By Dasha Young, TIWP Student

Chapter One

One day Charlotte woke up to find that her whole world had changed.

It was a windy morning in early September, peaceful at a first glance. Charlotte woke up with a smile on her face. She laid in the soft pillows of her bed, thinking about the wonderful day she will have baking fresh apple pies. 

Charlotte was a girl, about 16 years old with long brown hair that fell neatly on her shoulders and big blue eyes. She lived in the countryside with her parents and siblings, and, being the oldest of four, she always had a strong sense of responsibility towards doing everything she can for the people around her. 

She took off the warm covers and slowly sat up, exposed to the coldness of her room. She got out of bed, slid her feet into slippers, and set up the sheets delicately into place like she had never even slept in it. She opened the curtains, which her mother had sewn for her with the sewing machine that was passed down from her mother. As she went downstairs, careful not to trip over her nightgown, she didn’t even notice how the usual sound of the chickens outside clucking was gone. She stretched her arms out and started to get ready to make the family breakfast for a new day of harvesting in the fields. 

Charlotte looked out the window to look at the sun and made a guess of what time it was – around noon. That’s strange, she thought. Mother and Father should be up by now.

She felt a strange sense of uneasiness as she went to her parent’s bedroom to check if they were still asleep. She came up to the door and knocked.

One knock – no answer.

Two – still nothing.

She slowly opened the door, peaking through the crack. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized that nobody was in the room. The bed was still unmade, which was quite unusual considering her mother made it a priority to do this every morning. Even the curtains weren’t open, only a single ray of sunshine peaking out and making all the dust in the room visible. 

Her hand grabbed the smooth wood railing and she ran upstairs as quick as she possibly could, skipping a few steps and making the house rattle at each thud her feet made. She called out her siblings’ names, “Oliver, Charlie, Elizabeth!” and flung the doors open one at the time, horrified to see that no one was in them. Complete panic has taken over her by now and she starts thinking where her family could be. 

She thinks for a second, before sprinting outside of the house, not bothering to put on her shoes. The rough grass prickles her bare feet as she starts running around the house checking everywhere: the shed, the barn, the swings, only looking once if someone is seeing her outside like this. Finally, she gives up and has to go inside to form a better plan. 

She tries her best to hold herself together as she decides on what to do next. Living in the countryside means that the closest police station is far from walkable distance, so she decides to walk through the fields to her closest neighbor, about ten minutes away. Charlotte goes upstairs and gets dressed, putting on her blue skirt and matching checkered shirt tucked in and covering any holes that she got from wearing it over the years. She packs a bag with an apple, and some extra hair ties and grabs a coat, scarf, and some boots on her way out before walking out into the chilly weather. 

She walks on a dirt track at a brisk pace not even stopping to pick up some corn ready to harvest. The beautiful view of the forest and mountains beyond the field never stops amazing her. Oh how she wishes she could wander around there more often, but with all of the work she has from doing chores and school, she never has time. Besides everyone has heard of the stories of the evil spirits, the Akuma haunting it. She always figured they were just bedtime stories to keep children away, but she still got goosebumps at any thought of going in alone.

While walking, Charlotte looks out into the huge fields of corn, a wave of wind slightly bending it over. She spots a few rabbits hopping in between the stalks of corn. They can be pests when it comes to gardening, but they still put a smile on the girl’s face anyway. However, as she kept walking, Charlotte noticed that there was no one working in the fields, which was extremely unusual for the harvesting season. She had to figure out what had happened to everyone, so she quickened her pace.

Charlotte makes it to the house, the paint on it slightly chipping and the pipes rusting. This was her friend Margot’s house, whom she had known since they were children. They had gone to school together, but during harvest, when they had no school, the two girls had drifted apart, after some fake rumors had spread around about her. Charlotte wasn’t exactly thrilled to visit Margot’s home, but it is the closest and she is very scared about losing her parents.

The house itself was still in better condition than hers, since Margot’s family can at least afford clean water and a nicer truck. Charlotte goes up the steps and walks across their porch with a few chairs and a table arranged nicely. Margot’s father is a woodworker, so he makes furniture for his house and for his neighbors, which helps because they don’t have to make far away trips to get a replacement for a chair.

