Chapter One: Trip to the Salem Healer's Institute and The Station Below
Madison and Seth walked out of the females Healer's office, content in the fact that they had caused her enough trouble. After they had been healed they had cast enchantments behind the Healer's back. As soon as they had walked out of the door pandemonium erupted from the office. They had cast several enchantments behind the Healer's back while she was looking at the other. The enchantments were delayed. It had taken the pair a long time to learn how to do that.
The pair burst into a sprint as they heard the angry Healer coming towards them. As they did this the started to pull their invisibility cloaks out of their oversized pockets. Seth had stolen his from his older brother, and Madison's father had given him his.
They ran around the corner, making very little noise, and pulled the cloaks on. They suppressed snickers as the Healer stormed angrily past. As soon as she was out of sight they went back around the corner, took off the cloaks, and burst out laughing.
"Well how about that!" Madison said between laughs. Seth finished laughing before Madison did and peered down the hall. It was lit by floating magical lamps, and by the natural light. The Salem Healer's institute took up four floors of a tall building in Atlanta. No Muggles knew these floors even existed.
Seth slapped Madison on the top of his head and said, "She's coming back."
Madison stopped laughing and straightened. Seth started running but Madison called him back. "We can hide in her office." Seth nodded.
Madison's wand shot out from his sleeve, where he normally kept it, and he waved it, saying, "Alohamora!" Seth opened the door and they both shot in, locking the door behind them.
Madison hadn't know if the door had been locked or not, but by experience had learned not to take chances like that. Seth and he were troublemakers, but not of the stereotypical sort.
Both were extremely intelligent and did well in school. They almost never studied, and what they did was what they enjoyed. Madison and Seth could easily refrain from trouble making. As long as it suited them.
They started walking down to the lower level of the institute where their caretaker was waiting for them. "How much trouble do you think we'll get in?" Madison asked.
Seth shrugged. "It shouldn't be too much." Madison nodded. "The pain was punishment enough."
Seth wholeheartedly agreed. When they had decided to sneak into the Atalanta Zoo of Creatures Magical they hadn't expected to come up next to the manticore. Fortunately the zookeeper was able to come rescue them before any permanent damage was done. Madison and Seth were fully sure that they could have taken the manticore on if they hadn't been so worried about keeping the creature alive so that they wouldn't get fined.
"I hope we're out of here before that Healer tells the administration about us." Madison said. Seth gave a little chuckle and nodded. "Why did we do that to her? She was pretty nice." Madison nodded. Their Healer, Alice Glick, had taken good care of them.
Madison shrugged. "Just one of those divine influences." Seth gave a short burst of laughter. "I doubt it, Madison." He said. Madison smiled bemusedly. Seth was thinking that maybe they needed to cut down on the things like that they did. The other side of his brain said, 'Naw, that wouldn't be fun.'
They arrived at the strangely decorated lobby of the wizarding hospital. There were plastic wands with bandages popping out of them on the wall, and other than that there was nothing of interest.
Seth and Madison did not expect what else they saw. Instead of their caretaker, Marcel Jaxon, they found two members of Madison's family; Hannah Brooks and Valerie. Valerie was a researcher who found plots of land for new wizarding buildings to be built on. Hannah was about to go into Southeast Salem, the Wizarding School for young wizards in Southeast U.S.A.
Seth and Madison were about to be in their third year at Southeast Salem, and were looking forward to being back. They hated being away from the school and not using magic. Seth once termed it as being 'Like loosing your legs'.
"Where's daddy?" Madison asked as soon as he and Seth had gotten close enough to talk to his mother over the bustling office. "He's at work." Valerie responded. "You all finally got your supply list, so I thought we would just come down here and get them."
Madison and Seth smiled. This meant that they would get to go to Magica Hall, the underground market where one could find just about anything magical. It was the closest they would get to actually being in Southeast Salem for another month. "When are we going?" Seth asked. Hannah was the one who responded, "Whenever you are ready to leave."
That reminded the two that they had to get out of the building before Alice Glick saw them. They said, at the exact same time, "We're ready." Valerie gave them a doubting glance. "You didn't get into trouble, did you?" "How could you?" Madison asked in a falsely wounded tone. "You know we never get in trouble!" Seth finished for his friend.
