If I had known how crummy my day would have been, I would have stayed in bed. But I was oblivious to the horrors the day held. I lived in a world with magic, where I had powers, but my aunts kept drilling it in that I had to use them for “good deeds. ” Which, obliviously excluded my own needs. For example, one day in kindergarten when Kelsey “accidentally” spilled juice on me, it was wrong to make her slip and fall into mud during recess, which ended me in getting a scolding of a Clarissa-why-did-you-make-her-fall-do-not-abuse-your-powers lecture. Of course as I grew older so did my powers, causing an increase lectures.
So I was never really sure about things one hundred percent- except one thing; my parents. Louise and Russell Mayback. They both died really young- both from fever. I only had a year together- and I only had one photo. But luckily my aunts were kind enough to take me in. They were the only other people who knew about my powers, beside my parents, anyway. While powers have their perks, a downfall is not fitting in. Let’s just say that whenever there was a mishap, I was there. Whenever someone got hurt, I was there. You get the point. Me equals bad news.
If I go the tiniest bit too angry… well, I could accidentally hex everyone within a one-mile radius…oops. * * * * “Clarissa! Get up! You’re going to be late! ” yelled Aunt Izzie. “You know that these things wouldn’t happen if I could use magic to get ready in the morning! For small things- like brushing my hair! ” I yelled back. “Nice try but figure out something that won’t end up in you burning down the house. Remember last time Clarissa? ” Aunt Penny said as she walked into my room. As a matter of fact, I did remember last time I burnt down the house. “At least you had your magic to fix it! ” I complained.
Like me, they also had powers, which was why they had volunteered before anyone else did. It was nice, since they knew how to train me, but bad because then they knew what not to trust me with- like small things that involved fire. “COME on you two! ” “Coming Izzie! ” I called. At least one thing I was trusted with was appearing and disappearing- at least in my own house. My forehead scrunched up in concentration. As then I was whizzing through the air for half a second. It’s the greatest feeling, like gravity no longer rules your life, and you’re free. Like a bird. “Gah! ” Izzie screamed, “Don’t do that!
Okay, you’re going to be late, so just skip breakfast and get into the car. ” “Fine. And today’s the museum field trip so don’t pick me up, I’ll just grab a ride with Ellie. ” “What could possibly be more exciting than a room filled with stupid dusty old things that haven’t been used in, like, a thousand years? Try anything! ” Ellie said. “Umm… yeah- super duper boring! I totally wish I was somewhere else! ” I lied. I really loved artifacts. It was just in my blood since both of my parents were archeologists, at least before the fever struck and killed hundreds of people, including my parents.
My teacher, Mr. Elzer, was droning on and on about the paintings in front of us, so I decide to slip away. I find myself in a room full of jewels and gold figures. I tend to find the boring stuff. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a man in black jumps out and pounces on me. My head slams into the glass casing- hard. He’s got me cornered, but I finally get a good look at him. He has black hair and weird green eyes- my weird green eyes. “Where is it? Where? ” He yells while shaking my shoulders. “What are you talking about creep! ” I scream. This continues for another thirty seconds, but it feels like eternity.
Finally not caring, I see a baseball bat hiding in a corner and make it fly across the room. It conks him right on the head- good. He falls onto me- bad. I push him off me and grab my phone from my pocket. But due to his slamming, is now broken. If my aunts taught me a few repair spells, this wouldn’t be a problem, but they didn’t. Okay, so Plan A, taking a picture of him was out. Plan B, run away and get back to Mr. Elzer’s class. Thankfully, he’s still talking and nobody saw I was gone- I think. But what Mr. Elzer says next puts a chill down my spine. “Class, let’s make our way down to the Jewels Room.
Everyone is shuffling their feet and I’m imagining what Aunt Izzie will say. When we enter, I gasp. The room is empty. No strange man. Not a trace of him. He must have ran away. Only thing that didn’t change was the bat. I pick up the bat and smile. It’s from last year, when I accidentally made the batter hit a home run. I got yelled at for a week. Ellie makes her way over to me. “Where’d ya get that? ” She asks. “Um… I just found it here. Right now. ” “Okay,” she says “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t hitting anyone on the head with it! ” I pale. Did she see? What would happen now?
Would she go to the authorities? Say she had a magic baseball-bat moving friend? “Rissa, chill! I’m not serious” I heave a sigh of relief. She didn’t see me. Good. “Don’t look now, but here comes Abby. ” Abby is the all around miss cheerleader gossip queen. And she hates me. For no reason, too. But the funny things, she was the new kid! She just waltzed right in and put all the popular girls under her spell. “Hey, if it isn’t the dork twins! ” “Hi Abby. ” Ellie sighs. My answer is much more straight forward.
