It was a quiet night, and Annabelle was seated on her bed, gazing out the window. The gray moon hovered in the skies, its light partially blocked by dancing clouds.

  She headed for her window and pushed it open, a cool night breeze hitting her face.

  The grass danced as the night breeze blew through them and the fig trees rattled as their branches hit one another.

  HOOT...HOOT. an owl hooted as Annabelle gazed out of the window, wondering what her next step was going to be. She needed Crow and she knew it but her pride getting in the way, she refused to admit it. “So Crow controls the school,” she mumbled, as the night breeze blew her face with even more intensity.

  “Psst……..hey Anna,” someone whispered from downstairs. It was Jacob.

  “Go away,” she said, just above a whisper as she grabbed the windows, ready to close them.

  “Wait, Anna.. Joanna is here, we are all here,” Jacob said, as she looked downstairs and noticed her friends standing downstairs.

  “What are you doing here? You’ll get caught,” she insisted in a high pitched tone as she shut the window.

  “I’ll be fine on my own,” she muttered as she stepped backwards, still facing the window.

  “We’re in here,” Jacob said, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin.

  She would have screamed if not for Jacob’s super-fast reflexes. He dashed towards her, cupping her mouth in his hand just in time.

  “What are you guys doing here?” she whispered through clenched teeth as she hurried to her door and locked it.

  “I came to apologize and explain some things,” Crow said, comfortably sitting on Anna’s bed.

  “Yeah, make yourself comfortable,” Anna sarcastically said with a not so true smile.

  “Look, I forgive you but I have one question, who the hell is your husband?” Annabelle asked. Everyone laughed.

  Mrs. Crow explained everything to Annabelle, including telling her why she was called Mrs. Instead of Miss, saying she didn’t want unnecessary attention. She also explained to Annabelle how the school had been under her control from the start and where she usually went when she was not within the school premises.

  They all chuckled, having a good time as they kept their voices down.

  “I’m sorry for keeping all these secrets from you Anna,” Crow said, giving her a reassuring hug.

  “But why help me? And why put everyone in an illusion? Why control the school?” Annabelle asked, still having her doubts.

  “My brother is a maniac. If he ever attacked, I wouldn’t want people asking too many questions,” Crow said as she lazily rested her back on Anna’s soft bed.

  That’s a pretty stupid reason, Annabelle thought.

  TAP..TAP…TAP.. there was a knock on the door.

  “Yo Anna, you in there?” Josh asked. He rarely knocked on her door at night unless he wanted to ask for something.

  She walked to the door and turned around to tell her friends to leave but they were already gone. Did they vanish? Or did they just turn invisible? She thought as she unlocked the door. Joshua was shirtless, his hair was scattered, and on his right hand was a gamepad. He wore pajama trousers in his usual manner and on his feet were their mum’s favorite slippers.

  “You know how mum’s going to feel if she sees you wearing those,” Annabelle said, her eyes fixed on the slippers.

  “I’ll return them, that’s not why I’m here,” he said, trying to talk in the lowest tone possible.

  “What is the problem?” Annabelle asked, lowering her voice in a teasing manner.

  He looked to his left, his right and behind him just for dramatic effect. He loved being dramatic.

  “I need money,” He said, gesturing as if he were counting actual money.

  “Piss off,” Anna replied, slamming the door in his face before he could finish his next sentence.

  “Guys?” she whispered, her eyes scanning the room.

  Guess they’re actually gone, she thought as she threw herself on her bed with a THUD. The bed bobbed up and down in its usual manner and, “Yeah, that’s the stuff,” she said as she stared at the ceiling, a look of satisfaction on her face.

  “Well, I guess I didn’t get to ask Crow why she is helping me.”

  “Who knows, I just might be her long lost daughter.” She silently chuckled in amusement at the statement she had made.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  The following morning, Annabelle ensured that Jacob followed her to school alongside her brother.

  “I still don’t know why he has to go with us,” Joshua muttered multiple times throughout their entire journey to school.

  On arriving at the school premises, Joshua in his usual manner ran off to be with his friends, leaving Annabelle alone with Jacob.

  “So…..” she awkwardly said, curling her lips. She normally didn’t spend much time with him which made it difficult for them to start a decent conversation.

  “So I can do magic,” he awkwardly said in an effort to break the awkward silence.

  That was terrible, he thought.

  “Yeah cool right?” Annabelle replied, then there was another moment of awkward silence.

