Truth & Lies Past & Present

Discover The Katy Lily Series By Author Katherine Rochholz

The First Book Available Now!

Truth and Lies Past and Present

Katherine Lillian Fitz had only known one type of world. . . one of hard living on the streets. Then she finds out she is a witch. Now she is thrown into a new world, her world, and for once she thought life would be better. But she was wrong. A dark force is out to kill her, and she is shocked to her core when she finds out how important to her life this person is. Will she be able to come out the victor with her innocence intact or will she once and for all lose the young innocence she has even though she had lived on the cold hard streets of New York? Only time will tell. . .

Ebook: http://www.amazon.com/Truth-Lies-Past-Present-Katy-ebook/dp/B005RXVMO8

Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Truth-Lies-Present-Katherine-Rochholz/dp/1105191990

Excerpt: Copyright Katherine Rochholz All Rights Reserved

Chapter One: A New Beginning

A young child looked at the items in the store, she wished she had a family who loved and cared for her. She looked at her reflection in the store window, she saw her dark brown eyes, almost black, pop against her pale skin, she looked too thin, and she needed to find a place to clean up soon, her black hair had started to get a little greasy. Many people would say she was a pretty child, but still the one time she lived in an orphanage nobody wanted to adopt her. There had to be something wrong with her. To avoid drowning in her own self, she turned and watched the happy families all around as they prepared for the Christmas holiday. But it was more than just Christmas for her it would soon be her ninth birthday. She was born on December 20th 2002; she only knew this because her mother would try to celebrate, her mother would buy a cupcake each year and they would go down to the thrift store and pick up a toy, if they had one.

For as long as she could remember she lived on the streets. First with her mother, who died three year ago, then it was just her. Nobody seemed to notice a young girl who stole breads and fruits to live. She even went and sat in the classrooms at the public schools. Being in New York the teachers never seemed to notice an extra child, very rarely would she have to hide from the social workers at the school.

She walked along the streets, headed back to the spot where she set up a place to sleep, when she noticed an envelope, it was black as coal with scarlet lettering written upon it, and it lay upon the ground, it was addressed to her:

Katherine Lillian Fitz

The Street

New York City, NY USA

Katherine looked at the envelope, she didn’t know where it came from but her name was on it. She looked at the back, it was sealed with scarlet red wax, and Katherine noticed it was with an emblem. It was a pentagram; within each of the five points was a different, yet strange object and each point seemed to glow a different color. The pentagram contained a staff that glowed green, a dagger that glowed red, a cup that glowed light purple, a wand that glowed yellow, and an infinity symbol that glowed blue, and there was a large B in the center that seemed to glow with all of the colors. It was very strange, but nothing would have prepared Katherine for what was inside. She opened the letter and read:

Dear Katherine Lillian Fitz,

We are pleased to inform you, you have been accepted to Bridgett’s School for the Magical Arts. A school official will contact you within the coming days to take you to get your required school supplies. School starts for the new students on the third of January. This is a year round school. Please inform any guardians you may have, that their service will only be needed for school holidays if you wish to leave the school. We will be able to find you, just stay in New York.

Sincerely,

Lua Notte-Preto

Assistant Headmistress

Vive Pura Maxia Dentro

Katherine thought about the last sentence first. Stay in New York? Where else would she go? Next to the assistant headmistress’s name was the same seal as on the back of the envelope. Katherine wondered what those words meant under the name of the assistant headmistress. And what kind of horrible joke was this? Who knew her? She hoped it was not the state, they tend to put kids in to horrible foster homes; she had already escaped from one and did not wish to be placed in another. She made sure to sneak into a store washroom to wash every day, just in case what was written was real. Even though she knew magic was only in the movies, just like loving families, just like happy endings. Even though it might be a trick, she thought she might be able to trick whoever sent the letter into thinking she had some guardians already. It came to be her birthday and then Christmas, which both were uneventful for her, though she did manage to get a cupcake from a little corner store. She wished for a new life, for a home, for people who loved her. She knew it was silly, but there was still part of her that hoped the letter she found spoke the truth. So she was left to wonder when the ‘school official’ would show up.

