Chapter 9

Emily, Jane, Hannah, Helen and Karen met up in the lunch hall. They got their food and sat down at a table.

"Hi Karen, what's up, don't normally see you with my sister." Helen asked.

"Ha, well, I am getting to know Emily. We not so tall people have to stick together as a group, you know." Karen replied.

"Nope, not got a clue, after all I am five foot three." Helen said with a smug smile.

"Sis, five foot is not that tall. Still, out of all of us you are the tallest one here, then again there is Tom, but he's at his other club today so he doesn't count." Hannah rebuked her sister.

"A club, what club is he at?" Emily asked.

"Oh, he is at the school's Kendo club, but he's also got an outside of school kendo club he goes to every Sunday." Helen replied.

"Is he any good?" Emily asked.

"He's quite good, he was the runner up in the last competition he entered." Helen said with pride.

"Send to Jane; Tom is off the list, sword skills and colour magic don't mix, he could be a human wizard but not a priest of magic light. On the other hand, he will make a great guardian for us. A skilled weapon trained wizard is a great protector." Emily sent.

"Yep, it was a joy to watch him win match after match, I think it was the regional finals, was it not." Hannah asked her sister.

"Message from Jane; so with Tom off the list, we are left with three again, Karen, Hannah and Helen, you told me at break that your gut told you after seeing Hannah today that she was one of the three, does your gut tell you that Helen is as well?"

"Yes, it was the regional finals, only the winner got to go to the national finals. Even so, it was a close fight." Helen explained.

"Send to Jane; yep, that is what my gut is telling me about both of them, still, we will wait till we can bring Anna in on this, after all, we still don't know how to get them to the goddess. Back on Finnarth she just comes to you. But if you remember, she said she cannot manifest herself here on earth."

[Karen]

Karen looked over at Jane, it looked like she was chatting to Emily but not one word had been said, yet still she could swear Jane was in a deep conversation with Emily. She sat there thinking, something kept coming back to her and yet she did not know why. But she kept thinking about the two familiars, she had worked out in class time that the field mouse had to be Jane's familiar, making the dove Emily's familiar. Karen tried to remember all that she been told about familiars of the order of magic light from when she was only 7 years old. She remembered that the familiar and its master had a mind link, allowing them to communicate without words. Then it hit her, one of her classmates had asked 'if they can communicate in their head, can they communicate with other members of the order in their head?', and the teacher had replied 'Long ago there was a way for the members of the order to do just that, but it has been lost to time and cannot be done any more.' But yet here it looked like Emily and Jane was doing just that. Could this be being kept a secret from the masses, does the order still have this skill?

"You ok? Karen, you not said a word for 10 minutes and you stopped eating." Jane asked.

"Ha, umm ... yes, I am ok, I was just lost in thought, is all." Karen replied.

"Ok. Cool. Well, eat up before you run out of lunch time to eat." Jane said with a smile.

Karen looked at the folded piece of paper that had been handed to her just as they had split up to go off to their classes after lunch. Now sat in her classroom, she, using great skill not to be seen, looked at the paper. It was covered in magic. Opening it she found it simply said 'meet us in 2-C at end of school day' She had barely had enough time to read it, as the words faded away and the magic left the paper.

[Emily]

Emily, Jane and Anna sat waiting in 2-C, it was the end of the school day.

"So Emily, how did you find your first lesson of D.T. with Mr Airs?" Anna asked.

"Odd, very odd, Mr Airs is well, odd. But I am going to make use of the time, I am going to make a wood shelving rack for the M Room in my house." Emily replied.

"M Room?" Jane asked.

"The door is not locked." Emily replied, looking at the classroom door.

"Oh, the M room." Jane slapped herself on the forehead.

"Well, as long as you can make use of the time that is good." Anna said.

Just then the door opened and Karen entered the room.

"Are we all ready to go?" Anna asked.

"Yep."/"All ready here."/"As ready as I will ever be." Emily, Jane and Karen replied.

Emily walked over to Karen. "You're safe, we will have a good chat, and then you will know what happened back home."

"Jane, you got Flex there?" Anna asked Jane.

"What happened back home?" Karen asked Emily, looking unsettled.

"He is in his special place, Mom." Jane told Anna.

"Not here, Karen, but I will tell you when we get to my house." Emily told Karen.

"Right, let's get going." Anna said as she picked up her handbag.

The rest of them followed Anna out to her car.

As Anna drove them to Emily's house, all four of them chatted about how odd Mr Airs was. After a bit Emily could see that Karen, who was sitting next to her in the back of the car, felt uncomfortable. Emily did not know what she could do to calm her down.

Anna picked up on Karen's discomfort and said to her. "Are you ok, Karen, I know you are in the dark on what's going on right now, but trust me on this, you need to hear what Emily's got to tell you." then to Emily she said. "Emily, we have got to ward that classroom with wards you're going to be happy with."

"I know, just getting the magic to cast them and the time is not easy, can we get in to the school on Sunday, that will be the best time, we should have gotten over tomorrow by then." Emily replied.

"Sounds like a plan. I will see what I can work out. Oh, did you make up your mind on the magic club yet, Emily." Anna asked.

"Oh, that, yes, I will let you know soon."

"Ok, well, if you decide over the weekend, I will let you join in on Monday even if the paperwork is not done."

"Cool."

They pulled up at Emily's place, and Emily, Jane and Karen got out of the car.

"Ok, Jane, don't stay up late, be in bed by 10pm and do your homework." Anna told her daughter out of her car window.

"Yes, mom, I will do my homework."

"Good, have a good night and I will see you at school tomorrow. Bye Emily, Karen." Anna said and drove away.

As Emily showed Jane and Karen into the house, Emily sent, "Send to Jane; Ok, Here is the plan, I am going to give you questions to ask so this can go faster."

[Karen]

Karen went through the front door, looked around and got quite a shock. She stepped back and looked at the outside of the house again, nope. She could not see a hint of magic outside, but inside of the house the radiant magic energy was overwhelming her. Stepping back inside the house, she shut her eyes and tried to allow herself to adjust to the high level of magic around her. Just how long had Emily been on earth for? There was enough radiant energy here for months of time, yet she had only met her today. Slowly she opened her eyes and allowed her mind to adjust to the change in the radiant magic energy around her.

"Karen, are you ok?" Jane asked.

Karen spotted Emily placing her hand on Jane's left arm. "She is adjusting to the radiant magic energy levels in the house. It will take her a minute or two. Just let her be, she needs time by herself to do this." telling Jane this, Emily pulled Jane away from Karen.