《The Magic Mirror》


 Chapter One - School Fall Festival

    Merlin walked into the school hallway and was struck by two things. The first was how hot the wizard costume was making him feel. The second was the sounds. With so many students running around yelling for their friends, it was hard not to cover his ears.


    He shifted from foot to foot as he looked around. The middle school was packed. It was nothing at all like last year when most of the students had not come to the fall festival.


    Of course, that was to be expected since all the games were free this year. Last year, the students had to pay a dollar for every four tickets. This year, however, the Parent Teacher Association supplied all the candy for the games. The only catch was that you could only play each game once. Still, that left a lot of games for the students to play.


    He looked down and checked to see if he still had the pumpkin bucket or if he had forgotten it. He did that quite often, forgetting things that was. Merlin wished he had a great memory. Although he had a good memory, he wished it was better.


    He often dreamed of being as smart as the mythical Merlin and having all of his powers. He imagined it for a moment, which brought a smile to his face. Being able to do magic would be wonderful. Of course, he would settle for being super smart. That way he wouldn¡¯t have to study as much.


    Studying was lame. Of course, whenever he told his parents this, they would always say something like, ¡°Even Merlin had to study. After all, you don¡¯t think he just knew all those magic spells. No. He had to memorize them.¡±


    He hated that. His parents took his favorite person, Merlin the Magician, and tried to turn it on him. Come on, he thought. Don¡¯t ruin his hero.


    He was about to run off when his mother tugged on his robe. Turning to her, he remembered what she had asked. With a heavy sigh, he took his younger sister¡¯s hand and searched for his friends.


    Just his luck, he thought to himself. He had managed to convince his parents to let him come to the Fall Festival, but they had to insist he babysits his little sister in return. Knowing them, they would sit in the library or cafeteria while he had to take Sara to all the games.


    Grimacing, he dragged his sister through the hallway, leaving his parents behind. Unfortunately, after only a few dozen feet, he saw the Monster Mob. Of course, no one called them that to their faces. After all, everyone liked their faces just the way they were. Then again, most of that was because of Frank. He was the tallest boy in eighth grade.


    The Monster Mob were called that because each had a particular monster they liked. Frank liked Frankenstein¡¯s Monster, which of course he dressed up as. More than likely, that was because his name was Frank and he wasn¡¯t known for being all that original. That didn¡¯t make any sense however since the Monster never actually had a name. Frankenstein had been the scientist who created him.


    Then there was Ruth, the girl who liked vampires. It wasn¡¯t just Dracula. She liked all vampires, from Twilight to Nosferatu. She even dressed the part. Ruth had painted her face white with small globs of blood dripping from her lips. As always, she was wearing all black.


    Lucas was wearing a werewolf mask, but Merlin knew it was him based on who he was standing with. He was even wearing gloves with claws on them. Of course, he wasn¡¯t the biggest werewolf around. Then again, no one looked tall when standing next to Frank.


    Merlin pulled his sister to the side and waited until the Monster Mob passed before continuing on. While he wasn¡¯t really afraid of them, he didn¡¯t want to risk starting anything with his sister around. They usually didn¡¯t get into many fights. A lot of other students thought they were weird. Of course, they thought Merlin and his friends were weird too.


    It wasn¡¯t long before he spotted Arthur. In fact, despite the loudness of the hallway, Merlin could hear the clanking of his armor. My goodness, he thought. Really? Of course, that was Arthur. He was nothing if committed, which he might actually be someday.


    Merlin snickered at that image of Arthur being fitted for a white straight jacket. Sometimes he thought Arthur should be committed for any number of reasons. After all, only Arthur would actually wear real metal armor. Sheesh. He should have known who Arthur would dress up as. It certainly wasn¡¯t going to be the Arthur from that cartoon his sister had watched a few years ago.


    Speaking of whom, he pulled Sara along behind him, amazed that she hadn¡¯t started complaining yet. Then again, she was busy staring at all the middle school students wearing Halloween costumes with big blue eyes.


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    Soon, he was standing next to Arthur, who crushed him in a metal embrace. Trying not to show how much that had hurt, Merlin said, ¡°Hey there! Have you seen Shirley or Robert?¡±


    ¡°Not yet,¡± Arthur began, but then stopped and pointed, ¡°Wait. I see Shirley.¡±


    Merlin turned to look at where Arthur was pointing. Yep, there she was, he thought. She was wearing a cap and a trench coat with a magnifying glass in her hand. Merlin almost groaned. Really? Were none of his friends going to be original tonight? Then again, who was he to say anything? After all, he was dressed up as his namesake as well. He should have guessed Shirley Holmes would end up dressing like Sherlock Holmes.


    With that thought, he wondered what Robert would dress up as. Before he could come up with an answer, however, Shirley had joined them.


    ¡°Hi guys!¡± she said brightly.


    Bright just about summed her up, Merlin thought. She was the smartest of their group. He was still a little upset about that, but then again, there was always someone smarter, stronger, or more beautiful. ¡°Hey!¡± he said, waving her over.


    Shirley playfully said, ¡°Don¡¯t you know hay is for horses, not people? After all, do I look like a horse to you?¡±


    Before he could reply that she looked like at least one part of a horse, Arthur moved forward and swept Shirley into a big bear hug.


    Merlin grinned as a groan was squeezed out of the girl who was not only smarter than him but also had the nerve to be much more attractive. Looking at the two of them, he thought for a moment they should have dressed up as Beauty and the Beast instead. After all, that was actually closer to what they looked like than what they were currently wearing.


    Finally, he had to ask, ¡°Okay, where in the world did you get that armor from? I mean, really? Real armor?¡±


    Arthur looked a little embarrassed for a second but then replied, ¡°Well, you know how things are. My dad had ordered a few to stand up in the reception area at one of his businesses. I asked him if he would mind letting me have one if they fit.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± Merlin said, hopefully quashing his jealousy before the others noticed. Arthur¡¯s dad was rich. Rich rich, not just a little rich. Apparently, his family was descended from some famous nobleman in England.


    Of course, it was Shirley who first noticed and began laughing. Both boys turned to her with confused looks on their faces. Seeing their confusion, she laughed even harder. ¡°Oh¡­,¡± she finally began after taking a breath, ¡°you poor guys don¡¯t even realize, do you?¡±


    Merlin just glared at her. He hated that patronizing tone of voice. Looking at Arthur, he felt like a light had gone off in his mind. Ah, he thought to himself.


    Pointedly ignoring the know it all, he tried to gather the remnants of his dignity, ¡°She is talking about how you are dressed as King Arthur and I am dressed like Merlin the Magician.¡±


    Merlin could almost see the light go on behind Arthur¡¯s eyes. A smile crept onto his face. Then with a short burst of a laugh, Arthur slapped him on the back, ¡°That¡¯s funny. I like it.¡±


    What wasn¡¯t funny was how much that slap on the back had hurt. OUCH! Merlin knew Arthur wasn¡¯t the brightest lightbulb out there, but sometimes he thought there were burnt-out light bulbs that were brighter than Arthur. Few could match him in strength, however. Did the big lug forget he was wearing a metal glove? Turning to the side, Merlin wiped a small tear that had formed in the corner of his eye.


    Luckily, no one had noticed since at that same time, Robert had arrived, probably drawn by the laughter. He liked to refer to the group as his band of merry men, and considering his costume, it was somehow appropriate tonight. Robert had even snuck in a bow. A real bow at that.


    ` While Robert had gone hunting in the past, he wasn¡¯t the best bowman in the world. In fact, he was more likely to hit a barn than hit whatever he might be hunting for. Despite having the last name Woods, he was nothing at all like Robin Hood.


    Thinking about the bow, Merlin cast a worried glance at Arthur. Luckily, it appeared that the sword Arthur carried was fake. The image of Arthur swinging around a real sword in the school terrified him. Then again, a lot of things scared him. Heights, bugs, darkness, and big guys were but a few.


    Merlin and the others traded forgettable jokes about each other¡¯s costumes for a few minutes. The comment Shirley made about his robe being a little gaudy did sting a little though. The notable exception was that none of the guys said anything too harsh to Shirley.


    While she might be a nerdy girl herself, the fact that she hung around with them made them look less nerdy. The only exception was Arthur. No one, at least no one sane, would ever dare call him a nerd. That helped as well. Arthur actually kept the bullies off their backs.


    Shaking his head, he sighed when he noticed Peter had joined them. Peter was new to the school. Apparently, he and his sister had bounced from state to state over the years because his father was in the military. Peter actually wasn¡¯t that bad except that he was a big practical joker. He didn¡¯t take anything seriously.


    Merlin almost didn¡¯t notice Peter¡¯s sister. She had snuck in and started talking to his sister without him noticing. That was probably natural since they were about the same age. The two were also wearing almost the exact same outfit. Both were dressed as fairy princesses.


    In fact, Merlin had almost thought Peter and Robert were wearing the same costume at first until he realized Peter had dressed as Peter Pan. Ugh! He felt like doing a facepalm. Goodness gracious, he thought. They really were a bunch of nerds.

 Chapter Two - The Magic Mirror

    Of course, after a few minutes of arguing about which room to go to first, Shirley started walking away, and of course, everyone followed. That wasn¡¯t surprising since she was the one of them who had run for class president. She hadn¡¯t won, but then again, that might have been because she hung around nerds instead of cheerleaders.


    They stopped at the cakewalk first. Arthur won, which was a little unfair. After all, he already had everything at home. He didn¡¯t need any cake. The only time Merlin ever ate cake was at someone¡¯s birthday party. At least, even the losers were given a piece of candy for participating. Yep, the story of my life, he thought. Not first place, just the participation prize.


    The next room they stopped in had them bobbing for apples. Not really wanting to stick his head in water that had already been bobbed in by who knows how many others, he declined his chance and took the consolation prize.


    After that, they went to the ring toss room. Robert actually ended up doing the best of the group. Go, Robert, he thought. Robert wasn¡¯t very athletic and rarely did well in sports. Maybe the Robin Hood costume was bringing out his inner marksman or gave him a needed boost in confidence.


    Merlin glanced at his sister, making sure she hadn¡¯t wandered off. Luckily, she seemed stuck with glue to Peter¡¯s sister. Sometimes he almost forgot she was around. He¡¯d never heard of a girl as quiet as she was. For a second, he wondered why she was always like that. At least she rarely got in trouble at school because of it.


    Even that wouldn¡¯t help her in Ms. White¡¯s room though. The substitute teacher always seemed to find something to scold each student about. Maybe that was why Merlin wasn¡¯t sure he wanted to go into Ms. White¡¯s room. Something about the substitute teacher was a little off. She had been their long-term substitute teacher for almost four weeks. In fact, it had been her last day, and he was a little surprised to see her at the Fall Festival.


    While she wasn¡¯t mean, and never raised her voice, all the students seemed to listen to her. No one, not even the Monster Mob, acted up in her class. Correct that. Frank had once said something under his breath after she corrected him, and Ms. White had taken him outside the room for a quick talk in the hallway. A few minutes later, Frank had come in crying like a little baby. He never told anyone what she said, but after that, he was a model student. In fact, after that, no one had so much as whispered anything under their breath again.


    Ms. White looked normal and almost always wore a dress. Actually, if she ever smiled, some of the students might even say she was beautiful. Still, there was something about her. Merlin finally settled on it being her eyes. They seemed to stare at everyone as if she had seen everything and done everything, and somehow this had robbed her of her soul. She had a hollow vacant stare that sent shivers down the spine of anyone who looked her in the eyes.


    Of course, Shirley wasn¡¯t going to let that minor detail come between her and sweets. She had a positive addiction to anything sweet. In fact, he was amazed that she hadn¡¯t gained any weight from all the sweet snacks she would sneak into the school. She had to have the metabolism of ...Merlin paused in thought, trying to figure out which animal was constantly eating but never showed any signs of doing so. He finally settled on a hummingbird. They were small, pretty, and couldn¡¯t go for very long without eating.


    Reluctantly, the group followed her into the room. Merlin noticed everyone was careful not to question Shirley¡¯s decision. After all, Ms. White might overhear somehow. She seemed to have the ability to see and hear everything.


    Ms. White met them at the door and smiled a blank smile, her dead eyes looking at them as if calculating how much longer they had to live. Merlin shivered, which of course Ms. White most likely noticed. ¡°Welcome students. I¡¯m so very glad you decided to visit my room tonight. So very few students have dropped by tonight.¡±


    Merlin wasn¡¯t surprised by that. In fact, he was slightly surprised anyone had gone to her room in the first place. Then again, sweet chocolate candy could cloud the minds of many children.


    Before he could say anything, Arthur blurted out, ¡°Trick or Treat,¡± holding out a large plastic bag.


    Ms. White raised an eyebrow and motioned for them to move toward a table. ¡°Here you go,¡± she said as she delicately chose among the various candy stacked neatly on the table and dropped one in each of their bags, or in Merlin¡¯s case, the plastic pumpkin. Of course, he thought, he was the odd one out of the group.


    He was the only one with a kid¡¯s plastic pumpkin instead of a big plastic Halloween sack. Even his sister had brought a sack. That would teach him not to plan ahead, he thought. Oh well, both would hold the candy equally well, although perhaps not quite as much.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Odd, he thought, Ms. White gave him a Snickers, his favorite candy bar. She had given Robert a Three Musketeers bar and Arthur a One Hundred Grand bar. Even Shirley had been given her favorite candy bar, a Butterfinger. That made him raise an eyebrow. How did she know what their favorite candy bars were? She was so strange.


    ¡°Now that you have had a treat, I think it is time for you to get your choice of a Trick or Treat,¡± she said, motioning them toward the back of the room. Standing against the wall was a large mirror. It looked like something you would see in a fairy tale or a castle, or perhaps in Arthur¡¯s closet. If only life had given him looks or brains to go with all his parent¡¯s money, Arthur would be unbearable. As it was, they were able to forgive him for his father¡¯s money.


    ¡°Now listen closely,¡± Ms. White said, leaning forward as if to tell them something secret. She looked at each one of them for a moment, then looked around the room as if to make sure no one else would overhear. ¡°I am going to tell you the magic words that can make all your dreams or nightmares come true. Of course, the result will be up to you,¡± she said, pointing a finger at each person in turn.¡±


    ¡°Let these words slip into your mind and hold on tightly. If you don¡¯t say the words correctly, you will lose your chance.¡± She then took one final look around and whispered the words.¡±


    ¡°Mirror, Mirror, reflecting me,


    Listen to and answer my plea.


    Nothing is free, collect your fee,


    Genie, fairy, or destiny,


    Grant unto me that which I see.¡±


    Merlin noticed each of them was mouthing the words, trying to remember the words. He listened closely as she repeated the words one more time.


    ¡°Now, each of you will step forward and approach the mirror. Stare deeply into the mirror and think about what you see. Think deeply. Do you see yourself as brave and strong? Do you see yourself as quick and agile? Maybe you see yourself as smart and funny. Think about what you see. However, one warning. Do not dwell on the bad. Do not think about your flaws. Don¡¯t think about how short you might be, or how ugly you look. Then when you are ready, repeat the words three times. After all, three times call the magic forth.¡± With that, she motioned them forward.


    Peter¡¯s sister went first, and although she stumbled through the words, Merlin didn¡¯t think she had actually missed any of the words. She did seem a little ruffled when she stepped away from the mirror, however.


    Merlin¡¯s sister didn¡¯t do as well. Shirley went next, staring at the mirror for a few seconds, and then began saying the magic words. Of course, she said the words flawlessly. He frowned a little when she stepped away from the mirror and seemed confused. Had she really expected something to happen?


    Robert and Peter went after her, followed by Arthur. Ugh, he thought. Even Arthur got the words right. Man, now he would be really embarrassed if he didn¡¯t say the magic words correctly. After all, even Arthur had memorized the words and hadn¡¯t forgotten any.


    When it was his turn, he moved in front of the mirror and studied his image. At first, it was hard to concentrate on the good. He saw himself and noticed how silly he looked in the Halloween costume. His hair was a little messed up under the hat and there was acne on his face. Still, he pressed on trying to concentrate on the good and not the bad.


    Had Ms. White intentionally tried to sabotage them when she said don¡¯t think about the bad? Really? When someone is told not to do something, of course, they are going to do it.  Pushing aside such thoughts, he concentrated on the good things.


    Yes, he did look like a magician in the outfit, he thought. Maybe not one of the new modern-day illusionists, but they were fake anyway. Merlin had real magic. He could do just about anything. All he had to do was chant a few magic words and his wishes would come true.


    He kept these thoughts in his mind. For tonight, maybe he could be at least a little like Merlin the Magician. After all, they did share a name together. And he was smart. The proof of it was the fact that he made the honor roll every year. He had even mastered a few simple magic card tricks.


    Looking in the mirror, he concentrated on being that magician with true magic powers and said the magic words with the total control and strength of a real magician.


    ¡°Mirror, Mirror, reflecting me,


    Listen to and answer my plea.


    Nothing is free, collect your fee,


    Genie, fairy, or destiny,


    Grant unto me that which I see.¡±


    With each word, he could feel something building inside of him, begging for release. At the same time, he felt something pressing in on him from the outside, as if searching for a way inside. Then, after the pressure built and built, he finished the third repetition of the words. Suddenly, he was lightheaded and felt like he might faint.


    Staggering back a few steps, he organized his thoughts. The others seemed lost in their own thoughts, which left him without having to hide how much it had affected him. In fact, it was strange, but everyone seemed affected as if it had been real.


    The surreal feeling was abruptly shattered when Ms. White said, ¡°Thank you for coming children. It¡¯s time to move along now,¡± while making shooing motions towards the doors. He barely noticed when he brushed past Angela on the way out the door.

 Chapter Three - First Magic Spell

    Merlin and his friends filed out of the room and into the hallway where they paused to talk. ¡°That was odd,¡± Merlin said.


    ¡°I know,¡± Robert replied. ¡°Did you feel the same thing I did?¡±


    Shirley said, ¡°I felt it too. It¡¯s possible that there was a subsonic sound machine in the room. Ms. White could have turned it on as soon as we got near the mirror.¡±


    Arthur nodded, ¡°That¡¯s probably it.¡±


    Merlin wasn¡¯t surprised. Arthur was a direct type of guy. He didn¡¯t like anything he couldn¡¯t put his hands on. The others stayed silent and seemed lost in their own thoughts.


    Of course, it was his sister who chimed in, ¡°Felt what? I didn¡¯t feel anything. Was it because I forgot all the words?¡± She pouted a little, but then started chomping on a piece of candy from her bag and forgot all about the incident.


    ¡°Should we warn Angela?¡± Shirley asked.


    Robert was the first to answer, ¡°Nah, leave Sleeping Beauty to her mirror.¡±


    Shirley looked annoyed, ¡°Different fairy tales, Robert.¡±


    Robert held up his hands as if he were giving up to the police.


    ¡°Speaking of fairy tale princesses, did you notice what Ms. White was wearing?¡± Belle asked. ¡°I can¡¯t believe she wore a Snow White costume. I mean, really? How lame!¡±


    Merlin nodded, acting as if he agreed. Who were they to throw stones, glancing at their own costumes, most of which were based on their names? If the substitute teacher was lame for doing so, then so was he and most of the people in the group. Actually, he hadn¡¯t even noticed which princess she had dressed up as. All of them sort of blended together to him.


    Not wanting to waste the rest of the night, they started going from room to room once again. Pretty soon, his orange plastic pumpkin bucket was half full of candy. They spent more time in the dance room than any other room, although few of them actually danced.


    It was kind of weird, standing in a room with a whole bunch of other students listening to music while waiting to see who would get on the dance floor. Mostly, everyone just stood on the sides of the rooms talking and gossiping. As soon as someone started dancing, everyone would start watching them. A few students ignored the looks and kept on dancing, but more than a few stopped in embarrassment.


    He sure wasn¡¯t about to get on the dance floor. Of course, his sister didn¡¯t seem to care and danced away. She even managed to get Peter and his sister to dance. The others stood with him near the wall and ate their candy.


    After that, they went to the haunted room. It was anything but scary. In fact, it was a blend of stupidity and hilarity. The scariest thing about it was the fact that one of the teachers thought it would be frightening. He couldn¡¯t imagine anyone getting scared in the haunted room.


    If anything was scary, it was the play. While he knew the music teacher had thrown it together at the last moment, more than a few students hadn¡¯t shown up who apparently had parts in the play. To cover this, the music teacher had turned up the music enough so that it would be difficult to notice how few of the students were actually singing. It looked like instead of studying their lines at home, the students who had come had played video games instead. Who knew? He doubted anyone could understand any of the speakers as they spoke between the songs anyway, so it probably didn¡¯t matter.


    They left no candy bar behind, he thought wryly as they finished leaving the last room in the school they had yet to visit. Even so, he barely had enough candy to fill his bucket. It turned out, he had done fine in bringing the pumpkin bucket after all.


    By the time the fall festival was over, he was feeling more than a little tired. In fact, he hadn¡¯t walked so much since last year in PE. He had never liked that class. It was pretty much a waste of time. He didn¡¯t really learn anything, and the teacher was awful. You would think a school with test results so low would be allowed to worry less about things like art, music, and PE classes and more about reading and writing. Wait, scratch that, he thought. Art was fun.


    Shirley was one of the few people he knew who liked to read for enjoyment. Arthur actually liked PE which wouldn¡¯t surprise anyone. Robert was more of a slacker and didn¡¯t seem to like any of the classes except art. He did love watching anime and movies, however. From what he had gathered, Peter loved playing games and the only class he didn¡¯t skip was PE.


    Looking down at his sister, he noticed how tired his sister looked and briefly considered picking her up and carrying her but then thought again. Sara had grown a lot in the last few years, and he was too tired anyway. She yawned while he watched, which made him yawn as well.


    After waving goodbye to his friends, Merlin and his sister started toward the parking lot where they were supposed to meet their parents. As expected, they were waiting impatiently, even though Merlin and his sister were actually a few minutes early. Sighing, Merlin helped his sister into the minivan before clambering in himself.


    What had his parents been thinking when they got a minivan? There were just four of them. There was absolutely no need to have a minivan. And a light blue one at that. It was embarrassing. It didn¡¯t help that the paint was chipping off and there were several big dents strategically placed around the minivan to emphasize the embarrassment.


    At least he didn¡¯t have to worry too much about clothes. Arthur had been giving Merlin his hand-me-downs for years. While the clothes might be a couple of years old, they more than made up for the age by their quality. Arthur¡¯s father didn¡¯t skimp when it came to dressing his only son.


    Unfortunately, his sister ended up wearing a lot of clothing that was much less flattering. His parents would visit thrift shops every few weeks to see if there was anything they could buy and sell for a profit. That was where they also usually found her clothes.


    Thoughts like that kept his mind busy as they drove home. About halfway there his mind started drifting without him even noticing. Thoughts would flit through his head and a few seconds later he had already forgotten what he had been thinking about. His eyes were half-closed in the darkness as he listened to the steady hum of the road under the minivan tires. Had the radio worked and been on, he might actually have fallen asleep.


    Soon, they arrived at the house. Like the minivan, it wasn¡¯t much to look at, but at least it was a house. He knew several friends who had lived in a car with their parents for a while. Apparently, the economy had been terrible in their area. More than likely, however, it was just greedy rich people hoarding all the money.


    At least they didn¡¯t have to worry much about people breaking into the house and stealing anything. After all, there really wasn¡¯t that much to steal. Oh well, he thought, Arthur was more than willing to let his friends use his things and would even let them have his old things.


    Dragging himself to the pullout couch, he folded out his bed. Taking a blanket, he pulled the covers over his head and was asleep almost immediately. Soon, visions of magical battles were racing through his dreams.


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    When the alarm clock woke him the next morning, Merlin realized he must have been so sleepy that he fell asleep without even taking off the costume. Oh well, nothing new there, he thought. Yawning, he stretched and then turned off the alarm clock. Sighing, he stood up and started folding the blanket.


    After that, he closed the sofa bed and replaced the cushions. He placed the folded blanket on the back of the couch. ¡°Ugh...mornings,¡± he muttered. They truly were the most evil of all evils in the world, he added as an afterthought.


    The shower was empty, as always. That was one reason he took a shower in the mornings. His parents liked to take showers in the evening and often used up all the hot water. If they didn¡¯t, his sister would then finish off the rest of the water. She probably did this so that she could sleep until the last possible moment.


    Merlin preferred having a hot shower over a few extra minutes of sleep. It also gave him something to look forward to in the morning. Eating breakfast at school was a hit-or-miss chance. Some days they had good food, and others...well, not so good.


    After the shower, he got dressed and turned on the radio, although not loudly. They would be leaving any minute. Until then, he wasn¡¯t about to bother them. He had learned that lesson long ago. Don¡¯t disturb your parents in the morning!


    Merlin wasn¡¯t really a music person. In fact, he actually knew very little about music. However, his family didn¡¯t have cable and there wasn¡¯t anything on the local channels at this time in the morning, at least that he liked anyway. Instead, he would always try to guess the song lyrics or make up his own.


    Not knowing the lyrics yet again, he added his own to the next verse, ¡°Floating in the air, like I just don¡¯t care,¡± about the laws of gravity that was. He wished it was that simple. Just ignore the laws of nature and do whatever he wanted to do. Merlin smiled at the thought and decided to repeat it three times just as he had repeated the mirror lines last night three times, imagining he could do just what he was saying.


    Merlin almost screamed when he actually started floating off the ground. In fact, he was happy he had gone to the bathroom earlier or he might have had an accident. Oh goodness! He couldn¡¯t believe it. He was really floating in the air as if he didn¡¯t care about gravity.


    After a few seconds of hanging several inches off the floor, he slowly drifted to the ground. So cool, he thought. How in the world was he able to do this? Was it because of the mirror last night? He wondered what else he could do.


    Hmm, he thought, considering his options. He imagined floating in the air, but nothing happened. Maybe he had to say the phrase again. Composing himself, he said, ¡°Floating in the air, like I just don¡¯t care.¡± Nothing happened. Weird, he thought. Maybe he had to say it more than once. He said it rapidly twice more. Still, nothing happened.


    Odd, he thought. Maybe he should try something else.


    ¡°This is very unfair,


    let me float in the air.


    This is very unfair,


    let me float in the air.


    This is very unfair,


    let me float in the air.¡±


    Suddenly, he was floating in the air once again. He pumped his arms and resisted yelling out in surprise. He didn¡¯t want anyone else, even his parents and his sister, to know what he could do until he found more about it himself. His parents were probably already ready and would be gone in a few minutes. That would leave him some free time before the school bus arrived and his sister woke up. He sat down at the table in the kitchen and began brainstorming ideas.


    By the time his sister had woken up and his parents had left, he had come up with a few ideas to try. Going outside to the backyard, he looked around to ensure no one could see him. Of course, there wasn¡¯t much of a chance of that considering there were woods along the back of the house, even if it wasn¡¯t still dark outside.


    Taking a few deep breaths, he gathered his concentration and spoke.


    ¡°Create a light


    to give me sight.


    Create a light


    to give me sight.¡±


    He almost stopped when he felt a small bit of pressure just as he did the last time. He ignored it, and finished, however, ¡°Create a light to give me sight!¡±


    With the last words, a small candle-sized glowing ball of energy appeared in front of him, illuminating the darkness around him. While it wasn¡¯t as good as a flashlight, it certainly made it easier to see. The light started to fade away after only a few seconds, however.


