Disclaimer, you know.
The next day was rather boring. Dorothy has spent most of her day helping her aunt and uncle taking care of her cousins. Glinda had tried to figure out what the jester was planning only in vain. It was now Monday and Dorothy, Ellie, and Aislynn were at school. The day had just begun and Mr. Pryce, who was still teaching the only advanced class in the school, had just passed out another quick little test. Aislynn as usual was the first one finished.
"I hate how you always finish first." Said one of the girls at the back of the room.
"Please be quiet until everyone has finished their tests." Mr. Pryce said.
"Sorry sir." The girl replied.
Mr. Pryce nodded and all of a sudden the sound of thunder resounded from outside and a bright flash of lighting added extra light to the room, the lights then went out causing a bunch of people including Mr. Pryce to jump. The intercom then crackled to life.
"We apologize for the current power failure, right now the emergency power to the intercom and the hall lights seem to work, and until this crisis is resolved everyone is to report to the auditorium." Mr. Alistair said as the intercom went dead.
It only took people a few seconds before everyone was getting up and rushing out of the class room. Dorothy, Ellie, Aislynn, Alex and Donna were the only ones left in the class room along with Mr. Pryce.
"That was quick." Ellie said getting up and packing up her stuff.
"Yep." Dorothy said picking up the scepter and her satchel.
"Well, I'm not going until everyone is out of the class room." Mr. Pryce said.
"Mr. Pryce, we'll be fine, you should go after the rest of the class." Dorothy said.
"Well then, don't hold up." He said getting up and running after the group.
Another crack of thunder shook the entire school. It didn't take long for all of them to be ready and they quickly ran after Mr. Pryce. When they got to the auditorium they found that it was buzzing with noise. Dorothy and Alex quickly found seats at far back of the auditorium. Ellie Aislynn and Donna soon joined. Everyone seemed to scream whenever the loud cracks of thunder shook the school. Mr. Alistair then came in with the gym teacher's megaphone.
"Excuse me!" he shouted.
Everyone immediately fell silent and turned to face Mr. Alistair.
"Yes, well, I'm glad you all managed to get here alright, I assure you all that we shall have this problem resolved as soon as possible, till then chat amongst yourselves as you had been." Mr. Alistair said before he walked out.
The auditorium soon began buzzing with noise again and Dorothy leaned her head against Alex's shoulder, she figured she could try and get a nap in before she had to make a quick run home. At least she hoped she could. She had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. She couldn't place the feeling, mostly because it wasn't one she had felt in the past. However it was a mixture of foreboding and nervousness. She sensed in her gut that something was wrong. She felt cold all of sudden and shivered. Alex noticed this and placed an arm around her. She nuzzled her head into his shoulder as if she were still a cat. Surprisingly she found herself letting out a purr. Alex noticed this and shook her. Dorothy opened her eyes and looked up at him.
"You purred." Alex said worried.
"I-I know." She said worriedly.
"You don't think?" Alex asked worriedly as well.
"I hope not." She replied.
Dorothy then looked down at her hands and saw that her nails had once more become long and sharp like claws. She felt angry at this point. If this was the jester's work she'd give him a piece of her claws. It was unlike her but this was more public than her fields. She was also frightened. She didn't want people to see her transforming back into a cat. She looked at Alex then got up and ran out of the auditorium accidentally leaving the scepter behind. Alex sighed and grabbed the scepter then ran after her. Ellie and Aislynn, who had no idea what was going on got up and ran after them leaving Donna talking to some of her other friends. Dorothy ran straight to Mr. Alistair's office. The secretary didn't even get a chance to say good morning before Dorothy ran straight into Mr. Alistair's office.
"Dorothy? Is something wrong?" Mr. Alistair asked curiously.
"Um, I appear to be turning into a cat again." Dorothy showing him her nails.
Mr. Alistair was about to make a remark before Alex, Ellie and Aislynn ran in. Alex handed the scepter back to Dorothy and then placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Ellie, contact Glinda, maybe she can do something about this." Alex said.
"First I want to know what's going on." Ellie said as Aislynn nodded in agreement.
Dorothy then sighed and turned around to face her friends. She showed them her nails and let out a purr. Ellie gasped and rummaged through her pockets. Pulling out a small bottle of liquid which she uncorked and splashed onto the wall mirror next to her. The mirror began to ripple but instead of the chambers in the emerald city, to all of their surprise it showed the inside of the gale residence. Glinda was sitting in front of the mirror as if anticipating that they would contact her. She looked into the mirror and saw Dorothy. She then sighed.
"I know what's going on." Glinda said in a sad tone.
"Well that's good, can you do anything about it though?" Ellie asked worriedly.
