Chapter One

“Rosé, are you sure you’ll be okay?” The older looking woman, paced around the room, a small backpack held in her hands. “You don’t want me to come with?”

“Mom. I’m turning twenty-one in a few days. I’m sure I can handle anything on my own.” A younger female replies as she finishes buttoning up her school uniform jacket. Her hair was long and messy, originally dark brown, but colored a soft red-orange. The girl shakes her head, as if the motion would fix the tangles her hair were in into place. Her long wavy hair framed her thin face elegantly, which was something she’d never felt.

“You’ll be leaving for two days. No good mother would not be worried.” Rosé’s mother held the backpack out to the younger female and then held her hands to the girl’s face. “If anything happens, let me know and come home.”

“It’s a trip mom, it’s not life threatening.” Rosé leaned in to give her mother a hug. This close to her mother’s face, she wondered how her mother had kept her youth for so long. Perhaps it was the magic or glamour, but Rosé swore her mother was the most beautiful old lady she’d ever seen. “But yes. I will.”

She was chosen as part of her class to represent their school at the regional Amethysia Psychic’s Competition. Of course, Rosé did not have any powers of her own, but nobody needed to know that part. She had tried to get her name on the competitors list after a long hard week of sneaking around Teacher Jeong and Headmaster Kim’s offices. Putting her name on the list wouldn’t have been so hard if she had magic in the first place, but in the end, all she got was two waggy fingers in her face.
“You weren’t chosen by any of the Teachers, Rosé, there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Well hell, just when she was going to give up and believe in the Headmaster's words, an angel appeared to her. Not literally, but her friend, Lisa. The girls had been friends since secondary school, and hadn’t seen each other for a while because of clashing schedules. Lisa had gladly given Rosé her spot at the competition. “I hate competitions. I don’t even know why they chose me. Have fun, Rosé. I know you will.”

For the weekend, Rosé’s name would be Lisa. But her mother didn’t need to know about it. Which was why her name tag was hidden deeply inside the secret pockets of her bag. Her mother, father, and younger twin sisters waved at her from the doorsteps as she scrambled outside. After at least thirty minutes of combing her hair, she’d finally gotten it flat enough. She pressed her palm over the Amethysia branded “A” logo on the left side of the jacket buttons on her chest. The plan was for Rosé to meet Jennie at Amethysia, then they would join the others and head out to the venue. It was a three hour drive by bus, but at least that gave Rosé time to calm down. Amethysia was the number one school for witches and mystics in all of Obsidia. Heaven knows how Rosé’s parents had gotten her in, but she was loving it.

Although she couldn’t seem to wield any powers of her own, Rosé loved watching her classmates. She read all the books and study materials as soon as they were given. When her friends were stuck on a spell or lesson, Rosé seemed to know how to go about solving the situation, but never by her own magic. “You need a few more flicks of basil and stir the potion three more times, clockwise.” She’d tell Jennie, her best friend, who always had difficulties with the classes. “Hold your hands higher and closer to your abdomen, don’t hold your breath when you’re sensing their auras.”

Sometimes she wished she could yield her own powers. She wondered if she would actually do as well as if she just helped others with their magic. She was clumsy and could not walk in a straight line to save her life. She didn’t really need her own magic. Ma and Papa tried their best to not use much magic at home at all, so she wouldn’t feel less than without magic. But sometimes Rosé would sit in her room for hours with her hands out in front of her, praying that she felt anything.

But she was turning twenty-one soon, and still, nothing. She had gone to magical school at Amethysia for years, and if the teachers there couldn’t help her, then she was just out of luck. Psychic powers usually and generally run through family lines. If a person has only one parent whose family had powers, the person is called a single liner. If the person has both parents whose family had powers, the person is called a double liner. It wasn’t common for people to be double liners. In the entire kingdom of Obsidia, only about three percent of the citizens had any powers at all. Seers and healers were rare and extremely valued, especially in the Scolecite region, which was where her family lived among a community of well known psychic families.

Every known Seer is taken to the capital to meet with the royal family. Every known Healer is automatically enrolled into Nuummite Academy, where they train and learn from Healers before them. Because a person’s magical abilities can vary at times, each student from Amethysia is graded and selected by the Teachers in their fourth year of schooling. The Teachers give an assessment on the students to find out of they are a Seer or Healer, or if they have any other special abilities. A majority of the students at Amethysia are Seers, who carry a clairvoyant ability, and sometimes other clair abilities as well. Although many are Seers, only a few have a strong sense of seeing. Most get short flashes or visions. Some get light forms of visual stimulation, but only a few can clearly see. Nevertheless, their gifts of seeing are important, but brief. A second majority of students are Healers, who can heal and transfer energy from their selves to other living beings. These Healers can feel the energies of others and see how out of alignment it is with their own energy. Then in order to heal the others, they learn to pull out the toxic energy and add their own energy into the beings.

Funnily enough, Rosé is a double liner. Her maternal grandfather was an infamous Healer and paternal grandmother was a powerful Seer. For the first fifteen years of her life, Rosé’s parents had thought there was something wrong with her. She was an only child, and if she was a double liner, her powers should already be showing. Even after her younger twin sisters were born, she showed no signs of progression. Her sisters were now six years old, and already they can grow plants and flowers simply by touching the dying leaves and buds. Rosé was jealous, but not because of the twins’ gifts. She was jealous of their control. Their ability to know and feel themselves already, at such a young age. Everything Rosé had read about Healers and their abilities say that knowing the self is a key to developing skills to help others.
And it wasn’t like Rosé didn’t know herself. She just often felt like an imposter at times. She felt like sometimes her body wasn’t hers. Perhaps her hands, which could never wield any powers, were not hers. She couldn’t seem to attach herself to her body enough to really know herself. And maybe the psychic aunt-distant-friend’s-sister that her mother had taken her to had been right about her. Maybe she wasn’t developing her skills because she wasn’t able to relax and open up enough to accept them.

“Rosé!” A chiming voice called to her, as Rosé got to the gates of Amethysia. She was met by another body slamming against the back of her’s.

“Jennie,” Rosé groaned playfully, rubbing her shoulder. “You’re gonna kill me one of these days if you’re not careful.”

The girl was smiling from ear to ear. Her tiny face and wild eyes were a staple, and she laughed loudly. Rosé had always loved this quality about Jennie. It was as if she didn’t care if the whole world saw or heard her laughing her heart away. She didn’t care if she was too loud. She was courteous of course, but her joy came before the comfort of others. Many times, Rosé had wished she could switch lives with Jennie. They’d known each other since they were tiny children, and they’d been close ever since. “Sorry!” She laughed, wrapping her arms tightly around Rosé’s jacket. “I’m so excited!”

“Yeah me too.” Rosé grinned and shook the girl off of her. “Today, I am Lisa.” She smiles too and takes out the name tag pin she’d hidden. Jennie squealed and helped Rosé clip the pin to her jacket under the “A” logo.

“I heard even the royal family may come this year!” Jennie grabbed Rosé’s hands and started waving them around in her own. “Can you believe it? What if the princes come!? What if the princess- oh my god. How do I look?”

Rosé chortled and feigned a careless look, then shook Jennie’s hands too in excitement. “You look amazing. But your excitement is going to make me lose my cool!”

Rosé squealed as well, but stopped herself, patting down Jennie’s shoulders to calm the girl too. “Okay. Ready?”



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