Mayhem at Magic School

by George Ivanoff

  Halfway through your lesson the room is rocked by a gigantic explosion. You all run outside to see that the old building at the end of the school is a smoking pile of rubble.

  As you get closer you see that the Random Spell has escaped … and it has grown! The enormous pulsing light is now the size of a hippopotamus.

  As teachers and students approach it, the spell starts zapping indiscriminately. Bits of rubble turn to jelly. Flaming snowballs streak across the school grounds. Students are turned into frogs, toads and jam sandwiches.

  You overhear Principal Uganaway telling the other teachers, ‘We can’t fight it without knowing what caused it.’

  You know what caused it. You did! But do you tell the principal?

  If you decide it’s time to come clean, go here.

  If you’re too scared to confess, go here.

  You are too cowardly to own up to causing this disaster. Things can only get worse.

  The principal and the teachers form a group, arms outstretched, and advance on the Random Spell, chanting words in Latin.

  Seconds later, they find themselves encased in giant bubbles floating off above the school.

  You watch in horror as the Random Spell continues to grow, zapping objects and people and turning them into all manner of things – from dinosaurs to mosquitoes, from vegetables to gourmet desserts.

  The Random Spell shoots into the air and flies off, ready to release terror on the unsuspecting world.

  And it’s all your fault!

  You go back to the main quadrangle. The group of kids from your class is still sitting on the bench. As you return, they all look at you again.

  You decide to confront them.

  Go here.

  You shout out that you will never join her.

  Holding the jewel with one hand, you point it at the daemon. Taking a deep breath, you close your eyes and wish for it to be gone, concentrating harder than you have ever done in your life – every fibre of your being is focused on the banishment of this creature.

  Carefully, you open one eye to see …

  The daemon is still there, towering above you, although he is groaning uncomfortably. But it might just be gas.

  ‘Pathetic!’ cries Ms Hawthorne. ‘You’ll need to come up with something a lot better than that.’

  And then it hits you – Principal Uganaway. What was that word he was shouting in the classroom? Mort? Morta? Morti? Mortem? Mortem! That was it!

  You smile at Ms Hawthorne, then stare up at the daemon and shout the word.

  ‘Oh no!’ squeals the daemon. His flames start to fizzle out. ‘I hate it when this happens.’

  And in a puff of smoke, the creature is gone.

  ‘Noooooooo!’ screams Ms Hawthorne. ‘I’ll make you pay for that.’ She raises her hands, ready to cast a spell.

  But you quickly point the jewel at her, threatening to say that Latin word again. She backs down just as Principal Uganaway, flanked by a posse of teachers, comes running down the steps into the chamber.

  Ms Hawthorne is led away, off to Magic Jail, and you are hailed as a hero.

  You become known as the Daemon Slayer. You learn to harness the power of your ancestral jewel and become one of the most influential of the Enchanted.

  And it all began with your first day at Magic School.

  You look at Principal Uganaway as Ms Hawthorne helps him to a chair. He is rubbing his temples.

  You just can’t tell him. He might be angry with you. You race after the other students, out of the classroom.

  You go through the corridor and to the nearest exit. You find a spot on your own under a tree. It’s not long before the principal leaves for his office.

  Soon after, Ms Hawthorne comes out onto the grounds. Hands on hips, she looks around until she spots you and heads in your direction. You can feel perspiration beading on your forehead.

  She studies you intently and asks you to come to her classroom after school. You nod, and she wanders off, briefly looking back at you over her shoulder.

  Does she know what you did? You spend the rest of the day stressing about it, until the last lesson is over and you go to have your meeting with her.

  Go here.

  You stare at the jewel that has allowed Ms Hawthorne to summon the daemon. Maybe destroying it will get rid of the daemon. But how?

  Crystalline! That’s what Ms Hawthorne said. Crystals can shatter, can’t they? Could it be that simple?

  You figure it’s worth a try.

  You lift your hand high above your head. Then you hurl the jewel, with all your might, straight at the stone floor.

  The jewel shatters in a spectacular burst of red shards, which scatter across the chamber.

  ‘Noooooooo!’ screams Ms Hawthorne.

  The daemon glows brighter and you have to shield your eyes.

  ‘I am freeeeeeeeeee!’ it shrieks.

  ‘I’ll make you pay for this,’ shouts Ms Hawthorne, advancing towards you, hand raised to cast a spell.

  ‘You will not be doing anything,’ the daemon wails. ‘You, who would bind a mighty daemon, will be the one to pay!’

  Flames erupt from the creature’s maw to engulf Ms Hawthorne. Her mouth opens in a silent scream as her body distorts and shrinks.

