The Sovereign Of Purity

Time is never time at all
You can never ever leave without leaving a piece of youth
And our lives are forever changed
We will never be the same
The more you change the less you feel
Believe, believe in me, believe That life can change, that you're not stuck in vain
We're not the same, we're different tonight
Tonight, so bright
Tonight
And you know you're never sure
But you're sure you could be right
If you held yourself up to the light
And the embers never fade in your city by the lake
The place where you were born
Believe, believe in me, believe
In the resolute urgency of now
And if you believe there's not a chance tonight
Tonight, so bright tonight
We'll crucify the insincere tonight
We'll make things right, we'll feel it all tonight
We'll find a way to offer up the night tonight
The indescribable moments of your life tonight
The impossible is possible tonight
Believe in me as I believe in you, tonight

--Smashing Pumpkins, "Tonight, Tonight"

* * * * *

"Jordan! Jordan, jeez, wake up! "

Jordan felt someone shaking her shoulders. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the blurred figure of the person who had hissed into her ear. Once she refocused her vision, she recognized the stressed looking face of Eli hovering above her.

"Huh? Wussa matta, where'd da fire?" Jordan mumbled, rubbing sleepily at her eyes. Eli pulled her to her feet and off the bed with trembling arms.

"Somebody's invaded the school, I heard explosions and screams coming from down stairs," Eli whispered hoarsely, now leading her quietly towards the door of the girl's dormitory. "We've got to get out of here."

Jordan blinked as Eli led her to the door. Explosions? Screaming? What the hell had Eli been smoking?

Then she heard it. A large bang followed by screams. The school only had two floors, so most of the time you could hear whatever was going on below you if you were on the second story. And what could be heard was terrifying. Screaming pleads for mercy, unsympathetic, gruff voices refusing and making harsh threats, then demanding something, but Jordan couldn't quite make out what they were saying exactly.

Eyes now wide with horror, Jordan followed him, unquestioning. Keeping a firm grasp on her hand, he led her out of the girl's dormitory. Jordan was too sleepy to notice that most of the girls’ beds had already been emptied, for after hearing the explosions, the they had left to fend for themselves.

Eli and Jordan crept through the hallways silently, careful not to run into anyone. Jordan's heart pounded violently inside her chest, and Eli's hands were cold and clammy with anxiety. The halls were completely dark, except for an eerie red glow that seemed to give off a heat of its own. Both of the teenagers slinking about the hallways of the American Academy of Witch Craft and Wizardry, United, had no clue of what was giving off the red glow.

Many of the walls had been crumbled. Cold blasts of night air blew in from holes in the ceiling or in the walls that remained, but the holes were only as large as a child’s leg, and weren’t wide enough to crawl through.

Every so often, they would pass a bloody corpse of a student or a teacher. Jordan could feel the bile rising in her throat, but she swallowed it down. She wanted to scream, wanted to throw herself onto the floor and hold the victim’s head in her lap and weep, but couldn’t. They continued onward through the red tinted hallways.

As Eli and Jordan passed the Potions Lab, a thick green smoke began to fill the air around their heads, giving off a sickening stench. Jordan hid her nose with the sleeve of her nightshirt, which didn’t help much, being that it was made out of a flimsy silk. The smoke shimmered and sparked slightly, as if to spite them. A large spark suddenly crackled from the smoke.

"Get down!" Eli hissed grabbing Jordan's waist and pulling her down to the floor. A few seconds later the green smoke burst into an exquisite array of emerald green flames. The tongues of the fire licked the walls, melting them and emitting more of the foul odor. The fumes drifted from the walls, feeding the fire; slowly decreasing their chances of escape from the magical flames. Very quickly, they crawled away from the Potions Lab, the hallways now glowing with green radiation and still the mysterious red aura.

The exit of the school had never seemed so far away. As the two escaping teenagers neared their goal, the red glow grew brighter and warmer, and they began to hear the screams become louder.

A figure in dark robes swept by them. It couldn’t have been one of the teachers; none of them were that tall. Eli and Jordan pressed up against the wall, hiding in the shadow of a statue of some random wizard, not daring to breathe. The figure stopped for a moment and looked around to see if there were any more victims it could suck the life out of. When the figure passed them, they let out deep, shaking breaths, glad that they hadn't been spotted. Jordan squeezed Eli's hand so tightly he swore that he could feel his fingers turning blue.