She comes up to the door and gives it two firm knocks – no answer. She decides to go around to the other side to check for the truck to see if they had left. Walking around the house reminded her when she was a kid and would go to Margot’s house to play. She missed those days when their friendship was unbreakable.

After getting near the dirt driveway, Charlotte saw that the truck was still there. Just as she was thinking of what to do next, she heard a low grumble and a ding.

Chapter Two

Everything started shaking around Charlotte and she was thrown onto the ground. A loud dinging noise fills her ears and slightly deafens her. The soil around her started to lift up in a violent wind and the sky started to go dark. All of the sudden, a hand reached out of the chaos.

“Grab my arm if you want to live.”

She grabs the arm and is pulled up off the ground. Before she can say anything the arm pulls her so fast she can only see out of the corner of the eye how the whole ground behind her is being lifted up in a wave. Through all the chaos, it takes Charlotte some time to figure out that they are headed to the forest. She doesn’t love this idea but she has no control over what is happening at this moment.

After they passed the first few trees in the forest, things started to quiet down. Charlotte noticed that the dinging she noticed before was gone. The violent wind turned into a light breeze and the dirt settled back in place. 

As their footsteps slowed down, Charlotte was finally able to see that the hand that was pulling her belonged to a boy, maybe around 17. He had short brown hair and hazel eyes. She also noticed that she had a scar on his left cheek.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yes, but… what just happened?” Charlotte replied.

“I will explain later, but right now we have to go before it gets dark.”

“Okay…” Charlotte said hesitantly. Her head was whirling and questions just kept popping into her head: what just happened? Who is this guy? Where is everyone else? She fought the urge to ask all of this, since she knew it probably wasn’t the right time for it.

The boy interrupted her thoughts, “We have to find shelter for the night.”

“My house is close to here, we can just go back there.”

“No, we can’t leave the boundaries of the forest or what just happened will happen again.”

Charlotte gave him a confused look

“Look, all of this is complicated and…”

“I’m not a child. Just tell me.” Charlotte was slightly surprised at what just came out of her mouth. However, at this moment, she really needed answers and was quite overwhelmed by what had just happened.

The boy was slightly taken aback. Then he hesitantly answered, “You will probably think I sound crazy when I say this, but evil spirits that live in the forest have been angered and I am trying to put them at peace.”

At first, Charlotte obviously did not believe him, but then she thought about all the things that happened that day: Her family and everyone else in her neighborhood had disappeared. A crazy storm had happened and the ground was ripped apart. 

She thought about all of this for a minute and decided that this was not the worst explanation for all of this. Still, it was hard to believe all the bedtime stories she heard as a child were actually true.

“I know this is a lot to think about, and you probably don’t even believe me, but right now we should start moving before it becomes dark.”

They started walking through the dense forest, and Charlotte was unsure if she should say anything. The boy’s face was thoughtful and determined. She realized she was walking with a complete stranger into places she has never been before, but after what happened that day, she did not have much choice. Her next thought was to get to know the boy better and to make small talk at the same time.

“I don’t think I ever got your name,” she said.

“It’s Henry.”

“I’m Charlotte. Are you from around here?”

“You could say that.”

What a mysterious person he is, Charlotte thought. Henry didn’t seem in the mood for talking and neither was Charlotte so they walked most of the way in silence.

Finally they stopped. 

“This is a good spot to set up a tent,” Henry declared. He opened a small cross bag he had with him. He looked in it, thought for a moment, and took out a small tent that must have been squeezed pretty tight in the bag. 

“Could you go get some wood so I can start a fire?” Henry asked.

“Sure,” Charlotte replied.

It was getting darker every minute, but since it was still closer to summer the sun would go down around 7:00. Charlotte guessed it was around 6:15. She walked around the camp and collected larger pieces of wood along smaller twigs to get the fire started, just like her father taught her. She missed him a lot and kept wondering where he was. Once she returned to the camp, she finally decided to ask Henry, who seemed to know everything, “My parents disappeared this morning, do you have any idea where they and everyone else went?”

He started responding again with “It’s comp…” but then he looked into Charlotte’s pleading eyes and started explaining, “these spirits of the forest, the Akuma, in their wrath, have decided to capture all the people into a magical realm.”

