Chapter 1: Cheimonas

“Before you go, Cheimonas, I’d like you to take this necklace with you,” my Mom said just as I was leaving. “Why? Is it special?” I asked. “Yes. Your great-grandmother made it when you were born. She took hundreds of icicles, raindrops, and snow to make this necklace.”

Since we were goddesses, we could form things using magic and spells. Mortals couldn’t do that. “What does it do?” I wondered. “It will help you with your powers when you enter Cloud Top Academy,” Mom said.

I looked at the necklace. It had diamonds all around, and a little snowflake in the middle. I slipped it on and a bright light appeared around me as I started floating. Suddenly, the whole house trembled and shook! And then, as soon as it started, it all stopped. I didn’t feel different. I felt just like my normal self. I thought that something was going to happen. Like maybe I’d get wings! SWOOSH! Snow shot from my hands! PLOOF. Some snow landed on my Mom’s face. I wanted to laugh, but my Mom didn’t look that happy, so I just laughed inside my head. I didn’t know what was happening!

“This necklace will give you special powers. You must learn to control them. Don’t let anybody take the necklace from you,” Mom warned me. “I won’t. I promise I won’t give it to anyone! New students should be there in 10 minutes! Bye, Mom!” I told her in a hurry. I put on my pair of winged sandals and flew off to the mountain! I didn’t want to be late!

Winged sandals could only fly when an immortal wore them. My Mom wanted to come with me, but since she was mortal, it would take her a long time to get up to CTA.

When I got there, I was kind of nervous with all the students. At home, I was always special, because I was the only goddess in my close family. I had five sisters, so it was fun having all the attention. Well, most of the attention. One of my sisters, Elena, was really good at art. So my parents also paid a lot of attention to her, too. But here, everyone was either a goddess girl or a god boy.

I saw this other girl in the back, a little further from where I was standing. She had some paint splattered on her face, hair, and clothes. She was wearing a turquoise shirt, blue shorts and a long smock-dress. She looked friendly and she looked nervous, like me. I went over to say hi. “Hi, my name is Cheimonas and I’m the Goddess of Winter,” I introduced myself.

“H-hi. I’m Kallitechnis and I’m the Goddess of Art. Nice to meet you,” she said shyly. I guess she was a little more nervous than me.

“Good afternoon, students,” said a tall man with orange, wavy hair. The introduction for the new students had started. “Welcome to CTA! Cloud Top Academy! You’ve each been assigned to a group…” I think that was the principal who said that.

“He forgot to introduce himself, didn’t he?” I think Kallitechnis was talking to me. “Yeah, probably. Hey, what are you doing on that easel?” I asked. “Oh, I’m just painting a picture of this place to send home to my parents,” she answered. I guess that made sense. Kallitechnis was the Goddess of Art.

“...Group 3, Cheimonas, Goddess of Winter!” That’s me, I thought. I went over to the teacher with a cloud above her head saying ‘Group 3’. I saw a bunch of students coming to Group 3. I also saw Kallitechnis! She must’ve been called too. I just wasn’t listening.

Then we had a tour of the school. It was so cool! When we were done with the tour, we got assigned roommates. I got paired with someone named Kosmimata. She had so much jewelry on! She was probably the Goddess of Jewelry. “Um, Kallitechnis!” I called before she left. “Yeah?” “I was wondering, whether you want to be...friends?” I asked. “Yeah! Of course. You seem like a good friend. I hope we’re in the same classes,” she replied. I thought she’d say ok, but not be that excited. I mean, we’d just met! Though part of me was surprised, secretly, I was also super excited! I had just made my first friend at CTA! I was so excited to be here!

Chapter 2: Kosmimata

After we got paired up with our roommates, I went upstairs to see how my—I mean our —room looked. ‘Our’ would be me and my roommate, Cheimonas. She’s the Goddess of Winter. I’m the Goddess of Jewelry, which is definitely better. Anyway, when we got up to our room, we saw two identical beds on each side, then two identical desks and closets. The beds didn’t have anything on it yet. Nothing had anything on it! I expected it to have, like, flowers on the desk at least!

