Prologue

Hi, I'm Ella. Don't have a surname, I'm an orphan. I lived at Mrs. John's Orphanage for Children until that fateful day. The orphanage was very old fashioned, and when I say old fashioned, I mean old fashioned. We learned how to fight with swords and daggers and bows and arrows.

I used the dagger. It was my Ma's blade which was passed down to me when my mother died. She died when I was two. The dagger was hidden from me until I turned eight. I then started training. The dagger was well taken care of and I never let anyone near it.

I'm seventeen years old. This is the day you'll read my story.

It starts when I'm thirteen, but I'm going to cover my past as well.

Let's begin.

••••

"Hello, dearie! I'm Mrs. John and this is your new home!"

I thought I knew what I had gotten myself into. Oh was I clueless back then.

I stepped inside cautiously. "I'm Ella. My Ma was killed by a crazy man who was going to hurt me."

"Oh, dear child! Who could do that to you?"

"The crazy man. He was mean."

"Come inside. Let's get you cleaned up," Mrs. John said.

I felt awkward, as though I didn't belong. But I did. The only books we read were fantasy. In school, I read historical fiction and wrote my own stories. I loved fantasy above all genres of books. It was dangerous, going about parading my extra knowledge, but my teachers loved me. I felt as though I had a family at school, although not many students liked me. It hurt knowing that, but my teachers helped me with my insecurities. And I felt safe. Safe, as though Ma was holding me again. As though Pa was alive. My definition of safe was very different from other students'. I hated feeling different. But I always would be. Not that that helped me any, but I met a few teachers that said I resembled my Ma so much that they almost called me Juliana. And I took comfort in that.

It was painful, watching others being adopted, and me being ignored. I heard that the blonde ones were adopted faster. Pfft, what a lie.

I trained harder and got better at dueling than any of the other children. They envied my skills. Every time I offered help, though, I was declined. "I don't need help" or "No, but thanks" or "I'll be fine". I knew they were jealous. I tried to get them to see that I had more motivation than them. I failed, obviously. Not that I mind now, but I was only trying to help, and the fact that they despised me stung.

I was ten. I didn't know that they hated me because Mrs. John favored me! How could I know? She treated me like everyone else! It's not like she openly expressed her feelings about me!

I always felt like an outcast no matter where I was. It hurt me mentally and emotionally that I was out of place.

But no one offered me help.

Except for Ashton, a boy I crushed on for a few years. Then he heard the rumors. And I was left alone again.

I was taking everything to heart, and it stung, thinking that no one liked me.

Until I was thirteen where I met people just like me.

We'll get there in a moment.

I felt like I was hated. Mrs. John moved me from school to school, until I met my Ma's friends. And they helped me tons. They had children of their own who helped me understand that being different was good. I took their advice to heart and from then on focused on my books and writing and friends. I even revealed how my Ma truly died to them. They never told a soul. I thank them for that.

My family was never a perfect one. It never would be.

Until That Fateful Day

I know it's not the best but I checked docs on my laptop and it's about two pages long! That's really long for me if you've read any of my other stories. Anyways, I hope this is good!