There is no season that is quite like autumn. The air is crisp with the smell of wood smoke and the season’s harvest. An orange sky hangs above, the color resembling a caramel apple. You can hear the wind whistling through the trees adorned with bright colorful leaves, and shouts of children playing together on a cool autumn's evening. No one in this world can explain exactly what makes this season what it is, but somehow I can. For sixteen years I have watched this season pass by and wondered what secrets it holds. After all, I was born on October first, the same day my parents died.

My story begins on September twenty eighth, three days before my sixteenth birthday. I was sitting on a rock in the middle of crossroad forest. I used to go there when I wanted to be with my parents, for that was the only place I could be with them. A gust of wind swept through the trees. I took a deep breath in, inhaling the bitter air into my body.

“Where are you?” I whispered to myself, hoping that someone would respond, wishing that someone would be my mother or father.

“I’m right here, Gwen!” a bright joyful voice shouted. I opened my eyes with hope that it could be them, but alas it was not. The voice had come from my best friend Wendy. She had finally found me. “I knew I would find you here!” she said ecstatically, a smile framing her small, plump Asian face. I looked up at her, my bright blue eyes giving her a wicked look.

“Well don’t you look beautiful,” Wendy patted my head and sat down next to me. I looked down at what Wendy has remarked was so beautiful. My sunny blonde hair was tied up in a raspy ponytail, some of the strands of hair were covering my eyes and zit covered face. I wore a gray sweatshirt that was far too large for me, black sweat pants, and a pair of old, dirt covered Chuck Taylors.

“Yes, I’m simply gorgeous,” I muttered, wincing at Wendy as I spoke. She did not look amused. Frankly she looked at me the way she always did. With the same dazed look that she always wore. Wendy was short with ebony black hair that shone from the sunlight. Her skin was pale but fair and had not a single blemish. She wore a dark purple blouse and denim skinny jeans. She was far more beautiful than I.

“Stop the sarcasm and listen,” She smiled and scooted closer to me. “There is a new boy in town and I have to hook you guys up. I mean, you two are exactly alike.” She spoke and I pondered what she had said.

“What do you mean by alike?”

“I mean you guys would be perfect together. You both are quiet people who wish to be alone and have a strange sort of being about you,” Wendy paused and spoke again “And besides, when was the last time you had a boyfriend?” At that remark I pushed her off the rock and chased after her. We ran out of the forest and back to our homes to sleep until the next morning.

School was as it always was, boring and tiring. The only class I enjoyed was English. After all English was the class I could be myself in. I could write and write until I could no longer do so. There was one other good thing about the school day. Wendy was right; the new boy was quite a catch. He had dark brown hair that swept over his beautiful turquoise eyes like nothing I had ever seen before. His presence was almost magical, and his grin was heart melting. I was definitely going to get to know this boy, but part of me really didn’t want to. I mean I was already busy trying to find out the mystery of what had happened to my parents. On the other hand, I really did want to get to know him. Maybe he and I would have something special. I spent the rest of my day wondering what to do. Before I knew it, it was the end of the day and it was time to walk home. I began to stroll down the sidewalk that led to my home. I noticed that someone was walking behind me. This in itself was unusual because normally I was the only one who went this way. So I began to run. I ran as far as I could, but something caused me to stop in front of crossroad forest. I turned and behind me stood the new boy from school.

“Why did you run?” he asked quizzically, his eyes peering out from under his hair. Shocked to see him, I twitched a little bit, but calmed down as soon as I remembered who I was talking to.

“I thought someone was following me,” I said, forcing a smile on my face. He turned to look at the forest and then turned back to me

“Well I was,” he said grinning back. What he had said was terrifying, but that grin melted me every time.

“Oh well, would you like to walk with me?” I asked, the words just flowing out of my mouth, not a thought about them. I mean, he was following me. That was a bit creepy.

“I don’t really want to walk with you, but would you show me around this forest?” he pointed to the woods that we both stood in front of.

“Sure! I would love to.” I began to walk into the deep woods, a smile on my face and my mind still dwelling on thoughts of his impeccable smile, and he followed. I could hear the leaves crunching from his footsteps.

“Oh, and by the way,” he said, as he climbed over a fallen tree. “My name is Nathaniel.”
That’s a very formal name," I said, forgetting that I was talking to the guy I liked.

“Well, what’s yours?”

“Gwen, my name is Gwen,” I responded, turning around to see him smile at my name. For the rest of the journey we did not speak, but oh, did I want to. I wanted to tell him all about myself, but part of me wanted this conversation to remain silent. When we arrived at the rock I had been to the day before. I turned and said, “Welcome to my hideout!” He looked around for awhile, examining everything around us. Nathaniel went over to my rock and sat down. He then proceeded to smile and pat on the rock as if to ask me to sit down next to him, so I did. He looked at me, he seemed to be searching deep within my eyes for an answer to something, but before I could say anything, he leaned in and kissed me. When our lips touched my heart soared. His kiss was like a drug and I was addicted. I began to kiss him back, our lips moving furiously with each other. Then he broke the kiss and stood up.

“Tell me why you brought me here,” he asked, not even bringing up the kiss.

“Well, my parents, they died in this forest.” My smile turned to a frown As if he already knew, he answered very quickly, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok. You didn’t know,” I remarked smiling a little.

