With her father's memory failing and her mother gone, Soraya Thenayu enrolls in distant Darkwood Academy and immediately becomes enemies with the richest kid at school. Between hiding her father's gift of illegally harvested magic, befriending socia...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The morning sunlight seeped into Soraya's room through the cracks of the curtains in the window, bathing everything in yellow and orange hues. The girl awoke the moment light crept onto her closed eyelids. Blinking, Soraya sprung eagerly out of bed, reached for her navy blue curtains and pulled them apart.
The walls, ceiling, and floor were all made of light wooden planks with dark brown spots and circles scattered unevenly about. Her bed frame and furniture were made from Redwood Oaks, which grew near the peaks of the Averlore Mountains.
When she was eight, Soraya had read about the two kinds of oak trees that grew in their country; Redwoods and Bloods. They looked similar, both with thick ruby colored trunks towering high and proudly displaying lush leaves resembling fire when dancing in the wind. However, where Redwood Oaks were like any other tree that remained planted firmly in the ground, Blood Oaks were known for eating Etherians and animals.
Anyone who dared come too close would be wrapped around the legs by their thick roots and dragged into the base of the tree. There, the unfortunate victim would be completely encased in roots, thorns embedding themselves into their flesh and sucking them dry of all their blood, giving the tree its color and name.
Soraya shook her head as she remembered how afraid she had been of the furniture in her room after reading about the Blood Oaks. She had been so terrified, in fact, that she insisted on sleeping downstairs near the fireplace in case she needed to burn the furniture should it come to life and try to eat her. Her father, finding her fear humorous, had taken her to the top of their mountain to explain their differences.
"Blood Oaks can't grow or survive in cold climates," Tishva said with an undercurrent of mirth while placing his gloved hand on the bark of a Redwood. "They freeze like our bodies do when exposed to low temperatures for too long. You'll never encounter one in the snow, I promise."
Her father had gone one step further, pointing out something that her book hadn't. "If you're not sure which tree it is, just stand still from a distance and watch the trunk. A Redwood Oak will stay completely still, but a Blood Oak pulsates."
Soraya snapped her thoughts back to the present and shifted her gaze out the window. Trees lined the mountainside straight ahead, and on the ground, two stories below, was her mother's grave. She often found herself talking to it, as if Adonia was actually listening.
Stuffed animals lined the top of Soraya's dresser, her favorite ones being an orange and black striped tiger with black button eyes and a white rabbit with long droopy ears, both of which her mother had sewn for her. She loved them dearly, but was too old to have them sleeping next to her on the bed, or so her father said.
Despite Tishva's wishes, she'd sometimes sneak them under the bed covers when she knew her father would be too busy working to wish her goodnight.
"I'm learning Arcanology today!" Soraya exclaimed while skipping towards her closet and flinging open the sliding door. All of her clothes were hung up and organized by category.
Yabo, her pandacoon, yawned and flashed his pearly white fangs before sitting up and stretching himself out on the bed. He cocked his head, watching Soraya rummage through her closet. Within moments, Soraya's robe and pajamas lay on the floor.