    He decided to try it again and spoke the words once more but this time with a minor change.


    ¡°Create a bright light


    to help give me sight.


    Create a bright light


    to help give me sight.


    Create a bright light


    to help give me sight.¡±


    He concentrated on making the light brighter and lasting longer. This time, the light was stronger. However, it didn¡¯t really last much longer. Hmm, maybe it had to do something with concentration. He had concentrated on making the light bigger, and it had been bigger. Maybe he needed to concentrate to keep the magic working. He tried once again.


    ¡°Create a really bright light


    to give me sight in the night.


    Create a really bright light


    to give me sight in the night.


    Create a really bright light


    to give me sight in the night.¡±


    This time he kept on concentrating on the light, willing it not to go away. He smiled as the light kept shining. Not wanting to draw any more attention than he needed to, he allowed his concentration to slip. As soon as he stopped thinking about the light, it faded away.


    What else could he do? A sudden thought occurred to him. ¡°Light, light, light.¡± A very dim light appeared in the air but quickly faded away. Hmm, obviously, the complexity of the words would make the spell more powerful.


    ¡°What else?¡± He muttered to himself ¡°Hmm, I know...float...boat...throat...ah,¡± he said with a smile. He took a few minutes to think about the rhyme. Finally, he spoke the words he had come up with.


    ¡°When I clear my throat,


    please let me float.


    When I clear my throat,


    please let me float.


    When I clear my throat,


    Please let me float.¡±


    He waited, but nothing happened. Finally, he cleared his throat. Immediately, he began to float. After a few seconds, he drifted back down to the ground. He tried clearing his throat again. He started to rise off the ground, but then dropped immediately. Obviously, if he wanted to be able to do something like this, he would need to make something long and complicated.


    He smiled at the thought that at least now he would have something useful to do in school. After all, most of the math and other stuff they learned wasn¡¯t all that useful. When was he ever going to have to worry about prime numbers and exponents?


    Apparently, however, the literature and English classes might have proven useful after all. Just as he had suspected. The reading and writing, which had been fun, were actually the ones that paid off the most. Take that Mr. Geometry teacher, he thought.


    Last night, he wished he had the mind and magical abilities of Merlin the Magician. Today he had them. My goodness, he thought. That was amazing. How had the mirror given him the powers? Was Ms. White the one who had given him the magic? Was it a combination of both? Either way, he was very happy with the results.

 Chapter Four - A Missing Friend

    What else could he do? Could he see the future like Merlin the Magician had been able to do? He concentrated for a moment, trying to imagine what would happen tomorrow. Nothing came to him, however. Oh well, maybe that would change in time.


    Would these new magical abilities increase or decrease with time? Would they go away after a day or two? Maybe he needed to use them now before they disappeared. Then again, what could he do with them?


    Why would Ms. White have given him the power? Or did she have nothing to do with it? Was it only the mirror? Maybe she didn¡¯t know it was a real magical mirror. He couldn¡¯t imagine Ms. White helping anyone out. She just didn¡¯t seem the type. Now, cursing the students, he could definitely see that happening.


    Maybe the others had gotten magical powers as well. Maybe they hadn¡¯t even noticed. After all, he had been lucky. What if he hadn¡¯t said the lines three times? Maybe the others didn¡¯t even know if they had powers. Then again, maybe they wouldn¡¯t have any powers. After all, his sister had messed up when she said the words. That meant she probably didn¡¯t get any powers.


    Maybe the people who had felt that pressure had gotten the magical powers. When he got to school, he would need to see if they had been given any magical powers as well. Or maybe he had gotten magical powers because he had been dressed as a magician. Maybe the others had gotten some other power.


    Then again, what power could Arthur have gotten? After all, Arthur hadn¡¯t been known for any type of magical powers. Sure he could fight, but that was about it. He wasn¡¯t even the best fighter. There were several better knights. In fact, the only thing magical about Arthur was the sword Excalibur.


    As for Robert, Robin Hood wasn''t known for any magical powers either. He was great with a bow, but that was about it. If all Robert got out of the poem was an ability with bows, that would be kind of sad. Oh well, he would find out when they met.


    Now as for Peter, his power might be nice. After all, Peter Pan could fly and allow others to fly if he had pixie dust. Being able to fly would be so cool. Then again, maybe now he could fly if he could come up with a great piece of writing.


    Shirley had always been smart, super smart in fact. Maybe she was even smarter now. That would be a great power, to be able to see and know everything Sherlock Holmes knew or was able to discover.


    Now, Belle, that might be interesting. She had dressed up as a fairy or pixie. They were small and could fly. He wasn¡¯t really sure what else they could do. Would Belle be able to fly now? Would she grow wings? He wasn¡¯t sure what to expect from her.


    Hmm, wait...could that happen? Could the mirror cause physical changes? What if someone had been dressed as a skeleton? Would that person then start becoming a skeleton? He could certainly see Ms. White doing something like that. What if she had tried to curse them, and they had ended up turning the curse into a blessing?


    Yep, he definitely needed to talk to everyone today and see what happened with them. With Ms. White being involved, who knew what might have happened? Maybe she wanted something horrible to happen to them, but he had been lucky enough to have something great happen to him instead.


    He was about to try something else when he heard his sister calling his name inside the house, looking for him. Realizing he had spent more time outside than he had thought, he hurried inside the house and finished getting ready for school.


    While he was waiting at the bus stop, he ran through various magical sayings he could try. While it probably didn¡¯t have to rhyme, he knew a lot of songs and poems often rhymed, so maybe that made them more powerful. One of his teachers had everyone write a haiku last semester, so he had learned about syllables.


    He probably needed to make sure he followed some of those rules. Merlin then wondered if alliteration, similes, and metaphors might have some type of impact on the magical spell as well. Then again, maybe if he did things like drawing a magic circle or combining different ingredients to make a potion that could make the spell more powerful. Oh, that was a good idea, he thought.  Maybe he could mix a few things like peanut butter and chocolate, say a magic spell, and when he eats the food, have the magical spell work then, sort of like when he cleared his throat.


    Before he knew it, he was on the bus and still brainstorming ideas on how he could use his powers. By the time the bus had reached the school, he had made a mental list of ideas miles long to try. One of his favorites was based on Merlin being called Merlin the Enchanter sometimes. Maybe he could enchant some items as well. For example, he could make a broom that did the sweeping or a pencil that did his homework.


    As soon as he reached school, he headed to where he and his friends usually met. Arthur was there already, as was Robert. Robert was doing most of the talking, with Arthur staring at a big branch, occasionally swinging it around. As he got closer to them, Robert noticed him and motioned for him to join them.


    ¡°I was just telling Arthur that this morning, I was playing around with the bow before breakfast and I kept on hitting the target every time. In fact, I hit the center every time. Isn¡¯t that strange?¡±


    As soon as Robert finished, Arthur said, ¡°I know. The same thing happened to me. Well, not the same. I was playing with the sword that came with the armor when I discovered I could do tricks with the blade. In fact, I started doing things like a real ninja.¡±


    Merlin was tempted to point out that Arthur probably should have said like a knight, and not a ninja, but decided it wasn¡¯t worth the effort. ¡°I know, I''ve been able to do a few small magic tricks as well.¡± He didn¡¯t want to tell them just how much he could do. They might expect too much. Then again, even he didn¡¯t know the extent of his powers yet.


    ¡°Oh, show me something,¡± Arthur said.


    Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    Merlin had prepared himself for something like that request. He didn¡¯t want to do anything too flashy, but he also didn¡¯t want to do something that would seem too nerdy either. Pulling out a pencil, he tried a simple spell.


    ¡°Let these words be true,


    make this pencil change to blue.


    Let these words be true,


    make this pencil change to blue.


    Let these words be true,


    make this pencil change to blue.¡±


    The color of the pencil changed from yellow to blue before their eyes. After a few seconds, he expected the blue to change back to yellow but it didn¡¯t. Hmm, he thought. Some effects were permanent. Interesting.


    Merlin was careful to see what their reaction would be. He wasn¡¯t disappointed either. Robert raised an eyebrow, but Arthur¡¯s eyes glazed over in amazement. ¡°Cool, huh?¡± Merlin said smiling.


    Each of them nodded. ¡°I wonder what the others can do,¡± Robert said.


    ¡°I know,¡± said Merlin. About that time, he noticed Peter was getting dropped off. Nice car, he thought. Apparently, the military paid fairly well. If he had any type of love for discipline, he might have joined the military for the money. As it was, he had no desire to wake up early and have drill sergeants yell at him.


    Peter joined them. Arthur was quick to spill everything they had shared together, hoping to see if anything had happened to Peter. Merlin was more than a little annoyed with Arthur keeping their powers secret for a shorter period of time than he could hold his breath. After all, what if nothing had happened to Peter and they were giving away their secrets?


    As it was, however, something had happened to Peter, and Merlin breathed a sigh of relief when Peter said, ¡°I know. This morning, I was actually floating in bed when I woke up. I can¡¯t really fly, but I can sort of move through the air a little. It¡¯s amazing.¡±


    Had he not been able to levitate as well, Merlin would have found this as amazing as Robert and Arthur. ¡°That¡¯s amazing!¡± Robert and Arthur agreed at the same time.


    Merlin changed the subject slightly, ¡°Did anything happen with your sister? Did she get any powers?


    Everyone looked at Peter, waiting for his answer, ¡°She can float too,¡± he said finally as if he didn¡¯t want to give away her secrets.


    Merlin brought up another subject he had been thinking about, ¡°Do you think anyone else got any powers, or do you think it was just us?¡±


    ¡°I bet there were at least a few others,¡± Peter said. ¡°I doubt there were too many though. Most people avoided Ms. White¡¯s room last night. I heard no one wanted to see her, even if they did get candy.¡±


    ¡°I can believe that,¡± Arthur said. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to go in there myself until¡­¡± He paused there since Shirley had arrived and joined them.


    Everyone again shared what had happened to them, with Peter even levitating a few inches to show them what he could do.


    Shirley then said, ¡°I can¡¯t do a lot yet, but this morning, when I was working on some logic problems, I was able to do the one that I hadn¡¯t been able to do all year. In fact, it was easy. I blew through the others in the book really quickly.¡±


    ¡°Nice,¡± said Arthur, although he really didn¡¯t seem that impressed.


    Not wanting Shirley to get annoyed, Merlin changed the subject, ¡°Has anyone seen Angela?¡±


    Everyone looked at each other and then shook their heads. After a few seconds, Shirley said what everyone else must have been thinking, ¡°Why do you ask?¡±


    ¡°I saw her going into Ms. White¡¯s room as we were leaving last night,¡± Merlin said. Maybe she looked in the mirror as well.¡±


    Shirley nodded, ¡°I remember now. If she doesn¡¯t show up today, we know something is wrong. She hasn¡¯t missed a day of class, ever.¡±


    ¡°If she doesn¡¯t show up to school today, maybe we need to check up on her after school,¡± Robert said.


    ¡°That¡¯s probably a good idea,¡± Shirley said, which pretty much meant that the others were going to agree with her. ¡°We each received a power based on what we were wearing. Arthur was King Arthur and now knows how to use a sword. Robert was dressed as Robin Hood and now is amazing with a bow. Peter was dressed as Peter Pan and can now fly. And finally, Merlin was dressed as Merlin the Magician and can do magic tricks now.


    ¡°Considering that Angela was dressed as a Sleeping Beauty,¡± Shirley continued, ¡°I have no idea what might have happened to her except she might have some trouble staying awake. Maybe nothing happened, but then again, something might have.¡±


    Everyone nodded at this. After all, it did make sense. Then again, almost everything made sense when Shirley explained things. She should probably become a teacher when she got older. She couldn¡¯t do any worse than the teachers they already had. Some of them seemed like they were learning it at the same time as the students.


    ¡°How do we get there?¡± Robert asked.


    Shirley had the answer of course, ¡°If we take Bus 26, we should be dropped off close to her house. I can probably convince my big brother to pick us up there and take everyone home. All I have to do is promise to do his homework for a few days.¡±


    Sad, but true, Merlin thought to himself. She probably could do her older brother¡¯s homework better than he could do it himself. In fact, she could probably get away with doing his college work when he got into college. He would need a scholarship like Shirley was sure to receive. While not as poor as Merlin¡¯s parents, Shirley¡¯s parents didn¡¯t have a lot of money either.


    ¡°Sounds like a plan,¡± Arthur said. He had always liked having plans. If something was set out in front of him with a solid plan of attack, he was more likely to agree to it than to just try to wing things.


    Everyone else nodded, made various grunts, or made monosyllabic responses of agreement. ¡°Sounds good,¡± Merlin chimed in, not wanting to be left out, even if it was only agreeing to something he had suggested in the first place. He found it odd that Shirley had taken his idea and now everyone probably thought she came up with the idea.


    After that, they broke up and headed inside. They didn¡¯t even have to say anything. They seemed to just know that they wouldn¡¯t share what they had talked about with anyone else. Merlin, for his part, watched the other students, trying to determine who would have been most likely to have visited the substitute teacher¡¯s room last night. It probably wasn¡¯t any of the shy types unless they were with someone else. It took him a while to realize he really had no way of knowing who had gone to her room.


    Instead, he started concentrating on the spells he could write. An added benefit was that he didn¡¯t have to worry about what might have happened to Angela. In fact, maybe he could write a few spells that might actually fix whatever the mirror might have done to her. With that idea, he started concentrating on healing and canceling out spells.

 Chapter Five - Cursed Friend Needs Help

    After school, they did as Shirley had suggested since no one had seen Angela that day. They all got on the bus together and when they reached a stop near her house, got off. Then they walked the rest of the way to Angela¡¯s house. Arthur didn¡¯t hesitate for even a second before ringing the doorbell. A few seconds later, Angela¡¯s mother opened the door.


    While Merlin wasn¡¯t a great judge of expressions, the mother did seem a little worried as she said, ¡°Yes?¡±


    Shirley stepped forward, looked at the mother for a moment, and then said, ¡°We know that Angela is sick right now. We believe that this morning, she started feeling a little tired and found it very difficult to stay awake. You probably don¡¯t know why. Is that correct? If so, we think we might know what made her this way.¡±


    The mother looked at Shirley in astonishment. To Merlin, it looked like she didn¡¯t know whether to be angry or hopeful. After a few seconds of staring at Shirley, Angela¡¯s mother turned to look at the rest of the group and then motioned them inside, obviously a little confused. ¡°Uh...she¡¯s upstairs. Please don¡¯t stay long though. The doctor said to allow her to rest and see if she is better tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°We promise,¡± Shirley said. Everyone else nodded in agreement as well.


    Silently, she led them all up to Angela¡¯s room. Inside, they found her lying in her bed. She definitely looked asleep. Merlin felt really awkward being in the room of a sleeping girl. Uh, what had they really expected to see? She seemed to hear them and slowly opened her eyes, smiling weakly at them all.


    ¡°Hey guys,¡± she said. ¡°What¡¯s up? I¡¯m sorry I couldn¡¯t come to school today.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it,¡± Shirley said. ¡°We were wondering if you started feeling bad this morning. We think it might be tied into what happened with the mirror last night.¡±


    Angela seemed confused. ¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡±


    Shirley looked at the rest of the group and then nodded to them. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Get some rest and we will come back and see you later.¡±


    She turned to Merlin and asked, ¡°Can you do anything for her?¡±


    Merlin shrugged his shoulders and said, ¡°I can try.¡± He stood there for a few seconds and then tried a spell he had thought up. It wasn¡¯t really for this, but maybe he could get it to work after all.


    ¡°Let her fate be unsealed


    And my friend be healed.


    Let her fate be unsealed


    And my friend be healed.


    Let her fate be unsealed


    And my friend be healed.¡±


    They all watched her for a few seconds, but nothing happened. He held up a hand, letting them know he wanted to try again.


    He stood there thinking for a few minutes, wondering what rhymed with sleep. ¡°Beep, creep, deep, heap, jeep, keep, leap, peep, reap, steep, weep.¡± Nodding, he decided he might have enough to try again.


    ¡°Do not make my friends weep,


    Please wake her from her sleep.


    Do not make my friends weep,


    Please wake her from her sleep.


    Do not make my friends weep,


    Please wake her from her sleep.¡±


    He thought nothing was going to happen again when she stirred just a little and opened her eyes, but then immediately fell asleep again. There had been no feeling of pressure or anything. In fact, it was as if he had lost his power. Just to make sure, he tried another.¡±


    ¡°Light light,


    Shining bright.


    Light light,


    Shining bright.


    Light light,


    Shining bright.¡±


    A light appeared in the room, then faded away. Merlin turned to the others. ¡°I don¡¯t know why it didn¡¯t work. Maybe since the power came from the mirror it doesn¡¯t affect what the mirror does.¡±


    ¡°It was worth a try,¡± Shirley said. ¡°We will come up with another plan. For now, we have gathered some information and tested some hypotheses. Tomorrow we can try a new direction of attack.¡±


    Attack probably sounded good to Arthur, Merlin thought, but then chided himself. He really needed to watch picking on Arthur, even if it was only in his own mind. He didn¡¯t know why he was always picking on Arthur, even if only in his mind. After all, Arthur might not be the brightest guy, but he really wasn¡¯t that bad. He might be a little too sure of himself and only treat them well because they were HIS friends, but at least Arthur treated them well, even if Merlin felt like a pet sometimes.


    Looking at the others, he shook his head and nodded toward the door. Shirley motioned for everyone to leave, and everyone started filing out of the room.


    They left the house silently. Merlin didn¡¯t know what they were thinking, but more than likely, they were probably trying to figure out what to do with their friend. Once at the street curb, they started talking about what they had seen. Arthur started by stating the obvious. ¡°She was Sleeping Beauty last night, and now she can¡¯t stay awake.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± said Robert. ¡°Who knows how long she will be able to stay awake each day? What if she gets worse?¡±


    ¡°Yes, we need to find that mirror,¡± said Shirley. ¡°Maybe we can reverse the curse somehow.¡±


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°We might have a problem keeping her awake long enough to say the magic words,¡± Merlin said.


    ¡°Maybe we can just break the mirror,¡± said Arthur. ¡°That might break the curse.¡±


    ¡°It might also take away our powers,¡± Peter said. ¡°Personally, I like my power.¡±


    ¡°I think we need to find the mirror and bring it back,¡± Shirley said. ¡°That sounds like the best plan for now.¡±


    ¡°How are we going to find it, however?¡± Merlin asked. ¡°After all, Ms. White doesn¡¯t go to our school anymore. Who knows where she is.¡±


    ¡°I suggest we all ask everyone we can think of tomorrow to find out where she went,¡± Shirley said. ¡°Maybe one of the teachers will know. If not, we can ask one of the counselors or principals.¡±


    They stood there in silence for a few more minutes until Shirley¡¯s brother showed up and took everyone home. No one said anything on the ride home, each person is lost in thought. How could they find Ms. White? Even if they did find her, were they just going to steal it from her? How? After all, she seemed to see and know everything.


    That evening he spent all night creating different spells. Surprisingly, he was able to memorize everything much easier than before the mirror. That was great because he would need to memorize a lot of spells since he could only use each one once.


    The next morning, he went to school like normal. He hung around the teacher¡¯s lounge and office hoping to hear something, anything, about Ms. White. When that didn¡¯t help, he began asking around about where she might have gone. The teachers he asked didn¡¯t know where she had gone, however. In fact, they didn¡¯t seem to know much about her at all. They didn¡¯t even know her first name apparently. Weird.


    Merlin hoped the others were having better luck than he was. They definitely couldn¡¯t be learning any less than he was. Maybe Shirley would find something. After all, the mirror had given her the powers of Sherlock Holmes.


    At lunch, however, Merlin found out that no one had discovered anything that would help them. Maybe they would have better luck after lunch, he thought.


    When they all met after school for a moment before the buses arrived, Shirley told them that hope had actually arrived in the form of a strange old man. She was in the office when he came in and asked for Ms. White.


    ¡°What did he look like?¡± Arthur asked.


    Shirley gave him a look, but answered anyway, ¡°He was an old man, maybe 70 or 80. He had white hair. The old man also looked rich. His clothing looked expensive, as did his watch.¡±


    ¡°Go on, what happened next,¡± Peter said, urging her to tell them more about what the old man had said.


    Shirley nodded, and began again, ¡°When the secretary told him Ms. White was no longer at the school, he asked if she knew where Ms. White had gone? She told him no. After that, he asked if she had left anyway to contact her. Again, the secretary told him no. He seemed disappointed, and asked to be called if they discovered a way he could contact Ms. White.¡±


    Robert blurted something out then. ¡°Don¡¯t they have to have some records or some way to send her a check? Why weren¡¯t they able to tell him anything?¡±


    Shirley gave him a dirty look. After a brief pause, she answered, ¡°Probably because she was given the check at work. Perhaps she put the wrong number or address on her application. It¡¯s also possible that they lied and really do have the information but didn¡¯t want to share it with him.


    ¡°Anyway,¡± she continued, ¡°I stopped him and said we were trying to locate her as well so we could send her a letter. He seemed a little suspicious but agreed to call me if he discovered anything.¡±


    Merlin didn¡¯t say anything for a moment. Then he said, ¡°Do you really think he will find anything out, and even if he does, do you think he will share it with us?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but it was worth a try.¡±


    It was at that moment that Shirley¡¯s phone rang. She looked at them and then answered. After listening to the person on the phone, she said, ¡°That will be fine. We¡¯ll meet you outside in a few minutes.¡±


    As soon as she hung up, Peter asked, ¡°Who was that? Was that him?¡±


    Shirley said, ¡°Yes, it was and he wants to meet us at the front of the school. Right now.¡±


    Merlin asked, ¡°Uh, what about the bus? How will we get home?¡±


    Shirley said, ¡°My brother, of course. I made a deal with him, and he is more than willing to give us a ride anytime anywhere as long as we pay the gas, and I do his homework.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, okay,¡± Arthur said. The others looked at each other and shrugged as if each of them was saying they might as well meet with the old man then.


    Together, they headed to the front of the school. No one really knew what to say, so they didn¡¯t say much of anything. As they got closer, Merlin noticed that there was a man matching Shirley¡¯s description standing near the flagpole.


    Once they got near, Shirley said, ¡°Hi there. I¡¯m glad you called. Do you find out anything?¡±


    The old man took a moment to look at each of them before responding, ¡°A little. I found out what city she is in, Little Rock, but haven¡¯t narrowed it down further than that yet. I wanted to let you know that I should have more information by tomorrow.¡±


    Shirley looked confused for a moment, ¡°Why couldn¡¯t you tell me that over the phone?¡±


    ¡°Actually,¡± he answered, ¡°I could have, but I wanted to meet you all. After I met you, I knew she must have used the mirror. And knowing her, I figured that she wouldn¡¯t be satisfied with just showing the mirror to one person.¡±


    ¡°So, she¡¯s done this before?¡± Peter blurted out.


    ¡°Yes, she has. In fact, she has done this several times in the last few years.¡±


    Robert asked the next question, ¡°Why is she doing this?¡±


    While not the question he would have asked, it was a valid question. Why was Ms. White using the magic mirror on different groups of students?


    The old man paused as if weighing his response. Finally, he said, ¡°She¡¯s possessed the mirror for a long time, but only recently learned how to use its full power.¡±


    Everybody waited for him to say more, and perhaps realizing this, the old man continued, ¡°She discovered that while the mirror does grant those who use it their desires, there is always a price.¡±


    Arthur chimed in, ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound good. What price is there?¡±


    The old man seemed torn as if he didn¡¯t really want to say that, as if it might be personally embarrassing to him. ¡°Part of the price of the mirror is the chance of receiving a curse instead of a blessing. Another part is that each person who receives a blessing also gives up a piece of themselves.¡±


    Merlin couldn¡¯t resist, and added, ¡°Could you explain that a little more? That doesn¡¯t explain much.¡±


    ¡°I suppose not,¡± the old man said. ¡°Basically, some people have personality changes. Other people start having impulses, such as needing to eat certain foods or do certain activities. They generally take on the disadvantages of whatever they were given. For example, if you gained power over fire, you might feel deep aversions to water and rain. These are some of the things, but there could be others.¡±


    Shirley said, ¡°You still haven¡¯t told us why she is doing this. What does she get out of it?¡±


    The old man nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right. I haven¡¯t. What she gets out of it is that each person also gives up a tiny portion of their soul as well. She found a way to use the mirror to keep herself young by absorbing these pieces of souls.¡±


    Everyone looked at each other at that. Arthur even touched his face and chest, as if searching for the lost bit of soul. Before he could say anything, however, Peter asked, ¡°How do you know all of this?¡±


    ¡°That is a tale for another day. Let us just say that I found out the hard way that the mirror not only gives out blessings but curses as well. I hope to find her. Perhaps then, I can break the curse upon me.¡±


    ¡°One more question,¡± Peter said, ¡°How long do the blessings and curses last?¡±


    ¡°They are permanent. In fact, they generally get stronger as time progresses. If you have a friend who was cursed, which I think you do, then you need to do something soon. I will be here tomorrow at this time to tell you what I discover.¡±


    No one really knew what to say after that. Seeing that they had no more questions, he nodded to them and turned around and left.


    They wondered how old Ms. White might be, and what else the old man had not told them. Was he holding things back? Why hadn¡¯t he been able to stop her already? Where had the mirror come from in the first place? Was the old man lying to them?


    Before they could even come up with a good hypothesis, Shirley¡¯s brother arrived and took them to Angela¡¯s home. Merlin wondered if Shirley was telling the truth. After all, just how much homework could her brother have? Did she have some blackmail on him or something?

 Chapter Six - Special Friends

    When they reached Angela¡¯s house, he paused after getting out of the car. He wasn¡¯t sure they should all go in again. Everyone insisted they wanted to go in, however. He didn¡¯t want to be the only one who didn¡¯t go in, so he followed as well. Someone might think he didn¡¯t care if he stayed outside by himself.


    Angela¡¯s parents didn¡¯t seem worried about everyone wanting to see Angela at all. The only thing they seemed to be worried about was their daughter. She was sleeping even more than she had the previous day apparently.


    Angela¡¯s parents were actually excited at the chance of waking up their daughter with a loud group of friends. They all crowded into the room. Angela¡¯s mother shook her daughter gently, trying to wake her long enough to see her friends.


    Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked around the room. Through bleary eyes, she mumbled, ¡°Hi guys. Good to see you. I¡¯m so tired. Can you guys come back later? I just need a few more minutes of sleep.¡± With that, she closed her eyes and went back to sleep.


    They looked at each other while the mother tried again to wake her daughter up. This time she didn¡¯t even stir. Seeing that there wasn¡¯t much they could do they slipped out of the room.


    Once outside, Merlin said, ¡°We have to go to Little Rock. We can get the mirror and bring it back here to break the curse.¡±


    ¡°I agree,¡± Shirley said, ¡°but we need a plan. My brother can drive us there. We just need some gas and food money.¡±


    Everyone looked at Arthur at that, who shrugged and said, ¡°Sure, I can do that. Shouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡±


    ¡°We also need an excuse to get away from our homes,¡± Robert added.