They continued crawling towards the exit, praying that their luck would keep with them. The exit of United was located right next to the Dining Hall, and from their position, Jordan and Eli would have to go past the Dining Hall in order to escape from the school.

The closer they got to the Dining Hall, the hotter it got. Panicked screams grew louder, filling their ears with ringing. Eli felt Jordan's ice-cold fingers grasp his hand tightly, shaking furiously. They turned the corner that would lead them to the Dining Hall and the exit and stopped dead. Fear pulsed through their veins, telling them to be careful of what was around them and beyond. Suddenly Jordan's legs refused to move; ignoring the signals her brain was sending to them, telling them to run.

The merry, welcoming and cheery room of the Dining Hall had been turned into the smoldering pits of hell. Tall, dark figures like the one Eli and Jordan had run into before were all over the place, pushing and dragging around students. Again, Jordan wanted to scream and cry helplessly.

Jordan recognized one of the screaming victims as Johana O'Lhi, a girl from her arithmancy class. A tall figure was holding her two feet above in the air and pressing her against the wall, her body helpless to escape. Johana's graceful facial features were bent and twisted into a look of hatred, fear, and agony, her limbs hung uselessly from her body at odd angles. The Figure shook her so that her head banged against the wall, refusing to crush into dust. Johana let out a cry, as the Figure repeated his demand.

"Where is she?" it said in a raspy voice that sent shivers up Jordan's spine.

"I told you, I don't know dammit!" Johana obviously felt there was no use in being polite as she was very clearly going to die anyway.

The Figure dropped Johana to the ground. She lay there, in a crumpled heap. Jordan by instinct started to move forward. But then she felt Eli's stone grip on her arm and stopped. She looked at him and saw tears shining in his eyes. Silently, they moved toward the door to the outside of the school.

Jordan felt it was a miracle that no one was guarding the door. It was quite stupid on the people who were running this operation's behalf.

Jordan began to feel a heavy presence of darkness around her, as if someone familiar was carrying a heavy burden of evil. Suddenly she became dizzy. Eli became a blurry mass. Things started spinning around her and Jordan felt a white hot pain ripple through her chest. She let out a startled gasp and everything faded to black.

* * * * *

Jordan sat in a black, unknown room. She was dressed in a very simple white dress. She looked at her hands and wrists. Stunning silver rings sat on each of her fingers, a brilliant gem imbedded in each intricately molded piece of silver. Sparkling silver bracelets hung from her wrists, seeming to give off a light of their own.

Looking around, Jordan realized she was sitting at a large polished oak dining table. It was delicately carved with exquisite designs of various magical creatures. Jordan vaguely recognized dragons, unicorns, and fairies, as well as many other creatures she did not know the name to. The table was long enough to fit a good amount of people, about thirty or forty. No one else seemed to be sitting at the table, although there were many chairs lined along the sides of it.

Jordan just sat there for a while, looking about in a confused yet at ease manner. Suddenly, people started to fade into the seats, most of whom Jordan could recognize, but none of which she could name. She was positive she knew them, but yet she felt as though they were hiding their identities from her. Jordan searched her mind for names to match with the faces of those seated at the table. When she could not, she became so frustrated that a sharp twang of a headache shot through her head.

"Ugh..." she moaned, and pressed the palm of her hand to her forehead.

"Are you alright, Sovereign? " One of the people in the chairs next to her asked. It took Jordan a few moments to realize that the woman had been talking to her. She raised her head and shot a queer look at the woman. The woman had black hair tucked into a neat bun, and looked very stern.

"W-What did you j-just call me?" Jordan stuttered. Sovereign? What kind of people were they?

"Sovereign, your Ladyship," the black-haired woman replied curtly.

"Sovereign... sovereign of what?" Jordan questioned dumbly.

"Why..." a heavy built man spoke up. "The Sovereign of Purity of course, the one who will lift us all out of the darkness!"

"Aye!" A man with long silvery hair and beard exclaimed. "Here's to the Sovereign!" He lifted up a wineglass that had just suddenly appeared, and lifted it in a toast.

