Ex Nihilo Academy Read Online Free PDF Page A

a very special little girl and one day you will come
     back here and when you do I need you to remember.” “Remember what, Daddy?” I say. “Remember that you are a princess. Now close your eyes and repeat after me, ‘the answers are in the headboard’.” I sniff and wipe my runny nose with my
     stuffed whale. “The answers are in the headboard.” He smiles proudly and I nod even though I have no clue what he is talking about. “That’s a good girl.”
    * *
    My eyes are barely open before I’m scrambling up the bed to
     stare at the headboard. It is made of the same heavy wood as the rest of the bedroom furniture and painted the same antique white. I run my hands along the trees carved into its centre and around the sides. There is no drawer, latch or
     handle and I have no idea what I am supposed to be looking for. I knock on it a few times then try prying it open where the carving meets the edge. I feel behind the headboard and I check under the bed, then pull the mattress to the side but I find nothing. I remind myself that it was just a stupid dream, so
     why am I tearing up my bedroom like an idiot? I can’t keep having dreams like this. Seeing my parents so vividly is like having a band aid repeatedly ripped off an open wound. I stare at the headboard in frustration then slam my hands
     into it as hard as I can. I need to get out of this place and find a way to get home. Even if it means crashing on my best friend Anna’s couch for the rest of my life it would still be better than this insanity. When I lean back I see
     that one of the intricately carved trees has popped open and under it is a small bronze key sitting in a dusty lock. I twist the key around and the headboard pulls apart with a groan, revealing a hollow space inside where a book sits. It takes two hands to pull out the huge, leather bound book which is in surprisingly good condition considering the amount of dust on it. I flip through the first few pages which are brown parchment and yellowing around the edges and then I start to read. It is the family history of the Hughes tribe
     and it reads like a history textbook on acid. There are pages and pages of photos, family-trees and Gaelic drawings and it takes me most of the night to get through it. There is information about my grandfather, my great-grandfather
     and other family members dating back to medieval times. It turns out that my parents didn’t buy this house at all but that it’s been passed down the line dating back years and years. I don’t know what surprises me more; that I have
     been here before at this very house and blocked it out or that I’m holding a book in my hands about real, verifiable fairies. After reading through it all I am left with an overview of what being a fairy is about and some idea as to where all of the legends come from. Apparently we used to be small. Not like
     Tinkerbelle small but diminutive, which is not really that much of a stretch to believe since a hundred years ago humans were like, barely five feet tall. According to the book we used to be winged but as we evolved wings became
     obsolete, mostly because as we grew in size winged flight became impossible as a means of transport. Most of the legends and folklore seem to have come from Celtic history, which says that we are an intelligent and creative species that
     were forced into hiding. There are lots of different names for fairies, like the ‘ sidhe’ who are said to be immortal Irish fairies living in caves, or the ‘ kelpie ’ which are supposed to be some kind of fairy seahorses that I don’t want to put too much thought into. There is a section on the
     history of the Hughes powers and a letter written by my great-great-great grandfather on elemental manipulation. I think what strikes me most about the book is despite how surreal it is a lot of the history isn’t that different
     from what I know of humanity. Take for example a bloody past where we were known for our