Valerie smiled and shook her head. She could almost smell that they had done something, but she knew that they knew where to draw the line. And she was in a hurry and didn't want to get detained. "Alright. Let's go." She reached into her black dragon-scale purse and brought out a pinch of floo powder for each of them.
Madison flourished his hands and bowed low in a mocking manner. "Seth, you go first." Seth bowed back at him and threw his powder into the large fireplace in the lobby. He stepped into the green, flowing flames and said, "The Station Below," And was gone. The three soon followed.
Seth was sitting on a bench with his legs crossed when they were all through. Madison said, "Seth come on." Seth sighed. "It was so pleasant sitting here." Madison and Seth's conversations rarely made sense to the normal person, but each got some measure of amusement from it.
Hannah peered around. This was the first time she had been in The Station Below. It was an abandoned subway station that was dimly lit. There were several benches, but other than that the station was featureless.
The station was not, of course, featureless. If one got down onto the tracks and walked left he would come out in Magica Hall. Walking right would get one to Southeast Salem.
Hannah had learned all about Southeast Salem through reading. Until a student was accepted into the school, they weren't allowed to read about how to use any magic, so Hannah read the next best thing. Madison often said that Hannah would be a master at History of Magic.
The group got down off of the station to stand on the tracks of the abandoned subway. They walked left, and came to Magica Hall. It wasn't very well lit, and the light that was there was all torchlight that flickered on and off. It was very disconcerting to a person who hadn't been there before.
Madison and Seth quickly drifted into the crowded Hall, and Valerie and Hannah went off searching for the youngest Brooks' school supplies.
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"Where are we going?" Hannah asked. Valerie was leading her down a few streets. "We're going to get you a wand," Valerie said, drawing her own as they passed the entrance to a shady looking store. As they got past it she put her wand back again.
Hannah remembered all Madison and Seth had told her about wands. There were many different varieties, but there was only one that would fit you. While you could pick up any wand and cast a spell with it, your own wand would perform better.
Madison's wand was an extraordinary wand, as was Seth's. Madison's was thirteen inches long, made of a black ash branch, and had bat's bone as a core. Seth's was a bit shorter at eleven and a half, and had a demon's hair in his. Hannah wondered which wand she would get.
They finally arrived at the store. It was crowded with shelves full of all kinds of boxes. Hannah went in, closely followed by Valerie. When Hannah paused to look around Valerie gave her a little push. "Go on and choose one, I'll deal with the store keeper."
Hannah nodded and went to peruse the isles. She walked by a few, then opened one. The box said that the wand was ten inches long, with the core of a unicorn's tail hair. Hannah opened it and waved it around. Several boxes shot off of the shelves, but one thing really peculiar happened.
One of the boxes had came open, and that wand flew to her hand, replacing the one she had been holding. She smiled, thinking that this wand was the one for her. She waved it, and a warm tingly feeling shot up her spine. This was the wand for her.
She walked to the front, where Valerie and the storekeeper were waiting for her. The storekeeper was a tall dark skinned bald man. He smiled at Hannah. "I can remember when your brother and his friend came here. It took me a long time to clean up the mess." Hannah gave a shy chuckle and followed her mom out of the store.
"Did you already pay for it?" Hannah asked. Valerie nodded, "Now we get the rest of your supplies."
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Madison and Seth had quickly gathered their school supplies and had retreated to their favorite bookshop. Madison was reclined on a couch reading A Guide To Hexes by Ophelia Whitefield, and Seth was perusing the shelves of the tiny store.
This was their favorite bookstore because of its seclusion. It was near the back of Magica Hall, and only an informed few knew that it was as good as it was. The front was dirty, and gave the impression that the store would be a run-down one, however, it was actually very cozy.
The bookshelves were embedded into the walls, and it somewhat seemed like the books were in the walls of the underground place.
In choosing books Madison and Seth differed. Madison could usually find a book quickly, and just sat down and read it. Seth, on the other hand, preferred to spend more time looking for a book. That way he knew he would find a good one.
