Enchanted High Book I
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Nicole

Nicole felt herself swaying from side to side in and an undulating motion. Sunlight ripped through the skin of her closed eyelids, she felt the warm heat of the volcano hit her body. Somewhere overhead, seagulls chirped madly, flying away until there was silence.

Hold on – seagulls? And why was the ground moving?

She bolted upright, her eyes shot open – but her head instantly slammed into a dark, rectangular object above her. Massaging her head, she slowly made her way around it and shielded her eyes from the blazing sun.

Her first thought was that she was hallucinating, the heat wasn’t exactly a friend to her – but how clearly was this picture of the ocean painted, every detail, every wave. And the heat – it burned her skin. She felt as if she was being baked alive in a huge oven, being roasted in someone’s barbecue.

All around her, from skyline to skyline in every direction possible, was water – dark and never ending. She gasped, looking down at the small rowboat she was in, swinging with the slow motion of the sea.

How was this possible? Something was wrong ... she thought about the last few seconds that she spent at Enchanted High before she was transported here. She had been thinking about the volcano, focusing on every aspect of it – the sky, the vultures, the heat – and she had whizzed away, the ground had dissolved –

She frowned. The watch had brought her somewhere else, a place unfamiliar. What happened? Had her mind slipped for a fraction of a second? Or were the watches malfunctioning? Did this mean that the others hadn’t made it to the volcano either?

She held her head in her hands, pacing around the boat in thought. She caught sight of something silver on her wrist – the watch. Relieved, she pressed a finger on the transportation mode button, already she could picture the office, the grey walls, the desk with Charlie leaning against it.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw that she was still on the boat. The watch made an irritating sound and broke apart in her hands. Instinctively, calmly, she concentrated. Her pupils turned cloudy, a foggy, misty grey – and the several parts of the watch began to re-assemble themselves around her palm.

But they stopped abruptly, the sensation of sliding metal ceased. She stared at her hands, the parts of the watch refused to obey her commands. They remained rigid and unmoving.

Nicole frowned. How was this possible? How could her powers not work? Maybe there was a block ... something felt ... she looked for the correct word – everything felt – Planned. Similar to when they were framed for stealing two library books, everything felt as if it was going according to somebody’s carefully laid out plans. Her mind reached the best possible solution, based on the person who got them into this situation – Xavier. Would he have done something to the watches? He seemed to be paying an awful lot attention to them.

She groaned and seated herself on one of the two benches of the boat. She couldn’t worry herself of what happened now. Now, she decided, now she needed to find water and food, a way of surviving. But then what? She decided not to answer that question, at least, not right now. She crouched down, swinging the boat only slightly, and searched underneath the benches, hoping to find a bottle of water.

But of course, there was nothing. It was as bare as her throat. She sat on the floor, getting thirstier with every breath. And then she saw it – a moving piece of wood her hand had slipped on.

A paddle.

I can’t swim. I’m actually quite afraid of water. And I live in a house that’s supported by three scrawny sticks in the middle of the roaring ocean. My boss, of course, loves it when the house sways during a storm - and the water makes the wood creak. Come to think of it, I don’t think she’s afraid of anything. If there is something that she’s afraid of, it must be one hell of a frightening thing. I’d ask her, but, you know, I’m too afraid.

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