With a BOOM, they both crashed into the soft and hot sand in a desert, rolling several feet away from each other. The hot sun soared high in the cloudless sky and there was nothing else around them but hot brown sand.

  “I need you to tell me who your master is,” Mrs. Crow said calmly.

  “I do not answer to you!” Duncan roared as he charged at Mrs. Crow. She easily dodged Duncan’s clawing and stabbed him in the side with another knife. He cried out in agony and yanked the knife from his side. He threw the knife at Crow but she raised her palm in the air, stopping it midair just before it hit her.

  “Tell me who your master is and I will remove the knife from your back,” Mrs. Crow insisted, still hanging the knife midair.

  “No, I won’t or he will kill me!” Duncan screamed in fear. He began to pace back and forth because he clearly knew he couldn’t beat Mrs. Crow in a one on one fight.

  “What’s your name? What does your master call you?” Mrs. Crow asked, pretending to lower her guard.

  “It’s Gus, my name is Gus,” the messenger replied.

  “Tell me who your master is and I won’t have to kill you and this miserable Principal you have possessed,” Mrs. Crow said as she took a few steps closer to Gus, her shoes sinking into the sand.

  “I..I…I” Gus stuttered as he slowly stooped down and grabbed a handful of sand behind him.

  “I don’t think I will!” he screamed, hauling the sand towards Mrs. Crow, aiming for her eyes. She easily dodged it and stabbed the messenger in the abdomen with the floating knife.

  “I don’t want to kill you,” she said, gesturing as the knife probed deeper into the messenger’s abdomen.

  “Pleeeeeasssee! Stoooooop!” Gus screamed as he bled out.

  “Will you tell me now?” she asked, still pushing the knife further into Gus.

  “I can’t,” the messenger replied.

  Mrs. Crow made the messenger go through so much pain to the extent that he passed out again.

  Still unconscious, the messenger slowly transformed back into the principal and Mrs. Crow picked him off the ground and vanished again. She appeared back at the office to meet Joanna and Anna who were already waiting for her.

  Carefully, she placed Duncan on the concrete floor and forcefully yanked the knife out of his spine. She then placed her palm on his damaged spine and muttered some words which caused it to heal immediately.

  “What happened? Did you finally cure him?” Joanna asked, leaning over her shoulder.

  “I can’t. Only the sorcerer who cast the spell, can free him. All I can do is either kill him completely or make him go through so much pain that he transforms back into a human being,” Crow said as she adjusted his suit. She snapped her fingers and everything in the office was rearranged to exactly how it was.

  “I have to learn that,” Anna said to herself as she watched Crow effortlessly perform magic.

  Duncan moaned and was already regaining consciousness and Mrs. Crow quickly put him to sit in his chair.

  Annabelle ran towards the door and tried to open it, and with a soft CLICK, it did.

  “Ok you need to get out of here,” she said to Crow as she turned around, but Crow was already gone.

  Anna quickly closed the door and sat on one of the chairs in the office.

  “You ladies are still here?” I don’t have anything to say to you. Dismissed,” Duncan said. He didn’t remember what had happened and he seemed to be happier than usual.

  “Ok sir,” Anna said as she walked out of the office alongside her friend Joanna.

  “Well, that was a lot. I don’t think I can take any more of this,” Annabelle remarked, walking through the hallways with her friend.

  “Yeah, one day I know nothing about magic and the next day, boom! Magic everywhere,” Joanna replied, forcing herself not to smile, for she was really thrilled that she had witnessed real magic.

  “I still don’t believe this is real. I need someone to pinch me,” Annabelle said, just when Joanna pinched her on the side without hesitation.

  “Oww! What did you do that for?!” Annabelle screamed, rubbing her side.

  The hallways were almost completely devoid of students, and Anna and Joanna were about to enter Madame De Bosse’s class but somehow didn’t feel the need to attend any classes that day.

  “Should we just skip today’s classes?” Joanna asked Annabelle as they stood at the door.

  “Yes, I think we should. Pizza?” Anna replied, a smile on her face.

  “Yeah, pizza,” Joanna said, rubbing her cheeks.

  Both girls left the school and headed out to have some pizza at Pizza Place, the most famous Pizza joint in the entire town. At the entrance of Pizza Place, was a bunny mascot who always danced nonstop. The mascot danced even more, on noticing Anna and Joanna approaching the entrance.

  “Welcome to Pizza Place, a magical place where all your dreams come true. I hope you have a nice time in this magical wonderland,” the mascot said as he danced away from the entrance.

  “I wonder who names a place Pizza Place. That’s just sad,” Annabelle said as she pushed the glass door open and walked inside.

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  The aroma of freshly baked flour, chicken and cheese invaded Anna’s nostrils as she looked around, seeming to enjoy the view for the millionth time. Pizza Place was really beautiful and there were lots of smiling waiters and waitresses here and there.

  The girls took a seat by the corner of the restaurant just when a good looking waiter walked up to them. He had blonde hair and was slightly muscular. He smiled at them, revealing his perfect white teeth, causing Anna and Joanna to blush. He wore a dark round neck shirt which had the inscription of Pizza Place on it, with a small chef at the side of the inscription.

  “Good afternoon, my name is Ron. What can I get for you?” he asked in a sexy bass tone.

  Such a dominating voice, Joanna thought to herself, as she glared at him, unable to mask her awe.

  “We will have one large pizza with chicken toppings. You know what? Just get us something you know we will like,” Annabelle said.

  “Definitely,” he replied as he nodded and strutted away.

  The girls sat there and waited for about ten minutes, after which Ron returned with their Pizza.

