A week had gone by, Mrs. Crow was still nowhere to be found and no one noticed as usual. Anna and her classmates had just received information about an excursion to a national forest reserve on the outskirts of Hampton, and everyone seemed to be taking it well, everyone except her.

  “Great, if we go there we will be sitting ducks for that stupid sorcerer to pick on,” Annabelle leaned forward, saying to Joanna who was right in front of her. She and her friends had completely gotten used to magic, and the fact that their lives were constantly in danger.

  Annabelle paused for a moment as she tried to imagine the smirk on the face of the man after he had gotten what he wanted.

  “Hey, snap out of it, no one has bothered us for a week now, which is progress. Besides, this might be fun,” Joanna said.

  “Sadly, Jackson isn’t coming,” Annabelle said with a long face, fiddling with the pen on her table as the teacher went on about the excursion, ignoring them completely.

  “Well, it’s for our year only, so he can’t come,” Joanna said, quite impassively as she peered at her, having a quick but true smile.

  “But the thing is if the sorcerer wanted me dead, he could have done it long ago, so why am I still alive?” Annabelle said to Joanna.

  “Hey Miss Peterson, could you repeat what I just said?” Madame De Bosse asked, as the whole class turned their attention towards Annabelle.

  “Umm, I’m sorry I wasn’t following,” Annabelle said quickly but politely as she adjusted her sitting posture.

  “Well, don’t do that again, you aren’t James so I don’t expect any trouble from you,” Madame De Bosse said, and kept on talking about the excursion.

  “We will be going to the national forest reserve on the outskirts of town, it’s very safe and you are to come in groups of two. There’s going to be a little treasure hunt, and the winners will get a beautiful prize. The details will be passed on to you on the day of the excursion which is this coming Friday,” Madame De Bosse said, and distributed permission slips to the entire class.

  “You are to give those permission slips to your parents or guardians to sign. A student without a signed permission slip will not be allowed to go for the excursion,” Madame De Bosse insisted, as her eyes scanned through the class.

  She talked some more about the excursion and dress code, after which she left the class.

  The next teacher that was to lecture them was no other than the despised Principal, Mr. Duncan.

  He slowly walked into the class, refusing to look at anyone, especially Anna, as he headed for the whiteboard.

  “You’ll be fine,” Joanna mouthed to Annabelle who began to feel uneasy and braced herself for whatever Duncan was going to do during that class. Strangely, to Joanna and Annabelle’s surprise, he acted completely normal, taught and left without mentioning a word about Wraiths.

  “See you next class,” he said, and walked out of the class without chuckling in the usual manner he always did after every lecture.

  “Something is definitely off,” Anna said to Joanna who agreed with her.

  “Yeah, it’s like this magic stuff has come to a complete halt. By the way, where is Mrs. Crow?” Joanna whispered to Anna, using the murmuring of the students to mask her voice.

  “I have absolutely no idea, but she’s probably fine.”

  Meanwhile, in another realm, which comprised beautiful trees, green grass, blue skies and clear waterfalls, Mrs. Crow was bound to a tree. She had been tied there for a while, and she squinted as the hot yellow sun slowly burnt her dry skin.

  Longingly, she glared at the stream of sparkling water a few meters in front of her, as she licked her cracked lips, wishing she could have a drop of it on her tongue.

  Her clothes were torn, and her wrists had been cut with a sharp object. The wounds were still fresh, but she was more interested in drinking water than tending to the wounds on her wrists.

  When will these guys come for me? Did they just tie me and leave me here? Crow asked herself, as her consciousness slowly faded away.

  Meanwhile, back at Hampton high, Annabelle and Joanna were engaged in a spelling bee contest, competing against each other, not willing to back down.

  “Ok, this one is a tiebreaker,” Miss Clara, the English teacher said, as she glared at Anna and her friend through her slightly cracked recommended glasses.

  “Spell the word Chiaroscurist,” Miss Clara said, pronouncing the word in the most perfect and yet complex way she could.

