Ylva woke up to the sound of birds chirping and the smell of old things. The house had not quite adjusted to its new owners and was still creaking uneasily, albeit less so than in past days.
"Ylva!" called her mother from the kitchen.

Ylva blinked quietly, pushing off the bed with one hand. It was today, wasn't it? Was she going to have to wake up at this ungodly hour every single day?

I haven't even entered the public school system yet and it's already an enormous pain. I can only imagine what the actual classes will be like.

Just the thought of them made her shiver. She knew nothing about the school itself and no one that she could ask. Besides some debriefing from her parents and some preteen sitcoms she had watched for research, she knew practically nothing about eighth grade.

Regardless, she sat down at the table and began consuming the pale bread loaded with skyr her mother had made her. The white yogurt was a staple back at home and it could make just about anything passable- that included white bread with nothing else on it. At home, she'd usually eat it on bread that someone had home-cooked but her parents had been far too busy to go out and buy the ingredients during the moving process. In fact, they'd gone out to fast food restaurants at least four times.

From this, Ylva learned two important lessons about the world at large: first, that fast food restaurants were a universal constant, second, that their salads were absolutely covered in dressing. The leaves looked as if they were crying out for help.

Finishing up her yogurt, she got up to get ready for the day. "I'm off to get ready!" she called, stopping near the bottom of the stairs.

"Remember what I told you? Backpack, clothes, teeth, hair. That's all you need to do." Her mother waved, eating her own skyr raw.

"Yes, ma, we went over this several times." Ylva bounded back up the stairs, changed, and managed to brush her teeth and comb her unruly hair in the span of several minutes. It felt wrong to leave it unbraided but she was already running late. She could easily do that at school, even if braiding her own hair was going to look really awkward and create a less than optimal result. It's not like they could stop her, anyways... could they?

Did they have a no-braiding policy at school?

When she came back down the stairs, looking disheveled but nonetheless ready for the day ahead, her mother bought her close, holding her firmly. Ylva felt slightly uncomfortable but she sunk into her mother's embrace timidly. "Be careful out there."

"Love you too, mum." Ylva pulled away. Her pale blue eyes were trained on her mother's face.

Her mother deposited a small crystal in her hand, set within a silver coating that allowed it to rest comfortably in her hand. "In case you get lost. If anything happens, they'll probably have seeking crows out today around the area."

"They have seeking crows?!" Ylva asked. "For a school?" She and several cousins had tried to purchase one for her cousin's birthday once but even most of their savings from doing farmwork hadn't come close to covering it. The specially bred corvids were smarter than average, larger than average, and were often used as eyes in the sky. Those who could talk to animals often favored them, so it would make sense that they'd have them up to dissuade shady individuals and make sure that any lost child could quickly be found.

"Honestly, Ylva, they're not as rare as you'd think."

Ylva turned the tracker curiously in her hands. "You said we weren't allowed to have any sort of magic at school." The little red crystal, cropped into a teardrop, was often used in the wilderness by travellers. The device, although not as useful as modern day GPSs that her phone was unsurprisingly not equipped with, would glow as you came closer to your destination. It was one of the practical bits of magic that had relatively few ways of blowing up in your face or causing the apocalypse, which meant it was safe for public consumption.

"It's Category 1. Category 3 and up are contraband. Now remember, if you see any large animals..."

"I run."

"Anyone selling contraband?"

"Don't take it."

"Anyone teases you?"

"Come up with a clever and sassy comeback?" Ylva suggested sarcastically. When her mother shook her head slowly, Ylva sighed. "Tell the teachers."

Her mother kissed her on the head. "Good girl. Remember the directions?"

"Ma, we live five blocks away from the school. I'll be fine." She opened the door, looked back once more, and shut it. She looked down the city streets, feeling a numbness wash over her. There were other kids on their way as well. She was going to be fine.

She walked briskly down the streets, trying to appear casual as she clutched one of her backpack's straps. Sure enough, there was a crow directly over her, cawing once before returning to surveillance. Before it went, she waved, hoping out of mild curiosity that somewhere someone else was watching and had seen the gesture.

Will there be students controlling these? she wondered.

No, of course not. This is way too many for someone our age. Biting her lip, she turned another corner. The air was a little less fresh here, the sky seemingly even grayer, and the buildings, though still just townhouses, were terribly imposing. Down one of the alleys, a trash can fell over with a clang.

Ylva jumped and her tracker fell out of her hand with a dull klink. Luckily, it hadn't broken, but it was now glowing a profusely angry color. She bent down to pick it up and turned slightly. A large, reddish shape was watching her in the alley. At first, she thought it might be a fox, but nine tails unfurled slowly from the back and Ylva bolted down the road.

She stopped once she got to the school. It was another rusty red building that was not only but massive but also seemingly swelling with windows the like, cutting up the red with glassy silver.

As Ylva found her way into the masses, she slipped past the doors and into the intimidating school itself. Inside, the air was filled with a mess of noise and people all smushed into lines from which they were continuously peeking out of or ignoring altogether, making following them difficult.

"Excuse me." Ylva pushed through a few guys standing together and then murmured another apology to a large group of girls and what she could only assume might have been an actual line once.

She finally approached a desk, behind which a dark haired girl with copper skin was sitting. "Hello!" she stuck her hand out. "My name's Sharon Prince, head of the Student Government. You wouldn't happen to be a new student, would you?"

