Chapter 3 HOME AT LAST

• It was about eleven in the morning when Mrs. Conrad ordered that everyone should start packing because we were leaving at twelve. In case you do not know, she is one of those people who always wants to be on time but never uses their time for anything beneficial. Not like I hate her, but we came here specifically to be taught something new and not to learn on our own. What are we even going to write in the exam? Oh, maybe I got stuck in a fifty-year-old building and my best friend is now the author of lies. Jeez, can't the principal fire her already? What will I tell my mother when she asks what I've learned?" What's the matter, Princess?" I heard a familiar voice ask, There are only two people who like to call me names, plus the disrespectful witch who thinks every guy likes her in the school. "It's nothing." I turned around and saw Elena all set and ready to go home. I had my lunch box on the bus because, you know, I went out for a deathventure. "You don't look okay to me. What is it?" She asked, a puzzled look on her face. "Aughh, how many times have I told you I hate you, Elly?" "Millions of times your highness, I know you're going to say it again, so I'll help you 'I hatttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttteee"I... had a fight with Jason Elly." A tear dropped from my eyes and I couldn't look at her. "Are you ladies coming or what?" "We're coming!" Elena replied, "He doesn't look angry at me." She whispered I dried my eyes and went into the bus together with Elena and sat on the last two reserved seats. This was probably Jason's doing. The latter was doing what he liked best: talking. Between us, "talking drum" is his secret nickname that I gave him. I sat on the last seat in the corner next to the car window, looking outside and just thinking about what had happened earlier. "Am I being impatient? Is Jason really changing? How did I get healed so fast when even a pain killer does not work that way? "I kept asking and wandering and did not realize that Elena was calling until she started tapping my shoulder. What is it that really must have happened out there? What am I missing A? Tell me where you guys went and tell me why you're sad. Why were you crying earlier? I need to know everything Sis, "she looked very worried. There was no point in hiding anything from her now. I told her everything about where we went, what we saw and what happened. All through the talking, she kept listening without a blink, with her mouth open. "Silly, quit that," I said, bringing my story to an end. "So, why did you guys fight? Aires, you know Jason too well. He won't lie to you. You should believe him. Trust me, if he was a sorcerer or wizard like you think he is, he wouldn't allow himself to be bullied a million times by Bruno and his gang lol. " Oh c'mon Elly, even Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross, remember? He heals and raises the dead. " Okay, that's enough. Don't start preaching now. If you think Jason is telling lies, there's only one way to confirm it. You said he gave you a book, right? " I nodded, "Then, if it's a spell book, as he claims, which is absurd, go try it out, okay?" She laughed and hugged me.In three hours, we reached the school, and it was time to say goodbye. "Adiós Princesa," she said, hugging me warmly. I replied, unable to look Jason in the eye, "I am sorry about what happened earlier and... thanks for the adventure, Jay," I said and walked away without looking back.
• I heard a door slam shut as I drew closer to my house. It was about twenty-five minutes past four, and the whole neighborhood was beautifully lit by the orange sky. I saw the window of my room fling open. "It's Mum," I said to myself. I've really missed the feeling of home, sitting by the window, looking at the starlit sky and sun as it greets and waves goodbye. "Nature is really beautiful," I giggled. I sneaked silently into the house and made my way into the kitchen. It wasn't planned, but the smell of Mum's cooking drew me in there. I set my lunch box down on the floor, washed my hands, and just as I was about to pick up a carrot "Stop thief, your Sultan commands you." A feminine voice spoke from behind. I quickly dropped the carrot and ran towards mum and gave her the biggest hug I've ever given her. "Mum!" I shouted, my arms tightly wrapped around her. I've never been out of home without my parents, so I had really missed Mum. "Do I know you? "Because you just broke into my house and in this country it is called robbery. I'm calling nine-one-one right now," she joked, knowing well that nine one-one was for an ambulance. "I am not a young lady, ma'am; I am still your little angel, or am I?" Tell me, have you adopted a child to replace me? I said and laughed, my arms still wrapped tightly around her. I wanted to but..." "But you knew I would kill you if you did." I laughed, "I am the only little girl of my parents' love, so their love is mine alone, got it?" I kissed her cheeks and let go. I said, "Go get some rest baby, come down later for dinner because I felt the rumblings in your tummy and am scared." She opened the fridge and threw me a Coca-Cola, which is my favorite beverage. I quickly climbed upstairs to my room and could not tell when I was drifting to sleep.
