The next day, 8 kids disappeared. These were the kids who never missed school, they might have been late sometimes, but they were always there. "That's weird." Cassie said.
"It's not weird for people to not show up to school." Donnie said.
"But all 8 of them? We saw 4 of them yesterday with a magic knife, and Sunshine was in a rush, along with the purple sky." Cassie pointed out.
"Still. They might just be absent. They'll be here tomorrow." Donnie said.
Of course, the next day, none of them were there. Still. After about a week, 2 of them showed up. Greyson Taylor and Scarlet Enrald appeared at school. Then the videos started. After about the 10th video, 5 others showed up. Samantha Rendoz, Jasper and Shon Chavez, Brandon Holt, and Kaira Grey.
The weird thing, none of them would talk to each other anymore. Only Kaira and Sam did. "Okay, something weird is going on." Donnie said.
"Unless they had a fight." Cassie said.
"No, they don't seem mad at each other. They seem like… they don't even know each other." Donnie said.
The next day, Sunshine Enrald appeared. "Okay, something weird is happening. They've all just appeared after 2 weeks. People have been asking, and Grayson making the videos… it confuses things." Cassie said.
Donnie was going to say something when someone walked up to them. "Look, I know this is weird for me to even be talking to you 2, but Sunshine insisted, so… I'm having a party tomorrow night and you guys are invited. I don't take no for an answer." The popular girl said.
"See you tomorrow. My house. 7 o'clock." The girl walked away.
"Look, Sunshine is making up for bumping into me 2 weeks ago." Donnie said and Cassie glared at him.
"Looks like we're going to a party tomorrow." Cassie said.
That day after school, Cassie decided to finally tell Donnie about the books. "Why did you tell me sooner?" He said grabbing the books from her and flipping through them quickly. "You know I love books like this."
"I kno-"
"Sounds like that is more than a book." Someone from behind them said.
"Oh hey Greyson I didn't know you were there." Cassie said, because she had double checked to make sure that no one was around before telling Donnie about it.
"People often miss me." His grey eyes were chilling. "Can I see?" He held his hand out to Donnie.
"Uh, yeah." He handed Greyson the books and he flipped them open.
"Interesting, seems like…" His voice trailed off.
"Like what?" Cassie said.
"Hm? Oh nothing that concerns you." Greyson said.
"Well, give me back my books please." Cassie said, she had a zero fuckboy policy.
"No, I'm going to help you. You may not realize it, but our Town is riddled with things that are completely unexplainable." Greyson said, sounding a little insane.
"Like going into a magical world via mirror or digging up a knife looking object from a playground and then having it disappear into thin air?" Donnie said.
"Exactly. Wait, where did you see the last thing?" Greyson said.
"Doesn't matter. But I think we've got this on our own." Cassie snatched the books away and started dragging Donnie away.
"No you don't." Greyson called.
Cassie turned. "What are you-"
"You have to follow the rules. If it says 3, then there are 3. No more, no less." Greyson said.
"You realize that it's just a book?" Cassie said.
"Oh that's far from just a book. Whether you believe it or not, I'm not lying about my story. It happened. You realize that Sunshine was gone for so long because my story adds up. She stayed there, and she just got back." Greyson said.
"She does seem different." Donnie whispered to Cassie.
"Not helping. And time wise, your story doesn't make sense." Cassie said.
"That's fair, but time is messed up. Which is why you should let me help you. Tomorrow at the party, yes sadly I was invited, I'll see you there. We have some things to talk about there." Greyson said, and then walked away.
"You know your blushing." Cassie said,
"No, I'm not." Donnie said, and turned and walked away.
Cassie laughed. "That must have been so hard on you."
"Shut up." Donnie said, turning more red.
They started walking home. Then Cassie stopped. "Do you hear that?" She said.
"Hear what? Cassie, are you okay?" Donnie said.
"Shh, listen." Cassie said.
But there was nothing but silence. "Cass, I don't-"
"Okay, follow me then." Cassie said, following the sound.
It sounded like a music box, playing its melody. It led them to the forest edge, where Cassie found the music box on the floor. She picked it up. "Is it broken?" Donnie asked, because the music box was open but there was no sound coming from it.
Cassie examined it. The ballerina in the middle was stuck. Cassie looked around, seeing if anything from it might have fallen off. There were a few pieces on the floor, and she picked them up and put them inside and decided that she was going to fix it when she got home.
"What are you doing?" Donnie said when she started walking away with it.
"I'm going to fix it." Cassie said. They walked past the library and Donnie dropped her off at home.
He walked away as Cassie walked inside. "Oo fancy trinket, mind if I have a look?" Her oldest brother, Christopher said.
"No, I'm going to fix it." Cassie said, tucking the music box under her arm.
"Not even some help from your brothers?" One of her twin brothers, Carter said.
