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Powerful Magic

Chapter 1

I'm Nicole. Yes, I have a last name. It's Benson. Nicole Benson. I'm in eighth grade. My eyes are a blue-green color and my medium-length wavy hair is dark brown. I'm about 5'7 and my friends say I'm kind of pretty. Not model-esque, but they say I have a nice face. I have a boyfriend, too. His name is Jonathan Haley.

Jonathan and I met at school. He was tall, about an inch or so taller than me. He has really nice icy-blue eyes. He also has light brown-almost blond hair. A lot of girls think he's cute, but I guess they're mad at me because I go out with him. He had just transferred into our school and we clicked from the first moment we met. Same thing with my best friend. Her name is Calliope Hynes, but I call her Callie. Callie's about 5'5, kind of short. She has short, straight blond hair that she usually has up in a ponytail. Her eyes are this intense bright green that will just look right through you.

My fourteenth birthday was coming up. In about five days to be exact. It was going to be the following Saturday, and this was Monday.

"Hi Nikki." Jonathan said, coming up to me. Nikki was his pet name for me.

"Hi Jon." I said. He came over and kissed my cheek.

"What's up?" He asked.

"Besides me being late for class? Nothing." I informed him sarcastically.

We had the same subject first; Algebra. I saw Callie over at her locker and I waved to her. She was in my second period class, Chemistry, so we had a class together. We also ate lunch together, which helped us make sure that we didn't become out of touch.

After the longest school day of my life, Jonathan came up to me.

"What, are you going to walk me home now?" I joked.

"No, I just wanted to tell you that I'll be kind of busy this week." He said.

"Oh? Busy with what?"

"I've got a lot to do, that's all. I'll see you tomorrow in school!" He waved and went to catch his bus as I went to walk home. The field I walked through was strangely quiet. Everything seemed to stop making noise as I walked by. It was creepy. I carried my books in my arms as I walked, staring at the wildlife that should have been making a big commotion. I was so busy that I didn't notice the guy who was walking towards me. Well, not until I bumped into him at least. I dropped my books in the process.

"Oh, shit!" I cursed.

"Sorry, I didn't see you." The strange boy said. I looked up at him as I picked up my now-dirty books. He had short black hair and dark, very dark, brown eyes. He looked weird. I've seen too many horror flicks, I said to myself.

"Need help?" He asked. I shook my head.

"I'm fine, thanks though." He shrugged and just stood there. I got my books up and looked at him.

"My name's Joel." He said.

"Hi, I'm Nicole." I told him. Then he walked away.

"Freaky kid." I mumbled as soon as he was out of earshot. I called him a kid because he must have been a few years younger. He could have even been in elementary school. I shook off my feeling of strange activity and walked home.

"Hi Nicole. How was school?" My mom asked as I came in the door. I jumped a little, not expecting her to be home.

"Same old, same old." I said, dropping my books on the dining room table.

"Is that a good or a bad thing?" She questioned.

"It's neutral." I replied. "Hey, what are you doing home now anyways?"

"I was working. So...are you excited about your birthday?" She asked nervously.

"Not more than I was last year. Why?"

"No reason. I just wanted to know is all." I nodded slowly and walked up to my room. Then I looked at the piece of paper I would have written my homework assignments on. It was blank, because the teachers hadn't assigned much homework. It was the end of the year, so they were being kind of lenient. I spent most of the afternoon on the computer, playing Myst and Pinball. Then my dad came home and went straight to his room. I followed him, but he shut the door to his and my mom's room. I opened it a crack so I could spy on them. I love doing that.

"Did you tell her yet?"

"No. I couldn't."

"Jane, I told you... Fine, I'll tell her."

"But her birthday isn't until Saturday! Can I tell her at her party, where everyone else is going to be?"

"You're right, the rest of the group is going to be there. Tell Nicole then." I thought for a minute about what on Earth they could be talking about, and then I went to my room. I thought over their conversation and decided I'd find out what they meant on Saturday. The hard part would be making sure they didn't know that I had heard them.

Tuesday came sooner than I expected. It wasn't like I was incredibly excited about my birthday, but I'm naturally inquisitive, so I had to know what my parents had been talking about. I hoped that they would give me clues. Nothing. I went to school like normal, and went to talk to Jon. Maybe he knew something about it.

"Hi Nikki." He greeted.

"Hi." I said.

"What's wrong? You seem a little...out of it today."

"Well, it's nothing really..."

"No, I want to know. Come on, tell me."

"Well, I heard my parents talking last night about telling me something. I just can't figure out what they meant. And then my mom said 'I'll tell her Saturday when everyone else will be there.' It's kind of confusing." He didn't say anything. Then the bell rang.

"Well, I think we should get to class." He said, rushing ahead of me. He probably knows, I thought, But what does he know? I shook my head and went to class, starting another day of school.

I went and sat down at my desk. Some of the kids were acting strange. Chris Taylin stared at me for a minute like he had a secret. He had strawberry-blond hair and brown eyes. I looked at him and he turned away. Then I noticed Colette Collins inching the desk behind me forward. Colette was her own personal clique, and she was stuck-up. For some reason she had been acting nicer for the past week and a half. Her jet-black hair had been cut up just under her chin, and her red-brown eyes seemed to lose their cold, stubborn look. I had a feeling that she was looking at me, but she could have just been looking at Marcus Anders. I know for a fact that she's obsessed with the boy.

Marcus had the desk beside me. He had pale skin and he was kind of tall. What interested most girls about him was his crystal-clear green eyes which corresponded with his auburn hair. He looks nothing like his brother, Ryan, who has red hair and bright blue eyes.

Just as I got out my books Denise Kingson walked through the door. She had just joined the class the previous day, and she looked around the room with a sullen look on her face. She was dark-skinned, with black hair that was braided and incredibly dark brown eyes. Those dark eyes drifted around the room. They stopped at Chris, then Colette, then Marcus, then me. Her eyes stopped there and she walked over to her seat.

"There's something weird about that girl, don't you think?" Colette asked.

"Yeah. Why was she looking at us?" I asked, almost expecting her to know.

"Maybe she just dislikes us for...um, some reason." She said, adding a suspicious pause in there. The rest of the day went by as usual. The only other person acting strange in my classes was Ryan Anders. Ryan had been acting a little less like a class clown since the previous Friday. That was unusual because he can't seem to go 10 minutes without cracking a joke. I thought about it for a minute, but denounced it as my imagination.

The day wore on, and I noticed Callie and the others that were acting strange had been corresponding a little more often. Whenever I went over they lowered their voices. I just guessed that they were planning a party or something.

The day actually ended and I went home. My mom was at work today, so I had the house to myself. I read a book about my favorite fantasy subject: magic and then my dad came home.

"Hello!" He said, in his way of asking if anyone's home. I scribbled a note saying that I had gone to the library, put it on the fridge, and hid so I could spy on my dad. Things were getting a little too weird. I had to find out what was going on.

Dad didn't do anything out of the ordinary, and I was getting bored. So I took the note off of the fridge and opened and closed the back door.

"Hi, I'm back!" I said a little too loud.

"Hi Nicole. So how was the library?"

"Fine." I walked up to my room and thought for a while. Then the phone rang.

"Nicole, could you come here for a minute?" My dad asked.

"Sure." I said, running down the stairs.

