Enchanted High Book I
Chapter Twenty-Six: Wrong Destination

‘You know what I’d like in weather like this?’ Nicole asked, early next morning.

‘Tea.’ June replied. She was cuddled up next to Gadget on her bed, his soft fur vibrating as he snored. They had woken up earlier than necessary; it was a stormy morning, rain and lightning occupied the cold and dark sky.

A strike of lightning lit the dark room for a split second, and then a loud burst of thunder echoed. June could hear the rain pelting on the balcony and the trees being blown violently by the wind. She sighed and squeezed the soft and warm fur that was Gadget even harder.

June craned her neck, looking for Alexia. The horse was nowhere to be seen.

June woke up from the bed and switched on the light; it flooded into the room, brightening everything instantly. ‘Alexia?’

In reply, there came a muffled, but terrified, neigh. June shuffled a few pillows aside from under the bed and met the big blue eyes of her water horse curled up at the corner, shivering uncontrollably.

‘Alexia, are you scared of the lightning?’ June asked. The horse whined.

‘Oh, come on,’ June reached a long arm to retrieve her. The horse moved slowly towards her; June held her gently, carrying her over to the bed. ‘Everyone scared of something, here, lie down with Gadget.’

A beam of blue light filled the room and a loud crack of thunder boomed thereafter.

Gadget did nothing less than snort and shift, still asleep apparently unaware of the storm. Alexia hid behind the sheets, breathing in Gadget’s fur.

At that moment, there was a light knock on the door. June tended to it. Another crack of lightning shone over the tiny body of the visitor for a nanosecond.

″Elo, ‘ere fer Miss Price, got a letter fer yer,’ the squeaky voice said. It was an elf.

‘A letter?’

‘Yep, tha’s righ’,′ The elf replied. ‘I’m Barty Blue.’

Messenger for Enchanted High, said Audrey’s voice. Poor creature was brainwashed, didn’t even remember his own name when the Headmaster of Enchanted High gave him this job a few hundred years ago.

Barty Blue wore a long blue pointed hat over his small head. He had a bushy mustache with a matching beard that dragged all the way, down his short body, to his blue and gold shoes that were curled upwards at the toes. He wore baggy golden pants and a fitted shirt; a grin spread across his face.

″Ere’s yer let’er,′ Barty snapped his fingers and within a flash of blue fire that ignited from his palm, a letter shot into the air gently. He caught it before it reached the ground.

’This fer June Price, from the ‘uman worl’, was a very big journey fer me but still did it ...′ he handed the envelope to June, ″ope ew enjoy yer day madam, I need to deliver another ‘undred let’ers,’ he waved without another word, winking as he jumped and disappeared before his feet found the ground again, leaving a horde of shimmering golden dust behind.

June shut the door and walked back in, examining the envelope. There was no flap to tear. ‘How do you open this?’

‘Give it a few seconds,’ said Nicole, ‘should open up itself just now.’

The envelope suddenly jerked in June’s hand. It unfolded itself, right there in her hands.

Nicole looked at it admiringly. ‘It opens at the touch of the owner,’ she said. ‘The new security.’

‘Oh,’ said June, she had never heard of this before. Excitedly she read the message written neatly in Aunt Audrey’s handwriting.

My Darling June,

How is Enchanted High? How are the classes? Did you make any friends? Most importantly, Happy belated birthday. I’m sorry about the late letter; there has been a malfunction at the post office, I promise I’ll make it up to you when you get back to Cinder Street. I’ve been so busy lately with my job. That’s right... I have a job! I now work part-time at a magic restaurant called Lush Mermaid. It’s an invisible building just down our street and I must say I really enjoy it here. Other than that nothing new has happened. I do miss you a lot.

Write back soon, Aunt Audrey.

June felt much better about the day after reading the letter.

The rain still hadn’t given up yet. It lashed even harder on the balcony as June and Nicole dressed into their warm boots and coats.

June and Nicole walked to the cafeteria and joined the enormous crowd of students, who were nervous about the first exam paper, flooding into the tables and fighting for a place in the long queues. Everyone was covered in either fur or leather jackets. And those who weren’t were, of course, very experienced with this type of weather. June and Nicole looked for a place to sit.

‘Over here,’ they heard James’s voice. He sat comfortably at a nearby table, waving at them. ‘Like the weather?’ he asked as they approached.

