Caroline glanced at the ingredients that were scattered all over her desk. She had managed to gather them all through the week without alerting Max or her mom. Ellie had told her that in order to protect her family she would have to keep this a big secret. She sighed heavily as she arranged the flowers, herbs and tools carefully on the desk and went ahead to tick off the list in case she had left anything out.

“What the hell am I doing” she mumbled to herself when she was done with the list. She got up from her chair and plummeted herself on her bed. She had been excited to gather the ingredients and unlock her magic according to what Ellie had told her but she wasn’t so sure at the moment especially when there was a risk that she could expose her family and her best friend to imminent danger.

After a while of turning and tossing on the bed, she decided to go on with making the potion. Ellie had given her a simple protection spell to use so that other mages won’t sense her magic and she was currently banking on that. Locking the door to her room she proceeded to her desk to start up the potion.

****

Caroline looked at the almost black liquid that she had brewed into a small mortar on her desk. The potion was supposed to help her awaken her magic so she could be able to properly use spells. It gave a dull spicy smell that made her stomach but she ignored it and drank the whole content without stopping to feel the taste. If there was one thing that motivated her was the fact that she would be able to use magic at least.

A few seconds later she felt a surge of pain from her stomach that made her almost scream. She couldn’t help but fall from the chair while she squeezed her chest panting for air. Her head spun as waves of memory glitches formed at the back of her mind and just like that the pain was over.

Slowly she pushed herself from the floor trying to recover from the sudden pain and weakness. She trembled heavily not only from the amount of strength she had lost but also from the memories she remembered.

“Caro we’re going to be late” Mr Owen called from the back of his truck as he loaded the luggage into the boot. Both he and Caroline had planned a father daughter trip to the mountains and they were already running behind schedule.

Fifteen year old Caroline stared blankly on her bed as she tried to understand what was going on. All of a sudden a strange woman had appeared in her room. She was about to scream but the lady had said some word that made her static. All her fears were drowned by the immediate pain she felt but despite that she couldn’t move an inch. The woman spoke more incoherent words to herself and with each second the pain increase and tears fell down her cheek. After a short while the lady disappeared in like manner of the way she appeared and Caroline was left alone wondering why she was crying.

“I’m coming dad” she immediately shrugged the feeling off and was happily skipping to the truck which she boarded with her dad.

The memories were almost the same with each one she remembered. It was filled with the same woman coming to her at different times and different ages doing the same thing and wiping her memories immediately she left.

Caroline got up after she was sure she was ok she felt an anger in her as she realized that unlocking her magic had also led to unlocking her memories. Although a lot of it were still a blur which she would figure out later she finally realized the meaning behind the fragmented memories and the reason she had forgotten her father’s accident.

Picking up the book that was next to the list on her bed, she opened it and stared at the protection spell she had written in Latin. Doing exactly as Ellie had told her she marked the corners of her room and slowly started reciting the spell.