Castillo de Maya

Chapter 1

     Ruth Bishop couldn’t believe how long she had been in the car. After 2 hours, the rolling fields of her new home, Texas, were starting to get old.

     “Are we there yet?!”, she moaned. Her father, Lorenzo, glanced at her through the rearview mirror and smiled.

     “We’re almost there, Old Bird. It takes a lot longer to get around than back home.” At the mention of home, Ruth’s heart dropped to a place where the usual warmth that came when her dad used her nickname couldn’t reach. Boscastle was the place she was born. The small town by the river was where Ruth took her first steps, said her first words, “Dada” to the delight of her father, and made her first friends. She lightly touched the gold-chained necklace around her neck where three small pendants hung. One had the letter “R” for Ruth, one “S” for Stacy and one “M” for Monica. The universe had led the three to meet after a similar circumstance.

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     Ruth always felt a little different from the other kids in town. On top of her occultist parents, the strangest things always seemed to occur around her. Boscastle was known for its magical place and even had a witch museum. She went on a school trip there once in primary school and learned about the terrible people who would burn others at the stake because they were different. There was one painting that caught her eye depicting angry people with torches and a scared woman tied to a pole. She couldn’t help but feel anger towards the ones with torches. How would they feel if they got set on fire? Before she moved on, something suddenly caught her eye. Was that mist suddenly coming from behind the painting? No, it couldn’t be smoke, she thought. But to her amazement, one of the angry people started to glow orange and was soon melted by a flame. The fire alarm went off and her group had to leave the building.

     Both Lorenzo and Mary, Ruth’s mother, were ecstatic when her Hogwarts letter arrived. Rose was always interested in the occult which led her to Charles, who turned out to be an actual wizard. Ruth, however, was never interested in her mother’s colorful crystals, herbs that stunk the whole cupboard or books in languages she thought were long dead. But when her parents explained on her 11th birthday that she was actually a witch, Ruth had to admit there were some exciting possibilities here.

     Going to the Leaky Cauldron was Ruth’s first time in a pub. But the family wasn’t there to grab a drink. She watched in confusion as her father pulled out a long stick from his backpack, the one she thought was just a souvenir from the museum gift shop, and tapped it against a few bricks in the wall. To her amazement, the wall magically opened up and they entered another world. The world of magic folk. There she got all the supplies she needed. Her wand, made of Black Walnut, some parchment, ink, and a few feather pens. Her parents also surprised her by letting her pick out a pet. Ruth chose an eastern grass owl due to his pretty brown and white spots. She called him Ichabod.

     A few days passed and her parents took her to King’s Cross station. When her father said they needed to get to platform 9 ¾, she thought he was teasing her. Ruth certainly didn’t find it funny when her father, without saying a word, grabbed her hand and started running toward the wall. She tried to stop them both, but her father’s grip was just too strong. But instead of smacking into concrete, they were transported into an entirely different train station. That was the first time she ever saw the Hogwarts express.

     It was that first ride on the train that she met Stacy and Monica. She was at the window trying to be more excited than homesick. It was the first time she had ever left home for so long, so Ruth was a little nervous. Then came a knock at the cabin door. It slid open to reveal the two girls who asked if they could sit there, since there wasn’t room anywhere else. The girls got to talking and as more time passed, Ruth felt more at ease.