Nobody's Monster

Vanessa Bennett's POV

Someone once told me, "Vanessa, when fate takes a turn, it always comes with a sense of ceremony."

Complete nonsense, if you ask me.

What fate does best is blindside you when you're wearing ratty old pajamas, your hair's so greasy it could pass for a wet mop, and you look like something the cat dragged in.

My name is Vanessa. I'm seventeen, and I grew up at Silverbrook Foster Home in the south.

No parents, no relatives, no one who would write my name down as an emergency contact.

Today is probably the hundred and thirty-seventh time I've confirmed that I'm nobody.

This afternoon's test results came back. Three classes, all D's.

The director stared at my report card and sighed—one of those "just as I expected" sighs that hurt worse than being yelled at.

I locked myself in the storage room, eating stale crackers, planning to waste away in there forever.

Then the cat showed up.

When it squeezed through the window crack, I thought it was an unusually fat rat.

Its fur was silver-gray, and its eyes were an unusual amber color. The weirdest part? It had a letter clamped in its mouth.

The envelope was bigger than its head, but it carried it like the thing weighed nothing.

It jumped onto my lap, dropped the letter into my hands, then sat beside me like a courier who'd just clocked out, calmly licking its paws.

"Are you... a messenger?" I asked.

It glanced up at me with an expression that clearly said, Obviously.

The envelope was deep blue, sealed with wax stamped with an emblem.

The emblem showed an open book with a wand standing upright in the center of its pages, and a crescent moon floating above.

The wax wasn't the usual red, but silver—like captured moonlight.

My hands were shaking as I opened the envelope. I had no idea if this was good news or bad news.

It had been so, so long since I'd received a letter from anyone.

The paper was thick parchment, slightly rough to the touch. The ink was dark gold, slightly raised, as if it had been written recently and still held warmth.

I unfolded the letter, and when I read the first line, I froze.

[Vanessa Bennett, upon verification, you meet the admission requirements for Aethergate College of Magic.

Please arrive thirty days from now with this letter and the enclosed item, passing through Irelan Street, Arcane Platform Nine, to reach the academy.

Vice Principal Quinn Evans.]

I stared at the words "Aethergate College of Magic," feeling like I'd suddenly been pulled into some fever dream.

Aethergate College of Magic? Was someone playing a joke on me?

I'd never even heard of Irelan Street, let alone some hidden platform.

I turned to look at the silver-gray cat, which was now sprawled on my pillow, lying on its back, purring contentedly.

There seemed to be something else in the envelope. I reached in and felt a wooden stick of medium length.

I pulled it out, examining the fine patterns carved into the wood, feeling its weight in my palm.

The next second, warmth suddenly flared in my palm, racing through my whole body before fading just as quickly.

Could this be a wand, like the ones in fairy tales and movies? I could hardly believe that warmth had been real.

I turned the wand over and over for a long time, randomly muttering some nonsense words. The wand didn't react at all.

I discovered that whenever I gripped it tightly, that warmth would return, like someone answering me in the dark.

This feeling made me want to tell the person closest to me about all this.

Julie Harvey was a volunteer at the foster home, in her seventies, with hair gone completely white, walking with a gnarled old cane.

On an emotional and daily care level, Julie had taken on the mother role.

I'd always thought of her as my foster mother.

She came twice a month, bringing me chocolate cookies and old books.

She was the only person in the world who wouldn't tell me to shut up when I cried.

When I rushed to her place, she was in the garden pruning a rose bush that looked half-dead.

When she saw the wand in my hand, the scissors dropped straight to the ground.

"You received it." Her voice was soft, and shock flickered across her face for just a moment.

"So this is real?" I handed her the letter. "The magic academy actually exists?"

Julie was silent for a long time. She slowly removed the pendant she always wore around her neck.

It was a flat silver locket. She opened it, and inside was a tiny photograph.

The photo showed a young woman. She wore dark robes, holding something identical to the wand in my hand, smiling with bold confidence.

"Your mother, Electra Ross."

My breathing stopped.

"They told me she died when she gave birth to me."

"That's the version the foster home told you." Julie's eyes reddened. "The truth is, she didn't die—she disappeared. On the night of your one-month birthday, a portal at Aethergate College of Magic collapsed. She got trapped in the void between worlds. For seventeen years, no one's been able to find her."

I gripped the wand tighter, my nails digging into my palm.

"Did I inherit my magic from her?"

"No." Julie looked me in the eye. "What you inherited comes from your father's side. Your mother was born into a family with a long magical tradition, but she herself had no power."

"She got into Aethergate Academy because she was a scholar of magical history. She earned respect through her knowledge, not through power. The magic in your blood comes from your father—but no one knows who he is."

"Your mother never mentioned him. She only left one sentence: 'Someday, Aethergate College of Magic will come find Vanessa on his behalf.'"

I stood there, feeling like all of this was beyond anything I'd ever known.

"So you're saying I might be descended from a magical bloodline? And my mother isn't dead—she's trapped somewhere between worlds?"

Julie nodded.

"Is there a chance she can come back?"

"If you're strong enough." Julie squeezed my hand. "Aethergate College of Magic doesn't just admit anyone. You were chosen because they detected magical energy in you."

"Vanessa, you have talent. You're your mother's only hope."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

Wind swept across the garden, and that half-dead rose bush trembled slightly. A new dewdrop formed on a petal, catching the last light of the sunset.

My fingertips began to burn.

I looked down at the wand in my hand. The dark gold patterns were slowly lighting up, as if it had finally found the person it was waiting for.

"Thirty days from now, at Irelan Street, Arcane Platform Nine." I repeated the words.

"You'll be scared," Julie said.

"I'm already scared," I said. "But what scares me more is spending my whole life not knowing who I am."

The silver-gray cat had somehow followed me. It crouched on the garden wall, its amber eyes glowing like two small lanterns in the twilight.

I looked at it and suddenly smiled.

"What's your name?"

It yawned, jumped down from the wall, and walked away with light, graceful steps.

I tucked the wand into my pocket and folded the letter, pressing it against my chest.

Thirty days left.

I don't know what's waiting for me at Aethergate College of Magic.

I don't know when my magic will truly awaken, and I have no idea if a girl who grew up in foster care pulling straight D's will just be a joke once she gets there.

But I don't want to be nobody anymore.

I want to find my mother.

I want to know—who was the person who brought me into this world?

As the sun set, I turned and walked out of the garden.

Behind me, that rose bush quietly bloomed a single flower, untouched by anyone.

And the wand in my hand glowed softly in the quiet air.