Choruses of "Aye!" and "To the Sovereign!" were heard up and down the table as all the people lifted and tapped glasses. Chink sounds filled the air. And Jordan sat there, feeling deliriously stupid. Suddenly she started shaking, harder and harder until-

"Jordan!"

Jordan's eyes fluttered open. Again, just like the time before, the sight that met her eyes was Eli's long, handsome face, only this time a bit more calm. She grasped his hand and took a long, shaky breath, recalling vaguely what had happened. "How are you?"

Eli blinked at her. "How am I? Well... our school was destroyed, our classmates murdered, and you collapsed just as we were about to escape." He looked at her sadly. "I’m glad I’m alive."

Jordan's eyes widened and she sat straight up. She just then realized where she was. They were in a hospital room, in a wizard hospital. She was still in her pajamas. She ran a hand through her dark hair, which had been washed and combed.

"What... exactly happened after I fainted?" Jordan asked, rubbing her eyes.

"I picked you up... Carried you through the exit, and once we were outside, I took that underground passage; ya know the one under the sycamore tree? To Lyracuse... From there, you were taken to the hospital by some wizards and witches who noticed that I was carrying you, and then I reported to the nearest wizard officials what was happening to our school. You weren’t out for long; it was only yesterday that all that happened… That's all of the story that I know."

Placing the pieces of the picture together, Jordan felt sick to her stomach. Eli was such a hero... if any lives were saved during that horrible senseless rampage it would be because of him. She thanked her lucky stars she had a friend like him. Tears welled up in her eyes.

"Oh Eli..." Jordan flung her arms around his neck. He hugged her and kissed the top of her forehead. Shamelessly she cried into his shoulder. It was all sinking in now...

Most of her friends were probably dead, if not all, except for Eli. Her school, her beloved school, was destroyed; the place where she had learned the most important lessons in her life and not just class lessons. There were some psycho killers running around America, and not ordinary psycho killers, psycho killers with magic.

But most of all, there were questions. Who were the people who had attacked their school? What did they want? How did they get in? And most importantly, why?Why United? Why now? Why had she fainted? Jordan knew there were plenty of hexes and charms and wards to protect the school... she was mystified.

Jordan's web of thought was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. She let go of Eli's neck and he stepped back. A tall thin witch dressed in white hospital robes entered the room, followed by a very busy and tired looking wizard in plain gray robes that displayed the Ministry of Magic badge.

"Hello dears," said the witch with a warm look, walking over to fluff Jordan’s pillows and straighten her sheets. "Woken up have we? Very good…"

Jordan opened her mouth to ask about her mother, but the witch seemed to have mind reading abilities.

"Both of your parents have been informed. They should all be arriving soon." The nurse finished fluffing Jordan’s pillows and glanced at both the children with a steadied look, as if trying to relay some mental though of encouragement.

Jordan realized that most of the wizarding world probably knew what had happened by now. She gazed dreamily out the window. Trees blocked her view of most of the outside world, but she could tell it was daylight. A mother bird flew to her nest, and dropped a worm to the mouths of her screeching baby birds. Jordan felt her stomach growl, and it dawned on her that she hadn’t eaten since yesterday’s lunch- she hadn’t eaten dinner. Jordan wondered if birds had three meals a day; beetles for breakfast, worms for lunch, flies for-

"This is Mr. Pomel, a wizard from Britain who will assist you with your situation," the nurse said, gesturing to the wizard, and breaking Jordan from her daze. Having said what needed to be said, the nurse turned and left the two bewildered teenagers with the wizard from Britain.

Mr. Pomel was a nervous looking man. He fiddled with a handkerchief in his lap while the nurse walked out. When the nurse closed the door behind her, he looked up at the two children.

Mr. Pomel cleared his throat. "I must say nothing like this has ever been recorded in the wizarding community. Surprisingly enough, no Dark Mark was found over the scene, and officials are unsure who would have had enough power to commit this crime," the man’s face looked hesitant as he said that statement, as though he were hiding a fact from them. He continued. "Right after this young lad reported what was going on at your school, throngs of Aurors were sent to United. But already everyone that had committed the crime had previously fled. Most were found dead, but a handful of students and teachers were recovered."

"How many?" Eli asked.

"About one hundred students, and 8 teachers," the wizard glumly replied.

