• It was a stormy night outside. Jay and I sat on the couch and argued. Cleo was in the corner, tending to little Clementine’s broken wrist. Clementine had gotten between another fight with Gage and Drew other day over room boundaries the other day and fell down the stairs chasing after them. She’s only seven, but she thinks she can handle anything. Between words, I glanced over at Bone and Pyro yelling at the only TV in the clan house, which had the football game on. What is it about contact sports that make boys so happy?

    “We have to go find her.” Jay insisted. Jay is my best friend and I always take up his opinion on everything, but we couldn’t risk leaving now. The girl we were looking for was practically on the other side of the country (exaggerating, but you know what I mean).

    “How, though?” I groaned, trying to go over this AGAIN with him. His mind usually isn’t so closed off, and he usually lets everyone in on what he’s thinking, but right now he was so closed. I waved over to the raging storm outside, the rain splattering the window with buckets of water. “Tropical storm out there, you know. I don’t think that traveling is the greatest idea now.”

    He paused, looking into my eyes, the way he does when he tries to get to someone. “She’s probably the most important person we will ever need to find. More powerful then you. More powerful then Ben and Evan were.” I shuddered at the mention of Ben and Evan.

    “Do you know, exactly, what her potential is?” I crossed my arms.

    “I don’t know, but it’s strong.” He said, tapping his wand on the table. It was dark wood, almost black, the wand of the rare Necromancer. “Possibly a Psychic?”

    “Wow. No duh.” I said. “I mean, what makes her such a priority now?”

    “She’s dangerous.” Jay said solemnly. “She could kill someone without even trying. She’s dangerous, but she’s amazing.”

    “How do you know that it’s THAT dangerous?” I asked exasperatedly.

    “I don’t.” He said. “Cleo thinks that, and who ever argues with Cleo?”

    He had a point there.

    “Another Natural would be nice.” I leaned on my hand, knowing not to get my hopes up. Nothing ever went right for me.

    “We have to go.” Jay said. “There’s still Ben’s method.”

    “It’s stupid.” I said. “And not possible. And dangerous. And a lot of other things that can go wrong. Did I mention that it’s IMPOSSIBLE?!”

    “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!???” I jumped as Pyro screamed at the TV and jumped out of his seat. “COME ON!!! MOVE!!!”

    “YEEEESSSSS!” Bone jumped up and did a victory dance. “That’s the game! You owe me ten bucks!”

    “Shut up down there!” I heard Drew stomp hard on her floor from her room upstairs. She’d been up there all day, doing whatever it is thirteen year old girls do.“Can’t you see I’m DOING something?”

    “See? See what?” Bone screamed upstairs. “You’ve been cooped up in your room all day!”

    “Yeah, you tell her!” I heard Gage yell. I heard running footsteps and yelling. I’d learned to ignore Gage and Drew during their fights, because nothing could be done to stop it.

    I groaned and Jay smiled. I heard thunder boom on the second floor, and I knew Drew was about to flood the upstairs. Oh well. Storms will be Storms. Even if she is still pretty young.

    “Drew!” I yelled. “If you strike Gage with lightning again up there then no cell phone for a week!”

    I felt the air crackle with electric charges. That’s what happens every time Drew gets upset.

    “You SO owe me ten bucks!” I heard Bone and Pyro arguing. Pyro just stood there, arms crossed in his calm-cool-and-collected way, despite the fact that Bone was about to blow up in his face.

    I fingered my wand anxiously. It was brown streaked wood with carved ivy creeping up it. My mom had given me this wand when I turned five; the age where you’re Place is chosen. I’m a Shifter, which is a rare form of a Natural that can shift and transfigure anything, even themselves.

    “Quit tapping your wand, June.” Jay said. “You’re making the table furry.”

    I didn’t even look twice at it. Things like this happen all the time. Pyro sets the couch on fire at least twice a month with his Flame powers, especially if Bone beats him at poker.

    “We have to go.” He said.

    “I can NOT teleport us.” I said. “What do you think I am, a Psychic?”

    “No, but you can Transfigure us.” Jay said. “Make us birds or cheetahs or something to get us there so we can watch her incognito.”

    “That’s a good idea.” Cleo said, not looking up from her work. She was wrapping up Clementine’s arm and waving her wand over it. Cleo was a Natural, but Naturals can also heal using magic, so she’s the go-to girl for cuts, scratches, and the occasional mauling.

    “But it’s too dangerous.” I turned to her, and she looked up. She blew a strand of brown hair out of her face. “Jay wants to go NOW. We can’t go now! Even as birds or whatever.”

    “You’re stressing too much.” Clementine said. “Just let Jay make some decisions. Have Drew clear up the storm for you.”

    “AAAARRRGGGG!!!” I winced as I heard a crash which I figured was a chair from upstairs. Yeah, I didn’t think Drew was in the mood to clear up the weather right now.

    “I think this would be a good time now, Clementine.” Cleo whispered. Clementine drew her wand – small, with light wood with a bronze finish – with her good hand, and waved it. Instantly, the fighting ceased in the upstairs between Gage and Drew.

    “Clementine!” Gage yelled. Drew bounded down the stairs, her dark curls bouncing around. “Ugh! You let her get away!”

    “Thanks a bunch Clem!” Drew said as she ran into the kitchen.

    “Wait – Drew!” I said. Her head peaked around the corner. “Can you clear up this storm for us?”

    “Oh, going to find that Luna girl in Utah?” Drew asked, looking around for Gage, who had joined Bone and Pyro in their argument about the ten dollars Bone had on the Giants. She stepped out from the doorway carefully. “I can help with that.”

    She took out her wand, which was tawny wood with a lightning bolt down the side, and whipped it at the window. With a CRACK and a puff of smoke, the rain simply lightened, not ceased.

    “I made it navigable, but it’s all I can do. You know, because I’m not too developed yet.” She put her wand away again. “Utah is roughly 500 miles from here, so I suggest turning into hawks or starlings or something.”

    “Remember to put away your wands before you transform you both, June.” Cleo reminded.”Or you’ll have to carry them the whole way there.” I almost laughed at the memory where I attempted to change myself back to human while I was a mouse (which was a fourth of the size of my wand, thank you very much).

    “Whoa, where are YOU two going?” Pyro looked over to us.

    “Utah.” I said. “See you in three weeks.”

    “Mission.” Jay said.

    Simultaneous oooohs came from the three boys, and they went back to their argument. You’re probably thinking, “What? No goodbye?” But the truth is that things like this happened a lot. Missions to find new wizards like us happened at least once or twice a year. We haven’t brought back any new recruits to our little clan since three years ago, when we found Gage .That was also the year Ben and Evan left us. Ben and Evan were two human colleagues who taught themselves the art of simple magic after they spent six years with us. They were like family to us, but they left. This was the first mission since then. We were going out to look for a girl named Luna Lariso, who was thirteen years old. She doesn’t have a wand, but she is of a perfect, unsoiled magic bloodline. She apparently has a ton of potential energy that is hard to pinpoint on one specific Place, so she can be as harmless as a Natural (not the fierce yet gentile kind that Cleo is), as destructive as a Gamma, or as unstable as a Frayer. Oh, and one more little thing.

    She was Ben’s goddaughter.