3_rd gallery | Little Author Writes

A DARKE MURDER

It was the middle of the night when Jason was delivered to the Tower of Magyk. Earlier that day he had discovered his locksmith powers. Any lock, he could open it, without a key or combination. He had felt shocked and special. There were others in the kingdom that had powers like him. The citizens of the Kingdom were frightened of these people and kept them locked up in a forlorn Tower. He was following a man up the winding staircase. Jason noticed he had the words ‘Mr Potter’ on his warehouse coat which covered in splashes of grime and dirt. He took out a big ring of jangling keys and picked out one labelled, ‘Magyk tower’ and slid it into the keyhole. He turned the rusty key in the lock and there was a big CLANG! Slowly, the doors creaked open to reveal a cobweb-covered common - room filled with children. Jason recognised a few of them, some even used to go to his school. He turned around to ask Mr Potter what he should do now only to find him gone so he walked nervously inside.

All of the children stared at Jason. Eventually a boy with thick circular glasses and long thin face walked towards him and said hello.

“I’m Stephen , you can be in our room if you like,” he offered in a kind voice.

He led him through a musky corridor and up some rickety steps. They turned into a messy bedroom filled with spiders and cobwebs.

Also in the room there were four other children. Stephen told Jason about how all five of them had been taken to the tower together two years ago and had lived there ever since. The oldest, Lizzy, stood up and introduced herself and the others. She then went on to say about all of their magykal powers. She could charmspeak, Graciea could see in the dark, Stephen had telechonisis, Anaztazia could fly and Billy, the youngest, could shape – shift. After that Anaztazia asked Jason,

“What’s your magykal power?”

“Yeah! What is it?” cried Billy with excitement.

Jason went on to say about how earlier that day he had gone to get a treat from the treat box, only to find it locked. He wished it could be open and all of a sudden the lid swung open to reveal all of the yummy treats.

“Wow!” gasped Billy, clearly astonished by the story.

Suddenly, a loud bell rang through the room. “That’s bedtime everybody!” said Lizzy.

All the girls up got and said goodnight as they left to go to their room. Stephen showed Jason to his bed. Jason lay there thinking about what was going on back at the orphanage. Although he didn’t miss his Matron, Mrs Grumble, it did feel strange to be sleeping in this strange soft and cosy bed. He eventually settled down and was soon asleep.

The next morning everyone was woken by another bell, just as loud. It had been a tough night for Jason who had had a restless evening . Suddenly the bedroom door opened to reveal a kind looking man holding a broom. Jason recognised him from the previous night as the man who led him to his new home.

“Come on then, kids! I’ve got lots of floors to sweep. You don’t want to be late for breakfast!” he said in a jolly voice.

On the way out Jason whispered to Lizzy, “Is he the caretaker or something? He seems nice.”

“Yes, he’s the caretaker, Mr Potter. He’s a nice guy, wouldn’t hurt a soul,” she replied.

As they headed down the crooked wooden staircase Jason stared at all the portraits of famous witches and wizards throughout the ages. He wondered if he would ever be on that wall, he doubted it as soon as he had thought it.

Eventually, they made it to the dining room. It was a large room filled with rows of tables and chairs. On the wall to the right there was a cafeteria serving breakfast and drinks. They all took a tray and went into the line.

“You came on the worst day, Wednesday, which means gruel,” sighed Billy, disappointedly, “I wish it was Friday. We get bacon then”.

As the line went on Billy and the others told Jason about what goes on in the tower. They told him about the lesson where you learn to use your powers and the class where you write and study spells. The line got shorter and shorter till they reached the wizards serving the gruel. As Jason went past they dumped a massive spoonful of gruel into his bowl. He muttered a thanks and picked up a glass of water.

After that they headed to an empty table and sat down. None of them really liked the gruel but they tucked in anyway as they were starving. The gruel was a sloppy porridge mixed with magic berry which made their tongues tingle.

