As he saw Sandra and her friends approach their hiding place, Ezekiel turned to Greylock. "I know of a spell that will throw Sandra and her friends off guard," Ezekiel announced. "It's a mind-altering spell, which I learned from a friend of mine. Not Aleena; since we both know that she wouldn't do something like this. It won't completely put them under my control, but it will just make them somewhat accept what I'm telling them."
Greylock looked intrigued. "Do it, then!"
Ezekiel raised his wand, pointed it at Sandra and her friends, and recited, "Minda Susepta!"
Greylock smiled to himself. "I'll have to remember that one…"
"I'll write it down for you," Ezekiel assured him.
At the same time, Sandra and her friends froze for a moment, then resumed walking as if nothing had happened.
"Surprise, Sandra!" Ezekiel gleefully called as he jumped out from behind a bush.
"Zeke?" Sandra looked up in surprise. "What's going on? Why are you here?"
Ezekiel smiled. "I've been released from jail early for good behavior! And I wanted to thank you in person for the dachshund statues, my old raccoon Rick, the plush Jaquin from Zoe, and the pie. I shared it with some of my fellow Azkaban inmates, and they liked it too!"
"That's good," Sofia smiled, since she always tried to see the good in everyone, whether they were friends or not. "You look well, Ezekiel."
"Sofia, stay back," Amber kept a hand on her arm. "This might be a trick."
"Especially with the Order of the Wand around again," Dorrie agreed. "I heard that some of them escaped. We know that Grimtrix and Cedric aren't around anymore, but we still have to think about anyone else who they might want to recruit…like Ezekiel here."
Ezekiel's smile faded. "I know. I met some of them earlier, and they wanted to recruit me for the Order. I refused, and when I saw you and your friends, I thought I should warn you."
"That's a good idea, but I still think Amber's right. Don't get me wrong; it's good to see you again, Zeke, but how do we know you're telling the truth?" Sandra asked, keeping a firm grip on her wand.
Ezekiel suddenly broke into a grin. "Do you remember that sun mosaic in the garden that you, Aleena, and I made?"
"The one we made for Zoe's birthday, with all those statues of King Magnus that 'mysteriously disappeared?'" Sandra asked, starting to grin herself.
"'Mysteriously disappeared?'" Dorrie echoed, shaking her head at Candice, since she saw a gleam of mischief in her eyes. "And Candice, don't even think about it! You know King Magnus likes to see the statues he gave us when he comes to visit!"
"I'm sensing a story, and I'm getting an idea for our statues of King Magnus!" James also grinned, getting the same look in his eyes.
"James," Amber smirked, but she knew how he felt; she didn't particularly care for the statues either, but she was interested in what Ezekiel had to say.
"Well, it was like this..." Ezekiel started.
Flashback
Fifteen-year-old Ezekiel saw his recently turned thirteen-year-old sister Sandra as she was coming from the kitchen. "Sandra, we need to talk," he greeted her as she put a tray on a table.
"Don't worry, Zeke; I've got the ingredients for Zoe's cake and the cookies, and tomorrow I'll start my usual baking marathon," Sandra assured him as he led her away.
"Okay, but we need to get Zoe a present," Ezekiel continued.
"What do you have in mind?" Sandra asked. "And since when do you want to work together with me on a gift?"
Ezekiel smiled. "Sandra, please, I want Zoe's sixth birthday to be the best one yet!"
"We all do, Zeke; I still remember last year's fiasco with Princess Caroline and the Pin the Jewel on the Tiara incident!" Sandra shuddered.
"Don't remind me," Ezekiel shuddered. "Anyway, Zoe discovered that she likes making little artsy-crafty things. Maybe we could get her a kit for something like that, or make her something."
"What do you have in mind, what could we make, and how would we make it?" Sandra asked.
"Well, you know how Dad has those statues of King Mangus in that one storage room, and how he only gets them out for when he comes to visit, right?" Ezekiel started. "He sends us a new statue every Wassalia."
"Yes," Sandra nodded.
