Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Book 1: My Charmed Ones!: Ch13


“Book 1: My Charmed Ones! –Chapter 13”

By:  (Mister) Jimmie Ray Giboney.

Chapter 13: “Stop! Get Back To The Charmed Ones Meeting Angel!”

The three groups were cramped in the tunnel. But what could they do about it? After avoiding the subject for awhile, the topic of conversation got back to how could they all be here? Why where they here? Could they leave? Safely? Should they? Princess Willow, it was decided, would speak for her group, to make it easier for the others. They seemed to think of her as the smartest of her group. Angel deferred to Wesley for this matter, with his group. They looked to Witch Piper to represent her sisterly trio, and Baby Wyatt.

So Princess Willow, Wesley, and Witch Piper, were exchanging ideas and theories, as the others managed to observe in silence. Baby Wyatt was being entertained by loving aunts. Princess Willow stated that everyone in her group, because of their mutual spouse, had this quirk. They hated one-way roads and doors, in that they preferred to exit the same way they entered. They used the same path both ways, as opposed to traveling in circles, or in random directions, meandering about. So they tended to determine the best route between “Point A” and “Point B”, and use it without detours to other points along the way. When they left here, they would be returning the same way they had came, in the same method.

What this meant, was that they politely turned down invitations to visit the others’ realms, or realities, because they may get trapped, and be unable to return whence they came. This quirk usually kept them on track and from getting lost. Teleportation was thus their favorite method of travel. They could avoid one-way doors and roads, that way. Princess Willow’s advice then was for “Team Angel” and “Team Halliwell”, to do their best to go back the way they had come, if they wanted to improve their odds of getting home. That’s what “Team Free Spirit/Dragon” would be doing eventually.

Wesley agreed that in their cases, that would most likely work. They just had to walk back along the same paths they had used to get here, and said paths were still visible. However, Witch Piper said that they had no idea how they dropped in here, let alone how to use the same method to return. That was their stumper. How to get “Team Halliwell” home?

Princess Willow suggested a test of her idea. Vampiress Harmony from “Team Angel” should retrace her steps, back to the tower of “Wolfram & Hart”. Meanwhile, Princess Harmony, using Superspeed, would run back to their home. Wesley agreed, as did Witch Piper. Witch Piper suggested that perhaps Witch Paige could try Orbing for her team. But the possible problem: What if only Witch Paige could Orb out? Then Witch Piper and Witch Phoebe would be stuck here, with no way home. Should they risk it?
Princess Willow and Wesley, sympathized, but thought it was entirely up to the Halliwell Sisters. It was their risk alone. Too bad they had the baby to worry about though. Then Witch Piper thought of something and she said, “But what if the energy from her Orb attempt disrupts the delicate balance of whatever forces have us here?” And they thought she had a valid point there, at that. So they told the others of their idea. “Team Free Spirit/Dragon”, was all for it. “Team Angel”, had mixed emotions and reservations. “Team Halliwell”, was nervous. The two Harmonies were game to try the test. Witch Paige was doubtful, but willing to try.

Princess Faith would get to start them off. Princess Harmony, Witch Paige, and Vampiress Harmony, were given a wide berth. Princess Faith said, “On your marks! Ready? Get set! Go!” as she clapped her hands. Both Harmonies ran away as fast as they could, while Witch Paige Orbed up in the general direction they had fallen from. They were gone! Now it was just a matter of waiting for the test results.

The End of Chapter 13!

Book 1: My Charmed Ones!: Ch12


“Book 1: My Charmed Ones! – Chapter 12”

By:  (Mister) Jimmie Ray Giboney.

Chapter 12: “Andy Dick Wolf Saves the Day!”

The comic was a stand-up guy! He brought his posse wherever he went. So when he and they boarded the small commuter airplane, with turboprops, not jets, they took up almost half of the available occupancy. Whenever everyone was seated, and the door was closed, and the ground crew was done, “American Eagle Flight 22” taxied the taxiway, and then used the runway for take off. The flight would be a short one. The aircraft was already over the bay. Then it wasn’t!

There was something flashy, and then the airplane found itself crashing onto a huge carpet, before resting against the leg of a huge bed. Surprisingly the scared crew and passengers didn’t go up in a ball of fire! They were expecting one! So they managed to get out of the aircraft in a reasonably orderly fashion, given the circumstances.

