Sonope

Chapter 2

Darby opened the door to her room and tossed her backpack on her bed, tired from the long day at her private school.

She loosened the red striped tie around her neck and flopped down alongside her backpack.

She started off most days early in the morning with jogging, a habit she had picked up from her mother, one that her friend, Olive, ridiculed her for. After her morning run and semi-healthy breakfast, she got ready for school, checking all her homework and donning the uniform and leaving on the bus before most people were even up.

On the bus, she socialized with her friends from school; Paravi, a funny, loud, happy Indian girl, Taylor, a fun, geeky guy, Quinn, a sweet, short girl with glasses, and Erin, a small, athletic girl also sporting spectacles. They were all the other Turning in the school.

After arriving at school, she had 4 blocks; today had Music, Math, English, and FACS (Family and Consumer Science). In Music she played various instruments, depending on the piece. Her talents allowed her to play violin, viola, piano, flute, piccolo, guitar, and the bells, which is a percusive instrument. Her Math right now was Geometry, but she had finished that up a week ago what with finals and all. English was fun; she liked to read and write, and FACS had her sewing and cooking, all skills she might have needed before this week.

This week was the week of Turning, the week of Olive's birthday, and the week it all fell apart.

--

Darby was woken by the buzzing of her phone on her dresser. She groggily felt around for it before connecting with the sleek Elven tech.

Most technology in Sonope was Elven built, from the computers to the appearifiers. Those were like teleportation devices, but still weren't approved for human use.

She swiped to access the texting client, seeing who had messaged her.

Paravi.

"Hey girl, you up?"

Darby rolled her eyes, but smiled, typing out, "I am now :P"

"Haha, sorry (not). You ready for a party extravaganza?"

Darby sat up to get more comfortable before answering. "You bet. Can't wait to meet Olive's friends, even if I am a little nervous"

She could almost imagine her friend scoffing as she quickly typed back, "You crazy girl! The way she's described them, how can it go wrong? Plus, everyone loves ya!"

Darby pursed her lips. "I suppose you're right. Ttyl!"

She turned off her phone and rolled over, arcing her arms into the sky, then checked the clock.

9:34.

AKA 26 minutes before the party.

Crap.

She shot out of bed and hurriedly pulled on some clothes that vaguely resembled something clean (they were fine, she could sort it out later). She raced downstairs and poured cereal haphazardly, spilling some.

She sucked in breath and calmed down a bit. I have time. She went through her Saturday morning routine like normal, only feeling slightly rushed. After everything was situated, she checked the clock.

9:56.

She breathed a sigh of relief and went to grab the gift, yelling goodbye to her mom and dad as she stepped out the door.

Olive's house, where the party was taking place, was just down the street and Darby made it in no time at all.

She knocked and the door was opened by... Olive's mother.

"Glad you could make it dear. Come sit in the lounge and we will get you situated. The others will be arriving soon."

Darby was confused, looking around for her friend, who was absent. Then she shrugged it off; she was probably just in her room getting ready.

The doorbell rang and Darby heard the door open, along with muffled voices of Mrs. Wolfer and...boys.

Don't freak out you have been waiting for this for so long. Don't freak out, don't-

Too late.

A tall and lanky blond walked in, followed by an Indian boy with glasses.

Darby waved weakly. "Hi."

The two boys stared at her for a second before the Indian blinked.

"Hey. You must be 'Darbs.'"

She winced a bit. "Yep, I'm Darby. Can I get your names?"

The tall blond one walked past her and flopped into an armchair.

"I'm Jason, that's Naman." *cough* Nayman *cough*

Naman elbowed Jason, but piped in, "I'm sure Olive told you about us."

After seeing Darby's face, Jason nodded. "Definitly not, then."

Darby frowned. "Sorry.. she mentioned there were four of you, and she described you guys once or...once, but I never got any names."

Naman shrugged. "Not your fault I guess. Speaking of which, has anyone actually seen her yet?"

Just then, two others walked into the room, a girl and a boy. She looked generally happy and he looked...suspicious.

Olive's mother was following close behind.

"Now that you youngsters are all here, all that's left is the birthday girl!"

She turned to call up the stairs. "Olive, are you coming downstairs anytime this year?"

The smile in her voice quickly disappeared after there was a long stretch of silence. "Olive? Sweetie, are you up there?"

She hurried up the stairs, concerned. The five friends waited at the bottom, gazing up.

Mrs. Wolfer opened the door and froze. Darby saw shock and horror written on her face and she rushed over to help, hearing the others close behind.

"Mrs. Wolfer is everything-"

The room was completely trashed. The bed was ripped open, the ceiling fan was hanging slightly, and there was not a clean space of flooring as every drawer and closet had seemed to regurgitate anything they had once held. However, that wasn't the strangest part. No, the strangest part was the single ashen feather on the open windowsill.

Even as they watched, it was blown away into the sky, disappearing just as Olive had.

Gone with the wind.