Version 2 of the second story. I got reviewed! Thank you!

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A Spell of Darkness

Crystal Cleffary looked in the mirror at herself and sighed. She looked around the school bathroom

mournfully. It was hard enough in any normal life losing your sister, but with a life like hers, things

were even worse. Now there was no one else to protect her family, they would have to rely on her.

She didn't look like a person with powers enough to save the world. She was 12 years old, five

foot, with the palest blonde hair ever and purple crystal-like eyes. She looked quite strange but

many people didn't look average, and all of them definitely weren't, where she was.

She was a student at the Magical Academy, she had been all of her life but she had never known

her sister Heather. Heather had been adopted out to a mortal family as soon as she was born to

protect her from "The Dusk".

The Dusk is the greatest force of evil in the world. It is a black, shape shifting mist that can

become anything it wants, even people. It is presided over by the most evil creature in the world,

the Grey .The Grey is a black shape with glowing red eyes, without gender or feeling. It is the

most powerful creature in the world.

'Much more powerful than me' thought Crystal.

Her sister Heather had died five years ago, when she was just seven and Heather was thirteen. She

had tried to oppose the Dusk but her best friend Alisha, who was actually a member of the Dusk,

had betrayed her, killed her, stole her magical necklace, and turned it black to the core. Now it

could do no good.

The Dusk had been steadily taking over everything in the last five years; most of the Mortal

World but wherever they went in the magical world, also known as the Second Realm, people

opposed them. However, Crystal knew it was only a matter of time before there was no one left to

save them.

A strange shadowy reflection of some sort of cat appeared in the mirror, but it didn't make Crystal

jump. As witches and wizards in the Second Realm did not have real shadows, they had a shadowy

animal instead. Crystal's was a sort of cat called Ai. Ai was a black, shadowy creature with the

shape of a cat, but he had three points on the top of his large ears and tail, which was more like a

lions. He had glowing gold bands around his legs, with mystic inscriptions on.

Each witch or wizards shadowy animal, called a Spirit, reflected their personal qualities.Ai was

a cat because Crystal was silent, even when she ran she barely made the sound of someone on

tiptoes. She was fast so sometimes she seemed to disappear, but obviously not as fast as the people

who had cheetahs as their Spirits.

In her class there was a variety of Spirits. There were dolphins, dogs, anything you could think

of. The students were encouraged to be in friendship groups with a broad variety of Spirits, for

any situation, and Crystal's friendship group fitted that description perfectly.

There was Crystal, with Ai, and then there was her best friend Jessica, who had a dog Spirit,

called Densera. It really suited her because she was so faithful, she never let Crystal down. There

was Alice, who had a dolphin called Aquata. Alice really loved swimming with Aquata, who had to

stay in the school lake. There was also Oona, who had a small grey owl called Widgeon. Oona was

the best at flying in the class. Last, but not least, there was Mouse. O.k, her actual name was Mary

but everyone called her that because she was so small and her Spirit was, you guessed it, a

mouse, called Squaerit. They sometimes hung out with other people in the class too.

Crystal smiled as she thought about how good her friends were, but no matter how great, nothing

could ever help her forget about her parents.

Flashback

"Now then Crystal, doesn't the Academy look lovely?" Seven-year-old Crystal pouted.

"But mummy, I want to stay with you."

"I'm sorry honey but you have to go to boarding school."

"Can't I just go to day school?"

"No, it's not safe. One day you'll understand why daddy and I are doing this. It's for your own

good, like it was for Heather."

"Oh yeah, and THAT worked out well, didn't it?"

"Now it's all up to you then. Have you got your two Eiejatoo?"

"Yes mummy. But..."

"Goodbye Heather."

End Flashback

And her mum was right to do that. Because just the day after, black flames, from the Dusk no

doubt, engulfed the house and they both perished. That very day the Headmaster, Professor Tristrar,

finally told her about the Dusk, and how they were after her so they could get her aquamarine gem

set, which she had inadvertently given to Alice as a birthday present, and use it for evil.

Crystal cried when she remembered how she lost the best link to them and her sister, the black egg.

It was probably Heather's Spirit, and it hatched into a black lizard, but one day, when she was

ten, it escaped.

Flashback

"Oh Crys, isn't Chandra sweet." Jessica exclaimed, as they played with it in the library. Chandra

suddenly looked up and began to scurry away.

"Hey Chan, where're you going?" Chandra climbed up the bookcases, into the doorway and was

never seen again, though they spent hours searching.

End Flashback

"Hey Crys, hurry up." Jessica yelled, banging on the door. "We'll be late for our flying lesson."

"O.k. I'm just coming." Crystal called back.

Crystal usually loved flying but today her mind just wasn't on it. Her eyes kept being drawn to a

strange tower, the old abandoned tower in the old courtyard.

"Bet you wouldn't go up there." Oona whispered as she swooped past. Crystal flew alongside her.

"Bet you wouldn't."

"O.k, you're on. I'll do it tonight, and you can do it tomorrow."

"If you don't chicken out." Crystal replied cheekily.

Later that evening, at about 9:00pm, Crystal began to have doubts about the dare. There was a

nagging feeling in her mind that just wouldn't go away. She didn't think it was safe. She drew back

the curtains of Oona's bed but she had already gone. She raced to tell the head of her house,

Professor Lieinnon, but on the way she heard an earth shattering scream and her worst fears were

confirmed when Oona and Widgeon were brought in from the tower, paralysed.

Week after week more attacks happened until there were only a handful of students left in the

school. Professor Tristrar was seriously thinking about closing down the school. Every day Crystal,

the only one left out of her friends, went to the infirmary. There were hundreds of people,

professors and pupils, and it was getting quite cramped.

She finally decided to go up into the abandoned tower. At night, Ai and her crept out of school and

into the old courtyard.

"No second thoughts?" Ai asked.

"No second thoughts."

They entered the tower and minutes later her screams resounded through the school.

"What's the matter Crystal, what happened?" Madam Jujube asked her everyday. Crystal could

only stammer but Ai could speak a little.

"The...the...the..."

"The what?"

"It...it...it..."

"What?"

"The Scratch! No, no, no! Aaaaaah!" Madam Jujube supposed he was referring to the black scratch

on all of the human victims arms, but she could find no potion to heal the wound.

Every day, someone woke up, only to be replaced by three more victims. Then, Crystal woke up.

"How long have I been unconscious?"

"About two weeks." Madam Jujube replied. As soon as they were alone, Crystal asked Ai,

"What happened?"

"I don't know. We just entered the tower and then...woke up here."

"That's IT!" Crystal shouted. "This has been going on long enough, someone has to stop it. And

that someone is me!" So Crystal decided, to fight the horror in the tower.