INTRODUCTION

When Tori Brown was thirteen years old, she hardly seemed exceptional to anybody. She had golden blonde hair, bright blue eyes, ran on the track team, and earned relatively good grades. She was, for all intents and purposes, an average teenage girl, until one day when she performed magic, quite accidently.

It was then that she was given the Choice: when she was sixteen, she would be sent away to a secret boarding school over ninety miles away where she would be trained in the art of wielding her magic. Of course, her parents or friends, as members of the non-magical community, could never know of this. If she told them, she would have her memories wiped and be sent back home without her magic or another glance back.

Tori agreed to this, and when she was sixteen, she attended her freshman year at Iris Academy. She made good friends with her roommates: a girl named Virginia, who was born from a magical family, and a girl named Ellen, who was a wildseed just like Tori, a boy or girl with inherit magical abilities that was born to non-magical families. She made fast friends with Virginia's two older brothers, the prankster, Donald, and the popular senior, William. She was even courted by a demon from the magical Otherworld with bright blue skin and vibrant red hair named Damien, although she was hesitant to return his feelings due to his sour reputation around the school.

But she had made friends, regardless, and did exceptionally well in school, even going as far as to be elected as the treasurer of the freshman class, alongside class president, Minnie Cochran. Although her duties required her to be awake at five in the morning every Saturday to sort and deliver the mail and weekly allowances, she did not mind, even though this put her in the direct path of the notorious Professor Hieronymous Grabiner, a cruel, horrible professor that everyone had nicknamed Grabby due to his terrible attitude. She knew of it firsthand. He had been the first person she bumped into on campus while she was looking for her dorm, Horse Hall, and he had promptly given her ten demerits. Even still, working with him so closely she could see that there was a spark of kindness somewhere in there. For example, while raising funds for the Thanksgiving tribute, Tori had nearly passed out from exhaustion after working so hard, and he had taken her into a nearby restaurant and bought her a cup of hot chai. It would seem like a simple, considerate act to most, but Professor Grabiner was not known for simple, considerate acts, although why this was was anyone's guess.

Things had been going extremely well for Tori up until one early Saturday morning in late January, when she walked into the mail room to find Professor Grabiner unconscious on the floor. She immediately rushed over the barriers and sigils in the floor to try to save his life, and was then firmly accosted by a Manus, a horrible blue-green monster that seized her around the throat. What Tori didn't know was that Professor Grabiner was the son of a noble viscount, who had a Manus in its service. It was sworn to protect and service his family, so Professor Grabiner could not be harmed, but Tori could be. As it crushed her windpipe, Professor Petunia Potsdam, the headmaster of the school, rushed in and declared Tori betrothed to Professor Grabiner, entering Tori into the family line, and thus ensuring her protection. Professor Grabiner, awakening from his state, swore it to be so, and the deal was struck to save Tori's life.

The marriage was performed that afternoon, in the dark dungeons of the school where no one else could find out about it. Professor Potsdam had done all she could to at least making it into a proper wedding, stitching Tori's wedding dress together with black magic at the last minute. Minnie Cochran was also there to bear witness, and provide moral support as the irritable Grabiner grumbled and glared through the entire ceremony. Tori offered him her kindness and courage, and Grabiner offered her his wisdom and protection, and thus they were married, although he refused to even kiss her. He told her he refused to demean himself and left her at the altar alone, trembling and embarrassed. The marriage was in-name only, of course, and would be dissolved after a year and a day was up.

But as the months went by, Hieronymous started to display a sort of fondness for her. She was exceedingly gifted in blue magic, his specialty, and she scored top marks on all of her tests. She worked hard and was always jumping to the defense of one of her friends when they needed it. He realized that she was someone who displayed a tremendous depth of character, but he quickly tried to dissuade himself from having any sort of affection for her. On her part, the feelings had always sort of been there from early on, when she had chosen to ask for Professor Grabiner's advice instead of William's when running for treasurer. It had been nothing more than a silly crush at that point, but she had no idea she would end up being married to him.

As the months went by, Professor Potsdam informed her that she was hoping that Tori and Hieronymous would become a proper couple, despite their age difference. She told Tori of Hieronymous' last relationship with a girl named Violet, who had died when she crossed the Spirit Gate into the Otherworld at Hieronymous' urging over a decade ago. He blamed himself for her death, and hadn't been able to move on from it. Professor Potsdam did all she could to encourage their feelings, asking Tori to bring him soup when she was sick and making sure that they had ample amounts of time to get to know each other.

By the end of the year, on the night of the May Day ball, when everyone else was getting ready for a night of last-minute frivolity before the year officially ended, Tori had made her way up to Professor Grabiner's room. Although reluctant at first to admit their connection, he at last gave into her feelings and kissed her. It was her first kiss, and while she could not say that it was everything she had hoped it to be, it was enough to plant the seeds to start their relationship. The next day, her parents had picked her up from Iris Academy and brought her back to her non-magical home for the summer.

