“Of course something’s wrong. James was kidnapped and he doesn’t even have an amulet,” Annabelle said, trying to state the obvious. She could think of nothing other than finding James Bludovitch’s corpse in front of the school, as goosebumps appeared all over her body.

  “Jacob is on his way, I wonder where he always disappears to,” Joanna said, raising a slight amount of suspicion in Annabelle.

  Could Jacob be the sorcerer? But if he is, Crow would recognize him right? She didn’t know what to think and also didn’t want to accuse him openly so she decided to keep her mouth shut and keep a close eye on him from that moment.

  Meanwhile, in a dark empty room, James had just regained consciousness accompanied by a sharp pain in his right temple. He cringed, due to the throbbing pain in his head as he closely observed his environment. He could barely see properly due to the darkness of the room and he was quite certain he wasn’t alone. He tried to break free of the binds that held him to the pillar, but all his efforts seemed futile.

  “Show yourself!” he screamed, trying to depict boldness as he pulled hard on the ropes, trying to break free.

  “Relax James, you will be of good use to me,” a man spoke from the shadows.

  “That voice,” James whispered, recognizing the voice of the man but he couldn’t quite remember the face of the person.

  “Relax,” the man said, as he slowly approached him.

  “Where do I know you from?” James asked, squinting his eyes as he tried to get a clear view of who was approaching him.

  “Mrs. Crow would get you for this!” He screamed, quite unsure of his statement as the man slowly approached him.

  “Oh my sister? Nah she won’t be a problem,” the man said, as he clapped his hands twice. The room was instantly illuminated, lamps glowing from every corner, giving James a clear view of the person he was speaking with.

  He wore a black hoodie with a black mask and had a blue orb in his right hand.

  “What do you mean sister? Show your face!” he screamed at the man, on the verge of peeing his pants. He hadn’t been so terrified in his life and his heart throbbed violently within his chest, threatening to jump out of his mouth.

  “Relax,” the man said, as he reached for his mask and slowly took it off, with James expectantly watching to see the face of the man who had the voice he had recognized so much.

  The man pulled his mask off completely and, “You?!” he screamed in utter disbelief of who was standing before him.

  He didn’t quite understand what was going on at that moment and in doubt, “It can’t be you, you’re just a regular guy!” he screamed at the man, his blood boiling.

  “Well, it’s me in the flesh,” the man said as he put the mask back on his face.

  “But how,” James mouthed, still trying to wrap his head around how someone he had known since he was a child was a magician. He bore no resemblance to Mrs. Crow and seemed to be calmer than she was.

  “Now, I have a job for you and it’s related to killing my sister and Annabelle Peterson,” he said as he reached for James’s head.

  “Don’t touch me!” James screamed, his voice echoing throughout the room as he fought hard to break free.

  “I can’t die here! I can’t die here! I can’t die here!” James screamed at the top of his voice as Pepper Crow grabbed his head and, “Oh calm down you won’t die, you will just be more useful than you are now,” he said as he gently pulled out a knife. He slashed James’s face open, cutting his left eyeball in half in the process.

  James tried screaming, but Pepper’s hand was over his mouth, muffling his screams as his blood trickled down his face. His eyeball felt numb all of a sudden, and the feeling of pain had been replaced by that of ecstasy. He wanted to be cut again just to feel the more of the pleasure he felt at that moment and, “More,” he whispered to Pepper, barely conscious.

  “Oh you’ll feel better than this soon,” Pepper said, as he quickly slashed his palm wide open with the same knife.

  His blue colored blood spattered all over the floor, some drops splashing into James’s mouth but he didn’t mind.

  Pepper Crow then placed his open wound on that of James’s, closed his eyes and muttered something to himself, as an ominous presence filled the atmosphere.

  “I don’t want to die he…..” James said, his strength slowly fading away. He could feel the presence of other beings there with them, as his eyes slowly closed.

  He thought he was going to lose consciousness as, “Aaaaaaaaah!” he screamed in excruciating pain as he felt his bones break and reform, making snapping sounds as they did.

  “Yes, undergo transformation!” Crow screamed with glee as he peered at him through the eyeholes of his black mask.

  The ropes that bound James to the pillar were loosened and he levitated off the floor, as he felt his entire body system being torn apart.