"Here's a neat one," Madison said. "What is it?" Seth asked, still perusing the shelves. "It turns a small bit of food into a spider." Seth smiled bemusedly, wondering how much trouble Madison would get into for that one. A lot, if he knew his friend. And he did.
Madison looked up from his book for a moment. "Found one yet?" He asked. "No," Seth answered, "I'm looking for a book on the Dark Arts." Madison's gaze went back down to his book. "In a dark mood today?" Seth shrugged.
One of the things the two liked about that particular bookstore was that one could find any book you wanted in there. In some places, they had heard, books about the Dark Arts were outlawed. Especially in England, where some dark lord had recently come back from the dead, or something.
Seth was smashed into the bookshelves from behind, and arms wrapped around him. Madison smirked, not even having to look up to see whom it was. As the person slammed into him and gave him a fierce hug he supposed he should have so that he would have been better prepared.
Seth shook his head to clear it from the effects of being slammed into the walls of the store and turned around to see Chanteau back off of Madison. Chanteau was the pair's best friend, other than themselves. She was a bit taller than both of them, and that was saying something, as the pair was some of the tallest students in their grade.
Chanteau had dark blond hair, and was not French, as most people who first heard her name expected. She was an adopted child of two French mages, and they had named her. Why they had come to the US Madison and Seth did not know.
She was extremely attractive, and many were jealous of Madison and Seth. Most of the school thought the Chanteau was Madison or Seth's girlfriend, but she was neither. Why this was no one knew, including Madison and Seth. Madison because he had never bothered to ask and Seth because he had decided not to press the matter when he did ask and had not gotten a clear response.
"Nice to see you," Seth said, rubbing his forehead. Madison nodded and set A Guide To Hexes down. "And a bit painful." He said, looking at Seth rubbing his forehead. "You had a soft couch to act as a cushion." Seth accused. Madison nodded, looking rather pleased with himself.
"I see you haven't stopped bickering over the summer." Chanteau said accusingly. Madison and Seth looked at each other, then back at their friend. "Nope!" They both replied in unison. Chanteau sighed. While she often went with the pair on their trouble-making escapades, she didn't like having to decipher their strange form of talking.
"What'd you do over the summer?" Madison asked, returning to his book. Chanteau walked around the other side of the couch, and jumped over the back to land on top of him. Madison acted as if he was all surprised at first (He wasn't) but after a moment he just sat still, Chanteau's back across his legs, and kept reading.
Seth looked on, amused. He (and Madison) pretty much knew what Chateau would do next. And they found that they were right when Chateau slapped the book out of Madison's hand. He slowly turned to look at her. She kept lying with her back across his legs, amused at the whole situation.
He looked down at her, his smile strangely gone from his face. Madison was an excellent actor. "I was reading." Chanteau smiled and responded. "I know." Madison's eyes narrowed as if in accusation of his friend's motives. "Then why did you do that?"
"To get you to pay your full attention to me." Madison frowned. "That's rather selfish of you." Chateau burst out laughing and got off of Madison to go sit down in a more, for Madison, convenient location.
Madison cleared his throat and stared pointedly at Chanteau. She stared right on back, and Seth went back to his perusal of the shelves. After a few moments of this silence, in which Seth had picked a book and sat down, Madison said, "Well?" "Well what?" Responded Chanteau.
"I asked you a question, if memory serves." He told her. Chanteau's eyes rolled back as if trying hard to remember (She actually had an excellent memory) and finally came up with the answer. "Your memory doesn't serve." Madison looked flabbergasted. "I'll ask the question again, then."
Madison paused here, waiting for Chanteau to admit that she was wrong (still playing their little game) Seth said helpfully, "The question was about Chanteau's summer." Madison nodded at Seth, then turned his head back to Chanteau. "How was your summer?"
Again there was silence, though this time nobody was playing. Chanteau bit her lip and looked as if she was remembering something horrible. Madison and Seth immediately picked this up, and dropped their façade, and became serious, well, as serious as they got.
Suddenly Chanteau burst out crying and launched herself at Seth. Seth quickly dropped his book to receive the incoming human projectile. He hugged her close as she cried. Madison stared with a blank-face at the scene. After a while Chanteau stopped her crying, which was replaced by sobbing as she told her tale…