The Magical Quest

Chapter 1

Jess was extremely irritated. Her friend, Maia, had disappeared again. It was getting really irritating. For some reason, her friend kept skipping school, forgetting to IM her, and also she went on vacation fairly often.

Her only other friend at Central Park Boarding School was a wimpy girl named Lily Matterson. She was short, nervous, and wore long pants and heavy boots every day, rain or shine, and loved steak for some reason. As she walked to homeroom, she had no idea her life was about to change forever.

The boys were goofing off and shoving each other around, the girls were hanging out in groups, gossiping, the nerds were chatting about homework, which left Jess and Lily hanging out near the lockers. "I'm kinda freaking out." Lily muttered. "Why?" Jess asked. "Don't you remember? We have that field trip at the aquarium today." Jess was startled. "Today? I thought it was next week. Well, I'm just glad I got my permission slip signed." she said. Being ADHD, deadlines never seemed real to her until she was staring one in the face, and Lily had finally got her to remember.

At the aquarium, she was bored to death with the teacher's boring lectures and looked towards the big tank with sharks in it. One of them swam up to the glass, and stared at her. Huh? She thought, wondering why the shark was looking at her. She could've sworn it winked. As they continued, the class eventually went onto the catwalk above a large tank of bull sharks. As the guide rambled on and on about them, Jess got bored and began absent-mindedly staring at the sharks below. Suddenly, the guide's walkie-talkie crackled. The guide looked up. "Don't panic, everyone. The support cables have been showing signs of high stress, so we need all of you off the catwalk." In fact, the cables were groaning. "The cables are designed to hold up to ten thousand pounds, but the class has to weigh less than that." Jess said to Lily. "Someone must've tampered with the--" her sentence was cut short as one of the cables snapped, and half the class fell into the bull shark tank. The teacher panicked, and the kids in the water were freaking out. "DON'T TOUCH THEM!" Jess screamed from the balcony. Shockingly, the sharks obeyed, and swam away from the kids in the tank. As the employees pulled her out, Jess noticed Lily had a shocked look on her face, and their science professor, Dr. Thompson, fixed Jess with a cold stare, as if she had gotten a failing grade on a major test. Lily was also shivering, not from the cold water, but from fear.

