2. THE ‘ENTRANCE’ TEST
Lizzie made her way through the bustling crowds, a grim expression on her pretty face. In her hand, tightly clutched, was an envelope that had arrived in the mail only that morning.
Unlike the previous envelope, this one was simple and white, though the letter it held inside were more menacing than the first, this time in a neat print,
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“All candidates will take the 4:30 pm, 27B bus and report to 59th lane of Cross Street on Tuesday There, you will face with the final test that decides your school.
All the best!”
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That was all it said, really, but to Lizzie, that was enough. Tests freaked her out, both easy and hard. Usually, all you had to say to get her all riled up was that there was an examination coming up.
Sighing deeply, taking in a wisp of dust in the process and ending with a bout of hiccups, she walked faster. The air was chilly all around her. Dust and mist alike, circled her as she dragged her feet to the bus stop.
‘The four thirty bus …’ she whispered to herself, automatically lowering her eyes to the watch on her right hand, ‘ten minutes more …’ Her eyes wandered over the milling crowds, unconsciously searching for familiar faces. She found none.
The big white and blue bus arrived promptly nine minutes later. Lizzie smiled nervously and boarded it. She was wondering if part of the challenge was in the bus itself, since they had been told to take it specifically.
But when she got in, however, she realized that it could not be so, because there were old men and women in there who could not possibly be traveling to Elliot. She scanned the bus for an empty seat and finally found herself one in the third row.
Her companion turned out to be a rather bad- tempered young girl who looked about the same age as her. She had a thick mass of short curly black hair that fell about her face rather like a lioness, and her eyes were two large black orbs that were now boring into the closed window.
It was her outfit, however, that amused Lizzie the most. She was actually wearing a red- and – blue checked pinafore over a white top, and a pair of red buckled shoes to match. It didn’t suit her at all, Lizzie thought. Then she realized with a huff that she was starting to sound like her mother and abandoned the thought hastily.
The girl turned suddenly, rather startling Lizzie, who had until that moment been staring at her intently. But she merely took the blue bag that was in between the two of them and hugged it to her chest, looking suspiciously at Lizzie, as if she was some sort of thief.
Not knowing what to do, Lizzie shot the girl a puzzled smile. Seemingly satisfied, she turned away and resumed staring at the closed window near her.
The bus was about to start when someone screamed loudly from outside. ‘WAAAAAIT!’ came a breathless voice, ‘I’m coming too!’
The driver frowned, his eyebrows scrunched up together, (Lizzie noticed this because she was looking at the mirror in front of him, and also because her eyesight was exceptionally good) and halted. Lizzie too, huffed in irritation. For her, punctuality was a must.
‘Thank you!’ a guy panted as he got in hurriedly. Scornfully, Lizzie turned her head to see who the newcomer was.
She gasped softly as she did so, for the face only looked all too familiar: messy black hair, deep green eyes and that ratty old leather jacket and torn jeans. The girl who was sitting beside her looked at Lizzie interest, wondering what could be the reason for her sudden exclamation, but Lizzie said nothing further. Instead, Lizzie continued to stare at the guy who had just entered the bus.
Presently, he caught her eye too. ‘Hey’ he said pleasantly, making his way over to where she was seated. ‘Lizzie, right?’ and he looked very proud of himself for managing to remember her name.
‘Alex’ Lizzie greeted him in return, her voice rather cold.
The raven- haired girl next to her looked amused for a second before she blurted out, ‘Do you know that guy?’ bursting with curiosity.
‘Eh?’ Lizzie said. She seemed to have forgotten all about the girl. So her companion nodded and said, ‘Hi! I’m Diana! Sorry for being so nosy … but, you know, I’m jobless at the moment, so …’ she stopped herself half- way through the sentence, on noticing Lizzie’s startled expression, ‘And you are …?’ she amended hurriedly.
