The Changes

Part 9

We stopped at an old wooden shack in the middle of a clearing.
"Is this it?" Barry asked. "I expected it to be some kind of dark castle or something."
"Yep, this is it," Amber confirmed, studying the map.
Suddenly, the map crumbled. It disintegrated into small pieces and blew away in the wind.
"Weird," Ethan mumbled.
"We've got this," I said, though I wasn't sure of myself. I remembered the dream I had the night before and I shivered despite the warm weather.
We all cautiously stepped inside together. My tattered navy blue sneakers made a floorboard creak under my weight. I heard someone gulp. I had my metal rod at the ready, just in case something tried to attack us. We stepped farther into the old house. Then, we heard someone speak. It was a raspy and husky voice of a man.
"I've been waiting for you." The source of the voice was a man probably between seventy to seventy five years old. He smiled at us, with a kind look in his eyes.
I didn't lower my rod. "Give us Marissa, or else we will not show mercy," I yelled, though I heard my voice tremble. This guy sort of radiated power. I felt like he could take us out with a snap of his fingers.
"You have all proven yourselves to be very worthy Mages," he responded with a twinkle in his green intelligent eyes. His beard was white and was probably about 3 inches long. He wore black and red robes with long sleeves. "You." He pointed at Ethan. "Though you have no special ability, you stayed with your friends till the end. For that, I will reward you with this." He snapped his fingers and Ethan glowed. Then it stopped. "You will know how to use it when the time is right.
"The Puppet Master was a test. He could've easily killed you and Marissa, but he spared you."
Then, he pulled aside a curtain behind him, revealing Marissa, eating a piece of bread. "Oh hey guys," she said. She seemed bored.
   "Marissa!" We screamed. Leyna and I ran to embrace her, but she just pushed us away.
   We exchanged confused looks. Marissa never refused hugs.
   "Are you okay?" Amber fretted.
    "Yeah, I'm all good. You guys should go back the way you came. I don't need you here."
     "What?! We came here all this way, just for you to turn his down?" Suddenly, all my anger stirred up inside of me, like a dragon trying to break out of its cage. "Marissa, I know we hurt you before, but we came all this way. For days, we walked. Hours each day, and you can't appreciate that? Maybe I will go back. I'm tired of this. I'm tired of wandering around. I just want to live a normal life. What even is the point of this?"
   Marissa stared at me I'm shock. I've never really blown up like that in front of my friends. "I'm sorry guys," she said, hanging her head. "I should've thought before I did anything."
   "It's okay, Marissa. Just understand that we're only trying to help you," said Leyna.
    Then the hugged each other. Though I felt bad for yelling, I wasn't ready to hug anyone. I normally don't anyway. I just tried to do it this one time, and she rejected me.
     We turned back to the old guy. "Who are you?" Ethan asked. "And why did you take Marissa?"
     "It would be extremely difficult to heal her after her, er- encounter with the Puppet Master," he explained. "I needed to heal her before her soul faded away from her mortal being."
"Wait, where's my earring?" Marissa suddenly interrupted. I tossed her the earring and turned back to the man.
"Why did you help us?" I questioned. Should we even trust this guy?
"Yeah, and what did you call us, Mages or something?" Amber said.
" I helped you because you are the only ones that can save the rest of the world. You have to return this crystal to the White House." He handed Amber a glowing green stone. It glowed with a translucent light. Amber tucked it into her backpack.
"You're joking right?" I asked. "We're just here to do government business?"
"Yes and no. Do you see what's going on? Donald Trump is going to run for president! ISIS is going to take over the world soon. And you know what's behind all this? It's a man named Kaleiron. He's a very powerful Mage and is trying to create chaos all over the world. Floods in China are getting out of hand and Vietnam is being taken over by communists. He's been growing stronger ever since the beginning of civilization."
"Um, so is he like immortal or something?" Barry asked.
"Kind of," answered the Mage. "His soul is torn apart in his attempts of becoming immortal but he is very much alive."
"So, kind of like Voldemort?" I wondered.
"In a way," He responded with a weak smile on his face. Suddenly, his smile disappeared. It was replaced with worry creases under his eyes. The shack started to rumble.
   "You must leave!" He shouted.
   "Wait, who are you?" I cried.
   "No time!"
    He raised his arms, and suddenly, we were falling.