"Why did you walk away?" Dr. Noelle's voice was a woeful sound. Despite her perky exterior, Paige couldn't find comfort in this human's presence.

Twice a week she had to meet with this shrink. Court ordered, no way out. She was trapped in these lessons until she turned eighteen. Shane encouraged it, and the Courts agreed. They all thought these sessions would benefit her. Paige thought it was a total waste of time.

"From what I've gathered, Paige, you're quite a runner. Why not join the team?"

Paige leaned back into the chair and fiddled with the buckle on the leggings of her pants. "I don't know . . ." That was an obvious lie, and from the expression on Noelle's face, she knew it. She was an empath after all, she could probably sense lies. "It just . . . didn't feel safe."

A frown marked her face as she leaned closer. "What do you mean? You feel unsafe at school?"

"At school? No." Paige shook her head, her dark strands partially blocking the view of her therapist.

"Then what made you feel unsafe?"

Paige's eyes blurred as she imagined Aaron. He did. He made her feel unsafe. Not just because he completely screwed with her emotions. He was dangerous. Even if no one else saw it. "There's a boy on the team. He . . ." She couldn't finish, mostly because she didn't know how to finish that sentence.

A completely different expression crossed Noelle's face. Even if she kept her promise and didn't manipulate her emotions, she could probably sense how Paige felt. And the tears she held back wouldn't have helped.

"A boy? You have a lot of conflicted emotions for him. Curiosity. Fear. Excitement. Desire. Dread. It's actually quite interesting that one person can cause such a wave of emotions in you."

"Tell me about it."

"Has he . . . done something to you? Hurt you? Threatened you? Taken advantage of you?"

Paige bit her lip and wildly shook her head. She knew where this was going. Under normal circumstances, whatever she said to Noelle would be completely confidential, but if she suspected abuse, she wouldn't hesitate to report it.

"No. Nothing like that. Not at all. It's just . . . I don't feel right around him. He makes me uncomfortable."

"Why?"

"Not really sure. Look, I don't really want to talk about this."

"Of course." She jotted down something in her notebook before looking back up. "Let's talk about school, then. How was Magical Heritage? I hope you showed some restraint this time with your magic."

Dr. Noelle went from one unpleasant topic to another. Typical. It was no surprise that she had heard about yesterday's event. As her shrink, she was probably legally obligated to know about these kinds of things. Just another reason to hate her.

"School was . . ." A nightmare. Not totally unexpected. She almost flooded a classroom, after all. It was all over school. Everyone was talking about it. Talking about her. The freaky, unstable witch. What would she do next?

Kendall was back to being distant with her. And Ivy didn't waste any time in taunting her when she passed in the hall. Apparently, Ivy was a little bitter about being shown up. Ivy didn't like the competition.

There was one highlight, however.

"Ms. Schade didn't make me participate."

"Your Magical Heritage teacher?"

Paige nodded. "Yeah. Said I could take it easy today."

"Do you think you need to take it easy? Do you still feel the effects of yesterday's magic?"

Paige shook her head. She had recovered and felt perfectly normal by the time she returned from town last night. When she saw Ms. Kerby at the end of the day, the nurse seemed shocked that she didn't pass out in P.E.

"You used a lot of magic," the nurse had said. "I've seen witches need days to recover after using only half of the magic you did."

Paige only brushed her off. "Just a fast healer, I guess."

She returned to the present and glanced down at her watch. "Almost out of time."

Noelle glanced at the clock above the door. "We have a few more minutes." She clicked her pen and settled it in the spine of the notebook before placing it on the edge of her desk. "Just one more question, Paige. Then, you're free to go. Do you think you hesitate with magic because you're unwilling to accept it into your life?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're adopted. In a few minutes, you're gonna leave here and go home with a human unrelated to you. Your birth mother, most likely a witch, has always been unknown to you. I think this is an issue we need to dive deeper into."

