Ten years passed since the Wizard Delsani cast the spells to suppress King Drago’s powers.

Ten years since Ulicoth tried to get to the boy through the former deputy Grand Wizard and the salt assassin.

Ten years for the one to grow up. Within those years, the Queen Mother, Helen Stark, married the deputy Grand Wizard, Berlanin. The three still live in Weston Road as a happy family.

Delsani had warned Helen that if Peter’s mind became too powerful, the spells he cast could break under the pressure. Nevertheless, they seemed to be going strong, for Helen had not seen any sign that the spells had broken down. In addition, she gave Delsani that very information every time he came to visit.

“You know, Helen, today is the day that we have to tell him that he is not just an ordinary Wizard and take him to Dorminya,” said Delsani.

“Yes, I know, and everything is ready for later. I’ve sent all my assets to the M.E.A.L. (Money Exchange, Accounts and Loans) account I opened just before leaving Dorminya, and I put both Peter and Berlanin down as the beneficiaries just in case something happens to me,” she said. “I want them to have something to fall back on financially. I’m not sure how he’s going to react. He thinks he’s an ordinary Wizard, but he’ll find out that there is another world and he’s the true heir to the throne of Opredanas and that he’s far more special than that.”

“Yes, of course you’re right, though it will be hard for him to hear. He must hear it all the same,” said the Wizard. “So when do you think we should tell him?”

“It can at least wait until he’s had his party,” said Helen hopefully.

“Yes, of course,” said Delsani. “And when will that be?”

“Half past five. He wanted to give his friends time to get home and change after school,” replied Helen. “I’ll keep back some of the cake if you want to take some home with you.”

“We would need at least ten cakes,” said Delsani. “However, that won’t take long.”

“Let me guess. There’s a spell to make it grow to ten times its original size,” said Helen.

Delsani laughed and said, “No, but that is a good idea, though a duplication spell should do the trick,” he said.

“Could you make a little room next to the cake?” asked the Wizard.

Helen did as he asked and Delsani took out his wand, pointed it at the cake and said, “Duplacant.” And suddenly there appeared an identical cake right in the space that Helen had just cleared.

“Just think, only another nine to go,” said Helen sarcastically.

“Oh, I can’t wait,” said Delsani in response.

Helen laughed. “But still it saves time.” And just as she finished, she heard the alarm clock in Peter’s room go off.

There was suddenly silence. “He’s up,” she said. But there was no answer, and when she turned round, she saw that the Wizard was already gone.

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Indeed Peter was up. He put on his stereo and cranked up the volume so he could hear nothing else. It was the same thing every morning. He would get up turn on the tunes and then head for the bathroom to get ready for school. And like always, it took at least five minutes for him to reach the bathroom, for he was too busy jumping up and down and nodding his head franticly to watch where he was going.

When he finally found his way to the bathroom, it was into the shower and then on to styling his hair. Peter was lucky, or so his friends said, as he, unlike the rest of the world, did not need to use hair gel, wax, or mousse, or any other hair product. His hair was so thick and wiry that all he needed was water. He would style his hair while it was still a little wet from the shower, and it only took a few minutes, which again his friends thought was lucky, for it sometimes took them at least twenty to get their hair just the way they wanted it.

It was not long before he was in the kitchen eating his mixed cereals; he liked mixing different cereals instead of eating the one boring bowl of the same thing.

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“So what are you doing today?” asked Helen in an attempt to strike up a conversation.

“Nothing,” said Peter sleepily.

“You’ll be doing nothing all day? Wow, school has really changed since I left,” said Helen sarcastically.

“Very funny, I’ll do school work. That’s what people usually do in school.”

“All right, I was only trying to have I conversation with you, Mr. grumpy.”

“Sorry, I didn’t get much sleep last night. I was adding a few things to my manuscript and I didn’t realize the time,” said Peter.

“I know what you mean, it happens to me all the time. Well, are you ready to face the school world today?”

“If I say no, can I stay off?”

“No,” laughed Helen. “I was just being polite. Besides, how would your friends feel if you robbed them of the chance to get you on your birthday?”

“What kind of mother are you? You’re supposed to be concerned when something like that comes up,” said Peter, hoping that this would change her mind, although he really knew it would not.

“I am concerned. I’m afraid of missing it,” she laughed again.

