A/N (Author's Note)

I just want to share some things with you guys before I start typing.

1) Nyx- Goddess of Night, blesses human teens (going through puberty, or done with it) and transforms them into creatures of the night. They are called fledglings, then they mature into vampyres. They receive blue sapphire crescent moon markings but new one's have occurred, that are red, like the main character.

2) This is not going towards any religious beliefs or anything because this is just simply a different twist on vampyres and such. If you are Christian, Mormon, Buddhist, or whatever else; this isn't against you.

3) I do not own any ideas in this book. By that I mean that the House of Nights, High Priestess, Raven Mockers, and things like that were all P.C. and Kristen Cast's ideas. Things to do with Cassidy though...I made up.

4) This is my first fan-fiction but, if it's the way I think it's supposed to go, then this should be easy for me to do. But if you're a big fan of the House of Night Series and I mess something up, I'm sorry. Just bear with me. At the end of the book I'll be going through and making sure that everything is accurate.

5) That's all I really have to say so, thanks for reading, and be sure to favorite if you enjoyed, or if you want to be put on the update list for it! Bye.

Chapter One

I sat across my parent's and smiled shyly. "I really didn't mean for it to happen, I was just kicking around the soccer ball and it hit the window. Really. Jackson had nothing to do with this," I said, looking at my little brother. He smiled broadly and nodded, making my mother sigh. It wasn't like they would know anyways, they weren't even here when it happened. They were away at one of their fancy little parties, forgetting that they have children at home. "You can take from my allowance if you want, anything you need to cover the cost." They both nodded and smiled at me for, what I'm guessing, being 'mature'.
"We will be doing that, darling, thank you for the kind suggestion. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a cocktail party to get to and I don't want to be late," my mom said before she stood up and left the room. My dad stared after her with a look of pain on his face, a look that vanished when he looked at me. Joy reached his eyes as he bent down and gave me a hug, whispering, "You'll always be my little princess." Then he slowly left the room too, leaving me with Jackson. Almost automatically we raised our hands and gave each other a high-five.
"You always know how to talk them out of punishment! Man, I love having you as a big sister," he said, throwing his arms around me in a huge hug. I laughed and hugged him back but my thoughts continued to go to my Science class. Earlier this morning my teacher said that we would start doing a unit on the moon. For some reason it grabbed my attention but then I had this weird moment when all I started thinking about was the waning crescent and how marvelous it was. By the time I had stopped, it was the end of class time! How weird is that?

I woke up the next morning and got ready for school in my everyday boring routine. Straighten hair, apply light and natural make-up, dress in some of the latest fashion, and then grab my messenger bag. Not that hard if you ask me. The last thing I grabbed on my way out was my car keys. I needed them if I was going to drive myself to school from now on. My eyes darted directly to the yellow convertible I would be driving. It was a new model, maybe a year or two old, but I never did like the paint but at least I had something

to drive. A smile slipped across my face as I settled into the driver's seat. Not too long and I would be at my sanctuary, high school.
"Miss Shaw! You must keep your eyes on the game," my P.E. teacher, Mrs. Burkley, yelled at me for the umpteenth time. As soon as she was done saying that I stole the ball and made a goal, making her swallow her own words. My team cheered and, lucky for us, it was the end of the game. I smiled at everyone as I made my way out and didn't pay attention to the people in the class who just thought I was showing off. I mean I was a likable person. I got good grades, ruled at basketball, and I even try to help out my community and the teachers at school. Others see it as me trying to be the teacher's pet when, really, I'm just trying to help them out.
After school I grabbed my pom-poms and headed toward the gym for cheer-leading practice but just outside the gymnasium doors was a shadowed figure. Maybe I had seen to many horror movies but it scared me. When I tried to just speed past it, it stepped in front of me, making me run into it completely. "Cassidy Shaw, night has chose thee! Thy birth shall be thy death! Welcome to the House of Night!" he yelled. I blinked, wondering why this maniac was shouting at me and how he knew my name, but then the burning started. It was a burning that I was so not expecting. It felt as if my head was on fire! My hands gripped the sides of my forehead as I bent over. When I looked back up the mysterious man was gone.