"Right now, what you think means squat." Paige stood and tucked her phone into the pocket of her pants. "All I know is the hour is up. Time to go."

"Until next time."

Paige left feeling more drained than she entered. Therapy really takes it out of you. As she waited in the lobby downstairs for her dad's car to arrive, she couldn't help but think about the way the session had turned out.

Did her reluctance to expand her magical ability have to do with her unknown mother?

Paige scoffed at the thought. No. Of course not. It may have been a smaller, insignificant reason, though. But it was often a thought; maybe her unknown mother could provide some insight. Some kind of explanation of her unusual gift with magic.

Maybe . . .

Shane's arrival quieten any thoughts she had. As Shane drove through the town, her phone chimed with a message. Paige leaned against the window as her phone came to life.

Round two with doc over?

Paige smiled. She could almost hear the distain in Finn's words. Now that it was the weekend again, maybe he could come for a visit. Unsupervised, of course.

Total waste of time.

She almost mentioned an impromptu visit, but then thought better of it. With Lucas and Aaron, she didn't think she had the energy to have another guy take up space in her mind. She tucked her phone away and glanced sideways at Shane.

He was focused on the road and slowed down to let a cyclist pass.

"Dad?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you know who my parents are?"

The question was so unexpected, the car wobbled slightly as Shane struggled to regain his composure. His eyes drifted sideways. "Why'd you ask? You've never been interested before."

"Dr. Noelle," she said, her tone dark. She wasn't about to mention the doctor's theory about her hang-ups with magic, but the good doc did stir some excellent questions Paige has been harbouring for a while.

It was getting dark outside and Shane switched the headlights on. "We have spoken about this before, honey. Do you remember?"

Paige did, although it occurred at a dark part of her life. When she was younger, taken to the police station for questioning. She always knew she was adopted, but it wasn't until that day, the day the school grounds split open, then did she realise she wasn't human. People had questions. A lot of them.

Did she know?

Was this the first-time using magic?

Where did she come from?

She had no answers.

No one did.

Paige looked up from her hands. "I'm just curious."

Shane's shoulders shook as he exhaled. "I'm sorry, Paige. The adoption agency we went through didn't have any record of you or where you came from. We looked, I looked, well, after, you know . . ." After her powers manifested. "I couldn't find any answers. I'm sorry."

Not the response she had been hoping for, but she didn't really expect much more. She would remain unknown. They spent the rest of the car ride in silence, and when the car finally came to a sudden stop, Paige emerged into a faint downpour of water.

As Shane made a quick escape to the house, Paige remained down the driveway, grovel crunching under her boots as she watched the young dark-haired thunderbird across the street. He remained in human form for the moment. A restraint Paige assumed wouldn't last long, considering how he longingly gazed up at the sky.

As usual, Paige's assumptions weren't that far-fetched. By the time she had reached the front door, the boy had succumbed to his primal instincts, shifted and taken flight. Paige stared at the dark bird as it fluttered high above, sparks of electricity clinging to his dark wings and growing brighter with each flutter of his wings.

A small smile flickered on her face.

His magic, the thunderbirds magic, it was there, but . . . barely. It was so faint, it would have been easy to miss.

Perhaps Hollie's expensive charm wasn't a waste of money after all.

Page shut the door behind herself, shook herself free from her coat and headed to the den. It was silent as she descended the stairs, so she plugged in her iPod, selected a random playlist, and kicked off her boots.

Grabbing a bundle of dried lavender, Paige kneeled before a small altar of white candles. There were a dozen candles all together, all a variety of sizes, but they were all pure white and fairly new. As she took a shaky breath and bowed her head close enough to catch a strong whiff of lavender, she felt a spark of magic. This time, she did not supress the spark. She encouraged it.

It was harder to catch hold of her magic this time. That was unusual. Paige unhooked Hollie's charm from around her wrist and discarded the bracelet to the side. Now, there was nothing in the way.

