Chapter 1
Welcome Back!
It's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious to see you again :))) Shall we proceed from where we left off? Actually, no. It's been a while, so let's recap.
Michelangelo, the last book's main character, teamed up with our heroes (Britney, Kylian, Rebecca, Brandon, Halley, Louis, Kiara, and William) to find the person responsible for setting off a bomb in their school.
At the beginning of their adventure, the adults around told them to do what they did about the situation: nothing. Our heroes refused to stay put and went along anyway. They hacked into their prestigious school's database and traced terrorists to the infamous the Saviours and eventually to Britney's mother-figure. After a close-call with death, they find out (spoiler alert) their own principal did it!
They confronted him and his terrorist buddies on the edge of a cliff and won? I say that as a question, because Brandon would've been dead if it wasn't for the mysterious stranger that saved him, who turned out to be Kiara's grandfather, Chadwick.
He apparently had overheard that the agents who were put on William to protect him had teamed up with the international guard to use the children as a way to find the Saviours. He said that they were following them the entire time. They planned to make them do the hard work, then swoop in and take credit for their work. He obviously didn't approve of the thought of his granddaughter and her friends possibly dying, so Chadwick intervened and ultimately saved Brandon's life.
He was rightfully angry at the kids for even partaking in such a dangerous adventure, but Kiara's happiness to see him melted all his rage. Her smile is powerful, but it wasn't powerful enough to get them out of trouble.
*****
As they were being taken to Rus, the palace of the North, Louis quietly pointed out to Rebecca that there was no way that they could've been tracked considering how they were constantly checking for bugs, and, despite their actions, were careful. Rebecca thought that it was strange that the men meant to protect William would willingly risk the life of a monarch.
Once they arrived, however, there was no time to pick the holes in Chadwick's story since his associate rushed the kids off to their parents as all the Saviours present were being put in custody to await trial.
Most of them were found guilty of multiple accounts of terrorism, assault, attempted murder, attempted assassination of a monarch, etc and sent to life in Quod Tergora Inpenetrabiles Decipula. A few lucky people were given a combined total of 500 years in a less harsh maximum security prison, as they were "dormant".
Dormants are people without contracts to Magis and they make up approximately 73% of the population of Wisteria. They are equivalent to people like you and me. Although they have no magical power, some hold powerful positions in society, but that's besides the point.
Rebecca didn't have the time to think about the holes in Chadwick's story, nor could she hear her own thoughts over the sound of her parents, along with everyone else's guardians, reprimanding them for their actions. They told them how reckless they were being by taking on such a dangerous challenge, but they insisted that they were safe.
At one point, Halley mentioned that they would've been fine, since they had Kiara by their side. "Kiara?" Kiara's father scoffed, "She can't even properly control her power. She's a bigger threat to society than the Saviours. And you're using her as a shield? That's laughable." He and King Ackley, William's father, then dismissed everyone and put the kids all on house arrest until the start of the new school year.
*****
Rebecca was picked up and taken home by her father (Mateo), with whom she didn't feel very comfortable around, so she did her best to stay with him. The first night she was at his house, she had a dream about the first time her father tried to strangle her in her sleep, a few months after her mother had up and left them with her new boyfriend. His mental health had taken a plunge and Mateo blamed Rebecca.
*****
The fourteenth time he strangled her, she passed out. It was then when she met Athena while unconscious and made a contract with her at just six years old. She got up the next morning and Mateo remarked how what happened the night before "was all your fault, okay? If you were never born, then Gloria would still be here. I would have never neglected her with my two jobs that I feed you with. This is all your fault. You hear me? I hate you!"
Rebecca ran out of the house after hearing that, and she was a mess. She didn't stop to rest. She didn't stop to eat. She just kept on running until she eventually passed out. When she woke up, young Rebecca found herself in someone's camp in the nearby forest. A man with golden hair and pale gray eyes had found her in the street and he took her in.
She was apprehensive about the stranger, but he assured her that he wasn't dangerous. That didn't do anything. She tried to run away, but he begged her to rest up and regain her strength, and that is exactly what she did. He shared his little food with her, and he asked, "Are you alright?" as she ate. Rebecca was confused, but as soon as he asked she felt a rush of power.
She was initially bewildered and scared, but the kind stranger helped her control her new power. She stayed with the man at their camp for a week or so before she told him about her home situation. He listened intently to the six-year-old as she bawled her eyes explaining how her father hated her.
"I'm sure that your father loves you," he explained, "but I think he just loved your mom a bit more. You see, your mom didn't treat your dad well and he broke because of that. It isn't your fault. Adults can be really mean, but that doesn't mean he hates you."
Although she was unwilling, Rebecca decided to go back to her dad, and the stranger even walked her back to her home. She slowly walked up the stairs, and turned to thank the man before she went in, but he wasn't there. He had saved her life, but she never even got a name.
Her dream about the past concluded as she turned her door knob to enter her home once again.
She woke up with tears in her eyes as she clenched her necklace, and her eyes glowed their breathtaking violet as she said, "Palladis Athena," and summoned her Magi.
Magicians can summon their Magis at any time, but Magis aren't supposed to summon or take control of their magician, no matter the circumstance. When the Magi is called upon, they have a ghost like form, where only their magician can see and talk to them. To be summoned, the magician must say the name to which their Magi is bound aloud as a spell. In this case, Athena is bound to the name "Palladis Athena."
Anyways, she asked the goddess if she managed to find the man who had saved her life. "You do know that this is the eighty-eigth time in three months that you've asked me that, right?" an annoyed Athena asked, "And for the eighty-eighth time: no, Rebecca. I have not found this mystery man. I have searched and searched, but nothing, which means he's dormant."
