Dark's Descent (3 page)

The Dragon

      An impatient enchantress paced her tower. It has been five years since her baby was taken and no matter how many people she tortured, she couldn't distract herself from it. “I know!” she crowed, “The Royals sent a protector, so I must too! If she's alive still.”

      “I need someone that can make sure she gets raised right. Stealing candy, kicking babies, and torturing the innocent. Someone who can keep her on the right wrong path that's the right path to being bad.” Evangeline said, “One of these books should have something about Guardians.”

      Raising her hands, books flew off the shelf as she walked past. Most weaken as they age, but she strengthens, just as her daughter shall. “Aha!” she exclaimed, “The Guardians of Old, perfect!”

      Flipping through the book as fast as lightning strikes, she stopped when she saw the title 'Dark Guardians'. She laughed with excitement.

      “Troll, no.” she criticized, scanning the page, “Goblin, ghost, witch, bear, snake, a bunny?! As if! Aha!”.

Forces from both near and far,

Find the one who can feast on a star,

Hot enough to burn a wagon,

O bring, o bring me the one they call THE DRAGON!!!

      Red smoke filled the room, and a loud roar pierced the air.

      “Stop showing off and turn into your human form!” Eva demanded, “Do it right now, Jason!”

The dragon filled the room with smoke once more. This time when the smoke cleared, a man stood where the dragon was.

      The man was tall, bald, and dressed in a red suit. “What do you want?” said the man-dragon. “I need a Guardian who can make sure my little girl is raised properly rotten.” Eva explained, “Under no circumstances should she be okay with being good, make her a brat, can you do that?” The man nodded. “She shouldn't be too hard to find, since she is my blood” Eva continued, pricking her finger so the dragon could get the scent, “Also this blood from the Queen. If you find her brat, destroy it.”

      After picking up the scent, the man wondered, “Where am I going?”

      “The Realm of the Foretold, you've been there before, you know what to do.” With that, Evangeline summoned a cyclone. “Fly in, and you'll be there in no time.”

      The man nodded, and ran straight out of the window, and then The Dragon took flight directly into the darkness of the twister.

      Mrs. Spencer is outside on her porch at 9 when a gust of wind blows her over. Looking up she sees a giant flying creature that lands in the nearby woods. “What was that!?” she yelled.

      “Charlotte! Get in here!” her mother screamed, “You've got school tomorrow!” Annoyed, Charlotte Spencer obeyed her mother and came inside.”

Superintendent

      “You have your own computer?” Cassie inquired. Charlie nodded and went on the Internet. He searched 'Superintendent S.' and couldn't find anything.

      “That's because you need to type his name!” Cassie stated, “Gimme that!”

      Cassie grabbed the keyboard and typed 'Superintendent Sfendenhiemerdufflesmirtzabelle' faster than anyone should be able to.

      The only thing they found was that his first name is Jason. So they searched 'Jason Sfendenhiemerdufflesmirtzabelle'.

      “That's weird,” Cassie said, “The only thing here is a fairy tale about a man-dragon. You don't think...” Charlie shook his head, “No, it can't be.”

      Reading the tale, they shivered and found out he has a unique allergy. “If the superintendent is allergic to this then that's proof he's a dragon!” Cassie exclaimed, shaking Charlie, “All we need to do is spill water on him!”

      The next day, the superintendent wasn't there. He was never there.

      By the last day of the school year, Cassie had forgotten all about The Dragon myth.

      Cassie graduated kindergarten and first grade. Her, Charlie, and Will stayed in the same class all the way to middle school. They were always at the top of their class in everything.

      At the end of their fifth grade year, they graduated from Abigail Elementary School. At the end of summer, they would be introduced to the world of Ezekiel Jacobs Middle School, also known as EJMS.

Second Revenge

      Now ten years after her daughter's birth, and five after she sent The Dragon, Evangeline sat on her throne. “Nothing, I've heard absolutely nothing.” she muttered, “The Court is six years away from opening the portal. That's how long I have to wait? I need to see... See! My Seeing-Cloud! How could I have been so dumb!” She summoned the cloud, and an image of ten-year-old Cassie appeared. “She's beautiful!” Eva cried, dispersing the cloud, “That's it!” She vanished and appeared in King Albert's throne room.