• It was eight in the evening, evening, and I came down stairs to have diner and had a little chat with Mum. "You're're really good at welcoming people," I said, after devouring quesadilla, served with green sauce, chopped onion and acidified cream as a topping. After dinnerdinnerdinner, I helped her with the packing and washing of the bowls before returning upstairs.
• The weekend was soon over in a flash, and Monday was here. I found myself in a maths class with Mr. Jameson as the teacher, and the topic was algebraic expression. The class was in awkward silence for the first time ever. There was probably a newbie around, "But who would join when it's six months to vacation and we're in final year?" I wondered. It was soon the third lesson of the day, and it was English, the game changer. The topic was "Diphthongs". I must say, people almost bit their tongues in the class, specifically Perry, the witch. I am not sure she will be talking in class from now on, since she ended up pronouncing "p"" three times, even after being corrected. "Aires !" someone shouted from behind... "Yeah," I responded sharply. " I've been looking all over for you after class. Why does it feel like you're distancing yourself from us today?" Elena erupted as she came closer to hug me, "Has it got anything to do with what happened on Friday and Saturday? "Mnmn... not really" I answered, "Actually, I think I have something to tell you two. But where's Talking Drum?" "Who?" she asked, pulling out of the hug, "Jase, where is he??? I need to apologize to him.him.him." I said, "Maybe he wasn't......... he was telling the truth last time". "We'll look for him later, but something is wrong... I've been looking at you all day. The only time you gave a smile was when Perry made a mistake. What. What. What's up girl!" she asked, anxiously finding us a seat in the dining hall. I had a weird dream last night and I really feel like I should go read the book Jason gave me. "The dream keeps flashing and I haven't been able to concentrate all day" I replied. Okay, honey, do what you have to do! And keep me posted with whatever you find out. You know the code, No secrets, got it?" "Got it Sis!" I responded.
• At night after dinner, I was laying on my bed looking up at the fan like usual when the words from last night's dream began to repeat themselves in my head, "IT'S TIME FOR THE NESTOR." Those were the same words we saw on the walls when we were in HOMER! "Perhaps the book might hold some answers," I whispered, sitting cross-legged like a Chinese monk, and picked up the book to read.I realized the first topic had changed to "NESTOR". That was awkward, because at first it was something like a congratulatory message to JAIRES, and now NESTOR? Anyway, I sighed and went ahead to read what it was about. My room started growing colder, but it was not enough to make me stop reading. I needed answers, and " I must get them," I whispered to myself, loving the curious energy building up. The fan stopped working as if it was informing me it wasn't the cause of the coldness, but I kept going on with the reading till my windows began to open-and-shut continuously with the lights agreeing in unison, turning off and then back on, which was enough to scare me. I jumped out of bed, went to lock the windows, and rushed out of the room in haste. "Mum," I managed to say between breaths, "what are you doing here?" I met my savior climbing upstairs and heading to my room."I heard something from your room. What's going on?" she inquired, bypassing me to my room. Everything was normal, temperature, light everything I mean"Urmm your ears must have deceived you, every...thing is... fine? I whispered, surveying the room carefully with my eyes, "Okay baby, take care of yourself. If you need anything, come to my room. 'Come to my room ' is my favorite sentence, there was nothing more fun than to sleep in the middle of my parents, I know it's childish but I would recommend all seventeen years old girls and boys to sleep there, because it's the safest place to be, that's why I mostly get fake nightmares. But I still haven't gotten what I wanted out of the book tonight; I've read that NESTOR was a kind of doom that was unleashed the day Jaires freed the kind spirit that held the book of guidance. After a few minutes of reading, I found myself in a place much more beautiful than anywhere I had been. I was in front of a building surrounded by flowers. 