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Mexican Magic
By Lauren Mickens
Copyright 2001 Lauren Mickens
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Hi! I’m Chloe. My full name is Chloe Ann- I don’t have a last name. I was abandoned at an orphanage at age two; and am currently in Military School at age sixteen. My two-year term is almost over- one more week to go!
John, our Drill Sergeant, woke the girls’ cabin up early in the morning-4:00 maybe. Drowsily, but quickly, I yanked on my clothes and reported outside (in alphabetical order). I am the second in line since I have to use my middle name. When everybody was lined up, that took all of ten seconds; we dropped and did fifty push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 50 crunches, and 150 jumping jacks.
And that’s only the beginning!
Breakfast was at 5:00 sharp.
Oh Goody, grossed-out scrambled eggs again!
I got my food and sat across the table from Kevin, my boyfriend-that I know I’ll never see again, because he lives in Mexico, and smiled an answer to his muttered ‘Mornin’ . Meals are the only time we get to see each other each day- it’s kinda pathetic. When he fell asleep face first in his food, I kicked him awake. “ What was going on last night?” He shook his head fiercely to wake himself up. “ The pillow fight of the century-until John caught us and we had to run around the school five times.” I giggled, and he smiled. He likes my giggle. “I didn’t get to sleep until after midnight.” “Poor baby.” I said sarcastically. “Damn right.”
My Agenda-
5:30- training
6:00- schooling
12:00-lunch
12:30-6:30- training
6:30- dinner
7:00-8- more training
8:00- in cabins
8-8:30- free time
9:00 lights out.
Sucks-don’t it?
A week later, after tearful goodbyes to Kevin and his big brother Tony, I was on a train back to The Orphanage in Florida. I dumped my bags in the corner of my literal hole-in-the-wall, (It was a squared hole in the wall- with only enough room for about one person to sleep comfortably) there wasn’t any use to unpacking them- I don’t have a dresser or trunk. Gina came running over “Chloe! I’m so happy for you!” I just stood there.
“Huh?”
“ Haven’t you heard?”
“Heard what?”
“ You’re getting ADOPTED!”
“Pinch me. Really?” She nodded. “What about you?”
“I’m stuck here.”
“ I’m not gonna leave you here without me kick Dan’s ass when he makes fun of you.” She laughed.
“ I can handle it. Besides- he’s filthy rich and lives in Mexico with only his money to keep him company.”
“Who? My new dad?”
“Yes.”
The next morning, I was summoned to the office. There, Artemis Black had flown in all the way from Mexico just to adopt me! I quickly said good-bye to Gina while he signed the papers. I slept the whole way to Mexico on MY bed in MY Private Jet! I could get used to this…
When we were in the limo on our way to my new home, I tried my best to pick up a conversation with my new dad. “ Artemis?”
“ Yes Chloe?”
“ There’s a slight problem here.”
“ What’s that?”
“ I don’t know a lot of Spanish.”
“ That could be a problem. Do you know the basics? Hello? Good Bye?”
“ No.”
“ I’ll have to hire a teacher for you.” I bit my tongue. I had to mention it!
“ Chloe,”
“ Yea?”
“ Our next door neighbors are coming over to see you and to have supper. Is that Okay?”
“ Yeah. Who are they?”
“ Ms. Davidson and her two kids, Kevin and Tony. You might know Kevin. He went to military school.”
“ Yeah. I remember.” I replied dreamily.
“ We’ll have to take you shopping. What you’re wearing is okay for around the house, but I hold a lot of dinner parties and banquets. Juan,” “ Yes Sir?” “ Stop by the mall.” “ Whatever you say sir.”
This was the best two days of my life! I’m adopted, I’m rich, I have my own private jet, I’m going to see Kevin again, I’m going shopping, and- I get to order people around!
It felt like hours later, we finally got to my new….MANSION! Holy Crap! This is the biggest house for miles! “ Do you like it Chloe?” Artemis asked me.
Like you couldn’t tell by the way my mouth was hanging open.
“Yes. I love it. It’s heaven compared to my hole-in-the-wall at the Orphanage.” “ You have the whole fourth floor to yourself. I’ll give you a tour later.”
The whole fourth floor! Was this guy nuts?
After I unpacked, there wasn’t a lot to do; I walked over to Kevin’s house- Next Door. This is all turning out too nicely for me-watch, he died or something with my luck.
“ I’m sorry. He’s in jail, again.” His mother told me. “ For what?” “ He was caught out skateboarding after the 10:00 village curfew, for the third time. I left him there for a while this time. May I ask who you are?”
Skateboarding? What a hunk! I can’t resist boarders.
“ I’m Chloe. Artemis just adopted me Sunday. Kevin and I met at Military School.” “Really?” “Yeah, I was even considered his girlfriend for a while.” Tony appeared in the doorway and stared at me, surprised. I groaned. “ Not you again… And here I thought I’d finally gotten rid of you.” Ms. Davidson laughed. “ I like you. Can I trust you with the bail money?” “ Yes ma’am.” “ Here. Go bail him out for me. I hope a week was a good enough lesson. Tony, go with her.” “Why?”
“ The poor dear doesn’t even know how to speak Spanish.” I looked at her. “How’d you know that?” she winked and shooed us away.
“ Oh, here this was in my mailbox. It has your name on it.”
“ Thank you. I’ll pick up Kevin and bring him right back.” I persuaded Tony to drive his Convertible instead of walking.
(The ol’ “My feet hurt.” Followed by my irresistible puppy eyes always work.)
“ Hello. I’m here to bail somebody out.” The guard looked over the newspaper. “ No hablas Engles.” Tony saved me. They spoke at some length in Spanish, and then the guard heaved his muscular body out of the chair and motioned for me to follow.
I’m not going to describe the place. I spent two years in military training, and this jail brought shivers up my spine.
Kevin is so hot! He hadn’t grown any taller,
Of course he didn’t! It’s only been four days!
And you could see his six-pack of muscles through his white military tank top. His brown hair was spiked, and his brown eyes were looking at me in amazement. I swung my waist length braid of blond hair behind me and helped him up. I smiled and hugged him. “ I missed you.” He grinned broadly. “ Let’s get the hell outta this dump.”
When we got to my house, we piled out of the red convertible.
“ See ya later Chloe.” “ See ya.” They walked over to their house and in the front door. As soon as Kevin walked in, I heard his mother’s shrill voice screaming, “ What the hell were you thinking?!” I shook my head. That’s pitiful. I personally don’t see why she’s so upset. I mean, 10:00 curfew? That’s about the time I leave to go on a date. I started to hike up the three flights of spiral stairs, and then remembered that we had an elevator, and changed my mind. My maid, Sandy, came up to help me get ready for Dinner.
I wore an emerald green puffy gown. The back came down really low, and was held up by crissed-crossed spaghetti straps. The shoes were four-inch high-heeled emerald green sandals. My long hair was pulled up into a tight bun, and Sally put a hairpiece on that made it look like one of those really fancy, puffy buns. Around my neck was a necklace of silver chain with an emerald star on the end. When I was done, I looked like a princess of some kind. I decided that the stairs were too dangerous for my heels, so I took the elevator. Kevin was waiting at the bottom. “Hello.” “ Hey.” He looked handsome in his baggy dress pants,
Lovely flannel boxers!
And white shirt. I assumed that his mom made him dress like that. “ This is gonna be so boring.” “ And so uncomfortable.” I added. “ Does it take that long?” “ Yes.” He pulled the chair out for me to sit down.
Such a nice boy!
I stared at the silverware in awe. There were too many forks! It’s supposed to be one, not three! Kevin obviously saw me, because he whispered instructions in my ear. “ Start from the outside and work your way in. Like on ‘Titanic’.” I nodded. It was still ridiculous! Artemis looked at me and laughed.
“ What?”
“ You.”
“ What did I do?”
“ I’m sorry. I didn’t even think about this.” I rolled my eyes.
“ Just eat like you normally do. I’ll have to hire someone to teach you how we eat, act, stuff like that.”