“Will you tell me about them?” He asked sitting back down next to me. At that I looked down to the ground and tears began to form in my eyes. I gulped and said,
“I would if I ever knew them. They were murdered the day I was born.” There was silence. Neither he nor I spoke. We both only stared at the ground, but then Nathaniel said something.

“Well, I am sure they were wonderful people. After all, they had such a beautiful daughter.” He smiled and leaned in and kissed me again. I kissed him back. I wanted to say something, but I was lost for words. I could only think of my parents.

“It’s getting late. I should go. It was nice getting to know you,” He smiled one last time, stealing my heart yet again, and began to walk out of the forest. For awhile I sat there, just thinking about all that had happened, and wishing that I could’ve told him about my parents. To tell him about them, I would have had to know something about them, but I knew nothing. At this, I began to walk home. When I arrived, my grandmother welcomed me with open arms, as well as a story about my mother. I fell asleep that night wearing her pearls. They were the only thing I had left that was hers. I said goodnight to my grandmother, and to the pearls.

The next morning, one day before my birthday, Nathaniel was not at school. I couldn’t help but ask if it was my fault. Had I scared him away? Did he think I was weird? All these questions were spinning in my mind. I wasn’t the only one that had noticed Nathaniel’s disappearance.

“Hey, Gwen,” a bubbly voice shouted from behind me. I turned to see Wendy running down the hallway, waving her arms frantically. I stopped and allowed her to catch up with me. “Have you seen the new guy?” she asked breathlessly. I shook my head, a sullen expression upon my face. She noticed my expression and cut me off from walking any further. “I saw you guys yesterday.” I gave her a puzzled look. “You two were going into the forest,” she said ,smiling a bit at this. “So what happened?”
I looked her in the eyes and very bluntly said, “we kissed.” Then I pushed her out of my way and continued to walk to class.

“Wait, WHAT?” she yelled, attempting to catch up with me.

“You heard me.” I was expecting a scream or shout from my dear friend, but I heard not a sound. I was expecting her to run to my side and ask for the details. To my surprise, she did not. I looked around for her, but I only saw the darkened faces of the students at my school. I did not see her bright face poking through the many bodies in the hall. She was gone. It was almost like she had disappeared, just like Nathaniel.

It was October first, my birthday. For some reason, I wasn’t feeling too happy about it. My best friend Wendy had gone missing during the middle of the school day the day before, and as far as I was concerned, Nathaniel was no where to be seen, either. My birthday was turning out horrible. School was like any day. Throughout the day I received a "Happy Birthday" from some of the students that I didn’t know very well, but it wasn’t the same as hearing it from my best friend or the guy I liked. At the end of the day I decided to go where I always went when I was feeling alone, the forest.

Something was different about crossroad forest that day. The tree branches seemed to follow me, as if they were staring at me waiting for something to happen. The wind howled. At first I confused it with the cries of people in danger. The crunch the leaves made when I stepped sounded like the cracking of bones. There was definitely something very eerie about the forest today. When I came to the rock, I threw my backpack down on the ground and sat down. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in.

“Happy birthday, Gwen,” I whispered to myself, sighing as I spoke.

“Yes, happy birthday, Gwen,” a strong male voice spoke. I opened my eyes and there stood Nathaniel. I opened my mouth, but I couldn’t speak. My mouth was dry and words could not escape, and so I kissed him. I had forgotten what it felt like.

“Nathaniel, I think I like you.” I said, staring into his dreamy blue eyes.

“Here,” he said to me, handing me a small piece of paper, ignoring the words I had spoken. The paper was aged and was torn along the edges. I unfolded the paper and upon its worn surface there were two faces, a man and a women smiling gleefully, as if they had not a worry in the world.

“It’s your parents,” he said in a serious tone. My stomach ached at the words he spoke. He had a picture of my parents, but how?

“Where did you get this?” I demanded.

“I have to tell you something,” he said, frowning and motioning for me to sit down.

“What is it? How do you have this picture?” My voice grew angry and violent, but before I could continue I heard something rustling in the leaves behind me. Nathaniel’s expression grew dark; he seemed to be concentrating on something. Out from behind the rock I was sitting on, a dark tall shadow rose up and began to cover the area where I sat. I screamed, terrified at what was happening. It was almost as if the shadow was pulling the life out of me, attempting to drag my body behind the rock from where it had come.

“Talicon Fourtune,” Nathaniel shouted at the shadow, pointing his hand like a gun directly into the center of the dark figure. Bright blue and purple sparks flew out of the end of his fingers and attacked the shadow. At that moment, the shadow made a high pitched screech before letting go of me and returning to its place beneath the rock. For a moment it was silent, neither Nathanial nor I spoke.

“What was that?” I asked, breaking the silence.

“It is called a demoro. They are creatures of the dead sent out to kill those who posses magic, and what I said was an enchantment that just happened to save your life,” he said, taking my hand and pulling me away from the rock.

“What are you?” I asked, looking in his eyes.

“I am a Wickaro. We are commonly confused with wizards.” He said, blowing his fingers like he was clearing the smoke from a pistol.

“Wendy is a pixie. Pixies are protectors. She has helped keep you hidden for all these years, but she had to come find me because she said you were in danger,” he said, letting go of my hand. “We were sent to protect you from the same fate as your parents.”

“You know what killed my parents?” I asked, looking into his eyes with so many questions.

“Yes, my mother did.” His words trailed off. “And she desires to kill you.”
The forest had never seemed so dark that day, but I knew one thing for sure. There was more to come, and I was more then just and ordinary girl. I had magic.