Naomi fought as hard as she could against the larger boys. She tried clawing at them, or sinking her teeth into the, But they did a good job of pinning her arms and holding her down. It was futile to continue struggling, not that she stopped. It was a matter of principal, and she did want these goons to perceive her as weak.

“Why are you doing this? This isn’t right! Let go of me!”

The hulking boys threw her into the waiting arms of a bunch of girls, who quickly pulled her down to the ground and held her in place. They gave her worried and concerned looks. A few were downright pleading with their expressions. This caught Naomi completely off guard.

She calmed down and finally asked, “Alright, what is going on here? Why did your boyfriends just take me away from my friend? What are you doing?”

One girl sat herself down across from Naomi and introduced herself. “Naomi, I’m Becky, and trust me, this should not be happening at all! This was all put together by the Usurpers over there.”

She covertly pointed a finger at the nerd who were now escorting Trick up to the platform with them. “And I’m not just calling them that, they chose that name for themselves! They’re freaks who found some way of, well, I don’t know how to exactly describe it.”

“Cast a spell,” someone else offered above the din of students still shouting as the vines and little lights finished up their job of collecting and corralling the dancers.

“Yes! That’s right! They cast a kind of spell on everyone,” Becky said hurriedly. “They said they did not like the way everyone was treating each other in school. They said it was very unfair to others that some enjoyed all the popularity, good standing with the teachers, and got all the money for their clubs. They used their magic to shuffle everything around.

“Suddenly, all of our teachers, including our coaches hated us. They gave us bad grades even if we tried! Our teams ran out of money, and we found our best spots on campus taken by others, and our off campus passes taken away, too!”

“Sounds terrible,” Naomi said, unsure if she believed any of this.

Becky was a strange girl to her. Short and skinny, with curly blond hair and lots of freckles. There was something about her that did not bespeak sporty, and yet here she was among the jocks. And she sounded so shook, but looked too innocent.

“But how does any of that equate magic,” Naomi asked. She pointed at the trees and everything around them. “I mean, this right here is clearly magical! What you’ve said does sound bad and nightmarish, especially all in one day. But how do you know that was magic? And why would the nerds be responsible for this?”

Becky explained, “Because, naomi, they can use powers to change things as they want. They practically said so to us! They said that they were punishing us with their amazing powers, and they would start a new order to make sure that we felt just as they had, by putting us at the bottom. And no matter what we have done since, they have blocked us and made our lives miserable.”

Another girl spat, “And just look at them! Look at how smug they are! And see? The lights are now hanging around them! And none of them got electrocuted! This is what they are doing! To show to everyone once again that they are in power.”

Now that argument did make good sense to naomi, but there was something else that was bothering her.

“How do you know my name,” she asked.

“Everyone listens to everything around here,” Becky sighed.

One dark skinned boy came up to her and showed his phone and a text message. He explained, “There were a lot of people doing what they could to eavesdrop. A few kids know how to read lips. They watched you guys and spread the word quickly. Each clique tries to recruit more people to itself to make sure that the geeks there don’t dig their greasy claws into anyone else.”

“It’s one of the few ways we can show that they don’t completely control us,” Becky added.

Naomi continued to watch the nerds. They were talking with the little orbs of light, but they did not look entirely pleased. Not like the people around her were describing them. In fact, she thought one of them was arguing.

“Look everyone, I’m here as a guest. I don’t know what is going on either, but I am not a pawn to your sick games! My friend is over there, and I am not a fan of that! Will you at least work together and help me get him back? Whatever is going on with this dance is wrong, and it has something to do with those trees. If we work together, we can solve this!”

The jocks shared guarded looks with one another. Naomi could instantly tell that they were not going to go along with her plans. She slumped down, pretending to accept defeat.

“Alright. Then at least we should wait and see what happens next. It looks like those vines and little lights are just about done with whatever it is that they are up to.”

She heard someone grunt affirmatively. She catalogged that. In fact, the kids around her looked more grim and determined than anything else. There was not as much fear in their eyes as what she heard around her. People were crying in the distance and others were yelling that their phones were not working.

