Lily Wong Ch. 2

Chapter 2
The Bracelet

Around and around in circles, Lily flew on a magic broom while wearing a pointed hat. It was like she had become a real-life witch like in fairy tales. No, that may actually have happened.

"So this must be what Harry Potter felt like," she muttered to herself, thinking about that famous character from those famous books and movies.

Lily wanted to keep zipping through the sky, maybe get a bird's eye view of the whole countryside that Bluestone Academy called home. But then a loud bell sound woke her from her dream-like glee and signaled the end of her magical fun time.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

A man's voice through the P.A. system announced, "To all students, teachers and staff. This is a friendly reminder that the school assembly will start in two hours time. All students, please collect your I.D. cards if you still have not done so and drop off your belongings in your dorm rooms while you still have time."

"Oh! That's right!" Lily cried out, suddenly remembering. "I completely forgot about my stuff!"

She had left her luggage case and all her stuff behind at the castle building while chasing after the parrot.

"I hope they're still there," she muttered to herself while finding a good place to land, preferably somewhere close to the castle building where she would not be seen. Lily had seen enough TV shows to know that magic powers  have to be kept secret.

But when she touched down on the grassy space behind a white, rectangle building, she heard something fall down behind her and turned around to see a tall, redhead girl staring back at her with her jaws drop. On the grass by her right foot was a huge, black duffel bag while standing at her left was a familiar pink luggage case. 

Wait, that's MY luggage, Lily realized. Why does she have that? No, wait. That's not important right now.

"Um . . . Did you see that?" she hesitantly asked the redhead girl.

The redhead girl slowly nodded.

"And by that, I meant me flying on a broomstick like a witch out of a fairy tale. Did you see that?"

Again, the redhead girl nodded.

"By the way, that's my luggage," Lily pointed out. There was nothing else she could think to say.

"I know," the redhead girl replied. "I was asked to bring this to you since we're going to be roommates. We actually met earlier today while waiting in line to grab our new I.D. cards."

"Oh, cool!" exclaimed Lily. "What are the odds we'd be roomies?"

"Yeah," said the redhead girl. Her voice had gotten higher. And then she shook her head furiously and went, "You know what? No! Forget about all that! What the hay-hay did I just see? You flying around on a broomstick while wearing a big, pointed hat, does that mean you're a magical witch or something?"

"I . . . guess?" Lily said, shrugging her shoulders.

The redhead girl crossed her arms and scowled. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I only just found this witch stuff today," Lily explained. 

She went on to tell the redhead girl how that happened. The redhead girl listened with her arms crossed and a frown on her face.

And then, when Lily was done, she said, "So let me get this straight. You chased that parrot that stole your I.D. card all the way to some strange underground basement, where you found the broomstick and decided to take it on a joyride?"

"Hey, I didn't decide on anything," Lily protested. "It was the only way out."

"But you did have fun with it, didn't you?"

Lily looked away and replied, "No comment."

The redhead girl raised an eyebrow. Her face twisted into a thinking look, and then she said, "Just to be clear, you only found this flying broomstick today? You never had any sort of magical power before?"

Lily shook her head and replied, "Nope."

For some reason, a look of disappointment flashed across the redhead girl's face. But she quickly recovered.

"Well, this is certainly an interesting day," she said. "I never expected on my first day at a new school I'd find a girl with a real, magic broomstick."

"That goes for the both of us," Lily said.

"Anyway, what are you going to do with that thing? Anyone who sees you bringing a broomstick to the dorms while wearing a witch's hat outside of Halloween is obviously going to think you're a weirdo."

Lily glanced down at the broomstick and muttered, "Good question."

She could do without being labeled a weirdo on the first day of school. But it wasn't like she could just dump a magic flying broomstick anywhere. And to be honest, she was reluctant to let it go. You'd have to be crazy to get rid of something as awesome as a real magic broomstick. If only it could shrink into something smaller and less noticeable.

Suddenly, bright blue light flashed from the broomstick and startled the girls.

"Yikes!" they both cried out. They stumbled back and fell onto the grass on their behinds.

"What was that!?" Lily cried out while blinking colorful spots out of her eyes.

For a little while, Lily could not see anything except colorful spots. But when she could see again, she looked down to see the broomstick was no longer in her hand.

"Where'd the broom go?" she asked. She looked around but could not find it anywhere.

The redhead girl looked around too and said, "I don't know. Oh, but your hat's gone too!"

"My hat?"

Lily waved her hand over her head, but grasped only empty air. The pointed hat that came with the broom had also disappeared.

She dropped her hand down, but that was when she finally noticed something around her wrist that she was sure was not there before: a blue metal bracelet with four small sapphire stones evenly spaced apart around it.

Lily stared at the bracelet and blinked.

"Where'd this bracelet come from?" she wondered aloud.

The redhead girl looked at it and asked, "You didn't have it this whole time?"

Lily shook her head and replied, "Nope."

