The Lee-Andersons and the cursed locket
Chapter One
The first hint of Magic
It was a lovely sunny day. It was Monday, in August, so clearly every one of Leauntrip was either bustling off to work or school. Leauntrip is a small suburban area of Canister Ville. The well-reputed school of Canister Ville was Canister High, which resided in Melville, just past Leauntrip. Melville was the area for educational institutes, hospitals, and big enterprises. So, most people were heading that way, only 15 minutes on foot. Canister Ville was a fairly large area, so there was a separate ministry for it. One of the executives in the department of prevention of unauthorized acts and crime control was Ted Lee. His four kids were in Canister High of Melville, and their mother was Sophie Anderson, an English grammar teacher at Lisbourne Academy, another preeminent school of Canister Ville. It was 8.30 in the morning. The Lee-Anderson kids were having breakfast, while their mother pours juice into their glasses. She loves making bizarre juices with an exceptional combination of fruits. Sometimes it's delicious, most of the time it's thoroughly...undrinkable. Today's juice was a composite of apple and mango. So, of course, the moment the kids took a sip, they yanked it away and grimaced. It was 'undrinkable', so they decided to advance with the sandwich breakfast. The eldest twins, Aiden and Austin were whispering amongst themselves, which probably made their mom suspicious. 'New invention?' She inquired coldly. The twins shook their heads vigorously. Aiden and Austin are much popular for all kinds of mischiefs and wacky inventions. The inventions are presumably meant for what they say "just fun", but sometimes they get too carried away, and...cause danger. Everyone loves their pranks, which are usually out of rules, of course, and that's why it's so disliked by their mother. She would confiscate all of Aiden-Austin's dangerous-looking gizmos, which makes Aiden and Austin afraid of her. Nevertheless, under their mother's threatening glare, they had to admit, "Come on, mom... It's just for harmless fun--" "It wasn't much of a 'harmless fun' when Tyler Woods had to go to the hospital, was it?" said their mother dangerously.
Then she gave a small sigh and said, "Too bad you can't use your invention to save--" She broke off suddenly and seemed furious with herself as if she had babbled too much. She had. "What is it, mom?" asked Izzie, youngest of the four siblings, concernedly. She refused to tell, of course, but because of the continuous forcing of her children, she roared, "OK, FINE! A very valuable locket of Principle Eleanor, remember? Of Lisbourne? was stolen from her office yesterday. It wasn't anything special, not to any of us, anyway, but was a family heirloom of Eleanor. There was a secret about it, that only a few of the closest associates of her, including me, knew. That small locket was kind of like a bank for her, she used to store her cash in it--" "What?" "I know, Tim, that's not possible, but we've seen proof--" "So they thought you stole it, isn't it?" Izzie's remark was followed by her twin brothers "Did you tell dad yet?" "Well, no. He is pretty busy with his job--" "So they fired you?" burst out Aiden. "No, not yet, anyhow. They are keeping me on probation, just until they find proof--" "That's so unfair. How could they think you would steal it?" Ricky's point was followed by more fiery outbursts from the other kids. Their mom might be a little overprotective at times, but no one could ever accuse her of stealing. She is the most honest person they know. Mom suddenly fired up, "I would like to believe they have perfect evidence to suspect me, but yet not enough for blame. And I appreciate you standing up to me, but I won't allow that as an excuse for disrupting your studies. It's already 8.43, so quick, get up, now!" But when none of her children showed any sign of listening to her, she roared, "I SAID GO! RIGHT NOW!"
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Chapter 2
A weird feeling
Izzie was seated with her four friends, Zoe, Tracy, Amy, and Lydia, on the school grounds. Canister High had four sections in each grade, due to a large number of pupils. Izzie and Lydia were in Section C, while the other three were in Section A. When Izzie reached 3rd grade, they established this approach, since the school had become popular.
Therefore, Izzie was permanently assigned to section C with her best friend Lydia, who came as a new student in grade 5 last year, and now is with Izzie in the same class.
