I was trapped. Not only was I held by the man I wanted to help but my parents were quickly coming over. I knew I was doomed. "No good deed goes unpunished," I said in a soft voice while trying to think of a way out. My dad got to me first, gave me an angry glance while holding me tight, "sorry John, my daughter must have been caught up in the moment and forgot herself. She is usually much better behaved. Isn't that right, Alice?"

They both looked at me when my father asked me that. I saw that my dad was giving me an out and I quickly said, "yes, I was just caught up in the moment and forgot my manners" or I would have said that if I could lie! Instead I said, "No, I thought I could sneak in a heal spell to help remove his pain because I was pretty sure I could cast my magic better than those children." I cannot believe I said that. I had an out damn it! Instead I came off as an arrogant child. I saw their faces darkening so I quickly said, "I will not do it again" and let out a sigh that it came out alright. There was no way I would make the same mistake again. There better be some upside to this angel selection because the no lying may be a bigger issue than I thought.

My mom who had gotten there just in time to hear me proclaim that I knew better than everybody else that my magic could not misfire and took me from my father. Judging from the looks on both their faces, I am so dead. "I am sorry." I sniffed. Oh, how I was sorry. I was not sorry for casting my magic. NO, I was sorry that I became a human light bulb and my great plan went astray. I will give credit to John because he let it go after talking with my parents for a while and me saying I was sorry multiple times. The walk home was filled with their voices scolding me. Once I got home, I got spanked and grounded.

During the next couple of weeks, I spent most of my time in my room. I only came out to help cook or to have lessons with my mother. I could hear my parents speaking about my schooling. My mom was trying to talk my dad out of sending me! I could hear her saying things like "girls do not need to go to school" or "what good will an education do for a housewife". I cannot say I was not hurt. Desperate I made sure to read in front of my father as often as I could. If he was at work, I would go into my room to work on my alchemy and enchanting skills. I just made some smoke bombs since the materials needed were common, just a bit of burnt wood combined with a few herbs but even, so I still ran out of supplies to make them. My greatest enchantment I could do with what I had was a robe with "deep pockets" that allowed me to place more items inside the pockets without weighing it down. I did manage to also make a "mace" I use that term loosely. It was just a heavy branch that I carved (poorly) into the shape of a mace and then enchanted the branch to be slightly harder so it would not snap easily. Working on a budget stinks.

I would then show all my creations to my father using quotes about "how I learned" how to make this. I had to always think about what I wanted to say because of the inability to fib. My mother did not like me experimenting in my room but gave in after a while. I think she knew I was going a bit stir crazy. I had even read the "how to enchant your way into a boys heart" and other than a really cheesy title it actually had so much useful information that my enchanting skill went up to 3 of 100,000. I know that 3 points does not sound like much but the fact that reading could help in progressing skills was super huge. I had to get into a school since that was the only way a poor person like me would be able to get ahold of written material. Most of the population is illiterate and the fact that I even had books was all due to my father doting on me.

I also cast all my spells on myself trying to get better control over the light up effect, if I could even misfire and to see if there were any limitations on the amount of times I could cast. The results… I am still bright as ever whenever I cast, I never miscast and I could cast about twenty times before I needed to rest. I did notice that my eyes went from blue to gold when I cast but returned to normal after the spell was complete. I could not get a decent look because our "mirror" was not really all that good. So other than color I am unsure if there is anything else that happens to them. My sight does not change or become blurred at least. I also tried flight and proceeded to bang into the ceiling before plopping onto the floor. It was not my finest moment. The room was just too small for it. The wings I manifest are beautiful though.