“ An etiquette teacher?”
“ Yes. That’s the word.” I giggled.
“ Mr. Black,”
“ Yes Sally?”
“ Your company manager in Wisconsin is on line three.”
“ Thank you. Please excuse me.”
He left the room and didn’t come back until dessert. “ What took so long Artemis?” “ That fool, Loxley, needs me to come in as soon as possible.” I frowned. “ I have to go to Wisconsin for about a week. You’ll have to stay with somebody, or you can come with me. I’ll think about it. I have an idea.” I shrugged.
After the French Silk pie, Kevin and Tony followed me upstairs to change. Kevin sat on my bed, watching Tony, (who was currently playing Gran Turismo 2) and I was in my dressing room. I opened my pajama drawer, and I screamed. This was a tomboy’s nightmare. Kevin came in. “ What?” “ This.” I held up one of the slender, sleazy silk nightgowns that filled my drawer. He burst out laughing. “ You’re supposed to wear that?” “ I guess. I really don’t have a choice. Now go. I need to change.” He left the dressing room, pink from laughing. I slid it on and pulled my hair down, pulling my top underwear drawer open.
Oh, Dear God, THONGS!?
Reluctantly, I pulled one on. “ Kevin!”
“ Yeah?”
“ Get me my robe please.”
“ I don’t see it.”
I sighed and opened the door. Men! I crossed the room and pulled it off of the coat rack behind the door. Kevin, dazed by the racing game, didn’t even notice.“ Oh.” Tony looked at his watch and got up to leave. “ What’s up with you? Got a hot date?” he grinned wickedly and left. “ Chloe, did you open that letter?” “ No.” “ Come over here. We’ll open it together.” I grabbed the letter off of my nightstand and snuggled up on my four-poster bed with Kevin and ripped it open.
Dear Miss Chloe Black,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to be taught in the magical ways at Mystica, School For The Magically Gifted. Term starts on September Fifth. Be at the school one-day prior. Enclosed is a list of supplies needed. I will expect to see you there.
Nova Starre,
Head Witch of Mystica.
“I thought that this stuff was a bunch of mumbo-jumbo.” “ So did I, until mother showed me that it was real.” His face turned a sickly white. “ Your mom is a witch, or am I having a really freaky dream?“ He nodded. “She picked up the couch with a flick of her hand.”
“You’re kidding!”
“Uh-uh. I swear to the Holy Bible.” He said, putting his free hand on the intricate bible on my nightstand.
We walked downstairs and into the second floor parlor, where our parents were talking. “ Artemis?” “ Yes dear?” I handed him the letter, and his face turned as white as the mansion. “ Can I go?” “It’s your choice.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I’ve only been your Dad for a day, you might as well get spoiled before I get used to you.”
“Thank You!” I hugged him.
“Ms Davidson, could you take her to get her supplies?” she nodded.
“While I’m in Wisconsin, I’ve arranged for you to stay at Kevin’s house. Is that okay with you?”
I nodded.
Of course it was okay!
“ I’m leaving tonight. Go pack.” “ Yes Sir.”
When Kevin and I were in the elevator, out of our parent’s hearing range, I hugged him, resting my head on his broad shoulders, and he held me close.
Ooh, his muscles are sexy!
We packed a trunk full of clothes, fancy dresses, and anything else that I might need for Mystica, is it called?
Kevin took my trunk over to his house while Artemis gave me some stuff. “ Here’s your Social Security card, your insurance card, your phone card, your credit card, the house key, and your motorbike key.”
“ Artemis, I’ll be fi-“ I stopped in mid-sentence. “ Did you say motorbike, and credit card?”
“ Yes. Here’s the garage key too. I have to go now princess, I’ll see you after you get home from your school.”
“ Bye.” He kissed me on the cheek and hopped into the limo. Kevin tapped me on the shoulder. “ Let’s get you set up.”
He led me to a guest room with a four-poster bed much like my own, with deep, emerald green velvet blankets and curtains. The whole room looked like the inside of a genie’s lamp or something. I grinned.
“ I thought you’d like this one. Tony’s doing something upstairs though. I’ll tell him to stop.” I could tell what he was doing. “ You know what he’s doing right?” “ Yeah.” He made a face and I burst out laughing. “ Wait’ll mom finds out.” He grinned impishly. “ Oh, one more thing,” he gave me one of his tongue-involved irresistible kisses. “ Happy Birthday.”
“ You remembered?”
“ Yeah.” He blushed. “ We’re going shopping tomorrow.”
“ Okay. Good night.” I pulled off my robe and he looked at me in surprise before saying ” G’night cutie.” He tucked me into my very comfortable bed and turned off the light, shutting the door behind him as he left.
“Chloe, sweetie, its time to wake up.” I groaned and looked at the alarm clock. 8:00. “ Damn you early birds.” Kevin smiled. “ That’s my baby. When you’re ready, pancakes are on the table.” he turned and left the room. I hopped out of bed and pulled on my plaid mini-skirt, white long-sleeved belly shirt, (flaunting my tiny waist and silver belly-button ring) white knee socks, and black 4 inch Mary-Janes, pulled my hair into the puffy bun, and slid a ruby-studded choker around my neck.
“Okay smart guy, where’s the pancakes?” he laughed.
“ It was a hoax to get you out of bed. We’re stopping somewhere in Warlock Lane.”
“ Warlock Lane?”
“ It’s where we’re going to get our junk.”
“ Oh.”
Tony came down, half- dressed. “ Chloe, Can Katrina borrow some clothes?” “ Yeah. Just bring her to my room.” “ Thanks.” I trudged up the stairs and into my room. A few minutes later, Katrina came in, wearing Tony’s robe.
“ Hello.”
“ Hi. You need it all; don’t you?”
“ Yes. I can’t find half of it. Probably under his bed.”
I laughed. She was my size, but seventeen years old. Either I was huge, or she was tiny.
“ So, how old are you?” she asked as I rummaged through my trunk.
“ Sixteen.”
“Oh. You’re pretty tall.”
“ I know it gets so annoying, but it can be useful. People normally think that I’m seventeen, so I drove at the orphanage.”
She laughed. I handed her my Cecilia Bellbottoms and blue belly shirt, a thong, and a bra. “Sorry. That’s all that I have.”
“ That’ll work. So when’s your birthday?” she asked as she yanked it on.
“Last Night.” I grinned slyly. “ Did you have fun last night?” She turned beat-red. “We could hear you down here.” She pulled her curly jet-black hair onto a ponytail, ignoring me. “ Oh, geez Katrina, I’m just playing around with you.” “ I knew that.” We walked downstairs. When we walked in, Tony made a growling noise at Katrina. She laughed. “ Tonight, I’m going on a clothes-hunt under your bed.” Julio came in. “ The limo is ready.” We all piled into the limo, and Ms. Davidson ran out and handed us all a credit card.” This is the exclusive Warlock Lane Credit Card. Use it wisely.”
Julio drove us to the abandoned part of town, down a long ally, and straight through a brick wall!?! I turned around to look. It was an illusion! I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding, and tried heave the fainted Kevin off of my lap. I finally just hit him, and he woke up. “ It was an illusion Kevin.” “ Oh.” “ Here. Eat this. It’ll help.” I handed him a piece of chocolate. “ Thanks.” We got out of the limo and noticed that the small village was staring at the limo as if they expected Enrique Inglecias to hop out. Tony pulled us into the nearest shop.
The Tailor was a skinny, small little man with black hair and black-looking eyes. “ May I help you?” I spoke up. “ We’re attending Mystica for school, and we need robes. “ Step back there please.” He pointed to four stools. We each stepped on a stool and tape measures started measuring us. By themselves! Kevin turned pale and shoved the rest of the chocolate in his mouth. There were scrolls and quills writing each measurement down. I peeked down at the tape measure, which was measuring my bust, and looked at the scroll, flinching at the number. The tape measures disappeared, and a load of robes fell onto Tony’s arms. He almost fell over. There were 150 for each of us. The girls’ were silk with gold or silver trim, and a low v-neck. The boys’ were just plain cotton with a hood and a rope-looking belt. The tailor wordlessly handed Kevin our velvet cloaks, Katrina and I’s high-heeled boots, the boy’s black boots, our pointed hats, and gloves.
