Imagine: he is a ‘bad boy’ and she is a ‘good girl’. She is the perfect princess for her kingdom, and he has just been exiled from his. He has the power to control fire, but would rather use it in a petty fight than to help anyone. She loves helping people, but cannot remember ever doing anything magical in her life. When they are both accepted into Orate Academy, a school that teaches royal teenagers how to use their magical powers, neither Ash Langston nor Neveah Dolivo feels that they fit in.
Neveah and Ash are the two protagonists of “Dark Magic,” CHS Senior Kyriaki Papadatos’s latest novel. Papadatos, who has had a passion for writing since she was five years old, published her first novel, “Nightmare,” a dystopian story about a corrupt government that uses the power of dreams to control its citizens, during her sophomore year at CHS. “Dark Magic,” which was published in December, is Papadatos’s second book.
“It’s like when you would play pretend when you were little, and you’d create that whole world, create that whole story, [writing is] basically that but you can do whatever you want, and after, people can read it,” Papadatos said. “The best part for me is obviously writing it, creating the whole story and everything, but then when I have people read it and they catch all the little details that I added in there or they catch all the certain aspects that I wanted my readers to catch, or they feel the pain of this character or they feel happy for this character. It makes me so happy.”
When Neveah and Ash first meet, they find it only natural to hate each other’s guts. Ash finds Neveah and her two best friends, Cedar Pegany and Harmonee Tidal, to be a bunch of unbearable goody-two-shoes’ and Neveah sees Ash as a lawless jerk who only cares about himself. However, soon Ash discovers that the two of them share a dark secret, one which puts Neveah in great peril. Despite insisting to himself and others that he couldn’t care less about her or anyone else, Ash begins going out of his way to come to Neveah’s rescue. Neveah begins to pick up on Ash’s care for her, and before she can fully realize it, she has developed a deep sense of trust in him.

Papadatos is just as obsessed with “Dark Magic” as she hopes her readers will be.
“I fell in love with the story,” Papadatos said, “There’s gonna be a sequel to this one so look out for that.”
“Dark Magic” is an immaculate showcase of Papadatos’s skills as a writer. The story is a breathtaking adventure rich with themes of friendship, self-discovery, betrayal, and just the right amount of romance. Papadatos brings her story to life with vivid detail, authentic characters, foreshadowing, plot twists, and brilliant dramatic irony. Without a doubt, “Dark Magic” earns a 10/10.