Jordan shuddered, thinking about the full dining hall, nearly six hundred students talking excitedly and enjoying their meal, while the long table of twenty-five teachers remained controlled and looked over the students. An image of a dark shadow looming over the cheery dining hall formed, and Jordan watched in her head as tables of students went up in flames, sparing only a few, and teachers rushing to help them were all burnt to a crisp. Jordan uttered a small cry and shook her head to clear the image that was burning a hole in her mind.

Eli’s arm around her shoulder broke her from the painful apparition. Jordan focused back on what the Ministry Official was saying.

"Because it is only July 2nd… the school year has only begun, and if you wish to continue studies with students your age, you will have to be transferred to another school. The three schools in Europe, Hogwarts, Bauxbatons, and Durmstrang don’t start the school year until August 1^st. I will discuss arrangements with your parents when they arrive."

Jordan and Eli nodded obediently. They did not want to get held back a year and study with students a year younger than them, they knew that they had to continue their learning this year.

As if on cue, Jordan’s mother and Eli’s parents burst into the room.

"Jordan!" Jordan’s mother’s frantically searching eyes rested on Jordan and before the girl knew what was happening, her mother’s arms were thrown around her. Jordan returned the embrace and buried her face into her mother’s hair. Finally, here in her mother’s arms, Jordan felt safe. She broke down and cried clinging to her mother as if she were a child mourning for a pet’s loss, but this time it was hundreds of multitudes worse.

Jordan felt her mother stroke the back of her head. "It’s all right honey… you’re alright now…" Her mother’s soothing words couldn’t stop Jordan’s tears. It felt like an eternity before she couldn’t cry anymore. Even after she had dried up, Jordan lay in her mother’s arms for a few minutes before she realized that Eli and the others were probably waiting for her to recover.

Jordan pulled away from her mother who looked down at her and smiled. "That’s my girl," she said, brushing a strand of hair away from Jordan’s puffy tear-streaked face. Jordan smiled weekly at her as her mother took a seat next to Jordan on the bed. She was a fairly tall woman, slender in build with a gentle posture. Jordan thought she was beautiful, with her long, dark hair that was straight but curled ever so slightly inward at the tips, and was always pulled back into a ponytail. Wide brown eyes and thin, shaped eyebrows peeked out from under naturally curly bangs. The same freckles that Jordan found when she looked in the mirror were sprinkled over her nose and rested on the top of her cheekbones.

Mr. Pomel and Jordan and Eli’s parents began talking about the crisis. Again, Jordan drifted off into her own thoughts. She wondered what this meant to the wizarding world. Mr. Pomel had said no Dark Mark had been found over the school… did that mean that there was a new enemy? She thought about her dream… was she really the Sovereign of Purity? Who was the Sovereign of Purity? Did her dream even mean anything? Her questions circled each other and each time her answers to herself were full of holes. Finding herself worn from her questions and the conversation of the adults, Jordan nestled her head on her mother’s head and fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * * * *

Harry looked somberly out his bedroom window. He longed to be back at Hogwarts, the Dursley’s weren’t helping the sense of impending doom that hung over his head with their sour looks at him. Dumbledore had forbidden that he visit the Weasley’s this summer, because Voldemort had many eyes around the wizarding world who would be waiting for Harry to make just the slightest wrong move so they could abduct him and finish him off. Harry sighed and wondered why Voldemort wanted to kill him so badly.

Looking at the dull street of Privet Drive, Harry thought of the irony of his situation. Fifteen and already fearing a horrible death, he morbidly joked in his mind. Had he really only just turned fifteen three days ago? Harry felt a century old, knowing he had been forced to grow up too quickly. Well at least I have birthday presents! He reminded himself, desperately trying break the gloomy atmosphere. Harry had had a better birthday than usual, which cheered him up somewhat, but again his happiness didn’t last long for he thought people were afraid they needed to be extra nice to him this birthday, just incase it happened to be his last one.

Hermione had surprisingly enough not sent him a book, but a broom case. It was black, with a golden image of a stag emblazoned onto the cover. Ron had bought him a wizard’s chess set (in hopes that Harry might actually become a worthy opponent), and had also sent three chocolate cakes his mother had made, in addition with samples of some of the twins’ new products for the Wheasly Wheezes. Harry hadn’t touched the Blue Skin Truffles yet, although he had had fun with the Bubble Burp Bubblegum and Squirrel Poppers. Harry had gladly suffered through a supposedly harsh punishment of no meals for two days (Which wasn’t so bad, seeing as he had the cakes.) when a blue squirrel had found its way into Dudley’s bed.