  “Hey look, there’s Joanna,” Annabelle said, pointing at Joanna approaching them from a distance.

  She wore a pink turtle neck top with a cream colored scarf tied around her neck. Her trousers were black and her black timberland boots made thumping sounds as she approached them.

  “Good morning people,” she said, with a bright smile on her face.

  “I just spoke with Crow and she told us to meet her in the office, considering she controls the school and all.” Annabelle noticed James observing them from a distance. Judging by his expression, he was up to something but what?

  She averted her eyes and, “It’s okay I see him too,” Jacob said as he winked. He looked funny whenever he winked.

  On getting to Crow’s office, Jackson was already there, comfortably seated, a bottle of water in his hand.

  “I cancelled their school lessons,” Crow said, furiously typing something on her computer, her face bathed in the dim light of the computer screen.

  “Why did you cancel them?” Annabelle asked, seeing no point in the cancellation of Jackson’s lessons.

  “Don’t worry, they will still tell their parents the lessons are going on,” Crow said, squinting her eyes as she glared at the computer screen.

  That’s a shitty way to run a school, Annabelle thought, leaning against the wall.

  “Where did you get that compu…..ohhhh magic,” Annabelle concluded. She had concluded magic would be the explanation for things she didn’t understand when it came to Crow. “Actually I bought it at the store,” Crow said, typing even faster.

  Why does she need to type, she has magic, Annabelle thought as she watched Mrs. Crow type, eyes focused on the screen.

  “I have a plan,” she said, refusing to look up. “A plan to capture my brother.”

  “Ok,” Jackson said, intrigued.

  Mrs. Crow told them it entailed kidnapping and interrogating James.

  “We don’t even know the limits of his powers or what he can do,” Annabelle argued.

  “Whatever the limits of his powers are, I am stronger than he is,” Crow said, quite sure of herself.

  “Besides, James Bludovitch is dead. That thing you see in school isn’t your friend.”

  “Well that explains how he easily beat me,” Jackson said, clenching his fists.

  “Oh please, any trained person could beat you,” Anna teased. Everyone laughed.

  Mrs. Crow went over the plan again, and the plan being a brilliant one, everyone agreed.

  “Okay, we have one hour to execute this,” Crow insisted, and dismissed everyone.

  “By the way, you can take off the amulet,” she said as everyone left the office.

  Somewhere in the school’s building in one of the seniors’ classes. James was right in the middle of beating up a senior.

  There were many knocked out senior boys around him, who tried to stop him from pounding on their friend.

  The girls, being unable to do anything, were huddled together in a corner of the class, their wary eyes glaring at him as he landed several punches on the senior’s face.

  ***

  “Okay, you know the plan,” Jackson said, as he pecked Anna on her forehead and left.

  Annabelle opened the door of the class.

  “Hey!” She screamed, drawing James’s attention.

  He let go of the barely conscious person he was beating and “Aaaah Annabelle,” he said, standing upright with a pleased expression on his face.

  “Come join me,” he said, gesturing as Annabelle looked at the students who lay on the floor unconscious.

  “Anna, get away from him!” Courtney Cox screamed, her eyes wide open with fear.

  She also had a terrible headache.

  “I will report you to the Principal!” she threatened James who seemed not to care.

  “Do your worst,” he said, shrugging his shoulders as he stooped down to continue pounding on the senior.

  “Hey, why don’t you stop pounding on that guy and pick on someone your own size,” Annabelle suggested as she stepped back and slowly walked to the door.

  “Come on, Jackson wants a rematch,” she said in an effort to lure him out of the class.

  Come on James, that’s it, she thought as James slowly approached her. She knew that running was pointless, and if she did, he would have easily caught up to her and the plan would fail.

  “Where is he?” James asked, cracking his knuckles.

  “In the school hall,” she replied.

  She gave the girls in the class an apologetic glance and headed for the hall, James right behind her. He hadn’t seemed to notice anything fishy.

  “Where are your friends?” he asked, his eyes studying Annabelle suspiciously.

  “In the hall, they are waiting for you,” Annabelle said. “We had a little bet that you would lose. Well, the bet was Jackson’s idea.”

  Annabelle walked through the school hallways, her heart pounding and sweat trickling down her face as students brushed past them as quickly as possible, averting their eyes in fear of James.

  I see what Crow meant by her controlling the school. Someone would have reported this idiot by now, Anna thought as they approached the hall.

  “He’s just in here.”