Chapter 1

The Alchemyst's Apprentice

 

"Hey! Yzrael, don't be late at the enrolment." Jam Henderson is video-chatting with his friends on Facebook. This was always there past-time together, since they're houses are far away from each other.

"Yeah, yeah." Yzrael said while doing something that Jam could not see what it is. "And…When is that?"

"Today! At 4!" Kayla shouted.

Everyone winced at the voice of Kayla. Yzrael and Avril removed their headphones quickly. Jam only moved backwards because he was using his speakers rather than headphones. "You don't have to shout!" Yzrael said. Kayla just smiled at him.

"So, the usual meeting place?" Jam asked to his three friends.

"Yup!" the three said in unison.

After their conversation, Jam got up to his chair and out to his room to prepare for the enrolment later. He took a shower and got dressed. He went to his bathroom to fix his hair. While looking at the mirror he notice that there is a letter, just above the sink. He opened it and it says:

Go to Pioneer Park, San Francisco, after your enrolment.

-J

P.S. Only one of them can you bring.

-M

After reading the letter, he then realizes that he was almost late. He put the letter in his pocket and went straight to door to go to school.

Kayla is walking down the street to go to school. Kayla's house is near California State University—their school. So she always walks to school even though she can take a bus. While walking, she noticed a puppy at the middle of the street. And she also saw a car that is about to run over the puppy. She run as fast as she can and pushed the puppy out of the way. But now, she is the one that will be hit by the car. She screamed and shielded her eyes, because she saw something very shiny. Right before she closed her eyes, she saw that the thing is not shiny, but glowing. And she smelled a sudden odor of vanilla ice cream in the air. And the color of the glow is silver. Then she hears the tires screeching.

After a few seconds wondering if she is dead, she opens her eyes and saw that the car has stopped. She can't find the reason why it stopped or where the silver thing she saw earlier went. But when she looked down, she saw a letter on the ground. Realizing that some of the people in town were watching her, she picked up the letter quickly and run away.

Thirty minutes passed three o'clock, and as usual, Yzrael is still preparing to go to school. He just finished taking a shower, when he heard the doorbell rang. He goes downstairs and opens the door and saw no one. He looks down and saw a letter at the doorstep. He picked it up and looked at the address label. He can't find the name of who send the letter, but he did found out that the letter is from Paris, France. He opened it and it says:

Go to the San Francisco Bridge after your enrolment.

His cellphone then rang. He picked it up and answered it. "Hello?"

"Where are you?!" Kayla shouted. Yzrael removed his phone at his ear. "At my house." Yzrael answered. "It's almost four and you're at your house?!" Yzrael did not answer. He heard Kayla sighed and said, "Just hurry, ok?" "Okay." Yzrael put his phone in his pocket. He then looked at the letter again and then throws it inside his house. He then ran to his car and drove to school.

Jam entered the gates of the school and went to their usual meeting place—their bench at the school's garden. It's not really their bench but they always sit there every time they are having their lunch or have a vacant period. He saw Avril sitting on the bench. He waved his hand and smiled at Avril. Avril smiled back and offered a sit.

"Hey…" Jam said.

"Hey…" Avril said.

"You know? The weirdest thing happened to me earlier." Jam said.

"What?" Avril asked.

"I got this…" Jam showed her the letter he got earlier. "…in my bathroom sink."

Avril looked at it wondering what it is. She know it's a letter but what's in it? And why Jam found it at his bathroom sink. The letter looks like it's made from old parchment paper. Finally, Avril asked. "What's that?"

"I have no idea." Jam said.

"Did you open it?"

"Yes." Jam answered. "It's says that I have to go to Pioneer Park, at San Francisco later."

"Who send it to you and why do you have to go there?"

"It does not said whose it from, but I think his/her initial is J…or M"

"Why two initials?"

"I really don't know."

They stared at the letter wondering what it really is. Then, Kayla showed up.

"Hey!" Kayla shouted.

"What?" Avril said.

"You two would not believe what I've been through today." Kayla said.

"What?" Jam asked.

"It's scary and weird." Kayla shuddered at the thought of what happened to her.

Avril and Jam looked at each other and they know that they're thinking the same thing—nothing will be weirder than what they were talking about. And they were wrong.

