Chapter Text
Prologue:
I twisted the wrench in my hand, tightening the bolt. My surprise for my brother and his friends was coming along just fine. A smirk tugged at my lips, even as the song I was listening to ended and a new one came on. The playlist that Joe had suggested to me was surprisingly good. Almost made up for the lack of any real music in my earlier years. Almost. A sudden loud thud from farther in the gigantic workshop that King Academy had for the students to use alerted me that I wasn't alone anymore. Scrambling, I tugged on a piece of rope, lowering a large tarp down onto the surprise to hide it from view.
Whirling around, I faced that direction just in time to see a young teen with snow white blonde hair swishing in a long ponytail skipping up to me, a smile dancing in her blue eyes. "Hey Faith."
"Hi ya Mari!" Faith gave me a quick hug, somehow not shaking me with how much she was vibrating. "Guess what? It's time for history!" Faith released me as she continued to bounce seemingly in place.
I forced a smile at my roommate, and Mark's only female friend, running a hand through my sunny blonde hair that was currently piled up on top of my head in a poor attempt to keep it out of my face while I worked. "Okay...tell Monsieur Popper that I'll be there in a minute." Actually it might be even faster if I... Mark! I'm gonna be a minute! Can you tell Monsieur Popper that for me? I tapped into the bond between me and my brother, hoping he would answer soon. Unless the mystery voice that's been communing with him was telling him about another ability that he has that we didn't know of again. Since the school year ended three weeks ago, we have learned at least three more powers that we didn't know he had. It has been a really weird summer for us. Okay... Where are you and Faith? Class is about to start. Startled, I glanced over at the hyperactive blonde who was still standing next to me. "Um...Faith? Shouldn't you know... be headed towards class?"
Faith stared at me blankly for a minute, before a cry of oh escaped her and she disappeared with a soft pop. Shaking my head at her, well at least at her ability to forget what she was supposed to be doing, I flew towards the workshop's open door. Flying was a hundred times faster than walking...especially when the class was on the other side of the school.
"Ah! I see that you finally decided to join us MariAnne." Monsieur Popper peered at me over the rim of his glasses.
I shrugged as I slid into the seat closest to my twin brother. "Sorry Monsieur Popper, I had to stop to help Mademoiselle Dubois with something." I kept it vague, knowing that my fellow technopath would back me up. After all, she was the one that had offered the school workshop to work on my surprise for the others.
"Very well... however I want you to sit up front by Joseph. We don't need you getting distracted by Markolo." I rolled my eyes skyward at that, he was one of the few staff members that didn't understand both, that we could communicate telepathically, and that we really preferred to be called Mark and Mari.
"Yes sir." I froze at the slip of tongue, panic surging through me.
Thankfully, he didn't seem to notice or care about it. Of course, he could be pretending, knowing that correcting me most likely would trigger an attack. One advantage of the school finding out that I was the granddaughter of a crazy supervillain that was determined to make life miserable for us. "We're waiting..." He gestured to the empty desk next to Joe.
Heaving a sigh, I grabbed my history textbook, standing up to move to the front of the room. At least Joe was fairly nice... and one of my brother's friends. He wouldn't do anything to make me uncomfortable. Unfortunately, Nick was sitting up front on the other side of him. Hopefully I could get through this entire class without the obnoxious shapeshifter bothering me. Turning my attention to Monsieur Popper I finally noticed what the whiteboard had written on it. The Great Quake of Solangia. I groaned as I quickly burrowed my head into my arms. Sure, it was an historical event... but it was also greatly tied into the myths about the draqulo. I'm not entirely sure anyone really knows the truth about that terrible earthquake. If memory serves correctly, everything, and I mean everything, was leveled during that quake.
"Who can tell me something about The Great Quake of Solangia?" Monsieur Popper placed his hands on his desk, leaning forward as he scanned the small scattering of teenagers that had failed the past school year bad enough to get assigned to summer school. Sometimes I wonder if he even knew why we were all still here and not at our homes for the summer. Well... the rest of my classmates. Mark and I don't have a home yet. A frown crossed my features at that thought. Maybe we should... "MariAnne!" There was a loud slam as Monsieur Popper slammed his teacher's manual shut as he stared at me.
Blinking rapidly, I glanced around to see that everyone was staring at me. Oops... I must have zoned out and missed something. Monsieur Popper wants to know your thoughts on the findings that Solangia was at war at the time of the quake. Mark's voice suddenly rippled across my mind, a hint of amusement lacing it. I quickly sent annoyance down the connection back at him, before turning my attention back to our history instructor. "Truth be told, we don't actually know much before 14876 B.K. We do know that, however, there were at least three, possibly four, different factions during that time period that for some reason had vast disagreements that lead to much bloodshed. However, on the flipside, the survivors from Solangia and its various provinces are the only ones that we have any known records on, indicating that there was no war at the time."
"Very good. At least someone has done their reading assignment from yesterday." He rubbed his face, looking highly frustrated. I fought the urge to glance at Joe, surprised to hear that he hadn't read the chapter last night. Joe was very much someone that stayed on top of homework assignments.