Chapter 3:

A dangerous game

The footsteps of someone making their way to my room woke me up.

“I must have snoozed off,” I said, letting out a yawn.

I looked down at my desk, which had been my bed for the night, it was filled with all the books I had been reading about witches. I had learned as much as I could, but there was very little information about glowing magical circles or people transforming into snakes, or magical items. But I did read about the Salem witch trials, which made me understand a bit more why witches remained hidden. Who knows what would people think or do again if they found out about magic.

I stretched my arms trying to do away with any awkwardness that came from sleeping on a chair.

“I’m sure she’s going to be surprised,” I said, as the footsteps grew closer. No doubt it was Mikki coming to wake me up as she always did, or perhaps it was another witch coming to finish Ms. Serpin’s job. I brushed that thought aside. I was safe here with Mikki and Nana. I didn’t need to worry.

My door flunked open.

“Wak-“

Mikki stopped, looking confused at the sight of me looking back at her.

“Well, this is a first,” she said.

“Thought I’d surprise you,” I said, smiling teasingly at her.

“Well, you certainly did. Anyway, get dress and come downstairs for breakfast. Mom has a surprise for you,” she said, turning around and about to leave my room,

“Mikki,” I said, stopping her.

“Yes, Rey,” she said, turning back toward me. Her blonde hair was in the usual pigtails style she always wore and her uniform, which consisted of a white coat and a white color skirt with black borders was neatly styled as it always was.

“Thank you for saving me,” I said, smiling at her. I had forgotten to thank her, especially with everything that happened yesterday. She smiled back at me, her face had a certain softness to it that was rare from her sometimes.

“Always, Rey,” she said, and in that moment, I knew—no idea how, I just knew—that she would always have my back, no matter what.

“Now hurry up and get dress.”

I wonder what kind of surprise Nana had waiting for me downstairs. Not that I didn’t like surprises, but now that I knew they weren’t exactly normal, I was a little worried yet excited at the same time.

‘Ms. Serpin,” I thought, her face still flashing before my mind.

“It’s okay I’m safe here”

I held my mother’s necklace for a moment, feeling the weight of it in my hand. If I rarely took it off before, now I was definitely never going to—considering how important it was to me. Despite the fear I still had about witches, I’m not going to lie, after all, magic wasn’t all fun and games, there were still scary parts about it, monster eating parts, I wasn’t going to hand my necklace over to any witch without a fight now.

“I’ll protect you,” I thought, almost as if I was speaking to her directly, which was silly, yet her necklace always gave me a warmth feeling as if she was still with me.

“Let’s do this .”

I grabbed my book bag and headed downstairs, ready to see the surprise Nana had for me.

I could hear strange noises coming from the kitchen, increasing my intrigue at what was waiting for me downstairs.

“Wow!“ I said as I was greeted by plates and food floating in the air as I walked into the kitchen. “You don’t see this every day.”

“Since you know what we are, I figure there’s no point in hiding magic from you. Besides, it makes things really easy, and as you can see,” Nana said, moving her hands like a conductor and directing where the plates and food went.

“Magic is not always scary, sometimes it’s very useful.”

She smiled warmly at me, perhaps this was her way of telling me not to be afraid of magic, which I wasn’t , okay, maybe a little, but honestly , I was more excited that scare, after all, magic truly seemed like such an awesome thing that I wished I could use.

“Better this that being swallowed whole,” I thought, as I took a seat.

“It has its perks,” Mikki said, taking a sit across from me.

“Here you go, Rey,” Nana said, making a plate float toward where I was sitting. It floated in the air as if it was being carried by some invisible hand toward me. She placed it down on the table and smiled.

“Bravo,” I said, clapping.

“And to finish it off,” Nana said, moving her hand side to side as if she had some sort of wand on her hand, she placed the food on all the plates that had floated toward the table.

“Amazing,” I said, clapping once again.

“Thank you,” she said, taking a seat.

“And to think that if it weren’t for Ms. Serpin attacking me, I would have never been able to witness such an event,” I said, taking a bite from my pancakes, which were better than usual. Perhaps they were imbued with magic. Can you eat Magic? I wondered. I would have to ask Mikki later.

“This is so good.”

I looked up at Nana and saw a certain sadness in her that I rarely saw before.

“Rey,” Mikki said, looking at me.