The four friends were talking about the recently released novel of the series"The Realm of Magic". Zoe, Tracy, and Amy were so enthralled by it that they began creating fanfiction. Lydia didn't go quite that far, but she, like the rest of the school, was a fan. Izzie Lee-Anderson was the sole exception. She certainly admired the author's vivid imagination, but magic does not exist. It will never be. What's the purpose of stressing out over something that can't happen?
Zoe, Tracy, and Amy stood up after finishing their burrito. They have an English literature test just after lunch, which Izzie and Lydia have in the last period. Due to the section division, their routines are separate. Izzie would truly give anything to revise for the English test (for the 51st time. She has been revising from the morning, apart from the first three periods), but was forced to join her friends. It's not like she doesn't like to hang out with them, but 1 mark less than the full mark is her worst nightmare. It's also equally undeniable that she was enjoying herself as a heavyweight had lifted from her head. As the three girls went off to the school building, Lydia and Izzie decided to go too. The bell wasn't much late to rung, As they were about to enter the building, Izzie saw her third brother Tim and his friend Jack Leiner, just past the basketball court, where the coach was training players for the forthcoming match. It's definitely something fishy, thought Izzie. She was right. Tim was quite irritating and pulled pranks, though not that efficient like the twins, he loves sports. He never misses a minute of training. Sure, Izzie might have just carried on with her work, not pay attention to her brother at all, because they always pay the price. But she is a bit like her mother. She doesn't want her brothers to be seriously punished or sometimes worse, expelled, which is nice since her brothers don't even care for her (according to Izzie). And also, whenever they have the risk of severe punishment, Izzie is usually the one to frame. Sure enough, it makes her very mad, but that doesn't prevent her from bossing over her brothers. She went over to Tim, with a confused Lydia on her heels. Tim spotted his sister and groaned. Jack rolled his eyes. Jack is like a fourth unrelated and equally irritating brother to Izzie, though not as his real brothers. They are friendly rivals in studies and competitions but have become a kind of like a brother to her due to his constant visits as Tim's best friend. "What are you up to?"
"That's none of your business," snapped Tim. "Well, assuming that it gets my business when I'm framed for it, better stop you now! And even if I'm not, you would get in trouble." snapped back Izzie. "Look, Izzie, stay out of my way. Don't worry, you will be part of the mischief if there is a reason to frame you." He smirked and went off for practice. Izzie rolled her eyes at her irresponsible brother and jogged off once again to the school building. "You knew he wouldn't tell you and you couldn't stop him, then what did you consult him for?" asked Lydia. Izzie brought out her cellphone and showed Lydia a recording, which happened to be the conversation shortly made by Izzie and Tim. He admitted that he's up to something. So, now I have evidence to show to mom if he tries to frame me, and maybe some other stuff, too..." Lydia laughed and both advanced to their classroom, Section C at the far end of the corridor, past a good distance of section B, and across from both Section A and D., The science laboratory stood directly across from the stairs, so the corridor was pretty big. Izzie was about to enter the class behind Lydia when suddenly her head started pounding. She was almost blinded by pain. Catching the wall at the entrance for balancing, Izzie pursed her lips to stop crying out. She closed her eyes, and even in such pain, she sensed something powerful...extremely powerful. It was something cool, clear, and refreshing, and the power radiated through her body felt like electricity. It was a wonder she didn't scream out. She opened her eyes and gasped, unnoticed by the chattering students. Lydia peeked through the classroom, "What's taking you so long? The bell's about to ring, and--Are you okay?" she asked concernedly. "I am fine," lied Izzie, and hurried off to the classroom. No one had noticed, except Lydia, who was still watching her anxiously. It's a very small matter, must have been a panic attack, though she was sure it wasn't. Izzie still felt pretty shaken, the panic must have been caused by the exam, it must have been...
How very wrong she was.