Once they had finished they put their bowls and trays on the cleaning rack and headed to their room. They got dressed and ready for their first class of the day, ‘Using your powers’.

They entered a clammy damp school room with lots of different magical ornaments and strange objects. In strode a young woman holding a clipboard and an extremely sharp pencil.

“Good morning, class,” she announced, “As you may have noticed we have a new student today, Jason Smith. My name is Professor Au Fait.”

Professor Au Fait had bird – like features with sharp eyes. She wore a power suit and her short, brown hair hung just above her shoulders. She had a pointed, long nose and large, black glasses which magnified her steel grey stare. Jason noticed that Anaztazia silently groaned as she sat down in her seat. Professor Au Fait showed Jason to a seat at the back of the class. He thought it was slightly strange to put the new kid at the back, but he didn’t argue. He sat next to Lizzy and Anaztazia.

“Now, Jason. What is your magykal power?” Professor Au Fait questioned him.

“I’m a locksmith, Professor, I can open doors and unlock anything,” he replied.

“Well, would you like to demonstrate that for me please?” she asked.

“I -,” started Jason, but Professor Au Fait interrupted him and told him to hurry up. He jogged to the front of the class and Professor Au Fait put a locked cabinet in front of him. He willed the doors to open. He felt as though an invisible force was shooting out of the tips of his fingers which made them like they were being tugged from the rest of his hands. The two doors swung off the hinges and he had to duck to avoid them. They smashed into the back wall, causing a picture of the headmaster to fall off. Lizzy started clapping , then Anaztazia and Billy and then the whole class were cheering.

“Well Jason, we’re going to have to work on that today,” said Professor Au Fait with a disapproving look.

Meanwhile the whole class was whispering and gasping in excitement. One of them had got hit on the forehead and was rubbing a dark purple bruise.

Later that lesson Professor Au Fait was just explaining how shape – shifters could change into different forms when she suddenly stopped and looked at a sullen looking, freckled faced boy in the middle row.

“FREDDY! Stop passing that note. I assure you that I don’t smell like cheesy feet and my bottom isn’t as big as the minibus. You can think more about how to flatter me as you scrub the gruel bowls all afternoon,” she screeched.

“How did she know what the note said from the front of the class?” whispered Jason.

“She’s got X-Ray vision,” replied Anaztazia.

After the last commotion she handed out magykal ‘Power Spinners’ that boost your power skill while you spin it. She was just explaining how to keep them under control when Freddy span his and balanced it on his thumb. Suddenly, the spinner blew up and the whole class was frozen in time except from Anaztazia and Jason…

Jason and Anaztazia walked around the room, utterly astonished. They started poking people and waving their hands in front of their faces. The whole class was frozen like ice statues and an eerie silence filled the room.

“Wow,” gasped Anaztazia, as she wandered around the room picking up a permanent marker from Professor Au Fait’s desk. “Do you think Professor Au Fait would notice if I gave her a moustache?”

“Yes, she would. Now help me to find a way to help everyone,” Jason replied with an anxious look.

“Wait. Please can I give one person a moustache?” she begged.

“No. We’ve got to help the others get unfrozen otherwise they might stay like this forever,” replied Jason, firmly.

Anaztazia gave in and picked up a Power Spinner. She was about to spin it like Freddy had but Jason stopped her just in time. As if in a trance, Jason strode up to Professor Au Fait’s laptop and somehow managed to unlock it without the keyboard flying off. Then he looked into her documents and found the Power – Point she was going to show the class about the Spinners. He found the red warning slide which he read out loud to Anaztazia,

“Warning: IF SPINNER BLOWS UP SPIN ANOTHER ONE IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION TO REVERSE THE EFFECTS.”

Anaztazia picked up her spinner and read the instructions. Then she span it in the other direction and kept a good grip on it.

The whole class sprang in to life and Professor Au Fait suddenly finished what she was going to say to Freddy,

“Don’t spin it!” she screamed.

