Wizard (Troy Sanders Book 1)

5: Let's Go Become a Wizard

I held on to Grandpa Blake like a kid at the candy factory even though I knew I was much too old for that treatment. I had expected Mr. Foster to come rushing out like a dragon with a heart condition but he was nowhere to be seen. Maybe Grandpa had taken care of him; a part of me would really love that to be true. Plus it would definitely be fun to see that geezer tied up in the boy’s bathroom struggling with an invisible chain.

Speaking of Grandpa Blake, I found it kinda weird that he knew where my school was, not to mention the fact that I even had detention. Of course, he had just saved me from an untimely death at Roy’s hands and even freed me from Mr. Foster’s “This will surely make you wanna commit suicide” detention. But still, there was just something fishy about the way he kept intervening in my situations, and at exactly the right time too.

The elder Sanders was putting on a blue suit and matching trousers, combed his hair in the “good American man” style and also had a cane which he obviously didn’t need. Guess he was opting for the businessman look over the “I just got back from the past” rich man wizard outfit he had on the previous day.

As we got out of the school building, I stopped to thank him for the help and was about to ride my bike back home when he offered me a ride home in his vintage limousine. “It’d be my pleasure to take you home, Troy,” he said to me with what almost appeared to be pleading in his eyes.

“Sure, Blake,” I replied after a while of thinking and rethinking about it. “Thank you.”

Truth be told, I had no intention of saying no in the first place- I mean, who ever declines a ride in a vintage limo?

Getting in, I waved at Roy who could only stare at me from afar with his mouth wide open in surprise. I really wished the other kids could see me right too. Anyway, Roy saw me and that would have to do.

We rode for some minutes before Blake spoke up. “I’ve discussed your science project with Mr. Foster,” he said, “and he has agreed to reconsider the failing grade he gave you, safe to say that you’ll be graduating high school this summer without any incident.”

“Thanks,” I said again for the gazillionth time that day before it suddenly hit me. “Wait, what did you say to him?” I asked, really curious. “Mr. Foster had never been one to reconsider before.”

“A magician never reveals his secret, Troy,” he replied smiling, and then added a wink to go with it.

Anyway, seeing that Grandpa Blake and I were already having a discussion, I decided to give my response concerning the pending issue there and then. “I’ve decided to give in to your demand and attend the Firewalt school of magic,” I said to him, really sure that it’s the right thing now that I said it.

“Splendid, Troy,” he replied, smiling contentedly. “But I do hope that you didn’t agree just so that you can hurt people like that Roy character?”

“It’s because I don’t want to hurt people like him that I agreed,” I returned. “But the deal remains the same,” I quickly added. “One year and if I don’t like it, I won’t have to go again.”

“Agreed,” he replied as he shook my hands, the car arriving at the house just then.

He got out of the car the same time I did, proceeding to walk me to the front door before kissing my forehead in the whole “loving grandpa” way.

“Greet Samantha for me,” he said before he walked back to the car and drove away.

It took me a moment to realize that he had called Mom by her full name. It had been a long time since anyone had called her that; she went by “Sam” now.

And in that moment, I was even more than convinced that Blake Sanders had known about my existence for a long time before he showed up at the house the previous day. But the pressing question then became that if he had known about me for so long, why had it taken him seventeen years to show up in my life?

School was over and summer had kicked in in full gear, which meant that it was almost time for me to begin my “magiventure”— Yeah, that was magic adventure put together.

Blake and I had decided that he would come pick me up on Tuesday; a day before the resumption day of Firewalt’s school of magic. Mom had already helped me pack my things, although I was quite unsure of their usefulness since there hadn’t been a “Bring along” list on the school’s brochure I was provided.

On my departure day, Blake opted for a real magician getup: a purple robe with golden stars dotted all over them with a wizard hat of matching design. He even had a wand at hand though I couldn’t really decipher if it possessed any real magic powers or not.

He played Pick-a-card with Mom for a while and displayed a few simple aspects of his magic talent before it was time to go. Mom gave me a bear hug and a really sloppy kiss as she walked with me to her car. I thought I saw her eyes glisten with tears but it must have been my imagination; Mom never cried.

“She’s already missing you, you know,” Blake said as our car began to move.

“She’ll be fine,” I replied, but it was more to myself than him in truth.

“I know,” he returned with that big “I know something you don’t” smile of his that was starting to become a trademark. “I made sure of it.”

We fell into a big silence as the ride proceeded. He didn’t try to get my attention and I didn’t his. It was finally beginning to dawn on me how crazy my decision was. I just left my mom, the only family I had for seventeen years, to follow a newly showed up family whom I’d only known for about a week and spend an entire summer in a magic school that I didn’t even know anything about.

To make matters more complicated, I wasn’t even sure the Sanderses wanted me; seeing that it was only an old man, who had a knack for involving himself in my case, that had come to see me. Maybe my better life wasn’t really getting better like I thought, maybe it was all just an illusion I had concocted for myself.

I looked outside the window as the sun began to set and all the rambling thoughts in my head took flight. The sight in front of me was really jawdropping.

It was a land so big that the grounds seemed to go on forever in every direction. Many houses adorned the grounds, their white colours complementing the green of the fields. I didn’t even need to turn to know that Grandpa Blake was beaming with pride at my back.

He placed his hand on my shoulder and said, “Troy, welcome to the Sanders Estate.”