“Ouch,” I thought as Mikki hit me underneath the table. “I didn’t mean to,” I said, realizing what I had just said, feeling guilty.

“It’s alright, Rey,” Nana said, smiling at me. Her warm and kind smile made me feel even worse. Of course she felt guilty. Who wouldn’t? I mean, she let her best friend’s kid keep a magical artifact. She would feel guilty and responsible for what happened to me. But it’s not like I blamed her. In a weird way, I was thankful. I mean, Witches and Magic were more exciting than the dull, normal life that I was sure I was going to live. “You were going to find out sooner or later,” Nana said, pointing at the necklace around my neck.

That was the truth. They couldn’t keep this a secret from me, especially when I had such a treasure hanging around my neck.

“I’m sorry, Nanna,” I said again, trying to apologize as much as I could to her.

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“It’s alright, Rey. Besides, you have two very powerful witches that are going to make sure nothing happens to you, isn’t that right, Mikki?”

“Yes, Mother.”

“Now hurry up and eat or else you guys are going to be late,” Nana said, smiling at me.

“Yes ma’am,” I said, eating as fast as I could. But my appetite was already gone. Yet, I didn’t want to hurt Nana more than my words had already done. So I ate everything, leaving not even crumbs on my plate.

“Thanks for the food,” I said, getting up from my chair,

“No problem, dear. Have a great day.”

“See you later, Nana,” I said, waving goodbye as both Mikki and I left the kitchen,

ready to walk out of our two-floor house, which we called home, and head to school.

***

“You know she feels responsible for throwing you into this,” Mikki said as we walked toward St. Mary Academy, our school.

“I know, but it’s not her fault,” I said, grabbing my mother’s necklace and looking at it.

Wondering if my mom also knew about witches, in all my excitement I forgot to ask them. But I knew one thing thought,

“It’s nobody’s fault.”

I looked at its blue color gem that was glowing as the light hit it. It almost looked translucent, and I saw a sort of flame burning deep inside of it. It looked so beautiful, yet, I couldn’t help but feel a certain longing for it, it almost felt like It was calling to me. I kept looking at it. Something about it was attracting me to it like a moth to a lantern. I couldn’t keep myself from it. Every fiber in my body was screaming at me to keep looking at it, almost as if there was some hidden message deep inside it’s vibrant blue color for me to discover, some kind of treasure waiting for me to reclaim.

“Rey?” I faintly heard Mikki’s voice. It was as if her voice was getting further and further away from me.

“REY!”

Her voice sounded as if she was screaming at me.

I could feel the warm hands of somebody on me.

“W-what,” I said, feeling like I had just woken up from some strange dream.

“Is everything alright?” she asked. I could see that she was worried about me, which surprised me. I mean, we were just walking to school.

“Y-yea, why wouldn’t it be?’ I asked, feeling confused. I mean, I was just looking at the blue gem and spotting an unusual flame inside of it.

“I don’t know, maybe because you stopped suddenly as if you weren’t there.”

“But I am here,” I said, looking at her funny. “Walking right next to you.”

She looked at me. Her green eyes felt like they were inspecting me. All of me.

“Mikki, is everything alright? ” I asked, being confused by what she meant. We were just walking to school, and then I looked at my mother’s gem and saw a blue flame, that was all. I think. I looked at the gem again, but the blue flame was gone.

“Are you sure everything is alright, Rey?” she asked, her eyes never leaving mine.

“I’m fine,” I said.

“Are you sure?”

“Yea, I probably ate too much,” I said, laughing it off as if nothing had happened. But it wasn’t nothing. I was sure I saw a blue flame inside the gem. But now that I was looking at the blue gem again, the flame was gone.

“Okay,” she said, I could tell she was completely satisfied with my response.

“But if there’s anything wrong, you’ll tell me, right?” she asked, looking straight at me, her green eyes embracing me like the embrace of a mother trying to protect her younglings.

“Of course,” I said, feeling guilty for not telling her about the blue flame. But I wasn’t so sure now if I even saw what I saw. I mean, perhaps it was the light playing tricks on me.

“Anyway, like I was saying,” Mikki said. “She feels guilty for not taking the witches memento from your mother.”