“You’ll be laughing on the other side of your face when I phone child services and tell them of that kind of abuse I’ve been getting from you all these years,” said Peter jokily. He now laughed at the look on Helen’s face.

“Oh, yes, all that abuse, like me getting you nearly everything that you moaned for most of your life. Somehow I think it’s me that needs someone to call to tell them of the abuse I’ve suffered with you all these years,” she said smiling mockingly. “So ready to go?” she said at the last minute.

“Not yet. I haven’t finished my breakfast.”

“You’re stalling.”

“I’m hoping that by being late, all my friends will already be in class and will unfortunately miss their chance to get me.”

“There’s always after school.”

“I’ve already thought of that. I’ll get detention and again they’ll miss me,” said Peter confidently.

“For that, they’ll get you for sure, cause I’ll help them.” Helen laughed at the look of annoyance on his face as he was trying to think of a way out of it.

“Wait until everyone’s gone, then I’ll skip detention.”

“Then I’ll bring them back and they can hide in the garden and wait for you to come home.”

“Again I ask what kind of a mother are you?”

Again Helen laughed. “The nightmare kind, you should know that by now. Right, come on, you’ve had long enough. The sooner you go, the sooner you come back.”

“No. The longer I stay the sooner I get back.”

“Very good, smarty pants, but now it’s time to go. I haven’t got all day, you know.”

“You’re a writer; you’ve always got all day.”

Helen said nothing. She just gave him a stern look. Peter knew this look. He knew it well, and it meant she was losing her patience.

“Fine,” he groaned and wolfed down the rest of his mixed cereal.

When they got to the door, Peter grabbed one of the many skateboards that sat on the wall rack on the left side of the front hall. Peter liked skating ever since he got his first skateboard from Delsani for his seventh birthday.

“You sure you’ve got everything you need?” asked Helen as she opened the front door.

“Yeah,” Peter yawned.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to pick you up after school today?”

“Yeah,” he repeated with yet another yawn.

“It’s your own fault for not going to bed early enough.”

“Yeah, I know,” he droned.

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The car pulled up beside the curb facing Main Vale Senior High School, and Peter swiftly jumped out. His friends waved when they saw him, and Peter waved back as he walked to the first set of steps to head up to the double doors at the entrance.

A sinister smile came across Helen’s face, and she hastily pushed the button to roll down the electric window. “Peter,” she shouted. The boy turned. “Don’t I get a kiss today?” she said. “I usually get one before we leave the house. You must have forgotten today.”

Peter’s mouth fell open. He couldn’t believe she had done it. Just wait, he thought to himself. Just you wait.

“You are too bad, Helen,” she said to herself as she drove off.

As he cleared the last step and came upon his friends, Peter could see they were trying not to laugh, though he knew they really wanted too, and he appreciated their attempt to hide it.

“So that was a little embarrassing,” said Cartman. They gave him that nickname because every time anyone mentioned him being overweight, he would dismiss it by saying, “I’m just big boned,” which always brought a ring of laughter. His real name was Keith Connor. His forehead looked too tall for his round face and rosy cheeks. He wore a navy hoodie with a white skull; black short pants, and grey and black track shoes.

Then there are the rest of Peter’s friends: Karen Ken was nicknamed Wheezy because she had Asthma and almost always had her inhaler in her mouth. She wore a black cardigan, plain black T-shirt, long maroon skirt, and black witch-style silver-buckled shoes. Her dirty blonde hair was tied up onto her head. Her grey eyes, long eyelashes, short cute nose and thin lips suited her sweat peach face perfectly. She was certainly the smartest in the group, and there was no doubt about it.

Jerry Walters, nickname Wile E. Coyote, but they mostly called him Wile E., because of all of his over the top plans and harebrained schemes, though all in all he was probably the second smartest of the group, but certainly not the wisest.

He was wearing a dark red T-shirt and a black long sleeved shirt underneath. He also wore long-legged shorts, which was one of the more popular fashions with most teenagers at that time. With short, dark hair spiked strait up, and his tanned skin told that he liked the sun. He was good-looking to a certain degree, but didn’t have a girlfriend.

The last one of Peter’s friends was Danielle Ewing, nickname DesDan, which was short for Desperate Dan. She was called that because she was always attracted to people who, let’s just say, were not very desirable, which made her look a little desperate to the more superficial people in the school. Nevertheless, she didn’t care about the way people looked.