Wool's Orphanage, afternoon. Everyone had gone out to play. Only Mia remained at the orphanage, sneaking around alone in Roy's empty room, doing who knew what.
Lately, all the children at the orphanage had noticed that Mia would slip into Roy's room whenever she had time. Everyone assumed she simply missed Roy too much, so no one paid it much mind.
Ever since she had dug out the Dark Magic books Roy had left behind that day, Mia had been unable to stop herself. She had become completely obsessed with the bloody, dangerous forbidden powers described in those books.
Only now did she understand that Roy had not gone away to some aristocratic school at all. He had gone to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry mentioned in the books.
What was so fun about school compared to learning magic? Today, Mia had found another excuse not to go out with the other orphanage children. She curled up alone in Roy's room and continued studying those thick magic books.
"Eugh—gross."
Mia lay barefoot on the carpet, flipping through the book with great interest. She had just reached a page filled with bloody human experiments. Even images that made Roy want to wash his eyes only made her wrinkle her nose.
Her stomach was a little hungry. Mia ran downstairs barefoot and opened the cabinet in the activity room—Kyle had used the money Roy sent back a few days ago to buy a huge pile of snacks, all stored here.
She pulled out a bag of crisps and a bottle of soda. Just as she was about to head upstairs, she caught sight of a little mouse slipping into the cabinet from the corner of her eye.
"Oh, so these are the snacks we eat while watching TV at night,