A/N: Okay, let's try a new idea. Again. Ha. Sorry if you were reading Gossip Girl or anything else I had up, but I'm really not into it at the moment and I'd rather wait awhile until I am than give you crappy chapters.

Full Summary: Riley West is your average American girl...well, sort of. Unlike every other girl her age, she has strange powers that go unexplained until she receives a letter one day inviting her to a school of magic in Salem, Massachusetts. After leaving her home behind in Illinois, she embarks on a journey filled with secrets, love, new friends, new rivals and enemies, drama, and, of course, magic.

Chapter One-The Letter

Riley West's life was perfectly normal...with an exception. She could do weird things. Sometimes it was just finding things in different places than she remembered putting them. In more extreme scenarios, it was changing some body's hair color from blond to bright purple, primarily when they treated her rudely. Regardless of the reason, she could make things happen that normally wouldn't. It happened from the time she was a baby, according to her parents. The more it happened, it seemed to her the more worried they got.

There seemed to be no explanation for these 'events' as they were labeled in the West house. The West family lived in a small suburban town in Illinois, out side of Chicago, but still near enough to Lake Michigan to take field trips at the end of the year. Their block was lined with neat brick and white-washed houses. The lawns were perfectly manicured and protected by flower beds of exotic and beautiful flowers, protected by iron fences. Each neat concrete driveway had some sort of sleek and environmentally friendly automobile in it which Mr. Head of the House drove to his law firm, family practice, or whatever other high class job he held. It was a sheltered place to grow up in. Unless, of course, you were Riley, whose father, despite owning and insurance company, was so extremely engrossed in current events that Riley was exposed to the dirty, crime infested side of the world by the time she was eight. (When she wasn't being sent home by the neighbors for doing something strange, it was for mentioning something that parents didn't want their children to know about until they were eighteen.)

Riley was a petite little girl, though not really short, with long strawberry blond hair and round doe-like brown eyes. Despite her reputation for being weird, she had a few good friends in elementary school. One was a girl, Lilly Chu, whose father was a stock broker, and the other was a boy, Dustin Milton (otherwise known as Dusty), whose parents traveled and left him with a nanny. Neither had 'powers' like Riley but they were fascinated by them all the same. Lilly was often out casted because her parents were extremely religious and strict about what she did and who she did them with. Lilly herself hated her parents' strict code. Mrs. West was especially helpful with hiding Lilly's 'controvertial' possessions in their home so she wouldn't be punished.

Dusty wasn't really an outcast; he was just shy. He and Riley got on really well. Riley sometimes felt like she was better friends with him than with Lilly. They listened to the same music, watched the same movies, read the same books...it was almost as if they shared a brain at times. Their favorite hobby was mocking terrible horror movies in Riley's living room when her parents were out and about at dinner parties and charity functions. Tonight was an antique auction for a children's charity (Riley couldn't remember which one it was this time). They were involved with so many things...and tonight's featured film was The Birds, a classic to any Alfred Hitchcock fan.

"I can't believe people actually find this scary," Dusty commented during the unreal scene of children running from a flock of fake birds.

"I know. But I must admit, the gouged out eyes are amazing. I've never seen something so cool in an old movie," Riley said as she reached for more popcorn.

"Yeah, great make-up effects, even for today's standards."

"It totally blows the orks out of the water."

"I'll say, considering that was just a copy cat job."

"Here we go again," Riley muttered.

"It's true and you know it! They just combined the techniques of Planet of the Apes-" There was a sound of metal clinking in the entrance hall. "What was that?" Dusty asked as Riley paused the movie and rose to check it out. There was an envelope sitting in front of the door on the ground, face down.

"Someone just dropped off a letter through the mail slot," Riley said breathing in relief.

"I thought your dad sealed that ages ago." Riley paused halfway down the hall. She leaned against the banister and peered through the lace curtains blocking the glass. She couldn't see anyone, but to be safe, she dropped to her knees and army crawled to the front door. The mail slot wouldn't budge open. She peaked through the curtains again carefully. No one was outside.