"Anyway, Mom and Dad always put the statues in the same place in the storage room. You go get Aleena, both of you bring some of them with you, and meet me in the garden," Ezekiel instructed.
"All right," Sandra agreed. "I still don't know what you're planning, but I'll let you drive the boat on this idea."
When Aleena and Sandra came back a few minutes later with several busts of King Magnus, Ezekiel asked Aleena to cast a Color-changing Charm on the statues.
"Color-changing charm?" Sandra repeated, then she smiled. "We just started learning those in school!"
"And this will be good practice for you," Ezekiel agreed.
"That's right," Aleena agreed. "I know Zeke knows the charm, and now we'll teach you, Sandra. We aim our wands at the statues, think of the color you want the statues to turn, and use this spell: Colovaria!"
"Okay," Sandra nodded. She, Aleena, and Ezekiel aimed their wands at the statues and recited, "Colovaria!"
"I've got a green one right here," Ezekiel started, "And here's a yellow one over here."
"I've got a red statue and a blue statue here," Sandra offered.
"I just made a pink statue and an orange statue, since you know Zoe loves the sunrise and the sunset," Aleena added.
"We know that, but Aleena, we just made these statues of King Magnus different colors. What are we going to do now?" Sandra asked.
Aleena grinned mischievously. "Have you two ever heard of skeet shooting?"
"Yeah! Some of the guards took me and my friends skeet shooting a few weeks ago," Ezekiel nodded.
Aleena smiled. "Okay, but this is different. Since we all have our wands, or in your case your training wand, Sandra, we're going to play witch skeet instead!"
"Witch skeet?" Sandra repeated.
"It's like traditional skeet shooting, but instead of a rifle, you use a wand," Aleena explained. "When I gave Ezekiel his wand for his birthday, I invited him to come along with some of my witch and warlock friends to learn the game. You weren't with us," she continued, seeing Sandra about to ask where she was, "You were helping in the kitchen, making treats for some party or another."
"And look at all these targets we have," Ezekiel smirked, holding up a red statue of King Magnus.
"It does sound like fun, and I see why you wanted the statues different colors now, but what will Dad say?" Sandra asked, picking up a pink statue of King Magnus.
"He'd say, shall we make it a foursome, but don't tell your mother or Zanven?" they heard a voice behind them. Ezekiel, Aleena, and Sandra turned, and saw King Robert, with a grin as wide as theirs, and holding up his 13-1/2-inch fir and phoenix feather wand. "I've been wondering about what we should do with all those statues King Magnus gave us! And you're absolutely right; we only need at least one!"
"I did manage to leave one untouched statue in the closet, sir," Aleena grinned.
"That's fine, Aleena," Robert chuckled. "Well, everyone, what are we waiting for?"
"Yes sir!" Aleena grinned, holding up her wand.
"Yeah!" Ezekiel agreed, taking his wand out.
"This should be fun," Sandra added, holding up her training wand.
Everyone had fun skeet shooting with the statues, and soon Ezekiel and Sandra had enough pieces for their mosaic.
"Thanks, Dad, and Aleena!" Sandra grinned as she and Aleena started sorting through the pieces.
Ezekiel grinned beside her as he helped sort the pieces. "Yeah, thanks, Dad, and Leena!"
On the day of the party, Zoe loved the mosaic that Ezekiel, Aleena, and Sandra had made. "It's so pretty!" she smiled when she saw the sun picture. "How did you do it?"
"I think I know," Queen Patricia smirked, remembering how a few days earlier she'd heard whooping and cheering in the garden. "It had something to do with all those statues of King Magnus that I saw Aleena and Sandra taking out of the storage room, didn't it?" She nodded when she saw the guilty grins on Robert, Ezekiel, Sandra, and Aleena's faces. "Don't worry about it," she whispered, "I know why you did it, and all of you are right; I never liked those statues myself. And Aleena, dear, you're right too; we only need at least one!"
"And it's good to know these statues are good for something!" Sandra added.
End flashback
"If that's not a brilliant idea for those statues of King Magnus that we have, I don't know what is!" James grinned.