      The Royal couple gasped, as the former king walked in. “You!” Evangeline growled. Oscar broke into a run in the other direction, but Eva slammed the door shut. “You!” she repeated, using her powers to hold Oscar against the closed door. “You are the one who took my daughter from me!” Eva screamed making Oscar cringe, “So I sent your grandson there! What you don't know is I also sent The Dragon to kill him! But I have heard nothing! And I will never hear anything until six years from now!” Evangeline lifted her hand and twisted it. One quick movement, and Oscar Rindenton was dead.

      Eva turned and faced the horrified King and Queen. “When I get my daughter back,” she warned, “and I rule over both realms, I am going to kill you all! One by one, plucking you off, leaving you, Albert, alive, to suffer for all ETERNITY!!!” Evangeline turned back and flew straight up, smashing through the ceiling, and back to her corner of Everlanon.

First Day At EJMS

      Cassie was now old enough to walk to school by herself. She got to EJMS at 7:45 and waited until Charlie showed up. Charlie was now Cassie's official best friend.

      “Charlie!” Cassie called when he walked up the pathway, “Over here!”

      “Hi! Where do we go?” Charlie asked. “Probably inside.” Cassie answered, pointing at the sign that read 'STUDENTS REPORT INSIDE GYMNASIUM'. “Oh” Charlie chuckled.

      Inside, all of the students gathered in the gym, and sat on the bleachers. At 8:00, Superintendent S. came out. “Dragon man!” Cassie whispered to Charlie, making him snicker. “Hello students,” he began, “As you know, I am the superintendent of this school district, and I would like to announce our new employees here at EJMS.”

      “Mr. Braddock from the elementary school is the new head of our history department, and he will be teaching 6th grade Social Studies.” Superintendent S. continued, “Now, please welcome your new principal, Mrs. Spencer.”

      Cassie gasped and nudged Charlie as they watched their Kindergarten teacher walk in the gym. “Welcome to your first day of school, this year!” she began, “First, anyone who didn't get their schedule raise your hand.”

      Everyone raised their hand.

      “Oh,” Mrs. Spencer frowned, “Then Mr. Braddock and the others will hand them out as I talk.” She motioned for Mr. Braddock to hand out the schedules. “Once everyone gets their schedule, I will go over how the day is laid out, but first, rules” Mrs. Spencer smiled and continued to go over the rules. Cassie listened attentively, while old Miss Teacher went over rules such as cell phones, profanity, PDA, and dress code.

      “Touching is not aloud,” Mrs. Spencer explained, “so if you have the sudden urge to go up and hug somebody, uh don't.”

      Finally, Cassie and Charlie got their schedules and they instantly compared them.

      To their surprise, they had all the same classes! Though they were both happy on the outside, Charlie was even happier on the inside. He remembered in kindergarten, when he saw her pretty blonde hair. He thought it was so beautiful.

      When Mrs. Spencer finished, she asked, “Does everyone have their schedule now?” Everyone nodded. “Okay, this is how the schedule works.” she began, “School is in session from eight in the morning until three in the afternoon. When you arrive, you will report to the gymnasium until the bell rings. You will then go to your locker and homeroom for ten minutes. You have four minutes between classes to get where you need to go, and you need to be in your seat for attendance once the late bell rings.” Mrs. Spencer took a breath and looked at her boss, who was currently watching her like a hawk. “Each of the eight periods is 45 minutes long, leaving the last 14 minutes of the day as study-time.” Mrs. Spencer elaborated.

      How did she even get this job? She was never the disciplinary type. She was a Kindergarten teacher until the School Board decided to vote the current principal out, and her in.

      What Mrs. Spencer didn't know was that Mrs. Susan Smith was the head of the board, who suggested she replace the disgraced principal. This was because Mrs. Spencer was the only one who knew that Cassie was special. Once the rest of the board agreed, the superintendent was sent to promote her.

      When she was told the news, she was in shock. She didn't know what to do, so she accepted.

      “Now everyone please report to your homeroom as we do a ten-minute rotation through your schedule. That means that every ten minutes, you will report to your next class, for your teacher to do a quick walk-through of the course.” Mrs. Spencer said, hoping they would understand. The bell rang and everyone went to their homerooms.

      Cassie and Charlie had Mr. Braddock for their homeroom teacher. When they got to room 302, they sat next to each other and waited for the walk-through.

      Cassie looked around. Some people she recognized, like Andrew and Will, but some she didn't. “Hi!” she said to the girl next to her, “I'm Cassie!”