"I have to go out for about half an hour. I'll be back before your mom gets home, okay?" I nodded. "Good. So you're okay about staying home by yourself?"

"Yeah, yeah." He nodded and left out the front door. Good, now I can check out his room, I thought. I walked up to his room and went inside to start looking for anything that could give a clue as to why he was acting kind of strange, or what he was going to tell me on Saturday.

"Let's see...hold on, I don't even know what I'm looking for!" I said after a few minutes. Then I struck paydirt, a locked drawer which was glowing slightly. "Wonder what could be in here." I muttered. Then I got a paperclip and started picking the lock on the drawer. It finally gave way and I opened it. Inside was a necklace. A gold chain with a red stone hanging from it.

"What's so good about a necklace that they have to lock it up?" I asked. Then I realized that it was emitting the strange glow. There was something carved on the red amulet. A sword with fire surrounding it. I put the necklace away and locked the drawer back. There was definitely something amiss. And I was guessing it had something to do with me.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday passed equally as strange as Tuesday had. Friday was the worst. All day a feeling of dread hung over me.

"Nikki, is something wrong? You've been acting strange today. Stranger than ever this week." Jon asked worriedly.

"I don't know...it's just this feeling of something going to happen. Something big." I said. He nodded and walked away.

I tried to hear bits and pieces of conversations at lunch.

"It's her, I know it..."

"Are you sure?"

"She said that something was going to happen."

"Can we trust her?"

"Yes. I'm sure of it. But we'll really find out tomorrow..."I didn't listen to that conversation anymore.

"Tomorrow..."

"Yes, we'll..."

"But why don't we..."

"We'll have to wait and see..."

I looked in the direction of Denise. She was talking to some girl who I didn't know. The girl looked like she was new.

"Well?"

"Everything's good."

"Are you sure?"

"Everything goes according to plan."

"And the...and the wizards?"

"They ready for their gathering. It will be tomorrow when we take effect."

"Good, good. And the master?"

"He is pleased." Wizards? Master? Gathering? What was going on here? I decided that I really didn't want to know, so I kept quiet.

Saturday came, as did my birthday.

"I'm going out for a quick walk." I said, going out the back door. No reply. I shrugged and left anyway. It was a nice, warm morning. I took a long walk around the block and went back home. The house was dark. I went in to our living room and the light went on.

"Surprise!" Came a chorus of voices. I jumped a little as the people came out of their hiding places. Jon, Callie, Chris, Colette, Marcus, Ryan, and Denise were all there. So were my parents, and that was everyone.

"Happy birthday!" My parents told me.

"Jeez, you guys scared me bad." I said.

"That was kind of the point." Jon said, coming up to me. He had a wide silly grin on his face.

"Come on, time to open your gifts!" Callie said, handing me a box. "Mine first." I unwrapped the rectangular box and looked opened it. There was a fantasy book inside.

"Oh, Callie. Thanks!"

"Me next!" Jon said, handing me a smaller box. Inside was a charm bracelet with a few animal charms on it. I hugged him as a thank you. I put on the bracelet, and then my parents handed me a semi-heavy box, so I opened that.

"Here goes..." Jon whispered. In the box was the necklace I had seen upstairs.

"The symbol on it means fire." My mom said. I smiled and put it on. Then everything went black.

When I opened my eyes, I wasn't in my living room. I was still standing up, so I guessed that I hadn't fainted. I looked around me. Everyone that had been at my party was there, except for my parents. But I didn't know where there was. I took in my surroundings, and tried to figure out what was going on.

I declared the place as the dark side of nowhere. It looked like our city, but everything was in dark colors. The sun was black, and the clouds in the sky were gray. At the moment I was wondering how I could see if the sun was black.

"Guess we've found the last one." Denise mumbled.

"Last what?" I asked.

"The last wizard." Callie said, coming over to me. "The symbol, or the rune, on your amulet will help you understand your power." She pulled a similar one out from under her shirt. But the amulet was white with a cloud symbol on it. "This means weather."

Jon showed me an amulet. A yellow one with a lightning bolt on it. "This is electricity." He said.

Marcus had a green rock on a chain with a leaf on it. "Nature."

Colette had a white stone with nothing on it. It was in a bracelet. She shrugged. "I guess it's imagery or something."

"Yep, that's what it is." Callie said.

"What, are you the expert on wizardry now?"

"Actually, yeah."

Chris's was clear with a few diagonal lines. "Wind, of course."

Ryan had a gear on his. It was just a rune stone. "I haven't figured mine out yet. It's kind of strange, though."

"Ryan you idiot, that means machinery!" Marcus snapped.

"Why didn't anyone tell you before?" I asked Ryan.

"We can't show anyone our amulet until the last person has put theirs on." Callie told me.

"Oh."

"So what's your symbol? I mean, we all have ours, but what's yours?" Jon asked. I pulled it out and showed it to him. "A sword and fire?" He wondered out loud.

"Nicole, you have the power over fire!" Denise told me, astonished.

"Each of us has one specialty. Mine happens to be weather, yours is fire, Jon's is electricity, Chris has power over nature, Ryan has power over machinery, and so on. Of course, there are some things that we can all do. Like warp, talk to animals and plants, maybe, maybe turn into one animal, stuff like that." Callie explained.

"I think I get it. But what does Denise have?" I asked, looking over at her. But she was gone.

"That's a good point...where is she anyway?" Joyce wondered, looking around.

"She was here a minute ago!" Colette said.

"Oh, hell!" Chris cursed.

"What? What is it Chris?" Callie asked.

"I don't think she's one of us!" He pointed out.

"What?!" I cried.

"I think she's trying to trap us." Chris continued.

"Hey, can I ask something?" I said.

"Go ahead Nikki." Jon offered.

"Well, I heard Denise talking about wizards, and some kind of master. What is this master?"

"Shit! She must be one of them!" Marcus said.

"One of who?" I asked.

"One of the evil entities that the Council wants us to get rid of." Ryan explained. Just then a glow illuminated the clearing we were in.

"YEAAAAH!!" I shrieked. Jon looked at me questioningly.

"Well, it scared me. You know how jumpy I get!"

"You can start by telling me this: What the hell is going on?!"

"Boy, that really helped." I snapped. "Where are we?"

"Uh-huh. Well, what do you want us to do?"

"You will find out soon enough, girl. Soon enough..." With that the glow faded and it was dark yet again.

"Hey, try something with your power!" Callie suggested.

"And how do I go about doing this?" I asked.

"I'm not really sure. Try pointing your hands at something and concentrating." I pushed my hands out in front of me and aimed at a building across the street. I concentrated on fire, and my hands got very hot. They were burning. No, not just burning. I looked at my hands. They were on fire!

"AAAHHH!!!" I screamed, half from pain and half from fear.

"Don't worry Nicole, it's part of the spell!" Callie reassured me.

"But my hands! They're on fire!"

"Don't concentrate on anything except what you're doing!" I imagined the heat leaving my hands as a ball of fire and my hands cooled off. I looked at them and saw a fireball extended from the tips of my fingers. I twirled it around for a minute and threw it up into the air, where Joyce doused it with a sprit of water.

"That was awesome!" I beamed. "I can shoot fire out of my hands!"