    ¡°I can take care of that,¡± said Peter. My father is out of town again. You can tell your parents that you are coming to spend the night with me.¡±


    ¡°That might work for you guys, but that won¡¯t work for me,¡± said Shirley. ¡°I somehow doubt my father would be happy with me spending the night at a boy¡¯s house.¡±


    ¡°Hmm,¡± Peter thought out loud for a moment, then continued, ¡°What if you told your father, you were spending the night with Belle instead of me?¡±


    ¡°That might work. What if one of our parents wants to talk to an adult?¡±


    No one had a quick answer for that. Then Merlin had an idea. ¡°What if we gave them the old man¡¯s number? He can cover for us.¡±


    Everyone nodded, and Robert said, ¡°Not bad, not bad at all.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll call him and let him know just in case one of them calls,¡± Shirley said.


    After that, there really wasn¡¯t much to do so they headed home, each concentrating on what they could do to help.


    He didn¡¯t have money or food to contribute, but he did have his power. Because of that, he spent the rest of the night dreaming up different spells for different occasions. He also decided to experiment and see if he could enchant something, at least temporarily.


    He looked around, trying to decide what to start with. He was a little jealous of Robert and Arthur being so good with weapons now. Perhaps he needed something of his own. Finally, he picked up a tiny pebble that he had taken out of his shoe. Concentrating, he began the verses.


    ¡°When I throw this tiny rock,


    Change into a big block.


    When I throw this tiny rock,


    Change into a big block.


    When I throw this tiny rock,


    Change into a big block.¡±


    Nothing happened. Then again, he hadn¡¯t wanted anything to happen yet anyway. Merlin guessed he would only know if it worked if he actually threw the rock, which would, in turn, waste the verses making them useless. He supposed he would just have to trust it worked.


    Taking that on faith, he decided to try a few more enchantments. Looking around, he wondered what other items would be needed. Probably something to defend himself with. What could he use, he thought to himself. Finally, he picked up a nickel from the kitchen counter and concentrated on the image of the nickel changing into a shield if anything was about to hurt him.


    ¡°When I am in a pickle,


    Make a shield from this nickel.


    When I am in a pickle,


    Make a shield from this nickel.


    Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    When I am in a pickle,


    Make a shield from this nickel.¡±


    Again, nothing happened. Not knowing what else to do, he continued doing similar spells the rest of the night. Pretty soon, he had several small cloth bags of variously spelled knick-knacks. Luckily, his Merlin costume had come with them. Again, something he owed Arthur a thank you for. Arthur had given it to him for his birthday. While he might have done it as a joke, it had turned out well after all.


    It wasn¡¯t until well into the evening that he noticed that the spells were making him tired. While each one wasn¡¯t much effort, each succeeding spell took a little more out of him. He ended up having to take breaks, which actually was a good idea anyway since it gave him time to compose new spells. It was during one of these times that he fell asleep at the kitchen table.


    He awoke the next morning late because he had forgotten to set his alarm. Luckily, however, he was still in time to get ready and grab a few things he might need for the trip. His parents had reluctantly agreed to let him spend the night with Peter, which actually surprised him. After all, it was a school night.


    With the need to grab his things and get ready, he barely made it to the bus stop before the bus arrived. The bus ride and classes blended together and passed by quickly. The school day flew by until suddenly, it was time to meet the old man.


    As he had said he would be, the old man was waiting in front of the school at the end of the day. When everyone arrived, he began, ¡°I did find out where she is in the city. She hasn¡¯t gone too far and is in Little Rock. She has rented an abandoned warehouse on 7th Street and Gingerbread Lane and a house at 77 Noble Circle.¡±


    ¡°Do you know which place she is keeping the mirror at?¡± Robert asked.


    The old man shook his head, ¡°No. It could be in either place.¡±


    ¡°Is there anything else you can tell us?¡± Shirley asked. ¡°For example, does she have any powers of her own?¡±


    ¡°She does know some spells she found in a magic book,¡± the old man admitted. ¡°You might want to sneak in to get the mirror instead of trying to fight her.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good to know,¡± said Robert.


    ¡°Anything else?¡± Arthur asked. He seemed almost disappointed that there wasn¡¯t going to be a direct fight. Maybe he had been wanting to use his newfound ability with swords.


    ¡°That¡¯s about it,¡± the old man said. ¡°I wish I could help you more, but I am trying to cut her options down. I don¡¯t want her skipping town on me again before I can reach her.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Shirley said, ¡°We¡¯ll call you if we think of anything else.¡±


    Merlin noticed that Peter seemed oddly quiet and wondered why. Then again, he was nervous about everything. They were traveling to another city to steal a magic mirror from an evil spell-casting substitute teacher. That could make anyone nervous. Could they even trust the old man?


    With everything being said, they headed to where Shirley¡¯s brother had parked. It looked like everyone else had already packed their stuff into the car. In fact, there was so much stuff that they had tied a few of the duffel bags to the top of the car.


    Why hadn¡¯t he thought of that? They had already packed themselves into the car and filled it up even before they added the luggage. Now the car was bursting at the seams. He didn¡¯t look forward to the long drive. It was going to be a grueling experience. Hopefully, everyone remembered to wear deodorant.


    Shirley and her brother were in the front seat of course. Merlin wondered where he would be stuck. He almost wanted to sing in joy when he saw the other three pile into the back seat, leaving him to get in front.


    While it was still crowded, it wasn¡¯t as crowded as sitting next to Arthur would have been. He also had more leg room this way. Sheesh, poor Arthur. He must have really felt squished in the back seat. As the car roared to life, he silently said the words, ¡°Let the complaining begin!¡±


    The trip was about what he expected, which was horrible. Arthur wanted to sing every song on the radio, even though he didn¡¯t know the words. In fact, the only person who knew the words was Shirley¡¯s brother. Oh, and Shirley of course.


    Actually, Merlin wasn¡¯t even sure there were any words in the songs. Calling them songs was also very generous on his part. Apparently, Shirley¡¯s brother was a Screamo lover. To Merlin¡¯s ears, it sounded like angry screaming and grunting.


    Finally, he could take no more and began muttering a spell under his breath.


    ¡°Although I might be such a jerk,


    let this CD no longer work.


    Although I might be such a jerk,


    let this CD no longer work.¡±


    He was about to finish the spell with the last lines when he realized the spell might ruin the CD and cost the brother some money. Just because he didn¡¯t like the music didn¡¯t necessarily mean he should do whatever he wanted. Sighing, he groaned and decided to sit there and endure the music. After all, the brother was doing them a favor.


    Ugh, he made a silent moan. It was going to be a long trip. Even though Little Rock wasn¡¯t that far away, it would take an hour to get there. Then they would have to find both locations. Hopefully, the mirror would be in the first place, and they could get back home before bedtime. He wasn¡¯t really comfortable with what they were doing.


    As they entered the city limits, one of the tires started making odd noises. A few seconds later, Shirley¡¯s brother pulled over the car. Getting out, he started saying a few choice words. Merlin didn¡¯t have a hard time guessing what had happened.


    He was tempted to try a magic spell but was worried that while it might temporarily fix the tire, the spell might only last as long as he concentrated. Since Shirley¡¯s brother had a spare tire, it was probably a better idea to change it. Of course, that meant they had to take everything out of the trunk.


    That turned out to be quite an eye-opening experience. When a huge sword was taken out of the trunk, he could only turn and stare at Arthur. Really?


    When a bow with a quiver of arrows followed, he could only shake his head and put a hand over his face. Looking at Robert, he just stared.


    By the moon and stars. Were his friends that...special? How useful was a sword or a bow and arrows? They were there to get a mirror, not fight the Sheriff of Nottingham.


    He raised an eyebrow when he noticed how many bags Shirley had packed. Somehow, he didn¡¯t think she had filled them with clothes, however. Merlin was so tempted to open them and find out what was inside. Judging from what he had seen from Robert and Arthur, he wondered if it was a detective-type of item. What those items might be, he had no idea, however. All he could think of was a microscope or a magnifying glass. What did she have in her bags?

 Chapter Seven - Encountering Problems

    It took almost an hour to take everything out of the trunk, change the spare tire, and replace everything back into the trunk. It was annoying, but those types of things did happen. He also learned how to change a tire. He had never seen that done before. It might be something he might need to know in the future.


    Unfortunately, that future happened less than a minute after they began driving again. They turned and looked at each other. One tire yes, but two? No, that didn¡¯t seem to be quite so coincidental. How it had happened was another question.


    Another problem was that they didn¡¯t have another spare tire. It was almost too dark to look at the tire. They hadn¡¯t really looked too hard at the first tire and had assumed it was a slow leak or a nail. With it being the second tire, however, they were more than curious as to what had caused two flats in as many miles.


    Merlin made a motion with his head to get someone to take Shirley¡¯s brother away for a short time. While he was with them, Merlin didn¡¯t feel like letting him know about his powers yet. Robert got the message and took Shirley¡¯s brother off to the side, saying something about Merlin being a wiz when it came to cars.


    No one saw anything wrong with the tire, however. Not sure what to do, Merlin said, ¡°I don¡¯t see much of a choice guys. Let me see what I can do.¡± After that, he sat down and concentrated on what he would need to make the spell.


    He mumbled to himself, thinking, ¡°tire, fire, hire, sire, wire...nope...air, bear, care, dare, fair, hair, lair, mare, pair, rare, stare, tear, wear...hmm¡±


    Merlin continued, thinking of the different combinations. ¡°Let¡¯s see, fill this tire with some air, because¡­no, wear and tear...hmm, that might work. Yes, seven syllables each. That works.¡±


    ¡°Fill this tire with some air,


    Then fix all the wear and tear.


    Fill this tire with some air,


    Then fix all the wear and tear.


    Fill this tire with some air,


    Then fix all the wear and tear.¡±


    By the end of the spell, he had begun to feel the pressure, but it wasn¡¯t all that great. As they watched, the tire refilled with air. Merlin kept concentrating on the tire until the tire matched the others. Hesitantly, he stopped, allowing his concentration to fade. He smiled when the air stayed in the tire. Nodding, he motioned for the others to get into the car and try driving again.


    A few minutes later, Shirley¡¯s brother said, ¡°Uh...that is strange. The engine is overheating. I¡¯m going to have to pull over again.¡±


    Everyone looked at each other, knowing something was definitely wrong. There was no way it could be a coincidence. Someone was sabotaging them somehow.


    ¡°More magic?¡± Arthur asked. Although whether he meant the problem was caused by magic or them trying to fix the problem with magic Merlin wasn¡¯t sure about.


    ¡°I can try,¡± Merlin said, taking the hint. By now, he was starting to get into a habit. Leaning up against the car, he started talking to himself. ¡°Heat, beat, feet, meet, neat, pleat, no, complete, seat¡­.hmm, which ones would work...complete...heat...hmm, maybe.¡±


    Merlin turned to the others. ¡°You know, maybe I should try to cast a protective spell so nothing else happens in addition to fixing the overheating problem. I might need to concentrate on keeping the spells active, however.


    ¡°Now the protection spell, car, bar, far, jar, star, scar, tar¡­Hmm, maybe not...Let nothing happen anymore...more, boar, core, door, floor, lore, pore, store, wore...maybe, just maybe.¡±


    Finally, he nodded, and began the chant, feeling the pressure increase faster since he was trying to cast two spells at once.


    ¡°Let this car not overheat,


    Until this trip is complete.


    Let nothing happen anymore,


    By using this magical lore.


    Let this car not overheat,


    Until this trip is complete.


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    Let nothing happen anymore,


    By using this magical lore.


    Let this car not overheat,


    Until this trip is complete.


    Let nothing happen anymore,


    By using this magical lore.¡±


    By the time he was done with the spell, he was actually sweating despite the chilly air. Carefully, he continued to concentrate on maintaining the spells. He stepped back into the car, closed his eyes, and silently kept the image in his mind of a whole car where nothing more would happen.


    The others got in the car as well, and within minutes they were driving again. This time, they didn¡¯t have any problems.


    When they got close to the first site, they decided to stop for gas and snacks. More than a few of them had to go to the bathroom anyway. Arthur paid for everyone¡¯s snacks, and everyone filed back to the car.


    Merlin had let his concentration slip once they stopped. Hopefully, the car would stay working. As soon as they were all in the car and about to head out, Shirley hissed at everyone to be quiet and not draw any attention to themselves. Then she pointed to someone who was coming down the street.


    At first, everyone wondered what she was looking at, and then they realized. While it was dark, there was enough light to see it was Frank, one of the Monster Mob. Everyone looked at each with the same question. Why was he there?


    Merlin thought furiously. So many questions raced through his mind. What was he doing? There was no reason whatsoever for him to be there. Could he have something to do with their problems? Were the other members of the Monster Mob here as well? Maybe they had seen the mirror as well and were trying to find it also? Should they try to join forces? What should they do?


    Merlin wasn¡¯t sure he wanted to find out why Frank was in Little Rock. Arthur was sure, and he wasn¡¯t shy about asking. In fact, Arthur wasn¡¯t shy or reserved about anything. Nothing fazed him.


    Before even speaking with the others to see what they thought, Arthur got out of the car and strode forward to meet Frank. Seeing Arthur coming, Frank took a few more steps forward until they were only a few feet away. Not sure if Arthur would need backup or not, the others wordlessly got out of the car as well and joined him.


    Arthur spoke first, ¡°Hi there Frank. I hadn¡¯t expected to see you in town. What are you doing here?¡± While it was politely said, there was little doubt that the question wasn¡¯t so much as a please tell me as you better tell me or else. That was...a little more confrontational than Arthur usually acted. Not much, but a little.


    Frank seemed surprised as well and just stared at Arthur for a second before responding. ¡°I could ask you the same thing.¡±


    Arthur frowned, obviously not liking the fact that Frank hadn¡¯t answered his question. ¡°We¡¯re looking for something for Angela. And you?¡± This time there was a definite implied threat.


    Frank frowned again and looked around. Nodding to himself, he walked over to the chain link fence and stood by one of the metal poles. ¡°I don¡¯t think it is any of your business. In fact, things happen to people who poke their noses into other people¡¯s business.¡± With that, he reached down and with one hand, started bending the thick metal fence post.


    Everybody but Arthur stared at the fence post with wide eyes. Arthur just snorted, ¡°Strength isn¡¯t everything. Being able to fight is better than brute strength. In fact, why don¡¯t you try your strength against my skill?¡± Arthur said with complete confidence.


    Everybody stared at him in surprise, even Frank. After what Frank had just done, Arthur was willing to go toe to toe with him in a fight. Hmm, okay. Even Frank didn¡¯t seem to understand how his intimidation had completely failed.


    ¡°Well, uh...you better stay away from us and get back home. If you don¡¯t, you won¡¯t like the results. We¡¯ll find out if you are as good as you think you are.¡±


    With that, Frank turned around and started walking back to where he had come from, probably to tell whoever he was with about them. More than likely, it would be the rest of the Monster Mob. While Frank walked off, everyone looked at each other.


    After a few seconds, Robert said, ¡°He has to be speaking about his friends. Do you think they also looked in the mirror and are here for the same reason we are?¡±


    Peter shook his head, ¡°I doubt that. How would they even know where to go? It has to be a coincidence.¡±


    Shirley said, ¡°I disagree. I think they are here because of the mirror. Maybe they are here to get the mirror themselves for some reason, or maybe they are here to stop us from getting the mirror. After all, someone sabotaged the car on the way here.¡±


    Merlin was about to say he agreed but then thought of something else. ¡°Frank was dressed as Frankenstein¡¯s Monster. Maybe because he thought it made him look strong. I don¡¯t think any of his friends dressed up in anything that would make it possible to jinx the car. Two flat tires and then the car overheating?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Shirley said. ¡°Obviously, someone else is with them. The question is who, however.¡±


    ¡°Whoever it is, we can take them,¡± Arthur said, smacking a fist into his other hand as if looking forward to a fight.


    ¡°Maybe we should have your brother wait here for us,¡± Merlin said, turning to Shirley. ¡°The house we are looking for is only a block away. And judging from where Frank came from and is going back to, he is going there as well. We might want to follow him and see what he is up to.¡±


    ¡°That sounds like a good idea,¡± Robert said.


    ¡°Agreed,¡± said Shirley. ¡°I¡¯ll go tell him. You guys get what you need out of the trunk.¡±


    Merlin sighed at that. Oh, yeah, good idea. Two teenagers walk around with a giant sword and a bow with a quiver of arrows. Yep, they weren¡¯t likely to stand out at all. Maybe he should be thinking about a spell to make the cops less likely to arrest them for carrying dangerous weapons around.


    Robert and Arthur didn¡¯t seem to have a problem with the idea and rummaged through the trunk to retrieve their weapons. In fact, they looked more comfortable now, as if they had felt naked without the weapons. Merlin could almost imagine Shirley saying something like boys with their toys. Hmm, that did rhyme, however.

 Chapter Eight - Healing Injuries

    Soon, everyone was ready. Even Merlin had strapped the pouches to his belt, placing the items he thought he might need the most into his pockets. Then again, with Frank and the rest of the Monster Mob around, with the help of who knows who else, he decided to keep the pebble that would change into a cinder block in his hand, just in case.


    A few minutes later they were walking down an alley not far from the house. That was when Frank, Lucas, and Ruth stepped out into the alley.


    That didn¡¯t bode well, Merlin thought to himself. There were three people in the Monster Mob. They almost outnumbered the Monster Mob by two to one. They must certainly be confident in themselves to go against those types of odds.


    Shirley and Ruth were probably not too badly matched, both being about the same size. Arthur seemed to think he could handle Frank on his own. That left Robert, Peter, and him to deal with Lucas. How in the world could they lose?


    Almost immediately, things went haywire. Peter fell to his knees and started groaning, clutching at his stomach. His moans distracted everyone for a moment, which was when the Monster Mob attacked.


    Frank strode into the fight with a big metal bat, swinging it at Arthur. Arthur, though surprised, blocked the swing with his sword. Merlin winced, imagining how the sword would be shattered by the bat. Instead, the sword actually chipped the bat instead. Huh?


    Ruth sprinted forward, surprisingly fast. In fact, she seemed to move too fast. How did she do that? Maybe the match between Ruth and Shirley wouldn¡¯t be so evenly matched after all. Robert sensed this and moved to help Shirley.


    It did appear that Arthur could hold his own against Frank, however. That left him fighting Lucas alone. Oh, that wasn¡¯t good. Lucas didn¡¯t seem to care about their plans though. Instead of trying to fight Merlin, he leaped onto Robert. And it was a leap. Dang! And were his nails just a little too sharp? Was he growling? Uh, not good. Not good at all.


    ¡°What?¡± Merlin blurted out loud as Robert drew his bow back and readied an arrow. Had he gone crazy? Was he actually about to shoot Ruth? Before he could yell at Robert to stop, the arrow had already been released. Merlin closed his eyes, not wanting to see what happened.


    Unable to resist, he peeked anyway, only to see an arrow pinning Ruth¡¯s pants to the ground. Ruth looked down in surprise, but then just jerked her leg up, pulling the arrow out of the asphalt. It hadn¡¯t been able to bury itself very deep because of that.


    It did give Shirley a chance to hit first, which she took by shoving Ruth down while she was off balance on one foot. Ruth tumbled to the ground, with Shirley throwing herself on top of Ruth.


    Robert was about to shoot another arrow before Merlin could even think of doing something himself. Man, Robert was fast. Something happened, however. Suddenly, the string of Robert¡¯s bow suddenly snapped in two. He barely had time to stare at the string with a look of betrayal before Lucas hit him with those sharp fingernails.


    Robert screamed in pain. While Lucas was drawing back to slash him again with those claws, Merlin came to his senses and threw the pebble. He concentrated on keeping it the size of the cinder block, afraid it might change back into a pebble mid-flight if he didn¡¯t concentrate. A pebble wasn¡¯t likely to do much.


    A girl¡¯s scream ripped through the air, ¡°Lucas!¡±


    Lucas dropped to the ground immediately. Instead of hitting Lucas in the chest like he had planned, the block flew past Lucas toward Frank and Arthur.


    Merlin¡¯s eyes went wide as he realized what was happening. The surprise broke his concentration, but before the pebble changed back to normal size, the damage had already been done.


    Everyone paused and stared at what Merlin had done. The block had smashed Frank in the face. He was laying on the ground, blood pouring from his face. The fighting stopped immediately, which was good since Robert seemed to be in just as bad of shape.


    Ruth and Lucas dragged Frank away, and they all gathered around Robert. Peter had finally stopped moaning and joined them. He seemed a little shaken up, but none the worse for the experience. Whoever had warned Lucas must have powers similar to those of his own, Merlin thought. That would account for Peter feeling bad, the bowstring snapping, and the car problems.


    When he reached Robert, Merlin realized it wasn¡¯t a game. Robert was hurt badly. Blood covered his shirt. They could see four slices that looked like they had been made from knives raking across his chest. That wasn¡¯t good. In fact, it was bad, really bad.


    Hurriedly, he ran through a spell he had designed for emergencies. He just hadn¡¯t expected the emergency would come so soon. Concentrating, he began the spell.


    ¡°Let my friend be healed,


    And his fate unsealed.


    Let my friend be healed,


    And his fate unsealed.


    Let my friend be healed,


    And his fate unsealed.¡±


    Merlin concentrated on the spell healing his friend. Everyone watched as the bleeding began to slow. They held their breath, waiting to see if the wound would close up. Nothing more happened, however. The cuts still continued to bleed, although not as much. Worried, everyone looked at Merlin again.


    Thinking furiously, he tried again. Obviously, the first spell had helped, but just not enough. Maybe he needed a more complicated spell for a more complicated injury. Focusing his thoughts so he wouldn¡¯t mess up the spell, he tried again.


    ¡°Now that the fighting is done,


    Let the damage be undone.


    Please heal my injured friend,


    Before he meets his end.¡±


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    He could feel the pressure building, the magic swelling deep inside him, trying to burst out of his control. Firmly, he held the image of his friend being healed in his mind as he continued.


    ¡°Now that the fighting is done,


    Let the damage be undone.


    Please heal my injured friend,


    Before he meets his end.¡±


    The pressure was intense, and he could feel the spell struggling to break free. Firmly, he continued on, determined to heal his friend.


    ¡°Now that the fighting is done,


    Let the damage be undone.


    Please heal my injured friend,


    Before he meets his end.¡±


    The magic burst from him, flowing into Robert. Merlin concentrated on the image of his friend being healed. Somehow, he knew that healing Robert as soon as the injury happened would make the spell stronger. He needed every bit of power to work the spell. He concentrated fiercely, willing his friend to be well.


    Slowly, the wounds began to close together. Each second of the spell drained his willpower, and his ability to concentrate on the spell. Quickly, the spell became too much, and he had to release it.


    Quickly, he looked at Robert¡¯s wounds. While they were red and looked very tender, they were at least staying closed. Sighing, Merlin sat down, then laid down on his back, staring up at the dark sky.


    That had been intense. How did people in the military fight battles like that? In the first seconds of the fight, two people had been badly injured, one of them by accident. That had been the worst experience of his life.


    ¡°Maybe we need to get a room for the night,¡± Peter said. ¡°We probably need to regroup and come up with a plan. Obviously, this isn¡¯t going to be as easy as we thought.¡±


    Robert was still laying on the ground, his eyes closed, apparently still in some pain. Shirley looked at each of them and then nodded. ¡°That might be a good idea. We can try for the mirror early in the morning.¡±


    Picking up Robert, they headed to the car. Shirley¡¯s brother was a little confused by the abrupt change, and what had happened to Robert. They decided that he could just be told that Robert had tripped in the darkness and hurt his chest when he fell down on something. Soon, Shirley¡¯s brother had checked them into a nearby hotel.


    Once inside, they let Robert sleep with Shirley¡¯s brother watching over him while everyone else sat in a circle and tried to decide what to do about the situation.


    ¡°That was close tonight,¡± Arthur said.


    Merlin agreed, ¡°Yes, it was.¡±


    ¡°On the plus side, Frank won¡¯t be quite as big of a threat as before,¡± Arthur said. ¡°On the negative side, it looks like there is someone else helping them. Does anyone recognize her voice?¡±


    Everyone looked at Shirley as if she would magically know the answer. She shook her head, ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    Merlin looked at her, a little annoyed with Shirley. She hadn¡¯t done anything impressive yet with her abilities. Yes, she had a perfect memory, but she hadn¡¯t done anything remotely like Sherlock Holmes. What had she been thinking about when she looked in the mirror? Was she just thinking about having a great memory?


    Finally, she did come up with something, ¡°She has to be one of the students at our school, or at least of their siblings. I didn¡¯t recognize her voice, however, so more than likely she is the sister of one of the students.¡±


    ¡°That sounds reasonable,¡± Arthur said, motioning for her to continue.


    Encouraged, she said, ¡°Also, she is able to cast a few simple spells similar to Merlin. Every spell she cast had to do something with breaking things, except for Peter here,¡± she motioned to him, ¡°and we don¡¯t know what she did to him.¡±


    ¡°Another fact is that she wasn¡¯t able to break Merlin¡¯s spells, so obviously her spell abilities aren¡¯t as powerful. If she had been dressed as a witch, she would have been as powerful as Merlin, or at least close to it. Also, she didn¡¯t come out in the open. This could imply we might recognize her.¡±


    Shirley paused, and no one else added anything. The silence was starting to drag on when she said, ¡°Hmm, something else. Whatever she was dressed as had to be something magical. If I had to hazard a hypothesis, I would venture that she was a fairy. Of course, half the girls at the school were dressed as fairies.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Merlin said. ¡°Even my sister was dressed as a fairy princess.¡±


    ¡°Well, now that we know about her, Merlin can take care of her,¡± Arthur said. ¡°I can take care of Lucas. I don¡¯t think Frank will be a problem for a while. Merlin hit him pretty hard. While the fairy might be able to heal him some, I doubt she can do as much as Merlin did for Robert.¡±


    ¡°That leaves Shirley and me to take care of Ruth,¡± Peter said. ¡°Between the two of us, we should be able to do something.¡±


    ¡°I hate to bring this up now,¡± Arthur said, ¡°but we might want to make sure we aren¡¯t seen. The police won¡¯t believe us and will probably just think we are stealing the mirror.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true. I will try to come up with a spell that will disrupt any surveillance cameras,¡± Merlin said. ¡°It sounds like we have a plan,¡± Merlin said. ¡°I¡¯ll need some time to come up with some counter-spells for the fairy. I¡¯ll also figure out what I can do about the cameras as well.¡±


    ¡°Okay everybody,¡± Shirley said, ¡°Let¡¯s get some sleep. We¡¯ll need to wake up early.¡±


    With that, everyone settled down and got ready for bed, with the exception of Merlin, who sat in one of the chairs and thought about new spells.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see,¡± he mumbled to himself. ¡°What rhymes with a fairy? Berry, dairy, hairy, marry, parry, very, wary. Hmm, maybe fairy and wary. Let us be wary, of the spells of the fairy. Not bad...but I need something more.¡±


    He spent another hour trying to come up with a way to counter the fairy¡¯s spells and stop the cameras. Knowing he would need to get up early, he decided he should get some sleep. The next day would come soon enough.


    Except for the steady hum of the air conditioner, the night was silent. Sighing, he dropped onto the floor and fell asleep almost immediately. After what seemed like a few seconds later, he was shaken awake as Arthur hissed at everyone, ¡°Wake up guys! Wake up.¡±


    Everyone was up in a heartbeat. Everyone except for Peter, who was missing. On the table was a note. ¡°What does it say?¡± Merlin asked when Shirley picked it up.


