Lisse's POV

The room was peaceful. No one else had arrived so far, and I was enjoying the silence. My roommates would most likely request another room anyways, I mused, examining the tank that contained the single garter snake I had been allowed to bring. Skeleton Keys had surprisingly strict rules concerning dangerous animals. I chuckled darkly, imagining what would have happened had I brought my anaconda. It was at this moment, while I was savoring that thought, that two girls burst through the door, one after the other. One was tall and graceful, with a liberal dusting of freckles and glossy brown curls. The other was shorter, with sun-streaked blonde hair in a messy ponytail, a mischievous demeanor, and traces of blood on her face. The brunette glanced around the room, eyes alighting on Hachi, a grin spreading across her face at the sight.
“What a lovely snake! He’s a California garter, correct?”
I nodded curtly. The brunette didn’t seem to realize she was blocking the doorway, and the blonde resorted to standing on tiptoe, trying to see over her shoulder.
“Uh… can you move?”
The brunette jumped. Apparently she hadn’t realized there was anyone behind her.
“Oh! I apologize.” She stepped to the side.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m Illia, by the way.” The blonde- Illia- dragged a duffel bag behind her, kicking it under the bed nearest the door.
“My name is Xerin.” She had nothing with her at all, and she was filthy and appeared to be exhausted. Illia frowned. “What happened to your stuff?”
“The train stopped functioning, and we were forced to hike up here. All the way up.” I glanced out the window. The idea of hiking up this particular mountain was extremely unappealing.
“We?” It was the first I had spoken to a human in a while. I did talk to my other snakes and spiders a bit, though, before I killed them. There was nowhere else they could go, other than a zoo, and there was no way in hell I was going to let a zoo take them.
“Another student, Briar, was on the same train as I was. Sadly, we don’t get along particularly well, which made the hike several times harder than it was already.”
Illia nodded. “I’ve met one of the guys. Actually, I ran into him.” She gestured towards the traces of blood. Xerin laughed, and then they both stared at me expectantly.
“I have met one of the other girls,” I volunteered, a touch reluctantly. Seeing Illia’s mouth open, I added hastily “Her name is Larimar. She is an Air Elementalist, like me.”
“I’m Light.” Illia said, a rueful curl to her mouth.
“I am a Fire Elementalist.” I looked at her in surprise. She looked the part of Water, or maybe even Earth, but definitely not Fire.
“Why the surprise?” 
“My parents taught at an academy. I learned from a young age how to discern which element a person is, and you don’t look the part of Fire.” My bluntness didn’t seem to faze her. She shrugged, and held out a hand. A perfectly round ball of fire hovered over her palm.
“Ah.” This was quite bizarre. I shrugged it off. It was a general rule, and worked well for the most part. Xerin closed a fist over the flame, effectively extinguishing it. I noted that her hand had trembled slightly throughout. Illia had watched the display, her face a neutral mask. It looked as if both of my roommates had problems of their own-- my musings were cut off by a shriek from Xerin.  
“FUCK! We were supposed to be in the dining hall five minutes ago!”
It looked as if school would be more fun than I had originally expected.