They saw a giant boy ignore them, and grab a spacecraft, decorated like their aircraft, from the center of the floor! They witnessed all of the events that followed. When the giants suddenly vanished altogether, they had a feeling that they were the last people in the room. Of all of the people, Andy Dick Wolf was feeling the calmest. When he was a lad, he enjoyed Irwin Allen’s SF series, “Land of the Giants” and he had had sexual fantasies ever since. So this was a dream come true for him!

With all of his knowledge form watching the series, he was able to keep his posse and the fellow passengers and the crew, from making mistakes that could have gotten them trampled on, or captured. Basically they remained hidden under the bed! Now that all was quiet they tried the aircraft’s radio, and those with cellphones tried them.
The big radio had static on it, as did the smaller back-up radios, and that was all. The cellphones had no signals. So they couldn’t call for help or at least, not in those two methods.

The aircraft was damaged beyond their abilities to repair it. The crew gathered all of the survival gear available, which wasn’t much considering the size and type of airplane. Of course they gathered their luggage. The bed appeared to be the safest place to be, for now. So they began to make a survivor’s camp closer to the wall, and away from the airplane that may yet catch on fire. Though they had turned off everything, and had the fire extinguishers ready, just in case.

Andy filled in everyone on the concept of his all-time favorite television program. He became the unofficial leader of the passengers, and not just his posse, after the captain.

After what people did what you might think in such a scenario, they eventually had to sleep. That’s when Andy was happy, because he was going to go explore, and see what he could find on his own. He didn’t want people to think he was a sexual deviant or pervert! So he had volunteered to take the first watch. When the snoring began, he tiptoed to the bed post next to the night stand. Along the way, he looked up at the bed’s underside.

He carefully began to climb up the bed post, until he got to the bedrail. He walked a little ways until he could climb the mattress. Up he climbed until he was on top of the bed cover. Then doing his best astronaut impression, he bounced his way to the foot of the bed, looking like a man out for a stroll on Luna’s dusty surface. Finally he had the view he craved. One thing he had noticed earlier was that the spacecraft that had the same markings as their aircraft was smaller scaled. He could have been Gulliver to their Lilliputians if the spacecraft had people in it. Walking across the bed he would look like an action figure come to life!

Since they had all witness Magic being used, he was curious. With no people around, would the toys Magically come to life? If so, would it be a scary deal, or a fun deal? He had to see for himself.

If the toys did come to life, and there was some cute female action figures around, he wanted to find one, and see how far he could get with her! What he didn’t want to discover, were Gremlins! Or talking animals! Or bugs! Just toys! Please!

Well, from his position on the bed now, he could see up to the display shelves where the toys would be kept, if any. He thought he could see some movements up there. Now how could he get there, and back? Safely? In time for the next watch too? He hoped that there would be a “Barbie™” up there, despite the evidence of the giant boy, indicating there may not be. Maybe a female member of “G.I. Joe”? Or a “Prince Leia” action figure? Boy, oh boy! He couldn’t wait to see what he could see!

The End of Chapter 12!

Book 1: My Charmed Ones! Ch11


“Book 1: My Charmed Ones! – Chapter 11”

By:  (Mister) Jimmie Ray Giboney.

Chapter 11: “Mortal Kombat®: The Hellmouth Incident”

Bubba had just popped a bubblegum bubble yet again, as he pointed out some new details on the blueprints to his foreman. That popping sound was replaced by the sound of an energy flash, as a large group of men suddenly appeared in the center of the construction activity. Bubba knew it was a Magical Teleportation. But what he didn’t know was that the agents had been there directly as punishment for what had happened to a boy Bubba wasn’t aware of. From his point of view, it was a surprise raid by the Feds! So he yelled out, “It’s a raid! Get them boys!”

“Confused, surrounded, and surprised! Hell of a way to begin an encounter!” Agent Burbanks shouted, unaware that he was paraphrasing the Pilot-Captain of the “B-17 Skyfortress” in the movie, “Tora! Tora! Tora!” as everyone drew their guns out, and scanned the area. (By the way, “Tora” is Japanese for ‘Tiger”.) They saw some Human criminal types they recognized, and some Demonic types that freaked them out! But the criminals and monsters were dressed as construction workers! What was that all about?!

