Like Aryk, Jacob was no stranger to danger and was quite stubborn as a kid. Like her, his stubborn-ness and "it will be my way or the highway" attitude would get him into trouble. But unlike Aryk, he learned his lesson--and never dared to speak out again. Here is his story.

**Jacob's POV**

It was the day before my 6th birthday; January 3rd. My parents were yet again out on another business trip to America, for a month this time.

For the past 2 years, my parents had missed my birthday. I felt lonely and dejected. But I hated (and still do) that I did. They were barely ever around anymore and when they were home, they were so caught up in work at home and saving time for each other that they forgot to save time for me. I also hated how ai couldn't stay with my grandparents this time. My parents had hired a baby sitter to come check on me at morning, 12 o'clock, sometime in afternoon, evening, sometime at night, and 12 o'clock midnight.

But let me tell you this.

She was a pain in the butt.

Always bringing her boyfriend over and making out with him (which would get pretty heated sometimes) wherever she felt like it, rarely making me meals, and only came over 3 times a day at most.

She didn't care if I was there or not. And I was starving (literally. She hadn't feed me since 2 days ago. And that was a single piece of plain toast in the morning because she claimed I was too fat for my age, although I was at least 20 pounds underweight by now because of her.). So I gathered up my sleeping bag, blanket, pillow, coat, pajamas, clothes, shoes, a filled canteen of water, sone food I had to stand on a tall wobbly chair to reach for in the pantry, some sunglasses, an umbrella, toothbrush with toothpaste, iodine, sunscreen, bug spray, a comb, a soap bar, a towel, and a fairly new flashlight. I stuffed those things into 3 big backpacks and I was all set. I would only be gone for 2 days--my parents were coming back in 3 days.

I had been camping before with my dad twice already so I knew what to pack and what to do.

That evening after I had already eaten dinner--a granola bar and beef jerky strip with some water from the canteen--I began making my bed in a fork of a tree. I took a bath in the stream nearby and when I finished, the sun had almost completely set. So I decided to go to bed. I was exhausted from all the trekking I had done and my muscles were worn out from lack of food.

The next morning, I was wandering up stream. I had found a waterfall so I decided to replenish my canteen. But there, I ran into an old lady.

"Young boy, what might thou dost?" She questioned in her weird scratchy voice.

I ignored her and started running back to my tree, not caring to add iodine. It tasted gross anyway.

"Little boy, answer me!"

Okay then. I stopped and turned to see she was right behind me. "Running away from you." I stated with an annoyed tone before I continued running.

"Now that is no way to treat your elders, mister! Apologize to me--"

"Leave me alone, you witch!" I screamed. I had magic so I used it on her. My magic was the ability to throw fire.

She deflected my shot and threw me back into a tree with telekinesis. I heard a loud snap and cried out as pain shot through my head and down my spine.

"How dare thee not listen to me and disrespect me! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

Even though I knew I wasn't supposed to say these "bad" words, I felt like hell and wasn't in the mood. "You are such a butt. You're gonna go to hell for what you did to me."

The witch's eyes lit up with fire and I was lifted up into the air once more. "Apologize now, son."

"No."

Pale blue and red swirled around me and the witch hovered in front of me. "On this day in 12 years from now on your 18th birthday, you will die. If a phoenix winds up finding you within an hour, you will be human for the rest of your life; unless you somehow get your magic back from a source stronger than magic." Either die or get revived and live but die eventually as a human. "So, I will now place this curse upon you. May it haunt you for the rest of your mortal eternity." She cackled evilly as the fire swelled over my head and enclosed my body.

It pressed up against me, smoke filling my lungs and unbearable, hot, scorching, searing pain was all over my body, every cell coated with discomfort and burning in pain. My 6 year old body couldn't handle it and passed out.

When I woke up again, it was morning. Oh no! I have to get home right now or my parents are going to kill me! Not my babysitter, luckily. She wouldn't care if I died. In fact, I was certain she would be grateful if I did.

But I felt sore. Memories of what happened came back. I remembered the fire that made me feel like death was upon me. The pain was so vivid that I felt it all over again and I screamed, swatting at myself. I even ran back to the waterfall to soothe myself of my brain's memory. I checked my arms to see how bad the burn wounds were, yet no prominent scars were there. My skin was only a slight bit pinker than normal but that quickly went away as I plunged my arms into the frigid, yet soothing, water.

Later as I scaled the tree where my stuff was, I remembered what the witch had said, still fresh in mind. On this day 12 years from now on your 18th birthday, you will die. If a phoenix winds up finding you within an hour, you will be human for the rest of your life.

But a phoenix did find me within an hour. Well, not exactly a phoenix. A two feet tall, red headed dwarf who was also a phoenix. She summoned her phoenix friends--at least they looked like her friends--and together they revived me. And now? Now, I am a human. And honestly? Humans suck. I get these weird feelings to make cat calls or wolf-whistles around pretty girls. On top of that, I get bruises really easily and pain is much more prominent. Worst of all, when I have to go to the bathroom, I really have to go.

But there are some cool things.

Things seem to fascinate me more; I'm able to focus in class now. Food tastes better--or in some cases worse. I have an excuse to go to bed early on weekends now other than just being done socializing and want some alone time. And my gosh, coffee is amazing as a human. It's like a necessity but a tasty, fun one that makes you energetic!

And Aryk? She is the most beautiful girl in the world. My heart beats faster and I feel the desire to be closer. When she fell asleep on my earlier, I felt my cheeks get warm and a shudder filled with happiness and longing rattled my bones. I wish it could happen every night.

So it's a good thing we're room mates.