Oh my gosh. I stood in front of the mirror and looked at the red crescent moon that shined brightly in the middle of my forehead. "What the hell did he do!" I yelled at myself. Suddenly a toilet in one of the stalls flushed and Mrs. Burkley came out, looking tired and surprised at the same time. When she saw the mark her mouth dropped open. "What? You're catching flies." She jerked back as if I had mentally slapped her and then she quietly, and quickly, left the bathroom. How in the world was I supposed to explain this to my parents?
I left the bathroom with my bangs hiding the mark. Without going to the office I hurried through the front doors and climbed into my car, hightailing my way over to my little brother's school and picking him up. He started to ask me questions about why he was leaving early but I told him to be quiet as I sped down the street. Luckily, no police men pulled us over and we arrived home safely. I was surprised when I saw my dad's car home but went through the front door anyways.
"Why are you two home so early?" he asked in the same tone Jackson did. Without saying anything I pushed my bangs aside and my dad gasped. "Oh, honey, are you okay? We need to get you to the House of Night. Pronto." A few moments later I came down the stairs with two packed suitcases and photos of everyone, especially Daddy. Jackson hugged me one final time before we left, leaving a necklace in my back pocket. When I pulled it out I opened it up and it read: Roses are red, violets are blue, I'm so lucky, to have a sis like you. ~Jackson

Tears welled in my eyes just as we pulled up into the driveway of the school. "What about Mom?" I asked, hating the way my voice cracked.
"Honey, you're mom left already," he said. Realization smacked me in the face. They had divorced. It was so obvious now that I wondered how I hadn't realized they were breaking up sooner. That explains the papers my dad tried to secretly place into the filing cabinet.
"Let's just go, Dad. I don't want to talk about mom and you right now, I just want to get to this place so I don't have to deal with everyone freaking out on me tomorrow at school, okay?" I asked softly, not wanting to be too harsh with the one person in the house I loved the most. He nodded and headed out to the front door of the House of Night, knocking on the door.
A woman dressed in yellow PJ's answered the door four inches wide. "Yes?" she asked. She stuck her head outside, revealing auburn curls and bright blue eyes. "Don't wake the other people!" She opened the door fully and allowed us inside. The cool air brushed my face and I invited it as I stepped completely inside.
"My daughter was Marked just earlier and I wanted to bring her here as soon as possible," my dad said with a sad smile. The other girl nodded and a bright smile spread across her face from ear to ear.
"I'm Sasha," she said, "I'm also a student here. You'll love it! Oooh! I wonder if you'll be my roommate. Anyways, just grab your suitcases and follow me!" She started walking away from the door and I hurried to catch up with her. Before I went through the door my dad kissed my cheek and whispered I love you.
Sasha went into a large office and knocked on a bedroom door that was connected to the room. There were muffled sounds before the door finally flew open. A woman with a yellow dress stepped out of the bedroom and stared at Sasha with a look of surprise. "Yes, Sasha, what is it?" she asked, then she turned to me, noticing me for the first time.
"High Priestess Bianca, this is..." she turned to me expectantly.
"Oh, I am Cassidy Shaw," I replied, looking between them. They both smiled down at me and I noticed their hair. It was waist-length and beautiful.
"You can change your name now that you're Marked. The Goddess Nyx has given you new birth through your old death," High Priestess Bianca stated. I thought back to what the man had said and nodded, enjoying the fact that I could finally get rid of my last name. The High Priestess smiled. "Yes, you can get rid of your last name but you can also change your first name."
"My first name used to be Gurtle, bleh!" Sasha said with a giggle. My eyes fluttered around the room and I finally reached the name I really wanted.
"I want to be called Sienna," I replied.
"That's a beautiful name," Sasha said and then turned to Bianca, "May she be my roommate?" Bianca nodded almost immediately and Sasha squealed, making me cover my ears. "YES!"

