I couldn’t stop thinking about what happened earlier today. It’s not uncommon for an attach in the middle of the day, but it is uncommon for it to be in such a populated area. They are getting desperate. And they should be. They are going up against me. As I walk into my room, I open my closet and set my kit on the shelf, then close the door, locking it. I walk over to the bed and flop down face first, before propping myself up on my hands and elbows.

“Stephen is an unknown at school, mostly. What could they want with him?” I ask no one in particular. I jump out of bed and over to my desk and take out a notebook. It’s important that I log incidents like this as soon as they happen, so the details are fresh in my mind. That master was easy to take out, I think as I stare out the window into the distance. I close the notebook and go back into my closet. In the closet, I get a few more mixed bottles and put them in my kit. I wrap my shoulder strap around one shoulder, then leave the closet and head downstairs.

“Excuse me, young lady? Aren't you even going to say hi to your mother?” Judy asks. My mom is… well she means well, but she would never understand the weight on my shoulders.

“Oh, hey Mom, I’m sorry. I’m just getting ready to head out for a bit,” I declare.

“Off to slay a giant, Sam the Great?” Roger says.

My older brother has a way with words, or at least he thinks he does. Any chance he can, he slings something my way, except they always miss. Even if he has something good, I always have something better.

“Don’t you have better things to do, like lie around in the basement and leach on our Mother, Roger the Lazy?” I ask.

Roger, red faced stands up and throws his arms in the air. “Oh, come on!” he yells as he exits the room. Sam one, Roger big fat zero!

“Oh, Sam. Can’t you be more kind to your brother? He’s struggling, you know,” my mom pleads.

“Struggling at what? Staying awake? Seriously Mom.” I respond as I take an apple from the large bowl on the kitchen island. I throw it up in the air, catching it, then raise my eyebrows at my mom as I leave to the front door.

“What the…!” I yell as I open the door, as Stephen is standing there on the porch. “What are you doing you big goon? You scared the life out of me!”

“Sorry, Sam. I just thought I’d you know… stop by. For our movie”

“That isn’t until later, I thought. I just got home and had some things to take care of first” I saw as I instinctively put a hand on my kit, as if to secure it to my body.

“That’s… that’s fine, Sam. Say we meet up at seven outside the theater?”

“Sounds fine, ” Stephen says as he smiles and turns around, slowly stepping off the porch and down the sidewalk.

I head out and shut the door behind me, walking in the opposite direction of Stephen. Up the street is the rail tracks. It’s been a while since a train has passed through these tracks, so I always use them as a shortcut. Grass and weeds have overgrown the rocks and wind around the wood and steel of the rails. I step up on a single rail and extend my arms for balance as I walk one foot in front of the other. Today’s events still heavy on my mind.

“The last time I encountered a master was a few weeks ago outside of the bowling alley. I still don’t get what prompted the appearance in front of the school. That’s open. A ballsy move, but I’ve been protecting this town for a couple years now and they’ve yet to get the upper hand…” I state, again, to no one in particular when I hear a rustling in the trees to my left. As I come to a quick stop, I lose my footing and slip off the rail, catching the side of my head on the rail. As I use my hands to try to push myself up off the rocks, I see feet walk up next to me and the unmistakable growling of a gargoyle. I reach back for my kit and I fall back to the rocks, my body giving away to the bump on the head as everything fades.

As I slowly open my eyes, the first thing I notice is I’m not on the rocks anymore, but in the grass near the tracks. I turn my head slowly and notice someone kneeled down next to me. It’s Stephen. What is he doing here?

“Sam, what happened? I was walking by and I saw you lying on the ground. Are you okay?” Stephen asks, with a genuine look of concern on his face, as he grabs my hand and helps me to an upright position.

“I fell. What are you doing here?” I mumble.

“I saw you laying there, was I supposed to just walk right by you?” Stephen asks. He has now pulled me up onto my feet. “Come on, let’s get you home”.

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My legs feel like spaghetti noodles and I’m having a hard time putting one foot in front of the other. What time is it? What happen… I heard something in the trees. My head darts around to the trees next to us as I grunt from a sharp pain that shot down my neck.

“Hey, take it easy. Let me help you, ” Stephen says as he continues to help me me forward.

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“I’m taking you home, you’re in no shape to be out, ” Stephen says. As he continues to help me walk, I regain more and more of my senses. He’s taking me home? Home is the other way.

“But…” I say as I try to turn around and Stephen just spins me in a circle and keeps moving in the other direction.

“Calm down, Sam. I’m trying to help you. You are bleeding and need not be out here on your own, ” he says. I reach up and touch the side of my head and wince, blood on my fingertips.

“Yeah, but we…” I try to say, but I’m cut off quickly.

“Sam, you’re hurt. Your time is up. Let’s go home, ” Stephen says firmly.