"Yeah. Now it's my turn!" Jon said grinning. He pointed at the sky and then moved his finger down to the ground in front of him. Then he stomped his foot on the ground and a bolt of lightning hit the spot he had pointed to. Then he caught the bolt and captured it. He pointed at a far off building and lightning shot out of his finger.

"Incredible! My hand was tingling the whole time!"

"Ooh, me next! Me next!" Callie said. She put her hands up and spun around. "I call for rain!" She shouted, and rain poured down on them. "I call for the rain to stop!" She said, and the rain stopped. "I call for light!" Nothing happened.

"Guess it's supposed to be dark here." I told her. "Or this is light."

"Okay, my turn." Chris said. He closed his eyes and motioned his hand like a tornado. Immediately one shot down from the sky. He stopped it with his hand and dispelled it.

"This is so cool! Hey, let me try." Colette said. She closed her eyes and made a river appear on the ground out of nowhere. She opened her eyes and looked at it in amazement.

"Wow!" She said.

"I think I'll try mine later." Ryan said.

"Oh, come on! Try your power now Ryan!" Colette pleaded.

"Okay, fine. But...what do I do?"

"You have the power over machines, right? Well, try to command one to do something."

"I'll try it." He looked at a car across the street, and pointed at it. Then he moved his hand and it followed his hand.

"Amazing! This is for real!" I said.

"You said it!" Jon said, coming over to me. He put his arm around my shoulder and I did the same.

"Hey, what else can we do?" I asked. Callie sat there for a moment and thought, like she was channeling something. Then she returned to normal.

"We can...throw waves of magic, use minimal healing, warp, talk to stuff, any maybe turn into something if one of us tries."

"Cool!" Jon and I said together.

"Okay, what now?" Ryan asked.

"Hey, why don't we get on with what we're supposed to be doing? Like finding Denise maybe?" I suggested.

"Good plan. Now, where could that little faker have gone?" Callie asked. She looked at everyone for ideas and they, in turn, shrugged.

"Really helpful, huh?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, very."

"Hey, notice how this place looks a little like home?" I asked.

"Yeah, so?"

"Maybe she's somewhere symbolic in our world. Or at the middle of the city or something."

"Nicole, you're a genius! We'll split up. Nicole, Jon and I go to the bank in the center of town, Chris, Ryan, Colette and Marcus check out the park" Callie instructed.

"Yes ma'am!" Chris said, leading his group in the direction of the city park.

"C'mon!" I said, leading the way to the First Union in the middle of town. We started running when Callie suddenly stopped.

"Wouldn't it be easier if we warped there?" She proposed.

"Maybe." I replied.

"But how do we warp is what I want to know." Jon said, bringing up a good point.

"Concentrate on where you want to be. Concentrate your power on that place." She said. I closed my eyes for a minute and thought of being right in front of the bank. I concentrated really hard and then opened my eyes. I was at the bank. But the sign said Wachovia, not First Union.

"God Damnit! Wrong bank!" I said. I concentrated specifically on the First Union and again closed my eyes. When I opened them, I was standing with Jon and Callie.

"Where were you?" Jon asked.

"Wrong bank." I muttered. Callie cracked up.

"You mean...you mean you warped to the wrong bank? Oh, that's hilarious! Where were you, Wachovia?"

"Actually...yeah." Jon started laughing, too, and I started after he did.

"Enough of this, let's head into the bank, and we'll split up." Callie said. We went into the bank, and were standing in a lounge area. There were 3 doors in front of us.

"I'll go in the door behind that area, Nicole, you go through the door over by that empty aquarium, and Jon, you take the other door."

"Right. Let's go!" I said as I opened the door that I had been assigned to. I went through the door and out into an empty room. It was pitch-dark, but I could tell there was someone there.

"Have you been keeping an eye on her?"

"Yes. But I still can't get over you getting to choose first!"

"It's my right! I'm older!" Suddenly I tripped on something.

"Someone's listening!"

"Quiet! Let's leave." There was a sudden gust of wind, and the room suddenly felt more...empty I guess. I began to randomly set a spell and an orb of light soon hovered over my head. The room I was in was practically empty, except for 2 chairs and a desk with 3 legs. I sat in one of the chairs and it started squeaking, so I got up. The thing I had tripped over, I found, was a book. It was about 1/4 the size of a textbook, brown and leather-bound. It looked old, and it gave me the chills.

"Let's see...no title." There was nothing on the front of the book itself, so I opened it up. The pages were blank, completely blank.

"This is a big help. I'll show this to Callie and Jon, when I find them." I said to myself. There were no other doors from where I was, so I went back to the lounge and sat down to wait for my friends.

It took about 15 minutes, but they came back from their hallways.

"How long have you been sitting here?" Callie asked.

"'Bout 15 minutes." I told her. "Oh, I found this book. Can you tell what it is?" I handed Callie the book and she looked it over.

"No, I don't know." She stated.

"Is it some kind of book of shadows for wizards?"

"Nicole, the pages are blank."

"Good point. Well, I'm keeping it anyway." I put the book in the pocket of the jacket I was wearing and we left the bank.

"Hey Nicole, how'd you get that ball of light thing to work?" Callie asked.

"Oh, I forgot all about that. I really don't know. I just said a few things and it appeared over my head." I told her.

"Well, if you remember the way you got it to work, tell me. And please get rid of it."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"Hold it and break it on the ground? I don't know, just try it." I grabbed the ball that was hovering about a foot in front of, and above, my head. The fingers of my left hand just brushed against it, but my right hand grabbed onto a part of it. I grabbed it with the other hand and threw it onto the ground. It shattered into a thousand splinters of light and they danced on the ground for a minute. Then they disappeared.

"Cool." Jon said simply, almost in awe.

"Thank you. Now, let's see if we can track down everyone else." Callie said. Suddenly I bumped into a girl who I felt I had seen before.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" She snapped.

"Sorry. Wait...aren't you that girl who Denise was talking to the other day at lunch?" I pointed out. She said nothing, but she turned and ran.

"Hey, stop!" Callie yelled, running after the girl. I followed her, and I don't know what happened to Jon. I caught up to Callie who was right behind the weird girl. I grabbed the girl's arm and she spun around.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"What?"

"I said, who are you?" I repeated, gritting my teeth. She blinked and her eyes turned red. Then she opened her mouth, revealing fangs. She shed the human look she had and became some kind of demon. She hissed at me and swiped with her new claws. I hopped back just a little and looked at Callie. She nodded and I pointed my hand out to the creature.

The familiar sensation of heat tingled in my hand, and I tried to refrain from screaming at the intense heat. The fire went out of my hand in a beam of sorts and it hit the creature. It whined and swiped again with its claws, hitting me across the cheek. I felt my would and looked at the drops of blood from the scratches. Then I got mad.

I was about to throw another beam of fire when there was a bolt of lightning. It hit the creature. The beast screeched and fell to the ground, a burn mark where I guessed its heart should have been. I looked over at Callie, who was looking at Jon, who had just come over. He was the one who had produced the lightning.

"Well, this is turning out to be fun." I muttered as we went to find the others. We saw Chris and his group walking away from the park.

"Hey, Chris! You guys, we're over here!" Callie shouted.

"Callie, hush! Did you ever think that someone might be watching us?" I said. She knitted her eyebrows in thought for a moment.

"Good point." She motioned the guys over to us.

"Did you find anything?" Chris asked. I shook my head. "Neither did we."

