"Papa is back!" I yelled. Mama came outside. Papa been gone for all day yesterday. That meant 2 things. He couldn't find anything, or he took all day digging, which would mean more money. Archeologists pay more money if the artifact was really ancient. When my father saw me he said, "Zia! How are you, my little sunshine? Papa picked me up. Then he sat me down and went to my mother. "Is dinner ready, because I am starving," asked Papa. "Yes," said Mama. After dinner, Papa showed us what he had found in the desert. When he unwrapped it, I gasped. It was an ugly statue carved from red sandstone. But, it wasn't that what scared me. Papa was going on about there was shards of similar looking statues around it. "I still can't figure out why this one is still intact, but something is important about this little figurine." Mama agreed. "I don't like it," I said. Mama and Papa didn't notice I was moving away from them until that moment. "Zia," Mama said sympathetically, "I promise, if the statue tries to harm you, it will have to deal with me first". I didn't want Mama to make that promise, but I nodded. That night, I had a terrible nightmare of the statue's monstrous face and it moved and hissed like it was alive. The next day Papa went out to sell the figurine. I was really worried for Papa. I wanted him to destroy that thing, but when I told him, he just told me not to worry. It had only been 5 minutes after Papa left when Mama and I heard a scream. One of Papa's friends opened the door panting. Mama already knew something was wrong. "Where is-" "Can't find him," the man said. "The village is in danger!" "The statue! It's alive!" I screamed. Behind the man, the figurine combusted him. Mama closed the door while the man screamed in pain. Mama blocked the door, but the little monster banged on the door. Mama picked me up and put me in the fireplace. She put a stack of reeds above me. Then Mama turned. Before she could do anything else, I grabbed her. "Mama! Where's Papa?" Mama didn't meet my eyes. I could tell what she was about to do. "Don't," I pleaded. Mama fixed her eyes on me, "Don't worry Zia. I am going to find Papa. Also, I made you a promise," Mama said. I didn't want her leave or to keep her promise to me. She went out the back exit. I could still here screaming outside. Then it stopped. All I could hear was the pounding of my heartbeat. I thought of the monster was gone. No such luck. The thing banged on the door and tried to force it opened. The evil thing struggled for 3 times. When I thought it would give up, it finally broke through. It looked around. I realized that evil creature was after me. When he got near the fireplace, I could swear I heard a voice. If snakes could talk, they would sound like the statue. "Where are you little Zia? Where isss the pessst that can ssstop my plansss?" I tried to keep very silent. The statue kept talking, "Why fight againssst me? Your parentsss are now dead, everyone you knew are now dead, and sssoon you shall be dead." No! I held back a sob. This thing had to be telling a lie. But I heard a ring of truth in its tone. I must have moved something, because the figurine turned towards the fireplace. It hissed in amusement. Before it could touch even a tip of a reed. It turned and went outside. I counted to 10. Then the monster tried to run to the doorway, but erupted to light. "One day Zia," "I will dessstroy..." He couldn't finished the rest before he exploded. I saw a group of men coming in the door way including one white man who had a thick foreign accent, with a black beard and mustache. He wore cream colored robes and his eyes showed anger. I'd been told that my Amber eyes were startling, but his were scary. Another man had milky brown skin and instead of scary, the old man had kind eyes that glinted with humor. He turned to his comrades and told them to see if anyone was still around. Then, he told one man to stay watch. "Yes Iskandar," they all said in unison. They had destroyed the statue, which meant they were all very powerful. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? I didn't want to find out. The man who had stayed pulled something out of his satchel. A staff. He looked around for a while. When he finished looking, he sat down putting his staff on the floor. The staff rolled towards me. I had to get out of here or at least get the men out of here. A sense of calmness washed over me. The only way was I had to be brave. I picked up the staff, came out as quietly as I could, and step towards the man. The floor went creek. The man turned in surprise. "Go away," I squeaked. I wished I had fire. Then the staff's tip burned. I hit the strange man's foot. The man yelled in pained. He grabbed his foot saying "hot foot! Ow, ow, ow!" Then he ran out on one foot. I was surprised. How did I summoned fire? But now I was tired. I went to the doorway. I saw the man I had burned talking to a comrade. "You were defeated by a child? Yeah right" the man with burned foot argued it was true. Then the scary and kind man asked were there any survivors, "Yes Desjardan and Iskandar. She burned my foot!" Desjardan raised an eyebrow and Iskandar suppressed a laugh. "Where?" The burned foot man pointed to my direction. I wished for fire again, even though I felt like passing out. I hid and waited for them to come in. When they past where I was hiding, I decided to go forth with my plan. I charge from behind. I hit one guy with the flaming staff. I was able hit 3 more men (including the man I already hit in the foot) before Desjardan picked me up. The fire died. I didn't want to create more of it, so I kicked and punched. However, he held me out, so I basically kicked and punched at nothing. When I tired myself out, he put me down. I tried to look intimating, which wasn't so hard since I was full of anger. "Who are you? What do you want?" The old man seemed to be trying to burn into my soul, but not angrily. Finally, he reached to decision. "I am Iskandar. You have a very powerful aura." I stared at him. Me? Powerful? I couldn't even save my family, let alone be powerful! But, it would explain the flaming staff. "What do you want with me?" I asked. Again! Iskandar reached out his hand. "I want to help you. If you want, I can train you, teach you, and prepare you for other magic as powerful and dangerous as that demon." Magic, demons. Staffs, auras, strange men. It seemed a ridiculous thought, but it would explain the way I summoned fire. Iskandar may had wanted to train me, but Desjardan looked like he wanted to object. When he looked at me, his expression changed to mildly shock. I had no home, no family, not even friends. I had nothing. But, this kind man was offering all of this. Usually, I wouldn't trust strangers, but I could tell by everything about him was kind and caring. "Will you come with me?" asked Iskandar. I looked him in the eyes and said firmly, "yes"