Welcome Back to Magic (A Sanders School of Magic Sequel)

Everyone, here he is

TW: kidnapping 

August 23rd. Virgil sits in his room, surrounded my a mess of clothing and school supplies. He's supposed to be packing. It's about a week before he goes back to school, goes back to his friends, and goes back to a world of social anxiety. No, he needs to focus on the positive. But what if it isn't positive? What if everyone secretly hates him now and what if Logan's mad at him? If he didn't go this year would anyone even notice?

Yeah, positive thinking might not be his strong suit. Maybe if he goes away and watches The Nightmare Before Christmas for a few hours, things might improve. That one scene with Mr. D in the Percy Jackson musical pops into his head. Of course, he's not playing pinochle. He glances over to the full series he has on his bookshelf.

He looks around his mess of a room. Maybe packing some more would help. But also staying in bed and watching more TV is equally appealing. Scratch that, way more appealing. But his choice is made for him when one of his moms shouts from the other side of the house.

"Virgie! I hope you're packed because the bus is coming early!" Virgil jolts up and starts throwing things in his bags hurriedly. It's a real good thing he packs a week in advance for things.

He packs what he hopes is everything he needs. It probably is, since he overthinks everything. Nothing to do with his anxiety, it's just a family trait. Downsides of having two moms is he gets twice the 'are you sure you packed everything? What about insert something he already packed?'

He speeds down the hallway with both his bags and rushes out to the bus stop.

"Bye Mom! Bye Mama! Love you, see you this winter!" He calls out behind him.

"Virgie are you sure you have everything?!"

"Love you too!"

Heart racing, Virgil makes it to the bus stop. It's a little ways away from his house, but he hopefully made it in time. He has to take a city bus before actually getting on the school bus, so he pulls out his phone and earbuds, which are tangled, to listen to some music. If he looks unapproachable but not too mean then hopefully nobody will even look at him.

"I'm going under, drowning in you! I'm falling forever, I've got to break through! I'm going under!"

He makes it through around seven songs before getting off. He looks around for the school bus, which is always there by seven in the morning. There's only two to take from North Carolina, so people take the bus from all over the state. It's strange that nobody is here, not even the bus.

He feels his heart sink. Does he need to text his moms and tell them they got the date wrong and that he's stuck out here, all alone? That would be absolutely horrible but he might just get Mom Guilt Ice Cream out of it.

But he can't make a decision. What if the bus is just running a little late? A change in schedule is bound to do that. Or what if it left without him? No no no, his moms wouldn't let that happen. What if the location changed? Yeah, that could be it. If only he had service, then he could check his school email.

Welp, he's got nothing better to do. Virgil picks up his bags, trying to carry them in a way that's the least physically straining, and he sets off on a search for a signal. He wanders around the area, which is a town square of sorts. The bus usually parks by the Target, so he's careful to keep an eye out for any school bus in the area.

He wanders around, looking for somewhere with free WiFi. It's weird that he's getting no service, despite being in the center of town.

As he turns street corners and wanders around, he can't shake an unnerving feeling. Like someone's watching him. He starts to walk faster, searching for somewhere to disappear to. He looks around, spotting a creek. It's right by the Target, so he'll be able to watch for the bus and get away from all these people. He tells himself that just waiting it out for the bus to arrive will be fine.

He makes it over to the creek, hiding himself in the tall plants. He sets down his bags, a feeling of relief going through his arms. He sits at the bank, watching the water flow down the stream. He doesn't dare touch it, even after last year. He shudders thinking of the flashbacks. 

Crack

Crunch

Virgil looks around, the sounds of footsteps around him. "Hello?" He calls out. He carefully stands up, grabbing a notebook of his and throwing it in the stream. He hopes that the old superstition will come true.

"Hi there." A person appears in front of him, wearing an orange hoodie that covers their face.

Virgil can feel his heart rate rising, but tries to remain calm. The person sounds like a teenager. They're might just be waiting for the bus too. If anything, Virgil is the scarier looking one here, with his emo look. Still, teenagers scare the living shit out of him.

"Don't panic. I'm only here to do something mildly illegal. If you'll just follow me, you'll be totally fine. I'm not a creep, trust me." The person says.

"Who... who are you?!" Virgil shouts, scrambling away. The person's voice sounds sweet and truthful, but it's the 'mildly illegal' part that bothers him.

"My name doesn't matter. But I am here to take you," they say. They seem to loom over him, so in Virgil's mind he could be anywhere between 5'6 and 6'10 in height. Tall people are all the same, which is to say taller than him. He just hasn't hit his growth spurt yet, okay?!

"Jokes on you, I've thought about this before! I'm prepared!" Virgil spits at their shoes. He sweeps their legs and starts to run. Then he realizes his big problem.

He's very, very bad at running. In all of his anxious scenarios, he's a lot more physically capable. He keeps on trying to run, but adrenaline only lasts so long. Plus, he's about to have a caffeine crash from his two coffees this morning. He collapses on the ground, the person just a few steps behind him. This whole thing is very not good for his anxiety! But it'll be a great story to tell his therapist.

"Now that's just rude. This is supposed to be a nice, peaceful person-taking. I don't like to hurt powerful manipulators like you."

Virgil turns around, the person standing over them. The wind whips their hood down, and he sees the face a boy. Like, a young looking boy. Kind of like himself, only he's not 5 foot 10. Nor have blonde hair. He squints at the boy. He looks familiar somehow. And also not scary at all. Kinda kills the vibe.

"Jokes on you, I suck at manipulation. So you should just let me go!" Virgil says, trying to grin.

"Yeah, and clearly you've never used your words to manipulate either," the boy says.

"Huh?"

"I- I mean like you're bad at manipulation in the non-magical sense."

"Oh, yeah that's fair. So uh... funny weather we're having."

"Shut up, this isn't the Midwest. Now, I am truly sorry about this."

Then Virgil's vision goes dark.

Our favorite emo boy is here. But also not doing very well >:). You'll have to wait and see where this one's going. (And I swear I actually have a plan this time) Hope you're ready for more and that you enjoyed reading! Have a wonderful day/night you magnificent peeps!