Chapter 1

I woke up on a brand new, sunny day. Warn rays of sunlight peak through the cracks of my window as my eyes flicker open with the sound of my annoyingly loud alarm. As I get up, make sure to stretch out my arms and legs so I don't go face-planting into the ground like last time. Whoo! That was a pain-filled day. As I get up, I look at the full-body mirror in my room to see that my golden yellow hair is a total wreck! My hair, which is usually down to my knees, is now tangled to the point of no return. It's poking out in every direction with knots the size of my palms. The knots were so dense they made my hair shrink to a big knotted pouf, barely passing my shoulders in length.

"Damn it. I need to get my hair brushed out before I go walking around with a bush on my head."

I walked out of my room, my door creaking as I slowly opened it. I quietly walked down the thin and long hallways of the place I called home. Before I could get to the bathroom, at the very end of the hallway, a small figure appeared before me. I froze, knowing exactly who it was.

"Big sis...?" 

Squinted, tired eyes looked directly at me. Bagged with sleep deprivation and a hand rubbing his eyes to get them to focus in the dimly lit hallway, his fully brown hair fluffed into a scattered mess. Green eyes that are soft and young.

"Oh, hey Isaac... Why are you awake this early in the morning? Shouldn't you still be asleep?"

I tried my best to keep my voice quiet and gentle to make sure not to wake any of the other orphaned kids and to hide my little irritation from Isaac. 

"Your alarm was so loud... It woke me up too." 

"I see... I'm so sorry, Isaac. I promise, I didn't mean to wake you up. Especially not this early in the morning." 

I gently pat Isaac's head and crouch down onto my knees so I'm on his level.

"How about I make you an extra breakfast today to make it up to you? I'll also add chocolate chips to your pancakes."

    

"REALLY!? You'd do that for me? Thanks, big sis! I forgive you!"

Seeing Isaac's bright smile makes me smile too. I stand back up and put my finger to my lips, telling Isaac to quiet down so the other kids don't wake up. I gently take his hand and lead him to the living room.

"Alright, stay here and let me get ready, ‘kay?"

"Okay!"

I quickly run back into the hallway, trying to make sure that nobody else sees me with my wrecked hair style. I grab my hair brush and start going at it with my hair. I felt like giving up multiple times because of the many instances where my brush would get tangled in the thick knots. I managed to push through the sharp pain of strands of hair getting ripped from my scalp and somehow managed to get my hair straight again. My hair flowed down like a straight, golden waterfall. My bangs swept over parts of my eyes in thick strands, covered the sides of my face, and flowed down on my shoulders. 

Leaving the bathroom, more confident in my appearance because I no longer have a knotted bush on my head, I walk back to the living room and see Isaac sitting there with a not-so-surprising pout on his face. I honestly forgot how long it would take to get my hair under control. I probably made him wait for a long time, didn't I? I walk back up to Isaac and apologize about 50 times. I actually felt bad about making him sit there for at least an hour and a half, though I was surprised by how patient Isaac was. 

"Big Sis, you said you wouldn't take long! You owe me chocolate milk with my breakfast now."

"Yeah, I guess that's fair. I'll go start breakfast. Wanna help me?"

"Do I!?"

Isaac practically flew off the couch and bolted to the kitchen. I swear that kid is going to kill himself someday if he's not careful. I follow Isaac into the kitchen, still wearing my baggy black pajamas with holographic stars and moons on them. It's not the best thing to wear while cooking, but I don't need to make Isaac wait any longer just so I can get properly changed.

When I got into the kitchen, Isaac had already pulled out most of the ingredients needed for breakfast. This isn't the first time he's helped me. Actually, now that I think about it, he wakes up as early as me. Isaac starts singing about how he gets to help me. He's a sweet kid, and it's really hard to hate him. He's loved by almost all the kids in the orphanage. Except. Isaac's song gets cut off by a loud shout.

"Quiet down, you brat. You woke me up again!"

I turn around to see Olivia standing there with her arms crossed. Her short, black pigtails make her look more childish than she is. They also make her look younger, but not in a good way. Her eyes moved from Isaac to me, and I swear her glare got 10 times more piercing than when she was looking at Isaac. What makes it more scary is that her eyes are a reddish brown. She honestly looks like a child supervillain. Acts like one too.

