Prologue

The student council president at L. B. Gould High School in L. B. Gould, Ohio is possibly the most powerful sixteen-year-old girl on the face of the planet. Her office trumps the principal's in both size and proximity to the lunchroom. Despite not being anywhere near an exterior wall, her office has an outside window. Her personal assistant, Claude, is at her command throughout most of the school day. Claude does all of her schoolwork, fills in for all of her extra-curriculars, and does any of her bidding that she does not feel like attending to personally. Laugh if you want, but this makes Claude the second-most powerful sixteen-year-old in L. B. Gould, Ohio.

This particular sophomore girl has done a wonderful job of bringing L. B. Gould High School to its knees, or at least its concrete foundation (it doesn't have knees, being a building and all). We could easily document her rise to power, illustrating the process of controlling the school board, seizing power over class schedules and preventing the cafeteria from ever serving chicken livers again. That, however, is not the point of this story. You see, Molly Pearson has a much bigger responsibility than that of a student council president. Molly is a guardian in the Magical Security Taskforce.

The Magical Security Taskforce is a powerful organization, certainly beyond any student council or school board you could imagine. They are also transparent, with only a small percentage of its members actually living in public society. Many of the rest are out and about, overtly and covertly doing battle with evil forces across various realms. Others have desk jobs and just don't get out much.

It should not be implied that Molly is a powerful mage. She may be the most powerful sixteen-year-old girl, but there are seventeen-year-old girls and sixteen-year-old boys (and one particularly gifted thirteen-year-old who can change gender at will) who could wipe the floor with her. Of course, none of these enlightened children would be any match for the upper echelon of the MST hierarchy, even if the kids all ganged together against those old fogies.

Molly, however, is one of the most important members. As a guardian, she has the responsibility of training new MST recruits. To ready her for this duty, she attends semi-annual training sessions at one of the MST academies scattered across the globe. There, she learns important leadership qualities, rigid MST protocols, and ways to improve on her own magical abilities. Molly views these sessions as her true education; the other ten months of the year are spent in a quiet routine of bossing around the superintendent and making sure Claude prevents a violent student uprising. Molly hates violent student uprisings.

Training sessions typically take place in January and July. This year, however, an additional session in late March called Molly away from friendly L. B. Gould. While infrequent, these extra sessions spring up whenever current events or a policy change add some new materials that can't fit into the normal curriculum. In any event, Molly was bound for the academy over spring break to take in whatever new and exciting lessons the MST had in store for her.

All that mattered to Troy Monroe, however, was that the bitch was out of town and he could make a move on Molly's younger sister Renee.

Renee and Molly had just four things in common- they were both female, they had the same parents, they had the same last name, and they were decidedly intelligent. After that, they were as alike as apples and orthodontists. While Molly dedicated her mind to the MST, Renee dedicated hers to whatever struck her fancy at the time. In her freshman year she had spent time as a member of almost every after-school club in town, barring the student council and the football team (if Renee had wanted, she could have joined both had she asked Molly nicely enough). Her active school participation, outgoing attitude and consistent good grades made her a true gem of the school and one of the most admired girls in her class. It also didn't hurt that she was gorgeous.

Troy, on the other hand, was just another locker tenant. His school participation was minimal, he made no effort to be sociable outside his small circle of friends, and his grades were merely solid. It also didn't help that he was not gorgeous. He wasn't a freak, but there was nothing particularly arresting on his face that made girls hang a pin-up of him in their lockers. He had brown hair, brown eyes, and on the day he met Renee- a brown shirt. It helped disguise the grease stains he received from the old Corvette he and Renee were trying to restore.

Renee was a member of the school's motor club for exactly five hours and fifty minutes. In that time, Renee had discovered that working on a car was not as similar to building a computer as she had imagined. Also in that time, Troy fell madly in love with Renee. Or at least as madly in love as teenage boys get after spending five hours and fifty minutes restoring a car with a pretty girl.

In any event, Troy wiped the cute little oil splotch off of Renee's cheek and opened a dialogue. Whatever he said that day must not have scared her away, because she seemed open to the idea of courtship. Molly, of course, would reject the notion of Renee dating anybody but the Prom King... which, in a rigged vote, would end up being Claude that year. Therefore, both would-be lovers abandoned the idea until a chance meeting months later. With spring break on the horizon, Troy couldn't help but revive the issue.

“Troy, you know that if I'm seen with anybody Molly doesn't approve of, she'd have him expelled,” Renee said, her tone surprisingly light-hearted.

“What about spring break? I'm not doing anything. Does Molly control everything you do when you're out of school too?”

The answer was normally yes, but since Renee knew Molly would be away at her 'leadership camp,' Renee decided to give it a go.

So for one magical week, Troy and Renee were together. They climbed the bluffs outside the city together, they enjoyed the sunset from a distant hilltop, and they attended the week-long festival held every March that makes L. B. Gould, Ohio so famous (you know the one). Renee found herself charmed by Troy's quiet, but positive, attitude. He wasn't normally enchanted by the world, and had no reason to be, but he made jokes. She had always enjoyed life's little pleasures, so she laughed.

For that one week, Renee reveled in being one-half of a couple that Molly had forbidden. She and Troy were Romeo & Juliet, Tristan & Isolde, and Anakin & Padme. Troy wasn't nearly as giddy about the prospect of having Molly run him through with a sword, but Renee had the looks and the personality, and for one week Troy had her.

Naturally, just as soon as the happy couple shared their first kiss, or at least the first kiss with the two lying horizontally, Molly returned and discovered everything. From that point on, Molly made it a point to go out of her way to make Troy's life a living hell, and prevent him from even looking at Renee ever again.

Which is the perfect place to start our story about the Magical Security Taskforce.