CHRONICLES OF THE FOURTH HORSEMAN

SKELETONS AND CLOSETS

The flight back to the bunker was swift and fast.Now we had three pairs of super fast flying wings, less flights for me and more fun for all of us.Even to John and Duke the whole being carried thing had stopped feeling "wrong".With us they could temporarily have a super power.See the world from a different, much fast angle.The would travel with an impossible speed and yet see and feel everything normally.They could also go invisible for a moment.They had secretly asked Tom and Ophie to pretend they had a problem with the magic door that could not be solved anytime soon.Ophie told me but I chose to pretend like I never even heard.It felt good to be wanted.I had found a place where I belonged.A place that felt like home.It was peaceful and even though there were some minor fights and disagreements, we all learned to live together.

Tom and Ophie loved cooking, which was a cool thing as it saved others like John and Duke who would rather sleep hungry than find themselves in the kitchen.I had a trick that helped with the dirty dishes.A few rules kept us together and in line.Nine of the twelve bedrooms were now occupied.Some like Ophie, Squishy and Miss Griffin stayed in the bunker full time while others had places to go.Geo was still a soldier and a doctor dedicated to help the country.Tom, John, Alice and I still had school and I was still working at Cafe downtown.Slowly but surely we were converting the gold the diamonds into money and investing it wisely.Soon we knew we were going to need it and we wanted to be fully prepared by the time the hunts became more intense and dangerous.

We still had about four more days before going back to school.By then we had no plans as anytime a case could come up.We had canceled one too many and we knew there was no need to make more if we would end up canceling them.The cooking took a while but in a couple of hours everybody was full and they all went to sleep.I was left at my usual levitated seating position this time counting my blessings.I was lucky to have all that and I was just realizing that then.I didn't plan dwelling on the past mistakes and shortcomings anymore.I had a great thing going and that was what I should be thinking about.Hot you screw it up.Time went by quickly and I didn't even notice it was morning already.Listening to the crowd snore and dream out loudly was one thing I had come to enjoy.I knew it was weird and creepy but I didn't care.It was the one thing that made me appreciate their fragility as well as the strength.The only thing I had to make sure was they never found out.

The good people were woken up by a fight.I heard it develop but I thought it would go away,but it didn't.Instead it grew to a real fight where talons and claws were involved.Like everybody else I rushed to see what was going on.It was Geo and Miss Griffins.Fighting over something that they were not willing to say out loud.They were communicating telepathically.Not even Ophie and I could hear what they were saying.It however seemed pretty serious as they were fighting in their true forms.Tearing each other wildly.It was strange.I however walked up to them and pulled them apart.Ophie joined and held miss Griffin as I held Geo.We walked them towards the hall and made the seat down.Ophie then asked them what they were fighting about.

"Did he tell you people that he have a skeleton in the closet?," Miss Griffin rushed out.I saw Alice get up and walk away, probably going to open Geo's closet.She had not understood the new world she found herself in better.She still couldn't tell what was mythical or real.What was metaphorical or literal.It was sometimes funny watching her trying to make sense of things.In the moment however, we were all just like her.I thought Miss Griffin was talking about a real skeleton."Nope, no skeleton in this closet, just a dead roach, how the hell am I supposed to know the difference in their language, bastards," I heard her say.I smiled a bit over her tone.She sounded annoyed."Ady, when will you understand that what's in the past is in the past? I was young and foolish.Following others.I already apologized like a billion times over the years.What more do you want from me?," Geo said, looking at angry Miss Griffin right in the eyes.

"Woe...woe...wait...you mean you two know each other from before yesterday?," John found himself asking and that was the beginning of a walk down history lane.

"Yes Ady...sorry, Miss Griffin and I know each other from long before the magix world was locked away.We both fought in the final war but then we were on different sides.Miss Griffin protected the human world and he fought on the side of the elements while I followed my family to fight for the magix.My father made me understand that if we were locked away, we would be on the other side with the bad magix beings.I was young and foolish.I followed my family which was not even consisting any other phoenix.I neglected my purpose and followed the masses.In the process I found myself amidst a group that fought and killed about ten Griffins The happened to be Miss Griffins family.A few months later the Magix were locked away but I was left behind.I knew I had wronged a lot of people, I knew I fought on the wrong side and in as much as I felt remorseful, I could not change what was already done.I decided to lay low and help heal some of the wounds I had caused.