‘Elizabeth’ Lizzie replied vaguely, as though she was not really sure. ‘Oh!’ the girl replied pleasantly, smiling widely at Lizzie. This seemed to bring Lizzie back to earth because she returned the smile and said, ‘Call me Lizzie’
‘Of course!’ Diana said cheerfully, and she was about to start talking again, when she heard another voice from beside them.
‘Hey!’ the guy- Alex- seemed to have taken a seat opposite them.
‘Why are you sitting here?’ Lizzie asked him rather pointedly.
‘Because there’s no other seat in the bus?’ Alex said, and, on looking around, Lizzie realized he was right. She turned back to Diana, feeling very stupid.
‘So, where are you going?’ Alex asked Lizzie politely.
‘None of your business’ the girl replied curtly, ‘You?’
‘Actually, I’m here for a ‘secret’ purpose, okay? To think that I almost missed it just because my aunt was making a big fuss back home about what was more ‘suitable’ for me to wear!’ Alex mopped his forehead with the back of his hand, exhaling.
‘Looks like she didn’t have enough time to succeed’ Lizzie looked at his casual clothing condescendingly, quite forgetting the fact that she herself was dressed in an overlarge T- shirt and a pair of shorts.
‘A secret, huh …?’ Lizzie sounded disbelieving, and to make a point of it, she fixed her gaze on his face till he flinched, looking back at her, ‘What? I’m not lying … really …’ he seemed unnerved, and Lizzie enjoyed every second of it.
‘And you are?’ Alex addressed Diana curiously. The girl turned crimson and shook her head quickly ‘Umm … just a random girl on the bus. Don’t mind me, really …’
Alex laughed, ‘Your name’ he said meaningfully, ‘Not that I’ll remember it’ he added, scratching his head thoughtfully. ‘Diana’ Diana said, ‘Diana Forsythe.’
After this, ten minutes passed in silence.
Lizzie was still in the third page of her book, which was weird, considering that she was the fastest reader in her class.
Diana, had, by this time, taken to munching on some cookies she had brought along. She had also opened the window, and now a cold breeze blew past them, and the sky grew darker as the bus rattled forward.
Alex was sitting quietly in his seat, rapping his fingers against the side, as he had been doing for the past few minutes now.
‘Will you STOP that?’ Lizzie said finally, looking up at him in irritation. He stopped abruptly and looked up, surprised, ‘Why? Is it bothering you?’ he asked sarcastically.
‘Duh!’ Lizzie waved her hand animatedly and turned back to her book. To her infuriation, Alex resumed tapping his fingers on the wood, now even louder than before.
Lizzie glowered into the book, but didn’t say anything else. Diana looked at the two of them interestedly. Her inborn curiosity had reached a boiling point: she just had to find out what this was all about.
‘Uh … excuse me?’ she rapped on Lizzie’s shoulder hesitantly. Lizzie nodded, then laid down her book and turned to face Diana. ‘What?’ she said. She didn’t sound irritated or anything; merely bored.
Diana decided to open up the conversation in a friendly sort of way. The first thing she thought to say was. ‘So … where are you going?’
Lizzie had a too- knowing look on her face when she heard this. So, instead of answering the girl’s question, she said, getting to the point, ‘So you wanna know what’s going on between me and Alex?’ she jerked her thumb at the boy, who was now playing on his phone.
Diana’s face was flushed, but she nodded anyway. Lizzie smiled- a brief smile that lit up her entire face, making her look twice as pretty- but it faded away just as soon as it had appeared.
‘We’re just … how do I put it? … we don’t get along too well …’ Lizzie explained, wrinkling up her nose in consternation as she said it, ‘We’re not on very good terms’ she added for good measure.
Diana nodded knowledgably, and then said slowly, ‘But why, though?’ she pressed on, hoping for an answer.
Lizzie merely shrugged uncomfortably, ‘I don’t know … he’s just pretty popular … I’m not … I mean, I was, once upon a time, but then I realized it was all just an act to get closer to my money … so I left the stupid group, and they’ve been making my life pretty miserable ever since … so I prefer to steer clear of him, really’ she concluded.
