A green glow lit up the darkened bedroom. With a flourish of my hand, the lights flipped on. A flash, and I blinked from my bed to my closet. The calendar within read June 9th, a full six weeks since I had gotten my first spell book. The nearby bookshelf now contained nearly a dozen, from introductory leveled spells to intermediate spells like teleportation. From what I gleaned from the books, my magic reserve was smaller than the average unicorn’s and didn’t recover nearly as fast. There would be no way I could ever attempt any ‘advanced’ leveled spells, but that was ok. I have magic. Period.

A knock sounded from the door to my room. Panicking, I extinguished the aura around my hands and snatched up the floating shirt. I quickly finished dressing, then opened the door. My mom walked in, oblivious to the spectacle occurring in here only moments ago. I had not told her about my magic. Not her, not anyone. I wanted to keep it a secret until I was good enough with it to defend myself with magic, if need be.

“Will, are you all packed for your trip?” she asked. I nodded. “Good, let’s get it in my car. I’ll drive you to the airport.”

For my eighteenth birthday and the summer after our graduation, Nick and Catherine had decided to splurge. They bought three round-trip tickets for us all to fly down to the Gulf of Mexico for a few days. I still had to help pay for the hotel, but who cares? Four days of sunshine, sand, tanning my pale skin, and no parents, here I come!

“Bye, Mom! Love you!” I yelled as my mom drove off. As soon as she was gone, I turned and walked into the Atlanta airport’s southern terminal. I saw Catherine waiting for me by the computer check-in kiosks. She waved at me, and I ran over. I gave her a quick kiss. “Hey, my sweet Catherine. Let me just drop off my bags, and then we can go meet Nick. Okay?”

“Okay. He’s just over there. He wanted some gum for the flight.”

“Ohh… I knew I forgot something. I’ll need to grab some, too. And Catherine?”

“Yes?”

“Thanks for the ticket. You spoil me rotten, my sweet,” I cooed.

Check in was a breeze. My bags were taken and I got my boarding pass. The two of us dashed off to meet Nick. Upon entering the small store, I began to look for my best friend. He found me first. Or rather, ran into me first. Literally.

“Oooff. Sorry sir– WILL! Hey man! How ya been?” he asked.

“Well, I just got hit by this random guy, but other than that, I’m great!”

He slugged me on the shoulder. “Ha! Good to see you, man.”

“Good to see you, too. Let me grab some gum real quick. Then we’ll go catch ourselves a flight.”

“Sounds cool, dude.”

It took us almost an hour to get through security. I, much to my displeasure, got the random selection for a pat down. Hey, it’s for the safety of everyone around me, so who am I to complain? It’s not my fault that the new Russian extremist groups have made threats against the United States. One pat down and retinal scan later, I was through. Catherine and Nick had already made it through. We ran.

Thankfully, we arrived at our gate with four minutes to spare.

“Now boarding section D on Delta flight 7734 to Tampa, Florida,” the flight attendant called out over the intercom. We, hearing our section called, made our way through the rows of seats in the waiting room. At the door to the jet-way, the attendant scanned our tickets and fingerprints, and let us onto the aircraft.

As we walked down the aisle to our seats, I took a look at all the passengers we passed. The woman with the cough made me nervous. The last major flu scare was only last year.

One large, jittery man in particular caught my attention. “That guy looks like he had five too many coffees,” I whispered to Catherine, while discretely indicating the muscular man to her. She giggled.

Near the middle of the flight, Catherine pulled out her beauty magazines. I didn’t particularly care for that stuff, but she likes it. Catherine tore out one of the advertisement pages.

“Hey, Catherine, Nick, want to see something really cool? I’ve wanted to show you this for a while now. Can you keep a secret?” I asked.

“Sure,” they both replied at the same time. Catherine giggled again.

I began to fold the sheet Catherine tore out into a paper airplane. “Watch this,” I said, and threw the paper down the aisle. Quickly, I shoved my hands under the tray table, so no other onlookers would see my hands. Right before the paper airplane hit the flight attendant, my signature green glow enveloped it, and the little aircraft swerved around her bemused head. Up and down the cabin, the little paper plane flew. I made it perform loops, corkscrews, and dives. A pair of kids hopped out of their seats to chase the plane back and forth, while the rest of the cabin watched in awe. Eventually, I cut the flow of the magic, and the paper airplane landed, only to be snatched up by a little boy. My audience cheered, even though only two knew they were cheering for me.

“What was THAT?!?!” Nick asked.

“Magic. Psychic powers. Nano-bots in the air. Take your pick. Chrysalis taught me how to do that,” I answered. “But you can’t tell anyone.”

“We won’t,” Nick answered.

“Why not? That’s soooo cool! What else can you do?” a pause, “Who’s Chrysalis?” Catherine asked at a ridiculous speed, a smile plastered on her face.

“I don’t want to end up on a lab table in area 51. Chrysalis is a shape-shifting alien queen from the planet Equa. She taught me magic,” I said, giving her a moment to process that.

Her smile wilted. “Ohh… The government would lock you away if they knew, right?”

I nodded. “This isn’t the place to talk. Now that I think about it, making such a display probably wasn’t such a good idea.” Catherine nodded, and Nick gave me a look that screamed ‘you think?!?!’

We were approximately half an hour from landing when the worst fears of any passenger on a commercial airplane came true. The Muscular man I had pointed out to Catherine earlier stood up and drew out a gun. Five other large men throughout the plane stood up and did the same.

“NOBODY MOVE!” The first man roared in his thick Russian accent.