Bubba thought he was in a “James Bond” scenario. What he didn’t realize, was that he was being monitored. The agents had arrived, because the Spell that sent them there, had mistaken this Hellmouth for Hell itself. The Spell had given someone else a chance to use this moment of weakness, as a means of piggybacking their own Magic. The Hellmouth was about to be used as a point of invasion after all, just not the way Bubba had planned it! He was about to be involved in “Mortal Kombat”!

From various portals, mystical martial arts warriors dropped out of the relative sky in the relatively tight quarters of the artificial Hellmouth under construction. The construction workers had been gathering tools and other makeshift weapons in which to charge after the Human federal agents, when they were surprised by the new invaders. The Humans were surprised again, because they didn’t expect on group of bad guys to be joined by another! But then the new invaders who had popped in shortly after they did, didn’t try to attack anyone per se. Instead, they disarmed the construction workers who wee cowering and bending down on their knees in compliance with the warriors’ demands.


Now the agents realized that they were in a scarier scenario then they had first thought! For when the bad guys get scared and wimp out without a fight, because of another group of bad guys, that’s serious! Maybe they should surrender too?

Then they all heard some music begin to play, from seemingly everywhere. It had a fast techno beat, which was quite danceable. Some solo lyricist shouted, “Mortal Kombat!” twice in a row. The he said, “Test your might! Fight!” Followed by a roll call of names. “CIA Agent Burbanks!” and then he found himself being separated from his men without any resistance on his part or the men’s, and brought to a fight circle, by the Mystic Warriors, the others powerless to interfere either. “KKK Grand Wizard Bubba!” heard his name next and was then also brought forward to the same fight circle. Morse’s suit was replaced by his raid gear. Bubba’s construction coveralls and tool belt were replaced by his KKK outfit and adornments. Morse had his guns, and flash grenades. Bubba had his Magical Wizard Staff, and a shiny, ceremonial dagger. This combined his past and present together!

The American Federal Agents were placed on the side of the fight circle where Morse had been placed, as his cheering section. The construction workers had been placed on Bubba’s side, to cheer him on. The beat intensified, and they next heard, “Test your might! Fight! Mortal Kombat!”

The mystical techno music was also heard elsewhere. For at the Baskerville’s home, the warriors had rained down and surrounded them too. At the school, everyone blinked and suddenly, there were Mystical Warriors where the agents had been! At both locations, everyone was grabbed and brought back to the Homeworld of the Dark Emperor to await their turn at Mortal Kombat! The Baskerville mansion was empty. The school was empty. Empty of people, that is. The furniture and other effects remained behind.

Meanwhile, somewhere near the Hellmouth, there’s the Nexus Point, which was quite full of people at the moment. It was puzzling that those people seemed quite content to remain there. Why weren’t they moving? That was a peculiar place to have a social! The Dark Emperor was stymied. He wanted to have control of the Nexus Point as well as the new Hellmouth! But there was no room to send anybody else in to stir them up. Or was there?
Mystic Warriors arriving inside concrete walls were useless to him. What else could he do? The Mystic Warriors were neutral. They served to bring those chosen combatants together, for both sides. They wouldn’t appreciate being wasted in useless deaths! They had to have room to arrive! Perhaps with a bit of good luck, something else would happen for him?

From his vantage point aboard the Space Station Cloud Nine, Prince Wesley Wyndham-Pryce the First, as the Minister of Magical Education for the Mythos Empire, had his crew working well to discover what the Hell was going on down on the planet surface, or under it. Before he reported to his father-in-law he wanted to have something meaningful and worthy. Looking over his shoulders, was two of his wives. Over his left was Princess Lilah. Over his right was Princess Winifred. They were absentmindedly massaging his neck and shoulders as they studied the same monitors that he was studying. He sighed because it felt great!

The End of Chapter 11!

Book 1: My Charmed Ones! Ch10


“Book 1: My Charmed Ones! – Chapter 10”

By:  (Mister) Jimmie Ray Giboney.

Chapter 10: “Back to the Sewer Tunnel Nexus Point!”

Back in the tunnel, there were three distinct groups of people. The Halliwell Family consisting of Piper Halliwell Wyatt, and her breastfeeding son, Wyatt Matthews Halliwell, and some would say, her fetus embryo, Christopher Halliwell. The formerly youngest sister, now middle sister, Phoebe Halliwell, who had dropped her married name of “Turner” after the divorce to Cole Turner had been settled, and the new youngest, a half-sister, Paige Matthews. These Charmed Ones, with the “Power of Three”, plus one powerful baby, but with an embryo that doesn’t count for much as of yet. (3 + 1 = 4.)

