Updated 6/20/03

AN: First things first, I have nothing against people named Jacqueline. Secondly, I think I should tell you that this story is about a year old. I wrote it last year for school but I dug it up again about a month ago. Since then it has undergone some major revisions. It's three chapters long; the last chapter will most likely go up on June 22nd, the day before I leave for camp. After that, of course, there won't be any more new things for about a month. I've worked really hard sharpening my procrastinating skills to get this up before then for all six of my faithful readers. If even that. Enjoy. ____________________________________________________________________________ __

November 4, 2000 Dear Diary, Her name was Jacqueline. What a weird name. She was pretty weird, too, and every day she seemed a little scarier. Now I know why.

* * *

My name is Jacqueline. I have to say, I'm not exactly popular. In other words, everyone hates me, but that's okay. I hate them too. Enemy Number One: Todd Storm. I want more than anything to get rid of him. Anyway, I live in the big red brick haunted house on Paradise Avenue. It has three stories plus the two pear-shaped turrets, and about ten big oak trees in front, acting as a wall that separates it from the street. I live in one of the dim rooms on the third floor. My pet, Spot, lives in another. I mentioned this to Todd at school, trying to get some information, any information at all, to slip from his lips. I could just use magic, but I have to save it up. What I'm going to do is really brilliant, if I do say so myself, and you'd think so, too, if I told you what it was.

"I didn't know you had a dog. I have one too." Todd replied, edging away when I told him I owned Spot.

Spot isn't a dog; she's a viper, but I didn't tell Todd that. Todd is the youngest person in our grade, the only one who hasn't turned twelve yet. He will, on the 23rd. I had to be finished by then. I only have a few weeks left, and before I could start, I had to find out more about him. Namely, where he lives. I'd been trying for days to get him to tell me that, but he hadn't given me one piece of information yet. So I decided to try what I like to call 'the duh tactic.'

"So, where do you live?" I asked, praying that he would answer truthfully. "Maybe I could come over sometime, see your menagerie."

"What's a menagerie?"

"Never mind."

"Well, I don't think you can come. My pets are pretty happy with me, thanks."

Normally I don't back down, but tonight I had some work to do. I had an idea. I found my feet leading me home, discouraged as I was. I should have started the next step of my plan days ago, and I still hadn't even found out where he lived. The thing to do, I had just decided, was to use magic after all. I doubted if any more prodding would work.

I went upstairs to my room. It's very plain: just a bed, a chair, my clothes, and the closet where I keep my magic stuff. I got my crystal and my book, Black Magic and Spells of Isis, out of the closet and sat down. My crystal had been buried under one of the Egyptian pyramids. It was given to me when I was born, and it's the prism for my magic, so it can reach where it has to. I found the "Revelation of Secrets" spell in the book, held the crystal out at arm's length, and read the words aloud.

Spirits, find out all you can
About this troublesome young man
I need to know about his life,
So tell me now, upon thy knife.

A spell about spirits always features the part about the knife, because weaponry is like some kind of honor code for them.

I pictured Todd in my mind and waited for the spell to work. Instantly, I saw some writing. Looking harder, I saw that it must be a page from his diary. Two pages, actually. I moved the words from the air in front of my face to an open notebook. Now they'd stay there, and I would be able to read them clearly:

December 31st, 1999

Dear Diary,

My name is Todd Bailey Storm, and I am 5' 3'' and I have green eyes, brown hair, and I live at 8466 E. Normandy Rd, Little Springs, WA. We are going to get a new dog soon. I hope we name him either B.B. or Charlie. I love soccer, and I play on my school team.

After that, it got kind of boring. Todd went on to list his favorite foods, his crush on Marie Turner, and his dreams of becoming a NASCAR driver. But this was perfect. The first page of his diary had told me basically everything I needed to know about him. I read on:

May 21, 2000

Dear Diary,

Today we won our 6th soccer game in a row. I was sitting out though, because I hurt my knee yesterday, remember? But I also found out something amazing today. Jacqueline, I'm not sure of her last name, is even weirder than I thought. I mean, I've always know she was weird, but I think she is trying to hurt me, like with her crazy witchy magic or something. I really think she was praying to some kind of demon. I heard her muttering something like, "Isis" - I couldn't make out the rest - and then she yanked the chair out from under Juan Lesco - from the other side of the room!! I know I was probably imagining it, but it seemed too real. I mean, she moved her hand and the chair just slid away. Then she looked at me, and her eyes turned all red. Not like bloodshot, but like they were on fire. Maybe she's like an evil spirit from the afterlife or something. Maybe she's out to get me. Maybe. Okay, I guess that's stupid. But you have to admit, looking at her does give you the chills. All day, I've been scared. Not the kind of scared you are from going tubing, where you want to just scream, but the kind where you can't move and you can't blink and you can't breathe. Well, I could blink, I mean, but I was still afraid. Everyone has always been afraid of Jacqueline, and hated her, too, including me, but now I finally think I understand why.

I still remembered that day. Juan had stuck his foot out to trip me, so I had gotten mad. I thought no one had seen me. Todd had, apparently. I kept my temper though, and hadn't done anything to Juan - nothing but some innocent chair-pulling. Good thing, because the classroom was filled with kids. So Todd had seen me use my powers. Before I hadn't been sure, but now I knew. This had to work, just had to, or who knows what Todd could figure out? I thanked Isis for helping me and thought about how to accomplish step two.

* * *

Step Two was Alice. Alice, one of my classmates, is a good witch. Her hair is made of sunlight, her eyes are made of sapphires, and the rest of could very well be water. Everyone sees her as an angel. Beautiful, athletic, amazing grades, and she wouldn't hurt a flea. When I look at her she shines so brightly I'm blinded for a minute. She always makes everyone smile. Everyone except me. She's messed me up enough already. Whenever I try something, she always uses her magic to unto it. It's partially her fault I haven't been able to get more information about Todd. I always have to use my magic to get her out of the way, and like I said, I have to save that up. I have to get rid of her, or at least her magic, for good. But it's basically impossible. If I was lucky, all the magic of my father and me put together might counter hers for good. My father would help me if he could, but he's in prison. And even if I could get his help, it would use up all of our magic and I wouldn't be able to do what I had meant to do all along. I felt like I was moving in circles. There had to be a way. There had to be. But what was it?

Moving right along to step three: I would need a lot of equipment for this to work, including a rare leaf from a mylic tree, a potion, and lots of time to work on the spell. But most importantly, I would need the trust of B.B., Todd's dog. All these things were vital if I was going to rule the world.

TBC.

Questions? Comments? Feel like brightening my day? Leave a review, pretty please.