She held the magical substance in her hand. It swirled around in gray clouds of smoke. The girl got curious, and started smelling the potion. It was only a few centimeters away from her face when she started gagging.
She started coughing, before she remembered to be quiet. They didn’t know she was down here. She quickly gathered up the rest of the potion in small flasks. She watched as the purple liquid streamed into the flasks.
“Veronica! Hurry up. They’re coming. I saw them enter the house!” Her friend told her in a hurried whisper.
“It’s not finished yet. But, they’ll never find us down here, right?” Veronica wondered. She started making the last batch of the potion, looking at her book, while dropping ingredients into the cauldron.
“Willow, will you put these flasks in the bag? I need to clean up” Veronica whispered to her friend sitting in the corner.
Willow nodded, then she stood up. She grabbed a black duffel bag, on her way to the table. Veronica went over to the cabinet in the back of the room and grabbed a box.
She hurried over to the wooden table in the center of the room. Veronica opened up the blue box and started stuffing the ingredients in their correct places. When she was finished with that, she locked the box, then shoved the key into the pocket of her cargo pants.
She washed the cauldron, then put it away in the cupboard, along with the box of ingredients. Veronica pulled out a beautiful, royal blue wand from her boot, and cast a spell on the cupboard. It sealed shut. No one without magic would ever be able to open it.
The footsteps overhead were getting louder. “Come on, Willow! We need to hurry!” Veronica began pacing, almost running towards the wall.
Willow looked up at the mention of her name. “Hold on. I need to grab my phone.” Veronica sighed loudly, reminding Willow how impatient she is.
Willow ran to the brick wall Veronica was leaning against, and waited. The bricks suddenly separated themselves leaving a hole big enough to walk through.
Veronica looked up at the city. It was a perfect day. The sky was bright blue, with the occasional fluffy, white cloud. The grass was green, with flowers blooming all around them. The sounds of birds chirping filled her ears while the wall closed back up, returning to its original state.
She thought of what happened before her parents were taken. It was a  beautiful day, just like this one. She looked over at Cleardale, the city she grew up in. She moved to the small house on the hill after her parents were kidnapped. It was abandoned, so she didn’t think she needed to pay for it.
Now the same people who took her parents were looking for her. She faintly remembers seeing the FBI, but she doesn’t know if they were the ones that kidnapped her parents, or if they were the ones helping her parents.
Veronica and Willow sat under a tree for a while, talking and laughing while they waited for the mysterious people to disappear. Veronica was never really sure who the people were, but she hoped they weren’t going to hurt her.
“You want an apple?” Willow asked, as she pulled one out of her faded bag. “Sure,” said Veronica. She took a bite out of the apple before she began talking again.
“I’m 18 years old. You’d think they would leave me alone. I’m technically an adult now, and I’m old enough to take care of myself!” Veronica exclaimed.
Willow just sat there, not replying. It was starting to get dark outside. Veronica always loved coming out here after her parents were taken. She would sit under this tree and watch the sun as it descended below the city. They just sat and watched the hue of pink and orange mix and become a gorgeous sunset. She watched the city come to life, lights flickering on, all making the view that much better. And in the middle of it all, the palace.
“Hey Willow?”
“Eh?”
“Have you ever wanted to just-” Veronica started, before she got interrupted.
“I heard voices! She’s over here!” Came the reply of a deep voice.
“Run.” Veronica whispered. And so they did. They ran, and ran, until their lungs burned, their legs tired and exhausted. They stopped for a short break, before they realized they didn’t know where they were. Somewhere in the haunted forest was Veronica’s guess.
“Oh no. We’re not supposed to be in here! The Haunted Forest!” Veronica shouted, perhaps a little too loudly.
“Shh! Keep your voice down.” Willow said. “Besides, it’s not even bad in this forest. I don’t know why they call it haunted.”
“Oh, well, I’m sorry! I didn’t know that haunted meant happy and safe!” Veronica retorted.
“Now is not the time to get sarcastic, or whatever that was!” Willow replied back, suddenly angry. Veronica just rolled her emerald green eyes.
After a while of walking in the same direction, Veronica started to get bored. Willow stopped talking to her after the walk. She grabbed her phone out of one of the pockets of her cargo pants. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to listen to music.” She said, as she pulled earbuds out of the same pocket.
“Whatever,” Willow said, obviously still annoyed.
She was about to play her favorite song when a loud sound filled the forest. “Wha-.” BOOM!