Quail

Rachel Smithely sat quietly on her red couch reading, silently. Late afternoons were always like this for the Smithelys. So quiet, yet they stood out like a dog in a worm convention. They were different from everyone else in New York City. They were nice, which a lot of people didn't understand. It was strange for a Goth family to be that way, now anyways.

Walker was Rachel's father. He had the complete appearance of a vampire. Somehow, he became that way by nature. People used to fear him for his evil look, but he was sweet, and loving. He had one friend as a child, Hannahlay, and once they turned twenty, they were wed.

Quinten was Walker's son-in-law, a professional pianist. His talents were unlimited, but as a child, only two people understood that. His two friends, Rachel and Walker. The only two friends he ever had. But one person was the envy of the entire household.

Her name was Quail, and she was beautiful for her toddler age. Whenever a smile, even at the tiniest bit, graced her round face the dark house seemed to shine like the sun, which she tended to hate.

Her father, Quinten, pounded away at the old saloon style keyboard that sat in front of him. The beautiful three-year-old smiled as he played a lovely Bach melody. He glanced at her and smiled. 'How cute,' he thought.

"Dad," Rachel began. "How long has it been since you've spent time with Quail?" She was concerned. Ever since he owned a business, his relationship with the family members was falling.

Walker tapped his blue-shaded lip. "Perhaps, a day?" He answered. "Well, you should, spend time right now instead of blinding yourself in that fire." Rachel was right, perhaps. His eyesight had started to shift from bad to worse since Quail was born, and Walker knew it. He wanted to prove her wrong, but it was pointless starting an argument. "Yes,"

The grandfather got up from the velvet couch and picked up his pretty little granddaughter. Quail giggled as he lifted her and tossed her into the air. "Wee! Quail is flying!" He said to her as he gently threw her up. He caught her and they both laughed in happiness. "Be careful, dad! I can't afford another brain surgery!" Quinten joked without taking his eyes off of the piano.

"I am!" He always sounded like a child when he was playing with his daughter's offspring. Quail was so much fun to be around. Her light brown eyes made the fun continue. Rachel smiled, placed her book on her seat and walked towards her father.

"Give me my baby!" The mother said. Walker handed the beautiful child to HIS beautiful child. Walker smiled and his granddaughter grinned back. They always had so much fun together, every time.

A last bang sounded from the piano, and Quinten stopped playing. The family was shocked at what he had just done. "Quinten?" Rachel began in concern. "Are you okay?" Walker finished. He began to breathe heavily and rose from the seat. He started to cough very loud. Drops of blood began dripping from his mouth. "Quinten!" The two concerned friends of his yelled at him. He just ignored them.

He got up and burst into visible flames. Rachel set her daughter down quickly but carefully. The relatives gathered around him and cried. Rachel, herself, cried bloody red tears, and Walker was frightened. She was about to go, but Walker couldn't figure out why. She held her stomach and fell to the red-carpeted floor. "HELP ME!" She screeched as she exploded into orange flames. They were so bright Quail could see herself in them.

She hadn't a clue on what was going on. She just looked around. Maybe this was just something for fun, she thought. Her family had played some games that involved lying on the ground, when she was younger. Before she knew it, she was in her grandfather's arms and being carried out side.

Walker placed her gently on the green grass. "Listen," He whispered to her. "the reason your parents died was because of you, my child. You, like your grandfather and mother, are like no other. You have powers that you must train yourself, and I can help you no longer." He kissed her on the forehead and ran off.

His running feet triggered her emotions. She sobbed insanely. She had to train her powers; that much was certain. But how? With no other? She guessed her mother and grandfather trained with each other, but, on the other hand, he was always easier on her than he was on his own child, but she was frightened. What if she were to kill the next person that crossed the street? Nothing made any sense, so she continued to cry.



Vanessa and her creepy old mother sat on their modern looking couch watching the Monday afternoon news. Vanessa sometimes was afraid of her mother, for quite a few reasons, but if her mother, who's name was Ester, ever found that out, she perhaps would have kicked out of her house. Vanessa was only 20 when she had her son, who she wanted to name Bobison, but her husband debated on 'Joe.' His name after he was born turned out to be 'Bobison-Joe.' Ester hated Dirk, her daughter's husband, more than she hated their adopted housemate, and that was a lot. The crude old woman wouldn't even come to her only child's wedding. Dirk would be there!

Ester's brother, Tyler, loved the housemate, more than he loved his dear niece, which was obviously more than he loved his older sister! Dirk was, okay, to him, but he was more of a party, night person, which was something the sweet old man couldn't relate to one bit!