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Back at their dorm rooms, Lily was shivering and whimpering. "I just don't get it. How could the sharks have understood me?" Jess wondered. "You're different. More different than I thought." Lily meweled. Jess was startled. She wondered if she'd really heard Lily mew like a kitten. "What's your problem?" she asked. "Of course I'm different. I can't focus at all because of my ADHD!" she said. "No, not that way. You need to leave this school." "What?!" Jess yelped. "I can't leave you here." Lily winced. "You don't understand. Maia said I'd have to get you out tonight." Suddenly, the dorm room's door opened with a creak. Their science teacher, Dr. Thompson, was standing in the doorway. "You two ladies come with me. The Boss wants to speak with you." Jess couldn't understand. Lily squeaked in alarm. Dr. Thompson shoved them roughly down the dimly lit hallway. "What did we do?! Why are we in trouble?" Jess argued. "The Boss will explain. Come along." When they got to the end of the hall, Dr. Thompson opened the fire escape. "Jump." he ordered. "Uh, I think I deserve an explanation, because you're ordering us to jump off a building here!" Jess demanded. Suddenly, Lily wrenched something out of her belt and pointed it at Dr. Thompson. It was a gold knife. "Lily? What are you doi--" Jess' sentence was cut off as Dr. Thompson knocked the knife out of her hands, and she realized his hand had morphed into a massive, furry bear's paw. "Run." Lily squeaked, and Jess didn't wait to be told twice. Behind them, there was a huge bear bounding down the stairs. For some reason, it had the hind legs of a pig, and their science teacher's head. Then Jess realized what it was. "MANBEARPIG!!!" she screamed and bolted down a flight of stairs and lunged around the corner. "You watch WAAAY too much TV, but frankly, you're right!" Lily yelped, and swerved to avoid a drinking fountain. Dr. Thompson's paw connected with Jess' pant leg. She yelped and struggled, but she couldn't free herself. "USE THIS!" Lily screamed, and threw another knife. Jess lunged for it, but it sparked off the drinking fountain and clattered to the floor about two meters away. Then Jess saw the drinking fountain was leaking. She reached for the cap, hoping to direct it in Dr. Thompson's face. Suddenly, she felt an unfamiliar wrench in her gut, and suddenly, the top of the water fountain popped off, and a jet of water exploded towards Dr. Thompson, sending him lurching back, spluttering, and he lost his grip on Jess' leg. She stooped, grabbed Lily's knife, and ran after her. "How did you do that?" Lily gasped when Jess caught up. "I...don't know." Jess said. Lily gulped. "We have to get you to HQ now." Lily said. "I'LL KILL YOU!" a thunderous roar came from behind them. "Go!" Lily yelled. "I'll hold him back." "What?!" Jess shrieked. Lily grabbed the knife out of Jess' hand, and ran around the corner. She lunged forward, and drove the knife into Dr. Thompson's shoulder. He squealed like a pig and threw Lily off, and caught the hem of her pants on his claw, and yanked them off. Jess yelped in shock. From the waist down, Lily had orange and black striped fur, and a bushed out tail was waving wildly behind her. Her shoes had come off, and Jess could see enormous orange paws with large claws. She was paralyzed with shock. "No time to explain. MOVE!" Lily yelled, dragging her around the corner. When they ran around the corner, they practically crashed into the custodian, who dropped his mop and ran off screaming about moldy cheese. Dr. Thompson's pig hooves skidded on the wet floor, and his massive claws left huge scratches on the floor as he went careening into the trophy case. They heard the sound of breaking glass, and some creative swearing from down the hall. "In the gym!" Lily yelped, and dove through the double doors. They skidded to a halt behind the bleachers. A split second later, the doors exploded open. "Alright, little vermin. Come out, it's my turn.'' Dr. Thompson snarled. Jess spotted the fire alarm a few meters away. "I'm gonna try and pull the fire alarm." Jess muttered. "Are you insane?! It's all the way over there, and Dr. Thompson will see you!" Lily hissed. Jess waited. Finally, Dr. Thompson went to look behind the bleachers on the other side of the gym. Alright, you only have one shot at this... a little voice inside her brain chided. Then she dove for the fire alarm. Suddenly, Dr. Thompson was behind her. Huge claws ripped through her shirt, leaving bloody gashes down her back. Ignoring the pain, she managed to pull the alarm. An ear-piercing screeching noise filled the gym, causing Dr. Thompson to forget he was trying to maim her. Lily took the advantage of his momentary confusion, and pulled a small, metal object out of her belt. "It's a bomb. Don't ask." Lily said. Before Jess could object, she pulled off the cap on it, and threw it at Dr. Thompson just as he roared. "OH MY GOSH HE SWALLOWED IT!" Jess screamed above the fire alarm. "RUN!" Lily grabbed her arm and dragged her back under the bleachers, while Dr. Thompson belched a mouthful of smoke. Suddenly, there was a violent scream, an explosion, and the sound of a 500 pound bug hitting a windshield. When they crawled out, the whole gym was splattered in what looked like mushy fish guts, and there was a massive, charred hole in the side of the gym. Lily groaned. There was a deep cut on her forehead. "You okay?" she asked. "Yeah. That cut looks pretty bad." Jess helped her up. Then, they heard the noise of a plane landing outside. Then, a blonde girl wearing an army vest over a blue t-shirt with brown bird designs and purple yoga pants and combat boots walked through the gaping hole in the building. Maia made her presence known by saying, "I'm here," in her Australian accent. "Maia?! Why are you here?" Jess yelped. Lily struggled to her feet, or rather her paws. "Maia, thank goodness you showed up. Turns out, we have a new recruit, this girl." "Hello, Jess. I'm surprised the Magical we detected here was you." With those words, Jess fainted in shock.