Miss Griffin however never stopped hunting for me.Every ones in a while he could find me, start a fight and it always ended up with me apologizing and running away.In our true forms we are capable of unimaginable good if we worked together, we are also capable of incomprehensible damage if we work against each other.I want all of this to end, in as much as I couldn't undo the damage, I would like us to find a way to move around this crazyness.After all, he got even by killing my birth mother who was just but a human and had no part in the war whatsoever.I am also mad about it but I don't go out looking for him.Come to think of ok, I never even lift my finger up to harm his family.I was too scared to and I just watched.I was just on the wrong side," Geo explained with a tear hanging dangerously on his eyes.He then waited until it fell down and he caught it mid air.He went on and touched the gaping wound on Miss Griffins arm,we watched as the wound shrinked and finally disappeared.

We were all waiting for him to do the same with the one on his stomach but he didn't.When John asked the question, Geo answered by telling us that he was not capable of healing himself using his tears.We watched as more tears flew down from his eyes.This time he grabbed the bottle I had kept with me ever since the first day we met and collected the tears.Then I had to explain to everyone about that day and in the process I told them about the witch and the heavenly punishment.I however with held some information.I was not yet comfortable sharing it.Everything was now out in the open, well almost everything.We no longer had to lie about who Geo really was.I had no more questions to answer about the whereabouts of the witch and why she had not showed up again.Most of all, I no longer had to explain why I was getting drunk recently.It felt good to let the skeleton out.

The fight was resolved with both Geo and Miss Griffins apologizing to each other and making an oath to keep the past where it belonged.They however refused to talk about the name Ady or why Geo called miss Griffins by that name.We didn't insist as some things were better hidden in the darkness.We however hoped that the two would one day care to share.I also felt like there pasts had more than they were willing to admit.But I also hoped that they would confide enough with us to let us in on that.

Tom and Ophie as usual went to the kitchen to make breakfast.Sometimes I wondered whether they didn't have the feeling they were being over worked.Today however, Geo joined them and all we could hear were chuckles and whispers.They were probably talking about one of us but the house was too peaceful to care.The wound on Geo's stomach was concerning to everybody else, however, it never seemed to bother him.He was not bleeding much and he kept saying it would be gone soon but to me and everybody else it stayed the same.Maybe even worse.He went on with preparing breakfast until it was ready and set on the table.They all dug in as I sat there and watched.I didn't have to eat and though no harm would be done if I ate, I mostly chose not to.With my senses I could taste everything in a whole crazy different level, just as i could smell everything differently.I chose to watch the in a way Alice thought to be creepy instead.

After breakfast, we all kept asking Geo to do something about the wound.He kept telling us we were not going to like it if he did so, but we kept on insisting until he had no choice.He walked into the generator room and came up some diesel.We watched in awe as he poured the smelly liquid on himself, John and Duke got up in an attempt to stop him but Miss Griffin stopped them.He looked up Geo and apologized and Geo just smiled and assured him everything was going to be fine.Alice was more confused than ever but this time she just sat there and waited.Geo lit a match and went on to set himself on fire.The smell of lavender filled the air as he dropped down into ashes.

"Are you people insane? you just watched as he lit himself up and now he is ashes," Duke rushed out.An angry face painted all over him.We wanted to explain but instead we chose to wait.They watched as the ashes formed what looked like a cacoon.All we had to do was wait for a few hours for the phoenix to be reborn.Two hours later, Geo tore the cacoon from the inside out and walked out with no as little as a mark or scar on his body.He explained everything to the boys at length.The looks on their faces as they tried to make sense of the explanation was priceless, I couldn't help but take a photo for memories sake.

As for the rest of the day, we had a plan that was not established just in case something came up.We played a few games and made fun of Alice for going to look for the skeleton in the closet among other funny stuff she had done in the past.We also talked a little bit about the magix days.By the time evening came I was a bit drunk and so was everybody.I even had to catch a bus on the way to work.I couldn't risk flying into the cafe or in the cooking pot at the cafe's huge kitchen.

I had however just worked for about one and a half hours before I received a call from Tom talking about some pretty weird happenings where more than just a few people had found some skeletons In their closets.I wondered what Alice thought of that and as I did the usual trick on the suit which by the way I was stuck with for the rest of the year, I laughed at the thought that Alice believed that was a motaphor too.I had to fly back to the bunker as the case felt a little bit more grievous than Tom cared to tell.