1 Chapter I

She opened her eyes long before miss Calder could come and yell for her to wake up, sat up and yawned still half asleep. She thought back to her strange dream, trying to remember the details so she could write them in her journal that lay open on the desk near her bed.

She remembered the blue light dancing in front of her, a little blue flame showing her the way across the Institute.. the blue light shone in the darkness, the only thing keeping her company, she tiptoed after it, passing by her friends dorm rooms, the common room, the library, the dining hall, her classrooms till she found herself at the end of a huge spiral staircase. She stood there amazed but confused and scared at the same time..

"Come on Gwendolyn, you can do it, be brave" she urged herself to follow the light and be courageous.. She moved up the stairs, which seemed infinite but she went on wanting to explore the Institute and because she wanted to know from where that blue light had escaped.. When she finally got to the top of the stairs she saw a big wooden door. She put her hand on it trying to open it but it was to no avail, it was locked. She sighed and looked at the light, almost as if she was asking it what to do. The light then started dancing in the air next to her and then swiftly entered the keyhole of the door, leaving her in complete darkness.. Thankfully it didn't last long, because in a matter of seconds the door opened and she passed through with no problems. She saw the light floating on the other side waiting for her, she glanced around and saw a big corridor that led to a very dusty circular room. Where walls should have been, there were stories upon stories of bookcases, filled to the brim with books, papers, parchment. The ceiling of the room could not be seen but what really caught her attention was the big circular table at the center of the room and engraved on the wood was a map, a map of places she had never seen, she even tried reading the names of the places but she found it impossible. She thought to herself that it must have been written in one of the older languages. Upon the table were books, papers, a compass, lots of quills and a small velvety box.

The light danced around the box almost as if it was inviting her to open it. She took it in her hands and slowly opened it, and what she saw mesmerized her. It was a necklace, its pendant was shaped like a hexagon and made out of diamond, on either side it had smaller jewels and the chain was made out of gold. She took her eyes off of the necklace wanting to look at the light and ask it so many questions.. She didn't even have the time to mutter a word that she heard a low and deep voice speak inside her head:

"All in good time my child, know only that what you hold in your hands belongs to you" and with that the light circled her once more and entered inside the diamond. The light faded bit by bit and she found herself alone in the darkness again. That was the end of her dream.

She wrote everything in her little journal and added the date at the end. She closed the journal, still confused about the dream and wondering if what she saw was something from her future. It had happened before, she was part witch after all. That's why she wrote each one of her dreams on her journal, to keep hold of what could probably be valuable information for the future.

She got ready, put on her school uniform and went to the dining hall for breakfast, there she met her friends already eating and laughing. They were all 18, juniors of the Institute for the Gifted and they still had one year till the end of their education. Her best friend was Isabella, or Bella as she was known to everybody, a cute and very intelligent witch. Bella was taller than her with hair the color of chestnuts and eyes as green as the glimmering color of emerald, sparkling in the light of the morning sun. They had known each other since their first year at the Institute, knew everything about each other and were inseparable. 

Four years ago they met Sebastian and his best friend Alexander, two elf boys that came from far away to be able to study at the Institute for the Gifted. They were both buffed but Sebastian was taller, he always had a smile on his face and always tried to help others to the best of his abilities. His eyes were every hue of the forest, rimmed coolly with dark moss. Their lightness reminded her of summertime, when the sun-rays warmed each extended leaf, that earthy green that revives the grass after a cruel, unforgiving winter. Next to the shade of his hair, that deepest brown, he was alive in the same way birds are, casually wild. Whenever Sebastian looked at Gwen she felt as if her body was possessed by sparks and each time he smiled she felt the rush of warmth, the spark of hope for something between them. Normal thoughts barely formed in her mind when it came to him before they were replaced with the longing and the fantasies of what could be if she were only brave enough to tell him. Alexander was much different, he was mysterious, almost secretive and you could never quite know what he was thinking but he sure was intriguing. He was loyal to his friends and truthful to his ideals. He was always present in defense and practice of new spells but he hated theory with a passion, you would probably find him in one of the four towers practicing or trying to steal some apples from the kitchen. He loved getting in trouble and he enjoyed the feeling of danger. His eyes were black, not soulless nor lifeless. Instead they were like two pristine stones of onyx, that lit up with a golden flare when touched by candle light. Interwoven shades hiding the chaotic nature behind. Never before have eyes held such danger and beauty all at once. His raven black curls were like pools of the purest ink, that even the faintest light made them reflect an indigo blue by each curve. He was a wild fire: reckless, untamed, yet undeniably captivating.