"Where could she be?" Colette asked.

"I don't know, but there's something right over there!" Callie said, pointing to the street that crossed the one we stood on. There was...something that I couldn't identify walking towards us. But it had a mean look on its face.

"Oh man, that thing doesn't look too friendly!" Colette whimpered. I grinned at Jon and he gave me his do-and-dare look. Then I cracked my knuckles. It hurt a little, and I hadn't meant to, but it kind of got me into a fighting mood.

"It thinks it can take us on? Let's get it!" I charged at the creature and the others followed. Colette made a long, very long, extremely long knife appear. By the time she was done, it was more like a staff with a big blade on the end then a regular knife, or even a spear. That made me shutter. Better not get on her nerves from now on, I thought, She can really hurt someone.

Chris was preparing to blow it away, if necessary. He made a tiny gust of wind as a practice shot. I started literally warming up my hands, and Jon started to become the human conductor of electricity. Callie was about to cool him down, probably with some kind rainstorm. Then Jon would work on him. Callie prepared to do something with the weather, and Chris stood there, dumbfounded at how we were ready for an attack so fast and at the creature that was lumbering towards us.

-Nicole, we have a plan. First, you hit it with fire. Then Callie will soak it with rain. And after that I'm going to electrocute it. If it's not dead by then, then hit it with fire some more.- Jon said, in my head. Telepathy, I assumed. I nodded to him, and he smiled a little. That's when I remembered how much I loved his smile. I stood, ready to fight this demon, as it lunged forward. And I nearly froze up.

I worked the fire through my hands, but it wasn't working fast enough. I willed myself to take the small amount of pain that this fire gave off and I thrust my hands forward as a wave of fire hit the creature. Then Callie called for rain and soaked the creature. Finally, Jon electrocuted it like he had planned to do. But the demon didn't die.

I again felt the warmth in my hands as fire started to work its magic. There was a small ball of fire at the end of my fingertips and I again thrust it forward, sending another huge wave of fire at the monster. I felt a little dizzy. The ground started coming at me and then everything went black.

Chapter 2

"Is she okay?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I thought you said that would kill her!"

"It was supposed to!"

"Well it didn't!"

"Hush! I think she's waking up." I opened one eye, and I was laying in a dark room. 2 faces looked down at me. The only feature I could see was their intensely bright eyes.

"Are you okay, little dove?" One of them asked with fake sincerity. The voice was sickeningly sweet, so much so that it gave me the chills.

"Don't ask her questions! She just fainted from loss of energy, how do ya think she'd feel?" There was a noise like a slap and I realized that one of them had slapped the other on the head.

"Hey, that hurt!"

"You may be my sister but that doesn't mean I can't hurt you!"

"Humph! You're only older by 3 seconds too."

"Well I'm about half a foot taller than you so ha!" There was a whine.

"So what if you're taller than me? I have a higher power level. Plus, I work directly for the Master. You only help one of his servants!"

"You don't havta rub it in! Sheesh!"

"Is it just me, or do I sense a little sibling rivalry?" I asked quietly.

"You're worse than any of the others! I hate having a sister!"

"So do I!"

"At least you're not an only child." I mumbled.

"Humph! Consider yourself lucky that you don't have her for a sister."

"Me?! I'm not the problem here! You are!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are not times ten!"

"Are too times-"

"Ah, the childish quarrels of siblings. How you amuse me!"

"It's him!"

"We're so sorry, sir. If we had known you were here..."

"No apologies are necessary. Have you finished your work?"

-Nicole, it's Colette! Get out of there before those sisters kill you!- Colette said through telepathy. I nodded silently as I started to leave. My power was still a little weak, so I didn't risk warping out because I might have been caught between the places. That would have killed me, so I decided against it.

-Colette, could you imagine up a nice flashlight for me?- I asked. No sooner had I said that there was a flashlight in my hand. -Thanks.-

-Don't mention it.- I clicked the light on and looked around. There were two doors, one was opened a crack and the other was closed. I assumed that the closed door was the only way around those idiotic sisters, so I turned the latch. It wouldn't turn all the way.

"Locked?" I wondered. I kept trying. Either it was locked, or someone had jammed it. I would have to take my chances going the other way. I crept towards the door and opened it a little wider. The sisters were standing there in the darkness. I could tell because of their glowing eyes.

"Hey, did you hear something?" One of them asked.

"Keeta, you're letting your imagination run away with you."

"Konta, I think I heard something!"

"You didn't hear anything! It's all in that messed up head of yours."

"I resent that!" I heard a slapping sound.

"Keeta, that hurt!"

"It was supposed to. Ouch! Why I outta..."

"You couldn't do anything serious if you tried!" I took that chance to slip through the door and run, with my flashlight off. It was too dark to see, but I could make out very vague shapes of boxes that I swerved around.

"Konta, let's finish with the girl." I heard on my way out of the building.

"Keeta, she's gone!"

"This is your fault!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!" I ran as far away as possible before they realized that I had left the building. I was looking behind me so I didn't see the person in front of me.

"Hey! Watch it will ya? Oh, it's you Nicole." Colette said after noticing it was me. "Where were you? I mean, you just vanished after you fainted."

"I don't know what happened, but I woke up about to be killed or something by two sisters. Keeta and Konta I think."

"How'd you escape? Did you do a warp?"

"No. I was afraid I would get caught in two places and ripped apart due to this lack of power thing that happened. That's why I blacked out, too. I think..."

"Well, the important thing is that you're back. Let's go get the others." We walked to the middle of town, and I looked around. The others were standing there.

"So...did you find anything?" I asked.

"Nothing, I'm afraid. I guess she's gone." Callie said sadly.

"Okay, this is just a thought. What if she's rested at one of our houses?" I asked.

"I didn't think of that!"

"Good idea Nicole!"

"Nice thinking!" There was a chorus of compliments.

"Thanks."

"Well, should we all split up?"

"I don't think so."

"That's fine with me." I said.

"Yeah, me too." Callie agreed.

"If you think it's a bad idea to split up, raise your hand." Colette suggested. Marcus raised his hand.

"Guess I'm outnumbered." Marcus said, lowering his hand with a sigh.

"Okay. Everyone go for their houses and if Denise is there, give everyone else the word." Callie said. Everyone agreed and we split up. Jon and I walked together for a minute and then split up. I took all the turns to get to my house and turned the knob on the back door. It was stuck, or jammed, or something.

"Great, just great." I muttered. Then I remembered that this wasn't actually my house. It was a copy of it, like a mirror face. The vines that climbed up the doorframe near me were twisted, looking distorted. The usually friendly looking flowers seemed to have some sort of teeth, and the looked like they were grinning in a twisted sort of way.

I banged on the jammed door, and then ran into it with all of my force. The door gave way and fell down onto the ground.

"I should have thought of taking the hinges off first." I thought aloud. I stepped on the old door and heard a slight cracking noise so I jumped off of it, into the house. A blanket of dust was unsettled from my feet hitting the ground, and I sneezed. I then rubbed my eyes and pulled Colette's flashlight out of my pocket. I clicked it on and checked the hallway I was in. Not much of anything there. Then I went into the next room, my dining room. There were a few chairs covered with dirty sheets, but nothing else.

