Mara sat at the table with a stupid grin on her face clutching the piece of paper tightly in her hands. She folded the piece of paper and placed it in her back pocket as she stood from the table. Mara grabbed her tray and replicated what Zander had done just moments before, taking them to their respective wash stations. She then turned to go up the stairs that would dump out just down the hall from her room.
As Mara started up the stairs, she took the piece of paper out of her pocket along with her phone and started to punch in the numbers, adding Zander to her contacts list. The entire time she thought about those deep green eyes, the color of shining emeralds, and she couldn’t wait until tomorrow when she would get to see him agai-
Mara made contact with something hard. She lost her footing on the concrete stairs, her body overcompensating, jerking her backwards and letting gravity take over. A small yelp left her lips, cut short as she jerked to a stop. She was precariously teetering on the edge of the step. The only thing keeping her from tumbling backwards was a hand tightly grasping hers. Mara’s gaze went from the large tanned hand holding hers, trailing up the well muscled arm, defined jawline and straight into a set of dark brown, wide eyes.
The mystery man pulled her forward, allowing Mara to finally get her feet back under her. “I’m very sorry, I didn’t mean to bump into you,” his voice was deep, almost like a rumbling growl.
Mara tried to slow the pounding of her heart. “No, I should apologize. I wasn’t looking where I was going. You know what they say though; you can’t meet new interesting people if you have perfect balance.
“Not that you’re interesting…
“Not that you aren’t interesting either! I mean… I don’t know you, so I can’t really say one way or the other.” Mara’s face started to turn bright red as she stammered on. “I should just shut up now.”
A low rumbling chuckle escaped from the boy’s throat and the sound helped Mara to relax slightly. She found it comforting.
Mara smiled awkwardly as she stepped to the side. “Well, I need to be on my way,” she said as she darted past the stranger thoroughly mortified. He turned and watched her run up the stairs with a slight smile before shrugging and continuing on his way.
Mara reached the third floor and quickly exited the stairwell, making her way down the hall to her room. Taking the key from her back pocket, she slid it into the keyhole to unlock her door.
For the first time, Mara looked over to the other half of the room, which had already been completely unpacked and decorated. A small plant sat in the window, and two others were on a desk. Posters for what looked like bands and movies, only a couple of which Mara knew, littered the wall above the bed. She assumed the others were of groups from the Magical Realm.
Mara looked back to her side of the room and decided she better get busy with her own unpacking.
Carefully, she set her wand on her own desk, making sure it was somewhere it wouldn’t get harmed. Mara took the Crowland Book of Shadows out of her bag and set it on the top shelf along with her textbooks that had already been delivered to her room.
She then turned to the boxes and took out the clothes that had been packed into them. When Mara opened the door to the closet she jumped at the sight of her reflection. She hadn’t been expecting to see anything other than an empty closet, and the slightly disheveled sight of her would be enough to frighten anyone for a moment.
Taking a deep breath, Mara started to hang up the clothes she had in her hand before returning back to the box for more. When the first box had been emptied and moved, Mara uncovered a set of drawers under her bed. Curious, she opened the first of three, revealing more uniforms. Two were identical to the one she was wearing, and three that were different. She held the other top up, a long sleeve plum colored top with the same crest embroidered over the heart only in gold. They were paired with black slacks.
This must be the winter uniform, she thought. Mara carefully folded the uniforms back up, neatly returning them to the drawer. Inside the second drawer, Mara found a second set of sheets for her bed that her aunt must have put away for her. The third drawer was empty. Mara decided to put her pajamas in the last drawer.
As she was closing the drawer, a soft scratching sounded at the door. Mara’s brow furrowed as she went to look through the peephole. As far as she could tell, the space in front of her door was empty. Out of curiosity, she opened the door just enough to pop her head out. Her cat trotted through the opening running across the room and hopping up on her bed like she always did.
“Thank goodness you were here this time. I have been wandering this whole forsaken place searching for you!”
“Sasha,” Mara said surprised. “I didn’t know you were staying here. Do they even allow animals here?” Mara went back to unpacking the rest of her belongings.
“Of course they allow animals here. Why wouldn’t we be accepted? We are essentially your guides, we’re here to help you,” her cat replied in a way that made Mara feel stupid for ever thinking otherwise.
Mara hopped up on the bed, standing on her tiptoes as she hung an origami swan mobile she had acquired at a fair a few years back. She plopped back down, sitting cross-legged and Sasha wandered up, sitting in her lap. Mara leaned back, closing her eyes for a moment. She shot bolt upright when she heard the door opening followed by a high-pitched squeal. “Oh! You must be Mara Crowland!”