“My mother,” I thought, wondering if Ms. Hexa ever tried to tell her about magic and witches, and about who she was? And also, why did Ms. Hexa allow me to keep my mother’s necklace in the first place, was it purely a sentimental gesture, or was there more to it that she wasn’t telling me? I had so many questions about the necklace, but I brushed them all aside for now. My head was going to explode from everything. Even if I did ask Ms. Hexa, I was sure she wouldn’t tell me everything. I mean, she rarely talked about my mother and every time she mention my her, it was to tell me that I looked a lot like her. Which was fine, but I wished she would tell me more about her. I wanted to know more about her besides that I looked like her.

“Rey,” she said, stopping.

“Yea? ” I said, looking at her.

“Is everything al—”

I stopped, I felt a stare of pure hatred and killing intent, rendering my body frozen in fear. Feeling so vulnerable and naked to whatever was staring at me.

“I-Is it a…… witch ?” I croaked, I could feel my voice failing me. That sentence taking everything from me.

“Yes,” Mikki said, bringing her hand up.

“ I summoned th—

“That won’t be necessary my young witch,” a chilling voice said. It sounded high pitch, a female’s voice. I turned around, looking at every direction and trying to find the owner of the voice, but it was futile. The houses around us looked like fortresses hiding everything—not giving up anything.

“It’s nice to meet you, Rey. “ she said.

Her words felt like daggers digging into me. One minute I felt like I was being crushed and the next everything felt fine. The killing intent and fear I felt now gone.

“Did she leave?” I asked, but I knew the answer.

Mikki stood in silent, no doubt thinking, and a deep silent took a hold of the both of us.

“First Ms. Serpin and now this one, my mother’s necklace had to be quite the witches memento,” I thought.

“Was is a good idea for me to keep it.”

I shook my head, brushing away any doubt from it. I had made the right choice, all I needed was to trust Mikki and Nanna’s power, for now.

“She’s gone,” Mikki finally said.

“Is another witch after the necklace isn’t it,” I said, grabbing the necklace tightly.

“Probably,” Miki said as she looked around, almost trying to pinpoint where the killing intent had originated from.

“But it doesn’t make sense , witches memento’s aren’t that sought after, unless…”

“Unless what?” I ask, hanging on to her words.

“Is nothing,” Mikki said,

“Are you sure?” I asked, hating the fact that she was hiding something very important from me, I could feel it.

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“Is alright, Rey, trust me,” Mikki said, her green yes looking both serious and soft.

“Okay,” I said, there was no point in trying to dig at what she was hiding, at least not now. I still felt spooked from that voice.

“Luckily I have two powerful witches to protect me,” I said, half-jokingly, half-serious, trying to lighten the mood.

“Yes, you do,” Mikki said, her face as serious as life and death. Which, in a way, it was life and death. Whoever that was, if it wasn’t for Mikki, I’m sure they would have happily feasted on me like Ms. Serpin tried to do.

“Yea,” I said. Whether or not me finding out about witches and being thrown into their world was something that could have been avoided, I didn’t know, but what I did know was that I was glad I had Mikki and Nanna with me. Remembering that gaze on me a few moments ago as it tried to squash me underneath the weight of its killing intent.

“Is nice to meet you, Rey.”

Her words lingered in my mind, making themselves at home.

***

When we arrived at the school entrance, I couldn’t help but look around nervously. The school’s large, black rectangular gates stood on each side, ready to come together and close themselves, and keep any late student from entering, or so that was their job, but there were ways to go around them, ways for an enemy to come uninvited.

“What if that voice followed us to school,” I thought,

I noticed students rushing in before the gates closed. They stared at me as they walked by. Their faces seemed strange and foreign to me now, and I couldn’t help but wonder how many were really students and how many were really witches in disguise, waiting for the opportunity to attack, like Ms. Serpin had done.

Where their stares toward me because I was standing next to Mikki, one of St. Mary academy’s beauties, or was it because of something entirely different, maybe they knew something that only a Witch or a Warlock would. Did Warlocks exist? I wondered. There were the male equivalent of witches. I mean, if there were witches, then Warlocks had to exist as well. It was only natural, right?

“Rey, it’s fine,” Mikki said, looking at me. Her green eyes brought me a certain comfort only she could. I had known her all my life, well, since I was eight years old, which in a way was all the life that I knew, or it my case, remember. Her words were almost like a blanket covering me, and making me feel like a defenseless child, which I was. The truth of my situation feeling like a dagger in me, reminding me of just how out weak and defenseless I was in their world.

