Chapter one

"Remember, never forget what we have taught you." Bryony's mother said as she leaned forward and kissed her daughters forehead.

"Your heart is pure and full of light kiddo, never lose that. Hold onto the magic inside you and it will keep you safe in hard times." Bryony's father said as her mother stood up.

Bryony didn't understand what they were talking about, but the word magic made her smile, "Fairies!"

Her mother laughed. "That's right my little fairy, don't forget." She touched Bryony's nose and she giggled.

"We love you so much." Her father said. "Don't ever forget."

"And if you ever need us, we will always be here for you." Her mother said.

"Bryony!"

Bryony jumped and shook her head, shaking the thoughts of her parents away as she turned to see her friend, Amara, standing over her desk.

"What?" Bryony asked.

"Stop daydreaming and come on, class ended twenty minutes ago." Amara said.

"What? Why didn't you get me?" Bryony exclaimed, standing up and shoving her paperwork into her backpack and putting it on.

"I tried, but you were busy daydreaming." Amara laughed. "About what? A boy? What's his name?"

"I wasn't daydreaming, and definitely not about a boy." Bryony said as she walked to the door, "memories about my parents just came to me out of nowhere.

Bryony clutched her mothers necklace as Amara gave her a sad smile. She understood that Bryony couldn't ever talk about them to anyone, it hurt too much and she rarely remembered a thing. The only thing she had left of her mother was her necklace.

Her mother gave it to her just before they took her. She told Bryony that if she kept it safe, it would keep her safe, and Bryony had never taken it off since the night her mother gave it to her. Bryony's parents told her stories when she was just a little girl, how the necklaces were supposedly magical and whoever wore them would be protected. The necklace was split in two pieces, her mother had one, and her father had the other. Bryony remembered them telling her that whoever wears the pieces, are connected somehow, and that the necklace chose two people to connect them with each other to form a unbreakable bond of love. It was only a matter of time before the two people found each other.

Bryony's fathers piece got lost a little while before they took her parents, she remembered trying to find it but never could. It was gone forever, and she always hoped someone would find it, so that someday they would be together again. She just didn't want to be connected with anyone. But that wasn't real anyway, just stories.

"Come on lets go home." Bryony said as she walked out of the classroom. Amara followed behind, not saying anything all the way to her car.

They both got in and that's when Amara turned to Bryony, "Bryony, you need to tell someone what you remember of your parents. I know you were only three, but you have some memories of them, I know you do. You couldn't tell the police anything because you were too little, my mom took you in because she was your moms best friend. She doesn't tell me anything about your mom, but maybe if you ask her, she can tell you all about your mom. Why do you never ask about your parents? She grew up with them, she knows about them more than you do. Don't you want to know?"

Bryony shook her head. "I don't need to know, they're gone and knowing anymore about them won't change anything and bring them back. I have a few memories and that's enough, I don't want to know more and be even more sad that they're gone. I don't remember a lot, and if I did, it would be harder to deal with them gone. They just left me Amara, why would I want to know more about people who didn't want me anymore?"

Amara sighed. "I hate to admit it, but you're kind of right. But still, don't you want to know who they were? What they did?"

Bryony turned to look out the window as Amara started her car. "I know enough about them and who they were. They were crazy people, always telling me about the magic in the world and reading me books about it."

"Every parent tells their kids about the magic in the world, that doesn't make them crazy. Children are innocent little things, parents don't want to crush their little dreams of seeing a unicorn or being a princess or mermaid." Amara said, shaking her head. "I remember I always wanted to see mermaids when I was a little girl. I had quite the imagination."

Bryony smiled. "You don't even know."

"Know what?" Amara asked.

Bryony turned to look at her friend. "I always thought I was a fairy and actually thought I could fly."

Amara laughed. "I remember when you were about five, you dressed up in my old little fairy costume and jumped from the balcony to fly."

"Yeahhh, I broke my legs. Couldn't walk for a couple of months." Bryony laughed.

"It's a miracle you're even walking right now. They thought you weren't ever going to walk again." Amara said, shaking her head. "You were such an innocent child, what happened to you?"

"Ouch." Bryony said and Amara laughed.

She had a point though. What did happen to me? Bryony thought. I remember I was all about magic and fairy tales. I used to pretend to talk to little fairies that came to visit me in my room at night, I used to pretend that our horse was a unicorn and I had such a wasted childhood believing in that stuff. I could have been making friends and having a normal life, but it's my parents fault I wasn't a normal child. They filled my head with stories and then just left me to fend for myself. They were crazy. My brain was messed up from them, I was in therapy for years until I turned 12, trying to help get that stuff out of my head because that's all I talked about and thought about. People thought I was crazy. Maybe I was. Maybe I got my craziness from my parents.