  ‘A form more fitting to your nature,’ says the daemon, its voice no longer quite as harsh.

  Ms Hawthorne has been transformed into a cockroach.

  As the daemon turns towards you, you back away.

  ‘Fear me not,’ it says. ‘You have freed me. In gratitude, I am at your behest for one inclination.’

  You stare at it, dumbfounded.

  The daemon sighs. ‘You get one wish.’

  You ask it to change the past so that none of this ever happened. You don’t want to find the crystal. You don’t want to come to Magic School. You don’t even want to develop magic powers.

  Before you finish explaining what you want …

  Something hits you in the head.

  You stagger back and see Mitch grinning at you. You pick up the ball and throw it back at him, rubbing at your throbbing head. As the bell rings, signalling the end of lunch, you head towards class, feeling strangely happy.

  You hand the jewel over to Ms Hawthorne, who grabs it greedily.

  ‘You will do my bidding,’ she demands of the daemon.

  It grumbles in agreement.

  Under Ms Hawthorne’s direction, the daemon gets to work reshaping the ways of the world.

  The governments of various countries are removed, their armies wiped off the map. A gigantic palace is conjured up at the top of a mountain, on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, from which Ms Hawthorne rules the world.

  As you are her apprentice, she teaches you everything she knows about magic. You become very powerful.

  One day, you pick up the jewel, summon the daemon and get it to banish Ms Hawthorne.

  You are now the supreme ruler of the world!

  You decide that you must at least try to control the daemon. You clutch the jewel to your chest and close your eyes, concentrating.

  ‘I am at your behest,’ wails the daemon.

  ‘Noooooooo!’ screams Ms Hawthorne. ‘The daemon is mine! You cannot control it.’

  You take a deep breath and open your eyes, determined to set things right.

  You set the daemon free, telling it to leave … and to take Ms Hawthorne with it.

  Laughing maniacally, the daemon begins spinning, the flames that make up its body whirling together into a fiery tornado. It twirls across the room, gathering up Ms Hawthorne into its blazing grasp.

  You cover your ears, trying to block out Ms Hawthorne’s screams and the daemon’s shrieks of delight.

  But then, in a puff of smoke, the creature and Ms Hawthorne are gone.

  Principal Uganaway, flanked by a posse of teachers, comes running down the steps into the chamber. You explain what has just happened.

  You are hailed as a hero and the saviour of t
he world. You learn to harness the power of your ancestral jewel and become one of the most influential of the Enchanted.

  And it all began with you first day at Magic School.

  You decide you have to come clean.

  You wait until the other students have left and approach the principal and Ms Hawthorne. You take out the jewel and show it to them.

  ‘An ancestral jewel,’ whispers Ms Hawthorne, looking hungrily at it. ‘Crystalline power!’

  ‘Well, that explains everything,’ says Principal Uganaway. ‘Ancestral jewels hold the combined magic of an entire Enchanted family line. They have great power … but they are also difficult to control.’

  Slowly, never taking his eyes off you, the principal gets to his feet. ‘We have much to discuss. How about we go to my office and call your aunt?’

  You sink into a chair, overwhelmed by all this information. You just want to rest and think things through.

  Perhaps you should ask for some time to yourself first? Go here.

  On the other hand, you do want to find out what else Principal Uganaway has to say. If you decide to go with him now, go here.

  You run up to Principal Uganaway, show him the jewel and tell him what happened.

  ‘An ancestral jewel,’ he says, taking it from your hands. ‘This holds the combined magic of an entire Enchanted family line. It has great power … but it is also difficult to control. No wonder this mess happened!’

  He gives the jewel back to you. ‘Only you can control this.’

  But how?

  ‘I will help you,’ says the principal, placing his hands over the jewel as you hold onto it. ‘You concentrate on the Random Spell. Visualise it ceasing to exist. And I’ll try to focus the power.’

  You fix your gaze at the pulsing light and wish hard for it to not be there, as the principal mumbles words in Latin.

  Suddenly, it’s gone!

  You apologise for what’s happened.

  ‘It’s not entirely your fault,’ says the principal. ‘You had no idea of the jewel’s power. But I think it’s time now that you learned all about it.’

  As the teachers start to organise a magical clean-up, you go back to the principal’s office.

  Go here.

  In his office, Principal Uganaway explains the significance of your jewel.

  ‘Ancestral jewels are difficult to make, and so are extremely rare. They require great sacrifice in their creation. They were first developed during the Dark Ages as a way of preserving the magic of a family line, when members were to be burned at the stake – which is what they used to do to anyone thought to possess magic.

