“What do we do?” Anna whispered to Mrs. Crow who seemed unbelievably calm.

  “Relax, I can do magic, remember?” she said, as she quickly pulled a vial of powder from her shelf and blew it on the faces of Anna and her friends. They coughed furiously, and “I hear coughing!” Donald screamed, as he found the spare key and quickly unlocked the door. He pushed the door open, to find Mrs. Crow sitting at her desk, scribbling something on a book.

  “Where are they?” Duncan asked, as he looked around the room, expecting to find Anna and her friends.

  “Who sir?” Crow asked, calmly.

  “The kids Donald said he saw entering your office,” Duncan said, looking at Donald who felt like a complete idiot.

  “Is this some sort of prank?” he asked Donald, beginning to lose his patience.

  “Do you want to lose your job?!” he bellowed, as Donald fell to the ground and began pleading.

  “Please sir… I…I,” he said, as he hugged the principal’s right leg.

  “You what?! I have better things to do than to come here and be pranked.”

  “You better not be in on this!” Duncan said, pointing at Crow.

  “By the way, why aren’t you at the library? I heard that you have been moving around with Annabelle Peterson, Jackson Whitmore, Joanna Michaels and Jacob Hittcroff for the past few days. What do you plan on doing with them?” he asked consecutively.

  “I just came to quickly write something down sir. By the way, the kids you mentioned are all in class sir,” Mrs. Crow said, still sitting calmly on her chair.

  “Well, they better be in class, or you’re fired,” Duncan said, as he turned around to leave, but felt light headed and passed out alongside Donald.

  Mrs. Crow stood from her chair, and closed the door hoping no one had seen what had happened.

  “Are they going to be okay?” Annabelle asked, as she gazed at Duncan and the security man who lay unconscious.

  “Yeah, I just have to erase the memories they have of this incident,” Crow replied as she placed her hands on their heads, took a deep breath and “Done,” she said.

  “You make these things look easy,” Jackson mentioned, his eyes fixed on Duncan.

  “Well, I’ve had over 400 years to practice. It’s no longer safe for us to be seen together, considering the fact that we have been seen together more than once.”

  “Would you still like to follow me to my….” Crow was about to ask again when “Yes!” Anna her friends screamed again, unanimously.

  “Ok then, we leave in five minutes,” she said, and slapped Duncan and Donald awake.

  “Oh sir, are you alright?” she asked, as Duncan regained consciousness.

  “What happened?” he asked, as Crow helped him up to his feet.

  “You called all these kids to my office, saying you wanted to tell us something after which you passed out sir.”

  “What? Passed out? I don’t remember that happening,” Duncan replied, holding his head. His head was throbbing with slight pain and he could literally feel the veins pulsating within his head.

  “I must have hit my head really hard,” he said, as he noticed Donald sitting on the floor completely confused.

  “What is this idiot doing here?” he asked, and Donald quickly rose to his feet.

  “I’m sorry for putting you all through this, you can go back to class now,” Duncan said, as he stepped out of the office alongside Donald.

  “Ok who’s ready to go?” Crow said, and shimmied in excitement.

  She headed to the door and, “What are you doing?” Annabelle asked in confusion.

  “What do you mean? We are heading to my car,” Crow replied, raising a brow.

  “Your car? I thought we were going to do the usual vanishing,” Jackson added.

  “What?! No! We are using my car.”

  “And how are we going to leave without being seen by the other teachers or security men?” Jacob asked, expecting someone to back him up but no one did.

  “Well, we are going to walk right past them,” Crow replied and headed out the door.

  “Well, she’s the magician,” Jackson said, following her as he motioned for everyone to do the same.

  A moment later, they arrived at Crow’s car. It was a black SUV with tinted windows. It had silver rims and customized plates. The car looked brand new, but what else would the team have expected from a magician who could have almost anything at her beck and call?

  She unlocked the car and “Get in,” she said, as she sat in the driver’s seat.

  Anna got into the car alongside her friends, and her nose tingled, as the new car smell rushed into her nostrils. “This car has to be new,” Jackson said, as he caressed the seats with his palms.

  “No, it’s seventeen years old,” Crow replied.

  “Magic is really powerful,” Joanna commented as she admired the interiors of the car.

  “Actually, it’s not magic, it's money. I was born into an aristocratic family,” she said, turned the ignition, and zoomed off.

  Meanwhile, James Bludovitch had been watching them from a window with his phone’s video camera turned on.

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  “Gotcha.”.

  “At least no one saw us,” Annabelle said, resting her back against the soft car seat.

  “So where do you live?” Jackson asked. “I bet it’s a spooky house in the middle of nowhere.”

  “Actually, I live on Avery lane,” Crow replied as she peered at Joanna through the rear view mirror.

  “What? Avery lane? You? Impossible!” Joanna said, her mouth gaping open.

  She hadn’t seen Mrs. Crow in that neighborhood, not even once.

  “How is it possible that we haven’t met, not even once?” she asked Mrs. Crow.

  “Wait, you live on Avery lane?” Jacob asked, expecting an answer, but no one replied.

  “Maybe they thought it was a rhetorical question,” he shamefully said to himself.

  A few minutes after debating on what Crow’s house looked like, the team had arrived at her house.

  It was a cream colored bungalow with a red roof and a white picket fence.

  “So you’re the one who lives here,” Joanna said, recognizing the house.

  “What if your parents see you?” Annabelle asked.

  “No they can’t. They live down the lane, besides they won’t be back by now,” Joanna replied as she looked at Crow’s house, an expression of familiarity on her face.