“Actually, it’s Mara Collins,” she said as she looked at the clock. It couldn’t be right. She had only just closed her eyes, but the clock was showing that nearly two hours had passed. When her eyes scanned towards the voice that had just come in, her eyes widened. She was staring at an extremely colorful person.
She blinked her eyes a couple times, making sure she wasn’t just seeing things, pinched her hand to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. No, what she saw was right. “You’re… Purple.” It had sounded like a question, even to her own ears.
The girl looked insulted. “Excuse me! I am magenta, not purple.” Her eyes narrowed at Mara slightly.
Sasha decided it was time for her to jump in and explain the situation. “Mara, your roommate is fae. Fae tend to be colorful, or rather each one tends to be a certain color. As a whole, they are a colorful people.”
Her roommate had her arms crossed as she nodded along with Sasha’s words.
“I’m sorry,” Mara said as she shook her head. “I’m really bad at this whole meeting people thing, and that was the first thing that popped into my head. I’m Mara Collins and I’m a witch.” Mara mentally cringed at using the w word out loud about herself, but she sucked it up and reached her hand out. She was going to have to get over it at some point.
The girl took her hand and shook it, smiling. “It’s nice to meet you Mara. I’m Trixle Scantlen.” Mara nodded and looked up at the girl. She had light magenta skin, and hair that went down to her waist. Her hair and eyes were a few shades darker than her skin, and her eyes seemed to glow the way Headmistress Varkov’s had. She found it hard to look away from her entrancing stare.
“Your eyes,” Mara blurted. “They glow like Headmistress Varkov’s.”
“That’s because Headmistress Varkov is part fae. She’s a fae witch, which doesn’t happen very often. It’s frowned upon actually. However, when it does happen, fae witches tend to take on most physical characteristics of the witch, but often end up with the fae eyes. It’s what makes them unmistakable as a full witch. It’s sort of like a mechanism to warn people they aren’t full blood, at least that’s what it’s used for. Many witches, and fae for that matter, have a problem with cross breeding races.”
“So people don’t like Mrs. Varkov?” Mara asked.
“There’s no denying that Cecilia Varkov’s power is great which makes her perfect in her position, but that is sadly correct. My parents have allowed me to come here based solely on her ability to preform her job well, she does it better than most in her position. That act alone has kept the number of fae attending Shadow’s Edge high,” Trixle said with a small smile.
“How has your attendance kept the numbers of other fae up?”
“Well if the king trusts his daughter will be kept safe in the hands of a fae witch, then most of the kingdom feels obliged to believe the same for their own children. There are some who still can’t accept it and choose to take their child elsewhere.” Trixle shrugged and sat on the edge of her bed.
Mara’s jaw dropped. “Your father is a king. So that makes you a princess.”
“That tends to be how it works,” Trixle said jokingly. “I’m the eldest of three and I’m set to take the crown after graduation. Father feels he has lived enough years as king, and has full confidence in me to reign over our people. I have almost fully mastered my powers, and I’ve passed all tests of the heir.”
Mara was excited to learn more about this world, more about her roommate and her people. “What’s your power?”
“All fae’s magic revolves around the elements. Each person can manipulate one of the four, however a royal has the ability to manipulate all the elements. The element I feel the most connected to is earth though, hence the plants.” She said flashing a large smile.
“I don’t mean to be rude,” Mara said hesitantly. “But what determines the color you are?
Trixle laughed, and it was almost infectious. “Well, royals have been magenta as far back as we have records. For some reason, that’s just how it’s always been. As for the others, their colors depend on their affinity. However, some colors are just passed down from families.” She said as if it were obvious.
“Enough about all that though. Do you have a mentor? Who did you get? I heard Professor Quelton is really good. In terms of skill and on the eyes.” Trixle said winking slightly. She had changed topics so fast Mara thought she might have whiplash.
“Actually, all of the faculty had reached their limit for students, so I was assigned another student to be my mentor.”
“That’s odd. Who is it?” Trixle asked curiously.
“Zander Delcole. Apparently he’s top in hi-“
“His class, I know,” Trixle said cutting her off. “Zander is totally dreamy, and he’s really good too. He’s tall dark and handsome and totally available. Well I guess his hair’s dark, he’s sort of pale.” Trixle rambled. “Too bad that will never happen.” She sighed.
“I thought fae frowned upon mixing with witches.” Mara pointed out.
“I said most fae have a problem with it. I however do not follow that same old traditional way of thinking. That’s something I hope to instill in my people when I become queen, acceptance. To have tolerance for all whether they are half or full blood.”
Mara was perplexed with her new roommate. She seemed to be flighty, but any time you asked her about her people and what she envisioned, she spoke with complete conviction. Mara believed it could be the start of a really good friendship, and she didn’t think that about just anybody. She was just hoping she was right.