“So why wasn’t I affected?”

“Well, you and everyone else who have stayed on Earth are special. The spirits are not able to have control over us, like they do with other people. I will try to stop them with everything I have learned. You can join me on a dangerous expedition deep into the forest or I can leave you here with everything you need to survive for months until everything returns to normal. It’s your choice.”

Charlotte stopped and thought for a moment.

“I’m in.”

Chapter Three

Charlotte slept restlessly in the tent that night. She lied in her sleeping bag and used the sides of it to muffle and hide her tears. She thought about her parents and how she missed talking to them and hearing bedtime stories. She even missed Margot and wished they were friends again so they can have sleepovers and braid each other’s hair again. 

Outside, she heard the fire crackling, but slowly dying out. Henry was outside to guard and she could hear him get up sometimes and walk around a little by the rustling of leaves and breaking of twigs. Charlotte stared at the ceiling of the tent, the moon slightly shining through it. Soon the moonlight turned into sunlight and Charlotte had to get up. She unzipped the tent and looked outside, the light making her squint.

It was a beautiful day. Birds were singing, squirrels were jumping from branch to branch. Yet, Charlotte did not feel any of this happiness inside her. She sluggishly got out of the tent and walked over near the campfire to sit on a tree stump, which got Henry’s attention. He looked up then quickly put away something that looked like a big book into his bag. Charlotte noticed but was too tired and not curious enough to ask. He slung the bag around the shoulder and came up to the spot she was sitting, with a faint smile on his face. 

“Good morning. How did you sleep?” he asked.

“Not so great,” Charlotte replied. She didn’t want to talk more about how she spent most of the night thinking about her family so she changed the subject. “So I was thinking: how do you know so much about the Akuma spirits?”

Henry thought for a moment and responded, keeping his answer brief, “I learned about them as a kid.”

Charlotte decided not to ask anymore on this topic, since Henry seemed to not like to talk about his personal life. “So, where are we going today?”

“We should start heading West towards a cavern. It is a sacred place for the Akuma spirits, so I might be able to do something there and maybe even stop them. It will be a long journey that will take many weeks and I still don’t know if I will be able to solve anything. Are you sure you still want to come?” Charlotte nodded. “Okay, then we need some energy for the road. I brought some canned food. It’s not the most appetizing but it will have to do.”

Henry took some canned beef stew out of his bag. They ate in silence, lost in thought and eating the cold food. Charlotte ate the apple she had packed with her before, after the stew, since she was still hungry. She wondered why Henry was so secretive about his past. Maybe there was something in it he was ashamed of. Maybe he went through something so serious or traumatizing he can’t tell anyone about it. She was definitely not going to push him to tell her, though.

After eating, Henry packed the tent and put it into his bag, while Charlotte wondered, again, how everything fit in so well. They made sure the fire was completely burned out and they didn’t leave anything, before starting to walk again. They walked in silence, single file with Henry in front so that they could get through gaps between trees easier. Thankfully Charlotte dressed at least semi-practically, because it was more difficult than she had anticipated to walk through the dense forest and she tripped over twigs and rocks lying on the ground multiple times. Each time Henry had looked back to make sure she was alright and helped her get up if she had fallen.

Suddenly, Henry stopped. Charlotte was so lost in thought that she bumped into him. She looked over his shoulder to see what they had stopped for. Ahead of him, was a large meadow, about five miles to each side, but only half a mile straight

“What’s the problem? Can’t we just walk through?”

“We could, but it would be outside of the forest’s boundaries.”

“Does that mean…?”

“Yes, a repeat of what happened before. It would take days to walk around and we can’t risk wasting so much time. We will have to run through. Are you ready for that?”

Charlotte was terrified of what was about to happen, but she took a deep breath and managed to say with all of her confidence, “yes, I’m ready.”

“Grab my hand and get ready to run as fast as you can. Ready?”

She nodded.

“3… 2… 1…”

They took a big leap forward, and as soon as they stepped outside the last tree of the forest, Charlotte heard the familiar dinging she heard before. Henry ran extremely, almost unnaturally fast, and Charlotte struggled to keep up and not trip, but he gave her the strength to run by holding her hand. The wind started pushing them in the opposite direction of where they were going, almost making her fall over, but Henry kept pulling her. The ground started ripping out in a wave behind them, but they stayed ahead of it. The tall grass whipped Charlotte’s legs and the wind wooshed in her ears, but she didn’t let it bother her. Her skirt flapped behind her and her hair got tangled in the wind. The trees on the other side came closer and closer.