  “Ok C, h, I, Ummmm, C, h, I..” Joanna stuttered, and then gave up.

  “I guess it’s up to you then, if you spell it correctly, you win,” Miss Clara said, facing Annabelle.

  The entire class was silent, and one could easily hear the drop of a pin from any corner of the class. Everyone looked at Annabelle with expectation, as she took a deep breath, filling her lungs with air. She wasn’t sure she was going to spell it right, and she was prepared to tie with Joanna again for the third time, as she let out some air and “C, h, I, a, r, o, s, c, u, r, i, s, t,” She said, quite unsure of what she had spelt.

  I definitely got it wrong, she thought to herself as she noticed James Bludovitch smirking at her from the back of the class.

  She could feel her heartbeat amidst the silence, slow and steady as Miss Clara kept them in suspense, like she always did each time there was a spelling bee contest.

  “Well, Anna,” she said, and then paused to adjust her glasses, her eyes still fixed on the small book she was holding.

  “You got it right, you win,” Clara added, with a beaming smile on her face.

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  To Annabelle’s surprise, everyone in the class jumped up and started to cheer. “Go Anna! You rock Anna!” people praised her from every angle of the class, and in excitement, she hugged Joanna, who hugged her even tighter. Both girls screamed in excitement, the class cheering on as they did.

  “Okay, okay guys, relax,” Miss Clara said, in an attempt to neutralize the screaming, but the cheering got even more intense, masking her voice.

  “If you can’t beat them, join them,” Miss Clara said amidst the commotion, as she proudly applauded Anna and Joanna.

  “Okay, I’m glad we are glad,” she said with a smile on her face, as the class giggled due to the repetition of the word ‘glad’ in her statement.

  “Annabelle Peterson will be representing the school in the international spelling bee contest, which will be taking place in the month of May. By the way, there’s going to be a pop quiz next week,” Miss Clara said, killing the mood of everyone in class.

  The school bell rang, indicating lunchtime, and everyone went their separate ways, most of the students going towards the cafeteria.

  “Looks like it’s time to eat,” Joanna said, as she grabbed her bag and tossed Annabelle hers, giggling like a little child. She was happy for her friend, and not a single part of her felt jealous.

  Both girls headed for the cafeteria, smiling and holding hands as they enjoyed a magic free life.

  Meanwhile, back in another realm, Crow had just regained consciousness, still dehydrated and tied to a tree. She winced due to rays of light from the sun which entered straight into her eyes, partially impairing her vision.

  A little bird perched on the ground right in front of her, and she watched it eat some crumbs off the ground, and drink from the stream of water right in front of her. Her stomach growled as she watched the bird eat and drink. It tweeted happily and spread its wings to take flight just as it let out a loud cry and died.

  Someone had shot it with an arrow, someone from within the woods, someone Crow couldn’t see.

  “You didn’t have to kill the poor bird,” she said, as she waited for whatever killed the bird to come into view.

  “Well, I never really liked birds,” he replied, coming into Mrs. Crow’s field of view. It wasn’t human, and couldn’t be classified as an animal either. It was covered in brown folding skin and had not a strand of hair on his body. It had two hands and two legs and stood upright like a human. The eyes were oval shaped and green in color and the top of its head looked like a double chin.

  It wore thick leather clothing which was made from a leopard’s skin and it held a spear in its right hand as it spoke.

  “Where is Pepper Crow?” it asked, sounding like it was talking with water in its throat.

  “Oh, Glen for the last time I don’t know. I’m not even sure he’s still alive,” Crow said, as the creature took a step closer to her, breathing heavily as it did.

  It pointed the tip of its spear at Crow’s throat and threatened her.

  “Tell me now, or you’ll spend the night here again,” the creature said in an impatient gargled tone.

  “I’m sorry to ask but what did my brother do this time?” Crow asked, as she winced due to the pain on her wrist. She wanted nothing more but freedom, and at that moment, she really wished she could use her magic to escape.