“ Your total comes to… 800 dollars and 99 cents.”
Great Googley-Moogley!!
We forked over our credit cards, and the tailor rung us up. We stopped at the limo and put our stuff in the trunk.
We stopped at a tavern for our breakfast.
Remind me never to eat their version of pancakes again. Gross!
After that, we got our trunks and our schoolbooks, and stopped at Broomsticks Inc. for our brooms. The Model I got was a Stardust 2002. I had to pay extra money to get this one. The handle changed colors to whatever color that you want. In my case, to match my clothes. Kevin and Tony got racing brooms, God knows why, and Katrina (Kat) got the same one that I did. We got our cats afterward. It took about a half-hour because Kat and I couldn’t decide. They were all so cute!
Finally, we picked one and we were able to go to the mall. (Just for fun.) Julio dropped us off and took our stuff home. I picked up one of those really, really big velvet pillows, a really cute set of bedding, and a large mirror for Mystica. We dragged the boys into DEB and tried on some clothes (and bought some.) The boys literally dragged us into McDonald’s for lunch, despite Kat and I’s protests. When everybody was ready to go, I put my stuff down and called Julio on my cellphone. “ Hey, Julio, come pick us up. We’re at the exit now.” I hit END and closed it. “ He should be here any minute. I LOVE living close to the mall.” Julio drove up and shoved, well, tried to shove our stuff in the trunk. My pillow ended up sitting with us. When we got home, I put every thing that would fit in my trunk, and put the rest in a large duffel bag. I set all of my stuff by the wall and opened my cat’s cage.
I had chosen a black kitten with orange paws and orange tipped ears. “ What should I name you?” I asked absent-mindedly. “ I prefer to be called Spooky-if you don’t mind.” I looked at the little cat. “ You can talk?” “ Of course I can, silly. I’m a witches’ cat.” “ So your name is Spooky?” “ Yup.” “ Cool.” I got up and put my friend’s cd in the stereo. My friend is in a pop group called Meleo. I left Spooky listening to ‘Once Upon A Time’ and walked down the hall. “ Kevin, did you know that our cats could talk?” “ Yea. I found out when Sami started singing to Ludacris.” “ Spooky is down the hall listenin’ to Meleo.” He snorted. Tony came up. “ Mother says that we’re going to a ball tonight.” I perked up. “ It’s a Humane Society Charity Ball.” Kevin sneered.
“ Oh. How fun.”
“ I wouldn’t be talking. You’re going too.” He flinched.
“ What time?”
“ In an hour.”
I ran off to get ready, Katrina followed me in. “ I need a dress too.” We both decided on a dress and changed. I put that hairpiece on, I’m starting to like it, and put a crown on. It was one of those crowns from Claire’s. Katrina did my make-up, and I did hers. Kevin came in with a jeweled collar and leash. I threw my robe on. We were just in our puffy crap and under things! Kat ducked behind the bed. “ Sorry. Here. Spooky is allowed to come.” “ Cool. Is Sami coming?” “ Yea. He’s not too happy about the leash though. I’ll let you get dressed now.” He turned on his heel and left the room. Katrina peeked out from behind the bed. “ Is it safe?” “ Yeah.” We pulled our dresses on and slid those damn high-heels on. I pulled my silk trench coat out of the shopping bag and threw it on the bed. I grabbed my new formal purse (One of those flat purses that don’t have a shoulder strap.) and put some cash and whatever make-up would fit in the main pocket, then we walked downstairs and waited in the parlor.
At the door, we had to pay sixty dollars, for the charity, but the ball was worth it. So far. We ate supper there at about 7:00, and danced afterward.
At 9:00, I was attacked. A shady figure came at me with knife. I grabbed his wrist and twisted as hard as I could. Kevin attacked him from behind, so I let go. But before I could think, the tables turned and the figure was holding a knife to my boyfriend’s throat. “ Call the girl off, or I slit your brother’s throat.” Tony grabbed me by the waist and firmly held me there.” Kevin!” “ Let my brother go. He has no part in this.” Tony commanded. “ Then give me the brat.” He hung his head. “ I can’t. I would give my life before you touched her.” Kevin looked dumbfounded as the man started into his throat. Kat came up behind and held a silk cord to the man’s neck. She twisted and pulled, making him drop the knife and Kevin.
“ Who sent you?” she asked. “ I’m not telling.” She pulled harder and dug her concealed high-heeled boot into his back. “ WHO SENT YOU?” “ The Goddess.” He croaked. Katrina pulled still harder, and the man collapsed, dead. Kevin came running over to me and hugged me. “ Omigod. Kevin, are you hurt?” I lifted his chin to see. He had a gash from where the man had started into his throat. I pressed a napkin to it, grabbed some extras, and ran out to the limo. I sat him down and opened the first aid kit. I washed the cut out as best I could and wrapped gauze around his neck. When I was finished, the cops came.
“ Miss Black, are you alright?” the sheriff commanded. I nodded. “ Is anybody hurt?” I couldn’t speak, so I pointed toward Kevin. The paramedics came over to check it out. “ Miss Black, can you tell me what happened?” Tony interrupted. “ I will. Let her stay here with her boyfriend.” Tony and the cop went off aways, and Tony explained what had happened. Right next to me, Kat was talking with another cop. “The man was cutting into his throat, so I strangled him. Kevin is dear to all of us, and I certainly didn’t want to lose him.”
“ The weapon?” “ Here.” She handed him the silk cord.
“ Where did you get this?” “ I tore it off of my dress.” “ Since it was defense, I’ll let you go. But the next time, you won’t be so lucky.” He walked over to where Tony was. Katrina sat down next to me. “ That was close.” “ Yeah.” Kevin came over and sat down too. “ Are you alright?” he asked. I collapsed into his arms, crying. “ I was so scared. Why would anybody want to kill me?” “ Kill You? He had a knife to MY throat, remember?” He then softened up and kissed me on the forehead. “Ask Tony later.” He cradled me in his arms until Tony returned. “ What the hell were you thinking Tony? You damn near got me killed, your own brother!, and scared Chloe half to death. What’s going on?” “ It wasn’t my fault. I hadn’t expected this when I accepted.” He sat down and put his head in his hands. Katrina rubbed his back.
“Accepted what? Tony, you didn’t answer me. What the hell is going on?” He sat up.
“ Chloe is stronger than the goddess of magic.”
“ What?”
“ In magic, there are three gods, The Goddess of Magic, the Mortal Lord, and the God of Gods, their father. I was chosen by the God of Gods to protect Chloe from his daughter.”
I un-buried myself from Kevin’s white dress shirt. “WHAT? I just found out that I’m a witch, and now I’m stronger than some, goddess that wants to kill me?” Kevin pulled me back toward him. “Shush. Not so loud.” “ I’ll yell as loud as I want, Kevin James.” I warned. “Chloe, take a deep breath and try to calm down. We can’t risk all of these mortals hearing you scream about witchcraft. They’re very jumpy around here.” I took a breath like he told me, and re-buried myself into his shirt. He hesitated a moment before rubbing my back and carrying me to the limo.
“Honey, wake up. We’re home.” I groaned. When I opened my eyes, I was lying on Kevin’s bed. I must have fallen asleep in the limo. Kevin smiled. “ It’s about time.” He gave me one of those kisses before motioning for Kat to come over. “ Can you help her get some pajamas on, then bring her back here? Tony thinks that she should stay with me until we go to Mystica.” Katrina nodded and helped me out of bed.
I could walk perfectly, and put my own pajamas on, Thank You.