      The girl turned. “I don't care!” she replied mockingly, “Now don't talk to me, got it?”

      Cassie fumed, but Charlie calmed her.

      When Mr. Braddock walked in, he already had a rivalry to deal with. “Okay class,” he began “let's get you all into some assigned seats!” Over the summer, he watched a series about a middle schooler who spent a lot of time in history class, to study up on how history teachers act. He barely got the job, so he had to be really careful not to lose it.

      “Everyone stand up!” he ordered, “Now at this here desk, I want Miss Cassandra Smith!” Mr. Braddock slapped the desk that was front and center. Still not sure of her secrets, he wanted to keep a close eye on her.

      Cassie hopped up and walked over to the desk.

      Moving to the next desk, he put William Braddock, and when he was done the seating chart was somewhat like this:

Alfred      Stella      Cassie      Charlie      George

Kathy      Miles      Will      August      Clara

Beth      Brad      Wade      May      Jim

Haley      Justin      Tom      Henry      Rose

Asia      Nathaniel Macey      Luke      Martha

Missy

      Impressed with his work, Mr. Braddock stepped back to get a better look. Perfect.

      Meanwhile, Cassie was plotting. That awful girl was now sitting next to her. The only thing Cassie learned so far was that her enemy's name was Stella Sanders. Once again, Charlie had to calm her down. He passed her a note that read 'just ignore miss snobby preppy pants'. Cassie laughed.

      “Passing notes, Miss Smith?” Mr. Braddock acknowledged, “Anything that funny should be shared, give it.” Cassie handed it over. Mr. Braddock read the note. “Her?” Mr. Braddock guessed, pointing at Stella. Stella perked up. Cassie nodded in agreement.

      Mr. Braddock broke into laughter and threw the note away.

      “What did it say?!” Stella squealed.

      “Nothing that isn't true,” Mr. Braddock sneered, “Oh, look, we are almost out of time, I guess everything else will have to wait until tomorrow!” The bell rang, signaling the students' departure.

      As Cassie stood, a trendy shark approached. “You better stay down, Lassie, or I will ruin you!” Stella snipped, “I can turn the whole school against you in a heartbeat! BTW, my Daddy's the mayor, soooo, I could get your whole family on the NYC's Most Hated List. Toodles!” Stella turned and knocked down Cassie's books, and with a hair-whip, she was gone.

      Cassie felt like ripping out that smug princess's heart. Seeing her expression, Charlie helped her pick up her books and tried to calm her as usual. “I bet she's just jealous because you have better looking hair.” Charlie whispered. Cassie faced him, “What?” “What?” Charlie repeated, “I just said no one could hate you, so don't worry about her.” Cassie nodded suspiciously, “I guess.” Once they picked up her stuff, they headed to math class.

      “Here we are, Room 247, Miss Hartenburg's room!” Charlie announced. “WHAT!” Cassie gasped, “My mom said she was a janitor!” Cassie ran inside, and a confused Charlie followed.

      “Aunt Linda?” Cassie called. “Cassie!” called a voice from the closet. A very round lady pounced into the open and posed. “Guess who's your new math teacher!” she announced, “I'm so excited to be teaching my favorite niece my first year!” Linda shook Cassie's head and then pushed her away, “But I'm supposed to be professional, so call me Miss Hartenburg or you'll get detention!” She pointed at Cassie dramatically, and laughed. “I lost my Detention Slips on the bus!” she chuckled, “So I got these!” Miss Hartenburg held up a wooden board that had 'I'm in TWUBBLE!' engraved on it with a sad puppy. It had a string attached, and Miss Hartenburg hung it around her neck. Making a puppy-dog face she whimpered, “I'm in twubble.”

      Cassie and Charlie laughed. Aunt Linda was the clown of the family. Literally, she was a Clown's Apprentice in High School.

      Cassie and Charlie took their seats and Cassie looked around. Good, no Stella.

      “Sorry I'm late!” said a familiar voice. Stella.

      Stella plopped down in the last seat, and smiled. She looked to her left and frowned. Ugh, that girl! What makes that Lassie think she can sit wherever she wants!

      Miss Hartenburg, noticing the scowls, jumped up. “Let's get some assigned seats!” she yipped, “Starting with you!” Miss Hartenburg scooted over to Stella. “Up you go!” she urged, “That's it, you can sit WAAAAAY over here, and Cassie, you can sit all the way over there!”

