Magic Cove

“The Great Magician Argus Cade is presenting all young teens to a contest. This contest is for teens 14-18. In order to win this contest you have to have great skill in the following: Minds, Magic, and Muscular activities. Information and sign up inside Magic Cove.” I read aloud to myself. Awesome, but what’s the prize I thought. I went into Magic Cove, which was one of my favorite stores on Main Street, to sign up.

“Hi. Is this where you sign up for the contest? And what is the prize? And I’ve got other questions too.” I asked Victoria, the lady behind the counter. She was dressed in a magician assistant’s outfit. She was always dressed like that though, so it didn’t phase me.

“Hey Hannah. Yeah it is. You know how many other teams have signed up?” I shook my head no. “Fourteen other teams have. Who is going to be on your team?” She asked me.

“Jillian Kennedy, Rachel Harrington, Carrie Thomas, Amelia Holmes, Nick Ciarlo, Tony Belgrade, Brad Smith, Jason Taylor, and Jake Obermule and of course me. It did say 10 people per team right?” I asked.

“Yes 10 people per team. You have a wide range of people kinds there. Good picking. They all need to come down for signatures. You must sign too.” She clarified as she handed me her clipboard to sign. “Oh, and as answer to your other question. The prize is going to the real Magic Cove for 5 years to learn magic and other things as well.”

“Even better than I thought it to be! Oh and how is the contest going to work?” I asked.

“Oh only six people will be left at the end. Three girls and three boys. In the contests people get voted out. If they don’t win or if they cause someone else to lose, they’re out.” She answered my question, but ignored me as soon as another person came into the store to sign up.

I went into the bathroom at Magic Cove and pulled out my cellphone. I called Jillian. After I told her, she agreed to call Georgia, Rachel, Amelia, and Tony. I was to call the rest. They needed to get their butts down here I told her. Jillian was the first to show up. Her cell phone began to ring as soon as she walked in. She saw who it was, rolled her eyes at me, and signed the clipboard.

“My mom.” she told me after I asked who that was, “She wants me to pick up my dry cleaning. Oh. And your dad wanted me to tell you it was time for your present from your um…. Yeah.”

“Thanks. So what did you get for your birthday?” I asked her so it would take the tension off the subject of my dead mother.

“Oh My God. I can’t believe I forgot. Come here now.” She practically screamed. We walked outside and there was a black convertible sitting next to a dumpy old piece of crap.

“Oh My God. I can’t believe you forgot. How could you? This is like the best car ever. You are so lucky. I am probably going to get something like that.” I said pointing to the piece of crap.

“Don’t talk like that!!! I’ll stay here. Take it so you can get home fast. Your dad wants you there.”

“WHAT? You just got a brand new car and you are letting me take it? What is your problem? I’ll just run, it’ll be better.”

“Okay fine whatev. Have fun. I’ll tell everyone to sign.” Then I ran off for home.

When I got home, my cell phone started ringing. It was Mike.

“Hey, what’s up?” I asked

“Oh nothing babe. Who do you think is going to be the last six and why?”

“I believe Jillian for her magic skills, Nick for his muscular, magic, and mind skill, Rachel for her mind and magic skills, Tony for his mind and magic skills, Jake for his muscular and magic skill, and me for my awesomly awesome mind and magic. How did you find out we were doing this and why?”

“I was hoping you wouldn’t mention Jake. Maybe it would have been me and that would mean you wanted us to be together. Oh and I have my resources. ”

“Mike-first of all I don’t like you. I am with Jake. Second of all you need to cut it out with your resources crap, and third of all I gotta go. See ya.” I said as I slammed the phone shut. He annoys me so much.

“Hey Sweetie!” My dad called from the backyard. He is a 43-year-old bald guy. I love him to death though.

“Hey pops.” I said shoving a doughnut from the table into my mouth. “What’s up?”

“Your present from your mother is what’s up. Aren’t you even curious?” He asked dumbfounded.

“Noooo,” I said sarcastically, “I can wait all day for it.”

“Okay.”

“Sike I’m playin, give it to me!!!”

“Nah, I got work to do.” He said turning around toward the garage.

“Oh no you don’t buster! Give it!” I shouted.

“Fine. Come with me!” He said mocking my tone.

He lead me into the garage where there was a large object that resembled a car covered with a tarp and an abnormally large envelope attached with tape to it. I thought I knew what was under the tarp, but I am guessing now that it is not a working table. He told me to open the envelope and pull out the card that was in it without looking at the rest. I did and it was a card from him with a check for 10,000 dollars in it. I couldn’t help myself. I gasped.

“10,000 dollars! Oh my god.” I screamed and pulled him into a big bear hug.

“Yes, it is for your college education though. And if you decide not to go to college, then it is for necessities. Got it?” He asked.

“Yes, oh thank you.”

“Now pull off the tarp. This was what your mother got you before she died and I was always wondering if I would catch you peeking.” He said. And with that I pulled it off.

“Oh. My. God. NO WAY!” I screamed again. It was a silver Shelby GT 500, “Can I drive it?”