When I got back to Kevin’s room, I popped some aspirin and climbed into bed with Kevin. “ Do you think that what he said was true?” I asked softly. “ If it’s not, that would be the first time he’s lied for… sixteen years.” “ So you believe him?” “ Yes.” He put his arm around my waist, and I fell asleep to his steady breathing in my ear.
Today is a living madhouse. Everyone is running this way and that- getting ready to leave tomorrow. I was running from house to house like a little mouse because I kept on forgetting things. When we were done, it was time for dinner. After dinner, we went over our lists, making sure that everything was packed. Kevin ticked off items, and I made sure we had them.
“ Robes,” “ Check.” “ Broom,” “ check.” “ Shampoo and crap,”
“ Check.” “ Anything else?” he scanned the list. “ Nope, we have everything, plus your extras. Get your p.j’s on. We want to leave early.” “ Yes sir.” I gave him a mock military salute. He burst out laughing, and I scurried back to my room. When I returned, Kevin was already half-asleep. I snuggled up with him under the covers and slept.
In the morning, at about 6:00, I heard whispering by the bed. I sat up wearily. Tony stood. “ Damn. We wanted to scare you half out of your wits.” I looked pointedly at Kevin. He grinned and blew a whistle, loudly. Kevin shot up like a bullet. “ What the hell? Tony! “ He got up, and Tony took off running, with Kevin close on his heels. Kat and I started cracking up. “ They look so cute when they do that.” Kevin came back, holding Tony by the neck of his shirt in one hand, and a broken whistle in the other. Kat and I continued our laughing streak. “ That was quick.” I said. Tony wriggled out of his shirt. “ He’s had way too much practice.” “ I wouldn’t be so quick if you didn’t pull something like that once a week.” He threw his shirt at him. I laid back down and pulled the covers up over my face. “ I don’t wanna go to school.” Kevin pulled the blankets off the bed. “ You sound I did during the high school term.” I laughed and pulled my clothes off the nightstand. I him on the butt on the way out, and went to my dressing room to change.
I’ll admit, I had a lot of fun trying to get used to a tube-top, mini skirt, and micro-fiber high-heeled knee-high boots. I let my hair hang at my waist, and started putting our junk in the limo.
When we got to the airport, my plane was ready and waiting. Kevin and Tony put our stuff in the cargo area while Kat and I waited for my pilot. A finger tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned around. “ Are you Chloe Black?”
“ Yes. Are you my pilot?”
“ Yes. I have a problem though.”
“ Oh?”
“My daughter is also attending Mystica, would it be alright if she were to ride with you?”
“ Of course she can. Who do you think I am? The Grinch?”
“ Thanks. Gina!” I gasped. Gina ran in, looked up, and dropped her luggage. “ Chloe?” “ Oh my god. Gina! What the hell are you doing here?” we hugged. “ I just got adopted like last night.” Her adoptive father looked at us like we were crazy. “ We were best friends at the orphanage.” “ Oh. Shall we get going?” “ Yes. KEVIN!” he came running in. I giggled at how much he looked like Sally when he did that. “ This is my friend Gina. Can you put her stuff in the plane?” “ Yeah.” He picked up all of her stuff like it was as light as a feather. Gina stared; dumbfounded. “ That was my boyfriend. And this,” I pulled Kat over. “ Is Katrina. My boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend.” “ Hi. Just call me Kat. Katrina is way too long.” Gina was looking at me. “ Your boyfriend is hot.” “ DUH! Let’s get on the plane.”
When we were all settled, Kat curled up with Tony, and I curled up with Kevin to watch a movie. Kevin did the cutest thing. Gina was sitting all alone, and he lifted her over to us. We both cuddled up with him! Tony just looked at him and laughed. “ What?” “ We need to get Gina a boyfriend or you’re gonna end up ditching Chloe for her.” He turned red. “ I will not!” I just shook my head. “ Stop fighting, you two and turn the movie on.” Kevin grabbed the remote and hit the button. Gina, Kevin and I all fell asleep watching ‘Titanic’.
Tony woke us up around noon with some sandwiches, and afterward, we all played ‘Twister’. I am the Twister champion! But, Kat beat me. That was so discouraging.
Well, you try being flipped over yourself with your right foot on green and you left on red!
Later, Tony and Kat went into another room, his bedroom, leaving us all alone. How they can do that on a plane is beyond me… Kevin took off his shirt, and his muscles ripped.” It’s getting hot in here.” “ Yeah. Hang on.” I answered, dazed. I walked over to the cockpit and let myself in. It’s my plane after all. Jeff switched on autopilot and turned around. “ What do you need?” “ Can you turn the air conditioning up? We’re getting hot.” He nodded and turned the knob. “ Do you need something to eat or anything?” I asked. “ No. I ate.” “ When?” “ When you, Gina, and Kevin were zonked on your bed.” “ Oh. Okay. I’ll leave you alone now.” I turned and left the room and closed the door behind me. “ He turned the AC up.” “ Good.” Kevin pulled out his laptop, and we chatted with some people. And told some sick ones off. We chatted with some guy who was into the paranormal. Kevin and I acted like we liked it too and found out some interesting tidbits like: ‘ In Africa, they still burn whoever is accused of witchcraft’ Kevin replied with: ‘have you ever been accused of witchcraft?’ ‘ Yes, once. But can I tell you a secret?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘ They were right.’ ‘What do you mean?’ ‘ I’m a warlock.’ ‘ Normally, people don’t say it right off the bat, but so are my girlfriend and I.’ ‘ really?’ ‘ Yeah. We’re heading towards the school now.’ ‘Mystica?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘ I’m the Brewing Class teacher.’ ‘ Cool. We look forward to seeing you. Gtg. Bye!’ he logged off and closed the laptop. “ That was freaky.” “ I agree. I’d better start supper huh?” “ Yeah. I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse.” “ Sorry, didn’t bring one. Will steak do?” he sighed. “ I guess.” The sarcasm was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. I giggled and started making our meal. When it was ready, I knocked on Tony’s door. “ Go away.” Came the muffled voice. “ Cover yourself. I’m coming in.” I opened the door. “ What do you want?” Tony barked.
“ Don’t be such a bastard. Supper’s ready.” I turned on my heel and left. Kevin was cutting his steak. “ I told you not to mess with him now.” “ You’re right. I should have just left him alone. I’m sick of his attitude.” Kevin laughed. “ What now?” “ You’re beginning to sound like my mother.” I laughed too. “ Sorry. I guess I’m taking too much responsibility.” He nodded and put his hands around my waist. “ That’s okay.” He kissed me until Gina did her ‘ Hello, I’m all alone here’ cough. Then he pulled away and sat down on a humongous beanbag chair to eat. I finished making my plate, yelled at Tony to get his butt out here, and then joined him. Tony and Katrina came out in their robes, ate, and went back to the bedroom. Gina joined her new dad up front and Kevin and I well, I’ll just put it this way. I’m not a virgin anymore=J
Chapter 8
Tony woke us up, laughing his fool head off. Kevin sat up wearily. “ What?
“ You.”
“ What?”
“ You two yell at us for it, and yet here you are.”
Kevin looked down and pulled the covers back up over my chest; waking me up. “We decided to try it. I see what you mean.” He grinned evilly. I smacked him on the leg. “ Ow.” “ Shut up and let me sleep- and what do you mean me? It was all you boy.” I rolled up in the covers, leaving Kevin totally uncovered. He grabbed his pillow faster than lightning and covered up. Kat burst out laughing. “ Ooh la la.” Kevin turned about as red as red can get. I pulled the pillow off of my head. “ Back off, girlie, he’s all mine.” Tony tapped Kat on the shoulder and motioned for her to follow. They walked back into their room to change, laughing, and Kevin and I followed suit. Gina came out as we were changing. “ Oops! I am so sorry.” Kevin dove behind me. “ That’s alright. You didn’t know that we were changing.” “ I’ll leave now.” She ran back into her room. We finished getting ready and called Gina back out. But before I could say anything, the speaker came on. “ Chloe, get your crap together. We are 30 minutes away from the airport in Germany. “ “ Thanks Jeff! “ I looked at Kevin.
