A Little Touch of Magic | The Callers #1

Chapter One

The birds were at the window again. Pecking on the glass, beady eyes peering at me. It happened at the same time each day. Sitting on my bed, legs swinging back and forth, with my sandwich just an inch or two from my mouth. I sighed and slid off the bed, padding across the hardwood floor to reach up and open the window, just a crack, so I could push the crusts through and let them fight over it.

'Must you feed them?' Annie groaned, slumping down on her bed, opposite mine. 'They don't half make a racket.'

'Sorry,' I said, brushing the crumbs off my fingers. 'They're worse if I don't give it to them.'

'I don't know why they started sitting there in the first place,' she said, shivering at the sight of them. 'It's like they were watching for you.'

I nodded, taking a bite of my sandwich so I wouldn't have to reply. I didn't want to tell Annie about my fairies. She wouldn't understand. The birds had been brought by one of my more mischievous little friends, who had chased them around the building for an entire morning, and they stayed once they spotted the food in my hands. They were there the following day, and the one after that, and the one after that. I had to trade my crusts just to get some peace.

'You alright, Ilaina?' Annie asked, clicking her fingers in front of my nose.

'What?' I asked, blinking. 'Yeah, sorry. Just thinking.'

'You do that too much.'

I nodded again, not sure how to reply to that. How could someone think too much?

'Anyway, I came to get you cause it's time for the line up,' Annie stated, standing and stretching. 'There's some old geezer down there looking for an heir apparently. We're all to be the best little kiddies we can be.'

She mimicked our matron, Miss Haver, at the end and I giggled. She was a lovely old, huggable puff of a woman but she went a little mental when it came to a new adopter walking through our doors. I shoved the rest of the sandwich in my mouth and brushed the crumbs from my legs.

'Think I should brush my hair?' I asked, my fingers twitching to reach for my brush on the nightstand.

Annie turned at the door, hand on hip, and tapped a finger to her mouth as she thought. I knew what she was going to say before she said it.

'Would it really make a difference?'

'Yeah, you're right.' I ran across the room to join her, feeling my unruly curls bouncing around my ears as always, the faint flash of orange catching in the edges of my vision.

Of the thirty-seven children in Miss Haver's Home for Lost Children - a rather lovable way of saying unwanted kids - there was usually always three of us standing off to the side at the line ups. People didn't want children older than five usually, but they definitely didn't want a child older than ten. So, for myself, Annie, and a boy named Lucas, the line ups were usually a waste of our time. Lucas and Annie had arrived within a few months of each other and were turning twelve soon. I had just turned eleven, but had been in the home since I could remember. It was the only home I knew.

No one had ever picked me.

The three of us hung out by the bottom of the staircase in the majestic entryway. It had always been my favourite area of the entire house. Apparently the house used to belong to some Lord or other and we were out in the countryside - although that's not such a feat in Scotland, where everywhere you turn there's a field or five. The mahogany staircase swept out onto a glistening tiled floor that led up to the large double doors with frosted glass. It felt too grand for orphans such as us. There was even a chandelier hanging above us.

The little kids were all lined up, according to age and not height which always irritated Annie to no end, in their Sunday best, trying to shine that little bit brighter than the other children there so that they might be chosen. Miss Haver was fussing over one or two of the younger kids at the beginning of the line.

'Oh good, come on you three,' she said, straightening up and noticing us hovering on the steps. 'Mr Ravencroft is waiting to see you all.'

'He's waiting to see us?' Lucas asked, understandably confused.

Annie and I turned to her, wondering the same thing. She noticed the looks on our faces and she paused. Her sigh told me everything we needed to know.

'No, dear, sorry,' she said. 'I just meant, you know, everyone.'

We nodded and took our places in line. I always stood at the very end, being one of the oldest and the tallest in the home. I twisted the corner of my pale green cardigan and tried not to stare at the door to the waiting room where Mr Ravencroft would be sitting in the plush leather armchair, a picture of his ideal child in his mind, hoping that someone would fit what he wanted.

'Alright, now be on your best behaviour,' Miss Haver said, moving to the waiting room door. 'We want someone here to find their forever home with Mr Ravencroft, after all.'

As Miss Haver opened the door and beckoned the mysterious man through, the sound of shuffling and whispers stopped. I heard a strange tap and shuffle as a shadow filled the open doorway. The hunched silhouette made some of the smaller kids shy away as he shuffled forward.

'Mr Ravencroft,' Miss Haver said, placing her arm on the man's shoulder. 'Meet the Lost Children of Miss Haver's home.'

The hunched silhouette stepped into the light. Mr Ravencroft looked ancient, all paper thin skin and wrinkles. He looked lost in the sea of different browns that made up his clothes and the glint of silver peeked through his fingers from the top of his long cane. He took a moment to look up and down the entire line.

'Now, which one of you will be the next Ravencroft heir?'

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Hello! Thank you for reading the first chapter of A Little Touch of Magic. I plan to update this story every Thursday so be sure to add it to your Reading List so you don't forget to check for updates! If you've enjoyed reading this story, please do take a moment to vote and comment and I'll make sure to respond to any comments received.

Thank you so much again for reading. I hope you have a lovely day :)

-Heather