The train rumbled on, speeding through the California countryside as Ethan Russell stared at his reflection in the window. Looking back at him was a short, pale, skinny boy in a plain white polo shirt with navy trousers. Reaching up with his hand his pushed his side swept back over which was starting to edge back over onto his forehead where Ethan didn’t like it.

Locking onto his pale blue eyes he sighed thinking about the sudden turn of events that lead to him being on this train. A couple months ago in June his mother had received a phone call that literally ended up changing his life. The call was from an administrator at a private school called Hinan Academy. She explained to his mother that he’d won one of the scholarships given out to low income students in the state and that they were offering Ethan a full ride for the next four years of his life.

As it turned out this was a very big deal, though neither Ethan nor his mother knew this at the time. Hinan Academy was a world renowned secondary boarding school located in the small town of Misty Oaks, California off of the coast of Big Sur. Graduates of this school were considered basically shoe-in to any of the top universities in the country including Stanford, Harvard, and Yale.

Aside from that the school was paying for almost everything. His room and board, his schooling, and his books. The only thing that Ethan’s mother would have to pay for would be his school uniform and any materials he might require like notebooks and pencils. For a struggling single mother with two children this was a god send and Ethan knew that.

Though he hated the idea of leaving his mother and his younger sister, Jane back in Fresno, Ethan knew that by doing this he could give some relief to the financial burden of the family. Still while he was willing to do this for them, he dreaded the fact that he would be the poor kid at the rich kids’ school for the next four years.

Rich kids were nothing but trouble he thought scratching at the jagged scar on his left arm. It wasn’t anything special. He’d gotten it while defending a classmate from the older private school kids that bullying his classmate. They were bigger and stronger than Ethan and in the end they’d hurt him pretty bad. So bad in fact, that he’d ended up at the hospital where his mom worked as a receptionist. He still felt pretty bad about how much that ER visit must have cost her.

Now I’m one of those private school kids he thought scowling at his reflection. He hated that he was going to a private school, he hated that it was in an isolated small town, and more than anything he hated this stupid uniform. He looked stupid in it and the dress shoes were stiff an uncomfortable compared with hiis old sneakers.

Reaching into his pants pocket he pulled out a folded-up paper and began unfolding it. It was an email with instructions for him to follow from the school for when he arrived at the town of Misty Oaks that his mother had printed out for him.

Dear Mr. Russell,

I’d like to congratulate you on your enrollment to Hinan Academy. I believe when you look back at your time at the academy you will consider them four of the best years of your life. Before you come to the Academy you will need to buy the school uniform, the physical education uniform, and any materials you may require for your studies such as a laptop, pens, or pencils. Below you will find the uniform requirements.

For Boys:

A white polo shirt Navy Trousers with a Navy, Black, or Brown Belt Black, Navy, or Brown Dress shoes with matching socks (socks must end above the ankle) A Navy Sweater or Hinan Academy labelled sweatshirt may be worn over your polo during the colder months A light blue t-shirt for physical education Navy gym shorts for physical education White tennis shoes for physical education

For Girls

A white polo shirt or blouse A blue plaid skirt that ends no higher 2 inches above your knees Black, Navy, or Brown Dress shoes with matching socks (socks must end above the ankle and the heels on your shoes can be no taller than 2 inches) A Navy Sweater or Hinan Academy labelled sweatshirt may be worn over your top during the colder months. A light blue t-shirt for physical education Navy gym shorts for physical education White tennis shoes for physical education

Please arrive at the main academic building, Hinan Hall on August 19th no later than 3 P.M. When you arrive you will be assigned to your dormitory or house where you will live while you are at school. You will also be assigned a roommate who you will room with throughout your highschool years. It is important that you try to become friends with your roommate because changing rooms is nothing something that can easily be arranged.