They stared at the mysterious bracelet, puzzling over it for a couple of seconds. Tick-tock, tick-tock, went their watches. And then - 

"Oh!" the redhead girl cried. "Maybe it's actually the broomstick and the hat! The light probably swallowed them up and turned them into the bracelet!"

Lily looked at her incredulously. "You really think so?"

The redhead girl shrugged and replied, "Hey, the broomstick's magical, isn't it? Anything's possible with real magic."

"I guess," said Lily, looking back down at the bracelet again. If the bracelet really is the magic broomstick then . . . "Well, at least now I don't have to worry about looking like a weirdo."

"Think you can take that thing off?" the redhead girl asked.

Lily tried but -

"No dice," she said. Figures, she thought. Nothing surprised her at this point.

"I guess this means that they want you to be their owner now," the redhead girl said.

"Is that how it works?" Lily asked.

The redhead girl shrugged and said, "That's how it usually goes in comic books."

Ding! Ding! Ding!

"To all students, teachers and staff. This is a friendly reminder that the school assembly will start in . . ."

"We should get going," Lily said.

The redhead girl nodded in agreement and said, "Yeah. Oh, I'm Vivian Waller by the way. But everyone calls me Viv."

"Lily Wong. What were doing here, anyway?"

"Oh, I got held up by my brother and was taking a shortcut to the dorms."

Lily asked, "You have a brother?"

"Yeah, he's . . ."

Together, the girls hurried to the girl's dormitory building while getting to know each other better. After dropping their stuff off in Dorm Room 211, they rushed over back to the castle building, to a huge theater room with rows of soft, red seats that layered down to an elevated stage where a bunch of grownups in suits and dresses gathered. 

An old man with a white beard stood behind a tall, wood podium and introduced himself as Julius Bluestone, the director and owner of the school. He gave a long-winded speech about how his family created the school, how lots of students became famous and important after graduating, and a bunch of other stuff. 

Lily didn't last ten minutes and nodded off, missing almost the whole speech. But who could blame her after the day she's had? She didn't wake up until almost half the people at the assembly had already gone out.

Viv shook Lily awake and told her, "You snore loud."

"I do not!"

After the assembly came a tour of the school for the new students, led by older students close to graduating. During the tour, Lily and Viv met up with Viv's twin brother Eddie. The girls said nothing about the magic broomstick to him, deciding beforehand to keep it a secret between themselves.

The tour was just a brief walk around the school grounds which Lily didn't really need. Lily got to know the school's layout well enough thanks to her time in the air. Still, it was good to know that the library was housed in two floors of the school's center building that (no surprise) most people called the castle. Behind the castle was the main dining hall where everyone ate breakfast, lunch and dinner. She was pretty surprised to know that there were a total of five security guard stations) four around the school and one in the castle) and smaller security guard offices in every building.

Then again, she thought, some of the kids in this school ARE supposed to be really, really rich.

So said the child of a high-ranking business lady and a doctor.

Once the tour was over, everyone was free to go wherever and do whatever they wanted. Lily spent her free time with the Waller twins at the outdoor eating space of a snack bar with huge hot fudge sundae bowls sitting in front of them.

It was the first time Lily had ever gotten ice cream on her own. Normally, she needed to ask her parents first before she could have any. Probably one of the few good things about going to a boarding school, she thought, is that it came with some freedom she'd never have at home.

Lily got to learn that despite being twins, Viv and Eddie like completely different things. Viv was more into computers and tech, while Eddie was more into music. Their father was the owner of a tech company, which was probably where Viv got her interests from.

Lily wondered if maybe Eddie got his taste in music from their mom. But when she asked, the twins suddenly went quiet with pained looks on their faces.

They quickly recovered, replied their mom was an artist and tried to laugh off their earlier silence. But it was clear to Lily that she had stepped on a landmine. She wondered why their mom was such a touchy topic, but thought it was best to just drop it. The Waller twins' mother was never brought up again.

Lunch was around Twelve in the afternoon, and dinner around Seven at night. Lily had expected something a little more fancy for a place with its own two-hundred year old castle, but to her surprise (and slight disappointment), both the dining hall was no different from a normal school cafeteria. She and the others trudged down a long line to a kiosk manned by men and women in white aprons, grabbed prefilled trays of food and ate on long white tables with narrow benches attached.

Despite the sky having long turned black, after dinner, while headed straight for the dorms, Lily noticed that there were still lots of students loitering outside. She wanted to see for herself what it was like to be outside so late but decided to do that another time. There was something more important she had to do, namely figure out what the heck is up with that weird, blue bracelet.

Once back in their room, Lily bolted the door while Viv closed the curtains. They sat down on the floor in the middle of the room. Lily stretched her right arm out so they could both get a better look at the mysterious bracelet while Viv shined a light on it from her smartphone's bright flashlight.

"First note the strange markings all over the bracelet," Viv said. "These have to be from some ancient, mystical language. Maybe German!"

Lily looked at Viv funny and went, "Hah?"

