Lorelei Raywood, of 211 Lovelace Ave, was proud to say that she was utterly paranormal, thank you very much. She was one of the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, but she frequented what most would call 'nonsense' daily.
Lorelei was a witch, a title she carries with pride, and attends Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A bright girl for her age, she had wild curly hair that she felt did not match her personality one bit, and rich brown eyes that complimented her skin tone that was darker than her mother's, yet lighter than her father's. She also inherited her father's slightly bulbous nose and mother's thinner lips, along with her oval face and slender build. Sitting at her favorite seat, by her bedroom window, Lorelei looks up from reading to notice that some of the leaves were starting to decay which meant the coming of fall and another year of learning. This time of year always reminded her of her first year at school, and with it how her life changed for the better.
The air was warm and the sky was clear, a shade of blue Lorelei could still recall. Her family had insisted upon taking a well deserved summer vacation on the cape after her mother got a promotion. She had just turned eleven the September before, feeling a new wave of responsibilities she wanted to prove herself of that came with the new number. Amber Raywood had just gotten her daughter and herself hotdogs and large fries to share while her husband was on the hunt for some pizza. Busy dipping some fries in ketchup, Amber failed to notice her only child getting up and walking towards the low tide. It wasn't until the screaming of a group of older women caught her attention did she look up.
What she saw was her daughter surrounded by parted waves, and seagulls flying around her in a tornado like movement. Fueled with the adrenaline only a mother could possess, Amber took action running towards Lorelei and scooping her up and away from the food crazy birds. As soon as she stirred her daughter from whatever fog came over her, the gulls flew away and the water came splashing down on them, luckily only reaching Lorelei's waist.
When her husband came back, pizza slice in hand, Amber recounted the odd anomaly that almost cost them their child's life. Anyone told this would have believed them, especially with the hysteric look in their partner's eyes. But those wouldn't be the parents of Lorelei Raywood.
She remembers it very differently. After settling down with her hotdog and questioning if the substance put into it could be called 'meat', the sound of a gull's cry made her look up. Her eyes met that of a pristine white seagull, with impossibly smooth feathers and not a single speck of dirt or debris on it. What made her quietly gasp however was what the seabird was holding; an envelope as white as its plumage she would have missed it, if not for the ruby red stamp.
Getting up slowly, so as not to disturb the creature, Lorelei made her way out into the water where it stood. Step by step she made her way to the bird, never once realizing her foot never made contact with the cool water she clearly recalls splashing around in not an hour before. Soon enough she reached the gull and ever so slowly bent down to pull the letter from his beak, but didn't have to tug at all, simply receiving the milky envelope like it was meant for her and her alone. Looking the bird in the eye she tried to ask it questions through thought. Is this for me? Am I dreaming? Can you talk? All too soon however the enchanting moment was ripped from her, and so was she, as her mother scooped up her lithe body. Suddenly all of the water that was missing before came crashing back onto them and her mother trudged the two of them through the chilly sea back to the safety of land.
Later, Lorelei could vaguely hear her mother frantically tell her father what he missed and the danger she was in, but her attention was stuck on the soggy envelope in her hands. Wrapped in a big beach towel to dry off and sitting in her mom's lounge chair all she could think about was what the contents of the letter held. The sound of her father's deep voice trying to calm her mother down stirred her slightly of her reverie, not much, but enough to think about the incident and what she overheard her mother say.
It wasn't dangerous.
It was magical.
On the car ride home Lorelei waited anxiously for the letter to dry so she could open it, biding her time by running over the red wax seal with an intricate design that resembled a four leaf clover in the center of a blooming rose. She was so mesmerized trying to visualize the little creatures adorning the four leaves that the silence caused by her parents' unease didn't bother her. When they finally got home she ran up to her room, her mom calling after her that she is in need of a shower to rinse the sand off, and plopped down on the very same window seat she currently sits in reminiscing. Taking her time so as not to rip open the envelope, Lorelei carefully slid her thumbnail under the seal, only to be startled when a mass of fuzzy gray fur decided to join her. Laughing at how scared he made her, Lorelei pet sweet Poe's head giving him a good scratch behind his left ear, just how the cat likes it. With the adorable interruption curling up for a nap in her crossed legs, she again began to lift the wax seal to open the desperately awaiting message inside. With the seal peeled off and the envelope opened her thoughts and imagination were racing.
Could it be a sailor writing to his lost love from years ago?
Maybe there's a shipwreck and the captain had to bride the seagull with his last bit of food to deliver the S.O.S.?
What if it's from halfway around the world and she wouldn't be able to read a speck of it?
There was only one way to find out. Finally, taking the folded up piece of paper out and leaving the envelope forgotten on the floor, Lorelei carefully unfolded it from its watered wrinkles. It wasn't at all what she was expecting. She read, then reread, then read the letter for a third time trying to make sense of the words her eyes were seeing. Witchcraft? Me? A school? Huh?
After taking a moment to let what she read sink into her mind, the gears started turning. And they didn't stop. So excited was Lorelei that she jumped up, knocking sweet Poe Bear onto the floor, and ran downstairs to the kitchen where her parents were quietly talking, letter in hand and yelling about how she's a witch and can attend a special school where she can practice and perfect her craft. Although through the excitement it took a while for her parents to calm her down enough to understand what she was saying. And after they dismissed it not believing her, she gave them the letter, with her full name and address down to the, "second bedroom on the left" did they start to question. With plain joy written across her face, Lorelei looked to her parents for approval to attend the school come this fall. Her father, Ford Raywood, had a look of pure confusion and shock with a sprinkling of fear, mind racing that maybe a day in the sun took too much out of the three of them. Lorelei was surprised, however, to see an embarrassed, almost pitying look on her mothers face, the picture perfect example of someone caught taking a few extra cookies. When the silence became too overwhelming the couple looked to one another for an anchor, something to tell them that this was not happening. Was it? Amber Raywood was the first to speak in what felt like hours.
