Hi! I’m Rachel, but everyone calls me Ray.  Listen up, I only have a moment.  Right now, there are demons on the move trying to set up a new lair on Mackinaw Island, and my friends and I are on a mission to destroy their forces.  Our scryers had been sensing them in the area for a while so my friends Libby and Alex decided to check things out.  Usually, they don’t take me on their missions, but I’m a very powerful water elementalist.  This means I can control water and use it as a weapon or for protection.  This will be my first mission, but they have been on many adventures before, killing monsters and fighting gods to keep the world safe from harm.  The mortals don’t even know this goes on, they can’t see magic for what it is.  They just see things in a way their minds can explain.

“Come on, why can’t this boat go any faster?” complained Libby.  “Why didn’t you let me make a portal so we could have gotten there faster?”

“First, the ferry to Mackinaw can’t go any faster without endangering the passengers, and secondly because we don’t want you wasting your magic right now,” Alex replied.  “We’re going to need all your power once we get there.”

“We need to come up with a plan for when we get there,” I said. 

“Simple,” said Libby.  “Get off the boat, find the demons, and destroy them.”

“It’s not that easy,” replied Alex showing he was annoyed.  “We need to find the location the scryers gave us.”  He studied the hastily drawn map the scryers had given us before we left.  Tracing his finger across the map he said, “We need to find this twisted maple tree that has been struck by lightening near the forest entrance.  We follow a path from there about 20 feet past the edge of Skull Cave.  That’s the center of the magical disturbance.  Then after we figure out how many demons there are and what they’re doing, we come up with some way to stop it.”

The ferry boat finally landed and the three of us jumped on our bicycles and took off in pursuit of the demons.

“Come along, guys,” said Alex.  Libby and I followed closely behind.  We biked along with Lake Huron to one side and forest to the other.  Soon Arch Rock was in view ahead of us.  “Beautiful,” murmured Alex under his breathe.

“Absolutely,” I sighed. “Almost seems magical,” I said with a smile tugging at my lips.

“Hah!” Libby scoffed, “It’s not like we’ve never seen magic before.”

Soon we found the tree from the map and went on to find Skull Cave.
As we rounded the next bend Alex signaled us down and shushed us.  We poked our heads around the bend and what I saw startled me.  There were about 20 Egyptian demons that were eight feet tall, beefy, and had the heads of various insects.  There were also a few sphinxes and other monsters that I didn’t recognize.  We sat on the side of the bend and Libby said with a huff, “I didn’t expect sphinxes; they’re supposed to be on our side.”  She scowled over at Alex, “Well, what now?  If it were only a few demons I could just do a couple spells and POOF problem solved.  With 30 or so monsters I don’t know what to do.”

“I have an idea,” I piped up.  “The water is just over there.  I can cause a flood to wash away most of the monsters, and then you guys can pick off the others while they’re surprised by the attack.”

“Well, I don’t know,” Alex began.

“Personally, I think it’s worth a shot,” said Libby.  “We’re already sitting in their backyard.  Who knows when one of them sees us and decides to attack?”

“Alright,” Alex said reluctantly, “we can try Ray’s plan.”

Libby nodded at me so I stood up, grabbed my Nepthys amulet and curved wand, closed my eyes and reached deep inside myself to summon up my magic.  Immediately I felt my emotions, memories, and my powers merge with those of Nepthys, the Egyptian river goddess.  I envisioned a huge wave crashing forward onto the demon’s camp.  As the water erupted and came surging forward, the monsters watched it coming down on them in horror.  As the water swirled around us, Alex and Libby struggled to stay next to me.  As suddenly as it started, the water stopped.  It receded back into Lake Huron and I promptly collapsed, my magic spent.  The next thing I knew I was waking up.   Still groggy, I heard a voice say.   “Careful, don’t get up.  I knew you shouldn’t have done that. You almost died!”

“You were smoking and you were hardly breathing!” I heard a second voice say.  “You practically scared us to death!”

My head was pounding as I looked up at two concerned faces.  “Who are you?” I managed to mumble.

Confused, they look at each other.  “It’s worse than I thought,” the boy said to the girl.  “What do we do now?”