Chapter Two

My eyes slowly opened to my alarm clock; 12:30 AM?! Sasha was already up and awake. I guess she's more used to this schedule then I am since she's been here way longer. Made sense. "Come on! Get up or else we'll be late for classes," she said and tugged at me. I groaned, who wanted to go to class in the middle of the night when you're supposed to be sleeping? "Sienna is a pretty name but you wouldn't care if I called you Cassidy myself, would you? I mean I know we just met but Cassidy really does fit you, you can't change it now that the High Priestess has heard."
"Yeah, you can call me Cassidy if you want. And I understand that I can't change it anymore but you can only call me Cassidy when we're talking alone," I replied as I reluctantly got up and went to my newly-filled dresser. The clothing I pulled out were dark jeans with a plain purple tank top. Afterwards I slipped on my sneakers and smiled at Sasha, doing my hair and make-up in the mirror. Sasha smiled back and nodded.
"You'll fit in with the cool crowd, everyone talks about them," she said, making me wonder if she was part of them. Sasha shook her head as my answer.
"No, I have my own group of friends."
"Oh, I didn't mean-"
"You're fine. I like my group anyways." I grabbed my textbooks and followed her to our first class, which was in the stables? We stepped into a room full of other teenagers and they all eyed me suspiciously. Then a woman with white blonde hair stepped out of the office and greeted each one of us.
"Hello, I am Miss Epona," she said, "I see we have a new student. Sienna, will you come up and introduce yourself?"
"I'm Sienna, I don't have a last or middle name," I said awkwardly, giving a small smile. Miss Epona nodded and told me to follow her. We went down the line of stables and a horse started neighing and kicked on the stable door.
"This is your horse, it's chosen you," she said with a broad smile. I shot her a questioning look but didn't argue with her. I was told the first day that everyone got a companion, which was a cat who 'chose' you. It didn't make sense to me but I would just have to wait and see, I guess.
During the class we brushed and fed our horses, she said we would take them out tomorrow for a little ride. One of the shorter kids were freaking out about how they would get on top until the teacher helped her up to show how it was done. That made everyone laugh and we left the class on a happy note. We, Sasha and I, then walked to our second class which was Language Arts. On the way I started seeing the familiars that were walking around, I tried to pet some of them but they all hissed and stalked off, leaving me with a frown.
"Don't worry, Cassidy, you'll find your own familiar, er, companion as you call it, someday. It took my a month to find mine, until then..well, I still have scratches from them," Sasha said, trying to comfort me. I nodded and was silent the rest of the way, not wanting a cat to hurl itself at my face with its claws. Without warning, two cats threw themselves at Sasha with a loud "Meow!".
"Are those your familiars?" I asked, wondering how many each fledgling got.
"This one," she held up the pure black one with green eyes, "Is not mine. But this blonde one with copper eyes sure is! She's my pretty baby! Yes, she is." While she continued to coo at her 'pretty baby', I took the black cat from her. The cat nestled up to my neck and it seemed asleep. I smiled and poked Sasha. She looked astonished but nodded.
"That's probably your familiar, the cats usually get along with the roommate too. Many times roommates will switch cats and find out that they're the ones for them."
"Wow, that's pretty interesting. Is there a class that talks about it?"
"It's in your handbook.."
"Oh, okay, thanks." We entered the class and let our cats go. The teacher was a few minutes late which made me happy since we weren't exactly early either. But when the teacher did show up...it wasn't what I was expecting. All the Language Arts teacher I'd had in the past were old and cranky, well this one was young and happy. Her bright teal eyes lightened up the room and everyone looked at her when she came in. Her step was with a bounce, and her hair the color of the sun.
"Her element is fire," Sasha whispered to me. I shot her a questioningly look and she pointed to my handbook. I opened it to the page that was titled: The Dark Daughters and Sons: Elementals.
The Dark Daughters and Son are a group of fledglings that have elemental abilities. They form a circle and the leader, Spirit, will go around the circle and evoke each element before doing his/her own. When the circle is completed there will be a bond between the five fledglings and they can beat anything. Nothing is stronger than all the elements put together.

My eyebrows shot up at the last sentence and I couldn't wait for Language Arts to be over so I could talk to Sasha about it more, but for right now I needed to take notes in order for me to not fail this class.

Sooner or later, she was going to find me. I had been hiding from Sasha since after Language Arts class when she told me that the circle was missing the element Water, which was the element my birthday was under in the handbook. I shivered, I had always loved the Water but I didn't think I would have some kind of bond to it. Especially, not like this.
I walked into the cafeteria and glanced around. "Why have you been avoiding me?" Sasha asked from behind me, making me jump.
"I haven't been, we've just had separate classes," I replied and acted like I was scanning the cafeteria for a place to sit. I pointed to two empty seats surrounded by a bunch of other teens, "What about over there?" Sasha shrugged and followed me over to the table.
"Are these seats taken?" I asked, looking at a moderately-cute boy in denim jeans and a graphic tee that had wolves on the front. How ironic is that? Vampires...Wolves.
"Not for you, they aren't," he replied. Which I took as a 'yes' so I sat down with Sasha beside me. "So, what's your name?"
"Ca-Sienna."
"Sasha," she said, joining in.
"Oh, that's cool. I'm Lauren, and don't worry you get used to the name change sooner or later."
"Thanks."
"I know you! You're in our first hour class. The little one who was freaking out about getting on top of the horse!" Sasha almost yelled.
"I wasn't freaking out, I was just worried about my own health. Besides, I can't see you getting on top of that horse without getting some help yourself. You probably freaked out the first time you went to class too," Lauren retaliated.
"I didn't freak out," I added. Lauren glared at me, still waiting for Sasha's reply.
"I didn't freak out, either. Matter-of-fact I knew how to get on a horse on my own, considering the fact that I lived on a ranch before I was marked," Sasha retorted, sticking her tongue out.
"That's cheating!" Lauren yelled. I silently slipped down in my chair and acted like I didn't know what was going on. What did I just get myself into?

Later on Sasha and I headed back to our dormitories and she explained for the umpteenth time that Lauren and her were friends. They apparently always teased each other when they were bored but I think she secretly has a crush on him and he has a secret crush on her.

Word Count: 2,947

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 11.08.2012

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Widmung:
To P.C. and Kristen Cast for making House of Night.