The Ghost of Josiah Grimshaw by Suzy Turner

nodded. 'Good, no doubt he has told you about me? I am Eleanor Hayden-Jones and I'm the Guardian of the Fourth House of Praxos. Why don't you follow me, guys and gals...'
    The silence of the room was finally broken as everyone stood up, grabbed their belongings and walked out, some chatting to others, some just walking alone, a little too embarrassed to engage in conversation.
    Lana left Emma alone to go and chat up a cute dark haired boy she'd had her eye on since walking in.
    'Hi,' said a voice to her side as they walked slowly along behind Eleanor.
    Turning, Emma saw that it was the boy with the cropped blond hair who'd kindly given her a drink.
    'Hi,' she answered shyly, her cheeks turning a little shade of pink.
    Holding out his hand, he said, 'I'm Diarmuid'.
    Taking it and shaking gently, Emma smiled, 'Emma Jane. Well, just Emma really,' she said, the pink tinge of her cheeks darkening into more of a red hue.
    'It's great to meet you, Just Emma,' he laughed. 'So...'
    'So...' she replied, feeling more and more at ease with him.
    'Where are you from?' he asked as she pushed strands of her hair behind her ear before remembering she wasn't keen on her ears, so she pulled the strands back down again.
    'Andilyse Island. You?'
    'Andilyse Island? Where's that?' he asked.
    'You've never heard of it?'
    He shook his head, 'I never was much good at geography,' he smiled, the brightness of his near perfectly formed teeth almost enticing her in.
    'It's just off the English coast, east of here basically. I guess it's not the most popular of the British Isles,' she giggled before realising she sounded like a love struck moron and shut up.
    'It's not? How come?'
    'People are put off by all the fog we get there, I guess... and the rain. And they're not too keen on all the wind turbines. We have tonnes of them on the island, but they don't bother us. We kinda like them, actually. I find them quite soothing and it's nice to know that our electricity has all been generated by nature, if you know what I mean.' Oh My God, I'm mumbling like a moron , she thought to herself just as she tripped up, almost falling to the ground. As Diarmuid caught her, she almost swooned as he very carefully pulled her upwards, looking down into her eyes. Her heart fluttered and she could have swore her stomach did its very own triple salchow.
    As he eased her back up into position, he grinned at her again as she bit down on her lip, completely embarrassed.
    'Thanks,' she muttered.
    'Your island sounds nice. I like wind turbines.'
    This time her stomach did a backwards somersault.
    'Hmm,' she muttered, 'You never told me where you're from?'
    'Ireland.'
    'You're a long way from home.'
    'Well, I grew up in Ireland but I live in Oxfordshire now with my Mum, well, she's not my real mum. I found that out just last week. Came as a bit of a shock.'
    'Oh... I'm sorry.'
    'That's okay. Did you know about... you know?'
    'That I'm adopted? Yes. It was always pretty obvious when you look at the rest of the family. They're all blue eyed blondes yet there's me with my dark hair and green eyes and my sister Lana with her afro hair and amber eyes. Not exactly a secret they could keep from us,' she smiled. 'But we only just found out about th... this.......'
    'Okay everyone, gather around please,' announced Eleanor from the front of the group as all the teenagers shuffled forward so they almost surrounded her. Behind her was a huge statue of an angel with massive wings that cloaked a small child. At the foot of the statue was a plaque with an inscription that included The Praxos Foundation's emblem: the winged eye.
    'This statue is thousands of years old, created by those who started Praxos. Each house across the country, and actually around the world, has a similar statue in their HQ. It signifies everything that we stand for. If you look closely at the plaque it has the words Stamus Contra Malum.'
    'What's that mean?' asked a girl wearing glasses and her hair in a high