“I want the right side!” Cheimonas said after we looked at the room for a while. “Ok, I guess I’ll take the left?” I answered. Who cared what side they were on? There wasn’t anything special about either side anyway. We started unpacking. After we were done unpacking, I noticed Cheimonas was really into winter. She had decorated her whole side with winter things. Snowflakes and white everywhere! “What? Does it look ok?” Cheimonas asked. I just realised how long I’d been staring at her. “No, it’s fine.”

Ding! Ding! Ding! The school bell rang telling us to get to class. “Well, I have Spell Class, so...I guess I’ll see you at lunch? Unless you have Spell Class too,” said Cheimonas. Cheimonas talks more than me. Well, at least at the beginning. I like to first see how people act, to decide whether I want to talk to them. But honestly, Cheimonas isn’t really that fun in my opinion, from what I’ve seen. I had Spell Class too.

When I got to class, most people were already there. When I came in, many people looked at me. What? I thought. I guess they were looking at the new jewelry I was wearing. During class, I wasn’t really paying attention. Who cares about grades? Not me. But even though I wasn’t paying attention to the teacher talking, I was paying attention to the students in the class. Then, suddenly, I saw the most beautiful necklace ever! It was so pretty and shiny! Then I looked up and saw that Cheimonas was wearing it.

Ughhhhhhhh. I mean, like, I’m the Goddess of Jewelry! I’m supposed to have the best and prettiest jewelry!! Not some other goddess! The Goddess of Jewelry asking Cheimonas, Goddess of Winter, to have her necklace was embarrassing. Since I didn’t want to ask, I decided I’d first go to the jewelry store to see if I could find it. I had to get a pass to skip a lesson, so I wanted to get one right when the lesson finished.

Ding! Ding! Ding! That lesson passed way faster than I expected it to. When I finally found where to get my pass, I saw this hydra at the desk. I think she was the secretary. I knew it was a hydra because last week before I actually came to school, I mixed up my schedule and thought I had Beast Class. So I studied. A little.

“May I help you?” a happy yellow head asked. “I need a pass for next class. It’s really important!” “What’s it for?” I didn’t want to say it was for shopping because she’d definitely say no! “It’s an emergency!” I said, hoping she wouldn’t ask what emergency! “Here’s a pass for one hour.” her green head said. This head was really grumpy! I quickly took the pass and rushed out of the academy’s large bronze doors. I quickly changed into some winged sandals. Some students had wings, but that was very rare. My Mom says being jealous isn’t nice for yourself or anybody else. But I just can’t help it. I’m very jealous of students with wings!

Anyway, when I arrived at the finest jewelry store in the Immortal Marketplace, which is where immortals shop, I quickly went to the necklaces and started searching for the necklace. After 40 minutes, I still couldn’t find it! Don’t blame me for spending 40 minutes there. The store is huge! I still couldn’t find it, so I just gave up. I went to find the shop owner to ask if they had the necklace I was looking for.

“Hello? Excuse me? Do you have a necklace with a snowflake, a bunch of pretty diamonds and crystals, and it’s all white and powder blue, in case you didn’t know.” The shop owner looked at me. I was wearing a necklace and earrings that matched my uniform, so my necklace was silver with a diamond heart with matching earrings. The heart looked fake but it was 100% real! She said, “Look in the blue and white necklace section, can’t you see the sign? Can’t you see I’m busy?” Rude, I thought. “I already looked there...um..” I looked at her name tag. “Jessica.” I said, finishing my sentence. “Well, no. We have no snowflake necklaces.” She told me in the most fake-nice voice ever! I guess Cheimonas’s necklace was one of a kind. Maybe a custom necklace?

I checked the time. I had 10 minutes. I could use some new makeup… I thought. I went over to Cleo’s Cosmetics to buy some. When I was done, I had a few minutes to get back to CTA. I definitely was not excited to see Cheimonas again. Her necklace was something I absolutely had to have! I had to ask her. When I got back, it was already lunch and most students were already taking food from the cafeteria.