A long yellow school bus pulled up in front of their farmhouse looking residence. The rest of the family hated it, but Ester wanted a 1800s family farmhouse in the middle of New York City, so they all stuck with it. A young boy wearing a horizontally striped sweater came running into the house. "Dad! Mom! Uncle Tyler! Grandma! I got an A- on my math test!" He yelled as he burst through the door. "Yay! My son's a wizard!" Vanessa said with expression. Her eyes were focused on Bobison-Joe for a brief second, then she stared back into the television screen. "That's right! I'm buzzing past everyone else in school!" He stiffened his figure and smiled proud of himself. Everyone seemed impressed, all except-Of course!-Ester.

Tyler laughed in impression and said, "Wow! Pretty soon you'll be in high school at the age of 12!" He smiled and turned to his grim sister. "Aren't you proud of him, Ester?" She gave Bobison-Joe a look as if he were educationally impaired. "Well, I'm very sure you could do better. A minus, that's practically and F!"

Everyone stared at her for a second. Vanessa turned to her adorable son and smiled. "Why don't you go study upstairs?"
"Okay!" He said and ran towards the wooden stairs. "Panda! Panda!" Bobison-Joe yelled as he ran into his babyish bedroom. Panda was the name of his hamster.

Just as the boy was completely out of sight, an older girl, by only a year, began walking up the steps, across the wrap-around porch, and stepped through the glass door. She was a very beautiful girl, whose parents died when she was only three. She was the family's adopted housemate, her name, was Quail.

She was just about to walk up the wooden staircase, when Vanessa stopped her. "Hello Quail." She said without taking her eyes from the TV. "Hi," she answered and continued walking. "Quail," Ester stopped her in her tracks. "Bobison-Joe tells us that he got an A minus on his math test." Quail knew where this was going. She was already on the third step. "So what did I get?" She asked as she walked into the center of the living room.

She laughed as she thought of a way to stall. "Why should grades matter to me? To anyone?" The old lady rolled her eyes and repeated her question, this time, with a tone that sounded like an angry bear protecting her child.

"What did you get, Quail?" Quail swallowed a lump in her throat and mumbled something no one in the room could understand. "F," She answered. "What did you say?" Tyler asked politely. "F!" She now was yelling at the old woman, even though she wasn't the one that asked the question. "An F?!" She was ready to start lecturing, but that was pointless. She had always given Quail her hardest core, while Bobison-Joe got the outer crust.

"Quail?" Vanessa asked softly. "Weren't you studying last night?" Tyler broke in. "I can believe that you were, as you're a very smart girl!" Tyler always sounded so nice, as he was very shy. "I started to, but-" She was cut off by the crony old woman. "But you went on that computer instead!"
"No!" The girl yelled back. "I threw up because Polly said 'Ester! Ester!'" The old woman was now fuming. "Well, tonight, you'll be studying with Bobison-Joe, and you will," she stressed 'will.' "pass!"

"Now get in your room and gather your books! NOW!" Ester yelled. Quail couldn't stand her moron of a housemate. She was so mean to her just because of her original religion, Quail assumed. Anyone could predict that. Unlike the rest of the household, Ester only liked to be around people of the Christian religion. Quail thought that was crazy.

She slapped her forehead and ran into the dinning room, and opened the cheap white door that led to her room. Ester sat back down and asked the others sitting around her, "What is wrong with that child?" The other two didn't answer. They were afraid to say what they really thought. 'Nothing.'

Quail fed her pet parrot Polly first. Only Bobison-Joe understood why she took more care of Polly than she did herself, and she couldn't care any less about him and "Panda!" She grabbed the box of Scrumptious Pet Morsels and poured some into Polly's food dish. Polly was so cute. He had beautiful red feathers with a golden yellow beak. He knew one and only one word. "Quail," and he used it all the time. That always made the eleven-year-old laugh.

Quail quickly scribbled something in her math book. At school, she had found the other

half of a spell she was practicing. It was used to trap household evil, but it didn't work. The first day Quail came to the Mallory household, she said the half she had had for a while, and Ester was never trapped! She gave up on it for a while. But now, the spell was clear and it all made sense...

Once she was done, she closed the book and began to walk upstairs.



Bobison-Joe was pouring some Scrumptious Pet Morsels into his hamster Panda's food dish. "There you go Cutie-Kins! I bet you were hungry! I forgot to feed you last night! But can you believe that I passed my math test and Grandma doesn't care? That's mean of her! I go an A-! Wouldn't you be proud of your Grandson?" Even the panda looking rodent seemed to be annoyed by his nature to talk! Many people seemed to be annoyed in his fifth grade class, sometimes even the teacher! But he was a total teacher's pet, and only had one friend due to those facts. Sometimes it made him think what everything would be like if he were more like Quail.

