My name is Sarai Drake. I was dumped in Dragonspyre when I was three because my parents didn't want me anymore. I couldn't fend for myself so I didn't know what to do. Luckily, some ghosts were roaming the streets and found me. They raised me up to what I am now. A thirteen year-old Necromancer. When I turned thirteen I decided it was time for me to learn my craft. I couldn't go to Dragonspyre academy because the Dragon Titan's Army had destroyed it. So, I went to the only other magic school I knew. The Ravenwood School of Magical Arts in Wizard City. I took a one-way Spiral Key and I ended up inside a giant tree named Bartleby. I wandered into the headmaster's house so I could take my Wizarding test. I answered truthfully as I could. When I finished I gave it to Merle Ambrose, the headmaster. He looked over my test and his eyes turned wide. "Oh dear, I'm afrid that it will be quite hard to complete your studies at this time." Puzzled, I said, "Why?" "You'll find out soon enough. Now, Miss Drake, if you could please deliver this letter to Private Stillson at the Unicorn Way gate." Professor Ambrose handed me the letter, and I headed out the door.
CHAPTER 2
I stepped outside and what could I say? It was amazing, and wonderful and just-magic!
I looked around for a second; and then, I felt something I've never felt before: I felt that I belonged.Smiling, for once, I ran to the Unicorn Way gate. Before I had a chance to react, I ran into a girl dressed in green trimmed with black. We both fell down and her books and notes went everywhere. "I'm so sorry!" I said, helping her gather up her books. "It's all right, it was an accident." We both looked up, and I was astonished. We had the same face, skin color and eyes. The only thing different was the hair. She had long, curly, orange hair. While I had even longer, black, braided hair. "Whoa..." we both said at once. "Um," I tried to pretend nothing had happened, as a picked up a large, green book. "The History of Life Magic? What's Life? I'm new here and I have no idea about anything." I said handing her the book. "Life is my school of magic," She explained "And judging by your appearance, I'd say you're a Necromancer." I suddenly remembered a word Headmaster Amborse had said: Necromancer, or Death student. "Well, I have to go talk to Private Stillson." As I walked away, I heard her call after me "Wait!" she yelled "My name's Marissa. Meet me in the Life Tower when school gets out today. See ya, Sarai." "Wait! How did you know my name-?" I called after her, but she was already gone, gone, without a trace.
CHAPTER 3
I was too busy with enrollment to go to my classes at all today, so as soon as school was almost out I headed to the Life School. It made be want to barf, it was so alive, but we had agreed to meet here so I couldn't leave. As soon as class was out I bombarded Marissa. She screamed as we both toppled to the ground. "AH! Why did you attack me?!?!?!?" She asked as I held her to the ground. I just flashed her a mad smile as I let go. She got up, brushing the dirt off of her novice clothing when she muttered to herself: "All Death Wizards are insane, I swear." "That's all in a matter of opinion, and in my opinion you're the insane one." I countered. Changing the subject, I inquired, "So why did you bring me here anyway?" She gave me a look like: You really need to ask that? " Well, duh! We look almost exactly alike! That's rare, even in the Wizarding World!" She pointed out, "So?" I said "When there are Wizard twins, they're twin for a reason. We have to talk to Headmaster Ambrose!"
CHAPTER 4
We arrived at the Headmaster's house, to find Ambrose with his nose in a book. We waited for about 15 minutes for him to look up, but he never did. Finally, Marissa spoke up, "Headmaster Ambrose?" she said, trying to get his attention. He looked up, startled, then sighed, seeing us together must have been bad news. "Oh, dear..." He muttered, shaking his head. "It appears you have found your identical twin," I didn't know which one of us he was talking to, as he looked at the space between us. "So?" I said aggressively, "We're twins, so what? We're no different than any other twins in the Spiral!" He shook his head, disappointed "If only it were that simple. You two, are the children, of Sylvia and Malistaire Drake!" Marissa's expression is hard to describe. She was...dumbstruck? Flabbergasted? Astonished? There isn't a word in the dictionary good enough. "W-what?!" She managed. I had no idea who these people were, and why Ambrose looked so worried. "What are you talking about?" I shouted. Marissa explained: "Malistaire was the old Death professor, and Sylvia was the old Life professor, they were married." I noticed that she kept saying "was" "Well, what happened to them then?" It was Ambrose' turn to explain this time "Sylvia died after a terrible cold, and then Malistaire went through the Spiral trying to bring her back-" Marissa jumped in "But he was found and defeated by a group of wizards before he could bring her back." Now it was my turn to be dumbstruck, "So, our parents are dead?" Marissa then took great interest in her shoe "Yup, pretty much."
