The Magic Within: Shadows of Two Worlds

Chapter 1 ~ Ella

I was on my bed in the apartment I shared with my sister and best friend. We had just moved in a month before. "I can't believe we all got into Yale!" Jamie said. I grinned at my sister. "Yeah! I'm so glad that we are all going to college together...and that we were able to afford this apartment." Jake nodded. "We have been neighbors all our lives. I can't imagine not living near you guys." Even though Jamie and I had known Jake our entire lives, we had kept a huge secret from him; that we are hybrids. Most hybrids now are descended greatly. Interbreeding hardly happens anymore. I am part mermaid and Jamie a fire dragon. We would have told Jake, but his parents were extremely disapproving of magic. Some people even enslaved hybrids or people with magic. Hunter Kurt, a man that despised the thought of magic, invented the KHIC. It went on enslaved hybrids and if they disobeyed their "owners", it hurt them. The government didn't do anything about it even though slavery is illegal. He also invented the Magic Locator. It could sense and lead to people with magic. Anyway, on occasion we would bring magic up to Jake. He always claimed that he didn't care, but we were worried that his parents might find out too. It was unbelievably hard to keep it from him. He was like a brother to us. We had been hesitant to move in with him since that would make it harder to hide our magic. At the time, we were eight days from starting our college classes. Jamie sighed contentedly. "We got so lucky that Yale has good programs for all of us; journalism for Jake, psychology for Ella, and engineering for me." I nodded. "There is also the pro that Yale is an Ivy League school!" We all continued to talk about our plans for college. We thought that we would have the best experiences ever. We expected everything to be perfect. We were so wrong.

~~~

Later that night, I lay in my bed, thinking. The apartment was really nice. There were three medium sized bedrooms, each with its own bathroom. There was a room with couches and a TV. It even had a large kitchen. It hadn't been cheap, but we had plenty of money to use. All three of us had gotten full rides to Yale, including tuition, materials, and dorms. We had also been saving up money for college since we were really young. We hardly ever got ourselves anything. Most of the money we got went right into our college savings. Considering that and the fact that there were three of us, we decided to get a nice apartment. Jake and Jamie were still in the living room area. They were laughing about something. I smiled softly. As much as I loved those two, I was far too tired to stay up with them. I wished that we could tell Jake about our magic. That magic had been in our family for thousands of years. One of the first people that was known to have magic was our ancestor. None of that was possible because it was too risky. Even if Jake supported us, it would put him in danger. Those with magic and any who associated with them could be jailed or killed. Hybrids and other magical people used to live in another land. It was sort of like another realm. Regular humans discovered it and destroyed it. I was a newborn at the time, so I don't remember much. Our parents told Jamie and I stories all the time. One thing that they mentioned a lot was the school. They said it was the best. They trained all people with magic. At the school, people could learn to use their magic for good and for defense. It was completely destroyed when the non-magical people invaded. I know that plenty of them are good people. Jake was a wonderful person. I wish I could have experienced the magic world more growing up. However, right then I knew that I would change it. At the seemingly most random moment, I had felt a burst of determination. I would restore the magic world. I had to.