Making sense of the senseless part 2

Kalah watched as Joseph’s body disappeared in purple smoke. Thank goodness that worked, she thought. Kalah ran through the rain to Joseph’s house. Anna, Joseph’s mom, should know what to do since she was the head of the Ethereal Circle. She rang the doorbell.

Anna opened the door. “Kalah? Wait, where’s Joseph?”

Kalah was panting, out of breath. “Anna, we need to talk.”

Anna nodded and gestured for Kalah to come inside. They entered the living room and sat down together at the couch.

“What’s wrong?”

“Someone stabbed Joseph with a magic knife.”

“Stabbed?! Magic knife? What happened? Is Joseph-.”

“He’s ok. T-This is what happened.”

Every word Kalah uttered brought her back to that awful moment. Anna took all the details in. She told Anna about the only thing she could remember of the culprit which was their trench coat and matching hat. When Kalah finished, Anna placed her hands on Kalah’s shoulders and gently rubbed them.

“Oh Kalah, I’m sorry you had to go through that by yourself. Thank you so much for saving my son.”

They went into a teary eyed hug. Then they parted from it, having a moment of calm.

“Do you think it was one of the witches from Littlewood?” said Kalah.

“Maybe. They’re just too many unknowns right now. Until we can rule out Littlewood’s witches, we shouldn’t raise alarm among the whole Circle just yet.”

“Do you know how Joseph can get back from the Dream World?”

Anna looked down and closed her eyes. “I am not aware of the full details, but I believe there’s a way to go back and forth between our worlds somehow. Perhaps there is something about it in the Witches Library.”

“Yeah, I’ll check it out in the library tomorrow.” Kalah checked the clock in the living room. “Oh my! Sorry, I have to go. It’s almost time for my sweeping duties.”

Anna grabbed her arm as she got up to leave.

“Kalah, one more thing. Please be careful. I don’t want you to be their next victim.”

“Ok, I’ll be careful.”

Outside the house, Kalah took out her broom that she stored away with her magic. She flew back to her house and placed her backpack on her bed through the open window. Then she left for the usual spot in the city. The sky was asleep, and the rain was replaced with stars that tried their best to stand out.

“Ah, there you are! I was just about to text you.”, said Rebecca with a pouty face.

“Finally, we can get this over with,” said Noah with a bored expression. Noah was a warlock, a male witch. Warlocks were not very common within the Witch Society.

“I’m sorry everyone. I was finishing my homework and lost track of time.” Kalah said, even though it was a lie.

“It’s fine, Kalah. At least we’re all here. Now shall we then?” said Ava.

When witches fly through the air, they use magic that hides their presence to the human eye. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to cast so any Witch or Warlock could do it. On sweeps, they used magic that when cast acts like a bat sonar. If it hits a Nightmare anywhere, it would bounce the information back to the caster.

“Hey guys! I think I got something, be right back!” said Rebecca.

She flew over to an apartment building where a Nightmare was about to attack a teenage boy.

“Oh no you don’t’!”

The Nightmare was blasted by magic and disappeared from existence. Before Rebecca left the apartment, she cast sandman magic onto the teenager. Sandman magic was a dust-based magic that was blown or sprinkled onto the eyes. It changed nightmares into pleasant dreams that lasted until they woke up.

The rest of the time Kalah was out to sweep, nothing noteworthy particularly happened. A new batch of witches arrived to take over. She flew back to her house and turned in for the night.

***

Kalah tried her best to power through all of her morning classes. Every minute of the hour felt like it took a century. Finally, to Kalah’s internal relief, it was the period she was waiting all day for: study period. She traveled down the hallway and through the library until stopping in front of a wall. After surveying her surroundings, Kalah walked through the wall as it rippled around her like water.

On the other side was the Witches Library, a collection of books so large it dwarfed Littlewood’s library in comparison. A book could be found in every nook and cranny. From what Kalah could remember, this library was fused and connected to the school’s library through some kind of complicated magic. A former principal was a head witch and created this library to support witches in their pursuit of knowledge. Everything that the Ethereal Circle had ever known could be found here.

The whole library was alphabetically labeled which made it easier to find specific subjects of interest. Kalah walked down the aisles until she got to the letter “D” aisle. She glanced over the book titles until she found one titled “Dream World: Encyclopedia”, which looked like it was the most current version available. She took the book over to a nearby table and flipped through its contents. Kalah found a peculiar page that talked about a door that connects to the Dream World and ours. But it doesn’t say where this door was and how it was used. Maybe another book could have more details, she thought.

She walked back to where she found the book and returned it to its proper shelf space. Kalah was checking the other books nearby when suddenly, a hand touched the same book that she wanted.

“Sorry. Oh, hello Kalah.” Said Ava.

“Hi Ava. Do you have some time to talk? I would like to ask you something.”

“Sure. I have some time to chat. What would you like to ask?”

Kalah could feel her heart beating fast in her chest.

“Where were you after you left the Student Council yesterday?”

Ava looked at her with a smile. “Well…”