Suddenly, a wind whooshed in and a package landed on one of the tables. From where I was, I could see the label “Oracle-O Cookies.” I think those were fortune cookies. I wonder how the wind just whooshed it in! But I didn’t have to, because there was a girl with cute tiny glittery wings spreading the news to the new students about how people can send letters and packages using the winds. The words she said were puffing above her head as she said them. I think she was the Goddess of Gossip and Rumor. But I wasn’t sure. When I went to get my cookie, I also went to get lunch. They were having leichellronni.

Leichell is what makes us gods and goddesses’ skin shimmer. But some students are mortals. And it’s so unfair that they can go to school! This is a school for gods and goddesses! My sister is mortal and she can’t come! It’s so unfair! I also got some lemonade.

I went over to the table where Cheimonas sat. “Um, hey roomie!” I was trying to be nice. I mean, who’d give a person who didn’t like them their necklace? “Hi Kosmimata!” Cheimonas said. But she didn’t sound fake nice. Weird. “You know that necklace you’re wearing? Can I have-I mean borrow it? Please?”

“Well actually---” Cheimonas started. “Thank you!! Thank you so much! You’re the best!” I interrupted. I’m pretty sure she can’t say no now!

“I’m really sorry, but what I was actually going to say is no. It’s really important and I promised my Mom I wouldn’t give it to anybody.” What did she just say?! I thought. “Who cares about promises? Your Mom won’t even find out!” Cheimonas started eating again. She clearly wasn’t going to change her mind.

I walked to a table not that far. When I sat down, I decided if I couldn’t do it the easy way, I’d have to do it the hard way. I’m going to steal the necklace.

Chapter 3: Kallitechnis

When I woke up this morning it was 9 AM. It was Saturday, so that was fine. Or else I’d miss the first lesson! But when I woke up, it wasn’t because my body had enough sleep. I heard somebody banging on the door!

Oneira, my roommate, was still asleep. She was the Goddess of Dreams. I was kind of lucky with that. She asked me every night what I’d like to dream about, and she’d make it happen! Me and Oneira were good friends. Not as good as me and Cheimonas, though. Cheimonas was the first to talk to me at CTA.

I decided it wasn’t going to help just sitting there. So I opened the door and guess who it was? My best friend at CTA, Cheimonas! But something wasn't right.

She rushed into the room without asking, Cheimonas would never do that! Something definitely wasn’t right.

“OMG! Kallitechnis! My necklace--” she looked around the room and stopped. What did she want to tell me? “I love what you’ve done with your room! It’s so you! Art, art, art!” I wasn’t sure whether or not that was a compliment, but it sounded like one!

“Thanks, but we need to discuss why you’re in here. What happened to. Your. Necklace?” I slowly asked. I’m really good at helping people relax when they’re stressed. “Take a deep breath, ok? In, out. In, out. Now, focus on the bird in the painting.” Cheimonas seems calmer. It worked! For 6 seconds!!

“Well, I don’t want to worry you, but, my necklace, well, it was…..stolen.” She didn’t want me to worry? I was fine! Until the news! I don’t blame Cheimonas, though.

“Oh no!” I was worried. “You know the secret you told me?” I told her. I had to whisper the next part. Oneira was here. She probably wouldn’t wake up anyway. “It’s magical! And made for you! The...consequences.”

We were super worried now! “Why don’t we...paint? Painting helps me relax. Maybe you too?” I wasn’t so sure it would work. I was the Goddess of Art, so it makes sense, but Cheimonas is the Goddess of Winter. “It’s worth a try.”

I painted myself and Cheimonas with her red panda, Pretzel. But Cheimonas painted her necklace. She must have been so worried!! She wasn’t as much of an artist as me or her sister she told me about, Elena.

“You, know, enough painting! Let’s go find that necklace!” I said, even though I was enjoying the painting.

We had to find Cheimonas’s necklace! Not only because she was sad, which was a very important reason too, but because of the secret.

Cheimonas told me that if the necklace got into the wrong hands, or actually onto the wrong neck, there would be consequences. We haven't figured out what consequences though. Nobody knows the secret except for us. Then, suddenly, right after Cheimonas dried her paintbrush, we heard a breezy wind outside the door.

Woosh! When we opened our door we felt a big, cold wind! Most people in the hallway were freezing! They were still in their pajamas, though. Cheimonas was never cold since she was the Goddess of Winter. But I was a little cold. And I was already wearing a big, fuzzy jumper!

