"WAIT SERIOUSLY?!?!" Audrey shouted. "No way! You?"

She laughed as the light around her hands faded and the wind dissipated.
"Yes, me."

"Are you part of the guild up north?" I asked breathlessly.

She nodded. "Pulchralux. It means beautiful light in Latin. Isn't that pretty?" she sighed wistfully.

I nodded. That was pretty.

"How come sorcerer guilds get the coolest names?" Audrey complained, flopping down on the ground. "We sound like a really preppy school or a prison."

We fell silent, our thoughts immediately sober. Natasha Simone's School for Girls. The school that was now under attack. The school that we had now fled.

"That reminds me," Abigail continued cheerily, "why are you guys out here? Since we're allied with NSSFG, I know a little about their procedures, and I'm pretty sure you guys aren't allowed out in the middle of the sea without a chaperone." Her eyes glittered with mischief. "Are you running away?"

There was silence.

Then Sophie burst into tears. I scooted over and side-hugged her, though my nose was beginning to prickle, and my throat felt tight. I didn't trust myself to talk. I was on the brink of breaking down myself.

"Oh I'm sorry," Abigail said worriedly. "Did I say something wrong?"

I shook my head, still afraid to speak.

"Is she ok?" Abigail whispered.

"Probably not," Audrey said deadpan."And don't go blaming yourself. You didn't know."

"What do I not know...?" She said hesitantly.

"Some lady named Giselle attacked our school, and the magical defenses will wear down in two weeks. We were the only ones that escaped. And we're probably the only ones that will survive."

The world seemed to stop as the bitter truth we had been avoiding hit us in the face.

"Oh my goodness..." Abigail whispered.

I nodded solemnly. "Mrs. Simone told us to go to your guild. She said we might be safe there."

Abigail's eyes welled up with tears. "Of course you can seek refuge at the guild, I'll come back with you, we'll find a way to hide you, I know we will!"

"Not gonna happen."

I looked at Audrey in surprise. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, thanks," she said standing up, "but no thanks. We aren't going back to your guild."

"We aren't?" Sophie whispered.

Audrey stood up tall, facing the rising sun. The wind rustled around her, and a kind of halo formed around her bright orange hair. "We're not. We're going to rescue our family."

For a moment, we were completely silent as the gravity of her statement sunk in.

"Audrey are you NUTS?!?" I exclaimed suddenly. "You said it yourself. There's nothing we can do."

"Yeah except I had a dream last night," she continued, "and it showed me how we can help. So maybe we can't do anything about it at the school. That doesn't mean we can't do something somewhere else."

"I don't follow you..." I said slowly.

She turned and looked us all in the eye in turn. "I said we pull out the weed from the roots."

"Audrey no!" Sophie blurted out. "That won't work. You have to realize that that will never, ever, work."

I shared a look with Abigail. She was just as confused as I was.

"Sophie, what's she saying?" I asked hesitantly.

"She's talking about a head on attack on Giselle and the Council!" Sophie said, her voice breaking.

There was silence.

Abigail let out a nervous laugh. "You're kidding, right? I mean, that was a joke, right?"

Audrey turned to look at her. "I'm completely serious."

"Audrey, that's beyond crazy!" I exclaimed. "They've killed thousands of Myths! They have killer red laser beams that can annihilate entire schools!"

"Entire islands," Abigail said nodding.

"What exactly do you plan to do?"

The question hung in the air, like a leaf hovering right before it meets the ground.

Audrey hesitated.

But then she saved the leaf.

"We find their base," she said confidently. "We find Giselle, and we stop her."

"That's not much of a plan," Sophie whispered.

"Don't you guys get it?" Audrey snapped. "We can't just run away. Those people are our friends. Those people are our FAMILY. They saved us. Now we have to save them."

And suddenly, I did understand. Maybe we wouldn't accomplish anything. It was more than likely that we wouldn't.

But we had to try. Because life would never be the same if we didn't.

And I think I now understand why people go off to war.

"I agree with Audrey," I said quietly. "We have to try, even if it's pointless."

"Because they're our family," Sophie said firmly.

Abigail looked around at our determined faces. She sighed. "You guys obviously can't even imagine how awful Giselle is."

"No, we probably can."

"I'm pretty sure I can get a decent idea of the toad."

"I think I can."

Abigail sighed again. "Well, if your hearts are set on it, there's nothing I can do." She smiled wryly. "That's a lesson I learned long ago." She stood up slowly, and walked over to put her hand on Audrey's shoulder. "Will you at least let me help you?"

She turned, startled by the gesture. "Um, yeah, I guess so."

"Yay!" Abigail said, clapping her hands together. "I can't go on the journey with you unfortunately, because it's against sorcerer code," she said wincing. "But," she continued, grinning evilly, "I can enchant some things for you."

