The Two Worlds by Alisha Howard Page A

home.
     
    ***
    “ Rena! Wake up!” I cried,
shaking Rena violently. The girl slept like she wasn’t going to
ever get up. We had tons of homework to do before our next Awakener
meeting, and we still had to figure out a way to get Giza
Graveyard, I didn’t even know where it was. Rena moaned a loud
protest and turned over.
    I sighed and looked up. “Dia? A little
help her?” My house chuckled and gave a sudden lurch. Things went
toppling to the floor, along with Rena, who gave a shriek and sat
back up quickly.
    “ What is wrong? What did I
miss?” she yelled.
    I laughed and stood up, too. “Get up,”
I ordered. “We’ve got plans today.” Rena moaned and fell backwards
back on to the floor. I grinned. Nia promised us that she would
take us for a day out on the town as a reward for the hard work
we’d been doing with our basic spells and I was more than
ready.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER SIX
     
     
    A golden bell tinkered above us as we
walked in. I took a deep breath in surprise. The whole store seemed
to be made of solid gold. Our footsteps made a hollow tap with each
step we took. I looked around and noticed that we were the only
ones in the store.
    “ Where are all the
customers?” I asked Nia.
    She shrugged. “It’s not a place for
bargain shopping,” she said, picking up a golden rod with symbols
etched into it. “It’s pretty exclusive in here.” Once again, I felt
more privileged than I wanted to. What made us so special to shop
here?
    “ Good morning, my dears!”
cried a musical voice from behind us. We whirled around to find a
beautiful light red woman standing there smiling. She had two large
wings coming out of her back, but that was where her magical
appearance ended. She was wearing blue jeans and a shirt that read I’m not bossy. I just know who should be in
charge.
    “ Good morning, Mimi,” Nia
answered for us. “Ladies, this is Mimi LaFaye. Mimi this is my
sister, Kathleena, and our friend, Rena.”
    Mimi smiled. “I know who you are.” She
looked at us for a moment and then clapped her hands together. “So!
What brings you here today?”
    “ We were just looking to see
if something caught our eye,” Nia informed her. My mouth was still
hanging open, and Rena was far too shy to speak to someone like
Mimi. “Kay’s never been here before.”
    Mimi nodded, and her wings fluttered a
bit. “Come, let me give you the grand tour.” We followed her around
as she pointed out different items, such as pots and pans that
would cook for you and a bookshelf that would materialize any book
wanted. Nia kept oohing and aaahing over that one. I sighed and
broke away from the group, finding a little cabinet tucked away
behind cloaks. There was a thin layer of dust on it. Coughing, I
brushed it off and read For Those Who Have Trouble Finding Their
Waye .
    Hmmm, that’s odd, I thought to
myself. Why was “way” spelled like that? I frowned and opened the
cabinet door. Although the store was lit very brightly, the
cabinet’s insides were dark. My heart began to beat faster, but I
didn’t know why. Turning around, I saw Rena and Nia asking the
bookshelf to produce a variety of different magical books. Mimi had
moved on to something else. Turning my attention back to the
cabinet, I reached in and immediately felt something pinch my
finger hard.
    “ Ow!” I cried out, sticking
my throbbing finger in my mouth. I stood up and started to close
the cabinet when I noticed something gold glinting from the tip of
my nose. Pulling my finger away from my mouth, I stared at a small
golden ring that had found its way there.
    “ Huh,” I said to myself,
inspecting the ring. There was nothing unusual about it, and it was
actually kind of cute. Nonetheless, I didn’t want to buy it. I
tried to take it off and found it wouldn’t budge. Panicking, I
tugged at my finger and didn’t even notice that Mimi had walked up
behind me.
    “ Fascinating little ring,
isn’t