‘Been waiting for some rain since we left for the Rungee Desert,’ said Nicole, dumping her bag on the chair opposite June.

‘Me too,’ said James, ‘although, I can’t say the same about Dominic though.’

June looked at him; he was covered from head to toe in warm clothing, yet he still shivered. ’Why? she asked.

James chortled. ‘Says he’s had too much water.’

‘Oh, I feel sorry for him,’ said Nicole.

‘Where is he anyways?’ June asked.

‘He’s ordering our breakfast from Starlit Sky,’ James replied. ‘They have the best waffles there...’ he added dreamily.

June watched Dominic stroll towards their table, his face in a solemn expression. He too wore warm clothing, his fists deep into the pockets of his jacket.

‘Good morning,’ Nicole greeted.

‘What’s so good about the morning?’ Dominic replied grumpily. ‘I’m sick of this rain!’

‘Sorry,’ Nicole apologized.

‘Here,’ Dominic passed out a grey paper bag which contained a regular cheese sandwich.

James’s shoulders sank. ‘What happened to the waffles?’

Dominic snorted. ‘There isn’t any for today.’

‘Oh,’ said James, with a tinge of disappointment in his voice.

‘Next time,’ said Dominic through a shiver, ‘you go order your own waffles. Those queues are full of weirdoes, and I get really impatient with weirdoes from around here. They are literally weird, unlike from the human world. Someone actually had this annoying mimicking voice that copied everything I said. Another second of it, and I would’ve burned his face off.’

‘Dominic,’ said Nicole, ‘calm down.’

‘How do you expect me to do that?’

‘Look,’ Nicole argued. ’June survived in two extremely hot places – fire manipulator habitats; your habitats – without complaining the slightest bit and you get angry with just one night of rain?′

Dominic gritted his teeth and crossed his arms, sitting quietly.

Nicole unwrapped her sandwich. ‘We’re going to Mount Deep Pozaru today. No rain there. So pucker up a bit.’

There was a long silence in which they all began eating their breakfast; they even ordered a fancy drink to make the plain sandwich a little more exciting. June thought about Audrey’s letter; wishing her a happy belated birthday. She’d reply to it later that day when they got back, she thought. Audrey also spoke about Lush Mermaid; June hadn’t heard of it in Cinder Street before. Of course, she knew that they had an empty plot of yard, but not an invisible building. Maybe they had just built it this year, June thought, a lot could’ve changed by the time she got back every year.

Nicole finished her sandwich suddenly in a chatty mood. ‘Do you have any siblings?’ she asked to no one in specific.

‘What?’ Dominic asked.

‘Do you have any siblings,’ Nicole repeated and shrugged. ‘I’m just making conversation.’

‘Yeah, I do,’ Dominic replied. ‘Two older brothers, they left the school; Andrew and Boston.’

‘Hmm,’ Nicole nodded. ‘James, do you?’

‘No,’ James replied, a little too quickly.

Nicole turned to him. ‘Where do you stay, James?’ she asked, as if speaking to a mental patient.

‘In Emeraldholde,’ he replied.

‘And you Dominic?’ she asked in the same tone. June sipped silently on her orange juice, unable to contain laughter at Nicole’s tone. Dominic looked a mixture of offended and annoyed, but yet he still replied.

‘I lived in Emeraldholde, but this year my parents are moving to the human world. A beach house near Bearlake Harbor.’

‘Hey, that’s near June’s house on Cinder Street, right?’ said Nicole. June nodded. ‘Well, well, looks like you two will be having a good holiday ...’

And she launched into a story of how she learnt to ride a bike, and described about the time when she caused a blackout in her neighborhood. June sipped on her juice, barely hearing most of the words; she wasn’t even sure if James and Dominic were listening either. James was nodding and smiling at the correct places, but Dominic seemed in another world. That was, until, a visitor walked by, and immediately he sat up straight in his seat.

‘Good morning,’ the girl said. June saw that her eyebrows and chin were pierced and she had earrings, and multiple tattoos on almost every part of her face. She wore all black with electrifying blue streaks in her hair. In her hand was a thick stack of papers. Her eyes darted directly at Dominic. He choked on his drink.

‘Care to join Rock Magic?’ she held out one of the papers.

‘No, thanks –’ said James politely, but Dominic interrupted.

