“Glenda and I sat on a bench, staring at the office door in front of us. Both of us wondered what they were discussing. However, no matter how much I strained my ears, I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I felt terrible; all that boy wanted to do was save his father. Could I have gotten in his way?

‘Hey, Miss,’ I turned to Glenda and spoke up, ‘do you know dark magic?’

‘Dark magic?’ Glenda questioned. Her eyes widened. ‘Why do you know about that?’

‘I, well, I heard about it from…’

‘A dangerous man is being held in this school who conjures up evil spells. Thankfully, he lost, and there should be no way he can ever—’

‘Is... dark magic evil?’

‘Well…’ Glenda paused, unsure of the answer to give me.

“We heard a strange, loud noise as we turned toward the door. The door blew off its hinges, and an explosion consumed the room. Glenda and I got thrown back, and I landed on top of her. We watched as the fire spread out in the hallway. Another explosion occurred as Glenda jumped in front of me to block the blasts.

‘What’s going on?’ I asked, having trouble breathing.

‘I don’t know!’ Glenda exclaimed, panicking. ‘But I have to get back and make sure everyone is ok!’

‘I’ll go too!’

‘No, it’s much too dangerous for you!’ Glenda used her magic to encase me in a sphere.

“With a snap of her fingers, I got whisked away back outside the school. The bubble popped, and I fell onto the grass. When I got up, I looked and saw the whole building got caught up in flames. I could hear the sounds of screaming and anguish coming from over there. Just then, I heard a familiar voice.

‘I... failed.’ I heard a whisper. It came from the boy from before. ‘I wasn’t able to save him.’

‘I’m sorry.’ I apologized, something occurred to me. ‘Wait, what about my parents?’

‘They... didn’t make it either. I’m sorry.’

“I couldn’t believe what I had heard. I wanted it to be a nightmare I could wake up from, but it was no dream. My parents were gone. I failed to hold back my tears and cried with all my heart. That was the last time I cried in front of someone.

“The boy explained to me that the adults that had been talking with you, the Headmistress, were my parents’ allies in the past and that they had been fighting over who could control a planet. Those adults attacked them out of rage and jealousy. The boy’s father escaped and ended up dying to protect his son, who could not fight back. And now, everyone had to pay the price for his betrayal.

“The boy walked over to me, tears running down my face, and said, ‘Hey, I remembered something, dad said that dark magic could do anything.

‘If we find his spell book, that contains all of his spells, we can use that to bring our folks back to life, and get our revenge on the ones that took them away from us.’

‘But how? Won’t we get caught like your dad?’ I asked, choking on my words.

‘Well, when we’re older, we will enroll here. We can find it easier that way.’ He extended his hand. ‘I need your help, though. You want to save your parents, right?’

I wiped my eyes and nodded. ‘Of course.’ I took his hand and stood up to look at him, face to face.

‘Name’s Troy, what’s yours?’

‘Lauren, nice to meet you.’

Ever since that day, we have been planning, day after day, waiting for the right time to strike you down.”