14: Oh, Come On!
1671 Words
“You!” I gasped.
How can Kendra be a witch? She’s supposed to be an ordinary redhead girl who loves ice cream and makes extremely funny jokes!
“Hi, Troy,” she said as if we just saw each other yesterday.
“You’re a witch!” I said again like my gasp wasn’t enough to confirm my surprise. It was melodramatic, I knew, but I couldn’t help it.
“Wait a second,” interrupted Vic, “you guys know each other?”
Oh-Oh! Now, how the hell was I to explain my connection with Kendra to Vic without causing much trouble for myself?
After some minutes of trying and failing, I finally settled for, “We met in Krestwick.”
Unfortunately, Kendra added, “And he took me out for ice cream.”
Vic’s eyes widened at that statement and for the first time in a long while, there were glint of madness in them. “You told me you were held up, that’s why you couldn’t call me. But in truth you were on a date with her!” she shouted.
“No, you’re mistaken,” I quickly replied; best to make things clear before fury started flying. “Kendra and I weren’t on a date. She actually came to buy vases from the antique shop I worked in and-”
“And you went out on a date with her,” Vic insisted- why did girls have to be impossible sometimes?
“You're getting this all wrong,” chimed in Kendra; I think she was starting to see just how big a trouble it was becoming. “We only went out as friends and because I insisted till his ears almost fell.” Thankfully, she left out the kissing me part or there would have been no stopping the actions that followed next- you and I know that it won’t be anywhere near good.
Unfortunately, Victoria didn’t believe a word she said as she shoved her roughly to one side and came rushing at me in an ‘I’m definitely going to kill you’ mode.
Stopping just an inch from my face, she suddenly held herself and stared straight into my eyes instead. “You know what, Troy?” she said, the statement coming out in gasps as if each word was the size of a three-ton bridge; which they turned out to be, actually. “I don’t give a damn anymore.” And with that, she walked straight to her seat and sat down like nothing happened.
I took some time to get my feelings in order- just being told off by the girl you would do anything for could do that to you- and went to take my seat also amidst the surprised and somewhat horrified stares of the others. It didn’t take a genius to know that no one had seen that coming.
“If we’re all done shaking ourselves off from what just happened, let’s get down to the matter at hand,” said Francesca and everyone put on their ‘ready for business’ face. She went to take her seat at the head of the table, cleared her throat before continuing, “The identity of the man who attacked Angela and Nate has been revealed. His name’s Trichloris, a wizard that was supposed to have been destroyed about a millennium ago.”
Well, my nightmare man now had a name. Trichloris. I couldn’t suppress the chill that crept up my spine at the thought of the things that psycho might be planning.
“He was locked in the Alcamax but it became destroyed, we're still looking into how that came to be,” Francesca explained. “In the meantime, a team comprising of everyone here and led by the Sanders brothers will find a way of stopping him before he carries out his plan.”
“Not happening!” I suddenly interrupted angrily. “There is no way in hell that I’m teaming up with Stan and you know it.” What the hell is Francesca thinking that she’ll achieve by this insanity of a set-up?
“Same here, Ms. Firewalt,” echoed Stan with an equally vicious look directed my way.
Francesca didn’t look at all disturbed or angry that we’d just dared to challenge her authority. In fact, she seemed to have been expecting it all along.
“Well, the both of you will have to work on that,” she only said dismissively before continuing on like we weren’t just two disrespectful kids a second ago. “It had been reported at the time of his initial capture that Trichloris was intent on sending the world of magic into oblivion and now that he’s back, it’s safe to assume he'll be continuing along that same line.”
Okay, this was starting to sound like crazy talk to me. “Umm, isn’t it supposed to be impossible to destroy magic?” I asked. “I mean, that would involve killing every wizard in the world for that to happen.”
And if you asked me, that couldn't be achieved since there wasn't anything like a “Wizards of the World” register or something like that. How the hell was the killer supposed to track down and eliminate every magician alive if he didn’t even have a way to identify them?
“That might not be necessary,” replied Francesca and she explained why.
Apparently, legend had it that our magic came from an unknown device called the Bestow.
The Bestow came into existence when the world was created and God’s- Christian philosophy, here- “essence” was left behind after the creation. The essence couldn’t thrive in our world so it took on the form of a vessel; the Bestow.
Years past and it was untouched; that is, until a group of men unknowingly came across it and in their clumsiness opened the vessel and released the essence. Of course, the much larger portion of essence remained sealed and it erased the men’s memory of its location.
The essence cleaved to the soul of the men, giving them an extra sense of survival power: magic.
“Of course, it’s just a story,” Francesca said at the end. “But if that device does exist and Trichloris finds it, it’s speculated that he’ll be able to return the released essence back into it and the world of magic will exist no more.”
“Good theory and all, Ms. Firewalt. But wouldn’t this Trichloris guy be less of a threat himself if he obliterates magic?” pointed out Cole and I had to agree with him.
“Yes, Cole, he would,” she replied. “But there’s also a slight chance that he might be able to control the Bestow to take away everyone’s magic except his. Can you imagine what will happen if Trichloris becomes the only wizard in existence?”
“Okay, I get what you mean,” I said. “But Stan’s not good in wizard combats and I know next to nothing in winning wars. How do you propose to deal with that?”
“By bringing in a consultant, of course,” she replied.
I should have expected it when she said the word consultant but my heart still changed pace when I saw him enter: Oliver Sanders, my dear old dad.
Three hours later of Oliver laying out battle plans and everyone was still so concentrated on looking at his face so much that I was as sure as my name was Troy Sanders they didn’t hear a single word he said.
“Maybe we should all go and rest now and we can go over the plans tomorrow,” he finally suggested after a while but I was very sure what he wanted to say was “Hey kids, how about we talk again tomorrow after you’re all done drooling over me?”
They all nodded affirmative and left, including Oliver. But I stayed behind.
“Do we have something else to discuss, Troy?” asked Francesca when she saw me still seated.
“Why did you have someone follow me?” I asked. There was no room for mincing words, especially when what she did had just caused me trouble the size of the earth.
“It’s the norm for the valourwizard to have someone watch his back in case something goes wrong,” she replied, a casual explanation that only someone like Francesca Firewalt could deliver so adeptly.
“I don’t need a bodyguard and you know that,” I countered. “Besides, why did it have to be a girl?”
“You mean, why did it have to be a pretty girl who has a charming smile and an incredibly good sense of humour?” she returned, smiling. “Look Troy, I think you should really figure out what’s it that’s getting you so bothered before coming at me. Is it the fact that I gave you a female bodyguard, or the fact that a part of you like her and you’re afraid Vic’s going to find out?”
I would have loved to give her a befitting comeback- God, I wanted it more than anything- but a part of me knew what she said wasn’t far from the truth. Why the hell did things always have to get so complicated? Saving the school was never a problem, it was saving myself that was difficult.
- Writer