Then she saw Anaztazia holding a Spinner and gasped.

“Oh Anaztazia, thank you for saving us, thank you!”

“It was actually Jason who saved you, Professor. Jason told me what I needed to do. He’s the real hero here,” she replied, smiling at Jason.

“Three cheers for Jason!” Billy shouted and the whole class joined in.

They headed to the dining room in great excitement for some lunch. There were cheese sandwiches and crisp and for dessert, there were chocolate bars and milkshakes. The six children tucked into their lunch and happily chatted about what was left in the day to come. After they devoured their delicious lunch they gathered all their magyk books (which Jason had received from Mr Potter) and headed to the classroom once again.

“Good afternoon,” Professor Au Fait announced, “The spell we are learning today is Glow. You will need to recite the words ‘Glomuneis, Glomuneis, turene Glomuneis’.”

“Glomuneis, Glomuneis, turene Glomuneis,” murmured the class back at her. Then all of a sudden the professor started to glow an iridescent purple. Soon the glow faded to reveal the normal, old Professor Au Fait.

“Now open your spell book to page 121 and find the spell. Then split into partners and practise. The more you practice, the better you’ll get,” Professor Au Fait encouraged.

So Jason and the rest of the class found the page in their books and split into partners. Jason went with Stephen to the other side of the room. Jason went first ‘Glomuneis, Glomuneis, turene Glomuneis’ and a dim yellow glow fell onto Stephen staying for only a few seconds. Stephen held the glow for longer than Jason and seemed very pleased with himself.

Just before the lesson was finished Professor Au Fait asked all the children to perform their spell. Lizzy could make a rainbow glow which took everyone by surprise.

The whole class streamed out of the cramped room and burst into the corridor like a rushing river of children. Jason and his friends headed to the common room where they had planned to teach Jason a few spells. They had decided to start with the microphone spell.

When they got to the room it was full of children practising spells. Their laughter echoed around the hall; spells bounced off the ceiling, walls and floor. Jason and his friends headed to an empty corner of the room and sat down.

“Let’s get on with teaching him the microphone spell!” shouted Billy with a broad grin, “YOU CAN SPEAK LIKE THIS!” he boomed.

So they taught him the spell and after a few failed attempts Jason boomed, “MAGYK IS SO FUN!” The sound of a stifled scream suddenly burst into the room . It came from a shadowy corridor which led on to the common – room. Everyone started panicking and running around the room.

“Come on!” called Lizzy, “The scream came from the corridor, let’s check it out!” She started running down to the corridor; Jason, Stephen, Anaztazia, Graciea and Billy followed.

When they reached the darkest, shadowiest part of the corridor, they found a body. The skin had turned as black as a funeral gown, the eyes like pearls, the expression frozen in despair and pure terror.

“Carlos Jane,” gasped Lizzy, tears in her eyes. “He was a good friend of mine , he was a fine linguist and was good at understanding the old English in my spell book.”

Suddenly, Jason snapped out of his shock and announced, ”We’re going find out who did this, I don’t know how but we are.”

Then out of nowhere came Mr Potter, carrying his crooked, old broom. He stopped in horror and gaped a wide eyed stare at the unnatural corpse.

“Oh he was such a nice boy, you know. Always in a friendly, chatty mood. He will be terribly missed.” He sobbed his voice full of grief. Mr Potter then left in a hurry to go and inform professor Au Fait about the upsetting news.

Just then Lizzy noticed a pin on the floor with the picture of a crescent moon on the front.

“What is that?” she asked as she picked it up.

All of a sudden Mr Potter appeared once again and offered, “Shall I take that for you and find out what it is?”

“No thanks,” replied Lizzy, “We can do that, ourselves.”

“He’s such a kind and helpful man,” said Billy.

Next morning they had a generous serving of baked magyk beans on toast then headed to Powers class. Everyone was dull and gloomy and even Freddy wasn’t up to his usual tricks. But something very strange happened towards the end of the lesson.