But Katherine did not have to wait long for an answer; it was just before the New Year, on the twenty ninth, when a man walked up to her little box where she had lived for the last few years. He was tall, and one could tell he was white, but one could tell he spent time out in the sun, maybe he worked in a field, his eyes were a deep royal blue, and he had the same type of haircut that Katherine had heard referred as high and tight. But he did have a black goatee. He looked like he worked out a lot; and one could tell his nose, had been broken a time or two and was a little hooked. He seemed to be in his late teens or early twenty’s. He had to be at least six feet tall, and walked confidently down the street. Katherine had watched for people that seemed out of place and he sure fit the description, he wore a long black cloak with a red orange lining. There was an emblem on the cloak, it looked like a lizard sitting on flames, but it had a dagger for a tail. There were also three little pins around the emblem. He wore a long sleeve button down blood red shirt with a dark orange tie, black pants and a pair of black shoes. He couldn’t look more out of place if he tried.

“Katherine Lillian Fitz?” He asked as he looked down at her, he had stopped right in front of her.

Of course she was the only child right now in this part of the alley, there used to be a lot of others, but the state at the end of November came and took the kids from the alley. Katy had escaped them again by running when she saw them coming. Her first thought was to run this time as she looked up at the man, but her body wouldn’t move. It was like her heart knew something her mind didn’t, as her mind screamed ‘run’! Katherine didn’t know what to say, she looked up at him and though his voice was filled with compassion, she didn’t trust him. He was young; the type of person the state kept trying to send.

As if he sensed what she had thought, he continued. “I am not from the state. I am from Bridgett’s School for the Magical Arts. And no this is not a joke or a trick. Please do not run, I really don’t want to chase you around the streets of New York today.” He said with a crooked smile.

Katherine just looked at him, she didn’t want to remain on the streets and if this school was real, she would have a real home. Someplace warm to sleep at night and real meals. “Yes. I am Katy.” She didn’t say anymore.

“Hello, I am Antonio MacCathmhaoil Jr., pleased to meet you.” He held out his hand. Katy looked at it for a moment then took it and shook it.

“The letter said that you are going to take me to get my school supplies and uniforms. But I have no money how am I supposed to pay for it all? And what are those pins on your cloak? And what did those funny words mean at the end of the letter?” Katy had many more questions, mostly about the school supply list but she waited for the answers to the money question first.

Antonio smiled and answered. “There is a fund set up for students who have no financial means to pay; we give you a certain amount of money per term, to help buy all your uniforms, books and other supplies, each term. Generally until you are fifteen your supplies are delivered to you at the beginning of each term, unless of course you go home for the holidays, and of course except this first term where we go and purchase them. After you are fifteen however you can have them sent to you, or you can go buy them yourself, on your own if you like, as you should be able to teleport without issue by then.” He kept his smile in place the whole time, then taking her hand he walked to the corner. “And as far as the pins, they show I am in training, I just completed my ten years of under school, now I am focusing on what I want to do for the rest of my life. I plan on teaching one day. I am studying under the Pyrokinesis master, my elemental power is Fire, as well as the Potion and Healing master. So I have a bronze Tomoe, a bronze Cauldron and a bronze Asclepius wand. When I have finished my six additional years of study then they will be silver, and once I have practiced my trades and pass final exams, usually in another twenty years, they will be gold. Then I will be able to teach.” He said with a smug smile like he couldn’t wait for that day, but Katy thought that seemed be a very long time, and humans didn’t live very long. “I know you are thinking that may seem like a lot of studying and a lot of time but witches and warlocks usually live to be seven hundred and fifty or older, unless killed of course, our oldest witch alive is 1045 and the oldest warlock is 1025, of course the oldest on record was a witch who was 1565 when she died. So you see we have plenty of time to study and live. And the words at the end of the letter, that phase is our school motto it means ‘True Magic Lies Within’, it really just reminds us that even though we have an ability to perform magic, how strong and how it is used comes from the person’s soul.” They stopped all of a sudden. They were in the middle of nowhere, and the panic in Katy was started to pick up again, she feared that this really was a trick.

“Umm… sir, where are we?”

“Just an empty field for now, we are about to teleport, and the non-magical people can’t see us here.” Antonio just smiled at the confused look on Katy’s face. “Here, Katy Lily, just jump on my back and hold on tight, then we will be to our destination.”

Katy had some reservations but they seemed to fade when he smiled his crooked smile, and she had noticed he called her Katy Lily, she liked the sound of that, like they were friends. It was like he cared. Katy, with Antonio’s help, climbed on his back and hung on.

“Okay here we go!” He twisted in a circle and then the spot where they had stood was empty.