December 20th 2022 10:10 P.M.

…..I could see her memories.  It upset me to have done this to her because I love her so much but I did what I had to do.  I had to see what was really happening.  I know that I should have trusted her but after everything that had happened recently; I didn’t know if I could.  I saw something I never should have seen.

“Andrew!  I need you for a second.” Tasha yelled.

“Hold on a minute.  I have to go get my blueprints.” Andrew responded.

“Hurry up then!” Tasha said.

Tasha sat down at her desk and stared down at the blueprints before grabbing them, disappearing, and reappearing without them.  She laid her head down on her desk and started to mutter.  “Will I ever be good enough?  Those are MY blueprints, not his, never his.  NEVER HIS!  I made them myself, for his dirty work, and he claims them as his.  It’s not fair, if I could I would use those very blueprints as a trap for him, not for my beloved brother.”

“I found them.  I’m on my way!” Andrew called.

“Okay!” Tasha said, instantly all bright and cheery again. She then whispered, “He better not hurt anyone or I will hurt him.  I just hope I find something useful.  Maybe a way to use them against him or just to steal them from him might work  even better.”

Andrew walked up the stairs before pausing outside on the landing, “Who are you talking to?”

“Come in, Andrew.  Nobody, just myself.  It’s been a very long day you know.” Tasha replied to him.

Andrew opened the door and sat in the recliner in the corner before going and handing the blueprints to Tasha.  The blueprints showed a mansion with many many rooms in it and a dungeon underneath it.  It had a huge circle in the great hall and it showed the words, meeting room on it.  Apparently they would have that as their own meeting room now.

She looked at them as she said, “This is perfect!  Who is this for?”

“Your brother and his pesky little friends.  There are trapdoors in every single  room and if they step on one they will land inside a cell in the dungeon.  They could even all end up together too.  It just depends on where they step.”

“I see, very impressive.” Tasha said.

“I know, right!  Now let’s go!  We will be late to the practice session.” Andrew said. “I still have to practice my Magyk too, you know.”

“Indeed, let’s go.” Tasha said.

I then realized that she wasn’t trying to hurt any of my friends or family.  She was protecting us by infiltrating the other side.  She was helping us!

I let go of her hand and sat there, staring off into space.  I couldn’t believe it, this whole time I thought that she was against me and now…. “I’m ready to sleep, but we have things yet to do.”

“What does that mean?” Paige asked.

“We are going to the school.” I said as I struggled to stand.  Paige came over and helped me up as I leaned on her for support.  “We will set things back right.  If needed I am sure that Jenna can turn back time again for us.”

“But Tarik, we can’t.  We can’t.” Paige said.  “We will all end up dead and then what will happen?  Your family and friends will lose you and you will lose all of them.”

“Yes we can.  We have to.” I muttered.  “I don’t care what it takes.  I will do whatever it takes to set things back right.”

Malachi looked on sadly, “You can’t always save everyone, Tarik.  I can’t always save anyone.  No one can always save everyone.”

“And we don’t have to, Malachi!” I shot back at him.  I then whirled around with my hand on my head because I was so dizzy.  I said in a quieter but no less forceful voice, “We just have to save some.  Not everyone, just some.  We have to do something,” I started to get really upset, “we can’t just leave them, we can’t leave them.”

“We have to.” Malachi responded.

I glared at him as I whispered, “And what if one of them was you, Malachi?  What then?”

Malachi hesitated before he said, “My older and younger sisters are stuck in that school, Tarik.  That should give you my answer.  I can’t do anything so therefore I will not do anything.  I can’t always help everyone but I can save others by stopping them from doing foolish things.”

“You don’t want to save them?  You wouldn’t want to be saved either.” I said as I sank back into my chair, defeated.

Malachi sat in the chair next to me and folded his hands in his lap.  He started to speak but then couldn’t bring himself to do it.  I assume that he didn’t want to upset me any more but he did.

“How would you like it if all of this happened to you?  If you all had to experience this just like me?” I asked them all.

“I would feel dead inside.” Paige said.

“That makes me feel so much better.” I muttered.

“I would only think about it and nothing else.” Tasha said.

I nodded.  I was getting all of the answers I expected and nothing could be done to help any of those trapped people once my friends had made up their minds.

“I wouldn’t think much about it.” Andrew said.  “I would not care about it at all because it isn’t my life being lost.”

“No surprise there.” I said to him with anger in my voice.

“I couldn’t live with myself.” Malachi said, “I am messed up guys, completely messed up.  I’m not going to save my own sister.  But I can’t.  I can’t sacrifice others to save my sister.  That isn’t how that works.”

