Elshana learned early on in her career as a mail carrier that shoes weren’t something to skimp on. Shoddy footwear led to blisters, blisters led to infection, and infection led to spending an entire paycheck on medicine. A pair of leather boots proved to be a worthy investment in Elshana’s constant battle against sore feet, but there were plenty of things in Elshana’s life that a pair of boots couldn’t fix. She was a non-magum, after all. A non-mage. An embarrassment. Hardly human. And the worst part was that there was nothing she could do to change her fate.

When Elshana was born, her parents rejoiced. The legends said that a daughter born after a long line of sons was destined to be a talented mage. Elshana had seven older brothers and was the first daughter of the family. Her name meant “priceless treasure” in the ancient language, and for the first few years of her life, her treatment lived up to her namesake. Elshana was given only the finest foods and the best education money could buy. She was special, after all. Legends never lied. But as time went on, a predicament began to plague young Elshana’s life: she couldn’t use magic.

The doctors said Elshana’s magic was dormant, and that late bloomers were often more powerful than those who began to use magic as toddlers. This put Elshana’s parents at ease. The legend decreed that she would be powerful, so what reason did they have to worry? But when Elshana hadn’t showed any magical aptitude by age ten, her parents went from worried to angry. By age thirteen, Elshana was officially declared a non-mage.

No one knew what to make of Elshana’s condition—especially Elshana. She’d spent her childhood thinking she was blessed only to be told she was cursed. Her parents were so ashamed of her that they wouldn’t allow her to leave basement. After two weeks of being stuck in the dingy little space beneath the house, Elshana escaped and ran away to the city. She got a job as a mail carrier and spent her days distracting herself from her lack of magic.

Routine comforted Elshana. Every morning, long before most of the world even considered getting out of bed, Elshana began to work. Cinder City had plenty of empty mailboxes that needed filling, and who better to do the undesirable job than an equally undesirable human? The steady rhythm of going mailbox to mailbox kept Elshana sane. Time moved fast while Elshana was busy, so much so that lunchtime always arrived much sooner than she expected.

Elshana’s favorite time of the day was lunchtime. Her only friend and fellow mail carrier, Caldor, always joined her for her noontime meal in a small park. He was in charge of delivering mail to East Sector 3 and Elshana was in charge of East Sector 4, so the park was close to both of them. Eating with Caldor was by far the most enjoyable aspect of Elshana’s life.

“You’ll never believe what I saw this morning,” Caldor said, taking a seat across from Elshana at the picnic table. He opened his can of vegetables and stuck a carrot slice in his mouth. “I was walking along when a snow squirrel ran right out in front of me. I almost screamed.”

“A snow squirrel?” Elshana asked. “It’s July. There’s no way snow squirrels are out of hibernation yet.”

“I knew you’d say that,” he replied. “I’d probably say the same thing. But I know what I saw.”

Elshana couldn’t help but smile. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“Come to think of it, a lot of weird things have been happening lately,” Caldor continued. “Remember last week when you saw leaves falling of a tree like it was autumn?”

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“I was probably just dehydrated.” Elshana took an instinctive sip from her canteen. “Besides, leaves can fall off trees at any time during the year. Who knows? Maybe the tree was dying.”

“I still think something weird is going on,” Caldor said. “I can’t quite explain it but something just feels…off.”

Elshana wouldn’t admit it, but she’d been having the same feelings. Her sleep had been more restless than usual, and if she laid completely still, sometimes she swore she saw shadows moving along the walls of her tiny bedroom. She’d summed up the shadowy images as a side effect of being exhausted from walking around the city all day every day. But the more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that the shadows were real. Elshana didn’t dare tell Caldor about the things she saw at night. He had an overactive imagination, and he’d make it into a bigger deal than it was. Or worse, he’d say he saw shadows too.

