Chapter 1: A Fateful Meeting

Nothing special has ever happened to me. I mean, aside from that time I fell and fractured my arm. My mom and dad both paid attention to me for a week. That was as exciting as life got.

Frankly, I liked life plain and simple. Class during the day, work in the evenings, sleep at night. Predictable. Boring. Safe.

I had no idea what I was in for.

With a quiet sigh you left the small dining hall of your small local college, flimsy coffee cup in your left hand while you pressed the buttons of your iPod with your right. The frigid wind immediately bit into you and your tongue-scorching coffee cooled in seconds to about milkshake temperature. Impressive but irritating.

You were wearing your heaviest jeans, a tattered hoodie, and a scarf. But under the hoodie you only had on a thin T-shirt, not the best winter wear. Your commonsense must have been on vacation this morning.

But your dad was always saying that you should be tough - his whole half of the family was. There was some truth in that, so you hunched deeper into your sweatshirt and doubled your pace.

The winter had begun mildly and turned Arctic in a flash. Barely a month ago, your whole county had gotten a foot and a half of snow. Most was gone now - it'd turned to ice.

To your left someone fell on the slippery sidewalk. You paused briefly, but they were up and off again before you could decide if you wanted to help. You continued on, the change in your progress barely noticeable.

Suddenly the sound in your headphones went out. You yanked your iPod out of your pocket and stared at the blank screen. You grumbled a curse. The cold had even frozen your battery.

You put your useless machine back in your pocket but kept the headphones on. They kept your ears warm. Well, almost.

Now came the worst part of getting to your morning class - crossing the big, cold parking lot. You looked at all the heaped-up snow and the rivers of ice that had formed downhill of it. Another exciting round in the game of Fall On Your Ass.

With another sigh you set out for the far end, dodging around the few patches of ice you could. When you reached the halfway point you dared to hope that you might make it through unscathed.

Right on cue, cruel fate dashed that hope. While you were in the middle of a particularly smooth field of ice, the wind began to blow. Hard.

It actually began to push you along the parking lot! But, of course, not towards your destination. While you tried desperately to keep your balance, other people were falling, and you expected to go over at any second.

Suddenly you hit something - soft? Obviously, it wasn't the ground or a car, but whatever it was, at least it'd stopped your wild ride. Then an arm steadied you and tilted you back upright, and you realized a person had rescued you.

"Phew!" you gasped. "Thank you!"

As soon as you were sure of your balance, you took a look at the guy. He was a head taller than you with short brown hair like yours. He had the prettiest brown eyes you'd ever seen, so unlike your green and gray ones. He was kind of chubby - that was why your impact was so soft - but most of him was hidden under a big blue coat.

You observed all this in a second and decided that the guy seemed nice. Your shyness kicked in though, and you had to resist the urge to run. You'd fall anyway.

"No problem," he said with a wide smile. The wind gusted again and he offered you his arm to steady yourself as you wobbled.

"Sorry I keep falling into you," you said, embarrassed. You kept your eyes down - to watch your step, of course.

He chuckled heartily. "You should eat more," he commented. "No light breeze can push me around!"

To prove it, he took a confident step and promptly fell over. He almost took you with him, but you were saved when your muscles locked.

"Are you okay?" you asked. You kept an eye on your coffee while you helped him up.

"Well, I think my pride is mortally wounded," he admitted sheepishly.

"My pride is waiting for me in class," you joked.

The guy laughed and you smiled with relief. Sometimes people didn't get your weird humor.

You both made it across the parking lot with only a few bruises to show for it. Once you were on solid ground, you sighed loudly. "I'm gonna have to start taking the long way."

"Me too," the guy said, "if this snow doesn't melt soon."

You were anxious to go now, since your internal clock was telling you that you were late. You turned partway to face your building. "Thanks for the help," you said gratefully. "I gotta go or I'll be late."

"Wait a second!" the guy yelped as you took a step. "Uh, could you tell me where the building with the initials MRK is?"

You blinked and decided this guy must be even newer than you. The building - McRokan - was the one you were heading for.

You pointed at the doors five feet away. "Right here," you said and then smiled. "The online map isn't labeled well, is it?"

The guy's look of relief turned to surprise. "How'd you guess?"

Your smile widened. "I tried to use it last semester. I was late for all of my first classes. So, I started exploring in my free time to find where everything was."

"You walked all over?" The guy now looked pained. "So much walking…"

The two of you were in the lobby now, and you veered left towards the stairs. "It's not that big," you chided. "Take it in little bits."

He looked less unhappy at your suggestion. "All right," he grumbled. "See ya."

"See ya," you replied.

You made it to class with a few minutes to spare and chose your usual type of seat: in the front but off to one side so you wouldn't be in the center of attention. This room was nice - it had long tables for desks with chairs positioned every few feet. You liked that better than those tiny desks in other buildings.

You sat and enjoyed your cold coffee while the professor took attendance, lifting your hand when he mangled your name. "Call me Ally," you said and he made a note in his book.

When he was done, he put a powerpoint up on the projection screen and began to talk. You quickly decided that this was a "rambling professor" and settled in to listen.

Suddenly a familiar face appeared at the door. It was the same guy who had kept you from sliding away. He entered quietly, but since the door was in the front, everyone got the chance to stare at him anyway. The professor continued his story without noticing him.

He hovered just long enough to develop a fierce blush and you decided to take pity on him. "Psst!" you hissed to get his attention. He looked and you pointed to the empty seat next to you.

He darted over and sat down willingly enough. "Thanks," he whispered.

"Sure," you replied, leaning close. "See him after class; he marked you absent."

"Right." You leaned back to listen again and the guy took your cue and did the same.

Class ended at about the same time you decided that you were sick of listening. Most of it had been a quick review of the class you had last semester anyway. You grabbed your bag and stood, noticing that the guy next to you did the same.

"Oi, I'm Shibayama Junpei. Nice to meet you." He had a naturally loud voice, especially when inside. "What's your name?"

The two of you were waiting near the front of the room while the crowd rushed past. A few students were occupying the professor's attention at the moment, so you decided to take care of the obligatory social tasks.

"I'm Ally," you said quietly with a timid smile. "Nice to meet you."

There was a long awkward moment when neither of you knew what else to say.

"Do you like magic?" he suddenly asked.

You gave him a look, utterly bewildered. "What?"

"Magic. You know, tricks," he answered, unruffled. Grinning, he held up a hand and made a white flower appear with a flick of his fingers. "Ta-da!"

You stared with surprise, long enough to make him nervous. "No?" he asked.

You reached over and took the flower. You studied it closely. It was a real flower.

"Awesome!" you said enthusiastically. "How'd you do that?" You smiled at him and he smiled back and that was the beginning of your friendship.