Somewhere on a hill surrounded by vast forests lies Magic School. It's a majestic castle with immense towers and magnificent stained-glass windows, which serve as the building's most important light source. Here the next generation of magical creatures are being educated.
Early in the morning, children of all ages appear and make the hallways of the incredible castle brim over with life. The corridors are filled with enthusiastic youths and swiftly the building is swarmed by pupils that take classes at this magical institute.
The bell rings and all students enter their classrooms, but one little boy is too late and wanders around in the academy's endless, decorated hallways. In a panic, he tries to find his way.
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, where did I have to go again? Through here? He gazes through the window of a classroom. Nope, not here.
He continues to search through the high, vaulted, brick corridors packed with art, but doesn't realize he's being watched and followed. Still, he can't seem to shake a strange oppressing feeling. He looks around for a moment, but sees nor hears anyone and continues running again in search for his classroom. He should have minded his hunch, though.
Across the ceiling, a figure is creeping upside down on hands and feet. From the shadows its icy blue eyes glow like fog lamps on a cold Sunday morning. Its mutilated face lights up blue.
'Se naka hur,' the figure whispers.
Why on Earth does this school have so many hallways? the lost little boy grumbles. The creature with the icy blue eyes vaults down in a fluent movement and gracefully lands behind the boy. He finally notices that he's not alone and turns around. He sees the monster and screams:
'Aah!'
Growling, the creature attacks and with a gurgled cry, a large smear of blood gushes onto the wall. The blood spatters drip from it, as if the stones were weeping tears of blood.
At noon everyone's already sitting in the cafeterias of the Saint-Joseph's College, ready to eat, when Kelly, Nathalie, and Kim bolt through the park alley. They're hurrying towards the cafeteria, full speed ahead.
'I hate our Dutch teacher, him and his questions!' Kelly pants.
'Can't he let us go to the cafeteria in peace for once?' Nathalie snorts.
'Yeah. What's he asking from us anyway? Weirdo!' Kim puffs.
The girls are just running past the fairly small castle of the Saint Joseph's College when suddenly, a man appears from a swirling flurry of white sparkles. The tall, broadly shouldered, blond young man is wearing an elaborate, black gown like a lawyer. Though, the young 20-year-old is too attractive to be a lawyer and the smile on his face provides him with an air of innocence.
'Oh, another one of those freaks!' Nathalie points to the young man.
'Ah!' Kim immediately freezes him by stretching her hands.
'My turn!' Kelly squints her eyes and the 20-year-old blond flies back at least 16 feet and ends up in the mud. Kelly's throw nullified Kim's magic, though, and the man is able to move again.
He pushes himself up and faces the girls. He raises his hand and begs them to stop:
'No, please! You don't understand!'
'O yeah? Understand this. Car!' Nathalie points to a car that is parked in front of the castle, waves her arm, and moves the vehicle to the man in a surging sea of light. The car materializes and lands on top of him. The next moment, the young blond man has disappeared.
'We got him!' Kim cheers. Yet then the 20-year-old appears behind the girls panting and clad in clean clothes.
'Stop, please! I need your help!' he begs.
'Our help? For real?' Kelly asks suspiciously.
'Yes, I do,' he nods.
'Why? Who are you?' Nathalie asks.
'My name is Ivan. I'm a wizard and teacher at Magic School,' Ivan introduces himself. He regards them in a friendly way with his begging, brown puppy dog eyes.
'Ivan, eh? How do you know us? I mean, why come to us?' Kim asks.
'Something terrible has happened at Magic School. We need the Enchanted Ones' help!'
'And who are those?' Kelly asks.
'You of course!' he grins broadly, as if they just asked the stupidest question in the world.
'Wow, wow, wow, we've only had these weird abilities for a few weeks. We're definitely not the…' Nathalie has already forgotten the way he called them only a moment ago.
'Enchanted Ones. But you are! Come join me! I'll show you.'
'Do we trust him?' Kim turns to her friends.
'Well, he seems honest. We'll give it a go,' Kelly smiles charmingly at the handsome young man. Blond, handsome, in his twenties…this could be fun.
'Thank you, a thousand thanks! Come stand a little closer to me,' he gestures to himself.
'If you insist,' Nathalie mumbles, after which she, Kelly, and Kim go stand closer to the blond wizard. Next, the company disappears in a swirling flurry of white sparkles. These sparkles float into the air like a gentle whirlwind towards the majestic castle, Magic School.