Diana’s eyes widened and she glanced over at Alex- he hadn't appeared to be a mean sort of guy- overly cheerful, maybe, but… ‘And was he one of them?’ she asked.
Lizzie blushed a little and shook her head, ‘No, he was not. He is not’ and when Diana looked at her confusedly, she added defensively, ‘But his girlfriend is!’ And for Lizzie, that seemed to settle it.
With the tiny spark of decency left in her, Diana refrained from asking anymore personal questions. Instead, she looked down at her lap, playing with her fingers absent- mindedly.
It was Lizzie, however, who posed the next question. ‘What about you? Does your life suck too?’ she asked out of the blue.
Diana couldn’t help but smile at this, but she said, ‘It’s not TOO bad, I guess. Except that I have this idiotic brother- that’s him, by the way-’ she pointed at a guy who was sleeping a row ahead of them.
Looking at him, Lizzie noted that he looked nothing like his sister. In contrast to her curly black hair and large black eyes, his hair was a deep brown. His eyes were closed, so she couldn’t really see their color. And, somehow, even in his sleep, he appeared somewhat serious. Lizzie didn’t know why; she could just tell.
Diana continued talking, ‘Do you have any siblings, Elizabeth?’ (‘It’s Lizzie!’ Lizzie muttered under her breath) and without waiting for her companion to answer, she continued speedily, as if delighted with the chance to talk, ‘They are SO irritating, I swear! He thinks he’s better than me just because he’s older … and only by eight months! Not even a year. I get so angry sometimes. Like today …’
She went on babbling about how Carter was always putting her down, and how she hated him so much. Lizzie didn’t get the chance to speak, and the conversation was rather one- sided. Not that she cared- she was more of a listener than a speaker anyway.
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The four teenagers had been on the bus for a long time now. Two and a half hours, to be exact. They were its only occupants now, other than the driver and an old woman, who sat knitting patiently in the last row.
The driver had told them that their stop was still an hour away. It was the last stop of the day. The sky was now a murky shade of gray and cold gusts of wind blew in periodically.
Carter had woken up two stops ago and he now spent his time pacing the length of the bus, looking like he was in deep thought (‘He does that a LOT’ Diana whispered to Lizzie, ‘He thinks it makes him look important.’)
Alex’s phone had run out of charge- just when he was about to surpass his previous High Score, too. Predictably, he was not in a very good mood. In fact, he was positively grumpy, as his aunt would put it.
Diana had exhausted herself by talking and she was beginning to feel very hungry indeed. Her head lolled sideways every few minutes before she shook herself awake. Only an hour more, she told herself repeatedly.
Lizzie squinted at the book in her hand, trying to make out the words in the dark. It had turned out to be really interesting- a definite page- turner- but by the time she had figured that out, it was too dark outside to read it.
A few pointless minutes later, Carter sat down beside Alex, hoping for some conversation. Sure enough, Alex seemed to notice him, for he said unsurely, ‘Hi … where are you going anyway?’
Carter thought for a second before answering: he couldn’t exactly tell everyone about magicians and such stuff. Most people would probably hand him over to the first asylum they came across.
So he just shrugged and said, ‘See …’ he paused, wondering how to continue, when suddenly Diana burst in on them, ‘We’re actually magicians going to this school for magic! Ain’t that amazing!’ she cried out happily.
‘Diana!’ Carter said, reprimanding. The girl never seemed to be able to hold her tongue when she had to … especially when she had to. Diana stuck out her tongue at him in answer.
‘I don’t think he believes it, anyway!’
‘That still doesn’t give you the permission to go around blurting stuff like that!’
‘I’ll say what I want to, brother!’
‘No you won’t!’
‘Why do you always think you're superior?’
‘It’s not that … but if you could just stop being so brainless …’
‘BRAINLESS? Look who’s talking. Just because I’m a girl …’
‘This has nothing to do with that. It’s just that …’
‘Go die!’