“No, it’s mine,” He said sarcastically, “Of course silly, it’s yours.”

“Oh, thank you. This is the best birthday ever! I have to tell you something too. You know how high school just ended, so I would normally go to college? Well I was thinking about fulfilling my dream of meeting Argus Cade and studying magic with him. I would go with my nine friends Jillian, Rachael, Carrie, Amelia, Nick, Tony, Brad, Jason, and Jake and for the next two weeks, we would compete with the other teams to win a chance to go to his castle in Europe and stay there for 5 years to study magic. Isn’t that great?” I said really fast and excitedly. We both knew this was what I had been waiting for since age six when I saw his TV show. I saw every episode and all the re-runs too.

“Oh my god. Congratulations. I am fine if you don’t go to college as long as you do what makes you happy. Holy crap. This is awesome. Oh wait. You have another present from your mother. Once again she sent me out to do her shopping because she didn’t know what skill you would be. She wrote the list in the hospital and I put it in the box so you could have a memoir. There is also three other things in the envelope.” He said.

I opened the envelope again and pulled out a card. It said in my mother’s handwriting:

Dear Hannah,
You know you will always be my little girl, my baby. I can’t believe you are seventeen. Do you like your presents? Well you have only opened the car, but I hope you will like the others too. Oh my gosh I hope you like the car. I got it in your favorite car color. Silver. I hope all is well and I hope you do what you like and not what that old grouch of a father wants you to do. I hope you still like Argus Cade and magic. (Hint hint.) Anyway, I hope you have a good birthday. Say hey to Jillian and Rachel for me.
I love you sooooooo much. I miss you already.
Yours truly, your one and only mother, Erin.

I was crying by the end of the letter. I loved my mom so much and I miss her too. She was the only person I could talk to about boys and my growing up stages. My dad and I can talk to, but it is awkward. My dad told me to pull out the rest and I pulled out 16 checks, each with 1,000 dollars. This he said was from my brother’s college fund. My older brother decided to elope with his girlfriend, move to Mexico, and not tell anyone or take anything. I know stupid right? Well that is Stephen for you.

Anyway so far I had 26,000 dollars and a Shelby GT 500. Oh my god. I still had this huge box and I kind of knew what was in it. My mom mentioned magic and Argus Cade, so I know it has to do with that.

“Hannah, hurry up. I know you want to know what is in it.” My dad was egging me on.

“Okay, okay. Smartie-pants.” I joked. I ripped open the box and in it lay a box on top of a cloak and under that a bunch of really cute clothes. No, I mean REALLY CUTE clothes. I started pulling them out one by one. There was a lot of vintage stuff too that my dad said was my moms old clothes. Some of it was like jeans and halter-tops and tank tops, but there was some magical stuff too. Things I would wear to fulfill the part of potioner. LOL. Then some of it was like chill time stuff. Like sweat pants, tanks, and tees. Some really cute shorts too. Short shorts. There was this one pajama dress that had a note attached to it. It read: “This is what I was wearing the night you were conceived.” I guess I said gross out loud because my father started laughing and muttering something about the note dress. I held up the dress and it was really cute. Really skimpy too. It was a deep purple with pink lace along the bottom. Definite minidress. And it had this huge slit up the side. Cute though. I’ll pack it to go to Europe in. LOL. My father reminded me of the cloak and when I held it up he said wow I like it. When I held it up to myself and looked down, I couldn’t see myself. I gasped. It was an invisible cloak!!! Oh my gosh. I couldn’t believe it.

I realized I had put the littler box aside and opened it. In it was some make-up and a lot of jewelry. It all seemed very “magical” and fancy. There was this one big chunky gold necklace that looked like it cost a thousand dollars. My dad added to my amazement by saying it was real gold.

When I looked down, there was another box. Still a pretty decent size. I ripped open that one and saw more clothes. I held them up and realized they were fancy clothes. Like fancy clothes I would wear for dinner at Argus Cade’s castle. After I pulled out around 10 outfits, I found yet another box. In this one was a lot of candles and a lot of jars filled with icky looking specimens and powders.

As I read each label, I gasped. Again. There was stuff such as frog feet and tongues of elephants. Things needed for magic. Big magical spells and now I had them. I saw two more boxes and asked my dad if there was anymore boxes after this. He said no. I opened the bigger one of the two first. It was about a foot and a half long, a foot in width, and twelve inches in height. I took off the wrapping paper and under it was a book. On the front it said Book of Moons. Oh my god. It was the book Argus Cade uses for his spells. He used to call them his moons, stars, suns, and clouds. Clouds were the worst, then moons, then suns, and the stars were just the twinkling little ones such as pulling the salt to yourself from across the table. This was like the best birthday in the world. No birthday could ever compare to it. There was still one more box though and I knew what was in it, I just wasn’t sure if I was ready for it. It was a box that had seven signatures on it. One of them stood out the most. Erin Lopista. My mom’s signature stood out the most because she is my mom and it was written in purple! I knew what this meant.

It meant I would have the wand.