You will need to come to Misty Oaks by Train or Car as these are the only ways into town. Specifically there is only one tunnel that comes into town through the Santa Lucia Mountains. Students are not allowed to have cars (even those who are above the legal driving age.) It is our recommendation that students take the train into town as the Misty Oaks train station is only a few blocks away from our campus.

Once you arrive at the train station head straight along Ocean Avenue for two blocks until you reach Sakura Street. Make a right here and then head another two blocks down the road until you reach Academy Way and take a left. If you follow this street it will dead end at Hinan Hall. Climb the steps and enter through the main doors where you will find tables with administrators set up to help you.

We are looking forward to meeting you soon.

Yours Truly,

Akira Tanaka,

Principal, Hinan Academy

Folding up the paper he placed it back in his pocket. The directions honestly sounded simple enough. Besides how could you get lost in a small town anyways. Ethan spent a lot of his childhood navigating the streets of Fresno and that was a city so this was going to be a piece of cake.

The compartment he sat in was pretty sparsely populated. There were only a couple other people scattered throughout it, all of them kids who Ethan guessed were students at the Academy like him. Still he wasn’t about to go talk to any of them. Why would he want to get to know any of these rich kids? They were all the same as far as he was concerned. No he would do his best to keep his head down and get through this for his family.

Eventually after a couple of hours the Santa Lucia mountains came into view towering over everything. A two lane country highway ran along the range with another road turning off of this and heading into-- no through the mountains. Where this road met the mountains a tunnel had been blasting and Ethan could now see that train tracks ran along the outside of the road and through the tunnel as well. That must be the way into Misty Oaks he thought as speed on at the same rate of speed directly toward the mountains.

With a rush of exhilaration the sunlight outside was suddenly replaced by dim luminescent lighting overhead. There was something oddly exciting about going through a tunnel for Ethan but if you asked him what gave him that excitement he wouldn’t have been able to tell you what.

The tunnel itself was long and arched overhead with the train tracks being on the right hand side of the road. Ethan wondered what it must have taken to create this underneath an entire mountain. When he saw things like this it really gave him pride in humanity. If they were capable of feats like this, then surely they could solve any problem thrown at them.

RIght near the end of the tunnel there was a green sign that read Welcome to Misty Oaks, population: 6072 and then in a rush of white light they were exiting the tunnel. It sort of felt like they were entering into another world.

A heavy fog blanketed the town making it hard to see much of anything, but Ethan supposed it made the town aptly named. From what he could see the town itself sloped downwards from the tunnel until it flattened out further away from the mountain.

Looking out to his left Ethan jumped back startled as he saw what looked like a giant red fox, at least four times the size of a normal one, running alongside the train. Shaking his head and blinking he stared out more intently but the animal was gone if it had even been there in the first place. Now he wasn’t so certain but for a split second he would have sworn he saw it. Whatever it was it was gone now and the train was slowing down as it pulled into the Misty Oaks train station.

Reaching under his seat he pulled out his backpack before standing up and putting it on. Next he walked out into the aisle and then reached down into the seat next to it lifting up a small suitcase. There were overhead compartments for storage but as he wasn’t tall enough to reach them and the train was almost completely empty for most of the journey he’d simply decided to stash his luggage in the seat next to him. As it was all his worldly possessions were either in the backpack or the small green and brown rolling suitcase he set on the ground before pulling up the handle.

The suitcase had been his mothers from the days before she’d had two children and been abandoned by Ethan and Jane’s father. Apparently back in those days she could afford to do a little travel. That wasn’t the case for most of Ethan’s life, though when he was little they’d taken a trip with some of her friends to Disneyland. Disneyland was great he thought smiling to himself, the rest of Los Angeles not so much though.

As the train stopped Ethan followed the other passengers, all school children, up through the compartments to the front of the train where the exit was. As they neared the exit a small lined formed while the attendant helped children get down onto the platform with their luggage.

An olive-skinned girl with black hair who was slightly shorter than himself stood in front of Ethan fidgeting with the zipper on her white and black polka dot luggage. She wore the white polo and blue plaid skirt marking her as a student of Hinan academy though the polo barely fit her. While her chest was small her round stomach protruded out from the rest of her body causing the shirt to stretch.