“ You heard him, boy, get moving.” He gave me a ridicule salute and dashed off. By the time we were ready, Jeff was telling us to sit down and buckle up. He landed the plane, said good-bye, and took off again. We hailed down a taxi and I took over.
God, my hips hurt!
“ Guten Tag, spriechen se amirikanish?” “Ja.” “ Good. Can you take us to the village that’s north of here?” “ Sure hop in.” We filled another taxi with our stuff and hopped into the first one. I sat on Kevin’s lap so everybody else could fit, and leaned back onto him. He grinned and started kissing down my neck. I glanced at Gina. She rolled her eyes. “ Not now.” I whispered in his ear. He let up. “ We’re there.” The driver informed us. I paid him while everybody got his or her stuff. I swung my duffel bags over my shoulder and Kevin helped me carry my trunk. In front of us were two very large gates. They automatically swung open as we approached, and three men came out and helped us carry our stuff to our rooms. I shared G13 with Gina, Kat, and some girl named Trixie. I unpacked my stuff, putting the round velvet pillow in the corner by the window, and my mirror above the nightstand. I made my bed, dragged my empty trunk into the closet and walked down to Kevin’s room. As I was walking down the hall, a very large boy slammed the door to Kevin’s room, and just about knocked me over. “ Sorry.” He grumbled. I knocked on Kevin’s door.
“ Kevin, let me in.” “ Hang on.” He opened the door, blood dripping from his lip. “ Hon, what happened?” “ My roommate and I got into a fight over top bunk. I am now on the bottom, living with the fear of his falling through.” I grabbed a damp washcloth from the bathroom and pointed toward his bed. “ Sit.” As I started cleaning up the blood, the boy who almost knocked me over came into the room. “ Who are you?” he demanded. “ Kevin’s girlfriend. Got a problem with that, or can I clean up his lip without getting decked?” “ No, I mean yes, I mean- I won’t deck you, you’re fine.” he looked almost shy as he turned away. Kevin snorted. “ He’s jealous.” “ Honey, stop that. That’s probably what got you this swollen lip to start with. Maybe I should let Gina have you...” “ NO!” “ Alright then. Stop that ‘tude.” “ Fine.” I continued washing his lip, then got the ice pack out of the bathroom cupboard. I pressed it to his lip as I sat down next to him. “ Ouch.” “ I know, I know. Hold it on there. “ I motioned for him to open his mouth, and I checked to see if Mike had knocked any teeth loose. “ Must not have been a very hard blow. He didn’t loosen any teeth.” Mike looked at me.
“ You act like his mother. “ Kevin shook his head. “ Only when she’s pissed at me for getting in a fight.” Mike laughed. I rolled my eyes and took the icepack off of Kevin’s lip. The swelling had gone down a bit. “ C’mon you two, let’s head down to lunch.” We left the room, and Mike closed the door. He put his hand on Kevin’s shoulder. “ Look man, I’m sorry about the lip. You okay?” Kevin nodded. “ I’ve been hit harder.” I automatically thought about this morning and the smack on the leg, and when he got home from jail.“ Alright.” He took his hand off Kevin’s shoulder, and they chatted as we walked down to the cafeteria. What do you know? Big men do have a bit of a soft side. I took a look at Mike. He was very tall. Kevin was 5’11” and he had to stand on tiptoes to reach this guy’s shoulders. He was very muscular, and pretty thin. He was wearing a blue tank top and long khaki shorts. Not too bad. He was actually quite cute. I grinned. Kevin looked at me.” What are you grinning about?” “ I think Gina is just going to love Mike.” Kevin looked at Mike. “ I think you’re right.” We walked into the cafeteria, and sure enough, Gina’s jaw dropped. We got our food and sat down at the table with them. “ Gina, this is Mike, One of Kevin and Tony’s roommates. Mike, this is Gina, my best friend. Be nice.” Mike had a dreamy look is his eyes. I looked at him in surprise. I knew Gina would like him, but I didn’t think that he would think that she’s hot! Kevin had the same look that I did. “ Nice to meet you.” He said. Tony looked up. “ What happened to your lip bro?” “ I lost the battle of Top Bunk.” Tony just laughed. We ate lunch, and then headed back to our rooms. Gina and Mike hit it off immediately. They chatted the whole way back to our room, and then Mike left and went back to his room. Gina closed the door behind her.
“ Oh, my, god. He is so dreamy.” “ Yeah. And can you believe that he gave Kevin that swollen lip?” “ He did?” I stopped brushing my hair and walked over to her. “ Look, I know you’re in love for the first time, so here’s some advice. Move slow. Don’t go too fast. You may think that he’s the guy of your dreams, but everybody has their faults. You just have yet to find his.” “ Amen to that.” Kat added. Gina looked at me. “ Thanks. I’ll try.” “ Since we’re on this subject, “ Kat said “ Sit down. “ we obeyed. “ I suppose that I should tell you this. I haven’t told Tony yet, but…” I cut in “ You’re not!” she nodded. “ Oh my god! You’re pregnant?” “ Yes. Shush. I don’t want everybody to know just yet. I’m telling Tony tonight.” I just sat there. Could that happen to me? No. He used protection. I’m sure of it. I fell back on the bed. Katrina glanced at me. “ What’s up with you? You’re not the one who’s gonna give birth in nine months- Are you?” I shook my head.
“ I’d hope not.” “ Did he…” “ Yes.” “ Then you’re fine.” “ I hope you’re right.” The boys knocked on the door. I got up and let them in. Katrina hid the chips that she was eating under the bed. Tony looked at her “What was that?” “ Nothing.” “ Was that food?” “ Maybe.” “ We just had lunch.” He sighed. “ What’s going on?” she flinched. “ Come with me.” She pulled him out into the hallway and closed the door. Kevin looked at me. “ Listen.” I said.
“ YOU”RE WHAT?” we heard Tony yell. “ What?” Kevin asked.
“ Kat is pregnant, and Tony just found out. “ “ Shit. “ Kevin ran outside. We followed. Kevin was standing in front of Kat.
“ Don’t do this again Tony. It happened once remember?” Tony looked as wild as an animal. Mike put Tony in an arm-lock. He calmed down; helpless. Kevin came over and put his hands on his shoulders. “ Do you love Kat?” he nodded. “ More than anything?” “ Yes.” “ Would you ever do anything to hurt her?” “No.” “ Then calm down. You’re old enough to handle this responsibly. If you really love her, don’t do it.” “ I won’t.” “Promise?” he nodded and Mike let go. Tony started crying and held Kat in his arms. “ I’m sorry, so sorry.” Kat rubbed his back “ That’s okay. It’s natural to be upset, especially if you weren’t supposed to do it in the first place.” Kevin breathed a sigh of relief and motioned for us to follow him and leave them alone for a little bit. We went back to his room, and I sat down on his bed. “ What just happened?”
“ Last time he made a girl pregnant, he was sixteen, and too young to be doing it anyways, so he beat the girl up. She filed a lawsuit and sued us.” I gasped. “ Kat is very lucky. He was just about to hit her when I came out.” “ Oh my god.” I went up to him and picked up his hand in my own. “ You would never do that right?” “ Of course not. You’re not though right?” “ No.” he pulled me close. “ I would never do anything to hurt you, no matter what. I love you way too much. You’re my whole life. If I did something like that to you, I would kill myself.” I started to cry. “ Don’t say that.” He held me closer and cradled me in his arms. Mike and Gina just stared, too shocked to say anything. We walked down to my room and I sat down on my big pillow. Kevin sat down next to me and we cuddled. Tony spoke up.
