The Magical Quest

Chapter 6

Jess was really frustrated. She'd broken Fircone's device, punched a Jedi in the face, screwed up everything, exploded a fire hydrant, possibly ripped a hole in the fabric of space and time, might've doomed them for all eternity, and was probably gonna get in a lot of trouble. In Magical-speak, that was known as a problem. She walked back into the Space Needle, Luke Skywalker tagging along, with a confused/amazed look on his face. She wished she hadn't disobeyed Fircone's instructions. She inserted the key card in the slot in the button panel, and the new button with the Order of Light's symbol on it appeared. When they walked out of the elevator, they were greeted by a red-faced and furious-looking Fircone, grease spots smeared across his shirt. "I go out for ten minutes to get a snack, and WHAT do you do? You blow up my most important--and possibly most deadly--creation that I've been working on for weeks!" "Well, I didn't know what would happen!" Jess retorted. "You should've assumed!" Fircone yelled and stomped off. "What was that all about?" Luke asked. "That's Fircone, and I didn't mean to majorly screw up." Jess huffed. "I'd better tell Maia you're here. Besides, we'll somehow get you home." "Good. My sister doesn't know what happened. She'll be devastated." Luke replied. Sister. The word seemed to hang it Jess' mind. She'd never had a real family. Her life had been going downhill ever since her parents had disappeared when she was twelve. They'd put her to bed, and in the morning, they were gone. She'd run away when the nanny that forced her to call her "Auntie" had tried to forced her to go to an orphanage. She'd lived with her aunt Sally since then. She was told she had a cousin, but she didn't see him much, for reasons that were never explained to her. "Uh, are you okay? You're staring off into space." Luke asked. He sounded concerned, and was waving a hand in front of her face. "Wha--Oh yeah, I'm fine." Jess lied. She kept walking, until she found Maia's office. She knocked, and Maia yelled "C'mon in!" Jess swung open the door. There was a radio on a neat and tidy desk playing classical music, and there were filing cabinets by the dozens stacked everywhere, and a bed shoved under one window. Next to the head of the bed was a wolf head mounted on the wall, which was snoring. Maia was sitting on her bed, reading a ridiculously thick book. She waved her hand, and one of the filing cabinets slid open and a paper fluttered down into her grasp. "Who's that? He looks like that dude from Star Wars." she said, with a weird look on her face. "Ahem, I'm not that dude from Star Wars. I'm an awesome Jedi with mad power." Luke said. "More like beat-up low life with a ridiculously annoying attitude." Jess snorted. "Hey!" Luke snapped. "And you are...?" Maia asked. "He's Luke. Luke Skywalker." Jess said. "That explains a lot." Maia said, throwing Luke one of her Looks. Usually, when you got a Look from Maia, it was a bad omen. Suddenly, someone pounded on the door. Maia sighed, and yelled, "Come in." Becka burst into the room. Her shirt had scorch marks on it, and she was bleeding from her right thigh. Between gasps, she managed to say "Dragon--Fremont Avenue--Magicals--Attacking!" "Crud. We need to get out there." Maia cursed. She grabbed a bandolier with little vials of colored liquid in it and a potion vial off the desk. "Jess, here's your weapon." Maia said as she handed Jess a sword. "Uh, okay." They all ran out. "Hopefully, Fircone will still give us a ride, even though he's mad at you." Becka said as they sprinted towards the docking bay. Jess grimaced. Something that appeared to be a cross between a starfighter and a warplane was sitting in the hangar. Fircone was ushering his droids on board. "That's the Voyager III. Hey, we need a ride!" Maia yelled as he was about to close the door. "Fine." he grunted and opened the door for them. "We need to get to Fremont Avenue, stat!" Maia said, as Fircone typed in the coordinates. They took off, and Luke exclaimed "This reminds me of the Millennium Falcon!" "Yeah, shut your pie hole, Lightsaber Dude." Maia remarked. Luke looked like he wanted to jump out of his seat and punch her, but they lurched forwards unexpectedly, and everyone fell into their seats. The sky brightened, and they shot off at the speed of light (as Luke claimed to know), arriving at Fremont Avenue in less than a minute. The Voyager III landed on top of a building, and Jess saw the dragon. It was a large, grotesque fellow, with stone-colored hide and huge horns. Its eyes burned like torches, and when it roared, Jess could see flames burning in its belly. Luke yelped in surprise when he saw the dragon. "Alright, Jess, all of your training that you've received is gonna be put to the test. This dragon isn't gonna--oh, not again." Maia sighed. A lone figure was hovering in the air, blasting the dragon with bolts of lightning. Luke was obviously itching to grab his lightsaber and fight, and Fircone was charging the gun turrets he'd installed on his ship. Then, Jess saw the two kids crouched behind a half-melted car. "You guys go help Thundra, I'll get the kids!" Jess yelled above the noise. Maia turned to her. "Are you sure?" She asked. Jess nodded, and then bolted. Looking back, she saw Maia trash-talking the dragon, and stifled a snort of laughter. She bolted behind the car. There were two kids, a boy and a girl. The girl was taller, and looked more muscular than the boy. She had frizzy auburn hair and fierce blue eyes, and some freckles spattered across her fair complexion. She was wearing a camo army jacket and jeans with battered tennis shoes. The boy looked younger, and he had tangled, dark brown hair that almost matched his eyes. He also had freckles and his skin was slightly darker. He was wearing jeans and a muddy blue polo shirt with winter boots, which couldn't have been comfortable in April. The kids shrunk back when Jess ducked behind the car. "Do you guys already know that you have mad power?" she asked the girl, who looked about fourteen. "Uh, I don't think I understand the question." she asked. She seemed to relax when Jess handed her a small knife. Jess glanced at the boy. He looked maybe twelve, and was obviously freaked out. "My name's Jess, and you guys have skills." "What is that supposed to mean?" the boy sounded more confused than scared. Jess sighed and handed him the other knife. "Look guys, there's the quick and the dead. Welcome to Seattle." She lead the two kids out from behind the car, and they followed her. "Stay in the alley. If the dragon gets to you, stab it." The girl nodded. "My name is Ella, and this is my friend, Carter." The girl yelled after her. Dodging a flying piece of cement, Jess was startled by what she saw. With surprising nimbleness, Luke was ducking and dodging the dragon's claws and blasts of molten rock, while the rest of her friends distracted it. There was a loud bang and Fircone fired the cannons, which had been remodeled to fire gold spheres instead of bullets. Suddenly, Jess got an idea. She'd gotten better with her abilities over the weeks, and when she saw the sewer pipes on the sides of the buildings, she knew what to do. Then there was a terrified shout. Luke had somehow jumped onto the dragon's back, and was clinging to its horns, screaming, and holding on for dear life. Focusing her concentration into a single area with a battle going on in the background was harder than she thought. She could see the water bulging in the pipes already. When the pressure was just right, she pointed at the dragon and thought with all her willpower, EXPLODE. Just as she expected, the pipes exploded with such force that the dragon was knocked backwards, and Luke almost lost his grip. Not only did the pipes explode, but all the nearby fire hydrants did as well, soaking the monster. It bellowed rage as the water counteracted its life force. In less than three seconds, the dragon was reduced to a soggy pile of rock dust coated in scum from the pipes. "Ugh, pppppppfffffffttttttt, GROSS!" Luke spluttered. He was sitting on top of the pile, spitting out scummy water, and his hair and clothes were caked with wet rock dust. Pretty much everybody was soaked to the skin. "Well, at least nobody died." Jess said, squeezing water out of her hair. Then, they heard the sound of a hoverboard landing.