But then Viv laughed and said, "I'm kidding! I'm kidding! It was just a joke."

"Oh, good," Lily said, breathing a relieved sigh.. "For a second there, I thought there was something wrong with your head. You almost sounded like my Uncle Viceroy."

"Your uncle?"

Lily nodded. "He's my mom's younger brother and kind of a weirdo."

"I'd like to ask how so, but let's focus on the bracelet for now."

"Agreed. But what do we actually do?"

"Hmmm." Viv tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Oh! I know! That broomstick. We should check you still got that."

"Good idea," said Lily. "And how do we do that?"

Viv shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe ask it nicely?"

Lily frowned. "Come on, Viv. It's a bracelet."

"You got a better idea?"

No, she did not.

Lily looked down at the bracelet and then held her hand out in front of her. 

"Ahem! Broomstick, come out!"

She paused.

"Please?"

Light flashed from the bracelet's four sapphires and then, floating a couple of inches off the floor in front of Lily, was the broomstick. 

Lily was so happy, she had the biggest smile on Earth on her face. With this, she now knew for sure she could bring out the broomstick whenever she wanted.

"Okay, Broomstick," she said. "You can go back."

There was another flash of light and then, once more, the broom vanished.

"That. Was. Awesome!" Viv said. "Let's see if we can get something else."

"Like what?" asked Lily.

Viv thought again for a moment. "Oh! How about a magic wand? You can't be a witch without a magic wand!"

"You think?" said Lily. "Well, it won't hurt to try. So, bracelet. Think you can give me a wand?"

From a flash of light, a slender, long blue stick appeared with a jagged blue jewel stuck on the top.

"It worked!" Lily cried out. "Can this thing maybe give us anything we ask for?"

There was another flash of light and a piece of paper slowly dropped onto Lily's lap.

"What's this?" she wondered. She picked the paper up read, "Illegal or dangerous things are a big no-no."

She stared at the paper and the letter on it, and then looked up. "Soooooo, I guess it can't really give us anything."

"Then I guess a real lightsaber's out the window," Viv said with a disappointed sigh. "What about a crystal ball for fortune telling? That should be okay, right?"

Viv sounded really excited and wrung her fingers anxiously. But when Lily tried calling for a crystal ball and got another paper instead, her face fell further than Lily had ever seen a face fall.

The paper read: "Fortune telling magic can be used for spying, and spying is a bad thing most of the time."

"Are you okay?" Lily asked Viv.

Viv quickly replied, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

Lily bit on her lower lip to stop herself from telling Viv that she looked close to crying. Instead, she abruptly told the bracelet to conjure a rubber chicken.

Viv was both startled and confused.

"Why a rubber chicken?" she asked while eyeing the ugly faux poultry Lily clutched by the neck. It had its tongue stuck out, looking like it was getting the life choked out of it.

Lily answered with a shrug, "Because I felt like it."

She actually just wanted to stop Viv from getting more depressed and was pleased it looked like it worked.

"Okay," she said, clapping her hands together. "Let's see what else we can get out of this bracelet!"

Ding! Ding! Ding!

At the sound of bells from the ceiling, the girls looked up. 

"Good evening, students," said a young lady's voice from the black box speaker stuck high up the wall. She had a British accent. "This is your friendly neighborhood dorm manager, here to remind you all not to stay up too late. Don't blame me if you end up oversleeping and get late to class."

The rubber chicken, the magic wand, and the two pieces of paper that the bracelet created all disappeared in a flash of light.

"I guess that's it for tonight," said Lily. "Whoa!"

As she got up to go brush her teeth, she was suddenly hit by strong dizziness and fell.

"Hey, watch it!" Viv cried out. She sprang up to catch Lily and happened to grab the bracelet. Her fingers touched the squiggly markings etched around the bracelet and suddenly, once more, the blue gemstones shined bright light.

The light gathered at one spot on the floor away from the girls and from there, a ghost lady appeared, a really young lady who looked around her late teens at most. Lily would call the lady a ghost because she was glowing blue light and see-through. 

"Beware," said the ghost lady. "Beware!"

"Hey!" Lily cried out. "I know this voice! That's exactly what I heard back at the castle when I got my I.D. card!"

"You sure?" asked Viv.

Lily nodded and replied, "Positive. I knew I wasn't hearing things!"

And then to the lady, she asked, "Who are you?"

But the lady didn't answer. She just kept saying, "Beware! Beware!" as if she could not hear Lily. "Beware, o Wielder of the Sapphire Bracelet!"

"By that, does she mean me?" Lily asked Viv.

Viv shrugged and said, "Well, that thing's got a bunch of sapphires, so I guess."

"Beware!" the ghost lady cried again. "Magical blights befall the land! Wicked hands bring chaos to us all! The very nature of the world be warped!"

"Do you understand what the ghost lady is talking about?" Viv said.

"Barely," Lily admitted. "I think she's trying to tell us that something bad's coming."

"Oh. Why doesn't she just say that, then?"