  “He took something very precious to us!” Glen bellowed, scaring off the birds in the trees.

  “And what could be so important that you had to kidnap me and bring me here against my will?” She said, smirking as she looked right into Glen’s green eyes.

  “The destruction orb!” Glen screamed, sinking his spear into the ground.

  “What?!” That’s impossible!” Crow said, as her heart began to race. She didn’t realize she had so much energy left in her until that moment.

  “My brother is dead! He should be, I haven’t seen him for over two hundred years,” she said, refusing to believe what she had been told, and even more, refusing to believe her statement.

  “Oh, and did you ever find his body? For your information, he is alive and even more powerful than before,” Glen said, his voice still sounding gargled.

  “Now,” he said, as more creatures that looked like him emerged from the thick woods.

  “Why should we keep you alive?” he asked, as the other creatures pulled out their swords from their sheaths.

  “Oh more swords again?” Crow said with a deep sigh. She had grown tired of seeing swords every corner she went.

  “Because I can help you capture him and even kill him,” she said, as a gentle breeze blew on her face, waving her dark hair in the wind.

  The creatures burst into laughter, which was quite unpleasant to hear. Crow twisted her lips due to the irritating sounds they made as they mocked her.

  “He came here, infiltrated our kingdom, defeated our sorcerers and killed some of our best fighters. We easily captured you, so what makes you think you stand a chance against him?” Glen asked, an ugly smile on his ugly face.

  “Because I too have gotten stronger,” she said, looking helpless in front of them.

  “Blurbs, listen to me and let me address you, woman to blurb. I will stop at nothing to kill that man and if I can’t kill him, you can have my book of shadows,” she said, arousing murmur among the blurbs.

  “You mean the legendary book of the Blackwaters? There’s no way on earth you have it,” Glen said.

  “I do, and I can’t lie to you. Look, we both want this guy dead so why not work together and kill him?” she asked, her eyes studying the ugly creatures.

  “We give you three months. If you haven’t killed him after three months, we will make you give us the book and kill you after,” Glen said, as he approached her and untied her from the tree.

  “Your magic should work fine now,” he said, just as Crow’s wounds healed up.

  The thought of attacking the blurbs crossed her mind, but she was uncertain she was going to make it out alive so she just held back.

  “Three months,” she said, nodded, and then vanished into thin air, reappearing in her office in the human world.

  Weak, she fell to her knees, and crawled on the floor, making her way to one of the shelves.

  She clawed through the books and opened a false book, revealing a little bottle with a pink liquid in it.

  “Those damn creatures,” she said, as she opened the bottle, guzzled the content down her throat, and passed out.

  “I wonder where Crow is,” Joanna whispered to Annabelle. They were in the middle of a mathematics class and the teacher had been writing on the board for so long.

  “She’s definitely fine,” Annabelle replied, also whispering. Time seemed to be crawling and Annabelle wanted nothing more than to leave the class.

  “Miss Peterson, could you be quiet or would you like to solve the problem on the board?” The mathematics teacher asked, still writing on the board. Did he hear her speak? Did he have eyes behind his head? Or was he also a magician? Annabelle thought to herself, as she noticed everyone gazing at her.

  “You know what? I’d like you to solve it,” he said as he turned around and stretched out the marker in his hand, motioning for her to take it.

  He was skinny, a bit too skinny and his face was pale. He wore a brown turtle neck sweater, black trousers and shoes. His hair was thick and wavy, and his glasses were a bit too big for his face. He reminded Anna of Jacob, who wasn’t in school as usual.

  “I wonder how no one ever notices his absence,” she muttered to herself as she headed towards the front of the class.

  She collected the marker from the teacher, solved the problem flawlessly, and handed the marker to the mathematics teacher with a smirk on her face.

  “Don’t talk in my class again, he shamefully said as he motioned for her to return to her seat. The class went on for a few more minutes, after which the school bell rang and the teacher left the class. Annabelle attended the rest of the classes for that day and headed home with her brother, having another magic and danger free day.