by L. C. Miller
As Abby watched, the woman and the clearing began to disappear. The voice, however, remained strong. “You will make an extraordinary Earth Dragon, Abby. May the old trees of our world bless you in the new one.” At those last words, Abby looked around. The mist was no longer silver, but a deep forest green. As it lowered to the floor, Abby could hear her name being called.
She saw Mr. and Mrs. Herrin walking toward her, smiling. The rest of the teachers and council members had taken their seats again. “Welcome to the Earth Dragons, Abby,” said Principal Bauble, standing near the Herrins. “And congratulations. You will be attending WAMA as a fourth-year student. Mr. Peterson is the fourth years’ advisor, and he will help you with your class schedule.”
Abby let out a sigh of relief as Mrs. Herrin hugged her. The other teachers also congratulated Abby as they stood to leave.
Mr. Peterson got up from his seat and went over to Abby. “Let’s go to my office and we can talk class schedules. You two coming?” he asked Mr. and Mrs. Herrin.
“No, thanks. You two go ahead. We want to talk to Gaea for a bit,” Mr. Herrin replied.
Abby was about to leave the room when a voice said, “Now wait just a minute.” Everyone turned to see that Mr. Jensen had stood up and was staring intently at Abby. “Is Abby short for anything? And do you have a last name?” he asked.
Ms. Bauble turned back to Abby, as did everyone else. Abby felt her hands start to sweat again. Though the Madam had told her what to say, Abby still felt nervous. “Um, I’ve been Unknown, Mickman, Smoot, and Rable. Abby usually stays the same.”
A few chuckles echoed as Mr. Jensen sat back down, never taking his eyes off her as she was led from the room. They walked back through Mr. Peterson’s classroom to his office. When they got there, Abby was stunned to see how messy it was.
There were papers strewn everywhere, papers tacked to the wall with writing scribbled all over them, and jars with unidentifiable objects floating in them. When he led her to his desk, he shoved some papers off the chair and told her to have a seat.
His chair was covered in papers, too, but he didn’t shove them to the floor. He sat on them. Abby could see the papers on the wall were not scribbles, but lists of ingredients.
“Okay, let’s get started. You will have the standard Brewery, Morphing, DETs, Drifting, and Greenery. And as a fourth-year student, you will also have Mythical Beast Lore, Stargazing, and Prophecy. These classes are on Monday through Friday. Stargazing is on Friday nights only.”
Abby stared at the papers describing each class.
He began to scribble something. Abby thought he was writing down when she was taking the class and was stunned when the ink immediately disappeared.
Mr. Peterson glanced up in time to catch her look. “It’s Message Ink. If I didn’t have it, this page would be covered with names, and I wouldn’t be able to read any of it. But with this stuff, I could just say a name—Abby Herrin, and voila.” Abby watched as her name reappeared with classes and dates. He smiled at her. “Here is everything,” he stated, handing her a note.
While he took out another list and began writing, Abby read.
Class Schedule for Abby Herrin
Brewery: 8 a.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (1 hour, 43 minutes)
Morphing: 10 a.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (1 hour, 52 minutes)
Study Break: 11:53 – 1:00
Lunch: 1:01 – 2:00
DETs: 2:15 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (2 hours)
Stargazing: 10:30 p.m. on Fridays (1.5 hours)
Drifting: 8 a.m. Tuesday and Thursday (1 hour, 45 minutes)
Greenery: 10 a.m. Tuesday and Thursday (1 hour, 57 minutes)
Study Break: 11:58 – 1:00
Lunch: 1:01 – 2:00
Mythical Beast Lore: 2:15 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday (2 hours)
Prophecy: 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday (1 hour, 46 minutes)
“Come on, Abby. Let’s go meet Sarah and Jackson,” Mr. Peterson said a few minutes later. Abby got to her feet and followed him out and into the hall. The Herrins were waiting at the doors to take her home.
Mrs. Herrin made lunch as Abby told everyone, including Aaron and Carly, about everything that had happened.