"Evil is coming!" said the ghost lady.

The girls exchanged looks.

"Evil is coming!" the ghost lady said again. "And when it comes, this land and everyone on it is doomed! There is only one hope. You, Wielder of the Sapphire Bracelet."

She pointed at Viv.

Again, the girls exchanged looks.

And then Viv said to Lily, "I think she was supposed to point at you. You're the one wearing the bracelet, after all."

Ignorant of her mistake, the ghost lady continued. "You are the chosen one, Wielder of the Sapphire Bracelet. Please, save us. Save us all!

"You are our only hope, our hero!"

<== Chapter 1

The Magical Trials of Lily Wong Ch. 1

 Chapter 1

The Blue Parrot

Bright sunlight shined over a collection of old buildings and grassy courtyards that sat near a vast forest. There was rarely a cloud above as if to allow the blue sky to bless the youngsters all wearing the same blue blazers as they entered the grounds through a big iron gateway. A big, blue parrot sat on top of the gateway and watched the youngsters as they walked through. Among them was twelve-year-old Lily Wong, dragging behind her a pink carry-on luggage case across worn gray pavement as she took a look around at what will be her new home for the school year.

Lily was pretty short for her age and often mistaken for being younger than she actually was (much to her annoyance). She had slightly narrow eyes and straight black hair cut just below her chin. 

Her mother was a high-ranking officer of an international company and was often traveling around for work. And her father was a renowned doctor and researcher. Because of their work, they had no time to look after Lily, so they enrolled Lily as a student of Bluestone Academy, a boarding school for children from well-off families like them.

"This place is even bigger than I thought," she mumbled. "And the buildings look so old. I wouldn't be surprised if some don't even have air conditioning."

Bluestone Academy has been around for more than two-hundred years and was famous for churning out students who grew up to do all kinds of big things like start their own companies or invent something.

Lily followed the stream of her like-dressed peers to the big, castle-like building made of dark-gray stone situated at the heart of the compound. She could hear birds singing over the chatter of people and the sound of tree leaves rustling against the wind. After waiting a long while in line, she made it to a table where she handed some important papers to a lady with a laptop.

The lady gave the papers a quick look through and then directed Lily over to a white screen where she had her picture taken with a blue digital camera. Soon after, Lily was handed a white plastic card with said picture and was told to be very, very, VERY careful with it as it not only served as her I.D., but also as her wallet and dorm key.

After getting directions to the girl's dormitory, Lily thanked the lady and turned to leave when, suddenly, a voice reached her ears.

"Beware!"

Lily stopped, startled by the faint whisper and turned around.

"Sorry, did you say something?" she asked.

Bewildered, the redhead girl behind her blinked and shook her head, replying, "No." 

The redhead girl looked about the same age as Lily, but was a head taller.

The girl's bewilderment made Lily's cheeks go hot with embarrassment and Lily quickly stammered, "S-sorry. It was probably something else. There are lots of people yammering with each other after all. Ah ha ha ha ha ha."

She laughed nervously, realizing too late she was only making things worse for herself. Both the redhead girl and the check-in table lady looked at her funny.

Way to go, Lily, she thought to herself bitterly. You haven't even been here five minutes and already, people think you're a weirdo.

The best thing to do at this point would be to run away. But just as Lily turned to leave again, the blue parrot suddenly swooped in and snatched her I.D. card from her hand with its dark, curved beak; her very, very, VERY important I.D. card.

"Hey! My card!" Lily cried out.

She chased after the bird, yelling at it to stop and give back her card while pushing against a flowing river of people who had come to grab their own cards. Lily ended up getting a lot of attention because of that, but she didn't care. Getting back her I.D. card was more important. Without it, she couldn't even buy lunch, much less get into her dorm room.

"Someone stop that bird!"

Most people just watched without doing anything. But one kind soul, an older, tall black boy with half-inch curled hair, jumped up and tried to catch the parrot with his bare hands. However, he missed and the bird continued to fly away as free as can be. Lily brushed past the boy and followed after the parrot halfway down the road before turning to a white L-shaped building that was three-floors high.

The parrot flew around the building to a half-oval opening at the back, leading down to the basement level and swooped inside. Lily jumped down over the three steps and stomped inside after it. As soon as she entered the building, bright light flashed over the opening and then both disappeared leaving behind a blank wall.

Not knowing the way in (and out) was literally gone, Lily ran into another flight of stairs that spiraled down, down, down. She used it to follow the parrot all the way to the bottom. Everywhere around Lily and the parrot was made of dark stone, much like the walls of a medieval dungeon. And also like in a medieval dungeon, there were fiery torches hanging on the walls to light the visitors' way.

The chase continued down a long hallway. And then finally, Lily entered a chamber as wide as the inside of a national football stadium. 

Lily stopped in her tracks and watched the parrot fly all the way to the other side, to a marble podium standing on an elevated stone stage at the very end. Using her phone's camera to zoom in, Lily could see the bird gently put her I.D. card onto the podium before flying up the ceiling where it disappeared.