CHAPTER 5
I bit my lip. You probably don't know this feeling, but when you hear all this bad stuff about your parents that you never knew, and then find out they're dead, you feel a hole mix of emotions at once. Anger, betrayal, fear, sympathy, and then sadness. It felt like when you have a pet that you raised since it was a baby then it just died out of nowhere. I felt something warm and wet fall down my cheek. I hadn't cried since I was four. I looked over at Marissa, she was crying too. But something else too, she was humming. The song sounded familiar. Then she started singing, her voice sounded like the sweetest honey, " Let's waste time, chasing ca-ars...." Professor Ambrose looked up suddenly, "How do you know that song?" "I don't know, I've known it since I was a baby." Marissa explained. "That was your mother's favorite song," Ambrose said solemnly. There was a long silence. I looked down at my feet while Marissa twirled her hair around her finger. Marissa's eyes got real wide all of a sudden, "Professor Drake...." She mumbled. Ambrose seemed to know what she was talking about. "Of course! He might be able to tell you something about your parents that I can't." I looked from Marissa to Ambrose and back to Marissa, "Who is Professor Drake?!?" I exclaimed, Marissa answered, "The Myth Professor, and our Uncle Cyrus."
CHAPTER 6
"We'll meet him after classes tomorrow, after all, it's getting late." I said definitively. Marissa nodded in agreement. I took a tour of all the classes, which included my tutor, Malorn Ashthorn. And I have to admit, he was cute. He told me that to cast a spell, I had to throw the card on the ground, draw the symbol of the school of the spell with my wand, and whisper my words of power. Questing was finished easily, and Malorn even taught me a new spell for Death students only. Before I knew it, it was time to meet Marissa by Rainbow Bridge. We walked into the Myth school. It was decorated like a mustard squeeze bottle exploded all over the place. Cyrus looked up at us, an expression of sheer boredom painted upon his face. "What do you want?" he said drearily. "Aren't you glad to see us," Marissa paused "Uncle Cyrus." His eyes widened. "You have some explaining to do." I said pointedly.
CHAPTER 7
Cyrus looked shaken. "You are-" he said slowly "-the children of Sylvia and Malistaire Drake?" Marissa and I looked at each other, then nodded. As odd as it was, Cyrus had tears in his eyes. All my friends, even in the Myth school, said Cyrus was the toughest, meanest teacher they've ever had. Cyrus turned around, and doug out an old book from his personal library. Blowing the dust off the cover, he opened to a page. At that moment a young Myth student came in. "Professer Drake, I had a question about-" "OUT! We must not be interrupeted!" Cyrus yelled. The Myth student jumped and ran out, scared. He turned the book towards us, and I read the title at the top of the page: "The Drake Prophesy..." I said. Cyrus looked up. "The Prophesy states that you two will follow in your parents' footsteps." I didn't know what this meant. I looked at Marissa, and it appeared that she didn't either. "However, Sarai, you may shape your future, if you trust in your heart." The bell rang for class. "Come on, let's go." I said. "Marissa," Cyrus announced as we were about to leave, "Could I talk to you for minute-in private?" "Sure." Marissa said. I walked out, and waited for Marissa. When she came out, her eyes were red. "What happened?" I inquired, "Nothing." she said quickly, sniffling, "Let's go."
