This ain't a diary, this is a - mirror?

Chapter 26: Why Won't You Answer?

Samantha trotted out of the classroom with her books and papers in her backpack. Cheryl trotted alongside her, talking nervously but excitedly about science of some sort.

"What do you have next?" Samantha inquired as they trotted down the stairs of the Science block.

"Er, Power Training, with, um," Cheryl checked her schedule, "With Ms... Ather."

"Ms Ather?" Samantha echoed. She looked down at her timetable and felt a grin spread across her snout. "I have her too! Oh, and you'll be able to meet my friend Elena -"

"Elena?" Cheryl repeated. "I heard..."

Samantha waved a paw in the air dismissively. "You don't have to listen to those rumours about her - she's actually really nice! And I'm sure she'll be glad to meet you."

"You sure?" Cheryl said nervously. "I mean, apparently she..."

"None of that." Samantha repeated firmly. "I'll show you what a nice person she is!"

---

"Hey, Sam!" Elena exclaimed, giving Samantha a quick paw-bump. "And who's this?" She questioned, turning towards Cheryl.

"Ah, her? This is Cheryl - Cheryl, meet Elena, Elena, meet Cheryl." Samantha quickly introduced the two. "Don't be afraid - just say hi!"

Elena smiled and held out her paw for a handshake. "The name's Elena Kitsune, nice to meet you. And I promise I'm not as scary as the rumours make me seem, although..." With a mischievous smile, Elena pointed her paw at the ground and shaped it into a 'finger-gun'. "Bang."

A few, multicoloured candies clattered to the ground. Elena grinned and spread out her paws. "Ta da!"

"Oh... I see. So, uh, I'm Cheryl, er, Cheryl Bloomsbury. Nice to meet you to, I guess... and, er, my power is... I'm not very good at controlling it, but I can shapeshift into any type of bird. My favourite one's a blue jay, since I feel most... at ease with my pet, who's also a blue jay." Cheryl seemed to get more confident and excited as she spoke. "Her name's Aquarius, but she likes to be called Aqua as well."

"Sounds cool!" Elena exclaimed. "I'd love to meet, ah, Aqua sometime. What do you think, Sam?"

"Me?" Samantha tilted her head to the side. "Well... why not? I like birds... mostly."

"Then that's settled!" Elena turned back to Cheryl. "Do you want to hang at your dorm or something sometime this week?"

"E-eh? My dorm?" Cheryl looked startled. "Uh... I don't mind." A small smile spread across her snout. "Thank you for being so... welcoming," she added in a quieter voice. "People don't usually... accept me so easily for being... me."

Samantha opened her mouth to reply, but a loud voice interrupted them all. "Welcome, class! Well, I'm assuming you're my class..."

Samantha turned around to the source of the voice. Her eyes travelled downwards and found a pale blue cat in a witch's hat and a cloak. She had various pieces of jewellery scattered along her arms and tail and was carrying a wooden stick in a pouch over her shoulder.

The cat looked around at her class with pale, grey-blue eyes. "My name is Ms Ather. And you do have me for your class, right?"

"Yes," a student answered. "Ms Sapphira Ather, right?"

"Oh! So you already know my name, hm?" The cat smiled. "Yes, my name is Sapphira Ather, however... since this is school, you have to call me Ms Ather. I'm your Powers Training teacher for the year, and I'll be teaching you how to control your powers and other... interesting things."

Ms Ather jumped onto a nearby table so she was looking down at her class. "First of all, we'll start with... showing me your powers, one on one. If you don't feel comfortable doing it in front of the class, we can find one of the empty classrooms to do it in." She looked down at her paper once again. "Even if you don't have a power... at least, if you don't think you have a power, that's where I come in. I'll see if I can help you find and unlock your power over this term!"

The class began to murmur. Ms Ather hushed everyone and checked her paper. "So, first is... Cheryl Bloomsbury. Would you come this way, please? And the rest of the class... while you're waiting, you can practice using your powers or practice what to say. Just don't cause too much of a mess, alright?"

"Good luck," Samantha whispered. Cheryl gave her a weak smile and followed Ms Ather into the classroom. The class immediately burst into chatter.

"I'm a bit worried about showing her my power," Elena confessed. "What if I shoot out, like, lava or something?"

"She probably has something to combat that. You'll be fine." Samantha comforted her. "I, on the other hand, have no way of showing her unless I want to show her my diary. And of course, she probably isn't going to believe me since no one - well, no one before you guys - ever has."

"Aw, don't say that. Maybe you can get your friend to write out something in front of her!" Elena exclaimed. "And she won't judge you. She's been teaching this for years - at least, that's what I think - and there's definitely been powers that aren't as good as yours."

Samantha smiled, feeling slightly better. "Thanks. I'm just going to take this time to try... er, summon them. I'm just going to use that table over there to start writing..."

Samantha padded over to the table and took out her diary. She flipped it to the next blank page, took out her dark blue pen, and started to write.

{{ Hey, er, Author? }}

Samantha paused. Then she added, {{ Dear Mirror, }} in front of the text, and waited.

When nothing happened, she frowned. She continued to write underneath.

{{ So, uh, Author. You know, it'd be helpful if you could write something out in front of my Powers Training teacher? Since I need to prove my power to her. }}

Samantha stared hopefully at her text. When nothing happened once again, she grimaced and continued writing.

{{ I'm running out of time. Please? I don't want to seem like a total flop when doing that 'one-to-one' discussion to her about my power... }}

Samantha glanced up from her diary as Cheryl bounded over, beaming.

"She's actually really nice! She said that she would help me with controlling my power and trying to reach it's full potential... I'm surprised that I'd say this, since I hate physical activities, but I really can't wait!"

Another student entered the classroom Ms Ather was at. Samantha quickly gave Cheryl a smile and added, "Sounds great! I'd celebrate with you about it, but... I need to prepare." Samantha gestured at her diary and sighed. "My power is to, uh, be able to communicate to a being beyond our universe - long story, really - and I can only fully communicate to them in this diary. Again, long story."

"I understand." Cheryl nodded, then gave Samantha a reassuring smile. "I'm sure you'll get it! Good luck!"

"Thanks," Samantha replied. She looked back down at her empty page and continued to write.