ONE

April 6, 2005

Dear Diary,

Today was… well, indescribable, I guess. I received a letter from Hogwarts, the school Dad went to when he was in Wales. We're not in Wales, though, are we? No, we're in America. I should be attending Ilvermorny. Naturally, I asked Dad what the heck was up, and he started acting all weird. It took some convincing, but he finally caved and told me we were moving. Can you guess where? Yeah, WALES.

Needless to say, I'm pretty upset right now. He told me he'd been planning this with Mother since before I was born, and of course I had to upset him by reminding him she's… gone. How am I supposed to feel, though?! I've never heard of these plans before! I feel totally betrayed, but I guess it doesn't matter. Things are already set in stone. On June 1st we'll be on a plane headed to Great Britain.

Till next time,

Arty

Artemis slammed her pencil down on her crowded desktop and huffed. Her normally brunette hair was now a smoldering red and glowered like hot lava. She'd received this life-altering news hours ago, but after crying out her despair the void was replaced by boiling anger. Although there were almost two whole months before her life was going to be uprooted, it felt like mere minutes to her. She lost track of time sitting at her desk with her head in her hands, but eventually she was forced to leave the solace of her bedroom for dinner. The Bayne household was tense that evening. Artemis' father, Daniel, tried his hardest to pretend nothing unusual had happened, but he soon realized that wouldn't work when she only responded with one-word answers.

"Artemis, you have to understand I'm not doing this to hurt or punish you." He paused and looked down at his plate. "I want to take you back to my homeland, so you can grow up where I did. There's a whole world out there you've never seen, and I want to show it to you." He paused again, but Artemis still said nothing. "I don't want to be here anymore, either, not without your mother." Artemis finally looked up and saw tears in his eyes. "I don't want you to hate me."

A pang of guilt shot through her body, and she quietly said, "I don't hate you." That seemed to be enough to satisfy him for the time being, and he didn't push the topic any further. Once they finished dinner Daniel put away the leftovers, and Artemis cleaned up the dirty dishes. As she was carrying the dishes to the sink one slipped from her grip. She tried to grab it and missed, but the plate suddenly flew into her outstretched hand instead of smashing to the ground.

"Nice catch," Daniel said before leaving the room. Artemis quickly washed the dishes and sought out her father. She found him in the office packing his belongings into cardboard boxes.

"Why are you packing already?" she asked as she eyed the boxes. "We have plenty of time."

"Multiple reasons," Daniel answered with his back to her. "One: packing takes a lot longer than you realize. Two: I hope to send as much as possible to the new house before we leave to ease the stress."

"It wouldn't take so long if you'd use magic," Artemis told him. "You're a wizard for a reason."

"Unlike you young whippersnappers," he said sarcastically, "I don't like relying on magic for every little thing. It wouldn't hurt you to do some manual labor every once in a while."

"You mean muggle labor?" she snorted.

"It teaches character," Daniel replied sternly. "You need to understand the struggle of not having magic at your fingertips to truly appreciate it."

"But Dad, I do have magic at my fingertips." Artemis held up a hand and wiggled her fingers, sending little sparks into the air.

"You know what I meant, Arty," he sighed. Artemis didn't have anything clever to say back, so he added, "You don't have to start packing yet, but don't put it off till the last second, okay?" She nodded, said good night, and returned to her bedroom.

That night her sleep was plagued by nightmares. She was repeatedly forced to relive her mother's death over and over again. It always started out the same: on a sunny Saturday in mid-July, six-year-old Artemis and her smiling mother entered a parking garage as they returned to the car after a day of shopping. Suddenly, a crazed man jumped out from behind a minivan. He was dirty and twitchy with a face was covered in scabs. He was having trouble forming coherent sentences, but one thing he made clear was he wanted money. Artemis couldn't tear her eyes away from the sharp point of his large knife. Her mother tried to pull her wand from her purse, but the man panicked and plunged his blade into her heart. Fear consumed Artemis and she used her magical abilities to transform into a mouse. From underneath the car she watched her mother's body fall backwards onto the concrete; the light of life slowly faded from her eyes. The man desperately looked for Artemis but quickly gave up and began looting her mother's body. He cursed when he found what little money she had and ran away. Long after his footsteps had faded Artemis emerged from under the car. Her mother's eyes were glassy and stared off into space. With a sob, Artemis collapsed over her lifeless body.

She woke in a cold sweat, scared and disoriented, but quickly realized she was safe and sound in her bedroom. It was only five in the morning, hours before she was supposed to wake up for school. Unfortunately, she was unable to go back to sleep, not that she really wanted to anyways. This happened often over the next two months, making her remaining time in the States quite unenjoyable. She tried to stay positive, but it was hard considering the circumstances. Soon the end of May reared its ugly face, and it was time for the Baynes to move. Most of their possessions had been shipped overseas already, leaving the house empty and unfamiliar. Artemis spent most of her time in her bedroom, but by their final night even that was no longer comforting. All that remained was her sleeping bag, a duffel bag full of books, and her most prized possession: a picture of her mother, Jocelyn, and her standing in front of the house on Artemis' first day of school. The last thing she remembered before drifting off to sleep was her mother's bright smile.