He sat at his cheap wooden desk and began to study for tomorrow’s test. "5 x 5 is 25," he said to himself. "6 x 6 is-" Panda's squeaking broke the silence. He only made that noise when Quail was coming or was near. Bobison liked Quail and wanted to be her friend, but she didn't feel the same, not at the slightest bit. "Bobison!" She yelled as she appeared in the doorway. She knocked on the wall twice and let herself in. Bobison set down his math book and walked up to her.

"What do you need?" He asked cheerfully. "Listen," Quail began. "I need help studying for the math test tomorrow, and you're going to help me, got it?" She barely gave him time to answer. He opened his mouth to speak but Quail had already started again. "Good. Now, let's get started." Bobison decided to speak up. "Well, actually, I'd rather study alone. But, I guess I could make some room, I guess."

"Do you have your stuff?" He asked like a teacher with his hands on his hips. "Yes. I have my books, and…well, let's get started!" Quail answered. Bobison-Joe smiled and began teaching her the math basics; division, subtraction, addition, multiplication, ect.

The young boy read every line of the book, pretty much. He found it weird that Quail didn't ask any questions. Not even the common, 'could you repeat that?' Bobison could tell that Quail wasn't really paying attention, but his room fitted his personality; babyish, completely!

It was hard for her to find any way to focus on anything in this five-year-old's bedroom besides the décor! Blue walls, alien posters, a dark blue baby sports covers with plaid fitted sheets, and-this is what caught her the most-a dollhouse! The pieces were scattered all over the miniature residence, so it was obviously used recently. She tried hard to contain her laughter, but it came out in tiny bits. "Shh!" Bobison-Joe ordered.

"We could just stop the lesson, if you're going to keep laughing." He tried to sound like his strict teacher, but he couldn't be easily mistaken. "Bobison, no matter how much I'd like that, I have to get at least a B on my math test tomorrow." Quail answered his bad threat. He rolled his eyes and continued. This bored Quail. She had friends, only two, but she had them, and they planned that right after school they'd all call each other and plan to go to the town center park.

Now, they probably thought she stood them up and might not like her anymore. She's been down that long road. She knows; it's a LONG road. She glanced at the clock, 8:43. Almost 9! Quail always thought that it sucked that they had to go to bed so early. Bobison-Joe yawned. He always got tired at this time. Quail rolled her eyes upward. He was such a baby! Getting tired when she could still burp her lunch! What the heck? Vanessa's voice broke the girl's thoughts. "Quail! Bobison-Joe!" The young woman yelled up the wooden stairs. "Get ready for bed!"

Bobison-Joe walked his housemate to the door and said, "I had fun studying with you today, Quail!" She walked out of his toddler-fit room and answered "Whatever," Bobison closed his door once he was sure she was out of it's range.

It was now 9:15 and Bobison-Joe had just slipped on his blue-stripped matching pajama suite. He also had a matching sleeping cap. He had on his three-toed claw slippers and was sitting upward in his baby-sheeted bed, reading his math book. "23 + Y is 46. Y is-" He paused to think. "Y is 23!" Panda squealed with joy. "Yay, Panda! I told you I'm smarter than Grandma gives me credit for!" He smiled at his rodent and continued studying for the test.

Quail was still wide awake. She clicked on her computer and began chatting with her two and only friends, Danny Michaud and Brahm Powell. They all met for one reason; they were all magical! Danny and Brahm were wizards while Quail was a witch. The three of them shared a very close bond together and stuck together like, as Danny once said, "Peanut butter and relish!"

"So did you study for the test?" Quail asked over her MSN messenger. "Yeah, of course." Brahm answered. He was a straight A student, but hated school as much as the other two, perhaps even more! "I started to." Danny broke in. His username was 'PieMan3345.' Brahm's was 'Inventor553' while Quail's was 'pPunkcChild.' "Bu I fell asleep after reading the first 2 pages of the book!" Quail answered, "LOL! U know that spell I was working on?" Danny answered. "Yes" while Brahm sent a nodding smiley face. "Well, I found the other half of it, and now it makes sense. Let's meet in the park at about 4ish after school." The other two sent nodding smiley faces. "G2g!"

Quail clicked off her Dell computer and pushed the covers away so she could lie down. She pulled the covers over her face and quietly drifted to sleep.



It was now 4am. Quail was snoring like crazy, as was Polly! A loud bang hit her window, but she slept peacefully through the deafening sound as it struck her pane. The loud noise effected her dream, for a greatly noisy bang hit a window in her dream, just as it did in real life.



