Andrea and the Curse of Xaphan
By
Daniel Whittman
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2010 Daniel Whittman
Discover other titles by Daniel Whittman at Smashwords.com
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Andrea and the Curse of Xaphan
By
Daniel Whittman
Chapter 1
My green eyes took in everything in the lobby of the Tuttle Brown School of Ancient Sorcery in Boston, including the boy whose head just separated from his body and floated near my face. The boy had dirty blond hair that was held up in several greasy looking spikes. His eyes were emerald green. His body was in bright green pants and a white shirt with red polka dots all over it.
“Hello what is your name? You’re cute.”
“I am Andrea. How did you do that?” I tossed my long blonde hair to get it away from my overly curious green eyes. My beige pants were too new and stiff so that was bothering me a little too.
A woman yelled, “Dexter Hakes that is against the rules. Take your head with your body and report to the headmaster immediately!”
Dexter smiled as his head flew toward his body. “Adults have no sense of humor. See you later Andrea.”
A beautiful woman with dark brown hair with red highlights in her mid twenties scowled at Dexter as he escaped. Then she seemed to float toward me. I saw her stunning violet eyes. She was wearing a light purple dress that showed off her generously curved figure. “Hello you must be Andrea Foster. Welcome to Tuttle Brown. I understand this is your twelfth birthday. Walk with me so you can get settled and so I can show you around. I am Lucinda Brown. Before you ask, Hiram Brown the founder of this unusual school was my great grandfather.”
I started walking with her. I couldn’t help wondering if I would ever have breasts like Lucinda. “Are you a witch?”
Lucinda laughed. “No dear I am a medium with a few other abilities. What gifts do you have Andrea?”
I shrugged, “I am clairvoyant and can move a few things with my mind. I have no luck with magic spells.”
Lucinda nodded. “There are a lot of phony magic books out there. Almost all the real books are in our library and may never be taken out of the school. We will help you control your powers provided you always use them for the good of people and never for yourself like that joker Dexter.”
Lucinda showed me the empty cafeteria, the huge dark assembly hall, the big library with the smell of old books and all my new classrooms.
When I passed a strange figurine in an alcove, I stopped and shuddered. “What is that thing?”
Lucinda looked at me closely. “My word you are much more psychically gifted than I suspected! Over three hundred years ago an evil black warlock was finally stopped and trapped in that rock figurine. I know of no other child sensitive to it. You are very special Andrea!”
I smiled not sure how to take the news. “Is that good or bad? It is a troubling feeling.”
Lucinda hugged me. “Andrea that is very good. You could not sense evil unless you had dormant powers to fight it. I am so pleased to have you here. There are too many others in and around this school that worship dark magic and the ancient evil warlock Xaphan both in secret and openly. As a result Andrea keep silent with others about your fledging powers lest you be killed before you are strong enough.”
That frightened me. “What have I blundered into? Maybe it’s better that I go home back to Tampa.” I knew that was no longer possible. Mom told me that I wasn’t safe at home from the evil magic because of what my great grandmother did to many evil spirits. I knew now the powers I must possess had skipped two generations.
Lucinda shook her head. “I had a long talk on the phone with both your mom and dad. They have no powers themselves but have noticed certain people were watching you. They also knew the dark powers would consider you a prize. Upon puberty you would be a valuable ritual blood sacrifice to bring certain evil spirits back into the world. You will be safe here. There is a powerful spell over this school to protect everyone inside from the evil spirits on the outside.”
I gulped. “Does that mean they would kill me?”
Lucinda nodded gravely. “Yes, only through your sacrificial death would they get more power and dominion over the world.”
Lucinda took my mind off of it by finally taking me to the room I had to share with another girl. “Andrea meet Tanya your roommate. She is twelve years old as well. I’ll leave you with her to get settled. Breakfast is at six in the morning. Lunch is at noon. Dinner is at six. Try not to be late. Some delight in making the late comers miserable.”
I nodded and smiled as I watched Lucinda’s departing figure. Then I smiled at Tanya and held out my hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Tanya.”
Tanya had bright blonde hair that was almost yellow and sparkling turquoise eyes. She was wearing white shorts and a pink t-shirt.
Tanya smiled shyly. “I was hoping to share my room with someone nice. It is great to meet you too Andrea.”
The room was brightly colored with strange posters and colored designs. There were two beds with a small cabinet for each of them.
I smiled naturally as I sensed she was nice too. “Thanks Tanya. I like the color of your hair. I could spot you in a crowd. What are those strange designs on the wall?”
Tanya laughed. “I just got here myself. I was hoping you could tell me.”
Another voice came from the door. “Don’t you stupid girls know anything? That is part of the defense of the school from black magic.” The voice from the door came from an overweight boy named Dirk Fabian with dark hair and black eyes. He was wearing black pants and a black shirt. Even his tennis shoes were black.
I looked at him and frowned. “Thanks for letting us know. Are you usually this insulting or do you hate girls?”
He grinned. “I am Dirk Fabian. I never insult anyone I don’t like. I don’t even mean to. My mouth just spits it out instead of what I was going to say. I’m sorry.”
I laughed. “What were you going to say?”
Dirk blushed. “I wanted to say it is great to meet both of you pretty girls.”
Tanya smiled shyly. “Dirk how long have you been here? I am Tanya.”
“I started here about two months ago. I’m very glad to meet you both because the others treat me bad or else like I don’t exist. I hope both of you will be my friend.”
I unpacked a few items in the spare drawers. “I see no reason why not as long as you are decent to be around. Why do you think the others treat you like that?”