CHAPTER 8
I walked over to Malorn where he taught us less-experienced Death students on cushions outside the gaping hole that was the Death School. "Sarai," Malorn said, teasing, "You're late." I gave him my signature "Seriously?" look. "Oh no, call the guards! I've committed the serious crime of talking to my uncle Cyrus Drake!" Malorn's jaw dropped. The whole class looked at me. "I take it you guys know the legend then?" A few of the students nodded. Malorn took a breath. "Yea." he said solemnly, "We do." There was a long silence. Some students looked at me in shock; others took a sudden interest in their books, or shoelace. "OK, now that that's been said, what did I miss?" One of the younger students spoke up: "Tomorrow we'll be taking a field trip!" He said with gusto. I looked at Malorn, "To the dueling arena." He said simply. "You will each be facing..." some students to guesses when he paused "A lost soul?" an older brunette asked "I bet it's Lady Blackhope!" said a girl my age. "All good guesses but no." The brunette looked agitated, which wasn't uncommon for a Death student "Then who will we be facing?" An evil grin was painted across Malorn's face, "Me." The whole class groaned. I snickered, covering my mouth. There was no more talk bout the field trip that class. Instead we discussed the effects of the spell Poison: the advantages and the disadvantages. When the bell rang again I met up with Marissa by Bartleby. We went to our dorm to practice dueling. Where, I discovered, Satyr is really annoying.
CHAPTER 9
I woke up in bed rubbing my eyes when my alarm ghoul woke me up. He's my favorite pet, but he can get really annoying when it comes to wake up calls. I rushed over to the dueling arena and lined up with my classmates. "You will step into the dueling circle and attempt to defeat me. Whoever wishes to go first may step forward." Malorn explained as he turned around and waited for Diego to give the signal. I yawned and rubbed my eyes, groggy. To my surprise when I opened them the whole class had stepped back. It was 5:30 and I was really out of it. Malorn had said to come early so we could get some class time in afterwards. Malorn turned around. "Sarai? Well then, approach the dueling circle." "What? No! I don't-HUH?" Someone was pushing me forward. I guessed it was the brunette. Next thing I knew I was facing Malorn with numbers counting down between us. First things first, I put down a Death Prism. It was Ghoul after Ghoul after Ghoul, and Vampire after Vampire after Vampire. When my health was at 100 and Malorn's at 700 I cast the Treasure Card Marissa had given me last night: Satyr. "I thought we agreed we wouldn't use spells that cost us Training Points!" Malorn yelled. "You never said anything about Treasure Cards!" I shouted across the dueling circle. Malorn was dumbstruck. After all, he hadn't said anything about Treasure Cards.
CHAPTER 10
It took a while but finally, I delivered my last Dark Sprite and Malorn's health went to 0. The whole class gasped, astonished that anyone could defeat The Great Malorn Ashthorn. One after one the class went up. One after one they were all defeated. Everyone. Everyone, but me. We went back to our "classroom" . "Beginners luck." Malorn had said. "You're just jealous because you lost." I teased. It was always like this with us. We fought all the time, but we still liked each other. He was my only friend at Ravenwood, besides Sarai, of course. The bell rang for the day and I went to where Marissa and I usually met, but she wasn't there. Instead, there was Moolinda Wu-standing where Marissa would have-riddling her hooves. "Professor Wu, what are you doing here?" I asked, confused. Moolinda looked nervous. "You're sister was not in class today." Moolinda said. "So?" I said, "She has never missed class before, and I am worried something has happened to her. I would check on her myself, but I do not have access to her dorm. Would you check up on her for me?" "Sure." I said. I took the key she had given me to her dorm and unlocked the door. She was inside, laying in her bed, covers up to her chin. "Why weren't you in class today?" I asked, walking up to her bed. She was pale and shivering. "R-remember what C-cyrus said about t-talking to m-me alone? And ab-bout us following th-the path of our p-parents?" Her voice was rhaspy and quiet, I had to strain to hear her. "Yea..." I said slowly, my heart sinking. Something clicked in my head. "What did he say to you when I was outside?" I sputtered out. There was no answer. "Marissa? Answer me!" I said, almost yelling. "He said-he said that I was that I was going to follow the path of Sylvia Drake. He said I was going to die." There was a long silence, where the only sound you could hear was the sound of my heart breaking. There had to be another way. "No!" I shouted "Sarai-" Marissa started to say, but I cut her off. "But Cyrus said we could change our path! You don't have to die!" I screamed, tears flowing down my face. "Sarai." Marissa said, voice firm, "He said you could change your path. You don't have to try and bring me back. But I-I have to die." "But-but-" I stammered, "Sarai, I am going to die. Accept it. As I have. But you can come too." She said. At first , I didn't understand, then I realized she was asking me to die too. "I cannot. As much as a Necromancer longs for Death, they must wait until it is their time. And it is not my time." Marissa frowned, then smiled. "I'm going to see them again." I didn't have to ask who she was talking about. "Tell mom and dad I said hi." I said, through my tears. "I will." There was another silence, and Marissa spoke up to break it. "If I lay here....If I just lay here...." I remembered the song. It was the song Sylvia sang every night to us, before we fell asleep. I joined Marissa, singing the song I've known since I was born. "Would you lay with me...." our voices were one. "And just forget the world..." We sang for what seemed like hours. Until, finally, it was only me singing. I realized I was alone know, and the tears came even faster.