‘Diana …’
‘Please shut up!’
‘...’
The brother and sister were so engrossed in their petty quarrel that they failed to notice the expression on Alex’s face. Realization dawned upon him as he understood what Carter’s sister had said.
Lizzie too, looked over from the adjacent seat, her curiosity aroused by what Diana had said. Diana was now literally fuming as she brushed past Lizzie and sat back down. Her face was red from screaming.
Carter sat silently, not really knowing what to say or do. Alex gave him around ten minutes before breaking the silence, ‘Umm … what she said … it’s not true, is it?’
Carter stared at Alex for the longest time before he realized that he couldn’t possibly lie to the guy. ‘Do you … do you believe it?’ he asked Alex.
Without a pause, Alex nodded. Carter took a deep breath. Now what?
‘Well …?’ Alex prompted, staring at the boy expectantly. Carter simply nodded. He couldn’t think of anything better to do.
To his surprise, when he looked up, dreading Alex’s reaction, he realized that the boy was grinning. Actually grinning.
‘Wh- what?’ Carter stuttered, baffled. And Alex just laughed.
‘Hey … that’s cool man. Really.’ He said soberly, ‘I’m here for the same thing, after all!’ he said simply. And as the two laughed, Diana and Lizzie shared a somewhat similar conversation before they concluded that they were on the bus for the same purpose.
No laughing and cheering there though.
‘Oh God! I hope we get there- wherever there is- fast. See, I have a feeling most of my organs are gonna stop working if we go on like this’ Diana told Lizzie discreetly.
Lizzie was too tired to even laugh. The bus churned on rhythmically and Lizzie sighed. Her long blond hair draped over her shoulders like a blanket, and before she knew it, she felt her eyes closing as she drifted to sleep.
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‘And we’re almost THEEEEERE!’ Lizzie woke up to Diana’s shrill voice, hitting her head hard on the armrest of her seat as the bus jerked along the rocky road.
‘Ow … my head!’ she groaned poignantly, still half- asleep. She rubbed the pebble sized welt on her forehead, her eyes opening slowly. ‘Get up Lizzie! We’re going!’ Diana cried out exultantly, oblivious to Lizzie’s moans. The bus just lurched a second time, sending Lizzie flying to the hard metal floor.
‘Oh hi! What ARE you doing on the floor, Lizzie!’ Diana spun around to find her new friend sprawled on the floor, looking like she didn’t quite understand what was going on. ‘I didn’t come here on purpose, you know! I just fell!’ Lizzie said.
‘Fell …’ Diana repeated vaguely, staring at the night sky outside, making it quite clear that she wasn’t taking in a word of what Lizzie was saying.
So, grumbling, Lizzie picked herself up. ‘Oh Gods! Why do I have to be so accident prone?’ she muttered solemnly, looking up at the heavens as though she seriously expected an answer.
‘Yeah … say something?’ Diana asked Lizzie as the bus came to a surprisingly smooth halt. Lizzie shook her head and said sarcastically, ‘Of course not!’
Diana nodded. Then she picked up her bag from the seat and bounded out, knocking both Carter and Alex out of the way as she did so. Lizzie had a highly amused expression on her face as she made to follow.
‘So where are we now?’ Lizzie queried as they got out. The first thing that struck her was the cold- it was freezing out there. She hugged her black satchel to her chest; her long hair blew up in the fierce wind, clouding her vision for a few moments before she pushed it back.
‘I don’t really know …’ it was Alex who answered. He was squinting to see through the hazy mist that was now looming around them. ‘Let’s ask someone!’ he suggested brightly.
And before anyone could say anything, he had marched up to an old man who was sitting at the corner of the street, smoking a cigar, large puffs of smoke rising from it. Lizzie looked revolted at the very idea of approaching such a man for information, but Alex, apparently, felt otherwise.
