I'm terrified. Yes, the magical princess of Magicae, terrified. What a surprise. Why? Because of Leila Savvy and her bitchy twins. Duh. Ginger and I, who somehow managed to teleport to the same place, are hiding in a closet in Jade's house. Jade is my best friend, so I figure she won't mind. But I don't hear Jade. I hear sirens. Loud ones.

"The Oharas are all missing. Search the house for clues," a police officer says. I nod to Ginger, hoping she understands where I'm trying to go—which is home, or my adoptive home I guess—and we both teleport there. I guess she does understand these powers better than I do. I carefully walk to the closest window and peek out, wondering why the Oharas are missing. Is it my fault? Did the Savvys take her? Most likely. Shit. I hear a knock on the door and after peeking through a window I realize it's the police and not the Savvys.

I open the door and they ask, "Where are the Oharas?"

"I knew they were missing, I heard you from here, but I don't know or have any idea as to where they are," I say, lying through my teeth, because I do have an idea, which involves the Savvys.

"If you learn anything of their location please call this number," the police officer says and he hands me a business card. 

Oh, they're probably in the dimension I'm supposed to be queen of, but my mother is a painting, my father is probably dead, and the current queen is the bitch who probably has the Oharas. 

I figure that telling the police that is going to get me sent to an insane asylum, so I stay quiet for obvious reasons. I shoo the police, politely, and close the door.

"Okay, Ginger. We need to figure out this magic. I know you have, but I haven't, so once I figure out how to talk to you or vice versa we're good." 

I think Ginger hears me because she looks up and acknowledges my words by nodding. 

"Sounds good!" says a female voice. A nice female voice, one that seems almost, dog-like. I look to Ginger and I'm amazed. She's the one talking.

"Uh. Okay. Now say 'Leila Savvy is a bitch' if you understand me," I say, so used to strange that by now I've been expecting nothing but the strange.

"Leila Savvy is a bitch," Ginger repeats and I squeal with excitement before covering my mouth in case my parents heard. 

Speaking of my parents, I haven't seen them. I explain that issue to Ginger and we search the house. I search their bedroom and find something. Two notes. Stained. With red. Blood! I realize, hoping my parents are okay. I slowly pick up the first note and read it.

Leila has us. We always knew you were special, seeing as we found you and Ginger in the woods, with animals bowing to you. We and many others need you. S..........

After the "S" I see nothing but the blood stain, and faint dots, but it's obvious what it means. It means "Save us." My mother (it's her handwriting) must have been pulled away from the note by one of the Savvys and been hurt in some way that spilt blood. Note to self: I am going to fucking kill Leila. She and my father must have been carried off. By the Savvys. To Magicae. I pick up the second note and read some unfamiliar handwriting,

Come back to your planet, or we'll kill your friends and their families. We'll be waiting for you, princess.-Leila Savvy

I look for something to hit, something nobody will miss and I find a sheet. I hold out my hand and burn it, center out, small little embers slowly floating to the ground like burning snowflakes. I'm not exactly how that happened, but maybe it was because I was pissed. But if that was Leila's chest I would be happy, but only in theory. Then I'd be a murderer. It might make my life easier, but it's better to just put her in jail. Satisfied, I call for Ginger. She runs upstairs and I put the notes on the ground for her to read, unsure if she actually can read. She seems to understand them because she has a look of worry on her face.

"Magicae," I tell Ginger and I snap my fingers. 

After a few seconds I see a dark, shadowy place begin to form around me. This is it. My planet. To be honest, it looks awful, but it's Leila's doing. I walk through the city and somebody small sees me.

"Who are you?" she asks (I think it's a girl. Maybe she's an alien? Maybe aliens have different genders?).

"I'm not telling you. Now who are you?" 

I sigh before answering. "Long story. I'm your princess, basically," at those words the girl runs into the nearest house. I look into the window and tell her.

"The real one. Not the bi—mean twins," I almost cuss in front of the little kid.

She must have heard because she runs out and curtsies in her little dress, "Sorry. I'm Daisy Sparks. My parents were taken away by some mean twins, who are the supposed princesses, and they even claimed to have one of my older sisters, Holly!" She smiles at me, but I can see worry in that smile, so I smile back. She's a bit naïve, but she's clearly Holly's sister. So, they've got Holly's parents, too, and that means they've probably got everyone else's, including mine! Goddammit Leila. Fuck you.