From the swirling flurry of white sparkles, the four youths step into a gigantic entrance hall that can rival with the concourse of Antwerp-Central Station. The floor is checkered with shining, polished marble tiles, laid out in a wonderful mosaic of sandy yellow and Indian red. The walls, when not interrupted by red trusses, are covered by numerous antiques and paintings.
'What's this?' Kim asks.
'This is Magic School, the academy for magical children,' Ivan explains.
'Sort of like Hogwarts?', After a puzzled look from the teacher-wizard, Nathalie quickly realizes he's probably not a Potterhead like her, 'So, what's the emergency?'
'Follow me, but it doesn't look pretty.' Sounds promising, Kelly sighs internally. Ivan leads the girls from the grand entrance hall through a long corridor. There they witness a horrible scene.
The boy that was late this morning is lying on the cold floor, his arms and legs spread wide apart. His chest is ripped open and his clothes are smeared in blood. The wall that he lies underneath is plastered with dried blood. A group of people in black gowns just as Ivan's are gathered around the body.
'O my god!' Kim covers her mouth with her hands and casts her eyes aside.
'I told you it didn't look pretty,' Ivan reminds her.
'But not this horrific!'
'What happened here?' Nathalie asks.
'One of our pupils was found dead here this morning. His heart was torn out.' The poor kid, Kim mourns his life.
Then a peculiar man about fifty to sixty years old with peppery gray hair approaches the four. He wears a similar gown to Ivan's, but moves about the room with a dignified and confident posture that goes hand in hand with authority. He immediately addresses Ivan:
'Ah Ivan, I see you've found the Enchanted Ones!' Hmm, only three then? the older man wonders.
'Yes, they almost tried to kill me!' he chuckles.
'Really? That's unbecoming of such powerful witches.'
'We're still here, you know! And who might you be?' Kelly asks. There's something about the man that doesn't sit right with her.
'I'm Costabor, headmaster of Magic School,' he bows before them, his arms wide open.
'Then another thing, why do you keep calling us "the Enchanted Ones"?' Nathalie asks.
'Don't you know? Ivan, haven't you explained it to them?'
'No, but I was planning to in a minute,' he mutters to the headmaster.
'If you have something to share with us, do tell! We're all ears,' Kim crosses her arms in front of her chest.
'Very well, follow me to my office.' Ivan walks through a couple of halls and leads the girls into a small office.
Ivan's small office isn't that big of a deal. It's merely your typical dank cubicle with a desk as the most prominent furniture, flanked by a soft, green armchair for its owner and three antique chairs opposite the desk. The desktop is tidy and organized and a large calendar hangs on the wall behind the desk. Oddly enough, there's no personal touch to be found anywhere.
When the girls have entered the office, Ivan seats himself in the soft, green armchair while they awkwardly remain standing up. He offers them the three antique chairs opposite him.
'You better sit down, because what I have to tell you will come as quite a shock.'
The girls sit down and make themselves comfortable on the antique chairs. As soon as he has their attention, Ivan starts to explain:
'You are the Enchanted Ones. It is said that they will become the most powerful witches of all time and that their – your – powers will gradually develop. After what I've seen from you guys, you obviously know that you have certain powers.'
'That's right. It happened after Kim's sixteenth birthday,' Nathalie recalls.
'Yes, but that's not everything,' he breathes in deeply and then continues with a sigh, 'You're sisters.'
'Sisters?' the three girls repeat simultaneously. Baffled, the three stare at him indignantly.
'Actually half-sisters; you have the same father.'
'That can't be! We all have different fathers.'
Kim doesn't buy it for a second. There was something inexplicable about this whole situation, something that verged on the edge of superstition and hysteria. She's so close to her father. It can't be that the man whom I've called "dad" my whole life is suddenly just a stranger; the husband of my mother, but not my father.
'The men you've considered as your fathers are not your real father. Your biological father is Koen Hellfire, a very powerful and respected wizard.'
'And where might our "father" be?' Kelly snorts. She could care less. The man whom her mother had said had conceived her was already married at the time. He had drunkenly slept with her mother when his wife had been at the hospital. He was a disappointment and hadn't so much as looked at her in her entire life. Nothing changes for her.
'Unfortunately, your father has died recently, just before you came into your powers.'
'Great, we discover that our fathers are not our fathers, but some wizard, and then it turns out he's dead too!' Kim chuckles gloomily. Tears are starting to well up in her eyes.