Tori was eager to get back to Iris Academy and all she had left behind there: her friends, her husband, her magic….but this is her story. I'll let her tell it.

I wiggle a strand of blonde hair in front of my face and frown at myself in my bedroom mirror. A few months ago, Virginia's older brother William had shown me a trick to combine blue and green magic into turning your hair whatever color you wanted. I had at first changed it to a flaming red as I had once when I was fooling around with Koolaid when I was much younger, but I quickly grew tired of it. After that I dyed my hair a dark blue, a shade or two darker than my eyes, and Virginia and Ellen went on and on about how it was the color of the deep ocean and how pretty it was. I never changed it after that, but now that I'm in my non-magical home for the summer, I had to change it back to its original blonde. I'm sure I could always find some non-magical ways of dying my hair blue, but with magic it was simple: no muss, no fuss, no clean-up or stains. Plus I don't know how my parents would feel about seeing me with blue hair.

My parents don't know about my magical abilities; they're not allowed to remember. All they know is I'm attending some super-nice boarding school about ninety miles away. If they could really see where I went, a magical school full of people with blue skin or fairy wings or sharp teeth, they probably wouldn't let me go, which makes the secret-keeping easier, I guess. They definitely wouldn't have let me go back if they knew what sort of danger I put myself in last year, and they definitely wouldn't let me go back if they knew I married my professor…

…even if it was sort of against my will. I was elected as Treasurer of the freshman class which required me to do mail runs at 5 AM on Saturday mornings, which is about as unappealing as it sounds. One morning in late January I walked in to find Professor Hieronymous Grabiner lying unconscious on the ground in the middle of a bunch of sigils and markings, being attacked by a giant demon known as a Manus. I rushed over to try to help him, without realizing that the Manus served his family and Professor Grabiner was protected. I, however, was not, and I felt the world starting to slip away from me. Luckily Professor Petunia Potsdam, who is something of our Headmaster, showed up and saved my life by telling the demon that I was betrothed to the professor. Grabiner agreed to do it to spare my life and we were married that afternoon.

He wasn't happy about it, though, and neither was I, to be completely honest. I had to lie to all of my roommates and friends – I couldn't tell my family anything even if I wanted to, but to know that I had to keep this a secret from the small family I created here at Iris Academy hurt. It hurt even more when Minnie, the class President who served as our witness, spilled the secret to her roommate, who spread it around the entire school. I had never seen Professor Grabiner look angrier than on that day, especially when he threatened to lock me in the dungeons of the school until our contract was up, for a year and a day. But he did apologize once he realized that I wasn't the one who spilled the secret, and we've come to a sort of understanding after that. Professor Potsdam told me that he hasn't been in a relationship since he watched the soul being sucked from his high school girlfriend right before his eyes after he dared to venture into the Otherworld with her, and encouraged me to try to turn our "contract" into an actual relationship. On the night of the May Day ball, I visited him in his room where we told each other how we both felt, and I ended up leaving with the kiss I didn't receive on our wedding day. It was a small kiss, short and chaste, but it was my first kiss, from someone who I did genuinely believe cared about me, which is what made it special.

"Tori, you've got mail." My mother's voice drifted up the stairs and I hopped out of bed eagerly, thundering down the wooden stairs in my bare feet. I picked up the two letters my mother had left for me on the end table near the doorway without seeing who they were from and rushed back to the safety of my room.

I grinned as I noticed one letter was from Virginia and felt a heat creep into my cheeks when I recognized the stylized cursive of Hieronymous Grabiner on the other. I bit my lip, trying to decide which to open first, before stashing Grabiner's letter underneath my pillow and ripping open Virginia's letter. It was a little silly, hiding Grabiner's letter…he may have been my husband, but I doubted it contained any romantic utterings or secret proclamations of love. Virginia's letter was much more interesting, anyway, filling me on all the gossip that I was missing out by not being in the magical community. Pastel was last seen kissing Big Steve, although everyone knew that that probably wasn't going to last longer than a few weeks. The gossip of me and the professor had apparently made its way into all the magical circles (oh great!) but apparently these things happen more than could be expected and she expects everyone to forget about it by the time the new school year starts. Since graduating, William was busy preparing for colleges and Donald was off at summer school. I read between the lines and could tell that Virginia was a bit lonely being home by herself for the summer, but at least she could still see her friends and talk to them about what was going on. I can't tell my friends or family anything without being threatened to have all my memories wiped, and that's not something I'm about to let happen.

I got up from the bed and carried her letter with me to my desk, where I got out a fresh piece of paper and began to draft a reply.

