Mr. Kent's Wall of Wonders
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“Marcus, what’s up?” His friend Grace pushed her way outside, her black ponytails swinging. “Why did you ditch the Troubled Tween meeting?”
“I just couldn’t sit there any longer.” Marcus made his hands into fists. “I finally have my magic power!”
Maddy blew through the door, panting. “You people are trying to kill me.” She collapsed on the stairs, her legs in striped stockings spread out in front of her, hair frizzed out in every direction. “What’s with mender boy?”
“He’s excited. It’s natural.” Grace sat next to her sister. The twins couldn’t look any more different, one dark-skinned in a perfect uniform with smooth ponytails framing a gentle, happy face. And the other, pale, mop-headed, her white shirt untucked from the navy skirt and the striped legs almost a violation of the school dress code.
Marcus wanted to stop people in the street and tell them what had happened. “We really can’t tell anybody we have powers?”
“Thems the rules,” Maddy said. “Besides, everyone already thinks we’re freaks.”
The three of them were part of a secret group that met after school with their counselor, Mr. Kent, to practice magic. Marcus had been allowed in earlier that year even though he didn’t have his power yet. Mr. Kent told him it would come. Most magical kids got their powers by the end of fifth grade. With only a week left of school, he had wondered if he really was magical at all.
“I want to fix something else!” The amulet Mr. Kent handed him during the meeting had been lifeless and dead until he held it. But somehow, he’d made it work. Now he was dying to try again. He looked around the school yard. One of the large stone planters had a crack in it. He moved in closer.
Grace popped her head over the stone ledge of the stairs. “See anything?”
“This pot. It’s broken.”
Grace ran down the stairs. “Ooooo, let me watch. The amulet happened too fast.”
Marcus brushed aside a trail of yellow flowers to lay his hands across the crack. The pot was rough and warm in the afternoon sun, but as he pressed his palms against it, the clay grew extra hot.
“What’s happening?” Grace asked.
“It’s heating up,” Marcus said, anxiety rising. Surely it wouldn’t burn him.
Beneath his fingers, he could sense the pot shifting, the molecules rearranging like in the movie their science teacher had shown about melting steel.
Grace touched the pot. “Is it working?”
“I think so.” He moved his hands away.
“Creepers,” Grace whispered. “Look at that.” The crack was gone.
A bus honked behind them.
“Troubled Tween bus!” Maddy called. “Time to mingle with the mad people.”
Marcus backed away from the pot and headed back to the stairs for his backpack.
“Come on!” Grace called.
He raced across the lawn to the waiting bus, but when he got to the door, Grace and Maddy were still outside it.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“The Anger Management kids,” Grace said. “They’re not here.”
Maddy pushed past her. “All the better. No crazy people trying to fight us!”
Marcus shifted his backpack on his shoulder. “Maybe they’re staying late.”
Grace turned away from the bus, so the driver couldn’t hear her. “I don’t know. Something feels different.” She looked down at Marcus’s hands. “Do you really think it’s a coincidence? You found out just half an hour ago that you had a magical power, and now our enemies have gone missing?”
Maddy popped her head out a window. “Maybe Marcus fixed the whole planet, and the Loki aren’t in it anymore!”
Grace shook her head. “We Vor are supposed to balance out the world, not take it over.” She turned back to the bus and clomped up the steps.
Marcus followed her. He didn’t care what the magic thieves were up to, as long as they stayed away from him until he knew what he was doing. His friend Jinnie had a wish stolen by the Loki just yesterday because she couldn’t control her power. She’d had to fight the hulking Silver Wiggins to get it back.
He plopped in a seat opposite Maddy and Grace. The vinyl in front of him had a long rip. He laid his hand on it, feeling it grow warm with his touch. When he pulled away, the tear was gone.
Maddy leaned over. “You know, I’ve got a whole room full of junk for you to fix. When are you coming over?”
Grace shoved her. “No using his power for yourself.”
“Ugh,” Maddy said. “This good-guy stuff is no fun at all.” She looked out over the school as they pulled away. “Maybe the Loki have the right idea.”
Marcus rubbed his hands together. He didn’t care about any of that right now. His life was starting all over. He’d never be the plain old fifth grader he’d been before.
Marcus Mender is available on all the major ebook sites and in paperback. Learn more at DD Roy’s blog.
About the Troubled Tween Series
D.D. Roy envisioned a set of stories where kids were the heroes and adults needed their help, pretty much exactly the way the world works. All of the fourth to seventh graders in the stories have their own unique and unpredictable powers.
In Jinnie Wishmaker (2011), Jinnie discovers she can grant any living thing its one true wish and enters the magical world of the Vor and Loki.
In Marcus Mender (coming late 2012), Marcus’ lack of control of his power may be just the thing needed to save the Vor from the Loki, just as the magnetic changes in South America cause the Troubled Tweens to turn to the bad side.
In Elektra Chaos (2013), Loki member Elektra, who has become one of the good guys after the magnetic fields create a switch between good and evil, has to work her power to get the world reverted back to the proper sides of right and wrong.
About D.D. Roy
D.D. Roy wrote her first story “Blackie and the Garbage Dump Dogs” when she was in elementary school. As a teen, she tried to destroy her little hand-made books, but if you get a chance to meet D.D.’s mom, she will whip out the one surviving copy, still to D.D.’s total embarrassment.
D.D.'s iPad/iPhone storybook app for children, Dust Bunnies: Secret Agents, was released by Polycot Labs in 2012. Jinnie Wishmaker is her first novel for middle grade readers.
Visit her blog at https://ddroy.blogspot.com for behind-the-scenes looks at the Troubled Tweens.
Copyright D.D. Roy 2012
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owners of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The authors acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of any product referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
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