"Lovey, I think it's time I tell you something".
The rest of that afternoon was spent with Lorelei and her father sitting on the couch in the den watching and listening to her mother pace back and forth trying to explain herself. It turns out, Lorelei is not the first witch in her family. Her mother, and her father before her, have gone to Ilvermorny to study the use and practice of magic. When asked about her realtor job she claims she was being honest, she just didn't mention that her employer, Beaver & Clampitt, specialized in searching for homes for witches and wizards of Massachusetts. As Lorelei absorbed every detail from her frantic mother, her excitement grew with every new and thrilling thought to enter her head, she was practically bouncing with energy. Or maybe that was the magic in her veins? As for her father, well, he didn't take the news too well. He felt betrayed by his spouse and her dishonesty, choosing for the first time ever to sleep on the couch instead of their shared bed; thinking back, Lorelei believes being called a 'Muggle' was the last straw. By the time her story was nearing its end, Amber confessed that she thought Lorelei would be a normal child, having already turned eleven that January with no sign of a letter. It struck her as odd that her mother would wish she was 'normal' and not wish her to live an absolutely enchanting life filled with literal magic. The thought was fleeting, especially since she was overjoyed to feel like this was the solution to her adolescent problems.
Having never fit in at school or with other kids her age, Lorelei spent many nights wishing for a place she could find and befriend people who were like her. Even though she didn't know she was a witch, she always felt different. There were times she couldn't make friends and had to spend lunch with various teachers, discussing topics her peers never seemed bothered with. Although the love life of Mrs. Fitherbee and her gardener were entertaining, Lorelei longed for friends she could talk about hair and boys with. Then there were the times she would start to achieve this depressing goal only to ruin it somehow. For example, in the second grade when Holly Caddel was nice enough to ask the girl sitting by herself at recess if she wanted to join her and her friends to play with the latest toy, Pupcakes, which Lorelei eagerly said yes to. Holly introduced her to her group of friends, before they all took a seat in the grass and one by one began to take out brightly colored dogs resembling cupcakes. One of the girls seated to Lorelei's right, Olivia, was nice enough to even let her use an extra dog she had named Sprinklez. As the girl's seemed to continue where they left off from the day before, the anxiety and nervousness to not seem like a freakazoid overwhelmed her thoughts so much that poor Sprinlez seemed to contain more stiffness than the plastic already had. Lorelei was nervous about how she would engage with the girls, but sweet sweet Holly took her dog, Toffee, saying she had found a new dog to join their pack. That was one of the best recess memories Lorelei has, playing with the other girls and laughing at the silly voices they gave their dogs. She felt calm getting lost in the story of how they need to befriend the Fudgeponies to stop Cookiecat from taking over the island of Cakeberry.
All too soon however, Lorelei's nerves got the best of her. Having told Holly that the pack should meet the ponies for breakfast waffles to persuade them to join the Pupcakes' cause, she looked to Holly and met her eyes, sharing her smile, and felt the warmth finally belonging in the world. The sound of the other girl's screaming brought Lorelei crashing back to earth. She watched as Holly's eyes looked down to her hand, and she too screamed with a look of terror in her hazel eyes.
Lorelei slowly looked down to her own hand, only to find that poor Sprinklez was no more. Instead a squirming rat, with the same markings as the dog had, was held in her hand begging to be released from her hold. Scared and unsure what to do, Lorelei dropped the rodent and watched as all the girls jumped up screaming as the poor creature ran away. In that moment she wished she could turn herself into a rat and follow her brethren though the fence and into the woods, never to be seen or embarrassed again.
No child was brave enough to sit next to the 'rat girl' for the rest of second grade, fearful they too might end up with the same fate as Sprinklez. Sometimes late at night, when her mind has more energy than her body, Lorlei remembers how lonely and outcast she felt having no one to practice fractions with. So the joy she felt for having an answer as to why weird things happened to her catapulted her mood into the stratosphere. Learning that there was an entire school filled with other kids like her was the cherry on top. For the first time in a long while, she was excited for the first day of school.
Interrupted once again by Poe, Lorelei returned to the present moment and scratched his ear, noticing with sadness how his fur has more white to it than it did those years ago. Ever since that beach day,
A robin that frequents her mother's bird feeder stops by for a late lunch. The sweet-tuned bird reminds her of her best friend at school who shares the same name, recalling the day they became friends and how attached at the hip they've been ever since. If there was one thing to be true, the thought of Robin Copper always brings a smile to Lorelei's face.
The girls frequently chat at school, despite being in different houses, and have maintained their relationship by writing letters back and forth through Hawksley & Scarrow: birds for your words, a carrier service for witches and wizards to rent a local species of bird so as not to draw the attention of Muggles. All summer for the past three years they've been writing back and forth detailing all of their thoughts, feelings, and vacation stories, despite living only a few hours away.
Looking at her calendar pinned to her cork board, bailey winged butterflies danced in Lorelei's stomach looking at the large, red circle around August 31st. The red marking signified the day her father would drop her off at Ichabod Lane where she would meet Robin and go school supply shopping for the new year.
"Just one more day to go", she said to herself quietly, desperately waiting for this lonely summer to be over and to reunite with her best friend. Looking down in her lap at the gray and white Poe, Lorelei also sent a quiet prayer to whoever would listen.
Here's hoping for easy sailing at Ilvermorny, 1997.
Author's note:
Im so happy to be sharing this labour of love with all of you! I also crosspost on Tumblr and AO3 by the same name! All of book 1 is completed, chapters 1-15 will be added within the coming days to catch up, but the rest will be added throughout this and next year!
Hope to hear from you!