Rosenwand High: Past Times Echo

✨ The Unknown ✨

"This must be a joke! I'm taking part in a multimagic competition in a few days! This is an absurd!" Skylar yelled, throwing the clothes her mother had just packed into her suitcase. "I can't change schools now! "

The woman sighed as she brushed her long, shiny, jet-black hair from her face.

"Sky, they have multimagic contests in Rosenwand too, and a change of environment will do you good," she tried to smooth things over, but her daughter didn't give up. She looked around her room as if looking for more reasons to convince her mother to stay in her beloved Dovedale.

"Because you can't make a decent life here, do you want to destroy mine too? "

"You know very well, that I didn't want a divorce and that I suffer enough from it as well. We have to move out, it's not our home anymore.

"We can rent something nearby," the sixteen-year-old suggested hopefully.

"It won't change anything. Plus, I don't think the school in Dovedale is doing you any favors. Ever since you've been friends with these rich and snobbish wizards, I get the impression that you despise others who, for various reasons, are not doing so well in life. A few contest wins have earned you a place at the club, but you'll never be one of them. We're moving out, and that's already decided."

"Then you can be sure that I will do everything to make you regret this decision!"

"We'll see" replied the mother, quite calmly closing the suitcase full of clothes with a loud slam and taking it with her, as if she was afraid that her daughter would throw things around again to delay their leaving.

Skylar couldn't understand how her mother, Monica Rivers, a gifted witch and a woman of incredible beauty, got involved with a non-magical accountant. There was nothing special about Richard, except for a special ability to annoy Sky. She hated her stepfather, although she was basically indifferent to him. Nothing seemed to matter to him, including Monica, who was doing her best to ensure that her husband had a happy life. She spent nearly five years as the perfect housewife, but eventually still faced humiliating rejection. On Friday, Richard decided that it wasn't "it". And just like that, he announced that they were both supposed to move out of his house by Monday.

Sky knew that her mother felt betrayed, but if she had listened to her advice sooner, she would have parted ways with Toad Richard long ago. She felt it would eventually happen. The new, unknown reality has become a bigger problem for Skylar now.

On Saturday morning, while cleaning up, her mother had brought her a brochure from the Rosenwand school. Sky has never even heard of it. She had been working hard all summer for another multimagic contest in a row and apparently, she will have to give up the title of champion without a fight...

She threw herself on the bed feeling the nice softness of her favorite blanket and the rays of the sun pleasantly caressing her face. Dovedale was a small seaside town, famous for its beautiful weather, tourist attractions and, of course, a high level of magical education. Every year, Dovedale High students won state and national cups in multimagic contests. Skylar had been preparing for the next one for many months. None of that mattered anymore, since she wouldn't be able to join her team from Monday anyway. Could her life be any worse?

Sunday morning finally came. When Sky found out that Monica had enrolled her in boarding school, she choked on her cereal and a chocolate ball escaped her throat at the last second and flew dramatically onto her mother's blouse. Under other circumstances, they would probably both laugh about it, but not on this day. It was the day of the cold war between mother and daughter.

Skylar's plan for the next few weeks was to run away or possibly get kicked out of school. There was no way she was going to spend any more time there and live with strangers in what must have been a shabby place. Her mother, on the other hand, wanted to leave Dovedale at all costs and start a new life. Teenage whining, although irritating, did not thwart these plans and they were ready to go at noon.

They drove several hundred kilometers in silence, which symbolized Skylar's dreams receding from her. Looking at the landscapes moving past the glass, she felt only anger and bitterness. The dramatic downpour and the graying sky added to the drama. Sky had left behind her team, her position at a prestigious magic club, and the friends she hadn't been able to make easily. Plus, she couldn't understand why wizards as eminent as her mother didn't choose faster methods of transportation than the old van. Teleportation is only a legend, but the acceleration of the displacement of matter was quite doable with enough knowledge and enough practice. Monica only used the transport spell once to save the life of then ten-year-old Skylar. If it wasn't for the fact that they appeared in the hospital in time, the girl would probably be dead by now.

The hill ahead of them, after four hours of driving, seemed bleak and gloomy, bathed in the evening mist. The sounds of raindrops and car wipers rhythmically crashing against the windshield composed a gloomy melody accompanying Sky's broken heart. At the sight of the large iron gates with the inscription "Rosenwand High", the girl straightened up in her passenger seat, realizing that all this was really happening. The great steel structure swung open before them with a loud creak of huge and probably old hinges, and Skylar took a deep breath, bracing herself for the unknown.