'How can he be our father, because my mother and Kim's were married at the time and still are?' Nathalie asks.
'And they definitely didn't have an affair!' Kim adds furiously. Unlike Kelly's father…
'That's very complicated to explain…' Ivan tries to buy some time to avoid being torn to shreds by the teenage girls, who are now emotionally confused.
'Try us.'
'Your father chose your mothers and slept with them. To ensure that your mothers would definitely get pregnant, he cast a fertility spell.'
'Our mothers would never sleep with a stranger!' Nathalie snaps. My mother would never lower herself to such a thing. The nerve of this poindexter!
'As a wizard, he had an ability that allowed him to take any shape or form, even the appearance of your "presumed" fathers. Your mothers would never have noticed.'
'Why didn't he just get married and have children that way? Why did he do it this way?' Kelly asks.
'Your father was getting a bit older and knew that no woman would even consider starting a family with him. He also didn't have the time to work on his private life, so he came up with this plan and executed it. Nine months after conception, you guys came into the world.'
'This comes as such a shock. I need a minute,' Kim mumbles single-mindedly.
Outside of the office, Costabor, headmaster of Magic School, is eavesdropping. Carefully, he tries to take a look through the small window in the door to Ivan's office. Blasted! How could he have found them? I pray he doesn't lead them to the Enchanted Book, the peculiar wizard thinks.
'After he died, your father did leave you a couple things,' Ivan cautiously mentions.
'Really? Did he know we existed?' Nathalie asks cynically.
'Of course, he certainly knew you existed. He left you his house and everything in it.'
'A house? Are you serious?' Kelly asks baffled. At least something good about the man. It would be a vast improvement from her apartment in the less fortunate neighborhoods of Antwerp.
'Yes, I can take you there if you like.' No, then they will soon find the Enchanted Book! Costabor fears the worst outside in the hall.
'Shall we?' Ivan asks.
'It's not like we have much of a choice,' Kim sighs. In a swirling flurry of white sparkles, Ivan disappears with the girls. Costabor curses the four internally. Why did that naïve kid have to go and find Koen Hellfire's daughters? Oh well, at least my master's plan to lure the Enchanted Ones worked. Now all we have to do is get our hands on the Enchanted Book…
Ivan takes Kelly, Nathalie, and Kim to the entryway of a rustic belle époque house in Zurenborg. This late-nineteenth-century neighborhood was raised by the rich Antwerp bourgeoisie, which wanted to separate itself from the common folk and which turned Zurenborg into one of the most architecturally magnificent Antwerp neighborhoods thanks to its enormous wealth. Just like at Magic School, you can just feel the class and grandeur invading your senses in the richly decorated entryway of the pearly white house.
'M'kay, pretty well-decorated.' Nathalie doesn't appear to be impressed by the belle époque house, but deep inside she's blown away by her inheritance. Our father lived here?
'We left everything the way it was when he died,' Ivan reassures them. It would have been a disgrace to remove the many pieces of antique furniture. Besides, it would have sullied Koen Hellfire's memory.
'How did he actually die? Our father, I mean?' Kelly asks, a little bit curious after all.
'He passed away peacefully in his sleep,' Ivan bites his lip as if he's hiding something important, but the three girls are too overwhelmed by the gorgeous interior to notice.
'What's going to happen to this place?' Nathalie asks.
'In your father's will, it said that you could live here for as long as you want.'
'And how does he think we'll be able to afford that?' Kim purses her lips. I can imagine that an old house like this involves considerable costs.
'He used all his money to pay all the bills for the coming five years. You won't have to spend a dime any time soon.'
'He sure planned ahead,' Kelly mumbles. Even though he left us an entire house, it's still no excuse for what he did.
'Before I forget, there's an incredibly powerful book in the attic.'
'A book?' Nathalie curiously turns to the blond teacher-wizard.
'Not just any book: the Enchanted Book! You could compare it to an encyclopedia of nearly all magical creatures. By the way, your powers are directly linked to it.'
'I wouldn't mind seeing that book,' Kim nods. Maybe it holds something that could solve this entire mess or make it all disappear?
'Go on up to the attic; that's where it is. Up the stairs, to the end of the hallway and up the next flight of stairs.'
The curiosity is killing the girls and the three of them run up the stairs that start at the end of the entryway. Those stairs then curve left, up towards the second floor. There the girls turn left, bolt through the hallway, and climb the last flight of stairs.
