I don't own ADJL. I don't own the book I reference throughout this chapter (see if you catch it! It's sort of obvious...but only if you've read it, or seen the movie.)

I also have recently seen several stories with similar aspects on this site. I'm sorry I 'stole' an idea of yours, but I promise you it was unintentional. *update: yeah mess up in Lamos' line "my name is arthur arthur arthur" has been fixed.


Arthur Spudinski walked in the front door and slid his backpack off his shoulder. Striding into the kitchen, he grabbed a bag of corn chips and headed straight for his playstation. He'd had a long day, and was ready to blow off some Rotwood steam on Nazi zombies.

"Arthur? Are you home?" his mom shouted from the other room.

"Mother, I'm busy!" he yelled, gaining several colorful comments from the people on the other side of his game.

"There's someone here to see you!"

Taking care to move his headset out of the way this time, he shouted back "Tell 'em to wait. I'm in the middle of the game!"

"ARTHUR!" Spud flinched, dropped his controller, and was shot to pieces. Frustrated, he stormed into the other room.

"What do you want? You got me killed!"

His mother opened her mouth to protest, but before she got the chance, the man in the corner who Spud had been to furious to notice before spoke up. "Arthur P. Spudinski, Arthur Arthur Arthur..." he went on, repeating his name.

"Um...you can call me Spud...if you want."

"Spud. Have you ever noticed something strange happening around you? Ever just get really lucky? Have a day where everything just goes your way?"

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No, Spud-"

Spud began rambling like an idiot. "Cuz that twenty I found on the street-"

"Spud-"

"It had been there for weeks! No one would-" His voice grew higher and higher as he spoke.

"SPUD! Let the man speak!" his mother finally interjected.

"Thank you, Mrs. Spudinski. What I was trying to tell you is that you're a wizard."

Spud looked back to his game. "Well I am pretty good...but I wouldn't call myself a wizard per se. More like...a virtuoso. Or a-"

"Spud! Just, listen. You're a wizard, Spudy."

He looked him over from head to toe. "What you just said there...you reminded me of someone. You know what this scene is missing? A fat kid with a tail and a thunderstorm. Oh, and you need an umbrella...and a beard. A big bushy one. What did you say your name was?"

"I didn't say."

"Well what is it then?"

"David Lamos."

"Well hello there David"

"Call me Mr. Lamos."

"Well Mr. Lumos, if you don't mind, I'll be getting back to my game. Can't keep 'em waiting too long. After all..." he started for the door, and then looked back over his shoulder with a smirk on his face. "I am a wizard."

"No, Spud." Lamos grabbed him by the shoulder. "You're not understanding. You...are a wizard." He reached inside his coat and pulled out a long, slender black object...A stick? "It's been calling you. For years now. But the wizard council was afraid you weren't ready. Some argued...that you never would."

Spud hesitantly reached for the "stick". "What is this?"

"It is a-sorry, your wand."

Spud was speechless. Finally understanding, he took the wand-his wand, rolling it around in his fingers gently, looking over each and every inch. He gave it a swish, watching the colorful sparks fly from the tip. "It's true...I'm a wizard." Then he gave Mr. Lamos a very strange look and said "shouldn't you be carrying a cake?"


Haley skipped into Canal Street Electronics, pumped, and ready for training. As she opened the door, a small child hopped off the couch and ran over to her, jumping up and down with excitement. "Is this her? Is this her? Is this her?"

Sun laughed. "Yes Meagan, that is Haley." Meagan cheered some more.

"Sun," Haley started, "what exactly is going on?" She pried the kid off of her leg, grabbed a soda from the mini-fridge, and headed for the couch.

"Haley, this is Meagan Green. She is your new student."

"St-st-st-tudent?" Haley sputtered, choking up Pepsi onto the floor.

"The council decided to assign new students to those active in protection of magical creatures."

"Why?"

"Well, many of the senior dragons have passed their responsibilities onto their students, so they are a bit out of touch. The council figures this way they'll see more action and it will teach responsibility to the new teachers."