When Graciea was handing in some extra work, she saw the same crescent pin as last night’s in Professor Au Fait’s draw. At the end of the lesson, Jason, Lizzy, Graciea, Anaztazia, Billy and Stephen confronted her.

“Why do you have that pin in your draw?” Stephen asked.

“What pin? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied, confused.

“This one,” said Lizzy, pulling the pin out of the Professor’s draw.

“Wha-… I don’t know what that is. I swear on the magic of Hermione Granger that I don’t know what that is or where it came from,” she complained. “Now get back to your rooms at once!”

They left the classroom feeling extremely puzzled and headed to the library.

“Do you still have the pin?” asked Jason

“Yes here it is,” replied Lizzy, “It seemed as though Professor Au Fait really didn’t know anything about the pin. Maybe somebody planted it in her drawer. But why?”

“I believe her,” said Anaztazia.

“Me too,” said Billy and Stephen simultaneously.

“I still think that she’s lying,” said Graciea.

“But there’s no way to be sure,” argued back Stephen.

Still confused, they went to the desk of the foul-looking librarian, Mr. Tome. He had an old, hunched over back and a grotesque, twisted face. His teeth were either yellow, brown or not there. His old-fashioned clothes were covered with a thin layer of dust.

“Watta you want today?” he growled, spraying them with sticky saliva.

“Have you ever seen this symbol?” asked Lizzy, faking all of the politeness in her tone.

“Oh yes, as a matter of fact, I have,” he growled, “Come with me.”

He led them to a section of the library labelled ‘DARKE MAGYK’.

“Do they even know how to spell?” asked Jason, sarcastically.

“Shut up, Jason. It’s an old library, ok,” replied Lizzy, firmly.

They made it to the end of the aisle and Mr. Tome pulled a large, dust covered, book off the shelf.

“This,” he grunted, “Is where you’ll find all that you need.” He handed the book to Lizzy, who nearly dropped it because it was so heavy.

“Thank you,” she muttered. Then the gang of children trooped off to the tables and the end of the aisles. They sat down and blew the dust off the book. The title read ‘Ye ins and outs of ye Shadow Walkers’ They opened the book and inside the front cover was the same logo that was on the pin.

“At least we know that we’re on the right track,” said Anaztazia, peering closely at the drawing.

They looked at the contents page and found a helpful looking chapter. They thumbed the book till they found it and started to read.

The Founders….

They gathered that the Shadow Walkers were a group of 5 dark wizards who all had shadow-related powers. They lived in a secret realm that could be entered in an unknown manner. Their identities’ are still anonymous.

“Well that’s not very helpful!” laughed Billy.

“So that’s why Carlos’ skin had turned so dark, he had been attacked by a Shadow Walker! Now it makes sense,” cried out Lizzy, happy to have found something after all.

“What actually is a Shadow Walker?” Jason asked.

“Shadow Walkers can use the shadows to move around in, unseen. They can also conjure the shadows to help defend themselves or even to kill,” explained Graciea.

“But Professor Au Fait doesn’t have shadow-related powers at all. We all know that she has X – ray vision, so there must be a Shadow Walker in the building,” pointed out Stephen.

“And we’ve got to find out who,” announced Jason, grinning in excitement.

Then Lizzy placed the book back onto the shelf and headed for the crooked exit of the library. The children were very excited to have found something and couldn’t wait to discover more about the case.

“Thank you, Mr. Tome,” chorused the children as they left.

“Next time you can find that book by yourself,” grumbled Mr. Tome.

They headed to the dining room and ate their supper, that night it was spaghetti carbonara. They gobbled down their supper and hastily returned to the common room to talk about the suspects of the murder.

“Well, I’m not sure about you guys but I think that Mr. Tome is the Shadow Walker,” spoke up Billy.

“Yeah, he seems kind of suspicious to me,” replied Graciea.

“But isn’t he way too old to commit crime?” reasoned Stephen.