As she turned to look over her shoulder Ethan finally caught a glimpse of her face. It was cute, but definitely chubby like the rest of her.

Her brown eyes locked on to his and she asked, “Are you a freshman at Hinan Academy too?”

“What gave it away?” Ethan asked feeling proud of himself for coming up with that so quickly.

The girl laughed and said, “I’m Isabella Taverez, but most people just call me Bella.”

“I’m Ethan Russell, but most people just call me Ethan,” he replied.

She laughed again and Ethan grudgingly found himself warming to her. He wasn’t a very funny person and it was hard not to like someone that found his poor attempts at humor funny.

“Where are you from Ethan?” she asked now completely turned around.

“I’m from Fresno,” he replied, motioning to the line in front of her which was moving forward without her. “The line’s moving.”

“Oh right,” she said, hurrying to catch up. “I’m from Los Angeles by the way.”

Speaking of the devil Ethan thought as she was assisted down off of the train by the attendant. Next it was Ethan’s turn. The attendant grabbed and lifted his suitcase down while he climbed down onto the platform.

“Thanks,” he muttered grabbing the handle of the suitcase once more and following Bella down the platform and into the train station.

The train station itself was small and scarcely more than an empty hall with a couple benches and a ticket counter. Doors on the opposite side lead out the front entrance and into the street.

“I don’t suppose you know the way to the Academy?” Bella asked standing near the front doors and looking out into the foggy streets.

“They sent directions, it sounded pretty straightforward,” Ethan answered.

“Excellent,” Bella responded. “I don’t suppose you’d mind if I walked with you?”

“Sure, that’s fine,” he said pushing open the front door out to the street and holding it for her.

Bella thanked him as she exited the building walking out into the foggy streets. Ethan followed after her feeling like if anything the fog had gotten even thicker in the short time since he’d exited the train.

Directly across the street from the train station was a fire station and next to it the police department but aside from that it was hard to make out any of the other buildings.

“Come on, this way,” he said starting down the sidewalk away from the train station.

“Right,” Bella answered matching his pace.

On the right he could now make out a post office and a bar, but he wished this fog would clear up a little bit or finding Sakura Street was going to be harder than he thought it would be. Of course in a small town like this how hard could it be to find a big academy?

“So what’s your story Ethan?” Bella asked bring him out of his contemplation.

“Huh?” Ethan asked to buy himself time.

“What is your story?” she repeated. “When did you know you were going to attend Hinan Academy? Personally I only found out this summer when I received the scholarship notification. It was funny because I’d never even heard of the school or applied for a scholarship before that.”

So Bella a scholarship kid just like him. He really should make an effort to be nicer to her, he’d completely misjudged her just for the fact that she was a student at the academy. It made sense though, there had to be other students receiving financial assistance as well. He couldn’t have been the only one.

“My situation was actually pretty similar to yours,” Ethan finally said after thinking it over for a minute. “I only found out about the school a couple months back.”

“That’s excellent,” she said cheerfully. “It’s so nice to meet someone coming from a similar situation. Still I wasn’t too sure about coming here. I didn’t want to leave my family behind, but my parents were pretty insistent. They seem to think that this will open big new opportunities for me. Opportunities that they never had.”

“Yeah,” Eathan said absentmindedly not wanting to bring up the fact that he was only attending to help ease the financial burden on his mother and sister. “I guess we won’t know until after we’ve graduated though. Hang on, I think this is the street.”

Looking up ahead of them there was a stoplight at the intersection they were coming up to and if he stared hard enough he could just make out the words Sakura Street on the sign above the road.

“What do you think it will be like here?” Bella asked turning down the street to the right with him.

“Probably a bunch of stuck up rich kids,” Eathan replied not bothering to hide the sourness from his voice.