So good news, Lily no longer had to chase the bird. Bad news, there was a giant hole between her and the I.D. card. The hole stretched all the way from the right side of the chamber all the way to the left side of the chamber, so there was no going around it. And there was really no telling how deep the hole was, because as far as Lily could see while peeking over the edge, there was nothing but complete, pitch-black darkness.

Shoulders slumped, Lily thought she would have to give up. But when she turned to leave, she saw only a wall in front of her.

"Where'd the exit go?" Lily asked aloud. Friendly reminder, she was completely alone. Not even the parrot was around anymore.

Color quickly drained from her face and she threw herself at the wall, slapping her hands all over it. Maybe she had gone through some kind of secret passageway and it closed behind her, she thought. If that was true, there should be a switch or something to open it back up like in the movies.

To her despair, however, she found no such switch. Only cold, rough stone touched her reddened palms. 

She was completely trapped.

"HEEEEEEY!" she screamed while hammering her fists against the wall. "HEEEEEELLLP! ANYONE! PLEASE!"

There was, of course, no response. Likely, there was no one on the other side. And even if there were people there, the wall felt too thick for Lily's voice to get through to them.

"Oh, wait! My phone!"

She pulled out her smartphone again. But just as she was about to make a call, she realized that she had no bars. There was no signal in the chamber.

"Aaaaaah!" Frustrated, Lily yelled while furiously scratching the sides of her head.

"Now what do I do?" she whined aloud to herself. She dropped her hands down to her sides and looked at the wall with slumped shoulders. Her hair was a mess after all that earlier scratching. "Now that I think about it, where even am I? What's a weird room like this doing under a school building?"

But more importantly, how was she supposed to get out?

Lily looked over the huge gap on the floor to the other side of the chamber. The bird had disappeared up the ceiling. There was likely hole up there it used as an exit. 

"If only I could fly, I could get out the same way that parrot did," she grumbled to herself. "I wish I was a bird." 

Sadly, she was not. She was a human. And humans cannot fly.

At a complete loss, all she could do was sigh.

But then, a loud rumbling sound reached her ears, and she turned left to see a section of the wall lift up to expose a small secret room. Inside the room were just two things: a broomstick and a big, blue pointed hat. Both floated in the air as if there was no gravity.

Lily wondered, "Is that supposed to be a witch's broomstick?"

She knew like everyone else that witches used magic broomsticks to fly around. But she also knew like everyone else that witches and magic brooms were not real. At least they were not supposed to be real.

However, when she went over to check, Lily found nothing holding the broom and hat up. No strings, no invisible stands, no nothing. She ran her hands over and under, and around the sides at least ten times over to be sure. The broomstick and hat were clearly floating on their own.

Lily looked at the broomstick and then glanced over at the huge gap keeping her away from her I.D. card and probably the only way out of the chamber. If the broomstick really was magic, then it could be her ticket out of here.

"But if I'm going to fly, it'd be cooler if I could leap-fly like a magical Kung Fu hero like in those Chinese shows Mom likes to watch," she muttered to herself.

The broomstick flung the hat into her face, as if to scold her and say, "Don't be so picky."

She wondered if she hurt its feelings.

Lily wasn't really sure about riding on a magic broomstick. But it was probably her best (and only) way out of this chamber, So she grabbed the broomstick and swung one leg over it. On the bright side, at least there was no one around to see her mount a broomstick like some silly little kid playing pretend. That still didn't stop her from feeling embarrassed though.

She pulled the hat down over her head (wearing it only because it came as a set with the broom) and gripped the handle of the broom tightly in front of her with both hands.

"Okay. Here goes nothing!"

Lily breathed in and then breathed out. And then she jumped with all her might.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she still doubted that this was going to work. That she was wasting her time doing something utterly ridiculous. So she was absolutely amazed to see herself hovering about a foot or two above the floor. Whatever doubts she had were instantly shattered and slowly, her lips spread and curled into a big smile.

Magic was real, she realized with excitement. It's really real! And she was actually using it to fly on a broomstick like a witch in the movies. This was a stupendous, world-shattering discovery.

"Whoops!" she cried out. "Nearly forgot I need to get out of here."

She breathed in and out again, and tightened her hold of the broomstick. The broomstick slowly started to move to the gap when she leaned down. And then, when they reached the edge - 

WHOOSH!

Lily and the broom zoomed over the hole to the other side of the chamber. When she reached the podium at the end of the chamber, she twisted herself upside down, held her hand out and snatched up her I.D. card. 

With her prize in her grasp, Lily swooped up through a hole in the ceiling and rapidly ascended to a white light above her head. In seconds, she was out of a chimney and high up alongside clouds.

"Whoa!" 

