Alia woke up, startled and sweating.
She thought she was dreaming. She thought she had seen two beady, red eyes staring into the window by the door. Sighing with relief, she laid back down.
Moments later, when Alia had almost drifted off, Alia heard the door handle being opened.
She heard the door creak open slowly. Frightened, she got way down under her bed covers, thinking about what to do. She would never forget that "nightmare" before Malistaire's arrival. She knew that she would live, but maybe not for long.
The Draconian army wasn't too far behind.
Bravely and quietly, she sat up, and grabbed the candle on her nightstand. Alia slowly put her glasses on, and the blurry images suddenly became crystal clear. Her kitten was sitting up stiffly and alarmed, with her ears turned back. For some reason, the strangers didn't notice this creature. Alia, meanwhile, stared at their every step, and every movement. Suddenly, Alia realized that the strange shadows were going towards the couch where Sean was sleeping, perhaps thinking this was Alia.
Alia had no clue how, but the word escaped her mouth without warning.
"STOP!"
The two burglars were surprised. Alarmed, they turned towards the girl behind them, who had her hand over her mouth. Alia hit her forehead with anger. "I am so dumb," she said. The two thieves replied, "Indeed you are." Their faces were revealed at last, showing two very frightening faces. The one that looked absolutely evil talked. " We came at just the right time, didn't we?" The other one (who wasn't as scary as the first) spoke too. "Right when your powers are gone. Our master has informed us." Alia just stood there with her head held high, bravely. "Well, I know you're here to steal something. What is it this time?" She asked suspiciously. Minerva was meanwhile trembling under Alia's bed.
"Nothing." the least threatening one answered. "Just your SOUL!" Both men cackled loudly.
Sean, meanwhile, had awoken. He screamed as girly as he did when Malistaire arrived, announcing Alia's power loss. "Sean!" Alia yelled.
"PROTECT YOURSELF!"
He jumped up quickly, then dodged the zap that the evil thief had aimed at him.
Alia's parents had now awoken, screaming. "Get out!" Alia's father said, casting a Kraken at them.
Alia couldn't believe this. "Dad! You can't do that anymore! Malistaire will-" "I don't care! I just need all of us safe!" he replied. "You're father is right," Alia's mother said, casting a Hydra. Sean was just dodging every zap that came towards him. Then, the less threatening thief cast a Scarecrow. Alia's mother and father had finally been defeated.
Alia got very angry. "I'm warning you! I HAVE A CANDLE!" The two thieves laughed. "Like you're going to kill us with THAT," the evil looking one said. Alia looked at her tiny candle in her hand, then threw it at them.
It all happened in a split second. While the candle was flying through the air, the two thieves zapped the candle at the same time. It exploded with a shower of sparks, then they hit the floor everywhere. The sparks turned to fire. The whole dorm room suddenly became a death chamber of flames.
Alia didn't know what to do. All she could do was scream. Loud.
So loud, the young Necromancer next door woke up. He was none other than Cody Dragonrider. He rubbed his tired eyes, and laid back down, but heard it again. He suspiciously looked out his window, seeing the dorm next to him on fire. "Alia!" he thought.
Cody quickly opened up his window. He ran to Alia's flaming dorm. He looked into the window, seeing Alia, who saw him at the exact same moment, and then he fled. "Cody!" Alia yelled.
Cody was knocking rapidly on Sabrina's dorm. "Hurry up..." Cody said impatiently through his gritted teeth. "You get it Sabrina," he heard from inside the dorm. "Fine," a tired voice replied, obviously Sabrina's "What?" Sabrina said grumpily as she opened the door. "ALIA'S DORM IS ON FIRE!" Cody yelled. This of course resulted in Sabrina becoming instantly wide awake. "Alia's dorm is ON FIRE?" "Yes!" Cody replied. "I got you because water can put out fires!" Sabrina shook her head angrily. "No. No no no no no. I am not using Storm magic. My powers need to be kept, not taken!" Sabrina said. "It's the only way to save Alia," Cody said. "If I were you," Sabrina started. "I would get a Thaumaturge." It finally hit Cody. He grabbed Sabrina's wrist and ran off. "Come on!" he said.
When they got to Mary;s dorm, it was like the same thing with Sabrina all over again. "You know, she's going to say no," Sabrina said. "Maybe not. Who knows?" Cody replied. After many, many knocks, Mary's head stuck out the window. "WHAT DO YOU WANT?" she screamed in her shrill, girly voice. "Alia's house is on fire," Sabrina said with her arms crossed. "And by the way, brush your teeth once in a while. There's some weird stuff in your teeth." Mary rolled her eyes. "I ate some of King Gobblestone's jellybeans when you and Alia left, okay?" "ENOUGH! The person who is supposed to save us is about to DIE," Cody yelled. "You being Ice-" "Whoa--Wait. Did you just say me being ICE? I don't need to lose my powers here!" Mary said. "Same here," Sabrina said, glaring at Cody.