A group of mages in training passed by the picnic table, and Elshana was reminded of everything she wasn’t. They wore their flowy shonjans proudly, representing what time of magic they possessed. An orange shonjan signified light magic, blue was for aqua magic, and white was reserved for sky magic. The mages sneered at Elshana and Caldor. Thanks to the mandatory brands on their forearms, anyone could tell they were non-mages.

One of them—the aqua mage—grabbed Caldor’s vegetables and dumped them on the ground. “Eat them off the ground like the dog you are.” There was a sick satisfaction in her voice. When Caldor didn’t move, she leaned in close to him and said, “Go on, I’m waiting.”

Caldor knew what would happen if he didn’t give into her demands. Without looking the mages in the eye, he leaned down and readied himself to east the food off the ground. But before he could do so much as eat a single pea, Elshana stood up and slapped the aqua mage across the cheek.

“Leave us alone,” Elshana said. “We didn’t do anything to you.”

The aqua mage massaged her cheek. “You’ve got some nerve, blot.”

Elshana hated that word. It was a slur for non-mages, and if she could’ve erased the word from existence with her own blood she would’ve. But that awful word wasn’t enough to stop her from defending Caldor. “Apologize to him,” Elshana demanded. “Apologize for calling him a dog.”

The mage grinned. “Give me your arm.”

It was at that moment Elshana knew she’d gone too far. There was a cruel ritual mages could perform against non-mages if they felt slighted in any way: magic sharing. It sounded nice but it was anything but. The brand on Elshana’s arm wasn’t just an identifier, it served as a pathway for mages to force magic into her body. Elshana knew the consequences of denying a mage the “privilege” of magic sharing, yet she hesitated when she let the aqua mage roll up her sleeve.

The brand on Elshana’s arm was hideous. It’d been burned into her flesh a day after she’d been told she wasn’t a mage. the mark would remain there for as long as she lived. The design of the brand was meant to be mass of twisted lines to represent that there was something twisted inside of Elshana. But the brand had been applied hastily with little care, so it appeared as nothing more than unpleasant mass of scarred flesh. The aqua mage ran her fingers along it, and for a fleeting moment, Elshana saw a look of sympathy flash across her face. But her sympathy was soon replaced by hatred and the magic sharing ritual began.

Magic sharing felt different depending on which kind of mage was performing the ritual. Sky mages made their victims feel like their organs were being flipped over and over again. Light mages made their victims feel like they were being burned from the inside out. Aqua mages made their victims feel like they were drowning.

Elshana gasped for air as the mage gripped her arm harder. The ritual wasn’t strong enough to kill Elshana, but it certainly made her miserable. Just when Elshana thought the pain would never end, the aqua mage’s smile faded into an expression of pure fear as she stared at something behind Elshana. When Elshana turned around to see what it was, a pang of fear shot through her chest.

It was a monster. No, it was a wolf. Perhaps it was both. Whatever it was, the inky black creature towered over Elshana. It opened its mouth, revealing rows of fangs. The aqua mage began to run, but the wolf quickly caught up with her. The wolf’s paw morphed into a claw and plucked the aqua mage off the grass.

Elshana realized the wolf was a shadow. Its red eyes reminded her of the figures that danced across her walls at night, and as soon as she made the connection, Elshana felt a surge of power ripple through her veins. She ran forward and stretched out her hand, ready to destroy the monster where it stood. In one quick movement, Elshana cut through the shadow, and a stream of light poured out of the beast. The wolf let out a haunting howl before evaporating. In a matter of seconds, it was as if the wolf had never been there in the first place.

Elshana stood still as she tried to process what had just happened. Caldor grabbed her hand and said, “Elshana, what the hell was that?”

“I—I don’t know,” Elshana replied, yanking her hand away.

The aqua mage, who should’ve been grateful for having her life saved, pointed at Elshana and yelled, “Demon! Demon! Daughter of Darkness!”

Panic swelled inside Elshana and she took off running. She didn’t know where she was going or where she’d end up, but one thing was certain: her life would never be the same again.