***

The end of my incarceration is coming to an end. Prison life is so hard! Ok, so I am being dramatic but being stuck indoors was so boring. I just found out today from my mom that we would be going out shopping so I am super excited. I went to get on better clothes than the worn frock I had been using but was stopped by my mom. "Here wear this today," she said and handed me a new dress. It was a very pretty white dress with flowers stitched onto the bottom of it and made of a finer material than any of my other clothes. I looked at it and then my mother unsure why I would need such a pretty dress. I gave a quick thank you and then went to put it on. It was shorter and had a much thinner material than my other dresses, so it did not fall past my knees. Other girls were wearing short dresses at the fair awaking ceremony, so I did not think much of it.

As soon as we started walking, I noticed an issue. It was a new experience so I could not be blamed for not thinking of it. You see unlike shorts I could feel a breeze occasionally blowing up my dress as I walked which made me feel uncomfortable. I was afraid I would be exposed for all to see even if there were very few people on the road we walked on. I kept pulling the dress down which did not help and while I did not have much of a chest but my nipples still stood out when I pulled the cloth tight. This made me quickly pull it back up. This cycle repeated a few times before I just hung my head in shame and gave up. You may ask why I am not wearing a bra. Fun fact, the poor do not have access to them and even the rich either use wraps or a thin fabric that goes under their tunic.  All my clothes are coarse wool, which is thicker, so I never had this problem before. I honestly do not know what my mom was thinking. I felt eyes on me once we got to a busier section of town near the market. I slunk behind my mom to use as cover. I do not think it helped much.

***

We finally made it. My confusion increased as we went store to store. While we were "shopping" my mom did not buy anything, and we did not go to the regular stands or stores to get our food or household cleaners. Instead we went to a more upscale store to browse, then a bookstore, and then a weapon store. I was excited to see the bookstore at first but how excited can somebody be when they cannot touch anything. I was told to "be careful we cannot afford to buy any of these" before we entered. So, I read the spines of the books trying to gage what types of books that were sold here. It seemed to be mostly educational books for the wealthy students. I cannot say I wasn't jealous. Men would pass me every now and then, they generally bought the books they came for and left. Every once and a while one would look at me, when I say me I mean my body first and then maybe my face as if it was an afterthought. They would then go about their business as if it did not happen. I felt so uncomfortable that I had my arms crossed over my chest when I noticed in hopes that I could at least block some of their lecherous peeking. I was so embarrassed that my ears were flaming red. In the weapon shop I was told to not touch anything so I again stood there while men bought their selections. It was around this time I connected the common points of every store we went to. I felt like an idiot. I should say there were two common points of the stores. First they were all upscale and second they all mostly accommodated men. I also noticed at this time that my mom would walk away from me occasionally to talk with any guy that looked at me for a longer time than I was comfortable with. I wondered if she did that in the first two stores.

I was pissed. Was she really selling me off to the highest bidder? Even if I cared about that type of stuff, I was freaking 13 years old! Well I did what any self-respecting 13-year-old would do… I left. I was going home and staying there until I could ask my dad what was going on. My vision blurred as I walked and it was then that I noticed I was crying. In my head I knew that they were not my real parents but in my heart, I had grown fond of our time together. The stories my dad told me after dinner, the lessons with mom, the scolding they would give me if I was bad; all of it made me care for them. I walked while thinking heading in what I hoped was the right direction to my house. This day was a disaster.

"Help! … Help! … My brother is injured. Somebody help meeee" I heard a girl's voice screaming for help as I passed an alley. Her screaming snapped me out of my depressing thoughts. I looked into the it and saw a little girl covered in dirt. She could not be more than seven with twig-like limbs that screamed malnutrition. Tear tracks could be seen where it had washed away some of the dirt on her face. She looked truly pitiful. My heart went out to her. I knew what it was to be at your wits end so without much thought I turned and quickly moved down the narrow alley.