‘Sure, yes, of course,’ he said, snatching the pamphlet from the girl.

‘Oh great!’ she shook Dominic’s hand. ‘I’m Gloria Margaret, head of the music club.’

‘Dominic,’ he said. ‘Dominic Stuart, uh, Head of – uh – Flame ...’

Gloria raised a pierced eyebrow, nodding slowly. Nicole laughed, gazing at Dominic from the top of her cup.

‘Great,’ said Gloria, ‘now all the details for registration are on the pamphlet...’ she pointed to a cell phone number inked onto the pamphlet. ‘That’s my number if you have any inquiries. We’re having a meeting at midnight in the music class,’ she looked at Dominic, nodding his head. ‘Yeah, that’s all. See you at midnight.’ she flicked her wrist and marched off to the next table.

James eyed Dominic. ‘Music club?’ he asked suspiciously. ‘You can’t even play an instrument.’

‘I do – I mean I can.’ Dominic replied.

James’s eyes widened. ‘You like her.’

‘What makes you say that?’

‘Gloria Margaret,’ Nicole said, ‘that name rings a bell. June?’

‘Aisha’s roommate,’ said June. Aisha was their dorm room neighbor.

‘Oh, yeah,’ Nicole nodded slowly, and then sat up straight looking worried. ‘Dominic; you can’t join that club,’ she said.

‘Oh, he won’t,’ said James.

‘Hey! You guys are not my parents.’ Dominic retorted. ‘Why not? There’s nothing stopping me.’

‘Gloria’s a siren,’ said Nicole.

Dominic stared at her, as if frightened suddenly, but any such fear soon vanished. ‘So?’ he shrugged. ‘You’re a technopath, June’s a water manipulator, James is a – a something. I think that’s just a rumor or some kind of stereotype. Some sirens can be nice, we shouldn’t judge.’

‘But –’ Nicole opened her mouth to reply but the loud sound of the school bell muffled her voice. Seconds later, students began shuffling around, rushing to their class. June, Nicole, James and Dominic remained at their table, watching the last of the students disappear.

‘It’s the first lesson now,’ said James. ‘Charlie said to meet him after breakfast,’ he stood and crumpled his paper bag, placing it in the painted ring at the center of the table. The crumpled paper vanished.

‘Whoa, how did you do that?’ Dominic asked.

‘On Sunday when I was taking my walk,’ James began, ‘before going into the gardens, I came to the cafeteria for breakfast and my friend, Little Bob, joined me.’

‘Little Bob?’ June asked.

‘Yes, the elves; he’s a student helper; he was telling me how the students keep littering the cafeteria even with bins the school provides.’

‘So,’ Nicole inquired, ‘it’s a bin?’

‘Yep,’ he collected all the paper and placed it in the center. A few moments later it vanished.

‘Cool,’ said Dominic staring after it. ‘Where does it go?’

‘I don’t know,’ James said. They began walking down the corridor. ‘Probably to the kitchen.’

‘Charlie?’

June, Nicole, James and Dominic entered the spy office. It was still and unusually quiet. Papers were scattered on the floor and a huge tin box lay on June’s table. Charlie was nowhere to be seen.

‘Somebody’s been working too much,’ Nicole said, approaching the tin box with interest.

‘Yeah, look at all this,’ James gestured to all the paper on the floor. He picked up a handful and examined them. ‘National Bank of Comikaycrest, Sorcerers Bank, Silver Lamp Bank, Blood Bank ...’ he flipped pages and read all the names. ‘What’s Charlie up to?’

‘Charlie’s up to something very important.’

Everyone spun around and saw Charlie standing by the doorway, eyebrows raised with his hands behind his back. He walked in, snatching the papers from James hand.

‘What’s all this?’ Nicole asked spreading her arms and gesturing to the mess.

‘Yeah,’ said June, ‘and this?’ she pointed to the tin box on her table.

Charlie pressed his lips together. ‘Last night I received this package from The National Bank of Comikaycrest and I’ve been trying to open it since then.’

June felt the top of the box; smooth and flat. It began to glow and then the lid slid open.

‘Oh I should’ve known!’ Charlie said. ‘This new security system only opens at the owners touch!’ he marched towards the box and reached inside. He pulled out four smaller white boxes and handed each one to June, Nicole, James and Dominic.

