Hargrove

Chapter One

“It’ll be alright, Rosa,” Ryan said. He stood before the front gates of Hargrove Academy with his twin sister while they waited for their parents to park the car.

“How do you know? I still can’t believe they’re sending us away.” Rosa’s bottom lip curled slightly into a pout. Her deep blue eyes darted about, taking in details of the gates and the circular driveway. Those eyes were a constant yet beautiful contrast to her long black hair and golden skin tone. She had inherited them from their father, Vincent Santiago, yet in most other ways resembled their mother, Magdalena.

“They’re not sending us away. Hargrove is a top school; Avalon went here.” Ryan sighed as he watched the fire work its way through his sister. That’s another thing she’d gotten from their mother: that fiery temper. Ryan had Magdalena’s piercing brown eyes, dark skin, and hair color, but his calm demeanor was a gift from their father.

“Yeah, Avalon went here. Right after they sent her away. At least they sent Terese to keep her company. Who are they sending with us?”

“We have each other,” he said with finality. If nothing else in the world worked with Rosa, their closeness was always a reminder of what was important.

She rolled her eyes but had no constructive retort for that. He was right, and she knew it. When everything else failed the twins, they always had each other. That’s the way it had been since they were born. “You’re so stupid, Ryan.”

He grinned. Now, while most people weren’t overly fond of being called “stupid,” Ryan knew she didn’t mean it. It was just her way of getting in the last word when she knew she lost the argument. It made her feel better to say it, but both of them knew Ryan was right.

Hargrove Academy was the finest, and probably most expensive private school in the state of Colorado. Their cousin Avalon had graduated there a few years back, and now Papa had it in his head that all Santiago children should attend when they reached the age of 14. It had done wonders for Avalon, he reasoned. Rosa couldn’t understand it, however. Avalon had been a troubled child, not having a father around. The school had given her a chance to mature away from the pampered life of the Santiago children. More importantly, Terese was sent to care for Avalon. As a witch, Terese could do what few could accomplish: she could help harness Avalon’s power.

Despite its reputation, the students of Hargrove weren’t all witches, warlocks, wizards, and mages. In fact, very few of them had supernatural or unusual powers at all. Hargrove’s advantage was its discretion. Many wealthy and eccentric people sent their children to Hargrove; it kept uncomfortable questions from coming up, both to the students, and about the students.

Rosa didn’t understand why she and Ryan had to go to Hargrove. They had no powers that they knew of. Ryan rarely misbehaved, and although Rosa was rebellious and headstrong, she never really got into any serious trouble. The Santiago family wasn’t eccentric. Wealthy yes, but not eccentric. Well, unless you counted the fact that many of the family members were vampires.

Enrico Santiago was the head of the family. Friends knew him as Rico, and the children simply called him Papa. His wife Julee was known as Nana to the kids. Both of them were much loved by their family, all of which were sworn to keep the secret. The outside world was of course never told the nature of Papa and Nana, though rumors occasionally surfaced. Rico Santiago was known to the mortal world simply as a middle-aged business man in southern Arizona. In truth, he was nearly two hundred years old.

“No, mi niná,” Papa had said to Rosa when she was very little. “We never call ourselves ‘vampires’. It is such a rude term.”

“What do we call you then?” Rosa had asked in a soft voice, looking up to Papa’s bright green eyes.

“Call me ‘Papa’,” he had said as he smiled down to her.

She had giggled. “Nooooo, Papa. I know to call you ‘Papa’. I mean, what do we call you if we can’t call you ‘vampires’.”

“I know what you meant, mi niná. I was simply teasing you. No, the safest and most polite way to refer to our kind is to call us ‘Immortals’. We have to stress that we aren’t monsters, after all.”

Rosa had wrinkled her little nose. “But Papa. If we can’t tell nobody what you are, then how do we stress to them that you aren’t monsters?”

Papa had chuckled softly. “You’re a very smart girl. No, I don’t mean that we must stress this to the public. You’re right; we can never tell them what we truly are. I mean, we must stress to ourselves that we aren’t monsters. Sometimes, that is difficult to remember.”

Rosa thought back to that conversation as she waited for Mom and Dad to catch up. She had told Ryan, of course, and he had understood at once. Rosa understood Papa’s words, but the deep meaning of them were something she pondered in times of insecurity. The Santiago family secret made it necessary for young children to be home schooled under the direct supervision of Santiagos or people they trusted. It wasn’t until they reached high school age that they were allowed to socialize and study with other children their age. When they were old enough to keep the family secret. So not only was Rosa apprehensive about going off to boarding school two states away from home, she was nervous about attending a school with other children. She looked to Ryan and smiled anxiously. Yes, he was right. She always had him to keep her focused.

“Here they come,” Ryan nodded down the walkway. Rosa followed his gaze and let out a breath.

“Yeah. For better or worse, it’s time,” Rosa said.

Both children turned and faced their new school as Mom and Dad caught up with them at last. Together, they entered the gates.

 

 

©2005, Christopher Haught

 

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