“ I’m sorry I scared you all like that. I don’t know what came over me. Kevin, I’m glad that you came out when you did, I mean, there’s no telling what I would have done. Thanks.” Kevin smiled. “ No problem bro. Just don’t make me do it again okay?” Tony nodded. There was a knock on the door, and Tony opened it. It was the head witch. “ Is there a problem up here? I heard yelling.” She walked into our room and Kevin removed his hand from my chest. “ No ma’am. There’s nothing wrong here.” “ Then why did I hear yelling? Hmmm?” “ There wasn’t any yelling here.” I lied. “ Bullshit. I heard yelling coming specifically from this room.” Tony fessed up. “ My girlfriend told me something, and I got a little bit out of hand.” “ What was that?” “ That we’re going to have a kid.” He blushed. She threw her hands up and left the room. “ Teenagers.” We all burst out laughing as Tony shut the door.
Trixie arrived after dinner when we were all in my room chatting. She opened the door. “ Hi y’all. Oh dear, do I have the wrong room?” I sat up off of Kevin’s lap, pulling my shirt up a bit to conceal a hickey. “ Are you Trixie?” she nodded. “ Then you’re in the right place. Kevin,” he was already putting her bags by the bed. “ Why are all the boys here?” she asked. “ They are our boyfriends. “ Gina and Mike blushed at that comment. I introduced everybody, and Trixie started to unpack. “ So, where are you all from?” “ Mexico. “ we all answered in unison. Mike said “ Texas.” Immediately following our chorus. “ You’re from Texas?” he nodded. “ Me too.” Gina smiled. “ What do you know? What city are you two from?” “ Houston.” They answered just like we did. Despite my thoughts, Mike didn’t oogle for Trixie and kissed Gina. Kevin looked as shocked as I did. When she was done unpacking, she shoved the trunk into the closet and sat down on her bunk.
After a few minutes of silence, Trixie looked down at us.
“ You’re not going to chat anymore?” Kevin blushed. “ We were talking about private things.” “ Oh. Well, I’m going down to see if Diana is unpacked yet.” She hopped off of the bunk and left the room. “ Bitch.” Mike muttered. “ What?” Gina asked. “ Did you see the way she looked at me? She gave me that ‘ we have so much in common. Wanna date me?’ look. That’s why I kissed you. I want you. Not her, and I wanted to show her that.” Gina patted him on the head jokingly. “ Good boy.” We all laughed, except Kevin, who was kissing down my neck right then. Then he came up to my ear and whispered very softly, “ Let’s go back to my room.” I smiled and got up. We walked across the room and Tony giggled like a little schoolgirl. Kevin rolled his eyes. “ Cover for us.” “ Whatever. Go have fun.” Kevin grinned. We snuck down the hallway, and he opened his door.
How we did it on a bunk bed still boggles me… We both stripped and I laid down on his bed. He came toward me and … hit his head. I laughed. He shook it off and came to my mouth. Everything after that is none of your business. Tony came in a couple hours later with my robe. Kevin looked up. “ I don’t walk in on you.” He growled.“ It’s lights out time. Here Chloe.” He held up my robe and I slipped into it while Kevin pulled his boxers on. Tony folded my clothes and shoved them under the bed. “ You can get them tomorrow. Scoot.” I went back to my room and slid my pajamas on. Gina brushed the knots out of my hair.
“ What was it like?” “ Amazing. I wasn’t a virgin, but it all seemed totally new to me. The curve of his backside…His lips on mine,” I was about to go further when Trixie came back.
“ Have you been gone this whole time Trix?” “ No. I went to get a snack. I didn’t eat supper. Where were you?” I actually blushed.
” Kevin’s room.” I replied meekly. “ Oh.” She winked at me and bit into her apple. When Gina was done, I crawled into my bed and fell asleep.
Katrina’s alarm clock woke us up at 7:00. We took turns in the shower then looked at our schedule.
9:30 am- All groups at breakfast.
10:00 am- A- Brewing Class
B-History of Magic
C-flying Class
D-Mortal Classes
E-Simple Spells and Defensive Charms (s.s.d.c)
12:00 pm- All groups at lunch.
12:30 pm- A- s.s.d.c
B-Brewing Class
C-History of Magic
D-Flying Class
E- Mortal Classes
2:30 pm- A-Mortal Classes
B-Flying Class
C-Brewing Class
D-s.s.d.c
E-History of Magic
4:30 pm- A-History of Magic
B-s.s.d.c
C-Mortal Classes
D-Brewing Class
E-Flying Class
6:30 pm- All groups at Supper
7:30 pm- you may visit with friends- Ask head witch for sleepovers.
9:00- 10:00- snack bar.
10:30- lights out.
· All classes will be the same each day.
· Extra-curricular activities will be explained at your first flying class.
“What’s this ABCDE crap?” I asked. Kat pulled out another sheet. I scanned the list for our names. We were in group C, all of us. I put my school robes on and put my hair in pigtail buns. It didn’t say that we had to actually wear those hats. I pulled my hose and boots on and did my make-up. That’s funny, at first; I hated the crap, now it’s essential. I put my schoolbooks and stuff in my ‘Angel’ messenger bag and set it on the bed while I waited for Kat and Gina. Trixie had already gone down to meet Diana, whoever she is, at breakfast, so we picked up the boys on our way down.
Kevin kept on fidgeting. “ What’s wrong?” I asked as I slurped my orange juice. “ I’m used to pants. I feel weird in this-dress looking thing.” I laughed. “ Poor baby.” “ You got that right.” I stole a glance over at Trixie and Diana. They both giggled and laughed and talked to two boys. They must be her bodyguards or something, because I don’t even know her and I already hate her. Kevin looked too. “ Who’s that?” “ That is Trixie and the famous Diana that she keeps talking about. Diana this, Diana that. I don’t even know her and I’m sick of her.” All of the sudden, Diana looked up and stole a glance at Kevin. She didn’t even notice me. She looked him up and down, and then got up to come over here. I looked away. Kevin glanced at me quizzically.
“ She’s coming. She thinks that you’re hot.” He nodded and acted casual. When she was a few steps away, he got up and stretched. “ I’m going to the bathroom. Be back in a minute.” He left the room. He’s good.
I faced Diana. “ Hello. Are you the famous Diana we’ve been hearing all about?” Mike snorted. Trixie muttered something in her ear and pointed to Mike. She nodded. Diana went over behind Mike and tilted his chair back. I could see him resisting the urge to hit her. “ Why don’t you like Trixie, huh? Not good enough for you?” Gina stood. I shot a steely look at her. She sat back down, confused. I stood up instead.
“ Leave him alone.” She looked at me. “ Who are you, his mother?” I looked at Mike and he nodded. I stood up straight. “ No, actually, I’m his sister. You wanna make something of it?” “ You’re not his sister. You don’t even look alike.” “ Oh, you can’t see the resemblance? Our skinny bodies, our muscles…” she looked at my arms. They were pretty muscular, but not like he-woman muscles.
“ Your muscles don’t even compare to his. Now back off you anorexic bitch.” Anorexic Bitch! That was the last straw. I grabbed her by the collar of her low-cut robes. “ You listen to me. I’m his sister, and I’m taking care of him right now. If you want to keep on nagging him, I’m sure you’ll have a very nice funeral, considering there’s enough left of you when I’m through.” She gulped. Mike stood and pulled my hand off of her shirt. “ I think she got the point sis.” “ I don’t know. “ I glanced at Kevin walking back in.
Diana saw me and immediately found my weak spot. She was gonna do something to piss me off. She whistled and her boys came over. They both looked pretty strong, but not like Mike. Kevin saw them and put himself in front of me. “ Don’t touch her.” He said through clenched teeth. They looked meaningfully at Diana. She nodded, and they both took one of Kevin’s arms and began to carry him away. To her bedroom, no doubt. To my surprise, no matter how much he struggled, they kept a very firm grip. I was so mad, that I was close to tears. I looked around. Surely there was a teacher or monitor or something. There wasn’t. I got ready to run after them, but Tony put a hand on my shoulder. “ He can handle himself. “ “ Not with those big thugs holding him. “ he pursed his lips. “You’re probably right.” he walked over to the other side of the room and grabbed his other roommate. He nodded and Tony and Mike went off to get Kevin back. I hope they know what they’re doing. Kat, Gina, and I sat down, and the boy sat down in front of me. We waited in silence until Tony came back. I looked up, he shook his head.