"Oh! Um... yes. I... uh..."

"Don't worry, I'm here to help you out. Crazy school, huh?" She had her elbow on the counter in a very colloquial manner. "Anyways, what's your name?"

"Ylva. Ylva Ericson." she added her last name, hoping it would help, but it seemed Sharon was already on it.

She flipped through pages and pinned one down. "Pleasure to meet you! Alright, you're on the second floor for your first class. Room 2059 is the first one on your right when you go up the main stairs." Sharon quickly slipped her a schedule. "Take this. That'll give you information on where to find the rest of your classes."

Ylva nodded gratefully. "Thank you."

"Of course! If you ever need anything, just ask."

Ylva smiled and turned to run back into the crowd. The people were still making her terribly claustrophobic but at least now there was at least the warmth of knowing that she had someone looking out for her here. She walked in the same direction most of the other eighth graders (or at least what she assumed were eighth graders) were going in, which eventually led to a large and winding staircase. She dashed up the far less crowded stairs and found her hands around the cold metal of the door handle.

The door creaked open without her saying a word. Inside, a cluster of kids sat in desks arranged into pairs. The only adult in the room was a kind looking woman with brown hair and pale, almost silver eyes, currently speaking at the front of the classroom. "Hello!" she turned as Ylva entered, her face glowing with enthusiasm. "You must be our new student."

Ylva nodded hesitantly. "Um... yes."

"My name's Ms Theria and I'll be your biology teacher this year. Don't worry too much about school, we're all new students today! Most of the students here have been attending this school for two years, seeing as we're a joint middle school and high school, but I think you'll fit in just fine. For now, find a seat, please."

Ylva clutched her schedule a little tighter as she swept the room. She was near sure that one of the girls had waved to her from near the back, so she sat down next to her.

"Howdy!" the girl said, enthusiastically. "Nice to meet you. Name's Emily." Her hair was a vivacious ginger, cropped just above her shoulders, and eyes were full of radiance, brimming with expression that could only be inherently friendly.

"Let me see that." she expertly plucked the schedule from Ylva's hands. Ylva clutched at it, aggravated, but not only did 'Emily' have fast reflexes but apparently a grip of iron as well.

"Aw, sweet! Looks like we have everything but math together." she clicked her tongue once in mild disappointment. "Shame, too. Wait, how good are you at math?"

"Um..." Ylva tried feebly to sneak her schedule back again but answered quietly, "I guess I'm alright. They sent me some placement exam at home but it wasn't that hard."

"Ugh, the SPEs. Those things are the worst because you never know what to prepare for. I mean, it's not like I study for math tests, but still. Hey wait, what's your name?"

"Ylva." Ylva said.

"Are you Norse?" asked Emily, curious.

Ylva nodded hesitantly.

"Wait, are you one of those private schooled Silverdale kids? Why would you move here?"

Ylva shook her head. "New to town."

"Oh, nice. Yeah, thank goodness you aren't from Silverdale. Silverdale kids are actually the worst. Anyhow, I'm not descended from any particular gods or demigods, but if I had to guess, probably Eugaean." she shrugged.

"What?"

Emily looked slightly confused at this, but then "It's just some term for those of us with no magical heritage. You know, like 60% of the world?"

"I've... never heard that term used before." Ylva admitted.

"Never mind then. Where do you live?"

"The New Oak townhouses." she mumbled, although just saying the words made her stomach churn.

She slammed the table, causing the teacher to look up at them both. Ylva blushed. "No way! Same here!" Emily whispered, eyes wide.

"Oh- uh-"

"Oh man. This is the greatest! We can walk to school together and-" Emily paused. "Wait, wait, wait. You're Norse, too, so you could totally come to the Haven with me."

The word Haven piqued Ylva's interest but whatever it was, she definitely didn't have time for it. She looked up at the teacher, who was going on about the course syllabus. She blushed hotly. "I need to focus on the notes. If you don't mind..."
"Oh." Emily smiled. "It's your first day. There are no notes. In the future, if you don't want to follow along, you can just pull them up on your computer. I'm pretty sure we were allowed to do that last year. Do you have one at home that you could bring to school?"

"My mom has a computer."
"Do you think she'll let you bring that in?"

"How would I carry it in? I'd have to get the monitor and the hard drive and-"

Emily's eyes widened. "It's not a laptop? How old is it?"

"... we've had it for ten years?" Ylva admitted, flinching.

Emily bit her lip thoughtfully. "Ouch. Alright, you can look over it with me, then."

"Emily, if you don't mind, we have a class going on." the teacher snapped.

"I know! I'm just teaching Ylva the ropes."

"Mhm." The teacher said.

"Well, looks like she's onto us. Luckily, it looks like we're going to have the whole day to get to know each other better!"

Ylva nodded again, although in her head she was in full panic mode, all alarms blaring. Her teacher's continued monologue about what they'd be learning in Biology seemed so massive, she had no idea where anything was, and she had no idea what to say to this girl whatsoever.

Somehow, despite the situation, she thought she might have made a new friend.

She stared up at the board and found herself smiling.

I think everything's going to be okay.

((Oh wow I finished a chapter

and it only took me TWO WEEKS

I'm so sorry guys ;-; this book is really hard to write and I stress over every detail and *quiet internal screaming* but it's here now

also my super artsy friend is doing a cover and she's amazing and you guys are going to love it. Thank you for putting up with the inconsistent update schedule :>))