I almost had the wind knocked out of me this evening. I didn't even think that a Sakura Spirit would attack so suddenly. It didn't exactly attack me; it just showed itself so blatantly that nobody could expect it. I was on my bed doing my homework while Kero played video games and this strong gust of wind came out of nowhere and blew my book closed. Now any wind that can blow my ap history book closed that fast is way too strong. Once my book closed, the room was silent. The curtain just blew slightly as Kero and I stared at each other. Simultaneously, we got up and I grabbed the Star key from my nightstand. My uncle was home, so I couldn't go through the front door. So I did what normal teenagers were used to doing: sneaking out through the window. Of course, I can't be officially magical unless someone notices me and points out how suspicious I look. "Well, don't you look suspicious." It was the last person in the world I expected and wanted to see. Zahur. I felt like saying "Don't you deserve a Nobel Peace Prize?" 'Cause you know, there's nothing to suspect. I just thought the door was so traditional and decided to try something new. Why is he near my house anyway? I asked him that exact question and replied "Because I live across the street from you" as if though it was the most obvious thing in the world cause, you know, I walk past him every morning and say hi. I've never seen him there in my life! I didn't even know new people moved in across the street. Then Kero pinched me, reminding me about the Sakura spirit. I noticed behind Zahur, in the sky, this huge white bird just flying around as if though birds that big are usually flying in the sky and no one would beg to differ. I feel so sarcastic, I don't even know why. Maybe it's just the way things seem to blend in, and I'm the only one that notices they don't. I ran towards the bird and Kero came beside me. He told me to use The JUMP, so I did. Now, I haven't used THE JUMP before, so when the little wings appeared on my feet, I jumped up - but I didn't expect to go THAT high. I know, I should've figured since it is called THE JUMP, but I wasn't thinking about that at the time. And so I went to try and capture THE FLY.
Medea and Kero screamed as a huge gust of wind blew them into the bushes of the park. Medea fished her way through and continued to pursue the gigantic bird. Its screech echoed through the air and Medea took cover so it flew right by her.
"How exactly am I supposed to capture that?" Medea asked.
"I can't give you all the answers, now can I?" Kero responded.
"You don't know, do you?"
"Not a damned clue."
Medea ran after THE FLY. She jumped into a tree and then across some houses. She jumped onto the top of a high apartment building and waited for the beast to catch up. THE FLY screeched through the sky, flying by without noticing her. She jumped across onto the bird and grabbed it's feathers so that she wouldn't get blown off. The wind was exhilarating as it hit her face.
"Use THE FIREY!" Kero called out, hoping that Medea could hear her. Medea closed her eyes and held the wand straight up in the air. "Spirit of THE FIREY, I summon your powers from within me. Emerge now and obey my command! RELEASE" Bright orange ribbons emerged from the Medea and took the form of THE FIREY. "FIREY! I command you to submerge THE FLY in your flames!" THE FIREY moved around the bird creating perfect rings of fire around it. THE FLY screeched in agony and Medea was flung off by the chaotic movements of the beast. Medea reached the floor and leaped off her feet back into the air so that she was face to face with THE FLY.
Medea raised the wand into the air while chanting, "Spirit of Sakura! Cast off the true form designated to you and yield to my control! By the sacred contract, I command you! FLY!"
THE FLY gave one final echoing screech of pain and fury as it burst into ribbons and yielded to Medea. Once the ribbons disperse, Medea jumped back onto the ground and returned everything, including the wand, to their hidden forms. And finally, they went home.
The next morning did not feel like the morning before Halloween. The sun was shining bright and the weather was quite warm for the last day of October. Medea walked up the hill to school thinking about how this years' Halloween would not be as fun since it was not on a weekend. Suddenly, Kero popped out of her bag and stopped her. "Do you feel that?" he asked.
Medea closed her eyes and concentrated, knowing that he could only be talking about one thing. She felt that most famous feeling inside and told Kero that she did. When she opened her eyes, she noticed the house. It was very old and seemed to be falling apart. The bricks were black instead of red and the windows were dusty. The lawn of the house was filled with weeds, thorns and dead flowers and the staircase was crumpled. There was a dark cloud over the house - only that house.
