Brussel Sprouts and Magic

Chapter One

A/N: Hey everyone i don't have to put up a disclaimer because THIS STORY BELONGS

TO MOI! YAY please leave nice long juicy reviews because YOU LOVE ME Enjoy!

Brussels Sprouts and Magic

Alex was just an ordinary kid if you thought about it… or that's what you would like to think. She was, in fact, the exact opposite of ordinary. She might have been the most unordinary person you were likely to come across. At first, she would say hello, and then if you actually stayed and talked with her she would become a little strange, probably because the first thing she would tell you was that she liked Brussels sprouts. Well, I'm guessing that you might have been a little taken aback by the fact that a girl the age of thirteen went around telling everyone that she liked Brussels sprouts, especially since she looked like the last person on earth who would like them… least of all go around telling everybody about it.

Alex was about five-foot-two, but she appeared somewhat taller than that. She had very long brown hair that almost reached her waist, and she had the most beautiful (in everyone's opinion but her own) light brown eyes with hints of amber.

Well, the most extraordinary thing of all was that she was, in fact, a witch, and a very powerful one, indeed. She first realized she was a witch when she was ten years old. Lying in bed one night, imaginary monsters creeping into her mind, she wished that the lights were on. Suddenly, without her touching the switch, on they came. She tried to forget the incident, but a year later, something similar happened. One Monday morning, Alex was missing her backpack for school. In frustration, she wished as hard as she could that she could find it, and she realized that it was in her arm or right in front of her. And so Alex realized that she could do magic.

Well, let's review the facts. Alex could do magic, she knew she could do magic, and she liked Brussels sprouts. Then, she met Seth and everything changed. Seth could also do magic he was a witch then again seeing as he was a boy he would of course be a wizard.

Alex met Seth on the first day of school, when Mr. Canturswall, their 8th grade teacher, put them at the same table. They sat across from each other. One dreadful day, when the rain was pounding on the windows as though trying to shatter them, Alex saw something she would never forget: she saw Seth use magic.

It was in the cafeteria that she realized that Seth's straw was stirring his lemonade… but he wasn't touching his straw. At first, Alex was amazed, thinking that only she knew magic. Then, of course, common sense kicked in and she realized that there was probably a whole race of magical people.

She decided to confront Seth when she realized that, maybe, witches and wizards had a way of communicating only with each other. Alex started by focused her mind on Seth and spelled out the words slowly in her mind. ARE YOU MAGIC?

And almost immediately she got a reply: YES! She looked at Seth, and he was staring at her as if he was trying to bore a hole into her forehead with his eyes. Slowly and carefully, she stood up, and ventured towards Seth's table. It seemed to take hours to walk the few feet from her seat to the one right beside Seth.

Alex took a deep breath and said, "Hello," in a voice that sounded nothing like her own. Seth immediately replied in a strong, low voice, "Hey." They stared at each other as a heavy, uncomfortable silence crept into the lunchroom and seemed to hover over the two magicians. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, when all of sudden words flashed up in her head: WHAT'S YOUR NAME?

At first Alex was startled, and then she remembered that Seth was talking to her (if you really wanted to call it talking; it was more like telepathy or think-mail) and so she concentrated and formed the word, ALEX. I've only sat across form you for two weeks, she added to herself. Alex choose the seat to the right of Seth and seated herself comfortably, tilting the chair back a little. They sat in silence every once in a while they would text each other small messages thinking things like WHAT'S UP or HI… just small, unimportant things like that. Then came the question that changed Alex's life. DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE ORB?

Alex, having no idea what he was talking about, immediately replied, bemused, NO. Seth, tired of concentrating his energy into beaming thoughts, switched back to speaking. "The orb is the one thing all wizards or witches are given that they get their powers from. Each wizard has an orb for what they specialize in… like Lisel, whose power is the Earth Orb; she's good with plants and basically all green, living things. Or there's Kyle, who specializes in the weather." Alex interrupted Seth, demanding, "Who are these people? How did you meet them? Will I ever get to meet them? And most importantly, what's your orb?"

"Whoa, hold on a sec! Okay, these people are my going to be my classmates, and yours as well. We all go to this amazing school called Orbanicle. I met them at a kind of open house for us new kids, just so we could meet the teachers, and so they could show us around."

