Orlando, Fla, March 2010

Chapter 1

Chris paced around his bedroom looking for an important letter that he had to give to one of his managers. He thought for a moment, remembering where he had it last. He checked his computer, opened up a couple of folders.

 

“Come on where is it? He muttered to himself, “I know I put in here somewhere.” He clicked on the last folder, and there was the paper.

 

“YES! I found it, thank goodness!” He moved the mouse over to the printer icon and clicked print. The document slid out from the printer that was plugged onto Chris’s computer easily. He took the document, put it in his backpack and headed out the front door.

 

 

But Tabatha! Serenity whined to her grandmother, “Why do I have to go to school, its already March, and you know I hate being the new student, in a new town.” She made a face and looked in the mirror, combing her black hair, which had a deep shade of blue.  Serenity was an eighteen year old girl that transferred to Orlando from a town that wasn’t even on the map. Nobody knew her secret, she was indeed a witch, and used to live in a place called “The Realm.” She was fine there, lived with all the people who were just like her, witches, warlocks, fairies, wizards, etc. but her grandmother, who was also a witch, insisted on coming to a place where normal people lived.

 

“Oh Serenity, stop making such a fuss.” You are just the same as all the other people that live in this town, you only have special powers, and remember you only use them when you really need too.” Tabatha said giving her a warm smile. “Now get going, you’re gonna be late.”

 

“Can I just use my broom?” Serenity muttered.

 

Tabatha chuckled “Oh you know you can’t use that here, people would start talking you know.”

 

“Well maybe you should’ve thought of that instead of dragging me out here to live in this damn stupid town.” Serenity muttered angrily at her grandmother.

 

“Watch that mouth young lady.” Tabatha said in a warning tone.

 

“Whatever.” And with that, Serenity walked out the door from her house and into the unknown town. Luckily the high school she was attending was a short walk from her house, so it wasn’t much of a big deal. She arrived at the school and stared at it, and saw kids entering into the building, laughing and giggling about something. She let out a whoosh of air, and said to herself “Here goes nothing.”

 

 

“Thank you very much Chris, you arrived here just in the nick of time.” The man said taking the document that Chris had in his hand. “That means, that you get to produce more songs for the new upcoming artists, we have a string of new talents and we want you to write some songs for them, some of them are into pop/rock categories, and you my friend, are very good at that.” The man said giving Chris a warm smile.

 

“Yes that is what I was planning to do.” Chris chuckled.

 

“Haha right, now we have a couple of artists waiting for you in the recording office, now go and introduce yourself to them.”

 

Chris agreed and went to do his job.

 

After hours of working on songs, and getting to know each of the artists, he realized that he was done for the day and looked at the time that was on the wall, almost two-thirty in the afternoon.  He got up from his chair and headed to the exit. He walked up the steep hill and into his car which was parked by a convenience store. He put the key into the ignition and put the car in drive, as he was heading down the steep hill, he pressed the brake pedal, only to realize that it wasn’t working, he pressed it again, but the car was going faster and faster down the steep hill heading straight into the busy intersection.

 

 

School went okay with Serenity, she made a couple of friends, they complimented how nice her hair was, and asked what town she moved from, she thought of something basic like Minnesota, which it wasn’t true of course, she couldn’t tell them where she really was from, they probably wouldn’t believe her anyway. As she was heading down the street and passed the hill, she had an instinct in her body that something was wrong, very wrong. Someone was in trouble and she had to do something, she used her senses where the trouble was coming from, and had a vision of a man heading straight into the streets. She looked around to see if anyone was looking, and teleported herself into the location and arrived just in time to stop the vehicle from behind before colliding with the many cars. The car skidded into a complete stop. Chris had his hands over his face and slowly opened them, his car was on, but it wasn’t moving anywhere, he didn’t even put the emergency brake on, it felt like something was holding the car, he placed a foot on the gas pedal, still the car won’t budge. He tried to get out of the car, but the door wouldn’t open either.

 

 

Serenity was hiding behind the bushes by a nearby house; her hands had a bluish glow on them. Chris was confused, because he saw that the car was parking itself.

 

What the hell?” Chris exclaimed and tried to control his panic. When the car parked by the corner, Serenity couldn’t just stay where she was, she had to tell him about it, she didn’t want him to go insane and run off telling people what just happened. She saw that there were already a few witnesses and were preparing to come up to the parked car and ask if Chris was alright, but before any of that happened. Serenity got up from where she was hiding and ran up to the car herself.

 

“Everything’s fine here.” Serenity called out to the witness, the man just nodded an okay and drove off. She opened the passenger door to Chris’s car which startled him and stared blankly at the unknown stranger.

 

“I’ll explain everything, just drive.” Serenity blurted.

 

Chris’s expression remained unchanged, which called Serenity to snap again.

 

“Didn’t you hear what I said? Drive damn it!” Chris was shocked by her sudden outburst and did what he was told and drove off with the mysterious girl. Chris had no clue what was going on, he had so many questions running through his mind, that he hoped would receive some answers. He even realized that his car’s brakes were working again.

 

Snapping out of his thoughts the mysterious girl spoke to him. “Take me to a safe place.”

 

“Uh..a safe place?” Chris wondered, the only obvious place was his house. “Is it okay if I can take you to my house then?”

 

“If that’s a place that you consider safe than that’s the one.” She muttered.

 

Chris was quiet for a moment and turned to the direction to his house; he approached his driveway, opened the garage and parked the car inside.

 

 

Chris slowly got out of his car, his legs felt wobbly; he placed his hands on the hood of the car to keep from falling. Quickly, he closed the garage door with the push of a button and turned to look at the mysterious girl that had her curious eyes on him. By the looks of it, she was around in her late teens, tall, a bit mischievous, dark hair with a shade of blue, big bluish green eyes. The outfit she was wearing, some dark blue denim jeans, and a black T-shirt.

 

“I’m not letting you in my house until I get some answers.” Chris frowned. “Who are you?” You aren’t some crazed fan out to stalk me are ya?”

 

“Fan?” Serenity asked confused. “No, I’ll explain everything to you, I promise, if I tell you just my name for now, will you let me into your house?”

 

Chris just stared at her with his arms crossed but nodded slowly.

