For someone who had such an upgrade in power, she seemed to be pretty scared on reading the note.

  “I get it, I was terrified too,” Anna said in an effort to pacify Mrs. Crow.

  She narrated the events that occurred the previous night to everyone in the office and everyone including Crow was dumbfounded.

  “So does this mean we aren’t safe?” Jackson asked, looking at Crow in expectation of a positive answer.

  “I don’t think he is interested in you guys,” Anna replied.

  “His outfit, you said he wore black?” Crow asked. She looked like she was trying to wrap her head around something.

  “What’s wrong?” Annabelle asked.

  “I think I know who you’re talking about. You were visited by a member of the Dark Order,” Crow replied.

  “But what I don’t get is the fact that you saw the wraith. Are you certain that’s what you saw?” she asked again just for clarity.

  “Yes, I saw it, and he said he’d be back. The orb was blue and he whispered,” Anna said as she scratched her hair in confusion.

  “What’s the Dark Order?” Jackson asked.

  “The dark order is a group of sorcerers who are known to practice dark magic and assassinate sorcerers. They wear Black hoodies and put on face masks when they go hunting and they are also known to whisper a lot,” Crow replied.

  “But the orb, it can’t be them, it’s not possible,” she said, doubting her own words.

  “Well, I don’t want to die soon, so you better find a way to fix this,” Jackson said, then there was a knock on the door. The Principal? Anna thought and her heart skipped a beat when, “Come in,” Crow said, and Jacob opened the door and walked in.

  “So what’s the prank about?” he asked, as he skeptically studied everyone with his eyes.

  “Prank? What prank?” Joanna asked, as she raised one of her brows.

  “He kept going on and on about me making fun of him when I tried to talk to him yesterday,” Anna replied.

  “So this isn’t a prank?” he asked again, still studying them.

  “Of course, it’s not. Don’t you think we have better things to do than to go through all this effort just to prank you?!” Jackson screamed at Jacob.

  “What’s really going on then?” Jacob asked, lowering his shoulders. He didn’t even realize he had been holding his breath the entire time.

  Anna briefed him on all the events that had occurred till that moment until they were all on the same page.

  “Jacob? Is everything alright?” Anna asked consecutively. Jacob hadn’t said a word throughout the briefing, which was unlike him.

  “You guys are messing with me,” he said, and was just about to turn around when Mrs. Crow made him levitate.

  “Believe her now?” Crow asked, with Jacob still suspended midair.

  “It really does exist!” Jacob said as he burst into laughter.

  He laughed for a while and didn’t even mind the fact that he was still midair. Crow let him down easily, and he pacified himself and continued talking.

  “So does this mean werewolves really exist?” he asked in expectation of a yes.

  “Well, they all do, in Astra 12,” Crow replied.

  “The supernatural prison,” Jacob said.

  “Well, I would have handed you the amulet, but I don’t think it really protects anything from magic,” Crow said, causing commotion in the room.

  “So you mean we aren’t really safe? You mean we are going to die?” Different questions were thrown at her.

  “Please stop talking about death!” Crow screamed in frustration.

  “No one is dying, not under my watch,” She added.

  “The amulet will protect you unless you take it off. Anna took hers off, that’s why she was vulnerable,” she said. “The sorcerer must have heated it up somehow.”

  She knew there was a loophole in the amulet and didn’t quite know how to fix it.

  “Wait, let me try something,” Crow said, then turned to Joanna. She stretched out her hand, seeming to focus on the amulet, but nothing happened. She strained herself, trying to heat up the amulet, but it was to no avail. As she kept on trying, blood began to pour out of her nostrils, but she ignored it and maintained her focus.

  “Stop, you’ll hurt yourself!” Joanna screamed, not long after which Mrs. Crow fell to the ground.

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  “What do you think you are doing?” Annabelle said and helped her up.

  “That sorcerer must have been very powerful, for him to have done what he did to the amulet,” Crow wiped the blood off her nose.

  Crow took Anna’s amulet in her hands and muttered some words. There was a quick flash of light, and in a split second, the amulet was small again.

  She created another amulet for Jacob and luckily for him, he had chains in his bag.

  He put it on and the entire team waited for ten minutes because he had also passed out after wearing it.

  “Wow, my head,” he said as they helped him to his feet.

  “Now that we are all kind of protected and the team is complete, what next?” Jackson asked Mrs. Crow.

  “I will have to ensure nobody notices you are missing. In the meantime, enjoy your celebration,” she replied.

  “Missing? What do you mean?” Anna asked, looking at her friends who were thinking the same thing.

  “Oh if you are going to be fighting magic with magic, this world is not the place to do it,” Crow replied.