He just asked him smartly, ‘Sir, can you tell me the directions on how to get to … umm … where was it again?’ he turned to his companions. ‘The fifty ninth lane of Cross street’ Lizzie whimpered out. ‘Yeah … that place!’ Alex continued, turning to the man again.
The old man looked at Alex for what seemed the longest time before he nodded simply, a neat ring of smoke arising from his mouth and then he scribbled down the directions on a spare piece of paper. Then he said in a whisper so only Alex could hear him, ‘Be careful, there are bad things out there’
Alex looked a bit startled for a moment before walking back to rejoin the others. Lizzie was the first to react: she grabbed the paper out of his hand, ‘Oh stop looking so cheerful idiot!’ she scoffed, irritated, angry that he had been more resourceful than her.
Alex laughed- he was beginning to understand just what sort of a person Lizzie was now- causing her to scowl madly at him. ‘Let’s go!’ she said grumpily, pulling Diana behind her. Alex and Carter grinned at each other before moving.
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‘This place gives me the creeps’ Diana said the first thing that came to her mind as she stood in front of the narrow lane, too scared to budge an inch. ‘What now?’ she uttered, voicing everyone’s thoughts.
Alex was about to take a step forward. Noting this, Lizzie pushed past him, determined to appear brave. Her heart thumped against her ribcage as she walked slowly forward.
As if in a dream, she tiptoed across the musty streets, a blank expression on her face. Once before a large wall, she stopped. Then someone caught her hand.
‘AAAAAAAAH!’ Lizzie screeched loudly, shooting up two inches in fright. ‘Whoa!’ she heard Alex say from behind her. Looking behind her, she realized that it was his hand that was grasping hers so tightly.
‘IDIOT! Why did you do that?’
‘Do what?’ Alex ventured.
‘Sneak up on me!’ Lizzie accused, her face flushed.
‘I was right behind you, you know. It wasn’t my fault that you suddenly had this spaced- out expression on your face!’ Alex said, challenging her to argue.
‘Umm … but why, now?’ Lizzie said, changing the topic tactfully.
‘Huh?’ Alex said.
‘Why did I go all hazy?’ Lizzie said impatiently. ‘There has to be something important here … I could sense it!’ she started searching the walls for a clue. She was so engrossed in the task that she didn’t even notice that Alex was staring at her.
‘Found it!’ she cried out happily just as Carter and Diana joined them. ‘Wassup?’ Carter asked the two of them, ‘you’ve been here for quite a long time …’ he raised an eyebrow suspiciously at Alex. ‘Uh … Lizzie found something!’ Alex said stupidly.
‘Oh …’ Carter’s left eyebrow remained slightly arched, ‘and what’s that?’ he asked in spite of himself. Lizzie answered, whilst delicately blowing at the rough surface of the brick wall. ‘Here … look!’ she beckoned the others forward, falling to her knees.
Ten seconds later …
‘A door?’ as Diana unceremoniously put it. Lizzie shook the dust that had fallen on her head and got up, looking pretty offended, ‘Yes Diana’ she replied, ‘a door.’
‘Something’s written on it!’ Carter piped up. He brushed away the last wisp of dust and read out,
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‘THE ONES WHO SEEK GOODNESS,
WALK THROUGH HERE
WHEREVER YOU MAY GO,
FRIENDS WILL ALWAYS BE NEAR’
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He finished it and then gave a low whistle, after which he looked around at the others. Lizzie was staring at the wall with a rather blank expression on her face. She noticed a large symbol embossed on the door beneath the lines. It looked like a long stick, and she soon realized that it was supposed to be a scepter.
Alex was looking mildly confused, and he kept repeating the words to himself in a low voice, trying to figure them out. Diana on the other hand, was now crouched low, brushing aside the cobwebs in another portion of the wall.
Why exactly she was engaged in such a pointless task, Carter failed to see. Until she stood up all of a sudden.
