Chapter One

The Garden

Persephone woke up suddenly from a nightmare. No, it was more a horrible memory. Her bedroom looked different somehow, not just because it was still new to her since her old room had caught fire. That part of the house was closed for what she hoped would be forever. No, her new room looked different from when she closed her eyes to sleep; everything was lower. Then she realized she couldn't feel her bed beneath her and it dawned on Persephone that nothing had lowered at all, she was just higher up.

Persephone was floating.

And then, just like in the cartoons, the second after she realized she was floating she fell back into her bed.

This was one of many magical happenings that Persephone found herself doing since her father died.

The first was at her father's funeral. Her mother gave her a flower to hold and put on the casket when it was time, but Persephone was so sad that the flower wilted in her hand. She became distraught and tried to help the flower stand tall again, by sheer power of her will the flower was lively and vibrant again, like it had just bloomed.

Another time she lit the fire place in the sitting room with just her mind. Persephone had gotten so angry thinking about that night, when the fireplace suddenly roared to life she screamed and started crying uncontrollably. A maid rushed to get her mother and she took Persephone to see a therapist.

Ophelia Croft seemed to become a different person after the death of her husband. While she had always been concerned with the opinions of high society, without her husband there to distract or temper her ambitions she became obsessed. And she put a lot of pressure on Persephone to live up to her standards.

Persephone's home was beginning to feel more like a cage. Her mother became more overprotective, reinforcing all the doors and windows, taking Persephone out of school so she received her education as well as lessons in dance, music, and etiquette all inside her family manor. Staff became limited and were thoroughly vetted. Persephone was constantly watched by nannies, tutors, or servants.

She could count the times she's left the estate since her father's death on one hand.

It became unbearable. Her mother didn't know how to grieve herself or how to comfort Persephone; everytime she found the young girl crying the therapist was phoned. Persephone didn't even have the comfort of grieving with her sister. She saw Lara only once during their father's funeral and then she was sent back to boarding school. There was the summer after of course, but they hardly had time alone together before Ophelia sent Lara to summer camp.

The estate's large garden became a refuge for Persephone, her nanny was actually more lax than her mother would like and didn't watch her too closely out in the garden, so it was easy to lose her if she wanted. The young girl would spend her time singing to the flowers, bringing the wilted petals back to life and making young buds bloom. Often times her mind would wander to the last story her dad told her, wishing that the earth would swallow her up as well.

Persephone cried often too, even as she sang to the flowers. The loneliness of the garden provided her the freedom to grieve without her mother rushing to phone about it.

"You have a lovely voice!" A tiny voice squeaked out one day. Persephone was startled to find a tiny winged girl in a dress made out of rose petals. A fairy, she recognized, just like in the storybooks.

"Thank you." She replied, blushing.

"Sing another song!" A another, even smaller voice suggested. Suddenly there were three of them. Three fairies dressed in flower-petal dresses. The second one that spoke wore an orange ruffled dress that looked like an upside down marigold.

"Yes please!" The third fairy, dressed in a Periwinkle dress, agreed.

Persephone did as requested, singing a song her father used to sing with her. The three fae enjoyed it, dancing and singing along. They pestered Persephone for more and more and the girl complied until her nanny called for her. All the while she hadn't realized that her sadness had started to ebb.

After that day the fairies spent more time around Persephone, seeking her out even during her lessons. They played light tricks on her tutors, making pencils and diagrams disappear and reappear while they weren't looking. Persephone was able to play her violin for them, making practice much more enjoyable. She snuck out sweets and bowls of cream from the kitchens for them and in turn they helped her tidy her room.

Persephone taught them many games, such as tag and hide-and-seek. They played in the garden or in her room where no one would see. The three fae even taught her how to fly, and so Persephone enjoyed flying around her room playing tag with them.

The three fairies didn't have names Persephone could pronounce, so she named them after the color of their dresses. The first one she met was Rose and the other two were Marigold and Periwinkle, Mari and Peri for short.

