Alyssa played the video she’d made for the upcoming teen film festival. If she submitted it, she would earn five extra points to add to her 70 in math. That would allow her to drop the mandatory extra-help class for students with final scores less than a 75.

She watched the clip, experiencing watery eyes when she heard herself discussing losing her parents in a car crash when she was seven and other tragic events in her life. It concluded with how those times had shaped her into the person she was today, Friday, June 10th, 2011. She exported the project and would upload it to the festival’s site later. The deadline was not until 

Monday, 7 P.M. So, after this, she could focus on the end-of-middle-school sleepover that would happen today.

But the screen froze, and a small popup stated, “Cannot export file.”

“Huh?”

How could a two-month-old device encounter issues already? Alyssa had had to wait until her last birthday, in April, and needed to maintain good grades at school to get her own computer. She recalled what her godfather, Alex, had told her in February after her math substitute had informed him about her scores dropping. “Alyssa, if you don’t get your grades up in math, you might not earn that laptop.” He loved and cared for her like a daughter yet shared no blood relation to her family members. She’d lived with him since turning thirteen last year.

Her breathing caught at the popup—a new model should not have a virus already. But she told herself, I’m fourteen and am going to start high school this fall. I can fix this.

The computer turned itself off, closed itself, and crushed Alyssa’s fingers.

“Ow!” she cried.

The device slid off her lap and under her bed. She looked underneath it—without warning, dust blew onto her, covering her petite body.

She coughed as the soot settled. Then she brushed the dirt off her black shirt and its straps on her narrow shoulders, followed by her short shorts and skin. She shook bits out of her straight, pale-blonde hair, which fell a few inches below her hips.

She’d dealt with enough sorcery already, once last year in March and again this past fall. 

However, neither she nor anybody in her life possessed magic in their blood. From age eight until two springs ago, she’d believed that magic hadn’t existed.

She had interacted with a few magicians when dealing with supernatural situations that no one as young as she should have to experience.

She planned to find that idiot who just ruined her summer by stealing her laptop. A folded piece of paper appeared on her bed and seemed to include the word, laptop, so she read it.

Alyssa,

Your laptop is going to become a new brain-domination computer. The International Magic Control has disabled all the existing ones and has banned any magic from transforming enchanted technology into mind-managing devices. But your laptop is needed exclusively for my particular process.

Also, don’t remove your new magic powers. If you try, you might die.

Anonymous

The note vanished into thin air. Alyssa touched her forehead and breathed since wizardry shouldn’t work on standard technology. Possibilities advanced over time, but they still had numerous everlasting limits.

Alyssa could not risk performing sorcery anymore after ridding herself in autumn of the powers that a warlock had forced upon her. A skeleton called Errol had jinxed her with involuntary magic, landing her in lots of trouble, including near-expulsion from school. He had claimed that it’d been the only way for him to regain his old, human looks. Alyssa had needed to boost her confidence and bravery levels in order to overthrow Errol. That had taken a few weeks.

She would not allow this new hex to force her to remain home all summer. Otherwise, she’d have to miss travel camp at the end of this month and a trip to New York City with Alex in August.

Her palms heated, and beams shot out, bouncing against the ceiling and splitting in different directions. One tipped the bookshelf, and all the books tumbled out onto the wooden floor. It merged with the other shaft, smashed into the desk—knocking everything down—and disappeared in a snap.

Alyssa stared, her fist clenching and her face reddening. Without admonishment, another glimmer flew out of her hands and hit her bed, causing everything to tumble into the air. The blankets crumpled, and a few pillows were tossed onto the rug by the mattress. The ray vanished.

Alyssa gazed into her palms because that catastrophe reminded her of the enchantments she’d performed in the fall.

“Ugh!” She covered her face.

The downstairs door shut, suggesting that Alex had returned from walking Scooter, the yellow lab.

“Alyssa, is everything okay?” he asked.

“No!” She sat on her bed, not wanting to remake it, even though Alex required it when she didn’t have school. I’m never going to get through this stupid mess.