  Crow parked in the garage, got out of the car, and “You are allowed to step on the grass,” she said as she walked across the perfectly trimmed carpet grass and headed for the front door.

  She opened the door and “Come in,” she said, and walked into the house, turning on some of the lights.

  “Pretty normal for a magician’s house,” Jackson said with a disappointed look on his face.

  The house was neat. The walls were painted white, and there were golden artifacts all over the house. The floor was made of marble and was thoroughly polished, and a golden chandelier hung from the ceiling as the team looked at the house in awe.

  “Just how rich is your family?” Jackson asked, impressed by the interiors of the house.

  “Oh come on, any average person can afford this,” Crow said, as she headed for the kitchen.

  “Come on in,” she said, as Anna and her friends walked deeper into the house and found themselves in the living room.

  There was a big plasma television which hung on the wall, and the furniture looked like it was made of gold, especially the mini tables.

  “It’s actual gold,” Crow said as she walked in with popcorn and drinks.

  “Just how rich are you?” Jackson asked again, even more impressed than the last time.

  “Well,” she said, placing the tray of popcorn and cold drinks on the table in the middle of the sitting room.

  “Ok let’s get straight to the point. We are heading to Astra 12, the second most dangerous place just after Hagrid Hallows,” she said, expecting them to be scared, but they just ate their popcorn and glared at her, expecting her to continue.

  “We will be meeting up with Doom, the most despicable being in the underworld, and if we get out alive, I will be ten times stronger. But if we don’t, we will all die.”

  “We’re in,” Anna said, as she took another sip from her drink.

  “Okay, so Doom will ask for something in return, and I’ll promise him the summoning orb.”

  “What about the destruction orb?” Annabelle asked, speaking with her mouth filled with popcorn.

  “He can’t have that, or he will escape,” Crow replied, as she watched Anna hungrily eat the popcorn.

  “You know, I still don’t understand this Doom being captured thing,” Annabelle said as she stuffed some more popcorn in her mouth, food particles flying around.

  “Relax Annabelle, you will get it when we get there,” Mrs. Crow said.

  She then briefed the entire team on the other things that were to occur that Friday, after which they played charades, ate some more, and slept for a while.

  Later that day, Annabelle went home with Joshua, greeted her parents and went straight to bed without eating a thing. She was quite happy that she was getting closer to unraveling the truth behind her attacks. She sighed, with a smile and stared out the window, still having so many unanswered questions on her mind.

  ***

  It was Friday, the day of the excursion and also the day of the visit to Astra 12. Annabelle was extremely excited, as she packed her backpack, but not in preparation for the excursion.

  “Ok flashlight,” she said, mentioning the things Crow had instructed her to bring along. The students in her grade were to arrive at 8:30 a.m. with their signed permission slips as stressed by Madame De Bosse.

  “Okay I’m leaving!” Annabelle screamed, as she grabbed her signed permission slip from her bed and ran out of the house.

  Well, she seems happy about the excursion, Jacob thought to himself with a toothbrush in his mouth.

  Annabelle arrived at school before the designated time to find that most of the students were already at the parking lot, chattering and laughing.

  “Nice outfit,” Jackson said, as his eyes scanned all over her body. She wore a black turtle neck, black jean trousers and woodland boots.

  “Thanks, you aren’t so bad yourself,” she sarcastically said, looking at Jackson who wore the same outfit.

  “Hey cool outfit,” a random student complemented her as he walked by.

  “I’m a senior and I’m not allowed to go for this excursion, but still no one has noticed,” Jackson said, looking at the teachers who were meant to go with them.

  “Well where are the rest?” Annabelle asked, as Jackson pointed behind her. She turned, and saw Mrs. Crow, Joanna, and Jacob approaching them, wearing matching outfits.

  “Oh my God, she’s so hot,” Jackson said, as he stared at Mrs. Crow.

  “Jackson, that’s your librarian,” Annabelle said, as she hit him with her elbow, snapping him out of it.

  “Well, I’m glad we are all here,” Crow said, brushing her perfect hair to the back of her right ear.

  “Did you bring what I told you guys to bring?” she asked as everyone nodded unanimously.

  “Well, it’s almost 8:30, let’s get on the bus,” Crow said.

  “Bus? What bus? You didn’t mention anything about us actually going for the excursion,” Jacob said.

  “Relax, it’s from the excursion grounds that we will head to Astra 12. Just follow my lead,” Crow said.

  “And as for you,” she said, as she turned towards Jackson.

  “You’re a senior so people will notice. I’ve talked to most of the teachers except Madame De Bosse, so do not say anything and just get on the bus.”

  “Come on,” she said, beckoning as she headed for the bus.

  All the students lined up and got into the bus, showing Madame De Bosse their permission slips as they did.

  Gradually, the line reduced, until it was Jackson’s turn. He showed Madame De Bosse his signed slip and entered the bus. Annabelle and Joanna did the same and sat next to each other.

  “Wait, aren’t you a senior?” Madame De Bosse said, as she stretched out her hand, skeptically looking at Jackson.

  Mrs. Crow stepped in between them and whispered some words into her ear, after which she allowed them to enter the bus.

  “What did you tell her?” Jackson asked.

  “Pretty please,” Crow replied as she winked at Jackson and smiled.

  “Isn’t he a senior? Why is he with us?” Students whispered from left to right.

  “Jackson over here!” Jacob said, waving at Jackson from the back seat of the bus.

  He smiled and took a seat next to Jacob, and the journey to the International Game Reserve was a go.