"Ellie, I'm currently stuck here, my magic isn't working, something is blocking it, I'm assuming you haven't noticed that the scepter is unusually dim." Glinda said worriedly.
It was now for the first time that Dorothy actually took a good look at the orb on the scepter. To her shock it was completely dark. There was no glow, no red haze, no nothing. It was as if the scepter had just shut itself off.
"It's completely dark." Dorothy said rolling the "r" sound not even being able to help it.
"I know, it's the jester's work, I was able to get here as soon as the storm started, but then I found that I couldn't transport myself to the school or out of Kansas, none of my magic is working, no magic is working outside of the jester's" Glinda said in a more worried tone.
"Yes well that's bad, I know, but what are we going to do about Dorothy turning into a cat again?" Alex asked curiously.
"That, well, I don't know, transformation spells only work if the caster casts the spell directly on the victim, and you haven't seen him, so I think, and this is just something I can assume, but that isn't the jester's work." Glinda said.
"Glinda, the jester left us that note, perhaps this is the challenge?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"The inability to use magic, yes, that's his work, your transformation however is not, I think that it's more of an after affect as it was the last form you took other than human." Glinda said.
"Excuse me, I hope I'm not interrupting, but you guys are wanted in the auditorium." The secretary said sticking her head in.
"Why?" Alex asked curiously.
"Some man dressed in a jester's outfit is looking for you." The secretary said.
"Well, that seems to be your cue." Glinda said before the mirror returned to normal.
Dorothy looked at her friends worriedly and then ran out of the office. When they got back to the auditorium they found the jester waiting center stage, balanced on a unicycle, juggling. Sure this kept everyone amused, but they didn't know what the jester was truly capable of. When his eyes caught Dorothy at the back of the auditorium he chuckled and ceased his juggling. He then jumped off the unicycle with a triple backflip and landed perfectly.
"So, you have you noticed my trick?" The jester asked teasingly.
"Yes, but that's not what I'm worried about." Dorothy said.
"Why did you roll your 'rs' like that?" The jester asked curiously.
"I'm turning, into a cat." Dorothy said walking up to the stage.
"What? Really? That's hilarious." He said laughing.
"Do something about it!" Alex shouted.
"Shut up, sure it wasn't part of my plan, so I won't make this part of my challenge." He said taking out his wand and sending a spell in Dorothy's direction.
It struck her in the in the stomach. She doubled over in surprise but caught herself before she got hurt. She looked at her hands and found that her nails had returned to normal. She tried to purr and found, luckily she couldn't. She stood up and picked up the scepter.
"Thanks, now why are you doing this?" Dorothy asked.
"I figured it would be fun, now, for my challenge." He said flicking the wand.
All of a sudden a loud crack of thunder shook the school and the lights came back on. Mr. Alistair ran in with a concerned look on his face. He then saw the jester and went pale.
"Well, I guess that answers one question." Mr. Alistair said before fainting.
"What did you do?" Dorothy asked.
"I've sealed the doors, ever exit to this building is completely sealed and no one can enter or exit this building aside from myself." The jester said chuckling.
"And our goal is to find something in the school to help unlock the doors?" Alex and Dorothy asked in unison.
"No, no, no, nothing even that straight forward, I'm leaving you to figure it out yourself." He said.
Dorothy was about to say something when one of Alex's old cronies threw a ball of paper at the jester.
"Yea right, you're just a man in a clown costume, like you could do any harm." He said laughing.
Dorothy looked at the boy and slowly inched towards him. The jester looked at the boy and raised the wand and shot a spell at the kid. Dorothy immediately held out the scepter and the spell flew directly to the orb on top. It glowed for a minute and then went dark again. The jester laughed at Dorothy and vanished. This immediately caused everyone to panic. Mr. Alistair then came to and activated the megaphone.
"Everyone please, remain calm." He said.
When this didn't work he walked up to the stage and climb up on it. Grabbing one of the microphones and held it to the mouth piece. Immediately the room was filled with the loud high pitch sound of feedback. The room quickly fell silent and everyone turned to face the stage.
"Thank you, now as I was saying, everyone please remain calm, Dorothy, Alex, Aislynn, Ellie, please go to my office, I will meet you there in a few minutes, I request all the teachers keep their classes under control. No one is to leave the auditorium without a teacher to escort them." Mr. Alistair said.
Dorothy made no remark. She just ran out of the auditorium with her friends following closely behind. One thing went through her mind and that was, it was going to be hard to explain this one.
Well, that's part one of this three parter. What does the jester have planned for them? How will Dorothy explain this to everyone? And what will Dorothy and her friends have to go through? All will be answered, just not all in part 2.