All the way at the top of the stairs, a thick, dusty, wooden door awaits them. The girls can't put their finger on it, but there's something mystical and powerful emanating from that simple, wooden door. The colossus suddenly swings open and lets them have a look at the large, spacious, dusty attic filled with cardboard boxes.
Dead center of the room lies an enormous, round, charcoal-colored, plush carpet wherein an orange pentagram has been embroidered. On the left side of the attic stands a small coffee table near an old, musky couch. Behind the pentagram carpet, which is bordered by an edge of Berber carpet, a thick, slate blue book lies all alone on its stand in front of a large red, dull yellow, and green stained-glass window.
Hand in hand, Kelly, Kim, and Nathalie walk into the attic, across the pentagram rug, up to the book stand. Cautiously, they shuffle past the stained-glass window, so they're directly facing the book. The mystic power they felt from behind the door seems to be coming from this book, the Enchanted Book. It's as if it's calling to them.
The Enchanted Book is a large, thick book with a hard, dark slate blue cover. On the cover, there's a pentacle the color of honeydew melon. The figure's five points barely touch the silver circle around it and are slightly darker than the rest of the pentacle, more grayish green. Angular, green flowers that fan out in purple tendrils are depicted in the planes between the sides of the pentagram.
In each corner of the cover, there's a woven, honeydew melon-colored flower (so four total) in a small circle, which is connected to the pentacle's larger circle. This silver circle is engraved with strange runes. Springy, dark slate blue lines fill in the remaining space of the cover.
'Wow, that's a big book!' Nathalie whistles out of amazement before she blows the dust from the book cover.
'Look, there's a pentagram on the cover!' Kelly fingers the lavishly decorated figure.
'No, that's a pentacle,' Ivan corrects her. The girls look up from their magic inheritance and to their surprise see the 20-year-old blond step into the attic. 'While the pentagram symbolizes the five metaphysical elements, the pentacle represents eternity, totality, and unity, like your close friendship and your bond to the Enchanted Book. It's a very useful book, but since it's so powerful, many try to get their hands on it.'
'Is it really that powerful?' Kim asks.
'Yes, it holds a great deal of spells and contains many secrets that can only be found in your book. Luckily, evil is unable to touch it.'
'How do you mean?' Nathalie asks confused.
'I honestly don't know myself. I'm only passing on what I've been told.'
'You said you needed our help, right?' Kelly, who has made a decision, asks.
'I did.'
'Well, I think we may help you after all.'
'Really? You're serious?' the teacher-wizard grins broadly.
'Yes,' Nathalie, who's also convinced about their calling, nods, 'we'll help you.'
'Do you actually have any idea who attacked that boy?' Kim asks.
'No, some kind of beast. That's why we're asking you for help.'
'Tonight we'll patrol the halls of your school,' Kelly decides.
'If there's a beast hiding there, we'll find it,' Nathalie assures the young wizard.
'Thanks a million, Enchanted Ones!' Ivan warmly hugs the three while they awkwardly give him a pat on the back.
In the middle of the night, Magic School is completely deserted. Only Kelly, Nathalie, and Kim are strolling through the castle's halls. They're discussing their tactics in the large entrance hall, the intersection of four corridors.
'So the plan's clear?' Kelly asks once more to be sure.
'Yeah, if we see or hear anything suspicious, we radio each other using the walkie-talkies and go to each other,' Kim repeats the plan. The two other girls nod affirmatively, after which they each go their own way. Nathalie is going to cover the western corridor, Kelly the northern one, and Kim the eastern one. After a while, they're already deep into the school's maze of halls, but they haven't found the creature yet.
'Still no trace here. Over!' Kim reports through the walkie-talkie.
'Nothing here too. Over!' Nathalie reports in turn.
'Ditto. Not a…', suddenly Kelly hears something, 'Okay, there is something here after all. Over!'
From the high, vaulted ceiling, glowing, icy blue eyes look on and follow Kelly's movements closely. The scary deserted corridor gives Kelly the creeps.
'Kelly, calm down! Where are you? Over!' Kim asks. The ginger-haired girl looks at the door she's standing in front of.
'Room 154. Over!'
'Stay where you are! I'll be right there. Over and out!' Nathalie says. All of a sudden, she orbs to Kelly and appears next to her in a shining sea of small, powder blue light orbs. Kelly is startled by her sudden appearance.
'Aah! Don't ever do that again!' she shouts aghast.
'Relax, sis!' Nathalie teases her.