At first, there was dead silence, only the drone of the engines could be heard. Then reality struck, and a woman screamed: we were being hijacked.

Panic set in. What’s going on? What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?

Oh, yeah…

[Chrysalis! I need your help! It’s an emergency!]

[AHH! William! What’s wrong?]

[Six men with weapons. 150 panicking, unarmed civilians. No escape route. They want to kill us all,] I hurriedly explained.

[Send the armed men to me. My guards will incapacitate them when they arrive.]

Great. I have a plan. Problem #1: the range around me in which I can snap-transfer matter to Chrysalis is only two meters. Problem #2: None of the hijackers are close enough.

I can do this.

I unbuckled my seatbelt and readied my magic, secrecy be damned. I WANT TO LIVE!

[Ready, Chrysalis?] I asked; She was.

I stood up and stepped out into the aisle, glowing hands buried in the pockets of my shorts.

“SIT DOWN!” The Russian man ordered. I did not.

The next 60 second of my life were a whirlwind of activity.

I charged. The hijacker’s hands were snapped down next to his sides. I teleported. Conservation of momentum made me crash into the man far sooner than he expected. Aided by the pressure I simultaneously spelled into the back of his knees, the man was forced down. Still in my pocket, my glowing hand snapped. His body vanished in a flash, and, lacking the support of his body, mine flopped to the floor.

One down, five to go.

Acting quickly, I pulled my hands out to push myself up onto my knees. I sprang, but the other armed men had drawn their guns by this point. One fired. In the enclosed space of the cabin, the noise was deafening. Adrenaline surged through my veins, and my magic along with it. I cast the teleport spell again, but this time, instead of moving me, I moved their guns. We can’t be having casualties, now can we?

As I closed the distance between me and the second terrorist, I started casting the changeling’s body impact spell, silently thanking Chrysalis for teaching me the staple spell of a changeling warrior. The shroud of green flames enveloped me, enabling me to bash the man far harder than any human had a right to. The instant after impact, snap. Flash. Gone.

Two down. Four to go. At this rate, I’m going to burn through all my magic before they are all defeated.

I blink again.

Snap.

Flash.

Gone.

Three down, three to go. And not enough magic for another teleport. Thank god sending them to Chrysalis does not cost much energy. By this point, the remaining three hijackers are completely freaked out. One tries to charge me, drawing a knife out from his coat in the process. I trip him with telekinesis and snap-flash him away.

Four down, two to go. I’m sucking at fumes with my magic levels. Even though I haven’t been hit, my chest is burning. I’m gasping for air, my heart is pounding at a million beats a second. I’m only standing because of the adrenalin coursing through my veins.

It’s at this point that the other passengers start acting. A few of the larger passengers, both men and women, have leapt up to my aid. A second later, the two remaining hijackers have been subdued. I stagger down the aisle, my vision blurring slightly. I come to the first. Snap. Flash. Gone. The second, Snap. Flash. Gone.

Done.

It’s over. My magic is gone. I collapse to the floor. The world grows dark on the edges of my vision. I think… I hear someone calling my name… It doesn't matter… The last thing I see as my vision shuts down are three flashes… and three dark silhouettes…

Chrysalis sat on a chair in the arena. Currently, she was watching her guards spar in their training excersizes.

[Chrysalis! I need your help! It’s an emergency!]

Chrysalis jumped with surprise. Fighting ceased in the arena, the changelings feeling their queen's sudden alertness.

[AHH! William! What’s wrong?]

[Six men with weapons. 150 panicking, unarmed civilians. No escape route. They want to kill us all,] William hurriedly explained.

[Send the armed men to me. My guards will incapacitate them when they arrive.] Chrysalis jumped down into the arena and roared, “GUARDS! TO ME! CAPTURE THE HUMANS THAT WILLIAM SENDS!”

[Ready, Chrysalis?]

[I am.]

Not a second later, a flash appeared and a very confused human materialized. The changeling guards were on him in an instant, and he was very quickly detained with magic.

Within second of that, there was another flash and another human. Over the course of a minute, four more men appeared and were subsequently captured.

After the third human, however, Chrysalis had turned her attention to the fight in the other world. Looking through William’s eyes, she saw him grow weaker and weaker as he transported the humans. She felt him run terribly low on magic.

[WILLIAM!]

It only took a moment for her to figure out what needed to be done.

Quickly, the fleshy, crown-like antennae on her head lit up. Three of her advisers stiffened as their queen took control of their bodies. She forced them to assume the form of three identical black robed humans and filled each with some of her magic and a set of instructions. Rearing up, Chrysalis pounded her front hooves together, and her three advisers vanished to the human world.

‘I hope they make it in time,’ she thought.

But for the first time in almost two months, her thought was not heard by another living soul.

Author's Notes:

*Ding* Have a new chapter.
*Ding* Have a fight scene.
*Ding* Have a cliff hanger.

I feel really proud of this chapter!

Read the number 7734 with your head upside down. It spells out 'heLL.'

I apologize to any Russian readers. You are good people. I just needed an terrorist group from 2029. I have no idea what they wanted.

Need drama? Chandler's Law.
"When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand."
— Raymond Chandler
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChandlersLaw

I didn't want slice of life at the beach. I WANT ACTION! DRAMA! NEAR DEATH EXPERIECNES!

Total fight time: 57 seconds.
He was already magically fatigued from the morning's use of magic and the paper airplane scene.
Maybe William could have taken on ten people had he been at 100%
He's never been in a life or death situation before, nor has he had any combat training.

(edited 12/21/2013)