“Do you think she’s here, the voice from earlier, just like Ms. Serpin was, biting their time,” I asked, my paranoia growing. I mean, it was one thing to know magic and be able to defend yourself. But I was just some normal kid. I felt like a sitting duck that was waiting for a predator to come and take me to my death.

“Perhaps?” Mikki said, surveying the vast field of the front of the school entrance. “But don’t worry, I’ll know if any witch tries to make a move,” she said, smiling at me. Her smile was warm, almost like Nana’s, which she was starting to look more and more like.

“How will you know?” I asked. Not that I didn’t believe her, but it would calm my mind, but if I was honest, it probably wouldn’t. My body and mind still remembered that stare, and what it had brought with it.

“Like this, I’ll show you,” she said, facing me. She placed her hand on my chest and closed her eyes, her face looked calm and serene, bringing a certain peace to me.

“Hear my call! Spell Caster!” she said, making a small magic circle, no bigger than her hand, appear on my chest for a brief moment, then it was gone as soon as it appeared.

“What was that?” I asked, looking around to see if anyone saw it.

I was sure magic wasn’t supposed to be known by us normal humans, after all, there had to be a reason for not seeing witches flying around freely in the open? Remembering the Salem trials which I read during my free time. I wondered if there was some kind of secret society that kept everything hidden about Magic. So many question yet so little answered, I let out a sigh.

“Interesting,” she said, looking at her hand with a puzzle expression.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s just that I tried to put a spell on you that would have alerted me if you were in the vicinity of any magic besides my own, but..”

“But what,” I asked.

“It failed,” she said, raising an eyebrow.

“It failed, that’s not good right? Should we be worried?” I asked, the stranger’s voice circling my mind like a shark playing with its prey.

“No, “ she said.

“Perhaps there’s some kind of…“ she stopped.

“Again,” I thought, feeling like I was being kept in the dark again. I knew they were trying to protect me, but yet I couldn’t help but feel that the less I knew about their world of magic, the more defenseless I was.

“Miki, what is it?” I asked, even though I hoped she would tell me what was going on, I knew she probably wouldn’t. But yet I hoped she would confide in me more about their world, which I was a guest in. For my own safety, if nothing more.

“Y-Yea. Anyway, I have another idea,” she said, reaching for the side of her bag, where a bunch of toy straps were hanging from. She took two toys from it and placed them in my hands.

“Hear my call! Spell caster!” she whispered, making a small magic circle appear and hover over them.

“Alert thy owner for any mana not imbued to you by them!”

To my surprise, the toys began to glow for a brief second.

“You keep that one and I’ll keep this one,” she said, taking one of them from my hand.

I looked at the one that was still in my hand. It was a small white rabbit toy with red color eyes. “I put a spell on them that would glow if they come in contact with any magic besides my own. If one of them glows, it will alert the other.”

She showed me the rabbit toy she took, its color was black with red eyes as well.

“Okay,” I said, putting the rabbit toy in my pocket, as well as putting my fate in it.

“Anyway, you should get going. You don’t want to be late for class,” she said, smiling at me. “I’ll see you later.”

“Yea, see you later,” I said,

“Don’t worry , everything is going to be alright,” she said grabbing my hand.

“Yea,” I said.

“Well I better get going too,” she said.

“And make sure you pay attention in class okay, your studies come first.”

I let out a faint chuckle, even with all this, she was still the Mikki I had known since we were kids.

I watched as she left me to go to her student council meeting, which was at the other side of the school.

“I sure hope everything is going to be alright,” I thought, reaching into my pocket and feeling the small toy in my hand.

“I really hope so.”

***

I made my way to Ms. Serpin’s class, wondering if she would greet me. Of course she wasn’t. Mikki had killed her, I think. Though I never got to ask her what happen to Ms. Serpin after I passed out. But to be honest, I didn’t care. Not to sound cold blooded or anything, but she did try to eat me after all, so I wasn’t exactly fond of her.

I wondered if any of the students would ask about her or if they even missed her. Perhaps some sort of secret magical society had erased their memories. Not that I knew if there was such a thing as that, but I figured perhaps there was since keeping all this magic and witches business hidden was probably no easy task, or at least that’s what they did in tv shows.

I walked into my biology classroom. Most of the students were already sitting at their desks, except for Mikki, who had Student Council duties today.

