Epilogue - All is well when… Actually, not so much for Justin.
.
.
.
Alex and Justin come out of the Tower of Evil, back to the patio.
"Hey!" Alex calls out and Justin looks back at her. "Why didn't the machine work on us? I mean, it didn't steal our powers!"
Justin stares at her, thinking, as he only now realizes it. "Uhm!…" However, looking around the patio gives him a clue. "The black hole." He exclaims as it jumps to his mind. "When you opened it to get rid of the zombies, it sucked in a lot of the dust from the patio. And maybe what was left wasn't enough to affect us all the way up there on the tower, not as bad at least."
"So, you mean that what Fiendl did against us turned right back at him!?" Alex points out.
"Yeah! That's a nice felling, isn't it?"
"It's always nice when your revenge comes straight from your foe's screw up. Even when you're completely clueless!" Alex completes.
With a careful look around as they come closer to the entrance of the castle, they can still see some of the dust in the corners, left behind by the plot that almost took away their wizard ability, now back to the dark cold state just as before being charmed.
"We gotta get rid of all this dust." Justin tells Alex.
"I get that!" Alex steps ahead and raises her wand. "Any dust around the entire place, make it go far into outer space."
Out of every window in sight, the siblings notice a faint dust cloud flying out then up, disappearing into the sky. Justin looks at Alex, eyes narrow and mouth squeezed, stretching to the left, disapprovingly.
"What! Did you really think I vacuum back at home?"
"Into outer space? Did it have to be that far?"
"Is there any use for it? No! So now we can move on with a little less dust in our lives." She arguments.
"You can't have less dust in your life because dust is actually…"
"Nah! No!" Alex interrupts him. "I don't wanna listen to your nerd information. I've had enough for a day."
Justin sighs. "Let's just… go back in and see if everyone is okay." He calls, as he starts walking to the door.
They go all the way back to the ballroom. As they arrive there, they find every student, teacher and other school staff now free of the spell that imprisoned them, but still waiting inside. Unable to say what was happening, the teachers decided to stay in, keeping the kids as safe as they could. Justin takes a moment explaining what had happened, and assuring that things are under control, that the wizard cops should be arriving in moments, and the best for now is to stay there and wait.
Professor Stein comes ahead from the group to talk to Justin. "Headmaster Russo, this must've been quite a feat." Stein stops in front of him and Alex. "Thank for solving the situation and saving us." The man offers Justin a handshake.
Alex makes a disgust face and Justin stares at the hand, hiding both of his behind his back. "Uhm!… No need to thank me." He smiles at the… well, man, and stuffs his hands in his pockets. "Just doing my job."
"Miss Russo…" Stein tries, turning to her.
"Ew! … No!" Alex turns around and walks away.
"I just…" Justin points to her then makes a quick exit, catching up to her as fast as he can.
Soon the wizard cops arrive and Justin takes them to where he trapped Fiendl. Alex is kept in his office to give her testimony of the situation. Yeah! Justin would love to watch that. Those poor cops have no idea!
While Justin deals with the cops and security issues, he tasks Stumbler with organizing a few teachers to take care of the kids, making sure that all of them are well and have no side effects of the suspension spell, or anything else Fiendl may have done that they haven't discovered yet.
Very late, as Justin and Alex head to the cafeteria to have dinner practically at the small hours, Professor Stumbler's voice utters for them. "Headmaster Russo!" Justin stops to wait for the man, and Alex stops by his side. "Just a quick report."
"Yes!?" Justin asks.
"All the kids have been accounted for, examined and cleared…" As Stumbler tells, Alex curiously stares at his face. Even if uncomfortably, Stumbler continues. "Uhm! …They already had dinner and are ready to go to bed, if that's okay with you." Alex comes a step closer.
"Sure! Send them off to bed." Justin agrees, repeating Alex's attentive stare. "I'll see if a few cops can stay and guard the dormitories for tonight."
"Wonderful! That should calm the kids down." Stumbler answers, uncomfortably shifting his gaze between Alex and Justin. "By the way, I didn't have the chance to thank you both for saving all of us." He tries to move away, but Alex comes even closer, his glasses evidently the object of her attention.
"Oh, no need to thank." Justin moves his head around to have a different angle on his glasses.
"Yeah!… Noooo biggy!" Alex replies, focusing on the garment.
"ALRIGHT! Alright! I confess!" Stumbler states begrudgingly, jumping back a whole step. Alex and Justin quickly step away. "I don't know how you got this right. Apparently you two live up to your reputations. …" That again?
