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A Night At Nightshade Academy The eerie, gothic stone building with its tall spine-tingling towers looms tall above me. A cold hand seems to creep around my heart when I realise that this is where I’ll be for a week. I clutch my bag close to my chest and try to look totally cool and composed for mum and dad dad. They’ve been so fragile since we moved away from my old house and anything could tip them off the edge. I can tell that they’re secretly worried inside, but are choosing not to hide it from me. And I’m used to that. Mum steps out of the car. “Izzie, love,” she says. “This isn’t forever, it’s only for a night. It’s amazing that Cordelia could let you stay here.” I knew that Cordelia Frostwick was the headmistress of Nightshade Academy. She was apparently “the kindest and fairest headmistress ever”, at least, that’s what it said on the website. I half expected the website to say that Cordelia Frostwick was “the fairest of them all”, like one of those fairy-tales. Don’t say “Yuck!” or “Boring!”- fairy-tales are actually seriously cool, much scarier than any 15+ horror film you’ve ever secretly watched at a sleepover. I imagined Miss Frostwick trying to teach her students how to make potions but spilling it all over the floor and then crying out “Whoops-a-daisy” and THEN trying to clean up the mess but actually making more of a mess. I giggled. Oh yes. One more thing I forgot to mention. Nightshade Academy is a boarding school that teaches magic. And I’m HOPELESS at magic. “Come on then, Izzie. You’d better head inside. Your mum and I have to go.” Dad said, nudging me towards the ominous-looking entrance hall. I wave goodbye to them and watched until the car disappeared down the lane. Swinging my rather heavy backpack, I walked up the uneven stone steps. It was late and I was very hungry and tired, so the smell of warm food coming from inside the school beckoned me in. I step inside The Main Hall. “Welcome in! I've been waiting for you!" cries a tall girl, running over to me. Her long, silky hair is as black as the night sky and it looks fantastic. She takes my bag off me and runs up another flight of steps, looking back at me over her shoulder she calls “Well? Come on, then! Do you want to see the dormitories or not?!” I’m confused and then I realise what she’s talking about. “Oh! The rooms we sleep in, right?” I ask. “Yep!” the girl explains, pushing open a door. We step into a room. The walls are stone, with no paint and the only light is a flickering torch that is mounted high on the wall. “It’s…not as uncomfortable as it looks. And that’s your bed, mine’s over there.” She explains, pointing out the two beds. I set my bag down on the cold stone floor next to the bed. “And since dinner’s over -you arrived too late and missed it-, I brought you some soup. Oh, and I’m Georgia, by the way.” My heart glows with happiness. I sit down.“Thanks, Georgia, that’s really kind of you. And I’m Izzie.” I take the tray with the bowl of soup and put it on my lap. “No problem, Izzie!” Georgia beams at me and comes to sit next to me on my bed. “So, what type of magic do you do? I can see the future, it’s super cool!” The spoonful of soup tastes sour in my mouth and I feel nervous. “Oh…er…me? Well…I…er…don’t really do magic.” I mutter, going red. “Oh! Wow! That’s different. I suppose you wanted to keep it a secret…?” Asks Georgia, looking genuinely interested. I nod. “Well, yeah. I mean, I’m only here for tonight, so I was kind of expecting to just…well…get on with it.” Georgia’s smile shrinks. “Oh. Only for tonight.” She says, sadly. Wow. I guess she really liked me then. Maybe she actually wanted to be my friend. I feel a bit sorry that I’m only here for the night, but then I remember that I’m moving on soon to my new life. “Yeah…” I reply in a small voice. “Well…um…okay. You’d better get into bed. It’s late.” Georgia says, in a cold voice, standing up. And so I do, I finish the rest of the soup and then curl up deep under the covers. Georgia switches off the torch, without saying a single word. And I don’t mind. I’m done. I smile to myself in the dark. I survived a night at Nightshade Academy and tomorrow I'm going, slipping into my new life.