I sat and said nothing.  I couldn’t care less about what he thought at this point.  He was just hurting me so much with his decisions.  I said angrily, “I couldn’t care less what you think at this point, Malachi.  I couldn’t care less.”

He looked at me in surprise, for I almost never lose my mind like that.  His eyes were looking at me but I could tell that his mind was somewhere else.

“And I WON’T take that back either, kiddo.  So don’t think you will get an apology out of me!” I said, rubbing my hands together.

I noticed everyone staring at me and smiled. “Andrew, Maya, please leave us.  Maya, come over here first though.”

She came over to me and whispered “What is it?”

I smiled again, “Please get Paige to come over here and away from that wall.  I need to actually be able to see her, not a shadow.”

Tasha failed to cover her smile as it spread across her face.

“Of course, brother.” Maya replied with a smile.

Maya walked over to Paige and whispered to her.  Paige walked over and sat next to Tasha.  Maya left the room and the four of us arranged ourselves into a diamond formation with everyone facing inward.  Paige and Tasha were across from each other as were Malachi and myself.

“All of you ask yourselves this now.” I said as I looked at each of them in turn. “What would I do if it was YOU stuck in that school?  What would I do?”

They all couldn’t find an answer.  “Well?” I snapped at them.

“You wouldn’t stay here.  I know that much for sure.” Paige said. “That doesn’t mean you go and kill yourself just to save random people though, Tarik!  You don’t get what you are putting the rest of us through while we all try and fail to keep you here!”

“I agree with Paige, brother.  You cannot just go rushing into things that you don’t understand.  That is how good people get killed.” Tasha said.

After a moment, Malachi responded, “I agree with them.  You can’t rush into things that you cannot control.”

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU GUYS!  YOU ARE ALL SO COLD HEARTED INSIDE!” I exclaimed angrily.

“Not us.” Malachi said. “Magyk.  It controls us all whether we are aware of it or not.  It has to in order to survive and grow.”

“My Magyk has nothing to do with this.” I said.  “Nobody’s Magyk has anything to do with this either!”

“Actually Tarik, that is where you are incorrect, Magyk has a mind of its own.” Paige said. “You cannot control it.  But control you it will.  It has controlled me and I would not be here if it weren’t for you.  You stopped it, but in turn, it now controls you.  You can’t get away from it because it will always come after you.  It needs a host.  Magyk cannot live without a host.”

“I don’t care!  I have trained with Selena and have focused on a few Magykal areas.” I replied to her as I rubbed my hands together again. “I have focused mostly on OrderMagyk but I can also do some ChaosMagyk as well.  Magyk cannot control me at all.  I have used it and become a part of it for long enough where it now considers me a friend of Magyk.”

The door slammed open. “Selena?” Marcia asked. “First Mirabel and now the ExtraOrdinary Wizard Selena Johansson?  There is no way!  I thought that she had been dead for years since the last battle with the demons whenever she created the Void for them!”

I looked up with rage in my eyes. “SafeShield.” I whispered as a bright purple dome shimmered around myself.

I started to chant as my SafeShield grew stronger around me. “By these Rules may I grow my SafeShield to protect me…..protect me you shall!” I started a low humming sound within my SafeShield.  It turned into the sound of Magyk, a low buzzing sound.

Everyone else in the room sighed.  I was becoming too much in their opinion.  It was all going to my head at this point.

I was inside of my SafeShield whenever I heard a loud bang.  The door had been blown open by a MagykBlastSpell.

“No.  No!” I said as it blasted my SafeShield apart and I crashed to the floor.  I lay there, stunned for probably not the last time that day, looking up at the ceiling.  Malachi was the first person to reach me and I saw his face in front of mine soon joined by Paige, Tasha, and Marcia.  Malachi and Tasha said to rest.  So I smiled, closed my eyes, and rested.

***

As they watched me fall asleep Malachi said, “How does he manage it?  He almost dies and still manages to Perform some of the more basic Magyk.  How?  It’s like he IS Magyk.”

“He has been Magyk since his birth.  There are rumors that when he was born a tornado blew through the town.  A Magyk tornado.” Paige responded.  “It is said that across the world just minutes after he was born mountains shook and ocean waves peaked at about 3,000 feet tall.  There is no way that he is NOT Magyk with all of the Magykal things that happen around him.”

“They say that if you see him at night then all of your dreams will come true.  Especially the nightmares.” Marcia said.  “So if you have a bad dream and then see him at night; I wouldn’t be surprised if it came to life.”

“He has always seen the best in people but only ever the worst in himself.  I hope that this changes that.” Tasha said.  “But what does this make him?  A bad omen from the DarkLands?  My brother could never do anything to harm anyone!”

“My best friend is not an omen of good or evil from the DarkLands, Tasha.” Malachi said.