The team from “Angel Investigations” and/or “Wolfram & Hart”, consisting of, Angel, Spike, Wesley, and Harmony. With the depressed Old One Illyria, a “She-Demon”, or “Demoness”, tagging along, out of an attachment of sorts to Wesley. (4 + 1 = 5.)

4 + 5 = 9!

Then there was a fragment of the Harem-Bevy of the Free Spirit & Dragon Family, all Princesses. Five of them were four siblings with one half-sibling. Princess Prue, Princess Piper, Princesses Phoebe & Paige, and Princess Pepper Ann. That was the “Power of Five”! The Charmed Ones. (4 + 1 = 5.)

9 + 5 = 14!

Of the other Princesses, only two more were sisters. Princess Buffy Anne and Princess Dawn. (1 + 1 = 2.)

14 + 2 = 16!

The rest of the Princesses had begun as just friends. Princess Willow, Princess Cordelia, Princess Harmony, Princess Tara, Princess Amy, and Princess Faith. (1 × 6 = 6.)

16 + 2 = 22! That’s “Twenty Two”! They’re over the limit! The house wins! Wins what? You’ll just have to read onwards to find out!

The End of Chapter 10!

Book 1: My Charmed Ones!: Ch9


“Book 1: My Charmed Ones! – Chapter 9”

By: (Mister) Jimmie Ray Giboney.

Chapter 9: “Back to the School of Magic!”

The variety of special agents had the boy surrounded. They had recovered the missing spacecraft. Now what? Supposedly only the boy could undo what he had done. That made them very nervous! They wanted him to be an adult so that they could be rough with him, to relieve some tension. But because he was a boy, and he was in a sort of place that they had no idea existed before today. Because Magic actually existed! Magic was involved! They were out of their league and their realm! So, now what?

After some secret debate in whispers among them, they picked someone to do their speaking for them. Sure they could have let the most senior agent among them do it, like they usually would, but this was fairer, considering the circumstances. Plus it was more fun for them to watch! Morse Cody Burbanks, a field operative. A spy. An agent. A reasonably good enough investigator. He was no James Bond. He was no Sherlock Holmes. Then again not many people could live up to such standards. He was acceptable. At least he wasn’t an Inspector Jacque Clouseau type! He put the short stick in his pocket as he approached the school’s leader.

“Head Master Westwood? I’m Agent Burbanks, of the ‘Central Intelligence Agency’” and he was relieved that no one audibly snickered when he said the title, “Head Master”! He flashed his credentials and then put them back in their pocket. “I’ve been chosen to speak for all of us here. We need to know, can his mistake be safely undone?” The old Wizard, Head Master Clint Westwood replied, “Yes, I do believe so.” This he said without taking his gaze away from poor young Hound. Hound was gulping air.

“Agent Burbanks. I’m sure that you can appreciate security. The security of this facility has been compromised along with that of the nation you represent. If you will pardon me, I need to consult on this matter with my boss, before I can make a decision. Pupil Baskerville, you’ll remain here with these agents while I go to my office.” And with that Westwood left the student quarters. It wasn’t like the agents had any choice but to let him leave. None of them fancied being turned into toads!
A brisk walk later and Westwood was in his office. Some of the faculty and staff had followed him, while some had remained behind to watch the agents. The other students had been ordered to their respective quarters and to remain there until further notice. With the exception of those who shared quarters with William “Hound” Baskerville. His roommates had been allowed to remain in the library with the Librarian-In-Charge.

There were several secret “Schools of Magic” across the globe, hidden by Magical Shields. The shield kept innocent passers-by from accidentally bumping and crashing into them, by using Deflection and Teleportation and Memory Control, and Illusion. But a group of dedicated government field agents trained to ignore diversionary tactics, could find them. It helped a lot if they had a signal to home in on too, such as the one in the rocketship. Global satellite systems made it much more difficult these days to hide in plain sight.