'HOME' was the name written on the top of it in golden letters. I began walking towards it when I noticed someone in the shape of a woman with wings flying towards me, and as I turned to run, I fell off my feet. "Come my dear," she said, "there is nothing to be afraid of." She stretched out her hand and I grabbed on tight to get up from the floor. "Does it look familiar?" she asked, pointing to the building. Her accent was a British one, and her voice made my heart feel safe. "Yes it does. "My friend and I went to a place called HOMER, but this is much more beautiful than HOMER," I explained. "Open!" she commanded, and the door flung open, and we walked in still holding hands. Her palm felt like someone's that I've held before, but whose? "The door opened just when you spoke. My friend did the same when we went to that place and I called him a sorcerer. He and I are no longer like we were before because of what I called him," I said, my eyes starting to water. "Aires my girl, your mind is right. This is HOMER. This is how we made it to be, but now it's only demons that dwell there. The fairies of my kind were kept in hostage, including me, by the dark forces of nature." " You are a fairy? NESTOR is something evil. This is HOMER? How did you get out if your friends or family were all captured, including you? " Nothing made sense to me. "You saved me. "You and your friend did," she said, her voice as warm as it ever was. "You must be mistaking me for somebody else, ma'am," I laughed shyly. "I never forget anything. I repaid that kindness with the book you have in hand," she replied, pointing to my palm.
• As I looked down at it, I realized the weight of the book, "Paranormal Me?" I asked, puzzled, "I didn't carry it along and it's my friend's." Just then, I began to wonder how I even got here in the first place. " It was I you saved, that 'ungrateful' butterfly,?" she asked, smiling.g "I am here to offer you something special, and I need your help as well.l She asked calmly. Her face looked so beautiful,l like that of a baby. "That doesn't make sense! You are all powerful and need my help. You're joking right. " I laughed, "I never claimed to be that powerful." She stopped me. I can do many things, but I still need your help, Aires. You, Elena, and Jason are the ones that can help. " "Aires !" I heard a third person call out loudly but couldn't figure out where it came from. "Aires !" the person called again. "It's your mother. You must go, my dear, the sun has risen. When you need me, you will find me with the book. Nothing can stop you from dreaming big and thinking big, my daughter, because everything is possible." The witch, fairy, or whoever she is, waved me off, and at once, I was sent flying towards the door, but as I got closer and was about to hit it, I shut my eyes tightly and felt nothing at all. A few seconds later, as I opened my eyes, I realized I was laying in my bed sweating like a fish out of water and Mum was standing beside me, worried. "Whoah, it was all a dream?" I said, smiling at reality. "Tell you what, I've been shaking and calling you for the past fifteen minutes and you're telling me 'it was a dream?' Do you know what time it is, Aires? " I shook my head. "You are super late, so, get up and go get ready for school." Mom ordered. She is not authoritative like she may have sounded, but when it comes to matters related to my education, you know, I'm Mummy's little girl. I rushed quickly to the bathroom, and in less than two hours I reached the school and was at my locker, reducing the weight in my bag and refilling it. "Well, well, well, look who we have here!" I heard as someone slammed the door to my locker recklessly, almost snapping my neck. "What the hell was that for?" I reddened as I looked over to see Perry and her evil-fed friends standing there. So, you were super excited that I made mistakes yesterday, huh? Well, guess what 'Mrs. Everything's funny ', we will make you regret ever laughing, "she threatened. " Oh come on Perry, you know I've never been intimidated by you nor your friends. Trust me, it's not starting now." I retorted, folding my arms and acting tough even though I was pleading for them to not harm me on the inside. "Look girl, I have been nice to you for a long time, but unfortunately honey, your grace period is over and you're going to get one hell of a beating you will never forget." she threatened, making it difficult for me to reply because my words had gone on protest or something else. "Woahhh!" I laughed "Look who is talking about being nice! Do you have any idea what that even means? Bullying people and hurting them while thinking you're the