As she glanced back up at the candles, every single one of them suddenly flared to life, a bright flicker of flame attached to each smooth surface. Warmth washed over her, a bright glow catching the edges of her face.

Paige rolled back onto her knees and held the bundle of lavender high above the flames. With her eyes focused on the flames, the bright bluish-purple flowers escaped the stems and fluttered towards the flames. As the heat touched each flower, they burst into flames and withered into nothing.

The scent of lavender became overwhelming but Paige didn't back away. As the final flower burned, Paige leaned back on her heels and inhaled the intoxicating scent that submerged her.

Lavender may not have been her favourite scent, she much preferred rose, but lavender has always done the trick. She felt the tension in her body ease away. It was an odd sensation, but one she was familiar with. It was something an old classmate showed her a few years ago, candles and burning flowers, add a hint of magic, and with the right scent, it was like all the toxicity in your body would just melt away.

Paige needed, now more than ever, to calm down.

It was practically a calming ritual. Or cleansing ritual, considering who you asked.

Paige remained that way, kneeling before the candles until the flames burned themselves out. As the magic faded from the room, Paige stood, the tension in her muscles nothing but a distant memory now.

Switching off the music, she left the den and headed upstairs to her bedroom. She couldn't be bothered with a shower tonight so she stripped off her clothes and ransacked her dresser for something light and airy to sleep in.

Pulling on an oversized shirt that came to an end just above her knees, Paige pulled her hair into a loose knot and leaned towards the mirror above her dresser. As she was wiping off some of the smeared makeup, a parcel on her bed caught her eye.

Leaving the makeup wipes on the dresser, she approached the bed. The parcel was rather small, and unlike most of her usual parcels, this one didn't come in a box or parcel bag. Brown wrapping paper was taped together, with a thin white ribbon wrapped around something light and square.

Weird.

Shane never mentioned a parcel had arrived and she hadn't ordered anything recently that hasn't already arrived. There wasn't any shipping label or return address. Nothing to indicate it had gone through the mailing system.

She picked up the parcel, turning it over in her hands. Something hard was beneath the paper. It felt like a book. Tearing off the wrapping paper, Paige stared down at the blank cover. No words were etched onto the cover, but she could tell, just with a glance – and the smell didn't help – that this book was old. Really, really old.

Maybe a spell book?

But that still wouldn't explain how it got into her room, but then again, some spell books had a mind of their own.

Fingering the cover, Paige turned the book onto the side to look at the spine. "Wuthering Heights." It wasn't a first edition, but it was old enough that it would have come close.

She had lost her copy of Wuthering Heights that morning when she threw it at Lucas. Paige went back at lunch to find it but it was already gone. Somehow, she doubted this came from Lucas. It would cost a small fortune, and she doubted Lucas cared that much. Her lost copy wasn't anything special, just one of many reprints. She had actually stolen it from the library at Solace Academy.

Sticking out from the pages was a small card. Paige pulled it free and turned it around so she could read the writing.

A replacement for your cheap copy.

At the bottom of the card was a signature.

Aaron.

Her heart came to an abrupt standstill as she read his message once again. How had he known she lost her copy? Did Lucas tell him about their encounter before school? She didn't think Lucas and Aaron were friends.

Paige shivered against the cold and it took her a moment to realise that the room wasn't the one getting colder. She glanced around but the windows were firmly closed, but she felt as if she stepped outside during a blizzard.

She wrapped her arms around herself and was seconds away from fetching a jacket from the closet when the same eerie coldness swept over her. It felt like daggers slicing her skin.

Then she realised what this sensation was. It wasn't her body reacting to cold weather. The hairs at the back of her neck prickled and something told her she wasn't alone anymore. As soon as the thought struck her, there was a shift in the room.

The floors creaked as if someone had taken a step, but Paige remained firmly rooted in place. A soft shuffling sound had Paige whirling around so fast she almost lost her balance. Her room remained as brightly lit as always, but a firm pressure pushed against her back. Warmth tickled her neck, and from the corner of her eyes, she could see a faint shadow.

