Chapter 1 - The Amulet of Fortune
Sometimes it’s hard to read people. Sometimes, people don’t want to be read, but if somehow people could read minds they would know what someone’s thinking. Luckily for me I can read minds. I’m Dani Mizuko and I go to school here at Woodstock Academy with my three closest friends. Saamoki, Dakota, Naomi, and I know our ways around Woodstock Academy, since I am the only daughter of the headmistress, Jeromie Mizuko. Although, what happens to us on the 3rd day of every month, is a story that you must figure out on your own.
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“Dani!” A tall girl shouted as she rushed up to me, slightly breathing deeply.
I turned around, my long brown curly hair slapping my face as I turned. I looked at the girl that wasn’t much younger then myself and gave her a welcoming smile. “Saamoki, what’s up?”
Saamoki caught her last breath and then pointed in the direction of Woodstock Academy. “Jeromie wants you.” She said as she walked up to me more and placed her hands on my shoulders. “It’s about you-know-what.” She said as she took her hands off my shoulders and got behind me and pushed my back towards the enormous school.
I nodded my head and jumped away from her pulling my small skirt down a bit and wiping the dirt off my shirt. “Ok, I get it. No need to push.” I started walking towards the school, approaching the entrance and walking through the corridor; I headed for the stairs and started up them until I got on the 3rd floor. Once I got to the 3rd floor I turned right to see a tall old door at the end of the hall. Once I approached it I lifted my right hand in hesitation and was fixing to knock on it before I got interrupted.
“Come in, Dani.” Jeromie said as the door opened, looking as if it opened by itself. She was sitting behind a wood mahogany desk writing in what looks like a small journal of some sort. “Thank you for coming so quickly. Knowing you I was expecting you to take hours.” She ranted on as she placed her quill pin in the bottle of ink she was using, then standing up to face me, her teenage daughter.
I let out a long sigh with a sweat drop coming off the side of my head. Jeez, Jeromie could be so rude sometimes. I know that she is my foster mother, but I don’t take that long…do I? “Yes, mom I know but Saamoki told me that you need to speak about,”
“Oh yes, yes. Come have a seat and shut the door behind you please?” She said as she scoped her clean dress pants back in her hands as she sat back in her black big chair. The chair was taller than she was, no one knew why she needed one bigger then her, but it didn’t matter.
I turned around and reached behind me to grab hold of the ancient door knob hanging out of the door, before the door moved and closed shut before I got a chance to even lay a finger on it. I straightened my back and let out another sigh walking over to the leather, green chairs that sat abandoned in front of Jeromie’s desk. I don’t see why I get freaked out every time magic happens. I’ve been growing up with this practically all my life; I should be used to it by now.
Jeromie slightly lifted her head with her glasses at the very edge of her nose. She cleared her throat; looking back down at her journal, then back up at me with a worried look. “Dani, you know how we have a ‘special gift’?”
I gave a slight nod to her question, pondering where this was leading.
“Well your cousin, Phillip was just killed yesterday.” Jeromie said sitting straight up folding her hands over the desk looking at me with sad, horrified eyes. “He was told to have held a precious air loom of our ancestors,”
I looked at her with beaty, sad eyes curious of what she was going to say next. “And?”
“Well, we need you to retrieve it, and bring it home back safe and sound.” Jeromie dropped the bomb on me, picking up the journal she had been writing and throwing it at me, making it land on my lap with a big thud that followed. “It’s called the Amulet of Fortune. It’s told that if someone wanted anything they desired and wished upon this amulet their wish would come true, but something has to be given back to obtain the wish.”
My breath disappeared like I got a blow to the chest. I looked at the journal and then back at Jeromie, with fear flowing within my body. “W-What do you have to give back to the amulet?” I asked as I stared back at the journal, running my fingers over it admiring the black leather and the gold trimming. At the bottom right corner of the book there was gold initials engraved in the mysterious book, reading P.S.M for Phillip Sulfur Mizuko.
“Life.”
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“So you have to retrieve the Amulet of Fortune?” Another one of my friends asked. She was always smiling, laughing and having fun hanging out with others. Her dirty blonde hair came down straight, and then waved once it got down at the bottom. She had blue hazel eyes that most people mistake for green most of the time. She was holding her books in her right hand off to her side and her shoulder bag on her left shoulder dangling towards the ground. Her name was Dakota Nakayama.
“Yes, and I have to use this to find out where it’s hidden.” I said as I reached over into my bag, digging into it and pulling out a black leather book with the word journal written in the top middle and initials written at the bottom.
Another one of my friends was standing next to Dakota, her brown medium hair as straight as a stick falling over her shoulders. Her personality was the most simple, energetic, hyper, and friendly; most like all teenagers these days. Her hand reached out and grabbed the book from mine, observing the features and opening it, skimming through the pages quickly. “Awesome! It’s like one of those action scavenger hunts!”
Saamoki was standing by me, slightly behind me within 2 inches. She let out a sigh and pulled her hand up to meet her forehead, holding it like she had a migraine. “Yes, it’s like one of those adventures, Naomi. It’s not like we’re going to get to go.”
My eyes concentrated on a pillar connecting to the school ground and ceiling making sure it doesn’t cave in. My thoughts wandered to earlier today when Jeromie was talking to me about the Amulet of Fortune.
X Flash Back X
My eyes widened at the thought of the Amulet, and how it takes your life. “H-How is it possible for someone to grant a wish for themselves and then die? It’s not like it’s going to matter they would be dead!” I said looking up at Jeromie with disbelieving eyes.
Jeromie’s eyes flicked to my face, never taking them off me. “It’s for if you want to make a wish for someone else, Dani. If someone is dying or is sick and fixing to die, then you can use it. Or if someone is in a tight bind with money, then you can wish for that too, thus giving your life to the Amulet and you dying.” She said as she scrambled to her drawer on the left and pulled out a piece of cloth, then handing it to me. “This will guarantee your safety on the journey. If you wear it and you are surrounded by enemies or something near that it will create a barrier around you or anyone good. Also when you get close near the Amulet of fortune it will glow a lighter red. Tie it in your hair for better results of the barrier.”
I lifted the ribbon up over my hand, looking at it, seeing how silky the touch of it was. I lifted it over my head bring both hands over my hair and tying it around it into a ponytail.
“Also,” Jeromie stated with her finger in the air with a kitty looking smile spread across her face. “You can take up to seven people with you on your Journey. So pick the people wisely, you don’t want anyone that you will fight with along the way.”
X End of Flash Back X
“Dani, Dani are you ok?” Dakota asked moving her hand in front of my face, seeing if I was still alive, or functioning properly.
“Huh? Oh yea I’m fine, I just was thinking of something Mom had said,” I said shaking my head out of concentration and flicking it towards Dakota’s direction. A light bulb flickered in my head and a grin started forming on my face, making me look like the Grinch from that one Christmas movie. “Hey, do you guys want to go on the journey with me. It would be quit lonely just being me.”
The three girls looked at each other, some shaking their heads and some shrugging in acceptance. “Sure.” They said in unison as they looked back at me.
“Perfect.” I said as I grabbed the journal from Naomi and stuffing it back in my bag, my eyes glowing red from excitement.