‘These are for you,’ Charlie said. ‘It should’ve arrived earlier.’

June opened the white box and uncovered a small black piece that looked something like an earphone.

‘What is it?’ James asked.

‘It’s a communication device.’ Charlie said. ‘Like this,’ he took the earpiece from Nicole and placed it behind her ear. Then he took June’s earpiece and did the same. ‘See? Now you can communicate from even further distances if you decide to split up. That way we can cover more ground too.’

‘Right,’ said Nicole. ’But we don’t have to split up, do we? I prefer we stick together instead.′ The others agreed.

Charlie shook his head. ‘No. I advise you to think otherwise; it would probably be better if you four go in different directions. You will still be able to communicate and you will cover more ground. Meaning, if the tree is there, then there’s a higher chance that you will find it. Trust me; it’s better that way than all of you traveling in one route and seeing the same thing.’

June blinked. It sounded to her as if he was giving them no other choice, as if it was a command.

‘Right,’ Charlie continued, ‘so I’ve organized the picture ... you just need to change into your outfits now.’ He walked to a black bag that sat on the sofa and recovered the group’s new clothing.

Twenty minutes later, the four were dressed in the new shorts and vests and hats and shoes, all shivering from head to toe with the cold.

‘Everyone comfortable?’ Charlie asked. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the (ꜰind)ɴʘvel.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

‘No,’ said Nicole. ’We’re frozen!′

‘Don’t worry,’ replied Charlie coolly. ‘You’ll be in a very warm place just now.’

‘Fine.’

‘Great, line up now, will you?’

They shuffled between each other until they were in a line, while Charlie flipped through the images of the Rungee Desert and Flaming Pearl hot springs, looking for a picture of their next destination; Mount Deep Pozaru.

‘There we go,’ he said after a while. ‘There’s your volcano.’

June looked at the picture. The volcano seemed far away and still, with big boulders of what must have once been molten lava. The ground was grey and seemed hot. Unlike the other destinations; there were no green trees or poisonous bushes, or, in the case of the desert, no dried plants either. Instead, there were dry bones, and vultures.

Charlie pointed at it. ‘Unfortunately, no photographer is daring enough to take a picture up close of the volcano; this is the closest picture we have so you’ll have to walk all the way.’

‘What about the hovercraft?’ Dominic asked.

‘I’m afraid I cannot allow you to use that; the vibrations may cause the volcano to become unsteady, maybe even erupt.’

A sudden thought occurred to June. ‘When did the volcano last erupt?’

‘Approximately ten years ago.’

‘When will it erupt again?’

‘No idea ...’ Charlie shrugged insouciantly.

Silence.

‘Now, June, you keep the backpack,’ Charlie said and handed it to her. He leaned against the table and looked at the group. ‘I’m sorry to say ... but if the tree isn’t found here ... then – then Salvatore will definitely expel you.’

More silence.

‘Don’t worry,’ Charlie added quickly. ‘I have full faith in the four of you that you will do a great job in finding that tree. Now, focus on the picture...’

A crack of thunder sounded.

Charlie paused. ‘It’s still raining?’ They nodded. ‘Well, okay ... off you go,’ Charlie said.

June switched her watch to transportation mode and focused on the reddened sky in the picture.

She felt the familiar whizz of dizziness come across her, the ground slipped away ... she continued to focus on the volcano, but as she did, a flash of lightning covered the room and a loud burst of thunder erupted. The rain pelted on the roof harder. She accidently allowed her mind to slip to the weather and before she could change back she had whirled away –

Moments later, she hit a muddy ground.

A flash of lightning struck across the sky above her, the rain smacked her face, stinging her, as she turned her attention to it and the strong gust of wind blew her hat away.

Her heart jerked out of her chest, thumping harder as she saw each unfamiliar tree, each leaf and each rain drop that fell on her.

She wasn’t at Mount Deep Pozaru, she was somewhere else.

I used the watch once; in fact, my boss has a few stashed around here somewhere. I’m not sure if it works. I should try looking for it. But I don’t know what I’d use it for, exactly. I could never leave my boss, no. I could maybe just visit someplace else ... be back before she notices I’m gone ...

No, don’t be absurd, Thug. She’s your boss. You’re her faithful assistant for life.

Love from the newly found voice in my head,

--THUG.

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