“I wondered if Ms. Serpin will give us another test like last time?” I let out, as I walked toward my desk, trying to see if it would raise any eyebrows.

“Who?” one of the students said, confused

“You know, our home room teacher.”

“Our homeroom teacher? Rey are you okay?” one of them asked, raising his eyebrow. But before I could answer, a strange man walked into our classroom. He had brown hair that was all but gone on top and a messy dress shirt and black pants.

“G-Good morning everyone,” he said. timidly.

“Who is he?” I asked one of the student sitting to my right.

“His our home room teacher, Mr. Normal,” he said, looking at me as if I was on drugs or something.

“Right, I knew that,” I said, laughing it off. But of course, that was a lie, for Ms. Serpin had been our homeroom teacher for a whole year, and not this strange short man I had never seen before.

“Today, we have a new student j-joining us.”

His words shot all the blood to my head, making me dizzy.

“A new student!” I thought, recalling that menacing voice from this morning, their words circling in my head.

“Now, class,” he continued.

“S-She’s from another country so make sure to make her feel at home here.”

“A foreign student,” I thought, that chilling voice from this morning and now this new foreign student, it was too much to be only a coincidence. They had to be related somehow; I could feel it.

“So class, I want you to meet, Esfir,” Mr. Normal said.

I stared at the door as it opened. She was not what I had expected to be completely honest.

She had long silver hair and bright gray eyes. She looked almost ethereal. She was wearing the girls’ school uniform, which consisted of a white dress jacket and a white skirt with black borders.

“G-Go ahead, Ms. Esfir, introduce yourself,” Mr. Normal said, smiling at her.

“Good morning, Everyone. My name is Esfir Czarina Ivanov, I’m from Russia and I’m fourteen years old and I have been living in the states for five years now.”

Her voice was stoic and methodical with a certain matureness that no fourteen-year-old girl should have. It almost felt as if she was not from the same status as us, but of a higher status than us.

In a weird way, it reminded me of Evara, the great witch Evara that is. It was as if she had a certain out-of-this-world aura to her. Which could only mean one thing, she had to be a witch. There was no other explanation for the presence that came from her.

I would bet my life on it, ironically.

“Did you skip grades?” a boy from our class asked,

“Thomas, please don’t be rude and raise your hand if you have a question,” Mr. Normal said, shushing him.

“I was just curious, that’s all. Since she’s two years younger than us.”

“It’s okay, Mr. Eisner,” Esfir said.

“I did skip a grade in my home country of Russia. But despite being two years younger than most of you, you will find that I’m mentally quite mature,” she said, bowing her head. It almost felt as if she was some sort of princess addressing her subjects.

“Since you’re from Russia , is that why you have such pretty hair,” one of the female students asked.

“My hair is no more prettier than yours,” she said, her expression as serious as life and death. “We all have traits that are beautiful in our own way.”

The whole class stood in awe at her at how she spoke. It was as if we were in the presence of royalty.

“A-Any more questions? “Mr. Normal said,

“Perhaps Rey would like to ask one since he hasn’t taken his eyes from our guest.”

I heard a voice I wasn’t quite fond of.

I blushed, not realizing what I was doing. I was so concentrated on what happened this morning that I had been leering at her, trying to find some kind of witch trait. The class exploded in laughter. I turned around to see my mortal enemy, though not by choice, sitting behind me. His name was Dave, and he was after Mikki; and me being with her made him angry, like really angry. He was smirking at me as if telling me he had won this round.

“Would you like to ask a question, Rey?” Mr. Normal asked, keeping himself from laughing as well.

“No, Mr. Normal,” I said, lowering my head, and wanting nothing more that the voice from this morning to come and swallow me up just this once.

“Very well, perhaps the empty desk next to Rey would be too much of a distraction to Rey.”

“That desk is suitable, Mr. Normal,” Esfir said, turning to him, but to me it look liked she had commanded him and he had obeyed, as if a spell had been casted on him. Which was silly, but yet I couldn’t help but feel something strange about our foreign exchange student— Esfir Czarina Ivanov. She just had to be a witch, there was no other explanation for the worldly aura around her.

“Understood,. Esfir,” Mr. Normal said in an almost monotone voice. I looked around to see if anyone caught it but yet everyone was to enthralled with our Russian beauty to noticed anything besides that.