I saw an empty bathroom as well. The emptiness sent chills down my spine. I checked the office, but there was only an old-fashioned table and nothing more. I went to the kitchen. In there were cabinets and a broken stove. In the cabinets were little things, like a knife, or a plate, or a placemat. But that was it. So I checked the living room. I found a beat-up sofa, and a matching chair. No Denise. The way to the upstairs rooms was right in front of me, so I climbed up the stairs and began checking the rooms.

I went down the dingy corridor and into the room where, in my real house, my parents' room would have been. I opened the door and walked in. There wasn't a lot there, just an old chair and a bed covered with a torn sheet. It had a dark spot right in the middle, and I didn't turn my flashlight over that way because I wasn't sure I really wanted to know what it was.

I quickly walked out of the room and to another door. It was where our guest bedroom would have been. I began to turn the knob, but it didn't turn all the way. I sighed and tried again. There was a loud click as it turned completely and the door creaked open. This room was completely empty. Nothing at all was there. The floorboards sighed and heaved under my feet, as if they hadn't been walked on in a long time.

"Well, nothing here." I muttered as I left. The last room upstairs was my room. I went to the door and grasped for a door knob, but there wasn't one. I pushed the door open and gasped at what was there. It was one of the creatures like I had killed earlier. But it didn't try to attack me. It just sat in a chair, staring at the doorway, and at me.

I moved closer, being careful not to scare it. My efforts weren't working, though, because the thing looked up at me and snarled.

"I knew it," It sneered, "I knew that you'd come to attack me. Well, just go ahead and kill me. But not without a fight!" It stood up and raised its arms.

"Holy..." I trailed off. A light emitted from its hands. Then it flew towards me at record speed. I dodged, but it hit my left leg. I moaned at the searing pain but got up and reached out my hands. I concentrated and my hands tingled as the fire rested in my palms. I looked at the fireball in my hands and pitched it at him like I would a baseball. It hit him square in the head and he cried.

"I never wanted to hurt anyone! I was the runt in the litter! Why me?! Why'd you have to pick on me?!" He demanded. Then he sat down and put his face in his hands.

"I...I didn't mean to...it was self defense. You attacked me first." I explained. I slowly walked over to him and put a still-warm hand on his shoulder.

"Sorry about your leg." He said shyly.

"It's okay. I'm sorry about the fire thing. I'm just getting used to this." I smiled a little and he looked at me. His eyes were different. They weren't red or yellow, like any other thing's I had seen in this realm. They were an intense bright green, and he looked as if he had a spark of humanity in him.

"We're looking for someone. In our world, she called herself Denise. We were transported here and she followed us. Do you know about her?" I asked.

"Uh-huh. She's my sister. I'd be glad to tell you where she is, since she's the one who picked on me most."

"Well, we're trying to find her so we can get some answers out of her but if we have to..."

"Who is this we?"

"We is my friends, the other wizards, and I. Apparently we were chosen by someone to defeat some evil."

"You mean the Master. Almost everyone here works for 'em."

"Can you help me find Denise?"

"Sure!" He got up. "By the way, my name's Pantar. Your Denise, my sister, her real name is Delmonia."

"Pantar? My name is Nicole. Let's go then. But I have to tell my friends first. Hold on."

-Guys, anyone! This is Nicole!-

-Nikki, this is Jon. You okay?-

-Yeah. And I have an inside source who's willing to tell us where Denise is. Come to my house, and tell the others!-

-Yes ma'am!- I looked at Pantar.

"My friends will be waiting for me as soon as Jon gives them the message. Come on, we've got to go wait for them."

"Out there?"

"Yeah, what's wrong about being out there?"

"N-nothing but...but they'll try and kill me!"

"Not with me around they won't!" I said cheerfully.

"You'll protect me?"

"If you're the only way we can find Denise...Delmonia, then yeah."

"Oh, thank you!" He ran over to hug me but I jumped back.

"Let's keep this a hands-off friendship okay?"

"Friend?"

"Yeah, I consider anyone who isn't an enemy a friend."

"Okay!" We walked down the hallway and descended the stairs. Then I led him outside and we waited for the others to arrive. Moments later, Jon walked up. Callie and Chris warped in, Colette jogged over, while Marcus and Ryan were right behind her.

"Hey, who's that?" Colette asked suspiciously.

"Pantar here is going to lead us to Denise." I said grinning.

"Really?" Callie asked.

"Yep. I sure am! I'd love to see how she looks when she's being killed."

"I'm glad to see you're so enthusiastic about getting revenge on your sister." Ryan mumbled. Marcus elbowed his brother in the ribs and Ryan groaned.

"Shut up Ryan!"

"Why don't you? I've always been pushed around by you and I'm getting sick and tired of-"

"Ryan, Marcus, this is not the time for sibling wars!" I snapped.

"Fine!" They said in unison.

"Now, let's get down to business. Pantar, lead the way." Callie directed. Pantar nodded and walked out in front of the rest of us. We walked down a few streets and he stopped. In front of him was someone who looked very much like him. Tall, heavily-built, claws, teeth like fangs, dull gray skin, and red eyes. This one had wings, though. Pantar frowned.

"Daronesia!" He gasped.

"Well, if it isn't little brother Pantar! So nice to see you! And so nice to kill you!"

"NOT so fast!" Jon said, stepping beside Pantar.

"Traitor! You've sided with these...these mutts?! These human fools? These..."

"We GET the point you overgrown excuse for a garden ornament!" I snapped. Daronesia was taken aback, but her eyes narrowed.

"Well, the human has an attitude. We'll see if that sharp manner ebbs out when I'm crushing you!"

"I don't think so you big lawn statue!" I replied fiercely.

"You're really hung over on this lawn thing aren't you?" Callie whispered.

"Oh, c'mon! I just got something that I can really pick on and I'm on a roll!" She nodded and stepped away from me.

"Go ahead and hurt her!" Pantar said, giving me an approving glance. I held up my arms and they glowed bright orange. Callie gasped and Jon looked at me, astonished. Daronesia stared at me with a look of sheer horror on her face as the glow got brighter and brighter. Soon it hurt my eyes to look at it, so I squeezed them tightly shut and brought my hands out in front of me stiffly. There was a blood-curdling scream and when I opened my eyes, Daronesia was no more. A few ashes were left.

Jon took his hand off of his eyes, and Callie opened hers. Colette's jaw dropped, and Ryan glanced at me uneasily. Even Pantar looked frightened.

"Oh, God. What did I just do?" I asked weakly.

"It...it was a ball of fire. It was huge! I swear, it was bigger than Daronesia's head!" Jon said, pointing at the ashes.

"Nothing matters except getting the job done. That's all that mattered to her. To all of us. Except me." Pantar said sadly.

"Why?" I wondered.

"It's the way we were born. I wish I was that way some times." He mumbled.

"Why aren't you?"

"Because I have decency in my mind."

"But decency is what sets humans apart from your siblings."

"And that's why they'd try to kill me. They don't know the things that I do. Haven't seen the things that I have." He slumped over and dragged his feet across the ground. Then he stopped and snarled.

"What is it?" I asked, worried.

"They know. They know that I've left. And they're coming after me." I looked behind the group, just to make sure.

"Who else is there?"

"There's, as you know, Delmonia, then there's Keeta, Konta, they're twins, Sadalin, and Ugat."

"Keeta and Konta! I've met them before!" I said, remembering the sisters who were about to kill me.