Chapter Three
A clue to the first mystery
It was three days after the " panic attack" on Isabella. It's not like this feeling hadn't happened during those days. It keeps happening constantly, but not provoking that much pain. She was almost getting used to it, which according to Izzie was a good thing. Still, she couldn't determine the cause for it. The sensation felt like it was trying to tell her something, the pressure of something, something..... somewhere, more like magic. But she pushes the thought from her mind, whenever it pops up. Magic isn't real ....it would never be. The thought was absurd.
The Lee-Anderson kids' mother Sophie Anderson was still not called back to her school. Ted Lee became furious and offered to "talk" to the school. But was cowered by the stern look his wife gave him. Though she refused to talk about it anymore, it was obvious she knew the reason pretty well of the school's suspicion, although she didn't steal the locket. The whole thing was hushed up from the news, mainly because of the " secret bank" things, which Izzie, Tim, and the twins still did not get, and if it was only for the locket, it would be pretty lame, for the principal of a famous school. And the mischief which Tim was planning of, having bickered with Izzie three days ago, was actually about getting his notebook back. Tim used to write the tactics and strategies of the coach and sometimes of his own into the notebook. On Friday, during practice, he decided to study using one of the game methods,(and he is good at it, according to Tim). The principal was walking on the school grounds at the moment. Unaware of the principle, Tim assumed a measurement based on an object thrown from a particular direction. So to experiment with it practically, he threw a banana pill on one side of the ground, and was thinking of determining the distance by slipping a shoe, when principal Herman walked up to it, he slipped and fell exactly 1 foot from the ground. Tim got to measure it (he is good at it, thought a surprised Izzie). After the outraged principal confiscates the diary, Tim and Jack tries to recover it back and eventually get caught. Of course, Tim had a feeble try of framing Izzie, assuming she would get away easy, but of course, it was unbelievable. Izzie is smart and all, but she hates basketball, let alone have a strategy diary for it. Also, Izzie had the recording of Tim's confession. Mom was already mad at him and got even madder when the twins asked Tim why didn't he ask them for help, in a pretty disappointing voice.
Their dad Ted had to work overtime at the ministry, due to the sudden increase of extremely odd crimes. For example, last week a whole coffee shop of Leauntrip was ruined. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt, but the shop was burned by an immediate fire, which no one had any hint of. The same was done with another small shop in Mentroze, with no sign of the culprit. Such accident news was coming from New York Ministry too. "There wasn't even a clue?' asked Izzie one night at dinner. "Nope. The criminal is well-concealed, or criminals. The best detectives of the Ministry are in operation. We can't even distinguish the cause. It can't only be for money."
Today as Izzie arrived from school, she found her two twin brothers Aiden and Austin sitting on the couch. " What are you doing here? Don't you have coaching today?" Aiden and Austin always arrived home nearly 2 hours later after Tim and Izzie, as they are in a higher class and have the mandatory school coaching after class. "Tut, tut, Isabella. That is no way to speak to your highness. Why are you late? And where is Timothy?" Izzie chuckled at the royal accent of her brothers. "He's supposed to be back in an hour, held up for basketball practice. Where's mom?"
"Thee mother has—" "Cut out the accent, will you?" The twins sighed and said, "Mom has gotten to the new mall in Melville, to buy groceries and stuff. As for coaching, it's none of your business—" "You fed AcheDrink to your tutor, didn't you?" interrupted Izzie. Achedrink was one of the twins' inventions. It's a powder drink that's supposed to make you active and jumpy all day, much like coffee, only more powerful. But it kind of backfired. Rather than keeping you active, it weakens you and your mood gets cranky, for a minimum of three days. It would have been acceptable if they tried the recipe, rather Izzie was their first test subject as usual. They were most anxious for Izzie than anyone else, which surprised their mom, not yet knowing about the drink.
