Sister of Merlin

Chapter One: Submerge

By: Hogwartswonderland

The cerulean waters of the pool located in Sadie's backyard calls to her, beckoning for her to jump into its cool embrace. It is the dead of night and Sadie is only wearing a long white cotton dress for protection against the cold. She knows that she shouldn't go in -for it is the middle of winter and therefore too cold to swim- but the calm, undisturbed water is practically shouting her name. She walks to the end deep end of the pool and pauses at the ledge. Her toes curl around the stone curve, acting as her last anchor to solid ground. Hesitant to answer the waters call, she looks back at her house wondering if her parents or twin brother would appear to stop her. The house and its occupants are silent. Not seeing anything to hold her back, and not caring if it was wrong, Sadie closes her eyes- only pausing to take one last look at the mosaic tile at the bottom of the pool- and then allows herself to plunge into the icy water.

The moment she is submerges, the voice calling her name ceases, and the bottom floor of the pool vanishes beneath her feet. Stunned at the change, Sadie makes no move to swim up. She is now surrounded by murky water rather than clear blue, and the bottom of the pool is replaced by miles of sand peppered with broken shells and seaweed. Suddenly Sadie is struck with the urgency to move. She shifts her dress so that it gathers around her thighs and begins kicking, moving her legs together like a mermaid would in order to propel herself forward. As she begins to move, the melodic voice that was calling her name before starts up again.

Sadie pauses and looks around the desolate ocean to find the source but sees nothing. She continues swimming. As she moves along, the voice grows louder. It isn't until she comes across a large rock formation a couple feet below her that the voice stops again. Sadie barely notices this time because a ray of the sunlight from above reflects from a metal surface that appears to be stuck in the tallest point of the rock. Curious of what could be stuck down there, Sadie makes the move to swim down towards it. Her lungs are beginning to protest but she is too curious to acknowledge it.

She has only moved a couple inches when suddenly is feels like a giant, invisible hand is crushing her, holding Sadie in her place. The tightening feeling around her chest does nothing to alleviate the now heightened burning of her lungs, and now Sadie is panicking. She thrashes wildly against the invisible force, but its only reaction is to tighten around her.

Her heart thumps wildly against her chest, her vision begins to blur- causing her to lose sight of the shiny object- and the roar of her escalating heartbeat echoes in her ears. All she feels is panic. Panic and regret. She screams for help but only bubbles escape. Fear that she will never see her brother or parents again wells up inside her and suddenly Sadie wishes she never jumped in the pool. If she had known that it would have come to this, then she would have stayed put. Just as her vision fades and she goes limp from exhaustion, the force holding her dissipates and an ethereal form of a woman clothed in all white takes her by the hand and guides her to the surface.

The woman is beautiful with her smooth skin, long, billowing black hair that forms a halo around her, and peridot green eyes that radiate kindness. She gives Sadie a serene smile as she gently pushes the teenager up towards air. Just as Sadie's head comes above the surface, she recalls that the woman has the same eyes as she does. Then she wakes up.

Sadie suddenly shoots up in her bed, her oversized t-shirt soaked in sweat and her long brown hair plastered to the back of her neck. The crushing sensation she felt in her dream is still present, but it is not as debilitating as before. Shaking slightly, Sadie takes a hair band from her nightstand and pulls her hair into a ponytail in hopes of cooling herself off. Sadie has experienced nightmares before- she used to have ones about the monster in her closest- but never had they felt so real. She felt as if she really was going to die in the depths of that ocean.

She shudders at the morbid thought and attempts to push in out of her mind. Glancing at the alarm clock next to her bed, Sadie notes that it is 6:00a- meaning it is almost time to begin getting ready for school. Going back to sleep is pointless so Sadie reluctantly gets out of bed, puts on a nearby cardigan, and exits her room to go wake her brother. At the same time as she opens her door, her brother steps out of his room directly across the hall.

Miles has a frantic look in his eyes when he spots his twin sister. His looks unkempt- an unusual occurrence for him- with his brown hair uncombed and his pajamas rumpled, which immediately let Sadie know that Miles must have seen her dream as well. As twins, the two can communicate with each other without words, but they do not have what people call 'twin telepathy'. Miles just happens to have psychic abilities that allow him to see the future.

"I guess you saw it, too?" Sadie asks her brother. It didn't have to be said but she wants to make sure. Miles' visions range from being very serious to being of little importance and it is quite possible he saw something extreme.

