“Woah…” Evelyn gasped. She was back at the lake in her neighborhood. It was bright out, and the sun had risen recently, by the looks of it.

She tried to comprehend what just happened, but the more she thought about the day’s events, the more muddled her thoughts became. She couldn’t wrap her mind around anything, even the fact that grass is green and the sky is blue. She could feel her logic and problem solving skills abandoning her, leaving her brain in a cloudy, shocked state.

Suddenly, a middle aged woman materialized right in front of her. Evelyn sobered up at the sight of her, but still had to bite her lip in an attempt to not laugh. The mysterious woman had short black hair with a white streak on one side, like a shock of lightning. She wore a black button down collared shirt and dress pants, along with a shiny black hooded robe, lined with gold trim. She also wore black leather boots with a pointed toe. The lady was absolutely fuming, and it made Evelyn snicker. At the laughter, the woman’s eyes narrowed and she backhanded the insolent teen. Evelyn recoiled and cradled her stinging cheek. Her delirious smile was gone, and was replaced with an angry grimace.

“Who are you, and what the hell was that for?!?” she screeched.

“You,” the woman spat venomously, “need to get it together. Why are you laughing? This is not a laughing matter! You just burned a tree, raised your cat from the dead, then made it die again, in a very gruesome manner might I add, traveled to Ithia and maimed a Frotham! But more importantly, you posses the ability to use Light and Dark Magic. That is impossible! You are coming with me, Evelyn. We are going to Ma’taut,” she finished, looping an arm through Evelyn’s.

“Fine. Whatever. I’ll go with you to ‘Thought’ or whatever it’s called. I’ve given up on trying to understand anything,” she replied snarkily.

“By the way, my name is Valerie.”

“Nice to meet ya…….Hillary.”

“It’s Valerie!”

“Not anymore it isn’t,” she chuckled to herself as ‘Hillary’ gave her a deathly glare. The last thing she saw was the woman’s irises glowing a deep blue. Then everything went black.

“Hey. Hey, wake up!” Hillary shouted at her. Evelyn was being shaken by the shoulders, slumped against some hard wall.

When she opened her eyes, Hillary was crouched in front of her, concern written across her face. Light from the afternoon cast the city in a orangey-yellow glow.

“You okay?” Hillary questioned.

Evelyn blinked a few times, rubbing her eyes with the heel of her palms. She felt a bit woozy, but alright otherwise.

“Yeah, I’m fine. What happened?” she asked.

“I ‘traveled’ the both of us to Ma’taut. You blacked out. It happens sometimes when the passenger is tired, or when they aren’t the ones doing the traveling. You’ll be fine. Perfectly normal.” She stood up and brushed off her silky black robe. Hillary held out her hand, and Evelyn took it, and was pulled to her feet.

She was about to brush off her pj’s when she realized she wasn’t wearing them anymore. She instead wore a gray robe that went past her knees, the rounded panels stopping at a point. It had long stiff sleeves that limited her arm movement, and a high collar that was taller than her shoulder length brown hair. It had weird shoulder pads that were shaped like pointed flower petals and stuck out. She pushed up the sleeves and saw that the splatters of blood still decorated her left arm and hand.

The next thing she realized was that she was now wearing a pair of black lace-up leather boots. Evelyn turned and glared at Hillary.

“You have me wearing an obviously expensive robe, and couldn’t even bother to get the blood off of me? I mean, it’s on my hand! Everyone’s gonna see!”

Hillary shrugged, uninterested. “Nah, you’re fine. Keep the sleeves down. Besides, no one is going to talk to you or shake your hand, and even if by some chance they do, you shake with your right hand, which has no blood on it.”

Evelyn rolled her eyes at Hillary’s laziness, and tugged the sleeves back down. “Fine. But why the weird robe?” she asked Hillary, tucking a strand of her short wavy hair behind her ear, “and how did you get this so quickly?”

Hillary shrugged. “It’s formal wear here, and since you’re going to be put on trial, I figured you should at least look presentable,” Evelyn started to say something at the mention of a trial, but Hillary held up a finger to quiet her. “I bought it from a store along here. You owe me. And you’re still wearing your other clothes underneath. I just figured that I’d go ahead and magic it and the boots on you after you were out cold for ten minutes.”

“O-okay then,” Evelyn stuttered. “Why am I being put on trial? Is it about the whole Light and Dark Magic thing? I need some answers,” she demanded.

“Alright. Let’s walk and talk then. C’mon.” Hillary yanked her by her wrist out of the alleyway and onto the busy sidewalk of the city. They were pushed and shoved around by humans and aliens wearing strange outfits.

“First question?” Hillary prompted.

“Where are we?” asked Evelyn.

“On a planet called Ma’taut. This is the capital city, Louitsu,” answered Hillary.

“Why are we here? What’s the deal with all the aliens?”