"You. Why are you awake so early again? What's with you and you damn early birds!? At least let me sleep if you're going to be awake at this time."

Olivia's words send chills down my spine. Her tongue is sharp, and her attitude is even sharper.

"Woah, woah, woah! Let's calm down, yeah? A 12-year-old should not be using language like that!"

Olivia stares at me in disbelief.

"My birthday is in 4 months. I'm not 12 yet."

"Well, you're close enough."

"4 months is not close!"

Olivia comments on my incorrect statement. I know for a fact that 4 months is not long. It's only… Uh. Like one third of a year. Yeah, not too long.

"Anyways, whatcha makin'?" 

I stare directly at Olivia's changed expression. She went from being her normally irritated self to looking calm in a split second.

"Pancakes..?"

I am so confused about her unnatural calmness. She smiles and offers to take my place in making breakfast. My jaw drops. Why is she smiling!? It's not even an evil smile! She looks genuinely happy! I think Olivia's been possessed.

"You wanna make breakfast? Uh, sure, go ahead. But why?"

"Do you seriously not know? Or are you just being dumb?"

I blinked my eyes a couple times, signaling that I was beyond confused.

"Whatever. Be clueless. Also, go get changed out of those horrendous pajamas. Their shininess is making my eyes burn."

It's been confirmed. She's definitely not possessed; she's just being weird.

"You're being weird. Also, my pajamas aren't that bad! You just don't like me and my style."

"Pajamas don't correlate with your style'."

Fine then! Be a smart a—"

I cut myself off, remembering that there is a 7-year-old boy in the room.

"Uh, maybe I'll just go change."

   

"Yeah. Go before you teach the child foul language."

I click my tongue in frustration and walk away from the situation. I look back at the sight of Isaac and Olivia working together for the first time. My frustrated look softens when I see how well they're actually getting along. I face back towards the narrow hallway and keep walking.

"What do I wear?"

Looking at the huge selection of clothes in my closet and my massive indecisiveness, I just end up picking my favorite dress out of desperation.

"Glad this is clean."

The soft black fabric fits comfortably on my body. The hem of the dress is ridged and purposely torn to look like a classic witch outfit from the comics. I also end up putting on black combat boots, embracing my true gothic looks. Just kidding, I'm not actually gothic. Black just works well for days when I don't have the brain power to think of matching outfit colors together.

"You can never go wrong with this dress! Wait, why do I feel like I'm forgetting something?”

I look around my room and see the crescent moon-shaped barrette with black ribbons. I quickly put it on and gave a sigh of relief. If my mom found out I wasn't wearing this, she’d be fuming. I'm not sure why she wants me to wear this 24/7 when I'm awake, but I refuse to ask questions because I'm sure she has a good reason for making me wear it. Plus, I honestly don't care enough to ask her as well.

I head back out to the kitchen to see the rest of the orphanage kids at the table.

    

"Ah! She's here!"

"It took her long enough." 

"Livy! Hey! You excited? I mean, you've been looking forward to this day for what? Like, 5? No, 6 years?"

I wave at everybody, confused as to why they are waving at me. Alec was the first to speak, and then Olivia had to be as grouchy as always. Like, why can't she be nice like Alec? At least he said I was taking forever in a nicer way. But the real surprise is Caroline. Caroline is the oldest in the orphanage. She is 16 and has a job, so why isn't she out working today? It's Thursday.

"Uh, hi everyone? Where's mom? And why is everybody here?" 

I look directly at Caroline, so she gets the hint that I specifically asked her why she's here and not at work. Caroline looks at me like I'm dumb.

"Don't tell me you forgot."

"Forgot what?"

Caroline groans in frustration.

"Livy. What's today's date?"

"April 14th, right?"

"And what's on April 14th?"

"Hmm...." 

It takes me around 5 minutes before I realize it. How could I be so dumb!? It's literally not only the most important day of anyone's life, but the day I've been waiting for for 8 years! Caroline was wrong about it being 6 years. She was way off.

"Ok, first off, it was 8 years... Not 6. Second, I'm so dumb! How could I not remember it's my 14th birthday!?"

"6, 8, same thing. But what's really the issue is that you forgot your own birthday."