"Unfortunately, yes. Why would you ever follow a weird voice that is calling your name?" He snipes. Sadie rolls her eyes at her brother's jab at her intelligence.

"That is what you choose to focus on?"

"It is a logical question!" he says defensively. He then settles down and walks over and hugs her. "But don't ever do something like that in real life. I don't know who else would put up with me like you do, sis."

Sadie smiles at his words. Miles is much more anti-social of the two and only positively interacts with her. Sure, they fight like any siblings would, but at the end of the day all they have is each other. Sadie has a few friends from the swim team, but her brother will always be her best friend. Even when he uses his dry, sarcastic sense of humor on her. "Don't worry, Miles. I'll make sure to hire someone to put up with you before I leave."

"You're impossible."

"I learned it from you," Sadie teases as Miles walks away from her and back to his room. Miles' reply is muffled through the closed door. Laughing and shaking her head, Sadie turns back around and gets ready for the day, excited to start the first day of her sophomore year. If she is to survive another year, she must keep a positive attitude.

The first thing Sadie does when she arrives at school is to head to the library. Ever since last year the library has been her sanctuary. The librarian, Mrs. Healey, was a no-nonsense woman with a temper to match her fiery red hair. She doesn't stand for any roughhousing, yelling, or tomfoolery (her words, not Sadie's) in her library, which made it a haven from Marco- Miles and Sadie's personal bully.

"Mornin', Lassie!" Mrs. Healey chirps the moment Sadie walks through the oak doors. There is no one in the library so Mrs. Healey doesn't worry about raising her voice a little. "Did ya have a good summer?"

Sadie smiles at the woman. "It was good, Mrs. Healey. All I did was swim, read, and swim some more. How is baby Healey doing?" Before school let out for the summer, the Irish woman told Sadie that she was pregnant. Now, three months later, it is quite obvious with her being at the 6 months mark.

The Irish woman smiles brightly at the teenager. "Lil' Collin is right on schedule for his upcoming arrival."

"Collin!" Sadie nearly squeals in excitement. Emphasis on the nearly, for Sadie Emrys doesn't squeal. "You are having a boy? That is great! I imagine Mr. Healey is thrilled by this?"

"Of course, Lassie!" Mrs. Healey crows. "He hasn't stopped talking about teaching the wee one football since we found out! Now, while I am happy to catch up, do ya have the books you checked out?"

Sadie grins sheepishly and quickly takes out a large stack of books out of her backpack. "Sorry about that," she says as she hands them over. "I got a little caught up with the exciting news."

"It's alright, Lassie. Now, go visit yer friends. I know ya will be back later in the day." She makes a shooing motion at Sadie with her hands.

"Whatever you say Mrs. Healey," Sadie says over her shoulder as she walks towards the door. "See you in a couple hours!"

Now out of the library, Sadie wonders around trying to decide what to do next. It is 6:57 at the moment and the late bell rings at 7:15, so she still as some time to kill. She is contemplating going to the vending machine and treating herself to an Arizona Tea when she catches sight of her brother. Grinning to herself, Sadie decides she will pester her brother about what he thought the dream meant.

"Hi, big brother." Miles turns around from his locker to see his little sister smiling at him. He immediately recognizes the smile as the 'I-need-help-and-you're-the-one-to-do-it' grin. The last time she looked at him like that, she was asking him to cover for her while she went for a midnight swim with her friends.

"Whatever it is you want, the answer is no," he replies. "Mom is still upset with me for covering for you last time."

"It is nothing bad, I promise," Sadie laughs knowing her brother doesn't believe her. He abhors getting in trouble- in school or at home- so when it does happen it is because he is doing something for his sister. Sadie isn't exactly a troubling kid, but she can be a rebellious teenager when she wants to.

"Why don't I believe you?"

Sadie shrugs in response. "Beats me. I wanted to talk to you about- "

"Will you look at that. Geek 1 and Geek 2 having a nerdy conversation at their locker," a low male voice sneers. Sadie immediately recognizes that voice; It is Marco, her brother's least favorite bully and the school's resident bad boy. Marco moved to Avalon High last year and ever since he was paired with the Miles in a project, the delinquent has had it out to make Miles life miserable. Unfortunately for Sadie, Marco decided that they were a package deal. Sometimes she really wished she could slap the smug smirk off his face.

"Wow, what an original insult," Sadie says dryly, turning around to greet Marco's harsh gaze. "It must have taken you all summer to come up with that." Marco narrows his eyes at the younger girl's dry retort before smirking. While he may not enjoy playing the role of a bully, he does find amusement in interacting with the female Emrys twin. He has come to enjoy their sarcastic quips and dry banter.

