I was twelve when I was introduced to the Harry Potter series. I had found The Sorcerer's Stone in my school's library. The librarian had taken one look at the book and asked, dead serious, "Are you sure? That's a pretty advanced book for a kindergartener."

I had looked her in the eyes and said, "I'm twelve years old."

She hadn't believed me and had called the main office to confirm that I was, in fact, as old as I said I was. It didn't please me, but I honestly wasn't surprised. Let's face it. I'm short. I know. At twelve years old, I looked like I was five. It sucks, believe me.

Anyway, once the librarian finally let me take out the book, I took it home and finished it within a few hours. I loved it—the characters, the idea of magic, all of it. I had finished the entire series—including The Deathly Hallows—within a week. My father had encouraged my love of the series and ever since then I've loved the idea of magic.

I always loved pretending to be a witch and every year for Halloween, I was a Harry Potter character. One year, it was Hermione. Another year, I was Luna Lovegood. And yet another, I even dressed up as The Deathly Hallows—the Invisibility Cloak, the Ressurection Stone, and the Elder Wand.

I loved pretending to be a part of the "supernatural" world.

However, I never thought it could actually exist. Or, even if it was real, that I would be a part of it.

But one day, my whole life was turned upside down. All my beliefs about the world around me were proved to be wrong.

That was the day I learned the truth. That was the day I learned that I, Laura Hollis, have super powers.

It started out as normal day. I woke up, got dressed, ate breakfast, and left for school at 7:30 AM. I live only a mile of so away from the school, so it doesn't take too long to get there. At least… not usually. That morning, however, was a little different.

I was about half-way to school when I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise and an uneasy feeling come over me.

I sped up a little and that's when I heard it. Foot steps. Behind me. Someone was following me. I spared a glance behind me and that's when I started to run.

Because what I saw was possibly the scariest man I've ever saw in my entire life. He was wearing an all black uniform with heavy looking black boots. He had dark sunglasses covering his eyes and on his chest, I could see a badge that said Corvae, Inc.

I didn't know what Corvae was at the time, but I could feel it. Evil. Whatever—or whoever—Corvae was, I knew they weren't volunteers at the local animal shelter. That's for sure.

But the badge was not what scared me (though it is pretty creepy). What scared the hell out me was the gun at the man's belt.

As I continued to run, I heard the man's footsteps speed up behind me. And they were getting closer.

Suddenly, I saw a streak of black fly from a tree over my head. And then I heard a yell of surprise. I skid to a stop and turned to look behind me. There was the Corvae man. And he was fighting… a giant black cat?

I saw the cat swipe at the man's face. He jumped back, just barely missing the cat's thorn sharp claws. The jet black feline dropped down on all fours. It growled and lounged at the man. His eyes widened and he ducked and rolled out of the way. The cat landed swiftly and whipped around. The man jumped back up and faced the cat. They started at one another, sizing each other up.

That's when it happened. The cat started ot shrink and shift. And then it was a girl. She was dressed in leather pants, a black t-shirt and a leather vest. Her dark chestnut curls cascaded down her shoulders. She had pale skin and sharp cheekbones. She was beautiful.

I was broken out of my daze when the Corvae man whipped out his gun and aimed it at the girl. A rage came over me. I felt a connection to this girl. I couldn't explain it. I felt the strong need to protect her. But I don't even know her name! it was strange, but the idea of protecting this girl just felt… right.

I felt something deep inside of me snap.

I have to do something, I screamed in my head. I can't just let him shoot her!

That's when I realized. I was doing something. I noticed then that there was a mist surrounding my entire body. And it was… moving. Towards her. Towards the girl.

She must've noticed it, too. Because she glanced at me. Her eyes met mine for a second. And I felt my breath catch in my throat. Her eyes were a deep shade of brown—like dark chocolate. There was a sense of mystery in them. It was endearing.

The girl looked away from me, back at the Corvae man. He was still pointing the gun. He hadn't noticed the mist. Or… maybe he couldn't see it?

"You!" the Corvae man growled at the girl. His gun was still pointed at her. The mist now surrounded both of the girl and I. I felt my racing heartbeat calm a little bit, knowing, somehow by instinct, that this mist would protect her. Would protect both of us.

"Me," the girl responded nonchalantly.

"Who are you?!"

"You mean you don't know?" the girl drawled, raising an eyebrow.

"No," the man hissed. "I don't."

"Wow, that's a first." She smirked. "Carmilla Karnstein ring a bell, Fresh Meat?"

The man's mouth gaped in surprise. "You- You're- You're Carmilla Karnstein?"

