Chapter 1:

  It all began at the end of an uneventful History class. The bell had just rung and students everywhere in the building were packing their bags, ready to move. Mr Reyman, a thin, balding man with thick, dusty spectacles, glanced at the clock and muttered under his breath, “Oh, no.” and rushed out of the classroom, closely followed by peals of laughter from some of the meaner students, at his forgetful manner.

  Artemis frowned. He disapproved of this crude form of entertainment, this laughing and sniggering and whispering behind one’s back. He had helped… sort out some of the cases with threats of Butler.

  Mr Reyman walked back into class before any of the students had time to leave, but this time he was leading a girl behind him. She kept her head down, prefering to stare at the floor instead. Her long silvery hair hid her face anyway, falling down to her waist in straight silky strands. Artemis detected a subtle change in Mr Reyman’s face. He was slightly paler than when he had gone out.

  Stammering, he introduced the new girl. “Class, t-this is Fantasia L-lorena, you new c-classmate.”

  The girl finally lifted her head and a collective gasp of horrified surprise went around the class. Even Artemis could not prevent himself a small and sudden intake of air.Now they knew why Mr Reyman was so pale.

  Fantasia was scarred. Terribly scarred. Red, half-healed welts were obvious on both cheeks, and it looked like a knife had cut her otherwise normal face into two unequal halves, through her eyebrow, her nose, and her mouth.

  Her clothes accentuated her ugliness. Her drab, sleeveless black turtleneck top, plain and unadorned black pants were covered by a grey hoodie.

  She mumble an boring, everyday, “Hi.”

  Her voice. Ah, now that was an entirely different matter. It was like a smooth, clear waterfall running softly into the pool beneath, the quiet thrill of thrushes on the summer breeze, the sound of leaves waving gently.

  In short, it was the voice of an angel.

  Artemis was captivated. An ugly face paired with a voice like that, so lovely. There had to be a mystery.

  “I… well, who’s going to help her g-get used to the school?”

  Every single one of the students present turned their heads away, seemingly occupied with something or other. All, that is, except for Artemis, who raised his hand, despite the looks that he got from the others. Her dull brown eyes met his sparkling blue ones. Wordlessly she sat on the empty chair beside him.

Some other stories by Helen:

• Okay, I finally decided
• Christmas Kiss
• MayDay
• Bye Bye
• Stolen Secrets