SciFi and Fantasy Stories: A Hand Full Of Magic* Chapter One_

Noa awoke with a start. It took her a moment to realize where she was, and when she did she laid her head back down on the pillow. She stayed there for a moment, trying to recall her dream. She just knew that it was important somehow. Light was shining dimly through her window, but it was just enough to bother her eyes. She covered them with her forearm angrily. What the heck was that dream about?

Giving up she turned over to glance at her clock. Her eyes widened in terror when she realized that it read nine forty-five.
“Oh my gosh!” she jumped out of bed and lunged head first into her closet, trying to fish out some clean clothes.
“I’m late! I’m late! Oh man, I’m so dead!” she moaned. She almost fell trying to get a pair of jean shorts on and did fall trying to get on a pair of knee-high boots. Ignoring the pain in her head she raced to the bathroom to make herself look at least semi-presentable. She just narrowly missed a note that was placed on the door. She decided to read it quickly while she brushed her teeth.
“Noa, Sorry about not waking you, but you look so cute when you’re asleep! Besides, I had to wake up super early to help set up for the Witchling Orientation. Being star pupil and all, I have certain responsibilities that can’t be ignored, you know. And I doubt you’d have wanted to be woken at six in the morning anyhow. See you in class!

At the end of class, Eden ran to catch up with Noa. A sly grin was resting peacefully on her seemingly perfect face.
“Glad you were able to make it to class, Sleepyhead!” Eden rested her one arm on the top of Noa’s noggin, annoying the hell out of her. But, seeing how Eden was a nice 5’6” and Noa only being 5’2”, there was really nothing she could do to prevent it.
“Yeah, whatever,” Noa replied dully while trying to balance her ultra heavy bag on her left shoulder and failing miserably. Eden, feeling charitable and helpful at the moment, cast a ‘light as a feather’ spell, making her bag instantly weightless. Noa grinned sheepishly and muttered a thank you.
“No sweat! Besides, if I didn’t help you out around here every once in awhile, you’d be dead meat. Seriously, you are so lucky to have me around,” Eden said in her oh-so common I’m-God’s-gift-to-the-world-so-worship-me sort of attitude making Noa roll her eyes. Even though it was true what Eden said, it still made Noa want to hurl sometimes.
“So, why is my alarm clock broken?”
“Because I smashed it into tinny tiny bits,”
“Oh. Lovely,” Noa set her things down on one of the stone benches that were all over campus and rested her head in her hands. Eden gracefully sat down next to her, taking out two diet colas for them.
“So you were fidgeting in your sleep again,” Eden pointed out, handing Noa one of the sodas. It was still cold despite the heat of the rapidly approaching summer. “What was the dream about this time?”
“I’ll have to get back to you on that one. I can’t seem to remember my dream much at all,” Noa replied while taking a sip of her soda. Eden was silent for a moment as she studied the beauty of one of the many gardens around them. There was practically one in every courtyard in their boarding school, and there were twelve of them in all. This one just happened to be Eden’s favorite.
“I heard you mutter something. About the Cloven,” She went on, swishing her feet back and forth. The Cloven. Everyone who’s ever had any connection to magic knows who they are. In fact, Noa and Eden had just finished off their lessons for the semester on them in Witching History last week. Supposedly all of them had been wiped out over 200 years ago… so why would Noa dream about them?

Before Noa could answer though, their classmate, Benjamin, came running up to them, completely out of breath.
“What’s up with you, Ben? You just run a marathon or something?” Eden asked while arching one of her slender eyebrows in a quizzical expression. He took Noa’s soda and swigged some. She put her hand out so he could return it to her, but he ignored it. He obviously wasn’t going to give it back. After catching his breath he looked at Eden with wide eyes.
“You mean you don’t know?” He asked “Where have you been living, under a rock? I figured you’d be one of the first to know about it,”
“Know about what exactly?” Noa asked. She couldn’t explain it, but she was starting to get a bad feeling all of a sudden. He looked over Noa as if just seeing her for the first time. He gave her a strange look.
“Hey Klutz. Didn’t see you at first,” he mumbled. This ticked Noa off. He only said that to get her mad.. And cry. Eden noticed.
“Shut up, Ben!” Eden snapped and smacked him upside the head. Benjamin muttered a string to curses which just made Eden hit him again, harder this time.
“Now tell me what’s going on before I have to break your arm!” Eden threatened. Ben put his hands up in an ‘I surrender’ pose.
“Okay! Okay! Jeez! No one can seem to take a joke anymore,” He cleared his throat and made a dramatic pause.
“Okay, so last night was the DeemKeeper’s birthday bash right? Well, someone attempted to murder her!” Noa gasped.
“Are you serious? Someone tried to kill her?” Eden asked through clenched teeth. Ben nodded his head solemnly.
“Yeah. That’s why I figured you’d already known, you know, seeing how she’s your cousin and all,”
“Do you know if she’s okay?” Eden asked suddenly, which surprised Noa a little. Though it was true Eden and Tahlia were related, it didn’t mean that they were really close or anything. In fact, last time Noa checked, Eden practically despised her cousin. Ben shook his head.
“No clue. You’ll have to talk to the Feds about that one,” He put a hand on Eden’s shoulder.
“Sorry Ede. If you need anything just let me know,”
Don’t hold your breath Eden thought over her mind link with Noa - She had to cover her mouth to hide the huge grin that was forming there. But for Ben’s sake Eden played along.
“Sure, Ben. Thanks. I‘ll let you know,” She flashed him one of her famous boy-melting smiles, making him turn three shades redder.
“O-oh, um.. Okay. So.. See you later then.. Bye Noa,” He was so dazzled by her smile that he forgot to insult Noa again before he left. Actually, she was surprised he’d said good bye to her at all. Noa sighed.
“Well that was… awkward. Are you okay?” She asked, glancing at Eden. She noticed her nod in her peripheral vision.
“So now what?”
“Now we go talk to the Feds. I need to know if she’s okay,” Eden replied, standing as she spoke. Noa nodded and followed pursuit.