There was no way to call for help to the outside world. She knew she needed to get free and get back to Trick. Together, they could put a stop to this.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cory was explaining that they needed to work together in order to survive this little catastrophe. He considered it little! They were way too calm for this whole situation. Trick wanted to clock him. He watched as the fat kid ranted on and on as another nerd went up and waved to the little light. They came to him and he started talking to them.

By paying close attention, Trick finally made out what the little lights were. They were all diminutive fairies!

“Look at that guys! Even under pressure he is keeping his calm and taking in his surroundings,” Cory said congratulatory. “He does belong with us! A true nerd!”

“So you worked this all out with fairies, huh? You found a way of creating a Door?”

Cory finally looked shocked. Sebastian got into Trick’s face and snarled, “How do you know about the Door?”

Trick headbutted him in the face. The kid pulled away, hands clamped over his face, muffling a sceam. The other nerds leaped back and let him go. Cory put up his hands, as if to negotiate.

“Calm down, Trick, we don’t need to let this devolve into a fight. You want to be on our good side once we get this all straightened out!”

Trick threw him a murderous look, but saw that the kid talking with the fairies was getting visibly upset. He began shouting.

“What do you mean you’ve made a new covenant! None of us made any such agreement with you! We locked your portal away so it couldn’t be used!”

There was quick zap followed by the guy yelping, “Yowch!”

Trick laughed. “So you idiots opened up a Door. You’re not the first downtrodden bunch of teens I’ve met who have done this. But it looks like you’re getting the same treatment they did. The beings from the Realms of Imagination do not play by the same set of rules that we do. Plus, they are trying to escape a war! They are willing to do anything it takes to get free of it!

“Believe me, I know.”

The fairies took an interest in him and start floating and buzzing about his head.

“Shoo,” Cory said, swatting them away. He got zapped, too.

The girl who had saved him and Naomi from the creepy thsbians walked over. Trick remembered that her name was Cassie. She looked very angry.

“You’re wrong Cory, he doesn't belong with us. He is very smart, true. Just like Becky and Odasis were, but they chose their side! He does not respect us. He would have looked down on us, too! Get rid of him, he does not deserve to stand atop this spire with us.”

“Correction, it is a platform,” Trick retorted. “And Cassie, I have no idea who you all are, or what compelled you to open a Door, but I know that it was stupid!”

Cassie slapped him hard.

“We had to do it for survival,” she screeched. “They were oppressing us! They made fun of us! They took advantage of us! Our clubs were always underfunded. Our idea were always dismissed. We had no representation Popularity was the coin of the realm! But not anymore, not with the world that we created.”

“You mean with the world you had them create,” Trick said, nodding to the fairies.

“This is a smart one,” one of the ball of light giggled.

“Shut up,” Cassie screamed at them.

“The fae are under our control. We figured out how to summon them to our world and bind them to our bidding,” Cory explained.

“Is that so,” another fae taunted.

“How did you guys discover the means of making a Door,” Trick asked suspiciously. “For some it has been through dreams. For others the creatures have themselves found a weakness and exploited it, and for others a key was presented by another party.”

The way Cory’s eyes widened slightly at the last option gave Trick what he needed. He grabbed the fat kid by his jacket and kicked Sebastian’s knee out when he came back for round two.

“Who told you how to make the Door,” he demanded.

Cory’s confidence vanished and he started trembling and whimpering. The fae all began to giggle. One flew up to Trick and grew bigger until she was the size of a large doll. She was red and gold with a flowing dress made of autumn leaves. She had shimmering wings of gold that buzzed like a hummingbird’s.

She said sweetly, “You are a special one, Trick!”

“How does everyone know my name,” he asked, exasperated.

“They know through spying and gossip,” the fae explained. “But we know through Sight, It is an inherent gift of the fae. Our long lives have taught us much and so we See much!”

Cassie tried to grab the fae, but there was a blast of wind and the tall girl was hurled off the platform. She landed with a sickening crunch on the ground below.

The fae smirked and said, “These kids really do need you, Trick. You possess what just might save them.”

“I am going to save them,” Trick said stubbornly. “And I am going to do that by working with my friend, Naomi!”

He then cast himself from the platform and hit the ground running. Once he began dashing for his friend, she too broke free from the jocks. The sprinted for one another and met in the center of the dance floor.

Right as they met, the ground began shaking.