Hi Virginia. It's so good to hear from you. I miss you and everyone else at Iris Academy so much sometimes. It's hard to talk to my parents and friends about anything, it just feels as if we're in two different circles now. They talk about the news and things going on in the world, and I haven't heard about any of it. And I can't tell them absolutely anything about school so…

I bite my lip and put the pen down. I can't send this, it sounds like I'm just being whiny. But what am I supposed to tell her? Things are going well? She isn't a wildseed like me; she was born into a magical family. I know that sometimes she wishes she was normal, but I don't think she can really understand how hard it is not to tell your parents absolutely anything like me and Ellen do. Well, did. Ellen chose to stay at school permanently, erasing her parent's minds of all traces of her. At least I get along with my parents. Well, got, anyway. I don't know if I'd ever be able to make the same decision that Ellen did. Even if I can't tell my parents anything, I still love them, and they still love me. I couldn't imagine never being able to see them again.

So what do I write about? I run my hands through my hair. Technology isn't allowed at school so I started reading a lot and studying in the library with Minnie, but I can't study anything magic-related here, so I've just been reading a bunch of silly comic books and watching bad movies to kill time. I tap my pencil against the desk a few times, trying to get inspiration as for what to write, when I turn around and face my bed, realizing that I still haven't read Hieronymous' letter.

I get up nervously and walk over to it, as though it had suddenly gained sentience underneath my pillow. Biting my lip, I snatched up the envelope and sat down on my bed, opening it gingerly. Inside was a small card:

Tori-

I am sorry that your relationship with your parents has not improved. Most wildseeds usually choose to forsake their old families after their second or third years, but you need to choose what is best for you. Potsdam would like to remind you that once again that you are always welcome to come back here any time you wish. You might find your parents particularly amiable to you returning sooner than expected, so long as you ask them directly. In regards to your last question, I have been busy with summer classes so your company has not been sorely missed; however, I would not be opposed to you returning earlier than planned.

-H

I don't know why, but as I finish the letter, I am grinning like an idiot. Would not be opposed…? Of course I would never expect him to say that he missed me directly, but this was as close as I was going to get. I bit my lip and hopped back to my seat to continue my letter to Virginia.

...it is what it is. But I have been getting letters from Grabby. He hasn't said that he misses me directly, but I think he does. He told me that I can return to school whenever I want and I was thinking about coming back sooner rather than later….as lonely as we are, poor Ellen is either miserable by herself or is going to have tons of new friends by the time class starts again! I'm going to talk to my parents about it tonight. I'll let you know…

Don't have too much fun without me,

Tori

I glance at the clock and scamper downstairs for dinner. "Well, someone looks happy," my father noted as he started putting food on the table. "We were just about to call you for supper."

I tapped my nose. "That's why I came down. Smelled something good." But good wasn't exactly the most appropriate word as I looked at the half-burned crunchy mess of pasta shells and goop on the plate in front of me. "What uh, is this?"

"Your father has been cooking more since you've been at school," my mom says. "This is his version of macaroni and cheese."

His version? Of course it had to be his version, because macaroni and cheese was delicious in pretty much any way shape or form, and this was disgusting burnt-cheesy goop. Both my parents ate up as if they didn't notice anything was wrong. Had my senses been spoiled while I was away at school? I knew the food there was decent, but compared to the food here the Iris Academy Cafeteria seemed to hold a Michelin star.

"Um, mom, dad, I wanted to talk to you about something," I say slowly. They continued eating, waiting for me to continue. "Well, um, my friends have been writing to me about their studies, and apparently next year is supposed to be really intense, you know a lot of uh…work and…projects…and I was wondering if I could maybe go back a little…earlier? You know, just to get a head start on the year?"

"Of course," my father smiled at me across the table. "We can drop you off this Saturday."

"This Saturday?" I asked hesitantly. "I mean, it's Thursday now, and….I just got back a few weeks ago."

"Great," he smiled at me before digging into another forkful. "I'm so glad you're keeping up with your studies. Such a smart girl you are."

I tried to force a smile back but find I am unable to do so, as my mother talks about how this meant that she actually could attend her Book Club Sunday night. I just sit there and listen quietly, as if I'm a fly in the room, realizing how quickly their lives had moved on without me.

I push away from the table and quietly excuse myself as I climb the steps back up to my room. I had always thought that, as an only child, I was closer to my parents than most kids were. But that's all changed now. Now my parents treat me like a boarder paying rent, exchanging pleasantries, opening up their kitchen to me, but there's nothing really…there.

I flop face down on my bed and sigh. Is this what I want? Do I really want to go back to school on Saturday? I search my feelings and find that I'm surprisingly excited to go back. Underneath all the disappointment about the disintegration of my parent's relationship with me, I want to see Ellen again. I want to hang out with people in the corridors and see Hieronymous again. And I want to do magic.

I roll over onto my back and sigh, brushing some of the blonde bangs out of my face. And I miss my blue hair.