"You have?"

"Yeah! They were about to kill me but I escaped." Then I saw two small, human-like figures coming towards us. They wore black dresses, and I could see that their facial expressions were blank. Their eyes glowed bright red. The taller one had fiery red hair, tied loosely at her neck. The other had purple hair cut up almost at her ears. They each had a small jewel on their heads. The red-head had an orange jewel, and the one with purple hair had a royal blue one. They had matching gems on the fronts of their dresses and at their throats.

"Keeta!" The taller one said happily.

"What?" Keeta, I assumed, snapped back at her.

"It's the girl we found earlier!"

"Konta, what are we...hey, she has Pantar with her! Oh, we should get the others! Daronesia! Sadalin! Ugat! We shan't bother Delmonia. Brothers and sister, come quick!"

"Delmonia's dead, Keeta." Pantar said.

"What?! But...but she was my favorite sister!" Keeta pouted.

"I thought I was your favorite!" Konta whined.

"As if!" Konta elbowed her sister and I grinned.

"I killed her."

"You?! But you're nothing but a child!"

"She's a wizard! And so are the rest of us!" Callie said, standing beside me. I put my hands on my hips and held my position.

"Wizard!" Keeta hissed, her mouth curling into a frown. Then she grinned slyly and her 2 brothers appeared. One of them looked like a Cyclops. His one huge eye was yellow, and he wore a black robe. Other than his head, he looked like a human. Of course, his green skin would kind of tip a person off about him, too.

"Ugat, you're here!" Konta cried happily, hugging him.

"Sadalin is here..." Keeta said darkly.

"Oh, you're all in for it now!" Konta said sternly to us.

"Yeah right!" I laughed. There was a flash of light and a man stood there in front of us. He wore a gray robe and the hood covered what I thought was a face. But what I saw under it was total blackness. Then he opened his eyes. They were brown, and glowed brighter than Keeta's or Konta's eyes. He stared...or so I thought, intently at me.

"You..." He began.

"Oh, save the dramatic crap! Me what?" I asked sternly.

"The killer of my sister...you will pay dearly for that."

"Oh really? Show me what you got!" I rolled up my sleeves and he came closer to me. Keeta and Konta stepped back, Keeta brushing her fingers on the gem resting at her throat. Ugat sided with them ad Pantar cowered behind Callie. Jon put his hand on my shoulder.

"Nikki, don't do anything stupid..." He said.

"Don't worry, Jon. You know me, I won't." I said, giving him my infamous grin. I stepped away from the others and stretched my fingers. Sadalin seemed to hover towards me, and he pointed one finger in my direction. I didn't know what he was about t do, so I jumped aside just in time to miss a ball of black light. I touched the ground and a line of fire shot out towards him. He stepped out of its path and took something out of his pocket.

"He must really not like her to use that!" Keeta whispered to Konta. Konta nodded back as Sadalin pressed a series of buttons and the thing, a metal ball, floated out of his hand. It floated over to me and then started to move very fast.

"'Tis called a tracking orb." He informed me, ever so kindly.

"Gee, thanks for telling me that. I didn't think of it that way since this thing was following me!" I yelled sarcastically. I felt a heat growing in my hand and I unintentionally reached out my hands and grabbed the tracking orb. I then slammed it into the ground a few yards away and it blew a hole where it fell.

"That's one powerful weapon." I muttered, as I prepared to attack. I reached out my hand, following him wherever he moved, and a beam of fire shot out of my hand, hitting him square in the chest. He groaned, and suddenly my fire stopped. I was feeling a bit weak. Sadalin turned his back to me and Colette came forward. Keeta and Konta tried to warn him, but it was too late.

Colette imagined her long spear again and struck him in the back. He wined and tried to stand up. Colette again thrust with the knife-spear, this time hitting him in the chest since he had turned around. She twisted it and pulled it out. It was a bit sickening. She drove the knife into his heart, and he died without letting out another scream. I looked away from the stomach-churning sight and I heard a sound. Ryan threw up his lunch.

"Okay, this is going beyond weird to sickening." Marcus said to us.

"Poor little boy has a weak stomach at the sight of blood?" Keeta teased. She went over to Ryan and looked him in the eye, with an evil look on her face. Ryan punched her in the stomach.

"You're not...you're not supposed to hit girls." Keeta said, getting air into her lungs.

"Yeah, well, you're a special case." He said weakly.

"I'm gonna hit you so hard you'll be in last week!" Konta threatened, charging at him. He said a word and a metal wall went up between the two. Konta slammed into it. I heard a groan and a thump and Konta slumped to her feet from the hit.

"Good job Ryan." I said.

"Thanks." He mumbled.

"What do we do now? And where's Pantar?" I heard a strange scream from the other side of the wall.

"Ryan! Lower this wall thing!" Callie shouted. Ryan did so and I looked around. Pantar was standing in front of Ugat, who was unconscious. Konta was lying on the ground and Keeta was trying to wake her up.

"Konta! Konta, wake up this instant!" Pantar snickered at Keeta's unspoken affection for her sister, and picked up Ugat. He lifted him high over his head and slammed him onto the ground. I heard a sickening snap as Ugat's spine or skull, I don't know which, was fractured. He couldn't be alive after that.

Keeta looked at me.

"You! This is all your fault!" She said, standing up to face me. Then she turned to Ryan. "But you first..."She held out her hand and clenched her fist. Ryan lurched, and fell to his knees.

"AAAHH!" he screamed in pain. I tried to attack Keeta but she had me frozen in my place. I tried to hold out my hand, but it held fast at my side. Ryan groaned again, and fell backwards onto the pavement where we all stood.

"You will all pay by my hand!" She shouted in rage. Ryan shuddered, and then lay motionless on the ground. I feared the worst. Then I realized I could move again, but Marcus was ahead of me. There were vines growing around Keeta's feet, and they grew upwards. They slowly wrapped around her, and she screamed. That was when I realized that the vines had thorns on them.

Marcus kept the vines coming, and Keeta was unable to move. She cried and moaned and begged and threatened. But Marcus didn't listen to her desperate pleas, and a huge creature came out of the ground.

"This is for Ryan!" He shouted as the creature devoured Keeta whole. Then Konta woke up.

"Huh? Keeta? KEETA! You killed her! You'll pay!"

"Yeah, that's what she said." Marcus said. Immediately, a ball of light illuminated the area and she screamed, and then there were scars all over her face.

"Pantar!" She said surprised. He had flung a ball of power at her.

"This is for the years of teasing!" But before he could do anything more, rain started to fall. Konta was soaked, and Jon hit her with a small bolt of electricity. Then she shivered.

"Cold? Maybe this'll heat you up!" I said, throwing fire at her. She screamed and ran around, on fire. Then she just froze, and disappeared with a moan echoing in the cityscape.

"I think we killed all of them." Callie said.

"Yeah." Marcus agreed. He was winded, but he went over to Ryan's limp body and felt for a pulse.

"No..." He whispered. I ran over and felt his hand. It was cold, too cold.

"It can't be."

"He-he's dead." Marcus said with a tear in his eye.

"Dead?! No!" Colette said, running towards us. "He can't be!"

"He's dead." Marcus said, dazed.

"I'm sorry Marcus. None of us could do anything." Jon said, putting a hand on Marcus's shoulder, Marcus broke down and cried. I held my hand over my mouth and Colette looked sadly at Ryan's body.

