Mischief in Mystic Valley

As the new girl in Mystic Valley, Niki had lots of questions.

- Chris Low

“Where’s the town library?”

“About five minutes from school.” Amber pointed out the cafeteria window with her spoon.

“And the movie theater?” Niki asked.

“Right next to the library.”

Niki had one more question, though it felt too obvious to ask.

“Why is it raining frogs?”

“Wizards,” Amber said, not skipping a beat.

Niki frowned. Making new friends was going to be harder than she’d thought.

“It’s true!” Amber said. “Two grumpy wizards live just outside town. They always do stuff like this. Ask anyone!”

Niki missed her old town,her old friends, her old weather. The wizard story sounded too weird to be true. Was Amber making it up?

At the end of the day, she asked her science teacher, Mr. Ronil, about the frogs.

“It’s those wizards again!” he said as he erased the board.

Niki was dumbfounded.

“Seriously? Magical wizards?”

“Oh yes. They’ve been in some kind of feud for years.”

“But why the frog rain?”

Mr. Ronil adjusted his eyeglasses. “A wizard can’t curse another wizard directly, so we assume Ajay and Percy are finding other ways to annoy each other. Today was probably Ajay’s golf day.”

“Can’t they just work it out?”

“They’ve been fighting for so long, I doubt they even recall what they’re arguing about.”