The twins shrugged at Izzie's statement as if it was obvious. "Anyway, mom left us in charge. So, you have to listen to every word we say. Go to your room, Izzie. Don't boss around us. Don't make a sound. Don't---" Izzie rolled her eyes and went upstairs to her room. Tim had his room beside Izzie. The twins had one large room across from their siblings. After a shower, Izzie checks her reflection in the mirror of her dressing table. The dark eyes, the stern face, and the entire feature of Isabella Lee-Anderson were of her mother, Sophie Anderson, all except the hair. That, along with all her brothers' was resembled from their father. All the kids had dense and smooth chestnut-colored hair, with the exact feature of Sophie Anderson, even the boys, though they resembled much of their father in their structure too. As Izzie decided to finish her homework, a huge BOOM was echoed from the living room( Wasn't surprising with the twins). There goes my homework, thought Izzie. She went off downstairs and found a wholly wrecked living room. The couch and sofas were upturned, so were the small coffee table and mom's favorite vase; now lying broken. Fortunately, the only things intact were the showcase(shatter-proof glass) and the television. The twins looked amused and horrified at the same time(which could be defined as 'horrifimused'...) Aiden and Austin looked miserably at their little sister, though they looked happy by the result of their explosion, the thought of mom made them horrified. Sophie would blow this house up if she found out. Izzie rolled her eyes and started helping. She has to do a lot of eyerolling to live with her brothers. It was the twins' mess to clean up, but Izzie did most of the work seeing the "efficiency" of her brothers' cleaning up. But part of it was Izzie's 'working alone' tendency. Most of the time, Izzie is overshadowed by her brothers. It's not like she doesn't try to stand out, she does. And her brothers won't even feel jealous or anything, as they have their talent and ambition. The unique specialty of Izzie is her performance in academic study and worldwide knowledge(as far as she knows). Teamwork is acceptable, but they don't always meet Izzie's ambition to be the best. She certainly loves to have fun but takes a simple game way too seriously. And teaming with her brothers' doesn't help, as she is extra serious in a simple family game, rather than have fun. Anyway, they managed to clean up 4 minutes before mom came home. The twins' had made a wooden vase exactly like the broken one in their 4th grade, which they had kept for so many years. The difference couldn't be much defined unless anyone looks closely, so it was a pretty good replica. They are great at art. Tim came home after mom, totally devastated by the practice and sweating uncontrollably. It was nearly 4.30, so Izzie went up to her room and quickly started her homework. She had almost finished her study in 2 hours when her head started pounding. It was the vision and Izzie was almost used to it, so she got to ignore it with one shrug of the head, but just as she was about to do so, a slight curiosity held her. With a slight sigh, she willed herself to see the vision. The pain wasn't like the first time, but still enough to blind her. Izzie shook her head and somewhat balanced the pain. Trembling slightly, she pursed her lips and immersed herself into the unreal vision.
Izzie couldn't define her position in the vision, it was chiefly just a sensation. It was cool, clear, and stimulating, just like the first time, only this time, Izzie knew what it was. WATER. The vision was what seemed like in a shallow pond, and something was gleaming at the bottom. It shone extremely bright and radiated so much power, it was almost blinding. A golden light veiled the object which irradiated extreme power...
Izzie opened her eyes and panted. Now it's obvious the vision was trying to tell her something. The question is Why? Izzie doesn't believe in magic, it must be...telepathy? Maybe a strong bond or something? Either way, it was quite overwhelming. Izzie thought about retreating to her old tradition and ignore the vision, but a small curiosity was peeping out of her mind. At the end of the day, curiosity got the best of her. After dinner, Izzie went up to her room and sat on the bed, willing to know about the location, which she somehow knew will peep into her mind if she wants. It was probably weird and maybe scary, but also very tempting. It took a few seconds for the address to swarm in her mind. 14/B, Elmwood street, Mentroze, Canister Ville, New York, USA. Well, that was easy.
14/B, Elmwood street, Mentroze, Canister Ville, New York. Izzie frowned, thinking intently. Mentroze is much far away from Leauntrip. She would never be allowed to travel that far, and definitely not alone. It took 4 hours due to traffic last year when dad took them to visit Aunt Maggie...
