Chapter 1

Feeling Lucky?

Wally skimmed the library wall once again. He'd read each one of these books, some twice. He looked down at the book in his hand. The only one he hadn't read. The Magic of Science and the Science of Magic by Lucy K. Culwich. He frowned. There was no thing as magic, and he personally stayed to reading science books. But he was bored, he'd read all his books, his Uncle Barry's books and the library books. He could stand reading this one.

He took it up to the front desk and sat it down in front of the librarian. "Unusual choice for you," she remarked. Wally was a regular here and everyone knew that he stuck with the science books and would never touch sci-fi or fantasy.

"It's the only science book I've not read yet. And to be honest re-reading does not sound appealing to me," He told her as she scanned the book. "It's due in three weeks," she said handing the book back to him.

Wally headed back to the mountain to read the book. He knew he'd have it read by a weeks' time. Sooner if it was just a bunch of baloney, which if it was he'd just skim it. As soon as his motorcycle was parked in the mountain, he headed to his room to start reading the book. Heck just keeping it in his back pack was weird. It seemed to press into his back. He shook his head, the book was pressing into his back because he was carrying it in a back pack not because it was magic. He was only thinking it was because it was out of his normal scope of science books.

He stopped in the kitchen to get a snack. It wouldn't do to pass out while reading the book. M'gann had left out her latest attempt at baking cookies. They were peanut butter cookies and they were burnt around the edges, but good, Wally decided as he chewed on one. With milk, a whole bunch of milk.

Wally grabbed the plate and a tall glass filled to the brim with milk and started to make his way to his room.

"Hey Baywatch!" Called a voice from the entertainment room, startling Wally causing him to spin around. Unfortuneatly this caused most of the milk to slosh out onto the cookies, Wally and the floor.

"We wanted to know if-HAHAHAHA what did you do to yourself?!" Wally stood there in front of Artemis covered in milk with a plate of soggy cookies.

"You made me mess up my snack, now if you excuse me I need a new snack and a shower," Wally told her, shaking the milk from his hair.

"Ugh well you don't need to cover me with milk," Artimis said holding her arms up against the onslaught from Wally's shaking. Wally turned around and headed back toward the kitchen dumped the cookies, they weren't that good really, and the glass in the sink before heading to the bathroom to shower.

Wally stripped out of his milk soaked clothes and stepped into the warm shower. He'd already showered once today but he was not going to go around smelling like bad milk the rest of the day. Suddenly the shower got scalding hot, "Y-ouch!" He yelled out jumping to the far end of the shower. He didn't mean for it to get that hot. He reached in and turned the hot water down before stepping back in. Suddenly the shower then got freezing cold, "Ahhh!" he stared at the shower oddly. Someone must be pranking him.

After the water was lute warm for a couple of minutes did he step back in and finish his shower. And even then he got hit with two more random changes between temperatures.

Wally got out of the shower more annoyed than when he had gone in. After changing into some new clothes and grabbing an apple from the kitchen and a water bottle filled with water he headed to his room and took the book out to read. Maybe laughing at someone would relax his mind.

He opened up the book to the first page and began to read.

Magic was originally used to explain natural changes in the earth, stars and anywhere else where humans could not understand change. As time wore on however, humans began to grasp how things happen and some of the whys and began to use science, which in its infancy was attached to magic to explain how things worked.

Now, magic is considered fantastic, impossible and fiction. This belief is however very, very wrong…

Wally stopped at the second paragraph. Yep this person was a loon, he should just put the book down and not read any more. But even as he thought that he found that he couldn't put it down. He set it on the night stand just to pick it up again, and without thinking continuing to read.

Magic has to do with energy and the manipulation of it to affect the world you live in. Illusionists deal with perception. Mages deal with elements and may specialize in one element or use all the elements equally. Fate Casters or Fortune Tellers deal with fate and luck. Witches concern themselves with brewing potions and magic talismans(though anyone can enchant a talisman), and wizards with potions and talking spells that have many rituals attached.

Connecting all these magic users together are Enchanters and Enchantresses. Named for a misperception from the middle ages, all types of magic users can become Enchanters though not everyone who has magic can become one….

Wally continued to read, focusing on speed reading. Though he noticed after he hit the forth page of the preface that he was not in fact speed reading. Something about this book was preventing him. 'No, not the book,' he thought 'its just a new subject, a phony subject but a subject none the less. So it's harder to read it.'

He continued reading until the clock read 12:15 am, where he fell asleep reading the first chapter of basic magic theory.

"Hey, hey wake up." Wally opened his eyes to find himself being nudged by a kid in a Kid Flash costume and…were those goggles?

"Good you're finally awake that means we'll only be four minutes behind schedule," the kid said pretending to check his watch.

Wally looked around the room where he was. He was sleeping on a leather couch with a picture window in front of him showing a large body of water and a city in the landscape. There was a kitchen in one corner of the room and a projector by the window.

"Come on we don't want to be late," called the kid, "She gets angry when people are late and she's scary when she's angry."

Wally got up and followed the kid out of the room and after moving through a few of the corridors asked him, "Who are you anyway?"

"Kid Flash," the kid said without skipping a beat.

"No you're not, I'm kid flash," Wally told him.

"Yes I am, I'm you after all, or at least an inner part of you," the kid said, he stopped in front of a door. "You should go in alone. She's expecting you."

"Who's expecting me?" Wally asked confused.

"Um…I don't know her name but I know her. She's a good person, creative though she got off to a bad start in life. Still not a good idea to keep her waiting.

Wally sighed but continued through the door alone. It was just a dream, what could go wrong?

Wally was surprised by what he found in the room. The walls were painted pink and there were several plush unicorns around. At an easel sat a woman in a pink dress and pink stockings. Her face was hidden in the shadows. "Well you're new," she stated eyeing him over.

He walked closer, "I-you were waiting for me?"

The woman nodded, set down her brush and beckoned him closer. Her skin was white, not pale just white. Wally, intrigued stepped closer. Even as he got closer he face remained hidden in the shadows.

He opened up his mouth to say who are you, only to have it die in his throat.

Instead she asked, "May I see your arm?" She held out a hand ho him. Her fingers were thin and came to definite points. That was unusual to see though some humans did have that.

He held his arm out to her and she flipped it palm side up and studied it for a moment. "Yes this makes sense," She pulled out a paint brush from her bag and dipped it into some clear paint beside her. "This may burn a little."

Wally opened his mouth to protest but no sound came out. A drop of the paint dropped onto his hand and started to burn like a wild fire. Wally stood there eyes widening wanting to scream but unable to as she touched him with the paint brush. With each stroke the burning intensified. His eyes welled up with tears blurring his vision. The woman moved quickly only touching his arm for the briefest of moments and finally it was done, the burning stayed but his vision cleared.

The woman flipped over her hand that she was painting with. Both her arm and Wally's had the exact same image. A rose bloom with one green stem covered in thorns. "It is done."

What is? Wally tried to ask but again the words died in his throat. "It is time for you to wake up now,"

"What but I need-"

"Wake up," the woman said again and Wally's eyes opened up to find his head in the book.

It was nine o'clock in the morning. He was lucky it was the summer or he'd have been late for school. He shook his head and peered down at the book. No more reading freak books written by freaks before bed. He thought as he sat up and stretched. His back cracked in several places. He glanced up and saw something green on his arm. Finishing his stretch he took a good hard look at his arm. The rose bloom from last night was there.

Wally blinked several times, rubbed his eyes and looked back at his arm. The rose bloom was still there.