Alia couldn't believe it was finally the end. Flying off of the pole, Alia screamed (again). She fell for such a long time. All of Wizard City was almost out of sight.
Like a miracle, Alia felt her hand finally grasping a cliff. Tired and sweaty, Alia had a very difficult time getting up there. It probably took a minute's attempt.
Now losing her grip, Alia thought, "Why bother? I'm going to DIE anyway!"
All of a sudden, Alia felt something lifting her up from underneath. Sighing with relief, Alia hopped up onto the cliff, barely getting a glimpse of the thing that had done this. Alia could have sworn she saw wings. A dragon, perhaps? Alia lost that thought when turning around to find a cave.
"Hello? I need help, I flew off of Wizard City," Alia said, feeling like she sounded absolutely dumb. Going deeper into the dirt cave, Alia got more tired than ever, and was about to collapse. A glow was near, Alia could tell. Slowly tiptoe-ing towards the strange light, Alia realized it was dimming by the second.
Once Alia finally collapsed (yet she was still conscious for some reason), she finally realized she was right where the mysterious glow was. Staring up at the roof of the cave, Alia didn't notice the glow coming back until it was too late. A ghost's face was over her, with alarming blue eyes. Alia yelped instead this time, because her throat was indeed beginning to hurt. "It's Emily! And hush, he could be watching!" the ghost said. "Emily?" Alia asked. "Emily SWIFT? The ghost of the Secret School? How did-" "I'll explain later! He's coming. Here," Emily said, sprinkling some kind of dust over Alia.
"WHO IS IN HERE?" Malistaire yelled, now in the cave. "Why, master, are you just hearing things?" Emily said calmly. Alia realized Malistaire wasn't staring at her, and she also realized she couldn't see any part of her body. She then acknowledged her invisibility. "I am hearing things," Malistaire said, smiling. "I AM HEARING TALKING!" Emily sighed. "Take a break, why don't you?" Emily said. "You work and work, and it's making you stressed. Rest in your office for the week, okay?" "And let my students cast former spells all willy-nilly? I think not!" was Malistaire's rude reply. "I'll be asleep for the next 9 hours. Enjoy death," he said, teleporting back.
With another dusty sprinkle of invisibility dust, Alia was now her opaque self again. "Why are you in here?" Alia asked. "The Secret School is now off limits to everything and everyone. That includes ghosts. But come here, he doesn't know," Emily said, floating over to the far end of the cave.
Though it just looked like the end of a cave, Alia knew it definitely wasn't when Emily knocked 3 times on it, snapped, and zapped it. Then, the seemingly ended walk through this cave didn't end. The back of the cave glowed brightly. Alia shielded her eyes as it turned to ashes.
They walked and floated along for what seemed like hours. Then Alia noticed they had stopped in front of a wall. "This isn't it," Emily said. "But it's like a tour stop." The whole wall was covered with many pictures. Alia confusedly asked, "What is this?" Emily told the story that had been painted on that wall thousands of years ago.
"A Theurgist was born one day. Her first Imp had hit her brother with 150 damage, a serious impossibility. Her mother Sorcerer and father Diviner knew something was unusual about their pleasant daughter," Emily said, moving from picture to picture. "As time went by, the girl became curious. To find a strange pole was very odd. She slid down. This Theurgist had discovered a Secret School, like many others."
Emily continued to the next row, saying, "The first row was your unusual past. Now to the present." Emily dramatically wiped away all of the first row pictures. "Learning more spells along the way, the girl knows she is ready for The Death, what these people had apparently called HIM. The Death arrives one day, perched upon a storm cloud. He defeats the Theurgist's loyal professor and headmaster. Knowing the Secret Spells live on, The Death traps her and almost kills her."
Emily wiped away the middle row magically. "Would you like to know your future?" Emily asked, smiling at Alia. Alia couldn't believe she'd find out if she would live on. "YES! Please. By the way, are these seriously true?" Alia asked excitedly. Emily smiled once more, and only said, "If you believe they are." Emily studied the ancient drawings carefully. "The perished headmaster rises, yet is under The Death's control. Trying to kill her once and for all, The Death sends off thieves to steal her magical source. After failing, a Draconian army is sent to her house." "That's it?" Alia asked.
