(Gravesfield, Connecticut, USA)

Jacob Hopkins wore a crimson robe. The guy he had bought it from in Serbia had said that the symbols on the cloak must have been for protection from the evils of magic. Jacob had doubted that was actually what the symbols meant but he needed every little bit of hope he could get when assembling his new order of Witch Hunters. He grabbed his staff and was about to meet with his order when he heard a knocking at the door.

"Jacob, how many times do I have to tell you to spray air freshener in the bathroom after you finish, it stinks to high heaven in there." Jacob's mom said from outside the room.

"Mom, not now I'm about to summon my fellow Hunters."

" Not till you take out the cans, it's trash day tomorrow."

"Fine."

Jacob took off his robe and put it back in his closet next to his Henchman 21 costume.

(15 minutes later)

Jacob opened the door to the shed and found his fellow Hunters waiting for him in their ceremonial robes.

"Why are we here, Jacob? I was in the middle of editing this week's podcast episode." The tallest in his group said.

"patience, Dan. It'll all be worth it once i show you what I've found." Jacob replied before pulling out a clear sandwich bag with what looked like a severed lizard's tail with a small amount of blue hair at the end. He showed it to the group.

Dan sighed.

"It looks like an iguana's tail," Dan said.

"It's not! This is a small piece of my arch-enemy's tail. With this, we can prove that the enemy is amongst us and we can-"

"Enough Jacob. We…can't do this anymore." Terran said. She stood next to Dan but walked out of the Circe and took off her robes.

"Look, Jacob. This was fun when we were larping and playing Dungeons & Dragons in your mom's basement but we've been talking we're not ok with all this magic stuff."

"Terran is right, you've become way too obsessed with this stuff and you keep trying to bring us into it and we're sick of it. We have our own lives and jobs heck I've gotta go so I'm not late for my shift at Fancy Nancy's Chicken. Hank said before he and everybody else but Jacob left the shed.

"Fine but just wait and see, when the Aliens use their magic to take over you'll all see I was right!" As everyone was about to leave the back yard they all heard a loud boom and saw the sky turn a sickly green color as a massive mushroom cloud formed in the sky before turning into a massive skull and looked down at the town malevolently.

"I...I was right." Jacob said before looking at his former clubmates.

"See, I was right! The magic-using aliens have already begun their invasion! We are all that stands between them taking over our planet."

"We? Ok granted maybe you were right about the Aliens or whatever that skull thing is but shouldn't we let the Army or the CIA deal with this?"

"Hank's right. How would we even defend ourselves?" Terran asked.

"Terran, you have a sword for goodness sake," Jacob said.

Terran pulled out her sword.

"This is a plastic replica I bought on Amazon, Dummy!"

Terran then threw it to the ground and joined everyone else as they left his yard.

"Fine, go! You'll all see I was right, you'll-"

Jacob then slipped and fell into a pile of mud.

"I believe you, Mr. Hopkins."

Jacob picked himself up and saw a well-dressed fourteen-year-old boy standing a few feet away. He was lean with pale skin, a pointed nose and long, shoulder-length brown hair, and pale blue eyes.

"Kid, get out of my mom's yard. Jacob said as he got up and cleaned his glasses.

"I will but first I would like to make an offer. Tell me, Mr. Hopkins, you wanna do the right thing and get rid of these invaders don't you?"

Now Jacob looked a mix of surprise and interest.

"How do you-"

"That's not important right now, what is important, however, is that I have the answers to all your problems."

Jacob noticed the teen reach into his suit and pull out a long staff with strange markings on it and what looked like a wooden Model of a Whooping crane at the top. The teen then held it out to him.

"Take this to the house of your enemy."

several houses down were the house where the creature lived with the little brat who'd taken his job at the museum, he wasn't allowed to be near their house because of the restraining order but he'd driven past the house in his mother's old car a few times so they wouldn't recognize him, lately he'd noticed several children living with them lately, these were probably the first wave of invaders! Forget his former club mates, he would deal with this threat and save the world himself!

Jacob took the staff and looked it over a few times then back at the teen.

"What is this thing exactly?" Jacob asked.

The teen boy gave Jacob a thought smile, showing several missing teeth.

"Let's just say it's the weapon you'll need to ride this world of the invaders. Now remember, leave it at the house at the end of the street and the staff will do the rest of the work."

