BEEP.. BEEP.. BEEP… the annoying sounds of Annabelle’s alarm woke her up the next day.

  “Why haven’t I destroyed this alarm yet?” she mumbled to herself as she drifted back to sleep.

  “BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…. the alarm sounds persisted, and woke her up again.

  “I’m up,” she mumbled. “But why am I so tired?” she asked herself, just as she opened her eyes and looked out the window.

  It was still nighttime and she looked at her alarm clock which read 12:04 a.m.

  “This thing has to be broken,” she said, as she got out of bed and slid her feet into her soft bunny slides.

  The whistling night breeze blew across the leaves of the old but sturdy trees outside her window, and the owl hooted in its usual tone.

  “Whoo whoo whoo,” Annabelle said, trying to imitate the owl, as she headed for the bathroom in her oversized pajamas. She stepped out of her room and took a moment to gaze into the darkness, thinking about the first time she saw the wraith, remembering how she watched it walk up the stairs.

  She got into the bathroom, washed her face, and gazed at her reflection in the mirror, admiring herself.

  “I should definitely be a model,” she said to herself as she made funny faces in the mirror.

  She was still looking in the mirror, when she had a POP sound from the bathtub area.

  It sounded like someone had just opened a bottle of wine, someone who didn’t want to be seen drinking wine by that time.

  “Joshua?” she called out, her voice barely above a whisper as she headed for the bathtub which was covered by a curtain.

  “If dad catches you drinking his wine, he’s going to be unhappy.”

  “Joseph? Are you there?” she called out, feeling unsure, as she slowly stretched out her hand to move the curtain out of the way. She shifted the curtain, and “Huh, that’s strange,” she said to herself when she saw nothing but an opened bottle of wine right in the middle of the bathtub with the cork beside it.

  “Is he back?” she muttered to herself. A cold chill ran down her back. It was a familiar chill; the same chill she had felt when the wraith attacked her.

  “Care for a drink?” someone spoke behind her.

  She turned around, and tried to scream, but like the previous time, nothing but air came out of her mouth.

  “Well, I wouldn’t want you screaming on me,” he said, as he snapped his fingers, and the wine bottle floated towards him.

  He conjured a glass cup out of thin air, and “Mmmmmm,” he said as he took a long slow sip of the red wine.

  Annabelle really tried to scream, but couldn’t. She noticed the blue orb in the man’s jacket pocket as he took more and more sips of the wine, until he emptied the entire content of the bottle.

  “Whoa, that was something else,” he playfully whispered, as if he were trying to avoid waking Joshua up.

  “Look at you, so weak, so defenseless. I could kill you right now,” he said to Anna, taking a step closer to her still body. He looked into her eyes, and he could see nothing but hatred.

  “At least, you’re bolder than last time,” he remarked, still whispering with a mask on his face, with only his lips uncovered.

  “Does Crow really think these things work? I could kill you now,” he said as he magically twisted Annabelle’s finger. The immense pain tortured her, the worst part being that she couldn’t scream.

  Tears rolled down her cheeks as she heard the cracking sounds of her bone. There was a CRACK and then a SNAP. Her finger had been broken and all she could do was wince, and endure the pain.

  “Well, I’ll be back,” the masked man said, and then vanished.

  “No!” she screamed, sitting up quickly on her bed, covered in sweat. It was just a dream, but it felt so real. She quickly checked the time on her gently ticking alarm clock and “Oh, he’s back,” she said, as tears filled her eyes, clouding her vision as she looked at the clock which read 12:10 a.m.

  “My finger!” she looked at the finger expecting it to be broken, but it was perfectly fine. No pain, no broken bones. She heaved a sigh of relief, and wiggled it happily just as she remembered what the man had told her in the dream.

  “Does Crow really think these things work?” the man’s voice echoed in her head, as she looked at the amulet with disgust, took it off her neck and slept off.

  “He’s back?” Mrs. Crow said, on receiving the news that Anna was attacked in her sleep again.

  “Yes, and he told me the amulets don’t work,” Annabelle said, holding the amulet in her hand.

  “Of course they do, put it back on,” Crow said, motioning for Anna to wear the amulet.

  “No, it doesn’t work!” Annabelle bellowed, and threw it on the floor.