“So you’re starting as a fourth year, too?” Aaron asked before taking a bite from his sandwich. His normal shaggy blond hair was considerably shorter, as Abby could now see his green eyes.
“Yup! And I already have my schedule.” Abby showed them her note from Mr. Peterson.
“Epic!” yelled Ethan excitedly. “You’re in most of our classes!”
“Just stick with us, and we’ll make sure you don’t get lost,” Carly told her, giving her a hug.
Brannon joined the group. “I, for one, am glad you made it into WAMA.” He gave her a one-armed hug. “Otherwise this would’ve been awkward.” He presented her with a new backpack. It was deep purple and had ABBY written across the front in bright yellow. “Welcome to school life, Abby.”
Abby hugged her new backpack to her chest. “You got me a backpack!”
“Aw, man, she’s getting all girlie,” Ethan muttered, hastily stepping back.
“Get used to it,” Abby said, wiping the back of her hand over her eyes. “I’ve never had a backpack before, so this is awesome!”
Carly gave her another hug. “Just you wait until it’s loaded with books!”
“Speaking of books,” Mrs. Herrin rose from the kitchen table, “we’ll be shopping tomorrow. Your book lists came in today.”
Abby followed her into the living room. “Uh. Mrs. Herrin?” she started.
“I thought I told you to call me Sarah,” Mrs. Herrin said as she stopped and looked down at Abby. Her brown hair swung as she turned. “What’s wrong?”
Abby swallowed a lump in her throat. “I, uh, I don’t have money for school supplies.” She stared down at her feet as she spoke.
Hearing a heavy sigh, Abby glanced up to see an upset Mrs. Herrin with her hands on her hips. “Are you not a member of this family now, young lady?” Mrs. Herrin demanded. Abby’s eyes widened as she continued. “You don’t need to worry about it.”
“But—”Abby started.
“They’ve been covered. Don’t worry about it,” Mrs. Herrin said as she put her hands around Abby’s face. Kissing the top of her head, Mrs. Herrin continued down the hall.
Later that night, Abby was sitting in her room. She had her backpack sitting in front of her and was going through all the pockets when Brannon poked his head into her room.
“Have you really never had a backpack?”
Abby looked up sheepishly. “Never had a need for one. I’ve only been to a few schools and didn’t need them then. Well, there was this one school I went to for a short while. I needed one, but my foster mom couldn’t afford it so I used plastic grocery bags.”
“That had to be brutal.” Brannon winced.
“It wasn’t so bad. I was only there for a week. I moved around a lot.”
“Well, you’re in our family now, so you’re stuck with us.” Brannon grinned at her.
Abby gave a small smile. “That’s pretty weird, ya know. I went from having no family to having a real one. I don’t want to mess it up.”
“You won’t,” Brannon said assuredly. “When it comes to family, you can’t mess it up. I mean, look at us with Cousin Eleanor.”
Chapter Twelve
“We’re going to UMM,” Ethan said, sliding into the car.
“Umm what?” Abby asked as she slid into the car next to Ethan.
“Umm, I don’t know,” he replied, laughing hysterically. Abby looked at Brannon for help as he slid in beside her.
Brannon sighed. “It’s U-M-M. Stands for Underground Magic Mall. It’s where we get all our books, cauldrons, wands, robes, and everything.”
The drive did not take long at all, as they pulled into a partially full parking lot barely five minutes later. In the center of the parking lot was a large ticketing center. The words P
AY HERE were printed across the front in a sickly yellow. “You have to pay to park here?” Abby asked, surprised.
Mr. Herrin barked out a laugh. “We don’t. It’s just a front. If Normals were to look in here, all they’d see is a deserted old parking lot full of potholes and a price of forty bucks a day.”
Once they were inside the rather small building, Abby watched Mr. Herrin use his grayish-green wand to touch the red button that read Insert Credit Card. The elevator door suddenly opened to the right of them. “Ready?” Mr. Herrin asked, gesturing everyone inside.
Once the doors opened, Abby looked around in awe. It really was an underground magic mall. Abby saw various stores lined against both sides of her. “It’s just like the school. It was built that way to help kids remember the layouts,” Brannon told her. “In the center is its head, or rather here, it’s the food court, hotel, and arcade game room, and in each direction are its tentacles, curving out with tons of stores.”
