Foreword: I recommend you read the poem that comes before this. It's a new addition and gives some insight on the origins of Jackson, and why Nancy and her sisters are the only ones who can defeat him. Thank you.
It was a quiet Sunday morning, like all mornings were in Monterrey. The sun slowly rose in the sky, shedding its golden light across the ocean. Nothing could disrupt the sense of peace in the air. Except...
"NANCY!"
The oldest Drew girl, Salandra, screamed at the top of her lungs. She had woken up to find her hair dyed green! Cranky and furious, she launched herself out of bed, stomped down the stairs, and burst into the backyard. All of her sisters were out there, laughing and playing without a care in the world.
The Drew girls loved being outside; the backyard was their domain. They had moved in five years ago after their grandfather, Daniel Drew, passed away. His son, Carson (the girls' father) had already been planning on moving to California because he had been promoted, but of course they left sooner after receiving the sad news.
Daniel Drew had been fabulously rich due to his contributions to the wizard world. He left everything to Carson and his family, including the mansion they were currently living in. As tragic as the passing of their grandfather was, the girls were unfathomably grateful that his last act had been so generous. He wanted to make sure his granddaughters were taken care of, and they were. For a while.
"Where is she?" Salandra demanded.
No one noticed her. The girls were much too occupied to pay attention to their big sister. Jenneda was practicing her tail kicks in the pool, Lexi and Lindsey were preparing for their gymnastics competition, Mary was painting a portrait of Kate, Nim was teaching Bo how to properly swing from a tree, and Elizabeth and Destiny were playing hopscotch with the little ones. Salandra's blood boiled. Just as she thought, Nancy wasn't there. She must have been hiding from her.
"You guys!" Salandra shouted. "This is important!"
Still no response. Desperate to get their attention, Salandra marched over to a tree, rubbed her hands together, and began to peel the bark off it. The tree howled in pain, frightening the life out of the girls. Jenneda's tail slapped the water hard, sending a wave into the air. Lexi fell off of the monkey bars just in time for Lindsey to catch her. Mary spilt paint all over her canvas, startling Kate. Nim darted behind a tree, and Bo flew through the air, landing roughly on her stomach. Elizabeth and Destiny tried to calm Evelyn down, for she was the youngest and most sensitive to noise. The three-year-old could hear a pin drop in a large crowd.
Once Salandra was sure everyone was listening, she pulled out her wand, uttered a few words, and tapped it against the tree. The damaged bark repaired itself. Salandra spun around and glared her sisters. They were wide-eyed and shaking, but anger put blinders on her guilt.
"Now that I've finally got your eyes and ears," Salandra said irritably, "do any of you know where Nancy is?"
A suspenseful silence fell upon the group. The girls all looked at each other, murmuring to themselves.
"Have you seen her?" "No, not since we went to bed last night." "I haven't seen her." "Me neither." "Where do you think she is?" "I don't know."
Salandra rolled her eyes. "None of you know where Nancy is?"
A big shrug rippled through the girls. Salandra sighed and dropped her head. She muttered a few words under her breath, then strolled across the grass. The girls lined up, from oldest to youngest. Jenneda had trouble getting out of the pool since she temporarily had no legs, but was able to do so with Elizabeth's help. Quickly, Elizabeth wiped her hands on her dress so she wouldn't pop a tail and scurried into line.
"So, in case you haven't noticed, my hair has been..." Salandra tried to think of the proper word. She wanted to avoid any jokes or remarks. "Tampered with, and I think I know who the culprit is. Anybody want to take a wild guess?"
No one dared. Salandra walked back and forth, her eyes accusing. The girls held their ground, refusing to flinch under their big sister's intimidating gaze.
A tiny hand shot up in the air.
Salandra smiled tightly. "Yes, Sara?"
"Was it Nancy?" Sara squeaked.
Salandra crouched down to meet Sara at eye level.
"That's what I'm thinking. How about you?"
Sara looked down the line at her sisters, asking them without words what they thought. They all shook their heads. Don't tell her!
Sara turned back to Salandra, her sweet smile showing the tooth she had lost the night before.
"I don't know. I haven't seen her."
Salandra lingered for a moment before straightening to her full height, then threw her hands in the air.
"Okay," she sighed. "Alright. Since none of you are going to surrender Nancy's location, I guess I'll just have to cast a Tracking Spell and find her myself."
Turning heel, Salandra headed back for the house. At the sliding door she declared, "Oh, and I hope you all realize that as soon as I find Nancy, you're going to be grounded for a month. No magic, no exceptions."