  “This man is toying with us, and if we don’t find him fast, there’s going to be a problem,” Annabelle said, as she looked at Mrs. Crow who was uneasy.

  “By the way, where have you been all this while?!” Anna screamed. She wasn’t angry but just frustrated.

  “I was captured by the Blurbs and taken to their land against my will,” Crow said shamefully as she looked at the ground thinking about how weak she must have seemed to Anna.

  “Blurb? What’s a blurb?” Anna asked, bursting into an uncontrollable laugh.

  “Blurb, messenger, what kind of strange names are these?” Anna asked, still trying to contain her laughter.

  “I just want to go back to how my life was before all this. Back to when there was no magic, or death, or blurbs or orbs. Back to normal!”

  Jackson, Jacob and Joanna walked into the office.

  “We have to change our location or people will start to notice,” Jacob said, closing the door behind him.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “So what’s the latest?” Jackson asked, as he noticed the tension between Anna and Crow but decided to ignore it.

  “Well, Anna was attacked again last night,” Crow mentioned.

  “What?! He’s back and we don’t even know who it is!” Jacob screamed. Joanna seemed to be the only one who took the news well. It almost looked like she had been expecting that news for a while.

  “I think it was my brother who appeared at Anna’s house last night,” Mrs. Crow said, fiddling with her fingers.

  “What?! Do you mean the super strong magician who can kill us all?!” Jacob screamed. His voice cracked as he did and one could easily hear the fear in him as he spoke.

  “Yes, I was captured by blurbs, that’s why I haven’t bee…..” Mrs. Crow was saying, but was cut off by the intense laughter of the group.

  “Blurb? Did you say Blurb?” Jackson said, as he laughed and fell to the ground. He laughed so hard, he could feel his chest burn.

  “Yeah, laugh it up,” Crow said, as she looked at Annabelle who smiled at her and winked.

  “Okay, okay!” she screamed, calming the rest of the team.

  “I was captured and their leader told me my brother invaded their world, and took the destruction orb. There’s a possibility he has the summoning orb and if he does, there’s a big problem,” Crow said, gently tapping the table with her fingers, her facial expression spelling uncertainty.

  “How were you captured by them? What is a blurb anyway?” Jacob asked, fighting hard to keep a straight face as he mentioned the word ‘blurb’.

  “Blurbs are extremely physically strong creatures that live in Astra 12.”

  “I thought you said Astra 12 was a prison?” Jackson asked, looking confused.

  “Yes, but if you remember, I also said not all of it was a prison,” Crow said, and kept on talking.

  “Blurbs are extremely ugly and ruthless. They will stop at nothing to get what they want, and their magic is high-level,” Crow said, as she held her wrist remembering how they had cut her up and nearly killed her.

  “They took me to Astra 12, beat me and somehow managed to deactivate my magic all that time they held me captive,” she said.

  “But if your magic can be deactivated on two different occasions, why can’t you do the same for your brother?” Annabelle asked.

  Crow didn’t reply, but just sat there looking all confused.

  “Anyway, keep talking,” Joanna said, seeming to be more interested in the story.

  “For my brother to have taken their orb and killed their best sorcerers, he must have gotten really strong. Stronger than when he killed our parents.”

  “But you said he was dead,” Jackson said, as he ruffled his hair in frustration.

  “I hadn’t seen him for so long, I assumed he was,” Crow said.

  “Blurbs are really physically strong and I could barely fight one off in physical combat. My magic is really weak against theirs and I was given three months to kill him or I’d be killed,” Crow said, as she stood from her chair.

  “Sorry for making you all miss classes, I’ll make sure your attendance isn’t affected,” Crow said and gave the group a reassuring nod and searched for something in her shelf.

  “The P.T.A is in a few weeks, I’ll be the one to handle that.”

  “But how will you han… oh, magic,” Jackson said, nodding his head and smiling.

  “But why Anna? Why kill your parents?” Jackson asked.

  “I guess we will have to ask him when we capture him,” Crow said, as her eyes glowed a bright gold, and then went back to normal. Anna and her friends had gotten so used to magic that they weren’t awed by what Crow had done.

  “Seems like you’re all used to magic.”

  “How do you intend on beating your brother when he probably has two orbs and is still more powerful than you are?” Joanna asked, gesturing.