“ The door is locked, deadbolt and all. We tried to get in, but it was no use.” “ But classes are in fifteen minutes. And, he’s mine, not hers.” I wailed. “ I know, I know. We tried hon, the only way in is with a key.” He paused. “ That’s it. “ he cupped his hands to his mouth.
“ Who here rooms with Diana?” One girl came over. “I do. Why?” “ We need to borrow the key for a minute. Diana is seducing my brother, and we need to get in.” “ I’ll go with you. She is such a slut.” We walked up to the room, and I could hear Kevin’s moans for help. I started to cry as she unlocked the door. Mike held me firmly around the waist so I wouldn’t try to kill Diana. The girl opened the door and Tony rushed in. “ Give him back.” she was in the middle of something, and she looked up. “ Why should I?”
I fought to get out of Mike’s grasp, but he held me there as if I was merely a feather. I looked at Kevin. He was tied to the bed, Diana’s guards on each side to make sure that he doesn’t get loose. His mouth was taped shut and… I started crying into Mike’s shirt. I couldn’t take this. He rubbed my back. “ It’ll be fine. Don’t worry.” “ Because, you slut, he’s taken. Can’t you see that?” she rolled her eyes. “ Ann, why did you even let them in?” “ Because I hate you. All you’ve done is seduce men since you got here. Every hour on the hour. I’m sick of it.” “ Grow up, church. Now, where was I?” she continued. Tony looked wildly. There was nothing that he could do. She was a woman, and he couldn’t hit her. Mike did the same thing. But Ann took charge. She yanked Diana off of the bed and threw her to the floor. “ You leave him alone. This isn’t going to make him love you, if a man really loves you, he’ll do this voluntarily. You’ll just have to be a little nicer and a little less slutty, and maybe it’ll work. Now for the love of Christ, get some clothes on. Class is in ten minutes.” She undid Kevin’s ropes, and he ran over to me. Ann handed him his clothes, and he yanked them on. I ripped the tape off of his mouth and threw it on the floor. Diana’s bo-guards had seized Ann, but there was nothing they could do. It was the same case. They couldn’t hit her. “ What do we do with this one?” Diana stood. “ Leave her.” They threw her across the room, and Tony caught her.
“ You alright?” I asked Kevin. “ Yes. I now know how it feels to be scared out of your wits.” I hugged him, still dripping tears.
Chapter 10
Our first class was flying class. Our teacher was the head witch, Professor Starre. “ Everybody whistle to your brooms.” We all whistled and the brooms levitated about two and a half feet above to ground. “ Okay, hop on. Boys, straddle it, girls, sit with your legs to the side.” I sat down. My feet could still touch the floor, but I left it. She pointed to Kat and I. “ You two have more advanced models. A one-word command will do. Demonstrate.” I shrugged. “ Up.” The broom floated up to a height of seven feet, and then I told it to go back down. Kat did the same. “ Alright. Now do it how everybody else does. Everybody, push off of the ground with your foot.” I pushed off and watched Kevin fall onto the wisely put gym mats on the floor. Nova turned around. “ That’s alright boy, try again.” I could hear Diana and Trixie snickering. He climbed back up and stayed there, swaying, but on.
“ Good. Now shift your weight to the front hand to go forward. To stop, even the weight. “ We all did as we were told, and a lot of people fell off. Gina was beside Mike and when she fell, she hit Mike, who fell also. Gina landed on Mike, and they both laughed. They whistled and Mike lifted Gina back on her broom. He climbed on his own, and they tried again. “ Now, to climb upward, shift the weight to the back hand.” Everybody fell off that time. “ Alright. I’m going to open this door. Fly outside and wait at the tree.” She opened the door, and we all sped out. We stopped at the tree obediently. “ I’m going to issue a challenge. The first one to fly up and touch a cloud gets their Critter Class creature early. Let me explain. Next week, we will no longer have flying class, but Critter Class instead. You will all get an animal. You will treat it like your pet or best friend until the day it dies. Now, go fly around, or, if you’re brave enough, touch a cloud.” Kevin looked at me. I nodded and we started to fly upward. It took a couple of minutes, but we made it.
We got Nova’s attention and flew back down. She approached us. “ Congratulations. I’ll get your animals at the end of class.” She blew a gym whistle, and we gathered around her in a circle. “ I’m going to explain the extra-curricular activities. We only have two sports. One is racing. It is for boys and girls and you must be at least seventeen. The other is to cheerlead for the five separate racing teams. Only girls fifteen and older are allowed.” Some of the younger ones groaned. The bell for our next class rang, and Nova motioned for Kevin and I to follow her. We stayed on our brooms until we got to a very large building. We got off and laid our brooms by the building and walked in. Inside were cages, tons of cages. Some lead to pools for aquatic animals, others didn’t. Nova stopped at a bulletin board.
“ Let’s see, Chloe Black, your animal is the wolf. Kevin Davidson, yours is also the wolf. Follow me.” She led us to a cage where two wolves sat. “ We try to judge your animal depending on your personality. Chloe, you are just a dog lover period, and Kevin has the protectiveness of a wolf.” She opened the cage. “ These animals can talk to you, just as your cats would.” I knelt down. “ Hello. I’m Chloe. Do you have a name?” I asked the female wolf in front of me. “ My name is Sabina. I am the daughter of the alpha male, whom your mate is talking to. “ I blushed. “ He’s not my mate, good guess though.” I stood. “ These wolves are to go everywhere with you. They will not attack, unless ordered to do so. Now run along to lunch. “ We picked up our brooms on the way out and walked across the lawn to the cafeteria.
Everybody looked at us as if we were crazy, having wolves with us. We sat down at a table of eight with Tony and the gang. The wolf sat on the seat next to me, so Kevin sat across from me. “ What are you all staring at?” I asked. Katrina stared at me. “ Let’s see, the fact that you have a wolf trotting along beside you doesn’t freak us out in the slightest.” “ It’s our Critter class creature. Remember, we touched a cloud.” “ Yeah I remember, but I didn’t think that we’d get dangerous animals. “ Kevin came back with our lunch. We had turkey sandwiches, and he brought the dogs two plates full of turkey and ham. The wolves ate it without any objections. I took a look at Diana, for the sake of humanity, and she had a look of hard-core fear in her eyes. I saw that she was looking at the dogs. “ Kevin,” “ yeah?” he replied with his mouth full of food. “ Diana is afraid of dogs.” “ Really?” “ Take a look-see.”
He obviously saw the look in her eyes, because he started laughing. “ I’m going to tease her about that for the rest of her life.” Tony stopped him. “ Now Kevin, maybe I should tell Chloe what you’re afraid of.” “ No.” “ Then drop it. It’s not nearly as ridiculous as your fear.” “What are you afraid of?” I asked. “ Nothing.” Kevin lied. “ Seriously, what are you afraid of?” “ I’m not telling.” Tony cut in. “ Snakes.” I grinned. “ Really?” Kevin nodded. “Let’s not make an issue out it.” I giggled. “ I’m sorry. I’ve just never seen a man that’s afraid of snakes.” “ That’s okay. It just means that you or our kids, if any, won’t be able to have a pet snake.”
Chapter 11
Our next class was History of Magic. Our teacher was Alberto. He was way to ecstatic for this class. He was quite young compared to the other teachers. The bad thing about him is that he assigns too much homework.
The class after that was Brewing Class. The teacher was nice, but strict when it came to teaching. The lesson started with the famous question from Diana. “ Are love potions real?” Rinko just laughed. “ Of course!” “ Will you please explain?”
“ You don’t learn about that until the end of the year, so no.”
“Please?” Diana pleaded. Kevin looked at me. Rinko frowned.
“ I said no, Miss Foxx.” I breathed a sigh of relief.
“ Something wrong, Miss Black?” I sat up straight. “ No sir, just tired, that’s all.” “ That didn’t sound like a yawn to me. It sounded like a sigh of relief.” “ No. It wasn’t. I just yawn weird.” I lied. I heard Tony laugh in the back of the room. Rinko looked at me strangely and started the lesson on how to make a healing potion.