That's it! thought Izzie. She could persuade her parents to take them to visit Aunt Maggie, which is probably the least thing Izzie wants to do, but what choice does she have? The experience last time was very...talkative. Izzie and her brothers were only free for 10 minutes from Aunt Maggie's grasp when they went out to look around Mentroze for some time. Hence, Izzie could only visit 14/B if it was near Aunt's house. Izzie is usually very organized, she has a record of every day.
It's a wonder how Izzie manages to note every little detail, type it all over again on her phone, then write it again on her diary along with her feelings and experience all in one day, besides her extra study, 2 hours of exercise, and regular activeness in social media. Izzie racked her phone and chronicles for the details. And of course, she had no trouble searching through years and years of records from her journal as well as her phone and laptop. The details are quite irrelevant most of the time, but because of her reports on each day, the information sometimes is very valuable. Hence, no one protests, except her brothers who go out of their way to sabotage their sister's methodical way. Now
It'wasn't hard for her to find the address. 10/B, Mentroze. Not far, thought Izzie. She could easily go there. But now the real question was, what's waiting for Izzie in 14/B, Mentroze?
Chapter 4
The shocking experience in 14/B, Mentroze
The Lee-Anderson family car was stuck in the huge Saturday traffic. It was 11.30, still 1 hour away from their particular address. At first, mom was trying to bring 'family spirit', but was responded by bland enthusiasm. After some time, even she got bored and frustrated by the lack of family spirit and took out a magazine from the front seat. The Lee-Anderson kids were crammed in the backseat, but all of them were fitted perfectly. Izzie's brothers were furious with Izzie for ruining their Saturday. They would keep ignoring her, and Izzie was perfectly okay with that, as she's always ignored by her brothers. She was writing yesterday's encounter in her diary, and her hand wasn't even wavering as the car wasn't even moving in the road. It was quite 20 minutes when the car moved again. Izzie put out her journal in her bag and gazed out of the window. They were in Sailard street, the shops and buildings covered the slightest bit of trees there was. Izzie's reflection could be seen on the glass window of the shop "La Cafe". Her hair was tied back slightly with a clip and her eyes displayed intensity and seriousness.
After some time, the cars started gaining speed arriving at the Mentroze bridge, where the road will be comparatively empty.
Izzie thought her head would start pounding again as she was coming close to the destination. Unless it's some kind of telepathy, of course. The vision could also lead to a big disappointment if there is nothing there, or if the vision is false. But to live in life, you've got to get used to disappointments. Izzie learned it the hard way by staying with her brothers.
It's not like her brothers don't do anything for her, occasionally they have helped Izzie in quite a few situations. But most of the time, Izzie is used as bait or a victim to pursue their selfish goals. So she had a LOT of disappointments. But after yelling with them for a LONG time, the siblings eventually get even.
As Izzie stared out of the window, wondering why the vision wasn't hurting anymore, her head suddenly started pounding. The vision didn't like her 'observation', the pain started building on her head. It took all her willpower not to cry out. Closing her eyes, she saw a vision. This time it was quite different. In the vision, a boy stood on a green...valley? A narrow river flowed through the middle. The boy walked towards it and knelt on the riverbank. he had a quite handsome face, with blonde hair and blue-green eyes. the nights in the reflection were starry. after a few seconds, the boy raised his hand, his palm towards the river. he seemed to pierce the river with the intensity of his eyes. Soon the river started to glow, but he kept his hand raised. After a few seconds, the river emitted a golden light until someone screamed. It came out of...nowhere. it startled the boy too. His concentration broke, fusing the blinding light of the river. As he was looking for the source of the sound, a steely cold voice boomed, "Hello!! We meet again, William Entrince, or do you prefer Willie Entrince? "
Immediately the boy's expression hardened. He had met that person, and that meeting was NOT good. 'Don't talk to me, you coward!!' The voice was silent for quite a few seconds before answering, "No one..no one calls me a coward, young possessor. Perhaps, a glimpse of your dead family might make you--" "Shut UP!" yelled the boy. Now the bodiless voice had got to his nerves. The voice sensed it too. He chuckled out of pure amusement."Still grouching about your sister? No use, Willie, no use. Family, love? There are more important things than these in the world, loser. And--NOOOO!! The sudden scream didn't startle the boy, rather a thin smile curved into his face. "What do you think NOW? No one can defeat you? You don't know William Entrince. For his family, he can even KILL people!!" As soon as he said it, the bodiless voice howled of rage, "Don't think you are smart, Entrince. THE WORST IS YET TO COME!!" With that final sentence, the vision dissolved into mist. Izzie opened her eyes and found herself staring at the car window. Even in the faint reflection, her face seemed very white. Trembling slightly, she glanced at her brothers, three of them were muttering together, must be of some mischiefs. Meaning they didn't see anything, which was a relief. They were near aunt's house now. Izzie had to try extremely hard not to think of the vision. she usually multitasks, but this time she found it better to just solve one problem at a time. Izzie gripped the dashboard of the car, taking deep breaths to steady herself.