Jacob looked over the staff another time then looked to where the teen boy had been standing a few seconds ago but was now gone.

(The remains of the museum)

Masha pushed an old statue off and then looked around the rubble for the kids, first to get up was Roland, his face was dirt-stained as he coughed up some dust. Masha ran over and helped him up.

"Are you okay ?" Masha asked

Roland looked up at Masha for a moment but couldn't hear what she was saying, all he did hear was a loud ringing in his ears. He then mouthed: I can't hear you."

Masha released what was going on, the poor boy was experiencing shell shock.

"Oh Sweetie, you have shell shock." Masha then gently pushed Roland down to sit on a piece of rubble and mouthed: Stay here, I'm going to look for the others."

A few minutes later They found Lithie and Erich under a massive painting. Erich had a few cuts on his face but Lithie seemed to be in better shape.

Before either child could say anything Masha had already started to check them for injuries before looking around for Uriel.

"Uriel, Uriel Baby, where are you?!"

"Uriel isn't here anymore." A deep feminine voice said.

Masha turned and saw the voice coming from Uriel as he held an Opossum Palisman staff.

Masha looked to the side and grabbed a Halberd. The possessed Uriel did not look impressed.

"Oh please." Uriel taunted in a deeper voice. "You think that would harm me?"

Uriel snapped his fingers and the Halberd melted in her hands! She dropped the reassurance before it could burn her then was about to grab an old pike from the floor but she stopped when she saw Uriel was gone. Masha ran around the wreckage looking for any trace of Uriel, but her search came up empty.

"Mx Masha!" Lithie cried out. Masha looked over to find Lithie and Erich standing over a Passed out Roland. They ran over to Lithie and Erich and pulled the boy up. His eyes were closed, his breathing was shallow and his body trembled. "What happened?" Masha asked.

"I don't know. One minute he's sitting here mumbling to himself the next minute he's passed out on the floor." Lithie said, her voice was full of worry.

Roland's concealment stone fell off his wrist and his thick horns showed. "Oh no…" Erich said, realizing they had to cover his head fast before anybody else came over and saw him. He grabbed a wide-brimmed hat from the Spanish-American war display and put it on Roland's head, it wasn't a great disguise, but the hat was wide enough to almost cover the horns. Masha and Erich carefully lifted the body of Roland and brought him into the car. Masha listen to his heartbeat it was there but it was faint. They then turned to Erich and Lithie.

"Both of you get in, we gotta get him to the hospital! " Masha said as they tried to start the car but it wouldn't turn over.

"C'mon!"

"Masha!"

Masha turned around and Saw Vee,Penelope and Pep flying over on their Palisman staff with Luisa on the back of Penelope's staff.

Vee was the first to get off her staff and embrace her Enbyfriend then looked around the rubble of the museum, then saw Roland sitting, passed out in the pack seat. "Is that Roland, What happened?" Vee asked while pushing past Masha and the others and looking at her charge.

"I don't know, all I did was go to the back room for a sec to show some of the kids, the shrunken heads and when I came back, everything was trashed! Uriel's possessed by a Wraith, Vee! He just flew off to God knows where!" explained Masha while shaking her head in disbelief.

Vee dug through her pocket, she always carried a spare concealment stone in her pocket just in case but her pockets were empty! They couldn't take Roland to the hospital with his obvious horns showing, humans still feared the witches and demons that emigrated from the demon realm to Earth. Some prejudiced doctor will take one look at Roland and toss them all out.

"Here, this should work," Pep said as String-Bean turned to her true king cobra form and wrapped around Roland's shoulders.

Pep activated his illusion spell, and String-Bean's eyes glowed sky blue before Roland's horns disappeared. Vee as well as everyone else was astonished to see this.

"Pep, how did you do that?"

"I'll tell later, we gotta get Roland to the hospital," Pep said. Vee nodded before taking Roland in her arms and got onto Joe before she took off.

Lithie and Erich's Palisman Came out immediately changed to their staff forms and the two took off after Vee.

Penelope got back on Emmiline Bailey Marcostimo with Pep sitting behind her.

"Luisa, Hop on," Penelope said.

"I'll stay back. I don't wanna put too much pressure on Emmiline Bailey Marcostimo besides it'll be good to give you two sometime together."

