Changes

Jean did not have to insist too much for Mr and Mrs Hart to let her attend the same institution as Anne and Elliot Kaye. On the contrary, the Harts were rather pleased with the interest demonstrated by Jean for her studies. At the first hint of the girl wanting to attend St. Ameus School, the Harts got down to business: they got the money for the registration, and helped her catch up with the program during the holidays. One month before the start of the school year, Jean applied for a grant that got without further difficulty.

Jean could not take in her fortune: not only was she going to spend many hours studying and sharing with people her own age, but she was also going to learn a new language, and would be able to join any of the St. Ameus sports teams. She had not yet decided what appealed to her the most, but there was time for that. Maybe she would try out for the three -volley, hockey and athletics- and choose based on the experience. Ideal, she thought, would have been to have the option to take up all three disciplines. Jean had lots of energy to use up, and it was likely that practising a single sport would not be enough to meet her needs.

Anne, however, was not interested in sports. Instead, she had invited Jean to participate in her weekly visit to the Museum of Fine Arts. Between one thing and another, there was little space in the daily lives of the two girls for anything that was not related to cultivation. Meeting Jean had helped Anne become a significantly more extroverted person. Even tough she still had not managed to get closer to their classmates at St. Ameus, Jean and Anne spent hours meeting new people outside school. In the museum, all the security guards even knew what their favourite works of art were. Also, some regular visitors had struck up a good relationship with them; and the ladies in charge of the tours shared with them a little more information than they did with other customers.

Since they were neighbours, Jean and Anne used to sleep over each other’s home with such frequency that the Harts and the Kayes soon became as close as if they were relatives. The adults had something in common, and that was the secrecy. For this reason, neither the Harts asked too many questions to the Kayes, nor the Kayes asked too many questions to the Harts. The only ones who shared all their concerns and thoughts were Jean and Anne.

The first time Jean spent the night at Anne’s, she was woken up accelerated in the middle of the night by the nightmare that had besieged her for years. Though she had gotten used to it, a new monster had appeared and had frightened her. Somewhat embarrassed, she awoke Anne to tell everything about the dream, not only because of the simple desire of keeping her posted, but to ask her friend if she knew anything about those creatures. Jean described the beast that had appeared this time: it had woman’s torso and legs, and the wings of an enormous bird. With the help of her friend's computer, they found that it was a harpy. Showing little to no interest in the subject, Anne was once again fast asleep. But Jean spent what was left of the night pondering the possibility of investigating enough to create an extensive database on all known mythological creatures.

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1. The Harts

2. Nightmares

3. The arrival of the Kayes