Chapter twelve:

Burnie and Joel are flying along when suddenly they are knocked from the sky by some kind of black geyser. They are falling towards the ground only for Burnie to pull out his wand.

Burnie casts a spell putting a bubble around them allowing them to float.

Joel turns into his familiar form and is holding onto his witch's shoulder.

Burnie looks to the geyser that appears to be solid trapping the brooms within it. He lowers them to the ground and soon enough they are surrounded by witches and familiars as soon as the bubble pops. He also notices something strange as there is more familiars than witches.

Not to mention the chains placed on the extra familiars mainly around their necks or chests.

Burnie has his wand ready to try to defend himself and his familiar. "What have you done to my students!?" He demands of them and Joel attempts a hiss at the enemies. He quickly casts a spell to blast back a chained zebra familiar who lands on its side. "We will defend ourselves." He warns the group wand at the ready. "Now answer me. What have you done with the students?!"

"I do believe I can give you some answers that you seek."

The group parts and a woman with streaks of grey in her auburn hair comes through. She stands tall with flowing hair as she glares at Burnie with her hazel eyes. "Long time no see." Her flowing blue dress even flows in the wind without revealing anything.

"I thought you were still in prison." Burnie responds not lowering his wand as he remains ready to defend himself.

The woman raising her own wand. Her wand looks like a straight dark brown stick with some kind of brown wood twisted both ways around it. "No prison can hold me." She sends a blast at Burnie who makes a portal then another to send it flying back at her. She catches the blast with her wand and she holds it up as the ball of magic floating above the wand. "You can try to be clever all you want. That doesn't mean that you are going to win here."

Another witch flicks a wand with a vine around it.

Burnie tries to jump away from vines trying to grab him only to get blasted into the vines by the woman he was talking to. He finds his familiar being separated from him and his arms trapped at his sides. He struggles and tries to wave his wand though the vines are too tight.

Joel tries to escape as well only for one witch to send a spell at him which causes him to fall unconscious.

"Joel!" Burnie calls out at the sight of his dearest familiar fainting due to the spell. He turns to glare at the woman with venom in his gaze.

"Oh don't look at me like that dear Burnie." The woman moves over and places a hand on his cheek. "Your familiar will be taken care of." She grabs his chin and turns his head to some of the familiars that don't seem to have a witch with them. Her action causes Burnie's eyes to widen as he realizes this. "Things are almost in place. I will be taking my rightful place in this world. At the top. And this time you won't be there to stop me." She releases him as roughly as she can by slightly throwing his head back. She moves away signalling to the others to get the two out of here.

"You will be stopped. Evil never wins." Burnie tells the woman as a portal is made to take them to someplace.

The woman slightly looks over her shoulder at Burnie with a very slight glance. "In stories and movies perhaps. Real life is not as simple as that." She stays there as the others go through the portal, the vines moving by the magic of the one that summoned them, then turns away when said portal closes. "I would gloat. I just have some more important business I need to do." She creates a different portal and heads through it.

Ray turns when someone is taken to a cage that he can see. His heart slightly stops for a moment upon seeing Burnie being locked in a cage. "Burnie!?"

Burnie turns and sees Ray in which he grabs the bars sitting up as he does so. "Ray! I got your message and I came to try to stop what was going on. They took Joel. They're forcing familiars to do what they want."

"I know that they're forcing familiars to do their evil work." Ray informs him and gestures around himself. "These are all of the witches who have had their familiars taken away." He looks back to Burnie gripping the bars on his own cage as he watches the other. "We have to figure out something. There has to be a way to stop them! We can't just let them get away with this. The familiars are below us however they cannot hear us at all. We can listen, they only made sure that the familiars won't be able to hear us."

Burnie looks around then closes his eyes softly and he looks down. He lets out a heavy and sad sigh as he lowers his head. His hands sliding down off of the bars to settle on the floor on either side of him. "I am so sorry." His words cause Ray to tilt his head. "This is my fault."

"What are you talking about?" Ray questions to Burnie upon hearing this come from the other. He doesn't understand how this could be the others fault.

"It was a year before I opened the school. I was helping out his majesty Gus at the time." Burnie begins the story of what had happened. He can feel the guilt start to overwhelm him though he continues the story. "Gus didn't drink back then. His wife and queen was his familiar." He can remember how the queen would transform with grace and beauty into a swan. "They had children together and let them lead lives out of the spotlight for the first while. Wishing for their childhood to have some freedom away from the attention of the media. Before they would be showered in media attention. Plus it'd be hard to find the right familiar if you're in the media all the time." He can't bring himself to look at Ray and all he can do is give the other the explanation that he deserves to hear. "One of those children was a girl named Darcy. She was the first child and the next for the throne. She did have a familiar that she met by accident one day when checking out a park garden. A familiar of a white rabbit named Angel. The two bonded rather quickly and Angel went to all of Darcy's royal classes with her. When Darcy turned eighteen she would be presented to the media and people a few days after her birthday. However that would not come to pass. The day before they would present her as the next heir to the throne I found out something. Something she didn't want anyone to know."

"What was it?" Ray questions as he leans closer in interest.