Chap 1

16 years had passes since that day. Aina had become everything her parents had feared: a miserable lonely witch with no family, no friends and no real place to call home. Aina knew the sole reason for this: she was dangerous; her magic was too powerful and unpredictable. Margon had commanded her to control it many times. She couldn't though, she didn't mean to hurt those people, it just….happened. Margon was able to magic as well, but she had only seen it do harm to herself. He would use harsh and painful spells to try and teach her to control her power. Nothing ever worked. The only thing their "sessions" ever taught her was to fear him beyond anything or anyone else in her life. She learned to hate magic, for it brought nothing but pain and misery to her meager existence.

She lay flat on her stomach, spinning a wooden top on the floor with the tip of her fingers. She was located in the back corner of the playroom, as far away from the other orphans as possible. She grabbed her child's toy off the ground and squeezed it tightly, trying to ignore the hunger pains in her stomach. She had been starving herself to try and weaken her powers for the past week; not surprisingly, the idea's origin traced back to Margon. Her malnourishment seemed to have little effect of her magical abilities, sometimes she wondered if Margon did half the things he did to her just because he enjoyed seeing her in pain. 'What I wouldn't do for just a tiny morsel of food!' she thought. She shook her head, dreading what would happen to her if she attempted such a thing.

Someone slammed a door shut nearby. She jumped in surprise. When the person turned out to be another orphan, she tried to resume playing with her top, only to find that the thing had dissolved to ashes in her hand. Frustrated, she threw the remains of her toy across the room. Her bad luck only progressed as the ashes set alright, producing a small fireball aimed at the other orphans. The children shrieked and moved out of the way, luckily, and a few of the other ones put out the small fire through a series of stomps. The very eldest of the group, a ginger named Ricky, turned towards her and shouted "What the bloody hell is wrong with you? Are you trying to kill us?"

Aina backed away and cowered in a corner "I-I'm sorry" she stammered

"Sorry? Sorry? I'll teach you to be sorry!"

Aina raised her forearm to block his blow. The results of this were unfortunate.

An invisible force threw Ricky against the wall, knocking him unconscious. Tears rolled out of Aina's eyes as she realized the horror of what she had just done. The door swung open. Margon was outraged

"AINA!"

She curled up into a ball, closing her eyes. Oh god, she was in so much trouble…..