Troy slept on the jail bed in his cell. His body shivered as he tossed and turned in his sleep.

‘Hey, Troy, I’m back.’ An older man said as he opened the door.

‘Oh, boy, you’re back!’ A younger Troy cheered, getting up from the floor, and walked over to him.

‘Welcome back.’ A tall woman next to Troy bowed.

‘Thanks for taking care of the boy.’ The older man gave the woman a tip.

‘No problem, see you tomorrow.’ The older woman waved before leaving.

As the door closed, Troy asked, ‘Um, Dad, why do you always come back late?’

‘I’m sorry, but I have to provide for ourselves.’ The man replied.

‘B-but it gets lonely without you here,’ Troy said solemnly as tears formed around his eyes.

‘Please, don’t cry, can you imagine what would happen if I didn’t have...?’ The response only made him sadder. His father then gave him a small smile. ‘Hey, kid, you want to see something cool?’

Troy wiped his eyes and nodded. His father held out two purple lights hovering over his hands. He gave one to Troy to experience it floating over his hands.

‘No way, this trick looks amazing!’ Troy exclaimed, no longer in tears. ‘How did you do that?’

‘It’s hard to explain and pull off.’ His father replied.

‘What’s it called?’

‘Dark magic. I can teach you someday if you’d like, but you must tell no one. Understand?’

‘Mm-hmm.’

‘I have a book I made long ago; it’s hidden somewhere in the school library. No one knows it but me, but I’ll tell you the location it's in.’

‘Cool, what can this dark magic do?’

‘Pretty much anything you want to, if you think about it, you can get it.’

‘Even bring back, mommy?’

The man paused for a few seconds before replying, ‘Yeah, even that.’

.-.-.-.

“Oh, dad...” Troy woke up and wiped his eyes. A knock came soon after, and Lauren stepped into the room.

“Hey Troy, it’s me,” Lauren whispered.

“Lauren, is it daytime already?” Troy asked while stretching his arms.

“No, not yet, but I got the spell.”

“Oh, that’s good to hear.”

“It’s time we finally put this plan into motion,” Lauren stated. “Are you ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Troy nodded. “Let’s do it.”