Young Writers Society

Julia didn't have much to say, but she spoke up anyway.

"If we work together, we could help each other get home faster." she told her. "It seems pretty impossible, I know, it does to me too," -- she eyed Mute Girl -- "but a buncha heads together work better than just one right?" Julia gave Button-Up Shirt Girl a crooked smile.

She looked at the others, hoping they would say something as well.

Jackson nodded eagerly, "Yeah, we can work through this better as a group. Come on, none of us know what's going on, and we'll have a better chance figuring it out with more people trying."

Briar looked him up and down. There was a great deal of sincerity in his voice, and that alone might have convinced her to stay if he wasn't so wrong. People who believed in magic, other worlds, and who knew what other nonsensical matters of fiction weren't good problem solvers, as a general rule.

Still, she shouldn't leave them, specifically Jackson, alone. She still didn't know if these people were dangerous, as many of the delusional people she'd met in the past had been. If they were, it was her fault if Jackson got hurt.

She came to a conclusion. "We should leave here." There was nothing they could find here that couldn't be easily achieved from a nearby town, out of the risk of crumbling ruins.

Mykel cocked an eyebrow at the girl, unsure whether this was a child's imagination or an object given life.

"Where are you from?" He asked, directing it towards the doll, figuring the girl would answer for her. He attempted to focus on the energies around him, hoping the one that supposedly inhabited the doll was able to be sensed.

Reggie looked mildly amused, but not surprised at Mykel talking to the doll. He gently reached his hand out and attempted to hold Mykels, an attempt that earned him a curious glance from Mykel, but he allowed the mild affection. Reggie smiled, feeling less unincluded and more content with the situation, pulling a fluffy red blanket that he had with him around his shoulders tightly.



June was feeling a bit dizzy. She always did after magic use, but this seemed a bit much for what she did. She supposed she could've used more energy than intended, having been mildly emotional at that point. She leaned against the wall, letting her hand hold her up as she breathed in an attempt to make the dizziness go away. Her hair fell in her face and she held her other hand over her chest, focusing on the rhythm of the movements.

That was weird.

Sabrina wasn't used to getting asked the questions. It was usually Mary who got asked questions, or directed questions to her. Most people say her as a figment of Mary's imagination. Which she supposed was try, to some extent. Sabrina, after all, really wasn't her name, and Hell knew she hadn't acted like this years ago.

She tried to remember what story Mary had concocted for her last. Mary was seven; she had a pretty big imagination. Her explanations for all of her friends always seemed to change.

"I think Sabrina's a little shy," Mary informed him. "She's not saying anything, but she's a knight from a faraway kingdom! And I'm the princess, so she's always there to protect me."


Raptor wasn't really sure what he had just seen.

The girl had just used magic. It wasn't anything like the magic he knew, and he couldn't tell if it was like the magic May knew. Whatever the case was, it wasn't enough for the girl who had wanted to leave. Even more importantly, it seemed to have taken a lot of its caster - Raptor brought a chair over and gently pushed her down into it.

Wishing he could give her a comforting smile, Raptor turned his attention back to the rest of the group. He also started digging through his bag in search of another piece of chalk. It would take some time to prepare, but he could use the preparation time to talk to the others.

He pulled one out and crouched down.

The chalk felt awkward in his hands, and he wasn't sure he was drawing the lines as neatly as usual. "We should probably start with names," he said. "If we're going to be figuring out what to do, they're a good first step. I'm Raptor."'

"I'm Jackson, and, uh, this is Briar," Jackson said, saving her the effort.

She recognized the pattern on the ground, at least vaguely, as sigils like the ones in some of the books Queenie translated in her spare time. Well, Queenie considered it 'spare time'. Really, she should have been doing something useful in that time. Training, studying, talking to her 'friends' to keep herself seeming normal, something that wasn't a complete waste of time.

"We, um, we already know each other," Jackson continued, "From school." Briar could not figure out why he was blushing again.

Julia stared at The Costume -- or wait, Raptor -- and the circle he had made. She raised an eyebrow questioningly but didn't say anything about it.

"I'm Julia. Julia..." she was about to say her last name out of habit but she bit on her lip. There was no guessing when it came to trusting people. She had issues with that already. "Er, just Julia." she finished quickly.

June nodded thanks to the armored man when he sat her down. When everyone was exchanging names, she raised her head and pointed to where "First off, my name is June" was still written on the board, she not having bothered to erase it before. She looked at what the armored man, who she now knew to be named Raptor, was drawing on the ground, tilting her head at it. She didn't recognize the symbol as one Esther had taught her, but she was certain she might've seen one similar to it before.

June wondered what the purpose of this was. She knew that some magic was greatly influenced by symbols and objects, but this particular method didn't match with anything she'd been taught thus far. She watched him intently, rather curious.



Mykel smiled at the girl's response, though it didn't help him determine much. Reggie looked between them, clearly confused.

