Serena sat cross-legged on the warm walkway up to the orphanage. The sun shone brightly overhead, and a soft breeze rustled the trees. Two birds were singing on the roof while Serena wrote small notes in the book she was reading.

A familiar voice suddenly said, “Hey,”

Serena looked up. Ms. Kendal sat beside her, brushing a strand of brown hair behind her ear as she asked, “What’s that?”

“It’s my science textbook. Some of the stuff in here is wrong…” Serena trailed off, staring at the road where cars were going past. “Are they coming?”

Ms. Kendal sighed heavily. “No, I’m afraid not.”

“What happened?”

“They heard about Jeremy.”

“Oh.”

“You punched him, Serena.”

Serena looked down. “He deserved worse.”

“I know he had it coming, but hurting people won’t help.”

“Why not? It’s not like I’m getting picked anyway.”

“Serena—”

“What’s the point?” Her voice sharpened. “They don’t want me. Nobody does.”

Silence. Ms. Kendal looked away, then said, her voice soft and gentle, “You can’t stay at the orphanage forever. I know it was hard for you when your parents died—”

“Don’t go there.”

“Okay, okay, I won’t. But I’m just saying, you have to leave eventually.”

“I…” Serena chewed her lip. “I know. But can’t you—”

“No,” Ms. Kendal interrupted. “You can’t live with me.”

“Why not?”

“You need a proper family—”

“No I don’t,” Serena said, fighting the tears in her eyes before adding, “I need you.”

Ms. Kendal shook her head, her voice soft. “You’re brilliant, Serena. Smarter than half the teachers in your school.” She smiled faintly. “You were never meant to stay here.”

“But I want to live with you,” she said, her voice cracking before she could stop it.

Ms. Kendal hesitated, pain lining every word as she said, “I do too. But we can’t.”

Serena went silent. She flipped her textbook open, then closed it—then opened it again. She wished the pages would give her answers on what to do now.

They didn’t.

Ms. Kendal watched Serena fidget with the book for a while. Then she stood and offered her hand.

“Come on, you should get ready for school.”

***

The buzz of students’ voices drowned out all other sounds as Serena put her books in her locker. The first day of school was always hard, especially since she was two years younger than everyone in grade nine. She could’ve skipped ahead even more but decided not to. 

Looking around, Serena’s shoulders slumped as she realized her only friend, Kalmar, was nowhere to be seen. Horrible thoughts flashed through her mind.

What if he forgot about me? Or he was tired of hanging out with someone two years younger than him? Or-

“Serena!” A male voice said. Serena sighed in relief as she turned to face the boy behind her. Curly brown hair, light blue eyes, just like she remembered.

“Kalmar, where were you all summer? I was waiting for a text, or an email, or a letter, or even a visit! But I got nothing!”

“Sorry,” Kalmar held his hands up as Serena glared murderously at him. “Hey, now. Be nice. That was the agreement when I signed up to be your friend. Rather, slave.”

“Stop it, Kalmar,” She scolded. “You shouldn’t be joking around right now. You never even answered my question!”

“I was busy, alright? And my parents wouldn’t let me besides. They think you’re not good enough to hang around their son just because you’re younger.”

“Well…” She swallowed. Hard. “Do you think they’re right?”

“Of course not!” Kalmar insisted. “It’s stupid if you ask me. Don’t worry about it.”

Serena breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay. Good.”

“So, how was your summer?” Kalmar asked, shoving his backpack inside his locker, not even bothering to empty it.

“It was…. alright.” Serena smiled faintly.

“Oh, come on. I know you better than that. How was it really?”

“Six interested families. Not a single one wanted to adopt me after we met.” Serena shook her head, “It’s never going to happen.”

“Sure it will. There’s someone out there, you just haven’t found them yet,”

“There’s nobody!” Serena fought the tears in her eyes. “I don’t belong anywhere, and you know it! Stop pretending.”

“I never was,” Kalmar said, his voice a whisper. 

Looking away, she stared at the dirty floor. Something was whispering, at the back of her mind, that there was somewhere she belonged. A word began to form at the back of her mind but disappeared as quickly as it came.

“You okay there?” Kalmar asked, causing Serena to jump in surprise.

“Yeah… I’m fine…” Hesitating a moment, she hurried away, leaving Kalmar staring after her.

***

The rest of Serena’s morning passed in a blur. The hallways buzzed with chatter, slamming lockers, and teachers who were desperately trying to wrangle younger students back into class. Serena kept her head down, drifting through it all like a ghost.

Her last class before lunch was science. She slipped into the back row and sat near the window, letting the sun hit her arm as she pulled out her textbook. The teacher, Mr. Darnel, was already halfway through scribbling formulas on the whiteboard, mumbling something about cell structure. Serena wasn’t listening, though. She didn’t need to. She’d memorized the whole textbook last year out of boredom.

Instead, she opened her book to the chapter on evolution. There was a faded diagram of early life forms—a timeline of prehistoric creatures leading up to modern humans. She’d seen it a dozen times before. 

But this time… something changed.

Her breath caught in her throat as the shapes on the page… moved.

Just for a second, the creatures twisted and grew horns, claws, and long tails. One even spread skeletal wings. The timeline blurred, and a word shimmered into view beneath the figures:

Dragon.

She blinked and rubbed her eyes. The page returned to normal, and the word disappeared.

“What…?” she whispered, scanning the diagram again. Normal fish. Normal primates. No monsters. No wings.

She quickly flipped the page and saw another shimmer. This time, a map.

It was drawn in bold black ink, and a castle was sketched at the center. Mountain peaks curled along the top, and strange letters lined the bottom. The castle looked exactly like the one from her dreams last year.

“Serena?” the teacher’s voice cut through the silence.

She jerked upright. “What?”

Mr. Darnel frowned. “I asked you to read the next paragraph.”

“Oh.” Serena’s cheeks burned. “Sorry. I… lost my place.”

He raised an eyebrow but turned back to the board. Serena looked down again. The map was gone.

Her fingers trembled as she shut the book, and her heart pounded. This wasn’t her imagination. She knew that castle. She could see the stone it was made out of in her mind. The towers. The banners. The broken window near the top floor.

“Paz…” she whispered under her breath. It came to her like a ghost. Soft, but certain.

The bell rang, and Serena jumped again. Around her, students stood and shuffled toward the door like nothing had happened.

Serena carefully shoved her books into her bag, hands still shaking. She needed answers.

She needed them now.