One fair spring day Persephone ran through the garden, her nanny had lost her for at least half an hour. Rose, Mari and Peri were counting to thirteen, the four were playing hide and seek and it was Persephone against the three of them. A circle of mushrooms were just ahead and while the three fae had told her something about such a circle, Persephone couldn't remember what it was.

Without much notice, Persephone stepped into the circle and found herself in a new and strange land. The realm of the fae, as she'd later learn. The sky was purple and the grass was yellow but lively. Flowers would bloom randomly and then close up suddenly as if they only wanted to take a peek at the strange new girl in their meadow.

She thought briefly of turning back, but looking back she only saw more of the strange realm, a dense forest with a purple-grey fog threading itself betwixt the trees. The only way out was forward, she surmised.

The further she entered the more strange the world around her became. Trees, gnarled and twisted, looked like they had faces and were watching her as she passed. Even as it frightened her, Persephone knew she couldn't go back. She felt as if something was drawing her in.

Shining blue lights flickered just ahead, getting farther and farther as she came near. It looked to Persephone as if they were leading a path so she followed it deeper into the magical woods.

The blue lights led her to a cottage.

Persephone wondered briefly if there would be an old hag living there to eat her, but this is where she was meant to be; she could feel it.

The heavy door swung open after the first knock, though no one was behind it, so Persephone, feeling as if that was all the invitation she needed, entered the cottage. She found it to be much bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. There were several archways leading off the main room and a set of stairs that led up to a floor Persephone couldn't see from the outside. The living room was cluttered with all sorts of odd objects piled on the furniture and floor. A black cat was watching her from the its place on the back of the couch. She tipped toed, careful not to step on anything, to an archway leading to what looked like a kitchen.

The kitchen seemed outdated. A wood burning stove was on and a cauldron was bubbling on its top. Persephone went over to see what was cooking. She had to stand on her tiptoes to see over the edge of the cauldron, the liquid inside was a very vibrant purple hue.

Although Persephone didn't know what was in the cauldron, she could tell by it's scent that it wasn't ready yet. It had stopped bubbling as the heat died down, she took that to mean it needed attention soon. Looking around the kitchen Persephone found some very bizarre ingredients: a jar of lizard eyes, a vial of what looked to be mucus, and bat wings were just some the things she came across.

Smelling around the kitchen, Persephone stopped when she came across some sprigs of a plant with small white flowers. She smelled the plant and then the potion once more before adding four sprigs of the small plant and stirring the concoction with a wooden spoon set aside the cauldron. Persephone didn't know what compelled her to add anything at all to the potion, but her senses were telling her it was the right thing even if her mind didn't know why. She stirred the potion seven times until it turned a deeper purple color.

"What are you doing?"

Persephone was startled by the sudden voice, even though she was the trespasser. A man stood there, not looking anything like the old lady Persephone assumed lived in the cottage. He had dark hair, a trim goatee, he wore a light blue shirt with the top three buttons undone and a chartreuse vest. His nails were painted black, he wore eyeliner, and had on several necklaces and rings. To Persephone he looked like a stage magician one might see at a carnival or on TV.

"Sebastian, why did you let this girl in?" The black cat from earlier came into the kitchen, it almost looked like it shrugged in response.

"Sorry," Persephone said once she had her wits back, "I was just helping." She pointed to the cauldron with the purple liquid.

"Helping?" He asked, eyebrow raised. "You don't even know what I was making."

"That's true." She conceded. "But this smells right."

"Hm… let me see what you've done." The man looked into the cauldron and wafted up the fumes. "It does smell right. What year are you in?"

"Year? I'm 9, well almost 9. I'm 8 and a half."

"So you haven't been to Hogwarts?"

"Hogwarts? What's that?"

"It's a school for magic." He told her, as if he assumed that's something she should know. The man, suddenly realizing something, looked at her critically, "How did you get here?"