Pep looked quizzically at Luisa while Penelope blushed.

"Uh Pep, you might want to hold on tight."

Pep shrugged and put his arms around Penelope's waist, causing the girl to blush more so before taking off.

Luisa smiled to herself. To think Penelope thought of herself as the matchmaker of the group.

Masha sighed and then put her hand on their niece's shoulder.

"C'mon Isa, let's go meet them at the hospital."

"What about your car?"

"I'll call a tow truck on the way."

Luisa was about open the car door when she heard something land on the roof of the vehicle, she then heard a single-note bugle call. Without looking up she knew what made that call, the sound brought her back to her childhood…back before her father's death…it couldn't be her though she died along with him so many years ago.

The creature lowered its head and looked Luisa in the eyes. Its yellow eyes and white, red, and black feathers all bring back joyful memories of her childhood, it was her, Naan the whooping crane, Hunter's second Palisman. The bird came down from the car and stood in front of the girl. The crane looked Luisa in her dark magenta eyes and recognized her as the little girl who she had known so long ago, she had her father's spirit within her, the crane could tell.

"Naan, Do you remember me?" Luisa asked.

The crane spread out her wings and gave a joyful call before changing into her Staff form and landing in Luisa's hands.

She looked the staff up and down, it was beautiful. Carved by the Great Palisman smith, Astrid from the bones of the first Titan and decorated with complex and powerful runes.

(Inside Uriel's mind)

Uriel ran out from the Fog that was slowly overtaking everything in sight. He didn't dare look over his shoulder to see if she was still following, he had to keep running! An enormous purple hand burst from the fog and tried to grab Uriel! The boy used his construction magic to raise a tall stone wall to block the hand. The hand burst through the wall like it was nothing! Uriel raised wall after wall, statue after statue, anything to block her way he would make! He then finally encased himself in a stone cube then wrapped himself in a fetal position in the closest corner.

Fearful tears ran down his cheeks as he heard all his walls and statues burst into bits!

Uriel began to cry more intensely. He didn't what to be here. Coming to the human realm had been fun at first but now he just wanted to go home and be with his mamma and Papa, not stuck wherever he was now being chased by some old Witch he'd never even heard of before today. The roof to his Cube then broke away as it was raised before being thrown off in another direction and darting for Uriel! He used what little strength he had left and made a healing shield that shattered like it was nothing before the hand grabbed him and returned to its maker. Phoebe stood there patiently waiting for the hand to return with Uriel, once it did she looked happily at the boy as he was dropped at her feet. Uriel looked up at the witch. Much like Eda she was thin and pale with long graying black hair, she wore colonial-era clothing and held her long Opossum staff high. She noticed how horrified the child looked, pulled out her handkerchief and wiped away the boy's tears then spoke to him in a grandmotherly tone of voice.

"Oh, Dear heart what troubles you?"

Uriel was a bit surprised by how nice this witch was being to him, she had a sort of grandmotherly spirit about her, nothing like the dark warlocks and witches his parents had warned him about.

"Wh-where are we? Why am I here?!"

Tears ran down Uriel's cheeks again.

"I just wanna go home! I hate it here in the human realm."

Phoebe smiled at this then gently wiped away the boy's tears.

"So do I, Uriel."

Uriel now looked surprised.

"How do you know my name?"

"I heard you called that when you and your compatriots, entered the museum. I've learned quite a bit about you while I've been inside your mind."

Uriel looked around.

"That's where we are?"

Phoebe nodded.

"Indeed. I could tell right from the moment I saw you that you were an exceptionally gifted young witch. We can hold each other for you see, I also wish to return to our mutual home, and with your help I can get you back home.

"Can my friends come too?"

"Of course, they can. We witches belong to the Demon realm, not stuck here with these backwater creatures."

"You mean the Humans? They're ok. I mostly just miss my Parents."

"Humans are not ok, Uriel. These backstabbing monsters will take you out no matter how much you have helped them, trust me I know."

Uriel wanting to change the subject then asked: So how are we gonna get home?"

" Before I died I stashed away a small vile of Titan's blood. All we need to do is get our hands on it"

"Where is it?"

(Back below)

Luisa looked up in horror as the massive skull began to float away from the wreckage of the museum and towards the hospital Where Roland was being taken.

To be continued

Please comment