Mrs. Herrin put her arm around Abby. “Let’s take you to the robe store first. Then we can get the rest of the shopping done while everything’s being prepared.” Mr. Herrin wanted to wait outside with Brannon while Mrs. Herrin walked into Smith’s Rockin’ Robes with Abby and Ethan. Aaron was already in the store looking at various blue robes when they greeted him.
While she was getting fitted, she was told she would have to buy a regular robe, tie, and a sleeveless robe, all in green. Once she was done, she stepped out at the same time as another boy who greeted Ethan and Aaron. “Be right back, Cal. Wait here, Abby,” Ethan said as he and Aaron went into the two fitting rooms.
The doors had barely closed behind them when Abby heard a crash. She glanced up to see the boy who had greeted Ethan and Aaron. He looked around embarrassedly as he crouched to pick up the robes he had knocked off the rack. Abby went over to help as a few other kids snickered. “Thanks,” he said as they finished. When they stood up, Abby could see he was a great deal taller than her, and he was very cute. He had dark brown hair and handsome brown eyes.
He held his hand out to her. “Hi, my name’s Calvin. What’s your name? I don’t remember seeing you around here.”
“Oh, my name’s Abby, and I’m new.” Don’t be lame, don’t be lame, Abby thought.
“How do you know Ethan and Aaron?” he asked as they waited.
“I met them this summer. I used to live with their cousin, Eleanor, but now I live with the Herrins since I’m a Wielder and all.” Great. That wasn’t lame, Abby thought. She willed her face not to turn red.
“And you’re going to join us at WAMA? What year?” he asked, interested.
“As a fourth year,” Abby answered. “I was tested at the school yesterday. Did good enough to be accepted as a fourth year with Ethan, Aaron, and Carly. I’m in the Earth Dragons.” Feeling like she was rambling, Abby was relieved when she saw Ethan and Aaron.
“Hey, Cal,” called out Ethan as he and Aaron joined them. “You have fun with your dad this summer?”
“Oh yeah, I had a blast,” he replied sarcastically.
“You meet Abby?” asked Aaron.
“I just did,” Calvin said as he smiled at her.
Abby smiled back at him as they walked to the cashier. She feared her face was as red as the receipt she was carrying. They joined Mrs. Herrin, who was talking to a lady behind the counter. “Their robes will be done in a couple of hours,” the woman told them.
Abby saw only Mr. Herrin waiting as they stepped out of the store. He said Brannon had run off to join his friends at the Chalice Candy Core. Next, they came to a store called The Unique Cauldron. As soon as they stepped inside Ethan led her to the back of the store.
“These cauldrons are the good ones. They put the older models in the front to sell them before they bring these out.” He went on to tell her which ones were better and how long they should last. They left the store, Abby carrying the newest model of the copper cauldron.
The next store they went to was another clothing store. The boys deserted them, deciding to go to the arcade while Mrs. Herrin and Abby shopped for clothes. “Meet us at Willamina’s in an hour,” Mrs. Herrin called after them. “It’s the bookstore,” she clarified for Abby.
An hour later, Abby stood outside of Willamina’s Books for Wielders. It was the largest bookstore she had ever seen. She learned from Mrs. Herrin that each section of the store was divided up and designed by whichever topics the books were about. Abby made her way to the greenery section and saw it was covered with vines, flowers, and various trees and roots. She walked through the branches of a weeping willow and saw Aaron trying to wrestle his greenery book away from a vine that didn’t want to let go. She went to help him, and as soon as she touched the book, the vine let go. It even handed a book to her.
“Yeah, you’re definitely an Earth Dragon,” Aaron said, jerking his head toward the vines. “They only help Dragons. Hey!” He dodged a book one of the vines threw at him.
Abby started laughing, and Aaron grinned back at her before suddenly turning away. “Come on, I’ll show you the drifting section. It’s much nicer.” The vines waved to Abby as they left the area.