‘Another door’ Diana explained to the staring audience, a grand edge to her voice. On this door, there was another inscription, followed by a carving that clearly depicted a shield. She pulled a small flashlight out of her bag and flashed it at the wall,
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‘IF POWER IS WHAT YOU WISH FOR
HESITATE NO MORE
STEP THROUGH ME IMMEDIATELY
I PROMISE,
YOU’LL BE BETTER OFF THAN BEFORE’
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‘What’s this stupid school playing at?’ Alex said finally; he was pretty hungry, and not at all in the mood to take some test. Lizzie, on the other hand, said, looking scared, ‘I … I think we have to choose a door, Alex’
‘Oh’ Alex replied shortly as Lizzie moved forward to get a better look at the doors. ‘Sounds interesting …’ she remarked, fingering the words on the first door. ‘You say that only because YOU found it’ Alex muttered under his breath, but Lizzie was not really listening.
‘Friends …’ she breathed the word out wistfully- the promise of friendship, was, to her, the most tempting one ever. In fact, it seemed almost too good to be true. So good that she was pretty sure it was not.
But yet …
‘I’m taking this one!’ she decided, hitting the first door in excitement, leading to a momentary flurry of dust.
Alex, on the other hand, kept repeating the words on both doors again and again rather stupidly. In the end, he picked the second one; the power that it offered was sorely tempting. Alex always liked to be on top. And … of course, he was pretty careless and so he didn’t really consider much- just picked the first one that came to his mind. A few seconds later, Carter followed suit, ‘This one really does seem more reasonable’ he pondered briefly. Then, ‘Come on Diana, let’s go!’ he said matter- of- factedly. He reached for his sister’s hand but to his surprise, she pulled away rudely.
‘What?’ he asked her, spinning around. She had a pretty rebellious expression on her face and Carter knew his sister well enough to realize what was coming. ‘And why should I always follow you?’ Diana broke out, employing the tone of voice she often used when she was angry.
‘Oh … umm …’ Carter couldn’t think of anything to say; his sister’s temper was often incurable until she decided to stop screeching. So he said nothing. ‘You know what?’ Diana continued, taking his silence as an added insult, ‘I’m NOT going with you! You go first, and I’ll take the other door. I don’t want to be anywhere near you!’ she then stood there shaking, looking rather obstinate.
Lizzie was shocked at this sudden display of anger- having thought that Diana looked quite happy- go- lucky at first glance- so she stood silently, looking around. Once, her eyes caught Alex’s, but when she saw that he was staring back at her, she turned her gaze to the ground, and stood that way, too embarrassed to look up again.
‘Diana … please listen … you’ll repent this decision tomorrow’ Carter tried feebly to reason with Diana, but she looked resolutely away. ‘You think I can’t manage without you?’ she challenged furiously. ‘No …’ Carter said, but he was cut short, ‘Better get going! I’m hungry’ Diana hissed impatiently.
And Carter totally lost his cool. ‘Quit being such a jerk Diana!’ he shouted, then he turned to Alex, ‘Come on then! Let’s go!’ he said rather hastily. Alex said in a low voice, ‘Are you sure?’ and Carter nodded as he pushed open the door.
Before stepping through however, he threw his sister one last beseeching look. She stuck her tongue out at him. Sighing, Carter walked in, and the door swung shut behind the two boys.
Lizzie noted quickly that Diana had gone rather pale, and, much against her better judgment, she said, ‘You don’t want to follow him? Are you sure …’ Diana nodded and swallowed hard. ‘I don’t need him’ she said softly. Then she looked up at Lizzie, ‘Now please don’t feel sorry for me. I don’t want to follow him!’
She rushed forward and heaved open the door. ‘Come on!’ she signaled to Lizzie. But even when they stood there, the wind beating against them, Diana was really not sure of what she was doing.
She grew less certain by the second, but managed to clutch Lizzie’s palm and drag herself in, wondering inwardly if she was somehow making the biggest mistake of her life.
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