Enchanting Shadows

CHAPTER 3

Ray moved to sit beside Paris on the couch, "I am from Phoenix, Arizona." Ray puts his hand out to shake hands with Paris.

Paris returns the handshake and asks, "Are there witches and wizards all over the world or is it exclusive only to the states?"

"Well I can't speak much about it to non-witches and non-wizards but yes the power of nature and all-encompassing it is all over the world."

"Oh cool." Paris said in her charming way that usually comes out when she is interested in the boy she is talking to.

"So why did you come to meet Christie suddenly?" Ray asked.

"Yeah, why are you guys here? Everything okay at school?" Christie asked as she gave both of her friends' glasses of water to drink.

"What do you mean "why"? You weren't pick up your calls, not seeing messages. We were really worried." Paris said as Christie sat down on the single sofa beside Chance.

"Oh yeah. With all this happening and us packing to go to Phoenix, I completely forgot to check my phone at all. Hours just pass by so quickly when I hear all about witches, curses, hexes and stuff. It is so fascinating and new. Yet somehow feels so familiar and ordinary, you know." Christie said, smilingly. She clearly liked her new powers and all that came with it.

"Packing to go?" Chance asked, jumping to the edge of his seat.

"Yeah, Ray's superior aunt want me to come down. It is something about a prophecy and the end of all magic. The usual witch stuff, I guess." Christie replied.

"Christie, it is not the usual witch stuff. It is really serious. It is related to the end of all witches and their power." Ray said, being extremely serious for the first time he arrived at Christie's house. Paris glanced at Ray, surprised to find herself weirdly intrigued by the boy sitting next to her and also about the prophecy.

"When are you leaving?" Paris asked.

"In two days, I guess. As soon as this mess get sorted out and my parents can decide which of them is coming with me. They both can't decide whether to be excited to see magic or be dreadful about "The end of the witches and all magic."" Christie said.

"I am coming with you too." Paris said, more as a statement than a request.

"Umm. Are you sure, Paris? I don't know if it will be fun. We are not going on a trip and I might not be able to spend much time with you because I probably had to go through intensive training as a witch. Ahh, "intensive training". The name alone makes me feel exhausted. As if school exams are not enough, I have to pass this exam too. Why are there so many exams in life?" Christie sighs.

"Come on, it is not that bad. I will be there with you at every step of the way." Ray said and winked. Clearly, he was back to being his easy going self.

"Well, if Paris is coming, I will come too." Chance said.

"Why do you two want to come with me? Speaking of which, Ray, can we tell non witch people about witches?" Christie asked, shocked at her own obliviousness.

"Now you are asking that, Christie?" Ray chuckled and Chance glared a bit at him. "It doesn't matter. If any of non-witches try to speak of our existence to other non-witches, we go to their homes at night and slit their throats in their sleep. It is a painless but a messy method. But it is necessary." Ray shrugged. Paris and Chance look at him, speechless and shocked.

"Guys, I am kidding. I am just kidding. You should see the look on your faces." Ray starts chuckling mischievously. Paris felt a smile creeping on her face seeing Ray's laugh.

"Haha. Real funny, Ray. Usually witches cast a spell on non-witches folks who know about the existence of our world. The spell gets activated when they utter anything about our world. The witches get to know who is the traitor and come down to them to erase their memories of our world and the witch person they know, for forever. So if you guys tell other people about me, you will forget about my existence altogether, forever. It will be like you never met me and knew about me at all in your life. So I hope you guys never tell anyone else about what you got to know today." Christie ended the explanation, her face a bit tense from the anxiety of the realization that there might come a time where she has to lose her best friends.

"Oh come on, Christie. We will never do that to you." Paris gets up and hugged her friend.

"Yeah, I know." Christie smiled a little, relieved a bit.

"So let's move on to packing our bags and getting hell out of here coz we are gonna be at Phoenix by tomorrow." Ray said cheerily.

"By tomorrow?" Chance and Paris exclaimed tomorrow.

"Oh didn't I say that earlier. Oops." Ray smiled a little and shrugged.