Just when you think you know yourself. Just when you think you know who you are, you’re brought back to where you began. I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that way. In fact, that’s exactly how I felt back then, when I knew nothing; when I was a normal kid with a normal life. Before I became what I am today. Before I became…well you know: a Supernatural. 548Please respect copyright.PENANAACHsSE6Ny1
My name is Blake, and this is my story about a kid who thought he was normal. A kid who discovered who he was meant to be. This is my story, which I’m writing, and I’m going to keep writing until the day I die. Welcome to the world you never really knew. I felt like I had been injected with crazy juice. My blood was boiling; my eyes were alert and ever-watchful. My palms were sweaty. I felt great. 548Please respect copyright.PENANAriZDwsKb4l
It was my first boys’ volleyball game at my new school. I was walking in blind, which was quite unsettling. I had no idea what we were up against. I didn’t even know all of the players’ names on my team. Just go with what you know, I told myself. That’s all I was betting on. The rest would just find its way in by the end of the game. A hand clasped my shoulder. 548Please respect copyright.PENANAQAjttxIYyC
“You ready, newbie?” I looked up to see Allen. He was my mentor on the team until I got the hang of everything. He was a little taller than me, with a handsome face and special sports goggles that I presumed helped him see on the court without his glasses. He was kind of my current role model, but I didn’t want to tell him that. He’d think I was crazy. His shirt was wet like he’d worked out before the game. I nodded. 548Please respect copyright.PENANAPbiHW3gBeb
“I hope so. I’m honestly kind of on the nervous side.”548Please respect copyright.PENANAIJPGJPZ2lA
“Hey, don’t sweat it,” he said, crossing his arms in that awesome way I would never perfect. “You’ll do fine. I’ve seen you on the court. You’re a volleyball-playing machine.” 548Please respect copyright.PENANAoL2VaGGdbH
I smiled, hoping I wasn’t blushing. He was so supportive, it was impossible not to believe in yourself. I scanned the court. It was hard to believe it was the same one we’d practiced on. Parents, relatives, teachers, and students lined the gym in stadium seating. 548Please respect copyright.PENANAPGQJsBhoAd
A big banner hung on one side of the court next to the scoreboard. A mascot for our team, the stinger bees, roamed around and took pictures with fans that made the mistake of making eye-contact. The honey bees, our team cheerleaders, were practicing stunts in decorative black and yellow outfits. They waved at us players like were some iconic boy band that happened to replace the team. Some players waved back. 548Please respect copyright.PENANAiUWisOPHg0
A loudspeaker announcer began to talk over the intercom, explaining some rules and thanking everyone for coming. My heart beat faster. Then everything got weird. 548Please respect copyright.PENANACTtqbqwpeN
Two girls walked in from the far exits. They were dressed weirdly. The taller girl looked in her teens with long legs held in black jeans and a sleeveless camouflage-patterned T-shirt. She wore two belts that made her look like some kind of mechanic. Her hair was dark and wavy. 548Please respect copyright.PENANAejOwj4T92V
Next to her was a little girl. She was dressed in some sort of wizard costume with a big floppy pointed hat that covered most of her face. She was barefoot, but her feet looked remarkably clean. She carried a stick. 548Please respect copyright.PENANAV8RiaglS4S
In a second they were staring at him. The scariest part was that I felt like I should have known them. The little one starts pointing at me and I drop eye contact. I can’t get the strange pair out of my head. 548Please respect copyright.PENANA5OSXyM9lrn
I tugged Allen’s shirt as he was putting away his water bottle. “What’s up, kiddo? You going to faint?”548Please respect copyright.PENANA4rtDiuyGL0
“You see those girls over there?” I ask, pointing at them.548Please respect copyright.PENANAJmMwq3h7V4
“Don’t they look unusual?” Allen laughed.548Please respect copyright.PENANAno4HMvvjRH
“Don’t they all?”548Please respect copyright.PENANAqs4Y1ur020
“Look,” I demanded. I felt like they were somehow really important to me now. Allen looked up and his face paled. He looks at me quickly.548Please respect copyright.PENANAGwcT5nMlmE
“No.” He was lying. I could tell. I pressed on.548Please respect copyright.PENANAINTMzOPLrq
“They’re over there. One’s tall with black clothes. The other is the biggest fan of wizards I have ever seen. Over there, by the soda machine. Don’t you see them?” I sounded crazy, but I felt like I was close to something.548Please respect copyright.PENANAGnBQI9ZCLc
