Not a clue.”

“Long story short the exam never existed. It was all a trick!” Logan shouted with a grin. “All these test that you have done the past few days have been your assessment. I wanted to see if you would still put in the effort if you believed that the exam wouldn’t be for a few more days.”

A few of the girls near the back gasped with shock and whispered among themselves.
“I knew that I should have tried more on the simulation….”
“Maybe this is him telling us that we failed…”

The last whisper caught my attention and I actually began to question my actions over the past few days. Yes I broke the all-time record today but Nate, Jason and I had been constantly late and rebellious during practices. Yep this was it, my scribe days were over. I should have just chosen to work in the Guard then waste seven years in training.

I turned to face Jason to tell him the news.
“Look Jase I think we fai…”

“MEL WE PASSED!”
His eyes were nearly bulging out of his head with excitement. Nate was just as bad and was jumping up and down next to him doing a wacky celebration dance.

“Twinkle Toes is right Coda. Everyone here passed the test.” Logan tried to say this as though it was no big deal but he couldn’t hide the small smirk as he watched everyone scream with happiness.

From that moment till I got into bed that night was all a blur. I remember dancing around and screaming my head off with Nate and Jase , And Logan trying to shut us up to tell us the details for the private awards ceremony that would take place the next day. 

So it was explained to us that the whole point of the “Scribe Examination” was to see if we would not get lazy on our technique if we didn’t think it would go towards the exam.  The other eleven who had failed would be informed in the morning and would be required to stay for another year of training if they wished to continue.

We raided the tent’s supply of food and drink Eventually after an hour or so Logan had to kick us out of the training grounds and by that time the stars were well up in sky, twinkling like little fairy lights. We stood silently outside the tent as Logan went inside to pack up.

“Nate… does he know about the equipment Tetris tower you created?”

He held up his hand with a smile spreading on his face.
“Wait for it.”

A loud crash came from the inside of the tent and the sound of Logan swearing in anger. Dust rushed out from the open flaps making people that passed by cough suddenly.

“NATE!” Logan screamed out at the top of his lungs

Without a sound Nate grabbed my hand and started to run in the direction of the dormitories, Jason high-tailing right behind us.

“I’m starting to think that you knew that was going to collapse!” I yelled out as we ran.

“Mel of course I did! One last prank for the old man before he’s rid of us.”

I heard Jason’s high pitched laugh from behind us and soon all three of us were laughing and panting while we ran. We reached Nate’s dorm after about five minutes and we all collapsed on the floor with grins still evident on our faces. I not sure how long we lay there without speaking but I was certain that the same thing was running through all our minds.

By this time tomorrow the three of us will be Scribes.