Stumbler gives a big sigh. "My glasses were made from crystal balls. … Not the crystal balls that disappeared, though. They are much older. But I've lost those glasses before the beginning of the classes and I couldn't find them since." The man whines. "I had to replace for these normal ones." He adjusts the prop on his face.
Alex turns to Justin with a self-satisfied expression for being right.
Justin is not going to do that right now! So, he turns back to Stumbler. "Uhm!… I think I might know where to find them." Justin tells him.
After Alex and Justin have dinner along with a few teachers, Justin decides to stay up all night, just in case any angry parents decide to show up. So he goes to his office and starts taking care of the immense amount of paperwork this entire situation certainly generated. Then Alex intrudes the office with her enormous cup of energy drink, she doesnt even knock anymore. She drops herself on the couch behind the door, throwing her feet on the center table. "Did you find Stumbler's glasses in the things they recovered from Fiendl's office?"
"Yeah!" Justin doesn't really care about her presence. "He must've taken them so Stumbler couldn't see what he was up to."
"Yeah! Makes sense." Alex answers.
Justin writes a few more words on his paper, keeping the room silent for a moment. Suddenly he stops, lets out a sigh, "Do you really think Crumbs plotted to get us here together to face Fiendl?" He wonders.
"I mean, think about it." Alex tells. "Crumbs indicated me for the job!? To trust me the education of the most brilliant future wizards!? After supervising my entire wizard training!?" She tells Justin.
"Looking from that angle." Justin agrees.
"But, on the other hand, he also saw how many times we were there together to save the day. So…" She remembers.
"We've been doing this for a long time, haven't we?" He reminisces with a kind smile.
With the straw still in her mouth, Alex smiles back, remembering their childhood full of excitement. "Yeah! … I mean! … We can't do anything together that there's always… a wizard planning to take over the Wizard world… or to destroy the Wizard world, or… aliens randomly threatening to destroy the entire world for some stupid milkshake."
"Actually, that was on you!"
She looks at him with a disapproving scrunched up face. He just nods.
"That's not how I chose to remember it." Alex informs and Justin smiles, shaking his head. "So… what happens to classes, now?" She asks.
"Well, when the parents get informed about what happened, which must be already happening, they'll surely start popping in. It'll take some time to convince them everything is under control now. We will probably have to stop classes for a couple days."
"And what about the Potions class?" She points out.
"I'll have to find someone fill in."
"You could call Dad. Wasn't potions, like, one of his favorites?" She suggests.
"I think I have enough family involved in work, already." Justin shoots back. "…And I have enough to do… like… talk to the Council, to teachers, to lots of angry parents…"
"Alright! You're swamped in work. I get it."
"I have to find someone to sketch the security reports to the Safety Board, that thanks to you!"
"Ugh! You really know how to kill all the fun!" Alex complains, she really wanted to see him try it.
"Funny! …All that and now I don't even have a vice-Headmaster to assist me." Justin says, completely lost in his long "to-do" list.
Then it sinks in and he looks at Alex. The smile she holds with goggled eyes, gaping him as if she had the best of ideas, again. He so hates this face on her.
"I'm not making you my vice-Headmaster!" Justin practically shouts at Alex, in a fit of panic.
"Oh, come on. It would be so cool. The Russos, owning WizTech!" She says very excited. "That would look great in a t-shirt. …I mean, as long as your face doesn't ruin it!"
"You just wanna do it because of the 'Cool Things' I mentioned about the wand." Justin calls her out.
"If you had told me what those 'cool things' are I wouldn't have to do it to find out."
"Alex! Look, I have to trust the person I put on the job."
"Well, look at it this way. You can trust me…" dramatic pause, "…to keep being me." She smiles wide at him, very proud of this one.
"Was that supposed to make me feel better? Because you know they are not the same."
"Come on! All you have to do is to… like… sign a paper or something. It's all up to you, anyway." Alex incites.
"I can't do that. That would be nepotism, and that is not seen with good eyes in the world of business."
"So, you're saying you're afraid." Alex calls him out on it.
"This has nothing to do with fear!" Justin explains.
"Yeah, right!" Alex dares him.
"I'm not afraid!" He complains.
"Yes, you are!" She retorts.
"I'm not afraid!" He shouts.
"Bok-Bok! Chicken!" Alex teases.
"I'm not afraid!"
"You are!"
"Am not!"
"You are!"
"Am not!"
"Then prove it!" She dares.
Yeah! You know what!? Some things just never change!
The End.