Sakruti

Tim's whole world had tilted ever since he'd discovered he was magic. And not just magic—he had the potential to become the most powerful magician ever. Which was part of the problem. This possibility made all kinds of other magical sorts—demons, for instance—much too interested in Tim and his future. In fact, Tim had discovered that there was a whole set of powerful creatures who wanted to make sure he didn't have a future. This was what had gotten him and Molly into so much trouble. Molly had been kidnapped and Testking 70-284 whisked off to the Demon Playland. Tim couldn't quite put his finger on why, but he knew that Molly had been kidnapped by demons because of him. It took a while for them to escape, and that was what had kept them away overnight. Molly's parents had gone ballistic, and she had been grounded. More like placed under house arrest, Tim thought. Demons were a lot less scary than Molly's furious parents, Tim had discovered, and even though magic had gotten them into this mess, it wasn't going to get them out of it. At least, no magic that Tim could think of.Tim reached over and grabbed a ball that sat on the floor. He rolled onto his back and tossed the ball from hand to hand. He'd been grounded, too, but his dad hadn't been quite so fanatical about it. Tim wondered if that was partly because his dad wasn't his real dad. That was Testking 70-291 another one of the whammies hurled his way along with the magic. Tim's real dad was a bloke called Tamlin who had lived in another world entirely, a world called Faerie. Tim began bouncing the ball against the wall and catching it. Thwump. Catch. Thwump. Catch. It made a satisfying rhythm. Then again, Tim thought. Thwump. Catch. Maybe dear old "Dad" didn't even notice I was gone. When Tim had arrived home that morning, Mr. Hunter hadn't even been there. He'd been sitting in the wrecked car that he kept in a parking lot several streets over. The car was so damaged it would never run again, but Mr. Testking 70-293 Hunter still hung on to it. He would go sit in it sometimes on his seriously bad days. Mr. Hunter had been at the wheel of that very same car when he'd gotten into the accident that had killed Tim's mum and had left Mr. Hunter with only one arm. Tim called the car the Guiltmobile. So it was perfectly possible that Mr. Hunter had spent the night slumped in the Guiltmobile and never even noticed that Tim had been gone the whole time. When Mrs. O'Reilly came over to scream bloody murder at everyone within hearing distance, Mr. Hunter had been pretty mild about it all. His response had been, "Kids will be kids, and these are a pair of good ones." That made Mrs. O'Reilly madder.