"I came up with it just for you, mermaid. Oops. I mean mergirl," Marco replies back knowing that the nickname annoys her. Sadie scrunches up her nose at the repugnant nickname. Sure, she has an unusual love for swimming, but nobody ever called Olympic swimmers like Michael Phelps a mer-person!

"God you're annoying. It's too early to deal with your crap." Sadie turns around to her brother who is looking on with amusement. He doesn't like Marco but his and Sadie's interactions are funny to watch. "You're on your own with him." Both boys sigh in annoyance. Marco because he was looking forward to teasing Sadie some more and Miles because he is now left to deal with the bully.

"What a great sister you are!" Miles complains loudly as Sadie walks away.

Sadie merely shakes her head, causing her long brown tresses to sway, and continues walking away. She purposely walks slowly in order to hear Miles and Marco's exchange but is soon distracted by a petite blonde-haired girl looking on at Marco's attempt at bullying Miles with mild interest. Normally this wouldn't bother Sadie, but people rarely pay attention to Miles being bullied. It's nothing new so why bother watching? If the girl is actually bothering to pay attention, then she must be new.

She stealthily sneaks up on the new girl, hoping to catch her off guard, before speaking. "You'll get used to it. It isn't an uncommon occurrence."

"Oh my god!" the blonde jumps up a couple inches off the ground at the sound of the sudden voice. "Jeez. It is normal to just creep behind people at this school?" the new girl asks as she turns towards Sadie. Sadie grins at her snippy response.

"It is part of our welcome wagon routine," the brunette jests. "We like to keep the new kids on their toes."

"Well that's good to know."

"So, you must be new, huh?"

"What gave that away?" the blonde asks sarcastically.

"Not many people care to watch Miles being bullied anymore. It happens too much for it to be interesting to them. So, what's your name, new girl? Unless your name is New Girl then I must apologize. That is very unfortunate."

The quip at her name causes the blonde to smile. "Funny, I was just thinking I should change my name to New Girl. It's much more fitting than Allie."

"Allie, huh?" Sadie cocks her head to study her. She takes in the bright blue eyes and friendly smile. "Nice to meet you, Allie. I'm Sadie." She holds out her hand for the other girl to shake.

"Likewise. So what grade are you in?" Allie asks as she shakes Sadie's hand.

"Sophomore. Hey, you wouldn't happen to have the time, would you?"

Allie-the-new-girl pulls up her sleeve to glance at her watch. "7:06. Why?"

"Nothing," she waves off the question. "I just have to start heading to class. If you see me around later, don't be afraid to just start talking to me. You have spunk, and I like that. See you around!" With that, Sadie turns around and makes her way towards room B-19. She didn't have to leave at that exact moment, but she prefers to be early. Never could it be said that she was not a diligent student.

"Hello, there!" the teacher, a tall man with average brown hair and limping around with cane greets Sadie as she walks through the door of B-19. "I am Mr. Moore, your history teacher. And you are?"

"Sadie Emrys, Sir. Nice to meet you," Sadie says with a smile. He seems nice enough, but then again, most teachers usually start the term looking at way. How else are they supposed to lull students into a sense of false security before turning into teachers from hell?

"It sure is nice to see a student arrive this early. Hopefully that is a sign that you are eager to learn?"

"You can definitely say that, Sir. I love history." This is true. The only thing is that Sadie loves the WW2 era and beyond. Medieval history isn't exactly her cup of tea. But what Mr. Moore doesn't know won't hurt him. It's not like Sadie won't get an A in this class; after all, she does share it with Miles- the-teachers-pet.

"That's great to hear!" Mr. Moor says cheerfully. "Go ahead and take a seat anywhere. There is no seating chart."

Sadie chooses to sit in the back. She loves having a lot of open space and sitting in the middle or up front is too claustrophobic for her. She can't stand being constricted among a dozen other students. Sitting at her chosen seat, Sadie decides to start on reading the textbook for the class. She is in the middle of a chapter about Merlin when people start filing in. Not in the mood for socializing with the other kids, Sadie positions the book so that it hides her face. Yes, she is expecting Miles, but he knows by now to take the seat beside her. Why should this time be any different? This was her first mistake. So immersed in her reading, Sadie didn't realize that someone had gotten to the seat beside her before Miles. And it just so happened that his person was Marco, which led to problems when Miles finally showed up and began voicing his displeasure at his customary seat being taken.