"Do not worry little one. I can help your brother." Saying that I looked around but did not see anybody. "Where is he?" I squatted down once I was near so I was eye level with her. She looked relieved and tugged on my arm as she tried to go further in. I noticed a man collapsed on the ground after we got further down the alley. I rushed over to him leaving the little girl and as I focused on the guy a window popped up

Name: Unknown

Addiction – Snapdragon potion

Addiction – alcohol

Malnutrition

I slowed down. There was nothing I could do for any of these issues. I turned back around to tell the little girl that I had left in my rush to help just in time to see her running off past a bunch of teens that were now coming from the direction we just came from. They all had weapons in hand with grim expressions on their faces. They obviously had come for me. The girl left so close to them they could have easily grabbed her if they wanted to. A trap! I am so stupid.

Ok! Now is not the time to freak out. I need options. There were six of them, they know how to fight judging from the number of scars they have and because of my mother I did not have my normal cloak which held my mace and potions. I had my magic and my wings but as they walked closer, I could see them starting to use magic as well. Apart from the tallest boy they looked weak and untrained. I could see small sections of magic glowing weakly on parts of their bodies. The tallest one did not have any magic on him that I could see, but his posture screamed leader.  My flight is not going to work since the alley was too narrow for my wings to spread out. I had one option left. I could try to blind them with a flash spell and then make a break for it. As options go it stunk but it is all I had. I kept my eyes on them as they got closer and closer. I had to time this just right…

A blinding flash... of pain coursed through me. What the… They were not near me. I did not see any magic. I tried to focus and dizzily turned to see the man that was on the ground sneer as he lowered the small club onto my head one more time. Darkness engulfed me and I heard "what a tough girl… Billy don't hit her again or he may deduct our pay" and then nothing.

***

"Samuel, I left the town reports on your desk. There are a few good candidates for enrollment this year. Check out the top letter first."

Samuel heard a "Thank you" come from the office followed by papers moving about. He was counting in his head to see how long his friend would take to rush out. Twenty seconds later a tall lanky man with a receding hairline and bags under his eyes from staying up late grading papers came rushing out. "Is this report confirmed?"

"Peter calm down and umm can you ease up on your hold a bit?" Samuel glanced at his arms which his friend Peter had grabbed in his excitement. "Yes, it has been confirmed. A three-foot radius or 6-foot diameter at first release of power according to our scout."

"We need to get her first!" Peter whirled around to head out, stopped, turned back around, send a letter… no wait, send the courier right away. Time is of the essence." He then rushed back into his office and the sound of papers could be heard again but it was now accompanied by his voice going "6 feet!" or "how much bigger will that become once she is trained?" over and over again. Samuel smiled and left his friend never telling him he had already sent a courier.

Just a snapshot of the character sheet so you know were she's at... Skip if you want

Name: Alice

Race: half-Angel

Level 1

Profession – Angel of Mercy

Experience - 5 of 100

Stats: Points unspent = 0

Strength          9

Stamina          9

Intelligence    10

Wisdom          17

Charisma        14

Dexterity        11

Perception      11

Luck                none earned

Skills:

Mace: Beginner  10 / 200

Enchanting – Talented  3 / 100,000

Herbalism – Journeyman  12 / 700

First aid – Beginner    0 / 200

Alchemy – beginner    30 / 200

Cleaning – 21 / 100

Tailoring – 4 / 200

Embroidery – 18 / 200

Cooking – 25 / 500

Poetry – 3 / 200

Painting – 3 / 200

Talents:                                                                                 

Holy Casting

Bloodline:

Angels gain following skills

Demonic Counter - Heal spells do damage to demons equal to healing value

Flight – Medium level flight

Holy Aura – A 3-foot aura that reduces pain and adds boost to all healing spells

Speak No Lie – People with angel blood are unable to tell lies

Pacifistic Blow – any attack against others will always fall short of killing them (monsters and demons excluded)

Vision of Diagnosis – Ability to detect ailments at a glance

Spells:

Light heal – a minor healing spell that is good for scrapes and bruises

Aid – Temporarily increase another's health

Minor golden armor – a thin protective barrier

Blinding Flash – a quick bright flash of your aura (works better in darker environments)