"Hell no!" Medea cried out, realizing the conditions. "I ain't goin in there! Especially not on the day before Halloween. NOOOO WAYYY!"
"Is that the attitude of the Mistress of the Sakura?" Kero asked, showing disappointment.
"Yes!"
Kero sighed. "Listen, you've battled gigantic birds, and crazed volleyballs, and a psycho swordmaster, not to mention that you have the power of fire, the ability to fence, jump and fly and you come to tell me that you're afraid of some ghost?"
"Nice pep talk," Medea complimented.
"Feel better?" Kero asked.
"Not really." Medea replied, "We'll check it out later on though."
As Medea and Kero walked away from the house, Medea turned back suddenly, responding to a light that she saw from the house at the corner of her eye. Kero asked her what was wrong and she explained that she though she something. The two dimissed it however, and continued with their day.
The sun began to set beyond the horizon and Suraiya, Medea and Kero arrived at the house. The impending night only added to the eerie aura of the house.
"There are dark forces within this house," Suraiya whispered ominously. "It is said that this house was the house of one of the most powerful covens during the late sixteenth century. Once the coven was exposed, they cast a curse on the house which said that no matter what happened to them, their spirits would continue to live throughout the house. As years went by, families moved out as quickly as they moved into the house claiming that it was haunted by the spirits of the four witches of the coven. Hm, probably just a story. You know how those legends are."
Medea gulped and Kero sighed heavily. After laboring up the long, deteriorated stairs, with a load creak the door opened and they entered the house. Inside was completely dark, but in the dim moonlight, Medea could make out torches in the shadows. Without hesitating, she took the star key. "Key that hides the power of the stars, reveal thy true form to me. This by the covenant, Medea commands thee! RELEASE!" She then called upon THE FIREY to light all the torches, casting off a brilliant lumination in the room. Inside the house was completely better than the outside. Despite the dust, cobwebs and discoloration, the house was Victorian styled and well decorated in brilliant shades of green, red, gold and white. It seemed that the normal style of the house created an even more eerie mood. Just the idea that the house could be so normal and yet so mysterious scared Medea.
"I can feel it," Kero announced, breaking Medea's admiration of the room, "It's upstairs."
Suraiya was the first to move, followed by Kero and Medea. They slowly walked up the creaky steps and entered the first bedroom they saw. The room was enormous and contained a king-sized bed in the middle accompanied by a gorgeous antique grandfather clock, a fireplace, an exquisitely designed vanity set and an antique chair that was big enough to be a throne.
"These people must've been rich," Suraiya commented, "To be able to afford all of this."
"What is all of this doing here though?" Medea thought outloud, "Shouldn't the house be empty?"
Medea walked around the bedroom examining every single detail. Medea walked up to the mirror and wiped the dust off of it. She glanced at herself in the mirror and watched as her reflection shifted into the reflection of a ghostly young woman. The woman reached out and grabbed her as she screamed. Kero and Suraiya turned around to face her, and saw her being pulled into the mirror before they could reach her to help.
Suraiya walked up to the mirror and banged on it, trying to see if she could enter it. Once she realized that she couldn't, Suraiya said, "She still must be in the house. We have to find her!" Kero and Suraiya turned away from the mirror towards the threshold of the door. Suddenly, a very light blue mist, close to white began to encircle them. It swirled around them going through their heads. They closed their eyes, and as the mist dissipated, everything went black.
Medea opened her eyes and looked around to see that she was in a ritual room. There were crystals, stones, athames, chalices, wands, pentacles and other ritual items. There was a circle painted on the ground that contained symbols, some Medea recognized to be planetary and zodiac symbols. As she walked towards it and stood in the middle, the circle began to light up. At each of the four points in the four cardinal directions, a mist that turned in the figure of four different young women appeared. Medea continued to stand tall, even though she was mortified at the moment.
"I'm gonna die, ain't it?" Medea asked the four ghosts.
The red ghost to the south of her replied, "No. You are here because this is where you belong."
"All magickal beings belong here," the blue ghost to the west continued, "And you are quite the magickal girl."
The green ghost to the north began to speak, "You will find that this is not the first and the last time you will come here."
"What do you mean?" Medea asked.
