Jacks School of Shines Read online

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  A.C.E. PRODUCTIONS! 2010 news/media /films

  Over 20 published and unpublished works to be made into films.

  (Producer Amy C. Chapman)

  In 2009 A.C.E. PRODUCTIONS "Magical Woods".

  A.C.E. PRODUCTIONS Website Sci-Fi/Mystery 'MAGICAL WOODS'

  Production starts in 2010 "Alana Weatherbee"

  Indie. Movies.

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  Harrah, Oklahoma US Cleopatra Perry Productions:

  "Ally Grows up" and "Her eyes are in Hitler's Graveyard".

  Jacks School of Shines

  By Jack Sorenson

  ©2010 Jack Sorenson

  [email protected]

  Smashwords edition

  978-1-4523-8057-5

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo-copying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the author.

  Dedication

  I'd like to give a special thank you to a wonderful lady, Magnolia Belle at Black Wolf Books. The many long hours of editing this manuscript and of making my very first book trailer show her great knowledge.

  At the end of this book's completion, in my own experience, I felt reassured that my work was edited professionally and was in good hands. Magnolia Belle identifies with the person's exact feelings and needs about their own work. Belle will not convince you to change, but gives a guiding hand in each step along the way. If you have had to deal with the inside of a publishing company before, you will find working with Magnolia Belle a rewarding experience!

  A huge thank you goes out to those who believe in Magic - and me: to Mother and to Father, my dear friends Ralph and Sue - thank you for your understanding kindness standing by my side with reassurances and praises, and to Eibhlin and Tom for hearing the ramblings of book blurbs weekly only to respond with cheerfulness and reassuring congratulations.

  Table of Contents

  Foreword

  Ch. 1: Death Spells

  Ch. 2: Headmaster Barns

  Ch. 3: The Wizard’s Light

  Ch. 4: Bluebird

  Ch. 5: Crazy Brooms

  Ch. 6: The Headmaster Did Know

  Ch. 7: The Fire Pit

  Ch. 8: The Flames of Terra

  Ch. 9: The Evil Goblin

  Ch. 10: The Forgotten Forest

  Ch. 11: Hunter’s Predicament

  Ch. 12: Kah’la

  Ch. 13: Crossroads Landing

  Ch. 14: Babbling Words

  Ch. 15: The Queen Spider

  Ch. 16: Into the Darkness

  Ch. 17: Don’t Speak of It

  Ch. 18: The Looking Glass

  Ch. 19: The Goblin’s Office

  Ch. 20: The Dragon Vine

  Ch. 21: Catered

  Ch. 22: Shadow People

  Ch. 23: Dragon Realm

  Ch. 24: The Charm of Return

  Ch. 25: Eibhlin’s Coming Back

  Ch. 26: A Great Discussion

  Foreword

  It's a journey of five Wizard boys from Jacks School of Shines Witchcraft and Wizardry. Colin and his schoolmates, Tom, John, Riley and Hunter, embark on a quest to find and fight the Dark and Evil that came one day to school and killed Headmaster Robert Barns, the one who all students looked up to as the greatest wizard around. Close to graduating, the five boys are the best of their ages in class studies. The boys get struck by the "Wizard Light" that comes out of the Headmaster's chest once the killing dagger plunged into him. Did the men who came on that horrible day and took his life change the school forever?

  Great magic will be needed for the boys to fight the Dark and Evil. The emanation of what is real and what is magic lives on through Colin.

  The School of Shines is huge, but virtually unknown even to the wizardry world. The school is located in a remote area: Wales. The Headmaster, Robert Barns, knows all too well what is in store for all.

  Wizards are dangerous and mysterious. They have mighty powers; casting spells with nothing more than a gesture and a word, or conducting elaborate rituals that produce hidden results. They control the forces of the world but often stand back from it, alone and withdrawn. They are the ultimate image of mankind's desire to control his surroundings - willpower and wisdom made human.

  Magic is as old as thought. It comes from the same ideas that created the beginnings of religion in the minds of our earliest ancestors - the destructive power of fire, the awesome displays of fierce weather, or the exceptional luck in the hunt. It is fascinating to imagine that the forces of the universe can be controlled with either a thought or a word. Many of us would love to live in a world - a mysterious and exciting world hidden behind ours, that can reach out and save us - where men and women of power can perform such supernatural marvels… It's a tempting idea.

  Of course, even within the world of the wizard, only a very special few have the potential to master the forces of magic. It takes willpower, intelligence, persistent effort and solid belief. If everyone could learn, then everyone would - wizards are rare, and that means it's difficult to become one.

  Chapter 1: Death Spells

  Whirling at the noise behind me, I ducked behind the large oak. The wand blast sent bark and leaves spraying over my face. Blinking once, I ducked and returned fire, a streak of green light hitting the Dark Robe in the chest. Making sure he stayed down, I stepped out, my lungs heaving, my wand held straight.

  This one who lay by my feet struggled to point his wand one more time at me. As I said my last spell, the light from my cast wand brightened the sky. My wand gave him freedom to go back to his black realm.