He chuckled. “Yeah right. Don’t worry my friend. Every player goes crazy in his first game. No, no. You’re pranking me! I get it.” 548Please respect copyright.PENANAJAVAP5CFMK
I threw up my arms in expiration. “I’m not joking! This is important.” 548Please respect copyright.PENANADqPWOqiqRn
Then he looks me good hard in the eyes and says. “I. Don’t. See. Them.” 548Please respect copyright.PENANAfPwM9GJAxn
Liar.548Please respect copyright.PENANAPHGerZxgSC
The loudspeaker turns off and the crowd roars. I didn’t feel like playing. I felt mixed up and all over the place. I wanted to whine to Allen, but he was acting strange too. Must have been something in the air.548Please respect copyright.PENANAXHXEV6M4Jp
I looked back at the soda machine. The girls were gone. The announcer began to call players onto the field. I recognized a couple. They called David, and TJ and Allen. Then they call me and the world falls apart.548Please respect copyright.PENANA3R2l0fn69z
Alarms began to ring out in the building. Everyone began to walk quickly towards the doors. The loudspeaker began shouting in a loud voice for everyone to keep calm and keep moving. I looked for Allen, but he was lost in the crowds.548Please respect copyright.PENANAJJyWJdAhHz
I followed the other volleyball players to leave through the gym doors, but at the last minute, someone grabs my arm. I look back to see a girl. Her hair was piled on her head in a weird style. Her eyes were painted Egyptian style and were as cold as ice. She was by far the scariest girl I had ever seen.548Please respect copyright.PENANA1Xh23dlokw
“Stay,” she commanded and called to someone far off. I didn’t want to. Just looking at her made me want to bolt.548Please respect copyright.PENANAJJzSuTNfEM
“No,” I squeaked, and turned for the exit. A red energy field filled the doorway. I turned and there she was.548Please respect copyright.PENANA3RhfryR1XV
“Stay,” she repeated, her eyes glistening coldly. 548Please respect copyright.PENANAw5R59pDYtA
Sweat trickled down my forehead. She reached out her hands to touch me, but I slid out of her reach. She snarled, her nose wrinkling. A boy stood near her with a dark expression. His eyes looked red and his hair was very black. The girl looked at him. 548Please respect copyright.PENANA4Mr3D8NQFU
“Keep him still!” Suddenly the boy was no more. A shadow slinked the floor. It curled around my ankles and tripped me to the ground. The girl stood over me.548Please respect copyright.PENANA62vje0xd3e
“Stay,” she taunted. 548Please respect copyright.PENANAH4jdo9x4zl
I tried to get up but the shadow had my legs. I wanted to be free. I wanted to run away and find Allen. I wouldn’t care if he thought I was crazy. I had to tell somebody. Suddenly my arms were tugged from behind and I was swept off the floor. My head and upper body were being hung by something.548Please respect copyright.PENANA8uepkbs4vt
Not something. Someone. Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw the little wizard girl. She was doing something. The person holding me began to drag me out. I looked up and saw the mechanic girl. She wasn’t looking as me as she dragged her prize through the now open doors. I yelled at her to let me go. She grunted, even though she didn’t seem to hear me.548Please respect copyright.PENANAbgAsw6AZER
“HEY!” I sparked angrily.548Please respect copyright.PENANApHXrVfNtsw
The wizard girl dashed out of the gym and picked up my legs. She was strong and made picking up a teenage boy look effortless. Still, she didn’t look older than ten. I dangled as they ran with me like a hunted animal. They put me in the back of a car. 548Please respect copyright.PENANARRmNdHd4yF
The mechanic girl was buckling herself in the driver’s seat, even though she seemed too young to drive. The wizard girl with the red hair sat in the passenger seat and chewed on her stick. Before I could protest, the mechanic girl started the car and speeded out of the school parking lot.548Please respect copyright.PENANAPCcrzOKRJ6
I tried to scream for help, but my yells were lost in the chaos and the roars of the car’s engine. The car hurtled down the highway. We had to break every traffic rule in the book, I guessed. But my mind wasn’t in the right place. Who could blame me?548Please respect copyright.PENANA8Xv7LRqs3C
I was just kidnapped by a teenager and a miniature wizard. The teen was in the driver’s seat, jerking the steering wheel around street corners. The wizard hid behind her hands in the passenger seat and muttered barely audible comments.548Please respect copyright.PENANAkbr9z48w41