After quite a few minutes, they arrived at Aunt Maggie's house. Parking the car, mom and dad got out, beckoning the kids. As dad knocked on the front door, busy voices could be heard. "Coming!" Aunt Maggie's voice boomed. Opening the door, she gasped. 'What a surprise!' And gripped her niece and nephews so tightly, they might have broken their ribs. The siblings had to squash against themselves which they were NOT happy with. After breaking Izzie's arm in the same 'Aunt Maggie hug' 2 years ago, the siblings made a pact NEVER to hug again, not that they ever did. Just after entering the house, Aunt Maggie started talking. 'I got so surprised... It's been like 2 years! We thought of visiting you, but Saturday is Mike's only free day, so he likes to stay at home, and of course, the household works never ends. It would be excellent to have some sleep. Speaking of sleeping, I can't even close my eyes at night because of the tremendous snore of Gary Miller! Do you know Gary? The cranky old man of the opposite house? Anyway, he's just so much like that Lauren next block--" "Ok, Maggie!" cut off dad just when Michael Hope entered the room. He was a quite funny man, though when it came to working, Izzie never saw anyone more serious than her uncle. He is a computer engineer. "Talking her head off, isn't she?" said Uncle cheerfully. "Hey Ted, Sophie! Seeing you after so long! AidenAustin, cook up any mischief lately? Here you go--" Uncle gave them a bunch of keys. "--Use the second key, it's of my workshop," He winked and sat down on the couch opposite to mom and dad. The twins' faces lit up with glee and they rushed off in the direction, not giving a chance to mom to even scowl. After gossiping with Izzie and Tim, he turned to a VERY serious conversation with mom and dad, about the ministry and stuff. Tim went off to see their uncle's workshop, while Izzie walks off to the dining table. A kitchen stood on one side, while two rooms stood opposite them. Those rooms were of Izzie's cousins, who were in their skating class, Charlotte and Brianna. She went on to the living room, where Aunt Maggie had just laid snacks. Though she was a bit talkative, her baking skills were simply great. There were chocolate chip cookies, sandwiches, ice cream, and orange juice. Izzie took her brothers' snacks in a tray for the workshop. Uncle Mike's workshop was located in a large room upstairs. The walls were painted with vibrant colors, and numerous gadgets were spreading here and there. Her brothers were kneeling on the ground, intently watching a small robot. Izzie placed the tray on the small table jammed in the wall. It only took a few minutes for them to finish their snacks. The twins' and Tim hurrying for exploring, Izzie hurrying for 14/B (And to get away from their brothers' continuous taunting). Taking the permission of her aunt and uncle, she went off to 'visit' the nearby shop of Mentroze. Going past three houses, she came to a halt in 14/B. Talking with Hannah last night, Izzie knew that the Wilsons were currently at Liverpool. They are full of pride, so they think no one would dare to infiltrate their house, which resulted in no security around the house. It was a typical house, with light color walls. Izzie was already feeling guilty, but she comforted herself that she wasn't stealing anything or harming their property. Only because her instincts kept nudging, or she couldn't wait to get out of here. Her senses lead her to the backyard, which was filled