Kai Porter and the Castle on the Hill

Chapter 1- Welcome

Kai (it/they)

Kai looked up at the thin, towering castle and took a deep breath before walking through the front door. The inside was musty, the air was thick with dust and lit by flickering yellow lights held in sconces. Plush red carpet muffled its footsteps. The echoing entrance hall was devoid of the usual crowd that was around at the start of every pre-semester holiday- It had arrived later than everyone else, the van that brought it here from school had broken down and taken hours to repair. There were only a few camp counselors and his stepfather left here, waiting for it.
Its stepfather nodded at Kai, acknowledging it. He was a tall, barrel-chested man, his head was bald and his chestnut beard was thick and straight-haired.
"Counselor Marie will escort you to your room. Your bags are already packed for you in your old quarters. You are not to bring anything else with you, understand, boy?" It nodded, but did not look at him. "Do you understand, boy? A yes or no would suffice."
"Yes."
"Yes sir, I believe you mean."
"Yes... Sir."
"I figured a year at that new school of yours would teach you to respect your elders the way your mother never did."
"No, sir." Gods, Kai hated how he acted like those orderlies at Saint Eligius', hated how it was used to it because he sent it to Saint Eligius', hated how Mama wasn't here to stop him anymore so he'd most definitely send it back there in two months. Where was the sharp retort it usually had for him? Wrung out of it by an orderly, that's where. "Also... I would prefer it if you didn't speak of my mother that way." It guessed it could settle for that.
"I love and respect your mother, son. I always have and always will. It's just that I can't help but see where she fell a little short while raising you."
It shrugged and went across the entrance hall, which led to the scullery, which led to the back door, which led to the cottage behind the castle where its mother's lab was and where it once lived. A human counselor in a forest green camp t-shirt followed closely behind, a keyring jangling on her belt.
"Oh... You're the Porter boy, aren't you?" She asked. Kai stiffened.
"Yes."
"This is the 'reformatory' you were sentenced to?"
"Mm."
"But your dad owns the place. You'll get special treatment. He bribed the judge or something, didn't he?"
"He doesn't like me. It'll be fair."
"I'm sure it will be." She said sarcastically. They stood on the doorstep of the cottage, a low sandstone building with a small tower and a turret, and a telescope sticking out of its red tile roof. Kai took in the sight of what was once its home- Windows devoid of the floral drapes its sister had sewn herself, flower boxes under the windows full of plants long wilted now that Mama and Kai weren't there to water them anymore. The counselor stuck out a hand from behind them to unlock the door, then opened it for them. Their breath caught in their chest.
The small, bright space had been stripped clean of any sign that Mama had been there. Gone was her equipment, her half-filled notebooks and grimoires and journals crammed into the shelves around her desk, gone were the photos of her family and stray trinkets Kai had given her over the years because it thought they were pretty and she'd kept ever since, no matter how worthless. It was all gone... She was gone. It hadn't felt this- the weight of the realization that she was gone and never coming back, that settled over its shoulders and weighed heavy until it couldn't quite find the air it needed- since it watched her coffin sink lower and lower into the ground, where her husk of a corpse would lie and rot.
It knew Father would put away her things someday. It just wasn't ready for it, didn't want to be ready for it by dreading the day.
The only sign of life left in the cottage was the bed tucked away in the corner opposite to the telescope, where Kai slept while Mama spent long days and nights on her work. Even then, the sheets Kai was used to were replaced with plain, thin ones, and the stickers of stars and dinosaurs that it pressed to the bed frame when it was still small had been scrubbed away. The drawers built into the bedframe weren't left untouched, as they were still open and empty, and the contents Father had not approved of were likely thrown away. Those he did approve of were in the two small suitcases that sat on what used to be its bed.
"What happened to my things?" Kai asked, its mouth dry.
"Some of the other counselors sorted through them and decided what was safe for you to keep."
"And the rest of it?"
"Don't know, don't care, didn't ask."
What was safe for you to keep. What else should it have expected? Everybody already thought Kai was dangerous, and of course it had to prove them all right by figuring the safe coping mechanisms for its anger Mama gave it weren't enough.
But now... Now it was just tired. Scared to see what else it had lost while it was away. Its anger burnt out when it made grieving Mama harder for Harmony and Father than it should have been by setting fires when it shouldn't have even had a lighter.
I'll do everything right. Convince them that I've changed. That I don't do that kimd of stuff anymore, and I won't do it ever again, Kai thought as it followed Marie into an elevator that went downwards, to the campers' quarters. The suitcases were light in its hands. Maybe things will get better again... Well, as better as they can be, with all that I've ruined.

"Your room's third on the right. Make your bed and put your things away, then it's up to the dining hall for the welcoming feast and orientation." Marie told it as the elevator doors opened. She followed closely behind as it went down the stone hall so narrow they had to walk single-file. They were deep underground, in the caverns under the castle where the campers slept. Before now, Kai didn't really get why they didn't just use cabins- The rough, unpolished grey walls of the caverns were cold and cramped and harshly lit by buzzing lamps. They were miserable- the perfect living quarters for a disciplinary camp such as Scholomance, or at least it guessed they were now that it was actually here. It didn't really have a feel of the place, Mama didn't let it onto the camp grounds often.
The third room on the right was indistinguishable from all the rest, sealed shut with a rusty green brass door. Kai had to push at it a bit to get it to creak open. The door was thick and heavy and it screeched because it hadn't been oiled in a while.
Can't sneak out easily. Bonnie wouldn't like that- It shook its head slightly. No! don't think of him. Then you'll miss him again. And you just got a handle on that...
The room was scarcely large enough to fit a bunk bed, a dresser, and a small desk. The top bunk and desk already had its roommate's things on it, most notably a bright yellow rolling suitcase that had been hastily shoved underneath the bed and hadn't been closed, and a thick, leather-bound copy of the New Scriptures on the desk. Kai could see a myriad of other books and a few sheafs of herbs in the suitcase. It guessed its roommate was religious and looking forward to potion brewing as an activity... Smelled like ogre's ear and willow bark. Potion ingredients.
Kai opened the dresser and began to put what clothes it still had into the side of the dresser its roommate hadn't claimed. Its favourite sweater was gone. So was its lucky scrunchie and that torn-up black skirt it borrowed from Bonnie... Kai knew it was stupid, but it was half-hoping it would've been able to return the skirt to him one day.
It noticed a baseball bat and a purple-and-yellow letterman jacket on its roommate's side of the dresser. An athlete, and one that didn't get into any fights to make their parents send them to Scholomance, if they were allowed to keep the bat.
"Hurry it up." Marie snapped. "What's taking so long? You stealing from his dresser or something?"
"No." Kai shut the door and followed her back into the elevator. It felt like it was forgetting something... Then it realized it hadn't found its stuffed rabbit when it unpacked. It shook its head, hoping for the best because that was all it could do. It'd see Father at the welcoming feast, wouldn't it? It would ask him where the rabbit was then.