Mischief Night (Part 1)

    “Have you got the scrolls?”  The teen boy in crimson and suede robes asked.

    “Do you doubt my ability?”  The girl in midnight blue tights and a leather corset smirked.  She held out a satchel in a gloved hand.  “Did you get the supplies,Terrance?”

    “They’re in the sack.”  The teen boy pointed to the thick cloth bag to the side of the chiffonier cabinet.  “Those things must weigh as much as I do.  I think we should switch.”

    “Are you saying that you want a girl to do the heavy lifting, or that you’re too weak for the job?” Susan walked over to the sack and lifted it over one shoulder.

    “You never pass up an opportunity to show off your muscles.”  Terrance said.  

    “If you want an equal way to show off, why don’t you keep an illusion going all the time of you having an enormous, throbbing brain.”  Susan chuckled.

    “Yeah, that’ll be a real chick magnet.  Let’s go before anyone finds out.  This is going to be fun.”  Terrance lead the way down the hall.

    …………………………………………………………………………………..

    “Your Majesty, why are you allowing them to get away with stealing your scrolls and supplies?”  Lord Roquefort asked as he watched the image in the reflecting pool.

    “How will they ever learn if they don’t show any initiative?  It’s by doing that they will gain the most skill.  I’ve taught them the basics, and now my best students have to learn on their own.” Queen Gouda replied.  Her jeweled brocade robe glistened in the cavern’s light as she walked over to her chief lieutenant.

    “What is it that you’ve let them steal, then?  Lord Roquefort asked.

    “I am letting them have a night of fun.  The enchantments on the scrolls are of limited duration, but that should be long enough.”  The dark elven queen turned with a flourish.  “If I told you, it would ruin the suspense.  I assure you this will be well worth watching.”

    ……………………………………………………………………………………….

    “I’ve never done anything on Mischief Night before.”  Terrance said as they neared the Crystal Chamber.

    “You’re sure you understand what’s on the scrolls, right?”  Susan crossed the transparent floor, where the circular waterfall of lava fell away far below them.  “It’s really amazing how we’ve gone from being normal students at Eastlake High School to where we are now.  I still feel like we’re living inside of a video game.”

    Terrance paused in front of the gateway, performing the ritual to activate it.  Runes on the wall glowed and a swirling black space appeared.  “The rest of the apprentices are going to be so jealous when they find out what we’ve done.  I can’t wait until the Queen sends us on missions.  That is going to be so cool!”  He stepped through the inky black plane to appear next to an ancient oak tree.  As Susan appeared, he said.  “Set the sack down so I can get started.  You know what you have to do.”

    “Yeah.  I’m here for the non-glamorous heavy lifting.”  The girl crossed her arms in front of herself, holding her fingers in the well-practiced pattern as she spoke the enchantments.  Her tights pulled tight over her, like a second skin, as her muscles grew.  

    “I never get tired of seeing you do that.”  Terrance said.

    “I know.”  Susan flipped her hair back from her face.  “None of the guys seem to mind my being stronger than they are.  It may have something to do with how it makes my outfits fit me.”  She chuckled as she walked a short distance to grab onto a boulder.  Her muscles showed chiseled definition as she lifted it to carry it over to place it next to another similarly sized stone.  She looked over her shoulder to her partner.  “Um, I hate to interrupt your gawking fest, but could you give me the boost spell?”

    Terrance blushed, then nodded.  “Just a second.”  He went through the incantations, followed by a green glow surrounding the girl, then fading into her.  “I’m getting a lot faster at casting things.”

    “Thanks.  We’d be here all night setting up if we had to rely on my own personal strength enchantment.”  Susan walked over to a pine tree and grabbed onto it, grunting with effort as she lifted.  The base of the tree ripped free of the ground, leaving much of its roots behind as she allowed it to fall over.  As it hit the ground with an echoing ‘Crash!’, Susan walked over to a second pine tree to repeat her actions.  “I can’t explain how good it feels to do this.”

    “It probably feels almost as good as it does to watch you do it.”  Terrance chuckled. “Break each of them in half and lay them out with the boulders the way I showed you in the diagrams.”

    Susan jogged up along the trunk of one of the fallen trees and leaped up on top of it.  Splinters of wood sprayed out as she dropped to a knee to punch her fist deep into it.  “It’s going to take me a few minutes.”

    “I’ll have the other components ready.”  Terrance re-read the scroll, nodding his head as he worked his mind around the various formulae written onto it.

    “Terrance?” Susan tapped his shoulder with a finger a couple of times.

    “Huh? What?”  He looked around.

    “You were in a daze.  Is something wrong?”  She asked.

    “I was studying the spells. I can’t just pull out a scroll and zip through it.  It takes some preparation. Do you have everything ready?”  Terrance asked.

    “It’s all up to you now.” She smirked.  “You missed a half hour of of feminine flexing and showing off.  You also forgot to set up an image retrieval spell, didn’t you?”  Susan’s smirk spread into a wide grin.  “You can always look forward to next time.”

    Terrance blushed and frowned.  “Am I really that obvious?”

    “Every guy is.  You’re just honest about it.”  Susan replied.  She stepped to the side as he let go of the scroll, leaving it suspended in front of him.  Green and blue swirls of energy crackled in the air around him, and along the piled up trees and boulders.  He carried a pair of lidded ceramic pots by their woven rope handles over to the shapes she had set up on the ground.  The vessels floated high into the air and exploded.  A rush of sweet air blew past her as she saw swirling mist burst forth to envelop the area. Mud, clay and vines flowed from the ground to form an enormous body over the wood and stone.