Stina's Story

Prologue

I walked down the sidewalks of Atlantis next to my mother. People scared me but I knew she would not approve if I tried to hold her hand. Everyone we passed sent me glares of disapproval. By this time I was used to it. They expected me to act like my mother. My very existence insulted them, and they made that clear to me. I was seven, I was still fighting my fate as the scum of Elvin society. I tried to be polite, but no one would believe my sincerity and my mother would scold me for it. My mother and I passed a couple holding hands. My mother refused to move out of their way, forcing them to go around her; but I moved out of the way of the woman so she could pass me. In return she bumped me as she passed sending me toppling into the river through which the euripides drove their carriages. Gasping and spluttering, I floundered my way to the surface, dragging my self back onto the ledge of the sidewalk where my mother stood watching with slight disappointment. I scurried to her, coughing, and clutched at her skirt. She smacked my hands away and continued towards the store where she bought unicorn care supplies. A woman came over us.
"Juline," my mother addressed coldly.
"Vika," she responded politely. "Are you alright?" She asked me.
I stared at her, no one had spoken a polite word to me in three years, not since...
"Get away from my daughter Juline, she's perfectly fine."
Juline fixed me with a sad, understanding look.
I had never met her before, but my mother had often railed against Juline and her family. I decided I liked her, despite what my mother said.
As my mother began to insult her, the face of a small boy peeked out from behind Juline. I knew this must be Dex, Juline's oldest son. He was a year older than me with reddish-blonde hair and periwinkle eyes.
He came towards me with something in his hand, glancing warily at my mother who was too preoccupied to pay any attention to him.
He stood in front me with a shy expression. He slowly held out his hand, palm up. In the center was a butterfly clip of metal.
"I was gonna give it to Bex," he said. "But she doesn't like much hair stuff and I figured you could use some cheering up."
I slowly took it from him. I looked at him, and right then at seven years old, I fell in love with the boy destined to be my nemesis in the Dizznee-Heks family feud.
I mouthed my thanks to him, the best I could manage at that moment, and placed the clip in my pocket before my mother could notice it. Just in time, because she spotted Dex talking to me and grabbed my hand, dragging me away and muttering curses on Juline and her family.
I glanced back at the two Dizznees and wished I could be one of them instead of a Heks.