    Shirley took a moment and then started reading, ¡°If you want to see your friend again, go home. You don¡¯t want to find out what we are going to do to him if you continue.¡± She looked at everyone. ¡°It doesn¡¯t say anything more.¡± Then she looked at the note again. ¡°Something seems familiar about this handwriting. I wish I could remember things before the mirror as much as I can after.¡±


    Merlin looked at the others, and asked, ¡°Can we trust them to keep their word? After all, they have already hurt Robert, and they don¡¯t seem to have any problem hurting the rest of us either.¡±


    Arthur immediately said, ¡°I don¡¯t trust them. I say we go in and rescue Peter.¡±


    Robert was still asleep, which was good. He needed time to recuperate. That left Shirley, who said, ¡°I agree. Even if we could trust them, we would be giving up one friend for another. We can¡¯t let Angela down.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like we are rescuing Peter then,¡± Merlin said. ¡°Now, where are they holding him? At the house?¡±


    ¡°More than likely,¡± Shirley said. ¡°If not there, he¡¯ll probably be at the other location.¡±


    ¡°We can leave Robert here with your brother,¡± Arthur said. ¡°After we get the mirror and Peter, we can head home.¡±


    Merlin frowned at what Arthur said, wondering if that had been a slip of the tongue. Had he meant to put the mirror before Peter? Nah, just a slip of the tongue. It happened to everyone occasionally.


    Deciding that since they were awake, they might as well get started, they gathered their things and started walking to the house. They had chosen the motel because it was close to both locations. It wouldn¡¯t take them long before they would be standing outside the house.

 Chapter Nine - Friends Betrayal

    Looking at the house, Arthur said, ¡°Why is it that the houses the heroes have to go to are always old, haunted house types?¡±


    Shirley shrugged, but agreed, ¡°It certainly is decrepit.¡±


    That caused Arthur to look at Shirley, and then at the old run-down house. Merlin could almost see the light going on in his eyes. Ah, decrepit must mean old and run down. Why did he feel like throwing Arthur a bone? Dang, was he turning into a bitter old man already?


    Shaking away those thoughts, Merlin said, ¡°At least we probably don¡¯t have to worry about surveillance cameras. Just in case though, I probably need to cast something anyway.¡± With that, he started the spell he had written last night.


    ¡°Hide us from the cameras¡¯ eyes,


    Let us slip in like three good spies.


    Stop any cameras from working,


    That might catch us as we are lurking.¡±


    Merlin could feel the pressure of the spell building. While he thought the first two lines might be enough, he couldn¡¯t risk going to jail and had decided to add a couple more lines just to make sure. Somehow, he didn¡¯t think jail and he would get along well together. Pushing such thoughts aside, he concentrated on ensuring the spell would work as he had planned.


    ¡°Hide us from the cameras¡¯ eyes,


    Let us slip in like three good spies.


    Stop any cameras from working,


    That might catch us as we are lurking.¡±


    There was a strong pressure of magic swelling inside him, but he pushed through, casting his will into the world.


    ¡°Hide us from the cameras¡¯ eyes,


    Let us slip in like three good spies.


    Stop any cameras from working,


    That might catch us as we are lurking.¡±


    For good measure, he also prepared another spell. Pulling out three-quarters from his pocket, he chanted.


    ¡°After I drop these quarters three,


    Create a shield to protect me.


    After I drop these quarters three,


    Create a shield to protect me.


    After I drop these quarters three,


    Create a shield to protect me.¡±


    After he was done, he wiped a few drops of perspiration from his forehead. More than likely, there weren¡¯t any cameras in the area, but he couldn¡¯t risk being wrong, even if it wasted what could have been two perfectly good spells.


    With hearts beating quickly, they slowly approached the abandoned home. Without even touching the door, Merlin knew the door was going to creak when they opened it. Sure enough, when Arthur pushed the door open, sword in hand, it creaked. While it wasn¡¯t a loud creak, it seemed to fill the night. Everyone waited a few seconds and listened to see if anyone had heard.


    Hearing nothing more, they entered the house, each one scanning the dark interior for any signs of life. Nothing stirred, however. Each of them pulled out a flashlight to help see. Merlin still wasn¡¯t sure about the socks but had gone along with the idea.


    Shirley had been the one to come up with the suggestion of covering the flashlights with socks to dim the light so they wouldn¡¯t be so obvious to anyone who might see them. While it would limit their vision, it would also make it harder to notice them, which is what they were looking for.


    Slowly, they made their way through the rooms, finding nothing of interest. Merlin was impressed when Shirley pointed to some footsteps in the dusty floor, and how they stopped in one of the corners.


    They both looked at Shirley as if to say, what now? Shirley then gave them an exasperated look, as if to say, how do you not know? Idiots! Merlin could almost hear her thoughts. Wow, she really could make someone feel dense.


    ¡°Oh come on now!¡± Shirley whispered fiercely. The footsteps end right here. That means there has to be a passage. Since there is no way to go up, that means there has to be a way down. It¡¯s a cellar or a basement guys.¡±


    Arthur and Merlin looked again at the floor and then noticed that there was a rectangular shape of wood among all the wooden flooring. Arthur kneeled and pulled at the edge of the rectangle slowly.


    This time there was no screech, but Shirley had been right. There was a secret trapdoor to get into the cellar or basement. They almost didn¡¯t notice there was a light down there. Immediately, they shut off their own flashlights, and slowly descended into the dark basement.


    Since there wasn¡¯t likely to be power in a rundown place like this, the fact that there was light most likely meant that someone was in the basement. Hopefully, it would be Peter all by himself, and with the mirror, but more than likely, there would probably be someone else there as well.


    Bracing themselves for a fight, they moved toward the light.


    Everyone came to a stunned stop when all they found was Peter, sitting in the middle of the room with only a small flashlight for light. Merlin almost didn¡¯t notice someone else was in the room. Although it was too dark to see the corners of the room, they could all see Frank was there as well, but that wasn¡¯t really important since he seemed to be as unconscious as Robert.


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    What was interesting was the fact that Peter seemed to be caring for Frank, placing a white cloth over his head. He actually seemed concerned about the health of one of the groups of people who had kidnapped him. While Frank hadn¡¯t been involved, he certainly would have been if he hadn¡¯t been injured.


    Peter noticed them, and stood up, ¡°Really guys? You get a message that I¡¯ve been kidnapped and that something bad will happen to me if you don¡¯t go back home and you don¡¯t listen. I mean, I know I am new to the group and all, but I thought I meant more than that.¡±


    Arthur said, ¡°We didn¡¯t trust them. We thought they would hurt you anyway.¡±


    Peter sighed, ¡°Arthur, you are a friend, and I appreciate your trying to rescue me, but I really wish you hadn¡¯t.¡±


    With that, Ruth and Lucas stepped out of the shadows of the back corners of the room. Ruth seemed completely at home in the darkness, even if Lucas didn¡¯t seem to be happy being in such cramped quarters. A moment later, one more figure emerged to the surprise of everyone.


    Merlin could almost feel his jaw dropping in amazement. Even if he had already developed the ability to see into the future like Merlin the Magician, he doubted he would have ever foreseen who emerged from the shadows.


    Belle moved forward. He would have said stepped forward, but there were no steps involved. There were two big wings that fluttered behind her so that she hovered a few inches off the ground. She was still wearing the fairy outfit as well. Merlin realized she must have been the other magic user.


    Then he looked at Peter in confusion. Why would she try to hurt her own brother? Maybe she had known it wouldn¡¯t hurt him.


    Shirley didn¡¯t have any trouble connecting the dots, however. ¡°You traitors,¡± she hissed at both Peter and Belle. Looking at Peter, she said, ¡°You only came with us to keep an eye on what we were doing and where we were going. You never had any intention of helping us get the mirror.¡±


    Turning to look at Belle, she continued, ¡°Your sister there probably jinxed the car. If I am not mistaken, she is dressed as Tinkerbell. And since tinkers fix broken things, I bet they can also break things. That was what happened to the car.¡±


    Looking back at Peter, she said, ¡°And I am sure you faked being injured at the beginning of the fight. In fact, that probably was a signal to start fighting.¡±


    Merlin looked back and forth between the three, realizing just how much he had missed. Peter had been playing them. Why, though?


    Arthur asked before he could even begin to form the first word, however, ¡°Why Peter? Don¡¯t you want to save Angela?¡±


    Peter looked at Arthur, ¡°I do. I really do, but I don¡¯t want to give up the ability to fly or stay young forever. Belle certainly doesn¡¯t want to give up her powers either. You might have to break the mirror to break the curse. I, for one, do not want to risk that. Anyway, she¡¯s just asleep. Just find the right person to wake her up with a kiss.¡±


    Shirley interrupted at this point, ¡°I don¡¯t know yet how you knew about Frank, Lucas, and Ruth, however.¡±


    Lucas and Ruth both smiled at this. They weren¡¯t nice smiles, however. Ruth spoke first, ¡°Why, Peter didn¡¯t find out about us. We found out about him. We caught him and his sister floating in the air the morning after the fall festival.¡±


    Lucas finished, ¡°Naturally, we got to talking, and one thing led to another.¡±


    Belle spoke up again, ¡°I¡¯m sorry guys, but we can¡¯t let you leave here yet. Ms. White hasn¡¯t had time to finish her moving preparations. You guys are forcing her to move before she is ready. That means you all will stay here until the mirror is safely moved once again.¡±


    Shirley seemed puzzled by this. ¡°Why can¡¯t she just put the mirror in a van and move it?¡±


    For once, Merlin knew the answer, ¡°Because it¡¯s a magic mirror. You don¡¯t want to risk a mirror like that getting broken in a move.¡±


    Peter nodded, ¡°You¡¯re partially right, but the rest doesn¡¯t concern you. Now, we are going to go upstairs and lock you guys in. You will take care of Frank since you were the ones who hurt him. Once Ms. White is safely away, we will release you as long as you promise not to look for her again. Deal?¡±


    Arthur responded by swinging his sword at Peter. Merlin didn¡¯t even have time to yell for Arthur not to before it happened. Peter jumped back, or flew back, as the case may be. That was when Merlin noticed Arthur had been using the flat of the blade.


    Merlin sighed, not wanting anyone else to get hurt, even Peter who had been working against them the whole time.


    Realizing they were in a fight, Merlin hastily took out the marble, mentally going over the magical spell he had cast on the marble the first night, just as he had done so for the pebble.


    He kept the image and rhyme in his head as he threw the marble at Lucas, figuring he was the most dangerous, the magical words ringing in his head. ¡°After this marble is thrown, turn it into a big stone.¡±


    This time, he hit his target, and not in the face. The stone hit Lucas in the chest, causing him to stop and clutch at his chest for a moment. While the rock wasn¡¯t as large as the cinder block had been, it was still large enough to break a bone, or at least hurt a lot.


    Arthur kept Peter on the defensive, but surprisingly, Peter pulled out a knife and was able to fend off Arthur, despite his longer reach. Ugh, really? Just like Peter Pan had fought Captain Hook, Merlin thought to himself. Ruth and Shirley went for each other again, which wasn¡¯t a surprise. For some reason, they were like oil and water. They just didn¡¯t mix well together.


    That left Belle and Lucas for him. ¡°Oh joy,¡± Merlin muttered to himself. Quickly, he backed away from the fight, trying to give himself time to finish a spell he had come up with just hours before.


    ¡°Listen, listen, enemy,


    Fight against your friends for me.


    And let no spell break you free.¡±


    Merlin could feel the pressure of the spell building. Concentrating on Lucas, he continued. Lucas had other things in mind, however, and leaped toward Merlin.


    Merlin had been prepared for this, however, and used another one of his prepared spells. He was so glad he had come prepared. Dropping the three enchanted quarters, he continued with the magic spell.


    ¡°Listen, listen, enemy,


    Fight against your friends for me.


    And let no spell break you free.¡±


    Merlin was almost out of breath as he ran to the opposite side of the room, trying to get as far from both Belle and Lucas as he could. Belle had thrown something at him, and Lucas had tried to slash him with those vicious talons. The quarters which had changed into large hovering shields just long enough to take the hits for Merlin had saved his life.


    Hurriedly, he finished the magic spell, willing it to take effect.


    ¡°Listen, listen, enemy,


    Fight against your friends for me.


    And let no spell break you free.¡±


    Merlin almost lost his balance and fell to the floor as the spell snapped into place around Lucas, who stopped just as he was about to slash open Merlin¡¯s chest the same as he had done to Robert.


    Belle went wide-eyed as Lucas turned to look at her. Seeing the way the fight was turning, she ran up the stairs and out of the basement. Lucas followed, hot on her heels.


    Not wanting to lose the spell and have Lucas start attacking him again, Merlin continued to concentrate on Lucas going after Belle. While he wasn¡¯t sure it would work, he also tried to keep the image of Lucas fighting with non-lethal intent. After all, he didn¡¯t want her killed.


    After seeing his sister flee, Peter followed her seconds later. While he wanted to give Peter the benefit of the doubt and say that Peter was running after Lucas to stop him from hurting his sister, somehow, he doubted that.


    Suddenly, and as quickly as it had started, the fight was over. That was when he realized Ruth had disappeared, leaving Shirley on the floor. She looked pale and was unmoving. Rushing to her side, he felt his concentration on the spell controlling Lucas shatter.

 Chapter Ten - Snow White

    Arthur grabbed Shirley and carried her up the stairs and out of the house. With the spell shattered, who knew how long it would be until the others returned? With Shirley down, they weren¡¯t ready for another fight.


    While Merlin was worried about Shirley, he was also worried about Peter and his new friends coming back. Shirley was still breathing and didn¡¯t seem injured, but that might change if they stuck around. Arthur was sweating by the time they reached the motel room again.


    Once inside, Arthur laid her on the bed. Quickly, Merlin looked for any signs of a wound. All he could find were two needle-like marks on her neck. Realizing Ruth must have done the vampire thing and sucked her blood, Merlin realized what he had to do.


    While she might be fine, it was better to play it safe. Ruth didn¡¯t have enough time to take too much of Shirley¡¯s blood, but something in her bite, or more likely, her saliva, had knocked Shirley out. Either that or Ruth had taken more blood than was safe.


    Muttering to himself, he tried to come up with a spell, ¡°Blood, bud, dud, mud, thud, flood...no, that won¡¯t do. Hmm, maybe end the sentence with now...let¡¯s see. Bow, cow, how, pow, vow, wow¡­.wait, that might work. Let my friend be healed right now, no matter how...somehow¡± Nodding in satisfaction, he began the spell.


    ¡°Let my friend be healed right now,


    Fix things right now matter how.¡±


    Merlin felt the spell working, and continued, ignoring the pressure and pushing through to the end.


    ¡°Let my friend be healed right now,


    Fix things right now matter how.


    ¡°Let my friend be healed right now,


    Fix things right now matter how.¡±


    Holding his breath, he waited to see if the spell would take hold and do what he wanted. He concentrated furiously on her being healed, whether from the vampire poison, the lack of blood, or whatever else had happened to her.


    Slowly, the color returned to Shirley¡¯s cheeks and her breathing became easier. He hadn¡¯t even noticed her breathing hadn¡¯t been good.


    Sighing, he leaned back and looked at Robert, wondering how he was doing. He was still asleep or unconscious, however.  With the loud snores coming from Shirley¡¯s brother, he didn¡¯t know how though. How could she even sleep in the same house? He wouldn¡¯t be surprised if the neighbors complained about the noise.


    Merlin looked down at his hands, thinking. Things hadn¡¯t gone well. Both Shirley and Robert had been injured, not to mention what had happened to Frank. Peter and his sister had turned against them. Arthur was the only one other than himself that could do anything. Shirley¡¯s brother didn¡¯t have any powers, not that the powers had really helped Shirley and Robert.


    Wow, things had really gotten messed up. It was nothing like in a book. Yesterday, they had been so sure of themselves. They were going to get that mirror and save Angela. Now, even if they were lucky enough to make it home alive, they would have to face their parents if Shirley and Robert didn¡¯t wake up.


    That was when it hit him. Fudge pops! Peter had been at the motel with them. He knew where to find them. Yes, they had left the house, but Peter could just bring Lucas and Ruth to the motel. They were sitting ducks. In fact, they could be outside already.


    Springing up, Merlin tugged open one of the pouches that contained the sand. Thank goodness he had prepared a protection spell just in case something similar happened. Why hadn¡¯t he thought of using it though?


    Hurriedly, he spread the sand around the doors and windows, then focused on making sure the words were firmly in his mind before speaking.


    ¡°Let all evil from this room be banned,


    Protect those inside behind this sand.


    Keep us safe and sound from harm,


    With the speaking of this charm.¡±


    Merlin continued with the words, hoping that with the addition of the sand, the spell would last without his concentration.


    ¡°Let all evil from this room be banned,


    Protect those inside behind this sand.


    Keep us safe and sound from harm,


    With the speaking of this charm.¡±


    He definitely felt the pressure, but somehow the use of sand seemed to help as if focusing the magic. He made a silent vow to add more material objects in the future. Merlin almost lost the spell with that train of thought. Buckling down, he pushed on with the rest of the spell.


    ¡°Let all evil from this room be banned,


    Protect those inside behind this sand.


    Keep us safe and sound from harm,


    With the speaking of this charm.¡±


    A wall of pressure pushed out from him and into the room, rebounding back to him as if letting him know the spell would now work. The problem was, for how long. Just in case, he decided he might need some type of alarm spell just in case the first spell faded away.


    ¡°Alarm, arm, wait, alarm and harm. Those who mean us harm, and then something about setting off the alarm.¡± With that, he looked at the alarm clock next to the bed. That should work.


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    Stretching his arms and rolling his head, he launched into the spell.


    ¡°If people come who mean us harm,


    Please set off the sleeping alarm.


    If people come who mean us harm,


    Please set off the sleeping alarm.


    If people come who mean us harm,


    Please set off the sleeping alarm.¡±


    A similar wall of pressure left his body, but this time seemingly directed all around, but instead of bouncing back, seemed to bounce toward the alarm clock.


    Arthur had watched him cast both spells in silence, and even after both were complete, didn¡¯t say a word. Merlin could almost imagine what Arthur must be feeling. After all, he had a similar thought just moments ago. They hadn¡¯t done anything remotely heroic yet, and everything was falling apart.


    Arthur looked at him as if to ask, what next. Merlin just shrugged, as if to say he had no idea. ¡°Perhaps we should rest. Maybe by morning, the others will be up, and we can try something new.¡±


    Arthur stared at him a moment, made a face as they might as well, and then nodded. ¡°Okay. But if they aren¡¯t up by morning, you and I will go by ourselves. We have to help Angela.¡±


    Merlin nodded, having every intention of saving her. ¡°Night,¡± he said, heading to the other room with Arthur. Both of them laid down, although it took Arthur a long time to fall asleep.


    Arthur finally fell asleep, but just to be sure, Merlin gave him a few more minutes to settle deeply into sleep. When he was positive Arthur was asleep, he slowly got out of bed and tiptoed to the door, careful not to disturb the sand.


    Once he was outside the room, he started walking toward the second location they knew about. Obviously, the mirror hadn¡¯t been at the first location. That meant it had to be at the second. He didn¡¯t need Shirley to point out that logic to him.


    No one else was going to get hurt tonight. His friends should be safe behind the protective wards around the room. Frank was down for the count. Lucas, Ruth, Peter, and Belle were probably there with him. That meant Ms. White was probably at the other location by herself. With his spells, he could probably get in and out without getting caught. At least he hoped.


    Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t know how to drive. Well, he knew how. He had seen it on television and had seen his parents drive often enough. He just wasn¡¯t old enough to have ever practiced yet. That meant he had to walk. Little Rock was much bigger than their hometown, but on the plus side, Ms. White must not have wanted to have the two properties to be too far apart. He would be able to walk there in thirty minutes, give or take.


    The walk seemed farther, however, and he was feeling the burn, even with the chill of the night. Wow, he read way too many books. Maybe his parents were right, and he needed to exercise a little more. He was really going to feel some muscles aching over the next couple of days. Still, the walk had given him time to go over spells and come up with possible troubles he might encounter.


    During the final few blocks, he could really tell a difference between the last neighborhood and the one he was entering. He would definitely need the anti-detection spell in the new neighborhood. In fact, he should probably cast it before he even got close to the house. Pausing for a breather, he prepared the spell once more in his head, just to make sure it went smoothly.


    ¡°Let all those who see me think I belong,


    Let no camera see me all night long.


    Let all those who see me think I belong,


    Let no camera see me all night long.


    Let all those who see me think I belong,


    Let no camera see me all night long.¡±


    By now, the pressure was something he was able to ignore, at least for simple spells. Speaking of which, Merlin decided it was time to pull out some of the prepared spells he had ready.


    At first, he had planned on entering through the front door, but after a second of thought, he decided to try the back door instead. The fence was unlocked, which was good since he didn¡¯t want to waste his spell on a fence. Once he got to the back glass door, he looked around, then glanced inside. Seeing nothing, he ventured into his next spell.


    ¡°I know this door


    has a lock,


    But open it,


    With my knock.


    I know this door


    has a lock,


    But open it,


    With my knock.


    I know this door


    has a lock,


    But open it,


    With my knock.¡±


    Merlin heard a click, and smiling, pushed the door open. Slipping inside, he quietly closed it behind him. Slowly, he walked around the house, wondering where he would find the mirror.


    He found the mirror upstairs, which was good. He didn¡¯t really want to descend into any dark cave-like rooms again anytime soon. On the bad side, however, was the fact that Ms. White was also in the room with the mirror.


    Merlin watched for a few seconds as she continued to wrap the mirror with packing bubble wrap. He nodded to himself. He had made the right decision after all. Ms. White would have been long gone by the time everyone had woken up in a few hours.


    Now all he had to do was think of a way to get the mirror away from her. He had planned on using a magic spell to levitate the mirror away, but that wasn¡¯t going to happen while she was around.


    He was about to attempt a spell to distract her when she spoke, ¡°You know, you really should work on your sneaking skills. You aren¡¯t very good at it. Come on out.¡±


    Merlin was tempted to stay exactly where he was. Although he didn¡¯t know how she knew, he had no doubt that Ms. White wasn¡¯t bluffing, and really knew he was there. Seeing no reason to hide then, Merlin stepped out into the doorway.


    ¡°How did you know I was here?¡± Merlin said.


    ¡°Really? Do you think I was born yesterday?¡± Ms. White turned to face him. ¡°I have lived for hundreds of years. Do you really think I haven¡¯t learned a little something in that time?¡±


    Merlin could only stare at her, his mouth gaping open. Hundreds? He couldn¡¯t believe it. Did it have something to do with the mirror, as the old man had said?


    ¡°Ah, I see,¡± she said, smiling at his astonishment, then turning to look into the top part of the mirror that was still uncovered. ¡°Even after hundreds of years, I am still one of the fairest in the land.¡± She glanced at him then as if to see what he made of that statement.


    Mirror. Fairest in the land. Ms. White. But...huh? Merlin didn¡¯t know what to say, which seemed to amuse Ms. White. Finally, he said, ¡°I thought you were the heroine in the story. What happened?¡±


    ¡°Oh, poor child,¡± she said, shrugging. ¡°Life happened. The poor deluded wicked queen left many things behind, among them the mirror. Do you know how many questions I asked that mirror over the years? Well, one day, it told me how to make a different kind of mirror, one that grants wishes instead of telling you what you wished to hear.¡±


    ¡°Why use it on kids though? I mean, I was given amazing powers, but my friend was cursed. Why would you do that?¡± Merlin asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you would understand yet,¡± Ms. White said. ¡°Maybe in time you will, but not yet.¡±


    ¡°Well, why don¡¯t you tell me what I need to do to save my friend? How can I break the curse she is under?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you what,¡± Ms. White said, ¡°if you can get past my friend here before I leave with the mirror, I just might tell you how to help your friend.¡±


    With that, a shadow emerged from behind the mirror, slipping across the floor silently. Merlin backed up. A living shadow? But wasn¡¯t that supposed to be a Peter Pan thing? Had Peter left his shadow with Ms. White? Oh great, just what he needed. For years, he had looked at the shadows of his room and seen monstrous shapes, and now he would be fighting one.

 Chapter Eleven - End of the Story

    The shadow glided across the floor. Not sure how to fight something that didn¡¯t have a body, Merlin backed away. While he didn¡¯t know how to fight the shadow, the shadow apparently knew it could do something to him.


    Thinking furiously, Merlin tried to come up with something that could hurt a shadow. The only thing he could come up with however was light. Not having a better idea, he went with that until something better came along and chanted out one of his light spells.


    ¡°Let there be a bright white light,


    To shine on this dark cold night!¡±


    He was so nervous he shouted the first lines. Hoping that might make the spell more powerful, he did the same with the rest of the lines.


    ¡°Let there be a bright white light,


    To shine on this dark cold night!


    Let there be a bright white light,


    To shine on this dark cold night!¡±


    As soon as he finished the spell, a very bright light appeared in the room, hovering several feet in front of him. The shadow didn¡¯t make a sound, but it did retreat a few feet, and no longer came towards him. Concentrating on not letting the spell go, he tried to corner the shadow.


    Before he could push it back into a corner with the light, it slipped away and then tried to come up behind him. Not sure what would happen, Merlin continued to try to keep the light between them. Unfortunately, this meant that he couldn¡¯t do anything about Ms. White, who had already started to finish packing the mirror for shipment.


    That wasn¡¯t good. He had to do something. He couldn¡¯t think of another spell while holding the light spell. That meant he had to use one of his prepared spell items. Still concentrating on the light, he felt in his pockets for something to use. He couldn¡¯t devote too much attention to it though since he might lose concentration and then lose the spell.


    His hand ran across the small flashlight. It wasn¡¯t much bigger than a laser light, but it was useful when he read at night under the bed covers.


    Careful not to turn it on until it was out of his pocket, he pointed it at the shadow. Letting go of the light spell, he concentrated on the spell in the flashlight. Luckily, the light from the first spell didn¡¯t fade away immediately. It did dim somewhat, but it was still bright enough to keep the shadow at bay for a few seconds more.


    The flashlight, however, had a bigger effect that the light had. It slashed into the dark shadow. While there was no sound, it definitely looked like the shadow wanted to scream in pain the way it recoiled and dashed back away from him.


    When he had first cast the spell, he had wanted to create a lightsaber-type weapon, something that could cut through anything. After thinking through how that might work since the light wouldn¡¯t stop after just a few feet, he had changed the spell somewhat. Instead, he had cast the spell with the intention of making something hot enough to burn, sort of like a magnifying glass. He also wanted to be able to blind an enemy with it.


    The spell seemed to work better than he had expected on the shadow. Concentrating, he kept swinging the light to follow the shadow, which skittered and scurried around the room.


    Just when he was starting to feel like he might have the shadow on the run, it started throwing things at him from around the room. When the lamp almost smashed into his head, Merlin lost his train of concentration, and the flashlight became an ordinary and somewhat weak flashlight again.


    Seconds later, the shadow surrounded him, enveloping him in darkness. Almost immediately, he noticed that he couldn¡¯t breathe. Since he couldn¡¯t breathe, he couldn¡¯t cast a spell either. That left only the prepared spells in his pockets.