Westwood connected to his boss, and after a quick briefing, he was put on hold, as the chain of command was followed to the top of the pyramid. He was on hold for about fifteen (15) minutes or so, when his boss was back to him. It was just as he thought. The agents could not be allowed to retain their knowledge of the school. But the rocketship should be returned to the proper authorities, no harm done. The procedures would be left up to him. This is where they disagreed with him, as he wanted specific instructions. Now he knew that if he made a mistake, he would get the blame for it all. Bureaucracy!

At the other end of the line, Prince Wesley Wyndham-Pryce the First, hesitated with hanging his telephone receiver up, or rather, putting it back down on the receiver cradle. He was very busy and he hated distractions when he was busy. He was the Minister of Magical Education for the Mythos Empire, and it was an appointed position. He was dealing now with reports that there was a new Hellmouth somewhere below on Planet Earth. Possibly near the ruins of San Francisco, California.

Meanwhile, while Westwood was away, Agent Burbanks had become edgy. He felt like he should be doing something more, than just waiting around. He had some handcuffs. He was curious too. There was a boy who could do “magic tricks”! His “wand” had been taken away from him. The ship was in safe hands now. What harm could there be? So he decided that he could calm the nervous, sweaty boy down some, by talking to him. He introduced himself, and even shook hands with the lad. After some questions about “Magic” in general, he asked the boy if he could do a “small time magic trick” for him. The boy had perked up by now, and stopped sweating. He was even smiling!
The onlookers were watching with bemusement, on both sides. Burbanks took out his wallet, and removed a $50.00 “Federal Reserve Note” from it, and placed his wallet back. Then he pulled out his handcuffs from their case. Agent Morse Cody Burbanks showed the cash to Pupil William “Hound” Baskerville and the handcuffs to him. Then he said, “Hey, William. Can you do any tricks with handcuffs?” and the boy nodded his head that he could. “How about escape tricks?” Agent Burbanks said, and the boy nodded his head again, that he could. Agent Burbanks said, “I’ll make a deal with you! Let me lock these on you, and if you can get out of them in five minutes or less, I’ll give you the cash as a prize!” Not only would he be learning something about the abilities of the boy, and get some amusement in as well, he could also get the boy in some sort of custody, provided he didn’t loose his bet!

Now what no one in the room knew, was that William’s parents had placed a form of Protection Spell on him. The moment William was placed into some sort of bondage; it counted as an act of child abduction and “stranger danger”. The Spell went into affect the moment Agent Burbanks clasped the handcuffs on the wrists of William! Agent Burbanks and every other agent in the school suddenly vanished in the blink of an eye! The rocketship and the cash remained behind. As for the cuffs, they were zapped off, and fell to the floor smoking hot until they were a pile of ash! Now that was hot!

William and his cash, then vanished, and he reappeared at his family home of course, where his alarmed family, were waiting for him. They’d have nothing to do with this school once his belongings were returned! They hugged him closely and asked him if he were okay. He showed them the money that he had in his hand now, as he told them of his ordeal.

When Westwood returned to the boy’s room, he found no sign of the agents, or of the boy. Just the rocketship and his startled faculty and staff. Now what was he to do?

The End of Chapter 9!

Book 1: My Charmed Ones!: Ch8


“Book 1: My Charmed Ones! – Chapter 8”

By: (Mister) Jimmie Ray Giboney.

Chapter 8: “Back to the Hellmouth!”

Back in the Hellmouth construction zone, Bubba was looking at the master blueprints. He was happy with his results thus far. No super-agents had tracked him down to stop him. No other super-villains had tried to take over. No tomb raiders had stumbled onto him. As far as he could tell, no super-heroic types knew about him yet. So his optimism was high that he would be completed with his new Hellmouth on schedule. With the new facility, future attempts to take over Planet Earth from the Humans would be staged. Bubba would charge each new would be conqueror a huge fee for the use of his facility. Bubba was smart enough to know, that as a government fell so too did its currency. So of course the fees would not be paid with paper cash. Nor electronic credits. But good old fashioned metals and gem stones! Semi-precious gems were acceptable too!

His new facility was tapped into a natural underground lake for its source of water. There was also a huge underground lake of oil, the Humans couldn’t reach, but he could. So he had his fossil fuel resource too. He was set up for solar power and wind power. He even had a rod set up to collect expended Magical Energies, for recycling. The radiations from the ruins were also going to be an energy source for him. He was fairly certain that he had taken every emergency contingency precaution into his plans. He was sure to make a huge profit return on his investment, so no expense was spared. But that didn’t prevent mistakes from occurring. There had been zero accidents on the job thus far. The odds said that he was long overdue for an accident too. Magical safeguards or not. Scientific safeguards or not. Sooner or later, bad events happen to even good people let alone bad people. Bubba was going to learn that he was no exception!

