ANATOMY OF A GIRL

part one

She was eleven when she gained the title of a murderer.

She was on the bus, on the way to school when it happened. Sapphire knew the day would come – after all, she'd watched as her friends found their magic, as it flooded their veins and strengthened their bodies. She wasn't scared of magic and what it could do, though her staryk'ma told her she should be. She told Sapphire that magic was beautiful, but that its beauty didn't mean she shouldn't fear it. Beauty is deceptive, she'd say, tucking Sapphire into her bed for the night.

But Sapphire had watched Leo's first transformation and Ayden's first bolt of energy, and it didn't seem as bad as her grandmother made it out to be. She only hoped her magic would be as cool as Ayden's and Leo's, so she could turn into a puppy whenever she wanted and shock people when they said stupid things.

She sat at the back of the bus with Tera, Ayden and Leo, like any other day. The pain started as a dull throb between her brows.

Tera's chattering was cut out by the presence of the ache in Sapphire's head. It heightened in a crescendo, and soon, Sapphire could barely keep from screaming.

Her staryk'ma had once told her a story about the price of magic. Magic is a blessing, she would say. But it is not one we are given for nothing. It costs more than anyone cares to admit, Sapphire. When your magic awakens, it will ignite a pain you have never experienced before. You will decide for yourself if magic is worth the cost on your body.

Once Sapphire was sure the pain couldn't possibly get any worse, she heard a voice in her head. A voice that wasn't her own. Tera's sharp voice rang in her head. Her thoughts were an incoherent string of words, each one a blow to the inside of Sapphire's cranium. She held her head in her hands and prayed the pain would dissipate.

Her magic had finally come.

A scream echoed against the four walls of the bus, and it took Sapphire only a moment to realize that it hadn't been her scream, that Tera was the one screaming. She turned to the side and watched as Tera screamed without relent, her head between her knees, which were pressed up against her chest with her back against the window. She yelled for help, but Sapphire couldn't do anything. She couldn't move as another wave of pain washed over her.

Her small hands were trembling and tears fell down her own face. Her mother's words caressed her cheek. Crying won't fix your problems, shiyah. It only succeeds in making you appear weak.

In the front of the bus, the driver turned in his seat upon hearing the screaming.

There was a crash, a bright white light, and a loud ringing in her ears. Sapphire was thrown forward in her seat, her body struck the seat in front of her, before she fell to the floor in a heap of tired limbs.

A chorus of screams joined the humming melody inside her head as a warm tickle of blood ran down the side of her face. Her cheek was pressed against the grit of the bus's flooring. Sapphire pushed herself up off the floor, unwilling to listen to her muscle's uninterrupted protests. The world spun around her as she struggled to her feet. She put her hand to the side of her head and felt the sticky heat of blood against her fingertips. Pulling her hand back, she flinched at the sight of the dark crimson.

As the sound of labored breathing and whimpering reached Sapphire's ears, she grabbed ahold of the top of the seats, using them to hold herself up as she stumbled closer to the front of the bus. Once she'd managed to pull herself to the front, she let herself assess the carnage.

The bus had hit a building, and luckily, while her classmates looked shaken, none were severely injured. She could even hear Ayden and Leo arguing at the back of the bus, about which one of them had screamed during the crash.

Sapphire pulled in a breath, and another, as she looked back to the very front of the bus. Off to the side of the aisle, Tera lay in a pile on the floor, her clothes growing scarlet and her eyes glassy.

She'd been wrong in her assumption that no one was injured. So very wrong.

Blood pooled beneath Tera's head. Sapphire saw a jagged wound across the side of her head, and protruding from it – a jagged piece of metal. Her face was pale and her lips a faint blue.

Stepping closer to Tera, she fell to her knees in the space beside the broken girl. It was only when she was right beside Tera that she noticed the discolorations on her forehead. Bruises dotted the skin. Sapphire had seen bruises like that before, when she'd helped her father heal a woman with burst blood vessels along her torso.

She pressed a hand against Tera's cheek. "I'm so sorry, Tera," she mumbled. "I didn't know—" She realized she was crying and that her words were barely coherent.

Tera's voice was a low and raspy, her breathing fast. "You did this to me, krest'ya, and no one will forget it."

And she was right. Everyone would remember this day. Just not for the same reason Tera thought they would.