Hagrid had finally given up cooking and had sent Harry Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans and a pair of brand new Quidditch gloves. A large and colorful toucan had brought Sirius’s gift of a hand-woven bag, perfect for carrying Harry’s schoolbooks around.

Harry’s eyes strayed to his pile of birthday gifts and luggage. Already, he had packed up his belongings and was ready to go to Hogwarts. September 1^st just couldn’t come soon enough.

Hedwig’s empty cage sat atop Harry’s trunk. Harry wasn’t worried about her, he was sure that she was sleeping restfullyin a tree somewhere. After all, it was only four in the morning: only three hours until the sun rose. He turned his head back to the window where he found too bright amber eyes staring straight back at him.

"Yeeeegh! Harry exclaimed softly as he jumped back, as to not wake up the Dursleys. His fright was in vain though, for as he looked back at the window, he realized that they were only the gleaming eyes of Hedwig. Sighing with relief, Harry opened the window and let her in.

Hedwig gave a soft gratified hoot, then nipped Harry’s finger as if to punish him for even fearing her.

"Yeah, I’m sorry Hedwig… I’m just a big jumpy," Harry tried to explain to the flustered bird. She cluttered angrily at him for a second, and then motioned to her leg where Harry noticed that a copy of the Daily Profit was attached. Harry quickly relieved the snowy owl of her burden who clucked a thanks, then hopped into her cage and started pruning her feathers with her beak.

Lying on his bed, Harry unraveled the wizarding newspaper. Hermione had gotten him a subscription, insisting that he had "really better pay more attention to the news, now that Voldemort’s got his power back." Fortunately, there were no articles about mass murders, no Dark Marks had been found yet. This relieved Harry, but he still felt tense and had the feeling that Voldemort was just waiting for the right moment.

The front-page article sent a shock of electricity through his body. He felt his arms and legs go numb as he read the headline title:

United, American Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Attacked and Destroyed!

At one a.m., Arizona, U.S.A, the school of United, American Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry was attacked. A total of 467 students were killed, along with 17 teachers. A mass murder on a school like this has never been recorded

 

The investigation of this crime started when two brave students, Eli Ao and Jordan McKensey, managed to escape the school under attack and report to wizarding officials. Throngs of Aurors were sent to United, but were unable to catch anyone who had taken part in this crime. It was as if the attackers had just vanished. Even more mysteriously, no Dark Mark was found over the school. Ministry officials are dazed as to who would have enough power to wreak this much havoc other than He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, who has been alleged to have risen again according to the information sources have provided. Ministry officials suspect that the attackers had an inside source.

 

Harry relaxed a little. Voldemort had not attacked the school, which was good. But on the other side, there was a new mysterious dark force looming in the shadows. And it had already made its first move. He continued to read the article where it described how the Ministry was looking into the case, briefly sketched different ideas and opinions from trained Aurors on who could have attacked the school and why, and explained how the surviving students would be transferring to Hogwarts. Well, looks like we’ll have some new students in our year… Harry sighed inwardly. He hoped that this new catastrophe and the added worrying of whether or not Voldemort would burst into the school and kill them all wouldn’t put a damper on the year. Harry highly doubted it wouldn’t.

The black-haired fifteen-year-old boy looked forlornly out the window at the dark blue sky that was just beginning to lighten up and show the first signs of day. He knew in America that the sun must have already started to rise. Harry wondered how the survivors of the heartrending attack on United would handle this new issue in their lives. Harry wondered if the kids from America would fit in at Hogwarts. He also wondered if they would gawk at him like the students at Hogwarts had when they first met him. Harry suspected they would.

As Harry looked at the window, he dismally thought of who had caused this sudden change in the world. He wondered if perhaps the force behind this crime had larger intentions than to just cause havoc. Maybe it was a distraction from another event. Maybe it was just a starter of a great chain of Earth-shaking events.

Glancing at the nearly full moon, he resolved that in dealing with the forces of evil, anything is possible

* * * * *

Draco sat on his bed and glared at the newspaper lying in front of him with such intense loathing that if it were alive, it would have scurried off in terror.