"I think you are in my seat, Marco. I always sit next to my sister." Sadie's eyes widen in surprise. What the heck was Marco doing sitting next to her? Hoping to change the situation, Sadie snaps the textbook close and glares at her neighbor.

"I don't think this seat has your name on it, so move along."

"Actually- "

"Mr. Emrys, there are plenty of seats in the classroom. Please find an empty one. You can grab a seat next to your sister tomorrow, but for now it is time for class to start."

At the teacher's words Miles resigns to the fact that Marco won and takes a chair by the window. Marco smiles smugly at him before turning his attention to Sadie. She realizes that the situation isn't going to change for the forty-five minutes, so she opens her textbook again and begins avidly reading in hopes that Marco will leave her alone. But this was Marco, she should know better.

"Wow. You are such a nerd. You'd think a pretty girl like you would have better things to do other than put her nose in a book. I can see why guys don't ask you out," Marco drones.

Sadie scoffs and rolls her eyes. Who was he to insult her about her dating habits? Sure, she doesn't currently have a boyfriend, but she has been on dates before. She was seeing a lifeguard at the swim club this past summer! "You know what, Marco?" Sadie starts, turning her body towards him. At this point a good majority of the students- including Marco's football captain stepbrother, Will- have turned their attention towards the two teens sensing an upcoming argument. "It's not like you have a dating life to talk about. I think you only pick on Miles and me because you feel inadequate as a person and secretly admire us. At least I am comfortable enough with who I am to not to need validation from a relationship. Can you say the same?"

Her comeback leaves Marco speechless and the rest of the class crowing with laughter. The story of Sadie cutting Marco down is most likely going to be all over campus by lunch break.

"Ok, ok! Guys, lets settle down. We need to get through boring syllabus talk before diving into our first project," Mr. Moore announces in hopes of calming the students down. At hearing the words syllabus and project, the energy level of the class dies down effectively. Mr. Moore immediately jumps into his lecture, but Sadie is barely listening. She is on a slight high from telling Marco off in from of the class and she can't help but think that it is going to be an interesting year.

Of course, she is proven right when the door to the classroom opens and Allie the New Girl enters. She cautiously looks around, giving a small smile when she sees Sadie, then makes a beeline for Mr. Moore. The two have a brief exchange before Allie picks up a textbook and makes her way to the nearest open seat- which just so happens to be next to Miles. As she walks Sadie hears her give a slight laugh upon looking at the textbook and also notices the interested look Will Wagner gives her. Interesting development. Sadie can't remember a time where Will wasn't with Jennifer. Yet here he is, taking interest in the new, pretty student.

"I'm sorry, is there a problem Ms.?" Mr. Moore tapers off at the end in search of Allie's last name.

"Pennington." She answers as she turns around. "Allie Pennington."

Suddenly a look of recognition passes over Mr. Moore's face making Sadie wonder just who Allie is. She seems to already be stirring things up at Avalon and she hasn't even been here a full hour.

"Ah! Well, that explains everything." From his place over by the window Miles shoots his sister a questioning look. Knowing him, he is wondering who she is and if she is going to take his teachers pet spot.

"Everyone, please welcome Avalon High's newest student, Allie Pennington." People give sheepish waves and mutter their hellos. Sadie decides to yell out 'Hey Allie-cat!' which elicits a laugh from the blonde and a glare from her brother. He hates it when she calls attention even though the attention isn't on him. "Allie's parents are professors of medieval literature at the University and they, uh, also wrote the also wrote the textbook we'll be using this semester when we learn about King Arthur and his court."

Upon hearing that Sadie can't help but be impressed. She has always thought that people that write textbooks must be a little – or in most cases, a lot- obsessive about the subject in order to write so much. Sadie doesn't even wish to think about what it is like to live with not one, but two obsessive professors as parents. One could only imagine just how much of the dinner conversation at Allie's house revolves around medieval times. The poor girl must be tired of the topic by now. Of course, she seems to be the only one who respects that because Lance, Will's best friend and another football jockey, fakes a cough that sounds a whole lot like 'easy A'.

Mr. Moore responds in the same way but his cough sounds like 'nobody asked you'. In that moment Sadie realizes that Mr. Moore is actually pretty awesome. For a European medieval history teacher that is. It seems like the other students might think this as well because they burst out laughing. The only people not joining in are Marco (he is always surly during class), Miles, and of course, Allie, who is walking towards the seat in front of Miles.