"What are you doing?" Riley turned to see Dusty in the doorway to the family room with a puzzled expression on his face. She grabbed the letter and stuck it in her jacket discreetly as she pushed herself off of the floor.

"Nothing," she said brushing off her knees. "Just seeing if anyone was there."

"And?" Riley shook her head. "Weird. Why don't we just finish the movie."

"Okay. Just one sec," Riley said nervously. "I have to go to the bathroom." Riley had a feeling that the letter, despite having not looked at the address, was meant for her. She also had a feeling that it wasn't something she would want to share with the world-at least not Dusty.

Riley closed the bathroom door and sat on the floor, leaning against it. She took a deep breath and pulled out the letter, surprised that it hadn't bent. There was no return address. Come to think of it, mail came in the early afternoon normally, and they had already received their mail that day. She turned it over and looked at the carefully placed seal. It was a crest, with blue on the edges and white as the background. There was a red star in the center and there was something written in latin on one of the blue ribbons above the image. Riley carefully peeled it from the paper and pulled out a thick stack of papers. The top one read:

Dear Miss West,

Oz Academy of Magic and Sorcery Studies is pleased to offer you a place in our class this fall.

Riley nearly dropped the paper reading it. Magic and sorcery? Had she read it correctly? She looked back over the paper and read the entire letter three times. She had been right the first time. Someone must have been pulling a prank. She knew for a fact that magic didn't exist. There was no way there could be an academy dedicated to teaching something that defied the laws of physics as well as common sense...was there? She had always been weird, and some of the things she'd experienced were downright supernatural. But that was impossible. She didn't want to think about it. Instead she stuffed the letter and envelope in the back pocket of her red jeans and stood, collecting herself and head for her bedroom.

"Where are you going?" Riley looked up from the first step of the staircase to see Dusty in the hall. She had completely forgotten he was here in all of her worry.

"Oh. Dusty, sorry. I was just going to...but it doesn't matter, I don't...let's just finish the movie, okay?"

Dusty gave her a strange look, obviously concerned. "I'm fine, Dusty, trust me." Riley pushed him back into the family room with ease, not that he fought it much.

They finished their movie almost in silence, which was very out of the ordinary for the pair. Every time Dusty said something, Riley only nodded or made too short a comment to keep the conversation going. She realized Dusty must be confused, but she couldn't stop thinking about the letter. Was it possible? At first she hadn't thought so, but now...well, evidence was all around her. She thought of all the things she'd done without explanation, all the things she'd been in trouble for that she couldn't understand. Her heartbeat quickened. Maybe, just maybe...

The headlights flooded through the windows just as the cast drove away from the island. Perfect timing, or at least Riley thought so. She didn't want to kick Dusty out but she wasn't in the mood to make awkward conversation until her parents got home. They set about picking up the popcorn and goodies.

"So...some movie."

"Yeah," Riley said without much emotion. It was silent again for a moment.

"Riley, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she said unconvincingly. She knew she was a bad liar, but she really hadn't gotten much practice. She had an open relationship with her parents and there was never a real reason to make excuses to her friends for anything.

"Riley, really, you can't lie. Now isn't the time to test it. Riley, look at me." She looked up nervously. "What's going on? Did something happen when you went up to the door?"

"No. It's nothing, really," she insisted.

"It's obviously not. Or else you wouldn't be acting like this." They were in the kitchen now. He wheeled her around. looked her in the eyes. "You can tell me anything."

Riley considered this for a moment as she stared at her best friend. She could show him the letter...see if he knew anything about it...

The front door closed and Mr. West called to his daughter. The moment was lost as she left to greet her parents. Dusty left a few minutes later, obviously hurt by Riley's change in personality. Mrs. West lost no time in picking this up.

"Is something wrong, honey?" she asked sweetly, stroking her daughter's hair. Riley pulled her head away. "No. I'm fine."

"Did something happen with Dusty?"

"No. Nothing's out of the ordinary. I wish people would just stop bothering me!" She headed for her bedroom, ignoring her parents muttering about teenage hormones. She wasn't even eleven, not even a teenager technically. What was their problem?

