CHAPTER ONE: MUNCHO-JUSTO, MEET THE RUSSOS

The one way street of Waverly Place was infested by Dark-faced monsters. Alex Russo, a wizard of the Russo family, held out her wand and chanted: "Dark creatures will be no more, cast them away - back to where they come before."

Sparks exploded from the tip of her wand and in a matter of minutes, the monsters disappeared in a flash of light. The street was free of monsters.

She let out a tired huff even though it didn't take much of her strength. "That was hard work," she sighed and fanned herself with her jacket.

The door behind her opened slightly and Jerry, Alex's dad, poked his head around the slight space.

"Are they gone?" he asked.

"Well, if they aren't, I ain't not fighting them again. It took alot outta me to drive them away."

Jerry opened the door wider and the rest of Alex's family and best friend, Harper, emerged. Jerry looked from left to right to make sure the street was safe.

"What were those things? They just kept coming," Theresa, Alex's mom, said. "If they come back, I'm not going to the family reunion. In fact, we'll isolate from the world until the end of time."

And then, as if to encourage her decision, a new monster popped out of nowhere in front of her. Theresa jumped and screamed. Alex reacted reflexively as she shot a beam of light over her head; it traveled as she wished and dropped down on the monster, vaporizing it.

More monsters appeared, and cornered the family. All of them screamed as they ran back in through the door, leaving Alex to deal with them alone. She was waving her wand in quick motions, ready to disperse of the dark creatures, when a sudden commotion erupted at the end of the street. Alex looked in that direction.

A young boy in a glowing golden outfit shot through the crowded street as he destroyed the creatures. In his hands were a pair of what looked like sword-sized keys. He swiped the weapons at the monsters, destroying them at touch. She was stunned by the sight of glowing hearts that emerged from where the monsters stood. At the further back, she saw a young brown-haired girl and two dog-headed beings coming through the street. She realized they didn't look familiar.

The boy reached her first. "Stay back," he ordered hastily and turned to the monsters on the other side of the street.

Alex saw it then. One of the weapons was floating in his hand. The others reached them a few seconds later.

She remembered what the boy's order, and decided against it. The four spread out to fight the monsters. Alex held out her wand and joined the fight. In a matter of minutes, the dark creatures were all destroyed.

"Are they gone?" Alex asked.

The boy nodded. His clothes flashed and changed from yellow to black. "Who are you?"

"I'm Sarox," he introduced himself and then introduced her to the others, including the little cricket on Marlene's shoulder.

The rest of her family emerged from the house.

"Did you see any other Heartless around here?" PJ asked.

Heartless. "Is that what those monsters were called?" her dad asked the question for her.

Max G nodded, and then asked, "How long have they been here?"

"Well, they weren't here before," harper answered, "I mean, I would've known if they were." Her eyes looked into air as she thought back. "I think they started appearing yesterday when I was trying to pick out a dress for the family reunion. Not that it's mine..."

"Harper!" Alex said sharply to stop her.

Her younger brother, Max, came around to Max G's side. "Dude, why are you holding a giant coin in your hand?" he asked.

max G scrunched his face. "What?"

Alex, Theresa, Jerry and Harper sighed and grunted. "Ignore him," Alex told them.

Jerry looked around the area as worry filled his face.

"Let's get inside before someone sees us," he said and waved at the door.

Once everyone found a comfy spot inside the Russo building, questions began to flood out of Jerry's mouth. He asked questions about Sarox's Keyblade and their magical abilities, because for some reason, he felt they weren't the same as those of wizards. The group answered as vaguely as possible to avoid giving away that they weren't of this world. Alex rested on the couch and channeled her focus to magazines and TV instead of listening to their heated discussion.

"We've gotten rid of the monsters, so what's there to discuss?"

Alex thought as she flipped through the channels. Theresa and Harper went to make dinner.

"ALEX!" a familiar male voice screamed behind the door. Then a different voice screamed.

Theresa went to open the door and Mason Greybeck and Zeke Beakerman, Alex's and Harper's boyfriends, respectively, came rushing in. Their faces were those of panic.

Mason gazed around the living room until he saw Alex, and rushed to her side and pulled her into his arms.

"Mason, are you okay?" she asked, partially confused.

He pulled back.

"Am I okay? Are you okay?" he said, and then turned his attention to the newcomers. "Who are they?"

Jerry intervened. "This is Sarox, that's Marlene, Max and PJ - they're all wizards. And the tiny grasshopper on the table here is Jiminy."

Jiminy eyed angrily at him. "I am not a grasshopper, I'm a cricket!" he corrected and released a frustrated huff. "I'm tired of people thinking I'm grasshopper. Or a bee. I mean, do I look like I have wings?"

Max shifted his glance to the cricket now. "Bee don't have wings, do they?"

Zeke eyed at them widely. "They're not with the monsters, are they?" he said matter-of-factly. "I just got chased three blocks by those things. I would really hate it if they're in this house, too."

The four looked at him with scrunched expressions as if they'd just been offended. Theresa came around the table to Zeke.

"No, they're not," she explained. "If anything, they fought the monsters. We were cornered a few hours ago, and Alex was the only one against the entire mob. Thankfully these wizards came in to help.

Mason smiled an appreciative smile and stepped forward to the four.

"Hi, I'm Mason," he said politely. "Alex's werewolf boyfriend. I would've gotten here to help Alex, but this guy -" He pointed at Zeke. "- kept me busy."

Jerry said a loud "O" as if something had occured to him. Alex was slightly afraid of what topic he was going to bring up.

"About those monsters, you called them Heartless?" Yep. That's the topic she hoped to avoid. Discussing it meant potential action, and all she wanted was to relax and enjoy the evening with some lame TV show where the host wound up falling on his face and losing his shirt.

Sarox nodded and explained. "They are beings that are born from the darkness in people's hearts. When a Heartless is created, it goes after other beings with hearts. That way they can spread the army and consume the world. We're on a journey to find the source, but we haven't found anything so far." He sighed.

Jerry's expression brightened as an idea struck him. "Hey, wait, I know. Why don't we ask Justin what he knows. Alex, call Justin."

She sighed. It was definitely what she hoped to avoid. Ask her geeky older brother Justin for help would give him the opportunity to make her look bad.

"Do I have to?" she asked.

Her dad stared at her.

"All right." She finally said, held out her wand and starting dialling the number.

No answer.

"Well, he'll be here tomorrow anyway. We can ask him then."

A sudden flash of light burst in the middle of the living room, and one second later, where the light flashed now stood a handsome young man. Really handsome.