“You mean your boyfriend?!” Tasha accused. “Oh yeah.  I’ve known about you two for some time now.  You could have told me.”

Malachi turned pink.  He looked at everyone in turn before saying to Tasha, “It is none of your business.”

Tasha laughed out loud. “So you admit it!  You admit that you and my brother are together!  I approve!”

Marcia sighed loudly, “Can we not EVER just get along?!  Or is it impossible for everyone to just get along for even one time?!”

“It seems not.” Malachi said icily.

Marcia raised her eyes to heaven.  When will the complaining end?  She wondered how long she would have to hold them together. “I can’t handle this much longer guys.  We need to do something.  Now.  It cannot just be complaining amongst each other either because we have things to do before the world almost ends again!”

“And how do you suppose we do that?” Paige asked.  “There isn’t exactly much we can do at this point.”

“I think that we should get Jenna to come in here first so that she can, well, help to fix Tarik.  If we are to help anyone then we need him.” Malachi said.  “Plus, he is too powerful to leave here by himself.”

Marcia looked at me before she nodded and waved for Malachi to go and get Jenna.  Malachi got up and quickly exited the room.

“He has been through so much that I worry for him.” Marcia said to the remaining people. “We need to help people as much as we can and become the face of kindness.  People might learn something from us this time.”

“How do we do that though?  We are all so different from each other.” Paige said.

Marcia twisted her hair as she said, “We can only do our complete best to help others and make sure that we are as kind as is humanly possible.”

***

I was running through the hallways trying to find Jenna.  I yelled, “JENNA!”

She came running out from a bedroom looking rather disheveled as she said, “What, what is going on?  Is everything okay?”

“No.  Everything is not okay.  Tarik got injured again.  He is doing too much Magyk right now in my opinion.”

“That’s Tarik for you.” Jenna responded as she moved a strand of her dark brown, almost black hair out of her face, “Give me a minute to get dressed and I will be right back.”

“That’s fine.”

She nodded and went into the room to change.  She emerged less than a minute later looking like she had just left the bathtub.

She said, “Let’s go!”

They both ran towards the meeting room.

***

“We bring the Magyk of water with us.  Nothing can stop us now.”  Paige smiled a sad smile as she stood up and performed a small bow.  “Nothing can stop us now.  Nothing at all!”

“Calm down.  We can’t exactly go rushing into things like this.  Remember, at this point, the school is gone.”  Tasha said to her.

All of them sat in silence for a few minutes before Jenna and Malachi came rushing back into the room.  Jenna knelt next to me and started to gently feel my forehead.

As she did so she asked, “What caused this to happen?  What did he do this time?”  There was a no nonsense tone from her that instantly had everyone answering.

“He made a protection spell and the door was blasted open and his safeshield broke.” Tasha said. “He fell asleep and won’t wake up.  We are really worried about him, Jenna.  Is there anything you can do to help him?  Is he going to be okay?”

“I don’t think he will wake up.” Jenna looked up with tears in her eyes. “His spell mutated.  It went inside of him and transferred him to the Void.  If he is killed in the Void, he will die here.  If he gets hurt in any way it will show here.  It is almost impossible to escape the Void without me, Oli, Selena, or Josephine.  We all helped to create the Void and therefore it is us that can manipulate it at our will.”

At that very moment a long scratch appeared on my face.  It looked really deep but nothing happened.  Jenna held her breath as she waited for red to show from it.  It never did and she sighed in relief. “It worked.  The spell finally worked.”

“What do you mean exactly by it worked?  He is literally getting hurt inside this Void of yours.” Tasha said.  “I can’t lose my brother.”  At that very second another long red scratch appeared along my arm.  “Jenna, he isn’t coming out is he?”

“No, darling.  He is not.” Jenna said.

Everyone started to wonder if everything would be okay or not.  The future looked really black and white for my death but with the future, anything could happen.  The only thing that matters is how you act upon it.  If you act rashly, you can hurt yourself and others so therefore, you must plan.

“What should we do?” Malachi asked.

Jenna thought for a moment before grabbing my hand and laying down on the floor next to me and said, “I will go get him out.  I will enter exactly where he is now so if anything happens here that is why.  Be safe.  Don’t try to follow me because the Void likes to feed off of the souls that get stuck in it.  I don’t want that to happen to any of you.  Stay here and stay safe.” She said as her eyes glowed purple and she slowly closed them and grew still.  Little did they all know, at the last second, Malachi had grabbed her hand and had been transferred into the Void as well.  Malachi and Jenna’s eyes had met for a split second and Jenna’s look of outright rage and disapproval made Malachi  second guess his decision.  All that the others had to tell Malachi and Jenna were still alive was the very slow rise and fall of their bodies as they breathed.  They were all in the Void.