A bright light, and a cloud opened up at ceiling of the dorm. A woman walked out, she had curly red hair, and green eyes. "Marissa? Are you coming? Your father and I are waiting." Marissa appeared by the woman. "Yea, I'm coming. Are you sure you aren't Sarai?" She sounded like she did when we first met, hesitant, yet sure."I'm sure." I said, sadly. "Ok."Marissa said "I'll miss you." "I'll miss you too. Goodbye Marissa." I looked up, and even in her ghostly form, she was crying. "Bye Sarai. OK Mom." she said to the red-haired woman, who I realized was Sylvia Drake. "Let's go..." Marissa said as she walked up stairs formed in the clouds. The light went out, the cloud disappeared and an icy cold wind blew through the Spiral. At That moment, everyone knew, a Wizard had died.
CHAPTER 11
I walked outside Marissa's dorm where I was tackled by Merle Ambrose and Malorn. "Did you know this was coming?" Malorn asked as soon as I walked outside. I shook my head "Did you?" I asked both of them. To my surprise, they both nodded. I couldn't blame them for not telling me, they probably didn't want me to get upset. "Would you like to hold a proper funeral and burial?" Ambrose asked. "Yea." I said, more tears coming, "Yea, I think she'd like that." Merle nodded. "We will hold it tomorrow, at sunset. She will be buried by Blossom." I nodded, and the Headmaster walked away, Gamma ruffling her feathers on his shoulder. Malorn and I looked at each other, but he avoided eye contact. "Well, see ya later." He said after what seemed like hours.
We went to the funeral and burial; where everyone, even Moolinda Wu, Ambrose, and Cyrus, cried. I couldn't sleep that night. I left my dorm, even though it was after curfew, and headed over to where Marissa was buried. To my surprise, Malorn was there. "What are you doing here?!" He said, surprised, "I'll tell you when you tell me what you're doing here." Malorn sighed, and slumped his shoulders, "Well, I was thinking...this really isn't the place to bury the child of Makistaire Drake." I knew what he meant, for I had been thinking the same thing, "So I came out here to move her to a better spot. But the problem is I don't know where to-" I cut him off, "Nightside." I said shortly "Huh?" he said "We'll bury her in Nightside. It's the perfect place for the child of Malistiare. I was thinking that next to Blossom wasn't a great spot either." So we moved her body to a new grave in Nightside. Malorn decided to give Marissa and I some time alone while he went to talk to Marla Stinger. I didn't say anything, just cried. Her headstone was decorated to be half Life and half Death.
Finally Malorn and I went back to Ravenwood. He had to stop by the classroom to pick up some of his things. When he stood up, he said, "Hey, I'm sorry about what happened, I know it must be hard, and I'm sorry I couldn't tell you what was gonna happen but I didn't want you to get upset and-" Yet again, I cut him off. "Hey! It's ok! It's not like it was your fault." We stood in silence for a while. And as I Looked into his deep, grey eyes, we started getting closer and closer and, we kissed.