The silver-blond haired boy had hardly spoken to his father all summer after he had heard of Potter’s adventure. Draco knew it was true that the Dark Lord had risen again; his father hadn’t talked of much else. Death Eaters were often invited over for banquets to celebrate the return of the Lord Voldemort. It made Draco sick.

Sure, before all he had wanted to do was follow in his father’s footsteps, but this summer he had truly thought about his ideals and opinions.

Following after his father dumbly seemed like a coward’s way of handling things. Draco had seen the way Potter was shaken after Cedric’s death. Even though he hated the other boy, he despised even more seeing any soul so oblivious to the world because of his sadness. Knowing that Draco would be causing that sort of pain to people on a daily basis if he stepped into the black hole of his father’s life made him feel as if he was being thrown headfirst into a dense pit of despair and loneliness.

Feeling confined in his bedchamber, Draco moved out to the hallways, tucking the newspaper article into his breast pocket. He walked aimlessly around the manor, and noticed the dreariness of his house for the first time.The eyes of the portraits painted of many of his ancestors irritatingly followed him throughout the corridors. One portrait of a young woman, appearing of Veela decent, aggravated the boy the most. Draco rounded on the portrait and defiantly stared at the woman. She giggled and batted her eyelashes seductively. Draco read the name under her picture; Leila Malfoy, and felt nothing. No pride, no attachment to the proud memories of Malfoy victory recognizing his ancestors should bring.

Draco ignored the flirtatious portrait and turned to the window opposite it. Leaning out of the window, he let the cool morning breeze blow through his hair. The hum of dawn was just beginning, and the excited sounds of birds chirping across the winds to each other made Draco feel free and liberated from his confines. Confines of his house, confines of his father’s morals, the confines of being a Malfoy, and being counted on the uphold the family honor.

In that moment of feeling open, Draco realized what he needed, what he wanted. Draco needed something to fight for, something that was his. Everything he had owned or had ever known came from his father. No secrets could be concealed from this force of darkness that was always looming over his shoulder, watching the boy’s every move. Draco needed something that he could love. Something that he would love enough that he would defy his father for it. Draco had his own life, and for some time he had been letting his father control him, use him. It was time to stop this.

When and where he might find his sanctuary, his unvarying platform, or whether it would be a place, a right, or perhaps even a person… Draco didn’t know, but he knew that he needed some firm grounds to set his feet upon, a true constant in his life.

Removing the article on United from his pocket, Draco studied it for a while. Perhaps this tragedy would unearth a new foundation for Draco to start building upon.

* * * * *

Sunlight filtered through blue and white-checkered curtains onto the blue and white-checkered sheets of Jordan’s bed. Slowly, the rays of sunlight crept up the length of the bed onto the head of the slumbering girl. As the light reached her eyes, Jordan rose up like a zombie awoken from its eternal slumber. Blinking dumbly a few times at the morning sun like she had never seen it before, Jordan realized that her mother must have put her to bed after they had left the hospital. She vaguely remembered Eli carrying her to the car.

Grinning peacefully, the yawning, heavy-eyed girl stepped out of bed and rubbed her eyes. Slowly, Jordan walked bare-foot across the wooden floor of her bedroom to the window whose light had awoken her. She looked with warmth out at the streets of Sister Bay, a tiny town in Wisconsin on the shores of Lake Michigan. Jordan had been raised here, knew all the good places to swim and all the best stores to satisfy her sweet tooth. She had met her best friends here, Catty and Eli, and had grown up near the water where she had had the best times of her fifteen-year-old life. Jordan watched the peaceful streets and marveled at how unknowing all the people were at the tragedies that had happened less than two days ago. The thought-burdened girl wished she could be that oblivious.

Jordan felt her stomach growl. She realized that she hadn’t eaten in the last day and a half. Without bothering to change out of her silk Hello Kitty pajamas, she made her way down to the kitchen.

The kitchen was one of Jordan’s favorite places in the house. One wall of the kitchen was a glass sliding door that provided a view of their lake front property. The sunrise reflected brilliantly on the clear blue waters of Lake Michigan. Already, early risers were out on their boats. Jordan remembered how she, Catty and Eli had always sailed to Strawberry Island on the weekends during the summer and had had picnics. Jordan’s eyes strayed to the dock. She had gotten the letter that she was invited to attend United on that dock. Jordan remembered the fear she had felt when she was introduced to the idea of leaving her beloved hometown to go the school in Arizona, a state as different as hers as night from day.

