The next day came and I put the charm around my neck. I kept a close eye on it. I went over to Mike’s house before school. We were going to walk to school together like we did every morning but he wasn’t feeling well. I left. I expected to see Jackie in the school lot like we did everyday but she wasn’t there. Neither was her car.

Since they weren’t here, I went to the library. I went to sit with Chris. “Something wrong again?”

“No. Mike and Jackie aren’t here so I came to bother you.”

“Thanks but I really need to study. AP Bio test next period.”

“Man, you are always studying. Don’t you study at home? That’s why they let you go there.”

“Yes I study at home. I just want to make sure I know everything.”

It was five minutes before the bell so I went with Chris to get his books. I didn’t have any more classes that day since it was my senior year. I wasn’t allowed to leave till later. When we got outside of the library, I stood in front of the school chapel. I fell to the floor. I felt winded. I didn’t know why. Chris grabbed me and pulled me to a wall so I could sit against it. No one was around. Classes wouldn’t be over for another minute or two.

“Alex. Alex what’s wrong?”

I looked forward and saw a burning flame that stood about six feet high. When the flames left, a black cloak stood there. The Source. Dad told me The Source wouldn’t do this. Maybe they were wrong. The Source probably had enough strength to surface.

“Not feeling well, witch. Don’t worry, you won’t feel anything soon.” He took from his cloak a blade. It wasn’t like any other blade. This one was curved. It glowed a black light. He did something that made the blade fly right towards me. Chris pulled me out of the way quick enough for the blade to miss.

I got up, still feeling a little dizzy. Then I heard something; like an echo inside my head. It was Luke’s voice. < Alex, say the spell. Call for your powers. > I knew I wasn’t supposed to reveal that I was a witch to anyone, but I had no choice. The Source was standing right in front of me.

“Powers of the witches rise
Course unseen across the skies
Come to us who call you near
Come to us and settle here”

I didn’t feel dizzy anymore. The charm started glowing but it stopped after a while.

“Alex, what are you doing?” I didn’t have time to bother with Chris now.

“Lets see if this will work now.” I gestured at the blade so that it would come to my hand. It didn’t work. I was afraid the spell didn’t work and I had no powers still. I heard Luke again. (The white-lighter side of you makes that power work different. Call the blade with your hand opened to it. It’ll come to you.)

“No powers, Charmed One? This will be easier than I thought. I knew I didn’t have to wait until I was at full strength to destroy you witches.” He opened his hand and a fireball appeared. He threw it at me. Instead of calling the blade, I called for the ball flying at me.

“Fireball.”

It orbed from the air into my hand. I threw it back to The Source. He put his hand in front of him and a blue light appeared in front of it. When the fireball hit the light, it bounced off it and headed towards me. It didn’t give me enough time to call for it. The ball hit me on my chest and it hurled me into the wall. The bell for change of classes rung and people started appearing in the hall. Most who saw The Source stayed there and others ran.

I got up. “Blade.” I didn’t wait till it got to my hand. I gestured it to fly at The Source but he caught it. Then I remembered. I had the power to freeze. I also remembered my father said my powers would be expanded. I couldn’t call Luke here so I thought if I could here him, maybe he could here me.

(Luke. What did he mean when my father said my powers would be expanded? )

(It means they would be stronger. Instead of just orbing things at yourself, you can orb to a location nearby you. You also have the healing ability but you are not supposed to use that. The power to freeze can also be used as the power to explode. I’ll explain how it works later but you use it the same way. )

(What about the premonitions? )

(I’ll look into it. Right now, try to get The Source to leave. )

(What do I do about all these people? )

(I’ll take care of that. Do what you have to do to get rid of The Source. )

He threw more fireballs at me, about five at a time. I froze them in the air then called them all at once and threw them back at The Source. I didn’t think he could deflect them all. He sent them all back and hit me with three of them. The others hit the floor. I was thrown back into the stairs and hurt my back on them. It was hard to move.

