Chapter 1
The moon shines eerily bright over New York, a dark-blue figure holding a long stick with a bright circular light on top of it. An old man, he wears a blue long robe, a pointy, funny-shaped hat and the shoes of a jester; he holds his staff up high at the street lights and mutters in an enchanting language.
"Laccio Numolux Ala Riductio..." The lights slowly dies down and soon everything was in darkness and silence...
A figure of a white owl flies passes the mysterious old man and lands on a thick branch.
"Good evening, Gamma." he says to the owl, which leaves the branch and lands on his staff swiftly,
"Good afternoon to you, too, Merle." the owl, which is now known as Gamma, responds politely, then immediately asks "Headmaster, are you sure that she'll be suitable for this environment? I have been watching this place for the whole day, and believe me, This is one of the worst place a child could be raised in!"
"It sounded as if you have several queries about this matter, Gamma." Merle chuckled at his pet's worried tone, "Nevertheless, until the attacks at Ravenwood are decreased, our students are better far off from the Spiral. It's just too dangerous, especially for her."
"This child is going to be growing up far away from our lives, until someday, when she will finally discover what she's truly capable of." Gamma added. They stopped by 'St. Georgia's Home For Girls' Orphanage'.
"Now," Merle went on, "we wait."
In the distant, several shadows stretched towards them on the streets: they were Professor Dalia Falmea, Moolinda Wu, Halston Balestrom, Lydia Greyrose and Cyrus Drake.
"Good evening, professors." Merle greeted with a slight nod.
"Good evening." said Falmea,
"Why, hello, Merle." Wu replied.
"Nice stormy weather tonight!" Balestrom commented.
"How do you do?" Greyrose spoke.
"This is simply pointless!" Cyrus grumbled.
"Now, we all know why we came here." Merle started, "Moolinda, do you have the young wizard with you?"
"Yes, Merle. She's right here." Moolinda revealed an infant girl, asleep in her arms. Professor Wu gently shifted the child into Headmaster Ambrose's arms. He slowly slid the baby onto a doormat and placed a note along with her as Balestrom rapidly knocked the enormous door.
They were able to slip away quick enough from the brightened streets just before the door creaked. A woman stepped out as she surveyed around the road, and heard a soft cry from the child just beside her feet.
Moolinda sniffed into her handkerchief as they witnessed the woman carried the little girl into the orphanage.
"Oh, there, there, Moolinda. This isn't going to be the last time we see her!" Merle Ambrose whispered and smiled, the sun was slowly rising at the horizons as Gamma watched,
"Perhaps we should get going, Merle."
"Indeed, Gamma." Merle answered quietly.
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"Jasmine! Jasmine? You up?" Aunt Bee excitedly came up to the attic dormitory, "The Penningtons are coming for an interview with you in two minutes sharp!"
Aunt Bee was a very wise woman, not quite old enough to be Jas' grandmother. Her tied-up hair had gray lines on her fringe, and her bright brown, squared-framed glasses really brought out the blue in her eyes.
"Okay!" Jasmine slowly stepped away from the window, she exhaled as she thought to herself. This time! This time for sure! She glanced at the sketches which were just outlined perfectly. Hopefully perfect enough to impress these Penningtons. Now don't you freaking screw up this time!
Jas wasn't a bad kid, in fact, she was a genuinely decent, expressive, lively when she had to yet sensitive girl that wasn't so lucky when it came to showing her fair share of hobbies. When many other "cool" girls she knew preferred mini-pedis, shopping their hearts out, texting till their eyes bleed; she had her own aesthetic way to pass the time. And it could be proven by the graffiti and all the pages of her work that were stuck onto the wooden walls. Unfortunately, none of them were helpful enough for the past 15 years. Not because they were bad, it was because things happen whenever she was under pressure, and it happened to every interviewers she came across. "No pressure," She whispered to herself, "seriously."
"Nothing says 'adopt me' like scraps of crappy doodles..." Her roommate grumbled, sarcasm heavily dripping from each word. Jas despised her so much that she never bothered to know her name. "Seriously, though. What's the point of trying so hard when you know nobody is going to adopt you?"
"What do you know?" Jas glared as she murmured.
"They're here!" Aunt Bee squealed,
Hearing that, the anger and frustration developed a minute ago were gone as if they evaporated. "Alright, I think I'm ready!" Jas quickly grabbed the sketchbook, and prayed under her breath as she left the room.
"Jas! Wait!" Jas turned as Aunt Bee started adjusting her jacket and smoothing her dark-indigo hair, "Now remember: smile, sit up straight, look at them in the eyes. Let me just fix your- oh." Aunt Bee pauses as she discovered pencil markings on her cheekbone.
"Aunt Bee..." Jas groaned.
"Oh, alright! Right!" Aunt Bee said as she dusted her shoulder, "Now go show them how special you are!"
Jas nodded and delightedly exited the room. "I hope this is it!" Aunt Bee breathed nervously, "Let's hope she'll really get adopted today!"
"She's toast." muttered a voice from Jas' room.