The next morning Daniel was up and rapping on Artemis' bedroom door before sunrise. After eating a quick breakfast of cereal and an orange, the duo packed their final items, stowed them in the car, and set off for the airport. Artemis grumbled about this and that the entire morning. She only stopped they pulled out of the driveway, and she turned around in her seat to watch their house disappear into the darkness.

"This will be good for us, Artemis," Daniel said, watching his daughter in the rear view mirror. She slumped back in her seat and sighed.

The sun was peaking over the treetops when they reached the airport, and almost an hour later their plane was lifting off into the orange morning sky. Their first flight was from Knoxville to Detroit. They touched ground just after nine in the morning and snacked on some peanuts while they waited for their next flight. In an effort to burn time during the hour-long layover, they wandered around the gigantic airport and browsed throughout the shops. Artemis felt overwhelmed by the size of the building and was happy when their flight number was called over the speakers. She felt jittery as they boarded this time from both nervousness and excitement. This next flight was the long stretch from Detroit to Amsterdam, and it would be tomorrow by the time they landed again. Her eyes were glued to the window as they flew past Lake Erie and over Lake Ontario. Once back over land she began to lose interest and turned her attention to Daniel, who was engrossed in his book.

"Dad, where exactly are we moving?"

"My hometown, Aberdyfi."

"What's it like there?"

"The town is pretty small, but I'm sure it's bigger than when I was a lad. It sits right on the coast, though it's quite secluded, and it's in a national park. It'll be different from what you're used to, but I think you'll enjoy it. The area is breathtakingly beautiful."

"What about the house?"

"Well, it's actually a mansion, and trust me when I say it's very unique. It started out as just a tiny hut way back in 78."

"Like... 1778?"

"No, just 78. This year is 2005; that year was 78." Artemis' jaw dropped. "In the beginning it was nothing more than wood and mud, but over the years each generation of my family improved upon it until it is what it is today."

"How big is it?" Artemis asked eagerly.

"Let's see," Daniel sighed. "There are twelve wings, and each is roughly the size of a small house. There's the kitchen, dining room, office, library, bedrooms, sun room, indoor pool, and indoor garden. I think that's everything, but it's been quite a while since I've been there. Since we were in America when my parents passed away, I let my brother take care of the house. He's been running it as a bed-and-breakfast."

"Wow." Artemis was too astonished to say much more. "I thought only rich people got to live in mansions. Now I do, too!"

Daniel chuckled and said, "Well, we're not exactly poor anymore."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"There's a lot of old wealth in my family. Even after splitting it between my brother and me we're still sitting on a pretty stack." Artemis opened her mouth to say something, but he quickly cut her off. "One thing you must always remember is to never let wealth change you, unless it's for the better. Okay?" Artemis quickly nodded and sat back in her seat. There were so many things going through her mind she was worried it was going to short-circuit. She looked out the window and watched the ocean waves below them until she drifted off to sleep.

The next thing Artemis knew, they were landing in Amsterdam. "What time is it?" she grumbled through her sleepy haze.

"Here, it's one o'clock in the afternoon. Back in America, it's seven in the morning." She moaned and shuffled her feet as the plane emptied. They faced another layover, but this one was nearly two hours long. Luckily that left them with plenty of time for lunch, so they visited a small restaurant near the terminal. Their full bellies made them sleepy, and they almost missed their plane to London, just making it to the gate as the last boarding call blared over the speakers. Despite the long layover, the flight was only an hour long, and Artemis was happy when they were back on solid ground for good.

"I'll be glad if I never see another plane for as long as I live," she huffed as they retrieved their luggage. The last leg of their journey was a five hour car ride, but Artemis didn't care because her uncle, Ben, had come to drive them to Wales. She couldn't contain her excitement when she spotted him leaning against his van and took off sprinting in his direction. She slammed into him at full speed, but he was a large, stocky man and lifted her into the air.

"Little Arty!" he cried as he pulled her into a tight hug. "It's been too long!" When he finally released her she was eagerly welcomed by her aunt, Gracie, and her two cousins, Marcus and Kimberly.

"Is that the new baby?" Artemis asked, peering at the bundle in Gracie's arms.

"Yes," she replied, showing Artemis its face. "This is Hunter. He's just three weeks old now." Artemis thought he looked like a potato, but she held her tongue and smiled politely.

"Brother!" Ben bellowed before he pulled Daniel into a strong hug. Ben squeezed his brother like an empty toothpaste tube and laughed. "Don't worry, soon you'll be big and strong like me." Daniel laughed politely and muttered under his breath as he stowed their luggage in the trunk. Once everything and everyone was in the car, they began their journey home. It had been four years since they'd seen each other, and the car buzzed with conversation all the way home. It was dark outside once the family arrived at Ben and Gracie's house, so they ate a quick dinner and rushed off to bed. Kim was out in a matter of minutes, but Artemis stared at the upper bunk and listened to the sound of her cousin's soft snoring. Eventually the rhythmic sound coaxed her to sleep where she was thrown into a senseless dream. She saw glimpses of three people she was sure she'd never met: a dark-haired boy with glasses, a girl with a mane of wild brown hair, and a pale red-headed boy. She also saw a towering castle, a talking hat, and an old man with twinkling blue eyes.