    Desperately, he fumbled in his pockets, looking for anything that could help him. Everything he touched was yet another spell that wouldn¡¯t help at all. Stumbling around, he bumped into Ms. White and the mirror. Just as he was about to lose consciousness, the light cleared.


    Arthur stood in front of him, his sword shining brightly in the darkness. Apparently, his sword was more like Excalibur than he had thought. It had cut the shadow, which had retreated before the weapon.


    While it might have saved his life, it also shattered the mirror. Perhaps Arthur hadn¡¯t been able to see the mirror behind the shadow, or perhaps he had thought the sword wouldn¡¯t go through the shadow so easily. Either way, the mirror shattered, as did their hopes of saving Angela.


    While he wanted to shout at Arthur, he couldn¡¯t. After all, Arthur had just saved his life. Bending down, he plucked the largest piece of the mirror off the ground. It was at that moment that Peter, Ruth, Lucas, and Belle ran into the room.


    They must have been chasing Arthur or had just arrived. Either way, he and Arthur couldn¡¯t stay. While the others looked at the pieces of the broken mirror, Merlin tugged Arthur out of the room. Together, they tore out of the house as if it was on fire.


    Ruth, Lucas, and Peter didn¡¯t lose more than a few seconds of surprise before they started chasing after them. Merlin was more scared of the shadow, but apparently, it was injured enough or had decided to stay behind with Ms. White and Belle.


    Merlin shuddered as he remembered the look in her eyes as Ms. White had looked at the broken mirror. She had been so furious. Maybe the shadow wasn¡¯t the scariest thing he had seen that day after all.


    They were out of the house and running down the street when Merlin remembered a prepared spell that might be useful.


    He almost dropped it as they ran but managed to clutch hold of it at the last second. As they took a corner, he cracked it and concentrated on the effect he desired, remembering the words he had spoken when he made the enchanted item, a birthday candle.


    ¡°If the candle is broke,


    It will create a cloak


    Of a concealing smoke.¡±


    While it hadn¡¯t been his best bit of work, he hoped it would be enough to do the job. If only he had time to create a spell with broken instead of broke. Maybe token.


    He berated himself when he almost forgot to continue concentrating on the smoke. It wouldn¡¯t help much if it was immediately blown away. Then again, the others probably knew where they were going. Maybe he had just wasted a spell for nothing. At the very least, it might stop them for a few seconds and buy them more time to reach the motel.


    Extra time was needed. A couple of years ago his baseball coach had told him that he was the only one the coach knew who could hit a home run and still get thrown out at first. Now, considering if you hit a home run, it is impossible to get thrown out at first, that was kind of savage. Then again, who was he kidding? He had never hit a home run in his life.


    Luckily, they didn¡¯t have to run far. Apparently, the others had woken up and noticed he and Arthur were missing and must have driven to come to find them. As soon as the car stopped, Arthur and Merlin jumped into the car.


    Just as he was getting into the car, something hit Merlin in the back of the head. Instead of getting into the car, he fell into the car. Groggily, he felt hands tugging him so they could shut the door. Someone held something to his head as he stared up at the roof of the car, his vision blurry. Slowly, his eyes closed, and he fell unconscious.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    When Merlin woke up, he didn¡¯t know where he was at first. It took him a few moments to realize he was in the car, staring up at the ceiling. With bleary eyes, he slowly looked around, his head throbbing.


    With relief, he noticed that Shirley and Robert were awake. They both looked much better than they had before. Apparently, both had recovered enough that he wasn¡¯t worried about either one anymore. Now all he had to do was figure out what to do about Angela.


    With the mirror broken, who knew what they could do to wake her up? Maybe with the piece he had taken, he could do something. At least he hoped he would be able to do something.


    Maybe first he needed to do something about his head. It was killing him. He reached back and tentatively touched the back of his head. It had already started to swell up. He was going to have quite the bump. He winced when he touched it just a shade too hard.


    Grimacing, he decided to see if he could do something about his own injury now. Whatever had hit him had hurt. At least it hadn¡¯t been in the face. Tired and finding it hard to concentrate, he pushed aside everything but the thought of completing the spell, using another one of the spells he had come up with before everything started, began the spell.


    ¡°Heal me now I beseech thee,


    Let me have no injury.


    Heal me now I beseech thee,


    Let me have no injury.


    Heal me now I beseech thee,


    Let me have no injury.¡±


    Merlin focused his thoughts on the bump on his head, willing it to get smaller. He imagined the injury shrinking, fading away as if it had never happened. Slowly, the pain subsided into a dull ache. Feeling overwhelmingly weary, his concentration unraveled, and the spell slipped away.


    Suddenly, he was tired, very tired. Odd, he thought. After he had healed the others, they had fallen asleep as well. Maybe the body needed to rest after being healed. Weird he thought as he descended into slumber.


    When he woke up the next time, he was being shaken lightly awake by Arthur. ¡°We¡¯re at Angela¡¯s house,¡± Arthur said.


    Merlin thought about nodding but then decided that might hurt if he tried. Instead, he simply got out of the car and walked with the others to the door. The sun had come up, and they wouldn¡¯t be too awkward asking to see her.


    Shirley seemed almost back to normal and did all the talking. Robert and Arthur simply looked worried, like they didn¡¯t know what to say so they thought it best to say nothing. Maybe he was projecting, Merlin thought. Maybe that was just what he was thinking.


    Angela¡¯s parents let them in, obviously hoping some miracle would occur. They didn¡¯t even bother to go up with the group. Angela¡¯s mother was making a phone call to a doctor, while her husband was leafing through the yellow pages in search of more doctors to call.


    Stepping into Angela¡¯s room, he looked at how she was still asleep. While they still had their powers even though the mirror had been broken, he had hoped somehow the curse would have been broken anyway.


    Merlin shook her slightly, just to make sure. After getting no response, he took out the mirror. Somehow it had survived his injury, Handing it to Shirley, he said, ¡°Please hold this so that if she opens her eyes, she will see it.¡±


    Shirley nodded. ¡°Okay,¡± she said.


    Merlin turned to Robert, ¡°Robert, I might need you to do something in a moment. Please don¡¯t ask questions, and just do whatever I ask. Do you understand?¡±


    Robert nodded, ¡°I understand. What do you want me to do?¡±


    ¡°In the story, she needed a kiss, so that¡¯s what I want you to do,¡± Merlin said.


    ¡°Uh,¡± Robert said, not sure what to say. His face turned bright red.


    Arthur cleared his throat, ¡°What do I do?¡±


    ¡°Right now, nothing,¡± Merlin said. You already saved my life. In a moment though, I want everyone to start talking to Angela, telling her how she looks like she has had a great nap. Maybe mention she looks like she is ready and awake for a new day to begin. You know, that type of stuff.¡±


    ¡°Sleeping Beauty was her name,


    That she slept was a great shame.


    We do not want her to sleep,


    But wake from her slumber deep.


    Open your eyes, we now ask,


    We wish you to do this task.


    Listen to the words we say,


    Rise up from where you now lay.


    Then look at your reflection,


    And feel his true affection,


    As he kisses you upon your cheek,


    Listen to us as we speak.¡±


    Merlin motioned for Richard to lean over and kiss her. He stared at everyone in surprise and embarrassment for a moment, but then hurriedly kissed her cheek. Merlin continued, concentrating on the spell, willing her to wake and listen to their words.


    ¡°No longer are you asleep


    And your parents will not weep,


    You are really now awake,


    Because it is now daybreak!¡±


    Merlin felt the pressure building. Twice more he chanted the words, and twice more Richard kissed her cheek. When the last word was spoken, Merlin continued to concentrate on his words, willing Angela¡¯s eyes to open.


    After a few seconds, Angela¡¯s eyes fluttered open, and saw her reflection. Everyone immediately started telling her how rested and awake she looked.


    Slowly, she began to stretch, looking away from the mirror at everyone surrounding her. Angela seemed very confused, and then more than a little annoyed to find everyone around her bed, staring at her.


    ¡°Okay guys, get out,¡± she muttered, giving each one of them an evil eye. Seeing no immediate reaction other than smiles, she took her pillows and began throwing them at everyone.


    Seeing that she was awake, everyone scrambled out of the room. Angela had always been a grouch in the mornings, and waking up to everyone surrounding her wasn¡¯t likely to put her in a good mood.


    After they had retreated to the hallway, they grinned wildly at each other.


    ¡°Good job!¡± Richard said, hugging Merlin. Richard and Shirley didn¡¯t say anything. All they did was get into the group hug.


    Together, they hopped up and down, giggling with relief that everything was over, and they had done it. Angela¡¯s mother glanced up the stairs to see what was going on. Seeing their reaction, she bolted up the stairs and flew into Angela¡¯s room. A loud scream of joy was heard by pretty much everyone in the neighborhood seconds later.


    Still grinning, they all started laughing. Despite the hurdles and hardships, they had succeeded. They had broken the curse on their friend and still had their powers.


    Merlin finally had to bring the group back down with something they hadn¡¯t had time to consider. ¡°You know guys, we still have our powers, but they might eventually fade away. If that happens, it happens.¡±


    Everyone looked a little upset by this, but Merlin still had something to add. ¡°On the plus side, maybe we will be able to keep the powers. The problem is that Peter, Lucas, Frank, Belle, and Ruth would still have their powers as well.¡±


    Everyone stopped breathing for a second, apparently realizing what that meant. They all went to the same school. They shared many of the same classes. Frank definitely wasn¡¯t going to be happy with them. While Angela might be healed, that didn¡¯t mean anything was over.


    Shirley was the first to speak, ¡°We do have one secret weapon. We have a big piece of the mirror.¡±


    ¡°They might have big pieces as well,¡± Merlin reminded everyone.


    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Richard said.


    ¡°Let¡¯s worry about that later,¡± Arthur said. ¡°We have a mirror, and they might have a mirror. Either way, we got what we wanted.¡±


    ¡°What do we do with our piece?¡± Shirley asked.


    ¡°Give it to Merlin,¡± Richard suggested. ¡°He can hide it with a spell.¡±


    ¡°Why not me?¡± Arthur asked. ¡°My house has a security system.¡±


    Shirley thought for a moment, clearly considering the options. ¡°I can see both sides. For now, why don¡¯t we have Arthur keep the mirror.¡±


    Arthur smiled, then took the mirror as Shirley handed it to him. ¡°I¡¯ll take good care of it,¡± he said.


    With that, everyone headed back to the car. Soon, Merlin was once more at his house. Surprisingly, his parents were none the wiser. They hadn¡¯t even noticed he was gone.


    In two more days, it would be Monday, and time to see everyone, even the Monster Mob and their new recruits, at school. For now, however, he was safe and sound at home. Even better, he had everything he had always dreamed of having. What could possibly go wrong?

 Book 2 - Chapter 1 - Aftermath of an Adventure

    Merlin was sure he didn¡¯t want to go to school, but somehow, he doubted his parents would understand. Of course, what was he going to tell them? He had hurt one of the biggest guys in the school with his magical powers. He suspected Frank might be more than just a little mad at him. Yep, that would go over really well.


    Sighing, he got dressed. Maybe Frank and the others would be too scared to try anything. Yeah, right. Shaking his head, Merlin picked up his backpack and left his room. Only a few days ago, he¡¯d snuck off to Little Rock and almost died. Now he was nervous about going back to a school he had gone to so many times he had lost count.


    Then again, he¡¯d never gone there with a big target on his back. Well, since there wasn¡¯t much, he could do about it, he might as well get it over with. He had found out years before that it was better to get something that was dreaded over with instead of putting it off.


    Maybe he should be grateful for the things he did have, like magic and his family. It was true that he rarely saw them, however. His parents usually woke up and left without giving him the chance of seeing them much. The same was true for his sister.


    He didn¡¯t really see them that much after school either. His parents worked two jobs, and his sister usually ended up at a friend''s house since they didn¡¯t get home until late at night. He usually woke up at the same time, or before, his sister. He liked to tell her it was because of her alarm waking him up, but it was actually the fact that he sometimes got lonely at home.


    His parents were always working, and other than seeing his friends at school, he never got out of the house. There wasn¡¯t much else to do. Most of the time he simply became a vegetable in front of the television.


    Things were different now, however. There were plenty of things he could do. He could prepare spells and do just about anything he wanted. Except not to go to school. Sure, he could cast a spell on his parents, but that just didn¡¯t seem right.


    Instead, Merlin walked out of the house and headed to the bus stop. While he was waiting, he thought about everything that had happened. He¡¯d gotten magical powers from a mirror his substitute teacher had shown him and his friends. Some of his friends had gotten powers as well, but one of their friends had been cursed.


    They had no choice, really, but to go get the mirror to break the curse. Luckily, some old man named Mr. Prince knew how to find her. Unfortunately, they also had to fight some other students from their school. Robert and Shirley had both been hurt. Merlin had accidentally hurt Frank pretty badly. Peter and Belle had betrayed them, but they had still managed to find the mirror. The mirror was broken in a fight, but they managed to get a piece of the mirror and use it to heal Angela.


    It seemed like it had happened a lifetime ago. In some ways, perhaps it was a different life. He was a new person now, as were all the others. Shirley had finally gotten the hang of her powers of observation. She was able to see more than almost anyone and remembered everything.


    Robert had gone from being appalling with a bow and arrow to being an expert marksman. Of course, he¡¯d barely fired a single arrow before he was gravely injured by Lucas. Now Lucas, wow. Talk about changes. His fingernails were claws that could cut someone open in a heartbeat.


    Ruth, however, had probably changed the most. She had gone from being a goth girl to being a real vampire, or at least as close to being one as possible. Besides himself, she probably had the best powers. Of course, being a vampire, she probably had a lot of disadvantages as well. Idly, he wondered what weaknesses she did have.


    There were so many vampire legends, who knew which one she had been thinking about? Dracula, the most famous vampire of them all, had been able to walk in the sunlight. That was contrary to what most movies showed. Knowing Ruth though, she probably went with the original movies and books.


    Somehow, he had ended up with the best choice of powers. He couldn¡¯t think of any disadvantages except that he had to speak the spells. As long as he was prepared ahead of time, that wasn¡¯t too much of a disadvantage. Then again, maybe there was something he didn¡¯t know. After all, his father had told him nothing comes free. In fact, the spell giving them the powers had said something similar as well.


    What price was he going to have to pay? In fact, what about Robert and Shirley? There wasn¡¯t really a downside on their powers. Robert had become an expert bowman. How could there possibly be a drawback to that? He wouldn¡¯t need to drink blood like Ruth.


    Lucas would probably turn into a werewolf once a month during the full moon. Who knew, he might even stay furry all the time after that. He would probably need industrial-sized fingernail cutters.


    By the time he started to think about Frank again, the bus had arrived. Climbing aboard, he wondered about Frank. Frankenstein¡¯s monster was supposed to be very tall and extremely strong. Of course, it wouldn¡¯t matter. It all depended on what Frank had been thinking. Had he been thinking about the Mary Shelley version or some movie version?


    Either way, he should probably review the spells he had made yesterday. While he doubted the others would try anything at school, he didn¡¯t want to be surprised. After all, maybe they wouldn¡¯t care about school anymore since they had powers. He knew he had been tempted to skip school. He could make, or do, just about anything with his powers. Why go to school?


    When they reached school, Merlin made sure he was the last one off the bus. Carefully, he looked out the windows to see if anyone was waiting to jump on him from some hiding place. Not seeing anyone who looked suspicious except the bus driver who was giving him an annoyed look, he got off the bus.


    Merlin thought about it and decided to go ahead and wait where he usually met his friends. He frowned when he found no one waiting for him there. Usually, there was at least one person there already. He waited until the bell was about to ring before rushing inside. No one had shown up. Where were all his friends since none of them were at school?


    He was really surprised Shirley and Robert weren¡¯t there. He had figured Angela might miss. Her parents were probably still worried about her and would want to keep her at home in case she started being unable to stay awake again. Merlin had no idea why Shirley and Robert weren¡¯t at school, however.


    Well, maybe. They had both been injured getting the mirror piece back. They seemed well enough to go to school, however. Maybe they were worried about the Monster Mob as well.


    Frank probably wouldn¡¯t be at school since he had been so badly hurt. Ruth probably wouldn¡¯t be as well. Most vampire stories had vampires dying if they went into the sunlight. That left Peter, Belle, and Lucas. He supposed Peter and Belle were now part of the Monster Mob.


    Odd how things could change so quickly. Friendships are made and broken almost overnight. While Peter and Belle hadn¡¯t been good friends, they had been a part of their group.


    By the end of the day, he had seen no one, not even Arthur. Why had he not come? He hadn¡¯t been hurt. He also wasn¡¯t the type who would be scared away at the thought of a fight. He had the fighting abilities of a knight.


    Arthur might not be able to bring his magic sword to school, but he wasn¡¯t likely to be afraid of anything. For a second, Merlin wondered what price Arthur might pay for his powers. They really weren¡¯t powers. They were more like skills, just like Robert¡¯s skill with a bow.


    A little worried that no one except him from the two groups had come to the school, Merlin tried to figure out what to do about that. He didn¡¯t know who to check on first, however. Finally, he decided Shirley might be the best one to speak with.


    He could find out why she hadn¡¯t come to school. Also, she might be able to suggest reasons why the others hadn¡¯t come to school. It was a long shot since she hadn¡¯t seen them and couldn¡¯t use her observational skills. Despite that, she could still use her mind, however.


    Merlin hoped he could talk her brother into giving him a ride back to his place. It was going to be a long walk otherwise. Still, it would be worth it if he could find out anything new. Why had no one come to school? What had they been doing? Was he missing something?


    Shirley was secluded in her room when he reached her house. Her parents seemed a little confused. They had shown him to her room and then retreated, as if unsure what to do about whatever was going on at their house.


    Looking at them, Merlin frowned. That was weird. He looked at their disappearing backs, wondering what would cause a reaction like that. Turning to Shirley, he asked, ¡°What¡¯s with your parents?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about them,¡± Shirley said as if bored with the conversation already. ¡°I set them straight about what they needed to know and what they needed to do.¡± She looked him up and down, cocked her head to the side to think, and then said, ¡°I know why you are here, and no, I¡¯m not going to help you.¡±


    Merlin stared at her, confused now. Her parents¡¯ confusion was definitely a little easier to understand. What was she talking about? He hadn¡¯t asked for any help yet. Was she talking about him asking for advice? ¡°Uh, I was wondering why you didn¡¯t come to school today.¡±


    ¡°That is one of the reasons you came by, but ultimately, that isn¡¯t what you really came looking for,¡± she said. ¡°We will start there, however. I didn¡¯t go to school because I chose not to.¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡± While he didn¡¯t really want to go to school either, it wasn¡¯t really a choice.


    ¡°Why bother? I know, or can find out, everything they want to teach me. It would be a waste of my time. I might as well stay here.¡±


    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    While true, he was still a little surprised. She probably could learn everything she needed faster and better by staying at home and using a computer, but...he finally trailed off, not sure what to say. Finally, he said, ¡°What about friends? Sure, you can learn everything here. You can¡¯t make friends here, however.¡±


    ¡°Actually, should I ever feel the need, I can always find a chat site online,¡± Shirley said, dismissing his idea with a wave of a hand. ¡°Friends are overrated. Peter and Belle were friends, and now they are not. Why invest the time and energy in a friend who will not be there for you?¡±


    ¡°What about Arthur and Robert? What about me?¡± He asked, confused about the changes he was seeing in Shirley.


    ¡°Arthur will betray us as well. You might not see it now, but you will eventually. Robert isn¡¯t worth the time or effort. The benefits and rewards aren¡¯t worth the time and investment. Therefore, he is a liability and should be dropped.¡±


    Merlin wanted to protest by saying something but really didn¡¯t know what to say, which was fortunate since she continued. She almost sounded as emotionless and analytical as a machine.


    ¡°You, on the other hand, are a little more interesting,¡± she said. ¡°You have the potential to provide more benefits than liabilities, which is why I have bothered to speak with you. This does not mean I will assist you more than I must to maintain our current level of association.¡±


    Merlin frowned, not liking where this was going. She was acting like a mechanical calculator who was adding up the advantages and disadvantages of being a friend. He didn¡¯t think people would become someone¡¯s friend because of what they could get. He wouldn¡¯t be someone¡¯s friend just for what they could give him, although he was sure those types of people existed. True friendship was a give and take, where the friend¡¯s needs came first.


    Shirley continued, apparently not caring about his thoughts since she must have noticed them with her observational skills. ¡°You feel bad about what you did to Frank. You want to help him somehow to make up for hurting him. You have probably come up with several spells to heal him. This made you realize that Ruth and Lucas might also need your help as well.¡±


    ¡°Uh..¡± Merlin started to say, but then stopped as Shirley just talked over him.


    She held up a finger as if to hush his childlike prattling, ¡°The answer is, no. I will not help you with any of them. Yes. Peter and his sister are probably regretting their decision as much as Robert right now. You have the skills to deal with them on your own, however. I see no need to waste my time or energy on assisting you any more than I already am by speaking with you right now.¡±


    With that, she made a dismissing motion, like a queen letting her subject know it was time for him to leave. Smart enough to take the hint, he nodded to her. Being annoyed, he gave her a mock bow before turning to leave. He was stunned by how much she had changed in just a few days.


    When he saw her parents as he opened the front door to leave, he recognized their feelings. They didn¡¯t know what to do about the new Shirley. He couldn¡¯t even begin to guess what she had said to them. If it was anything at all like his conversation with her, then they must have been really disturbed.


    He was halfway down the street walking home when he realized he had forgotten to ask Shirley¡¯s brother for a ride home. That might be for the best anyway. Shirley had given him a lot to think about.


    Why would she think Arthur was going to betray them? That would be bad since he had the mirror piece. Shirley had agreed to give it to him, however. Why would she do that if she thought he would betray them? He was tempted to go back and demand some answers, but somehow, he knew he wouldn¡¯t get any answers. Even if he did, he wouldn¡¯t enjoy the result.


    As for Peter and his sister, he could sort of see why they might regret it. Had Belle dressed up as Tinkerbell or just a fairy? That could make a difference. Maybe she was shrinking. Peter might regret it because of that.


    Ruth and Lucas he had already thought about. Yes, they could easily be regretting the mirror¡¯s results. Who knew what was happening with Frank? He had half expected the police to show up and arrest him for assault.


    As for Robert, why would he be regretting getting powers from the mirror? Maybe he could find out. After all, Robert didn¡¯t live that far from Shirley¡¯s house. With a small detour, he could ask Robert himself. It couldn¡¯t be any worse than what had happened with Shirley. Could it?


    He sighed in relief after meeting Robert¡¯s parents. They, at least, didn¡¯t seem concerned. Maybe he had been worrying for nothing. After they showed him to Robert¡¯s room, he had a chance to see what Robert looked like. He had been injured during the fight, but Merlin had done his best to heal him afterward.


    Hmm, while he looked a little under the weather, he didn¡¯t seem too sick. Going up to Robert, he asked, ¡°How are you doing? Everything okay?¡±


    Robert rubbed his stomach. It looked like an unconscious movement as if he didn¡¯t even know he had done it. ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± he said.


    Merlin wondered if he was only imagining a bit of anger in his voice. ¡°Is that why you didn¡¯t come to school today?¡± He wondered why Robert might be angry with him.


    ¡°That and I didn¡¯t want to run into Lucas and the others again,¡± Robert admitted grudgingly. ¡°I want to make sure I am completely rested before I deal with him. When I am ready, I¡¯ll find him.¡±


    Merlin nodded to himself as much as to Robert for what he had said. Yep. there was definitely a lot of anger in his voice. Something about the way Robert had been talking gave Merlin the impression that Robert wasn¡¯t going to give Lucas a fair chance at defending himself the next time they ran across each other.


    He could imagine why Robert probably was worried about Lucas. He could even understand the anger. In fact, he would probably feel the same about Lucas. After all, Lucas was the one who had hurt him. While Merlin might have been able to close the wounds, the mental scars were probably still there.


    Oh no! Merlin had a terrible thought. Lucas had been dressed up as a werewolf when he looked at the magical mirror. Didn¡¯t people who survived werewolf attacks turn into werewolves themselves? That could be a big problem. Is that what Shirley meant when she said Robert would be regretting what the mirror had done?


    Realizing the silence had extended into an uncomfortable length, he blurted out, ¡°I was just worried about you is all. No one from either group showed up to school today.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you went to school today,¡± Robert said with a little bit of a sneer. ¡°Why bother?¡±


    Merlin didn¡¯t know what to say to that at first. Finally, he said, ¡°To get an education so we can get a good-paying job?¡± Somehow, he didn¡¯t think Robert would like the answer.


    Robert snorted, ¡°Come on. Arthur would give us a cushy job if we asked. Even if he didn¡¯t, I have the skills to live off the land now. I can move to the woods and live there just like Robin Hood did. In fact, I could hit some of these big businesses that are worse than any corrupt sheriff and take their money.¡±


    Merlin blinked. Uh...Where was that coming from? ¡°Uh, that¡¯s theft. You could go to jail for that.¡±


    Robert dismissed that with a look. ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of jail. And is it really stealing? I mean, they send our jobs overseas and leave low-paying jobs for everyone. They get big tax breaks and leave us paying for everything. They buy judges and politicians to get what they want. In fact, the more I think about it, the more we need a new Robin Hood for today¡¯s world.¡±


    Okay, Merlin thought to himself. Everyone was going crazy. Had the experiences of the last few days driven everyone insane? Was it the effects of the mirror?


    Could Peter also have been affected by the mirror as well? Peter Pan would often turn on his own Lost Boys when they got too old or for no reason at all during a fight with the pirates. Had Peter¡¯s betrayal been because of the effects on his mind caused by the mirror?


    That couldn¡¯t be right, he thought. Shirley wasn¡¯t acting at all like Sherlock Holmes. Wait, maybe she was like the fictional character after all. Hadn¡¯t Sherlock been quiet and reserved at home, not wanting to be bothered by what he was doing? In fact, Sherlock didn¡¯t like anyone except for Watson. Was he Shirley¡¯s Watson? Weird.


    These thoughts flashed through his mind, but before the silence stretched too long again, Merlin said, ¡°That¡¯s true. I¡¯ve heard a lot of people talking about stuff like that.¡±


    Robert seemed to get excited about the subject, and heatedly said, ¡°Yeah! My father was telling me how the police are just revenue collectors nowadays. They give you tickets for not having two working car lights. You roll past a stop sign or do not use your blinker and they stop you. Then you turn around and see them breaking the very same laws with no consequences. They think they are above the law. They are gang members protected by the thin blue line. I¡¯ve even heard about how they are more interested in taking money from the criminals than actually stopping the drugs from coming into town.¡±


    Merlin was about to say something, but was interrupted by Robert, who seemed to be on a roll, ¡°That¡¯s how the government works. Did you know that after what happened in Ferguson, they started making money by fining people for things like mismatched drapes inside the house or having some other code violation? Then when someone did some research, they found out the people in charge are doing much worse, and just because they are in power, they don¡¯t have to obey the rules everyone else has to obey.¡±


    Eyes wide, Merlin listened as Robert went on and on about all the things the government had done. He had never heard of many of the things Robert told him and was amazed. He had heard a little bit about some of the things Robert told him, but...goodness. Merlin sat on the bed and listened to Robert rattle off the incident after cover-up after controversy for what dragged into who knew how long.