Bryony loved her parents, and still did, but they ruined her by telling her that stuff. Magic didn't exist, and fairy tales weren't real. The only magic that existed, was the magic in books and stories. Fantasy books, romance book, adventure books, and even movies. It could exist in those, but it wasn't real. They're just stories to make people happy and imagine.

"Okay, what do you say about stopping by at Sebastian's house for a moment?" Amara asked Bryony, pulling her away from her thoughts.

Bryony turned to look at her friend. "Why?"

"Well, lets just say I accidentally left my sweater at his house when I went there last night." Amara said sheepishly.

"You went to his house last night? You said you were going out for a drive." Bryony exclaimed, but laughed a little.

"Hey it's not my fault I have to hide the fact that we like each other. Mother wouldn't approve of it, you know how she is everytime I mention a boy." Amara said.

Bryony nodded. "Yes, but even though she shouldn't do this to you, she is trying to protect you from what happened between your father and her. He was abusive, he hurt her and used her, and treated her like crap. She just doesn't want to see you get hurt."

"And I love her for that, but still." Amara said as she parked the car at her secret boyfriends house.

"Why didn't you tell me you were sneaking off with your boyfriend? You know I keep secrets." Bryony said.

Amara turned to look at her. "You know now. And he isn't my boyfriend."

"Mhmm whatever you say." Bryony said as she got out of the car. Bryony called, "I love you!" real quick before Amara slammed the door shut and gave her a look, which only made Bryony laugh.

Bryony watched as she walked up to the door and knocked. It only took a few seconds before the door opened and a boy smiled at her, stepping aside to let her in. Before he shut the door, he made eye contact with Bryony and winked but she stuck her tongue out at him. He smiled before shutting the door.

Bryony sighed and sunk deeper in her seat, waiting for Amara to come back out. She always said she would only be a minute when she needed to go somewhere or get something, but when she said minute, she really meant an hour. Hopefully it didn't take an hour this time. The last time she had to do something and Bryony was with her, Bryony was sitting in the car for an hour and by the time Amara had came out again, Bryony glared at her for the rest of the ride home. Amara apologized so many times but Bryony didn't talk to her until they got back home. She couldn't ever stay mad at someone for more than an hour, that just wasn't her.

Bryony's phone vibrated from her backpack and she quickly grabbed it, searching the pockets for her phone. She always put her phone in the exact same spot in her backpack, every single time, but for whatever reason, she always forgot where she put it. Every single time. How? She had no idea. She was just a dumb person that was all. She was probably going to be diagnosed with short term memory loss sometime, she actually wouldn't be surprised if she was.

Bryony finally found her phone and turned it on to see a text message.

Amara💞

Just one more minute, I'm almost done. He's just talking to me about this boring science movie again smh

Bryony shook her head, smiling, as she replied to her.

Just tell him to stop and that you have to go. If I'm in this car for more than 5 minutes, I'm walking home

She put her phone back in her backpack, ignoring when it buzzed again and sighing as she looked out the window and watched a bird fly past and land on the sidewalk. It pecked at the ground for a little bit, before it took off in the sky and flew towards the trees. Bryony looked at the front door to the house and just stared at it for a minute before groaning and unbuckling herself. She got out of the car, shut the door, and stormed up to the house. She didn't ring the doorbell, she didn't even knock.

She opened the door and walked right inside. "Hello people. Amara, what is taking you so long?"

Amara and Sebastian turned to look at Bryony. Sebastian raised an eyebrow as Amara folded her arms, scowling at her friend.

"Bryony." Amara scolded her. "You can't just walk inside a house without being invited. That is-"

She stopped as Bryony grabbed her arm and pulled her with her and away from Sebastian and called, "Bye Stan, see you later." before shutting the door and dragging her friend to the car, but before Bryony shut the door, she saw Sebastian give her an amused smile and that made her feel great.

"You have no manners." Amara exclaimed, but Bryony just laughed. "It's not funny. That's not nice to walk inside someone's house without being invited in. Now Stan's going to hate me."

"Oh shush, that wasn't the first time I've done something like that." Bryony said and Amara gave her a look of disbelief. "What? You know me, you should know that that is the kind of person I am." Bryony was laughing by the time she finished what she was saying.

Amara shook her head and started the car, but she gave her friend a smile before driving home.