'I'll be there too in a few minutes. Don't move; I'll be right there! Over and out!' Kim reports.
'Okay, let's just stand here and then nothing will happen to us,' Kelly bites her lip out of fear and nervously taps the heel of her shoe on the marble floor. Then the following rings through the corridor:
'Putes ni ak.'
'What was that?' Nathalie asks frightened.
'I don't know and I don't want to know,' Kelly growls, angry and afraid.
The beast with the mutilated face and the icy blue eyes continues climbing across the ceiling towards the two girls and vaults down. It lands softly behind them and raises itself up with a devilish grin on its mutilated face, lit up by its eyes that burn like small, icy blue pilot lights.
'Pira he,' it snickers.
'Don't tell me the thing, whatever it is, is standing behind us,' Nathalie squeals in terror. The two young witches turn around and jump out of their skin:
'Aah!'
'Rhaa!' the beast roars while spreading its long claws.
'Do something!' Nathalie yells. Kelly squints her eyes and the creature flies against the wall next to them.
'What now?'
'Run?'
'Run!'
They bolt off as fast as possible, but the beast is back on its feet. It's also much faster and quickly catches up with them.
'Pira he!'
It wants to slash at them with its long claws, but Nathalie points to a painting on the wall and moves it towards the beast in a beam of small, surging, powder blue light orbs. When the piece of art takes back its original form, the frame snaps to pieces and the creature's head tears the canvas to smithereens. Because of the blow, the beast hits the floor hard.
'Oh, where's Kim?' Kelly heaves. The creature gets back up again and lunges towards them with the predatory elegance of a jaguar.
'Aah!' Nathalie and Kelly scream, but right then Kim arrives. She comes hurrying from a corridor to their right.
'Oh no, you won't!' she stretches her hands, which freezes the beast. It hangs motionlessly in the air, a murderous grimace on its mutilated face. Overjoyed, Kelly and Nathalie run to their friend (and sister).
'Is this the killer?' she asks.
'No idea and I don't want to find out either,' Kelly pants. At that moment, the beast moves again. It completes its jump and lands flat on its face on the marble floor. It staggers to its feet again and whirls around to the three sisters.
'Rrrr!' it growls.
'I hate it already. Knight!' Nathalie points to the stone statue of a knight behind and to the side of the creature. She waves her arm and orbs the statue to right behind the creature in a beam of small, powder blue light orbs. Next, Kelly squints her eyes. The beast flies backwards and gets impaled by the stone knight's sword.
'Aah!' the creature shrieks.
'That'll teach it,' Kim nods approvingly. Yet the beast pushes itself off of the stone statue and its gaping wound heals all on its own. 'How's that possible?' Kim panics.
'It must be able to regenerate itself,' Kelly guesses. The creature prepares to attack them again.
'We're out! Home!' Nathalie grabs her friends by their hands and orbs away with them in a powder blue beam of small, surging light orbs. So, the beast only delivers a blow to thin air.
The three young witches, on the other hand, end up at their biological father's place. Nathalie orbed them right into the entryway.
'Phiew, am I glad to be out of there!' Kelly sighs, relieved.
Nathalie looks about. 'This isn't the home I meant, but it'll do. For now.'
'Where are the bedrooms actually?'
While the others stayed in the entryway, Kim snuck up to the second floor. There she halts in front of the first door she comes across. She opens it and sees a large canopy bed in the middle of a mostly empty room.
'The bedrooms are upstairs!' she shouts to the first floor. Nathalie and Kelly run upstairs and enter the room Kim's standing in.
'Wow, what a huge bed,' Nathalie admires the canopy bed.
Kim yawns. 'I'm so tired. I don't care anymore where I go to sleep.'
'Let's all just sleep in this room. The bed's big enough anyway,' Kelly proposes.
'Yeah, let's. I'm way too scared now anyway to sleep alone,' Nathalie shudders at the memory alone. Almost getting my throat slit by a demonic beast is not high up on my list of priorities.
The three girls get ready for the night as they put on some night gowns they found in a walk-in closet. Together they lie down underneath the thick, soft sheets in the large canopy bed.
'Sleep tight, little sisters!' Kelly chuckles. I still can't believe my best friends are my half-sisters.
'So weird. Up until today I was an only child and now I have two sisters. Sleep tight!' Kim yawns.