It didn’t take long for them to get in contact with the Federation, seeing as they’d come to talk to Eden personally. Actually, it was her parents that there to speak to her. Her mother looked devastated. Her usually tame, fiery red hair was tousled and knotted in places; traces of mascara residue mingled to form faded, black lines down her slender cheeks. Her violet eyes were all puffy from crying. But despite her appearance, Mrs. Ryanson still held the beauty of a goddess, just like her daughter. Her father’s face held a solemn look, but no evidence that he’d spent the night crying like his wife’s did.

When Mrs. Ryanson caught sight of her daughter, she ran to embrace her in a grief infested hug.
“Oh Eden!” she sobbed. Eden returned her mother’s embrace, but after a moment or two let her go. Noa wondered if she might’ve been a little embarrassed, but decided she was just imagining it.
“Have you heard anything, Mother? Is Tahila…” Eden allowed her sentence to trail off, obviously not able to bring herself to finish it. Her mother shook her head.
“No, dear. Tahlia is still alive,” she said softly. A look of pain crossed her beautiful features, which seemed all wrong to Noa. Someone so pretty shouldn’t be allowed to be in such pain.
“Well, if you can call what she is now ‘alive’,” Mr. Ryanson muttered. Noa looked up at him, but said nothing. This was a family affair, none of her business. It would be better if she kept her mouth shut. Mrs. Ryanson sniffled.
“You see, dear, Tahlia… her powers were bound before she fell from the balcony,”
Pushed. Noa found herself correcting in her mind. Mrs. Ryanson took a long, deep breath before she continued. Fresh tears threatened to escape from the corners of her eyes. She had to dab them away with a handkerchief.
“Realizing the danger her body was in, Tahlia’s brain shut down. The doctors are trying their best to revive her, but nothing seems to be working,” This time she didn’t even attempt to wipe her tears away as she cried into her husband’s chest. Mr. Ryanson hushed his wife softly to calm her.
“So you’re saying that Tahlia… won’t wake up?” Eden looked like she was going to be sick. Her father nodded.
“There’s one more thing..” Mr. Ryanson pulled out a white handkerchief from his breast pocket. He unfolded it to reveal a bronze ring. On it was the inscription of a dragon bellowing a steady stream of fire at a blood red moon.
“It was the only clue they found at the crime scene, like it was put there deliberately. When the Federation scanned it for finger prints they found nothing,” He didn’t protest when Eden picked it up to examine it closer.
“I recognize the symbol,” she said after awhile. He nodded.
“As you should. That’s the symbol of the Cloven clan,” The realization hit Noa like a ton of bricks.

In that instant, her whole dream came flooding back to her. It was all she could do not to gasp aloud and startle everyone. So while Noa struggled within her own mind, the Ryansons’ conversation continued.
“Eden, we’ll understand if… you would like to drop out of school this year.” He mother murmured softly. “Of course it would just be temporary. We’ll understand if you’d rather be tutored this semester,” Eden shook her head.
“No, I’m fine. I’d rather deal with my grief here in the company of my friends. Honestly, I feel that the best place for me to be right now is here,” Mrs. Ryanson nodded.
“Of course,” She kissed her daughter of the forehead. “Goodbye dear,”
“Just call if you change your mind, sweetheart,” Her father told her, but not before giving her a kiss of his own. Eden just nodded, her face expressionless. Before leaving, Mrs. Ryanson turned to Noa and wrapped her in a delicate hug.
“Thank you for always being such a good friend to her,” she said, her voice slurring with emotion. Noa also nodded. She was too caught up in her own thoughts to really notice anything at the moment.