The brunette swimmer watches on in interest as the blonde sits down and introduces herself to her brother.

"No, no, no, no." Miles starts saying over and over. He is obviously going to do his routine where he insults whoever tried to be friendly to him so that he can say that he has no friends then complain to Sadie about it later. Ever since they were in kindergarten Miles seems to think the only friend he needs is his twin sister. "Avert your eyes. You are making a tactical error of monumental proportions right now."

As soon as Miles says this Sadie can see Marco from the corner of her eye suddenly listening in on the conversation with interest. "By what," Allie asks, "sitting at my desk?"

"By talking to me. Come on, you had a great start. I saw you talking to Captain Everything this morning. You have the chance to be in the popular group. Don't mess it up."

At this point Marco is listening and watching the exchange avidly, so the sophomore not-so-lightly slaps the junior in the arm. This definitely gets his attention. He turns his body towards Sadie to give her a menacing scowl. "What was that for?"

"That was a lesson to not listen to other people's conversations."

"Who are you to decide that you need to give me lessons?"

"Oh, you admit that you need to learn manners? You know, they say that acceptance is the first step to changing your bad habits."

Marco is about to return the insult when Mr. Moore calls for the classes attention by ring a bell. "Okay, so the first thing we are going to do is break up into groups to write research papers. You will draw your topics out of this." He says as he holds up a mostly silver medieval helmet with gold edging up. He starts to go around the classroom pairing people up so Sadie listens attentively to hear her name.

Will and Karen Jenkins have the Sports of Camelot. Half of the guys groan, now knowing they missed that topic. Then Lance and Jen are partnered up and must report on the love triangle that ruined Camelot, which is even more appropriate than Will's topic because half the school knows there is something going on with Lance and Jennifer. Then he gets to Miles.

"Miles! You are with Allie."

Almost immediately, "I rather work with my sister." Sadie swear Allie's eyebrows disappear into her hairline at the mention of a sister. It becomes funnier when Mr. Moore mentions that no, Miles can't work with her. She briefly wonders if Allie has made the connection between the two but then remembers that she barely knows neither Miles nor Sadie. "Why not?" he practically whines.

"Because Sadie will be working with Marco."

Suddenly the atmosphere in the room grows dark. After the debacle before class it is very clear that the partnership between Sadie and Marco will not end well. Who for, no one- not even Sadie herself- knows. The only person not terrified by this partnership is Allie who has yet to come to the realization that the friendly girl she spoke to in the hall and the slightly standoffish boy next to her are siblings.

"Then I'd rather work alone," Miles tries to bargain when he realizes he won't get what he wants.

"And I'd rather be eating pineapple on a beach in Hawaii but that isn't going to happen either." The amount of sass Mr. Moore is demonstrating would normally make Sadie smile but the sudden sinking feeling in her stomach is taking over. It doesn't help that Marco is grinning maliciously at her like Christmas came early. It isn't until Allie mentions that her chosen topic is the Order of the Bear that Sadie notes that Marco's expression changes to a combination of fear and fury. His already pale face is suddenly whitewash and he now turns his hateful gaze towards Allie.

Seeing the major difference in the bully catches Sadie's attention and the girl makes a mental note to ask Miles to include her on his research. Marco obviously knows something about it and isn't happy that someone else got the topic. As she contemplates this sudden change in her sworn enemy, she fails to notice that Mr. Moore is standing right in front of her with the helmet held out. "Ms. Emrys, please pick a topic for yourself and Marco."

Shaken out of her train of thought she reaches her hand into the helmet and takes the first paper her fingers touch. She unfolds the blue slip towards Mr. Moore so he can read it aloud. "Now here is an interesting topic! The Lady of the Lake is one of the most mysterious tales in Arthurian legends."

Mr. Moore's last comment finally breaks Marco from his murderous gaze of Allie and Miles as he hears something to do with Sadie and swimming. He swiftly snatches the paper from her grasp. When he reads it, he starts grinning at the younger girl again. "Well, what a perfect topic for mer-girl here. Of course, you would pick the Lady of the Lake." Then once again, Marco's facial features go from leering at her to being surprised as if he has suddenly figured out the secret of life. But before Sadie can remark on it, he quickly switches back to his sour, moody self and Mr. Moore calls for the class's attention once more. Sadie sneaks a curious glance at the black-haired boy before returning her attention to the teacher, but not before silently promising herself to uncover just who Marco Campbell really is.