"Look, it's not actually my birthday... Anyways, where's mom?"

Alec turns to me.

"She went out to buy supplies for your celebration."

I thank Alec and take a seat at the table. Isaac sits next to me.

"I didn't know it was Big Sis' birthday!"

I smile and pat Isaac's head. I told him not to worry about it since I had also forgotten that it was my own birthday. Isaac laughed at me for forgetting my own birthday. I can't really blame him, since forgetting your own birthday is kinda stupid. Especially when, like me, you have a special reason to be looking forward to the day.

My reason is that since I turned 14, I can now take the entrance exam to the most prestigious magic school in the country. If I pass the entrance exams, I can attend the academy next school year, which is in about 4 months. The entrance exams, on the other hand, will start in about 2 months.

As the whole group was chatting at the table about me and my plans for the academy entrance exams, rings echoed through the house. DING DONG! DING DONG! DING DONG! I jump at the sounds of the doorbell ringing as it blasts all of our ears. Caroline gets up from the table and ends up being the brave one to answer the door. She lets the person on the other side in with a welcoming smile on her face. It's a lady in her early forties with a curly bob. Her hair was the same color as chocolate, and it had a nice, sleek shine to it. Her eyes were the same chocolatey brown as she looked over at the group. She held a pristine white box in her hands as she headed towards the table. 

"Hey mom!"

The lady set down the pristine white box in the center of the table.

"What's in the box?"

I poke at the box. I would just pick it up and shake it, but I'm worried it's something fragile and I might break it. It was just a gut feeling.

“What's in the box? This is your birthday cake! And I know I shouldn't be wasting money like this, but this year's birthday is just that special. So, have you decided how you’re going to train and study for entrance exams?”

“Well, as you know, I can’t use magic, so I'm trying to find a way to get in with only the written exams.”

“Sweetheart, that's the thing. I get that you want to be a witch and all, but you can't even use magic. Why do you want to go to a magic school if you can’t use magic? Magic isn’t something you can just learn; you have to be born with it.”

As much as I hate to admit it, mom was right. Why should I go to a magic school if I can't even use magic? I mean, I'm smart when it comes to academic stuff, but the main focus of teaching there is magic usage and control. But hey, maybe I'm just a late bloomer when it comes to magic? I mean, it's not like we’ve properly tested out whether or not I can use magic. The orphanage is too poor for that kind of stuff. Plus, we don't have any spell books that I can read from and try to use because, again, they are expensive. None of the other kids can use magic, as shown by their reports when they were left here, and mom also can’t use magic. That means there is nobody to help me try to use a spell either.

"Well, you see... I was hoping that maybe during the magic test in the entrance exams I could truly confirm if I could actually use magic or not. The exams are free, and damaging targets during the exams don't cost a replacement fee.”

“I see. That is a smart idea, but I'm afraid that they might not allow you to take the exam if it's not confirmed that you can use magic. Anyway, we still have time to discuss these matters later. How about we clear our minds with a little breakfast and decorate for Livy’s party?”

Everyone nods, and Olivia passes out plates with a stack of three pancakes to everybody. Isaac places a bottle of maple syrup in the middle of the table. They both take their seats, and breakfast finally begins. There’s laughter as Alec makes his terrible jokes, and Caroline is always complaining about her boss. I can’t really blame her, though, because he sounds like a total asshole, even if she's exaggerating every story. Since I was the birthday girl, I was banished to my room. I am apparently not allowed to help decorate for my own party, and I am not allowed to see what any of the decorations look like until everything is already done.

“How boring… Do I seriously have to sit in my room until everyone is done? Maybe I should do some snooping.”

I managed to sneak out of my room easily because no one was near to spot me leaving. I walk out the door, making sure I'm quiet and unseen. My boot kept clanking against the wooden floor, but I was still able to get out without being seen. How lucky am I? Now that I'm free, I run down the withered stone pavement. I wave to all the people I know, like Mrs. Jenkins, the old lady who works at the fruit market, or Mr. Connor, who works at the town library. Speaking of which, since I'm so bored, why not read some books while I wait? I finished my last book I checked out a couple days ago, so I need something new to read. I slide to a stop and back up until I am in front of the library doors. It's not much, but the library is the only place in the entire town to get books, so that's all we have.