Chapter 1 | Welcome to Saint Clair Academy

Bad luck always seemed to follow Alice wherever she goes.

Before she was born, a raging storm took the hospital’s electric power; her mother had to deliver poor Alice in complete darkness with only the emergency flashlights guiding the doctor and nurses.

When she turned a year older, his father got electrocuted when he saved her from playing with sockets in their house. When she reached kindergarten, her playmate got hit by a car for trying to follow her across the street.

On her sixth birthday, her parents disappeared after killing two random people in a parking lot.

The series of accidents and deaths certainly did not stop there. The Catholic orphanage she was sent to burned down immediately after a few hours of accepting Alice into their home.

After seven years of living, the only string of luck Alice had was being adopted by the Le Blancs, the multi-billionaires who owned innovative companies and businesses.

Everything sailed smoothly the moment she became a Le Blanc. She experienced fancy feasts, wore elegant clothes, played with the biggest dollhouses, went to good schools, and traveled to various countries.

She was a princess.

A princess who had murderers as biological parents, but a princess, nonetheless.

However, Alice felt her Le Blanc luck break the moment she spotted Saint Clair Academy. The massive gates were widely opened for the incoming students. The fountain in the middle was spewing water that smelled strongly of chlorine. The main building, which was called Athena, was freshly painted with white and brown coatings.

Everything looked perfectly normal, and nothing happened yet, but her guts can feel something unusual, something she cannot pinpoint.

“It’s beautiful, huh?”

Alice turned. Leia was standing beside her, staring at the massive main building of Saint Clair. It was just their first day of classes, but Leia was already carrying plenty of books.

“Did you know that the Saint Clairs built this school when they found out that Mrs. Saint Clair was pregnant? The construction started immediately in August of year two-thousand and four. Many companies and wealthy people invested; that was why only the rich kids could register,” Leia stated.

Leia Browne was a short girl with round eyeglasses. She read a lot of history books, informative books, fiction, and classics. Every time Alice hangs out with her, she constantly spouted facts and information.

Alice usually found Leia’s trivialities tiresome, but the random fact Leia had just said spurred her interest.

“Do they accept scholars?” she asked.

Leia nodded as her eyes went back to the building. “But only a handful. They select them carefully, you know. The administration only wants the smart and creative ones.”

The thing with wealthy people was that they wanted to help the less fortunate children, but they do not want those children to be friends with theirs. Alice learned it the hard way.

Alice found herself following the sea of students onto the gymnasium, which was called Heracles, for their orientation when the bell rang. The students were divided by an invisible line; elementary students were quite cheerful, unlike the middle school students, who were quiet and filled with an awkward aura. The high school students already had their small circle of friends, the usual jocks, preppy kids, mean girls, art people, and music people.

It became apparent to Alice that she and Leia would not be a part of a group anytime soon. Neither of them does sports, nor arts, nor music, nor fashion.

A bald man stood in front. Behind him were several teachers; some were smiling and frowning, but mostly, they were stoic and observed their students' faces.

 The bald man cleared his throat. His smart gray suit and shining leather shoes indicated that he, of course, had money too. “Welcome, students,” he spoke through the microphone.

The noise died down, and the students’ attention shifted. Alice noticed how he resembled Professor X from the Marvel comic books she loved to read.

“As some of you may know, I am Principal Beckett. I ensure your education’s quality and safety inside the school premises. Now, this year would be exciting because the construction for our science building was finished.”

There were ‘ughs’ and ‘boos’ within the crowd. Alice, however, found it exciting. Aside from her comic books, she also loved science. The thought of experiments always stirred her mind’s imagination.

“Thanks to our kind donators, the members of UNITY, we also started the construction for our stadium.” The principal clapped, and so they were obliged to do so, as well.

UNITY was an organization led by Alice’s adoptive mother, Meredith Le Blanc. Their mission was to help the orphans and provide opportunities for the less fortunate. The organization already helped thousands of people across the country; even the public officials and politicians wanted to be involved.