"WHOA THATS COOL what does it mean?" Audrey said breathlessly.

"Well," Abigail explained, "Sorcerers don't exactly cast spells. We enchant objects, and they do stuff." She tilted her head back in thought. "Like...oh, I got it!" she said, snapping her fingers. "The golden platters in your dining hall! They float, and they go to people who's plates are pretty much empty. And my cloak," she said, fingering the purple cloth adorning her back. "I can use it to enhance my abilities. So," she said smiling, "choose an object, any object."

We sat in silence for a moment, thinking. Then Sophie slowly stretched out her arm and began untying something from her wrist. "Could you use this string bracelet?" she said quietly. I looked at it. It was rainbow colored strings that were woven to swirl around in a circle. It looked really cool. Sophie offered it with a trembling hand up to Abigail. The sorceress took it and examined it, tilting her head to get a better look. Then she nodded. "Yeah this will totally work. What do you want it to do?"

Sophie's eyes widened. She obviously hadn't anticipated this question. "Um...protect people?"

Abigail tilted her head the other way and squinted at the bracelet similar to the way a carver surveys a block of wood. "Yeah, I think I have something that could work for that." She looked around. "Oh, and we have seawater. Perfect."

"Is seawater part of the spell?" I asked, frowning.

"No," Abigail replied with a small laugh, "it just helps me concentrate."

She bowed her head, and her hands began to glow. She whispered something quietly and bracelet began to glow too. She cupped her hands under it, and it began to float.

Then the glow faded and the bracelet fell back into her hands. No lighting. No boom of thunder. Just some glowing and floating. The bracelet didn't look any different than before.

Abigail handed the bracelet back to Sophie. "To activate it, just say 'protect'. I'm not entirely sure what will happen, but that's part of the fun huh?" she said winking.

She looked around. "Who's next?"

"Can you enhance my gloves?" Audrey blurted out. "You said your cloak enhances your abilities. Can you do something like that with my gloves?" She held up her black biker gloves.

Abigail laughed. "Well, my cloak increases my magical abilities, so that wouldn't help you. But I could use it to increase your physical ability, at least in your hands."

She took the gloves from Audrey and repeated what she had done with Sophie's bracelet. She handed them back to Audrey. Audrey flexed her hands. "Oh, I could get used to this," she murmured.

Abigail turned to me, smiling. "What do you want me to enchant?"

I thought for a moment, biting my lip. I had an idea, but...it would be a lot to ask for.

Mustering up my courage, I quickly reached up and unclipped the butterfly clip from my hair. Until a few minutes ago, I had forgotten I was wearing it. "Could you enchant this to some form of communication device?" I blurted out. "That can go through magical barriers? You know, so we can communicate with Mrs. Simone?" I held my breath.

Abigail picked up the clip delicately and examined it. She frowned. She tilted her head. She furrowed her brow. My heart almost stopped.

"I think so," she said at last. My heart resumed its normal course, and I breathed. "But," she continued, "I would need a personal object from the person you want to send it to."

My hope deflated. I didn't have anything from Mrs. Simone.

"Oh, I have something that could work," Audrey said, wiggling her hand into her pocket. After a moment of struggling, she pulled out a small circular container of...blush?

"This belongs to Tess Varela," Audrey announced proudly, holding it up to Abigail.

We stared at her. Or maybe gawked is the better word.

She looked around at our astonishment. "What?"

"Audrey..." I said incredulously, "why do you have that?"

"Well I WAS playing a prank on her," Audrey humphed. "I was going to keep taking her makeup slowly until she thought she lost it all. It was going to be hilarious. But this was all I ended up getting."

Abigail picked up the container of blush. She raised an eyebrow. "Well, it does have strong emotional connections to it."

"Will it work?" Sophie whispered.

Abigail nodded. "Yeah. It will." She set the blush down and bowed her head in concentration.

As before, her hands and the clip began to glow. But this time when the clip floated up, it began flipping over itself, again and again, faster and faster until I was sure it would break.

But then, the light faded and the clip settled back into Abigail's hands. She handed the clip back to me. "Alright Sierra, here is the world's first and probably only magical mail butterfly."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok, first of all, SO SORRY for the extreme lateness. :( Unfortunately, this may happen again. I'm in a play right now, and we're getting close to opening, so I won't have as much time once it opens. Sorrrrryyyy.

ALSO, my bus has been coming late/ skipping my stop (not sure) = mom drives me to school = can't write when I usually do. So blame the bus.

I hope you're enjoying the story! Please don't be afraid to comment with critique/feedback/what-have-you. :D I love hearing from you guys, your comments make my day!

Until next time,
Paint_splatt