 

“My name is Serenity, and I just moved here.” She blurted.

 

Chris then opened the door that led into his kitchen, cautiously but slowly. and then asked her what was his name. “Oh I’m Chris, Chris Kirkpatrick by the way.” He said, to see if any bells rang in her head, realizing that she didn’t say anything, he led her inside.

 

Serenity saw that he had some dogs, the dogs barked at her, but quickly backed away. Chris saw that and said “That’s funny, they never acted this way before, and especially when it comes to people that they don’t know.”

 

The dogs whined and curled up into a ball and laid down on some throw pillows.

 

“Weird.” He said scratching his head and stared at Serenity who just stood there by the doorway, and went to sit down on a nearby sofa.

 

Chris saw that she had something on her mind and sat across from her not breaking his stare from her.

 

“So, what’s going on?” He asked slowly.

 

“Ok, do you know that freak accident that happened to you like thirty minutes ago, and how your car stopped almost immediately and parked itself without you even touching anything?” Serenity rambled.

 

“Yeah, when I saw the steering wheel moving by itself, I didn’t know what to think, I thought my car was possessed.” He uttered a nervous chuckle.

 

Serenity’s expression remained motionless but spoke up “That was me, I was the one that controlled your car.”

 

Chris just stared at her for a moment then said “You had something to do with my brakes?”

 

“What?” No, I had nothing to do with your brakes; well, I helped you get home if that is what you’re asking, you’re brakes weren’t working and when I told you to drive, I just helped with the brake pedal and such and I saved you from getting into a horrible accident.” Serenity said.

 

“Saved me how? What do you mean you controlled my car, I don’t understand, how can you little girl stop my car, you don’t have super-human strength, and how do you know that I was gonna crash into the oncoming cars, and how do-

 

“Stop it!” Serenity yelled and cut Chris off, who was left stunned. “First of all, I am not a little girl!.” She said pointing at him, careful not to use her magic on him, but continued her rant. “Second, I may have something similar to super-human strength, and third because what I’m going to tell you, may not seem believable. She said quietly and put her head down.

 

“Well after what I’ve been through today, just go ahead and tell me your wild story.” Chris sighed and got comfortable.

 

 

“I’m a witch.” Serenity said, but looked up at him, to see his reaction.

 

“A witch?, Like the ones in movies and books?” He laughed sarcastically. “I don’t believe you”

 

“But it’s true!” Serenity explained. “You have to believe me; I have to tell you who I am, so that you won’t think that this was all some sort of coincidence.”

 

“Listen Sara Lee, or whatever your name is, you better tell me who you really are or I’m gonna call the police on you.” Chris asked getting up from the sofa heading to the kitchen counter where his cell phone was.

 

“No, don’t..what if? I’ll show you then.” Serenity said wide eyed.

 

Chris just snickered and went to grab the phone, but before he reached it, it flew off the counter; he almost lost his balance and grabbed onto the counter for support. He saw that the phone was floating in mid-air, and took a quick glance at Serenity, whose hands were all blue and sparkly, like she was showing a fireworks display.  Chris just stared at her shock, and Serenity then had her pointer finger, and lessened her magic a bit, the phone was moving all around the living room. She laughed and placed the phone gently on the kitchen table. She then stopped and blew and gave Chris a grin, who still had the look of shock on his face.

 

“You better pick up your jaw or I’ll pick it up for you.” Serenity smiled, and aimed her finger on him.

 

Chris quickly closed his jaw and started stuttering. “You-you’re a, a”

 

“I told you, but you didn’t believe me.” Serenity shrugged.

 

“I believe you now.” He whispered. “But uh, are you-a-an evil witch or a good witch?”

 

 

“I’m a good witch, I save people that are in trouble, depends on the distance of course, I have like senses and visions when something or someone is in trouble, or happening. She said.

 

“Like, you can predict the future?” Chris asked in amazement.

 

“No, not really, I just sense things, mostly people actually.” Serenity explained. She then told him on and on about where she came from, her magic, everything mostly. Chris was amazed that this complete stranger saved his life today, and it wasn’t just anyone, it was someone that existed in books, not in reality.

 

“So, lets get back to the brakes of your car, you gotta fix that, I think you need brake fluid or something.” Serenity said taking Chris out of his trance.

 

“Huh? Oh yeah, that.” Chris said and went to go to the garage to get the bottle of brake fluid, and called out to Serenity saying that she was right, the car did needed brake fluid, it was indeed dry.

 

Coming back into the house, Chris saw that she was looking around at all of his awards and pictures.

 

“I was in a band before, well, I’m still best friends with all of them, but we decided to take a little break for now.” Chris asked eying her carefully. “You do know about *NSYNC right? Because we were all over the freakin world back then; Chris saw that Serenity had a blank expression on her face.

 

“You don’t know?  Come let me show you.” Chris said and took her by the arm. He then put a whole bunch of videos of them when they were performing, bloopers, interviews, nearly everything possible. Explaining to her how he became famous, and they worked their way up.

 

                                                                                                                                            

“Wow, you guys are amazing, some really good music.” Serenity asked in amazement.

 

“You have music where you’re from right?” Chris said turning his head to her.

 

Serenity nodded yes “Yeah we do actually, but not like this, we have mostly rock bands, and alternative, electronica, and we have TVs as well, but totally different channels of course.”

 

“So you have everything that us normal people have, only with slight differences.” Chris said, flipping the TV off.

 

“Yeah, that’s basically it.” Serenity replied giving Chris a smile.

 

“This is so cool, I can’t believe I’m friends with a real witch.” He beamed.

 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Serenity chuckled.

 

“But if I wanna hang out with you again, what do I do? Do I have to pretend to be in trouble, or what?” Chris asked.

 

“No, no, it doesn’t work that way, all you have to do, is say my name, for example you say I wish Serenity was here. And poof, I appear, would you like to see a demonstration?” She winked.

 

“Do I ever?” Chris laughed and sat on the sofa with a goofy grin.

 

Serenity zapped herself using her pointer finger; blue sparks did a complete swirl around her body making her disappear.

 

Chris looked around to see if she would appear again? “Uh Seri? He nearly jumped out of his skin when blue sparks appeared next to him on the sofa, and there she was smiling.

 

“Hi.” She waved.

