After about 5 more minutes of moving rocks, she decided that she had gotten bored of moving rocks. She transported the last spell book that she had to memorize from her bedroom to her and she began moving through the spells. She had been memorizing spells for about 2 hours, the more complicated ones always took more time, when she heard cars pull up.

Squinting, she recognized the two Evans’ cars pull up. In one car were Max and Liz and in the other were Isabel, Michael, and Alex. Extremely confused, she muttered a spell that would make her invisible and anything that she either held or was wearing, so the book was invisible as well. They got out of the car and started talking about something that looked serious.

Her curiosity piqued, she wanted to go over to find out what they were talking about, but she couldn’t walk over there because they would hear her. Thinking about her small battle with Luke two days ago, she remembered how he’d made himself float.

She closed her eyes and tried to picture herself floating. She opened her eyes and looked down to indeed find herself floating above the rock. She floated herself over to the group so she was hovering right above them. “I’m worried about Maria,” Liz said to the group, “She’s kept to herself a lot over the past couple of months and she never did tell me what happened when she was gone for 5 days.” < They’re worried about me? They shouldn’t be. There’s nothing to worry about. Well, except for the fact that I’m trying to protect the world from a dangerous, evil mage. > She shook her head to clear her thoughts and continued to listen. “Do you guys have any clues as to why she’s been so pulled away?” Liz asked, still talking.

“I don’t know, Liz,” Michael spoke up, “She said a couple of weeks ago that she had a few things to take care of. And the day when we found out she was alive, she burst out of the Crashdown speaking a language that I’ve never heard spoken on this earth before. And yesterday, she had this huge bruise on her arm and when I asked her about it, she blew up.” As if to accentuate his point, Michael waved one of his arms in the air and smacked Maria’s leg hard. Maria bit her tongue to keep from saying anything, but she knew her gig was up. “Did you guys hear that smacking sound? I think I hit something.”

“I heard it, but I don’t see anything,” Max said. Michael ignored what he had just said and said, “Who’s up there?” Maria, who had floated up higher, put up a southern accent and said, “If I tell ya’ll, ya’ll promise not to hurt me?”

“We promise, now come down here,” Liz said, not believing that she was talking to and invisible person.

“Ok,” Maria said, still talking in the southern accent, “But one of you needs to hold my book while I’m coming down.” Maria floated her book down and Isabel caught it. Taking in a deep breath, Maria curled up into a little ball and let herself fall to the ground. She landed to the ground in a heap of dust, but she was still invisible. Taking in a deep shaky breath, she stood up and looked at all the expedient faces before slowly making herself visible. When she was fully visible, she heard everyone gasp and say, “Maria?” At their simultaneous call, she said, “Surprise.”

“What did you…how did you…” Liz said.

“I’m a mage.”

“A what?” Isabel asked.

“It’s kinda like a sorcerer, except I’m from another planet.” Maria could see the looks on their faces; they looked like they wanted to laugh.

“Yeah, I know, it sounds pretty crazy, but how many people on this planet do you know who can do this.” With a sweeping motion of her finger, the 5 people who were looking at Maria like she was crazy suddenly were floating two feet off the ground. “How do you like it up there?” Maria said, laughing at the frantic looks on their faces. “Very funny, Maria, now let us down,” Liz said.

“But, do you believe me now?” Maria asked. “Yes, now can you let us down?” Alex asked.

“I could, or I could watch you squirm up there like that for a little while for not believing me. But, since I’m such a nice person, I’m going to let you down.” She slowly set them down and when their feet touched the ground, they all looked at her with wondering faces. “I suppose you going to want a long past story and I have one for you…”