They finally got to the other side and the last ding died out, but she could still feel it vibrating through the air. It must have taken only a few minutes to get across, but it felt like hours. Charlotte was completely out of breath and had to sit down on the floor, so Henry came up to her and gave her some water.

“Here, catch your breath and take a break,” he said. “Stay there, I will be right back.”

Charlotte had to take a few minutes to finally feel normal. While Henry was gone, she thought about all the strange experiences he has had in this past week: losing her parents and siblings, being chased by some evil spirits… 

Henry came back holding red berries in his hand, covered in juice. “Here, have some.”

Charlotte looked at him suspiciously.

“They aren’t poisonous, I promise. I will eat them with you to prove it.”

The berries looked very tasty and if he eats them, too, they probably are safe, Charlotte figured. 

As they sat and ate, she looked around. The trees around her had both a sense of beauty and eeriness. The tall trees blocked out most of the light, but gaps in between the leaves shined through some sunlight. Her gaze followed those rays down to a branch with two small finches building a nest. They carried small twigs and laid them out strategically to build a strong home. One of the finches picked up a twig near Henry, making her examine him.

* * *

A man with a long beard was coming back from an expedition in the forest. He heard a cry, so he stopped the party and pointed in the direction of the noise. After a short hike, they found a baby boy lying on the ground, completely abandoned, covered in a few leaves that had fallen from a tree above. The baby smiled and started giggling as soon as he saw them.

“What should we do with him, Gerald?” one person asked

“Bring him with us of course. We can teach him our ways.”

“What do you want to name him?” another person asked

Gerald looked into the cute hazel eyes and knew exactly what the answer to that is.

Chapter Four

The next few days followed a very similar pattern. They woke up, hiked, ate when they needed to, and slept. Charlotte didn’t expect it to be this tiring, just walking, and her clothes started collecting more holes. Even the long breaks that they spent staring out to the distance didn’t seem to be enough to provide enough energy for the many miles of traveling. The constant sound of her sleeve brushing against her coat got annoyingly repetitive, but she had to keep it on since it is starting to get colder as they approach October. For a lot of the time, the only sounds were tree leaves rustling in the wind and the nearby creek water rushing over rocks. 

Fortunately, Henry seemed to become more friendly as time went on, which broke the silence. He made sure not to bring the conversation too close back to her home, since he knew she didn’t like talking about it after not being with her family for so long. 

They came up to a small opening in between trees with a fallen down tree – good resting place. As Henry took out more canned food out of his bag, Charlotte finally asked, “How do you fit so much in there?”

After a short pause, he replied, “it’s a special bag. It’s much bigger than it seems, but I am starting to run out of food. There is only enough for about three more days, but I know that there is a village a few miles away from here. It is off course from the cavern and they might not be very friendly to us, but we will starve otherwise.”

“I’m not scared. Let’s go.”

Charlotte was, in fact, scared, but she definitely was not admitting that to anyone, not even herself.

They set up their tent and Charlotte slept well that night, tired from the hiking. Henry had set up a tent for himself, too, so that he could finally get some sleep. 

They woke up in the morning, rested for the first time that week. Getting good sleep put them in a good mood, so they started talking. They didn’t go too deep, but, rather, talked about simple, random things. 

They kept talking, while talking, eating, and walking. They laughed over jokes that didn’t make sense like they were kids. This was the first time Charlotte smiled since she left her house, and she was able to just let go of all the terrible things that have happened for a little bit.

Charlotte found out that she and Henry had many things in common. They both love animals, but the people who live with them are allergic, so they aren’t able to get a pet. They both love reading books, especially the ones made by Ray Bradbury. Even their favorite food was the same: tuna casserole.