She didn't turn around to face whoever or whatever was behind her. Someone was here. Someone was actually in her bedroom. She had left Hollie's charm down in the den, so magic was much easier to access now than it was a few hours ago.

Paige drew on her magic and it came rushing to the surface.

Along with her own magic building, she became aware of all other magic that happened to be nearby. The thunderbird was still playing in the sky, she could sense his magic even from inside. And behind her, she could feel magic. Whoever this magic belong to, it felt weird. Off. Unnatural. But very familiar.

Paige whispered a single name without moving. "Aaron?"

She felt the shadow pause. Something touched the centre of her back, she could feel fingers through the thin cotton shirt she wore. The fingers trailed up her spine and stopped just below her shoulder blades.

Then the fingers were gone. The pressure in the room lessened to normal and the iciness that took resident in her chest melted away. Feeling as if her heart had come to a stop, Paige slowly turned around, scanning the room as she continued to rotate.

She was alone.

But above the window seat, the dark curtains blew wildly in the breeze from the open window.

Almost too scared to move, Paige reached across the window seat and pulled the window firmly closed. As she did, she peered outside, but the darkness was too thick to make out anything below.

***

Paige scooped down low and tied the lacers of the seventh pair of shoes she had tried on in the last hour. They didn't have much of a heel, but they were black, her favourite boot colour, and there were these cute little buckles on the side of the boots.

She admired her ankles in the wall-length mirror for a moment before replacing them for the tanned shoes she wore to Rosekin Mall. They didn't look that bad and added them to the maybe pile.

As Paige wandered through the store, she stopped near the entrance and stared longingly at a pair of knee-high leather boots. Searching for her size, she tried them on and added them to the maybe pile that had somehow grown into a yes pile. She brought the boxes up to the counter and as the woman scanned the barcodes, Paige went outside and found a cart that she now needed for all her new purchases.

Returning to the store, she paid for her two new boots, a pair a sneakers, and a pair of high-heels with straps that round up her leg. Leaving the store, she wandered around the seven-storied mall. An enormous chandelier hanged from the glass ceiling, and the all-white walls made it look like this building was better suited for a hospital instead.

Paige stopped briefly at a designer store and rifled through a rack of jeans. Finding one in her size, she paid without trying it on. She didn't have enough trust in people to leave her new shoes unattended.

After another hour of wandering from store to store, Paige headed back downstairs to the coffee shop – House of Coffee – on the ground floor. Her cart had grown significantly in the last hour and she was thankful she had full control over Shane's car today. She wanted to go shopping, and Shane needed to spend the day in his office, so she dropped him off early. All she needed to do was pick him up later, and the rest of the day, she could do whatever she wanted without walking from place to place.

As Paige waited for her mocha to arrive, her phone buzzed with an incoming call. Hiding out by a pair of huge potted plants, Paige glanced down at the screen. She felt a wave of emotions as a familiar name flashed across the screen.

"You need to come back." Finn's urgent voice erupted from the device.

Paige held the phone away from her ear as she waited for Finn to calm down. He was prone to emotional outbursts and Paige knew Finn well enough to know that she wouldn't be able to get a word in until Finn was done and out of breath.

"You're needed here."

Paige frowned and leaned against the potted plant. "You're kidding? You want me to go back? There? Ha. You're funny."

"Come on, Paige. Donna is running amuck since you left."

Paige felt a headache forming, and as always with the mention of that name, rage swept her chest. She was the self-appointed Queen Bee at Solace Academy, that is, until Paige arrived and shut that girl down hard enough it took weeks of hospital visits until Donna had properly healed.

"That bitch is taking control again. Now that you're not here to put her in line, she reigns control."

"I'm sure you can handle her."

"Ha, now you're the funny one," Finn said. "Now that you're not here, at my side, with your magic, no chance. You were always stronger than Donna. She hated that about you."