Trixle and Mara spent the rest of the night getting to know each other a bit more. Mara explained that Natalie was actually her aunt, not her mother. And they talked about Zander, who Trixle had been admiring from afar. Mara couldn’t blame her, though she had been confused as to why Trixle hadn’t just gone up to him. She didn’t know how things worked in the Magical Realm, but she was sure that if someone was royalty, they could just go talk to anyone whenever they wanted and that person would feel privileged.
Trixle had laughed and agreed with Mara, though she said it was more difficult than that. She apparently didn’t know how to approach people well either, which had seemed weird to Mara. That a princess found it hard to make friends.
“You just never know who actually wants to be your friend or who just wants to be friends with your title,” Trixle had said. Mara had never thought of it that way.
After hours of talking and laughing, Mara and Trixle both decided they should get some sleep. Trixle had shown Mara where the bathroom was and she went down to brush her teeth and get ready for bed.
As she brushed her teeth, Mara stared at her reflection in the mirror. There was something different, but she couldn’t quite lay her finger on it and it bugged her. When Mara got back to her room, Trixle was already in bed with the lights out.
Mara climbed into her own bed and stared at the blank ceiling unable to sleep. Her eyes began to play tricks on her and when she looked at the blank white slate she saw Zander’s face plastered up there. He was smiling that bright smile that she loved the moment she saw it and he winked at her.
Mara smiled back as she slowly drifted off into unconsciousness.
“I want to show you something, take my hand, “ Zander said as he held his hand out towards Mara. She grabbed it anxiously. The corner of Zander’s mouth pulled up on one side and before she knew it, they were high up in the sky. They were floating hundreds of miles above Shadow’s Edge. Mara couldn’t contain her excitement as a giggle broke free causing Zander to chuckle.
Within the blink of an eye, they were lying out on the grass next to the gazebo. They were side by side, looking up watching the clouds as they went by. Zander would occasionally wave his hand in the air and the clouds’ shapes would rearrange into something different. He made a bunny, a car, and a flower. She turned to him with pure elation and begged him to teach her how to do that.
He just chuckled and whispered in her ear. “It’s my little secret.” No matter how much she begged Zander just wouldn’t give in. She had finally resorted to pouting when they were suddenly sitting on the rooftop, giggling and out of breath. They were staring out over the tree line that nearly consumed the school, looking at the city on the other side. Mara had no idea that anything else even existed in the area. She had never thought about the possibility of there being more beyond the school.
Obviously she knew there had to be something else other than the school. Trixle had told her she was the princess of a kingdom, and Zander had told her that each of the other races had kingdoms. The only one that didn’t was the witch. That would mean they would all need their own places to reside. She wondered what place they were staring at on the other side of the forest, could it have been the fae kingdom?
“That’s actually Dorinyaka,” Zander answered. “It’s a local town, mostly for witches, though there are some dwarves and goblins. Very few fae and werewolves.”
Mara was lost in thought. Everyone else had kingdoms; they had a place where the majority of their kind lived, a place they knew they would always fit in. Yet the witches were scattered around. It reminded her of her unstable homes as she was growing up. Never quite finding a place to fit in until she had moved in with Natalie.
Mara hadn’t noticed at first, but Zander slid her phone out of her pocket holding it above her head.
“Hey,” she hollered at him. “Give that back!”
“If you can get it, then it’s all yours,” he said smiling down at her. Mara reached out for the phone, but Zander pulled it up just out of her grasp. She stood to grab the phone from his had but he jumped up as well, still dangling the phone well above her head with his height advantage. She jumped up trying to get it, but each time Zander pulled it just a little higher.
He smiled down at her mischievously and started running away across the roof. Mara followed after him, keeping just a couple steps behind.
Zander made a turn, jumping onto the skywalk that cut across the middle of the school, Mara following right on his heels. Both laughing and wheezing the whole time. Mara was sure she would be able to outrun him, she had done track for a while. All she had to do was tire him out.
They approached the other side of the school, and Zander leapt from the skywalk up the short distance to the roof. When Mara went to make the leap, she lost her footing and slipped. The last thing Zander heard was Mara’s scream as she started to fall four stories, the ground fast approaching.
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Hmmm well that's an interesting place to leave off. What do you think's going on? Leave your comments below (no spoiling if you already know) and don't forget, if you liked the chapter, please consider leaving it a vote :)
This dedication goes to the wonderful JayVictor. Vic has been an amazing person here on Wattpad. Fun person to talk to, super encouraging and helpful and just an all around awesome Wattpadder. Check out her captivating story Slavedays. A look at what life could have turned into for those living in London if the people on the top had a little bit of magic called Skill. Slavedays is an amazing read, I was hooked from chapter one!