 

“Wow! You are awesome!” He said happily and pulled her into a hug.

 

They spent the rest of the afternoon eating and talking, it felt like they’ve known eachother for years. Chris realized that despite their age and differences between them, he found out that he had a lot in common with her, and he loved that fact.

 

“Hey Chris, I have to go.” Serenity said, getting up from the table, holding her half-bitten apple in her other hand.

 

“Bathroom is two doors down, and make a left.” Chris asked.

 

Serenity just bursted out laughing “No Chris, I don’t have to use the bathroom.” She said, finishing up her apple and tossing it in the trashcan. “I’m going home.”

 

Chris frowned; Serenity noticed his expression and went up to him. “Don’t worry Chris, I’ll be back, whenever you wanna hang out or something, just ask for me, but not during school hours or late at night.” She smirked.

 

“Ok, how bout the weekends then, that way I can show you around here, get together, have some ice cream.” Chris asked.

 

“I’d like that.” Serenity smiled and gave him a hug. “Next time I’ll show you where I live, and introduce you to my paternal grandmother Tabatha.”

 

“She’s a witch too?” Chris asked.

 

“Yeah, she is, she can be a bit moody and stubborn sometimes but she taught me a couple of stuff so its cool I guess” Serenity shrugged.

 

“So you teleport to your house?” Chris said.

 

“Yep, so later gator.” Serenity chuckled, and with that she disappeared, the same swirl of blue sparks danced around her body.

 

Chris stared at the empty spot she was standing, near the table. “This is so incredible.” He said outloud, and with that he chuckled at himself and headed upstairs to get ready for bed.

 

Meanwhile, back at Serenity’s house

 Serenity appeared in her bedroom and lied down on her bed, staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars that she had hanging on the ceiling. Seconds later, she noticed orange sparks appearing next to her, there was her grandmother with her hands on her hips.

 

“Where were you young lady?” Tabatha said not breaking her stare from her.

 

“In school.” Serenity said.

 

“School? Do you have any idea what time it is?” Tabatha replied.

 

“Uh..nine-thirty?” Serenity asked looking at her Felix the Cat clock on the wall of her bedroom.

 

“You finished school at three this afternoon, where were you all these hours?” Tabatha asked.

 

“I was with a friend, I saved his life today, and if it weren’t for me, he probably wouldn’t even be here right now.” Serenity said sitting crossed legged on her bed.

 

“You saved his life?” Tabatha asked shocked.

 

“Uh yeah, I had too, it’s part of my magic Tabatha duh.” Serenity said with an eye-roll.

 

“You used you’re magic?” She asked.

 

“Yeah, his brakes weren’t working and his car was skidding down the hill, and if I wasn’t there, he would’ve crashed into the street of oncoming cars, and no they weren’t any witnesses, well there was one, but he didn’t really see anything if you know what I mean. Then I told the guy I saved to take me to a safe place, and so he took me his house. Serenity rambled.

 

“He took you to his house?” Tabatha said.

 

“Yep, he’s part of a pop group, and he’s really talented. His friends are good-looking too.” She grinned. But I haven’t met them yet, I will soon, right after I introduce him to you, so is that okay?’ Serenity asked turning her head to Tabatha.

 

“Yeah I guess, but I want you to be careful, I know that you are eighteen and want to do whatever you want now, but you know, don’t go overboard.” Tabatha softly told her.

 

“I understand Tabatha, thanks, don’t worry I’ll be careful.” Serenity then asked about how school was for her, and the friends she made. The two of them stayed talking for a short while, even though Tabatha usually got on Serenity’s nerves, she was a good listener and had a lot of patience, despite her old habits.

 

“Alright Tabatha, have a good night.” She asked.

 

“You too.”  Tabatha greeted.

 

 

It had been a good week for Serenity, she hasn’t heard from Chris, and probably kept his word on not bothering her during school days. Saturday came, and she was home reading some spells on her magic book. Tabatha wasn’t home, she went to go shopping at the mall, and luckily she didn’t have to save anyone, her magic was slightly different then Serenity’s, so she can just walk around like a normal person.

 

“Two drops of honey, one slice of lemon, and a horseradish.” Serenity muttered to herself. She placed the items in a tiny cauldron; it made a hiss sound, and stirred the contents in. She was making a herbal tea for herself, this kept her magic from shorting out, and it made it a bit more powerful. When she was done, she got her mug from the kitchen counter, and used a ladle to pour the hot drink into the mug. She blew it and took a sip.

 

“Perfectly brewed.” She smiled. As she was drinking her tea, she had a sense that someone was calling her, summoning her actually. She automatically knew who it was, and placed the mug in the microwave to save for later.

 

Chris was in his studio writing up a couple of lyrics on his computer, and then swinging his chair over by the electric piano to see if he can come up with a melody that went with the lyrics he wrote. He almost fell off his chair when Serenity appeared right in front of him.

 

“You rang?” She giggled, imitating the butler guy from “The Addams Family.”

 

“Very funny, you nearly scared me, must you show up like that?” I’m gonna have to get used to this.” He grumbled and went back to the piano. “What were you doing before I called you?”

 

“I was drinking horseradish tea.” Serenity said clinking some of the piano keys,

 

Chris gave her a weird look but didn’t say anything.

 

“It’s brewed especially for witches, it’s so my magic doesn’t short out.” She explained.

 

“Uh huh..yeah but I think I’ll pass at that drink.”

 

Serenity gave him a light punch on the arm. “It’s not for you smarty, you can’t drink it.”

 

“I don’t wanna drink that anyway, but let’s change the subject now shall we? I called you here cause we are gonna hang out today, you know, I’ll show you around and whatnot. Chris said with a grin.

 

“Yeah but before we go, what were you working on anyway?” Serenity wondered.

 

“Oh just some stuff.” Chris quickly closed the windows of his computer so Serenity won’t see what he was writing.

 

“You’re not gonna let me see what you wrote?” She pouted, pretending to be offended.

 

“I don’t really show anyone my songs until I read it over.” Chris said quietly. But maybe, this time I can make a suggestion. He opened the windows on his computer and Serenity took a glance at the screen. Chris then put the beats that went with the song and Serenity could hear Chris’s voice and a couple of guitars boom out through the speakers.

