Dear diary,

Derin somehow convinced a bunch of children and their parents that it would be a good idea to leave home and join a magic tower. I don't know how he did it. I also don't know why they agreed.

I think what they've got here is so much better than the tower. They have open space, fresh air, and access to the beach. What's not to love?

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

I mean, magic is cool and all but it's also boring. You have to do things by yourself a lot of the time. Like, you're just alone, in a room, with your thoughts, waving a stick in the air in hopes that it's gonna do something. Or like, drawing symbols on the ground over and over again because even a tiny mistake is going to ruin hours of worth of work.

It's tedious and most of the time not even worth it. But sometimes when things go right, magic is pretty cool.

Love,

Tina