Minotaur

Chapter One

The rain was heavy. Even in the storm, I could hear the constant chatter of passer-byes. I pulled my cloak more tightly around me and tugged down the hood. Through the fog, I could see the tall cliffs of the White Mountains way off in the distance. I had often dreamed about going there, traveling to a faraway place to attend the Ravenbloom School of Magic.

In my pocket, I held fifty golden spheres called ails. The last twenty I needed before I had enough money to pay for tuition to Ravenbloom. My mother had given me half of the tuition before we died; It was all the money we had at the time. The rest I earned by working at the local potions apothecary, Rune's. I had started working there soon after she died two years ago, but I had worked over my shift a few times in order to have twenty-thousand ails by the time I was twelve.

I kept my head down as I crossed the cobblestone road. All around me, shopkeepers were taking down posters supporting the National Potion Makers Society, magic tournaments, and many other things. A sign advertising Ravenbloom caught my eye. I smiled at it, skimming over the page as the owner of the shop took it down to keep it from the rain.

When I felt the hand inside my pocket, it was too late. My fingers kept grasping air, looking for the fifty ails that should have been there but weren't. Frantic, I started searching the ground- before I saw him. He was walking with the others, but I could see his hands. They were dipping in and out of people's pockets, taking whatever they could get. He was holding my ails. He looked over his shoulder, and our eyes met. "Stop!" I cried out to him, thinking for some strange reason that he would listen. He didn't. He ran. I tried to chase after him, the through the rain and fog I couldn't even see a shadow resembling his figure. I searched for him a moment longer, acquiring strange looks from people around me, before I gave up.

Discouraged, I walked slowly back to my house. I looked at the ails I kept hidden in a drawer- but they weren't there. Two thieves in one day. I had no money. I sat down in a wicker chair by my table, head in my hands. I couldn't go to Ravenbloom. I was barely going to have enough money to buy myself food, what with getting a mere fifty ails a day and all. It was barely worth two apples.

I would have to work another two years at Rune's to get enough money, but by then my chance would already be over- Ravenbloom only accepted twelve year olds, and only in the first year, and students stayed only two years. Besides, the new school year began tomorrow. Unless I somehow made thirty-seven thousand ails by tomorrow, it was hopeless. So it was probably hopeless.