They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But why would someone want to behold a girl like me? I am not what you would call a classic beauty, like Grace Kelly or Nicole Kidman, but I have my good qualities. My name is Nikki Garwin, I have sandy blond hair and gray eyes, being a swimmer I have a pretty good body, but I am not stick thin. I hope that someday someone will see me for who I am on the inside and not for the looks that are on the outside. I am not ugly but I am most definitely not beautiful. I feel that my twin brother Reid got all the perfect genes at least for physical attractiveness. He always gets noticed by everyone, sometimes I feel that I don't exist if he is standing next to me. Not only do I feel out of place with him, I also feel out of place with the group of our friends. Allow me to introduce you to the "Sons of Ipswich"; the eldest is Caleb Danvers, he is the leader of the group aka "golden boy", he's the one that guy wants to be. He is really nice, does great at school, and he is extremely athletic. The Second oldest is Pogue, he is the "biker boy", he is Caleb's best friend and always tends to agree with him on everything within our little group. Next is Reid, well I guess it would be Reid and I since we are twins. Reid is seventeen minutes older than me; he is the "bad boy" of the group. Although he does give off a womanizer vibe, he actually is a really nice guy. He is extremely protective of me, I can barely leave the house without him interrogating me. The youngest is Tyler Simms, or as the guys like to call him "Baby Boy", I like to call him blue eyes because he has the most gorgeous blue eyes I have ever seen. He is very sweet, smart and he can always make me smile. All of the boys are extremely attractive, which makes me feel like I don't belong.
Our group goes way back, and when I say way back I mean mid 1600s. Our group has a secret, a secret that has passed down through generations; witchcraft. This is not your normal pagan religion today, it is real and it involves very serious amounts of power. The power is passed down only the eldest male son, usually the families stop having children after the first baby; I am the exception to this rule. I don't have the power, I am not at all jealous of what they have to go through during the span of their life. At thirteen the boys get a taste of the power that will fully mature when they ascend on their eighteenth birthday, the only problem is this power is addictive. After they ascend the more you use the more that it ages you, and the faster you get hooked. In order to keep the families safe our ancestors organized a covenant of silence; this covenant had five families Danvers, Garwin, Parry, Putnam and Simms. The Putnam family died off during the witch-hunts in Massachusetts, in 1692. For three hundred years the covenant has kept this secret; although I do not have the power I still know everything about the covenant. When the boys were outside messing with their powers I was inside reading up on the Book of Damnation and the other important books pertaining to our history.
This year I am going to be a senior at Ipswich's premier academy for "rich" kids aka Spenser. Except this year it is going to be different, instead of blending in to the background I am going to be noticed.
It has been an amazing summer, I spent the last month of my summer vacation away from home at a swimming camp in Las Cruces, New Mexico. My normally pale skin has a dark tan from swimming outside, my hair which is usually a sandy blond has become naturally highlighted with a lighter platinum color. Yesterday some of my camp mates surprised me and helped me pick out a bunch of amazing new outfits for when i get home. Right now, I am in a limo heading towards home after the really long flight from New Mexico. "I wonder if Reid remembered i was coming home today..." i softly say to myself. I look out the window seeing only darkness and the faint glow of lights coming from the Garwin Mansion. As the car pulls up the drive i notice that my light blue Mini Cooper is safe. " Oh, thank god Reid didn't crash my baby!" As i am getting out of the car, Reid comes out of the house. I run up to him and give him a huge hug.
"Geeze, Nik. I barely recognize you", he says hugging me tightly
" I missed you Reidy, i see you took good care of my baby while i was away"
"Now, that you are home... We are going to Nickys."
"No, not tonight." Reid gives me the puppy dog look.. "i won't fall for it Reid, i am exhausted. And besides i will see everyone tomorrow at the annual Dells party."
"Alright Nik. I am glad you are home, I didn't have any one to annoy besides Tyler. And his reactions aren't as funny as yours are."
I take a swipe at him which he easily avoids. "Very funny Reid. See you tomorrow, you are helping me move my stuff back to the dorms, right?"
"Already done it lil' sis, Peace." Reid starts my car and drives away.