They went up a big hill and Charlotte was shocked by a beautiful view of what must be the village Henry was talking about, except it wasn’t really a village. It was more like a magnificent city, surrounded by a large stone wall. On the outskirts, Charlotte saw some empty, shaggy houses, but as her gaze came towards the center of the city, she saw a lot more liveliness. Markets were booming with people crowded in small streets buying things from stands. But the most breathtaking part of the city was the giant castle in the middle. It was on a hill, made up of white brick walls and giant towers that had blue caps on them. Charlotte squinted her eyes and she was just able to see figures marching around it – guards. 

“It’s so beautiful,” Charlotte says.

“Yes, but it will be difficult to get in. Fortunately, I’ve done this before so I know how, but you will need to follow me exactly, okay?”

“Okay.”

“First, let’s put on cloaks. Here take one.”

“Why do we need to wear these?”

“We have to blend in with the rest of the people in the town. I will explain on the way.”

They started walking towards the wall, on the other side from the guarded gate.

“The cloaks are their symbol of protest against the Akuma spirits,” Henry explained. “The capes are enchanted with a spell that protects them against the powers of the forest, so that they don’t have to stay in the forest.”

“Wouldn’t it just be easier to build a village under the trees than to have to wear a cape your whole life?”

“They used to live like that – make sure that they are always within the boundaries of the forest, but they noticed that the Akuma spirits had started to control everything. They could only grow certain crops and raise certain livestock. They knew that if they continued like this, they would starve, so they came up with a new plan. The hundreds of wizards that made up the counsel got together and agreed that they would enchant all the cloaks and rebuild their home in a nearby meadow. This was centuries ago, and very few wizards remain in this village. They all live in that castle there,” he pointed towards it.

Charlotte was going to ask him a question, but they were about to enter the city, so she decided to ask it later.

“You see that hole there?” Charlotte nodded. “We will have to squeeze through that. I will go through first to make sure the coast is clear and I will tell you when to follow.”

He slowly wiggled his way through, while Charlotte stood, waiting for Henry’s voice to let her know that it was safe, but instead an unfamiliar voice said, “Hey, what are you doing there?” She darted around to see a cloaked man with a bow standing a few dozen yards away. Almost right after she heard Henry’s voice, “it’s safe to come through.”

Charlotte lunged for the hole, scraping her knees and nearly hitting her head on the wall. The man yelled, “Stop! You can’t go through without permission!” Charlotte was scooting as fast as she could through the tight hole. The rough dirt rubbed against her skin and the sharp edges of the wall scratched her arms. She could hear the guard’s bow straining as he was getting ready to make a shot. Her arms were finally able to reach to the other side and Henry pulled her out.

“What happened?” he asked.

“I think there’s a guard chasing us,” Charlotte said. “We should probably go. What’s your plan?”

“We should head to the market. Are you hurt anywhere?”

Blood trickled from one of the deeper scratches on Charlotte’s arms but she used her other hand to cover it up. “I’m fine,” she said.

“Okay. Let’s walk to the market. It’s less than a mile away, so we should be able to go there and back before sunset.”

They walked away from the wall at a brisker pace, to not get caught by guards. They were walking on dirt and weeds for some time, but then a path emerged. The first few houses appeared, barely holding up and abandoned. There were a few people walking on the same path as them, carrying small bags with belongings sticking out of them. A few stray cats and dogs came up to them. Henry and Charlotte stopped and petted a few, even though it might cost them time. Henry took out a small piece of tuna out of his bag and gave it to one of the cats.

“It was about to go bad anyway,” Henry said so that it didn’t seem like he was wasting food, but Charlotte didn’t care.

The sparse houses slowly turned into a neighborhood of small wooden cottages. They spotted a few families, one with a mother, who was hanging up laundry to dry on racks, while small children ran around her playing tag, their cloaks flying behind them. Their giggling reminded Charlotte of her home and siblings, but she tried to not focus on that. The dirt trail became a paved road with many cracks at first, but those cracks disappeared as they came towards the suburban houses. They were all painted with different colors and had front gardens with pretty flowers and wind chimes. The streets got busier, and stands appeared around them. 

Henry stopped near the side of the road and took some coins out of his pocket and counted them. “We have just enough to buy food for the next few weeks, but some of it will go bad fast. Here you go some coins, let’s try to find some food that will last and meet up here in 15 minutes.”

