It was early but I had some chores to do before I left. If dad were here he would tell me that I could just do them after school. I sat on the tree stump hunched over resting my elbows on my knees waiting for Brad, my stepdad,  to leave, hoping that I would not have to see him this morning. As I look up from my phone I see Dax running up to me with a concerned look on his face.  Dax and I  have been best friends since second grade, simply because we’re the outcasts at school. Dax is tall and has a little muscle but not much, wispy shoulder-length brown hair, and the brightest blue eyes. He is a necromancer so he mainly keeps to himself and I- well I still have no clue what kind of magic I have out of all of the options; Incantor, enchanter, conjuration, necromancer. etc. I know, I know it’s weird but what can I say? I’m a little weird myself. I have loose curly black hair, hazel eyes, and I’m average size for a teenage girl. 

“Hey Raya, what’re you doing?” Dax asks as if he doesn’t know exactly what I’m doing.

I look at him annoyed but I know he’s just trying to spark a conversation. “ Avoiding Brad just like every day this month.” I feel bad for being sarcastic and kind of rude but I can’t help it today. It’s my least favorite day of the year.

“Well… Happy Birthday? I brought you a gift. It’s not much but it’s something.” He pulls out a handmade bracelet. It’s cute, I like it. Especially since no one else bothers to even acknowledge me on my birthday. 

“Thank you, Dax, I love it.” He grins at me.

Walking to school we pass my old home. I stop and stare and see the new happy family inside but quickly move on knowing that I'm hurting my own feelings. Dax looks at me to reassure me that everything is okay. We arrive at school and I already know that everyone is going to make snarky comments about ‘haha is this the birthday that you figure it out, freak’. But I don’t care, I'm used to it. I swiftly moved through the hallway unnoticed as usual. It’s almost like I’m invisible at this school, I like it though. No drama, no embarrassment, and no bullies. It’s quite nice. 

I went completely unseen the whole day. I met up with Dax by the bike rack just like any other day. On the walk home I see something unusual. The kingdom's guards are speaking to tons of different people. I’m nosy so I try to listen.

“We have reason to believe that there is a member of the royal family missing.” The officer said.

“Dax, did you hear that?” I said excitedly because nothing exciting ever happens here. “One of the royal family members is missing!”

“ I heard whispers about it at school.” He sounded less enthused.

The walk home was mostly quiet. I felt like something was wrong but I don’t say anything because I know he will tell me when he’s ready. We part ways on the three-way road I live just right across but Dax lives just a few minutes down the road. I get home to see my mom in the kitchen looking, distraught? She has the same look on her face as she did when my dad passed. Curiosity got the best of me and I had to ask.

I spoke in a soft voice.“ Mom?” She looked up at me, slowly, but when she finally met my eyes I knew something was wrong. I just want her to spit it out. She knows how impatient I am, but I wait for her this time. She stared at me blankly with glistening eyes and a quivering lip. “Mom? What’s going on?” I'm getting increasingly more anxious. She looks as if she’s choking back her tears. I hate seeing her like this.

“Ray, I think you should sit down.” She says. I swiftly pull out a chair and sit as if that were going to make her say it any faster. “ There’s something I’ve been needing to tell you for a while. I should have told you a long time ago I just couldn’t find the right time or words to.”

“Well? What is it?” I sounded snarky like I didn’t see the look on her face but I needed to know, now.

She took a long deep breath. “ I know you probably heard about the missing royal member.” There was a moment of silence. “It’s you Raya.” and before I could react she blurted out, “Before you say anything! Let me explain. Your father and I left the kingdom ages ago to protect you. You- you have a different kind of magic. One that the kingdom and the royals are afraid of. Your father died trying to protect us.” 

I was speechless. I had no idea what to say. I was hurt but mostly confused. Why would the kingdom be afraid of me? “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner? Why would they be afraid of me?”

“You have all magic Raya… They wanted to put you away and keep you away from the public or worse, kill you. So we left as fast as possible. When we got far enough away we found someone who does incantations. They put all of your magic into the snow globe we gave you on your 10th birthday.”

“I thought I was a freak mom! Everyone made fun of me for not having magic and you're telling me that I have this entire time?” I ran up to my room and grabbed the snow globe, and ran back. “How do I get them out?”

“Raya you can't, it's for your safety!”

“I can protect us with it. They won't be able to hurt us, PLEASE!”

“ Ray, I can't, these powers are very strong and hard to control.”

“Mom the guards will be here to look for me and it will look suspicious if I don’t have magic. Dad already died for me. I won’t let it happen to you too.”

“Fine. but you have to promise me to be careful.”

“I will mom, I promise. You're the only thing I have left, I just need to keep you safe.” Now I was the one choking back the tears.

“You twist the bottom three times to the right and once to the left but Ray,” She stops me. “Be careful.”

With that, I went to the basement and did exactly what she said. One, two, three. One. A burst of light came out and I felt a strange sensation running through my body. I have magic! I tried one spell that I learned in elementary school. 