“Let me go!” I cried as I tried to open the door, hoping for a daredevil escape, disappointed to find the door locked.548Please respect copyright.PENANANd5d5x3Oq6
“Child safety lock? You’re joking.” I muttered after tinkering with the door handle. I turned towards the front. They weren’t even listening to me!548Please respect copyright.PENANACjcSQxZ37E
“Where are you taking me!?” I asked as I picked myself off the seat the last turn had blasted me into.548Please respect copyright.PENANASAi6E3298w
The girl driving finally spoke. “You are in so much trouble.” I raised an eyebrow.548Please respect copyright.PENANAIYJwmu6PXr
“What? What did I do?”548Please respect copyright.PENANApsj83wUbAK
“Do you realize just how much trouble you’re in?”548Please respect copyright.PENANA5Mz7RKOx7B
“No,” I said calmly. I crossed my arms defiantly.548Please respect copyright.PENANAyV4xmM8lrv
The driver snorted. “Lena, can you drive?” The wizard girl nodded behind her hands.548Please respect copyright.PENANAZMBbQsTepP
I thought the driver would pull over, but she nimbly climbed out of her seat and was replaced by Lena, the wizard girl in a matter of seconds. I shook my head in disbelief. She just asked and ALLOWED a ten-year-old to drive! Who WERE these people? The girl looked at me. Her startling blue eyes flashed with irritation.548Please respect copyright.PENANAoTLSqyySMj
“What is your name?”548Please respect copyright.PENANAWjYuSO1dgB
“Uh……my name is Blake. Who in the world are you?” She sighed.548Please respect copyright.PENANAUhl2lar3H9
“My name is Blanca, but I’m known to all as Rim. Tell me this right now. Do you know those people from the gym? The ones we delivered you from?” She looked me in the eyes, but I gave her my honest answer.548Please respect copyright.PENANApkpxwQS3Hh
“No.”548Please respect copyright.PENANAiyvtPFQryZ
“You…” She began.548Please respect copyright.PENANAg4FQ3qGws3
She was interrupted by a beeping from the radio console. A digitalized voice beckoned, “INCOMING CALL.”548Please respect copyright.PENANAcYEl8b6aJA
“Accept,” Rim answered evenly.548Please respect copyright.PENANA2scMJGgtag
A screen folded down from the car roof, like the ones you see in the minivans. A boy’s face appeared on the screen. The thing that surprised me the most was I knew the boy. It was Allen.548Please respect copyright.PENANA3y6VhxlEZs
“Are you guys okay? I’m sorry, I should have stayed but they blocked the exits before I could intervene. I just have to lead off the kid…..”548Please respect copyright.PENANAfoxa92lasD
“Allen!” I said. He looked at me and his eyes bugged.548Please respect copyright.PENANAYYT54rTsAZ
“DAH! Blake!” His eyes met Rims. “What is HE doing in YOUR CAR!?” 548Please respect copyright.PENANAOv7oRwPWKD
Rim put her hands on her hips. “Long story. Okay, long story short, he knew too much. They almost got to him. He needs to know everything.” I pushed myself to the center of the view.548Please respect copyright.PENANAAiTr3eCIa1
“Everything? Allen, what is she talking about? What’s going on?” Allen looked like he was about to faint.548Please respect copyright.PENANAMZgSCPZztj
“Don’t worry! These people are taking you to the mental hospital! You hit your head really hard during the game and……” He trailed off when he saw I wasn’t buying it. 548Please respect copyright.PENANABsHSCwcn6r
Rim rolled her eyes. “You’re a worse liar than me, Allen, and I’m a horrible liar.” Allen looked offended but stared at me straight in the eyes.548Please respect copyright.PENANAXuR4zaIl0s
“What did you see?”548Please respect copyright.PENANA6w5885oxQ9
“Huh? What do you…”548Please respect copyright.PENANA6XVje5Mqoj
“WHAT DID YOU SEE, BLAKE!” He spits.548Please respect copyright.PENANAEBOPAnIC9E
I had never seen him so nervous and serious in all my life. This couldn’t be the same guy I met on the court just minutes ago. I stammered a bit of the story with the scary girl and the shadow boy. Allen looked distraught. His eyes were wild and big but serious all the same. He pressed his lips together.548Please respect copyright.PENANAjsZi3JA1Bk
“Tell him, Rim. Slowly. I’ll see you all back in the city. Good luck.” The screen blinked to black. I looked at Rim, who was taking the time to adjust one of her belt buckles. 548Please respect copyright.PENANAFY8JaENtLU
“What is he talking about? What city? What’s this big secret?” She looked at me with slight pity.548Please respect copyright.PENANAB23UiMZXPl
“You’ll find out soon enough, but I’ll give you a sneak peek. You might just be the most wanted boy alive.” She thought for a moment.548Please respect copyright.PENANAbeXh0gsO11
“And you’re not who you think you are.”548Please respect copyright.PENANAuycJT2cZeE