    Some of them he wasn¡¯t sure he really believed and would have to research. Surely the government hadn¡¯t poisoned alcohol and caused people to die during Prohibition. He had no clue what the Gulf of Tonkin had to do with the Vietnam War even after Robert¡¯s rambling ravings. As for the government conducting secret tests on civilians with different drugs, well, he would have to research that as well.


    Finally, Merlin had to interrupt the tirade. Robert was more than a little upset about a lot of things. Maybe it was good that he hadn¡¯t gotten more power than he already had. Still, with what he had gained, it sounded like Robert was going to end up doing something that would get him into trouble in the near future.


    Robert didn¡¯t want to let him go at first, having found a willing ear that he could make listen to what he had to say. From what Merlin had heard, everyone had a right to be angry. The problem was that he feared Robert might do something stupid because of it. It almost sounded as if he wanted to start a riot.


    Merlin knew that people rioted when they were angry. Unfortunately, most of the time the people who were really hurt were people that had nothing to do with the problem in the first place. The anger needed direction, and Robert seemingly only had the anger, without a lot of direction.


    Merlin excused himself, wondering how long it would be before Robert did something big and drastic and very, very stupid. While Merlin had known Robert loved watching videos about that type of stuff on the internet, he hadn¡¯t known how strongly Robert felt. Apparently, Robert¡¯s father, who was a conspiracy buff, had a bigger effect on Robert than Merlin had expected.


    Sheesh, he thought as he left the house. It was dark already. If his parents were home, which they probably weren¡¯t since they both worked two jobs, they would have been really annoyed with him. As it was, they would probably never find out.


    Since he didn¡¯t have time to check on anyone else, he started walking home. Maybe tomorrow, he could check on Arthur. He had certainly found out about Robert. In fact, there were still a lot of things he needed to consider about the changes going on with Robert.


    Werewolves were supposed to be very angry. Was that where the rage had come from? Had it been from the mirror itself? Or had it come from Robert, and was just now coming out? What in the world would Robert end up doing with all that anger?

 Book 2 - Chapter 2 - Injuries Linger

    The next day at school ended up much the same as the day before. Not one person from either group showed up to school. While he was tempted to go check on Arthur, he finally decided to check on Frank instead. Finding out where he lived had been harder than he expected. In fact, no one at school knew where Frank lived.


    Finally, he had to resort to using a spell to sneak into the counselor¡¯s office to find out where Frank lived. What he found in the file was eye-opening. It looked like Frank didn¡¯t have a home but stayed with different relatives. None of them for long, however. Ouch, that had been awful. No wonder he was in a bad mood so often.


    Unfortunately, finding out which house he was staying at would take a lot of trial and error. Instead, he considered something he had seen in a movie once. All he needed was something Frank had owned, and that was easy to get. He simply took the pencil that was tucked inside one of Frank¡¯s writing journals from the English class.


    As soon as the school day was over, he tied a string around the pencil and held it in front of him. Then he just needed a spell. Where to start¡­. Frank..bank, dank, flank, rank, sank, stank, tank...nope, that wouldn¡¯t work. Home, chrome, dome, foam, gnome, roam..


    ¡°Hmm, that might work,¡± Merlin muttered to himself. ¡°Wherever I roam, Point to his home¡­¡± Nodding, he prepared himself and began the spell.


    ¡°As I begin to roam,


    Always point to Frank¡¯s home.¡±


    Feeling the pressure begin to build, Merlin breathed a little more easily. He had been afraid the spell might not recognize Frank as having a home at all. Continuing on with more confidence, he finished the spell.


    ¡°As I begin to roam,


    Always point to Frank¡¯s home.


    As I begin to roam,


    Always point to Frank¡¯s home.¡±


    Slowly, the pencil spun around until it suddenly stopped as if stuck in glue. Not allowing his attention to wander, Merlin began walking that direction, keeping in mind the fact that the pencil pointed to Frank¡¯s home, and he would keep on walking until he got there.


    It actually didn¡¯t take as long as he thought to reach where he was going. The spell seemed to know to always follow the road instead of sending him through backyards and similar places. Until the end that is. It pointed him toward a tree-covered hill behind a broken fence. Cocking his head to the side, he looked around. Seeing no other option, he shrugged and slipped through a hole in the wire fence.


    When he saw a broken shack made of what looked like pallets and other construction yard left-overs, he realized that was where Frank lived. The spell dissolved, and the pencil and string became ordinary again. Moving cautiously forward, he placed them back into his pocket.


    Merlin was almost afraid of pushing the door open. He was afraid he might accidentally knock the whole house down. How it survived a thunderstorm or something similar was beyond him.


    Inside, he found Frank laying on a couple of wooden pallets with a dirty blanket laid down as a sheet. Frank was shivering in the dark room. Of course, there were no windows and definitely no electricity.


    Leaving the door open for the light, Merlin moved forward, afraid of what else he might discover. Frank was alive, but after placing a hand on his forehead, he noticed Frank had a fever. That wasn¡¯t good. What was truly horrifying was Frank¡¯s face. Actually, that was the part of Frank¡¯s face he could see. Someone had tied a metal mask over part of his face as if to keep the swelling down. Gingerly, worried about what he might find, Merlin unhooked the mask and looked underneath.


    His face was covered in splotches of black, blue, and yellow. It was swollen so much that one of his eyes was completely covered. Sheesh, why hadn¡¯t Ruth or Lucas done anything for him? Why wasn¡¯t Frank at a hospital?


    He was their friend. Did they even know about this place? They had to, right? After all, they were his friends. How could they leave him like this?


    Obviously, he hadn¡¯t wanted to go to the hospital. Either that, or he had been afraid to go to the hospital. Maybe it was money; maybe it was something else. Either way, Merlin had to do something to help Frank. He had caused the injury, and he needed to do something to fix it.


    He had come prepared for something like what he had found. He hadn¡¯t wanted it to be real, but that was how things were. Nothing was ever free. There were always strings attached. People might not see the strings, but everything people did had a price.


    He had friends who would want to play video games every second of the day, but the price they paid was often not studying and making a bad grade on a test then. If someone wanted to buy one thing, they might not have enough money to buy something else. There was always a trade-off. Merlin wondered what the trade-off would be for his powers. Was it what was already happening? Was losing his friends the price? Somehow, he doubted that would be the only price he paid.


    Pushing such thoughts aside, he used one of the spells he had memorized the previous day.


    ¡°Erase the injury from Frank¡¯s face,


    As if it happened without a trace.¡±


    Merlin continued the spell as he felt the pressure building. He could tell the spell would help, but with the amount of pressure building, he knew it wouldn¡¯t be enough to heal Frank completely.


    ¡°Erase the injury from Frank¡¯s face,


    As if it happened without a trace.


    Erase the injury from Frank¡¯s face,


    As if it happened without a trace.¡±


    Merlin continued to concentrate on Frank¡¯s face healing as the spell took hold. Slowly, the swelling went down as he watched. Just as he had guessed however, the spell faded before doing much else. There was still a nasty scar on his face. Also, while it might have reduced the bruising, Frank¡¯s skin still looked unhealthy.


    Then again, maybe that was part of the mirror¡¯s magic because he had been wearing a Frankenstein Monster costume. While Merlin knew in the novel, the monster hadn¡¯t been green, or had those things in his neck, he couldn¡¯t remember much else.


    Taking a breather, Merlin looked around the room. How did Frank live in such a place? He couldn¡¯t imagine living like Frank did. Dang. No wonder he acted the way he did at school. School was probably one of the few bright places in his life. Even there, he had to see what everyone else had and he didn¡¯t.


    Not sure if he should try another spell, he decided to wait until the next day to try another healing spell. When he had healed Robert and Shirley, they had slept for a long time to recover from their wounds. Their wounds had also been fresh. While he didn¡¯t know the rules for healing, he figured he should err on the side of caution.


    That didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t do other things, however. He had a habit of taking home food from school that the other students wouldn¡¯t eat. Usually it was just a roll, an apple, or a carton of milk. Today was no exception. The exception would be that Frank would be eating the food instead.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Holding up Frank¡¯s head, Merlin poured the milk into his mouth. Frank swallowed the drink without waking up. After that, he slowly fed Frank the food he had brought from school. Frank ate every bite without waking up completely. He ate and drank like a sleepwalker. Once that was done, Merlin stood back up and looked around.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see,¡± he muttered to himself. ¡°What can I do about this place? Hmm, place...base, case, face, lace, mace, pace, race, vase. Maybe not...what else?¡± Merlin thought for a few seconds on how to describe the shack. ¡°Hmm, that might work. Back, black, crack, pack, rack, sack, snack, stack.¡± Pausing, he thought about the possibilities.


    Crack would be good because he was sure there were a lot of cracks in the shack. As bad off as the shack was, he needed to add a little more. To do something about the condition of the shack was going to take more than a couplet. ¡°What else?¡±


    He took a minute to think about another couplet to add to the first. Maybe something with watertight. That would be...bite, kite, fight, sight, right, height, light, might, night. ¡°Maybe,¡± he said once again to himself. ¡°Night and watertight. Make it watertight all through the night?¡± Nodding, he decided he could probably work with those lines. He checked the number of syllables just to be sure and made a few slight adjustments. Finally, he spoke the words for the spell.


    ¡°Remove every crack,


    From this little shack.


    Make it watertight


    To stay warm at night.¡±


    Merlin could feel the spell resisting him for some reason. The pressure built quickly. Maybe it was because there were a lot of cracks and it would be hard to keep it watertight and warm at night. Despite this, he concentrated and pushed through the spell.


    ¡°Remove every crack,


    From this little shack.


    Make it watertight


    To stay warm at night.


    Remove every crack,


    From this little shack.


    Make it watertight


    To stay warm at night.¡±


    By the end of the spell, sweat covered his body despite the cold weather outside. Wow, that had taken a lot out of him. He hadn¡¯t expected that. Merlin felt like he had just run a marathon.


    Not knowing what else to do after that, and already feeling the strain of casting the healing spell and the shack fixing spell, he decided to go home. He could come back the next day to check on Frank. He could worry about the others after he had taken care of Frank.


    That was one thing his parents had taught him. If he let all the worries of life overwhelm him, he would never get anything done. They had told him to pick one of the problems, take care of it, and then move on to the next one until he had done everything he had to do. Hmm, maybe he needed to listen to them more often. Snorting out loud, he muttered, ¡°Or not.¡±


    Sitting down, he wondered what would happen to him if he ever tried to force a spell that was too powerful? Would it fail? Would it kill him? What would happen if he tried to do too much with a magic spell? Was that the price he would pay? Would he one day cast one too many spells and pay the price?


    A crazy thought occurred to him. What if he could only cast a certain number of spells before he lost his power? Maybe the source of his magical power was his soul. What if for every spell he cast cost him days or weeks of his life? That was an unsettling thought. What really gave his spells their power? Thinking about how nothing in life was free, he wondered what price he would pay in the end.


    The next day was the same as the one before. He thought about how things might turn out if they continued the way things were going. Shirley could easily take and pass the GED test to graduate early. Until then, she could always say she was home-schooling. Arthur was in the same boat. His father had enough money to hire a private tutor if he wanted.


    Robert was another story, however. Merlin was more than a little worried about him. He really needed to go to school. At the moment, with his current temperament, that might not be the best idea, however. Hopefully, he would take a few days off before going back to school. At least until Merlin had a chance to fix things. He wouldn¡¯t miss too much anyway as long as Merlin took care of it soon.


    Ruth, Lucas, Belle, and Peter were probably all facing similar problems. Merlin didn¡¯t know what to do about them though. Ruth probably needed the most help, if she needed help at all. After all, she might be enjoying the blood-drinking and only going out at night.


    It was still a few weeks until the full moon, which meant he still had time to deal with Lucas and Robert until then. That left Peter and Belle the first ones he would need to do something about after helping Frank.


    While he was tempted to go see how Frank was doing immediately, he decided to wait until after seeing what had happened to Peter and Belle. Hopefully, the shadow wouldn¡¯t be with Peter. That thing had been scary.


    By the time he reached Peter and Belle¡¯s house after school, he imagined every scenario of what might happen in his mind. With his luck, something completely unexpected would happen. As it was, however, things went fairly smoothly.


    ¡°Hey there Merlin,¡± Peter said, pulling him into a big bear hug.


    Merlin was floored. Peter was acting as if nothing had happened. In fact, he was acting as if they had been lifelong best friends. ¡°Uh, hi there. How are you doing?¡±


    Peter smiled, and spun in a circle, floating slowly up, ¡°Everything is great. Life is such an adventure. Don¡¯t you think so?¡±


    ¡°It certainly has been lately, hasn¡¯t it?¡± Merlin agreed. ¡°How is Belle doing?¡±


    Peter floated back to the ground and gave Merlin a confused look as if he didn¡¯t know anyone named Belle. Suddenly, he looked a little sad. ¡°Oh, yea. She¡¯s not doing so well. Come on, follow me and I¡¯ll show you.¡±


    Leading Merlin down the hall, Peter added more information, ¡°Dad is off on an assignment again. He should be back in a few weeks. Maybe a month or two. Mom¡¯s gone to...hmm, where did she go? Where¡¯s Shirley or Ruth? One of them can be the mother of the house until Mom returns.¡±


    Merlin followed behind Peter, his eyes wide. Goodness gracious, he thought. Peter had lost his mind. Now, Peter Pan had done some crazy things, such as changing sides and fighting for the pirates in the original book, but...oh boy. Either way, Merlin was more worried than ever about everyone else. If the ones he had met were this badly off, what about the others?


    Belle didn¡¯t seem quite as normal as she had been just a few days before. She was fluttering around the room. She actually looked like she was glowing a little, and little drops of dust were floating down from her as she flew around. The oddest part was that she was shorter than she had been the previous time they had met. In fact, she was much shorter.


    ¡°Hi there Merlin,¡± she said, fluttering up to him. ¡°It¡¯s so nice to see you again. Do you want to play any games?¡±


    Merlin was about to respond when Belle went from nice and sweet to glaring at him, her hands resting against her hips. ¡°What are you doing here? You aren¡¯t going to do something to Peter are you?¡± She held up a tiny fist in front of Merlin¡¯s face.


    ¡°Uh, no, never. I just wanted to say I was sorry about how things had happened and wanted to let you know I still wanted to be friends,¡± Merlin said.


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s so sweet,¡± Belle said, her expression changing abruptly once more. She rushed forward and gave him a quick hug. ¡°I do so like friends. It is great to have the boys back together again. Do you think Robert and Arthur will join us?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll ask when I see them,¡± Merlin said, his mind racing, wondering how Belle didn¡¯t have emotional whiplash. She seemed to change moods quicker than he could keep up with. ¡°I just wanted to make sure everything is fine. Hasn¡¯t your mother said anything about¡­¡± Merlin paused there, not knowing what to say. Then he continued, ¡°You know, with all the changes?¡±


    ¡°Not anymore she won¡¯t,¡± Belle said with a wicked grin. She¡¯s having some mechanical problems which are keeping her away from here. If she comes by, I¡¯m sure something else will happen to her.¡±


    Merlin had to admit to himself, the shiver that went down his spine was all about fear. Belle sounded so sweet and innocent, and yet he didn¡¯t doubt for a moment that her mother was much better off avoiding the house for the foreseeable future.


    ¡°Well, I have to go check on the others. Maybe we can get together once I have seen everyone,¡± Merlin said. He wasn¡¯t eager to stay around. Who knew when Belle¡¯s mood would change again and what might happen to him if she got angry?


    ¡°Okay,¡± Belle said.


    Merlin turned to say something to Peter only to find that he had wandered off without even staying to hear the conversation as if he were already trying to decide what adventure he would have next. Feeling distinctly ill at ease, Merlin showed himself out.


    ¡°Oh, my goodness,¡± he muttered to himself as soon as he was outside. While he knew in the book, Tinkerbell had only been able to feel one emotion at a time due to her size, seeing someone switch personalities that quickly had been unnerving. How could anyone work in the mental health industry? If he didn¡¯t do something soon about those two, a mental facility would be the least of their problems.


    He definitely needed to break the curse on them as well. Who knew when their mother would return? It sounded like he didn¡¯t have the opportunity to tackle each problem one by one anymore. He needed to do something soon, however. What, he had no idea. Maybe he could use the mirror piece again as he had with Angela. Maybe he could convince them to abandon their powers. How though? They certainly weren¡¯t going to make it easy though. In fact, he realized that he had been dragged into another adventure. Or as Shirley would say, the game was afoot.


    He finally decided that it was time to visit Arthur and get the mirror piece. He didn¡¯t really have a choice. That was the only way he knew how to break the curse, and it appeared that the powers of his friends and once friends had turned from blessings into curses. When would his own powers turn into a curse as well?

 Book 2 - Chapter 3 - Things Change

    By the time he reached Arthur¡¯s house he was extremely tired of walking. His legs felt like lead weights. Maybe he should have spent more time exercising after all. Apparently, it did have its uses. Why had he not realized that after reading so many books about heroes?


    Finally, he buzzed the house. Really, he buzzed the mansion. Something as big as Arthur¡¯s house should never be called a house. Castle maybe. House never. One of the house servants recognized his name and buzzed for the gates to open so he could continue down the driveway.


    Dang. Seeing where Frank lived and then where Arthur lived was like a slap in the face. How could society let something like that happen? One child lived alone in a makeshift shack with no water or electricity while another lived in the lap of luxury. It was so unfair. His parents worked two jobs each and they were struggling to make it. Merlin was certainly starting to understand Robert¡¯s anger better.


    Reigning in his frustration with how things could be so unfair, he knocked on the door. After a different servant opened the door, Merlin was ushered to Arthur¡¯s room. Actually, it wasn¡¯t so much a room as a wing of the mansion. Sheesh. He hadn¡¯t been to Arthur¡¯s home in years. Looking around, he realized why. He hadn¡¯t felt comfortable around such opulence then and nothing had changed there. It was a different world to him.


    Arthur greeted him warmly when they reached Arthur¡¯s room. ¡°Come on in,¡± he said, motioning Merlin to go into his room. ¡°You haven¡¯t come here in years. I¡¯ve always gone to your house or Robert¡¯s house.¡±


    Merlin nodded, ¡°That¡¯s true. How are you doing?¡± He didn¡¯t want to just jump straight to the point and be rude, so he might as well get the pleasantries out of the way.


    ¡°I¡¯m doing well. And yourself?¡± Arthur did look well. In fact, he looked better than ever. If anything, Arthur looked like he had put on a few pounds of muscle and lost the excess weight. He even looked like he had gotten more attractive. No, there was no thinking about it. Arthur actually was more handsome. Even Merlin had to admit that. Instead of getting a wife because of his money, he might actually be able to get a wife based on his looks instead.


    What in the world, Merlin thought to himself. He didn¡¯t remember King Arthur being overly handsome. Then again, he hadn¡¯t read a lot about King Arthur. Merlin took a moment to see what else had changed with Arthur.


    ¡°I¡¯m doing well also,¡± Merlin said. ¡°I was a little worried about you. I hadn¡¯t seen you since, well, you know when.¡±


    Arthur gave a kingly nod, ¡°Things have changed a lot I imagine. As you can see,¡± motioning to himself.


    Merlin nodded in agreement. ¡°That was one reason I wanted to talk to you. I think something is wrong with Shirley and some of the others.¡±


    Arthur cocked his head to the side, ¡°Really? Such as?¡±


    ¡°For example, Shirley is acting really strange. Even her parents are worried. I think the mirror did something to her mind. That¡¯s why I want to use the mirror piece we have and see if I can help her.¡±


    Arthur made a pained expression, ¡°Alas, we might have a problem there. Someone broke into the house and stole it. I don¡¯t know how they did it, but the very first night someone took it. I don¡¯t even know how they got past all the alarms.¡±


    Had Merlin not been warned by Shirley that Arthur would betray them, he would have believed Arthur without question. Instead, he found himself doubting Arthur¡¯s story. He hated the thought that he might not be able to trust that Arthur was telling him the truth. Either way, there wasn¡¯t much he could do about it.


    ¡°Man, that¡¯s terrible,¡± Merlin said, trying to figure out what to say or do about it. He couldn¡¯t accuse Arthur of lying. About the only thing Merlin could do was act like Arthur was telling the truth.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Arthur said. ¡°It was probably Ruth, Mr. Prince, or Ms. White. Who knows what happened to it by now? I was going to tell you guys, but there wasn¡¯t much we could do.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true. I guess I will need to find another way to help Shirley,¡± Merlin said.


    Arthur strode toward one of the chairs and sat down. ¡°Well, if you need anything, let me know,¡± he said, reaching over to take a book off the table next to the chair.


    Realizing that was Arthur¡¯s way of dismissing him, Merlin blinked. Uh, okay. Apparently, the king in King Arthur was starting to affect Arthur as well. ¡°Actually, there is one more thing. I saved some lunch from school to give to Frank. He¡¯s still not feeling well and hasn¡¯t recovered enough to leave the bed. I also found out he is homeless. I was hoping you could let me have any extra money you can spare to help him out.¡±


    Arthur looked at Merlin as if he didn¡¯t know him. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but he deserves whatever happens to him. There is no law that says I have to help him. In fact, if I were in charge, he¡¯d be paying for his crimes right now. As it is now, I don¡¯t have the power yet to change things into how they should be.¡±


    Merlin stood there, stunned by what Arthur had said. What in the world? Everyone given powers by the mirror was changing, and not for the better. How in the world had he not started to act crazy as well? Was he acting crazy? Maybe he had already gone crazy and just didn¡¯t know it yet.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    Was he wrong in asking Arthur for some money to buy things for Frank? Maybe they did ask Frank for money too often. Then again, he asked them for help with school. Was it so different? Was he mad because he thought they only liked him for his money? It wasn¡¯t true, but how could he convince Arthur of that?


    Not sure what else to say, Merlin muttered something about it being good to see Arthur again before being escorted off the grounds by one of the servants. First Shirley, and then Robert. After that, Belle and Peter. Finally, Arthur. What was happening? Whatever it meant, it couldn¡¯t be good for him.


    By the time he had reached Frank¡¯s place, he was more worried than ever. Carefully opening the door, Merlin glanced inside. Frank was sitting up and didn¡¯t seem that surprised to see him.


    Motioning towards his face, which no longer needed the metal mask to keep the swelling down, he said, ¡°Welcome to my humble abode,¡± while making a welcoming gesture.


    Merlin blinked, not used to Frank ever showing any sense of humor. Maybe he had never really gotten to know him, however. ¡°Hi there,¡± Merlin replied.


    ¡°I wanted to thank you for helping me yesterday,¡± Frank said, motioning for Merlin to take a seat in the one chair in the shack. ¡°Ruth told me what you did when you were here yesterday.¡±


    Merlin frowned, ¡°Huh? How does Ruth know what I did?¡± He looked around, as if she might suddenly appear.


    ¡°She¡¯s resting under the ground right now. In fact, the second spell you did made it much harder for her to get out from under the house. Apparently, she needed a crack to really move around. As it was, she had to dig her way out the hard way.¡±


    Not sure if she was there again, Merlin looked to the ground and said to the air, ¡°Sorry about that.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. She knows you meant well. We were actually hoping you might be able to help us out some more.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± Merlin asked. ¡°What do you need?¡±


    ¡°We want to use the mirror to reverse what happened to us. While nothing bad has seemed to have happened to me, yet, at least,¡± Frank said, ¡°I¡¯m sure that is only a matter of time. Ruth and Lucas are the ones I am really worried about.¡±


    ¡°I thought it might be something like that. In fact, I was already thinking along some similar lines.¡±


    ¡°Oh really?¡± Frank asked, raising an eyebrow.


    ¡°Unfortunately, we have a small problem. The person who had the mirror said someone stole it. Since that apparently wasn¡¯t you guys, that means either Mr. Prince or Ms. White took it. Either that or the person who told me is lying.¡±


    Frank sat on the makeshift bed for a few moments, seemingly at a loss for words. Finally, he said, ¡°Hmm, Lucas has been keeping an eye on Ms. White. He hasn¡¯t said anything about her going anywhere. In fact, she seems like she has been pretty preoccupied with your Mr. Prince. Apparently, he found her again.¡±


    Merlin thought about that information for a second, then asked, ¡°What are they doing? Are they fighting? Did she capture him?¡±


    ¡°They seem to be old friends. He comes by each day, and they talk for hours until it gets late. At that point, he leaves. It¡¯s quite odd, Lucas says.¡±


    ¡°That is weird,¡± Merlin agreed. ¡°Maybe we need to head there and confront them. It sounds like our only option if we want to break the curse.¡±


    Frank definitely didn¡¯t look happy with the idea, ¡°Not my first choice, but at the moment, I don¡¯t see a better option. Fine. Let¡¯s do it. We can leave tonight or tomorrow. I don¡¯t know how much longer I can keep on feeding Ruth my blood anyway.¡±


    Merlin kept his face neutral, realizing that might have been one reason for Frank¡¯s condition. He had been recovering from his own wounds but was a good enough friend to give up his blood even when he was already injured.


    Not sure what to say, he changed the subject, ¡°I brought some food for you,¡± handing over the food and milk. ¡°I know it isn¡¯t much, but I was hoping to get more before I got here.¡±


    Frank took the food and shoved it into his mouth as if he was starving. ¡°Thank you,¡± he mumbled through bites.


    Not knowing what else to do, Merlin just sat there and waited quietly while Frank ate. Since there wasn¡¯t that much food, it didn¡¯t take long. In fact, it was over in a matter of seconds. He must have been really hungry.


    Finally, a thought came to him. ¡°I can¡¯t stay here. My parents will be home eventually. Since Ruth can¡¯t go out during the day, we need to leave tonight. Why don¡¯t I go home and let my parents know I am going to spend the night with you? After all, there isn¡¯t any school tomorrow anyway because of some teacher education days.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t you just love November? We get two days at the beginning of the month when the teachers are doing teacher training, and another week later in the month for Thanksgiving.¡± Frank smiled at the thought of missing so much school.


    ¡°I know, and don¡¯t forget December. Two weeks of class and then two weeks of vacation.¡± Both of them smiled at that thought. Yep, November and December weren¡¯t the worst months of the school year.


    ¡°Try to get back as soon as you can though. I¡¯m still not sure about Ruth being away from here come morning.¡±


    ¡°I will,¡± Merlin said. With that, he waved and slipped outside. By the time he got home, his parents had already picked up his sister and arrived home. Gathering a few items he might need, he let his parents know he would be staying with Frank.


    As he was walking out the door once again, he wondered if maybe he should be worried about how easily he could just say he was going to some friend¡¯s home without his parents batting an eye. He kind of knew the reason though. They trusted him. Also, the fact that once they got home from working so much, they didn¡¯t have a lot of energy left. One less mouth to feed was an added benefit.


    By the time he had made it back to Frank¡¯s shack, it was turning dark. That meant Ruth would be waking from her rest before long. It sounded like her rest wasn¡¯t so much a rest as just laying around waiting for night. Sheesh, that must be boring, just lying in the ground all day long doing nothing. Maybe that was another reason she wanted to get rid of the curse. More and more, he wondered how he had gotten away without paying a price for his powers.

 Book 2 - Chapter 4 - People Change

    Ruth looked more pale than usual, but Merlin had arrived just late enough to miss Frank giving her some of his blood again. While he knew he should probably do the same, he just couldn¡¯t do that yet. Maybe if there was an emergency, he would do it. Until then, she seemed to be doing okay.