  “Fighting magic? We aren’t sorcerers,” Jacob added.

  “No, but you can use magical instruments because of the amulets on your necks.”

  “Coool,” everyone synonymously said.

  “We will be going to Astra 12,” Crow said, pacing back and forth.

  “Wait, isn’t that the prison for supernatural creatures?” Jacob asked skeptically. He was partially thrilled he was going to see some creatures of the underworld.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll explain when we get there. Not the whole of Astra 12 is a prison,” Crow added, stopping right in the middle of the office, seeming to be debating with her own mind.

  “Now go, I have to work,” she said after which the students departed the office.

  “So what do we do now?” Jackson asked, just outside Crow’s office.

  “Now, we party!” Anna screamed as she ran off to join other students in the new year celebrations.

  The entire school was crowded with students and mascots. Some students had their faces painted, while others decided to make out in secret places with their partners.

  It was fun all the way, and Anna felt much at ease.

  “Want me to grab you a drink?” Jackson asked screaming to make his voice heard over the loud music.

  “Yeah, sure,” she replied, nodding her head.

  “Hey, weird right?” Joanna yelled, holding a drink in her hand.

  “I heard James Bludovitch just fully recovered from the beating Jackson gave him. It’s funny how no parents were involved,”

  “How is it weird that no parents were involved?” Anna asked, almost screaming.

  “That’s not what I meant. What I am trying to say is all this magic stuff happened so fast, it’s weird,” Joanna said, and then took a sip of her drink.

  “Hey, I think this drink is spiked,” she said, and drank some more, moving her body to the rhythm of the music.

  “Well, here’s your drink.” Jackson handed Anna some punch.

  She took a sip and closed her eyes as the fruity goodness of the drink entertained her taste buds.

  “Mmmmmm that’s so good!” she exclaimed, her eyes still closed.

  “But it isn’t spiked, how?” she added.

  “A magician never reveals his secrets,” Jackson replied, as he winked and made a clicking sound with his mouth.

  Anna, Jackson and Joanna were caught up in a friendly conversation when, “I thought I’d see you there,” Courtney Cox said.

  Had she come to tell on Jackson?

  “Please don’t tell the principal,” Jackson said to her as he abruptly stood from his seat.

  “Didn’t you get the message? He changed his mind for some reason. Seniors are allowed to attend the new year celebration,” she said, her facial expression lighting up with a smile.

  The DJ put on some upbeat music and the crowd went wild.

  “This is my jam!” Courtney screamed as she danced her way into the crowd.

  “Well I’ll find myself a hot guy to dance with,” Joanna said as she too danced into the crowd.

  “Want to dance?” Jackson asked, smirking and looking at Anna from the corner of his eye.

  Annabelle agreed and up till that moment, no one had noticed Jacob was missing.

  Jackson took her to the dance floor, and they began to dance. The most blissful moment of Annabelle’s day.

  “I don’t know how to dance,” she screamed into his ear, trying to make her voice heard due to the loud music playing from the speakers.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll show you.” He dominantly grabbed her waist.

  “He threw her back and forth, left and right on the dance floor and they both had fun dancing. They had danced for a while, when waltz music began to play.

  “Looks like we have to slow it down,” he said, and pulled her close for a slow dance.

  At that moment, Annabelle felt like she was in dreamland. Everything seemed slower and she felt inner peace for the first time in a while. She had not waltzed for long when someone in the crowd caught her attention.

  Someone wearing a black hoodie and mask was glaring at her, and she could see the blue orb in his hand.

  Am I hallucinating? She thought to herself as she closed her eyes, but by the time she opened them, he was still there.

  He raised the orb to his eye level and pointed at her, after which he vanished into the crowd.

  “What’s wrong?” Jackson asked, noticing the wary expression on her face.

  “Did you see something?” he added, as he looked behind him.

  “No, it’s nothing, let’s keep dancing,” she said, adding some pep to her step.

  Jackson and Annabelle had danced for a long time and were exhausted. There were still a lot of students on the dance floor and most of them were drunk.

  Anna and Jackson had decided to leave the dance floor and both of them headed to a classroom where they sat and talked about their future careers.

  “I thought I’d find you here,” Joanna said, slightly drunk.

  “Oh what a day,” she remarked, throwing herself on one of the chairs in the classroom and belched.

  “That’s not lady like,” Anna said, giggling.

  “By the way, where is Jacob?” Joanna asked, her eyes barely open.

  “Maybe the sorcerer got him,” she added, and belched again.

  “Wait, that’s true, where is Jacob?” Jackson jumped to his feet.