Chapter 1
"This is way to early," yawned Taylor "We don't have to be at school until noon!"
"I know, but my dad has to go to work early!" replied Rachel in a whisper.
Staying up until two a.m. was not unusual for the girls, but getting up only five hours later was.
"Girls, we leave in five!" called Rachel's dad.
Rachel and Taylor have known each other for about a year, and already they are best friends, Who would've thought that at fourteen years old, you could find a life-long fiend? These girls have sleep overs all the time, this time they were at Rachel's. Rachel's house was beautiful; mahogany floors, clear (and completely streak-free) glass, a blue pool in the backyard, everything was amazing, especially with the sun pouring through the back window onto the kitchen table.
"Okay finish up, I'll meet you in the car."
"K, Dad," replied Rachel. "Hurry up and eat!"
"Fine I'm done." Taylor said.
As they headed out the door, Taylor couldn't help the funny feeling she had.
"You sure we're not forgetting anything?" she asked Rachel.
"No, we went through this. Chips, pop, dance clothes and books to keep us busy." replied Rachel.
"Okay." But the feeling wouldn't go away. As the van pulled out of the driveway, Taylor started to calm herself down.
Everything will be okay. Calm down, just go to dance practice and work it off. You're good, you will be fine.
Going down the road, a catchy song was playing on the radio and the girls were laughing and singing along. Coming up to a bridge Taylor suddenly had a surge of pain in her stomach. Just as Rachel was asking her what was wrong, they heard a crack and a scream, and suddenly it was black. They were falling. How far, who knows.
What happened? Am I dead? No, no don't be crazy. You can't be dead. Where's Rachel, why isn't she here? Oh no, I'm dead, I'm dead.
A scream awoke Taylor from her nightmare, only to find on much worse.
"Taylor? Taylor? Oh no, please no. Taylor?" cried Rachel.
"Rachel?" the sound that came out didn't sound like her voice, it sounded weak, unlike her usual strong, always solid voice.
"Oh my God! Are you okay?"
"Yeah, Rachel? How long was I out?"
"Umm, about, I guess, two minutes. It felt like two hours though."
"What happened?"
"It's the bridge, the bridge collapsed!"
"How can a bride just collapse?"
"I don't know, but Taylor, my dad, he hit his head and his arm is broken."
As she looked out the window, Taylor could see, the bridge had definitely collapsed. Cars were everywhere, people were calling for help. Taylor realized she had to do something.
"Okay Rachel, I'm coming to the front, just stay there." Taylor said.
As she did, Rachel gasped.
"Taylor! You have a cut on your head! You're bleeding!" cried Rachel
"Don't worry about it, it's not bad," said Taylor touching the point Rachel had pointed at, "Mr. Mackenzie, are you okay, can you hear me?"
A grunt is what they heard in response.
"I'm going to get out of the car and try to find help, stay here, with your dad."
"No, I'm not letting you leave alone. I'm coming. Dad?" Another grunt. " Dad, we are going to help, we won't go more than four feet, I promise. We are just going to call for help. We'll be right outside."
As Rachel and Taylor got out of the van, what they saw scared them.
"It's like a bomb went off." said Rachel.
The dust was still settling, and as it sis the reality of what was happening started to set in. They weren't the only ones hurt, others were crying out for help, no one could walk around, there was too much debris lying on the ground.
"What could have done this?" asked Taylor.
"Crap, there is no service, we can't call 9-1-1." said a distressed Rachel.
"Don't worry, someone must have called already" comforted Taylor.
As Taylor watched and listened to the people around her, she knew something must be done.
"We have to–" she started, something had hit her leg, "What was that?" looking down, she saw a stick
Where did that come from, there are no trees around.
The she realized, this wasn't an ordinary stick, it's perfectly straight, and it has almost a varnished look to it. As she picked it up, she felt weird about it, the same feeling she had had earlier.
This day can't get any weirder.
That's when she heard a piercing laugh. Looking over to where the sound came from, she saw something that startled her. A man in a black cape and a mask was pointing a stick, just like the one Taylor was holding, at a petrified looking man. Instinctively, the hand holding her stick pointed at the man in the cape and she suddenly yelled,
"Expelleramus!"
The man's stick was flown from his hand. Rachel gasped and just as the man turned around to see who did this, Taylor and Rachel ducked behind the van.
"Rachel, did you–" asked Taylor.
"Yea, I saw, what was–"
"I dunno."
"How did, what just?"
