Disclaimer- I own nothing. Well, I do own my iPod... but that's about it.

Hey, everybody. I hope you all have a Happy New Year. By the way, sorry if Italics hurt anyone's eyes. A good portion of this chapter is told in Italics. Oh, and does anyone have any ideas about who the buffoon is? He's not an OC... Anyways, here's Chapter 14.

Magyk in a Box

Chapter 14

There was no table of contents in the book, much to Christina's dismay. She was going to have to read the entire thing to find anything interesting. So, she started at the very beginning... a very good place to start (sorry, I had to throw that in). Then, sitting herself in a comfortable chair, she began to read.

Prologue

This book is about the history of Gifts, as well as a lost of all the Gifts and a detailed description of this. If you are reading this, you are either curious about Gifts or fear that you yourself is Gifted. I warn you this- if you truly are Gifted, it is no easy road.

Deciding that the rest of the Prologue would be boring after skimming through it, she started again at the first chapter.

Chapter One

The Gift of Hearing

The Gift of Hearing was first discovered in...

Christina continued to skim, going past Gifts such as Fire, Knives, Poison, Sight, Smell, Breath, and many others. She even came across the Gift of Shoes, which she read breifly just because of how weird it sounded. About 300 pages of skimming later, something a little strange caught her eye. In fact, it seemed sort of like a coincidence that it was even there. Deciding that it wouldn't hurt to read it, Christina stopped skimming and read the chapter.

Chapter 30

The Gift of Ice

The Gift of Ice is considered to be the rarest and most powerful Gift of them all. It was origionally discovered 5,000 years ago when a person by the name of Hocculus Max discovered that he had this power. He soon made the fatal mistake of telling this to one of his friends, who contacted the Guards instantly. The Guards arrived at the home of Max and had him killed. Of course, normally Gifted people are normally imprisoned (as you learned in the Prologue), but Max's case was different. No Gift discovered in the past was nearly as strong as his and not nearly as threatening. The Guards simply did what they thought they must.

The Gift of Ice is supposed to be very easy to spot. Not only will the Gifted person have incredible Magyk abilities, but they will also, of course, have the Ice powers. No one other than people with this Gift can do these things, and therefore spotting the Gift of Ice is much easier than most. If you can do anything below, you would have this Gift.

1. Be able to freeze time

2. Be able to make it snow for a very long time, in a much larger area than a normal person could

3. Be able to freeze virtually anything in its tracks- water, other beings, etc.

4. Be able to command Snowmen

5. Be able to make ice appear out of thin air

6. Be able to shoot ice shards in prectically any direction, hit whoever you want, and spare whoever you choose

Oh. My. God. With trembling hands, Christina continued reading.

Note that this Gift has not been seen since its discovery. It is extremely rare and in some opinions, not even considered a Gift, although the people who think otherwise outnumber those.

What to do if you have this Gift-

The author's suggestion is that you go away and hide. If the Queen's Guards still exist in your Time, do not tell anyone if you want to live. As I mentioned in the Prologue, they will kill you instantly.

The chapter ended and Christina sat back, pondering things. There wasn't much to ponder- she had the Gift of Ice, and there was no doubting that. But why should she hide from others? Trust me to skip one of the only important parts in the entire book, she thought to herself. Then, with her thumb still marking Chapter 30, she turned back to the Prologue and read what she thought was necessary.

The Queen's Guards is a secret organization meant to exterminate a Gifted person. They were first established roughly 10,000 years after the publication of this book. It is suspected that the Guards were established after the first few Gifted people appeared. Why, you ask, were the Guards created in the first place? It is said that the first Gifted person used her power to overthrow the Castle. Since then, any Gifted person found has been persecuted. They are called the Queen's Guards because of who established them- the very first Queen. Although she was reportedly against killing, she believed that the deaths of the Gifted people was for the good of the Castle.

Because of this, finding a Gifted person is much harder than it used to be. In fact, it is believed that some rare Gifts are no longer around. Many years ago, the Queen's Guards could be seen patrolling the Castle every night- now, they are rarely seen unless they hear of a reported case.

So, not only was Christina Gifted, but her life would be in danger if she told anyone. Not like anyone was around to listen. She sat the book down on the table, dog earing both the Prologue and Chapter 30. Still, she had to learn more about her Gift. But how?

Beetle was in the Badlands, incredible thirsty yet still determined. He couldn't explain why he had left the safety of the Castle and instantly begun to search the most dangerous place he could think of, but if Jenna was here, she definitely needed his help. He continued walking, as he had been for the past few hours. Dusk was approaching, and he couldn't help but think about how stupid he was for not making further arrangements on where to sleep. He reminded himself about the Land Wurms, shuddering at the idea of being caught by one.

"You! You there!" someone behind him called. Beetle turned around and saw the figure that had called to him. He looked like a kindly man, except for the fact that his clothes were a little odd. They were bright colors, spotted, striped, and as ridiculous looking as you could picture.

"Um... yes?" Beetle replied sheepishly.

"I am known around the Port as Funny Bob. I am a buffoon in the Circus there. I couldn't help but notice that you are a lone boy in a very dangerous area. Would you like to spend the night in my caravan? It isn't very far away."

Beetle paused and thought for a moment. There were many things a child was not supposed to do, and one of them was to go with a stranger to a place one didn't know in the middle of the night. Either way, he nodded his head and followed Funny Bob to his caravan. Beetle just sighed and figured that if he didn't get to shelter, no matter what would happen to him there, the Land Wurms would surely get him if he didn't.

"So, what's your name?" Bob asked.

"...Daffodil?" Beetle said, saying the first thing that came into his mind. Whether he was avoiding the Land Wurms or not, he wasn't giving this creep his real name.

"Daffodil? That's an odd name for a boy, but okay. You are a boy... aren't you? It's kind of dark."

"Yes, I am a boy." What kind of stupid question was that?

Beetle and Funny Bob walked on, Bob making small talk the entire way. Beetle felt ridiculously uneasy, but there wasn't anything he could do. Soon enough, the duo made it to the trailers of the Circus. Each caravan was titled-

FISHHEAD AND DURDLE'S

TRAVELING CIRCUS

AND MENAGERIE

The caravans were also each painted a bright color. Beetle followed Bob to one of the caravans parked nearest to the end. Bob took a key out of his pocket and opened the door.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Bob asked. He ushered Beetle inside, locking the door behind him.