The Adventures of the Junior Phoenixes, Part 1: The Pendant of Life

Chapter 15: Howl at the Moon

Chapter 15

     The Talk-Box clicked again but Shade couldn’t hear anything coming from the other end.

     “We gotta go, Starkid! Now!” Shade told Star.

     “Where are they?” Star asked, “Still in Witching Way?”

     “Yes! Let’s go!” Shade said. “Get back to me about the pendant, Sherman. We got trouble.”

     “Leech?” Sherman asked. “Who the ‘ell is Leech?”

     “Leech de Bauch. The werewolf leader of the Parasites.”

     “Oh, he’s a nutter, that one,” Sherman told him. “Well? What are you waiting for?”

     Shade grabbed a couple of gizmos he recognized. “Mind if I borrow these?”

     “Yeah, go ahead,” Sherman said. “Wait! Let me show you something with the Talk-Box!”

     Shade handed it to Sherman. “If you ever get separated from someone and you want to go straight to them, double tap the box and say, ‘Portus’. The box will act like a locator spell. If you hold it while you apparate, it will take you to them. It even works in places that have Anti-Apparating spells. Okay?”

     “Got it, thanks Sherman!” Shade went down the ladder and out the front door, Star behind him.

     “What now?” Star asked him.

     “Take my arm,” Shade said. Star hooked her arm in his and they disappeared, Apparating away.

     Shade and Star appeared in front of the big hedge bush outside of Witching Way. The afternoon began to wane. They walked towards the bush to get into Witching Way.

     Star reeled back for a second after they appeared.

     “You okay?” Shade asked her.

     “Yeah,” Star said, looking a little pale, “Never done that before. Just felt a little dizzy.”

     “Snap to, Starkid!” Shade said. Star straightened herself and ran behind him as he ran into the bush and into Witching Way.

     The sun was beginning to drop behind the trees and buildings, and the lights were beginning to come on, but there were people rushing towards the buildings and some people looking out of windows suspiciously and warily. The dirt street of Witching Way was mostly deserted.

     “I don’t see them!” Star said.

     “Me neither,” Shade said. “There’s Abigail’s, Reverend’s Robes, and Mary’s. I don’t see them at all. Let’s check Cheever’s.”

     Shade and Star ran to Cheever’s Bar and Grill, but found it empty. The bar was a friendly place normally packed with all sorts of people from all over the world. There were Quidditch flags, posters of famous players (including a large poster of the Bulgarian Seeker Viktor Krum), and other pictures with people sharing drinks and laughing festively in them. The bar, though normally a din of laughs and conversation, was empty, quiet, and eerie.

     “Hello?” Shade shouted into the foyer as he entered.

     A short witch peered over a countertop with a look of horror on her face.

     “Are they gone?” she asked feebly.

     “Are who gone, Miss?” Shade asked, looking at her.

     “The werewolves,” she whispered. “They just came out of nowhere and scared everyone off! There was an Auror with some kids sitting in that booth over there. Then the werewolves ran in and went straight for them! They got out but I don’t know why they got attacked, the poor things.”