Chapter 1
Emma sighed, the worst part of every single day of her sixteen years was about to begin. The school bell rang and she heard a death knell as she trudged to her first class of the day. She entered the class, her senses alerting her to the morning's prank. She yawned for effect as she removed the gum from her seat before sitting down.
" Freak!"
Victoria Saunders had been the smartest kid in school until Emma moved to Samlen, Massachusetts, five years ago. She had tried initially to befriend Emma but that sixth sense that always showed her where the newest prank lay in wait for her never allowed her to accept Victoria's friendship. So with no possibility of friendship, Victoria had set herself up as Emma's nemesis instead. The older they got, the more Victoria loathed her.
" Alright, settle down everyone. The essays are back and I must say, excellent work, Emma! You have been selected to go to Ireland for their annual Prose Contest. Congratulations!"
The teacher gushed as she came forward to give Emma a hug.
" Does that mean...?"
" Yes, you are going to Ireland tomorrow!"
Emma grinned, oh sweet reprieve, she thought, her heart brimming with joy. She could hardly wait to share the news with her Nana. An entire week in Ireland, land of lore and mystery.
" You cast a spell on Miss Wilkins didn't you freak?" Victoria spat cornering Emma just as she was welcoming her exodus from hell aka school.
" I want to know how you do it!"
Emma saw the insanity in Victoria's eyes, she had finally crossed the line into actual madness.
" I don't know what you're talking about just leave me alone."
Victoria grabbed her arm and Emma winced at the strength in this odd girl. She had become more and more obsessed with Emma as they got older now it seemed her mind had finally snapped.
Victoria's grip got even stronger and Emma knew she would have bruises in the morning. Anger bubbled inside her as she felt Victoria's nails bite into her flesh.
" No more!"
A flash of lightning had Victoria cowering away from her as a dark wind blew her blond tresses into her eyes. Not one hair of Emma's coppery tress moved as she eyed Victoria with loathing.
" Witch! Now I know why I can never beat you, you're a witch! I'm gonna tell everybody!"
" Good luck with that," Emma sang, chuckling as she continued her walk home.
She couldn't wait to get home to tell her Nana the good news. Her Nana had been her only friend since her parents died in a car accident and she moved here to live with Nana. She was all she had in the world except for Aunt Marney, her mother's bestfriend and her Godmother.
For once, she thought, I have good news for Nana. She grinned as she decided to prank Nana. She took off her sneakers and crept inside the old house, careful not to step on any creaking boards. She heard Nana's voice and grinned as she made her way unseen to where her Nana stood in the kitchen talking on her old fashioned wall phone.
" What are we gonna do? The school just called, our Emmy has won a week in Ireland."
Emma covered her mouth as she listened in on her Nana's conversation with her aunt Marney.
" Tell her she can't go!"
Emma felt her heart shatter into a million pieces as she listened to the two people she loved most in the world.
" You think its so easy dealing with the little brat? You just get to wait to syphon off her powers, I have to wait on her hand and foot, listen while she complains about some stupid human..." Emma gasped, she couldn't help it.
" Marney, someone's here, I'll call you back."
As quietly as she had crept in, Emma crept out, hastily putting her sneakers and pushing the door open with her usual if forced greeting.
" Nana! I'm home!"
" There's my baby," the woman gushed, running to her. Emma willed herself to return the embrace then forced a smile.
" I won a contest at school but I don't wanna go all the way to Ireland Nana, who will take care of you if I go away for a week?"
" Bless your heart, child, would you not love a week away from Victoria?"
" She's going too, so no thanks," she lied.
She saw when the woman she thought was her grandmother smiled, accepting the story.
" Dinner in 5 minutes love."
" Not hungry, Nana I just want to lie down for a bit."
" You ok?"
" Just tired."
She ran upstairs to her room, feeling the tears that threatened to expose her. The closing door signaled the unavoidable deluge. What did she just overhear? If Nana wasn't her Nana, who was she? What Power was Aunt Marney waiting to steal from her? Why didn't they want her to go to Ireland? Emma swiped away the angry tears, her decision made. She was going to Ireland. Hopefully, she would get some answers to these and any other questions she had.
Her resolve steely, she dialed her teacher's number.
" Oh Honey, you must be so disappointed..."
" I changed her mind! She asked me to call you to find out the itinerary for tomorrow," Emma said smoothly.
" Oh Emma, that's wonderful! Ok so you will need your passport and pack warmly, Ireland is muggy this time of year. You can take some cash to change to Euro so you can buy souvenirs but that's pretty much it."
" Awesome, see you tomorrow, Miss Wilkins."
Now she just had to get her passport from Nana's room, odd she thought, that she couldn't remember going into Nana's room before now. She could hear her puttering about in the kitchen and knew she did not have a lot of time. She turned the knob on the door and froze. The room was decorated in tones that screamed darkness. There was what could only be described as a grimoire on the night table and several cauldrons in varying sizes littered the room.
" What the actual hell," she whispered, trying to figure out where a normal item like a passport might be in this room from Hogwarts. A sixth sense pushed her over to the old chest of drawers by the window and she ran towards it, grinning when her passport lay on top of a pile of all black clothing that looked like they belonged to Morticia Adams. She had no clue what was going on but she knew she was going to find out and her answers were in Ireland, she just knew it.