"I almost got hit by a car and got this." Kayla showed the letter she found on the ground after she almost got hit by the car.

"Have you read it?" Avril asked.

"Not yet." Kayla said. "I'm not sure I'm going to read it." Minutes have past that they're just staring at the letter and not talking. "Hey, before I forgot." Kayla said. "Where the heck is Yzrael?"

"I haven't seen him." Avril said. Jam nodded in approval. Kayla immediately grabs her phone from her pocket to call Yzrael. She shouted at the phone telling Yzrael to hurry up.

Fifteen minutes have passed, but still Yzrael is nowhere to be found. Kayla grabbed her phone again to call Yzrael, but Yzrael grabbed her phone to close it.

"Nice timing, Yzrael." Jam said.

"Yeah, if I haven't closed the phone immediately, I will have another screaming session with Kayla." Yzrael said. Kayla punched Yzrael's shoulder. "Yeah, if you're late again, something worse than a screaming session will happen to you."

"Okay, enough fighting." Avril said. "Let's go inside, we're already late."

"All thanks to you!" Kayla said while looking at Yzrael.

All of them went inside their school and have gone to the room where the enrolment is happening. The enrolment went smoothly, even though they are late. The last step of enrolment is registration for a school club.

"I really don't want to join a club." Kayla said.

"Me too, but I'm afraid that we are required to join." Jam said.

They went to the end of the line to get this over with. The person who is in-charged for the registration is Dr. Harold Rex. People usually call him Dr. Rex. Thirty minutes haves passed and Yzrael's turn to register for a club, next is Jam, then Kayla, and last is Avril. Avril wrote her student information in the form. Dr. Rex was looking at the form while Avril was writing. When Avril is writing her student number, Dr Rex's eyes widen at the sight of Avril's student number.

"Is something wrong, Sir Rex?" Avril said.

"Uhmm…nothing. Please continue." Dr Rex said.

After Avril finished writing her information, Dr Rex said, "You should have this.", then gave her a letter—the same letter that Kayla and Jam got. Avril slowly reached for it, because she is thinking if she should take it. Dr. Rex hand it to her before Avril can reach it. Then the four of them leave the room.

"Wow, you got one too." Jam said.

"You want to open it?" Kayla asked.

"Not yet. Maybe later." Avril said while staring at her letter. Jam is also staring at her letter then he remembered about his letter.

"I forgot, my letter is telling me to go to the Pioneer Park right after the enrolment." Jam said.

"That's in San Francisco, right?" Yzrael said.

"Yeah, I think so." Jam said.

"I'm coming with you." Yzrael said.

"Why?"

"Because that's where I'm supposed to be going—at the San Francisco bridge." Yzrael reached a piece of an old parchment paper from his pocket.

"You've got one too?!" Kayla asked.

"Yup." Yzrael said. "I really don't care about it, but since Jam is going, might as well go too."

"Jam, can I come?" Kayla said.

"Sorry, but my letter specifically said that only one person could join me." Jam said.

Kayla stomp her foot in anger. She looked at Yzrael and said, "Don't do anything stupid."

"Yeah…yeah…" Yzrael said.

They said goodbye to Kayla and Avril and leave the school. They drove for an hour because of heavy traffic. "Man, who does she think she is? My mother?" Yzrael said while driving. Jam chuckled at the thought. "Don't worry too much about Kayla. She just cares about you." "Again, why? She's not my mother?" Jam laughed. "Oh, Yzrael, honestly, you're that insensitive?" Yzrael was about to answer, but he stopped the car because they have arrived at the Pioneer Park.

"Well, this is your stop." Yzrael said.

"I will see you at San Francisco Bridge later." Jam said. Yzrael nodded and closed the door of the car and drove away.

Jam walk at the Pioneer Park wondering who will meet with him and where. Tired of looking for the person to meet, he just sat at a bench and wait. After a few minutes, a man covered with a brown cloth with a hood sat on the bench. Jam could not see his face because of the hood. But he saw the bright blue eyes in the man's face. He didn't even know if he is a man, until he spoke:

"You need to listen carefully. Because after this, your world will never be the same again."

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