"So, it's just like regular school, only we don't do magic there," replied Alex, starting to become overwhelmed by the discovery of a secret society right under her nose. "And for the last two questions," said Seth, interrupting her train of thought. "You'll meet them soon, so don't worry. And last, but not least, oh great and almighty question asker –" this comment earned him a scowl from Alex "– my orb is the power of animals. I can communicate with them, kind of read their minds, and I can even control them. But only if they want me to," he added hastily, seeing the look on Alex's face. "It doesn't feel right, violating their free will. All wizards can do all sorts of magic but there's only one thing their really good at. Like, I can control the weather, but only for an hour or so, and Kyle can change the weather and keep it that way for as long as he wants."

"And how will I find my orb?" Alex interrupted again.

"You should already have it," said Seth. Alex did not understand, until suddenly, she felt a lump in her pocket and pulled out a black, shiny round ball. It glittered brightly in the sunlight and appeared to have small rainbows all over it. Seth gasped, and practically fell out of his chair. "You're the one," he said in a hushed, almost reverent tone.

"What?" Alex replied, surprised and having absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Alex sat there looking from Seth to the black orb she held in her hands. Finally, Seth broke the silence. "You are the chosen one. You are the one," he stooped low in a bow. Alex, thinking he was crazy, backed away into the wall… that is, until she realized he was bowing. Seth stood up and slowly and began to reposition himself on his chair so he would not fall off of it again. He then began a long and extremely complicated tale.

"A long time ago, there was a leader born every time the… current leader of our society, I guess you could call it, died and every leader had a black orb like yours. Well, one year ago, our leader died, and no one has been born with a black orb. All magic people have been searching for the year, desperate to find the leader and replacement for the chosen one, and here you are! Just sitting right here in front of my nose, and I had no idea," Seth bowed again. Alex still didn't understand what her powers were, and she was getting rather tired of Seth bowing to her. "Seth listen up, okay, are you listening? Actually, don't answer that, just listen! First of all, stop with the… bowing, and second of all, how come I didn't get a letter or a notice or even a… a think message about being accepted to the SCHOOL! Thirdly, why did no one tell me I was a witch or wizard, I mean, I have every right to know. Come on, it's my body and I know what's best for me. Last of all – SETH, I TOLD YOU TO STOP BOWING!" Alex took a deep breath and calmly (or as calmly as she could) went on. "Last of all, WHAT IS MY POWER?"

Seth was quiet for a while, sipping his drink and playing with his food. Finally he spoke up, "You don't understand, you don't have a certain power. You have all of the powers. You can do everything that there is to do with wizardry. And NO one and I mean NO one is told whether or not they are a witch or wizard! They find out on there own accord when they receive the orb."

"Crabut," Seth muttered.

"What is that the heck is crabut? And once you answer that tell me why you said it –"

"DO YOU EVER STOP ASKING QUESTIONS?"

"No, actually, I don't, so keep the answers coming!"

"I swear, you're going to question me to death! And crabut is a wizard curse word, never mind, you'll learn more about it when we get to school!" Alex was puzzled.

"How the heck are you going to know that, and when will I be able to learn how to speak, well, wizard?" Alex could tell that Seth was simmering down.

"Don't worry about that, it's not a fluent language. It's just a bunch of weird words that are awesome to use when a teacher's around, 'cuz they don't know what you're talking about," Seth suddenly broke off, and his face formed an awful grimace for a split second. His tones were hushed when he continued speaking.

"I said crabut because Perry's over there and he'll never let you be if he finds out what you are!" Seth finished emphatically – as emphatically as one can be when they are attempting to whisper.

"Why would he do something like that, is he like a bad guy or something?" Alex wanted to know.

"Well, technically he's the worst kind of guy you can meet, but he isn't technically a bad guy… but if he doesn't stop with the mind probing me and my friends I swear I will knock the shartwen out of that kid!" Seth sat in thoughtful silence for a moment and then started to frown.

"Oh, my God, he's coming over here, listen closely. I want you to imagine a blank wall and just imagine it really hard. Okay, then I want you to –" But the rest of his sentence was drowned out, and Alex started to feel as if someone was snooping around in her mind. Almost at once, she wanted to block it out, that awful feeling that someone was there and was looking through her thoughts and feelings, seeing who she liked, showing all of her most humiliating moments. She forced her mind to concentrate on blocking the probe pushing it out of her mind but it was too late – it had reached what it wanted and was withdrawing. It was like pulling a needle out of your skin, and a whining was filling her ears, and make it stop, the pain, make it stop… Alex was in pain and then all was black.

