Chapter 1

Everyone's favourite magical-princess-from-another-dimension was walking the busy halls of Echo Creek Academy, dressed in blue and with a bear face on her chest. She was making new teeth marks on one of the wings of her wand, where it tasted mildly like augberry, and her eyes dashed around. It was between classes and other students were all around her. Everyone looked normal. But what was normal when you'd lost your family's spellbook, broken the family heirloom and generally was a shame to the butterfly name? Her next mistake could be around any corner. It could be her, or him, or even-

"Oof."

Star fell to the ground. Not looking where she'd been going, she'd walked straight into a familiar hoodie.

"Hey Star," said Marco. He'd been pulling books from his locker when his best friend had walked into him. He put his hand out and pulled Star to her feet where she dusted herself down. The dress made pink sparks as it was brushed.

"Um, are you ok? You're acting kinda… well, normal for you actually," Marco said.

"I can't take it anymore, Marco. I'm going to break something, or someone, and my parents are going to be mad, even madder than they are already!

"Well, try not to destroy the town or turn Britney into a troll before school ends. Not that that second one wouldn't be an improvement. Remember, Skullnick's homework is due next class." He pulled said homework out of his bag and went to hand it to her.

She slapped the papers out of his hands. "I can't concentrate on school! What are we going to do about Glossaryck?"

He put a hand on her shoulder. "Like I've said the last five-hundred times you've said this, your parents are taking care of it. You should just leave it to-"

Inspiration struck the princess. "Ooh, ooh, maybe I can just spell him back. Hold on, Marco!

"Wait, don't-"

But it was too late. She didn't know what words she wanted but Star was spinning, arm and wand outstretched, ready to let forth a torrent of whatever puppies or rainbows would bring back her book and the funny blue man that lived inside it.

"Glitter…" Always good to start with glitter. "…Glossaryck…" Still good, who she wanted to summon, "…Space, Time…" Ok, maybe a little off track here, "…Findus, bringus…" ok, good, magicky words… Star stalled. "Um, Now, Please!" she yelled, finishing her spell and holding the wand up high. Nothing happened for a moment. Then a loud crack, like a giant baby bird breaking through a giant egg-shell, rang out across the hall. Other students that were near them turned to look. Then both the wand and the school started shaking violently.

"Oh, boy," said Marco.

A shockwave burst from the wand, a blast of light that threw everything around it. Star was hit and knocked to the ground, banging her head on a locker. Things got a fuzzy for a second there. A howling wind was rushing through the halls, paper and glitter flying around her. She managed to push herself into a sitting position and the wind died down.

Her hand was burning. She looked at it, only to see a harsh red light pouring from cracks in her wand, cracks that spread until, finally, it fell apart and she was left holding only a small piece of the ribbon-bound handle. The head and base of the wand fell to the floor where they shattered, dust and chunks of wand spreading out across the floor. The biggest piece she could see was the half-star of her family's magic crystal sitting half-buried in a piled of greying wand-dust.

"No, no, no…" She picked up the crystal. It glowed weakly and went out. With a slap, she stuck it to her chest, next to the smiling bear face. "Look after this, Edgar. It's important." She started brushing as much of the dust into a pile as she could, spooning it with a hand into her pocket. "Oh man, I have got to stop breaking my wand."

Hoping that she'd got most of it, she stood up and clapped her hands free of dust.

"Um, Star?"

Star looked up to see Marco plastered to the ceiling, his red hoodie tangle in a mess of sharp green wire. He was covered in a blue slime that oozed around him. "Little help?" he asked.

"Sorry, Marco…" Star grabbed Marco's foot and yanked. With a girlish yell and a squelching noise, Marco slipped from the ooze onto the floor.

"Ow! Aw man…"

Star looked where Marco was looking to see he'd slid straight out of his hoodie and it was still up there, tangled on the ceiling. It started dissolving into the walls, like the mess was eating it. Then it was gone.

The rest of the hall was in a similar state, slime and tangles along the walls and floor, dark patches in the corner. Star looked out of a window and saw only a square of purple. Either there was something over the window or they weren't in Echo Creek anymore. "And the school. Gotta stop breaking that too." Star sighed.

Marco got up, rubbing his elbow. Without his hoodie he looked strange, stood there in a blue t-shirt. "Where is everybody?" he asked.

He was right, everyone that had been near them before the blast had vanished. They were alone in the hallway.

Closing her eyes, Star dropped her head on her friend's shoulder. "I'm a total failure, Marco."

He patted her head. "Hey, we've been in bigger scrapes than this. I'm sure we'll be fine."

She pointed to the crystal next to the bear. "I broke my wand again."

Marco looked at the star, then at Star and back to the star again. He sighed.