"Would you rather help Alia without anybody finding out, ("But what if Malistaire is there?" Sabrina asked.) and maybe someday get her powers back, or would you not help her, let her DIE, and let there be no chance of our freedom?" Cody said. "Whatever the first choice was, I'd rather do that," Sabrina said. "Me too," Mary said.
"Good," Cody said. "Let's go."
The three wizards walked towards the dorm, prepared for whatever was in there. Cody had on his best Death gear, Sabrina was in her old Krokotopian gear, and Mary was in her favorite Marleyboninan gear. Cody ran up to the door and slammed it open. "HELP! I'm trapped!" Alia yelled. She was certainly trapped within the glowing flames.
"Mary, put out the fire. Sabrina, you attack the thieves. I'm going to protect Alia. Got it?" Cody said. Mary and Sabrina saluted at the same time. "Yes sir!" they said. Mary got freezing instantly, and Sabrina cast a grand Kraken.
Cody meanwhile had to protect Alia. He cast a Death shield that landed in his hand, yelled, "Catch, Alia!" and threw it. Alia quickly jumped up and caught it, defending herself. Cody repeated this process, with Death and Fire shields. That is, until he used up all of his Death Shield cards and Fire Shield Treasure Cards. At least Mary had put out the Fire.
Cody, Mary, and Sabrina then had to fight the two men. So far, the only injuries were a slight burn on Mary's left arm, Alia's father had gained consciousness but was still badly injured, and Alia's mother had gained consciousness but had then fainted from shock. Cody used Myth spells from his secondary school, Mary tried to freeze their staffs, and Sabrina was just casting in all directions. "OW!" Alia's father yelled, looking angrily at Sabrina and clutching his arm. "Sorry Mr. StormWalker!" she yelled back, casting a Storm Shark.
The thieves created more fire. "This is HARD!" Sabrina said, wiping the sweat off of her forehead "I know. We'll defeat them!" Cody said.
All of a sudden, they heard a scream, and saw Mary flying across the dorm, hitting the wall. "She looks unconscious," Alia said. "NO! One down?" Sabrina said, now casting a Storm Bat spell. "Yeah. We've got to finish these guys off--And fast!" Cody said. He cast a Humungofrog.
After many more rounds, (of course there was even more fire) Alia's mother finally woke up. "Is the fire gone?" she asked softly. "You may not want to look, mom," Sean said. But Alia's mother opened her eyes anyway. She screamed, and fainted again.
"Uh-oh!" Sabrina said, looking down at her cards. "They've all turned grey, and I have 4 pips! I've run out of mana!" Cody looked down at his cards in fear as well. "All I have is 5 mana left. The only thing I can cast is my Minotaur Treasure card!" He etched it, then closed his eyes waiting for the moment where he heard that snort. But he didn't. He peeked, and saw the ashes on the ground. "Fizzle," he mouthed.
"Nothing can stop us now!" the two men said, getting ready to kill Alia. "What do we do now?" Alia asked Cody. "You and Sabrina are out of Mana, Mary is defeated, my dad is injured, my mom fainted, and Sean is too SCARED to do anything!" Everyone looked over at Sean, who was trembling behind the couch. "What's weird is that the only other school available is Fire," Cody said. "Maybe a Pyromancer will bring us luck!" "WE DON'T KNOW ANY PYROMANCERS!" Sabrina yelled.
"Yes you do, you just didn't know it."
Someone behind them had spoken these words. It was a female, exotic voice. The three young wizards turned around slowly.
There, standing on Alia's bed, was a strange girl. She was strange, because, of course, they didn't know any Pyromancers. She was wearing red and yellow Krokotopian clothing, red hair that perfectly matched her clothes, and the flames below illuminated her dramatically.
"Who are--"
"THAT DOES NOT MATTER AT THIS MOMENT! I just need to get these two criminals out of here," she said.
She had no wand, but she diligently etched a bright orange fire symbol. As soon as she cast the strange spell, the two thieves were finally captured in a large dome of flames. Finally, a silence fell over the crowded household.
That is, until Sabrina blurted out, "Whatever your name is, could you please finish these two off before they find out some way to escape? Like TELEPORTING?"
"Oh. Don't reveal how they can escape!" the not so calm anymore voice replied.
Two balls of Fire formed in her hands. She threw the two at the same time, towards the dome. It was pure success. The balls of fire singed them so badly, they finally fell to the ground in defeat.
"No offense," Alia said, turning to the heroic girl. "But who are you?"
The girl smiled. "Elizabeth. Elizabeth... Elizabeth..." She frowned. "It's been so long, I can't even remember my last name!" she sat on Alia's bed in disappointment. "Anyway, you know me as MINERVA."