“Some of them will be sure, but I bet there’s loads of nice kids,” she said smiling happily.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Kids whose parents can afford these kind of schools are usually spoiled rotten.”

Nice homes were beginning to come into view now with mature trees in their front yards and well manicured lawns. It must be nice to live in this neighborhood he thought still it was strange that he didn’t see more people around. There was a dark haired woman quite a ways down the street in front of them but other than her no one was around. He wasn’t even seeing where the other students from the train had gotten to.

“This town is kind of creepy and colder than I thought it would be,” Bella muttered next to him shivering slightly.

“I think that’s just this fog. It’s so thick you could use it as a blanket,” Ethran replied smiling.

“I hope it’s not this foggy every day,” she said. “I prefer clear blue skies to this kind of thing.”

“I wouldn’t get my hopes up,” he said. “The town is called Misty Oaks, so there’s probably a good chance this kind of thing is pretty common.”

She is really talkative he thought wishing he was better at making conversation with people. It was something he always struggled with trying to find something to say. He never knew what to say to people so he usually just kept his mouth shut, but Bella seemed to be a natural at it.

“Ethan,” Bella hissed at him.

And here we go again he thought smiling to himself.

“What?” he asked turning to look at her.

She was staring at something in the distance in front of them with an expression that was a mixture of shock and horror.

“Ethan,” she said again.

“What’s the matter?” he asked following her gaze down the street.

“That woman has no face,” she whispered now completely stopped next to him.

Ethan stared squinting his eyes to try and make out her facial features better, but just like Bella said it appeared that she had no face. Where here face should have been it looked like there was only pale skin.

“That can’t be right. It’s got to be a trick of the fog or something,” he said, trying to convince himself as much as her. “It’s really hard to see anything clearly right now.”

“She’s coming this way,” Bella asked with her eyes getting wider. “What should we do?”

We should stay calm he thought. It’s got to be just a normal woman out for a walk. As soon as she gets down here will see her face and realize we got ourselves worked up for nothing.

“Ethan, she’s closing in,” Bella said sounding like she was about to panic.

“This way,” he said, jerking his head to the right and setting off at a brisk pace down one of the side streets.

He didn’t need to tell Bella twice because as soon as he gave the instructions she bolted down the sidewalk taking the lead. Moving swiftly he followed after her, instructing her to turn left at the next intersection.

Looking back towards Sakura Street he could just make out the woman turning down the road after them. Is she following us? No she’s probably just out of a stroll or a run or something.

Faster Bella, he thought picking up the pace and passing her up. We’ve got to move quicker. He’d completely abandoned the rational part of his brain that was telling him to calm down and was now in full on flight mode. All he wanted to do at the minute was get off of these creepy streets and hide somewhere safe. Preferably well lit and with adults around.

Bella did her best to match his pace but her short legs were holding her back as was her heavy suitcase that she kept having to adjust to keep it balanced on its wheels. He would have offered to help her but he had his own suitcase to deal with and he didn’t think he could handle the second one especially with a backpack on.

Crossing the street at the next intersection he lead Bella up the next street that was on their left. Ethan figured that if this woman or thing was following them, changing directions might cause her to lose them.

“Slow down a little bit will you,” Bella said breathing hard. “I can’t keep up if you keep going that fast.”

If I slow down that faceless woman is going to catch us, Ethan thought annoyed. Maybe you should lose some weight. Actually don’t, if I outrun you she can capture you while I get away.

He felt bad almost as soon as he thought these things and quickly pushed that line of thinking out of his mind. No he wasn’t about to abandon Bella here. What kind of man would that make him? The kind of man his father was, that’s who.

“Are you alright?” He asked breathing a little heavy himself.

“Yeah, I just can’t move quite that quickly,” Bella wheezed. “If you haven’t noticed I’m not in the best shape.”

“Sorry I hadn’t noticed,” Ethan muttered slowing his pace down a bit.