Haley eyed the kid. "She's like...six! They think she's ready for training?"

Meagan stamped her foot. "I'm almost seven! And I am ready. I've had my powers for three months now." Three months? I had to wait until I was nine!

"Fine, I'll take the kid. So what are we doing today, Sun?"

"Just your usual rounds for today. Your grandfather and I have a meeting with the councilors to go to. We'll meet back with you later. Ready Lao-Shi?"

"Ready!" Lao Shi and Sun transformed and flew out the door, leaving Haley to deal with her new nuisance.

Haley hopped onto the couch and put her feet up. "So, tell me about yourself."

Meagan stared at her, looking her over from top to bottom, stopping on the purple streak in her hair. "Did you know purple isn't a natural hair color?"

Haley rolled her eyes. "Yes, actually, I was aware of that."

"Then why is your hair purple? I always thought you shouldn't die your hair colors that don't look natural. Then everyone can tell you dyed it."

"Maybe I like it that way."

Upon further inspection, Meagan noticed Haley was wearing her brother's jacket. "There's a hole in your jacket, did you know?" She leaned in closer, eyebrows raised. "Is that blood?" All the blood had come out...or almost. You could really only see it if you looked really close.

Haley jumped up off the couch, ignoring her question, and gestured towards the door. "Shall we go then?" The kid shifted into a little yellow dragon and followed Haley outside.

"So where are we going?"

Haley flew up onto the roof. "Since you say you're ready, how about it? Let's see what you've got."

"What, I'll be fighting you then?"

"Yup. Unless you're scared" she grinned over her shoulder.

Meagan shook her head. "No way."

"Good."


Halfway across the city, Arthur Spudinski and Mr. Lamos walked downtown at a very fast pace. "Mr. Lumos sir, where exactly are we going?" Spud panted, struggling to keep up with him.

"It's Lamos. LAY-MOS. Get it right." he barked.

"Yeah yeah yeah, listen Lumos; am I going to learn magic today or what?"

"Patience, young Spudinski. All in due time."

"So-"

"Silence, Mr. Spudinski. Please."

Spud followed behind him silently. They headed into Center Stage, one of the older dance studios in the city. The lights were dim, and the place appeared to be empty. Lamos led him into the back, into a small dance classroom. Mirrors lined the surrounding walls, so in each wall he could see the reflection of a woman sitting in the middle. She sat in a meditative state, her back towards them. She wore long robes and a veil covering her face. Must be some face if she's covering it up. In Spud's experience, pretty ladies never covered their faces. Pretty ladies, or even the decent ones, wore their faces proudly. In fact, as he thought about it more, he realised most girls with veils he'd ever met hadn't been human. What have I gotten myself into? "Hello David. It's been a long time."

"I promised you a student years ago. And I'm finally going to deliver." Lamos gave Spud a shove in her direction and took a step back.

Spud looked back at the man who'd dragged him from his home to come to a dance studio. "Uh...Mr. Lumos? I didn't sign up for dance class. Trixie talked me out of that ages ago."

"Silence Spud. Malora will explain everything."

She stood and slowly turned around, raising the veil. Spud had been wrong. The girl was gorgeous. Drop-dead, freakin gorgeous! Couldn't have been more than eighteen. A curtain of dark brown hair fell to her waist, framing a soft, pale face spotted with subtle freckles. An aura of peace surrounded her, as if she could wash all your troubles away. She was skinny, petite, but not in the teenage-girl-who-never-eats sort of way. Ooooh Malora! Daaaang look at those legs! Most girls would kill for those legs. And those- "Spud! You're drooling!" Lamos half whispered, half shouted into his ear, waking him up. He muttered an apology and focused on her eyes. Just her eyes. He didn't want his eyes to wander...elsewhere. He'd learned that girls don't appreciate that.

