The "Ups" and "Downs" of Life

On Sunday, July 25th, a group of kids were about to become acquainted with each other while sitting by a river in one of the Summerlands’ parks when one of the young witches interrupts them and points to her left.

“Those two girls have been standing there, looking at us for a while now. Do y’all think they’re too shy to approach us?”

“Let’s invite them over.” said her older wizard brother.

After doing so, one of the girls, who was a fairy, was the first to speak up.

“Hello, all, I’m Daniella Coleman, and…”

“Nice to meet you, Daniella, I’m Kenny McBribe.” said a young merboy.

“I’m Dana Davidson.” said one of the young witches.

“We’re Randy and Nadia Davidson. Cousins of Dana.” said the young witch and wizard, who had invited them over.

“We are Tanya and Matthew McPearston.” said another witch while pointing at herself and her older wizard brother.

“We are Orion and Lisa Connors.” said another wizard while pointing at his younger fairy sister.

“I’m Kenya Ballentine.” said a young mergirl.

“Elijah and Eliza Watts are our names.” said a young fairy boy while pointing at his younger twin fairy sister.

“Kiara Rowland is the name, and this is my older brother, Ronald.” said another fairy girl while pointing at the fairy boy next to her.

“I’m Myra Caldwell, and this is my older….” said another young witch.

“Don’t even say the word!” said the fairy girl sitting next to her.

Myra silences herself.

“I’m Misty Caldwell.”

“Why did you snap at your sister?” Kenny asks.

As soon as the word 'sister' was said, Misty groans loudly while covering her ears.

“Misty hates the word because, even though she was born first, she’s a half-blood while I’m a full-blood.”

“But that’s not your fault.” Kenny said.

“Oh, don’t worry. She doesn’t blame me for that.”

“Thank goodness.”

“Last but not least, I’m Sam Patterson….” said another young wizard.

“And I’m his younger sister, Kiki.” said the fairy girl sitting next to him.

‘Such a pretty fairy you are.’ Kenny thought while looking at her.

“As I was saying, this…” Daniella said.

“Say, Misty? Myra said that you were born a half-blood. Since it’s clear that half of you is fairy, what’s the other half?” Randy asks.

“Before you answer that, Misty, I have a question for Kenny. Do you have any siblings? Or are you an only child?” Dana said.

“I have a twin sister. She’s a half-blood like I am…”

“You’re a half-blood, too?! I thought you were a full-blooded merboy.”

“No, I’m half-merblood and wizard.”

To prove it, he holds up his left wrist and points at a star imprinted on it.

“Wow! Who else, besides Kenny and Misty, are half-bloods?”

Elijah, Eliza, Ronald, Kenya, and Lisa raise their hands.

“My half-blood mark has been in plain sight all along. I’m half-fairy and wizard.” Ronald said while pointing at a crescent moon mark on his forehead.

“My mark and its location are the same as Ronald’s. Only difference is I’m half-merblood and witch.” Kenya said while pointing at her forehead.

“I’m half-fairy and wizard, and here’s my mark.” Elijah said while pointing at a sun imprint on his left hand.

“I’m half-fairy and witch. My mark is the same as my brother’s, but it’s on my right hand.” Eliza said while holding up her right hand to show proof.

“Just like Eliza, I’m half-fairy and witch, too. The difference is my mark is the same as Kenny’s, but it’s on my right wrist.” Lisa said.

“Misty, where’s your mark?” Randy said.

“To answer both of your questions, I’m half-fairy and witch, and my mark is right here.”

To prove it, she lifts up her left sleeve, revealing a cloud mark imprinted on her left shoulder.

“Nice! Is anyone a double-powered being like me?” Dana said.

Nobody raises their hand.

“Wow, it’s just me, huh?”

“What two powers do you have?” Kenya said.

“I inherited my dad’s fire powers and my mom’s storm powers.”

“Cool!”

“EXCUSE ME! I’ve been trying to finish my sentence, but everyone keeps on interrupting me!” Daniella shouts.

“Forgive us, Daniella, we didn’t mean any harm. Please, finish what you’ve been trying to say.” Nadia said.

“Thank you. Now, as I was saying, this is…”

“Your sister, right?” Kenny said.

“No, this is my boyfriend! Can’t you tell he’s a male?”

“Not really. It’s easy to mistake him for a girl due to him wearing those girlish clothes and having his hair long like that.”

“He’s not wearing girl clothes! Those are boy clothes, and they suit him perfectly!”

“Ok, ok. Calm down.”

“Speaking of sibling, what were you telling us about your sister, Kenny?” Dana said.

“Oh, yes. She’s a half-blood like I am, but her eye color has yet to change. She doesn’t know how to fight, and she has no powers. Also, she has a mind-reading problem and…”

“Talking bad about me again, Brother?” a girl’s voice calls out.

Looking in the direction of the voice, they see a young girl dressed in a lavender shirt and light-blue pants and wearing a silver necklace with a heart-shaped charm on it.

“That’s my little sister.” Kenny said.

Before speaking again, the girl raises her left hand, revealing a glowing, half-moon mark imprinted on it. As it glows, the marks of the other half-bloods do the same, causing her to smile and run over to them.

“It’s always a delight to see other half-bloods.” she said.

Her mark stops glowing as she clears her throat.

“Hello to all, I’m Jenny McBribe. I’m half-merblood and witch, and I’m pleased to meet all of you.”