Dirk thought for a moment. “Well to be honest I seem to fart at exactly the wrong time. And the smell is not popular to say the least but I can’t help it.”
Tanya laughed. “You might be a perfect friend to fart an annoying person away from us.”
I couldn’t help laughing again.
Dirk finally joined us in laughter too.
Two other girls in somber clothes were watching us. They were not smiling. They seemed to be focused on me with frowns on their faces. Their names were Christa and Strawberry. They were controlled by an evil witch somewhere in the building masquerading as someone else. That evil witch wanted me for the evil sacrifice. Both of them slipped away before my two new friends noticed them.
“Tanya do you have any brothers or sisters?”
She frowned. “Just a stupid big brother. What about you Andrea?”
I shook my head. “No but I always wanted a sister or brother.”
The rest of the day I finished getting settled with Tanya. In the evening we followed the others to the cafeteria.
After we got our food, both of us hunted a place to sit. Most of the boys sat together and so did most of the girls. Tanya led me to a table with girls that still had two empty seats.
A girl was short black hair stopped them. “You two can’t sit here. Two of our friends are coming.”
I stopped and glared. “That is a lie Celia. It’s a wonder you have any friends. What is the matter with Tanya and me?”
“You’re already the teacher’s pet Andrea. Brownnosers make me sick.”
I laughed. “You have some funny ideas Celia. I am no one’s pet. Come on Tanya let’s sit with people that don’t hate us. We don’t want their black moods contaminating our minds. See you later girls if you can be civil.”
I led Tanya to where Dirk was sitting alone. “Hey Dirk, mind if we join you?”
He brightened up immediately. “Sure please do. The hateful ogres piss you off too?”
Tanya laughed. “Ogre is a good word for them. They were like animals looking us over for a meal. It was creepy.”
I nodded after sitting down. “I wonder if they’re part of the black magic crowd?”
Just then a fireball streaked for my back.
I sensed it coming so I tried to send the fireball back where it came. The fireball stopped and wavered then disappeared. I knew the culprit was an adult even though the fireball did not come from her. It emanated from an innocent girl named Pricilla.
The headmaster was on his feet. He spoke loudly, “Pricilla report to my office immediately.”
I stood up. “Sir the fireball did not come from her. A black witch named Rheza caused it to happen. Pricilla had nothing to do with it.”
The headmaster glared at her. “For speaking to me without permission you can report to my office with her. I will have order in here.”
I looked unconcerned as I stood up and followed Pricilla to the office. Neither of us seemed to eat more than two bites.
When we got to the office we both sat down in the outer office to wait for the headmaster. The office looked and smelled old.
Pricilla smiled. “Thanks for sticking up for me. That took a lot of courage on your first day. The headmaster is mean and he hates talking in the cafeteria at least to him.”
I raised my eyebrows. “It did seem unfair to me. I also didn’t know about that silly rule.” I also noticed Pricilla looked a bit older. Her eyes were hazel and her hair was curly and brown. She was wearing a short brown skirt with a pale yellow blouse. Her bra was big enough to make me a little jealous since I did not need a bra yet as my chest was still like a boy’s.
The headmaster came into the door and shut it. He was a big man with a massive chest and big muscular arms. He was dressed in a gray suit with a long sleeve white shirt and patterned blue tie. His hair was short brown and white hair. His eyes were deep blue. “Both of you come into my office please and shut the door.”
The inner office was bigger than I expected. It looked more like a classroom. However it was dark and forbidding except near his desk. We found seats near the side of his desk as we fought anxiety threatening to force us to start screaming.
Headmaster Bertram Dennison smiled. “Both of you have the wrong idea. A war is going on between the black magic and the white magic. I am a warlock of white magic. I saw what was happening in the cafeteria. It was necessary to protect you both from the enemy. You are not in trouble but the enemy thinks you are. As a result you will serve detention after your last class with others I have protected from the black force. It will really be a crash magic course to make all of you as invincible as possible.”
I laughed with relief. “That’s a lot better news than I thought it would be. Thank you sir.”
Pricilla nodded and smiled. “Yes Headmaster thanks for helping us.”
Bertram handed each of us a necklace. “Please put these on under your clothes. It will protect you from most black magic. Now go back to eat and pretend you have been punished.”
Both of us nodded and smiled. Then we put on sad or angry sad faces.
When we got back to the table at the cafeteria, two other older boys were picking on Dirk by making fun of him.
I looked at them coldly. “You bullies love Dirk? Next you are going to kiss him?”
The boys stopped taunting Dirk and looked at me in confusion and irritation.
Randy was dressed in blue denims and a red plaid shirt. His dark brown hair was long and messy. His eyes were a cold brown.
The other one was named Jack. He had unruly brown hair and blue eyes said, “Just who in blazes are you? And what is Dirk to you, a lover?”
I smiled, “Jack you are mistaken. I don’t answer to boy rock heads. When you have rocks for brains you don’t make much sense. Are you controlled by black magic or is this your brilliant method of appearing stupid? That means you too Randy. Dirk is our friend. If you can’t be smart and civil go away.”
Randy looked confused.
Jack smiled. “I like you Andrea. Where did you learn all those big words?”
“I have read a lot and also talked a lot with intelligent adults. Congratulations on understanding me.”
Tanya and I sat down and started eating again.
Jack looked at Dirk. “I am sorry Dirk. It was nothing personal.”
Randy looked at Jack in surprise then left in a hurry.
Jack watched him go and shrugged his shoulders. “If you three don’t mind I would like to sit with you at meals. I’m not too welcome with most of the other guys after Randy gets done trashing my character.”