Each opening on her bookshelf had contained books based on their genres. Fantasy ones had been together on one level. The same applied to the mystery, literary fiction, and non-fiction. 

But, thanks to sorcery, they had all scattered around the floor. Her desk items had also been arranged based on their purposes. The writing utensils, stationery, and art supplies had scattered along with the literature piles.

She grabbed some items from the floor, wishing she could reschedule her slumber party, thanks to the current disaster. Her three closest friends, Sydney Watson, Lily Browne, and Krystal Gordillo, had witnessed her issues with magic in autumn. Although Claudia Carano and Grace Yen, the other two friends coming, had been in the hospital back then, they should understand as well.

“What happened?” Alex called from the hallway outside.

“Stupid stuff!”

Alex thumped and opened the door. He clapped his hand over his mouth, hiding much of his goatee.

“I didn’t mean it,” Alyssa said, “it was my new magic powers.”

Alex froze, his eyes popping. He ran his hand down his shoulder-length, light-brown hair.

“I don’t know who cursed me this time,” Alyssa’s body warmed more as she stared into her hands and breathed. But she gritted her teeth and slapped her thighs.

Dizziness took over her head, though, and data entered her mind. It seemed to have come from the English marble figure and mentor, Simon, who had aided her before in previous magicrelated times. He shared that her computer would never come back.

He must have made a mistake, Alyssa thought.

Simon possessed lots of foreknowledge about many things, but he couldn’t succeed with his predictions all the time. The ability never left him, not even if someone temporarily froze him using sorcery. That had happened at least twice before, but he’d thawed and revived again.

Alyssa’s phone sounded a text alert, and she read the message on her device.

Hi, Alyssa, it’s Simon, your old mentor. Your laptop is on an Atlantic island called 

Resurrection Island, with a wizard named Boo-Champ Corey. He sent you that note about your computer and powers.

Alyssa’s jaw dropped, and she replied. Why?

“What’s going on?”

“My laptop is on some island in the Atlantic.”

Alex’s chest sucked in. His phone received a text message, too, so he left the room and looked into it.

Alyssa’s device received a response from Simon.

Your fingerprints can reveal your previous connection with Master Beau.

Her guts twisted. Master Beau had harmed her last year after that connection had peaked. 

He’d not only revealed to her that sorcery existed but had also kidnapped and taken her to Fiji. 

There, he’d planned to enslave and weaken her so that he could gain more strength. Had Simon not warned her about him or guided her—along with two human magicians—to defeat Master Beau, she might not have survived.

Alyssa responded. How could I still have the connection if Master Beau is gone?

Simon answered.

Due to his level of power, there is still a little bit of magic in you that connects to him, and only that can enchant your laptop. It’s too late to undo anything, though.

Pain overtook Alyssa all over, so she called Simon, and he answered.

“Why didn’t you stop Boo-Champ Corey?”

“He would’ve hurt me.”

“You can signal to save someone or something as quickly as the speed of sound, though.” 

“May I talk to you in person?”

“Why?”

“My phone’s dying, and I’m having trouble creating a holographic screen.”

“So? Charge your phone with that magical-electronic charging spell.”

“It’s not working right for some reason. I’ll talk to you soon.” Simon hung up.

Alyssa sighed. Both Master Beau and Errol had blocked Simon’s access to their minds because they had high strength levels. However, if Simon knew that Boo-Champ Corey had Alyssa’s computer, then he should have gathered more knowledge from him—unless he stopped it, too. Or, perhaps, Simon had already signaled something to Resurrection Island, only for it to bounce back for whatever reason.

Alex knocked again. “Are you okay, Alyssa?”

“My laptop’s gone!” she stomped. “I was so close to submitting my video… which took weeks and could’ve possibly gotten me five extra points on the freaking 70 I got for math?” 

She inhaled and exhaled.

Alex opened the door and gazed at her with glassy eyes. “I heard about that, too.”

“Let me guess. Simon texted you, too.”

Alex nodded.

Alyssa sat on her bed and crossed her arms. “This is… ugh!”