He was lying of course and Bella probably knew it. How could he not have noticed that she was overweight? It was literally the first thing about the girl that stood out.

If she thought he was lying she didn’t call him out on it, which he was grateful for. Instead she just said, “So far I’m not really liking this town.”

“You know what the problem is?” Ethan asked as they moved up the street at a slightly slower pace. “They’ve populated this town with monsters that are only repelled by money and between the two of us we’ve got none. Basically we’re the kind of riff-raff they are trying to keep away.”

Laughing Bella replied, “That does sound like something ridiculous an elite private boarding school would do, doesn’t it?”

“This scholarship is probably just an elaborate prank to entertain the actual students,” Ethan went on. “When we get to the school they’ll probably feed us to a bear that has a particular taste for peasants.”

“Don’t say that,” Bella replied frowning. “I don’t know how I’d break it to my parents if this whole thing was one elaborate hoax.”

Yeah I don’t know either, Ethan thought scowling. My mom would probably cry.

At the next intersection they came to he noticed that the street sign read Academy Avenue. Well that was lucky, he thought. We took so many wrong turns we still ended up finding the street.

“This is our street,” Ethan said pointing at the sign and looking back down the street behind them.

The faceless woman was nowhere in sight so maybe they’d finally lost her. She probably wasn’t even faceless. It was probably just a woman out for a stroll and the fog kept them from making out her facial features.

“You really did know where you were going,” Bella said smiling at him.

Yep, that’s exactly it, Ethan thought sarcastically. Still he wasn’t about to tell her that this was a lucky accident. Instead he turned left down Academy Avenue trying to give off the air that he had been completely in control the whole time.

They walked in silence until they reached Sakura Street once more where they needed to wait at a crosswalk for a light. He lazily pressed the button while staring up and down the street in both directions. There were no cars coming, at least not that he could see, but still he wasn’t about to risk crossing without the light. He didn’t think that a car would be able to see a pedestrian that easily in these conditions.

“She’s back,” Bella muttered grimacing.

Turning he looked back down the direction they’d just come from and sure enough the faceless woman was turning up Academy Avenue and making a beeline straight for them. Ethan hammered the crosswalk button with his finger hoping that by some chance this would make the light change quicker.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon,” he muttered while he did this glancing back and forth between the woman and the crosswalk light.

This is stupid he thought feeling his heart thumping. She’s not a monster, it’s just a regular person in the fog. There’s no need to run from her. The logical part of his mind was telling him all of these things, but the illogical part of him was winning the battle.

“She’s getting closer,” Bella said. “What should we do?”

“This light has to change any second,” Ethan said still pressing the button rapidly. “Any second. Come on stupid light.”

As if listening to him the light finally went red and the white person indicating they could walk lit up on the crosswalk sign. They both bolted out into the street dragging their luggage as fast as they could with the woman closing in.

Moving quickly in silence the two of them moved down this street. He glanced over his shoulder every few seconds and yup the woman was still following them. That couldn’t be a coincidence, part of him thought. There’s no way that she decided to take this exact route if she was just out for a stroll.

Further down the street a large building came into view looming out of the fog like it was some kind of gigantic ship. Made of red brick with large arched windows, and a tiered roof above its third floor Ethan had no doubt this was Hinan Hall.

The road turned into a circular drive in front of this building and he could see other people for the first time since they’d left the train station. Several luxury vehicles were parked in front of the steps that led up to the main arched entrance way while students and adults with a lot of luggage climbed the stairs heading for the entrance. In front of all of this in the perfectly manicured area between where the road circled was a sign that read: Hinan Academy, Est. 1955.

At last we made it he thought looking over at Bella and smiling. Step one: survive the town was complete.

“Safe,” Bella mumbled as they made for the stairs causing both of them to laugh.

It was at this moment, Ethan knew he’d made his first friend at Hinan Academy. A shared experience like running from a monster or a woman really brings two people together and he knew that neither of them was likely to forget the experience any time soon.