with tubs of exotic and enchantingly beautiful flowers. Tall, skinny trees stood on the yard, and a small clean lake in the far behind, against the back wall surrounding the house. through the arrangement of flowers and trees, Izzie went off to the lake. Everything seemed fine, the only strange thing was the yard was totally clean. There wasn't even a little bit of dust, which was weird considering no one lived here for months. She went off and knelt in front of the lake. The lake didn't seem to glow now, but somehow Izzie knew that powerful object resided in the bottom of the lake. Taking a deep breath, she raised her right hand towards the lake, and just as she was dipping it in the water, the lake splattered and started glowing in a faint light. An astonished Izzie took her hand off and stood up, just when the lake glowed by a strong white light and a bronzecolored object started to slowly come out of the lake. Izzie had no idea why she did that, but she caught it with both hands. It shimmered a bit and became completely still. Backing up from the lake, she opened her hands. In her palm laid a...bronze locket. Izzie was stunned for a moment. The locket itself came out of the water and...it was completely dry. There's no explanation for this. It can be magic, but...why Izzie? This might be the time to tell everybody, but who would believe her? They would just think she was making stories on a cheap locket (The locket did look pretty old!). She carefully held the locket with both hands. It was a medium-sized oval shape, a circle crossed with an asterisk and a single-colored circle in the middle. Izzie tried to open the locket, but naturally, it won't budge. Though it might have been dangerous, Izzie's disbelief in magic still hadn't worn off. There might not be a logical explanation now, but there might still be. She won't believe in magic unless there's solid evidence.
What Izzie didn't know, that it was just the first aspect of her unlikely journey...
Chapter 5 An unexpected accident
Chapter 5
In the depths of the secret locket...
The Lee-Anderson family had just returned home. It was nearly evening. Izzie's brothers were thrilled by the trip, as they got the chance to fulfill their ambitions without any interference in their uncle's workshop. Izzie was glad as she had stopped the vision by checking out 14/B, but was equally confused about the locket and how it just popped up. Was this enough proof that magic is real? Is this magic...or just a trick by someone? But how could anyone trick her into seeing a vision? Izzie was uncertain of wearing it around her neck, so she kept it in her bag during the remaining time of the visit to Aunt Maggie's house. It now resided in Izzie's reading table in her room, with a confused Izzie observing it. The locket looked extraordinarily ordinary, a plain old locket. But was it that simple? The reason for the vision was the locket, but why was it at the bottom of the lake, of an empty house, why was it glowing, why did it just popped into Izzie's hand when she came near, how is it dry even after staying in the water? So many questions swarmed into Izzie's mind, for which there were no answers...yet. Thinking of it deeply, she heard a faint BOOM from the twins' room, which was not surprising, considering they had got numerous gadgets and stuff from their uncle to mom's utter annoyance. It was 7.24, so Izzie decided to finish her study, or more like extra study, with the locket mystery fresh in her mind.