The yellow ghost to the east answered her, "This place is a -museum- if you will, for all wisdom in magick."
"Here you will find all the answers that you seek," the blue ghost continued.
The green ghost came towards her and began to explain, "Right now your mission is to capture the spirits that you have released. While these spirits cause trouble, they are not evil. But that doesn't mean that you'll will never cross paths with it."
The blue ghost came to her side, "Your friends will be by you always, as will we. They will grant your courage and purpose, we will grant you wisdom and insight. You will learn the arts of the world that we have gathered here, to defeat an evil we could not defeat."
"Weren't you persecuted for witchcraft?" Medea inquired.
The yellow ghost shook her head. "We were. But it was by the very same evil force. He knew we would not hurt innocent people to defeat him, and so we enchanted the house, so that are spirits live on within them."
"He still lives today," the red ghost continued, "And he controls the world, just not in any way you could see him. We need you to combine the strength your magick with the wisdom of ours. You can always come to this very room, through the mirror in your room."
"Just call out to us and we will here you." As the blue ghost finished talking their voiced began to echo and Medea began to feel drowsy. "Vesta of the Southern Flame..." Her voice faded off as the red ghost went back to her point and transformed into a flame before burning into nothing. "Isis of the Western Rivers.." The blue ghost went to the west where she turned into a wave of water that disappeared, "Nepthys of the Northern Sands.." the green ghost disappeared in the north after transforming into sand, and finally the yellow ghost of wished Medea well before saying "Aradia of the Eastern Winds" and turned into a slight breeze before disappearing into the darkness.
Around Medea was completely silent until finally she regained her consciousness and saw nothing but the moonlight pouring into the darkness. Medea looked through the whole house before noticing that Suraiya and Kero were gone. "Hmm, that's weird. They must've left," Medea said to herself. "I should call them to let them know that I'm all right." Medea called Suraiya on her cellphone.
"Hello?" Suraiya answered.
"Hey, just calling to let you know I'm fine. The weirdest thing happened to me-"
"Who is this?" Suraiya asked with an attitude.
"It's Medea!" she replied, unsure why Suraiya wouldn't recognize her voice by now.
"Medea?" Suraiya asked again, pondering the name, "Who the hell is Medea?"
"It me! You know, you're best friend."
"Um, I really don't know who you are."
"Are you serious?"
Suraiya hung up the phone and Medea called Kero, but there was no answer. She tried again, but still he didn't pick up.
Medea left the house and tried to transform the key so that she could use THE FLY to go home. However, no matter how many times she tried, the key wouldn't respond to her.
"It's as if it doesn't recognize me," Medea said to herself.
Medea took the bus home and entered her house with the keys. Her uncle was in the living room and she greeted him. He jumped up and asked who she was.
"Um, I'm your niece." Medea replied.
"I don't have a niece," her uncle said and by the way he said it, Medea could tell that he wasn't lying. "Get out of my house."
"But you have to know me! I'm your niece! I live upstairs in the room across from the bathroom! My dad was your brother and died when I was young! Please! You know me! I know you do!"
"Get out of my house before I call the cops."
Medea left the house tears pouring down her eyes. She sat on the steps in front of her house and cried, "No one recognizes me. It's like no one remembers me." She curled herself up on the step and shivered in response to the cold breeze. Medea huddled in closer and cried until she eventually cried herself to sleep.
As I laid on the cold step, I felt my own tears freezing my cheeks. I had regretted not wearing a jacket; I could've probably used it as a cover. But as I laid there, freezing, with no place to go and no one to care for me. There was nothing for me to do but cry. At times, I felt it was all I had left. It did not take long to occur to me that I did not have a place to go. I could not even get to the mirror in my room to go to the house of the four spirits and spend the night there until I figured all this out nor did I have enough money to take the bus and go. The hunger was feverish and the exhaustion was burning. But no words could describe the pain I felt as the cold wind attacked my body. I had no one, no one who would recognize me, no one who would care for me: not my best friend, not Kero. Not even the star key provided me warmth. Instead it felt like a block of ice weighing down my emotions furthur. Nothing could provide warmth. Nothing would provide warmth. I was all alone.
To be continued