**revised 9/10/2012**

Excerpt of Chapter One: Welcome to Lawrencehill

I have this mild obsession with Harry Potter.  When I was eleven I made a wish.  I wished to go to boarding school, to a place like Hogwarts.  I wanted to have instant friends like Harry’s, friends who would always be there when it mattered.

Well, I’m finally getting to go to boarding school.  Unfortunately I stopped making that wish six years ago.

“Aziza!” snapped my mom.  “Are you listening to me?”  She wore her hair in its usual style, a tightly woven braid that ran down her back.  Even though she never took her eyes off the road, I could tell she wasn’t pleased.

“Yes, mother,” I said, taking the time to let every syllable roll off my tongue.  “I hear you.”  Then I leaned against the hot car window, trying to block my mother as she droned on about the school’s history.  After a few minutes I shifted my body to face hers, “I still don’t understand why I have to go there.”

My mother glared at me, bringing the car to a screeching halt at a red light, sending my head straight back into the headrest.  “You do not want to come with me, so….”

“I know, mom” I said.  “But why can’t I stay at Bardin, what’s one more year?”

“Aziza,” warned my mother.  “We’ve already discussed this.”  Then she turned to face forward as she waited for the light to change; her way of saying the conversation was over.

            My face hardened as I leaned back against the window.  I was furious, but it had been my choice.  As much as I hated the idea of transferring schools, there was no way I was going to Cairo.

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BLOOD OF ISIS  (Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy; Word Count: 60,000) is an unpublished completed manuscript, I am currently in the process of editing it and preparing to send out queries to agents.

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