Charlotte took the coins and started walking around. She bought a basket to carry everything she buys in. First, she spotted some rice, so she bought five pounds of it. She also spotted some oats, so she bought a lot of those too. Then, she quickly headed over to the spot they were meeting up at, but she tripped over a rock and dropped all the food.

She quickly stood up and picked up everything into the basket in a relaxed way to avoid anyone noticing, but as she was looking up, she spotted Henry talking to two cloaked figures. They had their backs to her, but she spotted that they were carrying bows. Henry looked at her and gestured with his eyes for her to hide. 

Charlotte scanned her surroundings and found a bush near a building, which she squatted behind, ready to run at any moment. She was able to see through the branches Henry’s face getting more and more worried. 

Suddenly, she heard a branch move behind her, so she whipped her head around only to find it was a squirrel. Before she could even try to find Henry through the thick bush, a loud boom erupted. Everyone around was screaming and running in different directions. Charlotte jumped to her feet and looked all around her, but couldn’t find Henry in the chaos.

Then she heard someone say behind her, in almost a whisper, “Come on, we need to get out of here before they start looking for us again.” She looked around and Henry was standing right behind her.

* * *

Loud, uneven footsteps climbed down the steps, skipping a few along the way. 

“Good morning, Henry,” Gerald said

“Good morning,” he responded, squinting his half-asleep eyes to block out the ray of sunshine peeking out through the cabin window.

“I know that today is a very special day.” Henry’s eyes lit up. “So for your 7th birthday, I got you this…”

Gerald took out a small crossbag, with a leather strap. 

Henry tried to hide his disappointment, “a bag?”

“A magic bag,” Gerald corrected him. “It was made by our town craftsmaker, and it can store anything you want. We thought it would be a perfect gift, since you are starting spell lessons this fall.”

Henry took the bag in awe and carefully examined it. The strap had a small belt, so that he could adjust it as he grew. The stitches were neatly and evenly sewn.

Henry put the bag around his neck and shoulder, and looked ahead, feeling very important. He looked up at Gerald and said, “thank you so much! Can I go to the craftsman, so that I can show how thankful I am?”

“Of course, Henry,” Gerald said, chuckling at his eagerness.

Henry barely let him finish before he ran across the room and ran out of the door, trying not to slam at it on his way out.

Chapter Five

Henry pointed in a direction and they quickly walked on a side road next to the main market, not to attract attention. 

“Did you get any food?” Henry asked.

“Yeah, I got these bags,” Charlotte answered, bringing up her basket.

“Wow, those are some great finds. We should be good for weeks!” Henry said, taking a look at Charlotte’s basket, but trying not to distract himself from the road.

As soon as they got to a less crowded area, they stopped, and Charlotte helped Henry transfer all the food items into his magic bag. They left the basket lying near someone’s house in case they might need one.

After this quick break, Charlotte and Henry tried to get out of the town as quickly as possible so they took turns either jogging or walking at the fastest pace they could. 

Finally, they made it to the wall, where Charlotte stood, expecting Henry to lead them to the exit.

“Where is it?” Henry asked, trying to stay calm, but there was a noticeable tone of nervousness in his voice.

Charlotte looked around, seeing if she recognized any of her surroundings from when they entered, but she was recovering from the shock of running away from a guard and didn’t get the chance to observe her surroundings. 

That’s when she saw the horses in the distance. Archers were sitting on them, ready to shoot at any time. Both Henry and Charlotte instinctively ducked behind a rock. Charlotte cautiously peeked her head out just enough so she could see.

“They didn’t see us,” she reported, keeping her voice just a little above a whisper

“Good. Now, where’s that exit…” 

Charlotte looked around. The wall had some small holes in it, but none of them would be big enough for them to climb through. Then she spotted it, about 50 feet away.

She tapped Henry’s shoulder and pointed to the hole. Henry nodded. Charlotte checked to see that the guards were not looking, then started running over to a bush about halfway to the exit. Her heart rate spiked up, but she kept her eyes locked to the spot where she wanted to hide.

She landed harshly onto her knees and hands, immediately making sure that her whole body was hidden from the guards’ view. She looked back at where Henry was sitting. He was peeking out of his spot, keeping his eyes on the guards, hoping that they wouldn’t spot Charlotte. As soon as he saw she was hidden, he gave her a thumbs-up: the guards didn’t see her. 

