Chapter 1

June 26, last day of school. The grade 12's got let out a few days early since they had their exams two days before we did to get their marks in on time so they could graduate. Luckily for me, I didn't have an exam in my last quadmester. I had to do a culminating assignment where I had to create a health magazine with each page about one unit I learned in the course. However, Caleigh and Rachel had to write exams for their Psychology (for Caleigh) and Chemistry (for Rachel).

Today I finished both of my culminating assignments (which are basically big assignments that are worth like thirty percent of your grade) for my Health Science and Communications Technology classes. When I got back to my foster Mom's brother's house (aka: my uncle), I dropped off my bag at the spare bedroom door and rolled onto the giant inflatable queen sized mattress that took up the majority of the floor space. With the remote in my hand, I turned on the Roku TV and it instantly picked up where it left off when my cousin Rachel was watching; The CTV news channel.

The news reporter lady was reporting that since the snake invasion attack that occurred in late October 2021 (and I'm still curious how the snakes are surviving the cold weather), the smaller remaining albino anaconda snakes have been increasing their population rapidly and started to spread around the globe. There have been small attacks around here, but nothing serious enough for me to step in.

"Watertown's top scientists have tested some of the captured creatures and all of them have tested positive for a new virus called Rabies 2.0".

After hearing that, I sat up and paid close attention to what the blonde lady was going to say next.

"Scientists don't know a lot about this new virus, but if you have sudden muscle build up in your chest, arms, thighs, sudden finger and toenail growth, and sudden aggressive dog behavior, please go to the closest research lab to receive help".

A few seconds later, a long list of all the different research labs in all of the U.S. popped up on the screen.

The closest one to me is in Watertown. After a minute or two of showing the list, the camera flickered back to the lady and she began talking about how the U.S government will deal with this new virus. Losing interest in the topic, I switched the channel to Disney Plus and put on one of my top favorite movies; Doctor Strange.

I love how the editors behind the movie made the effects SO realistic. Twenty minutes into the movie, I got a text from my friend Rachel.

R: Are U coming to Tay's house party tonight?

I typed back to her.

V: Tay? As in the new girl Taylor?

R: Yes. Are U going?

"Yeah. What's her address and when does it start?" I mumbled, as I typed out the words and sent the message to her. A few moments later, she replied back to me.

R: 2018 Broadway Avenue. The party starts at 7pm. See you there!

I typed back thank you to her, before I turned off my phone and continued to watch the movie.

After gobbling up my microwave quick macaroni and cheese dinner, I slung my brown leather satchel over my right shoulder (if you're wondering what I put inside, I tucked my hero costume plus my black mask that goes over my eyes to hide my identity better and a few decks of cards), and headed out the door. I left a note on the kitchen counter to let my cousins know I'm going out for a bit. I arrived at the house on time, after getting through the crowded sidewalk of people walking around town.

Actually, Taylor's home is more of a mini mansion than a house that is crammed in between two massive office buildings. Once I was greeted by Taylor at the door, I walked inside and was shocked how big her place is. Not only that, but almost everyone who goes to our school is here. Within a few moments of taking in the scenery of chandeliers, massive white tiles that stretched out across the floor and comforting chatter around me, I saw Rachel energetically waving at me from the other side of the room. Letting out a giggle, I went over to join her.

"V, you made it!" she exclaimed, giving me a friendly hug as she tried not to spill her cup of red wine.

"Is that Champagne?" I asked, after I pulled away from Rachel.

"Oh yeah. Tay's bartender serves almost any drink; Beer, vodka, Everclear, you name it" replied Rachel, as she took a big sip from her wine glass.

"Did you have any yet?" I asked, shifting my gaze to my other friend, Caleigh.

"Yeah, I already had two shots of vodka".

I turned back to face Rachel, making direct eye contact with her.

"Rachel, this is illegal. You and Caleigh shouldn't be drinking under 21".

Rachel gave me a smirk and let out a chuckle of laughter.

"You really need to learn how to have fun breaking rules. Sometimes rules are meant to be broken, V. So stop worrying and go grab a drink. No one is going to catch us".

I sighed.

"No thanks; I 'll stay for the party and offer some entertainment, but I'm not getting drunk".

"What kind of entertainment are you offering?" asked Caleigh, leaning closer to me.

"Mind blowing card tricks" I replied, pulling out a red back deck of cards out from my satchel.

I slipped the elastic band off of the deck and onto my wrist, before shuffling the cards. I fanned out the deck in both of my hands to Caleigh.

"Pick a card".

Caleigh took a card out from the left side of the deck, looked at it and gave it back to me. Sliding the card back into the deck, I quickly did a riffle shuffle before I explained what was going to happen next.

"Now I could do all kinds of fancy shuffles, but then you'll be here all night. So I'm going to do what's called a messy shuffle, where I take some cards and start flipping them over" I explained, as I was flipping the cards over and over again.

Once I went through the entire deck, I took the bottom two cards and set them face up on top of the deck.

"The entire deck is now messed up. We have some fronts facing backs-".

I cut to the front of the deck and showed a face card facing a red back.

"-some backs facing fronts-".

I cut to the back of the deck and showed a red back facing a face card.

"-and some fronts facing fronts".

I cut to the middle to show two face cards facing each other. Then I put the deck back together and showed the top card to Caleigh.

"Now, this ten of diamonds isn't your card, correct?' I asked, showing her the card.

"Yeah".

"I'm going to give you this ten of diamonds-".

I flipped the card over before I handed it to her.

"-and when I snap my fingers, the entire deck should be facing one way again".

I quickly snapped my fingers with my right hand and scrolled through the deck, showing Caleigh that all of the cards are now facing one way again. I saw Caleigh flinch as she noticed that there wasn't a single card facing the wrong way.

"Can you flip over that ten of diamonds?".

My friend Caleigh turned over the card in her hands and it wasn't the ten of diamonds anymore. The card is now her card, the two of clubs.

"Oh, gosh! That's impressive Vanessa!!" replied Caleigh, stunned by my card trick.

"Can you do one for me?" piped up Rachel, after she finished the rest of her drink and handed her wine glass to Caleigh.

"Yeah, sure".

As I was doing my next card trick to Rachel, I could sense people were slowly starting to gather around me and my friends to see what's up.