Prologue
The falling sun pulled the shadow of a teenage girl walking confidently through the woods into a tall, slim figure. Her thumbs were tucked into the pockets of her jeans, pulling them slightly lower on her hips. Her hood was pulled over her head but quickly fell due to the fast pace she was moving at, revealing hair almost golden in the light. The short waves just barely skimmed the top of her shoulders, framing an inhumanly beautiful face.
She silently counted the trees as she went by, a pastime for her journey. Her light footsteps paused for a moment and she tilted her head to the side, listening for an unseen source of sound. She relaxed after a moment, taking a couple steps to her right and kneeling down. She coaxed a small brown rabbit into her hands and sat down on the forest floor.
A smile alighted on the girl's face as she pet the silky fur. Her eyes suddenly widened as her mind caught up with her actions.
"Oh no," she whispered, "What've I done?" She almost shoved the animal away and sent it into the forest on an impulse, but stopped herself.
"Your mommy's not gonna like you anymore," she said worriedly, brushing her hand over its soft ears. The kit sat contentedly in her arms and she frowned down at it.
"Momma rabbits don't like their children if they've been touched by my kind, you know that?" The girl tilted her head down to stare into its wide brown eyes. "I'm sorry, baby."
She mulled over different options for a moment. "You want to come with me?" she asked, as if the kit would respond. "Yeah. That would be nice. I'm going to find some friends. You can come with me." She smiled to herself and stood with the rabbit still in her arms.
She clicked her fingers together, and with a sharp snap, a small box appeared on the ground. Holding the baby in one arm, she used the other to line the inside of the container with soft grass and plants. She gingerly set the kit in the box and closed the four flaps on top, smoothing her hand over them. Small holes appeared in the lid as her hand passed over the cardboard.
The girl resumed her walk shortly after with the box in her arms, although her pace was slightly slower. She was currently in a town in the upper region of South Carolina. She had major business that needed attending to.
A few hours later, complete with short breaks to play with the rabbit, she arrived at her destination. She shimmied up a tree after placing the box very carefully in her bag and observed a campsite from the air. After reaching one of the topmost branches she pulled the box back out and unfolded the top, holding the rabbit in her arms.
"What's your name?" she whispered to the rabbit. "I don't really like to use particularly usual names, so let's create a new one." The girl ran through a short list of words in her mind and pulled vowels and consonants from them, trying to make a name she liked.
"Ophelica," she said, smiling. "Ophi for short. I like it." She stared into the bunny's wide eyes and nodded, her decision made.
Her eyes snapped back to the campsite as a small scream rang out, preparing to launch down from the tree. Her tense body relaxed as she assessed the situation. She smiled softly at the young girl who had screamed, waving her hand and flicking the spider out of her hair. Two other teenagers that apparently the ones who had pranked her stared after the spider, a small, confused crease in both of their foreheads. The girl in the trees snickered at their expressions before sighing and placing the bunny in her sweatshirt pocket. She nestled her bag into a nook in the tree, the bunny's box inside it.
She weaved small tendrils of magic around the bunny, encasing it in a protective layer. It seemed to panic for a moment before calming. Steadily climbing to her feet, the girl nudged her shoes off and stood on the thin tree branch with her arms spread wide. She took a deep breath before diving forward off the tree branch and fell, fell, fell. Wind whistled through her ears as she plummeted towards the clearing.
That was when people really started to scream.