I look to my driveway as Aunt Shelly and Uncle Dave both drive to work. It’s a Friday morning and today I should be going to school, but instead, I’m meeting in secret. I open the front door, slip out and get into the black mustang sitting outside by the old oak tree. I show no emotion on my face as I slide into the passenger seat next to the blond and neon green head of the driver. A girl in the back seat instructs him to drive. His foot slams onto the gas and we screech off down the street.

I watch the dark, abandoned house grow closer and closer. It’s the house that everyone was scared of as little kids. The house everyone said was haunted or that had a witch living in it. No one dared walk up to that house, no one except me that is.

As I’m watching the house grow nearer I remember that exhilarating day.

I’m exploring the house, when I hear voices and footsteps. I’m not scared, I don’t even flinch when a beautiful girl with blond hair that’s cut to her shoulders walks in and freezes at the sight of me. Two others follow her in; a girl with Raven black hair falling down her back and a boy with blond spiky hair with neon green at the tips. They react the same way the blond did. The three of them stare at me as if not knowing what to do.
“What are you doing here?” The blond demands.
“I was looking for a place to chill…”
“With your friends no doubt.”
Her voice cuts into me coldly.
“I don’t have any friends,” I whisper.
“Why is that?” The raven haired girl asks kindly.
“Everyone thinks I’m weird because I’m different.”
The raven haired girl looks at the other two, a silent conversation passing between their eyes.

I snap out of my remembrance as the car comes to a stop. We all get out and they lead me inside, up to the third floor; the attic.
“Before we tell you anything, you have to swear to join us, no matter the consequence,” The blond says
I nod. They smile.
“I’m Olympia,” The blonde says. “This is Athena and Ash. We were sent by the king and queen to find their daughter. You look strongly alike her,” Olympia continues.
What does this have to do with me?
“What’s your name?” Athena, the raven haired girl asks.
“It’s Noella,”
“We need to find you a new name,” Ash says.
But I like my name the way it is!
Then, Olympia leaves for a moment. When she returns, she has a book. The book has what looks like it once was black, but is now fading to brown, cover. There is some scribbled writing on the front. Olympia opens to a page, and I look over her shoulder at what looks like another language. Even though I know I shouldn’t, I recognize the strange writing, Latin maybe, knowing it without ever seeing it before. ‘patefacio ianua of insolitus universitas, quibus ostendo mihi via, ut meus verus nomen’
“Open the door of the strange world, to which I should belong, show me to my true name. “It’s a naming spell,” I translate flatly, reading out of the book.
Athena, Olympia and Ash all look at me in astonishment.
“Have you seen this before?’ Athena asks.
“No, I haven’t. I don’t understand how I could have read it. To my eyes, it looks like a bunch of random shapes and stuff, but to my brain, it’s like another language.”
“Olympia, Ash, out in the hallway for a moment. I need to speak with Noella alone,” Athena says.
Olympia and Ash obey, sweeping out into the hall and closing the door.
“Walk over here,” She says when the other two are gone.
I walk over to where Athena is standing. There is a large shallow bowl with a silvery liquid in it. I look into it and it’s like a mirror.
“Now hold out your hand.”
“Why/”
“Because, I said so, and if you’re going to be one of us, you need to listen to me.”
I hesitantly hold out my hand. What’s she doing to me?
Athena takes hold of it and pulls out a short dagger. Placing the tip on my palm, she draws a small line. Ouch!?
Blood pools and Athena tells me to let it drop into the bowl.
I watch in amazement as my blood turns the color of the crown on a royal head;
Gold.


Athena draws in her breath.


“So it’s true…” She begins. “Olympia, Ash, get up here!”


They race up the stairs and over to the bowl. They gasp when they see the cherry red blood dripping from my hand, falling into the liquid and turning a metallic gold.


“The legend’s true. I told you we would find her,” Ash says.


What the hell? What’s true? What’s going on here?!
“She’s finally joined us, just when I thought we wouldn’t see her in our lifetime,”
Olympia says.


“What are you talking about?” I ask.


“You’re the Wiccan Princess, Arcadia. If you don’t believe us, we can do the naming spell. All you need to do is speak the words. Your blood has already mixed with the Tears of the Goddess, so saying the spell will work this time.”


I swear to the heavens, if this is another one of someone’s jokes, I’ll be going to juvenile hall for murder!


I close my eyes and say the Latin words in English again.


“Open the door of the unknown, show me the way, to my true name.”
When I open my eyes, my blood is floating on top of the silvery liquid, spelling out Arcadia.