"I guess Keeta killed him..." I trailed off.

"At least I got revenge." He muttered darkly.

"Let's go, okay?" Jon said to Marcus. He nodded and wiped away a tear.

"Pantar, let's find Delmonia. Keeta's whole family will pay for this. Except for you." Marcus suggested.

"Okay. Good, good, good. Glad to be helping you guys." Then we started off again. He led us down an alley, to an apartment building. It was run-down, falling apart. The windows were all boarded up, and it had a strange feel to it. I couldn't explain it, but the place just creeped me out. Pantar opened the door and we all walked in, one at a time. It was dark inside. Really dark. I had to admit that I was scared. But I wasn't about to chicken out this far into things. No way. I was going to find Delmonia, and we'd all get rid of her.

Chapter 3

I looked at the apartment building that Pantar had pointed out to us. At the broken glass in the windows, and the shutters hanging halfway off of the windowpane. The doors that had chipping paint, the dingy bricks on half of the building, and the vinyl siding that covered the other half.

"Boy, you'd think she could find a better place to be, wouldn't you?" Jon asked. I nodded, still looking at the building. There were no flowers in the window boxes, and nothing grew in the pots outside. Pantar opened one of the doors on the bottom floor carefully and quietly. Then he motioned for the rest of us to go in first.

"I'll keep watch from the back." He offered. I went in first. I clicked on my flashlight and looked around. Other than the small beam of light, it was completely dark inside.

"What's with their obsession with darkness?" Callie asked.

"Dark comforts. Dark swallows, and keeps you with it." Pantar informed us.

"Yeah, but light embraces. Light shows you the way, and makes everything clear. That's why they say 'see the light' instead of 'see the dark.'" I told him.

"I'd like to see your world." Pantar remarked, amazed at the way we thought.

"Come on, let's stay on track." I said.

"Are we going to split up again?" Marcus asked warily. I shook my head.

"No," I told him, "If we do, we might never find each other again." Marcus nodded. We were looking down a long passageway. There were lines of doors along it, each with a number in metal letters.

"We can each check a room in the hallway, then meet back here." Callie said. Marcus nodded reluctantly, and we all went to a room. I looked around in the apartment I was in. There was an old brown colored couch of a wool kind of fabric in there, with 2 gray plastic chairs. Actually, the gray was only from a thick coating of dust all over the chairs. I patted a cushion on the couch and aroused a dust storm. Then I heard a sneeze. Someone else was in the room.

"Who's there?" I called out. No one replied. "Who's there?!" I asked again, a little sharper. Still no answer. "I'll count to five, and then I'm going to come looking for you. When I find you, I'll make you into barbecue. One...two...three..."

"Alright, alright!" Someone said.

"Come out now!" I ordered.

"Fine! I'm coming!" A figure stepped out of the shadows. A human figure. A regular, every day person. But what was he doing here?

He had black hair and dark brown eyes, and he looked a few years younger than I was. He wore a coat, jeans, and a shirt. Just like a regular kid. I didn't recognize him automatically. It took a minute for me to realize that he was the kid I had bumped into the previous Monday. It seemed to be ages ago.

"Hey, you're the girl from the park!" He said, just realizing it. "Nicole, right?" I nodded.

"What are you doing here?"

"Don't know. I was asleep the other night, and I woke up here this morning, wearing this."

"You sure?" I asked.

"Hey, do you think I wouldn't know if I woke up in a place like this?"

"I didn't say that, but you never know."

"Well, you can trust me. So where are we?"

"Um, this place is called something like the dark universe, or...the dark realm! That's it."

"Well, can we please find some way out of here?"

"That's what we're trying to do. C'mon." I grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the dirty apartment. The others were waiting in the hallway.

"Hey, who are you?" Jon asked the kid.

"I'm Joel. Who are you?"

"Jon."

"Joel, this is Callie, Marcus, Colette, Jon, Chris, and our guide Pantar."

"Nice to meet you guys." Joe said unemotionally.

"Hey." Callie remarked. Chris nodded and Colette smiled at the kid.

"Hi Joel." Marcus said.

"Hello." Pantar said, as though he didn't trust the kid.

"Well, let's find Delmonia so we can get out of here!" I said, directing everyone to the end of the hallway.

"Who's Delmonia?" Joel asked.

"You'll find out when you see her." I told the kid. Pantar lead the way up the stairs, to the floor that the sign by the door said was the first floor.

"Why not try the lobby?" Callie asked.

"Why not?" I ran to the lobby and froze. Callie ran into me, and Chris plowed into her.

"Hey, what's the big deal?" Chris questioned.

"What do you mean? I was in the middle of you two! Nikki, what's up?"

"Callie, look!" I pointed to the lobby. It wasn't there. It just simply didn't exist. There was a big hole where it should have been. I had stopped a few feet from the edge of it. I tuned to the others behind me.

"Something blew it up."

"That would be Delmonia." Pantar said darkly.

"She's been here." I continued for him. He nodded gravely.

"Are you talking about me?" A voice boomed from the hole. I turned around and saw a hideous creature. It was huge, about 9 feet tall. It looked like a big bear with scales instead of fur. The paws were oversized, though. Of course, the main difference would be the snake head attached to the bear body. It had wings on its back, and orange eyes.

"Why Pantar, so nice to see you again! And you brought the wizards, too! I commend you for finding me. Oh, I shall enjoy this."

"Delmonia!" Pantar growled.

"This ugly piece of crap is Delmonia?" Marcus asked, thoroughly disgusted.

"Shall I make myself more presentable then?" Delmonia asked. Her figure shimmered, and when it stopped, she looked a lot like Keeta and Konta had. She, like they, wore a black dress. She had orange hair and red gems decorating the tie that held it high above her neck. The gems at her head, throat, and on her dress were red as well. She had a hard, mean expression on her face. Of course, her eyes were still glowing bright orange.

"Yeah, that's better." Marcus said, impressed.

"These are our true forms. Pantar, why don't you go into yours?" Delmonia suggested.

"No thank you!" He snapped.

"Ashamed of your family? Pantar, I'm hurt!"

"Shut up bitch!" Pantar snapped.

"That's going a bit to far, isn't it brother? Maybe the others should be here to judge..."

"The others are dead Delmonia!" I told her.

"Who killed them?!"

"Let's see...I killed Daronesia, Marcus killed Keeta, Colette and I killed Sadalin, Pantar killed Ugat, and we all helped kill Konta. How's that for teamwork?" I said proudly.

"You will all die here!" She hissed at me.

"Yeah, whatever, that's what your brothers and sisters thought too."

"I feel something different here...Marcus, your dear brother's not here! Ah yes, Keeta killed him! What sweet irony!"

"Daronesia, you're outnumbered. Why not just give yourself up? You're running a little short on backup." Marcus said.

"Yes, but I'm stronger than my siblings. With age comes power." She philosophized.

"Well, you can think what you want but you're still going down." I said.

"That's right!" Marcus agreed.

"Pantar, honey, why don't you come over here with me?" She said sweetly.

"No!"

"We'll see. Hatar arta ar'atas ne-nesu." Pantar had a vacant expression on his face. "Now, come here." She said again. Brainwashing her own brother. Pathetic. Pantar walked over to her. He was gone. She didn't have him under any spell, those were the words to say when brainwashing someone. He was on her side now, and we would have to kill him along with his sister.

