Nothing moved. Everyone was silent.

  Did she get him? Anna thought, staring at Mrs. Crow who stood still. Doom hadn’t moved as well, like they were both locked in place.

  One of them moved.

  He raised his hand, slowly caressing Crow’s cheek, as blood seeped out of his mouth.

  “Well you all should be lucky I didn’t decide to kill you today,” Doom said, as he turned his head to face Anna and her friends, ignoring the blade in his chest.

  Crow was terrified, and jumped back as quickly as she could. She panicked, and watched him pull the knife out of his chest without flinching. He licked the blood off the knife, swallowed it, and tossed it aside.

  “I can’t remember the last time anyone did that,” he added, wiping his bloody mouth with the sleeve of his robe.

  Mrs. Crow quivered with fear. She was sure he would kill her then, but at least she wouldn’t go out without a fight. She hurled some blasts of fire at him which he easily deflected. Using her powers, she took out a portion of the concrete floor, broke it into pieces and made the pieces look like tiny needles. “Inscendia!,” she screamed, igniting the pieces and hauling them towards Doom.

  He vanished into thin air just before the pieces hit him, and appeared directly in front of Crow.

  “What were you thinking?!” he bellowed as he grabbed onto her neck and lifted her off the floor. She struggled in futility, trying to break free.

  “Please don’t kill her please,” Annabelle said, as she ran to him and held his hand, her friends silently watching them.

  He paused for a moment, seeming to consider Anna’s words.

  “Three months, be gone!” he screamed, and snapped his fingers. Within a second, the entire team was right at the entrance of the prison, on the opposite side of the wall.

  “What were you thinking?! Jacob screamed, still terrified.

  “You could have gotten us all killed!” he bellowed at Crow who was furiously coughing and holding her neck.

  “I thought I could take him,” she said in a hoarse voice.

  “How could you think such a stupid thing?!” Joanna asked, stomping on the ground.

  Everyone was terrified, except Annabelle who kept on thinking about what Doom had told her.

  “Anna you okay?” Jackson asked, noticing she was distracted.

  “What? Yes,” she said, regaining focus.

  “You can’t give him the summoning orb. If he has both orbs, he will leave the prison and destroy our world,” Annabelle said to Crow.

  “If we don’t he will wreak havo….”

  “How can he wreak havoc if he can’t escape?” Annabelle asked, seeming to be the only logical person there.

  “He is Doom, he has minions. I can’t risk starting a war anyway,” Crow said, as she guzzled a bottle of water.

  “What?! You have sorcerers and if you give him anyway it will be worse. You can’t risk releasing him. You all have a better chance at fighting minions and beating them than actually beating Doom.”

  “I agree with her,” Jacob said, even though he didn’t fully understand what was going on.

  “Did he tell you anything when we were unconscious?” Crow asked as she listened to Anna’s heartbeat.

  “Don’t change the topic!” Anna screamed, knowing that if she lied, Crow would have known.

  “You cannot give him that orb, end of discussion. Now let’s go home!” Annabelle screamed, and started walking back to the cottage.

  Mrs. Crow knew that arguing with Annabelle wasn’t going to end well and so “Wait, I won’t give him the orb!” she screamed.

  “Promise?” Anna asked, trying hard not to smile.

  “Promise. We can always fight off what he sends our way,” Crow said as she beckoned on Annabelle.

  The entire team gathered round in a circle and in a split second, they all appeared at the International Game Reserve.

  “Looks like we are home. Wow we nearly died, lets never do that again!” Jacob screamed, completely freaking out.

  “That was insane,” Jackson said, as he fell to his knees.

  Everyone seemed so relieved, except Anna who masked her concern with a smile.

  “You didn’t tell me you met him already,” Doom’s voice rang through her head as the team commenced the search for the lost treasure. The teachers were still at the starting point and no one noticed they disappeared.

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  “Okay we are going off the map a bit. The treasure is actually a wristwatch which is buried a few meters away from here,” Crow said, pointing at the map. The team made their way through the forest, and a moment later, ended up at the location Crow had described.

  “Okay we need to break up, the four of you can’t be seen together considering the fact that you are in different groups so when we get back en route to the starting point, one of you will decide who will deliver the treasure,” Crow said, digging the ground with her bare hands.

  “Okay,” She said as she pulled out something which was wrapped in a thick black cloth. She removed the cloth, revealing a small wooden chest.

  “This is it,” Crow said as she opened the chest, revealing a gold wristwatch which was still working perfectly.

  “So much for treasure hunting,” Joanna said, as she looked at the wristwatch in disappointment.

  Mrs. Crow closed the chest, wrapped it in the black cloth and “Come on,” she said, and they headed back to the designated route on the map.