Both Henry and Charlotte realized that the bush she was hiding behind was too small for the both of them. They looked at each other and, realizing they were sharing the same thought, Charlotte laid out a mental plan of how she was going to get the exit. Then, she made sure that the guards weren’t looking and counted down in her head, just like Henry did before they crossed the meadow.

3…2…1

She ran as fast as she could. She got to the hole and started climbing her way through it, when the end of her shirt got stuck on it. She pushed as hard as she could, but couldn’t get through. She heard yelling and horse gallops heading her direction.

Shit. With one final push, she was able to get her shirt unstuck. She heard an arrow fly right next to her, but she didn’t feel anything, so it must have not pierced her. 

Finally able to stand up, Charlotte ran to the nearest tree. Before she could move, she heard one of the guards yell out, “There’s the other one!”

Henry, she thought. 

She froze in place for a moment, before quickly deciding to go behind a tree to hide, questioning her choices as she ran. Once she was safe, she started listening for any sign of what was happening behind the wall.

There was some yelling, which she assumed were from guards. Then … nothing.

Charlotte tried listening more closely. Was there someone talking? She couldn’t tell. 

The light chirps of birds around her sounded menacing. Charlotte’s heart dropped at the thought of Henry being gone. 

As she finally got the courage to go back and see what had happened, she saw Henry running towards her. 

“What happened?” Charlotte asked as he came close enough to hear.

“I was able to hold them off,” Henry replied, in between pants. “We should keep moving away. Even though they will probably not follow us into the forest, it is better to be safe.”

They ran into the forest, the safety of the trees calming down Charlotte. Once they were far enough, they stopped to catch their breath.

“Where do we go now?” Charlotte asked

“We should keep moving West,” Henry replied. “There is an abandoned town close by, so we can stop there for some more resources.”

“A ghost town?” Charlotte asked nervously.

“Yes, is that okay?” Henry replied. He quickly added, “I promise we will be quick.”

“Yeah, for sure.”

The walking got steeper and steeper as they approached the now-not-so-distant mountain range. Charlotte could make out all the details on it, all the trees and the hawks circling them. She noticed a particular spot where there were many hawks. Or maybe ravens? She couldn’t tell, but got an ominous feeling by staring at it, so she looked away and tried to focus on something else.

“So, how were you able to hold back the guards?” she asked

“I…” Henry looked at her then quickly looked away into the distance. “I used a spell.”

“Like a… magic spell?” Charlotte asked with a tone that showed hints of confusion, skepticism, and most of all, intrigue. 

“Yeah”

“So are you a wizard?”

“Sort of”

“What do you mean, ‘sort of’?” Charlotte said, letting out something in between a chuckle and a snort. 

He turned back around and examined her face while he answered, “well, I was raised by wizards. I learned not only how to solve multiplication tables, but also how to move actual tables. My whole school life revolved around how to perform magic and mix potions.”

“Wow. I have so many questions. Do you have a wand or do you not need one?…”

Henry chuckled a little. “I would be happy to answer all of those, except…” he looked up at the sky, “I think it is about to rain and we should set up our tent.”

While taking out the tent, he also took out a small stick.

“And yes, I do have a wand,” he said while handing it to her.

Charlotte examined it while Henry started setting up. It was made out of dark wood and had small indentations for fingers when holding. It looked pretty nicely carved, with small details like leaf designs embedded in.

She looked at Henry while asking, “is there any way I could set this off?”

“I mean, yes, but it will take months of practice,” he answered. “Why?”

“No reason.” But Henry saw glimpses of her out of the corner of his eye waving the wand around and muttering incomprehensible things under her breath. He smiled and kept setting up.

As Charlotte was doing dramatic re-enactments of fighting dragons with the wand, she felt a raindrop on her head. Then another and another. They felt much heavier than they would outside of the forest, because of how they collected on top of the tree leaves before dropping.

Soon, it felt like bucket fulls were coming down on her. 

“Get into the tent,” Henry yelled through the sound of raindrops.