boss is called nice. Come on, Perry, you can be a better person and prove people wrong because if you knew what everyone thought about you, you would wish to be dead!" "Shut up, class has not started yet and you're making me bored with your lectures. "Lock her up!" she ordered. Quickly I was pinned to my locker. Nobody wanted to interfere because they were scared of Perry. Just as she was about to feed my tummy with her fist, Jason held her hand from behind. The two girls were asked to let me go, and immediately they obeyed without hesitation. "Of course, your little boyfriend!" "Shut up Perry, and don't ever disrespect her again."" Get out of here!" he ordered, letting go of her. " "Good job hero, this ain't over yet. You don't order me around. You two will hear from me again. I promise you this, "she threatened, walking away in shame. I formed smiles around my lips and I had to look away from Jason because I was feeling a bit shy but much happier that he did what he did. "Are you okay? I hope she didn't hurt you? "He asked, grabbing my shoulder and spinning me to look at him. In those days, I had not looked eye to eye with him just because of what I called him on Saturday, a wizard. God knows what he must be feeling on the inside. I managed to say, and he bent down to help me fetch my books from the tiled floor, thanks to Perry and her witches. "Paranormal "Me, I didn't know you liked it that much!" he said, flipping a page or two and giving it back. "Woahhh woahh, hold on," I exclaimed. "Are you kidding me?" That wasn't part of my choice of book for school today. I mean, jeez, I don't know how it got here". "Mmm, that is a bit strange. How could it get all the way here? Okay well, I gotta go, we'll talk. "No wait !" I said, "Please come to my house tonight with Elena. I have something to tell you guys." "You're right, we really need to talk." With that, we hugged and went our ways.
• I lay down on the bed at five o'clock after school, resting and waiting for Jason and Elena to arrive for the meeting." Aires !" I heard Mum calling from downstairs. I quickly raced down the stairs to meet my friends and grabbed some snacks for them and myself, and then climbed upstairs with them into my room. Once we were there, we sat in a circle, crossing our legs like Chinese monks, with Paranormal Me in our midst. We're not here to argue; we're here to clear the air. Tell us what you know about this book and Homer. "Everything I mean," Elena requested. " Well, last Friday in the woods, while we had spread ourselves to search for dry wood, I found this book somewhere around Homer and picked it up because Aires loved ancient looking books. Concerning how I got to know about Homer, it was through my grandma. She told me a lot about Homer, including strange things which I still remember, and she gave me a map, then asked me to hide it because it was going to come in handy someday. When I heard about the trip to North Rocksville, I decided to take it along, so I could find out for myself if it was real. After reading the book last Friday, as you were sleeping, I picked it up and saw written at the back 'Spells And Psychic Guidance', so I decided to flip some pages in the spells section and I came across the healing spell and picked one that was suitable for your situation. I was confident it would work because, as I said, my grandma told me a lot about Homer and strange things happen once you get attracted to anything related to it. So the following morning I got up, saw you in perfect shape, and I believed whatever she had told me. "Please, I am not a sorcerer or anything like that. "With that he ended, in a sad tone. "Wow, errr... okay, I've heard your side of the story, Aires, and now yours too, Jay. I think I have something to say too. " Elena said, quite astonishing because she wasn't with us. So, that morning, you guys woke me up from sleep. I was having a weird dream... a vision I can confirm now. Because whatever Aires told me when we were on the bus was the exact thing I saw but more. " "What do you mean?" Jason interrupted. " I mean, when the spirit knocked you out, it wasn't to hurt or scare you like you guys thought." "Wow, Eli, I'ma stop you right there. That fall was hurting okay, Aires got unconscious for a long time. If not, we could have reached the camp that very day and not stayed in the forest." "No, Jason, stop!" I said, "Elena is right" "what" "No, listen Jason, I had a dream and I met her; she told me she needed our help and that when we needed her, we should look into the book and