 

She likes to party and she never comes home
Wherever she may go
She never ends the night alone
I must confess she’s irresponsible
She knows she’s beautiful
That’s why she gets away with it all

I gotta tell you she’s a handful all the time, yea
But she’s my baby
And she’s a crazy girl
A crazy girl

She’s not a stripper but you’d never know
The way she works a pole
You’d throw your dollars on the floor
She may get into the occasional fight
At the end of the night
Because she likes to put on a show

I gotta tell you she’s a handful all the time, yea
But she’s my baby
And she’s a crazy girl
She's a crazy girl

Riding on her roller coaster
With a chip upon my shoulder
Better not confess
It's in my head
I don’t know what I was thinking
But for now I’ll keep on drinking
Ain't no time to rest
When it comes to her

I know she’s no good for me
But I don’t see, my eyes are blinded
she’s the drug of choice I need
I start to fiend when I can’t find it

I must admit to you the blame is mostly mine, yea
But she’s my baby
And she’s a crazy girl
She’s a crazy girl

Riding on her roller coaster
With a chip upon my shoulder
Better not confess
It's in my head
I don’t know what I was thinking
But for now I’ll keep on drinking
Ain't no time to rest

When I'm riding on her roller coaster
With a chip upon my shoulder
Better not confess
It's in my head
I don’t know what I was thinking
But for now I’ll keep on drinking
Ain't no time to rest

 

“There that was it.” Chris told Serenity, who was just in complete awe of what she just heard.

 

“Chris dude, that is like my kind of music, pretty good lyrics by the way.”

 

“You like it? I wrote it a couple of days ago and I was just editing it.” He said looking down at his sneakers which he found fascinating.

 

“I like it, I think in the city I came from, they might like that sort of music, but I don’t know.” She asked biting her lip. “There’s like a ton of competition over there.”

 

“I understand, I don’t like competition, I like to do things on my own pace and time.” Chris smiled.

 

“And besides it’s pretty dangerous if you go there, they have like really evil people, and they don’t like interaction with humans, so it’s best if your music stays here.” Serenity added.

 

“Yeah I have a pop/rock band, they come on a regular basis, and I have to meet with them the following week.” He replied and moved the cursor over the shut-down button. “So-are we leaving?”

 

“Yep, but one question, do people here like your music?” She asked thoughtfully.

 

“Yeah I have lots of fans that support me in whatever thing I do, I owe it to them, I had a couple of singles out, and I got a pretty good response so I’m okay.”

 

“Oh that’s good then, but just so you know, you have a new fan and she’s standing right here next to you.” Serenity beamed.

 

“Wow, really? You only heard one song, and you are already a fan? That’s pretty cool, thank you.” He grinned.

 

Serenity laughed and Chris added before he headed down the hall from his studio, “And there’s plenty more where that came from.” He smirked

 

 

“Yeah I’ll take a vanilla swirl, rainbow sprinkles and some cherries please.” Chris told the worker at the ice cream shop. “How bout you Seri?”

 

“Uh, I’ll have what he’s having.” The lady then went to get the ice cream scoops.

 

Serenity looked at the different colors and flavors of ice cream, she had ice cream before, and classic chocolate and vanilla were her favorites, so she was happy that her favorite flavors were at the shop. Of course, in her netherworld, some flavors were specifically designed. Snapping out of her thoughts, the lady gave them the ice cream cones.

 

“Here you go.” She greeted them warmly, “enjoy.” Serenity took her cone and Chris his, and paid the lady the amount.

 

They came out of the shop and sat on a nearby bench by a park overlooking a lake. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, kids were riding their bikes, lovers holding hands, ducks swimming in the lake. Perfect, simply perfect. Serenity let out a happy sigh.

 

“You know, she said plucking the remaining of the cherries into her mouth. I haven’t had a nice day like this for a while.”

 

Chris looked at her, “Oh really? I mean don’t you have like an amusement park or something at your city?”

 

Serenity nodded “Yeah we have parks and stuff like that, but there’s always one that ruins it, which is why it’s hard to have a perfect day just to relax. Either something evil comes out of nowhere and starts creating havoc, but that quickly goes away for a while.

 

“Like here too, I think nearly every city has it’s problems, you just have to know where to step.” Chris replied giving her a pat on her shoulder.

 

Serenity nodded but didn’t say anything, and saw that a little girl was running towards them holding a camera, a pen and a notepad. She had the biggest smile on her face, and couldn’t be more than nine or ten.

 

“Excuse me, um are you Chris Kirkpatrick?” She asked excitedly.

 

Chris just chuckled “Yeah that’s me.”

 

“May I have your autograph and take a picture with you please, I knew it was you, but I just wanted to make sure.” She giggled. And then her mom ran up next to her.

 

“I’m sorry to interrupt but she insisted on talking to you.” The woman answered.

 

“It’s okay ma’am.” Chris then walked up to the little girl and asked for her name, which was Michelle.

 

Chris signed his signature on the notepad it read and ended it with a smiley. Michelle than gave the camera to her mom so she can take a picture of both of them. “Say cheese.” the woman said. After the picture was taken, both Michelle and her mom thanked Chris for his time.

 

“Anytime.” Chris smiled and turned back to the bench to join Serenity who just finished her ice cream phone.

 

“You know, you are very nice to your fans.” Serenity said warmly.

 

“Yeah, they’re great, I mean we’re just people, I don’t treat them any different, so it’s all cool.”

 

Serenity nodded “I like that you’re generous and not like those hot shot celebrities out there, I like that you are down to earth and just yourself.

 

“Yep, and no I’m not like those people, they don’t know how to live the right way.” Chris chuckled.

 

“That’s true.” Serenity added “All the fame and fortune get into the heads, and then they crash and burn.”

 

“You got that right.”

 

After spending the rest of the afternoon at the park, Serenity asked Chris that if he would like to visit her grandmother Tabatha, he agreed. When they arrived there, Serenity called out Tabatha to see if she was home from the shopping center yet.

 

“I’m in the den.” Serenity heard Tabatha say, Chris followed close behind.

 

“You can do some exploring if you want, just be careful though.” Serenity told him and she soon left him alone.

