Chapter 14

I just want to take a moment to acknowledge all the support that you have all given me. I've reached my milestone of 2K reads and over 500 hundred votes and follows. I never would have been able to do it without you. Thanks for everything. My goal for the two month anniversary is 5k reads and 1000 followers, and I know I can do it, because I have the best supporters in the world. I love you guys. You're the best.

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Zach exited the bathroom to find Lauren tapping her foot impatiently. "

"Geez! took you long enough. Rethinking the Mexican food you had last night ha?"

"Yeah something like that." He mumbled.

"Okaaay. Welcome to the magical world." Lauren pivoted on her heel and began to walk away as she said, "I will be your guide."

"No, really," she called over her shoulder when he didn't immediately follow, "I've been assigned to you for the rest of the week. You didn't think you were going to have to navigate this all alone, did you?"

"The teachers are magical creatures, Zach, not crazy people" she barked out a laugh.

"Let me show you the best part."

"They rounded a corner and Lauren said, Zach do you remember the train station in Harry Potter -- Platform 9 ¾," she asked?

"Of course," Zach rolled his eyes.

She pointed at a mundane wall and said, "This wall is just like the pillar on the platform."

He couldn't believe it. There was absolutely nothing at all special about the wall. There were no paintings or pictures, no awards or school memorabilia, nothing to signify that it was different or important in any way. The perfect place to hide the magic wing he thought.

Lauren stood back and said, "now make sure you take a good run at it, but mind your head doesn't go first you never know what might be on the other side."

Zach stood back and taking a deep breath launched himself at the wall, colliding with a solid immovable object, and bounced back a few feet, before landing on his ass.

The dazed teen lay in a heap on the cold linoleum floor desperately trying to suck air into his collapsed lungs. His mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

Next thing he knew Lauren was leering over him doubled over laughing and clutching her stomach like her insides were going to fall out. She literally couldn't talk and she had her legs crossed like she was trying to prevent herself from peeing her pants.

When she finally could speak she forced out between gales of laughter. "I __ just __ couldn't __ help __ myself," and then she knocked the wind out of him again when she collapsed on top of him.

He started to scowl at her, but then the humor of the situation hit him and he was soon laughing hysterically and rolling on the floor with her.

He grabbed his cruel friend and began tickling her mercilessly -- thankful for her quick wit and sadistic mind -- He needed this laugh and she had known it all along.

When they finally stopped laughing she helped him up and he said sarcastically, "You know, I'm going to end up with some real trust issues because of you."

Lauren just smirked at him and said, "You know you love me," and batted her lashes at him comically.

When his best friend showed him to a broad staircase that led to the basement, he realized he'd never been down this way before, at least he couldn't remember ever seeing it, but maybe he'd only overlooked it, because he thought it was just for support staff, but could it really be that mundane an explanation? Was that the only reason he'd never spied the mysterious wing?

Once down the stairs, Zach almost bumped in to his tiny friend when she stopped abruptly.

"Now," she cautioned, "watch carefully, there will be a quiz at the end of this demonstration," as  smirked at him again.

Zach looked easily over Lauren's shoulder to see an old black and white parquet floor. Checkered like a chess board.

"Now you must always start on the white just like in chess," Lauren announced like an old schoolmarm as she paced in front of him," but more importantly to remind us to always follow the white or light form of our magic. You must walk across exactly 22 white squares diagonally until you can't go any further then diagonally again on the other side until you get to that 22 square it doesn't matter which white square you start on as long as you finish on the 22nd from that diagonal line like so."

She demonstrated stopping to explain, "this helps us travel over in groups rather than just having to go one at a time."

"When you get to the 22nd square you say:"

'Deep within your soul is a door that opens into a world of wonder. Open the door and let the magic in.'"

"You can say it in your head, but I would suggest uttering it aloud for the first few times."

"Lauren there's no way I'm remembering that poem."

Lauren waved her hand from her spot down the hall and a strip of paper the color of parchment appeared in his hand with the poem on it. He began to walk the way she had explained.

When he got to the 22nd square he was standing beside her. She held his hand and said, "Read the poem."

He read it and as soon as he did, the paper turned to ash in his hand.

"Leave no clues," she said as she touched her nose. But before she could utter the entire sentence a runic alphabet the size of a tablet appeared before him in mid air. The letters and symbols glowed bright green. He watched in awe as one appeared in front of Lauren too.

"Now repeat after me:

'The doors will be opened to those who are bold enough to knock.

"Now spell out knock by pulling the runic symbols from the alphabet."

He did and the most fantastical thing happened. A tiny pin prick of light appeared before him at eye level. As his eyes went cross-eyed to get a better look, a few things happened simultaneously: to begin with his body felt different like it had changed its mass, and he was somehow less substantial and then he felt himself being sucked into the light: first his face, and then his torso, all the way down to his toes.