"Look," Emily said, showing her a smudged series of pictures. "These are blurred. I can't tell you any more." Alia sighed disappointingly. She then followed Emily to the surprise up ahead.
"Hello, Merle," Emily said, staring down at something hairy, covered in torn cloth, and extremely muddy. "Hello Emily," it replied. It had a rather hoarse voice. Alia realized, this wasn't an IT, this was a HIM! Alia's eyes filled up with tears when she saw her headmaster for the first time in forever.
"Alia. I haven't seen you in a while. Would you like some dirt?" he crazily said, scooping up a handful of dirt and showing it to Alia. "No thanks," Alia replied disgustedly. "I really can't believe you're actually ALIVE! But...Look. How come you can't just teleport back to the Commons and confront Mali-um, HIM?" Alia's now crazy headmaster chuckled for a while, then said, "I don't have my powers anymore."
"WHAT? Oh my gosh! How did it happen? Did HE do this? Come on, we've got to get help for you!"
"I gave away my powers."
"Oh, well that's sort of good. But we've got to get the person you gave them TO!"
"She's in this room."
"Great. You give all of your powers to a GHOST! No offense, Emily. But why A GHOST?"
"I'm looking at her."
"Can you narrow this down a little more? ENOUGH CLUES ALREADY!"
Alia breathed heavily.
"Alia LotusPetal."
There was a long silence, and Alia finally said, "Define POWERS."
"Everything," he replied, still hoarsely. "Teleporting home or to the commons is now quicker, me giving you that ability. Your Death spells should be 40% more powerful. And... What else?" he said, pausing. "Ah, yes. I gave you all of my Secret School powers."
Alia now understood why Big Bang was in her deck. "But why? Why give away your powers to me?" Alia asked. "For your protection. If I didn't, Malistaire would have my powers under his control, and you couldn't possibly save us," he replied. "Well, we'd better get you back to the Commons!" Alia said.
Emily helped the filthy Headmaster up, wished Alia good luck, and Alia teleported. Or, at least she tried.
Alia tried again.
And again.
And again.
And-
BAM!
Somebody had teleported with a loud BAM, and dust quickly filled the cave. Alia heard loud cackling. "You REALLY think I'd never find out?" Alia heard. Malistaire had just teleported into the cave.
"Alia, why, you know what this means, right?" he said, smiling. "No! This can't be happening! You're taking away my powers!" Alia exclaimed, while extremely worried. "Yes indeed! And Ambrose," Malistaire said, turning to him. "The prophecy states you are now under MY control!" He cackled loudly again. "And Emily, nothing happens to you. You're already DEAD, nothing else can happen."
Malistaire turned to Alia once more. "Say goodbye to your powers, delinquent," he said, smiling. Alia felt like her soul was being sucked out of her body. This was way stronger than a Wraith. Alia felt a lot like she was dying for about one minute.
Then, it was gone.
Alia stared in horror as the green sphere of power was magically placed into a miniature golden lockbox. "NO!" Alia screamed. She had tears running down her cheeks.
"Now to finish this old man's punishment," he said, now turning to the horrified headmaster. He zapped him rather hard. Professor Ambrose stood straight up, and said, "Yes Master." Alia cried even more.
Malistaire quickly grabbed Alia and Professor Ambrose, and teleported to the commons. But before they did, Alia saw Emily mouthing, "I'm sorry."
Alia was being taken by Malistaire to her dorm room. He slammed open the door. Sean screamed like a girl, which nearly made Alia laugh. "ZOMBIE!" he yelled, and hid behind the couch. "Don't push your luck, DeathHammer," Malistaire said. Alia's parents walked up to the door.
"Headmaster Drake!" Alia's father said. "Are you here to tell us why Alia came home late?" "No. I am here to inform you of a little incident," Malistaire replied. Alia's mother gave her a look that clearly said, "You're grounded."