She could see the entire school and half the surrounding forest that stretched to the ends of the world. Among all the L-shaped buildings, the U-shaped buildings, and the plain box-shaped ones too, Lily spotted glass domes that she thought looked like giant diamond jewels the way they sparkled in the sunlight. The glass domes were clearly greenhouses and Lily could not wait to see what kind of beautiful gardens they contained. Needless to say, there was also a vast, grassy sports field that already had kids running around, playing their own games.

For a little while, Lily watched the teeny-tiny people down below moving around from building to building. Unsurprising, most of them were bunched up around the old castle-like building that towered over everything else. A strong wind blew around her and made her hair dance up like it had a life of its own. And then, filled to the brim with thrill, Lily zipped around in the sky giddily giggling. 

But little did she realize that while she was having the time of her life with real magic powers, there was someone in the shadows plotting like an evil villain.

**********

Inside a dark and gloomy-looking office on the fifth floor of the castle building, two men sat face to face and hunched over a chess board. A blue parrot watched the two men perched outside the window.

Commanding the white pieces was an elderly man with matching short, white hair and beard. A slightly younger man with black, but graying, hair commanded the black pieces.

The parrot pecked on the glass twice, attracting the white-haired man's gaze for just a brief moment. And then his eyes returned to the game and he moved a pawn forward.

"At long last, the time has come," he said.

The black-haired man responded, "Indeed," as he moved his bishop away from the white-haired man's pawn. What is he talking about? He silently wondered. And why did I reply like I knew?

The white-haired man asked, "Are preparations going well?" But then paused and thought, Hm? Wait a minute. Is this guy in on the plan? Or am I mixing him up with someone else?

"Everything is in place, sir," the black-haired man answered. Preparations? What preparations? Preparations for the assembly later today?

"Good," said the white-haired man with a satisfied nod. 

It looked like the black-haired man really was in on the plan after all, he thought, the plan that he's been working on for the last two hundred years. What else could they have been talking about? Today's assembly? Certainly not!

"Two hundred years. Two hundred years, huh?" mused the white-haired man. "That's certainly a long time."

"It certainly is," the black-haired man agreed while wondering, Now what's he talking about? Is he going crazy? Is that it? Has he finally gone senile from old age?

Ignorant of the black-haired man's true thoughts, the white-haired man muttered to himself, "Yes, two hundred years is a long time. But at long last, all the actors are set and we can finally begin the show! Mwa ha ha! Mwa ha ha ha ha!"

Oh, great, the black-haired man moaned inside his head. Now he's talking to himself and laughing like a cartoon bad guy!

And what show is he talking about?

                                                                                                               Chapter 2 ==>

Hello, 2024

 Hey everyone!

I hope you've all had a great New Year's holiday! Mine was okay. Not as bright or colorful as the New Years' of my childhood, but that's just a part of growing up.

Anyway. It's a new year with new tasks to take care of.

First up, now that I've completed both The Vampire's Coffee Shop and Volume 2 of The Mysteries of the Community Service Club, I will compile all the chapters into books which I'll publish on Amazon. There will only be paperback versions while the stories will stay up on my blog for you all to keep enjoying for free. But if you like holding a physical book better than reading on a computer screen, or you like my stories enough to support me, feel free to buy them or any of my other books HERE. I'd greatly appreciate it.

I'll be going radio silent while I take care of the book compiling and publishing. But once that's taken care of, I'll be back writing in earnest.

As mentioned in Good-bye, 2023, I will be working on the last volume of Lucy's Emeron Journey as well as start on the next volume of The Mysteries of the Community Service Club. In addition, I'm going to be starting another brand new fantasy story and one I hope I can put all my heart and soul into, much like I aspired with all my other stories. No promises there won't be any hiccups though.

Here's to a better year with you all! Happy New Year, and Happy Reading!

CSC Volume 2 Epilogue

*****

Isaneko

*****

It was a pleasant summer day some time after the night that Akira Yasahonou got taken away by the Bureau of Trans-Species Alliance (BTA for short). I was in the living room of my house, settled on my couch enjoying two scoops of vanilla ice cream in a dainty glass bowl. Looking out the window, I felt like that night's events (the child who nearly died in the woods, Yasahonou's grandparents' house burning down, the angry mob that tried to kill Yasahonou, and Yasahonou himself nearly burning to death) were all a lie.

The news quickly announced the day after that the culprit behind all the fires had been arrested, so everyone could rest easy knowing a menace that terrorized our town was now behind bars. But because the culprit was underage, no details about him were given. With the serial arson case now closed, things settled down somewhat. Although, not all tension in town had been dispelled.

"Oh? Not in the mood for ice cream? It's going to melt if you don't hurry, you know?" I spoke to Mirai sitting on the floor across from me on the other side of the glass coffee table. The ice cream I went to the trouble of scooping into another glass bowl for him remained untouched.

While normally loud, pretentious, and childishly delusional, my friend and club president scowled at me. I was no empath like Homura, but even I could tell that he was in a bad mood.

"You seem to be upset," I said. "Are you still brooding over Yasahonou?"

