Annabelle nearly fell, but she held on to the person that pulled her. She looked up in disgust, but the disgusted expression on her face disappeared the moment she saw it was Joanna.

  “Why did you pull me like that?” Anna asked, adjusting her clothes.

  “You could have at least warned me,” She added.

  “Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t think before I did it,” Joanna said with an apologetic look on her face.

  “And why aren’t you in class?” Anna asked her, as she looked outside the classroom through the small glass compartment on the door.

  “I was waiting for you so we can investigate Mrs. Crow,” Joanna replied, mumbling her words.

  “What?! We can’t do that!” Anna exclaimed. She had begun to fear Mrs. Crow because of the terrible dreams she had the previous night.

  “That reminds me, I had another dream where I was killed last night. And the funny thing is I didn’t realize I had fallen asleep,” Anna said in a low tone.

  “Wow. Did you see Mrs. Crow? Joanna asked, as she grabbed Anabelle’s hands and gave them a comforting squeeze.

  “No, I didn’t but I recognize the creature that killed me,” Annabelle replied.

  “Recognize?” Joanna asked.

  “What do you mean? Have you seen it before?” She added.

  “I think I have seen a picture of it in a book,” Annabelle said, trying to remember where she had seen that picture.

  After thinking for a while, she finally remembered where she had seen the picture.

  “Aha!” She screamed, covered her mouth and giggled.

  “What happened? Do you remember?” Joanna asked excitedly.

  The smile on Anna’s face slowly faded away as she realized what she had just seen. “Why did it take me this long to realize?” She asked herself, as she sat on one of the chairs in the classroom.

  “What happened Anna?” What is it? Do you remember? Joanna asked, but Anna didn’t seem to hear her.

  “Anna? Anna!” Joanna screamed her name, causing her to regain focus.

  “What is it? Do you remember?” Joanna asked one last time.

  “Yes,” Anna spoke slowly and gently. “The thing that is attacking me in the nightmares is a Wraith.”

  There was utter silence in the classroom for a few seconds and it was like everything had stopped moving. Joanna’s breath was slow and steady, for she was gripped with fear. She heard what Anna had just said but did not want to understand.

  “A what?” She said, looking at Anna, refusing to blink. Her eyeballs were so still that one could actually see the fear in them.

  “A wraith,” Annabelle spoke again. “It has to be Duncan. He is the only one who teaches History with such an odd behavior and Wraiths are mythological creatures that were thought to exist,” she added.

  “Thought to exist? I think they still do, if you’re right about what you are saying,” Joanna replied.

  “We are going to get ourselves killed, if a Wraith is involved. But then again, how are you sure they are just nightmares? What if they are things about to happen?” Joanna asked, trembling.

  Her legs shook and her knees hit each other repeatedly. She didn’t know what to do at that moment, and she felt an unfamiliar chill run down her spine.

  “We have to get to the root of this. Please do not tell Jackson about this,” Annabelle insisted.

  The school bell rang and it was time for History class and they happened to be in the classroom where the lecture was to take place.

  “It’s time for history. Sit beside me, let’s sit in the middle,” Joanna said as she sat on one of the chairs in the middle of the class and gently tapped a chair beside her.

  Annabelle reluctantly sat beside Joanna and was starting to think how she was to survive the class without being psychologically tortured.

  Joanna, who noticed her struggling with her own thoughts, held her hand and gave her a bright smile. Annabelle smiled back at her and she felt more at ease.

  Moments later, students entered the class, filling the atmosphere with noise. They all sat at different desks, and soon the class was full. Principal Duncan then walked in a while later with a smirk on his face. He looked straight at Annabelle the moment he walked in, but she didn’t see any visions this time.

  Duncan taught for an hour and he kept on intentionally looking at Anna throughout his lecture. Everyone in the class noticed he was staring at her during the lecture and they all wondered what was going on, but Annabelle maintained a calm demeanor throughout the lecture.

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  After the class, the bell rang but no one dared move because it was the principal who was teaching them. “I have an assignment for you all,” Duncan said, focusing on Annabelle who was still calm.

  “I want you to carry out research on Wraiths, type your results and send them to me within a month.”

  “Wraiths?” Annabelle asked herself, as she shared an uneasy look with Joanna.

  “Tell me what you find and if I’m impressed, I’ll give you an A,” he said. Duncan had a habit of giving every set a project, but that was the first time he mentioned anything related to a Wraith.

  There has to be something wrong with this guy. He’s somehow related to all of this. Joanna thought to herself, studying Duncan with her eyes.

  Duncan picked his bag and walked out of the class, refusing to look at Annabelle.

  “This definitely has to be related to him,” Annabelle said to Joanna. “We have to investigate him,” She added, as she clenched her fists which rested on her desk.

  “No, we can’t. We have to ask Mrs. Crow to help us,” Joanna replied. “She is the only one that can help us.”

