CHAPTER 1 The woods were dark. Too dark. The light barely shone through the trees and although I had walked in this forest many times before, I felt completely lost. "Seth" I whispered "Are you there?". He didn't answer. "Seth." I said a little louder. When he still did not answer I screamed "SETH!!" "Shhh!" He said "Do you want to be caught?" I did not. "Don't scare me like that! I thought I had lost you! You know perfectly well who and what is in this forest." He kissed me. "Come on. It was just a joke." "Yeah. Well, it was only funny for one of us." Suddenly, we heard voices nearby. "Hide!" I squeaked. But before I knew it, I was surrounded by a group of six boys. "Well, well, well. Looks like we found ourselves a real prize." Said the leader, running his fingers though my dark brown hair. "Go away!" I said, sounding braver than I really was. "That isn't very nice." Said the leader. "Apologize." I said nothing. "Apologize." He repeated. Still I said nothing. He kicked me and I fell to the ground. "Come on guys. This is boring." He said and lead his gang along the path towards town. Seth ran up beside me. "Where did he kick you?" He asked. "Are you alright? Should I go get help?" "I'm fine." I replied. "He only kicked me in the shin." "Oh good. I thought it was worse the way you fell." "I'm fine." I said again. "I know" he answered "You're always fine." "I know" I said. \( • _ • )/ Later on, at my house, Seth and I were sitting in the living room. "Seth, why didn't you come help Me?" I asked "I was scared" He responded "Well so was I yet I'm the one with the broken arm." I said He laughed. "Jessica, when you grow up, what do you want to be?" "Seth..." I said "I'm not a third grader." "I know that. He said. "I was just wondering. "Well, if it would cure your mind, I want to be a sorcerer." He gasped "You mean...?" "Yes." I replied. "Where will you learn magic? Harvard?" "No. Just a place called Mages Haven." "OK." he said, and left without saying goodbye.
Chapter 2 "Bye Seth." I said, and slammed the phone down. Wow is he a grouch. Just because i'm learning magic. "MOM! ARE YOU ALMOST READY? WE NEED TO LEAVE IN FIVE MINUTES!" I yelled up the stairs. "Yes dear. Do you have all your stuff?" "Yup. It's all in my bag." "Good. I don't want you to forget anything. Jess, are you sure you want to do this? I mean, you know Seth can't go." "Yes mom. I'm sure." "OK. Lets get in the car." So we got in the car and drove to the airport. \( • _ • )/ Last call, Flight One-Eighty-Three to Edmonton. Thats last call, flight One-Eight-Three to Edmonton, Alberta from Gate Three. "Well. I'd better get going. I don't want to miss my flight." I said. "Goodbye Jessica! See you at Christmas!!" Mom said back. Then, I scanned my ticket and walked down the tunnel to the plane. "Row eighteen... nineteen... twenty... here it is. Row twenty-one. I put my purse in the overhead bin and sat down. A couple of minutes later, a pretty girl about my age sat down next to me. "Hello. How are you?" I asked. "Good. And you?" "Good. So why are you flying to Edmonton?" I asked." "School." She replied. "There is a boarding school twenty kilometers north of Edmonton. That's where I'm going." "Me too. Is it called Mages Haven?" I asked. "Yes!" She said, obviously surprised. "How did you know?" "I'm going there too. What is your name? I'm Jessica." "My name is Callie." She said. "How old are you?" "I am fourteen." I said. "How about you?" "Thirteen." "Cool. So, do you live in Winnipeg too?" I asked. "No. I live on a farm two minutes away. But it is close. I can walk to town in ten minutes." Please fasten your seat-belts. We are preparing for takeoff. "So why did you choose to take magic?" I asked. "I don't know. It just seemed like a good idea at the time." "Really? I'm going because my parents were sending me to a boarding school and I had to choose one. I pointed randomly at the list and hit this one." "Nice." Said Callie. "Thanks. So did you have a boyfriend before you left? I did. His name was Seth." "I didn't." She said. "We just moved to the farm from Ottawa. I dunno why. In Ottawa, I had a boyfriend named Dallas. He had long, brown Hair that he always wore gelled back. He was strong and tall. We used to go to the movies all the time." "Oh. He sounds nice." "He really was." "I'll bet he was. Seth had dark-gold hair. It was fairly short and he always had it so that it looked like an ice-cream cone. He was a little bit taller than me. Enough that I had to go on my tip-toes to kiss him. He was strong, but gentle. Once, when I hurt my ankle, he carried me home and I fell asleep in his arms. We kissed a lot." "He sounds like very handsome."She said. "He was. He got really distant when I said I was going to school here, like he had something against magic." "Weird. You weren't supposed to even know about magic unless you got the letter." Callie said "I Know. It seems strange." "It does. Lets stop talking about such sad stuff. I know, what orientation time do you have? Evening or morning? "Morning." I replied. "Cool. Me too. I'll meet you in front of the headmaster's office at ten." "Sure. I'll be there."
Chapter 3 "Hi Jessica" I spun around quick to see who had greeted me. "Oh! Hi Callie. How are you?" "Good." Then, a man about forty walked up to a podium that had appeared there only seconds ago. "Welcome to Mages' Haven! I'm so glad you all could make it. My name is Chris Williams and I am the deputy headmaster at this institution. Usually, headmaster Wiesbeck would let you on your tour, but, he has taken an extended leave of absence to tend to a very important matter in Europe so I am in charge today. Now, this is the courtyard. The place were people stop their cars and enter the school. If you would follow me..." "Get a load of him!" Said Callie "Does he think we actually care?" "Shhhh!" I said "He's talking!" "This is the commons. The dormitory buildings are the two, five story buildings behind me. They will be your home for the next ten months. If you walk down that path, you would reach the classrooms. Follow me please." I walked down the path beside Callie and we reached the courtyard last. The Deputy Headmaster was already talking. "In the classrooms, you will learn the grand arts of Wizardry. I will not start to teach your classes for your teachers, but I must tell you to never be prepared for anything as it will make you look foolish. Now, if we go back the way we came, we can go left at the fork and reach the dining hall. This is obviously where you will be eating." The dining hall was a single-story building about the size of my house in Winnipeg. "Now," he continued "We will go back to our dorms and unpack our bags and become settled. All of your bags were assigned a room number based on who seems to be getting along so far. Lunch will be at twelve thirty and after that, you will have some free time to spend doing whatever you want." We all filed in to the dining hall and sat down. The food magically appeared on the plates and, boy was it ever good! \( • _ • )/ After dinner, Callie and I went to the dorms to find out which rooms we were in. I was in room two hundred and nine and Callie was in room three sixteen. "Well, I guess I'll see you in class." Said Callie and we hugged goodbye. Sorry for the boring chapter. It was necessary for the story. The next one will be better.