The drifting section was as bizarre as the greenery section. Several books floated in the air, their hard backs acting as wings. “Remember, you need a blue book this year,” Aaron said as he stood on a chair.
Abby watched one of the other kids try to crawl up the bookshelf and was knocked back down as several books flew at him. “Yeah, they don’t like that,” Aaron said, watching the boy fall. Aaron had already gotten his book. Abby stood on another chair and started grabbing at books. They all flittered past her, just out of reach. “Here, let me.” He stood back on a chair and easily grabbed one of the blue books as it floated past him.
“Thanks,” Abby said. “Now where to?”
“Hey, Abby! Aaron! Have either of you seen Ethan?” Brannon asked as he joined them with his arms full of books. Part of his shirt was ripped and he had scratches on his arms.
“Brannon! What happened?” Abby questioned, shocked. Aaron helped him with his books.
“I went ahead and got the rest of our books. The Mythical Beast Lore section was a little rowdy.”
The trio made their way toward the cashier. “There he is,” Aaron stated as he spotted Ethan lounging near the entrance, seeming bored.
He broke into a grin as he spotted them. “Hey, guys, did you get ’em all?”
Brannon rolled his eyes. “Yeah, with no help from you!”
Ethan laughed. “Got that right! I saw how Cal looked when he came out.” They glanced over to see Cal getting his arm wrapped in a bandage. He also had a busted lip.
Cal grinned as he spotted Abby and waved. He joined them for lunch and then to pick up their new robes. He had just paid for his robes when his mom joined them. After a short introduction, they said good-bye to Cal as Mrs. Herrin ushered them into the waiting elevator. They crammed the back of the car with all their purchases and Abby’s new cauldron.
Abby was unloading her new books and showing them to Bombers when a letter caught her eye. It was sticking to the window like glue. As she opened it, she saw there were actually two of them. She quickly opened the first one.
Dear Abby,
How are you doing? Good, I hope. We miss seeing you around here. I have to see you soon. We need to talk about some things. It concerns your dancing. Send a reply back as soon as possible. Oh, and I enclosed a letter from Rainy as well. She’s acting like a depressed puppy without you here. Hopefully we’ll see you soon. Good luck tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Madam Winters
There is nothing wrong with my dancing, Abby thought worriedly. She read the letter again before moving to the second one. This one was from Rainy.
Dear Abby, the bestest friend in the whole world,
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! She won’t leave me alone. It’s bad enough she’s my stepmom, but now she wants me to write a beautiful song for that stepsister of mine, J
ulie, to dance to. Isn’t it bad enough without you here? Now I have to create a song that Two-Left-Feet Julie can dance to? That’s impossible. No, that’s beyond impossible. That’s nonexistent. She can’t dance to save her soul. I wish you were here to help fend her off.
It’s rumored that Marcella wants Julie to take your spot as a dancer, but no one takes that seriously. Have you been practicing? How are they treating ya? Find anyone cooler than me? No? Guess you wouldn’t. No one’s cooler than me! HA! J/k Anyways, I hope we can see each other soon. Madam said you might come here soon. I hope that’s true. I got to go (sigh). The queen bee is calling for me, so I’ve been hiding in a tree till she goes away. I miss you!!
Your coolest friend ever,
Rainy
Abby wrote back that she would come after school the next day. She held the letter out the window and let it go. It hovered there for a moment before flying toward the camp.
Chapter Thirteen
Abby collapsed on the bed after her first day of school. Bombers, still curled on her pillow, raised his head. “You wouldn’t believe that school! It’s so fantastic and crazy, and just … weird!”
She burst out laughing as she looked at Bombers. He had his head cocked to the side, staring at her, trying to comprehend what she meant. “Come on, Bombers, I’ll tell you about my day on the way to camp.” She grabbed him up and placed him around her shoulders.
Ethan had told her that Aaron and Carly would be over later to start their homework. It had been a habit for him and Aaron since they started school together. This would be the first time Carly joined them, and Abby was excited to have a homework buddy. Completing Wielder magic in a Mystic tent with Mr. Spinner was not her idea of a fun learning experience.