Alex joined her and put his arm around her. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry this happened to you. But there are things we can’t undo or get back.”

Alyssa moaned.

“Look, tomorrow, right after your friends leave, we can go buy you a new laptop.”

“I don’t want another laptop.”

Alex sighed. “There’s nothing else we can do.”

“If I have to redo that video all over again, it’s not going to come out as good.” Alyssa looked down. “It’s not going to be the same.”

“Why don’t you look through your math syllabus and see if there are other community service projects you can do to get extra points on your final grade?”

Alyssa flushed. “Oh, shoot. I threw it away on Wednesday.”

Alex let go of her, his mouth opening. Alyssa covered her cheeks. She’d tossed it in the trash after coming home from her middle school moving-up ceremony that night. And the garbage truck had emptied the dumpster yesterday.

“Alyssa, that wasn’t smart.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

Alex stood. “Maybe you can ask your friends if they can show you their math syllabi.” He closed the door and left.

Alyssa banged her fists on the bed.

She and Alex had bought supplies, snacks, and even baked cupcakes. But she saw no point in holding the party today since Boo-Champ Corey had stolen her computer, and she’d received everlasting magic. Alex shouldn’t have left her like that.

His kindness toward her had made her parents designate him as a legal guardian after they’d named him godfather to her. Unlike many children, Alyssa had received a godparent after infancy, at age five.

The last time Alex had been in contact with her family was ten years before then. When he was eighteen, and her mother was twenty-three, the two had dated. However, in their spring semester of college, Alex had lost Alyssa’s mom’s wallet, and she’d broken up with him.

Alex had gone out with another woman from Alyssa’s birth until she was four and a half years old. His then-girlfriend had perished from a snake bite. Alex had found Alyssa’s mother’s old phone number and called her. She’d felt sorry for what he’d gone through, so she’d let him back into her life.

Despite what Alyssa’s parents had stated in their will when they’d lost their lives, her then-babysitter had convinced the police to let Alyssa stay with her aunt and uncle. Later, New Jersey's state had made Aunt Laura and Uncle Bruce Alyssa’s legal guardians, instead of Alex, to avoid complications. Alyssa remembered that day in January 2005, when Alex told her that he had to part from her, several days after her parents’ deaths.

“Wait, Alex, aren’t you going to take me with you?”

“I can’t. You have to stay here with Aunt Laura and Uncle Bruce.”

“But I thought mommy and daddy said you were going to take care of me if something happened to them.”

“Yes, but that had to change.”

Alyssa groaned.

“I promise I’ll come and visit you now and then.”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

Yet, after Aunt Laura had died when Alyssa was nine, Uncle Bruce had forbidden her to contact or see Alex. She hadn’t spoken to him again until she had discovered magic and had Master Beau hunting her down.

Alyssa experienced dizziness and covered her head. Simon gave her more information about Boo-Champ Corey. This time, it focused on how he had helped a sorceress named Mistress Margaret regain her powers. In addition to her abilities, Mistress Margaret also used knowledge from a forgotten woman named Prudence Gibson. And Prudence happened to be... Alyssa’s long-lost godmother.

Alyssa’s muscles stiffened. She wondered why her parents had told her that they’d baptized her as a baby without godparents—something that couldn’t happen. They had also mentioned how the archdiocese at their Catholic church had made an exception, withdrawing the godparent requirement for her. Then he had needed to invalidate her christening. But, perhaps, something else had happened.

Why had everyone believed those things? How come Alyssa couldn’t remember her godmother? Had some powerful magician made everyone forget her? Could Mistress Margaret have been the one to wipe and alter every person’s memory?

Alyssa swallowed. If that’d been the case, then she must’ve retained enough strength to make every non-magical individual believe that magic did not exist and assume that everything had stayed normal.

Simon texted her again. My phone is dying, and the spell to recharge it is not working for some reason. Nor is my holographic screen communication enchantment working. May I appear in your room to talk to you about Boo-Champ Corey and what you need to do? I’ll let your godfather know, too.

Yes, Alyssa answered.