 

Chris was fascinated by the never-ending books, potions, and weird –looking bottles of herbs. He laughed when some of them were labeled Mermaid’s fin, eye of needle, tongue of shoe, etc.

 

“This is unbelievable.” Chris spoke to himself, and he was the kind of guy that didn’t believe in the hocus pocus stuff, but he was getting second thoughts. He heard Serenity and Tabatha coming into the living room.

 

“Tabatha, this is my new found friend of mine, the one and only Chris Kirkpatrick.” She grinned.

 

“Nice to meet you Tabatha.” Chris greeted and gave her a firm handshake.

 

“Nice to meet you too Chris.” Tabatha smiled.

 

She motioned him to sit down the couch to talk.

 

“You have a pretty cool house Tabatha.” Chris said looking around

 

“Oh thank you, so I heard that are some famous popstar, is that true?” Tabatha said eying Chris.

 

“Yeah that’s true, we make music and stuff like that, but we’re not as popular as we once were. Chris said quoting the word “popular”, but we still make music together individually.”

 

“That’s good; it’s always nice to keep in touch with the ones you care about. Tabatha then added if Chris wanted to eat or drink, Chris politely said “No thanks and told her about the ice cream cones that he and Serenity ate earlier. The three of them chatted briefly on the couch about random things about themselves. Chris found it interesting that Tabatha was so open with him about their secrets, and to Chris, it also felt like they’ve known eachother for a while. After the conversation, Chris realized that it was time for him to go home.

 

“Thank you for everything Tabby.” Chris smirked. And Serenity couldn’t stop the tiny giggles that were coming.

 

“Tabatha bid him goodbye and left Serenity and Chris alone on the front door.”

 

“What’s so funny Seri?” Chris wondered.

 

“You called her Tabby.” Serenity motioned to her grandmother.

 

“Yeah I tend to develop nicknames for people I meet, cause you know I forget people’s names from time to time. I’m getting old.” He joked.

 

“Oh please.” She gave Chris an eyeroll “Don’t tell me you are old, that is no such thing, you are a kid at heart;” giving Chris a warm smile.

 

“Aww, thanks for the compliment.” He chuckled. “It was great hanging out with you today, I had a nice time. He then showed her a secret handshake and gave her hug.

 

“Ok, I have no idea what that handshake was, but I’ll guess it’ll do.” She laughed.

 

Chris grinned then got into his car and drove away

Serenity was in her high school gym class playing badminton with her friend Tammy.

“Haha I win again.” Serenity cheered.

Tammy groaned and put the rackets back on the shelf. “You are very good at this game you know that?”

“I know, I used to play if before at my old high school.” Serenity beamed

The bell rang and Serenity had just one more class left before school ended.

“What class you have next?” Tammy said putting her gym clothes back in the locker.

“Uh History I think.” Serenity added.

“Lucky, I like History, but I have Algebra now, I hate Algebra, I mean do we really have to know all of these formulas and equations?” Tammy growled.

Serenity made a face “I agree, it’s no point.”

“Alright girl, I’ll see you later.” Tammy waved and headed upstairs.

Serenity could easily teleport herself to the classroom, but that would raise suspicions, so she decided to walk through the crowds like everybody else.

“In the year 1945 World War II –

It was already twenty-five minutes in the class and Serenity was bored out of her mind, her teacher was an old man with glasses, and spoke in a monotone voice. She took a glance at the other kids, one was a nerd, one was the class clown, one was asleep, one was worried a bit too much about her makeup. Serenity sat by the window, in nearly all of her classes, she sat by the windows, it was how she concentrated a bit more. The worksheet she had in front of her was just a blur to her, but she filled in the blanks with what she learned from the monotone teacher.

2:45pm *bell rings*

Finally! Serenity went to her locker and put the remaining books she didn’t need and headed downstairs to the front door. She jumped when she heard the sound of the horn, she looked around and saw that it was Chris wearing shades and had a goofy grin on his face.

Serenity ran up to the car and went inside. “Hey Chris.”

“Care for a ride home or something?” He beamed.

“Sure why not.” Serenity asked.

“So how was school today?” Chris said not taking his eyes off the road.

“It was good, my History teacher is so boring though, I had him for my last class, and I just couldn’t wait to get out of there.

“History was my favorite subject in high school, probably because my teacher wasn’t boring, she was hot, I still remember her name, Mrs. Sweetwater.” Chris had that dreamy grin on his face.

Serenity just laughed and pushed the buttons on the radio, and stopped when she heard a familiar tune. It was *NSYNC’s: I Just Wanna Be With You.

“Oh my gosh no!” Chris took his shades off and glanced at Serenity who just shrugged.

“What’s wrong with it?” Serenity asked.

“I hate it.” Chris mumbled.

“You don’t hate it.”

“Yes I do, we weren’t thinking back then, we had bad hair.”

“I don’t think it’s not bad, you guys were just starting out, I like it, it has a nice vibe to it, I think its better than the other stuff they have on the radio.” Serenity added.

“True, but I find it weird it’s on the radio.” Chris turned the pressed the volume button up a little higher.

“See? You do like it.” Serenity smirked.

Chris just stuck his tongue at her and continued listening to the tune. After the song finished, Chris was almost at Serenity’s house, and noticed that Serenity grew extremely quiet when she got near.

“Are you okay?” Chris asked

“I’m sensing something, but I can’t exactly pinpoint it exactly, I don’t know why, I usually do, but-she stopped talking when she had a blurred of vision of her grandmother Tabatha trapped in a room of the house, but something was blocking her.

Serenity had to close her eyes because she was getting a headache, she heard Chris talking to her, but he seemed so far away.

“Chris, are we home yet? My grandmother is in trouble.” She spoke weakly

“Yeah we are Seri.” Chris pulled up to the driveway and turned off the car.

Serenity blinked rapidly and tried to focus, Chris ran to the passenger door and opened it for Serenity, he took her gently by the hand and pulled her out of the vehicle. He was behind her in case she was gonna fall or something. When they went inside the house, everything seemed normal, Serenity started to focus again and called out her grandmother’s name.

“Tabatha?” She called out. No response. She heard muffled cries for help and it came from somewhere in the room of the house. She headed downstairs to the basement, Chris followed her close behind. There was Tabatha tied on a chair with masking tape over her mouth, she looked frightened.