  He screamed even louder, as he felt two sharp pains on his forehead. Could I be growing horns? He thought to himself as he tried to reach for his head, but it felt like he was no longer in control of his body, the only thing left untampered with being his mind.

  “What’s happening to me!” he screamed, trying to ignore the pain as flashes of his childhood ran through his mind.

  Could it have been those flashes one usually sees just before death? Was he about to die? He clenched his fists which no longer felt like his, trying to stay awake. His hair turned snow white, his facial structure changed, and his eyes turned completely red, as he clenched his fist even harder, piercing his palms with his long sharp claws, wishing Mrs. Crow swooped in to save the day.

  “It’s really dangerous,” Crow’s warning rang through his head as “No,” he said in a deep voice which definitely wasn’t his.

  “What are you turning me into?!” he screamed at Pepper in a monstrous voice, hoping whatever was suspending him midair would let him down.

  “Don’t struggle, just let it take over you!” Pepper said, as he watched James transform. His transformation into a messenger seemed to be slower than the previous transformations he had induced in the past.

  “Now this is some willpower,” he said, taking off his mask as he watched James’s skin turn red.

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  “Hello James,” James heard a voice in his head. He wanted to reply by asking who it was but his throat just didn’t let out any air.

  Not my vocal cords too, he thought to himself as he closed his eyes, trying as much as possible not to lose his mind. Slowly, more flashes of his childhood ran through his mind until “I am ready for service,” James said, but it wasn’t him.

  His mind had been completely erased and whatever was speaking had completely taken over.

  “Come dear, I will call you James just to respect the previous owner of that body,” Pepper said gleefully as he stretched forth his hands and opened a portal.

  The messenger followed him into the portal without resisting, leaving the room dark and empty.

  Meanwhile at Hampton high, Annabelle’s mind had wandered off. She couldn’t stop thinking about James’s disappearance and if he was still alive.

  “I wonder where he is,” she mumbled to herself as she stared out of the class through the glass window. She observed cars enter and leave the parking lot, her eyes scanning the lot just as they locked unto someone waving.

  The person seemed to be waving at her with a black hoodie on.

  “Could it be?” she asked herself as she squinted, trying to get a clear view of the person’s face.

  “Anna! Anna!” Mr. Gruff yelled at her, startling her. She yelped and jerked, nearly falling off her seat and causing everyone in the class to laugh.

  “Where’s your mind? I’ve been asking you a question but you didn’t seem to be here at all,” Gruff said, folding his arms in expectation of an explanation.

  “Sorry sir I…..” Annabelle said, giving the parking lot a quick glance. The person who was waving at her was gone.

  “What’s so special about the parking lot?” Gruff asked, as he looked out the window.

  Joanna didn’t want to speak so as not to be teased by Gruff, so she shot Anna a concerned look, slightly twisting her mouth as if to say things were going to be alright.

  “Do you want to go home to mummy?” he asked, arousing laughter in the class.

  “Focus,” he said, pointing at the board and resumed teaching.

  Anna wanted nothing more than to leave the class, the only thing holding her back being the way her parents would have scolded her if she got reported.

  “Oh screw this!” she screamed, and stormed out of the class, not caring about the consequences.

  “Miss Peterson, get back here!” Gruff bellowed as he went after her. “I have Crow, I can’t get punished,” she said, ignoring Mr. Gruff’s warnings to stop as she walked through the empty hallways with no destination in mind.

  “Hey stop this instant!” he screamed, as she went into the female toilet, knowing she wasn’t going to be followed.

  To her surprise, Gruff followed her into the empty toilet, grabbed her by the arm and “You will follow me this instant!” he bellowed, as he tried to haul her away.

  “Let me go!” she screamed, trying to break free, but at that moment, she felt a surge of electricity invade her body. The shock threw Gruff several feet away, smashing him against the bathroom wall and knocking him out instantly. What could that have been? Was it the amulet? Could she perform magic? Annabelle didn’t know what to think as she gazed at her hands, a smile right on the corner of her lips.

  “What was that?” she asked herself, as she looked at Gruff who was still unconscious. She ran towards him for fear of him being dead and “Whew,” she said in relief as she felt his pulse, her fingers pressed hard against his wrist.

  “What was that?” she said to herself again, as she looked at her hands hoping to see electricity all over them but all she saw were regular hands.