  “Well,” Crow said, as a mischievous smirk spread across her face.

  “I’m going to ask for help from Doom the destroyer,” she replied.

  “Are you crazy?!” Annabelle exclaimed, screaming at the top of her voice.

  “Those blurbs or whatever you call them could have killed you and you can’t even defend yourself against them, so how do you plan on defending yourself against the most powerful magical being in the underworld?” Annabelle bellowed, as she clenched her fists in an attempt to suppress her anger.

  “Doom won’t kill me,” Crow said, surprised at the way Anna screamed at her.

  “He won’t kill me because I will retrieve the summoning orb for him.”

  “I’m sorry to say, but that’s a really dumb idea. How will you get the summoning orb when you aren’t a hundred percent certain it’s your brother who wields it?” Jackson said, looking at Joanna, expecting her to support him.

  “Do you even know what to do when you finally confront your brother?” Joanna asked, making Crow look like a complete idiot.

  “Well, it’s the best way we can defeat whomever wields the orbs. I’ll go after the destruction orb first because the blurbs will come for me if I don’t deliver it on time.”

  “I’ll only ask Doom for his power so the probability of me getting the destruction orb will increase,” Crow added.

  She was just about to advise Anna and her team to remain in the mortal realm due to the immense dangers of the other realms, when “We’re coming with you,” Anna and her friends said synonymously.

  “No!” Crow insisted, remembering the last time they all went to Opsilion 12 and almost died. She wasn’t quite sure she was going to survive her encounter with Doom, but she had to try.

  “If we don’t go, you don’t go,” Jacob said, expecting the rest of the group to back him up but they just ignored him, leaving him ashamed.

  “I could always knock you out with magic,” Crow said, as her eyes glowed white.

  “Yeah, threaten the non-magical people with your magic. You can’t even beat any magical being!” Jackson screamed, quite annoyed at the way Crow threatened them.

  “Yeah,” Joanna screamed in support of him. “Stop threatening us and actually put all your magic to good use,” she added, pointing at Crow.

  Mrs. Crow was completely disappointed, and one could easily see it on her face. She was also a bit confused, remembering she was the one who defeated the brown-haired man in Opsilion 12, and how she gave the team amulets and also the one who had been protecting them ever since.

  Annabelle saw the disappointment in her face and “I trust you, and I am coming with you,” she said as she walked over to her and held her hand, giving her a reassuring nod.

  “She is the one who has been protecting us ever since, and if you cannot acknowledge that, you are welcome to drop your amulets and get out!” Annabelle screamed.

  Everyone was dumbfounded for a moment, and then “I’m in,” Jackson said as he walked over to Crow and stood beside her.

  “Well, we have come this far, so it’s pointless to turn back. Besides, I want to unravel the mystery behind these attacks,” Jacob said, as he walked over to Crow, leaving Joanna alone.

  Joanna paused for a while, which made everyone in the group think she was going to leave, and then “I’m in. At least I’ll hang out with Ron after all this,” she said, after which she gave Anna a bright smile.

  “Who’s Ron?” Jacob and Jackson asked unanimously.

  “Oh, just a pizza guy we met a few days ago. He owns a convertible,” Anna and Joanna replied unanimously, causing everyone to giggle, lighting up the mood.

  “Okay, we are going to Astra 12 on Friday. We will use the excursion as cover, and I’ll make sure no one notices we are gone,” Crow said, as she headed to her chair and took a seat.

  “I’ll be going home to prepare for our trip on Friday, who’d like to come?” she asked, as the entire team raised their hands in enthusiasm. They were all curious as to what Mrs. Crow’s house looked like.

  I bet it’s a spooky house with potions, artifacts and mummified bodies, Anna thought to herself, as her curiosity grew even wider.

  I bet it has lots of spell books and magical stuff, Jacob thought to himself.

  Mrs. Crow was about to speak, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

  “Mrs. Crow, are you in there?” Duncan asked.

  “She’s in there sir, I saw the kids going into the office,” Donald, the security man said, trying to impress the principal with his deductive skills.

  “Open the door,” Duncan said, as Donald scrambled through the bunch of spare keys in his hand, looking for the one to Mrs. Crow’s office.