“Tabatha!” Serenity went to her and pulled the masking tape of her mouth gently.

“Serenity!, it’s so good to see you.” Tabatha said.

“What happened, who did this to you?” She asked

The names that Tabatha said stopped Serenity cold. “It was Jezebel and Michael.”

“W-What?” Are you sure?” She stammered.

“Positive.”

She froze in her tracks when she the heard the two familiar voices that haunted her.

“Hey Serenity, long time we don’t see eachother.” Serenity turned around slowly and there were Jezebel and Michael, a witch and a warlock.

“Hey baby.” Michael blew kisses to Serenity.

“Don’t baby me.” Serenity muttered.

“Aww come on, we used to date remember, that is until your parents-Michael was cut off by Serenity’s sudden outburst.

“Leave my parents out of this!”

Michael just laughed, “It’s okay, I have a new girlfriend, she is so much powerful then you, besides you liked having me around.”

“Shut up!” Serenity was getting steamed, and had a surge of energy piercing through her veins.

“Who’s your friend?” Jezebel said looking at Chris.

“I’m Chris, and what do you want from Serenity, you leave her alone.” Chris spoke.

Jezebel just laughed.

Serenity just put her head down and looked at Chris.

“What’s going on? Who are these people, and what happened to your parents?” Chris told her softly.

“Jezebel and Michael are the most powerful forces in “The Realm” Apparently, I used to date Michael, it was a stupid thing really, but I found out that he was only using me and wanted to get my parents. His father is a really powerful warlock, and wanted to be the ruler of our city, and so he teamed up with Jezebel’s mother, who is a powerful witch, the two of them took control of “The Realm” and made everyone like slaves whoever messed with them, they somehow made their way to the good side of our city and kinda flipped it upside down, that was another reason why me and Tabatha left for awhile, to see if we can figure out this dilemma.” Serenity put her hands on her face and let out a groan, but continued her rant “So my parents are trapped in a portal along with all the others.”

“That’s terrible, I’m-so sorry about that Seri, maybe there’s something I can do.” He was gonna continue speaking when he heard the cackle of Jezebel.

“You? What can you possibly do? You are only human, the only thing you can do is walk on two legs.” Chris got up and started toward her, when he was gonna reach to her, he felt a bolt of electricity burn into him and that sent him flying to the wall.

“Chris!” Serenity ran up to him, and he uttered a groan. “I’m sorry, I should’ve never told you anything and glared at Michael and Jezebel who were giving eachother high fives.”

“I’m okay Seri, really but I wanna help fight these forces and help you get your parents back.” Chris said trying to get up.

Serenity heard Jezebel say “Aww did that hurt? That’s too bad.”

Serenity was getting steamed and got up and said “Let’s end this, nobody hurts my friend, my grandmother, and my parents” She let out a whistle and her broom came in flying into the room, and positioned herself on it.

“Oh is that so? Well in that case.” Jezebel let out whistle and her broom flew in seconds later. “Michael do me a favor, watch that old woman on that chair and don’t let that guy over there out of your sight.”

“It’ll be my pleasure darling.” Michael smirked.

“Thank you I’ll reward you later when I win.” She winked and blew kisses on him.

Michael grinned in return and watched Jezebel disappear, along with Serenity; she gave a quick nod to Chris and Tabatha, and disappeared shortly after.

Michael sat on an empty chair across from them and had an evil grin on his face, “don’t make any sudden movements my prisoners.”

Chris just glared at him and started to walk over to Tabatha, who had a look of fear on her face, he had to do something, he couldn’t just sit there and do nothing. He thought to himself, and looked at Tabatha, then looked at Michael, and looked at a couple of ropes in the far corner of the room, a bowling ball, pans, pots. Chris was very good at pulling pranks and stalling, he had an idea, but he also needed Tabatha’s help, he couldn’t do it alone.

Serenity and Jezebel were both in the night sky, it was a starry night, and were really high up, with the twinkly lights in the city down below.

 

“You think you can fight me? If your magic wasn’t strong enough to save your precious parents, then what are the odds of beating me?” Jezebel cackled and got into a fighting position. Serenity had her hands grabbed on tightly on her broom, she was an expert on flying, even if Jezebel threw her off course, she can still maintain her balance. Jezebel threw a red crackle at her, and Serenity swooped away and started using her magic on her. There were a lot of glides, crackles, slides, swoops.

 

Serenity threw another blue crackle at Jezebel, causing her broom to catch fire. Jezebel’s eyes grew wide, and quickly started putting the fire out. Apparently, her type of magic didn’t let her put the fire out, and she realized that she was afraid, and couldn’t see the light. Serenity wondered, that maybe the light was the key source of the portal, if she remembered correctly, back at “The Realm.” All of the evil warlocks and witches came at night, not during the day; in fact all of the events on that day happened at night. Now it was Serenity’s turn to smile.

 

“What’s the matter Jezebel? Are you afraid that you might lose?” She giggled and then zapped two handcuffs on Jezebel’s broom in case she tried to go anywhere.

 

Jezebel gasped, she tried a few spells, but the handcuffs that were tied on her, were magic-proofed by Serenity, only she can unlock them. So for Jezebel, it wasn’t working for her. She started to panic, but then uttered a spell to make it rain, seconds later, the rain started to fall, and put the fire out on Jezebel’s broom. But she was still tied.

 

“Nice work Serenity, now unlock me.” Jezebel demanded.

 

“Nope, now I know how to beat you, apparently you are afraid of fire, and since fire is light, well…” Serenity positioned herself on her broom and closed her eyes, letting the wind overtake her, this particular power was strong, it would take a lot out of her, but this was something she needed to do.

 

 

“But a tomato is a fruit, it has seeds!” Michael whined.

 

“Yeah but if it is a fruit, then why is in the vegetable aisle at the supermarkets.” Chris smirked.

 

Michael let out a groan and tried to think about Chris’s never-ending list of riddles and confusing twists in stories for the past forty-five minutes, his head was starting to hurt, he needed to get away from this guy.

 

Tabatha just watched in amazement, and Chris continued and scooted closer to Michael.

 

“No! Get away, I can’t take this anymore, just leave me alone!.” Michael went into a corner and curled up into a ball.