  Annabelle knew that going back to the class at that moment would cause unsolicited questions and staying in the toilet wasn’t good so she decided to head to the school hall and sit out the rest of the period, leaving Gruff unconscious on the floor.

  At the end of the period, she headed back to the toilet hoping to see Gruff but he was long gone. It also didn’t seem like anyone had noticed he fainted in the female toilet and she felt more at ease and was able to breathe better as she headed to her class.

  What if he was waiting there for her? What was that electric shock all about? Was she in trouble? Questions ran through her mind as she approached the classroom. That period was supposed to be free so she didn’t have to worry about being late for that class. She slowly opened the door, her hand trembling as she expected to see Gruff in the class but he wasn’t there either. Where had he gone? She slowly walked to her seat, pretending not to notice the glaring eyes which were focused on her.

  “Are you okay?” Joanna asked, as she placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “I am, but why is everyone staring?” Annabelle said, as they all glared at her, eyes wide open.

  “Don’t worry Anna, you’ll soon wake up,” Joanna said, as she grabbed her arm, nearly crushing her bones.

  “Aaah!” she screamed, as she tried to break Joanna’s grip on her arm.

  “What’s wrong with you?” she asked as she looked up, her eyes locking with Joanna’s red eyes.

  “You’re not Joanna!” she yelled, as she jolted from her seat trying to phantom what was going on.

  She tried running out of the class, but Joanna blocked her path, picked her up like she weighed nothing and threw her against the wall.

  She grunted on making contact with the wall, fell to her knees and, “Who are you!” she screamed, as she held her arm in pain, still on her knees.

  Was it a dream? Was she hallucinating? She asked herself as everyone in the class stood up unanimously. It was like they had choreographed their movements beforehand and planned on pranking Anna.

  “Okay cut it out!” Annabelle screamed, hoping they would all laugh and admit to pranking her but they didn’t.

  “Wake up Anna, wake up Anna,” they all repeatedly chanted as they walked towards her, giving the vibe of them being possessed by a demon.

  “Wake up Anna wake up Anna,” they said, as they got even closer to her. They had completely surrounded her and were only a few inches from her just as she gasped and found herself walking away from Gruff who was screaming at her.

  “Hey stop this instant! Miss Peterson!” he screamed as she walked towards the toilet. Annabelle, realizing she had somehow seen the future stopped, turned around, and “I’m sorry Mr. Gruff, I was having a bad day,” she said, as she bowed her head and headed back to class.

  “Well..u..I…” he stuttered and followed her. He wasn’t quite expecting such a reaction from her and so didn’t know how to handle it.

  They both entered the class, pretending nothing had happened and Mr. Gruff resumed his teaching, Annabelle not being able to help but think about what had happened.

  “Does this mean I can do magic?” Anna mumbled to herself as the class went on.

  “What about magic?” Joanna, who managed to hear magic in her sentence asked, looking at Anna as if she were expecting good news.

  “What? It’s nothing, I was thinking about something,” Annabelle said. She wasn’t quite sure about what she had seen and didn’t want to burden Crow or her friends with a new problem when they hadn’t solved the current one.

  Classes for that day were over, and Annabelle had lied to her brother that she was going to stay back in school for a project with Joanna so he had to go home alone.

  The entire team was at the heart of the library, Anna and her friends sipping the punch Crow had gotten for them. She sat on nothing but thin air, her eyes closed and legs crossed trying to find James.

  “I can’t sense him,” she said, as she slowly descended to the floor. It was like his aura had been completely erased from existence, which brought her to the conclusion that James was dead.

  “Yes you can’t sense him because he is not in this world,” Annabelle said, as she took another sip out of her punch, making a slurping sound as she did.

  “If I can’t sense him, it means he is not in any world,” Crow said, trying to think of a subtle way to tell them the conclusion she had arrived at. She knew breaking the news to them straight up was probably going to destroy them emotionally so she clenched her right fist behind her back, her brain thinking as fast as it could.

  “What do you mean?” Jackson asked, noticing the distress in Crow’s expression. He knew it was something bad and the others noticed too, stopped sipping their drinks and focused all of their attention on Crow.

  “Tell us,” he insisted, as he walked closer to her, his heart racing for reasons he did not understand.

  “I think he’s dead.”