"I feel hurt." Conner, the other twin said.
"Come on, Cass, let us help." Her second oldest brother, Charles said.
"If she doesn't want to, she doesn't have to." The youngest of her brothers, but still older than her, Colson said.
"You take the fun out of everything." Carter said.
"Party pooper." Conner said.
The 5 brothers left Cassie alone and she went up to her room. She sat down at her desk and put the music box down. She pushed a button to open it but it didn't budge. She used force to open it, but it still didn't open.
She pulled the drawer out on the bottom.She gasped. "Oh my gosh…" She said.
Inside the drawer was a finger with a note. The music box popped open. She grabbed one of her brothers shirts and picked the finger up, and took the note off, then put the finger back. She threw the shirt aside.
Careful. Things are not what they seem. The magic in your town has been contained… but someone broke it. Until then, the magic that has rested until now has restarted. There is a traitor among you.
The books. They're the problem. If someone has touched one of the books if the limit has not been reached, then that person will be included in the story. Touching something that came from the books as well. Like a picture, page, or note.
Anyone who has touched a book to a particular story, or so they seem, will be included in what is needed for the story to be completed. Beware.
"That's… weird." Cassie said.
She closed the drawer and took things out of the top. She started to assemble everything. There was one piece missing, and Cassie was looking to see if she had misplaced it on the desk, if it was on the floor, but it wasn't. She examined the missing piece closer.
She'd seen it before. She opened the drawers in her desk, and found the piece. "Where did I even get this from?" Cassie said, and put the piece in.
The music box started turning and the melody that Cassie had heard earlier and started to play. Something clicked open in the back.
Cassie turned the box around and pulled out a necklace. "an old necklace? That's what I fixed the box for. I mean, I guess it's better than nothing."
Then she remembered, "Then object takes place of the era it's in. The chain… would show up as a keychain." Cassie said, and she grabbed and threw it on.
She was going to text Donnie, but decided that she was going to tell him tomorrow at the party.
The next day, Donnie picked her up. "Woah, nice jewelry." He said, when he saw her necklace.
"Speaking of, I need to show you this." Cassie pulled out the note.
Donnie read it. "So the book… that means the 3 of us, me, you and Greyson, all have to do this weird thing that has to do with magic."
"It exist! So that means that what Greyson and what we saw at the park, it was magic."
"Or someone's messing with you! You don't know what's real, Cass. Let's just hurry and get to the party." Donnie said.
They continued walking, until they got to Cheryl's (the popular girl who came up them the other day) house. They walked in, and it was chaotic. The music was very loud, there were red party cups everywhere. They was beer and snacks everywhere. "Oh my gosh." Donnie said.
"Drink up, biatches!" Cheryl walked up to them and handed them cups of beer. "Enjoy yourselves! Don't leave too sober!" She walked away.
"Hey, Donnie." A different gay boy from school, came and dragged him away.
Cassie saw Greyson sitting alone on the couch, trying not to be too involved. Cassie walked over to him and sat down next to him. "Oh you showed up." He said, over the music.
"Yes, Cheryl was pretty threatening." Cassie tried to out her cup down, but Greyson pushed it back into her hands.
"If they see you not holding one, they'll go e you another one." He said.
"This is stupid." Cassie said.
"This is a popular kid party. Of course it is." Greyson said.
"Hey, you guys aren't drinking." A jock walked up to them.
He raised an eyebrow. Greyson took a drink of his beer, and Cassie unwillingly followed. The jock smiled and walked away. "Gosh, this taste awful." Cassie said.
Greyson was going to say something, but Cassie said, "Don't say something sarcastic."
Whenever someone would look at them, they would drink. "I need to tell you something." Cassie yelled over the music.
"What?" Greyson didn't hear her.
Cassie was going to say it again, but then she realized that it was too loud. "Follow me!" She got up and started to walk away.
Greyson followed. They were going to go upstairs to get away from the music, but someone stopped them. "Greyson. Girl I don't know." Cassie rolled her eyes. "I say, you guys chug these." The jock smiled, and held out 2 cups.
"No, I think-" Greyson said, but then people started chanting, "chug, chug, chug…"
Greyson glared at the jock, and grabbed the cups and handed one to Cassie. "Drink up." The jock said.
Greyson and Cassie chugged the cups of beer and when they finished everyone cheered. Everyone went back to what they were doing and Cassie and Greyson ran upstairs.
They finally got into a room and away from the loud music. "What were you saying downstairs?" Greyson said.
"I wanted to, uh… to uh… um…" Cassie couldn't think straight.
Greyson's head started to hurt. "Dammit, they spiked the drinks…" Greyson's voice went fuzzy.
The rest of that night was a blur, and the two of them didn't remember what happened… until that morning.
Cassie woke up, and gasped.