 

“But I have another one, which came first the chicken or the egg?” Chris said, trying to keep his serious face.

 

Michael let out a scream and seconds later, he realized that it was too much and disappeared.

 

Satisfied, he walked back up to Tabatha, and quickly untied her.

 

“Chris, I never knew you can do something like that.” Tabatha asked in astonishment.

 

“Well, my plan was to hit him with that bowling ball that you see in the corner.” Chris said pointing to the pots, pans, and other things. “But I decided that this was better.

 

“Yeah it was, I’m sorry, I wanted to help you, but my magic is not as good as it used to be.” Tabatha said quietly.

 

“It’s okay Tabby.” He smiled and helped her get up from the chair. He then told her, “Do you think Seri is doing okay?”

 

Tabatha thought for a moment and pulled out an old-fashioned mirror that was on a shelf, she said some magic words, and the mirror started to glow, and there, Chris saw Serenity and Jezebel. Serenity had her eyes closed and was like she was in a meditation state, while Jezebel had her hands handcuffed, and was tied on the broom.

 

“Oh no.” Tabatha muttered.

 

“What? What’s wrong?” Chris asked worriedly

 

“She’s using her solar-powered magic, she must’ve found out that evil witches and warlocks are sensitive to light, she never used that magic before and now since she turned eighteen, she can, one problem though, this particular magic takes a lot of energy out of-Tabatha was cut off when she continued staring at the mirror, she squinted her eyes and saw Jezebel, someone appeared behind her, it was Michael.

 

Jezebel was startled by Michael’s sudden appearance. “Michael, what happened?”

 

“That Chris guy is insane, I couldn’t stop him, he was saying riddle after riddle, it was driving me nuts.” Michael said letting out a groan and turned to Jezebel. He frowned when he saw that she was handcuffed on her own broom.

 

“Maybe my magic can unlock it.” Michael zapped the handcuffs and nothing happened.

 

Jezebel let out a sigh, “I tried, it’s controlled by her.” She took a glance at Serenity, and at that very moment. Serenity opened her eyes, and slowly she positioned herself on the broom.

 

Michael tried to stop her, but quickly realized that he was stuck on Jezebel’s broom as well. “Hey! What’s going on?” I’m trapped, looking down at his wrists, he saw two handcuffs on him and he tried everything to take them off. No! NO! Jezebel and Michael both started panicking when they saw a flash of yellow and blue aiming straight at them.

 

Serenity’s whole body was glowing, she can feel the surge of electricity increasing through her veins, the flash of light got brighter and was covering Jezebel and Michael. They were both screaming in panic, and a moment later, the screams ceased. Serenity still had her magic on them, but noticed that they both had turned to stone; she stopped and placed her hands back on the broom. She felt weak and tired from her sudden outburst. Seconds later, the stone statues of Jezebel and Michael exploded into millions of tiny pieces; she shielded her eyes until the danger was over, when everything seemed okay, she let out a shaky breath, and was turning her broom back to her house, only she felt weak and collapsed, with only her broom to support her, it guided her back to her house. From the looks of it, she looked like a star falling from the sky.

Back at the house, Tabatha went out through the backdoor, with Chris following close behind. Serenity landed safely on a nearby bush, her broom was next to her. Chris bent down on his knees and gently picked her up while Tabatha went to pick up the broom.

 

They placed Serenity on a plush carpet in the living room of the house, her eyes was closed, Chris checked her vitals, she seemed okay but something was off, she looked tired, pale,

 

“Seri? Chris gently shook her, “Wake up please?”

 

Tabatha bit her lip, “I was afraid of this.” Chris looked back at her and said “Afraid of what?”

 

“That power that she just did was too much for her, it took a lot of energy from her, and she might not come back to her senses if she-Tabatha was cut off by Chris.

 

“No! There has to be something that you can do, she has to wake up, I care for her, she’s my friend.” Chris said his voice cracking.

 

Tabatha frowned and went to go see if she can search for something. Her memory was a bit fuzzy and wanted to help Chris and Serenity, she thought for a moment and went to search in her magic book. Scanning the pages, she found a potion that might work, it’s similar to horseradish tea, but this one was more powerful and can wake anyone up in a matter of minutes. While she was sprucing spices and potions in her caldron, Chris was trying his best to wake Serenity up.

 

Chris held her in his arms and let out sigh, he wiped a tear in his eye that he didn’t know he had. He took a strand of Serenity’s hair and moved it out of her face. He jumped when he heard Tabatha’s voice enter the room.

 

“Got it!” She greeted.

 

Chris saw that she was holding a vile in her hand, containing something pink, it had a cap on it, and she pulled it off. It made a bubbling sound, and had some sort of steam coming out of it.

 

“What’s that?” Chris asked.

 

“Hazelcream pomegranate pepper potion.” Tabatha said proudly.

 

Chris just made a face and said “Why did I even ask?”

 

Tabatha knelt down beside Chris and opened Serenity’s mouth, she poured the contents in and it made a hissing sound, when the vile was empty, she placed it on the floor and waited. “There, that should do the trick.”

 

Minutes later Serenity made a coughing sound, and Chris saw her eyes flutter.

 

Seri?” He whispered.

 

“Serenity was still coughing and sat up into a sitting position. “Tabatha? What was that? My mouth is burning; can you go get me some water please?

 

Chris just smiled and was happy to see her back to her smart self again.

 

“That was “Hazelcream pomegranate-Tabatha was cut off by her.

 

“You gave me that?”Well I guess that was reasonable, it works, I don’t remember anything, all I remember was that I was fighting Jezebel and Michael, then they turned to stone, and I collapsed and then everything went black.” Serenity rambled.

 

“Yes we saw everything.” Tabatha said.

 

“Through that magic mirror you guys have.” Chris replied.

 

“Oh, now may I get some water please? My mouth still burns.” Serenity added.

 

“Sure thing Seri.” Chris helped Serenity get up to a standing position and followed Tabatha to the kitchen. After Serenity took her drink of water, she sat on the couch and wanted an explanation how did Chris and Tabatha managed to escape from Michael.

 

Chris told her the story about it and Serenity just bursted out laughing. “Chris, what you did to Michael was awesome, and yeah Michael can be completely clueless sometimes.” There were still conversing, until they all heard a noise coming in from the basement again.