My eyes widen and I feel complete fear fall over me as I manage to drop and fall backwards, landing on my rear and my hands. As Stephen stops and looks down on me, his face is blank, full of curiosity. I try to get my legs moving and scoot backwards a few feet.

“Sam, what are you doing?” Stephen asks.

Keeping my eyes on Sam, I reach over with my left hand to grab my kit. My kit! Where is it? I frantically look around as Stephen just stands there. I turn over onto my hands and knees and look around. It must be back where I feel. A hundred feet at this point.

“Where are you going…” Stephen says in a rather monotone voice. “witch?” As I turn my head to look behind me, Stephen is standing there, eyes an unmistakable emerald green. No, this is impossible. As he grins at me, I hear growling coming from his direction.

“No!” I yell as I crawl, rotating my hands all over in a circular radius trying to find my kit when suddenly, I’m picked up and thrown about ten feet to the side. My already trembling body kicks it up a notch and fear turns into a panic.

“I told you your time was up, witch, and now here we are. At the end.” Stephen says. Is it even Stephen anymore? I took care of that master. How can he be back? And the gargoyle? Impossible. As I try to crawl away, I am grabbed by the ankle and dragged back by an unseen threat; the gargoyle.

“Stephen, snap out of it!” I yell as I’m tossed aside like a twig. The landing knocks the breath out of me. Stephen, though grinning, extends his hands and closes his eyes. Suddenly, the light poles in our immediate area go dark. Great, that doesn’t help me any with finding my kit! I get to my feet, running on pure adrenaline and take off running. An orange orb leaves Stephens hands and strikes me from behind, sending me to the ground in a quick fashion. By the time I’m able to turn around to look at him, he’s just inches in front of me, almost instantly.

“We’ve waited too long to do what needs to be done, witch. Tonight, we put an end to this and take back this town, and there is nothing you can do about it” Stephen says, as he reaches down, lifting me off the ground with great strength, his hand gripped around my neck.

As I struggle to breathe, I punch him in the chest and arm, with no success. Then, I kick my feet, over and over I connect with his midsection, then land one kick low and he releases me. As I gasp for air, I realize that he’s not hurt in any way, just surprised. I turn around and scamper a few feet as I’m tripped and go crashing into the rocks next to the tracks. As I look up, the full moon catches my kit in its light, about two feet away. As I reach for my kit, I am kicked in the stomach, causing me to fall over and onto my back. My kit is just within reach. I roll back over and grab a large rock, get to my feet, then turn around and throw it at Stephen. He dodges the rock, and it bounces off of thin air with a whimper. I hit the gargoyle. It’s in that moment that I turn around and dive for my kit. As Stephen reaches me and turns me over, his hands flaming red, he swings towards me just as I put my cuff on. His punch ricochets off my forearm and I scream, sending Stephen flying backwards about twenty feet.

As I stand to my feet and put my glasses on, I slowly turn my head to look behind me and I see Stephen getting off the ground and his gargoyle fizzles into view next to him. As the gargoyle leaps, Stephen extends his hand to hold it off. Stephen then launches a red orb at me, that barely misses me to the left. By the time I re-fix my focus on Stephen, he’s in front of me, again, almost instantly.

“Witch!” Stephen yells as he takes a swing at me.

“I thought I told you this is my town,” I say heavily exhausted as I block his punch. In my left hand, a blade of yellow light appears as I swing, slashing Stephen’s chest with the light, staggering him backwards. I take another swing to the right shoulder, then again to the left thigh, causing him to collapse to a single knee.

“I told you witch, we are taking this town back, and we’ll do so any means necessary” Stephen snickers as he swipes at my face, sending my glasses flying to the ground, breaking.

As I reach down for the glasses, Stephen extends his hands and I lift off the ground. He stands up in front of me, wincing from the pain of my previous assault and extends his arms out.

“Witch, the time has come to rid this place of your existence, ” Stephen says as his eyes glow emerald green. I can feel myself being pulled into his dark magic. I feel it consuming my entire being, and I feel the power slowly draining out of me.

“This… is… MY… TOWN!” I manage to get out as I reach out and grab both sides of his heads with glowing yellow hands. His hold of me drops me to the ground and I keep my hands on him as he screams. As the gargoyle launches at me, a wave of energy shoots out from our position, throwing the gargoyle back. The magic within me exits my hands and the darkness within Stephen leaves his body.

As Stephen’s body goes limp, I let go, and he collapses to the ground while I drop to a single knee. I reach into my kit and pour a blue mixture over Stephen; a forgetting potion. As I place the bottle back in my kit and throw it over my shoulder, I stand up and look around. There are more eyes than I can count watching me from a distance, as gargoyles line up just outside of the safe radius my energy wave has created.

I bend over and pick up my broken glasses. This will be a problem, but I tuck them inside my kit, turn around and take off for home.