“Are these the consequences?” I asked. I was worried and my mouth was trembling as I said it. Or maybe I was just cold. “I think so!” Cheimonas replied, sounding more worried than me.

I felt bad for Cheimonas, she lost her necklace and soon everybody would be freezing and think it was her fault! Poor Cheimonas. Suddenly, an icicle hit one of the marigolden doors and almost hit someone! But we were immortal, thankfully.

Something was definitely wrong! The other goddess girls were rushing out of their rooms! The icicles and cold wind hadn’t gone down to the boys’ dorms yet. We knew that because the wind stopped at the stairs. This meant that the person who took Cheimonas’s necklace must've been a girl. And boys weren’t allowed on the girls’ floor anyway.

“Cheimonas, I think that we should start looking soon! I also think that someone took it! I don’t think you lost it!” I told her. “Yeah, we should definitely start!” Cheimonas replied. But as soon as she stepped out to the hallway, the wind stopped. “Cheimonas, did the wind stop because of you or it just stopped?” I asked. “I don’t know.” Things were getting stranger by the second! But together, we’d stop this criminal! Maybe we’ll help them change! And be kind.

---

Well, it’s day two of our finding-who-stole-the-necklace search! I’m getting really worried! Yesterday we saw the cold wind and icicles. I was starting to think there were stages. Stage one was cold wind, and stage two was icicles! Ploof. I just heard a “ploof”. I looked outside my window and saw that some of the students were..throwing snowballs at each other?! How did the snow get there? There was a whole four feet of snow! I ran to tell Cheimonas right away!

Knock, knock. The door quickly swung open! Most goddess girls put a spell on their doors during days when they were in their rooms but didn’t want to open the door.

“Cheimonas! There’s a bu---” I started talking, but then realised she was at the window already! “This is terrible, Kallitechnis! You said there are probably stages that get worse and worse, right?” Cheimonas asked me. “Yes.”

“Well, I think this is stage three! And there’s a whole four feet of snow! Stage four will be even worse! We have to catch the thief!” This was kind of obvious, but I didn’t say that in case Cheimonas would think it’s mean.

The snow was starting to melt. It was Spring so it wasn’t cold enough for snow. We thought the next stage wouldn’t happen until tomorrow or at least an hour. But it came right after!

“Oh no!” I am so worried! I’m going to die!! I felt like I was going to die, but I wasn’t actually going to.

Stage four was that a bunch of hail was falling! Most students put on shield spells, but some mortals who went to CTA couldn't. And even some people who were here last year forgot the spell! But mostly the new people.

We were lucky the teachers were all in the Immortal Marketplace having a meeting. Or else Cheimonas would get in so much trouble! But the hail lasted for longer! 10 whole minutes! And then everything went black. ---

SPLASH! “Wake up Kallitechnis! The hail is over!” Cheimonas said after she splashed the water in my face. I took a deep breath! “OMG! Did I just faint?” I asked.

“Oh good, you’re ok! Yes, you did! You were out for around seven minutes! The hail stopped just two minutes ago!” I was so glad I wasn’t like that for more than 10 minutes! But I almost was!

I never fainted before! I always painted or made something with clay when I was stressed! But I hadn’t been doing that a lot since we’d spent the whole time finding the necklace. But I don’t blame Cheimonas. It was only seven minutes.

It was 3:47 PM. I hoped we would get the necklace back today! “Even though I like to work with you, I really do, I think we should look at different places so we have a bigger chance of finding the necklace and who took it,” I told Cheimonas. I hope she doesn’t think that I don’t like her.

“That’s a great idea! I’ll go look in the library and you can go look in the garden.” Cheimonas answered. I liked our school garden. It had every flower in the world in every color! It had golden gates! it even had little animals there such as birds and butterflies!

When I came, I saw the gates were open, which meant someone else was there too. I started searching right away! But after a while, a big snowstorm started! This is probably stage five! The person who took it must be here!

I kept walking forward and then I saw a big empty space where there was no snow! It was kind of like the middle of a tornado. It was where all the snow was coming from! It was the necklace! And Kosmimata was wearing it! She was floating in the air too! I decided to stay quiet for a while, then I heard her say, “I wish I never stole this necklace!” Kosmimata also looked worried, and then I realised she wasn’t enjoying this either.