"Um...I was playing with my friends. And I came across this circle of mushrooms."

"Yes, the portal to the faerie realm. But how did you get here, to my cottage? Most creatures out there don't like mortals trespassing on their land. Anyone who enters this realm is usually tricked or mislead until they are impossibly lost."

"I was guided here." She said. "By these blue lights."

"The will-o-wisps? Interesting." He stared at her intensely and Persephone felt a stinging sensation in her mind.

"What were you making?" Persephone asked, trying to distract herself from the pain in her head. A second later the sensation was gone.

"A potion for dreamless sleep." He said.

"Dreamless sleep?" She looked very hopeful for a moment. "Can I have some of it, please?" She asked, bashfully.

The man's eyes softened, as if he just realized he was speaking to a young girl, only a child. "Are your dreams bothering you, Princess?"

Persephone's eyes watered at the nickname and her throat tightened. It was suddenly difficult to speak, so she simply nodded in response.

"Then I'll bottle some up for you." He said as he poured some of the concoction in a vial. "You did a good job on this potion, finished it perfectly. Now remember, you don't need to drink the whole thing. You're small enough two teaspoons should do."

"Thank you, mister…"

"Magnus Bane." There were three small knocks on the front door. Magnus turned back to the cat, "Sebastian, get the door."

The cat gave a withering look at his owner, but stalked back into the living room. A moment later Rose, Marigold, and Periwinkle flew into the kitchen.

"There you are!"

"We're so so sorry ."

"She got away from us"

"It's quite alright, she did no harm."

"You know him?" Persephone asked her fae friends.

"Of course they know me," Magnus answered, "I'm the great Sorcerer Magnus Bane."

"If you're such a great Sorcerer, why is your house a mess?" Persephone asked abruptly and winced at her own faux pas. She didn't intend for the question to be rude, it just came out that way.

Magnus Bane's eyes shone gold for a brief moment.

"Redecorating." He replied, "now if you don't mind I would much prefer to continue outside my kitchen."

Persephone followed him into the living room, but she wasn't sure that she walked into the right room. The mess was no longer there, everything had miraculously found a place to be and it looked neat and tidy.

"Ah...much better." The cat, Sebastian stretched out on the now spotless floor. "Thanks kid, I've been trying to get that koot to clean up for a week."

It took a moment for Persephone to process what she heard. "Did… did your cat just speak?"

"Yes, he does that often. Interesting that you understood him though. Not many people can." Magnus said, sounding more aloof than interested.

"Why not?" She asked.

"Because not many people understand," Magnus paused for a moment, looking to Sebastian, "what was it you called it? Meowinese? Cat-onese? Doesn't matter, cat talk, the language of cats. What else can you understand?"

"Not that question," she quipped. "What do you mean? I understand English, my mother is having me learn French but I haven't really caught on yet."

"You will," Magnus said, "at least the speaking part. If I'm right."

"Right about what?"

Magnus kneeled in front of Persephone so he could look her in the eyes. "The strange occurrences that have been happening around you Persephone, the instance with my potion, the fact that you can speak to my cat and even your fairy friends here… even just finding yourself here in my cottage is proof enough."

"Proof enough of what?" Persephone asked, but in her heart she already knew. She had magic, that's what caused the flowers to bloom. And what caused the fire that consumed her old room. Magic was how Magnus knew her name without her telling him.

"You're a sorceress, Persephone."

"Is that like a witch?"

Magnus shook his head, "No. Well, sort of. A very powerful witch. But different. Our magic is more potent and attune to nature and all its creatures. That's why you can speak to your fairy friends here and to my cat. Sorcerers can speak to all living things, we've got the gift of tongues. And many more."

"She's very powerful," Rose added, "the strongest I'd seen in a long time."

"I could teach you some things, especially how to control that magic of yours." Magnus asked, "How would you like to be my apprentice?"