Paige rolled her eyes. She never went to Solace Academy with the intention of becoming public enemies with a fellow witch who has been at that institute half her life, but it had taken less than a week until Donna demanded Paige submit. Paige didn't take kindly to that threat. And neither did her magic. Since then, they've been tossing magic back and forward. Paige always got the upper hand, though.

"Plus," Finn added. "I do miss you. You always knew how to have fun, Paige. Alcohol. Sex. Party in the woods every weekend."

Paige never mentioned to Finn she almost got expelled from school already, and she certainly wasn't going to mention she's practically been home most nights since. No parties for this girl.

"Mocha? Double chocolate?"

Paige glanced away from her phone as a disposable cup was thrusted into her hands. Her eyebrows rose at the familiar voice. "Kendall?" She took in Kendall's dark shirt, green apron and nametag. "You work here?"

Kendall nodded, dusted her hands on her apron before she pulled it off over her head. "Just about to clock-off. I saw you order. Figured I could bring it over on my way out."

Paige took a slow slurp and loved the taste of chocolate and coffee on her tongue.

"Paige . . . hello . . . I'm still here, you know."

Paige brought her phone back to her ears as the sound of Finn's irritated voice filled her senses. "Sorry Finn. Gotta go, but take care of that bitch for me, will you?"

"No worries. That bitch is dead. Hey, who are you talking to? She sounds kinda cute . . ."

Paige abruptly disconnected the call, but Finn's voice lingered in the air. She looked back at the frown that flustered across Kendall's face. "He's not gonna actually kill anyone. I swear."

Kendall raised her hands. "Your business. Not mine."

"I know. He's just Finn . . . an old friend." Paige didn't know Kendall well enough to know how she would take his comment regarding her. "He's definitely someone you don't want to get involved with."

Her frowned only deepened. "Why is that?" Now, she just looked insulted.

"I didn't mean it like that, Kendall. He's more like me, than someone like you. Plus, he's kinda an ass."

"Like you? You mean . . ." Her frowned vanished. "An old friend . . . like from your old school? He's a Solace Academy student?" Definitely someone not worth getting to know.

Paige nodded. "Even outcasts can have friends, you know."

Kendall flustered. "I didn't mean it like that."

Paige only laughed and followed her away from the food court. "Kendall, relax, okay? Finn's an ass. Granted, a hot one, but semi-harmless."

"Semi-harmless?"

A grim smile broke across her face. She shook her head. "You don't want to know. Trust me."

Kendall took her word for it and dropped it. "Ms. Schade was watching you Friday."

Paige stopped pushing the cart and turned to Kendall. "I know, right! At least I wasn't the only one who noticed. She's been doing that ever since I turned her classroom into an underwater amusement park."

"Can't blame her for that, Paige. There was a lot of magic that day." Kendall looked away as she pondered her next words. She looked back at Paige with a determined face. "People are saying that you snuck in an unauthorized element. But I was right there. Watching you the whole time. I didn't see anything unusual, so I have no idea where all that magic came from."

Paige turned her attention back to her mocha. She didn't feel the need to mention that no foreign element was used. She never snuck anything special into her spell to increase its strength. She didn't think Kendall could handle knowing that Paige didn't need a power booster. She had more than enough magic on her own to not need anything like that. Maybe that was why Aaron was quickly becoming obsessed with her? Did he somehow sense all the magic she was hiding deep inside? He must. All his snide comments.

"You gonna let me in on the secret?"

Kendall's face was hopeful, eager, but Paige wasn't about to trade any secrets. "Probably never will."

Kendall was disappointed and wasn't that good at hiding her emotions. "Maybe one day. People talk. Especially about people gifted with magic."

Paige felt something snap. "I'm not gifted!" She practically growled, then lowered her voice as a few curious stares were thrown her way. "I'm not advanced."

Kendall shrugged. "If you say so."

"You don't believe me?"

Kendall shook her head. "Nope. Not after your magic display. Acts like that gets you landed into the advanced-magic program."