"Of private reasons, your daughter's powers have been taken away."
Alia's parents gasped. "But," Alia's mother started. "We can only understand if we know the reason!" "DO YOU WANT TO HAVE YOURS TAKEN AWAY?" Malistaire yelled. Alia's frightened mother shook with fear, then got herself together. "No, Headmaster," she replied.
Malistaire pushed Alia in. "As of now, your daughter is EXPELLED!" He slammed the door shut, and all eyes were on Alia. "Alia, I know this seems unfair, but we need to-" Alia's father said. "Forget it. I need to get to bed." Alia replied.
She pulled the covers over her head. "Good night," Alia's parents said sadly.
Alia's morning was better. Nobody was harassing her to WAKE UP ALREADY! So Alia was awake at 10 o' clock in the morning. With 5 hours on her hands before she broke the news to Sabrina, Alia was bored out of her mind. With no magic, Alia was really in a dilemma. So, Alia wandered through Wizard City. She went everywhere, then stopped at Rainbow Bridge. Alia sat on the edge of the bridge, and stared into the water. She did this for what seemed like hours, when she saw another face next to hers. "Did you drop out or something?" Alia heard from behind her.
Alia almost fell over. She turned around to see none other than Cody Dragonrider. "Oh. It's you again." Alia said "How come you say that every time we start talking?" Cody asked. "I really don't know," Alia replied. "Why are you-" "Here? It's lunch time. Today we're having Mystery Mud." Alia and Cody both said, "Gross!" at the same time. They laughed for a little while but quickly stopped. "It's actually tar. Guess I solved the mystery!" Cody said. "And why are you here?" he asked Alia.
Alia sighed. "My powers were taken away." There was a long silence.
DINNNNNNNG!
"Uh oh! Class is starting!" Cody said. "Bye Alia!"
Alia stared at him running until he was out of sight. So many thoughts were buzzing through her head.
After many more hours of walking and staring, the bell finally rung. Sabrina ran out to the Commons, seeing Alia up on the bridge. "Alia! How come you're here? How come you weren't at school, too?" Sabrina asked.
"Well, last night, remember when everyone left?" Alia asked her. "Yes. In fact I do. I CLEARLY remember!" Sabrina said angrily. "HOW? I still hate Mary! This is so-"
"MY POWERS WERE TAKEN AWAY, OKAY?" Alia said loudly. There was another long silence.
"Wow," Sabrina said. "It's a long story," Alia said. "Well, come on! We still have to tell Mary!" Sabrina groaned.
Mary was in Collosus Boulevard. She was skipping about the icy sidewalks, not scared by the ghost Gobblers. "Ice is wonderful! Why take it away?" Mary said to herself. She finally got to Gobblestone Castle. She was excited that it was empty.
Mary walked in slowly, and saw the unguarded sweets in the many crates. "This will be interesting," she said. Mary walked towards the many boxes, but didn't know of two gigantic eyes staring at her. Just about to eat a jellybean, she heard a loud booming voice.
"STOP!"
She screamed and dropped the jellybean. She rushed out the door quickly, finding Sabrina and Alia at the door. "Hi! Do NOT go in there!" she said, pointing to the castle. "We heard it," Alia said. "Probably just King Gobblestone. How could Malistaire ever get rid of THAT?"
"ANYWAY," Sabrina said. "Alia would like to tell you something." "What is it Alia?" Mary asked. "Malistaire took away my powers," Alia replied.
"NO! NO NO NO! HOW?" Mary yelled worriedly. There was no long silence after that. "Long story," Alia said. "Well, guess it's time for me to head off," she said, looking up at the sky, which was growing darker. Alia flicked her wrist with her wand in her hand, and teleported home.
Meanwhile, two pairs of eyes were staring into the now dark dorm room. The two burglars smiled. "I'll pick the lock," one said, in his wicked, dark, horrible voice. The burglars were coming to Alia's dorm. The Draconian Army wasn't far from now... | 
