Magi-Land 2

Brandon rolled over in his bed for the millionth time, but still could not fall asleep. Thanks to his first after-school soccer practice, he forgot to bring his math notes home. His class had the whole long weekend to study for the big-deal math test on Monday. Now, at 11:00 Sunday night, Brandon was stressing and racking his brain for information. His poor educational memory had nothing decent to offer. This started to make him think that he fell asleep in class.

Phil probably did too, he was never on top of things. Phil was a great friend, but no one could rely on him for help with homework, let alone studying. At this, Brandon smiled. Eventually, he slipped into other thoughts and finally fell asleep.

The next morning, Brandon’s alarm clock was a monster to him.  Drowsily, Brandon started his daily routine and stumbled down the stairs. The burning heat taunted him as he slowly walked to school.

Class was equally as frustrating. “Missed the bus again?” Phil teased. Brandon grunted and tried to focus on his history lesson. Though, that was a lost thought in a class where the real challenge was to figure out what Mrs.Fisbor was even saying.

Finally, it was math. All through the morning classes, Brandon had been sneaking looks at his textbooks. The teacher started his regular announcement about the test. “Books away, everyone! It’s time for your math test… and Phil, don’t even try to peek at your notes this time!” Phil was always trying to get out of things the easy way.

Hands shaking, Brandon signed his name at the top of the paper. All the questions looked a million grades higher than his. Before he could answer even one, there was a knock at the door. “A letter for, uh… Brandon? Grade 7?” said a little boy who was standing at the door.

“Thanks, bud,” murmured Brandon as he ripped open the envelope and sat down. Inside was a coin in a red cloth and an old looking folded paper. He skimmed the page, it was something about coming to Magi-Land.

Frequently, Brandon got letters from Blair Smintery, a powerful wizard from the magical world. Though, usually, the notes came casually to his house. The fact that the delivery was so sudden rose a bit of suspicion, but Brandon was really in the middle of something right now. “Not today, dude,” He said, and slipped the note back into his envelope.

In attempt to fit in the coin, he dropped it. The ping of the coin hitting the hard floor attracted everyone’s attention in the quiet room. Brandon’s face flushed as a boy sitting beside him bent down to pick up the coin, but in a flash of panic, Brandon shot out his arm. At first, he could feel the cold metal of the coin in the tips of his fingers, but then it vanished into the feeling of soft grass.