The End of Chapter 8!

Book 1: My Charmed Ones!: Ch7


“Book 1: My Charmed Ones! – Chapter 7”

By:  (Mister) Jimmie Ray Giboney.

“Chapter 7: ‘Warning! Hellmouth Under Construction! Demons Working Ahead! Please Drive Carefully!’ & ‘Slow! Caution! Children At Play!’”

A Hellmouth was fully under construction, and the Nexus Point was just a byproduct of the construction. Demonic construction workers had to get to and from work somehow. They didn’t sleep at the worksite. Their worker’s labor union had strict policy rules about such behavior and actions, just like Humans had in their own such unions. So the workers crossed over from one dimension to another routinely as shifts ended, and as materials were delivered and debris hauled away. They weren’t waiting for a naturally occurring Hellmouth to form. They were building an artificial one with the latest in construction techniques, combining the latest in Science and Sorcery to make the best one that could be built. Under orders from a Mystical Entity, who you could say belonged to the “Evil Party”, both politically and theologically. He had come to power once a lot of the competition had been wiped out in the so-called “War of the Gods”. He had humble enough origins though.

He was a Human born in a Southern State, who lived in Segregation. He was raised by parents who were members of their local chapter of “The Golden Knights of the Klu Klux Klan”, or “KKK” for short. As a teenager he had traveled to learn about what a man named “Adolf Hitler” was doing. He became a member of the so-called “Hitler Youth”, a program that had replaced the German Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts programs that had been founded in the U.S.A. and imported from there to Germany many years ago. He had been so impressed that he decided to stay in Germany, forfeiting his American Citizenship, and becoming a naturalized German Citizen after a lot of paperwork. Then when World War II began, he was old enough to join the “SS”. He had an aptitude for geology and geography, et al, and was given the mission to collect certain alleged artifacts. He fulfilled his duties quite well, and while he was at it, he was teaching himself to become a Sorcerer with the items he found, that weren’t requested by higher ups.



He has improved steadily over the decades. Now Bubba Jones-Smith was a very powerful Sorcerer compared to some he had known since his youth. He had invested wisely and he had a fortune too. A fortune he was using to pay for his own personal, luxury, artificial Hellmouth. Of course he had switched from being a “White Christian Supremist” to just being “Evil” in general. Or else he wouldn’t have as many Evil followers as he had working for him, and with him. He didn’t like “Bubba” jokes, since he wasn’t a homosexual or even an omnisexual. But he did appreciate “Hubba-Bubba ™ Bubblegum”, to which he had an oral addiction for or to. He was visiting the construction site today, and he had his usual mouth full of the gum, punctuating his sentences with bubble bursts.

He didn’t want any smoking materials, or food wrappers, or other junk and trash left behind, to ruin his construction materials. Nothing was allowed to be disposed of by mixing it in with the concrete or other materials. To save money, he demanded recycling too. Sure he was evil, but that didn’t mean he was all bad! He could be smart enough! But if good people could err, so could bad people. When they did though, the punishments definitely fell into what good people thought of as “cruel and unusual”. Whenever Bubba had to punish someone, he could become his own worst enemy!

Just when you are about to conclude that Bubba was about to cause some major trouble for himself while punishing one of his underlings, you remember that no one has done anything wrong just yet. Now you’re expecting a narrative about some underling making a mistake. Instead we are going to do something completely different. Don’t worry; there won’t be an ugly, hairy, naked, man playing a piano involved! Meanwhile, there’s another subplot or story thread to deal with instead.

The missing space shuttlecraft had been found! After blasting off from California on its way to dock with the Space Station San Francisco in orbit above, there had been a hijacking. The crew diverted from their planned course, disappearing from all tracking station monitors thanks to the use of Magic. (I wonder! Is the superheroine Magic getting tired of “hearing” her name yet?! Hmm.) It wasn’t the crew’s fault though. A pupil attending classes at a private boarding school where the “Mystic Arts” were taught was practicing with his newly acquired Magic Wand.

