Black Magic

Chapter Four

We ran out the door leaving Mack on my bed and ran all the way to the house. We brought flash lights and a whole bunch of calculators along with paper and pencils. Caleb also packed us a lunch. It was four in the afternoon by the time we got there. The place looked the same, I looked at my hands, the picture was a clock and every second the handles would move. I was scared now, my hand was ticking. I didn't want to tell Caleb, it would only slow him down. I was staring at the safe; I wish I would have brought a hammer or something.

"I got it! The first question! The answer is-"Caleb typed the last thing into his calculator, "it's seven!"

"Nice! How many questions are left?"

"Two, it's going to take me at least another half an hour," Caleb noticed my hand and the clock. He grabbed onto me, "what is this?"

I pulled my hand back, "it's nothing."

"The clock, it's ticking, like some sort of timer, we have to hurry!" He turned back to his math.

I continued walking around the place when I started feeling light-headed, I looked down at my hands and both of them were turning black it was slowly creeping up on my body. I sat down, trying to hide.

Ten minutes later Caleb spoke.

"I got the second one, its 23!" Caleb was so cute when he was excited.

I began sweating, and my body was getting heavy.

"The last one is really hard; it's going too late me the longest."

"It's okay, just hurry!"

"I'm hurrying I'm hurrying!"

The black substance spread to my shoulders and my eyes were heavy, I can't keep it open for much longer. Everything smelled like rotten garbage.

"Caleb hurry!"

He turned around and saw about one-third of my body black. "Casey." He whispered.

"Hurry." I could barely get the word out and I had a cough attack.

One minute later Caleb broke the silence, "I got it! The last one is 16!" He sighed, "7, 23, and 16, what am I supposed to do with these?"

"Maybe they're the combination to the safe." I'm moaning now, my body is stinging with pain, my throat was clogged.

"Casey! You're a genius!" Caleb ran to the safe and quickly entered in the combination.

With luck the safe opened and in it was the antidote! Caleb ran to me with it and pressed the bottle against my lips, I could somehow manage to drink the purple shiny liquid. The smell was strong and musty which was weird because it tasted minty.

I felt better; my body was lighter and no longer in pain, my throat was clear and I wasn't dizzy anymore. The black substance started disappearing from my body.

I just remembered about Mack, she's probably feeling the same way.

"Caleb! We have to hurry! Mack!"

He didn't say anything he just ran out the door, I was still a little wheezy from the curse and slower than usual. We got to my house in no more than 15 minutes. We raced upstairs to find Mack almost completely black besides the top of her head. Caleb tried to open her mouth to get the antidote in but she wouldn't budge. I pushed him away and tried for myself, I finally got her mouth open and poured the remaining antidote down her mouth and closed it so she would swallow. Nothing was happening, but the black magic spread to the rest of her body.

I fell on her and started crying, this could not be happening. Caleb went to the wall and hit his head against it. Three minutes later I was still crying, I couldn't help myself.

"Jeez, someone's emotional."

I looked up, it was Mack, and she's okay! Caleb walked over to us and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Oh my goodness Mack, I missed you so much, I was so worried!"

"Me too."

Caleb and I smiled. Mack got off the bed and hugged me. Wrapping my arms around her I saw my hand, there was black writing on it. I broke away from the hug and grabbed onto Mack's hand. It was the same as mine.

I squinted hard to make out the writing when I finally got it. We all whispered at the same time,

"Black magic."