“Kosmimata! Give the necklace back to Cheimonas! Or me! I’ll take it to her.” I shouted so Kosmimata could hear me.

“But I don’t know where the lock is…” Kosmimata sounded embarrassed. She was the Goddess of Jewelry. But I didn’t tease her.

“The lock’s in the snowflakes third side starting from the top going to the right!” I was pretty sure the whole garden was filled with snow by now! The garden was huge, so there must've been a lot of snow!

Click! All the snow suddenly disappeared. But all the flowers and plants were ruined! Kosmimata put them back though. She said a spell that was too quiet for me to hear. Slowly everything went back to normal. “Here’s the necklace,” she said. “Sorry I took it.” “Thank you, Kosmimata.” I was going to give it to Cheimonas really soon.

Chapter 4: Cheimonas (again)

Yawn! When I woke up, everything was normal. No snow? Check. No icicles? Check. No hail? Nope. I quickly looked out the window. Still nothing? Had the necklace been found? Maybe. I hope so! WOOSH! A magical letter wooshed in. It said,

Awww! Kallitechnis was the best friend ever! Always inviting me over to parties! It was going to be 10:00 in 23 minutes. Nobody told me there was something special happening, though. Was I the only one who didn’t know? ---

It was finally 10:00!! Knock, knock. I was so excited! I almost forgot about my necklace! I missed it so much! The door swung open! I walked in, but I didn’t see anything.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!” Kallitechnis jumped from behind the door! “It’s my birthday?” I asked. I never kept track of my birthday that much. I had five sisters, so I had to remember five other birthdays, too! Kallitechnis giggled a bit.

“Of course it is, silly Cheimonas!” “So the surprise party was my birthday party?” I asked. I was still a little confused about what was happening.

“Yes!!” She answered. “I have a present for you.” Kallitechnis handed me a white box with baby blue stars on it. “You can open it now if you want!” I opened the pretty box. I didn’t want to break the box or ruin the box while opening it. Then as I took off the lid, a blue light came from the box.

“OMG! Kallitechnis! YOU FOUND IT!!” I was soooo happy! “Thank you!!”

I might have even been crying a little. “Where did you find it?!” I asked. “Well,” started Kallitechnis, “I actually found who stole it,” Kallitechis told me.

“Who stole it?! Why?!” I asked, I was a little more worried now. “Why don’t you see for yourself…” Kosmimata walked from behind the door.

“Were you waiting there this whole time?” I asked. Kallitechnis giggled a little more this time. “Nevermind! Why did you steal my necklace, Kosmimata?! Why would you do that when I told you no?!” I gave Kosmimata some time to explain herself.

“Because it was...pretty?” She really didn’t think I’d fall for that, did she?

I was so mad right now! I think she saw I was mad because she said, “Ok fine! Jeez, I wanted it because I’m the Goddess Girl of Jewelry and you had the prettiest necklace, ok?!” She said. How could she be mad at me?! She stole my necklace! Not the other way around!

Kallitechnis could see I was about to burst, so she gave me the “look”. The “look” is when she tells me to calm down and to just end the whole argument. I didn’t want to upset Kallitechnis. I took a deep breath. Kallitechnis says it helps.

“Kosmimata, I’m extremely mad at you and I would like it if you just get out right now.” I said it calmly, but it still didn’t sound very calm.

“FINE.” Kosmimata stormed out of the room. How could she still be mad?! I just let her go without any punishment!

“What spell did you put on her?” Kallitechnis asked me. Ok, maybe I lied. I gave her a punishment. But it was a small one!

Suddenly, we heard a scream coming from my room. “I may have done something,” I told her.

“Cheimonas?” Kallitechnis said slowly. (But it sounded like ‘Cheeeeiiiiiiiiiimoooooonaaaas)

“A jewel-eating puppy is going to follow her for a month,”I told her quickly.

I expected Kallitechnis to tell me to put it off but instead, she started laughing! “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!” She had a crazy laugh! I started laughing too! It was the best birthday ever! I love CTA with Kallitechnis!