Esfir bowed at him and walked toward the empty seat next to me. I took out the bunny toy strap Mikki had given me, expecting it to glow as Esfir got closer to me, but it just stood still as any normal toy would.

“Perhaps she wasn’t a witch,” I thought. I looked at her and gave her an awkward smile, but all she gave me was a cold, icy stare from her grey eyes.

“Great, if she’s not a witch she probably thinks I’m a creep,” I thought as Mr. Normal began his lesson for the day.

I didn’t pay much attention to our so called homeroom teacher’s lesson at all.

All my concentration was on Esfir, and trying to spot anything out of the ordinary, something beyond than just her being some kind of Russian princess genius.

She wrote every word Mr. Normal uttered with such speed and precision that it almost seemed magical.

“Perhaps she is a witch, after all,” I though, I mean it takes some sort of magic to pay attention to his lesson, he was more boring that Ms. Serpin, and that was an understatement.

I glanced at her briefly, and I turned around quickly. Not wanting to be spotted. I mean, if anyone saw what I was doing, they would think I was infatuated with her. Which I wasn’t. I mean, sure, she was cute, I’ll give her that. Much cuter than the last witch that tried to kill me, but she wasn’t my type.

“So, Mikki isn’t enough,” a voice said behind me. I could feel their hot breath underneath my neck suffocating me.

“You know me, Dave, I’m such the ladies’ man,” I said sarcastically, as I leaned back against his desk, teasing him. I knew he liked Mikki, and seeing assholes like him flustered because they couldn’t get what they wanted brought a certain joy in me.

“Ha-ha-ha, very funny clown,” he said. I could feel the viciousness of his words, or perhaps it was his breath sliding down my neck.

“See you next period.”

I could hear him leaning back into his chair. I won’t lie. He was a bit bigger than me, vertically anyway. I wondered if there were any warlocks as well. Big, evil ones because if there were, Dave was sure to be one.

The bell rang, and I was relieved, based on my observations, Esfir seemed pretty normal, well, as normal as a genius student can be.

“Oh! My! looks like the period is over already,” Mr. Normal said, letting out a faint laugh. “H-How time flies when you are having fun. Now class, d-don’t forget your essays are due first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Oh! great,“ I thought as I gathered the unused student items lying on my desk.

“Just what I needed, homework.”

I glanced over at Esfir, trying to spot anything before we left, but she looked and acted like any normal teenage girl, well, normal for a genius teenage girl, anyway.

“See you later, Rey,” Dave said, bumping his shoulder deliberately into me.

“Quite the bully,” Esfir said, looking at him.

“Oh, him,” I said as I watched him push some poor student out of his way.

“He’s just peachy, real stand-up guy underneath all that macho interior,” I said sarcastically, which I wondered if Esfir got it,

“ What class do you have next?” I continued , taking advantage of my chance to find out her schedule. And thanking Dave for once in my life for giving me the opportunity to talk to her.

Still, I felt creepy at the thought of spying on her like some weirdo, but I just had to know for my sanity.

“Physical Education with a Mr. Ram,”

“Me too!” I blurted out, happy to have another chance to see if she was a witch or not. The remaining student all looked at me for a second then went back to gathering their stuff.

“Great”, I thought.

Now they’re really going to think I have a thing for the classroom Russian princess.

“Just so you know, I’m not interested in any romantic endeavors,” she said, putting her things inside her bookbag, which I hadn’t noticed until now was a big brown teddy bear. It was very childish, taking me by surprised.

“Maybe she really is just a normal girl,” I thought.

“Oh no—” I tried to say, but it probably was futile. I was sure half the class, including her, probably thought I was infatuated with her. But I didn’t care, I had to be sure about her.

“If you want, since we have the same class, we can walk together,” I said, reaching for the toy in my pocket, feeling its soft body around, trying to detect anything unusual on the toy. Anything that told me I was right, that I wasn’t just being paranoid.

“Okay,” she said, grabbing her teddy bear book bag.

“Lead the way, Rey.”

***

I could feel the stares of the students on us as we walked together. I didn’t need magic to know what they were thinking. Their whispers made it all too clear what was on their minds.

“Look, is Rey and the new girl.”

“So, Mikki isn’t enough for him.“

“Lucky bastard.”