“What do you want? ” “Just wanted to see if… ya know…” Has Abby become nice? “…stop being lame! She sneers. Of course she wouldn’t be nice on purpose! She gives a short laugh and turns on her heel, then starts to walk away. When she passes a water fountain, though, I get my revenge. I make the water shoot out at her, completely soaking her stupid designer clothes. She screams so loud that a glass case breaks, raining out across the floor, and causing Mr. Elzer to yell at her for not looking at what he’s talking about. Ha ha. I’m walking away from Ellie, and towards a large green emerald, the color of my eyes. With every step I take it seems to glow. Suddenly, there’s no casing. No one.
No room. Just me and the gem, glowing. A mirror appears. My eyes are glowing like the emerald too. I reach our hesitantly to pick it up. As my hand clutches around it, I’m jolted into reality, holding the gem. Another emerald appears where the emerald was. Somehow I know it’s a fake. The large gem I’m holding suddenly morphs into a necklace. Weird. Ellie bounces over to me. My fingers fumble as I try to unhook the clasp and get it around my neck. “Cool necklace- it matches your eyes. ” Ellie compliments. “Well, I have to go- you want a ride? ” “Nah, I’ll just teleport- I mean, take a …taxi? ” I say.
Ellie looks at me like I’m weird, but which “witch” isn’t weird? I’m just thinking out how weirded out she would be if she found out that the world was full of magic? Ellie walks out shaking her head. I run out and run into a boy and smack him straight on the head- with my head. Not my best introduction. “Sorry! I guess I didn’t see you. ” The boy says. “I’m Matthew. ” “Clarissa. ” “This will sound strange… but… where did you get that necklace? Do… you… have powers? ” He asks. He must know about them being real. Especially if he had that awkward look on his face. I don’t know why, but I decide to be completely honest.
Yes, I do. I found the necklace inside the museum, it was that large green emerald the color of my eyes. I reached inside the case and picked it up. ” “Wait… you said you just picked it up? Oh… this is bad, really, really bad! ” He exclaims. “Um… why? I just took a necklace and you thinks that’s weird, but the fact that I have magic powers doesn’t freak you out at all? ” I say. “Clarissa, that big gem could only be retrieved by someone of the Mayback family. When your parents found the gem, they hid it so no one could ever unleash its full power. ”
“My… my parents? How do you know about them? How do you know about this? I ask. “My parents were friends with them, before the Dark Wizard killed them. And like I said my parents. Only I didn’t get powers. My sister did, but she died. ” “What? My parents died of a fever, not some Dark Wizard! Are you crazy? ” I cry. “Clarissa I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. They died protecting it, but since they had a daughter only she could get past the protection spell they put on it. He’s coming for you. For it. And he has been the biggest threat the world has ever known. ” he explains. As soon as he says this I’m flying backward and crashing through glass at about thirty miles a hour.
I feel something wet on my face. My face is sticky with blood. I was having a hard time keeping conciseness. But he couldn’t have it. I would die for it. As I looked into his eyes, he knew it too. And he was willing to do whatever it took. He smiled cruelly as I faced my certain death. I would die for it, just like my parents. He muttered a few words and I felt blazing pain. I blacked out just as Matthew ran in and the Dark Wizard teleported away…. * * * * Death was peaceful. When I blacked out, I could see. Matthew was holding me crying, even though I barely knew him.
I felt two things, mortal world and immortal world. The mortal world held misery and hate, and the immortal world held love, peace, and my parents. So when I left my body behind, I simply walked into my mother’s waiting arms and was embraced. My father laughed. I thought about how Aunt Izzie and Penny would react to my death. They wouldn’t take it well. Despite all these thoughts, I knew one thing, the emerald was still around my neck. And as I looked down at my body, it was gone. And since there were no other members of the Mayback family, it was safe from all harm. But most of all, I would miss Ellie.
The days we sent playing in the meadow, reading books to her cat, Twitches, and the friendship bracelets we made every single year. We had fourteen each. Tomorrow we were going to make fifteen. It was awful that would never happen now. So I walked down the street with my parents, and said hello to all my grandparents, and told Matthew’s sister he missed her. She liked that. We became good friends. I found out her name was Ellie also. We were like sisters, she and I. But our favorite thing to do was wait by the creek, and listen to nature, and think about what our reunion would be like with our family.
