See previous issues on my author page.

Darkness fell so quickly in the cave that it was disorienting for the two girls in the kayaks. The sheer amount of magic that had been coursing through the cave disappeared instantly. It was enough to make both girls want to be sick.

“Riley!” Peyton called into the darkness. She slowly said the spell to create light. Riley could always just do magic with the snap of her fingers, but it wasn’t so easy for Peyton. She was more of the potions master. Which Riley was terrible at. The thought of her blowing off her eyebrows made Peyton’s heart twist.

The girls had yet to understand what had just happened. Riley had locked them out of the heart of the cave. Then there was a giant explosion of lighting, and now everything was quiet and still. There was no noise coming from the men, or Riley, and the wall had dropped. Peyton started to paddle towards where she had last seen her friend.

“Peyton,” Finley whispered before following after.

As Peyton’s light spell grew in power, they were finally able to see the ground of the cave. The men were sprawled unmoving on the ground. Riley was nowhere to be seen.

“What in the hell happened?” Finley croaked.

Peyton reached the shore and hopped out of her kayak into the water. Dragging it up so it wouldn’t float off without her. She walked over to each of the men putting a finger to their throats. She couldn’t tell if she was happy or upset over the fact that they were all dead. It was terrible that their lives were snuffed out. Yet they were going to attack or even kill her friend. They wouldn’t be troubling her any longer. Finley never left her kayak, she looked a slight tint of green.

Peyton took a steadying breath and started to work. She started a spell that would erase all traces of the three girls in the cave. Just in case the human cops were to come, the mens’ deaths couldn’t be traced back to them. She would add this to the list of messes Riley had gotten them into, and she had to clean up. Yet her frustration couldn’t even break the surface of the fear roiling within her. Where was her best friend? She just vanished.

“Finley, get your phone out and try and call Riley, will you?” Peyton slowly made her way back to the kayak. Continuing her spell as she went, her footsteps magically erasing from the dirt and grime and she went. Splashing into the water, she hopped back into her kayak.

Finley grabbed her waterproof bag and started to get it open. It took a few tries as her hands wouldn’t stop shaking. She knew from Peyton’s actions the men were dead. She had never seen a dead body before. Much less due to one of her friends erupting into a giant lighting ball and then disappearing. She was a well of emotions at the moment each vying for dominance over the others, leaving her just wanting to cry. Out of sadness, out of frustration, out of fear. Where on earth was her friend?

Grabbing her phone, Finley dialed Riley’s number. The Charlie’s Angels theme song started to ring from Riley’s kayak.

Finley and Peyton looked at each other. Fear in their eyes.

“There was no soot or even a scorch mark where she was. She has to be fine. It’s Riley; she’s always fine.” Peyton said. They had been friends for the better part of 10 years. Somehow Riley always managed to make it out of her crazy situations she got herself in.

“It’s Riley, she’s basically never fine.” Finley countered. Which was also true. While she got out of the situations, she was usually a mess after doing so.

“She’ll be okay. Let get the kayaks back and call Steve. We’ll figure this out.” Peyton grabbed a rope and tied Riley’s kayak to hers. Paddling over to Finley, she took her hand.

“Are you okay?” Finley asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Are you okay?” Peyton asked back.

“I honestly don’t know. Let’s just find her.” They both nodded and headed back out to the lake. Trying their best to not let their worries consume them entirely. Peyton had all of her potion and spell ingredients back at the camp. She would try and locator spell when they got there. Until then, there was nothing they could do besides work and stay calm.

Thank you, Sean Eike, for the image this week.