'You'll get used to it,' Nathalie mumbles, already halfway to dreamland. Her half-sisters aren't that new of an experience to her. By both her parents (even the father who isn't really her father) she each has half-brothers from a previous marriage. She didn't even know her third half-brother existed, until she was invited to his wedding at the age of eleven.
While the three Enchanted sisters are falling asleep, someone else…something else is very busy. Deep in the bowls of Magic School, the creature with the mutilated face and the glowing, icy blue eyes is working on some sort of ritual. The beast squats near a bloody, torn out heart.
'Hoe na seka re!' it sprinkles some powder over the "stolen" heart. 'Ghi ha ler.'
It picks up the heart and holds it in front of its chest. The heart starts to hover and slowly slides to the creature's chest. When the heart touches its chest, its skin folds over it and the heart sinks deeper into its body until it's absorbed and has disappeared completely.
Suddenly, Costabor appears. 'Do you really need to do those things?' he turns up his nose at the ritual.
'Zoe! Ab mai re kloef eng res re bunt,' the beast explains in its strange language.
'Yes, yes, I know. If you don't steal a heart, yours rots away completely and you die. Anyhow, you wouldn't happen to have run into a couple of girls tonight?'
'Zoe! Ilr mai kloef,' it weeps.
'Did they hurt you? Well, get a grip! You're able to heal your own wounds, so why are you blubbering?'
'Ilr seck un ferls ing mai re.'
'They impaled you with a stone sword? Then you should've killed them!'
'Ilr zun putes.'
'So? They're witches, alright. That never stopped you from killing them before.'
'Ilr haks ber. Ilr zun berst!' the beast spits on the ground.
'They? Powerful? They're new to the craft! You'll kill them in no time.'
'Zoe. Meh oel zun mai yel?'
'You want another victim? Here!' Costabor waves his arm and a short, innocent girl of at most 12 years old suddenly appears from the floor.
'Mister Costabor, why did I have to meet you here?' she asks, unfazed. She has no idea what she has got coming. Kids these days are so naïve, Costabor sighs.
'Have fun!' the headmaster chuckles, after which he disappears in a twirling flurry of white sparkles. The beast stands up and attacks the girl. She shrieks when it shreds her to pieces:
'Aaaaaah!'
It immediately slits her throat with its long claws. She bleeds to death and drops to the cold, marble surface.
The morning after, Kelly, Nathalie, and Kim peacefully wake up in their father's canopy bed in his house. Yawning, Kim stretches her arms.
'I had the weirdest dream. We were wandering through the halls of some castle and suddenly, we were attacked by a beast.'
'That was last night and a true story,' Kelly says sleepily.
'Oh, awful,' Kim hangs her head. The three girls get dressed and then walk down the stairs to the first floor. At this moment, Ivan teleports into the entryway in a twirling flurry of white sparkles.
'Another pupil was attacked last night,' he reports with a deadpan expression.
'What? No, we stayed there until the middle of the night and we ran into that beast. It wouldn't have felt up to attacking anyone anymore after dealing with us,' Kelly assures him of their efforts.
'Well, a girl was still attacked and killed.'
'Really? Hold on, we'll come with you.'
Shortly after, Ivan has brought the three sisters to the place in Magic School where the creature attacked the girl. Further down the hall, they see her bloody and torn up body.
'Oh God, no!' Kim lifts a fist to her mouth to counter her queasiness.
'Who would do such a thing?' Nathalie asks, appalled.
'That's why we asked you for help. You saw it last night, didn't you?' Ivan asks.
'Yeah, it had icy blue eyes, a mutilated face, and very long claws,' Kelly describes the creature.
'Ring any bells?' Nathalie asks.
'There's nothing that really springs to mind, but…'
'Her heart seems to be ripped out too,' Kim notices. 'Why would anyone do that?'
'I don't know,' the blond wizard shrugs. 'Maybe to eat it? Can't you guys look this up in the Enchanted Book?'
'Oh yeah, that's a possibility,' Nathalie smiles.
'Well, then we need to head back home,' Kelly says.
'To the attic!' Kim spurs Nathalie on. The latter takes the brunette and Kelly by the hand and orbs them to the attic of their father's house in a beam of small, powder blue light orbs. Costabor, who also stood by the girl's body, suddenly creeps up to Ivan.
'Do the Enchanted Ones know who did it?' he asks curiously.
'No, but they went to look it up in the Enchanted Book. It won't be much longer now.'
Unsuspectingly, Ivan heads to his office while Costabor gets cracking. Cursed, now I'll never be able to get my hands on the Enchanted Book! Okay, calm down, Costabor. Everything might not be lost after all.