  Though winded from this fight, I had no choice but to run through the night while more Dark Robes followed me. I surprised them and stood my ground, sensing them around me. Spell after spell blasted through my wand, and the Dark Robes burst into flame or fell mortally wounded, or disintegrated into the ether.

  Victorious, I moved on, alone. I had come so far; I refused to give up. My meager attempts at fighting back the Dark and Evil were the best I could do for a young Wizard fresh from the School of Shines Witchcraft and Wizardry.

  In a few months, my friends and I would have graduated. We learned the school pledge to say on that special day, but we couldn’t. We took a murderous new pledge to fight this evil to the last one of us.

  The wizard world couldn’t sleep because the Dark and Evil grew strong. It swept the land and the people. Temptation to join the Dark and Evil came over one quickly for it was a powerful spell.

  I needed to find shelter on this cold night, and take time to reflect and rest. Finding an old run down shack outside of Miracles Meadows, I sat by the warm glow of the fireplace. Night had fallen and I made this home. It became my only warmth and light, for the cold entered my body. Great wizards and their families must have lived here before the dark came. This part of the meadows was a good place to raise a family.

  Writing a few lines on parchment, I imagined Eibhlin sneaking out at night to walk alone in the forest, calling with the Summoning Forward spell. She’d call to the wind until the parchment floated gracefully through the trees and tall grass to her open hand.

  I heard the far away whistle of the northbound train blow through the open boards of this old shack. It was a godsend to hear. The loneliness grew long if one couldn’t sleep. To sit by the open fire and think also brought comfort. Through the cracks in the roof planks, I marveled at the purple sky, so bright on this night. Breathtaking, I thought to my lonely self and recalled happier times in my life. I started to doze off from the warm glow of the fire, almost dropping the quill that Eibhlin gave to me, when I heard foo
tsteps on the porch. The creaking boards told me someone was out there.

  I jumped out of this old chair and looked for my wand. It sat on the table next to a can of cold beans and a pile of dried gooseberries, my supper. When a spark of ember flew through the air, I grabbed my wand and felt the sorcerer’s power. With it in my hand, I felt braver now.

  Standing along the window, I peered out into the dark. Another squeak sounded on the front porch. I stepped heel to toe to ensure I made not a sound. Looking out the broken window, I felt the wind’s chill on my face and chest. Hoping to see who or what caused the noise, I only saw a firefly buzzing back and forth by the ripped screen.

  The front door behind me blew open. A sorcerer’s blast lit up the room, a major black wand blast from someone unknown, and hit my empty chair. I flipped onto the floor and rolled to the opening where the door blew apart. The flash of the flares and sparks went silently past my face. I felt I was deaf for I only saw the flash.

  Running to the open door, I discovered Mr. Gustavo from the store where I bought my can of beans earlier this evening. Why, I thought, why would he of all people want to harm me, unless the Dark and Evil lay inside him, too?

  I yelled, “Wait!” before I pointed my wand and cast a blast spell I knew all to well. “Lumpiness” and “mento” went straight at him through a trunk of a large tree he hid behind.

  My cast laid a blow into his chest and landed him on his back. I ran up to him and looked at his wand — black, the same as all the others. I left him lying there till the others found him. My casting was only to disarm him. If not for the tree trunk in the way, he would lay fifty feet back.

  I went inside the shack. In my anger at what just happened, sweat dripped off my forehead. My chest took a huge breath to steady my hand. I wrote a letter to Eibhlin.

  Eibhlin,

  I hope this finds you and everyone at the school well. You, especially, are constantly in my thoughts. I have nothing new to say except the attacks are becoming more frequent. I’ve heard nothing of the others and hope they’ve made it back to you.

  I cannot trust anyone in this part of the forest. After tonight, the rest of the goblins and men will know where to look for me. I must move on.

  Yours,

  Colin

  I gathered up my bag and remaining pieces of parchments and the quill. I threw the brown leather knapsack over my shoulder as I done a thousand of times at school. I’d carried it all these years while I went carefree to school. I came across the glob flopping around on the bottom of that bag, a reminder of my friend, a gift Tom gave to me our second year at Christmas. I thought as I walked into the cold night, of how it all came to be all those long months ago.

  * * *

  Headmaster Robert Barns, replying to a discussion on charms, pulled a lock of hair from a nearby student who happened to be me, Colin. Taking the lock between his fingers and saying the charm “binomial nomenclature,” my right hand froze, making me drop my school books. Barns, having a wee bit of fun and games with me, also spoke the magical words “aspro” and “lefko,” which wafted my books back to my hand.

  Candles, dimmed by hours of use, flickered against the gray stoned walls of the School of Shines, casting memory-filled shadows across the room. He and the other school professors chuckled at my expense.

  Many young witches and wizards attended the School of Shines. It was a fitting way for a young girl or boy to get their education in the arts of wizardry and witchcraft. However, countless months later, evil took hold.

  He placed Death Spells in a deer horn cup in the guise of a Little Whinnying spell, a silly spell used in children’s games and in teasing. Leaving behind his Death Spell potion, he did the only thing he could — he ran.