Cries of protest arose. Salandra ignored them and stepped inside the house, taking a sharp turn into the kitchen. She knew the one thing Nancy couldn't resist was chocolate, so she'd lure her out of hiding with brownies their housekeeper, Hannah, always made for them on Sundays. Salandra reached into the pantry and pulled the brownies out. She cast a Tracking Spell, instructing her wand to lead her to Nancy. It glowed green, Nancy's favorite color. That explained Salandra's hair.
"Oh, as soon as I find you, Nancy Love Drew, you'll be sorry for messing with me..."
The wand led Salandra all the way to the third floor, where an ancient-looking door stood at the end of the hallway. Confused, she cocked her head.
"This room is locked at all times. She can't be in there."
Salandra was proven wrong when she turned the knob. The door was unlocked. Hesitantly, she ventured into the dark, forbidden room known as the Chamber of Magical Knowledge.
The Wizard Council had passed a bill stating that wizard children under the age of sixteen were to be kept away from certain books. Given that those "certain books" were in the Chamber of Magical Knowledge, Carson had no choice but to make it off limits. It was either that or get rid of the books, and Carson didn't want that. As a lawyer, he couldn't condone censorship.
"Nancy?" Salandra called out. Her wand glowed brighter. She was close.
"Nancy?" she called again. "I know you're in here, you little nargle. Admit you were the one who dyed my hair green and I'll reduce your grounding by a fourth."
Silence. Then, "Make it half and you got a deal."
Exasperated, Salandra slid the brownies across the floor to seal the negotiation. A small hand crept out and dragged them into the shadows. Salandra waited until Nancy was done, then strode across the room to drag her out of there. Only there was a slight problem.
In the Chamber of Magical Knowledge, there was a live model of the wizard universe that hung from the ceiling. Miniature versions of all the realms circled around a big diamond, which represented the world the girls were currently in. For some reason, when Salandra walked underneath this model, she fell into a deep trance. She had never been in the chamber before, so she hadn't known this would happen.
"Sal? Oh no," Nancy grunted, dashing over to help her sister.
Sal stared up at the model, her arms hanging loosely at her sides.
Nancy put her hands on her hips and shook her head. "Now look what you've done! You could have been a good sport about my prank. You could have let it go, but noooo. You just had to come after me, didn't you?"
It was like talking to a brick wall. Sal was completely unresponsive. Nancy rolled her eyes and tried to push her away from the model, but she only knocked her to the floor. Sal collapsed on her back, still in the trance. Nancy gasped and threw her hands over her mouth.
"Oops."
She waited to see if Sal would snap out of it. When she didn't, Nancy bent down and waved her hand in front of her face.
"Sal?" Nancy whispered. "Sal, wake up! I've got things to do, places to be!"
A slight twitch of fingers was the only response Nancy got. Left with no other choice, she pinched Sal's elbow as hard as she could. How Nancy knew that would work, she didn't know, but waking Sal up was satisfactory for her.
"What are you doing?" Sal smacked Nancy's hand away. "Why are you assaulting my elbow?"
"Because you went all loopy!" Nancy cried. "What even happened, anyway? You were looking at that model the way I look at bacon."
Sal shook her head to clear her thoughts. "I don't know and I don't care. It's over now, so I can get back to what I was doing: punishing you."
Nancy gasped. "You wouldn't dare."
Sal latched onto her sister's arm. "Wouldn't I?"
Nancy scowled but didn't protest as Sal led her out of the chamber. Once they got to Nancy's room, Sal tossed her onto the bed and pulled out her wand.
"Where is it?" Sal demanded.
"Where's what?" Nancy asked, batting her eyelashes like Betty Boop. Sal rolled her eyes.
"Stop it, Nancy. Where's your wand?"
Nancy stared at Sal. Sal stared at Nancy. Nancy raised an eyebrow. Sal raised both eyebrows. Nancy realized she was no match for Sal, blinked, and flopped onto her back.
"In my dresser, third drawer, left side."
Sal followed Nancy's directions and found her wand. She slipped it under the waistband of her pajama pants and whisked around to face Nancy.
"No magic, for two weeks," Sal said sternly. "Even wand-free spells. Capiche?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it." Nancy waved Sal away. "Run of the mill punishment."
"Good. Before I leave, is there anything you want to tell me?"
Sal was expecting an apology, of course, but Nancy was too stubborn to give her that. Instead, she grinned and said, "Yeah, there is something I wanna tell you. But you gotta come closer."
Sal did so and immediately regretted it. Nancy blew a raspberry in her face! Surprised and disgusted, Sal ran out of the room and slammed Nancy's door shut. Pleased with herself, Nancy laid back down and closed her eyes, savoring the moment.
"Oh, what a time to be alive."