Charlotte climbed through the unzipped opening, passing the wand to him on her way in. He got in after her. As they sat down, dripping wet, he searched through his bag, pulling out random objects and gently shaking his head, while Charlotte looked at him amused. Finally he pulled out a large towel and let out a soft, “ah-ha!” He quickly dried the wettest part so that the water wouldn’t flood the tent, then handed it to Charlotte.

“How much stuff do you have in there?” she asked, trying to hold in laughter.

“A lot more than I probably need,” he replied with a sigh, while starting to dig around for sleeping bags. Charlotte giggled.

After they got settled in their sleeping bags, Henry put out the lantern, which had accumulated a few moths.

“Goodnight,” he said

“Goodnight.”

* * *

“It’s time to go, Henry!”

He sat up from bed and took off his covers before his brain could even follow. It was like waking up on Christmas morning, but better. He walked over to his chair, where he set up all his clothes for the day and slipped on his collared shirt and hung his tie around his neck. He put on a vest and grabbed his bag, as he opened the door of his room. He spun around a rail post, gabbing on to a decorative carved sphere. He glided down the smooth wooden stairs and headed straight for the door, buttoning his shirt and fixing his tie on his way out, before grabbing the metal knob and turning it. 

“Aren’t you going to have any breakfast?” Gerald asked, gesturing to the cabinet above him, stocked with preserved vegetables in jars, and many baking ingredients.

“No thanks. Don’t wanna be late. Bye,” Henry said before closing the door behind him.

“Goodb-“ 

Henry didn’t let Gerald finish before he started sprinting away to a building farther away than usual. Along the way, he waved hello to some of the grannies whom he had helped clean their houses over the summer. He checked his watch – it was ten before eight. He could make it there on time. 

He crossed the bridge over a small creak, not stopping to admire the small fish and tadpoles swimming around in it. Over the top of the trees, he could see the top of the building, a beautiful wooden structure, almost like a church but without the cross. 

As he approached it and some classmates he stopped running. An adult – probably a teacher – was holding open the door for the students, checking his watch occasionally. Just after Henry came in, he closed it. He must have made it just on time.

The room inside was nothing like he had ever seen before. It was laid out with rows of beautiful dark wooden benches on platforms that increased with height as they reached the back and staircases in between to access them easier. A small podium was placed on the other side of the room, behind which was a row of chairs, where teachers were settling in. 

A woman headed to the podium and stood on it, looking around the room. “Welcome everyone,” she said. “Find a seat, please.” 

Henry found an empty bench somewhere around the middle of all of them.

Once everyone found a seat and quieted down, the woman on the podium took out a wand. With one flick in the air, all of the benches transformed into seats with desks. 

“Hello students! My name is Mrs. __ and I am the principal here. I would like to congratulate all of you on reaching Spell School, where you might soon be able to do things even more impressive than that. As you know, you will continue attending your regular classes, but now three times a week you will also come here. These will be some of the most challenging classes you will ever encounter, and many of you will not even make it through the first year. Fortunately for you, we believe in second chances, so you make retake a class as many times as you need. Study hard and you will become great wizards or witches.” 

After a short pause where she looked around the room, she continued, “we will now hand out wands. As you get better at performing spells, you will receive higher quality ones, but for now these simple ones will suit your skill level well.”

Someone came around and started handing them wands. The one Henry got looked like a glorified stick from the ground compared to the ones he saw older wizards have. Those ones had beautiful designs carved into them, which he knew had much more power too.

But be careful, because these are much easier to accidentally set o-”

She was too late, because on the other side of the room a boy had shot a flame out of the tip of his wand. His face looked terrified as it traveled and set a small curtain on fire. Mrs. Pointed her wand at it and uttered a spell that was too quiet to hear over the talking in the room. The flame was gone and the curtain seemed like it had never even burned. The boy looked relieved.

“As I was saying,” she continued glaring a little at the boy. “These wands are extra sensitive so that you can get used to casting basic spells, therefore they are very easy to set off. We will also hand out books with some of the more simple enchantings you will learn this year.”

Again the books were passed out by the same man. They were no thinner than an average novel, which seemed reasonable to Henry until he remembered they were just for this year, and there may be more to come.“ Your homework is to start looking at some of the enchantings and start memorizing them, but not – I repeat NOT to cast any of them. I would like to welcome you again to our school. Class dismissed.”