Caroline walked along the corridor from her room towards the lecture hall, where the school was congregating for the headmistress’ opening address for the new school year. As she walked, Caroline kept her head held eye, her eyes straight ahead. She could feel the glances and stares of the other students as they passed her, and while she didn’t think she’d ever get used to feeling like the school freak, Nadine and Tilda had spent endless hours over the holidays teaching her magical ways to cope with it. They’d taught her to create and maintain shields and wield powerful psychic protections that, aside from being effective, helped Caroline to feel empowered when she had no control over her life. She’d welcomed the distraction of their rigorous training; it took the edge off how much she missed her family. Caroline was sad not having a home to return to for break like so many of the other students did.