Chapter 1
I don't like to think about dad. It's hard. Except for that one time every year, I have dreams about what happened. And every year, it gets worse, the laughter gets louder, the pictures clearer, the memory gets more and more vivid. It's been nearly nine years, and I can recall everything, every word, exactly, as if it only happened yesterday.
I'm Ishimaru. An orphan that was adopted at the age of 6. My friends call me Maru. Except, that's not really my name, and I'm not really an orphan either. Well, I might be now, I'm not exactly sure. I just tell my friends that, and they believe me. It's been nine years, but one day, one day I'll find my father.
Perhaps I should tell you what happened. It all happened when I was about 5. I had both my parents back then. Back then, I still lived in Britain, whereas now, I live in Tokyo with my foster parents.
Then, that leads me to say more. I'm a witch, like my mother and father were. I just never went to school for the proper training. My father was a werewolf too. It's weird, most kids grow up afraid of werewolves, yet I never feared them. Even when I was a baby, I never got scared when I heard my father transform. He was my dad, why would I be afraid? I always grew up with a fondness for wolves.
When I was born, my parents were a bit worried. I could have easily inherited the werewolf gene from my father. He didn't want me to grow up being shunned by the community because of what I was. Luckily, I didn't inherit it, which was a great relief to my parents.
I look a lot like dad, or at least, I did when I was younger. He had light brown hair and blue eyes, like I do. Yet he always seemed tired. Mum had black hair and blue eyes. She wore glasses, a trait I inherited, and wasn't very tall. I still have light brown hair, and I wear glasses now, for without them my eyesight isn't very good. How I got green eyes is beyond me. Maybe it's a recessive trait in my family. I'm not sure.
Back then, my name was Erin. Erin Lupin. But that all changed. Everything changed . . . . . . .
It was a dark night. I was about to go to bed, when I heard voices downstairs. My dad came running up to my room, and he took me outside. I didn't see mum anywhere, but as I looked back at the house, I heard evil laughter and saw a flash of blinding green light. I knew enough about the war going on at the time. I knew what that light meant. Mum was dead, murdered. I saw a mark go up into the sky above our house, and once we reached the forest on the edge of the backyard, my dad put me down. He told me that he was sorry, but that it was for my own good. It was to keep me safe. He put a necklace on me, a wooden turtle, and I was gone.
That was nine years ago. At the time, there was a war going on in the wizarding world, between a dark lord whose name we don't speak, and Professor Dumbledore. My dad was on Dumbledore's side, but it was a dangerous time. If you refused to join He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, he killed you. And He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had supporters who were just as bad. Whenever they killed they sent a mark up into the sky. It soon became everyone's worst fear, to find the Dark Mark, as it was called, hovering over your house.
And that is exactly what happened. They killed my mother, who knows if they killed my father as well, but my dad sent me off to save my life. I was only five at the time. The necklace was a Portkey, and my dad meant for it to send me as far away as possible. It sent me to Tokyo, Japan.
I woke up in a dark room. The walls were blank, and I was lying on an old cot. I sat up, and a woman came bustling in.
"Oh good, you're up. Gave us quite a scare, you did." She said in English, but with a Japanese accent. I asked her what happened, where I was.
"You're in Tokyo, little one. We found you outside only hours ago. What happened?" she asked. I knew I couldn't tell her. I refused to talk. The events I had just experienced still swirled in my head. She must have figured I wouldn't say anything, for she simply brought in a tray of food.
I soon realized that it was an orphanage in Japan. I still refused to give them my name, so they made one up for me. They asked me where I was from, if I had runaway, and why I had an English accent. Still, I refused to tell them. After a while, they gave up.
I had to learn Japanese, and about a year after arriving, I was adopted by a nice family. I went to school, and tried to forget my past. But I couldn't. Every year, on the night it happened, I had dreams about it; I could hear the laughter, see the Dark Mark hovering over my house. I kept that turtle necklace, I wear it always. It's my only connection to my dad.
I miss those days. I was little, sure, and I knew that it was hard on my parents. My dad could barely find paid work because of what he was. We lived in a small house on the edge of a forest, and I didn't often have new things, but I didn't care. I had my parents.
When I started school, I didn't think I'd make any friends. I was a bookworm, and my Japanese wasn't very good. Well, what would you expect, growing up for 5 years speaking English, and not speaking that very well? But I did. It took a few years, but I finally made friends, and my Japanese improved. It's been nine years, but whenever I speak in English, I have my British accent.
My friends are great. I have three really good friends from third grade. Amon, Endoh, and Ayumi. Amon has black hair and glasses, and was great at video games. He could beat all of us without even trying. Endoh has short black hair, and she really liked anime. She and Ayumi. Ayumi has reddish black hair that was often worn in pigtails. She drew really well. All four of us were in Concert Chorus. We were all opposites, yet we got along.
A few months ago, a new girl came to our school. Yumi. She, too, had short black hair, and she was nice. I could tell something was different, though. Like me, she never once mentioned her parents. Then again, none of us did. But still. She became our friend, too, and we all got along fine.
I suppose I'm the only one that ever suspected anything. The fact that none of us ever spoke of our families seemed to be a bit weird to me. I never pursued the matter, but I didn't think it was normal. And when Yumi came, I could tell she was hiding something. I just didn't know what. But, then again, I was too.
We were all going to her house today. I was a little late, and as I searched the playground, I didn't see any of my friends. I took the directions she had given me from my pocket and was about to walk there when I heard someone behind me.
"Hello, Amon." I said as he walked up next to me.
"How is it that you always know when I'm about to walk up behind you?" he asked, as he did many times. I grinned.
"I have good hearing."
"So, are you going to Yumi's house too?" he asked, as we walked out of the school grounds. I nodded.
"Why didn't you go with them right after school?" he asked me.
"I had a short meeting with the four people that would join a book club if we were allowed one." I said. He grinned.
"Still won't let you, will they? How many people do you need for a club, again?" Amon asked, even though he knew the answer.
"At least ten. What about you? Why didn't you go with the others right after school?" I asked him.
"I had to ask Akira to tell the people at Video game club that I couldn't make it today."
"And you couldn't do his yourself?"
"If I went, they'd suck me into staying. It's happened before. You have directions, right?" he asked me. I nodded, and he took the paper from my hand.
We walked in silence for a while, until we came to Yumi's house. The house was silent, so we figured that they weren't there yet. This didn't make much sense to me, as we left after they had. If they were there, we would have heard Ayumi.
"I still don't get how we got here first.Let's hide so that we scare them when they do get here."Amon suggested. I shrugged.
"Sure."
Well, there wasn't really anywhere to hide.
"Let's hide behind that tree over there." Amon suggested.
"Okay, because they're sure to not see us there." I said sarcastically. We ended up hiding in a bush near the front door.
"Is that them?" I asked him.
"No, if it was, we'd hear them." He replied.
It was quiet for a few more minutes, until—
"Don't worry, I'm sure your parents won't mind! They're on vacation, right?" I heard Ayumi say. Yumi looked worried about something. Amon and I grinned, and jumped out from our hiding spot. They seemed surprised, and me and Amon high fived each other.
"Where were you guys?"
"Video Game Club."
"What would be Book Club."
"Still not letting you start one?"
"No."
Yumi opened the door, and I could tell right away that something was wrong. I heard this weird crackling sound, like static almost. Yumi ran in, and yelled something. Then, we were falling.
I was right.
