Horror Movie 10

Now that the girls had decided to use magic to improve their lives, the only question now was how to go about that.

The first step of solving any problem was to define exactly what the problem was.

Cassandra's problem was that she needed to improve at her various activities without needing any extra time. The solution to that was she needed to improve her intelligence, physical abilities, knowledge, and skills. This could be achieved by creating a talisman detailed in the grimoire, the Champion's Medal. The only materials needed were a tiny medal she won years ago in a spelling bee and the magic they imbued into it. It resulted in a tiny bronze medal connected to a blue ribbon that reflects light a little bit off.

Elizabeth's problem was that she wanted revenge against her ex Chris, but his popularity and money made that very difficult. Her father also restricted her available options. The solution was to harm him in a way that does not trace back to her. This could be achieved by creating a mildly harmful potion and slipping it into his food or drink. The potion they chose was one that created boils on the victim's genitals, which had a sort of poetic irony due to his deeds. You see Chris had sweet talked the preacher's daughter into bed, recorded what should have been a meaningful and significant moment in her young life, then spread said video around to prove his conquest. The potion was made from acne cream found in Cassandra's bathroom, corrupted with mana to flip its purpose thus causing boils, then mixed with water to turn the concoction liquid. While acne was different from boils, intent mattered more than reality in magic and the two things were close enough.

Sapphire's problem was that she wanted protection from her father. You see the man whose responsibility it was to always be on her side and protect her was the one she needed someone like that against. While her mother was almost as complicit due to her inaction and covering for her spouse, Sapphire knew that she had a good reason for it all. Fear should not overpower love, but it does sometimes. Her problem could be solved in a myriad of ways, but she wanted to keep things as non-lethal as possible. They decided on using her father's favorite tool, fear, against him with a simple curse that would strike fear into the heart of any man. This was a purely mana-based process that only required the three of them to perform a ritual.

That night the three went to bed dreaming of a better tomorrow as is the privilege of the young and innocent.

The following days went well for the trio: Chris had been scratching what he thought of as jock itch, Sapphire's father couldn't even look his daughter in the eye, and Cassandra has become increasing proficient at all her academic and extracurricular activities. To celebrate their success, they decided to have dinner together at a local diner that Friday.

"Did you see Chris scratching his itch in trig yesterday? Talk about hilarious" Sapphire exclaimed while cackling.

"Yeah, it was pretty great." Elizabeth sounding a touch unsure. While revenge tasted pretty sweet, there still existed a sliver of doubt about if it was truly just.

"Lizzie come on. Don't feel bad, Chris had it coming for what he did to you." Cassandra, reassuring her friend.

"Yeah, I know… Just unsure if this is truly the right thing to do. Chris seems to be in pain every time I see him. I'm just worried about how long the boils will be there." Elizabeth said with a note of worry.

"Lizzie relax. I'm sure they will go away eventually, and I reiterate what Cassie said about him deserving it. Let's not worry about it and get to what we came here for, celebrating our achievements: My dad can't even raise his voice anymore, Cassandra seems to be more relaxed, and you have your justice. Let's just enjoy the wind blowing our way for a change." Sapphire told her friend.

"You're right. Let's have a good time and eat some even better food. I'm thinking mozzarella sticks!" Elizabeth exclaimed finally in a partying mood.

"I'm thinking the fish fry." Cassandra added.

"I'll just go for a Caesar." Sapphire concluded.

The three friends continued with their party until they were interrupted by a tall golden-haired man walking into the diner. When he saw them, he approached. The three young women got worried and prepared a curse to defend themselves.

"Excuse me young ladies…" the man started before being cut off.

"Listen pal, whatever you got to say, we're not interested." Cassandra stated while putting herself in front of her friends.

"I'm a federal agent, my name is Alexander Basalt. It appears to me that you girls are in a bit of trouble." The man told the girls while flashing his badge. The man, who was obviously our main character Victor, noticed dark magic residue on the young girls.

This told him not only had these kids been using dark magic they were ignorant or uncaring about the consequences. Either is dangerous, both to themselves and others, in any kind of magic, but it was especially concerning when dealing with the darker magics.

Dark magic was somewhat analogous to bomb making. An expert knows exactly what is needed to achieve their objective, not an ounce more or an ounce less. While an amateur will not know the perfect solution to the problem or the perfect materials and in fear of too little will add too much. This results in larger sacrifices and more collateral damage. While this did not seem to be too much the case in this instance due to the relatively small amount of residual, dark magic tends to spiral quickly. The only consolation towards amateurs was that like in bomb making the truly nasty stuff was a work of skill and knowledge that was beyond them.

"We're fine. No trouble here. No siree. No problems to speak of." Elizabeth rattled off clearly nervous.

"Shut up." Cassandra told her friend before elbowing her in the stomach.

"I see. While if you do run into problems I'm staying in town for a while. Here's my card, call me if you need to" Victor said before handing each a fake business card he created just for such a situation.

The trio followed him with their eyes on his way out, all worried about what he knew and how he knew it.