will find her, but she needs Jaires' help! Remember that name? We saw it in the book, remember? What if your grandma knew? What if this was meant to happen? What if it's our destiny to help her? Think about it, Jay." He looked at me with disbelief but didn't say a word. "So before he cut me off.." Elena resumed, " You had saved the butterfly, the fairy that you saw in the dream. When she got out of that cell, it was the beginning of the mystery, a prophecy. She surveyed first to see that you two were safe, that the dark spirit had not found you yet. But when she came back after you called her ungrateful, there arose a battle between the spirits. The dark spirit felt the presence of humans and heard your voice, so it tried to attack, but the fairy knocked you out so it could not possess your bodies. Nobody would go to see dead people! According to what research told me, a spirit needs a human body to be able to touch and do most other things. Other than that, it's always going to be a spell. " "Wow, do you believe me now, Jay? Elena's side of the story and our experience make sense. I think we should go back there. I suggested "I've always wanted an adventure or something mysterious," Jason laughed. "I don't know about you cute couple, but I think we just found ourselves a mystery, and I don't feel like backing out." What do you say, whoop the ass of some meddling ghosts or spirit? "Cos I am so in baby" Elena stretched out her hand enthusiastically. Well, I errr... We don't know if it is right to do it. We have no powers. We are not experienced with ghosts or spirits. "I mean, in the super natural world, we are going to get ourselves killed, and in case you forgot, we are still in high school," Jason replied, as if to say he was scared. "Elena, he is right, you have the ability to see things, but what do we have?" I supported. "Ooh Aires, think deeper, the book and the fairy in your corner, and she said she needs our help, right? She will help us too; she knows we are mere people! Come on, guys, what have we got to lose?" Elena said persuasively. "But about that, how long have you been a seer? And what happened to the 'No secrets' code? You knew this the whole time. " I felt disappointed because I had told Ellie almost everything, and she hid something so important from me, that is so unfair. "You are right, I didn't say I was a seer. I just had a dream about something that was happening at the very moment it was happening, which is weird! It's nothing new, it happens occasionally, I'm not sure I'm the first to experience this plus......" she paused and looked at me strangely. "What is it? What happened?" I inquired curiously. "Jason, Aires, guys, this is not the first time, no it isn't, sometimes at night I dream about things, then later the next day it happens." "HOLLLYY SHH... Elena...do you know what this means?" I asked with sprouting excitement on my face, "Am I a witch?" she asked with a puzzled look on her face. "No, you are a psychic dumbo, a real psychic, my greatest wish. "I am happy for you, Ellie," I explained, hugging her tightly. "Errr, can you two not even feel my presence?" Jason interrupted, "You're not talking, that's why." Elena and I laughed. But Aires, is it not anti-christianity? I mean, it's a bad thing, right? " Elena asked, down-toned, "There is nothing bad about it until you use it to serve the wrong purpose. You have a good heart and will not misuse your gift. Do you understand?It looks like you are our Merlin now, or say Merlina? " I teased, receiving a pinch in return. "Okay, we will make a date to go to HOMER and see what our mission is and how we can help," Jason said, finally agreeing with us. I suggested, blushing profusely." Elena, it's almost dark, right?" Jason joked, " Yeahhhh...right, we have to go before Alice sucks us right into 'WONDERLAND'." We all laughed and hugged, then headed downstairs.
• "How did teeny meeting go?" Mum inquired as we were descending "Trust me it was awesome" Elena answered smiling broadly. "mnmn next time I hope to get an invitation" Mum replied, "Yeah sure, if only you'll bake us cakes you're invited" I laughed and watched as Elena and Jay said their goodbyes to Mum then I went out to escort them.
• "I love to see you happy Aires, you can invite them sometime for a sleepover you know? " Mum said as she heard me shut the door behind me. "Really? Aww thank you so much super mum" this was the best day ever, I thought, smiling harder like a lunatic. We talked for a little while then I went upstairs to study for a while and slept.