“What’s wrong?” Ron asked, as he noticed Josh approaching the car on foot.

  “Is that your brother?” he asked, taking cover too.

  “Yes, and he mustn’t see me,” Anna replied. She would have preferred being caught by her parents than her brother because he was a good liar and knew how to tell a fake story.

  “Ok then,” Ron said, as he zoomed uphill, pressing hard against the accelerator.

  “What are you doing?!” she screamed, as the car roared uphill.

  “My parents will see me,” she added, placing her hands on the dashboard, wishing she could somehow stop the car.

  “No they won’t,” Ron replied as he abruptly stopped the car, jerking her forward. The car was far enough to prevent Josh from clearly seeing Anna and also to prevent her parents from seeing her from the house.

  “Ok now, run!” Ron said as he winked at Anna, who got out of the car and darted for Jacob’s house.

  Ron quickly turned the car around and sped downhill, blowing past Joshua at an incredible speed.

  “Hmph, crazy drivers everywhere,” Joshua said, as he kept on walking uphill.

  Meanwhile, Annabelle had reached Jacob’s house and impatiently, she rang the doorbell, looking back and watching out for her brother. “Jacob, you there?!” she screamed, for she could hear faint spooky music from inside the house. A moment later, the door was unlocked and before her, stood Jacob.

  His lips were painted with black lipstick and his fingernails were polished black.

  “I saw you in school today,” he said to Anna as he motioned her to come in.

  “Well, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Jacob asked, as he noticed the shopping bag Anna was holding.

  “Oh my God, you totally went shopping for tomorrow,” he said as he tried to grab the bag and check the content of the bag.

  “Stop it, I’m here on serious business,” Anna said, yanking the bag.

  “What’s going on?” he asked, and plopped on the couch.

  “My parents will be back today,” he added.

  “You are right,” Anna admitted.

  “Right about what?” Jacob asked, looking expectantly at her.

  “You were right about magic,” she replied.

  “Well, what makes you say that? Are you trying to make fun of me?” Jacob asked in a defensive manner.

  “No, no I’m actually serious, it exists and my life is in danger,” Anna said to Jacob.

  “I can’t believe you came here to make fun of me!” Jacob screamed and ran into his room.

  “No wait, aaaaaarghh!” Anna said in frustration and followed him.

  “Jacob please open up, this is serious,” Anna said, trying to think of a way to convince him.

  “Will you at least follow me to school tomorrow? Mrs. Crow wants to see you,” she added, but got no response.

  “Please it’s important, please my life is in danger,” Anna insisted, banging on the door.

  “Eight in the morning tomorrow, don’t be late,” she said, and walked out of his house, hoping he would show up the following day.

  ***

  “What kind of nonsense is this? Why are you just coming home and why didn’t you arrive with your brother?!” Mr. Peterson asked angrily.

  “I actually went shopping for tomorrow’s new year celebration.”

  “You were supposed to go with Joshua, remember?” Mrs. Peterson asked, placing her hands on her waist.

  “Oh don’t be soft on the girl, she is big enough to have common sense,” Mr. Peterson bellowed.

  “I actually forgot about him, he is always wandering off you know,” Anna said to her parents, shifting the attention to Josh.

  “What does she mean by wandering off?” Mr. Peterson asked him, lowering his voice.

  Amidst the scolding and shouting, Anna sneaked upstairs into her room and began to think of what to do next.

  “Okay, we have Jackson, myself, Crow and Joanna, it remains Jacob. What next after that?” she said as she paced back and forth in her room.

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  “Annabelle Peterson, you get down here this instant!” Mr. Peterson screamed.

  He never called her full name unless he was angry at her.

  Anna sighed and grudgingly headed downstairs.

  “What’s all this I’m hearing about a convertible?” her father asked her.

  Oh no, Josh must have told him, she thought to herself. Had Josh seen Ron driving by? Or was he just assuming Anna rode in the convertible.

  “What convertible?” she asked, pretending not to know what Mr. Peterson was talking about.

  “Don’t play dumb with me young lady, the Hittcroffs aren’t back yet and I know for a fact they do not have a convertible, neither do I or your mother,” he added.

  “Well, why don’t you ask Josh? Who was it again? Was it Jay or John?” Anna said, regaining her composure, pretending to remember someone.

  “Oh yes, it’s Pete!” she said, clapping just to add dramatic effect.

  “The one who owns a black convertible,” she added.