He had a computer in his shared room, and he was on-line watching the Webcast coverage of the space flight of “American Eagle Airlines Flight 22”. He thought having a static-display model of it would be a nice decoration for his dormitory room. Since he didn’t have the money to spend on such luxuries, he thought that he could make one with the use of some applied Magic.
He thought this would be good practice for Wand Waving. So the little, young lad by the name of, William Baskerville, no middle initial or name, but given the nickname of “Hound”, in reference to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s works, began to wave his special tool about. Hound also began to speak proper Latin, something he had no problems with. He found the subject to be very easy to learn!

Hound then had a static-display model of the spacecraft! Ta-dah! He was so happy! He jumped for joy, not noticing the urgent voices of the newscasters covering the event. He grabbed his new toy, and began to play with it. Then he remembered the computer. He disconnected from the World Wide Web, and shut off the computer. Why watch, when he could play? With his Magic Wand in one hand, and his toy rocketship in the other, Hound ran around in circles, making rocket noises with his mouth, and pretending to be the voices of flight control and mission control, and the pilots, and crew. Then he winded somewhat, and he placed his new toy on a shelf above his desk.

If he could do that with his Magic Wand, what else could he do? This became his impetus to study. Could he turn his novelty item, gimmick “X-Ray Specs™” into actual working ones? Could he protect himself from bullies? He had a lot of ideas!

Hound, he began flicking though the pages of his textbooks. Looking for spells he liked, rather than the ones that had been assigned for him to be studying now. But then he remembered if wishful thinking worked once before for him, could it work again for him? Or was it just pure Dumb Luck that he hadn’t killed himself or something else bad like that?

Then he looked at his new toy rocket again. Wouldn’t it be cool if he could ride on the real thing? Then he remembered the news coverage! He quickly turned his computer back on, got back on-line, and tuned in to the Webcast. When he learned of the bad news, he was heartbroken. Then they repeated the sequence of events, with a second-by-second, minute-to-minute, frame-by-frame, examination and an explanation of what was being shown. Then something silly occurred to him! Could he have been the one to make the shuttlecraft vanish? He grabbed a magnification lens from his desk drawer.

He gently balanced himself on his desk, and then with the lens he began to examine the model or toy. He smelled something too. The rocket exhaust nozzle cones smelled like there had been real flames and fumes coming from it! Peering through the tiny portholes, he saw tiny people inside it! Were they still alive?

He wondered that as he recalled his wild playing session, thinking if that they could have went from beyond just being dizzy and into becoming, smashing bodies, even if they were still strapped to their seats. The extra g-forces he must have inflicted on them all!

Some small part of him knew that he should get an adult to help him. But the rest of him was too scared to get himself into trouble! So like a bad boy, he opted to try and undo his own Spell that had turned from purely innocent, into terrible mischief. He took the spacecraft from the desk shelf, and placed it in the center of the largest empty floor space in his room. Where it had all began. He began to try to place himself into that state of mind. The one that knew Latin, Spellcasting, and Wishful Thinking.

He was startled out of his concentration when all of the entrance doors and exit doors to the room burst inwards, followed by lots of adults storming into the room from each one. There was a mixture of Special Agents from the well known, lesser known and unknown government agencies. They had traced the signal at last, to this location. This was bad news for the school whose location had been kept well secret until now.

Before Hound could drop his Magic Wand out of sheer fright, he was tackled to the floor! The tool was snatched out of his relatively tiny grasp, and he was readily grabbed by his shoulders and stood upright, and then he got a brisk frisking of all of his pockets, the contents of which where then pulled out and spread on his bed. This happened very fast from his point of view. He had never been through such an incident before. He had never been tackled before, having never played a game of football. Nor had he ever wrestled. He had never played “Twister™” either. He had never been with a girl and made out with her. So he had a full range of mixed emotions when it came to being manhandled in such a rough manner!

Head Master Westwood, looked down at Hound as he said, “Well, ‘Punk’! Do you believe in Magic? Do you, ‘Punk’?!” with no sympathy in his voice. Hound had been a Non-Believer. But his parents had insisted he get a Magical Education anyway. Hound had been trying to rationalize everything he had seen, while he was in public. But apparently in private, he had been behaving differently. As was shown by the evidence.
Hound replied, “Yes, Sir! I do now, Sir! Most wholeheartedly!”

The End of Chapter 7!