In the attic of their father's house, the three young sister witches are standing behind the Enchanted Book's book stand. They've opened up the big book of spells and are flipping pages in search of the creature. Kim flips a certain page of the Enchanted Book.
'What a coincidence! If that isn't our old friend!'
'What? What do you see?' Kelly asks.
'Look for yourself!' Kim points to the page. A clear drawing of a man with a pentagram tattoo is visible on the yellowed sheet of paper.
'Well, I'll be damned: the Wiccatin!' Nathalie chuckles. She flips another few pages in the big book, 'Vampire, werewolf, UFO, Paramecium…'
'There! Icy blue eyes!' Kim points to a page with another characteristic illustration.
'What does it say?' Kelly asks.
'According to this book, we're dealing with a Warlock, also known as Evil Wizard. Before it changed into a demon, a Warlock was a regular wizard, but since it made a pact with the Devil, it changed into a beast with icy blue eyes, a mutilated face, and long, nasty claws.'
'Yup, that sounds like our guy,' Nathalie nods affirmatively.
'What else does it say?' Kelly asks.
'Because of the fact that a Warlock made a pact with the Devil, the Warlock is a malevolent demon. It's so evil its wickedness causes its heart to rot away. That's why it kills its victims and cuts out their heart.'
'If it hadn't made a pact with the Devil in the first place, it wouldn't have had that problem,' Nathalie remarks coolly.
'To ensure that it can absorb the heart, it performs a ritual that it needs to repeat every night because every day its heart rots away. So, it also needs to steal a different heart every day.'
'Does it also say anything on how to take out a Warlock?' Kelly asks.
'Yeah, there's some kind of vanquishing spell. I'll read it to you:
To defeat the Warlock, you have to cast this spell,
or it will drag you straight to hell.'
'We just have to say this spell and it's gone?'
'Apparently yes.'
'Does this mean we have to wander around those castle halls again tonight?' Nathalie pouts. One night in that scary castle was bad enough.
'I don't think we have much of a choice,' Kelly says.
'So much for my dinner plans,' Kim sighs.
Late at night, Kim, Nathalie, and Kelly are patrolling the corridors of Magic School together. In the meantime, they keep their eyes wide open and pay attention to strange noises.
'Great idea for us to stick together, Kim,' Nathalie compliments her.
'Oh well, if we're attacked, it's better if we're with the three of us.'
'Yeah, we already struggled so much last time,' Kelly chuckles. The girls laugh and start to drag up stories to lighten the tension, which only causes more laughter. The Warlock, on the other hand, is performing another absorption ritual when it hears the Enchanted Ones laughing.
'Putes zun ei,' it smirks, its icy blue eyes glowing brightly. It crawls onto the walls and localizes the witches by tracking down their laughter.
'Hé, do you remember that one time when Teun fell on his ass during that climb?' Kim chuckles.
'Oh yeah, his pants looked totally brown! Everyone thought he'd crapped his pants,' Nathalie roars with laughter.
'And then Mrs. Hofwegen told him he had nothing to be ashamed of! "Accidents happen," she said,' Kelly laughs.
'Hahaha!' the Warlock joins in from the ceiling above the girls.
'Did you guys hear that too?' Kelly stiffens. Suddenly, the Warlock lunges towards them from the ceiling.
'There!' Kim stretches her hands, freezing the creature. It stays suspended in the air right above their heads.
'Let's just move away a bit,' Nathalie suggests. They reposition themselves a couple of feet and then Kim's magic runs out. The Warlock continues lunging and it smacks its face right against a wall.
'Ou-ouch!' it blubbers.
'Ha, serves you right! Spear!' Nathalie points to a spear on a wall and waves her arm towards the Warlock. The spear lights up powder blue, splits into small, shining and surging light orbs, and flies to the creature in a powder blue stream. When the elongated weapon sticks together again, it pierces through the demon. Next, Nathalie braces herself to cast the spell.
'I hope this spell works.
To defeat the Warlock, you have to cast this spell,
or it will drag you straight to hell.'
'Aah!' The Warlock's arms catch fire, but quickly die down again.
'It's not working!' Nathalie panics.
'Let me try!', Kim freezes the demon once again with her hands stretched and casts the spell,
'To defeat the Warlock, you have to cast this spell,
or it will drag you straight to hell.'
'Rhaa!' Now its torso catches fire, but that dies down as well. Next, the creature pulls the spear from its body and furiously lunges at the girls.