Rebecca didn't think he was though. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something about him seemed, well, magical.
*****
For the first month of her house arrest, Rebecca spent all her time in her room. She didn't feel comfortable around her family and secluded herself all the time. Her father and stepmother understood why she was uneasy in regards to family time, but her little sister didn't really get the memo.
One day, Rebecca's little sister (Brianna) barged in and begged her to play with her, which she did after she tried to ignore her little tantrum. Rebecca even offered to help her step-mother when she returned home. This pleasantly surprised Brianna's mother, Sarah, who had gone grocery shopping, and didn't have the best relationship with her step-daughter. They exchanged more words putting away groceries and preparing dinner than they had since they first met: three years prior.
Mateo had remarried when she was twelve, and they had Brianna when Rebecca was 13. Rebecca had always felt out of place in her own home, so laughing while sharing a meal with everyone was a first for her. A pleasant one at that.
*****
The four remaining months flew by, and it was soon time to go back to school. Brianna bawled her eyes out as Mateo and Rebecca drove away, and he mentioned how attached she had gotten to her. It may not have been very evident in Rebecca's constant stone cold expression, but that made her happy.
The second part of their punishment was rolled out, and Rebecca was at first somewhat pleased with it. It wasn't as harsh as not being able to talk to her chosen family all summer, but she did get caught off-guard by it.
Kiara and William had been moved out of the dorms completely, which meant that she had an entire dorm to herself. Michaelangelo was still with Kylian, Halley was with Britney, and Brandon was, surprisingly, rooming with Louis.
*****
On the first day of school, Brandon and Louis met up with Rebecca on her way to homeroom, and they caught up with each other.
Apparently, Louis was joined at the hip with his father and their bodyguards as his punishment. This "harsh" punishment included learning the ropes of international and Avstrijan politics. He described it as "hell", but smiling, waving, laughing, and listening to old people in expensive clothes while being driven around in expensive cars doesn't sound too bad.
Poor Brandon had to explain social media to his grandmother all summer long. She kept on forgetting how to do anything, but he couldn't get mad at her because she was trying her best. However, when he wasn't frying his brain cells while trying to explain that a catfish isn't an someone pretending to be a fish, he spent his days with his little twin sister and his sometimes frustrating grandmother.
If I may add, Mrs. Maya Markson did a fine job raising her grandchildren in their parents' stead. A mighty fine job.
Any-who, Louis brought up Chadwick's story after they reminisced about their "horrible five month summer breaks" and called it out for being strange. "The only people who could've tracked us that quickly were the Saviours." He even claimed that only a handful of people even knew about the cliff's existence. Brandon also added that Saviour activity continued even after Moore was put behind bars, which raised suspicions as to the identity of the real leader of the Saviours.
As they were walking to their homeroom class, someone hit on Rebecca and Louis threatened to violently end their existence in response. Brandon held in his laughter, but Rebecca saw right through his "serious" face. Thankfully, they managed to break up the little dispute before it evolved into an altercation. After all, they were all one slip up away from juvie. They also dropped the conversation in fear of someone overhearing them, but they got weird looks in class.
Rumours about chasing after a terrorist group and almost dying get around quickly. Especially in high school. However, Britney scaring a peaceful, sleeping Kiara awake in a rather loud manner directed everyone's attention away from them.
When the period started, Mr. Jones re-explained Magiterra to them.
To summarise, Magiterra is the land of the Magis. All existing Magis stay in Magiterra until their magician uses their magic or summons them. When summoned, they travel to the magician's soul and lend them their power or enter their consciousness. No people can enter Magiterra. No human souls can enter Magiterra either. The Creators' magicians are thought to be exceptions to this rule, however whether the Creators' magicians can travel to Magiterra is unknown as no one knows who they are. Well, no one except our heroes. Even then, they only knew the Dark Creator's magician, but Kiara probably knows who the Light Creator's magician is ...
*****
After school, Rebecca asked if anyone wanted to go with her to the arcade, but everyone was either busy or not allowed to, except Louis, so they hung out together without having to worry for their lives for the first time. However, Louis's father had assigned a security detail to Louis after the incident with Aaron Moore, so the first thing on their agenda was to lose him.
They went to a department store first and changed out of their school uniforms, at Louis's expense of course, and as she was changing, Rebecca got an idea. She told Louis her plan and they slyly approached their security guard with arms full of different clothes.
They had the poor lad go through outfit after outfit until he began taking his time changing. As he was re-trying on the same pants from five minutes prior with a new shirt, Rebecca and Louis slipped out of the store undetected.
If it makes it any better, the guard probably didn't lose his job and if he did, at least he got free outfits.
After successfully losing the possibly newly unemployed security guard, Rebecca and Louis walked around Olympia going from arcade to arcade, beating game after game until they got to a "Test your Strength" punching bag.
Louis went first and didn't hold back as he hit the bag with everything he had and set a new high score. Rebecca was taken aback while Louis stared at the score with satisfaction as the knuckles on his left fist turned red. She knew he was stupid, but not that stupid.
She asked him why he didn't use the protective gloves, but he bragged that it didn't hurt. He also instigated her saying, "Why do you care? Wait. You're not stalling cuz you're scared, are you?"
Rebecca was surprised at his obvious instigation as she put on the gloves. He warned that it may interfere with the score, but that didn't stop her from setting a new high score and put a hole in the bag.
*****
Louis walked back to her dorm, and they laughed the entire way as they remembered the man behind them who was pale in fear of their scores.
They eventually bidded each other farewell, and Rebecca returned to her dark, half-empty dorm. She was used to having Kiara welcoming her home, so she was a bit lonely. However, that loneliness quickly turned to alarm as she received a telepathic message from William.