“But that could just be stage make up. And if not, you don’t know what he can do, probably got loads of experience if he’s that old,” suggested Jason.

“It must be Mr Tome,” exclaimed Anaztazia and they all agreed.

For the next few days they followed the suspicious Mr. Tome whenever they could and one day he ventured into the nebulous forest behind the tower. They silently crept behind him, like a fox stalking its prey. They made it to the most dense part of the forest without being seen. But after that, the trees seemed to thin out to reveal a lonely tree standing in the centre of a glade. The tree was not normal. In the trunk was an opening, like a portal. Green mist swirled out of it and into the clearing. The bark was peeling and the leaves were dying. It sent out invisible vibes of fear.

“I’m scared,” said Billy his voice trembling

“Shhh keep quiet or he’ll hear us,” whispered Lizzy.

But something wasn’t right, the shadows started gathering around the roots of the tree. Snap! Billy trod on a twig which made Mr. Tome turn around.

“Why did you come?” he grumbled, “Oh never mind.”

Out of the gloom strolled the caretaker, Mr. Potter. The children were relieved to see him and started calling,

“Oh Mr. Potter, come help us! Come help us!”

But he just gave them a sly smirk and carried on walking towards the cryptic tree. It was at that point that the children realized the shadows were closing around Mr. Potter like a dark cloak of woven shadows.

He was a Shadow Walker.

Suddenly Mr. Tome let out a piercing whistle. Animals of all different species and size accumulated around his feet. There were insects and birds, amphibians, arachnids, reptiles and mammals gathering in the clearing all facing Mr Potter with a fiery look in their eyes.

“Oh, Mr. Tome. I should have known that you wouldn’t go down without a fight. But I will destroy you just like I destroyed Carlos Jane. He discovered my powers, which I had kept a secret all my years. I knew he would tell somebody so I suffocated him in using the power of shadows,” explained Mr. Potter with a grin, “Just one step and I could hop through this magical portal and into the Shadow Realm, safe and sound.”

Mr. Tome charged at Mr. Potter and his animals went with him like a squawking, growling army of monsters.

“Jason!” screeched Lizzy, “See if you can use your powers to lock the portal!”

“But I can only UNLOCK!” screamed back Jason.

“Just TRY!” shouted Lizzy.

So Jason tip-toed up to the portal and willed it to be locked. Suddenly, the portal dissolved into the air to leave just an opening in the tree. He ran back to the others who were fighting off Potter.

Stephen was using his telechonisis to levitate Potter so the shadows could not reach and strengthen him. The others used spells and powers to maul the cowardly Shadow Walker. Graciea used the glomunies spell to fend off any shadows and Lizzy was charmspeaking Mr. Potter to calm him down and stop the fighting. Billy was super speeding around Mr. Potter, tying him up with a piece of rope that he had found on the ground and Anaztazia used the camera spell to record what was going on. Meanwhile Mr. Potter was screaming and shouting at his attackers.

“AARRGGHH!! I will have my revenge, I will suffocate you with the power of shadows, even if it’s the last thing I-,” he was cut off as he disintegrated into a million pieces of dust which dissolved into the night sky.

The children couldn’t believe they had beaten a Shadow Walker, they looked around at each other in disbelief.

“Thank you so much, Mr Tome, for saving us. We couldn’t have destroyed him without you,” said Lizzy with a smile.

“Why were you here?” asked Billy, confused.

“I was tracking down Mr. Potter to destroy him. Like you were, only that I knew it was him and you thought it was me,” replied Mr. Tome with a smirk on his wrinkled face.

“How did you know that we thought that you were a Shadow Walker?” asked Anaztazia.

“You lot aren’t as good at following people as you think! It was like being stalked by a herd of elephants,” chuckled Mr. Tome.

“It’s not over yet,” Lizzy reminded them.

“Why not,” asked Jason.

“There are still four more Shadow Walkers out there…”

The End