“Some of you are already familiar with the academy, but for our new students, we will still undergo the mini-tour, which your respective advisers will lead. Let us have a fruitful and productive year, students.”

The teachers started to walk away from the stage. Some left the gymnasium, but six of them remained.

A jolly-looking woman stood in front of Alice and the rest of the high-school students. She had bright blue dolphin earrings that Alice immediately noticed.

“Good morning, everyone! You all must be excited,” she hoped. “Before we start, I want to introduce myself. I’m Dalia; you can call me Miss Dalia. I’ll be your class adviser for the whole year. If you have any questions, you can raise your hands.”

Miss Dalia started the tour around the academy. Some students, especially the preppy ones, looked bored and uninterested. On the other hand, Alice took note of the exits, fire alarms, and cameras as she held her four-leaf clover keychain for luck.

She was involved in far too many accidents not to be paranoid.

Thanks to her mother, Meredith Le Blanc, she collected various lucky charms in various forms such as keychains, teddy bears, dreamcatchers, Himalayan salts, crystals, and even plants.

“This is the music room. If you want to play piano, guitar, violin, cello, and other instruments, you can register for a pass from Mr. Kelly. He’s our music advisor. The locked room beside it is the art room. Our arts advisor is still on vacation, so you have to wait for her return if you want to get a pass in there.”

Someone raised their hand.

“Yes, Candice?”

The first thing that Alice noticed when she looked at Candice was how the girl loved her jewelry. Every part of her body shone with silvers and golds. Even her ankle was clasped with a gold anklet.

“Do these rules apply to Thomas, or is it just for us?” Candice queried in a demanding tone.

Alice knew who Thomas was. His father, Louis Saint Clair, was the Vice President of UNITY, and every time they threw charity parties, he always talked about his genius son studying in Italy.

Miss Dalia’s face was filled with confusion. “Thomas Saint Clair? He’s not studying here, honey.”

Candice flashed a mischievous smile; her teeth were showing. “Oh, of course, you wouldn’t know. Only the close friends of Saint Clairs would know.”

Alice wanted to say that her parents were good friends with the Saint Clairs, but she did not know either. Candice’s smile already irked her, but now that it was obvious that Candice just wanted to boast, it annoyed her more.

“Show off,” Leia uttered behind Alice. They shared the same sentiments.

After Candice’s revelation, the whole class flocked to her side, wanting to fish more information about Thomas. Alice and Leia ignored the whispers and focused on the tour that Miss Dalia was giving.

From time to time, Leia would whisper facts and history lessons in Alice’s ear. The reason behind the buildings’ names (Elisa Saint Clair loved her Greek gods), the architectural inspiration of the library (Rampur Raza Library in India), and the design of the fountains and long pathways (inspired from the British palace).

Alice’s interest did not align with history or designs, but she did know when to appreciate such architectural masterpiece. Every crook and canny of the academy was polished and aesthetically pleasing.

She wondered why her parents did not enroll her here sooner.

“These are the UNITY members that helped the Saint Clairs build this school. This picture of Mrs. Saint Clair was taken before the Athena building was constructed.” Miss Dalia pointed at the largest frame in the wall.

“This one was taken before the first classroom was fully equipped.”

The school started to come together as the picture frames went on the walls. Alice even saw her father, George, standing together with the workers wearing hard hats and her mother, Meredith, smiling widely.

The last photograph was taken when the school was fully constructed. Every member of the UNITY and the workers that built it stood side by side, grinning from ear to ear for a task well done.

Candice and the rest of her newly acquired group of friends breezed past through the frames, not bothering to look. Alice and Leia, who liked staring at things that intrigued them, stared a little longer.

Alice’s eyes bulged with surprise as she saw two familiar faces.

The faces she had seen on murder websites and news articles. The faces who lulled her to sleep when she was only a five-year-old girl. The faces that she would never forget.

It was her birth parents, standing beside the Le Blancs.