"Alright, we don't have to talk to her right now then. Do you know of anyone else around here?" He figured he could find out whether or not the doll was legitimately alive later, right now he needed to focus on finding out where they were. If the child didn't know then it would be a good idea to get her back to her family, or wherever she lived at least. He wouldn't like the idea of Fisher wondering off to some abandoned building, especially alone. Even if he was a competent witch.

He was on Earth or some other world than Minecraftia. Raptor didn't want to test what would happen if he tried to summon or dismiss Bartimaeus from another reality or world. So, instead, he'd summon much weaker and easier to control. An imp was good enough for a demonstration, and wouldn't take as much energy.

He finished the pentacle.

Maybe it was too large for an imp - he had been drawing it with Bartimaeus in mind. But it would do its purpose, especially the extra protections he had woven into the design.

Now to draw the other two pentacles.

He could combine them into one pentacle, but he didn't want to run the risk of someone breaking his concentration. One enormous one for the others and one regular-sized one for himself would be good enough.

He eyed the group before he got to work on their pentacle. It was at least twice the size of the imp's - maybe even three times the size. He still had to add in the protections, but it was surprisingly easier to draw the outside circle.


Mary thought long and hard on the question.

"There was some people upstairs," she finally said. "That's why we came down here. Sabrina said it wasn't safe for me to talk to them."

She frowned.

"...But then we met you," she slowly said. "So I guess I talked to people anyways!"

Mykel smiled yet again. Kids always had an effect on him. They were typically much more imaginative and magically inclined than people of his own age. More fun to teach, and amusing to have conversations with. The way they came to conclusions was adorable, you could always see them thinking through the questions they were asked.

"Could you lead us to them? We might be able to find our way home if we can talk to others."

Mary faltered. It seemed like a very good idea, but Sabrina had said not to talk to anyone. She glanced down at the doll in her arms and gave her a questioning look.

"It's alright," Sabrina said. "We could can go back - it probably is a good idea to talk to the other people here."

Mary gave a big nod, then looked expectantly up at the boy. "Sabrina says I can!" Before any more comments could be made on anyone's part, Mary marched out of the doors and up the staircase right beside the room.

Julia stared unblinkingly at the thing Raptor was drawing. It looked oddly like the stuff her friend -- Imogen -- would draw when she was focused or was doodling on the side of her notebook in class.

She sat on one of the desk chairs closest to Raptor. "Please tell me you're not just doodling." she said, looking at the back of Raptor's head.

He paused and looked over at her.

"I'm not," he reassured her - his tone confident and assertive. "I said I could show that magic exists, and I intend to prove it - what I'm going to do isn't as easy to brush aside as light."

Mykel and Reggie hurriedly followed the little girl down the hallway, Mykel holding his bag and Reggie holding the blanket tightly around him, still clinging on to his lover's hand. The staircase creaked beneath them.



June was perplexed, and a little bit hurt if she was honest with herself. Her magic may seem powerless, but it had it's uses. What was he doing anyway? She studied the symbols as best as she could from the chair, trying to place where she had seen them if she ever had at all.

It didn't take Mary long to climb the stairs - even if she was a little tired by the end of the climb. Grinning and holding Sabrina close, she marched back into the room she had been in earlier.

The people from the hallway were in it, now. Mary wasn't worried. Sabrina said it was alright, so Mary thought it was alright too. Still, she had to get a good first impression of everyone. She looked at them all with a serious, critical eye. There were two girls, a boy, and-

The armor hunched over the ground moved.

Mary's eyes widened.

"Sabrina," she whispered, "there's a knight."


Raptor had just finished his second pentacle when he noticed that someone else had joined the group. He noticed the newcomer even before the first word was spoken - he heard the small, quiet footsteps.

He started to get up right before they spoke.

Then he very, very slowly turned, a sinking feeling settling in his chest.

There was a little girl standing in the doorway with a very creepy doll.

He froze.

Raptor wasn't able to hear what she said to the doll. He just heard words be uttered, and saw the way she fixed her gaze on him. He just barely managed to muster the courage to look through the planes. Bartimaeus shouldn't have known how terrible he was with horror movies, but it seemed like a Bartimaeus stunt-

The girl was normal.

Her doll wasn't, though. Something was wrong about it. Like something spread out from it in waves - an aura of some kind - but it didn't have a definite shape. Raptor tried to move, but he couldn't find the strength to.

All he could do was stare right back at her.

And he couldn't shake the feeling that the doll was staring at him, too.

Julia's eyes landed on the girl. Knight? She looked around at everyone in he classrom and decided the only one who actually looked like a knight would have been Raptor.

Then she saw the doll. It sent chills up her spine. It looked as if... she shook he thought away, trying to make it as unreal as possible. Cautiously, she went up to the little girl and crouched down beside her, giving her a crooked smile. "Hey, kid. What's your name?" she asked.