Part 4
A/N: Readers, this is very important! Todd Greenwald, who created Wizards of Waverly Place, told his fans via tweetcam on Monday that he would give out tickets to WOWP taping sessions if he can get up to 10,000 followers on his Twitter account. I've been shamelessly plugging him everywhere for two days straight and now he has over 8,800 – we're almost there! He thanked me yesterday and told me to keep it up, so now I'm spreading it to here! Even if you don't live close and can't make it to the filming, you should support him anyway (I live in WA, so I'm not exactly close, either) just for bringing us this fantastic show. Plus, if you follow him, then you'll know when he does his live twitcam shows, during which the stars of WOWP often pop in on to say hi to their fans, so it's worth it. If you have a Twitter, or want to create one, or know someone that might be interested, go to toddjgreenwald and simply click on "follow" – it's that easy! Thank you!
"Eating my lifespan?" Justin repeats, looking panicked.
Jerry immediately tries to calm him down. "Now, you only created a thermometer. Smaller spells take less time off your life. You probably only lost a couple minutes."
"A couple minutes?!" Justin squeaks. "But, what if in those couple minutes I would have said something that could change the world? Or, something deep and meaningful that people would go on quoting for the rest of eternity?"
Max speaks up. "Or, what if you were gonna reveal the secret to some hidden treasure you discovered?"
Alex chimes in. "Or sign everything in your will over to me?"
They all look at her.
"What? It's not like I'm gonna get rich any other way," she explains.
Jerry holds up his hands. "Just calm down, everyone. Wizard doctors and scientists have been researching a way to reverse the effects of the taint. They've been successful in all but two cases, so far. I'm sure with the little bit you've been exposed to, they shouldn't have any trouble at all returning those few minutes to you."
Alex slaps Justin lightly on the arm, "Awe, there, see – you will still have time so sign your fortune over to me."
Justin rolls his eyes at her and turns back to talk to Jerry. "Okay, well I'm ready to go see these wizard doctors whenever you are."
"Oh, no, Justin. We can't take care of the taint until we take care of the Breezer. We have to track down the wizards that summoned it and destroy that charm."
"Okay, so how do we that?" Justin asks.
"We aren't doing anything," Jerry says firmly. "You need to stay right here and keep yourself warm. I'll head over to WizTech and see what they can do for you over there."
He stands up and head towards the stairs.
"Well, what do we do?" Alex asks.
"You may need to cast another heat spell if the first one wears off," Jerry explains, "And keep Justin from using any more magic."
"Like I would do that," Justin says, looking annoyed that his dad would even suggest such a thing.
"I'm just making sure," Jerry tells him. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
With that, he rushes down the stairs. Theresa puts her hand to Justin's cheek and frowns. "You still feel cold. Lay back down under the blankets. I'm going to get you another one."
"Mom, I feel fine," he argues. She gives him the mother glare. "Okay, I'm lying down," he says swiftly.
He snuggles back down under the covers and, satisfied, Theresa heads up the stairs. "Ooh, I bet I can find that electric blanket in the attic," she mutters as she goes.
Max laughs.
"What's so funny?" Justin asks.
"When that blanket heats up, it smells like cooked liver."
"Why, Max, would the blanket smell like liver when it heats up?" Justin continues.
"Because I'd be too tempted to eat it if it smelled like waffles. Sheesh, do I have to explain everything to you people?" Max says in a frustrated manner.
Justin and Alex just look at each other, but before they can say anything else, a cloud of thick yellow smoke suddenly appears in front of the kitchen counter. Evil laughter, male and female, starts rolling out from the smoke, but quickly turns into choked coughing noises. As the smoke starts to dissipate, three shaded figures begin to become visible, coughing and waving their arms in front of their faces.
"Was the smoke too much?" an older man's voice sputters out.
"No," the woman coughs, "but maybe we should have held back on the evil laughter until it cleared away."
A boy's voice speaks next. "Or we could have just used the door, like I said to begin with."
"Oh, there'd be no fun in that," the woman says.