"Minerva?" Alia asked.
"Minerva?" Sabrina asked.
"Minerva?" Alia's mother said, finally conscious.
"Minerva," Elizabeth said, smiling.
There was a very long silence. Until, Alia noticed something.
She slowly walked up to Elizabeth, and said, "Is it just me, or are you like my red haired Pyromancer twin?"
It was true! Alia and Elizabeth had the same sea green eyes and light pink lips, same skin tone, and same long hairstyle.
"Back on the subject," Elizabeth said, as if she didn't care. "I just can't believe I can remember my story, but not remember my last name!" Elizabeth paced back and forth worriedly. "It had something to do with Balance... Or fire... Or Krokotopia..."
"WAIT!" Cody finally yelled.
"Your story?"
"Yes, how I was cursed to be a cat for a long time."
"TELL US!"
"Fine, but I can't remember my last name, still!"
Elizabeth pulled up a chair, and prepared to tell her story. She cleared her throat, and started.
"I'm from Krokotopia. I was born in Krokotopia. And I was a strange child, because I was Fire when my parents were Balance. I attended The Krok School of Magical Arts in Krokotopia--"
"I always wanted to go there!" Alia's mom blurted out. "SHH!" everyone said, with their fingers up to their lips.
"I was one of the twenty Pyromancers there, I was part Myth, and I was rather powerful. Nobody dared to challenge me to a duel. My parents owned the Krokotopian Jewelry shop, so we always slept on the top of the building, watching the glimmering stars as we fell asleep. I also had a best friend; Tinu Bhak'mal--"
"Isn't he that Mander guy in the--" Sabrina started. "SHH!" everyone repeated, their fingers up to their lips.
"So, one day, I was going to meet him in the Pyramid of the Sun to play tag. I walked up to the brazier in the Altar of Kings, when I was snatched by an evil looking Krok. I immediately demanded for him to tell me who he was, and he replied he was Biti Nirini."
Alia was thinking, "I always hated Biti from the start..."
"I asked angrily where Tinu was. He said he was now a Mander slave, in the Krokosphinx. I knew that Tinu never liked Ice, because he was a Fire mander. I instantly freed myself, and ran off to the Krokosphinx, Biti diligently trying to catch me. Finally, I got on the boat, and manually turned the paddles to go faster. The Krokosphinx wasn't far ahead, and I had to run past the Krok School on the way. After what seemed like hours, I saw Tinu shackled in the Emperor's Retreat. I freed him, and he said, "Stay here, I will take care of him!" "No! You're shivering cold, and I actually know magic!" I replied. "BE CAREFUL!" he yelled. I confronted Biti outside of the Sphinx. I cast a flare at him, but he resisted it and said, "If that's how you want it, FINE!" He quickly traced the death symbol, and a black light came flying towards me. All of a sudden, I was shorter. I looked at my hands, and gasped, which was actually a meow, because I had little paws. As Biti cackled, I hissed, and jumped up on his face and scratched it up. I ran off to then meet Tinu in the Spiral Chamber as his only friend, and that was just the beginning of utter chaos. I could still cast spells though, that explains the time I first saw those two thieves and the Humungofrog appeared."
There was a long, long silence.
Alia crept over to her nightstand, and got her locket making kit. She created a silver, flower shaped locket with a single ruby in the center. "Welcome to the club," Alia said, handing the locket over to Elizabeth. "What club?" Elizabeth asked in confusion.
"That chaos that you described, and the chaos you just stopped was the work of Malistaire. All of these people who helped, and Sean, have to help me save the Spiral. We have every school but Fire and--" Alia started.
"MYTH."
"Myth?" Sabrina asked, then her eyes grew wide. "Oh, I know EXACTLY what you're thinking! You're going to add KEVIN!"
"Yep," Alia said, smiling. "Look, we don't know any Conjurers but him, and you're not the one who makes the decisions here!"
"UGH! Fine!" Sabrina said, taking a seat.
"And I need to train up to sigil duplication, and Rebirth someday..."
She glanced at the clock. "Looks like nobody got any sleep, and you guys need to get home," she said.
They all sighed, and left. But Alia grabbed Cody on the way out.
"Thanks."
"For what?"
"For saving me, again."
"Okay, you're welcome?" Cody said nervously, running out the door.
"And don't you worry about me," Elizabeth said. Alia turned around to find her as a cat again, sleeping on Alia's bed.
"Finally I can get some sleep..." Sean said, yawning. But the second he closed his eyes--
DDDDDDDDDDDDIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG!
"AUGH!" he said, turning his alarm off. "You're so lucky you don't have school Alia!"
"No I'm not," Alia thought. "Tonight, I have to do something completely dangerous:
"Steal my powers back."
For this plan, Alia had to get a good night's sleep... Malistaire's defeat and the Draconian Army weren't far behind... | 