      After dragging Stella to her new seat, and putting Cassie in the opposite corner, she looked around. That's good enough!

      “In my class there is only one rule! Be nice!” she began, “This is math class, and I know that students, plus A LOT OF HOMEWORK, equals grumpy class.” Miss Hartenburg scooted over to Cassie, “So I am only going to give one homework assignment per week!”

      The class cheered, and Miss Hartenburg smiled. There is no way anyone is going to prank her!

      “The assignment is on Wednesdays, and quizzes are on Fridays.” she explained, “At the end of each unit, there is a summative. The summative might not be a paper test, so be ready.”

      The class whispered. “Today is Wednesday, if you weren't sure, so here's your first assignment of the year!” Linda decreed, “Everyone bring in a cardboard cutout of a single digit number, 0-9, decorate it however you want.”

      Cassie smirked. Of all the things, her aunt picks math! She was always more of an artsy person.

      The bell rang and it was time to go to Room 186, for English with Mr. Calski. They walked in, and this time Cassie waited until the teacher started talking before she assumed that Stella wasn't there. Score! No Stella!

      Calski handed out a packet that went over everything he needed to tell the class, and continued to write his letter.

      Cassie read her packet quick, and started whispering to Charlie. “This class sounds boring!” she mumbled. Just then the door flew open. “Mr. Calski, please go to the superintendent's office now.” the secretary demanded. Cassie looked at the English teacher. He seemed nervous.     

      Mr. Edward Calski stood up and walked out of the room, knowing he was going to get fired. He grabbed his book and walked out. Cassie never saw him again.

      The bell rang to go to third period. By then, everyone forgot Mr. Calski left.

      “Back to Braddock's.” Charlie chanted, “History!” Charlie loved history, it was his favorite subject. To him it was a magical mystery puzzle, and he loved magic. Especially when it was in fairy tales. Another reason for his love of history was his love of fairy tales. Oh how he wished magic was real!

      They got to Braddock's room and he was already writing on the chalkboard. It read 'SIT WHERE YOU WERE ASSIGNED IN HOMEROOM IF YOU ARE IN MY HOMEROO'. Cassie watched as he wrote a big 'M'.

      Cassie and Charlie hustled to their seats, with Cassie begging to be as lucky as she was last period.

      “I'm back!” Miss Snobby Preppy Pants announced, “I'm like totes excited for history!”.

She waltzed past Charlie, patting him on the head and then she saw Cassie. “Ugh.” she snorted, as she sat down.

      Mr. Braddock paced back and forth the room. “History.” he stated, “What is it?” Cassie, Charlie, Stella, and Will raised their hands.

      “Stella?” Mr. Braddock chose.

      “History,” she began, “is like the past, and stuff like that. And BTW, Winston Churchill was totes adorbs!” “Sure, let's go with that.” Mr. Braddock sneered.

      “History is the past, and everything leading up to the present. What I just said is now History, which is why I am not using the book.” he continued, “I declare this History department free of books, instead we will use the internet!”

      He said it as if it was unheard of. It was 2011, and schools all over already had kindergarteners on computers. Granted, this school district was behind, but still, he seemed too excited.

      The bell rang, and Mr. Braddock ended his internet speech, and frantically handed out papers of what to expect.

      “So it's science next?” Cassie asked. “Yep,” Charlie agreed, “right across the hall.” Stella pushed past them and walked to the room.

“Earth Science” Cassie read, “Hmmmm...”

      Charlie studied Cassie. He loved when she got all 'thinky'.

      On every desk was a sign with someone's name on it, and each desk was paired with another. Cassie dawdled to the one with her name, and read the sign. 'Garrett Sowards' it read.

      Mr. Sowards strolled in and slid next to Cassie. 'Whoa. He's cool!' she thought.

      Charlie watched Cassie put her elbow on the desk, and rest her head on her hand, while she was going gaga for the new dude.

      Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. The hand swirled him around. When he stopped, Stella Sanders was inches from his face. “Hello Boo,” she teased, “Looks like we're buddies now.” 'Oh no' Charlie thought as Stella held his hand. Her hair was nowhere as soft as Cassie's, not to mention she's a popular snob. Charlie tried not to enjoy the fact that a girl was flirting with him.