    ¡°Hey there,¡± Ruth said as he walked in. ¡°Are you ready?¡±


    Merlin nodded, then cocked his head as a thought suddenly came to him. ¡°Uh. I know I should have thought of this sooner, but...how do you communicate with Lucas? Is it some type of vampire mental power, like telepathy?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± she said, taking out her cell phone. ¡°I use this.¡± She gave him a look similar to that which a teacher might give a slow child who would never understand no matter how many times she explained it.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± he said. ¡°Don¡¯t you need to call your parents and tell them you are staying with a friend as well?¡±


    Ruth looked embarrassed for a second, ¡°Actually, I live with my grandmother. She¡¯s so senile that she doesn¡¯t even remember I live there half the time.¡±


    It was Merlin¡¯s turn to look embarrassed this time. ¡°Sorry,¡± he muttered. ¡°I didn¡¯t know.¡± Apparently, there were a lot of families out there who didn¡¯t have the same opportunities Arthur did. Then again, Arthur had been raised more by servants than by his father. In fact, thinking about it, Arthur¡¯s mother had moved away years ago and hadn¡¯t seen her son in years. Guess no one had a great home life anymore.


    ¡°Anyway, how are we going to get there? We don¡¯t have Shirley¡¯s brother to drive us. I don¡¯t even know how you guys got to Little Rock,¡± Merlin said.


    ¡°Actually, I don¡¯t need a car anymore. Lucas and Frank rode on my scooter,¡± Ruth said.


    It took him a moment to visualize that. Wait, that meant he was going to ride on a scooter with Frank. Then another thought hit him. ¡°What about when Belle was with you?¡±


    Frank answered this one, ¡°Actually, Belle has a scooter as well. The only reason we were able to get there before you guys was because Peter gave us a heads-up.¡±


    Merlin nodded, taking in what they had told him. It had answered some questions he had not thought to ask. ¡°What about the shadow? Why was Ms. White working with you guys?¡±


    Ruth chimed in, ¡°Peter¡¯s shadow. Yeah, the scary thing, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    Frank answered Merlin¡¯s question, ¡°Peter sent the shadow ahead. We don¡¯t know how she knew that it was there to help her. Then again, there are a lot of things we didn¡¯t have time to learn.¡±


    There didn¡¯t seem to be much to say after that so walked over to where Ruth had hidden her scooter. Of course, he thought once he saw it. It was pink. Not just pink, but neon pink. On the positive side, both Frank and Lucas had ridden it together. He smiled at the thought. Then he realized that he would be riding with Frank. Not only that, but he would be hugging Frank for over an hour. Man, he really should have learned how to ride one of those at some point.


    They would have really had some problems if Frank hadn¡¯t known how to drive the scooter. As it was, Merlin spent the next two hours on the back of a scooter holding someone who had a recent head wound. Oh, and it smelled like Frank hadn¡¯t had a bath since last weekend either. Yep, wasn¡¯t he the luckiest person in the world?


    By the time they reached Little Rock, he was starting to see how he would pay for his power. That ride certainly qualified as a curse in his opinion. While he had thought they would be going to one of the two previous places they had been before, they instead went to a different house altogether. Actually, it was more like a cabin in the woods.


    A mist appeared from the darkness. Slowly, it started swirling together until soon a figure began to take form. After a few more seconds, Ruth was standing before them.


    ¡°So cool,¡± Merlin muttered before realizing what he had said.


    ¡°Yeah, it is.¡± Ruth said. ¡°I¡¯ll miss this, but not much else.¡±


    Seconds later, Lucas walked out of the woods. He was even more wolf-like than before. Not only were his fingers clawed now, but Merlin could see his canines from a dozen feet away, even in the darkness. He was also much hairier than before as well. Of course, it was the blood on his face that really stood out.


    Now that they were all present, all they had to do was head inside. He had thought once they arrived, he would know what to do, but Merlin really didn¡¯t know what to do or say when they went inside. Should they burst in and take Ms. White hostage until they get a way to break the curse? No matter what, he was determined to find out how to break the curse.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Knowing they were about to head inside, he checked his pockets one more time to make sure he knew where everything was. After he was satisfied, they all snuck up to the cabin. He was tempted to use the mask he had used last Halloween but decided against it for now. It wasn¡¯t likely they were going to encounter anyone other than Ms. White.


    Peeking into the window, he realized he had been wrong. Not only was Ms. White in the cabin, but sitting across from her was Mr. Prince, the old man who had told them where to find her. They seemed to be talking like old friends. Merlin wished he knew why Mr. Prince was there, being all friendly with Ms. White. What in the world was going on? He had thought they were enemies or something.


    Merlin was thinking about casting a spell to unlock the door. While he was thinking about that, Lucas took care of the problem by kicking in the door. Uh, that works. A little too destructive for his tastes, however. Still, it was done now and there wasn¡¯t much he could do about it so he might as well follow the others inside. Determined a bunch of these guys.


    Neither Mr. Prince nor Ms. White seemed surprised by their abrupt entrance. In fact, they almost seemed amused as Frank stumbled over the door as he clambered into the cabin over the broken door. Of course, Ruth flowed over the broken door like the wind. Careful not to fall himself, Merlin went in last.


    No one said anything until Merlin decided to break the silence, ¡°Knock, knock.¡±


    Ms. White didn¡¯t seem amused, but Mr. Prince did break a smile. ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡±


    Merlin was at a loss here. He hadn¡¯t really prepared an answer. After a second of hesitation, he finally came up with, ¡°Us?¡±


    While he wasn¡¯t certain, it sounded like Ms. White muttered something like, ¡°Idiot.¡± He couldn¡¯t really argue at that moment, however.


    ¡°We are here for the mirror pieces,¡± Ruth said.


    ¡°Of course you are, and so am I,¡± said Mr. Prince.


    ¡°And why should I give it to any of you?¡± Ms. White asked. ¡°One of you kids already broke the mirror and took one of the pieces. Why should I help you?¡±


    Frank spoke up, ¡°Because you want us to leave you alone.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sure I could make you leave me alone if I tried hard enough,¡± Ms. White said. ¡°In fact, I know I could.¡±


    Lucas was a little more direct, ¡°You¡¯ll give it to you if you ever want to make it out of this cabin.¡± Something about the way Lucas licked his canines after he said it made it all the more threatening. Hmm, Lucas was scary. Merlin had to remind himself they were on the same side, at least for now.


    ¡°From you, that threat has the ring of truth,¡± Ms. White said. ¡°You can¡¯t trust a beast to act like a man.¡±


    Wow, she was asking for it. Was she trying to get herself killed? Lucas handled it well, however. He simply dragged his claws across the wood of the wall and left four long deep scars. Yep, don¡¯t annoy Lucas.


    Ms. White must have sensed at least a little of that. ¡°I¡¯m not about just giving you the rest of the pieces. If something happens to me, you¡¯ll never find them. Or even if you do find them, you won¡¯t find the pieces in time to help your friends.¡±


    ¡°Children, if she was going to give up the pieces that easily, she would have already given them to me,¡± Mr. Prince said. ¡°Why don¡¯t you let me take it from here?¡±


    ¡°If you could handle it, you would already have the pieces,¡± Frank said. ¡°We can¡¯t afford to wait any longer.¡±


    ¡°Fine,¡± Ms. White said. ¡°I¡¯ll show you where the pieces are.¡±


    Everyone looked at Ms. White and her abrupt change of mind. Merlin was worried. Why had she changed her mind so suddenly? Was she planning on tricking them somehow? Either way, they didn¡¯t have a choice but to see what happened.


    Standing up, Ms. White moved to the back of the cabin and pushed aside a rug. Underneath, she pulled up a hidden cellar door. Looking at each other for just a moment, everyone gathered around the cellar entrance. Mr. Prince went down the steps first, followed by Ms. White. Ruth went next, followed by Merlin. Lucas and Frank brought up the rear. Clicking on their flashlights, they stepped into the darkness.


    At first, Merlin expected the steps to end after a short distance. That didn¡¯t happen, however. The stairs seemed to go down and down and down. He couldn¡¯t imagine what it had taken to create the passage down into the depths of the earth. Magic had to have been involved. There was no way someone had dug all the steps as deeply as the steps were taking them.


    Finally, after what seemed forever, the steps ended in a huge dark cavern. Not knowing where they were, everyone looked around with their flashlights. For a second, Merlin got a little dizzy from all the lights bouncing around the cave.


    ¡°Where are they?¡± Frank demanded. ¡°I don¡¯t see anything.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s right here,¡± Ms. White said, moving to one of the walls. Pushing on a rock, an opening in the wall developed as the rock rolled away. Not really trusting her, Merlin followed closely behind her. She seemed willing to give up the mirror pieces way too easily. Something was wrong. As soon as she stepped into the new passageway, she started running.


    Good grief, he thought. Just his luck. The slowest one in the group was the one closest to her. Trying not to lose her, he almost didn¡¯t notice her press another rock as she ran down the passage.


    Immediately, the stones around them began to shake. Suddenly, the ground rose up from beneath him, tripping him and the others. Lucas and Ruth kept their balance, but neither one of them had time to do anything before the ceiling fell in on them. For the second time in a week, something hit him in the head and pushed him into darkness.

 Book 2 - Chapter 5 - Learning New Things

    The first thing he was aware of was Ruth¡¯s voice speaking with the others. ¡°Okay, I made it through to the other side. It¡¯s quite a distance, however. I don¡¯t see how you all are going to get through.¡±


    ¡°Why is that?¡± asked Mr. Prince.


    ¡°Even if Lucas and Frank could move the stones, there are so many of them it would take forever. Also, it would probably cause more stones to fall. It might be our only option, however.¡±


    Merlin sat up. Then he gingerly touched the back of his head. It was a little damp, probably bloody. Staggering to his feet, he looked around at the others. No one else seemed hurt, which was good. He must have gotten hurt because he was the closest to where the cave started.


    He wondered if he could do something to help. Since he wasn¡¯t strong enough to do much else, he thought about a possible spell while Lucas and Frank started moving some of the rocks aside.  Maybe he could keep more rocks from falling if they could move the other rocks. That meant he would need some stabilizing spell.


    It took him several minutes to come up with a spell to help. Letting the others know what he was doing, he began the spell.


    ¡°While I am busy shirking


    Keep the ceiling from moving,


    While everyone is working.


    While I am busy shirking


    Keep the ceiling from moving.


    While everyone is working.


    While I am busy shirking


    Keep the ceiling from moving,


    While everyone is working.¡±


    He hadn¡¯t been sure how much energy it would take for him to complete the spell. Who knew how strong the remaining rocks in the ceiling were? There wasn¡¯t quite as much pressure as he was expecting, but he knew the spell would wipe him out by the time the guys were done removing all the stones.


    After finishing the spell, Merlin sat down and concentrated on keeping the spell going. Seeing that they didn¡¯t have to worry about the ceiling anymore, Lucas and Frank began throwing rocks around like they were toys. Even Ruth was surprisingly strong from the sounds of rocks being thrown around from the other side of the rockslide.


    Merlin didn¡¯t know how long it took. At some point, he had blocked out everything but kept the spell continuing. He didn¡¯t notice when the last rock was moved enough for them to get through. He didn¡¯t even notice when Frank picked him up and carried him through the tunnel back to the surface.


    At some point, he lost consciousness. He preferred that to falling asleep from exhaustion. Either way, he wasn¡¯t aware of anything for several hours until he had recovered again. At one point, he woke up, but finding everyone else resting around the room, fell back asleep.


    It was getting close to the morning when Ruth woke everyone. Sitting up, Merlin and everyone else looked at Mr. Prince. Seeing that they wanted some answers, Mr. Prince sighed and said, ¡°Very well. I suppose you deserve some answers.¡±


    ¡°I think so,¡± Lucas said. Everyone else seemed to agree with him.


    ¡°Fine,¡± Mr. Prince said. ¡°The first thing you need to know is that Ms. White and I are married.¡±


    Everyone just looked at him. Merlin raised an eyebrow. While he didn¡¯t want to say anything about the age difference, Ruth didn¡¯t have the same problem. ¡°Eww,¡± she said. ¡°You¡¯re like eighty years old and she¡¯s...what, thirty?¡±


    ¡°Actually,¡± Mr. Prince said, ¡°I am actually quite a bit older than that. For that matter, Ms. White is the same age as I am.¡±


    Merlin nodded to himself. He remembered Mr. Prince saying something about that before. He had told them that the mirror had cursed him to look older than he actually was. Wait, if that was true, wouldn¡¯t he look even older if he didn¡¯t look as old as ...Merlin lost the trail of thought. Ugh...magic could give anyone a headache with all the possibilities.


    ¡°Many, many years ago, Ms. White¡¯s stepmother left a magical mirror that would tell her anything she wanted to know. Unfortunately, some things are better left unknown. She found seven individuals who worked deep within the earth who were able to forge another magical mirror.¡±


    Everyone looked at each other as if asking why they were listening to such a fairy tale. Then again, maybe it was true. After all, it had been a magic mirror. Perhaps because of this, no one interrupted as Mr. Prince continued.


    ¡°This mirror would allow someone to be whatever they wanted to be. Anyone who looked into the mirror would change to be whatever they saw. Now, at first, this seemed like a blessing. However, human nature is odd. While we often tend to see things that we want to see, we also see things we are afraid of seeing.¡±


    Merlin nodded. That was true. He had found that out a long time ago when he had told a lie. He hadn¡¯t wanted to tell the real reason he had done something, so he had told one of his ...well, not really a friend, an embarrassing story instead.


    Of course, the person had believed him because he wanted to believe something so absurd had been the reason. He found out later that people would also believe what they were afraid of that might be true. If they thought someone was doing something, it wouldn¡¯t take much to convince them of it even if it wasn¡¯t true.


    Mr. Prince continued, ¡°Unfortunately, she saw much of her stepmother in herself as she gazed into the mirror. Since her mother had been a wicked person, she too became wicked. We had looked in the mirror together. Unfortunately, I also feared something. I could see her staying beautiful forever while I became the old man who would always be trailing behind her.¡±


    Merlin frowned at this, not sure he believed that part of the story. It seemed too...convenient. Still, he didn¡¯t say anything and let the story continue.


    ¡°All these years, she has continued to retain her youth. I¡¯ve trailed her through the years, trying to break the curse. Every time I came close to breaking the curse, those seven little guys who made the mirror would be there to stop me.¡±


    Merlin was starting to see where Mr. Prince was going with his story. Frowning, he wondered just how much of the story was true. If so, then what other things might be true? He shivered, seeing his world turn upside down. The world really was a strange place.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°I can find her again. I can always find her. We¡¯re still linked and will be forever. That might be one reason why she moves around so much. If you guys can help me, get to her again, we can try for the mirror pieces one more time.¡±


    ¡°We can use all the help we can get,¡± Ruth said. ¡°Can you take us to wherever she is?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I can,¡± Mr. Prince said. ¡°In fact, I think we should leave now. I have a car down the street we can take.¡± With that, he got up and motioned for them to join him. Not having a better option, they followed him.


    Merlin was worried. Apparently, Ms. White had seven protectors. They were probably the ones who had rigged the cavern to drop on them. What else could they do? How in the world would they be able to get the mirror pieces from her? Apparently, Mr. Prince had been trying for years and had no luck.


    Ms. White must not have gone far because Mr. Prince didn¡¯t have to drive for too long. Unfortunately, they had to leave Ruth behind. It was simply too close to dawn for her to risk going out without knowing how far they would need to go. When they stopped in front of a business called the Rock Shop, Merlin put away his most current enchanted item he had made while they were driving.


    ¡°This isn¡¯t good,¡± Mr. Prince said. ¡°Not good at all.¡±


    Everyone looked at him, waiting for him to elaborate. When he didn¡¯t, Frank couldn¡¯t resist and had to ask, ¡°Why is it bad?¡±


    ¡°Remember those guys I told you about?¡± Mr. Prince asked. ¡°The ones who made the magic mirror? Well, it looks like she ran to them. More than likely, they are here.¡±


    ¡°All of them?¡± Lucas asked.


    ¡°More than likely,¡± Mr. Prince said. ¡°They generally stay together. Sometimes they will be joined by their other brothers, but more often than not, it¡¯s just the seven of them.¡±


    ¡°Hmm, so eight against four,¡± Merlin said. ¡°You said they made the magic mirrors. What else can they do?¡±


    ¡°Actually, they aren¡¯t that powerful in one sense,¡± Mr. Prince said. ¡°Their power rests mostly in their ability to make things. They don¡¯t generally do much fighting. That doesn¡¯t mean that they can¡¯t fight. In fact, they are really tough. So tough I doubt you or I could hurt them permanently.¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound good,¡± Frank said.


    ¡°Maybe we don¡¯t have to fight them,¡± Lucas said. ¡°All we really need to do is distract them while one of us gets the mirror pieces.¡±


    ¡°Yes, but where are the pieces? That¡¯s the problem,¡± Merlin said.


    ¡°Actually,¡± Mr. Prince said, ¡°Merlin can probably help with that. I¡¯m sure he can cast a spell to find the mirror pieces and sneak in while we distract the seven brothers and Ms. White.¡±


    Everyone looked at Merlin, who sighed, and then said, ¡°Let me think for a few minutes. I don¡¯t really have a spell yet for this. Why don¡¯t you guys discuss what you are going to do to distract everyone while I am sneaking inside¡±


    The others nodded and moved to the other side of the car while he thought about the spell he would need, and they discussed what they would be doing. Merlin finally decided he would probably need at least two spells. One of them would be to find the mirror. The other would be to get in without being seen. The problem was he might have some difficulty maintaining two spells at the same time.


    Maybe if he cast a spell on an item. Then whenever he wore the item it would be activated. Would that work? Hmm, probably not unless he concentrated on it. So, he was going to have to combine the two spells into one. Maybe the item that helped him sneak in could also lead him to the mirror pieces.


    That might work, he thought. Hmm, sneak and seek maybe. Guide and hide. Might as well connect the spell to the mask, he thought. Thinking about that, he got the mask out of the car. While he did have magic, he didn¡¯t want to count on it. After all the sneaking he had to do last week, he had gotten his old Halloween mask out from last year.


    The others had apparently decided what they were going to do and had finished talking. Mr. Prince noticed Merlin was ready, and said, ¡°We¡¯re ready if you are. When you get the mirror, meet us back here.¡±


    Nodding, Merlin looked at the mask. He thought one final time about how he would word the spell. Finally, he nodded, ready to try the spell. Taking a deep breath, he began.


    ¡°While I wear this concealing mask,


    Help me as I complete my task,


    Allow me to find what I seek


    And hide me from sight as I sneak.¡±


    Merlin could feel the pressure building already. In fact, it was almost as difficult as a healing spell. Maybe the mirror pieces were hard for the spell to get a handle on because they were magical.  He ignored the pressure and continued on until he finished the spell.


    ¡°While I wear this concealing mask,


    Help me as I complete my task,


    Allow me to find what I seek


    And hide me from sight as I sneak.


    While I wear this concealing mask,


    Help me as I complete my task,


    Allow me to find what I seek


    And hide me from sight as I sneak.¡±


    Slowly, he put on the mask. While it wasn¡¯t the best mask to use since it made sight a little more difficult, it at least covered his whole face. Keeping his concentration on maintaining the spell, he moved toward the back of the store. He had an enchanted key ready in case the back door was locked. More and more he was realizing that being prepared was the king of adventuring. While it might be impossible to prepare for every circumstance, that doesn''t mean people shouldn¡¯t try.


    By the time he had reached the back door, he could hear Frank and Lucas yelling at each other as if they were going to fight. Mr. Prince would be running interference, acting like he was trying to help. Luckily, Merlin didn¡¯t need the key. Someone had been lazy and not bothered to lock the back door. Maybe the owners were so overconfident they didn¡¯t really care. Either way, he was able to slip inside.


    He wasn¡¯t sure how he would know where to go at first, but the mask began to tug him forward, leading him where he needed to go. Soon, he reached an office. Unfortunately, this time the door was locked. Good thing he hadn¡¯t needed to use the enchanted key. After using the key, he quietly stepped into the office and shut the door behind him, still holding the mirror piece-seeking spell in his mind.


    The mask stopped working as soon as it had taken him to the front of a big painting of Snow White and the seven dwarfs. ¡°Weird,¡± Merlin muttered. ¡°So weird. Why in the world would someone have a painting like that in their office?¡± It was a little odd. In fact, the image of Snow White looked an awful lot like Ms. White herself.


    Pushing his thoughts about the owners being strange out of his mind, he started feeling around the painting. He had seen enough movies to know that there were usually safes hidden behind the paintings. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t see a way to move the painting. It seemed fastened tightly to the wall.


    Hmm, wait a minute he thought. Ms. White had pressed a stone in the cavern and that had activated the cave-in. Maybe there was a stone he could press here as well. Especially if the owners of the building were the ones who had designed the cavern as well.


    It only took him a few seconds of pressing random rocks near the painting for him to hear a click. Not seeing anything happen, he reached up and tried to move the painting again. This time it came off the wall. Right behind it was a big metal safe.


    Oh joy, Merlin thought. Now he was standing in some stranger¡¯s office and would have to think up a spell. Who knew how long the others would be able to distract everyone? Thinking furiously, he tried to come up with a spell to open the safe. The last spell had left him tired, which made thinking a little more difficult. Pushing aside such thoughts, he began arranging the spell in his mind. Hmm, maybe a small variation on a spell he had cast earlier, he finally decided.


    ¡°When I start to knock,


    Undo this safe¡¯s lock.


    When I start to knock,


    Undo this safe¡¯s lock.


    When I start to knock,


    Undo this safe¡¯s lock.¡±

 Book 2 - Chapter 6 - Breaking Curses

    The spell didn¡¯t take much effort. Merlin heard another click and quickly tested the safe¡¯s door. He breathed a sigh of relief when the safe door swung open. He looked into the safe and saw several bags and a large box. Not sure what was in either of them, and not wanting to steal anything besides the mirror pieces, he glanced inside the box first since it was more likely to hold the pieces. After all, if the pieces were in a bag they would probably just end up breaking even more.


    As he suspected, the mirror pieces were in the large box. He was about to pick them up when he decided that he couldn¡¯t resist. He had to see what was in the sacks. Opening one up, he glanced inside. Once he saw what was inside of it, he almost dropped the sack.


    Gems of various colors and sizes were in the sack. It had to contain millions of dollars'' worth of diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires he thought. ¡°Oh, my goodness,¡± he muttered. Putting the sack back, he picked up the box with the mirror pieces. ¡°Ugh,¡± he said as he realized the box was heavier than he expected. He wouldn¡¯t be running anywhere with this box. He really should have exercised more.


    Merlin staggered down the hallway back the way he had come. He was amazed everything was going as smoothly as they had gone. He had been sure something terrible was going to happen. As if sensing his thoughts, he heard Ms. White¡¯s voice,  ¡°Let¡¯s check the office. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a coincidence that they were outside.¡±


    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s not good,¡± Merlin said. Thinking furiously, he muttered a spell he had come up with on the ride to get to the business.


    ¡°Give me the power,


    To run for an hour


    Away from this place,


    And to hide my face.¡±


    Merlin kept chanting as he ran until the spell took effect. Suddenly, although he was bone tired, he had enough energy to run through the building and out the back door. Okay, maybe part of it was adrenaline, but most of it was the spell. Either way, he didn¡¯t think he would like the results if they caught him.


    As he was at the back door, he heard the shouts of several angry men and one furious Ms. White. Yep, they had definitely found out the mirror pieces were gone. And yes, they were definitely not happy about it.


    By the time he had reached the car, he could hear both his friend shouting for him to hurry and get into the car and the angry men and Ms. White yelling at him to stop. It didn¡¯t take a genius to know which group he should listen to. Hopping into the car, he said, ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± As if they needed his advice.


    Mr. Prince tore out of the parking lot. At least they would have a head start, Merlin thought. It would take a minute for Ms. White and her companions to get to a car and start following them.


    Merlin half expected to hear police cars. Hopefully, Ms. White wouldn¡¯t want the cops involved. At least he hoped. Mr. Prince drove back the way they had come, back to the cabin in the woods. That was understandable for several reasons. The most important thing was that Ruth was still waiting for them there.


    At first, he thought they had gotten clean away. It didn¡¯t occur to Merlin for a few minutes that they might have a problem. ¡°Mr. Prince, I have a question. If you know where Ms. White is all the time. Doesn¡¯t that mean she also knows where you are?¡±


    The car slowed for a second. Apparently, Mr. Prince hadn¡¯t thought of that. ¡°That¡¯s true. We need to make it quick once we get there,¡± he said. ¡°We probably won¡¯t have too long before they find us after we stop.¡±


    Frank suddenly spoke up, ¡°Why don¡¯t we use the mirror right now everyone?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a good idea,¡± Lucas said. ¡°Start with Frank.¡±


    Nodding, Merlin carefully pulled out one of the biggest pieces. Even so, he managed to cut his fingers when Mr. Prince made a quick turn. ¡°Okay Frank, Lucas. When I say so, I want you both to look in the mirror and think about my words.¡±


    Frank nodded, ¡°Okay.¡± He then moved and got cheek to cheek with Lucas so they could both see themselves in the mirror piece.


    Lucas said, ¡°Will do.¡±


    Preparing himself, Merlin began the words he had prepared for Frank and Lucas.


    ¡°Listen to the words I speak


    And gaze upon what I do see,


    A friend and not some weird freak,


    Change back to what you used to be.¡±


    It was hard to concentrate in the moving car, but somehow he managed. Ignoring the pressure, he continued with the next two stanzas.


    ¡°Listen to the words I speak


    And gaze upon what I do see,


    A friend and not some weird freak,


    Change back to what you used to be.


    Listen to the words I speak


    And gaze upon what I do see,


    A friend and not some weird freak,


    Change back to what you used to be.¡±


    Merlin watched Frank as he sat staring into the mirror. Amazingly, his scarred face began to change. As the last word was spoken, there was a burst of pressure and a feeling of something being released. Glancing at Lucas, he noticed that Lucas¡¯s claws were changing back into normal fingernails. Within seconds, both of them had returned to what they looked like previously.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    ¡°Dang,¡± Merlin muttered. ¡°That took a lot out of me. Okay, you¡¯re next Mr. Prince,¡± he said.


    ¡°While I do thank you for the thought, I doubt I should take my eyes off the road,¡± Mr. Prince said.


    Merlin felt like an idiot. Okay, maybe he should have thought through that idea a little longer before making the suggestion. Then again, he was tired.  ¡°Okay. As soon as we reach the cabin we can try to break the curse on you and Ruth.¡±


    No one mentioned they might not have time to do that. Ruth would be underground most likely. Maybe they could reach her and get them both changed back before Ms. White and his friends showed up. What would they do after that, however? He would be the only one with powers against Ms. White and the seven people with her. Also, he still needed to get back home to use the mirror piece on his friends.


    Considering what might happen, Merlin decided to take the precaution of putting a mirror piece inside his backpack. He was tempted to hide another piece in the car but decided against it. He didn¡¯t want pieces of the mirror floating around everywhere. It would probably be safest to keep the pieces together as much as possible.


    By the time they reached the cabin, Merlin had come up with a variation of the mirror spell and was ready to cast it as soon as they found Ruth. It then occurred to him that it might be hard to do in the cave. There wasn¡¯t much light there and it would be hard to see the mirror. Even if Ruth could see in the dark, Mr. Prince probably couldn¡¯t.


