Captured

Prologue

She lives in the world of magic.

Literally. 

Bata pa lang si Cassandra alam na niya na hindi siya ordinaryo. She's a witch. A hereditary witch, if asked, not some crazy voodoo nor those ugly hags who give poisoned apples to princesses. Specifically, she is a Celtic Wicca and goes by the principle of not harming others. "An' it harm none." her mother always reminded her. They all have their individual gifts but all members of her family are healers. Although she is what she is, she never had to struggle with life. She was raised lovingly by her parents. She had her knees scraped but her wounds are healed naturally kahit na sa isang iglap ay kaya naman niya iyong pagalingin. Magic is not used freely in their household. Her parents taught her how to use her gifts, instilled in her the values of their family and how different they were to other people. Despite the weight and consequences of being a witch, she still had a good childhood with her cousins as her playmates. She was home-schooled unlike them because her mother's gift was of wisdom and knowledge. Aanhin mo pa nga naman ang school kung halos lahat naman ay alam ng nanay niya. 

Everything in her life was perfectly in order until her 16th birthday when her mom died and his father followed not long after she finished grieving. She really cannot remember all the details of that devastating day but she remembers clearly how her mom lost all her strength sacrificing her life trying to revive someone who had asked for her mom's help. Her father was an empath and with all the grief that was surrounding him, hindi niya ito kinaya. Unti unti siyang nanghina at naiwan si Cassandra sa kaniyang tita. 

Manggagaway (witch) din ang kaniyang tiyahin pero pinili nitong hindi tanggapin ang buhay bilang isa. Di tulad ni Cassandra, her Tita Ester had a rough childhood dahil isa siyang witch. Nakita ng tiyahin kung paano sinunog ang mga magulang niya dahil iniisip nila na malas ang mga tulad niya sa kanilang lipunan.

Sa Maynila nakatira ang tita niya kaya sa Manila na rin siya tutuloy sa susunod na buwan. She has lived all her life in their own castle on a cliff in a province at North. Hindi niya alam kung anong naghihintay sa kaniya sa pagtira niya sa Manila. Bukod pa dun ay ibinilin ng kanyang ama sa kaniyang tiyahin na gusto nitong maranasan ni Cassandra ang mamuhay ng normal dahil alam niyang ang mga tulad nila ay hindi tanggap lalo na sa ngayong panahon. Napagdesisyunan nilang ipasok sa high school si Cassandra pagkadating nila ng Manila. 

Cassandra is taking all these changes pleasantly. In fact, she is actually more thrilled than nervous. Bukod sa mga pinsan niya at mangilan ngilan na mga taong nakakasalamuha niya kapag naggrogocery sila ng mama niya ay wala na siyang ibang maalalang naging kaibigan niya. 

She is thrilled that she would live in a city with neighbors just a wall away. She is very hopeful that she would have real friends. One whom she could tell her secrets and have talks about boys. And yes, boys. 

She is hopeful that maybe, just maybe she would find someone who would love her just the way she is ,the way those characters she read in the books she collects. Pero deep inside, alam ni Cassandra na hopeful thinking lang iyon, because despite her being a witch, she knows the difference from fiction and reality.