  Hidden evil, little moods before daylight cursed Ezards, knowing his regrets could bring him to his knees. It was one of the reasons he drank so much…so that the dreams wouldn’t come and spoil this night for him. However, murder to become headmaster was tough enough to endure. The darkened gray of his eyes told him the dreams were no longer melancholy, but much more sinister and heartbreaking.

  “It is done.” Ezards kept his eyes looking at the ground. “The Headmaster will be too sick to fight.”

  “You are certain?” the Evil Goblin growled.

  “My poison has yet to fail.”

  “Good. Good.” A purr of contentment left the goblin’s throat. “You may go.”

  “But my reward? You promised!” Ezards made the mistake of looking into his master’s red eyes.

  “You really think I’d let you be Headmaster!” The bald green head tilted back and a vicious laugh felt like a slap on Ezards’ face. “Get him out of my sight.”

  * * *

  Sitting behind his desk, Headmaster Robert Barns sipped his deer horn cup of tea. A dizzying mix of herb tea and whiskey touched the edges of his throat and he stifled the cough rising from deep within his lungs. Raking a shaky hand through his twisted matte of sweat soaked black hair, he closed his eyes to block out the reality of his day and the illness tightening around his chest.

  He hadn’t had the best of summers. After that, school had been regaled by many early winter storms. A wizard’s fiasco, the Ministry had been involved in a virtual tug of war between the high seas drenching the school and the powerful winds hitting the village below.

  The world was cold, colder than he had ever felt it before. The darkness of cold crawled under his skin and latched onto his bones, chasing away hope that any warmth would come. The thick gray blanket of clouds covered the sky so the world seemed just black and white. From the positive aspect, the ocean waves in the distance looked colorless, except for the hint of blue that shimmered from the tiniest hole in the sky’s blanket. The waves came in, fought hard against the rocks’ surface, and quietly surrendered, only to return. As monotonous as this may have been, it played a symphony of magic that Barns wished — at that moment — could somehow be even more beautiful.

  The School of Shines laid near the ocean, quiet and serene, a complete contradiction to the symphony of the waves. The cobblestone streets below lay empty and the windows to the shops and houses closed tight, bracing for the imminent storm.

  Chapter 2: Headmaster Barns

  I am Colin, the head student here. I stood at the largest window in the school’s ballroom, watching this black and white picture. Unlike anything I’d ever seen before, the storm’s haunting passion captivated me in every way.

  I could stand and stare at the view of the outside for hours, watching the colorless waves coming and going, watching the birds try to take shelter from the school’s rain gutters overflowing to the cottages below. The clouds seemed to grow in size every minute, and I felt the excitement of them as the thunder rumbled inside. I knew it was odd magic a brewing. The whole world seemed a beautiful mess, and that made me realize my life was about to change.

  The storm grew into a massive hurricane. The wind picked up through the trees, and the lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating every corner of the ballroom. Thunder rumbled and shook the walls. I felt like I’d been shaken, too. I watched the rain plummet to the earth, creating rivers in the cobblestone streets of the village leading to the school’s south gate, and giant mudslides on the hill where the school’s library stood. Nevertheless, the village below remained quiet and still; no one walked the streets in this dangerous weather. I smiled, glad that the school and village below would still be there in the morning.

  In this storm, the mountains created darkness, and thunder hit the ground below, needing to destroy something. This weather acted like Nature already mourned for Headmaster Barns. The storm told me my headmaster didn’t have much time left, but I still hoped.

  My headmaster became ill, so ill that I believed it was almost his time of passing. I feared that either tonight or tomorrow would be the last breath my headmaster would ever take. I didn’t wish for this. In fact, I always assumed that the headmaster was immortal. The great magic he presented showed e
veryone so. After all, he achieved peace throughout the Three Kingdoms of Dark and Evil, when everyone said it couldn’t be done. He ended the one hundred-year war against the Patale Kingdom, and bonded them to a treaty that warfare would never again be an answer to their opposition. His magic and wand mastery were well known to be the best. I truly believed that my headmaster was a great hero, and amongst many, a divine being who could never surrender to Death.

  Nevertheless, I was wrong, and that feeling settled in my stomach and made me nauseated. Day by day, the students went to their appointed classes, worrying about who would run the school. The great wizard Robert Barns worried most of all.

  I was losing the one person I thought understood me, a mentor I’d looked up to since my birth. Headmaster Barns was born and raised in a dark, crumbling castle in the middle of an enchanted forest. Fortunately, his father, a mighty sorcerer by the name of Shines, held the castle together by a plethora of spells. I knew of his history and helped in the dictation to journal his life. Barns was never sure if that was his father’s true name or one he had taken for reasons of image, but he had always liked the name; it sounded impressive. His mother died when he was three, barely old enough to remember the kind and brave woman. She was killed whilst hunting cougar’s charms that came to the castle. Barns and his father lived alone in that dark and crumbling place. Oh, and the many ghostly visitors.

  Surrounding kingdoms knew of Shines’ knowledge and power. More days than not saw all manners of folk begging at the castle for spells and potions and charms. Shines was a pleasant man and always happy for the business. True wizards did their magic on consignment.