It was the craziest feeling. It was bright for a moment, but then it was like looking straight into the corona of the sun. His first instinct was to close his eyes but he lacked the lids to close them and the eyes for that matter and never in a hundred years would he ever be able to describe the feeling of that. When he heard a pop and found himself on the other side of an identical hallway he wanted to kiss the floor, no matter how many dirty sneakers had walked on it, he was that relieved to be in one piece again.

Zach began to run his hands all over himself to make sure he was all there. He couldn't help feeling more than a little shaken and slightly violated when he landed on the other side of the . . . wall thingie. Damned if he knew what to call it.

Incredulously, he turned to Lauren and said," Don't tell me I have to do that once a day until I graduate." He voice took on a whiny tone he didn't like, but he couldn't help it. Yours would have too if you just had been through what he had.

"Okay you don't have to do it once a day until you graduate," Lauren said with a smirk.

When Zach let out a huge sigh of relief she started to giggled and said, "You'll have to do it twice. This is the only way in and out of the magical wing."

"Say what now . . . That can't even be remotely safe?" Zach grumbled, "what if there's a fire?"

Lauren just lifted one of her well manicure brows and replied, "Zach could you have possibly been dropped on your head as a kid? Think about it! It's a magical wing, for heaven sakes."

To punctuate her comment she lifted one of her hands -- palm up -- and a red hot fire ball appear above her palm. It danced only inched above it undulating in the gentle inhale and exhale of his breath.

"You're a fire type too?" Zach sputtered.

"Zachary Thomas Reis I am not a damn Pokemon. I'm Fae, which makes me an anything magic can accomplish type."

"Now are we going to stand here all days with you asking questions when all the answers are that way?" Lauren pointed down the hall towards a long corridor lined with solid doors.

"Okay but answer me this one question before we go. How the hell does everyone not look like a bunch of crazy people to the un-enlightened? What if they came down those stairs to find you all looking like you're doing a crazy chicken dance at a Greek wedding?"

"Zach," she said, "humans can't go down the stairs."

Zach jaw dropped open and he sputtered, "T-t-then why all that rigmarole?"

"There are magic types that have immunity to magic like Ryan. Jinn are immune to magic. He's found himself down here several times before he became officially Enlightened."

She said this to him like he should already know it but duh.

"In fact he dragged you down here once and told you stuff so many times when you were in grade seven that I was worried you were going to have permanent brain damage from all the times you were wiped. It was a huge relief when he finally got Enlightened. Trust me."

"Zach the magic wing is completely off limits. The wards are impenetrable. When you go through all that rigmarole you're essentially putting in your user name and password. "

"Besides when you get used to doing it, it doesn't take very long at all. You even start doing it by rote. It's quite fascinating to see when everyone is doing it too. It looks like those old quadrilles they danced in the Victorian era. Everyone looking like they're moving to a beautiful refrain," she said as she pirouetted.

"You are crazy, you know that. Completely cuckoo for cocoa puffs. "

"Come on we've got to get to class."Lauren insisted.

"What is my first class anyway; I wasn't even given a schedule."

"That's because there isn't one. If you're powers are yet undetermined, and if there's no way to figure out what they might be, you get to audit the classes. Like at university. Consider your major undeclared." She announced dramatically. "Let's go I have a feeling you're really going to like Transmogrification."

Just then they turned a corner to enter a long narrow corridor. At the entrance stood a old table (like something out of the 1600's), on its surface sat a big wooden box – and written on the front in big bold letters in permanent maker: Caution Headphones MUST be worn!

Inside the old wooden container were old school headphones, the kind that covered the entire ear and blocked out all sound. Lauren grabbed a pair and unceremoniously stuffed them over his ears before placing one a little more delicately on her head.

He was going to ask what was going on, but he knew it would be futile; these headphones must be spelled to block out all sound, because he couldn't even hear himself when he tried to speak.

Lauren muttered something over the cuff of her left ear and then over the cuff of his right and suddenly he could hear again.

"Hey," he pointed at the headphones and yelled, "what's this all about?"

Lauren voice came smoothly through his right ear piece, "We're in the music wing." As if that would be explanation enough.

"Ah . . . well then. . . that explains everything?" he rolled his arm out in front of him, at the same time as he rolled his eyes, in the universal gesture to continue, "Noob here, remember?"

"Oh yeah sorry," she giggled.

"The sirens are practicing."

"You know what a siren is right."

"I'm new, not stupid, "he rolled his eyes again. "They're the magical beings that can enslave you with their song."

"Precisely," she continued. "Do you recall the muses I pointed out to you on Friday?

"Yeah the English and Music teacher, and our librarian, right?"