Riley barely slept that night. A few times she considered calling Dusty and apologizing, as well as explaining everything to him. Once, at three in the morning, she tried, but his phone was off, and she didn't want to leave a voice mail. She turned over and slept for about forty minutes before she woke up again. The broken pattern went on all night.

In the morning, Riley stretched and yawned, cursing whatever had kept her awake all night. Then she remembered: the letter. She grabbed it from under her pillow-still wrinkle free-and started at it. The smell of bacon broke her from her thoughts and she slipped out of bed, into her bunny slippers, and down the stairs into the kitchen, letter in hand.

"Good morning, sweets," Mr. West said. "Feeling better." She stared at them blankly.

"Can either of you explain this?" She held up the letter. Both her parents glanced at each other, then at her. Mrs. West took the letter and glanced at it before handing it to her husband as though it carried an infectious disease.

Mr. West sighed. "I'm afraid we can."

"William-" Mrs. West started.

"No, Marcy, she should know." He sighed again. "Sit down, Riley, it's going to be a long story."

"How long?"

"Long enough." He nodded again at the chair across from him. Mrs. West sat at the remaining chair, watching Riley carefully.

"I know you feel...confused," he said. "This whole...magic thing. It's a very confusing thing."

"Is it some scam? A prank? Just tell me now if it is. You got me, okay?"

Mr. West shook his head. "Riley, please. This is a very serious matter."

"I never thought I'd hear you, of all people, calling magic a 'serious matter,'" Riley said angrily. "I feel like there's something going on that no one bothered to tell me about. Like I've been left out of something, or-"

"You haven't been left out of anything, dear," Mrs. West said soothingly as she patted Riley's hand. She snatched it away.

"No, tell me there's no big secret you've been keeping from me. Tell me there's nothing going on and that this is all a big misunderstanding, something gotten wrongly out of control. Tell me that. Otherwise, I have been left out of something. Don't lie to me!" There was an awkward pause.

"Riley, listen. Please. This is very real." He sighed and glanced from his wife to Riley. "You are a witch. That much is obvious." Riley snorted. "You have magical abilities, and now this place-this school-is inviting you to be taught how to use them, control them, make something of yourself using them. Don't you think it's a good idea?"

Riley's head snapped up. "How do you know what it says? You didn't even read it." Mrs. West sobbed.

"Riley, I know because...because I've heard all about this before. Trust me, you're not the first I know to get a letter like this." Riley still looked confused. "My sister," he explained, "was a witch. My baby sister. Did you know I have two sisters?" He laughed. "I know I never mention my family much. But for a good reason."

"I suppose that's the story then," Riley said grimly. He nodded.

"Yes, it is. Riley, I think it's part of the reason we decided to make you an only child. We didn't want to risk anything by having more than one, after what happened to my family."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean I had two younger sisters. The oldest, Hannah, she was closer to me in age. We were only two years apart and very, well, normal. Ruby, on the other hand, was always a bit, well, different. She was six years younger than me. She was just like you, Riley. She did strange things without being able to explain them. She was, unlike Hannah and me, rebellious and wild. When she turned eleven, Ruby got one of these letters. We lived in Boston, so Mom and Dad were okay with her going. She wouldn't be that far away so they could see her if they needed to, or at least they thought so. The older she got, the worse her behaviour was. We suspected it had something to do with the new world she was in, but she denied that it had any negative influence on her. She ran away one summer and never came back.

"I didn't hear from her for a year or so. It was shortly before you turned one. She told me that you were in danger. Something was going on in her world and she already knew you were going to be like her. She told us to leave with you and never look back. My parents were angry at us for communicating with her, so I cut off all connections with them and Hannah. Ruby was killed not long after we left, murdered by something, but no one knows what. It was all very mysterious."

Riley was confused and shocked. She'd never heard anything more gruesome in her life. "You mean...my aunt was a witch?" She had never even known she'd had an aunt, let alone two. Mrs. West was an only child and her father was dead. Her mother lived in a nursing home in California, but they didn't talk much. Come to think of it, she'd never asked her father much about his family. She once asked about his parents and all he said was they didn't talk much.

"Yes. And it nearly ripped her family apart. It did in the end." Mrs. West sounded bitter and angry.

