CHAPTER 9:

2003, somewhere in San Francisco.

"Interesting", Joey said thinking over how to react. It was a weird and pretty unbelievable thing to hear. "So what now? Do I have to do something? Do I have to learn something about it? Because all I know is really a fairytale." "Fairytales are real too, my dear Josephina", Wendy said. "You have to look deep in the stories and then you will find you answers." "So what? I have got to read Cinderella and The Wizard of Oz again?" "That's a start yes", Wendy responded as she stood up.

Wendy walked towards her bookshelves and took a few classics out of them: Snow white and Alice in Wonderland. When Joey noticed it she said: "You have got to be kidding me". But Wendy didn't give the books to Joey, instead she laid them on the bed and turned to the closet again. Behind the two specific books she had taken out was another closet hidden. She opened it and took another book out of it. This one was enormous and looked very ancient. It had a sign on it which looked slightly familiar to Joey. "What's that?", she asked.

"This is a book of shadows", Wendy said as she sat down next to Joey. She laid the book on her lap and swept the dust of it before she opened the book. Joey was amazed with what she saw. This looked better than any horror book or movie she had ever seen. On each page was a strange looking person or thing. When she looked through the book she sometimes saw the most beautiful creatures she had even seen, but on most pages stood the exact opposite, hideous monsters.

"What is it for?", Joey asked as she still turned over the pages. "It's you guide on your path", Wendy said. "Normally it is passed on in a family, from generation to generation. Each generation writes in it what they come up against and so does the book grow. In your case however that was not possible. Your family needs their book themselves. I got this from someone who has guided witches for many centuries. It is probably the most complete book of shadows you will ever find."

"Wow", was all what Joey could say. She was still flipping through the pages it looked like the end of the book would never come. Suddenly it got through to her what Wendy just said to her. "Wait a minute, people write about what they experience? You mean all these creatures in this book are out there? For real? No, no, no, that is not possible", she ended as she closed the book and quickly laid it on the bed.

She stood up and said: "You know what, I still have to coach a few kids for a game tomorrow." "You can not walk away from this", Wendy said but Joey didn't hear her anymore, she was already out of the door and ran to the basketball field at the end of the street.

Wendy took the book of the bed and walked towards Joey's room. She laid the book on the girl's writing-table and laid a few school books over it. 'Not every kid storming into this room has to see what lays here', she thought.

That evening Joey couldn't fall asleep again. This time not because of a nightmare, but because of all the things that really happened that day. It almost looked like a nightmare, but on the other hand Joey also thought it was kinda cool. She always had been interested in magic and that she was a witch sounded pretty awesome. She didn't believe all the monsters really existed, but she loved the idea of having powers.

She thought back of what she did that afternoon. She was pretty sure now she was the one to move the basketball to one of the strange men who were harassing her. 'Now how did I do that?', she thought. She thought she just had to think of it really hard so she sat down at her writing-table and concentrated on a pencil that lay in front of her. 'C'mon, move', she thought. It didn't.

She sighed and wanted to stand up when she noticed the book underneath all her junk on the table. She picked it up and began to read some of the stories inside. 'This is better than everything I read before', she thought again. After each page she tried to move the pencil again, but it didn't work. She got all into the book and read for hours, not noticing the time.

When Wendy wanted to go to bed she saw the lights were still on it Joey's room. She opened the door and called the girl's name. Joey got scared of the sudden noise and quickly stood up from her chair, the pencil behind her was now flying in the air. Wendy noticed it and a smile came on her face. "I see you have been practicing", she said, nodding her head towards the pencil.

"Huh, what?", Joey said. She looked at the way Wendy pointed and saw the pencil. "Am I doing that?", she said surprised. "Well I am not", Wendy just said. "Cool." "Yes", Wendy said smiling. "What isn't so cool is that it is already hours past bedtime. You should go to bed, you have to support the kids tomorrow at the game, remember?"

"Right, right", Joey said as she walked towards her bed. The thing she was busy with for the last few weeks had now totally slipped her mind. She laid down on her bed and covered herself up with the blankets. "Goodnight", Wendy said as she put out the light. "Yeah", Joey answered as she closed her eyes and dreamed of the wonderland she'd just been reading about.