'In your dreams!', Kelly squints her eyes and the Warlock flies back against the wall, 'I'll show you guys how it's done.
To defeat the Warlock, you have to cast this spell,
or it will drag you straight to hell.'
'Aah!' This time only its legs catch fire, but again they die down. Because of the cruel torture, which is nothing more than trial-and-error in the young witches' minds, the beast is boiling with rage. 'Rhaaa!'
'Oh, shut up!' Kim freezes it again by stretching both her hands.
'It catches fire every time, but never all the way. What now?' Nathalie asks.
'What if all three of us cast the spell simultaneously?'
'Arms, torso, and legs, that should do it,' Kelly nods.
'Brace yourselves!' Kim warns them as she stretches her hands again whilst making little circles in the air. This allows the Warlock to move again. At once, the sisters cast the spell with the three of them:
'To defeat the Warlock, you have to cast this spell,
or it will drag you straight to hell.'
Now the Warlock catches fire completely, but it's partially dying down again. 'It's still not working!' Nathalie shouts.
'I think we need to keep repeating it,' Kim offers. The two other girls nod and the three of them grab each other's hands to draw strength from one another. Together they repeat the spell:
'To defeat the Warlock, you have to cast this spell,
or it will drag you straight to hell.
To defeat the Warlock, you have to cast this spell,
or it will drag you straight to hell.
To defeat the Warlock, you have to cast this spell…'
The Warlock catches fire again completely and keeps burning this time around. The fire flares up massively while the demon's screams intensify, until the creature suddenly explodes and disappears, flame and all.
'We did it!' Kelly cheers.
'Awesome,' Nathalie grins.
'Can we finally go home now? I don't want to stay here another minute,' Kim folds her arms across her chest. This place just gives me the creeps.
The next morning, Nathalie, Kelly, and Kim orb back to Magic School. They appear in Ivan's office.
'So, Enchanted Ones, did it work?' the young teacher-wizard asks.
'Ivan, please stop calling us the Enchanted Ones,' Kelly rolls her eyes. As far as I'm concerned, this blond hunk can address me by my name. Who knows what else?
'How would you like me to call you then?'
'Simply call us by our names,' Nathalie nods smiling.
'It's a bit weird to continuously be called the Enchanted Ones,' Kim winks. That's a title I'm not yet ready for. And that I won't get used to so quickly either.
'Fine, but did it work? Is the beast gone?' the 20-year-old magician presses on.
'Yes, the Warlock that attacked the pupils is gone,' Kelly confirms.
'Kaboom, poof!' Nathalie adds nodding. Then Costabor enters Ivan's office. He's surprised to see the three young witches, alive and well.
'Well Enchanted Ones, you look unscathed. Were you able to defeat the creature?' he asks. After all, he hasn't heard from his accomplice since last night.
'Yup, it's gone and won't be bothering you again,' Nathalie nods yet again.
'Ah, that's good. I'll be off then.' I seem to have underestimated them. Perhaps there is some truth to that prophecy? Without further dawdling, Costabor scurries from the office again.
'Is he always this weird?' Kelly raises an eyebrow. Maybe all these wizards have that in common?
'He has his moments, but I can't thank you enough for all your help,' Ivan thanks them.
'It was nothing. We'd do it again in a heartbeat,' Nathalie smiles.
'Now that you mention it, we have had this problem for a while…'
'You just had to go and say that,' Kim mutters. She glares at Nathalie, who in turn shrugs out of remorse.
'You know, Ivan, we were thinking of moving our stuff into our father's house,' Kelly says. It's a waste to let a gorgeous house like that stay vacant.
'Really? You want to live in his house?' Ivan grins broadly.
'It's not so much that we want to live in his house, but that we'd like a place for ourselves as sisters. You understand?' Nathalie winks.
'You know, your father would've been so proud of you guys.'
'Isn't every father?' Kim giggles.
'If you want, I could help you move your stuff.'
'Oh, that won't be necessary, Ivan. We can handle it perfectly by ourselves. Thanks anyway,' Nathalie thanks him for the offer.
'Good. I'll see you around then.'
'Of course, you can always come by our place,' Kelly smiles charmingly, briefly flashing her braces. Perhaps you can even stay the night.
The four of them say goodbye and Nathalie orbs home with her two sisters in a twinkling sea of small, powder blue light orbs. Those are really some special girls, Ivan thinks.