  “No! We can’t. That woman looks suspicious. How do we know she is not the one behind all these dreams and visions? Besides, the visions were the clearest when I touched the doorknob,” Annabelle said as she stood up and picked up her bag. Joanna did the same and both girls walked out of the class. They had walked for a moment, when Anna came up with an idea.

  “I think I know what to do,” she said. “We will make her confess she practices magic.”

  She didn’t believe she could actually utter those words and she felt ashamed of herself for a while. “This doesn’t mean I believe in magic, but with what has been happening to me recently, there’s a possibility it exists.”

  “So how do we make her confess, Mrs. Sherlock?” Joanna asked teasingly.

  “We will have to….” Anna spoke, but did not complete the statement.

  “Have to do what?” Joanna asked, confused. She noticed Anna staring into space and she tried shaking her, but Anna just stood there, looking lifeless.

  Not wanting to cause a scene, she stood right in front of Anna, pretending to be in a conversation with her so it didn’t draw attention.

  “Oh what’s wrong with you Anna?” Joanna whispered, as she studied her friend. She snapped her fingers repeatedly in front of her in an attempt to get her to snap out of it, but it was to no avail.

  Anna just stood there, gazing into space. She looked like she had been killed and then petrified. “Come on, what’s wrong with you?” Joanna asked, as she hesitantly cupped Anna’s face in her hands.

  “Don’t tell me this is magic,” Joanna said to herself as her body grew hot and she began to think of what to do.

  She was about to raise an alarm, when Anna snapped out of it. She fell to her knees and started panting heavily. “What happened to you?” Joanna asked, clearly relieved, not knowing what she would have done if Anna had remained in that state.

  “I don’t remember much, but it feels like I was in some kind of trance,” Anna replied, trying hard to remember what she had seen.

  “What did you see? Did you see Duncan? Did you see Crow? Did you see that monster? Answer me Anna,” Joanna said consecutively without allowing Annabelle to respond.

  Annabelle paused for a while, and narrowed her eyes as if to say: ‘I’ve almost got it.’

  “I saw……” Anna said, still trying to focus.

  “You saw what Anna? Saw?” Joanna asked. Joanna wasn’t really the patient type of person and her impatience had gotten her into a lot of trouble she could have easily avoided.

  “I saw the monster that keeps killing me in my dreams and beside it…… was…… a man,” Anna spoke slowly, still trying to understand the statement she had just made.

  “A man!” Joanna exclaimed. She was happy that she finally had something she could work with after all those long hours of thinking and investigating.

  “We finally have something to work with,” Joanna said.

  “Did you see his face?” She added, as she crossed her fingers in expectation of a positive answer.

  “No I didn’t, he wore a black hoodie,” Annabelle said, squinting.

  “Ok did he drop any hints, or clues for you?” Joanna asked, playing with her hair.

  “He just waved and called my name, that’s all,” Annabelle said, trying hard to remember.

  “What kind of wave? Was it creepy or friendly?” Joanna asked with a smile on her face.

  “This isn’t funny Joanna. My life is at stake and you are the only one I can talk to so please don’t laugh,” Anna said, seemingly fighting back tears.

  “By the way, it was a creepy wave,” she said and smiled. Shortly after, both girls burst into laughter and headed straight for the library.

  They had decided to skip the next class which was chemistry. On entering the library, Annabelle looked in the direction of where Mrs. Crow was to be seated but it was someone else who was seated there.

  “I wonder where Mrs. Crow is,” Anna whispered to Joanna as they both walked towards a section of the library. Annabelle returned the history textbook to where she had taken it from.

  “I don’t think you are supposed to return the book yourself. By the way, you haven’t even read it.” Joanna said as Anna placed the book on the shelf.

  “No one will know,” Anna said, smirking. They had almost reached the entrance of the library, when Joanna drew Annabelle’s attention to something.

  “Look, Crow is back,” she said to Annabelle, pointing at Crow.

  Mrs. Crow looked up, maintained eye contact with Anna for a few seconds and then continued reading the book she was holding, or pretended to continue reading the book. Annabelle had an expression on her face which showed that she was about to do something stupid.

  “Anna, let us go do not do anything silly please,” Joanna said, as she noticed the expression on her face.

  Annabelle didn’t listen to Joanna and went ahead to meet Mrs. Crow. She walked quickly to where Crow was seated, and her footsteps made some noise, distracting the people who were in the library.

  “I know what you are. You are a magician. You practice dark magic,” Annabelle said, just above a whisper, intently looking at Mrs. Crow who refused to look up.

  “Anna, let’s just go, we would find another way to solve this case,” Joanna said, nudging Annabelle.

  Mrs. Crow didn’t utter a single word, but kept on flipping the pages of the book she was reading.

  “Well, I just thought I should tell you that your Wraith succeeded in attacking me,” Annabelle said and began to walk away.

  Mrs. Crow immediately closed the book she was reading and stopped Annabelle.

  “Wait,” Crow said.

  “What did you just say?” She asked, as she stood from her seat, a slight expression of fear on her face.