Those were some of the whispers I was able to catch. I shut all their voices out of my mind. I didn’t have the time to worry about them and my social standing with them right now. I had more important things on my mind to worry about, life and death kind of things.

“So you skipped a grade or two,” I said, trying to make small talk with her and find some more information about her.

‘That’s correct,” she said, her voice cold and emotionless. It was very monotone.

“Wow! You must be a genius or something,” I said, smiling at her. Trying to be as friendly as I could.

“I’m no smarter than anyone else. I just put in extra time, that’s all,” she said, looking at me, her light gray eyes inspecting me. She always had the right thing to say, it almost felt robotic to me.

“Well, I think you’re smarter than anyone I have met,” I said, smiling at her.

“Thank you,” she said, and for a brief second, I almost noticed a normal girl underneath that neat and well put sophistication she had about her.

“She’s normal, maybe,” I thought.

“That’s a very pretty necklace?”

Her gray eyes landing on my necklace.

I looked at my necklace, and grabbed it, holding it tight as if I was going to lose it.

“Is just some old thing I found, nothing important,” I said, putting it over my shirt, hiding it.

“Is that so,” she said raising an eyebrow. I looked at her and for a minute I could’ve sworn her face had an annoyed look to it for a brief moment, as if the real Esfir was coming out.

“We’re here,” I said, as we came to the gymnasium entrance.

“ Thank you for showing me the way,” she said, bowing before me,

“There it is, that royalty aura,” I though, as she bowed to me.

‘it was no problem,” I said, flailing my arms, being taken back by her gesture toward me.

“See you in class, in Rey,” she said, as she walked toward the girl’s locker room.

‘Yea,” I said, looking at her as she left. If she wasn’t a witch that was after my life, I could definitely see her as a little sister, I thought. I reached into my pocket and took out the small rabbit toy, but it looked like an ordinary toy and not some kind of witch detecting toy as it laid normally on my hand.

***

I enter the boys’ locker room and began to put on my uniform when I spotted Dave walking toward me.

“Great, just what I need,” I though, not being in the mood to deal with him.

“ I hear Mr. Ram is going to let us play dodgeball today,” he said, smirking at me. No doubt he was going to try and go after me, I’m sure he felt like a kid at a candy store, ready to pick or pick on, anything his heart desired.

“Watch yourself, Rey,” he said, his eyes had a vibrant red that I hadn’t noticed before. He looked like some beast ready to unleash its carnage.

“Thanks for the advice, pal,” I said, smirking back at him, and letting him know that he didn’t intimidate me. Whatever he had in mind, I wasn’t scared. With or without magic, I could protect myself.

“Just ask Ms. Serpin’s right eye,” I thought.

‘Watch yourself punk,” he said, bumping my shoulder as he left the boy’s locker room.

“I sure have it tough, not only do I have to protect myself from witches but school bullies as well,” I thought, but to be honest, I prefer a school bullies than a witch. School bullies don’t try to devour you looking like some hideous snake creature, well , I hope they don’t.

I let out a sigh, even though I wasn’t looking forward to Dave’s failed attempts at intimidation, I still had to keep an eye on Esfir.

The school gymnasium was big, it had a pair of basketball courts on each end and a small theater stage in the front. The boys and girls were separated and standing on each side of the gymnasium.

“Alright, class,” Mr. Ram said as he walked in.

He was wearing a pair of red shorts and a tight brown shirt with a whistle hanging around his thick, veiny neck and two red balls in each hand. He tossed one at the boys and the other at the girls.

“I want you to separate into pairs and stand opposite each other. It’s time for you guys to know what a little pain feels like,” he said, blowing his whistle.

“Ready, Rey!” Dave said as he walked opposite of me. His eyes on me like a beaming missile latching onto its target.

The gymnasium erupted in a symphony of grunts and shrieks as a bunch of red balls flew all over, hunting their prey. I was nimble enough to dodge every ball Dave threw at me, making him grow even angrier than he already was.

“Quit squirming like a girl, Rey!”

He grabbed one of the balls on the floor and threw it my way with all his might. Thankfully I was fast enough to dodge it, missing me and, unfortunately, hitting some poor soul right in the face and knocking him out.

“Sorry buddy, better you than me,” I thought, yet something felt strange. The gymnasium looked more violent than what a gym class should be.