“Ma’taut is the magic capital of all the universes. It’s not just humans that possess magic, other species do as well. This is the headquarters of magic for everybody who possess it, whether they are humans or not. Normally, whenever someone discovers that they have magical powers, they are traveled here by their magic guardian. Then, depending on whether they have Light Magic or Dark Magic, they are sent to either Epiwiths or Bosany. Epiwiths is for Light Magic and Bosany is for Dark Magic. I graduated from Epiwiths.”

“Wait, so you’re saying is that all the weird stuff that happened–I was the cause of it?” Hillary nodded in response. “So why can’t I just go to one of the schools? Why so complicated?”

“Because you possess Light Magic and Dark Magic,” Hillary stated matter of factly.

“So?” Evelyn retorted rudely.

“It’s never happened before. Not once in the entire history of magic has one magician had the powers of Light and Dark Magic. That’s why you’re going to court. It’s essentially a custody battle between Epiwiths and Bosany over who gets to teach you.” Evelyn’s jaw dropped.

“So I have Light Magic powers and Dark Magic powers...and that’s never happened before? And the two magic schools are fighting over who gets to teach me how to use my magic.” Hillary nodded, expressionless. “Uh, which school should I go to? Or do I even get a choice?”

“Not really. It’s not up to you. It’s whoever makes the best case to Leader Anexis Vordur. He makes the final decision. He’s the judge in this case.”

Evelyn tried her best to process and keep track of all this information, and she really wished that the names of everything weren’t so weird, and that she could write this all down. “Wait, who is Leader Anexis Vordoo?”

“It’s Vordur. He’s the elected ruler of Ma’taut,” answered Hillary.

“Why is he the judge?”

“They needed someone who isn’t a actual member of either school, someone who isn’t on the board of directors or a faculty member. And you’re one of the biggest things that’s ever happened in magic; you’re making history as we speak. You could become planetary news, so I guess that’s enough for Ma’taut’s Leader to become involved,” she ended sarcastically.

Evelyn gave her a quizzical look. “What do you mean ‘could be’?”

“Oh, this is very hush hush. The only people that know about this is me, Leader Vordur, and the top three representatives from each school. No one else knows, and it’s going to stay that way. Got it?”

Evelyn nodded vigorously. “Yes ma’am.”

“Good. Anyway, I’d suggest going to Epiwiths. They’re not dark and brooding like Bosany. Bosany’s campus colors are red and black. Talk about depressing. You’ll see what I’m saying though. The trial is being held there,” Hillary stated casually.

“Why?”

“I dunno. Probably because Anexis went to Bosany. And, it’s a conflict between the two schools, which doesn’t qualify for the use of the capital court.”

“Why not?” Evelyn persisted.

“I don’t know! The government here along with the rules are odd. They don’t always make sense, but we don’t question them.”

“Why not?” Evelyn smirked at the annoyed look on Hillary’s face.

“Shut up.”

Evelyn was quiet for a few moments, but then spoke up and asked, “Do you think I’m gonna end up going to Bosany since Leader Vordur went there?”

Hillary looked appalled. “Leader Vordur is completely unbiased, I guarantee you! He’s one of the few politicians who aren’t corrupted around here!” Hillary answered vehemently.

“Jeeze, I’m sorry!” Evelyn apologized, making a mental note not to bring it up again. Me thinks she doth protest too much!  Evelyn thought to herself. What is she, his girlfriend?

They weaved through the crowd in awkward silence until Hillary broke it a few minutes later.

“Any more questions? I’m not answering anything later.”

Evelyn pondered for a moment. “Yes, actually. How did you know who I was and what magic I used?”

“Since magic travels through bloodlines, any children who are born into a family that has been know to have possessed magic in the past, are implanted with a magic tracker almost immediately after they are born. The information that the tracker records is sent to a device that is given to the child’s magic guardian. It reports your location and what kind of magic the magician uses. When any teen first discovers their powers, their magic guardian travels them to Ma’taut to be enrolled in either Bosany or Epiwiths. I chose to move back to Earth so I became your Magic Guardian.”

“Oh. Cool. Where’s the tracker?”

“I’m not saying,” Hillary responded slyly.

Evelyn groaned in frustration. “Am I gonna be stuck with the stupid thing forever?”

“In your case, probably. Someone has to make sure you stay out of trouble. We don’t know what we’re dealing with here, with you. Hate to break it to you, but it could stay in you for the rest of you life.”

“Gaaaahhhh!” Evelyn hissed. She dragged her clean palm down her face. Hillary smirked at Evelyn’s misfortune. They continued down the sidewalk, but Evelyn pulled Hillary aside with another question.

“What now?” Hillary sighed in exasperation.

“Why are we walking? Can’t you just travel us there?” Evelyn waited as she saw the thought finally dawn on Hillary.

“Oh yeah...good point. Heh. Hold on,” she said, grabbing Evelyn’s arm, her eyes glowing a dark blue again. She had to remember to ask her how to do that.