  “What are you talking about? She’s lying!” Joshua screamed.

  “Be quiet Joshua!” Mr. Peterson said. He seemed to be interested in what Anna had to say.

  “Well, Pete brought Joshua here, I saw them driving out of school with his father’s car. Pete is one of the richest kids in Hampton high and his parents have spoiled him,” Annabelle said.

  She then turned to Joshua and said, “You should watch the friends you keep, you know better than lying against me.” Then she walked back to her room.

  “Dad I…..” Josh tried to speak but was shunned by his father.

  “Go to your room!” he yelled in frustration.

  “Yes dad,” Josh exasperatedly replied and headed upstairs.

  ***

  It was 8:00 p.m. and the family had eaten dinner. The trees were still and the night breeze seemed to have seized. Nothing moved. Josh was in his room, playing his usual video games and Annabelle was sprawled on her bed, browsing the internet on magic and ways to perform it.

  “Hmm, fascinating,” she said as she kept on reading various blogs and ideas on magic. At that moment she was reading, something strange started to happen. The amulet began to glow.

  “Hmmm, that’s strange,” she said, staring at it as the glow got even brighter.

  “Ok, that’s really strange,” she added as she ran to the mirror in her room to check it out.

  The temperature of the amulet gradually rose. She blew on it in an attempt to reduce the temperature, but it got even hotter.

  She winced due to the scorching pain, quickly removed it from her neck and threw it on the ground after which the glowing stopped.

  “Ok what just happened?” she said to herself, slowly approaching the amulet. It expanded back to its original size in a split second, causing her to jump backwards in shock.

  “Wow, that was spooky,” she said, as she giggled a little, her heart fluttering in her chest.

  “That was magic, Annabelle Peterson,” a man whispered behind her.

  She turned around and tried to scream, but her mouth was just open and nothing but air came out.

  “Oh, I can’t have you screaming,” he whispered.

  He wore a black hoodie and covered his head with the hoodie and his face with a mask.

  “Now tell me Annabelle Peterson, how do you feel about the visions I planted in your head?” he spoke as he sat on her bed, making himself as comfortable as possible.

  She tried to run, but she couldn’t move.

  Oh, he’s going to kill me, he’s the one who put visions in my head, she thought to herself as tears trickled down her cheeks, her eyes locked on him.

  “Oh, don’t cry,” he said, approached her, and wiped her tears with a clean handkerchief.

  “I’m not going to kill you, at least not yet. I just want you to meet a friend.”

  He pulled out a shiny blue orb from his pocket and held it in the air.

  He muttered some words and the orb was suspended midair.

  The orb vibrated for a while and turned from blue to a complete dark, and something came out of it. Something abominable, something Annabelle could recognize. It was the wraith that had killed her in her visions. She closed her eyes, hoping for it all to be a dream. At that moment, she would have given anything for Mrs. Crow to swoop in and save her.

  The creature smirked at her in recognition and it hovered towards her with its long fangs and claws, its red eyes locked on hers.

  It got so close that she could feel its breath on her face.

  I’m going to die here, Anna thought to herself, as she closed her eyes, expecting it to stab her.

  Her eyes had been closed for about ten seconds, but nothing happened. Why am I still alive? She thought as she opened her eyes and saw that the wraith was gone alongside the sorcerer. The hold over her had been alleviated, and she fell to her knees, gasping for breath.

  She noticed a small note on the floor which was written in red and she picked it up and looked at the content which read “Tell Crow I’m coming for her.”

  “What does this mean?” she asked herself, her hands trembling like a leaf in the wind.

  Annabelle couldn’t sleep that night because of the terror that had gripped her and she couldn’t study either, so she just sat on her bed throughout the night with her amulet still on the ground.

  The following morning, she hurried to school with the note and the large sized amulet in her backpack.

  She arrived at school by 8:00 in the morning and headed straight for Mrs. Crow’s office.

  “How does a librarian even have an office?” she said to herself as she approached the office.

  She got into the office to find Jackson, Joanna, and Crow already there.

  “What happened to your amulet? I told you to never take it off!” Mrs. Crow snapped.

  “Well, this happened,” Anna said as she took the regular sized amulet out of her bag.

  “What? How did it get that big?” Jackson, who already had his amulet around his neck asked.

  “Not only that, but I was told to give you this,” Anna added, as she handed the note to Mrs. Crow.

  “What happened?” Crow asked, studying the content of the note for what seemed to take forever.