Jordan trudged over to the fridge, memories weighing heavily in her mind. Before opening the door, she noticed her mother had left a note on the front. Hah… she knew the first thing I’d do was head for the fridge. Jordan mused as she read the note that briefly described that her mother had gone out to finish an art gallery deal, and to pick up tickets for a flight to London, where Jordan would go shopping for school supplies and stay with Eli until the school term, at Hogwarts, her new school, started.

Jordan rummaged through the refrigerator stuffing random food products into her mouth: pickles, mushrooms, celery, left over spaghetti; whatever she could find. After she was content and felt like she would pop, Jordan wandered into the living room and flopped down onto the couch where she just wanted to rest and think.

Unfortunately, the rest of the world did not want her to rest. The ringing of the phone shattered any hope of tranquility that Jordan might have had. Grumbling, Jordan reached over her head (Thankfully, she didn’t have to move much.) and grabbed the phone, bringing the receiver to her mouth.

"Whatchoowant?"

"Well, I can tell we’re cheerful after our little adventure, aren’t we?" Catty’s bittersweet sarcastic voice seeped through the receiver like molasses.

"Joyful days are here again," Jordan sighed, grinning slightly and rolling her eyes. She and Catty had always had their ways with sarcasm.

"Eli told me what happened. It makes me sick, and I don’t even go to your school." Catty and Eli were cousins. Eli’s mother and Catty’s father were twins, who had both come to America from China after getting married. Although Eli’s mother and father were magical, Catty’s parents weren’t. The two sets of parents generally stayed away from each other, but the two cousins had stayed close.

Jordan sighed. "Yeah. It was horrible… be glad you weren’t there." Jordan shifted positions on the couch. "I’m so worried… I keep thinking of the parents of all the kids that died… And not only the parents… just, everyone who was close to them. And I’m scared too, the people who did this had power, and they didn’t just do this for fun… that’s for sure. And now we’re going to have to go off to Britain… and I thought Arizona was far away! Life is tough, C."

Catty sighed on the other end of the line. "Well… I don’t know anything about this magic stuff, but I do know you’re my friend, and I’m worried about ya, J. Need anything just call, kay? I gotta go now; mom wants me to make breakfast. As if she couldn’t put down her darned romance novel and make it herself." Catty grumbled.

Jordan giggled. She could just imagine the long black haired girl rolling her eyes at her mother sitting on a chair reading some corny book titled Passion Before Reason."Thanks C. I’ll talk to you later. Hugs." The two girls said their goodbyes and hung up. Jordan sighed and shifted again so that her head was hanging off the edge of the couch and her knees were locked over the back of it. "Oh what to do, what to do…" Jordan pondered out loud, wiggling her toes and reveling in the dizzying sensation of all the blood rushing to her head. She stared at the blank TV screen and blinked a few times. "Ohhhh! Spanish soap operas upside down. Yes." Jordan grinned and clicked on the TV, giggling at the distorted faces and expressions of the upside-down Spanish soap opera stars.

* * * * *

The air was thick as two figures stood at the window of an ancient abandoned, burned and decrepit church, looking at the recently risen sun with hatred. The sun just barely began peeking into the window when the two figures fell back into the musty darkness of the aged room of worship, now used as the headquarters of evil.

"She has been revealed, Master. Right in front of my eyes too," the Hands informed his Master. The Hands held up a small orb, showing His Master the image of a dark haired girl. The Master gave a small huff of laughter."So she is their Sovereign. She still hasn’t grown much…" the Master smiled eerily at the Hands who returned it with a grin.

"Soon our Sovereign will be revealed, right Master?"

"Yes. Our Gatherer has already been found, and I trust you to be able to turn her over to our side, what with your convenient relocation." The Hands smirked at his Master and bowed his head.

"I will do my best."

"And I will continue looking for the rest of the Tainted. Perhaps we shall even collect all of our kind before the Innocents are gathered." The Master turned his head and looked out the window again.

"That would give us quite an advantage in the Opening of the Tomb."

"To be sure. Let us pray that the Old Forces will guide us."