At dinner, mom was gossiping lively about what a time they had had today. Even after losing his job, mom's always chattering happily, hiding her grief very well. The table filled with chattering about dad's office, mom's opinion on Mrs. Long, the twins' maths teacher( a former colleague of mom), Tim excitedly gossiping about his basketball practice to an interested dad. Only Izzie was silent, absorbed in her thoughts. It was quite unusual for IZZIE to remain silent when on other days, she's informing her parents all about the competitions she's participating in, scowling and rolling her eyes at her brother's taunts. "Izzie? What's wrong?" asked mom suspiciously. Izzie's anxiousness about the locket must have shown on her face, and her silence was noticeable. "Umm...nothing." Izzie tried to smile a little to stop her mom from being suspicious. Quickly finishing her dinner, Izzie hurried off to her room and went to bed early without even changing into her nightdress. Izzie is usually quite clean and perfect, but before she realized and could even change, a loud sound filled Izzie's ears. The sound was a huge MMMMMMMM... building an unbearable pain in Izzie's head. Izzie peered out of the window. Everything was quiet, except the animals. They looked like they were suddenly agitated, dogs barking and birds(The little amount there are in the cities) chirping anxiously. Nothing could be seen except the eerie lights of the streetlamps. What was weirder that everything was quiet, yet the ringing was still present, only louder. And no one could hear it? But how is that--
Izzie got out of her bed before thinking 'possible'. Her head felt dizzy from the loud and monotonous MMMMMMM in her ears. The RINGING was growing
louder, forcing Izzie to collapse on her knees on the floor. That's the first time she noticed that she hadn't changed into her nightdress. She was much anxious about suspicions of her parents and the locket. Maybe it was useful in some way, at least she could go out and check, but was it coming from outside? The pain was building on Izzie's head as she shut her ears and eyes, trying to calm down. The pain was overwhelming. Izzie couldn't even scream, or maybe she did but was completely unaware because of the blinding pain. Just when Izzie thought she was about to die, the sound subsided. It took 1 minute for Izzie to lessen the pain, and 3 minutes to fully recover. Izzie stood up and looked around, From where and how did the sound occur? Before she could think it through, however, her door burst open. There stood a man in a long black cloak. He had a wizard's hat perched on top of his head. He looked like he was around Izzie's age, maybe he was around Izzie's age, with intense light blue eyes and dark hair. Izzie was so stunned, she didn't speak for a minute. Then she started, "Who are--" Before she could finish her sentence, the boy rushed into the room, with two more people. But Izzie was startled because the people behind the boy weren't humans, they were cloaked like him, but when they took their long hats, two giant bloodshot eyes came out, with pale yellow faces and dirty skinny hands coming out of the robes. Izzie just had the time to gasp, when the boy struck his hand, not towards Izzie, but the 4 plant tubs beside her on her reading table. And immediately the plants were upturned with only the soil hovering in mid-air. "Hey!" Izzie jumped on her bed when the soil (sticky with fertilizer) zoomed towards her. Izzie was glad she wasn't wearing her nightdress, or she might not be able to move so fast with the pajamas. Her shirt was smudged a little with mud, but the buttoned jacket over it was fully dirty with the dust of Tim's prank gift on one corner of the wardrobe as it shook on the impact of Izzie's jump against it. Izzie had no idea why the boy was doing this, but it probably isn't for a polite meeting. Izzie was hit by one of the monsters but ducked just in time. Pushing the second monster, Izzie didn't believe in magic, but what is this then? Is there any other explanation? Unless she's dreaming, of course. But can anyone get hurt in their dream? Besides, Izzie couldn't fight. Not because she was a girl (in fact she is fiercer than an average girl, mainly when she gets angry), it was because she didn't have anything to fight with. The boy had some kind of soil power and there were two stupid monsters with him. It might have been easy to dodge them if she had at least a..sword or maybe something hard. The peculiar thing was the boy hadn't talked all this time. He just kept striking and Izzie kept dodging. She could hear her parents' voice from downstairs, but oddly, there was no sound from her brothers', yet they were on the same floor.
The boy must have done something to prevent his parents from coming upstairs, judging by the frequent cries of mom, and yelling of dad. Trying hard to prevent from being killed, Izzie backed against the window just when the boy silently took a handful of yellowish powder from inside his robes and threw it towards Izzie, saying, "So long, Isabella Lee-Anderson." Instead of jumping out of the way, Izzie looked at the boy, stunned(again). What does he mean by "So long?" Why did he attack her? How did he know her name? But before she could react anymore, the wall behind Izzie exploded, with Izzie flying with it. The impact was so hard, Izzie was thrown like a rag doll in the streets. She might have died instantly, but the surprising thing was she didn't. Something had defended her from leaving the world...
Wanna know what's coming? The rest of the story is in Book 2. Book 2 is the part 2 of the first book.