 

“What was that noise?” Serenity added, and she got up from the sofa and headed downstairs, with Chris and Tabatha close behind her.

 

Katalina, is this how you make an entrance?” Serenity heard an adult male’s voice, sounding familiar to her.

 

“Well, it’s been a while you know, I still have to get used to this Bob.” The woman answered.

 

Serenity got down to the basement and froze where she saw two familiar figures standing up and fixing their attire.

 

“M-mom? Dad?” She stammered.

 

The figures turned to look and let out a gasp when they saw her. “Serenity honey? Is that really you? The woman ran to her daughter and let out a cry of happiness and embraced her.

 

Bob quickly followed suit. “Serenity, look at you!.” You saved us! I’m so proud of you, I don’t know how you did it but-his voice cracked and he started to cry and gave a hug to her as well.

 

All three of them were together in an emotional embrace for a while; they didn’t even notice that Tabatha and Chris were there.

 

Katalina noticed and wiped a few tears from her eyes and whispered “Mother.” was all she was able to say and went up to Tabatha and shared hugs.

 

“It’s good to see you Teabag.” Bob grinned, that was he called Tabatha, it was a nickname for her.

 

Tabatha chuckled and took Bob by the arm and gave him a hug.

 

Chris suddenly felt lost in all of this, he was ready to back away when he felt someone pull him by the arm, he turned around and saw that it was Serenity.

 

“I haven’t forgotten you, you know.” She laughed and pulled Chris into the crowd. “Hey Mom, Dad? This is a really good friend of mine, his name is Chris Kirkpatrick, and I don’t think that without his boost, I wouldn’t have saved you guys, he gave me hope and potential, he never let me down, I saved him, and he saved me back.” She blushed a little bit and felt Chris hold her hand, in which in return, she smiled.

 

Katalina and Bob greeted Chris with handshakes and they all started chatting away and thanking him and they were conversing in the basement for hours, they didn’t even realize what time it was. Serenity’s parents explained to them about how was everything for them, when they were trapped in that portal, and some of their loved ones as well. So all of those that were trapped in different portals all arrived to a city back at “The Realm.” And everything else was safe and back in order. The good and evil on totally different sides, the evil couldn’t go to the good side, and the good side couldn’t go to the evil side.

 

“Well this has been such a pleasant evening for all of us.” Katalina asked.

 

“Yeah its gonna be eleven already.” Tabatha said glancing at the clock on the wall. They all said goodbye to Chris who was already at the door, they left him with Serenity while they went back inside to chatter some more.

 

“I’m very glad your parents are back Seri.” Chris said giving her a warm smile.

 

“Yeah, its surreal, I still can’t believe it.” Serenity replied.

 

“So, this has been a long interesting day for us hasn’t it?” He asked.

 

“Yeah it was.” Serenity leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek, she smiled. “Thank you.”

 

“No thank you Seri.” Chris added, “I have never met anyone like you, and I never knew people like your kind existed, and I don’t think nothing can’t take me apart from you.”

 

“Let’s go somewhere.” She whispered.

 

“Go where?” Chris asked in shock. “You don’t sit still do you?”

 

“No, I don’t and neither do you.” She laughed.

 

“Yeah you got that right; it’s hard for me to sit still sometimes.” Chris chuckled.

 

At that moment, Serenity let out a whistle and her broom came out flying, she sat on it.

 

“What are you doing?” Chris asked slowly.

 

“Well, I did some research about you and I found out that you are afraid of heights, and so I was thinking that maybe you can fly with me on this very broom here, I want you to get over your fear of heights.” She grinned.

 

“Um..I can’t do that, I mean I can go on an airplane and I did my own stage stunts, and was lifted up in the air, but not like that.”  Chris frowned.

 

“Oh come on, if I fought the most powerful forces ever and I won, that means you can do the same, trust me.” She smiled and motioned him to sit down behind her.

 

Chris didn’t say anything but went to go sit on the broom, he was holding on to her for dear life.

 

“Don’t worry Chris, I’m excellent at flying.” Serenity said and lifted the broom up easily.

 

Chris had his eyes closed for the remaining of the departure; he felt a light breeze in his face and he knew that he was up in the air. He opened his eyes and looked at the view, it was the view of  Downtown Orlando, he can see the skyline and the lights of the buildings.

 

“Wow.” He whispered, he was slowly getting the hang of this, all of his nerves that he was feeling earlier were disappearing.

 

“Yeah I didn’t wanna bring you that high up now; I thought this was a nice touch.” Serenity replied.

 

“Now I know how a bird feels like.” Chris laughed.

 

“You know, if your balance is good, you can let go of me and spread your wings, it’ll be like you are actually flying.” She added.

 

Chris wasn’t so sure about this, he slowly released from Serenity’s hold and let the wind overtake his arms, Serenity did the same, and at that moment Chris started to sing one of his favorite songs, with Serenity singing along with him.

 

Listen, baby
Ain't no mountain high
Ain't no valley low
Ain't no river wide enough, baby

If you need me, call me
No matter where you are
No matter how far
Just call my name
I'll be there in a hurry
You don't have to worry

'Cause baby,
There ain't no mountain high enough
Ain't no valley low enough
Ain't no river wide enough
To keep me from getting to you

Remember the day
I set you free
I told you
You could always count on me
From that day on I made a vow
I'll be there when you want me
Some way, somehow

'Cause baby,
There ain't no mountain high enough
Ain't no valley low enough
Ain't no river wide enough
To keep me from getting to you

No wind, no rain

My love is alive
Way down in my heart
Although we are miles apart
If you ever need a helping hand
I'll be there on the double
As fast as I can

Don't you know that
There ain't no mountain high enough
Ain't no valley low enough
Ain't no river wide enough
To keep me from getting to you

Don't you know that
There ain't no mountain high enough
Ain't no valley low enough
Ain't no river wide enough


Chris and Serenity flew throughout the city and into the night sky, Chris wasn’t afraid of heights anymore, he overcame his fear, and he was never gonna forget this moment, it was only him and Serenity and he loved every minute of it. He was grateful for having her in his life, she was such a good friend to him, and he felt the same for her.