"I was wondering if you knew how to get to the palace," I tell the little girl. Probably excited she knows something important she immediately says,

"Look above you, silly!" So I look up and see a giant cloud.

"There's a cloud, Daisy."

"It's on the cloud. Everyone knows that."

"Oh," I feel stupid now.

"Are you going to be fine? On your own?" I ask her, worried for her safety.

"I won't be alone! I've got my big sister Kendall to watch me. She's upstairs," I had heard something upstairs, but now I assume it was Kendall.

"Okay. I'll go now then. Bye!" I tell the little girl. She smiles and waves as I close the door behind me.

"Let's go, Ginger. We need to go find a way up. I know I can fly, but I haven't figured it out yet,"

We walk along the road and quickly come upon a police officer.

"You're under arrest!" she shouts. 

I look at her face and realize that's it's Emira, but I can only tell that it's her and not Cassandra because of her voice, not her face. I run around her and away, as fast as I can, with Ginger running in front. Emira nears me and I put on a sudden burst of energy to get close to Ginger.

"Snapdragon's house. Go there," I whisper to Ginger and I snap my fingers. 

A few seconds later I appear in a house. Snapdragon's I would think. Ginger appears beside me and we look around, only seeing blood and destruction. I can only assume something similar to what happened at my house happened. I see an attempt at a note but it's only a line, as if Leila dragged the writer away before he or she got a chance to write anything. I peek out the window and see nobody, glad that Snapdragon's home was far from where I saw Cassandra or Emira. I peak out the door and realize that I'm at the edge of the city. I walk down the street with Ginger, away from the city, and after a few minutes we reach a park outside of the city. Suddenly, Ginger runs away, as if something is calling her. I chase her, hoping it's not a trap, and we run into the woods.

"Ginger. You'd better know what you're doing," I tell her.

"I know what I'm doing. I feel something. A call. I'm running to it," she says as if it's the most obvious thing ever.

"This better not be a trap," I mumble as we approach a cave. 

Ginger sniffs it before walking inside. I follow her and soon the cave becomes a cavern and I hear the sound of a collar. Two collars. Three collars. Four collars. Soon four dogs come back to me, two looking similar to Ginger, one being Ginger, and one being a bigger and older version of the other three. Ginger looks happy, a lot more than usual, and the big dog speaks.

"I'm Cinnamon. The royal dog, and these are my puppies. You've met Ginger but this is Juniper. We're also all female, except Juniper, before you start saying 'it'. Nobody likes 'it,' " she pats a paw on one of the other two dogs, this one having some white patches on his legs. She pats a paw on the other and says that she is Clover, and Clover has a brown diamond shape spot on her forehead. I nod and all the dogs bow to me, including Ginger.

"Since we're the royal dogs, we're your pets, but Leila kicked us out. I couldn't save Ginger, and she was sent off with you as I fled with my two remaining puppies. We fled to this cave no we've lived here since. You must've come back for us because Leila's gone!" Cinnamon gets really excited for that last part but sadly, her excitement is fueled by her own lies.

"Leila is very much there. I just got here from Earth. It's a long story, but she's got a bunch of people hostage up there; one wrong move and they're gone," I tell Cinnamon and she and her puppies shiver in fear of Leila.

"Can you control your magic?" Cinnamon dares to question.

"Yes, I can control it. I just can't figure out how to do fucking anything," I reply and Cinnamon smiles, but winces at the cussing.

"Looks like I get to teach you, unless Her Majesty Queen Evie is here. She's not, is she?"

"She's not here,"

"Oh. But we'll get her back, and I'm going to help you by teaching you about this, magic," Cinnamon says determinedly. I nod and Cinnamon paws me a book.

"This is the one good thing I did. I saved it. The book. The book that explains everything," Cinnamon explains. I leaf through the pages about techniques and spells and hug Cinnamon.

"Thanks. You've really helped. If-If I don't make it I need you to take care of Ginger. She's always been one of two friends who always seem to understand me and if I don't make it I need to know she'll be happy. If I pass, I want you to move on, Ginger," I say, turning to Ginger at the end. "I want you to be happy, not dwell on the past." 

Ginger nods as my vision blurs and tears fall down my face like little raindrops trickling their goodbyes. I decide to spend the night in the cave, reading the book and practicing, before heading up to finish this. Once and for all, Leila will be gone.