    Mr. Prince stopped the car in front of the cabin this time so they didn¡¯t have to walk. Getting out of the car, they ran inside. Frank was already yelling before they were inside, ¡°Ruth! Ruth!¡±


    As they got closer to the cellar door, they could see Ruth waiting at the top of the steps. She didn¡¯t look good. Maybe she needed more blood. Or maybe that was how she looked during the day. Pushing such thoughts aside, he motioned for Mr. Prince and Ruth to stand in front of the mirror.


    While Mr. Prince seemed to feel a little apprehensive about standing cheek-to-cheek with Ruth, he did so anyway. Merlin hadn¡¯t really thought much about it since Frank and Lucas had squeezed cheek to cheek when they looked into the mirror.


    After all, it wasn¡¯t that big of a mirror piece. With Ruth, however, well, she did look really hungry. Oh yeah, no worries there, right? Hopefully, he would be able to finish the spell before hunger overcame her and she decided Mr. Prince looked like a tasty treat. Merlin ignored such thoughts and began the spell again.


    ¡°Listen to the words I speak


    And gaze upon what I do see,


    Friends who stand there cheek to cheek


    Change back to what you used to be.¡±


    Merlin felt the pressure slam into him. Apparently, the magic didn¡¯t appreciate him using almost the exact same spell. Ignoring the feeling, he shoved on.


    ¡°Listen to the words I speak


    And gaze upon what I do see,


    Friends who stand there cheek to cheek


    Change back to what you used to be.


    Listen to the words I speak


    And gaze upon what I do see,


    Friends who stand there cheek to cheek


    Change back to what you used to be.¡±


    After the second stanza, he was sweating. By the end of the third, his head ached, and he couldn¡¯t really see that well. Then, suddenly, the pressure was released.


    Merlin collapsed to the ground. Ruth had begun to change during the second stanza, as had Mr. Prince. By the end of the spell, Ruth looked back to normal. Mr. Prince looked younger and younger until he appeared to be only thirty or forty years old.


    Staggering upright, he was about to ask the two how they felt when Ms. White and her friends arrived. The clip-clop of their boots on the wooden porch warned them they were not alone anymore. At least they had time to break the curse on Ruth and Mr. Prince.


    Speaking of Mr. Prince, he stepped forward in front of Merlin and his friends. Ms. White came to a stop in front of the door. Seven ugly bearded faces peeked through the door around her. None of the faces came any higher than her shoulder. Everyone stared at the eight figures, struck by the surreal image standing in front of them.


    ¡°Greetings,¡± Mr. Prince said. ¡°It¡¯s been a long time.¡±


    One of the short men pushed past Ms. White and stood with his hands on his hips, ¡°Indeed it has. I see you look different. How might that be?¡±


    Mr. Prince said, ¡°As you might have felt, things have changed. Do you really want to have this fight right now?¡±


    Slowly, the other short men filed into the cabin, seeming to fill it up with their presence. They then stared at Ms. White, as if waiting for her to decide what to do.


    Ms. White seemed speechless as if she had never expected what had actually happened. She looked at the short men around her, and then at the children. Finally, she looked at Mr. Prince.


    ¡°The Mirror of Seven Sins has been broken. It is up to you what will happen next,¡± Mr. Prince said.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s not,¡± one of the short men said, grabbing a lamp and throwing it at Mr. Prince.


    The other short men started attacking a moment later. Well, one of them didn¡¯t, and instead hung back and watched, looking quite bored. That was fine with Merlin. If he was too lazy to take part in the fight, then that was one less person to fight.


    ¡°Give me your magic baubles,¡± one of the short men said, grabbing at Merlin. ¡°I deserve them. You made them because of our mirror. Now give them to me,¡± he said, tearing at Merlin¡¯s clothes.


    Since it didn¡¯t look like the short greedy man was trying to hurt him, he decided to give him what he wanted. Tugging out one of the magic items, he threw it at the short greedy guy.


    He imagined the words he had spoken the night he picked up the cocooned fly and said them again in his mind.


    ¡°Instead of cocooning this fly,


    Make the webs cocoon this bad guy.¡±


    Just as he had intended, the webs expanded and wrapped up his attacker. While it might not hold him long unless Merlin kept on concentrating, he would at least be slowed down while trying to get out of the webbing.


    That gave him long enough to look around the room. One of the short men who was quite a bit more round than all the others were attacking Frank while saying something about ¡°How dare you to make me miss a meal!¡± Really, that was what he was worried about? Luckily, he was getting in the way of one of his friends who was also attacking Frank. That one went from muttering to shouting insults, and actually seemed to be frothing at the mouth.


    ¡°Okay,¡± Merlin said out loud. ¡°That is one angry guy.¡±


    Ruth and another one of the short men were staring at each other when he asked, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you give me your power? I loved your power. It was so nice. I could have used that much better than you did.¡±


    Merlin had been about to try another spell when he realized what the envious short man had said. ¡°You can pass the curse to someone else?¡± He said in surprise. Why hadn¡¯t Mr. Prince told them that?


    Pushing aside such thoughts, he pulled more enchanted objects to hurl at the remaining men attacking them. The fight became chaotic after that. Even the lazy one joined the fight after the tide started to turn against the seven short men. Finally, as if by some silent signal, the short men dragged their injured friends down into the cavern and away from the fight.


    None of them were in good enough shape to chase after the seven short men, but that was probably for the best. If they had power over the rocks like Mr. Prince seemed to think, then maybe it was wise to let them escape.


    Speaking of Mr. Prince, he didn¡¯t look good. In fact, he looked pretty bad. Blood covered his face. Ms. White was standing over him with blood on her hands. She stared from her hands to Mr. Prince and began to cry. Silently, she sank to her knees and bowed down over Mr. Prince. When she bent over and kissed Mr. Prince¡¯s forehead, Merlin felt a great pressure sweep over the room.


    Merlin looked at Ms. White. Had she just broken the curse on herself without any help from the mirror at all? Was that even possible? Was Mr. Prince going to be alright?

 Book 2 - Chapter 7 - Overpowered Characters

    No one really knew what to do, so they just stood around and watched as Ms. White took over. She placed a pillow under Mr. Prince¡¯s head and covered the wound until the bleeding stopped. Merlin had tried to cast a spell but was so tired he couldn¡¯t focus his thoughts enough to do anything.


    Instead, he sat down in one of the chairs while Ms. White took care of Mr. Prince. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep. It seemed like just seconds before someone was shaking him awake. Blearily, he looked to see who it was and what they wanted.


    ¡°Come on,¡± Frank said. ¡°We¡¯re heading back home. Ms. White says she will help Mr. Prince. We need to get back and break the curse on the others.¡±


    ¡°How are we going to all get back?¡± They had one scooter to share among four people.


    ¡°After I drop you off, I will be going to come back for the others,¡± Frank said.


    ¡°Wait, what about the mirror pieces?¡± Merlin asked.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that,¡± Ruth said. ¡°Ms. White had us shatter all the remaining pieces of the mirror with a hammer until they were the size of grains of sand. No one will be using them again.¡±


    ¡°We saved the one you used on us though so you can use it on your friends,¡± Lucas added.


    Nodding, Merlin joined Frank as they walked to the scooter. Sitting on the back of the scooter didn¡¯t seem as bad as it had before. He had plenty to think about. While he was tempted to see Shirley first, he decided to go see Peter and Belle first instead. Then again, Robert was pretty gone as well. Still, by seeing Peter and Belle first, he could take care of two of them at the same time. Belle did seem like she might do something any moment as well.


    Merlin wasn¡¯t sure, but he thought he might have dozed on the way back. If he did doze off, he was lucky enough that he unconsciously kept his arms clutched around Frank. Either way, he was much more rested and felt like he could probably cast some spells again. During the last few miles of the trip, he went over the spells he would use in his head.


    Once they reached Peter and Belle¡¯s house, Frank dropped him off and sped back to pick up Lucas or Ruth. That left him to face the two siblings. Hopefully, they would cooperate. If not, he wasn¡¯t sure what he would do. Was it even possible to force them to look at the mirror to break the curse?


    Merlin knocked on the door. Peter opened the door and ushered Merlin inside. Belle was in her room, which actually was probably for the best. It would be much easier to convince them individually than try to get them to look at the mirror together.


    ¡°Hey there,¡± Merlin said. ¡°Guess what I got.¡± He didn¡¯t give Peter time to answer, but instead held up the piece of mirror. ¡°I found some interesting things out about the mirror too. Want me to tell you a story about the adventure?¡±


    ¡°That sounds great,¡± Peter said. ¡°Mother always used to tell me stories.¡±


    Instead of telling the story, however, Merlin launched into the spell while he had Peter¡¯s attention.


    ¡°Let my friend be once again,


    Who he has always been.


    Let the curse be now broken,


    As these words are spoken.¡±


    Peter seemed confused at first, but didn¡¯t look away. Merlin continued on quickly. He ignored the pressure building, not wanting to risk looking away and messing up the spell.


    ¡°Let my friend be once again,


    Who he has always been.


    Let the curse be now broken,


    As these words are spoken.


    Let my friend be once again,


    Who he has always been.


    Let the curse be now broken,


    As these words are spoken.¡±


    When the spell was finished, Merlin felt a wave of relief even greater than the wave of pressure from the breaking of the curse.


    ¡°One down,¡± he said softly to himself. Peter seemed a little stunned by what had happened, and Merlin didn¡¯t have to work too hard at convincing him to stay while he talked to Peter¡¯s sister. After entering the room, Merlin noticed that Belle was even smaller than she had been the day before. Closing the door behind him, he spoke quietly, afraid he might startle her. ¡°Hey, Belle. Peter wanted me to show you something. He thought every beautiful young girl should have a mirror to look at and he wanted me to show you the one I had found.¡±


    This seemed to make Belle happy, and she came over immediately to look at the mirror he was holding. Starting the spell, he tried to speak the words as quickly as possible before she lost interest.


    ¡°Look into the magic glass,


    And see what you used to be,


    A sweet innocent young lass


    No longer cursed, but now free.¡±


    Again, he felt the pressure of the spell building, but he continued on. Belle seemed content to continue gazing into the mirror.


    ¡°Look into the magic glass,


    And see what you used to be,


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    A sweet innocent young lass


    No longer cursed, but now free.


    Look into the magic glass,


    And see what you used to be,


    A sweet innocent young lass


    No longer cursed, but now free.¡±


    Merlin watched Belle as she began to regain her size. As the last words of the magic spell snapped into place, the curse broke with an explosion of pressure. Wincing, Merlin rubbed his forehead. He was definitely getting a migraine.


    Now all he had to worry about were Robert, Shirley, and Arthur. Robert seemed to be the next most unstable after the siblings. Shirley probably hadn¡¯t even left her room except to go to the bathroom. As for Arthur, for some reason, Merlin wasn¡¯t quite ready to see him yet. Part of him feared Arthur might demand the mirror piece.


    Belle came around quickly and was mortified at what she remembered. ¡°Did I really do all those things?¡±


    Merlin nodded. ¡°You can help fix things though by driving me over to Robert¡¯s house. I need to help him next.¡±


    ¡°Anything,¡± Belle said. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I was thinking about¡­¡± She stopped and shuddered. Maybe it was a good thing he didn¡¯t know what she had been planning.


    Belle gave him a ride to Robert¡¯s house first, and then to Shirley¡¯s house. Breaking the curse on Robert and Shirley was sort of anti-climactic. Nothing happened. No big problem jumped out at him. It all seemed too easy. All it did was leave him more tired, but also more relieved.


    Robert had been making a stockpile of food and drinks. He had already packed his bags and prepared a plan of action. Apparently, he thought it would be a good idea to move into a patch of woods in Sherwood. Just thinking about Robert¡¯s plan made Merlin shake his head. Robert had really planned on living in the forest and robbing the rich people.


    While he could certainly sympathize with the idea, that sounded crazy. What could Robert do with a bow and arrow? Now, if he had magical powers, maybe. Sheesh, he had arrived just in time. One man might be able to make a difference, but forcing your ideas on others didn¡¯t sound like the right thing to do, even if you could do it. Somehow, he doubted Robert would have succeeded.


    Shirley had been another story. She seemed to know everything, but knowing everything seemed to be her curse. She saw too many options and didn¡¯t have enough information to make the right decision. Her knowledge had proven to be the chains that bound her. Too many people acted without thinking about the consequences to others.


    She had seen so many possible consequences from so many different actions that she had been paralyzed with indecision. She had felt that there was no right answer, so she didn¡¯t have to do anything. She could just stand by and watch everything burn.


    Luckily, he hadn¡¯t felt that way. If he had, none of his friends would have become free of their curses. In fact, almost everyone had been taken care of and things were finally starting to look great. Merlin was beginning to think everything would be fine.


    That was until they arrived at Arthur¡¯s house. Apparently, Arthur had left instructions for the servants not to let Merlin enter. Yep, he thought. He had to start thinking everything was over. Nope, he should have saved the celebratory lap until after the race was over.


    While he was tempted to try to sneak into Arthur¡¯s right then and there, he doubted that would be a good idea. Maybe he should wait until night, he thought. There would be fewer people around.  Finally, he decided he would come to try when it turned dark. It would be easier to sneak in and maybe he could catch Arthur by surprise. It definitely wasn¡¯t going to be easy, however.


    That night, Merlin was standing near the gates of Arthur¡¯s mansion once again. Once more, he placed the mask on his face. Patting each of his pockets, he checked to make sure all the enchanted items he had created were ready for use. Somehow, he knew breaking the curse on Arthur was going to be the hardest part of the last few days.


    He had figured out earlier that Arthur must still have the mirror piece. Ms. White, Mr. Prince, and the others hadn¡¯t stolen the mirror piece. That meant Arthur had been lying. Now, it was possible Arthur didn¡¯t think it was safe to use the mirror. More than likely, however, Arthur had been keeping it to himself.


    While it wasn¡¯t a pleasant thought, he also feared Arthur might be trying to gain more power from the mirror. Maybe he had seen how much power the mirror could bestow and wanted more than just a magic sword and a strong sword arm. Yep, it could get pretty nasty if Arthur had been abusing the mirror¡¯s power.


    Merlin found sneaking into the mansion easier than he expected. Unfortunately, Arthur wasn¡¯t in his room. Not sure where else to look, Merlin started looking around the house. Finally, he found Arthur in the wine cellar. Arthur was standing in front of a mirror dressed in a cosplay outfit he had created for himself last year. Taped to that mirror was the mirror piece.


    While all the guys liked to read comic books, Arthur had taken his to the point of designing his own character, complete with powers and costume. Everyone had been pretty jealous of Arthur there for a few weeks.


    Oh. That wasn¡¯t good. From what he remembered, the character Arthur had made could do just about anything he wanted to do. Oh yeah, he had to start thinking things were going great. If Arthur had all the powers of that character, Merlin wasn¡¯t even certain his spells would work on Arthur anymore. Taking out one of his mirrors, he thought about what he should do.


    He didn¡¯t get the chance to do anything, however. Apparently, Arthur really did have the powers of his character. Somehow, he knew Merlin was there. With a wave of the hand, the mirror flew from Merlin¡¯s hand and disintegrated. Almost as an afterthought, Arthur turned and also vaporized the other mirror.


    Turning back to Merlin, he said, ¡°We don¡¯t need those anymore.¡±


    Merlin didn¡¯t say anything. He also didn¡¯t try anything. There was a time for everything, and confronting Arthur directly at that moment wasn¡¯t the smartest thing to do. He better bide his time until he found an opening.


    ¡°I spoke with Shirley and Robert,¡± Arthur said. ¡°They told me what you and the Monster Mob did. While I do appreciate your destroying the mirror pieces, I don¡¯t think I want to lose my powers. As you can see, now that there are no mirrors, there is no way to break the curse.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true. So, I¡¯m free to go?¡± Merlin asked tentatively.


    ¡°Now, normally, I would give you the option of leaving,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Somehow though, I don¡¯t think you will stop until you break the curse. After all, there might be another mirror out there. So, no, I don¡¯t think I can let you go.¡±


    Merlin didn¡¯t like the feeling of where things might be going. It certainly didn¡¯t sound good for him.


    Arthur continued, ¡°You gave me my powers by giving me the mirror. So, I¡¯m not going to kill you.¡±


    Merlin breathed a sigh of relief at that, but Arthur wasn¡¯t done.


    ¡°I actually think it might be appropriate for you to face the fate of Merlin,¡± Arthur said. Arthur then snapped his fingers. After a moment, he looked away, as if he didn¡¯t want to see what would happen to his one-time friend.


    Merlin didn¡¯t know what to expect until crystals began growing around his feet, rooting him in place. They continued to grow. Looking down, he panicked and reached for the last piece of the mirror. By the time he had taken it out of his pocket, the crystal had grown over his hand and was up to his waist. Looking down, he tried to see the mirror through the crystal. Seconds later, he was surrounded completely by crystal.


    From the corner of his eyes, he was able to see Arthur leaving the room. Then he was alone in the wine cellar, trapped within the crystals. He couldn¡¯t even speak. The only thing he could do was look down at the mirror in his hand.


    Merlin tried casting a spell in his mind, but nothing happened. Just as he had feared, he couldn¡¯t cast a spell unless he said the words aloud. He stood there, wondering how he could escape, worried that he would be trapped there forever, never aging, never dying.


    Merlin almost cried when he couldn¡¯t even shudder. He couldn¡¯t move at all. He had once thought he was only afraid of a few things. Now he realized there was one thing he was really frightened of. He hated being trapped, unable to move. It was worse than claustrophobia. It was torture.  Slowly, he finally regained control of himself. Think, think, think. There had to be a way out of the situation. Maybe one of the others would come looking for him. No, that wouldn¡¯t work. He had magical powers, and Arthur had taken him down as if he were an insect. None of his friends had their powers anymore.


    What could they do? What could anyone do against Arthur? He had made his character one of the strongest heroes in comic books. Well, Arthur wasn¡¯t a hero anymore. He was a villain now. And a villain who had beaten the hero for that matter.

 Book 2 - Chapter 8 - Making Choices

    Merlin didn¡¯t know how long it took him to realize that he could give himself similar powers by using the mirror in his hand. He simply had to look at the mirror and visualize what he wanted. Then he could be free of the crystal prison and break the curse on his friend.


    What should he think of, however? He wasn¡¯t sure. It would need to be something that could break out of the crystal prison. He would also need to be able to withstand all the powers Arthur had gained. Merlin would also need to be able to force Arthur into looking into the mirror and see what Merlin wanted him to see.


    If that happened though, would he want to give up his power? Already, he had been making excuses for not giving up his powers. For example, what if the seven short guys came back and tried to get revenge? Why should he give up his powers? He wasn¡¯t acting like the others. Maybe his curse was having to face danger. He was willing to do that if it meant keeping his powers. Could he trust himself with that much power?


    All these thoughts raced through Merlin¡¯s mind. Finally, he knew what he had to do. Gathering up his willpower, he forced a picture of himself that he wanted to see firmly in his mind. Concentrating on that image, Merlin gazed upon the mirror.


    If Ruth had been able to give her power to someone else, and Ms. White had broken her curse without a spell, maybe he didn¡¯t need a spell to activate the mirror. After all, he had mostly just told the others to look at the mirror. While he had used the spell to make them see what he wanted them to see, it was them seeing what they wanted to see that made the mirror work.


    Believing in this, he forced his will into the mirror, making his imagination turn into reality. It was magic, not science. There were no rules. Imagination was the only limitation on what he could do.


    Merlin thought of this as he gazed into the mirror piece. After the image was fixed in his mind, he closed his eyes and imagined the crystal shattering around him. Less than a second later, the crystal fell away from him. Smiling, he realized his idea had worked.


    Just to see if he could, he imagined himself drifting toward the direction Arthur had left. Just in case, he also imagined an invisible bubble that would stop every attack, whether physical, mental, or anything else. He also imagined that his protection would stay even when he wasn¡¯t thinking about it.


    Hovering through the mansion¡¯s halls, he soon found Arthur looking out a window in his room. Arthur slowly turned around, a suspicious look on his face. ¡°How did you get out of the crystal cage?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I had one trick left up my sleeve,¡± Merlin said. ¡°I hadn¡¯t planned on using it, but it turned out to be necessary.¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we agree to go our separate ways? After all, I could have killed you and didn¡¯t,¡± Arthur said.


    ¡°You know, I was tempted at first to let you go,¡± Merlin said. ¡°You might even have been able to talk me into it if you hadn¡¯t done one thing. I can¡¯t really hold imprisoning me in the crystal cage against you. After all, I did come to take away your powers.¡±


    ¡°What changed your mind?¡± Arthur edged away from the window and looked around.


    ¡°I know you¡¯re stalling, but that is fine,¡± Merlin said, imagining an invisible field around Arthur that would suppress any powers he tried to use. ¡°What decided the matter for me was the fact that you refused to let me use the mirror to break the curse on the others. You risked their lives. Had you used the mirror to get the powers, and still let me break their curse, I could have seen leaving you alone. I probably would have even given the piece of the mirror back to you.¡±


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t take that chance,¡± Arthur said.


    ¡°I know,¡± Merlin said. ¡°For what it¡¯s worth, I wish things had turned out differently. Once all this is over with, I hope we can be friends once again.¡±


    Arthur didn¡¯t say anything for a moment, then made a gesture. When nothing happened, he seemed confused. He tried another gesture. Again, nothing happened.


    Merlin could see the hope die in his eyes. Seeing this, Merlin regretted what he had done. Why hadn¡¯t he simply broken the curse instead of talking to Arthur? Well, he could fix that.


    Once again, he used his imagination and saw the link between the mirror and Arthur breaking. With that thought, a wave of pressure swept over him, letting him know once more he had broken one of the mirror¡¯s curses.


    Arthur responded as if the bones in his legs had been broken. He fell to his knees and placed his hands over his face. Tears seeped through his fingers as his large body was wracked with sobs. Shaking his head, Merlin imagined himself somewhere else, somewhere not so sad.


    Looking around, he found himself on a beach. Listening to the ocean waves lapping up against the shore, he watched the sun rise in the distance. So pretty. He wondered if he should try to imagine a place of his own. Maybe he could create his own private land away from it all. Then again, why create somewhere new when he could change what was already made?


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    After all, there were a lot of things wrong with the world. With his new power, he could change the world into a utopia. He could imagine away all the pollution. He could change the environment so that global warming was reversed. Merlin only needed to imagine a better world, and he could make it happen.


    He could force the politicians to be honest so there would be no corruption. He could make every police officer obey every single law they enforced so there was no hypocrisy anymore. He could create homes for every homeless person so there would be no more Franks living in shacks. He could visit prisons and alter the personality of every criminal so they wouldn¡¯t commit another crime ever again. He could make the world the place it was meant to be.


    Maybe that was his destiny. Maybe that was how gods were created. Maybe they created themselves. Perhaps there had been a Zeus. Maybe Ra and Set had really existed. Perhaps even Thor had been real. In fact, maybe they were still out there. If so, they needed to be taught how to do things right. They had let the world turn upside down.


    There was so much he could do with the power. Already he could do anything he could imagine. What if there was more? What if he looked at the mirror one more time and imagined himself being one of these gods? In fact, what if he imagined himself as being more powerful than all those gods combined? His every whim would be made real.


    He couldn¡¯t even imagine everything he would be able to do. Just looking into the mirror one more time could change that, however. He could imagine himself being all-knowing, all-seeing, and all-powerful. His name would live forever. In fact, he would live forever. He could usher the world into a new age of enlightenment. Forget the Renaissance.


    Merlin sat there in the sand, just thinking of all the things he could do if he wanted. All he had to do was focus his imagination and will it to happen. It would be so easy. Once he looked in the mirror, he wouldn¡¯t even need to do that. Taking out the mirror, he held it up into the light. One simply looks into the mirror, and he would truly be the ruler of all that he surveyed.


    He lost track of how long he sat there. The sun was high overhead when he placed the broken piece of the mirror back into his pocket. He focused his imagination and willed himself home. Nothing had changed. His parents were already at work even though it was only six in the morning. His sister had apparently spent the night with one of her friends. The house was empty.


    Empty, he thought. So many people out in the world lived empty lives. They went to work to earn barely enough to survive. Then they went home and slept. Maybe they said hello to their kids. Maybe they didn¡¯t.


    Other people wanted what someone else already had and figured out some way to take it. Some people sold these dreams to others. Wasn¡¯t that what advertising was? It was what the civilized countries used to steal the money of ordinary citizens. The rich got richer and the poor stayed poor.


    Why bother? Life was fleeting and could be stolen away in an instant. He had certainly learned that the hard way. If you lived long enough, even your friends would turn against you if they saw something they wanted badly enough. It was as if the world was full of people drowning. They clutched at everything as if it were a life preserver. Things, relationships, everything...they were simply the way humans tried to survive the flood.


    Flood. Maybe that wouldn¡¯t be such a bad idea. A great big flood to wash the world clean. After all, even when given everything they could ever want, it would never be enough. Arthur was the perfect example of this. He had almost everything, but he wanted more. It didn¡¯t matter that this would mean less for others. He had been willing to sacrifice the lives of his friends, despite having so much already.


    Maybe people didn¡¯t deserve to be helped. Maybe they were the problem. Perhaps there really wasn¡¯t anything he could do. Even if he created a new house for Frank, the government would say it was built illegally. They would ask for taxes or bulldoze it. Someone would notice and Frank would then lose what little he had.


    If he used the mirror, however, he could change that. He could be in the mind and heart of every person in the world and make them do the right thing. Merlin could sit on both of their shoulders instead of a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other and ensure that they did everything in their power to make the world a better place for everyone.


    Then again, maybe everything he was thinking was from the mirror. Could he trust his own thoughts? Concentrating, he focused his thoughts and imagined his thoughts being crystal clear. Merlin looked into the mirror and concentrated on what he wanted to see.


    A wave of pressure swept over him as the mirror disintegrated in his hands, taking his power and the curse as well. He had been tempted to do so many other things. He could have done many great, or many terrible, things. Instead, Merlin had chosen to embrace who he had been and let everyone else be themselves.


    Maybe he should have done something with the powers but giving them up was for the best. If he had changed Frank¡¯s house or created a gold mine under his own house, he would have continued to find some other reason not to give up the power. Eventually, he would have been corrupted just like Arthur and the others.


    Instead, he was normal once more. Yes, maybe the seven men who had created the mirror would create another. They might even decide to come after them all. Maybe he had lost Arthur as a friend. Still, he had gained friends as well. Ms. White and Mr. Prince were together again with both their curses broken. The mirror was shattered as were the curses of all who had gazed upon it.


    Tomorrow might bring some new problems, but he would find a way to meet each challenge. After all, he had faced the greatest challenge in the world. He had the chance for ultimate power and had walked away. While he might never do anything else as important as what he had done in the last week, he would still know that he had made a difference. He had saved the lives of his friends and made friends of his enemies. Maybe there was hope for everyone after all.


    Yawning, he smiled at the thought that he didn¡¯t have to go to school. Instead, he could lay in bed and rest. Maybe in his dreams, he could reclaim the power he had given away. Maybe tomorrow, he could start writing a story where he could create the world he wanted and share it with everyone in the real world. After all, he was only limited by his imagination.