The Test

"Ashe!' I heard the combined voices of my best friends call up the stairs, "You take longer than us to get ready, and we're girls! So hurry up!" I sighed and rolled my crimson eyes. Just because I'm a fourteen year old boy doesn't mean I don't take care of my appearance. I'm a handsome Frenchman after all. Not even bothering to answer them, I tied my jet black hair back at my neck and sauntered down the stairs.

"Finally!" Anna voiced exasperatedly. Alexis nodded and they walked out the door, I was close behind. The two girls couldn't be more different. Anna was short, dark-skinned, red haired and golden eyed with an affinity for fire magic. Alexis on the other hand, was tall, pale, with blue eyes and white-blue hair, an ice magic user. None the less, they were like sisters. Sisters I had to deal with daily.

"So ladies, what are we up to today?" I slide myself in between them and put an arm on each of their shoulders. They pushed my arms away and Alexis handed me a note, the words 'haunted house, investigate' and directions to said haunted house were scrawled on it. It looked like the house was down in the Sunken City. "Do one of you have the Nightside key?" Anna smirked and twirled the large key around her finger, then tossed it to me. "Right, I'll take that as a yes." The entrance to the Sunken City was behind a waterfall down the hill from the fairgrounds, which happened to be around the corner from the dormitories. That meant less walking than I had anticipated.

We walked through the waterfall and came out the other side, soaked to the bone. Anna warmed up the cave, basically creating a giant hairdryer, and our clothes and hair dried. Alexis started to grumble about it being too hot in here and Anna stuck her tongue out. Running my fingers through my slightly messy hair with one hand, I unlocked the door with the other. We entered the sunken city and, though I had been here before, I was struck by the beauty of the old buildings that even in ruin still held their majesty. We leisurely walked down the street that would take us to our destination. The girls' talking quieted more and more as we got further away from the gates.

They were dead silent when we reached an old run-down house, Victorian style, with ivy climbing the walls. Both girls shivered at the site, I loved it. The house was a necromancer's dream; my dream. "C'mon girls!" I crowed as I dragged them to the front door. Anna reached out to knock when the door swung open with a loud 'creak'. "Awesome!"

"No, not awesome, creepy." Alexis whined. I waved my hand and quickly bolted inside, 'now they have to follow' I thought. Sure enough, right after I ducked behind an old sofa, I heard the girls tip-toe inside.

"Ashe?" I heard Anna quietly ask "Where are you?" I snickered and hid myself better. Then I heard a moan...

"Help me! Help me!" I froze.

"Eeek!" Hearing the girls shriek snapped me out of my stupor and I leapt over the couch to come face to face with a small hoard of zombies, great. Drawing a glyph in the air, I muttered a spell and opened the gates of the underworld long enough for a dozen skeletal warriors, under my command, to emerge.

"Anna, I need you to light the zombies on fire! Alexis, make an extremely thick cage of ice once Anna casts her spell to hold the flames inside so the house isn't damaged! I'll pull out my skeletons as it closes!" In a matter of seconds the plan came to light, opening the gates again drained me more than anticipated, but for them, it didn't matter. Alexis was like the little sister I never had, and Anna was so much more than that, at least to me.

"Ashe that wasn't funny!" Anna stalked towards me and slapped me, ouch.

"It wasn't me Anna, I can't pull out zombies, skeletons and then put them back all in a matter of minutes, too draining." I huffed. Realization dawned on her and she immediately looked guilty and started to apologize.

"Ashe, you ok?" Alexis asked worriedly.

"No biggie, I can handle a slap." she rolled her eyes.

"That's not what I meant." I plopped down on the sofa I had previously been hiding behind and closed my eyes. 'This place really is haunted.' I thought as I regained a bit of my energy. After a bit I stood up and started to walk further into the house.

"What are you doing?" Alexis asked. I kept walking and called over my shoulder.

"Investigating, like the note said." They caught up to me and each of them latched onto an arm. I laughed and Anna punched me lightly. "Mon Dieu you are violent!" I feigned hurt. She pouted as we kept walking. We investigated every room we found on the first floor before heading to the staircase. A realization that I didn't know who sent us here came to me as we were checking the library. "Who gave you the note anyway?" Anna and Alexis looked at each other with thoughtful expressions.

"Um, actually, I don't remember. Professor Malistaire maybe, the headmaster?" Anna answered unsure. That was strange because Anna had the best memory of anyone I had ever met. The revelation put my nerves on edge, a mostly intact house in a lost city, a zombie attack, and uncertainty as to who sent us here, bad combination. We searched the house almost top to bottom with no more sign of haunting. The only place left to check was the cellar. The girls were not thrilled to hear that.

"Can't we just skip the cellar and pretend nothing happened?" Alexis stammered. I shook my head. At the very least I need to know who attacked them, and why. I was now sure this was no random haunting. As we made the long walk down the creaky steps, Anna conjured a heat-less fireball to act as a light source. We searched and searched and nothing came up. Maybe the zombies really were the only problem. As we walked back towards the stairs a growl sounded in the dank space and out of the shadows emerged a horrifying creature; a dragon made of bone, its heart suspended in its ribcage by a purple light. I stepped in front of the girls protectively. The creature charged. Taking a stance I had only seen my Professor use in emergencies, I slammed my foot into the ground and an abyss opened beneath the dragon, pulling it in. I closed the abyss and the room spun before my eyes.

"Ashe!" The girls' combined scream was the last thing I heard before my world went black.

I awoke later to the triumphant grin of my professor, Malistaire Drake. "Congratulations Ashe, you just learned one of the most complex necromancy spells in the proverbial book." I slowly sat up and nodded my head.

"Merci. How long have I been out?" I asked while trying to calm the pounding in my head.

"Almost a day, I might have overestimated the amount of stamina you have when I set up the test. My apologies." He looked slightly guilty before turning to leave the room. "Oh, and by the way, she has been here the whole time." I looked in the direction he indicated and saw the sleeping form of Anna, curled up in the hospital chair.