"Of course I am!" Mirai snapped. "You heard what the BTA said about his condition. If Oota had taken even a few seconds longer to get him to the pool, Yasahonou really would have died."

"But he's not dead and he's in decent health right now, isn't he?" I pointed out. "Certainly, we've had quite a few close calls this time around, and it's upsetting. But it's over already and nobody died. I don't think this incident is something we need to brood over."

"This incident was never supposed to happen!" Mirai shouted. "It DIDN'T the last time around."

I put my own bowl of ice cream back down onto the glass table.

"So are you saying that it's our fault Yasahonou's powers went out of control and terrorized the town with all those fires?" I asked. "That it's our fault that he nearly died? Why? Because we changed the future? Does that mean it would have been better if we let the Piper run amok? That we allow Homura to get killed?"

Mirai protested, "No! But still - !"

"Then what do you want to do?" I asked. "Do you want to call it quits? To stop changing the future? Right now?"

"I never said anything about quitting!" Mirai shouted. "It's just -!"

I didn't listen. Instead, I walked over to him, grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled his face close to mind. I looked into his eyes and glared at him with the face of a madwoman.

"Don't joke with me, Mirai," I said to him. "I haven't even had my turn yet and you still have one more to worry about. And yet you're freaking out over something that almost happened? Listen up. My hands are stained. Changing the future won't ever erase that. But that doesn't mean I won't stop trying. I can't stop. Even if it means staining my hands even more. Not when the only other option is to let the horrible things I want gone happen again. So you better get your head back in the game, or I'll make you get your head back in the game."

After saying my piece, I pushed him away and watched him fall to the floor. As he picked himself up, I went back to my couch and sat down.

Neither of us said a word for a while, I guessed to give the other time to cool off. Mirai broke silence first to ask:

"So? Is that why you called me over? To give me a pep talk, if we can call that one?"

I shook my head and replied, "No. I actually had another reason to call you here. And it also has to do with that night at school."

Mirai straightened up.

"Do you remember the guy over there that kept riling that mob of idiots up?"

"You mean the guy who wouldn't shut up? Sure, I do," Mirai said. "It's because of him that things got so bad and Yasahonou freaked out. But what about him?"

"Something about the way he got those idiots all fired up again after Oota got them to settle down rubbed me the wrong way," I explained. "It reminded me of the way my mother tried to keep control of our cult's followers whenever it seemed like a meeting was going a direction she didn't like. So I took Homura with me back to the scene of the crime for a little detective work."

Mirai rose up and cried out in dismay, "You did what!? Why?"

I knew he'd be upset. He didn't seem like it, but Mirai was very overprotective of the others. Not that I was one to talk.

"I needed her sensory powers to glean some information," I replied coolly. "Don't worry. I made sure to be the perfect bodyguard and kept a lookout for any trouble. Nothing happened though and there was no one around."

Mirai settled back down.

"But Homura's power is picking up the feelings of other people," he said. "What was the point taking her to a place when everything's already said and done and completely deserted?"

"There was this theory I heard from an American TV show I liked to watch called the Stone Tape Theory," I explained. "According to that theory, things like emotions or the memories of events could get recorded into the places and surroundings where the events took place. The theory is by no means scientifically credible. But neither is the existence of psychic powers, so I thought, why not try it out? Luckily I knew someone who'd make the perfect guinea pig."

"Which was Homura," said Mirai. "Only you'd treat a senior schoolmate like a guinea pig, Lady Isaneko."

"You're not one to talk, Mr. I-mutated-an-underclassman-into-a-human-weapon," I shot back.

"Touché," said Mirai. "So? How'd the experiment go?"

A wry smile played on my face and I replied, "It ended up being those I-hate-when-I'm-right moments."

"So Homura actually sensed something?"

I nodded. "She picked up on anger, fear and resentment. That's no surprise. But that wasn't all."

As if purposely setting the mood, the clouds outside rolled over and darkened the room.

"She also picked up joy," I said.

Mirai leaned forward over the glass table and rested his chin on his hands.

"Joy, you say?" he said. I don't think he was doing it on purpose, but all that time playing the delusional fool had left him with a habit of being overly dramatic. "He was having fun stirring the crowd into a deadly frenzy?"

"Fun's putting it lightly," I said. "It's a lot worse than that. I would even go as far as to call it indecent. Poor Homura nearly threw up when she sensed it. And as we both know, the last time she sensed something bad enough to make her sick like that was when -"

"- she encountered the Piper." Mirai finished my sentenced and his face turned grim, practically spitting the infamous serial killer's name with disgust. "Does that mean there's someone out there who's just as bad, if not worse, than the Piper?"

"More than likely," I said.

Mirai pulled away and sank backward with an even worse look of guilt than before.

"By changing the future and taking out the Piper, did we create another monster to take his place?" he wondered aloud.

I chose my words carefully before responding.

"With the fire case in mind, I won't deny the possibility," I said. "But this guy was smart enough to keep out of sight the whole time he was messing with the mob. Not even you with your clairvoyance could find him. So I have a feeling that this new monster's actually been around since the beginning, and that we're only just noticing him now."