"Marcy-" Mr. West began.

"No," she said shaking her head. "No. She's not going. That's not going to happen to us."

"Of course it isn't," Mr. West said. "Riley's much smarter than that. Ruby only went down because she went with the wrong crowd. And the entire magic world isn't terrible. Besides, Ruby had her reasons for rebelling. She was the black sheep of the family. Riley here hasn't been given any reason to do any of the things Ruby did."

Riley felt overwhelmed. Whatever Ruby got into that had gotten her killed was probably something she wouldn't go near, he had that right. But now she was angry. They had kept something this big from her for years. On one hand, though, she was relieved. She wasn't the only weird person in the world after all.

"It's up to Riley," Mr. West said. "She can go if she wants to, but she can stay here if she'd like to. Don't make a decision right away," he said when she opened her mouth. "Think on it."

And think, Riley did. She thought all through breakfast, while she showered and dressed, as she watched music videos for the rest of the morning and rode her bike to Lilly's house that afternoon. Lilly would be the one person Riley could trust with this information. She needed to make a big decision and she always gave the best advice. But something wouldn't allow Riley to give the full details.

"So I got into this school," she told Lilly. "It's a fancy private school, a boarding school actually. And it's in Massachusetts."

"Okay," Lilly said. "So is it a good school?"

"Oh, yeah. It's got all the stuff that would help me after school. You know, career and college wise." It was true; they required each student to take math through calculus and English classes in composition and literature, as well as a foreign language requirement. They also highly recommended summer school for science and social studies classes.

"Okay," Lilly repeated. "So you got into a good school. And it's fancy, and private, and you live there..."

"Yes," Riley interjected quickly.

"...in Massachusetts." Riley shrugged and Lilly turned back to her mirror, fussing with her long blond hair. "Well, if you want to go..."

"But what do you think I should do?" Riley asked again.

Lilly was silent for awhile. "I think you should go."

"Really?" Lilly didn't even look at her, still fussing over a few out of place strands. "Yes. It seems like a remarkable opportunity. You might not be around as much, of course, but-" she shrugged "-we'll still see you in the summer, won't we?"

Riley shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Do you really think-"

"Yes, yes," Lilly said impatiently. "Go. Have the time of your life. Really, but don't forget to write me."

Riley smiled. "Really? You think I should?"

"Yes, I do," Lilly said, smiling slightly. "When do you leave?"

Riley hesitated. "In a week."

Lilly slammed her brush down on the vanity table. "A week?" Riley nodded. "When does your school start?"

"September first, but I have to go two weeks in advance, to get supplies and do orientation and stuff. Plus, my parents want to make a vacation out of it. Site seeing and all of that." She played with a loose string on her yellow t-shirt while Lilly glared at her through the mirror.

"So we've only got one week left until you go off to the coast for school. Alright. We can manage. We'll just have to fill them up." She smiled. "Movie marathon Saturday, mall on Friday-your mother is insane if she thinks I'll let you buy any of your wardrobe without me. Girly sleepover Thursday night: manicures, pedicures, dirty magazines, the whole enchilada. And tomorrow, we'll go to the art museum with Dusty. It's perfect."

"Yeah," Riley said. "I wish we had more time left. But I'll be back for Christmas. We can hang out during summer, too, like you said. And, um..." She trailed off. "Are you sure you'll be okay with this? Going to middle school all by yourself?"

"I'll have Dusty," Lilly pointed out. "I'll be fine. I can't believe you got into some fancy school. I didn't even know you had applied to one."

Riley shrugged. "My mom had me do it. Just in case I decided I wanted a, er, more cultural education."

Lilly sighed. "I wish my mom was like that. Well, whatever." She hopped off of the stool she'd been sitting on and made her way for the door. "I think we have time for a bike ride around the city before dinner."

The girls exchanged smiles and left for the sun-covered streets of their beloved neighborhood, feeling like it was any other summer day, but truthfully, they both felt the slight crack that had formed in their friendship.

A/N: R&R! Let me know if my grammar sucks so I can fix it. And if you hate it. Or love it. :)