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"So, Jasmine. Do you like movies?" Mr. Pennington asked as Mrs. Pennington was holding a notebook. Both of them were blonde, wearing business suites, and staring at Jas intently.
"Uh, no. I don't watch movies often, and we don't have a lot of DVDs in the orphanage." Jas answered nervously. Every time when facing an interview, she felt more like being interrogated. Jas wondered may be this was why interviews always have to be so intense.
"Well, that explains your posture." Mrs Pennington commented as she started scribbling notes, "So poised, very nice." Jas didn't think of her current position as 'poised', she preferred 'petrified'.
She gulped at the speed of Mrs. Pennington's writing.
"Now, what sports do you enjoy?" She asked again.
"I don't do any sports. I usually prefer doing something like these." Jas held up her sketchbook, which Mr. Pennington swiftly snatched from her.
"How original. Very creative. Quite a potential, indeed!" He stated as he examined the drawings. Jas jumped as he slammed the book closed. "How is it looking, hon?"
"Well, she answered all the questions!" Mrs. Pennington replied.
"Perfect!" He exclaimed delightfully.
"Does that mean I'm gonna be adopted?" Jas couldn't help grinning. She almost stood up from her chair.
"Why, of course!" Mr. Pennington yelled. "According to the research my wife have been taking for the last hour, forty-seven minutes and twenty-one seconds, your artistic nature proves you possess the steady Cerebellum and Limbic System!"
Jas' mind went blank. "Uh... Wut?"
"We're scientists, you see. Even though our degrees weren't exactly legally achieved." Mrs. Pennington explained, "And at the moment, we're investigating some other people's ways of functioning in their brains."
"B-brains?" The lights flickered for a mini second as she felt beads of sweat on her forehead. Shit.
"Our son is currently suffering adjustment disorder, which occurs in his brain..."
"And we're trying to replace it."
That did it.
All of the windows shattered, and a nearby flower pot exploded, now there were dirt allover their faces. Jas winced as fragments from the broken glass grazed her skin.
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"I hope you enjoyed-" Aunt Bee paused to gasp, "What on earth happened!?"
"Thank you, Mrs. Collins. But that girl is definitely not suitable for us!" Jas saw Mr. Pennington yelled furiously with Mrs. Pennington sobbing and quivering in fear, as she peeked from her attic door just before the entrance doors were slammed close. God, I wanna slap someone. She growled in her head.
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Aunt Bee gently knocked the door as she came in. Jasmine was leaning against the window frame with a mug in her hand, several empty coffee packs lied on the floor beside the bed. "Four Cappuccinos. Not a good sign." Jas slowly turned her head, her auburn eyes shifted from the ground to Aunt Bee, who exhaled softly as she stared at Jas' anguished aspect. "Dinner is ready, you can come down anytime now."
"I lost my appetite..." Jas grumbled morosely,
Aunt Bee slowly approached her, "Listen, we just haven't find... uh-" She paused for a thought, "the most suitable family for you!"
"For 135 times..." Jas said gloomily.
"E-excuse me?" Aunt Bee asked, baffled.
"That how many interviews I had." Jas explained, walking towards the doorway.
"Oh, come now! You're being ridi-" Aunt Bee froze as Jas revealed the back her bedroom door: thousands of markings, grazed into tally marks. "Oh..."
"Plus, I'm fifteen now, everybody knows how difficult for a girl my age to be adopted." Jas sat on her bed with a aggravated sigh. "I might as well give up..."
"Now, Jas-" Aunt Bee began,
"Not even my own parents want me." Jas murmured.
"Stop it now. You don't know that." Aunt Bee said with the most commanding and comforting tone she could muster.
"Then why is it that I'm here?" Jas began to shout.
"They may have been incapable of taking care of you. Did you ever think about that?"
Giving it a real thought: no, she hadn't. Jas felt that she was starting to lose her optimism, which is something she was always good at. "I never thought of it that way..."
"I'm sure your parents must have cared for you very much," Aunt Bee stated, "and bless their soul, wherever they are."
She slouched and sighed deeply as she thought back how rude she was, "I'm sorry, Aunt Bee."
"Come here, sweetie." Aunt Bee embraced her in comfort, which was returned slowly.
"I just want to know what it is to have a family," Jas whimpered, "is that too much to ask for?"
"Oh, don't be such a buzzkill!" Aunt Bee pulled away, "You'll find somewhere that you'll really belong, where you can have your own family. You just have to find out where it is and you'll know it when you can feel it."
"How do I do that?"
"Well, one thing is for sure: you can't do it with an empty stomach!"
Jas' stomach growled softly at that statement,
I never realized just how hungry I was... She managed to crack a smile.
Aunt Bee chuckled, "Now, let's go downstairs where we'll dine peacefully, shall we?"
"Okay."
Author's note: Nothing's happening yet! I feel like this is more like a prologue than a chapter. Then again, it's a little too long to be a prologue.
I really hope this isn't too cliche so far; I've been trying so hard to avoid the whole 'shy girl saving the world' thing that I almost forgot about the other characters! I really hope this is a good start!