Chapter 1: Welcome to the Spiral

In a small town in Colorado, a young sixteen year old girl was bored out of her mind. She lay sprawled on the couch in a mostly empty house, channel-surfing.

This teen had brown hair and eyes and a pair of glasses that were constantly perched precariously on her nose. She was of average height and weight. She also bore a strong level of compassion for learning, the environment, animals, and reading.

The world also thought she was insane.

This is me. Sarah A none-of-your-business, at your service.

Yep, the world thought I was insane. Everybody but my family. Me? I believe that there's a very fine line between genius and insanity. I think that I have one foot in both sections. The rest of the world? They think I'm goin' off the rails on a crazy train...

But I'm not here to pay the world a favor. I take my life and I work it into what I want, not what everyone else thinks it should be.

I wish that someone I know who's my age would see that, and understand that. But they don't. They never will. They think that I don't have a purpose in life except to help them succeed. But I know I do. I have a destiny. I just have to find it.

Today, I was lying on the couch in the living room, moving through my new science fiction book. It was raining buckets outside, but I didn't mind. I'm weird like that. Plus, it's Colorado. We get snowstorms that would make you drop your jaw and leave it there for a few minutes. I've lived here forever. I'm used to the multi-personality weather.

Little did I know that, beneath the layers of time and space, a very important discussion that would change my life was just beginning…

"Ah, yes, Gamma…the spell is working…" Headmaster Merle Ambrose whispered, half to himself, half to his pet. The pair stood over a glowing silver orb in their study, watching a teenage girl read through a book. "I have found a young wizard, one with much intellect and potential…Perhaps enough potential to save Wizard City!"

"Who?" Gamma hooted, though he already knew.

"She is in a very different realm…why, she hails from a place that does not even believe in magic!"

Gamma sat straighter. Michael had told him that the Shard of the Star would come from the planet earth, the home of Professor James van Helven. The old professor had told old stories about how this place did not have magic. It had been forty years since the old professor had died, and thirty since Michael told Gamma what his master had said with his dying breath.

"What is this realm called?" Gamma pushed, wishing to be sure.

"It is called earth," Professor Ambrose answered absentmindedly, still focused on his spell.

Gamma nodded and flapped his wings, lifting off the lectern. Michael would be overjoyed to hear about this.

"I wonder what sort of wizard is hiding within her," Professor Ambrose mused.

"Bring her here," Gamma hooted, flying over to a large book and opening it to the first page.

"Ah, yes, Gamma. Good idea."

Professor Ambrose raised his staff (which also doubled as a wand) and tapped the end on the floor three times. With a mighty bang, a magical earthquake tore from the spot and traveled out from his tower, across the city, across the Spiral, and finally out to the realms that bordered this dimension.

"She will be here soon," the headmaster sighed, setting his staff down and leaning against it. A summoning spell took much out of the old man.

Gamma nodded and rose from the lectern. Time to notify Michael.

I had finally chosen to watch Singin' In the Rain for at least the fifth time that summer. Old musicals. Gotta love 'em.

When the titular dance number began, though, suddenly the screen flashed blank. The lights flickered on and then off, once. I noticed that outside the windows, it was getting darker. Clearly, something big and nasty, also known as a storm, was just getting started.

A thundercrash equivalent to five thousand cannon blasts tore through the building. After my heart reacted with a second-long tightening and I'd automatically covered my ears, I hoped that the sound wasn't enough to wake up my little sister, who would come and annoy me to death.

Thankfully, she didn't come running. My parents, who were both taking a nap, didn't awaken.

Now, I wish that they had.

Before I even knew it, there was a gaping black hole in the middle of the living room, sitting in the middle of the floor. The coffee table disappeared into the once-solid floor, quickly followed by a few cat toys that she'd been massacring. The couch went next, and I jumped clear just as my books and phone were sucked in.

Now, those things are important to me. Like, really important. But I wasn't about to dive into a black hole to retrieve things that I wouldn't be able to use again since I would likely be dead.

Sitting on the floor, pondering that thought and trying to figure out why and how exactly this was happening, here and now of all places, I didn't notice that I was being pulled towards the black swirling mess in the middle of the floor till I was halfway inside.

Then I came to life.

I screamed. I kicked. I made swimming motions. I stopped moving in, but at the same time my attempts weren't enough to pull me out. There wasn't anything close enough to grab, and even then it would probably be the next thing the hole dragged in.

I really only had one choice. I ran the Lord's Prayer through my head and finished with the 'amen' before I stopped moving and let the black hole pull me in.

Gamma, a just-summoned Michael, and Professor Ambrose were quick to catch the young girl as she fell through the rip in space onto the wood floor.

"My, her clothes are strange…" Professor Ambrose waved his wand and the girl was instantly bedecked in a white wizard's robe, complete with a hat and boots. Gamma flew over and repeatedly hooted in her ear, effectively waking her up.

For a few moments, the girl simply blinked and looked around, her bespectacled eyes examining the room, her hands and feet twitching as if she was seeing if she was actually there. Or anywhere, really. Then she sprung to her feet and screamed, "What on the blessed planet is going on here?!"

She noticed the owl, the old, strangely dressed man, and the bird that was on fire and backed away, taking in her surroundings again, looking for a weapon.

"Where am I?" the girl hissed. "I think I have a right to know."

Professor Ambrose nodded. "You are right; you do have a right to know." He smiled, "You are in Wizard City, the capital of the Spiral." Then he smiled wider and added the zinger:

"And you, my dear, are a wizard."

Hello! If this is your first read, then hello and welcome, the viewing room is right over there. If this is your second or third or whatever read, then hello again! This is Chapter 1.2.0 because I needed to rewrite it or I'd go a bit batty. Changes: Ages, the way spells work out, grammar, spelling, writing quality, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. And I think I made it a bit better...I hope...