Gwen's appearance was very different from every other girl she had met at the Institute. The girl was blond from root to tip, her hair draped down softly curling along the ends, the essence of summer her hair was. Born to bring more golden sunshine into this world, she was like a siren leading everyone to sudden happiness. The black of her pupil was surrounded by a ring of jagged silver fire swallowed by sapphire blue. Her eyes were the ocean, so full of life yet so uncertain, as bright as any glacier yet so very warm. At one glance her eyes merely shone, but if you dared to look closer you could clearly see the sadness of heartbreak, the joy of love, the hope of the future, the pain of sorrow, and the fire of a spirit that would never give up. She was well built but small, not very tall either but her heart was big, she was caring, generous and selfless. Her most weird attribute was that of her ears, small but pointy like the ones elves have. She was always so self-conscious about them, always trying to hide them with her long hair but the tops always managed to peek through. She never understood how she got them, but she couldn't exactly ask her parents, because unfortunately she had never met them. She had been left at the doorstep of the Institute, more than 18 years ago and from that day, that was her home. She was so thankful that the principal Greenwood had let her stay at the Institute, under his protection. She was the only student there to have a room of her own, while everyone else had to share his or hers room.

"Gwenny good morning, how did you sleep?" said Bella hugging her best friend. Her big smile, warm embrace and the smell of cinnamon sticks and chocolate helped Gwen feel much better after her dream. Seb looked at her smiled and said:

"Good morning Gwendolyn, you seem a bit tired, are you okay?" the sound of her name coming from his lips brought butterflies to her stomach, she blushed instantly but quickly recovered and said:

"Good morning guys, well I had the weirdest dream and I am afraid it wasn't just a dream because it felt a lot like one of my premonitions.." Gwen described her dream as best as she could, she told them about the blue flame guiding her across the Institute, about the staircase, the dusty room, the beautiful diamond pendant and that strangely familiar voice. The guys heard her story silently and at the end Alex spoke out and said:

"I am sure you don't have to worry, I would wait and see if it does happen, it didn't seem to be dangerous so I don't think you should be concerned" he then smiled briefly and went back to his bowl of cereal. The others nodded along, thinking the same thing.

"Thanks Alex, I will try to keep that in mind." she sighed and started to eat something too. It was Friday so the cooks had prepared lots of good stuff for breakfast. There were croissants, muffins, pancakes, waffles, crepes and the cooks specialty apple pie. She decided on a chocolate croissant and a slice of apple pie with some hot herbal tea to try and relax her.

They were just finishing their breakfast when the bell sounded, which meant they had to go to potions class. In this class, students learn the correct way to brew potions, from the easiest ones to the more challenging ones. Potions class was big, at the center there was a wooden table with the teacher's brewing pot, books and some of their personal notes. Circling the table were the students desks with everything we needed for the day, books and ingredients sprawled everywhere. On the left corner of the room was a glass cabinet that held every ingredient we needed for our potions. It contained even difficult ingredients to obtain such as pixie wings, lizard intestines and snake eyes. It was always kept under close watch and locked at night to prevent students from going in there and ransacking ingredients to brew potions for pranks or to get excused from a test or lesson using a "sickening spell". Professor Crow was already standing in the middle of the class waiting for them to sit in their respective places. He was a funny, kind old looking man that bore some fancied resemblance to a crow, hence the name. He was small, very short, had a hooked nose and small beady eyes. He was always seen wearing a long black robe, that he sometimes stumbled on because of his short height and that made the whole class laugh. When such incidents would occur he would blush and his whole face would redden. 

"Good morning students, is everyone present?" professor Crow asked. There was then a chorus of 30 students mumbling different things, all seemingly too tired to pay attention to professor Crow.

"Great, let's start, today we will try to make the Invisibility Potion, is there someone who knows the 5 ingredients used in this potion?" he said quickly. Gwen did, she was always fascinated by potions and everything that had to do with spells and magic in general. So she lifted her hand and waited for her name to be called.

"Miss Richards, tell us the answer please."

"We first boil together 10 gr of belladonna, 20 gr of cherries, 4 spiders, a chameleon skin and an owlet's wing. We then recite the words invisibilia me. The Invisibility Potion makes the drinker invisible for a short time. It can be either drunk or smashed either near or on the person wishing to hide from the naked eye." Gwen answered confidently, knowing that she was right. The professor nodded, thanked her and told the students to prepare the potion and to drink it, so that they could see if they had been successful. People growled lazily but got to work.