CORRUPTED FILE [Lumina Chronicles Past Drafts]

Level Eleven: Lady Jacintha

*ELLE'S PoV*

It had been three days since Maggie disappeared—correction, since she was kidnapped. The official police report is that she ran off, because they found no signs of a break-in when they searched our house, but I refused to accept that. I knew she was taken away by the man we met in the woods: King Seraphim. Maggie didn't know about him, because she refused to read the Wiki when we played games, but I liked to be prepared for what was coming, so I always read up on games as soon as we got them. Seraphim, the king of the Abandoned Order, wanted Maggie for some reason. The Wiki said nothing about that.

She was taken Saturday night, the police came Sunday morning, and Monday I refused to go to school. Same with Tuesday, however my mom told me I had to go back to school Wednesday. I didn't want to. I mean, I was perfectly capable of attending school without Maggie, but it wasn't something I was entirely thrilled about having to do. The two of us weren't exactly on the top of the social totem-pole (we were actually pretty darn close to the bottom, despite my stunning appearance and charming personality) and facing Naomi and her friends without Maggie to help me come up with comebacks when they were... to put it nicely, witches, would pretty much suck.

We haven't told Maggie's parents yet. But if they haven't bothered to call and check on her even once in the week that she'd stayed at my house, they obviously weren't worried about her. And it's not like they were in the running for Parents of the Year.

Speaking of Parents of the Year, my dad knocked quietly on my bedroom door before poking his head around it, "Stellie, I got you something." My dad insisted on being different. Everyone else just called me Elle—although some of the teachers did call me Estelle—my dad called me Stellie. It was weird, but cute, and I didn't mind all that much as long as everyone else didn't pick up on it and start calling me that.

I sat up in my bed to try and see what he had hidden behind his back. I had been moping the whole day... more like whole three days... and I was still in bed at two in the afternoon. And I was still in my Yoshi pajamas, which meant I probably smelled like a dying animal. "Dad, if you bought me a puppy to try and make up for my missing best friend, so help me god..."

"Relax, relax, it's nothing like that." My dad assured me, taking a seat on the foot of my bed next to where Swoofy was curled up napping and patted my knee. It was the best he could do as far as comfort went, plus if I was right about me smelling like road-kill, I couldn't exactly expect a hug. "I know you like to read these magazines, so I figured this might cheer you up a bit." He explained, pulling the latest issue of Game Informer out from behind his back.

When he wanted to, my dad could be super awesome. "Thanks," I said as enthusiastically as I could manage, taking the magazine from him. I tried to smile, but I'm not sure how convincing it was.

Whether my smile convinced him or not, my dad didn't let on. He just smiled back, gave my knee a squeeze, and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

With a sigh, I turned my attention to the Game Informer he'd brought me. Maggie had been waiting for that issue for weeks. Apparently it would have information about the next Shadows of Light game, Dark Reckonings, which wasn't set to come out until the next year. I flipped through the issue quickly, skimming for the page that would have the unreleased games on it. In my skimming, I caught sight of something that made me do a double take. It was a picture of Maggie. Well, not really Maggie, but it sure as heck looked like her.

The animated girl on the page wore a beautiful burgundy ball gown, and had black feathers woven into her curly blonde up-do. She had on a matching beaded mask, so it was hard to tell what she looked like exactly, but she most certainly looked eerily similar to my lost friend. Even the hazel eyes were the same.