Chapter 1
The Spell
"Hey Sayu"
"Hey Sachika what's up? MaMa didn't enter another one of those pie eating competitions did she?"
"No." Sachika giggled as she remembered the outcome of the last pie-eating contest. But then her face returned to its grave position again.
"I have a letter posted to us."
"A letter."
"Yeah."
"Well I don't see what the big deal is we get letters all the time."
"Well hold on this one is different let me read it. Plus there isn't a return address."
"W-e-l-l okay. But make it quick I have a date tonight and I have to make myself look prettier."
Her sister just looked at her thinking She's already beautiful why does she have to make herself look prettier? It was true her sister was 5 ft 6 with long shiny black hair. She was slender with the perfect three-dimensional waste. She had almond shaped, brown eyes with just a pinch of hazel in them. She always wore the most in fashion mini skirts and tank tops to show off her pretty figure. Her feet could run a mile and never be messed up and her nose was a cute little button nose. Oh, and her lips were the color of raspberry's on a warm summer day. Altogether she was the most beautiful sixteen year old Sachika had ever seen. Sayu was the perfect image of their beautiful mother Takita. But Sachika was the complete opposite. She had short, choppy and greasy hair that no matter how hard she tried couldn't make it look even the tiniest bit clean. Even if she had just taken a shower. Her eyes were round and a green sort of color. She wore glasses which gave her a the deer in the headlights look. Her nose was big and round. Her lips were always dry and cracked, and her cloths were the most out of date because she couldn't wear mini skirts or tank tops. She wasn't fat, no, but she was a bit bigger than most. She had dry and scaly feet, like she had just walked a mile with no shoes. Every time her and her sister would walk the streets of Tokyo she would hear the neighbor say, isn't Sayu just beautiful? Oh, if only her sister had followed in her footsteps.
"Sachika are you going to read the letter or not? I don't have all day!"
"Huh?"
"The letter."
"Oh, right sorry. It says:
Dear Sayu and Sachika,
Your MaMa is being held captive and if you do not help me get what I want this will be the end of the line for her. If you want her back you need to go to New York City in which you will find the Empire State Building. Go to the counter and ask a man for the elevator key to level 1000. Tell him you are visiting the Minotaur. He will understand. Go to the elevator, make sure nobody is inside, put the keycard in the slot and I will meet you at the top. I will give you further instructions from there. I will give you four days to get here. If you are not here in four days let's just say it won't be a happy day for your MaMa. I'll be waiting. Don't be late.
Sincerely,
The Minotaur
By this time Sayu had completely stopped doing her makeup and was staring open- mouthed at her sister.
"Sachika that explains why MaMa disappeared two days ago!"
"But do you think we should go get her? I mean it could be a trap."
"Yes of course we should go!"
"But we don't even know where the Empire State Building is! Let alone enough money to get there."
"Yeah well we have to get MaMa back."
"Okay let's pack"
"Now how is this going to work and what is a Minotaur Sachika?"
"Yes."
"What's a Minotaur?"
"It's Probably a nickname because Minotaurs' can't exist."
Gulp.
"I hope."
"What do you mean?"
"A Minotaur is half man half bull and is the most dangerous mythical creature in all of the stories I've read."
"Ha! I laugh in the face of danger."
"Sayu if this person, thing, whatever is actually real I don't think you should say that."
"Whatever. Well, I'm done packing how about you?"
"Yeah almost-"
"What?"
"What are we going to tell mom?"
"Oh my gosh! I completely forgot about mom! Um we could tell her that we are going over to Cilenie's house for a couple of days. We do that all the time."
"Good. Just one problem."
"What?"
"We stink at lying."
"Ooh, your right um well say it as we are walking out the door she might not notice."
"Okay but I don't think this will work."
"Of course it will. Hey mom! We're going to Cilenie's house see you later okay?"
Slam!
"Okay um have fun."
As they walked outside they new in their gut that it would be the last time they would see their mom for a long while.
"Sayu how are we gonna afford two plane tickets to the Americas?"
"Don't worry Chika I have like $600 saved up from my job that I had last year that I never spent."
"Wow that's great and I have about $600 saved up to. How much will two tickets cost us?"
"Yes mam I would like to buy two tickets to the Americas please."
"Where to?"
"New York City."
"Okay that will be $400.67 cents please."
"Here you go."
"Thank you and your change is &199.33 cents. You are on flight 22. Thank you and have a nice flight."
"Thank you too."
"How much do you have left?"
"$199.33 cents left."
"Well, not bad."
"We are on flight 22 to New York City Airstrip."
"This is the final call for flight 22 New York Airstrip please get to your plane within the next five minutes. Thank you and have a nice flight."
"That would be us."
"Obviously."
They walked inside the plane and put their stuff in the luggage rack above them and sat down. They looked around and saw that the seats were made of a fine white leather and the walls were made of white metal. The rug was a dusty rose and they had a personal DVD player attached to the seat in front of them.
"WOW! Chika we are on our way to the Americas!"
"Yeah and I'm really nervous. I mean what if we get kidnapped. What if MaMa isn't really kidnapped? What if this is a trick to get us to leave Tokyo? What if we get kidnapped as soon as we land? What if-"
"You worry to much Chika we'll be fine."
"But what if we're not fine? I mean Ma will kill us and hang our heads on the mantle if she knew that we were going to the Americas! After a guy that we've never even met and don't even know if he exists!"
"Well I'm tired so goodnight. You should try and get some sleep to we have a long trip ahead of us."
"Yeah I guess goodnight."
With that they both fell asleep very quickly not noticing the man that was intensely watching them from behind.
The plane landed and they unloaded then they asked a couple of people where the Empire State Building was. They also asked what the date was and found out that they had one more day left to find the 1000th floor of the Building. After an hour of walking around and asking where the Building was they finally found it. They walked inside and nearly fainted. The place was huge. But they were on a mission and didn't have time to sightsee. So they walked up to the counter and asked the man,
"Is your name Han?"
"Yes how may I help you?"
"We need the card to the 1000th floor."
"I'm sorry there's no such floor."
"No no no I don't think you understand."
Sayu pulled the letter out and said
"We have been called by the Minotaur and we only have about three hours before he kills our MaMa. So you better give me that key card or else."
"Yes Yes the boss."
"Um. Duh! That's what I've been trying to tell you!"
"Okay here you go."
"Thank you."
"Let's Go Chika!"
"Okay."
They climbed into the elevator and put the key card in the slot. The elevator immediately rushed upwards. But they didn't notice the boy standing in the back just blending into the elevator walls like a chameleon. The elevator jerked to a sudden halt and the doors opened. Sayu and Sachika walked out and they boy began to chant.
"Sayu Sachika transportatus chalies formata geru ma."
Over and over again. After he said it the girls heard a grave laughter and a voice said
"Thank you Benji I am most grateful for your help again."
That was the last thing the girls heard because they were put under a spell in which they can't see, feel move, or show emotion. They can only hear. What the two girls heard while under the spell scared them half to death. It's a good thing they couldn't show emotion.