  “You can pay after you eat,” he said, winked, and walked away.

  Annabelle opened the pizza box and the sweet chicken aroma invaded her nostrils. Saliva filled her mouth and she could already taste it in her mind. “Mmmmmm that smells so good,” Joanna said as she took a slice.

  She took a bite and the fluffy sweetness of the pizza enveloped her taste buds. She felt like that was the best thing she had ever tasted in her life and she didn’t want that moment to end.

  She salivated as she took more and more bites out of the pizza slice. Annabelle took a slice as well and bit into it. She felt a tingling sensation run down her spine as she did.

  “It wasn’t this good the last time we came here,” she said, and took another bite. The girls sat there and bit more and more out of the pizza until it was completely demolished.

  “So about your team, who are you choosing?” Joanna asked, smacking her mouth.

  “What team?” Anna replied as she took a sip of the soda in front of her.

  “Your team, the one that will help us find who the magician is,” Joanna replied. She was glad that Annabelle wasn’t as tense as before and that she could even forget something so life threatening.

  “Oh yes, my team. I know who I’m going to choose already,” Anna said.

  “We will be five in number and the team will be me, you, Crow, Jackson and Jacob,” she added.

  “Jacob?! That freak?” Joanna replied in disgust. She hated Jacob because he once scared her during her tenth birthday and made her fall into her family’s pool.

  “Trust me, he seems to know a lot about all this magic stuff so we will need him,” Annabelle replied as she gave Joanna a convincing look.

  “If you say so, but tell him not to come near me,” Joanna replied, standing from her chair.

  It was time for the girls to pay and Joanna scanned through her purse and pulled out a five-dollar bill. Annabelle did the same, hoping to see Ron again before she left.

  Their eyes scanned quickly through the restaurant but they couldn’t find him.

  “Huh, I wonder where he is,” Annabelle said, when a gorgeous waitress approached them. She had dark soulful eyes, her hair was slightly oblong and her skin looked like it was polished with nectar from the mysterious tree of heavenly beauty.

  I need to find out what these people use to look so shiny, Annabelle thought to herself as the waitress approached them.

  “Good day ladies. I will be taking your payment today,” The waitress said with a beaming smile.

  “Sorry to bother you, but what of Ron?” Joanna asked as they handed the money to the waitress.

  “Who is Ron?” The waitress replied, confused.

  “I don’t know anyone called Ron,” she added, gently squeezing her skirt.

  “Ron, the guy who served us today,” Annabelle said, looking back and forth at Joanna and the waitress.

  “There is no one called Ron that works here ma’am,” the waitress replied politely.

  “He is about 6 feet tall, has blonde hair and a very dominating masculine voice,” Joanna said, gesturing with her hands.

  “Oh, you mean Dash? He’s so dreamy,” the waitress replied, flirtatiously biting her lips.

  “Well, his shift has ended so he went home,” she added.

  “Do you by any chance know where he lives?” Joanna asked without thinking twice.

  “No, I don’t. No one does actually but if you see him again, you can ask him,” the waitress said after which she bowed her head and politely walked away.

  “I guess we must have scared her off,” Annabelle said as they headed out of Pizza place.

  “Where to now?” Joanna asked, looking at Anna and scratching her head.

  “Well, I guess we have to go back to school cos it’s not closing time yet,” Annabelle replied. Both girls debated on where their next destination would be, but finally decided to go back to Hampton high.

  On getting to school, Annabelle looked at her wristwatch which read 1:35 p.m. and school closed by 5:00 p.m. She checked her timetable and saw that she was supposed to be in Duncan’s class.

  “Well, I guess that’s enough magic for one day,” she murmured, and took a seat on one of the benches in the hallways. Unlike most schools, Hampton High did not have any hall monitors, so students were allowed to walk around the hallways during lecturing hours and the teachers didn’t really care. It was almost like a school without rules.

  “Why hasn’t anyone noticed that the power was cut off because of our secret mission?” Anna asked Joanna, smiling.

  “But look,” She said as she pointed to the lit bulb in the hallway.

  “I wonder when they fixed it,” Joanna said, as she glared at the bulb as if she was waiting for a sign from above.

  “It’s like the power never even went out,” She added, still staring at the bulb, half expecting it to go off.

  “Well, I won’t be surprised if all of this is the work of magic,” Annabelle said defeated.

  There was more to Hampton high, Crow, Duncan and the entire town in general and Annabelle knew it. She still couldn’t believe how her life had taken a drastic turn from an innocent and ignorant girl to someone whose life was in danger for reasons she did not understand.

  She was to be free from 2:00 p.m. till school closed for that day and she wasn’t allowed to go home without her brother so she had to stay till 5:00 p.m. She decided to see Mrs. Crow again, hoping to hear some more fancy magical history.

  “Let’s go see Crow again. Maybe she will tell us more magic stuff and probably tell us how the power came back on,” Annabelle said to Joanna who followed her.

  On getting to the library, they noticed that Mrs. Crow wasn’t in her seat but someone else instead. A frail looking man with golden rings on each finger.

  Annabelle walked over to the man who was seated there and cleared her throat before she spoke. “Ahem! I’m looking for Mrs. Crow please,” she asked, but the man didn’t look up because he was still engrossed in the book he was reading.

  “How to make love properly,” Anna slowly mouthed the title of the book he was reading.

  “Sorry sir. I am looking for Mrs. Crow,” she said again but this time a bit louder.

  “I heard you the first time,” he replied as he raised his head to look at her.

  “You must be Annabelle Peterson.”