“Hey, teach!” I yelled as I saw all around me bodies hitting the floor. Even the girls’ weren’t immune to the savagery this game had brought onto the gymnasium. But it was no use, Mr. Ram was nowhere to be seen. We were on our own.

The gymnasium now looked like a stage for some bloody sports spectacle. Every student was acting like wild animals trying to kill each other.

I looked around for Esfir every chance I got while I was dodging balls coming my way.

“There,” I said, spotting Esfir standing by the corner, almost as if she was invisible to the other students.

“So, she is a witch!” I thought, for what other reason could there be for nobody picking on her, then again she was a princess so perhaps they were scare of her.

“Pay attention!” a mysterious voice in my head said, which, if it weren’t for it, my face would have caught an extra dangerous ball coming my way.

I moved to the side, and the ball hit the wall like a meteor, cracking it.

“I don’t think a regular dodgeball is strong enough to do that,” I thought.

This wasn’t normal. Was Esfir responsible for this? And also, who was that voice? But right now I didn’t have time to think about that. I had more important matters at hand.

I had to stop her for everyone’s sake. I began to run toward her, but a big beast stood in my way.

“Where are you going, Rey?” Dave said, and in that moment, I could’ve sworn he was twice his size, looking quite intimidating, smoke was coming out of his nostrils like some kind of demon in an RPG game.

“Hey Dave!” I said, backing away from him slowly as if a rabid beast was standing in front of me. I felt something hot inside my pocket.

“The toy!”

I reached for it and took it out, dropping it on the gymnasium floor. Its body was melting as if it was being burn to a crisp.

“Magic!”

That was the only explanation for this scene of brutality I was seeing. And if Magic was responsible, that meant Esfir had to be the one that was doing it.

I had to stop her.

I searched for her, trying to find her, but it was no use. Dave was forcing me to dodge the red dodgeballs he was blasting toward me like a mad man. I had no time to look for her.

“Where is she?” I thought, trying to get a look after each dodge, but even if I did find her, what could I do? I was just a normal person. But before I thought of a plan to stop her, first I needed to deal with a certain annoyance.

“Dave, I’m going to need you to settle down,” I said, grabbing a ball next to me and throwing it at him with everything I had. And to my luck, or so I would like to say, he stood still, taking the hit right in the face.

“Direct hit !” I thought as I grabbed another and threw it at him again, trying to go for another shot.

But to my luck, he grabbed the second ball with his hand and sent it right back at me. I managed to dodge, and it hit the wall, burying itself in the crater the hit had created.

“ This has gone on for far too long!” I said, dashing toward him. I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I had to stop this. I tackled him or tried to, but he grabbed me and lifted me. Slamming me to the floor. I won’t lie; that hurt like hell—taking the air out of me. He reached for me, trying to grab me again, but I managed to slip away from his grasp and move to the side, grabbing a ball next to me and throwing it at him as hard as I could.

‘R-E-Y!” he yelled like some lunatic.

He grabbed the ball and threw it at me, sending some poor fellow flying to the other side. Either Dave had been working out, or this strength he was displaying wasn’t his.

“MIKKI!”

Was the only thing I could think of; I needed her help. She was the only one that could beat Esfir. I needed a witch to battle another witch.

Dave ran toward me. I stood my ground, ready to take him head-on.

I didn’t know if I was going to survive or not, but if I wanted to do something about the violence that had been unleash in the gymnasium by Esfir, I had to take him out first.

But before we could engage in our final battle to the death, the gymnasium door flung open. The light from outside hit Dave’s face, making him lose his balance. Which I took advantage of, hitting him right in the face and knocking him to the ground.

“Mr. Ram!” the figure standing in the light said.

“I believe Physical Education is over for the day,” she said.

“Mikki!” I said, feeling relieved to see her.

“Huh?” Mr. Ram said, coming into view in the gymnasium.

“Right…”

He blew his whistle, and all the students fell on the gymnasium floor, exhausted from our deathly little game of dodgeball.

“My head hurts,” the students said, as they began to tend to their bruises.

I was relieve to see that all the students were back to normal, a bit bruised up from the game, but nothing a good night couldn’t fix.

“Are you okay?” I said, extending my hand to Dave.

“I’m fine,” he said, slapping my hand away. He touched his jaw as he stood up and walked away.

“What happened?” Mikki said. I looked around and spotted her rabbit toy strap, or what was left of it.

“A witch,” I said, handing her the toy back.