Pit-pat-pit-pat.
The rain drummed on the window. Crestle, absentmindedly swiping the dark chocolate brown hair from his coal-colored eyes, vaguely realized that the drops of rain were intersecting each other, creating a crystal web.
"Crestle!" shouted his sister, Prin. Her coal-colored eyes shone brightly with annoyance at her brother. "If you're not paying attention, you'll fail the test and say bye-bye to your summer break before your senior year!" Crestle sighed and turned his attention back to Prin.
"Fine, what was the question again?"
Prin groaned and massaged the space between her brows before speaking.
"What was one of the main causes of the Civil War?"
"...The issue of slavery because of debates over its constitutionality that later escalated to violence?" said Crestle tentatively.
Prin looked at him sternly. "Was that a question or an answer?" she snapped. Crestle hated it when she snapped.
"Answer," said Crestle firmly. Prin's stern face softened.
"Correct," she replied, as she shuffled the index cards in her hands.
"Kids!" hollered their mother, Sara, from downstairs, "time for dinner!"
"Coming!" yelled the teens in unison. They ran down the stairs and dashed to the dining table. Their eyes sparkled at what was on it. Dinner was juicy steak with a side of mashed potato and fruit salad with peppermint leaves. The family ate ravenously. Afterward, they had a dessert of fruit that looked crystallized by sugar. Just as the family was finished with dessert, someone pounded on the door. The children's father, Wren, cautiously walked to the door and opened it. The children's mother moved in front of the children just in case whoever knocked on the door was a threat.
After a few muffled words being exchanged, Wren exclaimed, "I don't have any more business with you, Draconus, and I will never again. Get out. OUT!" He then slammed the door shut. Crestle and Prin turned towards their mother, seeking comfort from the unsettling situation, only to see that her face was as pale as a ghost. Sara called out to her husband.
"Wren? Please don't tell me that…"
Wren looked at Sara.
"It was. Hopefully, our comrades can save our children before it is too late."
Sara now looked at her children.
"Crestle, Prin, go to your rooms," she said, her eyes full of worry. Wren ran to the kitchen and came back with knapsacks. He gave Crestle and Prin knapsacks filled with food and pockets on the outside to hold a couple of other additional items.
"Go, my children," he said, "Two people will come to your room and tap on it 3 times. They must say this word: Grinhaven."
Sara looked at her children with sympathy.
"You two are so young. Still, we should've told you the situation earlier than this day." Tears leaked out of her eyes as she gently patted the cheeks of her two children. "Hustle up to your room now, Prin and Crestle."
Wren extended his arms and grabbed his children in a tight embrace. "We will see each other again. I promise."
With those parting words, he pushed the two towards the stairs. Prin and Crestle ran up to their room and closed the door.
Crestle looked out the window. The rain was now a drizzle. Prin looked around the room and started packing a few of her personal belongings. Crestle did likewise. Suddenly, someone pounded on their window. Crestle's head snapped around to look behind him. Two people, a boy with cat ears and a girl with glasses, peered through the window.
"Password?" Prin cried out valiantly.
"Grinhaven." the girl said, barely audible as she said that with a window in between her and the two teenagers in the room.
Crestle looked at Prin.
"Do we open the window?"
Prin shrugged.
"We don't have a choice. That girl said the password."
Prin opened the window. The window was big enough to fit an adult if they crouched down. Prin went out first. Crestle looked around the room one last time.
"Goodbye, for now, I hope," he said to the room as if it was alive. The mysterious girl and boy leaped down from the roof of Prin and Crestle's house, which was only one-story high. Prin and Crestle followed the girl and boy and jumped off of the roof. The girl waved her hand in front of her and a swirling void the color of the brightest red opened in thin air.
The cat-eared boy looked at Prin and Crestle.
"Step through," he instructed.
Crestle and Prin heard someone open the front door of their house and threatening voices. A scream rang out from the house. Prin gasped, looked through the portal with sadness and anxiety in her eyes, and ran through the portal. The boy with cat ears followed suit. The girl with glasses went in the portal after him and Crestle hurriedly went through the void last.
Before the portal closed, a hand attempted to grab Crestle's arm before Crestle was plunged into complete darkness. The hand never got Crestle, nor did Crestle ever realize that he was almost caught.
Soon, light shone brightly in Crestle's eyes as the portal reopened to a lush, green meadow with a majestic castle-looking structure on top of a hill. Prin, the girl, and the boy were all waiting for him.
"Welcome to the Academy of Magick," said the boy.
As Crestle stared in awe, he thought to himself, with sudden shock and anxiety, 'How did it become like this? A few moments ago, I was looking at raindrops'. He pulled himself together quickly and walked towards the group in front of him, attempting to mentally prepare himself for whatever is to come.
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