"Bye Dirk, Vanessa." Quail said as she walked out the glass door. It was around 8 am and was utterly sun-drenched outside. Bobison-Joe was at the top of the brown wooden staircase yelling, "Wait! Wait! I'm coming!" to the bus. The older girl rolled her eyes while smiling. She continued to walk.

Bobison-Joe walked nonchalantly to the bus once he reached the sidewalk. His only friend Benedick Monty (who he called Ben) waved at him from the bus window. Bobison-Joe waved back.

"Where's Mrs. Ramaswami?" Ran through the fifth grade classroom. The students in room 221 were right on time and their teacher wasn't there! She was never late, as she was a morning person. Quail looked around the room. She had hung up some new posters! She liked her teacher, and as far as she was concerned, Mrs. Ramaswami liked her too! She was so nice, and gave all of the kids a second chance, on test, behavior, homework, whatever! The room was full of inspirational posters and flags. Two children sat at one long, white table, and each table had a computer right by the wall. Quail sat behind one, as she had to look up information for her and Danny's science project on the solar system.

Their African-American teacher walked through the white door and smiled at all of their tired faces. She picked up a can of Scrumptious Pet Morsels and shook food particles into the fish tank. "There you go!" She said to the fish in a happy voice. "Good morning, class!" She turned and said. "New dress!" Mrs. Ramaswami pointed to her lavender neck-tied dress and smiled. The entire class lightly laughed.

"Um," Elizabeth McNells began. "Mrs. Ramaswami, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that the same dress you wore last week?" Elizabeth was a very pretty girl. She had a cute baby face and long, black hair. She was wearing a black summer dress with matching shoes.

The teacher giggled. "Okay, you've figured me out!" She pushed back a strain of her long black hair, tied with a silver barrette. "Now, class, to start the day, how about you all and your partners talk over your science projects?" The teacher sat at her desk and began to type up math grades on her Dell computer. The kids began to talk.

Elizabeth was paired up with Orlando Butler, a boy with loose black hair. He was wearing a purple golf shirt with a pair of pink jeans. He had a chubby face and was considered a "nerd."

Bobison-Joe was paired with his ONLY friend, Benedick Monty. He had a Hispanic completion and short black hair. They were working on the Earth and other planets. Brahm was partners with Beatrice Monty, Benedick's twin sister. Their project was on the food cycle of chickens.

Quail and Danny were partners. They had two projects; one included Brahm. Their science project was on the earth's physical changes, their own project was on taming their powers, as Brahm and Danny were wizards, while Quail was a witch.

Brahm turned to his two friends who sat at the table before of him. "So are we still meeting in the park after school?" He asked ignoring every word his partner said. "Of course." Danny answered. "Why wouldn't we be?" Quail asked. "Just checking." Brahm answered. He straitened a couple strains of his bowl-cut hair. "What time?" He asked. Quail and Danny exchanged an agreeing look. They were like brother and sister. They always knew what the other was thinking. "4 o'clock." They answered in chorus.



The three met in Central Park, and were sitting in a circle by the large pond were citizens would normally go to fish. They were over talking the second half of the evil trapping spell Quail had found a few days ago.

"So you say that you've practiced this spell in your house?" Danny asked his friend. "Yes," She answered. "Well, why didn't Ester get trapped?" Quail laughed. "Just what I was thinking!" Brahm broke in.

"How does the spell go?" Brahm asked. "Yes!" A fishing woman yelled. She smiled and pulled on her fishing rod. The rod flew in the air and smacked Brahm right in the face. That had happened a lot. The woman wasn't even nice enough to apologize.

Quail took a deep breath and began. "The power of three will set us free. Whole detect, stones-" Danny cut her off. "We know that part! What's the part you just discovered?" Quail sighed and began again. "Trap this evil as I will, so let it be! We shall guard that door so that evil can cast no more. Happy?" Danny made a face. He had gone into deep thought. "I guess it makes sense." Brahm answered the spell.

"Yeah, but isn't it weird how you just uncovered it?" Danny asked. "What do you mean?" Quail answered. "Well, you've had the original part of the spell since you came to live with the Mallory’s. Now, that we've moved on to fifth grade a few weeks ago, you found the second part." Quail started to realize what he was saying. "So what? Do you think there'll be more to the spell as we move on some more?" Brahm broke in, "Maybe this time it won't be you, maybe not even anyone we know! At least not that well."
"You mean someone who could handle it the wrong way?"
"Perhaps,"
"Someone like," The three gasped together. "Ester!" Quail alone said, "Plus, she knows I practice witchcraft sometimes. And, she's heard the spell." The three friends exchanged worried looks. Ester, as far as they knew, was the Mallory’s household evil, and since there might have been more to the spell, no evil in their house has been trapped. "Oh no,"