"I couldn't agree more!" Lucinda grinned, Candice nodding at her side.
"Even though I don't have statues of King Magnus, I now know what to do with some of those ugly statues my mum has! And I think Dad would agree too!" Wendell smirked.
"James, Candice, Lucinda, get those looks off your faces right now!" Sofia scolded, but she was trying to hide her own smile. "And Wendell, that goes for you too!"
"Oh, come on, Sof! Besides, you know how quickly Amber goes through ceramic tiles when she makes her own mosaics," James smiled innocently. "What's wrong with getting her more? And I think Dad would agree with us!"
"So that's what happened to all those statues King Magnus gave your family!" they heard a new voice behind them. "He always asked me to make a new one and send it to your castle!"
"Mister Greylock!" Sofia gasped.
"It's an ambush!" Dorrie gasped. "How could we not see that?!"
"Surprise!" Ezekiel smirked, going over to Greylock and twirling his wand between his fingers.
"He must have spelled us somehow," Candice frowned.
"Sorry about that, Greylock! But we've got them where we want them! Let's get her!" Ezekiel clutched his medallion, transformed himself into Eze Gray, and pointed the dream crystal at Sandra. "I've got you under my spell now, sister dear! And to use one of your stupid jokes against you, better late than never!"
"I thought he couldn't turn into Eze Gray anymore after he took the antidote to that potion!" Sandra gasped, "But what's that thing he's holding…and aiming right at me?"
"A Dream Crystal! Maleficent had a few of those," Candice gasped. "Sandra, whatever happens, don't close your eyes!"
"What's going on?" Sandra asked as she was pulled into the Dream Crystal.
"Sandra!" Wendell shouted, grabbing her arm, and feeling himself start to get pulled into the Dream Crystal himself. "Don't worry, I've got you!"
Sandra looked pleadingly up at Wendell as she felt her eyes close. "Never…let…go…"
Wendell couldn't help but smirk as he felt his own eyes close. "You're…as bad as my mum when…it comes to…that movie!"
"Same stupid sense of humor," Ezekiel muttered as he resumed his normal shape and watched Wendell and Sandra disappear into the Dream Crystal. "Come on, Greylock! Let's go!"
"Well done, Ezekiel!" Greylock smirked. "And we managed to capture one of her friends as well!"
Before Greylock and Ezekiel could run off, Candice quickly aimed her wand at them. "And now I command, Dream Crystal to my hand!"
The crystal flew into Candice's hand before Greylock could draw his own wand and pull it back.
"Leave it!" Ezekiel shouted. "Sandra's out of the way for now, and that's what counts!"
"Indeed. Well done, Ezekiel!" Greylock smirked as they ran off.
At the same time, Amber, James, Sofia, Lucinda, Dorrie, and Candice ran off with the Dream Crystal containing their friends.
"We've got to help them!" Amber cried, looking at the crystal that imprisoned their friends when they were a safe distance away.
"Don't worry, Amber, we'll all go to Miss Lovegood," Candice assured her as they entered Hexley Hall, "She'll know what to do!"
"I hope you're right, Candice," Sofia murmured as they made their way to the headmistress's office.
Author's Notes
Thanks to Niagara14301 for helping with some of the details in this chapter.
Thanks also to sofia2017 planning for helping with some of the details in this chapter.
King Magnus' statues were seen and mentioned in Baileywhoops. (Roland always said, "This is even better than last year's statue of you…")
"I'll let you drive the boat" is Orillian slang which means that a person can take charge of something. This phrase has also been used in some of theblindwriter95's and my stories.
Colovaria, the Color-Changing charm, is from Harry Potter.
Witch skeet was mentioned in chapter 1 of Niagara14301's Witch Tales.
Sandra would remember that Ezekiel's transformation spell was broken in chapter 9 of my story The Rise and Fall of Eze Gray.
Dream Crystals were mentioned in chapters 31-33 of Niagara14301's Dorrie Book Two.
Sandra's "Never let go…" is from Titanic. And apparently Wendell's mother likes that movie too!
"And now I command Dream Crystal to my hand" is taken from Descendants.