“Smithe.” The snow globe flew across the room and shattered. “This is awesome!” That was really strong though, mom was right. I called Dax to come over so I could share the news. When Dax finally arrived he was just excited as I was but then, he wasn’t.

“Ray, you know what this means right?” He was right. I was so caught up in my new magic that I hadn’t even realized that I had to keep them hidden. Not to mention the fact that I can’t go back to school because I don’t know how to control them yet. Then someone knocks on the door. It was one of the kingdom's guards. Mom answered it before I could run up the stairs. 

“Oh no. Dax, what are we gonna do?” 

“C’mon, we’ll slip out the back and head to my house. They’ve already come so they won’t be back.”

As we sprint to his house through the woods I was getting anxious. I needed to figure out what I was gonna do to protect myself and my mom. When we got to Dax’s we went straight up to his room. We talked about plans to keep me safe and hidden. Then I got an idea.

“Dax, do you still have all those books about magic?”

“Yea why?”

“Get them.”

I searched through numerous books. Soon I found a book about incantations. I found a spell that can make my house invisible to the naked eye. I needed to practice though. I grabbed a pencil and tried the spell. It worked so I tried the spell that makes it appear only to you. That also worked. Now I have to try it on something bigger. We walked outside to the yard and I decided on a tree. 

“Caecus!” Focus, focus hard you have to do this for your mom. I stood focusing on the tree, trying to use all of my power. “Caecus!” It’s gone. IT’S GONE! “I did it Dax I did it!” For a second I don’t hear anything and then I hear a woman's voice sneer my name.

“Raya, long time no see. How’s your mother?” She said sarcastically.

I turn around to see Dax laying on the ground. It seemed like he was sleeping. Next to him was a shorter petite woman with long auburn hair, piercing green eyes, in all black, leather boots that reached knee length, a sword pressed against her hip, and a wicked smile that’s hard to forget.

“Who- who are you?” She looked disgustingly pleased that I asked.

“Oh honey, of course you don’t remember me. We met when you were just a baby. I knew your parents well.” 

“How do you know me?”

“I worked alongside your father for a long time until you were born. So sad what happened to him really.”

“Who are you!” My blood was on fire.

“The steak I threw that day was meant to go through your heart. I guess that just isn’t the way the world wanted it to be. I can reassure you though, I’ll finish the job this time.” 

Those words felt like a stake going through my chest. I wasn’t prepared to hear those words. I wanted to break down and cry but I held it back. It hurt though, it felt like a rock lodged in my throat.

“What do you want?” I was angry. So angry that my heart was thumping through my chest. I wanted to kill her.

“You’re coming with me!” she demanded.

“NO!” As that word came racing up and out of my throat a red jolt of lighting came with it and struck her. What was that? But I didn’t have time to think she was out, for now. I quickly grabbed Dax and ran to my house barely making it. Dang, this kid is heavy. I sat him inside and grabbed the book. I sat outside and prayed this incantation would work. I focused hard and long.

“Vertere Haec Domus Conteret Cum Verbo helianthus. CAECUS!” Just like that, it disappeared. I am calmer now. I feel like I've had a weight lifted off of my chest. Then the woman appeared from the dim street light walking toward me. It was dark but I won’t forget her face. 

“Why stand in the woods all alone at night. Stupid girl.” She snarled but it wasn’t fazing me. Not to mention the spell worked. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”

Thankfully I learned some new spells before this. “Alarte ascenderá.” The mound of rocks behind me came flying forward. She fell but got up fast like it hadn’t fazed her. She bolted towards me, I had no time to react. She hit me. Hard. I flew what felt like 10 feet back. Then all of a sudden she dropped. I looked to the side and see my mother running towards me.

“Raya! Are you okay?” She exclaims helping me up. “We have to get you inside.” As she turns she saw that the house was missing.”WHERE IS OUR HOUSE!” 

“Calm down I put a spell on it. The spell causes the house to be invisible to everyone unless you know the keyword.”

“Well, what is it?”

“Helianthus, It stands for sunflower. Dad always loved to see sunflowers.” 

As we walk into our house Dax was sitting on the couch looking dazed and confused. It’s kind of cute. 

“Mom, what are we going to do about the woman outside?”

“She won’t be getting back up. Soon she will just simply disappear. No one will know what happened. You will be doing your schooling from home. It would be risky to send you when you have no idea what you are capable of. Also, that way I can teach you how to control your powers and use them. Lastly, this house will stay concealed.”

After that day I lived my life as usual without school. The kingdom is still in search of their missing member but they are closing the case due to defunding. Mom broke up with Brad after he lost his job for the theft of wands. Dax is still going to school but we still hang out every day. He also asked me to be his girlfriend. I’ve never been happier. I finally feel at peace. I learned to use my powers and it’s back to just mom and me. Finally back to normal.