A Sorceress From the Future

Chapter Forty One

NINA

One of my biggest challenges while in high school was staying awake long enough to grasp enough content to ace my tests at the end of the semester. By the time I was a teenager my father had discovered the gold in trafficking drugs. Unfortunately, I was one of his suppliers. This meant that I had to spend all my school nights packaging cocaine in miniature, see-through plastic. On the next day, I would be exhausted; my eyes would be red and droopy, my fingers fidgety, my body slouched. Suddenly I was being invited to parties by popular kids. They thought I partied all night, hence my appearance. They actually believed I had a choice in how I spent my nights.

During one afternoon, my Physics teacher posed an argument in school on whether time moved at the same pace for everyone. Students began chiming in factoring different time zones, theories on time, and well, sci-fi films where main characters actually stop or slow down time. As engaging as this conversation was, I had not slept a wink the previous night and it was not because I was packaging drugs. Seth had been admitted to the hospital. My father refused to waste his time watching over his step-son. I had volunteered my time instead.

My eyes fluttered incessantly as my head dropped slowly, inch by inch, to settle in my open palms. Minutes later, I was awakened unceremoniously to find a delighted classroom and an aggravated teacher.

“Tell me Nina, is my lesson too boring for your taste? Would you rather I send you to the principal’s office? Might be a more interesting encounter don’t you agree?”

“No ma’am…I-“

“No excuses! You are barely passing my class or the others for that matter and now I catch you sleeping during the lesson? You even dared to snore!”

Snorts and giggles filled the classroom as one of my classmates mimicked my snoring. It was hard not to join in the laughter, extremely hard. I was not laughing because of the mimic executed by one of the students, I was laughing at my problems. It was the only thing I could do, ridicule them, guffaw at them. What else do you do when you are a teenage drug dealer? When you are a puppet waiting for another nudge from your master? Funny how my Physics teacher seemed to think I actually cared about my grades. That was the least of my problems. Besides, I was never going to college anyway. The only reason I was in school was that my father had found a rather cunning way of monetizing my stay there.

“That is it! Nina does time move at the same pace for every human being in the world?”

At this point, my mind flitted back to the doctor summoning me to a deserted corridor and gripping my shoulder. As expected, I had flinched and recoiled. He had been stunned for a few seconds before hanging his head low and whispering,

“Your brother, he has…he has, Jesus how do I even say this?”

And then he said it and time, time had slowed down. Waiting for the sun to peek from its horizon the following day had taken forever. In my head, my cure for numbness was indulging myself in day-to-day activities.

“No, no it doesn’t…”

         *                                             *                                           *                                       *

Time had stopped.

I was currently at the center of a dwarf habitat surrounded by a colossal of dwarves. They were grunting and grumbling, scrutinizing every inch of my body. I felt naked and exposed under their intense gazes. I also felt exceptionally foolish. I was way taller than these creatures!

Guzman had made it clear that dwarves mirrored mage abilities, he had been correct. The moment I had staggered into the clearing huskily begging for water, my body had been yanked upwards by an invisible force. As it turned out, that invisible force was levitation being conducted by a dozen dwarves. At least they had not summoned ghouls, yet.

“Nnnghmmm!”

“Grrrrrr!”

“Fffffgggghnm!”

As hard as I tried to, I could not decipher what they were communicating to each other. Apparently, ancient dwarves had not learned to speak English. Until that moment, I had honestly believed the story of Snow White to be true. I angled my head to scout the bushes bordering the clearing. Guzman was meant to free Rupert as the dwarves awed over me. I was yet to spot Rupert. Dread began brewing in my stomach when my eyes caught sight of a human skull. I swallowed back the bile bubbling in my throat.

“Grrrrrr?”

“Grrrrrr!”

I did not like the sound of that. The latter bizarre statement had been accompanied by the dwarves thumping their miniature fists against their tiny chests. I was suddenly yanked down. My body landed roughly on the hard ground, I felt something inside me crack. Mustering all my energy, I attempted to sit. In the presence of predators, you had to be fully aware of your immediate surroundings.

The first thing I saw as my vision cleared was several dwarves with folded fists retreating from me. In fact, every dwarf was retreating from me.

What was going on?

My curiosity was soon satisfied as the dwarves with the folded fists suddenly moved their fists eerily upwards. It was as if they were pulling something quite heavy from the ground or well, beneath the ground. The earth beneath my bottom began to quake as the dwarves retreated even further.

My eyes widened a fraction, my body numbed with raw fear. A high-pitched scream finally escaped my throat. I was amidst ghouls.