"Either way, we're no safer now than we were when the Piper was around," said Mirai.

"On top of that, to save Yasahonou, Oota ended up antagonizing both Yamimura and Soushu gang members," I said.

Mirai looked up at the ceiling and sighed. 

"Yeah," he said. "We always figured that was going to happen sooner or later. That's why we formed the Community Service Club in the first place. But with that new monster roaming around lighting fires under everyone's butts, who knows if that'll be enough to keep us safe. It might even be the opposite."

"We'll have to be very careful going forward," I said. "Even more so than we already are."

I then looked out the window and happened to see my own reflection. Although I appeared calm and collected, deep inside, I was very exasperated.

A lot more troubles had been added to an already mountainous amount we had to worry about. I knew we had a long and tough road ahead of us, but it looked like it was going to get even longer and tougher. 

But no matter what, I was sticking to it until the end, even if it will cost me everything I had.

"Oh, yeah!" I said. I had suddenly remembered something else important. "I got into baking lately and just yesterday made a whole lot of cookies. Want some?"

As I headed over to the kitchen, Mirai looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "You? Bake?" 

His doubt was irksome, but I kept my mask on nice and tight.

"Of course!" I said, pulling a large, red tin out from the pantry. The tin used to hold store-bought cookies, but I repurposed them to store my own brand. "I'm supposed to be the classic girly-girl remember? Come on. Don't be shy. Help yourself!"

I brought the tin over to the living room, removed the lid and left it on the table.

Mirai looked at the contents of the tin suspiciously, but all the cookies looked as normal as could be.

"What's the occasion?" he asked.

"Well, I thought that with Azamume hanging out with us more often, I'd do something special to welcome her into the gang," I said. "I think the cookies turned out pretty well, but that could just be my own bias. That's why I'd like you to taste test them."

"Hmm." Mirai stared at the cookies while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Meh. I guess it wouldn't hurt."

And he picked one up.

"Looks dark and feels a little hard, maybe a little crunchy?"

He sniffed it.

"Smells like chocolate."

"Well, they ARE chocolate chip cookies," I said, smiling from ear to ear. "Go on. Take a bite."

"Don't mind if I do," Mirai said. He finally brought his guard down. "But this is certainly nice of you, Lady Isaneko. I thought, after all the stunts she pulled on Yuna, you'd actually disliked Azamume. But to go out of your way to make welcoming cookies for her . . . Mmph!"

He took a bite out of the cookie and his face almost immediately twisted in disgust.

I, however, kept smiling and responded, "Oh, don't be silly. There's no way I'd dislike Azamume. She's a friend of Yuna, after all. Yuna has become one of my precious, precious friends since she became a member of the club. Any friend of a friend is my friend as well. And any friend of mind deserves the full Isaneko experience. Yuna is really delicate, so she needs to be treated carefully. But I think I can have lots of fun with Azamume."

I chuckled.

"Oh, yes indeed."

*****

Hisao

*****

Summer vacation flew by and I spent most of it indoors with my eyes either glued to the computer screen or my phone in my bedroom. But sometimes I would go out for walks around the neighborhood. I couldn't exactly go hang out in the clubroom at school after the mess I left behind. 

I was just on an aimless stroll when I noticed a trio of guys glaring at me from the other side of the road. As I passed them by, I heard them whispering. The words were too soft to make out, but I could tell they weren't nice.

However, I just passed them by, avoiding eye-contact and acted like I wasn't paying attention by scrolling through stuff on my phone. Just in case, I had my Psy-Armor on. But thankfully, giving me the stink-eye was all those guys did. 

Since I had my phone out anyway, I decided to quickly scroll through my news feed. There was a headlines that gave me pause. It was news about the arsonist and how he was caught. 

To be honest, I was sick and tired of the subject, so I scrolled passed it without giving it a read. I already knew that Akira's name and details would be omitted, given that he was underage. Needless to say, there was never any mention of the angry mob or the Community Service Club's involvement. Mirai said something about the Shirogami Clan capitalizing on Akira's capture, but I had no idea how that worked.

Speaking of Akira, I had heard that he made a quick, full recovery thanks to people in the BTA with healing powers. But he was going to be staying with them for a while until he got a better handle of his powers. The BTA was also helping Akira work with the courts to find a way to atone for his crimes.

As for his grandma and grandpa, I was told they decided to just move out of town. No surprise since their house was burned to the ground.

All in all, it was likely that I was not going to see Akira again for a long, long time. If at all.

As I turned a corner, there was a ping from my phone. I stopped to take a look and saw that I had a text message from Akira.

"Looking forward to the new event," it read.

I paused for a moment and my lips curled into a small smile.

"Yeah, me too," I typed. "Which character are you aiming to pull for?"

As I continued on with my stroll, Akira and I messaged each other back and forth, chatting as usual about a game we both liked to play.

<== Chapter 21