"Man, this sucks." Chris muttered. Daronesia smiled evilly and began to gather magic in her hand. She formed it into a purple ball and shot it at me. I yelped and moved, but it grazed my arm.

"You're dead now!" Jon shouted as he shot lightning at the demon in disguise. She ducked the first few bolts and then they started going way out of the way. I started muttering words under my breath and then clenched my fist above my head.

"FIRESTORM!" I shouted at I brought my hand down. It started raining balls of fire over Delmonia. A few blasts hit her, and one hit Pantar. She whined but turned to Marcus. She froze him in place and began to throw black magic at him. He ducked and swerved from side to side to avoid it, but his feet were fused in place. Then Chris created a tornado and sent it towards her. It knocked her backwards a few feet, but that was it. She laughed and created a wave of energy. It blasted Chris into the nearest wall, and he was knocked out.

"Chris!" Callie said, going over to him. Then Delmonia created a pit right in front of Callie.

"Callie, look out!" I called. She stopped just at the edge of the pit and scowled. Jon and I stepped forward to face Delmonia, and she laughed, mocking us. I charged, and Jon ran after me. Daronesia laughed even more and a ring of fire surrounded the three of us. I could see Pantar fighting the others out of the corner of my eye.

"You two against me." She said, amused.

"And that's funny because..." I asked.

"Because I'll bet you two together couldn't beat me!"

"I bet we could!" Jon said. We stood side by side, ready to take Delmonia on. She shook her head and started to weave a spell. Everything in the room was cut off from us, we were separated by the fire ring around us. She pointed at me and an arrow made of ice sped towards me. Jon pushed me down just in time for it to whiz over my head. I worked fire through my hands and it shot out at her like a baseball. She ducked, but it still hit her hair, burning some of it.

She pulled a spear from behind her back and threw it aimlessly. Jon caught it and threw it back. She pushed her hands forward and it broke, falling to the ground. Then she turned her hand to Jon. I stared at her wide-eyed as a bolt of lightning shot out and hit him.

"Jon!" I screamed. I started to run over by all of the sudden she shot at him again. He shuddered and fell to the ground in convulsions. Delmonia laughed uncontrollably, and I threw a wave of fire at her while she was distracted. She was scorched, but still alive.

"Guess who?!" I heard, spinning around to the entrance of the lobby. Colette stood there, with a bow and arrows in her hand. She drew the arrow and I looked at it. There was something buzzing around the tip and she fired it. It hit Delmonia in the chest and she screamed. Where the arrow hit was a hole of light, and she lurched forward. Another arrow whizzed by and hit her straight in the heart. An agonizingly loud scream rang through the room and echoed through the halls, and Delmonia fell backwards into the wall of fire, dead at long last. The fire dispelled and I ran to Jon.

He was barely breathing, and he was unconscious. The others walked over to me. I sat down beside him and started to cry.

"Nicole, everything's going to be fine." Callie said, sitting beside me.

"Fine? Fine?! No Callie, everything is not going to be fine! Ryan is dead, remember? And...and Jon isn't far behind! Everything is NOT going to be fine!" I shouted. Tears ran down my cheeks. Callie and the others moved back. Jon's eyes opened, and he looked up at me.

"Nicole...I..." He trailed off.

"Jon, you're going to be fine." I lied. I knew what was going to happen.

"No, I'm not."

"Yes you are! You're not going to die!"

"Yeah I am. You know it, too. Just tell my family what happened..." He closed my eyes and stopped breathing. He was dead. I cried uncontrollably.

"I can't believe it...he's..." I said, dazed. The others were all looking at me, looks of pity on their faces. I rocked gently back and forth, wishing for a miracle.

"Nicole!" Callie said. I didn't quite hear her, but I looked at the others. They still had the pity looks, but also a look of awe. Callie pointed over her head, and I looked up. There was a small white orb floating above me. Callie closed her eyes and light appeared over her head as well. One by one, 5 little lights appeared in the room. When the last one had appeared, over Colette's head, they all gathered together over Jon's body and illuminated the room.

They glowed brighter and brighter, until I had to close my eyes. I heard something...like singing. It was beautiful, more of a flute than a human voice. But it was still human. It had that human quality, the richness, the warmth. The glow began to slowly dim, and I looked up at the orb above Jon. Inside of it was a little black ball. Then the orb disappeared completely, and Jon opened his eyes.

"Jon!" I said happily.

"What-what happened?" He asked, confused.

"Nothing much. You know, the sort of thing we'll have to get used to. You died for a little while and the rest of us brought you back to life. No biggie." I told him, grinning.

"Jeez, you say it like it's nothing." He said, sitting up. He then put a hand on his head and laid back down.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Not really. I just died for goodness sake!"

"Yeah, but other than that are you okay?"

"Just a little dizzy.

"Glad to see that you're back with us Jon." Callie said, walking over to us. She smiled a little and the others followed her.

"So is she gone?" Jon wondered, meaning Delmonia.

"Yep. But so is Pantar. He attacked me and I had to do something." Chris said. Colette and Callie nodded.

"I killed Delmonia. I had a feeling that all of those archery classes would pay off someday. I guess they did." Colette vouched.

"Then can we please get out of here?" Jon suggested.

"That's a good idea, Jon. Trying to get out of here so we can go home and tell our families that we didn't drop off the face of the Earth? But what are we supposed to do, follow the yellow brick road? Because I don't see one." Marcus snapped.

"Gee, Marcus, you don't have to be so negative." Jon muttered.

"I will guide you on your way..." I heard. It was Rashana, head of the High Council of Wizardry.

"And how will we begin the way home?" I asked.

"Oh, seems like a lot of stuff deals with closing eyes, huh?" I closed my eyes and thought about my party. It had been ages since I had thought about going home. Things had changed a lot.

"Nicole, you can open your eyes." I heard, and I opened my eyes. I was at home. In my living room. My parents stood in front of me, but Callie had told me to open my eyes. I looked around. Standing there was Callie, Jon, Chris, Colette, and Marcus, but Ryan wasn't there.

"Nicole, do you know where your friend Ryan went?" Mom asked me. I paused.

"Mrs. Benson, Ryan died. One of the demons killed him." Marcus told her, looking at his feet.

"I'm very sorry Marcus. I knew you and your brother were close."

"Yeah, well I couldn't save him."

"None of us could, Marcus. There was nothing we knew to do." Colette told him.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. But still..."

"Ah, I should be getting home. I mean, my parents have no idea about what's been going on." Chris said.

"Me too. See ya." Callie said. They both walked out the door. Then Colette waved goodbye and left too. Marcus followed her, and Jon stayed for a little while.

"So, Jon, how are you?" My mom asked.

"Well, I've been better at times, but I'm fine for someone who just died, in a sense. Long story."

"I'd like to hear it some time."

"Well, I guess I should go. Bye Nikki." He walked out the door and mom looked at me.

"I want to know what happened. Maybe you could find a little time to explain it some time?"

"Sure. But not now. I want to go to bed now."

"Okay. Goodnight."

"G'night, mom." I went up to my room ad sat down on my bed. Then I laid down and pulled out a book. I didn't get to read it, though, because I fell asleep as soon as I hit the pillow.