Alex, Justin, and Max look at each other, and turn back as the smoke fully clears. Trying to make evil-looking poses are Dr. Evilini, Ronald Longcape Sr., and Ronald Longcape Jr. Around each of their necks hangs a chain sporting a different piece of a bee – one with a head, one with the body, and the last with the stinger.
"Hey!" Alex shouts, "It was you! Give me those necklaces!" She starts to storm over to them when Ronald Jr. gives her a smug grin and waves his wand at her. Her body freezes in place, mid-stride.
"I don't think so," he sneers.
Justin stands up angrily. "Let her go!" he orders.
Dr. Evilini laughs. "What will you do if we don't?" she asks, picking up the bee head charm and rolling it around in her fingers. "A little more juice, please," she orders.
Justin immediately wraps his arms around his body, beginning to shiver yet again.
Alex, who is still able to speak, asks, "Why are you doing this?"
Ronald Jr. answers her. "Why else but revenge?"
"But," Max says, confused, "The only thing Justin did to any of you was to clear the plastic balls out of WizTech."
Ronald Sr. steps forward, "Which ruined my plans to take over the school and got my powers stripped."
Max continues, "Right, so if you want revenge, that's cool-"
"Max!" Justin scolds.
Max shrugs apologetically before turning back to the evil trio. "But why are you two helping? I mean, really it was Alex who-"
"Precisely," Dr. Evilini coos. "It was Alex who got my powers stripped-"
"And mine," Ronald Jr. interrupts.
Dr. Evilini shoots him a look before continuing her explanation, "So, we aren't actually here for revenge on Justin. We're here to get back at Alex."
Ronald Sr. raises his hand. "Oh, I was involved just for the revenge on Justin part. Alex didn't really do anything to me."
"I wasn't done yet," Dr. Evilini snarls. "We wanted revenge on Alex, but knew we couldn't get it if Justin was in the way. So, we set the Breezer on him to get him out of the picture, first. And with that done, Alex, you will now be ours! MWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"
"No!" Justin yells, "Max we have to help her!"
Max nods and he and Justin begin to rush forward to grab Alex.
"You won't be helping anyone," Ronald Jr. snipes, flashing his wand at them. They freeze in place instantly. Laughing, the evil trio slink over to Alex, surrounding her. Ronald Sr. begins to twirl his wand in circles above his head, beginning a vortex that slowly grows as he circles his wrist.
"Alex, no," Justin grunts, and manages to wiggle his fingers. Struggling, he forces the movement up into his hand, watching as the vortex grows larger. "Come on," he orders his arm, and is finally able to move it freely. Just as the vortex grows wide enough to encompass the trio and Alex, he raises his hand and fires a magic blast at Ronald Sr, ignoring the pain from the black lighting that instantly attacks his shoulder; but the vortex is faster as it comes down around the group, surrounding them. The magic blast bounces off of it and flings back at the lamp on the bookshelf, shattering it. As the vortex disappears along with Alex and the trio, the spell is broken on Max and Justin. Justin drops to his knees, hugging his body as he begins shivering even more. Max rushes to his side.
"Justin, what do we do?" he asks.
"I – I d-don't know," Justin answers between shakes. "Can't th-think. Too c-c-cold."
Max snaps his fingers. "I'll just do that heating spell Alex did before!" He holds his hands over Justin. "Okay…um…how did it go?" He looks up to think, and notices a small black cloud of sand forming in the place where the lamp used to be. "Uh oh," he mutters, "Justin, the sand!"
Justin turns to see the sand thinning out into a line, just like it did before. "Max, m-move out of the w-way," he warns.
Before Max can move, the sand fires itself towards them. Without even thinking, Max stands in front of his brother, holding a hand out to the black stream. "Make my hand destroy that black sand!" he shouts out, just in time. The sand slams into his palm and explodes into a fine dust that dissolves into the air. He looks down at his hand, saying "whoa" before turning excitedly back to Justin; but Justin doesn't return eye contact. His eyes look glazed over as he focuses on the ground, trying his best to stay awake despite the cold.
"Ooh, guess it's up to me," Max says to himself. Holding his hands over Justin one more time, he concentrates on the spell...