“Impressive, but not good enough.” He took out the blade again and through it at me. It passed me cutting my arm. I grabbed it, trying to stop the bleeding. I could feel it dripping down my arms. He pointed at me with his finger and said, “The First of Three has risen.” I remembered this from my dream. He held his hand upward and made a different type of ball appear. This one was also fire but it had rings revolving in it. “The Three shall never rise.” He threw it at me. I had this dream to many times. I was in a catholic school hallway. I knew what I had to do.

Before the energy balls hit me, I orbed out and appeared in front of where they landed. I was going to have to time this just right. I held out both hands in front of me. “Holy water.” About seven vials of holy water orbed into my hands. I threw them all at The Source and opened my hands at them. I used my power to explode them, making them shatter. Before the holy water hit the floor, I redid the gesture, this time making the water freeze in the air.

Whenever The Source tried to move, his cloak would catch fire. How was I supposed to get rid of him? Then I remembered, “Only the power of three could vanquish The Source.”

( Luke, how do I use the power of three? )

(You and your brothers have to be together. )

I thought about it for a second. If I could use a spell to call for power, couldn’t I use it to call for a witch?

(Is there a spell to call for a witch? )

( Yes there is but you need things that you don’t have here. )

(What are they Luke? )

(Alex, find another way. They won’t be able to answer the call anyway. They are not witches yet. )

I didn’t want another way. I might be able to end this now. ( Luke, you’re suppose to help me. What do I need? ) He didn’t answer for a few seconds.

(You need four things: a silver mortar, rosemary, cypress, and a yarrow root. You also need a drop of your blood. )

I don’t think I could get those things in a school. I thought for a second. If grams was also a witch, she would’ve needed things like this to use her magic. The attic. I’d have to call something from the manor. I wasn’t sure if could pull it off.

“Siler mortar.”

Nothing happened.

“Silver mortar.”

Nothing.

( I told you, find another way. )

The Source started to find a way in getting rid of the water. I thought about unfreezing the water so that it would burn him. But then I’d be risking him deflecting that and end up freezing myself. Maybe if I throw a cross through him. I saw a wooden chair in one of the classrooms. I gestured at the chair and it exploded into wooden stakes. I needed some rope, something to tie the stakes into a cross. I saw someone was wearing a silver chain.

“Wood. Chain.” The two objects orbed into my hands and I managed to form a cross with it. I looked at The Source and saw the drop of holy water lighting on fire for a second when he touched them with his cloak. If I could soak the cross in holy water, it would damage him a lot more.

“Holy water.” The water near The Source orbed onto the cross. I didn’t realize by doing that it would allow him to move more. He charged another one of those fireballs and threw it at me. It wasn’t as fast as before. The Source was losing power. I froze it so it was in front of him and threw the cross through it. It hit. Fire started to spread from where the cross hit.

“This isn’t over, Charmed One. I’ll return, more powerful than now and I’ll destroy the Rowe Coven.” He surrounded himself with the fire in which he appeared. He was gone. The cross was on the floor, unharmed. The kid who was the owner of the chain went to pick it up, looked at it, looked at me and threw at me with an expression that said ‘keep it’. I caught it and placed it in my pocket.

( You gonna keep that? )

( I guess. What do we do about all these people? )

( Freeze them. )

I stretched my arms so that they pointed to opposite ends. I repeated the gesture like before and froze everyone around. “Got it.” No one could hear me so I talked instead of thought.

Luke orbed in. “Good job. Give me your arm.”

“Why?”

“Just give it.” He pulled my bleeding arm. He held both his hands over the cut. A yellow light came from them. The cut was gone. I ran my hand over it to see if there was any blood and there was none.

“Thanks. Now what do we do about these people?”

“Erase their memory.”

“How?”

“Memory Dust. It erases all short-term memory. The down side is that I’d be erasing anything that happened in the last couple of days.”

“Is there another way?”

“Yeah there is.” He opened his hand and a piece of parchment orbed into it. “Your mother gave me this spell she remembered from the Book Of Shadows. After you read it, say what you want them to forget and they will.”

“So this is a spell that erases memories?”

“Yeah. Now hurry up so we can get home.”

“All right, here goes.