“Likewise.” Orion said in a smitten tone.

Kenya leans towards Jenny and sniffs her.

“Your merblood scent and aura are faint, but they’re proof enough that you are half of one.”

“What did your brother mean when he said that your eye color has yet to change?” Dana said.

“Because of my fear of my merblood…”

“HEY! I didn’t get to finish my introductions!” Daniella shouts.

“With that being said, I give you the spotlight.” Jenny said.

Daniella clears her throat.

“As I mentioned before, I’m Daniella Coleman, and this is my boyfriend, Danny McPeerson. We’ve been together since the age of three, and we’ve never had any disagreements that led to arguing. Because of our tight relationship, I’ve never had to defend myself because Danny dear was always there to do that for me. To be honest, I don’t even know how to fight but that still doesn’t bother me as long as I know that my Danny dear will always stand up for me. I’m sure y’all realized that we’ve been together for three years now since we’re both six years old.”

“How could we realize how long y’all have been together when we didn’t even know how old y’all are?” Kiara said.

“Good point, but anyway…”

Before they knew it, Daniella went on and on about their relationship while repeating some of the things that she already said. While she was doing that, Danny starts hearing a young boy’s voice say…

“Your days are numbered now, Danny! Soon, I shall be free again!”

Looking around, he sees that nobody was responding to it. As the voice gets louder, he tries to prevent drawing attention to himself by keeping his hands to his side while cringing.

“Danny?” Jenny said.

Instantly, the voice stops as he looks at her.

“Danny, does your girlfriend ever shut-up from boasting about your relationship?”

Daniella glares at her.

“I mean, can’t she talk about something else instead of repeating stuff about you two being a couple?”

“You’re just jealous.” Daniella said.

“What do I have to be jealous about? Besides, I’m not the only one who isn’t in a relationship here.”

“That may be true, but I know a few things about you. I know that you don’t have any powers and you don’t know how to fight.”

“Correction, Daniella: I have psychic powers, but I refuse to use them because with me being half-merblood, I know what I’m capable of doing if pushed to the limit. Because of the fear of my merblood, I try to avoid getting very angry.”

“Whatever!” Daniella said.

“Besides, Daniella, you can’t say or make fun of me because you don’t know how to fight, either! And you can’t say it’s not true because you repeatedly said that you always had Danny taking up for you.”

Daniella goes silent.

“I may be afraid of my merblood but someday I’ll get over that fear and then my eyes will change to another color.”

“I also heard that you have a mind-reading problem.”

“That’s true. I can only hear and see negative thoughts or emotions inside people’s heads. Sometimes, the ability acts on its own whenever I’m not even using it, and it causes me to get minor or major headaches. Most of the time, I wish I could hear both good and bad thoughts instead of just bad ones.”

“Poor Jenny.” Lisa said.

Again, Daniella tries to get the last word but Jenny cuts her off by asking Danny…

“How can you hang around a girl who is possessive, bossy, insecure, snappy, and a big crybaby and blabbermouth?”

“Danny dear, are you gonna allow her to talk about me like that?” Daniella gasps.

“What I’ve said about you is true, Daniella, because you’ve proven to be most of it by the way you’re behaving right now.”

“Stop lying!”

“I have no reason to lie. If I was lying, my necklace’s charm would’ve turned yellow. By the way, right now, some of you are wondering why Danny looks calm while this argument is going on and I shall explain the reason. It’s because he’s become completely blinded by Daniella’s charms. Unless something is settled in their relationship, it’s gonna end up being destroyed!”

“Don’t be ridiculous! There’s nothing wrong with our relationship!” Daniella laughs.

“Your relationship is already ridiculous. It’ll stay that way unless something is straightened out. Sooner or later, others are gonna see it in the same manner as I see it.”

“Jen, how do you know that their relationship is already ridiculous?” Tanya said.

“Due to Daniella’s insecurities, other people have been keeping their distances because they don’t wanna be dealing with her nonsense. That’s one of the reasons why they don’t have…”

“I’m NOT insecure!”

“Yes, you are, but you just don’t want to admit it. Apparently, you’ve been called ‘insecure’ before, on the count of that you just snapped when I said the word.”

“She sure did.” Lisa said.

“As far as everyone else is concerned, if you don’t want to deal with her, I’m sure y’all know what you have to do.”

Everyone thinks about it and nods their heads instead of talking.

“What do you mean by that?” Daniella asks.

Everyone stays silent instead of answering. Angered even more, Daniella grabs onto Danny’s sleeve.

“Come on, Danny dear, we’re leaving. I don’t have time to be dealing with this.”

As they walk away, Jenny calls out to them.

“Mark my words, if you dare, when I say that one of you will sooner or later see the light of reality and realize that something does need to be done about your relationship.”

“Whatever!” Daniella shouts.

After they were gone, Kiara taps Jenny on the shoulder.

“This is the first meet and greet and you already have an enemy. How are you gonna settle the score completely?”

“I’m not afraid of her. IF she tries to fight me, she’ll end up wishing that she didn’t.”

Afterwards, everyone sits down and informs Jenny on what they were talking about before her arrival.

“Let’s tell each other what powers we have.” she responds.

And so, they do just that; some had the same powers as others while the rest had different ones.

“Now that we know each other a bit more, what else should we talk about?” Lisa asks.

In no time, they take turns suggesting and answering certain topics, which they didn’t mind sharing, about themselves until the day drew to a close.