  ‘In order to make one, an Enchanted person must give up their powers. Those powers gather the magical strength of all their ancestors and take the form of a jewel. But this jewel of yours is even more rare. I can feel it. It was created by two people forfeiting their magic.’

  You immediately realise that it must be how your parents got rid of their powers.

  Principal Uganaway becomes your private tutor. You learn to harness the power of your ancestral jewel and become one of the most influential of the Enchanted.

  And it all began with your first day at Magic School.

  You let go of your jewel and watch as it flies into the heart of the black hole. The moment it hits the nothingness, the black hole collapses in on itself and vanishes.

  Hermione, Reggie, Dougie and you decide it would be best if no one else found out about this Random Spell gone wrong.

  As the four of you set to work cleaning up the mess, you wonder about the red jewel. What was it really? Why did it enhance your magical powers? And where is it now? These are questions you will never know the answers to.

  But it doesn’t matter. You have made some friends at Magic School. And you’re sure that the four of you will have many more great adventures yet.

  You shove the jewel back into your pocket and hold on with both hands.

  The others try to help pull you out, as stuff from the corridor outside gets sucked in through the door.

  The black hole widens and its gravity increases.

  Reggie loses his grip and Dougie holds onto him, trying to save him. But he too slips … and the two of them get drawn into the depths of the black hole.

  Hermione manages to hang on for a while longer, but then she, too, is dragged screaming into the depths of nothingness.

  You can feel your own fingers slipping as desks and chairs and lockers are drawn into the gaping inky maw. The door rips off its hinges and disappears.

  Then, finally, you lose your grip.

  The world spins around you as you tumble into the forever night of total darkness. As the blackness closes in around you, consciousness and life wink out of existence.

  You ask the principal for a few moments to gather your thoughts. You tell him that you’ll come to his office soon.

  As Principal Uganaway leaves the classroom, you run the events of the day through your mind.

  ‘Excuse me,’ says Ms Hawthorne, breaking into your thoughts. ‘I was wondering if you would be willing to help me with something, before joining the principal?’

  She walks to the back of the classroom, indicating that you should follow. She waves a hand as she mumbles some words. A trapdoor opens in the floor, revealing stone steps.

  ‘These steps lead to my private magical chamber, where I have been trying to perfect a very difficult spell. A spell that you and your jewel, I am sure, will be able to assist with.’

  She pauses and looks at you with great intensity. You see excitement and anticipation dancing in her eyes like flames.

  ‘Will you help me?’ Ms Hawthorne asks.

  You think this is an odd time for her to be making such a request. But doing this might give you some more time to think before meeting with the principal.

  If you decide to help her, go here.

  If you choose to go straight to the principal instead, go here.

  You tell Ms Hawthorne that you’re going to see the principal first and that you’ll come and help her after that.

  ‘Sorry,’ she says. ‘I can’t wait.’ She takes a deep breath and extends her hand towards you. ‘Nescius!’

  Your vision swims and you feel light-headed. Everything is spinning and then you black out.

  Go here.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  George Ivanoff is an author and stay-at-home dad residing in Melbourne. He has written over 70 books for kids and teens, including the Gamers trilogy. He has books on both the Victorian and NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge lists, and he has won a couple of awards that no one has heard of. As a kid he loved reading interactive books, where he got to make decisions about the direction of the story. Now he is ridiculously happy, having the opportunity to write that type of book. He has had more fun plotting and writing the You Choose books than pretty much anything else … and he hopes you have just as much fun reading them. George drinks too much coffee, eats too much chocolate and watches too much Doctor Who. If you’d like to find out more about George and his writing, check out his website: georgeivanoff.com.au

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  Version 1.0

  You Choose 2: Mayhem at Magic School

  9780857985460

  Copyright © George Ivanoff 2014

  Illustration copyright © James Hart 2014

  The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted.

  A Random House Au
stralia book

  Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd

  Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060

  www.randomhouse.com.au

  Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at http://www.randomhouse.com.au/about/contacts.aspx

  First published by Random House Australia in 2014

  National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry

  Author: Ivanoff, George, 1968–

  Title: Mayhem at Magic School [electronic resource]

  ISBN: 978 0 85798 546 0 (ebook)

  Series: You choose; 2

  Target Audience: For primary school age

  Subjects: Plot-your-own stories

  Magic – Juvenile fiction

  Schools – Juvenile fiction

  Dewey Number: A823.3

  Cover and internal illustrations by James Hart

  Cover design by Christabella Designs

  Internal design by Midland Typesetters

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