The girl—Carmilla—rolled her eyes. "Well, don't you catch on fast!" she snarked.

I snickered in amusement.

"But-" the man stuttered. "But- You- Corvae said you were dead-"

"They have no respect, I swear," Carmilla muttered.

"-and- And they said- They said you died in a car accident!"

Carmilla snorted. "Well, sorry to disappoint you, Beefcake, but as you can clearly see… I'm very much alive. And, just so you know, it takes more that a car accident to get rid of me."

She shifted back into her panther form and lounged at the man's throat. I saw the man ready the gun to shoot, but before he could pull the trigger, Carmilla was on him. The gun flew out of his hand and landed a few feet away from them.

I saw Carmilla's jaws open, revealing gleaming razor-sharp fangs. I winced and turned away. Based on the noises I heard, it was not a quick end for the man.

I heard Carmilla shift back to her human form and pick up the gun. Her heavy combat boots thudded on the ground as she walked toward me.

I felt my body relax as the adrenaline slowly seeped out of me. I felt the mist I snap back to me—like a rubber band—so that it no longer surrounded us.

I heard Carmilla talking on her phone as she walked toward me: "Hey, LaF. I've got another Corvae. He's dead. I swear, they're training them to be stupider and stupider these days." Silence as the person on the other side, LaF, spoke. "No, LaFontaine, you cannot do experiments on the dead body of a Corvae agent. I've told you this before." More silence. "Why? Because, LaFonpain, no one wants a zombified body—let alone, that of a Corvae agent!" Again, silence. I heard Carmilla sigh. "Fine. Whatever. Goodbye." She hung up.

"Okay, LaFonbrain will be here in a few minutes to… pick us up. And the body. I don't recommend turning around. Unless, of course, you want to see Corvae agent guts."

I nodded and bit my lip. "Okay."

Carmilla was standing beside me now. "Hey, Cupcake," she said.

"My name's Larua," I informed her.

"I know." She paused. "Cupcake." I could practically hear the smirk on Carmilla's face.

I rolled my eyes and I heard Carmilla chuckle. We stood there, not saying anything, for a few minutes.

Carmilla broke the silence. "Thanks, by the way."

I turned to look at her.

"For the shield thing," she clarified. Ah, I thought, the mist.

"You're welcome."

"It was pretty good, Cupcake."

I smiled at her. "Thanks. You were pretty good yourself. And thanks for saving me. I'm not sure I would've stood much of a chance against him on my own."'

"Oh, you would've lasted a little while." Carmilla smirked. "Like- five seconds."

I smacked her shoulder playfully. "I would last longer than five seconds! My Dad made me learn Krav Maga, you know."

"Yeah, you're right."

I looked at her in surprise. Did she just… agree with that?

"You'd last… ten seconds," Carmilla said.

I rolled my eyes. "Gee, thanks."

"Anything for my little Cupcake."

My heart skipped a beat at that and I blushed. Carmilla smirked.

I was saved from further embarrassment when a helicopter landed on the road beside us.

A person in a white lab coat got out. "Hey, there, LaFonbrain," Carmilla greeted them.

"Hey, Karnstein. Who's this?" They were looking at me.

"This," Carmilla said, putting her arm around my shoulders. "Is Laura Hollis."

"You found her?" LaFontaine asked excitedly.

"Found me?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah! We've been looking for you for a few months." LaF explained. "You were pretty hard to find, Hollis."

"Why… Why would you need to find me?" I asked, a little confused.

"You remember the thing you did with the mist?" Carmilla asked. I nodded. "Well… You're a power. And we've been looking for you so that we could bring you to Silas University. It's a school where people like us can learn how to control our powers."

It was a lot to take in. All I could think to say was, "Ok."

Carmilla chuckled. "Now, come on, Cutie. I'll explain more on the ride to Silas."

Silently, I followed Carmilla onto the helicopter. LaFontaine was already in the cockpit. They had apparently loaded the Corvae man's body onto the helicopter. I really didn't want to know where exactly they put it.

We had been flying for about an hour when I realized something. "Oh, no."

Carmilla, who had been looking out the window, turned to me. "What? What is it?" she asked, concerned.

"I'm going to have to explain all of this to my Dad."

"Yeah." Carmilla's voice was quiet, tentative. "But… Umm… I- I can help you if you want."

"I think I might like that very much."

Carmilla's hand found mine and she laced our fingers together. She smiled at me. A genuine smile. "We'll make it through this, Laura. Together."

I returned her smile and squeezed her hand. "Together."