Seth was staring intently at Alex he tried to push his way gently through her mind yet he could see the pain she was in and then he felt a pushing and realized she was fighting back trying to force him out of her mind. Seth fought to maintain dominance so they could talk using mind text but finally after 6 painstaking minuets he withdrew and decided to wait until she fully woke up from her coma like state.

- - - - - - -

Alex woke up in the nurses' office with Seth standing over her, and then the pain hit. She could feel it, remember it, from the mind reading to the fainting. She wanted to faint again, to go back to the blackness, but she heard Seth call the nurse and knew it was over. The Nurse immediately started fussing and talked about calling her parents and sending Alex to a hospital for fear of concussion. Finally, the nurse left to examine another child who claimed to have a cold.

Seth slowly leaned forward and started to speak. He once again tried to speak with her only using his head but it wasn't working, so Seth sat there, admitting defeat.

Alex's head was throbbing, and what happened next only made it worse. In walked

Perry with a satisfied grin on his face and a smirk just waiting to pop out the moment the nurse left. "Daryt it," Alex heard Sean softly curse under his breath and then it happened, the same sensation as before. Only this time, she was getting mad. The feeling hurt like hell and it needed to stop NOW. Alex fought it and she fought it hard. Using every ounce of strength left in her body, she tried to push the needle out of her mind. The needle seemed surprised at first and stopped allowing Alex to gain the advantage even though she was about to pass out again. For about 6 painstaking minutes (in Alex's mind; maybe it was six seconds), they fought. The needle verses the mind, came the idiot thought to Alex's mind ironically. Then, pain erupted throughout her body, spreading its spiky tingles down from the tip of her scalp to her toenails. The first needle seemed like a paper cut compared to this. She screamed in agony and in that split second the needle was back.

- - - - - - -

For the second time Alex awoke, but this time in a different surrounding. She was in a white room, with white sheets, and of course a woman (you guessed it) dressed in white. Alex tried to move, to contact the woman and let her know she was in pain. To scream out! She wanted to kick and scream but she couldn't move. Alex tried to content herself with looking at her surroundings. It seemed as though the only things that weren't white were her clothes, sitting in one corner and Seth was standing in the other corner. ARE YOU OKAY? Seth asked, his voice filled with concern NO, I FEEL LIKE I'M GOING TO BARF, came Alex's answer. WELL THEN, I'LL JUST STAY BACK HERE IN THE CORNER.

HA-HA, VERY FUNNY, Alex snapped.

WELL, NOW THAT YOU'VE HAD YOUR FIRST MIND PROBING SESSION, IT WON'T FEEL SO BAD ANYMORE, SEE? and with that, Alex felt the probing feeling again, as if there was a needle in her mind, poking around at her thoughts. Only this time, it didn't hurt so badly. However, it hurt just enough for Alex to fight back. She knew it was Seth and that she didn't want to hurt him at all, but anger started to brew inside of her. Anger for being unknowledgeable about this whole ordeal anger at Perry, with his smug grim, angry at the pain she had felt even though she didn't know who caused it (Perry still being prime suspect number one), and she was angry at Seth not helping her in her times of need. So now, she was restricted to the bed and she couldn't even move! Alex concentrated her body and soul on getting that needle out of her head, and putting it back were it belonged. She was about to give up, when a sudden burst of energy surged through her. All of a sudden the needle was out of her head, and she couldn't feel it anymore… it was gone.

Then she felt it, she felt the presence of the needle just sitting there in the open, so she decided it must belong to Seth and tried to put it back in his head. She all of a sudden stared straight at Seth and the last thing she saw in her mind before she went whirling through Seth's thoughts was a white wall crumbling before her and the word STOP forming in her mind.

Then, WOOSH, Alex was inside Seth's thoughts. She could feel Seth trying to push her out of his mind, but Alex was stronger and she couldn't control herself. She didn't know how to stop the needle, and she started to panic, which only seemed to push the needle further into Seth's mind. Alex was whirled through Seth's memories. How he had found his Baby Blue orb when he was at the zoo, and how it had been tossed to him by a seal, swimming by. She saw his mother and father waving good-bye, about to drive off somewhere, then she saw something she didn't want to see and right then and there, Alex wished that she had never become a witch.

A/N: hope you enjoyed