Chapter 2: Found

"Yo! Sabrina!"

Long brown hair poured over the Freshman's shoulders, staying there even as she turned her head to face her friend.

A small, hearty giggle tumbled out of her mouth as Riley took her place next to her on the fresh spring grass. "You're so loud," she noted.

Riley smirked. "I thought you knew by now to deal with it, Sabrina," she said as she took a bite of her sandwich. At last- lunch. School had dragged on and on today, and now, finally a small reward was here.

"Anyways, happy birthday," Sabrina congratulated in her soft voice, emerald green eyes shining.

A smile grew on Riley's face for the umpteenth time today. "Thanks! Oh, speaking of which, are you ready to go to the 'haunted' mine?"

Sabrina shrugged and turned away from Riley. "As ready as ever, I suppose. It seems fun."

Riley knitted her eyebrows. "I still don't get why you think going to a mine is fun. Usually it isn't your thing- you prefer indoor stuff, dontcha?"

The comment caught Sabrina off-guard. "Oh- um, well... it is your birthday, and I'm going with you, so it should be fun, right?"

Riley didn't let either the tinges of red on her cheeks or the way she wouldn't look at her unnoticed. She kept this in mind even as she felt a pair of eyes boar into her back. This allured her to turn her head around and raise her eyebrows.

It was him... Alex. Alex Zelinski.

Riley whipped her head around before Alex could think much of her turning around. "He's right behind me!" she whispered. "I wonder how to ask him to go to the mine with me-"

"Simple- ask him," Sabrina said as-a-matter-of-factly. "But if you really feel so nervous, I can come with you-"

"That'd be great!" Riley launched from the ground eagerly like a rabbit. "Well, come on-"

"Okay, okay." Sabrina chastised as she took her time in standing up. "Slow down a bit, why dontcha?"

Riley huffed impatiently, but didn't say anything to combat Sabrina's scolding.

Sabrina nodded her head toward Alex. "Well? Let's go."

The two friends crossed over to the fellow Freshman artist. "Hey Alex!" Riley chirped.

Alex looked up from his food. "Hmm? Oh- Riley. Hey." His eyes then slid to Sabrina, and a smile overpowered his formal expression. "Sabrina," he greeted happily.

Sabrina flexed her fingers nervously and smiled back. "Hi! Anyways-"

"Riley, right?"

The blonde swung around to see another older girl, decked in purple clothes.

"Um, yeah..." Riley nodded cautiously.

The girl looked to her right, and from there Riley could see that she had a companion- a boy with dark, chocolate-colored skin and eyes that glimmered like the gold in a newly discovered treasure chest.

"Mind if we see you for a moment?"

Normally, Riley would have protested. But there seemed to be something... otherworldly... hanging around them. She was curious...

Riley nodded. "Explain the situation to Alex, will you?" she asked Sabrina, not even turning her head to look at her.

"I will."

With that, the girl began walking away, her legs shaking like jello, as if she'd just found a long-lost sister or something. Her hand eagerly beckoned Riley over to a secluded spot.

When they were at last alone together, the girl took a deep breath. "First off, I have to introduce ourselves. My name is Alyssa Thunderslash. This is Jacob Goldeneyes."

Thunderslash? Goldeneyes? What kind of last names were those?

"We came here to talk to you about something of high importance," Jacob spoke up.

"You're..." Alyssa drew in a deep breath. "We might think that you're the one we're looking for."

Riley knitted her eyebrows. "Looking for me? For what?" She threw a glance at Sabrina and Alex- Sabrina was doing as Riley requested and telling her about Riley's party.

"You're a theurgist," Jacob bluntly said. "We don't have enough confirmation of this, but there's something nagging at us telling us that you're the theurgist we're looking for."

For the longest time, Riley didn't say anything. What was this guy saying...?

Riley smiled mockingly. "Right. Like I know what that's supposed to mean."

"It means that you need to help us save the Spiral, before the darkness feeds on your world too!" Alyssa suddenly burst, hunching over and balling her fists.

"Uh-huh. And I'm supposed to believe that?"

"Listen, you, if you don't shut up and listen to us-"

Riley waved a hand dismissively. "I've listened to you enough. I'm sick of having these sick jokes being played on me, you know. I've had them all my life- now, go away before I get a teacher."

With that, Riley stormed away angrily, almost not able to believe that people would play a sick joke on her like that. She was too enveloped in anger to see Alyssa and Jacob exchange worried glances.

Valdus Nightheart was getting impatient.

He should have had results by now, from both Sestiva and Tarlac. Sure, Sestiva was ditsy, and sometimes was too distracted by foolish things, but Tarlac was a profound genius necromancer. He surely expected better from him.

Then he could hear Sestiva's voice.

"Found him!"

Valdus straightened up in his chair.

"So you have?" he asked smoothly, his deep voice resembling a calm tide of the ocean. The calm before the storm.

"Mmhmm! It was kind of easy- you could tell he was trying to pass off as a normal human, but he still stood out quite a bit."

Valdus closed his eyes. "Excellent, Willowblood." Now all he had to do was wait for Tarlac.

"So anyways, you, like, promised to tell me what Tarlac was doing," Sestiva pestered. "Well?"

"He's finding someone, same as you. He's halfway across this world."

"Really? Who?"

"That will be classified as of now."

"OH COME ON!"

Valdus smirked softly and decided not to go into Tarlac's mission anymore. "I'm not telling you because I can't afford to have you distracted. Now that you have found him, you must strike swiftly. Show no mercy."

"R-Right. When?"

"Is he alone right now?"

Hundreds of miles away, Sestiva sighed. "No. A lot of people will see me if I attack right now."

"So we must wait. Stalk him. Get him alone, tonight. I will come to assist you."

"H-Hey! I can do this just fine on my own!"

"That may be true, but this is someone of vital importance we're talking about," Valdus calmly reasoned. "For we absolutely cannot afford to mess up."

A/N: I forgot to add the last two times- the beautiful cover image was made by AthenaLionheart on Wizard101Central. :D