"Well Euterpe or Eutie as she prefers to be called, is teaching them how to control and hone their skills. When that happens everyone is susceptible to their call and must wear these monstrosities." She pointed to her head for emphasis, "We'll only need to leave them on until next period."

With that being said they exited the corridor and rounded another to enter an entirely new wing. Zach went to remove the headphone -- thinking surely it must be safe now -- when Lauren's hand shot out with such speed that it parted his hair, and she placed them firmly back in place.

The gesture wasn't lost on him. He wasn't to do that again. And when he looked at her expression he knew she meant business.

But her face softened and she continued, "There's always a hold out that thinks it's not necessary to wear the muffs. Thinking they're either too good with a counter spell or their powers will make them insusceptible to the sirens call."

"Case in point," she pointed down the hall toward a senior who was swaying back and forth hypnotically to some unheard soundtrack.

"Stay here," she demanded, "they can be unpredictable in this state."

She left his side then and walked cautiously towards the brain dead guy. Waving her hand in front of his face, and said, "Yoohoo, tough guy, thought you could resist ha?"

"I'm going to drag you out to the exit and you're going to go to the nurses' station. She'll give you a draught to counteract the spell. Understood? Okaaaay here we go," she said as she began to drag the shuffling senior behind her.

"I'll be right back, "she said as she passed. "Stay here don't move." She pointed at the floor for emphasis.

Zach saluted and said, "Yes sir."

Lauren gave him a deadpan look and said, "Zach, I'm serious it can be dangerous here for a newbie."

"Okay, okay," he agreed.

Once alone, however Zach decided to look around. He knew Lauren was probably right, but what could it hurt to just cruise the hallway and peak in on some of the classes through the shut doors. So he did a full counterclockwise patrol of the hall ending up at the point he began, utterly bummed to find that none of the doors had windows that would allow him to spy inside.

Wow the place was massive.

The hallways looked old too, like they belong in an old English manor or something not in the middle of an urban metropolis like San Fran. Everywhere he looked rich and heavy woods accented the walls and floors.

Each ornate classroom door looked like they took some muscle to open, and the handles that adorned them where made of solid glass, making him wonder if the legends were true.

The ones that stated that some magical beings are susceptible to some metals, maybe even wood. Could a vampire die from a splinter? If a faery touched a silver knob would it burn them? That had to be right? Why else would a glass knob be on such a sturdily built door?

Speaking of doors, the one in front of him looked pretty intriguing. He wondered what they taught on the other side.

Zach began to wonder if he had to mutter some other nonsense for the class to identify itself and how it would accomplish that.

Not being able to help himself, he leaned gently against it and placed his muff clad ear to the wood grain to try and hear what they might be doing on the other side.

Then he smacked himself on the head, hard enough to ring his own bell, when he remembered the noise cancelling muffs.

His curiosity got the better of him though as he began to think: What could it hurt to take a peak?

He was immune from getting in trouble for interrupting a class or being late while he had the luxury of auditing all his classes.

So, he hatched a plan: He'd leave his backpack outside the door so when Lauren got back she'd know he went in this particular room. She couldn't be mad at him if she knew where he went, right?

He smiled to himself cockily and muttered, "Yeah Reis way to get around the stay put command "and then with one fluid motion, before he could talk himself out of it, he turned the glass knob and swung the door in a large arc.

If Zach knew anything about this particular class he would have known there were two ways to enter using one door. Turn the knob clockwise and you enter a nice calm observatory with a glass partition, but turn the knob counterclockwise and it's a whole other ballgame.

It was unfortunate indeed that the ear muffs cancelled out all noise or Zach might have heard the earth shattering roar before opening the door and being promptly sucked into the room.

Tune in on Wednesday --- Same bat channel same bat time to find out what happens to poor Zach.

This chapter is dedicated to @readforread2000  and @TheRedMark Thanks to you both for being one of my biggest supporters. And RedMark I am happy I could lead you to wattpad. It has gained another talented writer, because we met on twitter.

********************THANKS FOR READING***************

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A/N still looking for a name for a magic shop run by witches. Something like MissSpelled ? And Go . . .

Best suggestion gets a virtual hug.

I want to start recommending great books that I've found that haven't got a lot of reads yet and truly deserve it. So here it goes:

A Different Cinderella Story  by @Hargarhashem

The Death Race -- The Order of Seraphem by @Grady2000

A Merrow Tale -- A Fairytale Retelling  by Lillian_Jones

Wilted Chaos by @FallenTopics

Eyebrow Fails and Bad Boy Tales by @SausageAsparagus

Gifted by CamRon7752

Huntress of the North by @Larka_Writes

Bitter Nectar  by @eatwritelove

Experiment #482 by @25CabDrivers