"Arthur P. Spudinski" she said softly, walking circles around him. "Age sixteen. Best friends with Trixie Carter. Plays video games, eats onions as if they were apples, and-to the annoyance of your teachers-fails nearly every class. The smartest boy of his age, yet you hide it behind layers of monkeys and cheese." She yanked his collar, pulling him in closer. "Haven't you ever wondered why? Why you're afraid to be special in any way? Why every time you're noticed; every time someone calls you out on your brains, you push them away with silly songs and unicycles? Well let me tell you something, Spudinski." She leaned in even closer, her forehead resting on his, and whispered "it's because you are special."

"He told me already-"

"No. He told you what you are. He didn't tell you who" she said, pushing him back a step and circling him again.

"Are you going to tell me then?"

"No. That, you will have to discover on your own."


"Dodge it Meagan! You'll never last in a real fight if you can't dodge a simple hit" Haley instructed as she sent a rather large fireball Meagan's way.

"I can't!" she whined, as it hit her square in the chest.

"Then try harder!"

"Can't we take a break? Pleeeeeaase?" Meagan begged, pulling out all her tricks. The teary eyes. The pouty lips. The disgustingly adorable whimpering. That was Haley's trick. Or at least it had been. I hate growing up. Eleven years old and suddenly I'm an adult, I'm a trainer, and I'm not adorable enough to get away with everything anymore. Ugh!

Staring at her puppy-dog face, she finally gave in. "Fine. Be back here in ten minutes flat." Meagan went back inside, leaving Haley by alone to set up a system of targets; ones that fought back. If this girl wanted to fight, then by golly, she'd give her a fight.


Malora, having finally finished inspecting Spud, took her seat in the middle of the room again. "Sit down Spud" she commanded.

Spud however, just stood there, more confused than when he'd arrived. "What did you mean by all that stuff? About...being special?"

"Spud, you've got magic in your blood. Deep down inside, you've always known it. You just hadn't quite realised it yet. But in your subconscious, where you knew all about it, you were afraid. When your powers kicked in it was strange. It was different. You didn't have anyone to explain it to you. So instincts took over and did the only thing they could. Forget about it. Bury it, deep inside your subconscious. But that wasn't enough. Because while you remained blissfully unaware of your magical ability, your magical aura remained, which attracts people, magical and mortal. They can just tell that something is different about you. So you resorted to warding people off with false stupidity and annoying habits. It was quite convincing really. You even had yourself convinced that you were nothing special."

"But how can I be? I mean, maybe I am a wizard. I can understand that. But even then. There's tons of them out there. What makes me different?"

"You can be better than all of them, if you just trust me."

Lamos cleared his throat rather loudly, calling the attention off of Spud and onto himself. "Malora, do you really believe that this boy-"

"I do" she said firmly. "Just look at him."

"He's magical alright, but not magical magical."

"I beg to differ. He's got something that's hard to come by in wizards."

"And what would that be?"

"Imagination."


Yup, so Spud is a wizard...yeah I know alot of people have done that now, but whatever. I didn't know that until after I wrote this (the first time. which was several years ago, before I'd even seen that one with the genius institute. I was just thinking of his Grammy telling him stories of mermaids) Anyway...

Fudogg: Well the way I see it, the Huntsclan had to have missed a few here and there. They couldn't possibly get them all right? Well they could...but then I wouldn't have as much to work with. So if they weren't taken at birth like Rose was, and the only reason they ended up in the Hunsclan was because of Rose, then they'd end up like her too right? I mean, you can't change one person's past without effecting a bunch of people's. So then when Jake changed Rose's past, and made it so she never was in the huntsclan, then he would have made it so they weren't either. So they'd still have the mark, like Rose did, but wouldn't technically be Hunsclan so they wouldn't be sucked up into the vortex just like she wasn't even though she had the mark. I don't know if that made any sense at all...I sorta rambled a bit...but in my head I made sense of it. Anyway, they'll come up next chapter.

okay I'll shut up now. ;) Thanks for reading and, as always, REVIEW!