  Annabelle and Joanna had decided to claim they had found the treasure, and without argument, Jackson and Jacob accepted. They walked through the forest with smiles on their faces.

  “I can hear that squirrel’s heartbeat,” Crow said, with an ecstatic expression.

  “What squirrel?” Jackson asked looking around, hoping to see a squirrel but all he saw were trees, branches and barks.

  “Don’t worry, you can’t see it. I wonder what it’s like to be Doom himself,” Crow said with a mischievous look on her face. It was almost like she was secretly planning to go back and attack him again so she could steal his power.

  “It must be pretty disgusting seeing he ate all those creatures raw,” Annabelle said, expecting everyone to be disgusted, but they all burst into laughter.

  A while later, they arrived at the starting point, being the first two groups to be there.

  “Ahh, you’re back early,” Mr. Gruff said in disappointment, noticing the treasure in Anna’s hand.

  “How did you find it?” he asked her as he slowly collected it from her.

  “Did you help them?” Madame De Bosse asked Crow, who just played dumb.

  “I found it sir, and we met this other team on our way back so they accepted they had lost and decided to follow us back,” Annabelle said, smirking at Jackson.

  It was 3:00p.m. and the skies were filled with slightly dark clouds, giving a rainy vibe.

  “Well, looks like we have to wait for the other teams,” Gruff said, as he took the treasure into the bus.

  ***

  “Annabelle and Joanna found the treasure!” Gruff said, clearly unexcited as he raised the watch in the air for the other teams to see. Every other team had arrived, exhausted and frustrated.

  Some of the students jealously hissed at Anna and Joanna while others pretended to applaud. Well, the treasure wasn’t on the map to begin with, so it wasn’t their fault.

  “Okay kids, go in the same way you came!” Gruff yelled as everyone got into the school bus.

  “Peterson! Michaels! Oliver!” he screamed in the bus, taking the attendance of everyone and ensuring they were complete.

  The bus was quiet all the way back to the school and Anna could notice the scornful looks on the faces of the other students as the journey progressed.

  “Looks like they are pissed that you found it,” Joanna whispered to her as they both looked at a girl who glared at them like she was going to jump out of her seat and stab them to death.

  “Come on, it’s just a dumb treasure,” Anna said, scoffing. She decided to ignore all of them for the rest of the trip.

  On getting to the school, they all got out of the bus, everyone still shooting disgusted looks at Annabelle as they did.

  “Well, I hope they don’t hate me tomorrow,” Anna said as one student bumped into her, nearly tripping her without an apology.

  “Hey, watch it!” she yelled.

  “You watch it!” she female student screamed as she tried to slap Anna.

  Annabelle caught her hand midair and slapped her so hard, she nearly fell.

  “How could you?” she said, clearly shocked at the impact with which Anna’s slap hit her face.

  “Hey! Would you like to go to the principal’s office?!” Gruff screamed at them, drawing the attention of other students.

  “You go now!” he said to the female student who had her hand cupped over her red burning face.

  “She thinks she’s so cool, I wonder why Jackson is dating her,” students murmured as they all dispersed.

  “Well, looks like we all have to go home now,” Crow said. “James?” she added, pointing behind Anna and her friends.

  She could sense something was wrong with him. His heart rate was unusually calm, and he had a smirk on his face, the kind of smirk one who was about to blackmail a person had on one’s face.

  “What’s up with him? Why is he here?” Annabelle said, as they all glared at him looking like sitting ducks that were about to be devoured by a predator.

  “Well, looks like we are about to find out,” Crow said, readying herself to wipe his memory.

  “Before you do anything, I have it all on tape in different locations,” he said.

  “What do you mean?” Jackson asked, trying to play dumb.

  “Oh, don’t play dumb with me, I saw what happened in Crow’s office. How she knocked out the principal and I recorded it and scattered the footage over forty different locations.”

  At that moment, they knew there was going to be trouble if something wasn’t done quickly.

  “What are you talking about James?” Crow said, as she took a step towards him.

  “Don’t come near me,” he said, as he took a step back.

  “I know what you did and I know you do magic even though it’s hard to believe. If anything such as memory loss or death happens to me, that footage will be released everywhere,” he said, confidently standing in their midst.

  Mrs. Crow looked around, noticing all the students in the parking lot, some of them watching her.

  “You can’t touch me here. We are in the open,” James said, as he gently patted her shoulder.

  “Oh, what’s that? Can’t got your tongue?” he asked, laughed and walked over to Jackson.

  “You gave me a beating the other day. Touch me again and I will release the tapes,” he said, as Jackson clenched his fists in anger, wishing he could punch him again.

  “What do you want from us?” Joanna hesitantly asked. At that moment she wished he would disappear and she would have given anything for him to vanish without a trace.

  “I want in,” he said, looking intently at Crow.

  “I know you’re their leader, so I want in.”