“The last class of the day is Mortal Classes, whatever that is. It’s down the hall and to the right.” Mike said after we got out of Brewing. We wandered down the hall to the classroom. Mortal Classes ended up being Math, Spelling, Science, and Music all in one. We got a half of an hour for each class. After the lessons were over, we literally dragged our bags full of homework to the cafeteria for dinner.
While we were eating, Nova came in. “Can I have your attention please?!” We all looked up from our roast beef.
“ Racing sign ups will be passed around. If you don’t sign up now, you can’t do it. Same with the cheerleading. I’m warning you girls now; we do complicated cheers, flips, and gymnastics. The racing is dangerous, and you are most likely to get hurt. If you still want to do it, sign your name, if not, pass it down the table.” She set the sheets on our table, which was first in the front row of tables. Kevin, Tony and Mike signed up for racing, and Gina and I are cheerleading. When everybody who wanted to signed up, she took the paper. “ Everybody who signed up, meet me in my office after supper for your uniforms.” She walked away and we resumed eating.
When Kevin and I were done, we walked down to the office, our wolves behind us. Kevin knocked on her door.
“ Come in.” He opened the door. “ The boxes are over there. Find your size.” She pointed toward four boxes. We shuffled around for our sizes. When we found them, we stood in front of Nova’s desk while she checked us off. “ Practices are seven to nine every night on the flying field.” We walked out of her office and up to my room to change. “ That was quick.” Kevin said. “ Yeah. Just change here. We only have ten minutes to get to the field.” I opened my door and we changed into our uniforms. Mine was a short silver and emerald green skirt with a cutoff shirt that stopped above the belly button. It’s a good thing that I’m not fat. Kevin’s was emerald green spandex pants and an emerald green dress shirt. The number 13 was on the back, and he had a helmet too. When he was done, he looked at me. “ What do you think?” “ Tuck the shirt in.” reluctantly, he tucked it in and pulled the black boots on. We flew our brooms down to the flying field. The coach, Rinko, had the racers fly through hoops while he timed them. Kevin ended up being the fastest on the team. We practiced ‘bang bang choo-choo train’ while they raced against each other.
Kevin won the whole race and I ran out to hug him. We raced back to the school. Guess who won? You’re right. He did. When we got back, we hit the snack bar and then asked if I could sleep in Kevin’s room. She said yes, and I went to get my pajamas and stuff for tomorrow. There’s no point in running back and forth from each room if you don’t have toJ. I unlocked the door and let myself in. “ Hi.” I grabbed my stuff and looked around. ”Where’s Gina?” “ Mike’s room. Don’t ask.” I laughed and shut the door. Kevin was waiting outside his door. “ You have my key, and nobody’s there.” “ Gina and Mike are. Tony is in my room.” I handed him the key. He unlocked the door and opened it. “ Hello. Cover yourself. I’m turning the lights on.” We heard a quick rustle of blankets, and then Kevin flipped the switch. I saw Gina dive under the sheet with her telltale hair sticking out.
“ I know you’re there Gina, It’s just me.” She peeked out. “ Oh, good. Did you have to do that?” “Yes. We just got back from the practice that you two skipped.” “ Oops. Oh well.” They continued, and Kevin hopped into the shower. I pulled my pajamas on and waited in the bed. I dozed off before Kevin got back, and he woke me up while he was climbing in. “ Sorry hon, go back to sleep.” He put his arm around me and we fell asleep.
Chapter 12
The first racing match was on Saturday. These people don’t waste any time. Do they? We’ve only been here for eight days, yet it seems like eighty. The arena looked a lot like a football field, only bigger with twenty-foot hoops double-lined down the center. The racing team for Group C flew out and lined up against the wall, and the cheerleaders followed on foot out into the center of the field. We did a pre-game dance to *Nsync’s ‘Here We Go’, then lined up under the team. Groups D and E did the same thing, and then the announcer came on. “ The players from groups A and B will race first, then C, D, and E will follow. The two winners from the two brackets will go head-to-head in a final match to determine the winner. First up is Maria Butler vs. James Torrance.” The races from their groups seemed to go on forever, but finally, Kevin was up against Maria Butler. We did our ‘ Kevin, Kevin, he’s our man, if he can’t do it, nobody can.’ Cheer, and then fell silent to watch. The whistle sounded, and they took off.
All of the sudden, a streak came from the opposite direction and grabbed Kevin off of his broom. It looped around, dropped a note on me, and took off. Maria stopped flying. The crowd gasped and I opened the letter. Tony flew down from above me to read it.
Give yourself up, or your boyfriend dies.
-The Goddess
I looked around and noticed that Diana was gone from the group. Instinctively, I whistled for Kevin’s broom and hopped on to chase her down. I flew up high and pointed to the direction that she took. Tony and Mike went other ways, in case she turned around, and I kicked into high gear. I could see her way in front of me, with Kevin’s legs flailing from the side. I put all of my weight toward the front. All of this time, and Diana was the goddess? I could have killed her anytime I wanted. She played dumb just to confuse me. Finally, I caught up and grabbed Kevin from her. I kicked her broom, and she fell to the ground fifty feet below. Kevin heaved himself up to sit behind me. I helped him, and he wordlessly put his hands around my waist. I started down toward where she fell. We stopped a few feet above her. She was still conscious, but I knew that she broke some bones in her arms; because of the way she fell.
“Give up Diana. I have you. All I have to do is kill you.” “ I will never give up. I will maintain my title and Divinity. You’ll see.” Somehow, she got up. I jumped off of the broom and nailed her back down.
“ I said, give up. You have no choice. Either you die with pride, or die a coward. Take your pick. You’ll have a crappy funeral either way.” I summoned a knife and pressed the tip to her heart. If she had one. “ Take your pick.” “ Go ahead. Kill me. You don’t have the guts.” She grinned. I looked toward Tony, who had just recently joined us. He nodded. “ It’s time.” I pushed with all of my weight. She screamed, and I twisted the knife free. It started gushing out blood, and I put my foot on it. “ Did you really think that I would soften up for a bitch like you?” I took my foot off, and she died almost instantly. I made the knife disappear, and Tony hugged me. After him came Kevin.
When I embraced him, I felt this surge in my chest, by my heart. I floated upwards and let go of Kevin. I started to glow, and I started getting, how should I put this?, prettier. My hair grew down to my knees, and got a lighter shade of blond. Any clogged pores I had were cleaned. I got a little bit skinnier and my muscles shrunk. Why on earth did that happen? My cheerleading outfit disappeared, and in its place was an elegant white gown. A tiara mounted my head, and I floated down into Kevin’s arms. He lifted me up and twirled me, saying “ I’ve been blessed.” He pulled me down and kissed me. The whole school decided to show up at exactly that moment, and everybody cheered. Nova came stomping over and pulled me away. “ What is the meaning of all this?” Tony pulled her away.
“ That’s no way to talk to divinity.” “ What are you talking about?” she snarled. “ Diana was the goddess of magic. Chloe is the Strong One, who was destined to kill The Goddess once and for all. When she did, she became the new, and improved, Goddess of Magic.” “Bullshit. Detention for you two, and I’m calling the cops on you.” She pointed at me. She came toward me, and I pushed her aside with a tiny gesture of my hand. She fell back and landed on Rinko. “How on earth?” “ Try listening to Tony once in a while Nova. He might be telling the truth.” “ I am your elder, and you will call me Professor Starre.” “ No. You are my tool. You are trained to teach my gift to certain people. Nothing else.” “ You’re not kidding. Are you?” “ Duh. I’ve only been trying to tell you that for the past five minutes.” “Are you really the goddess? Tell me the truth.” “Silence fool.” A voice boomed from behind me. A man appeared, surrounded in a gold light.
“ Kevin and Tony Davidson, you have just witnessed Chloe’s rise to divinity. Since you and only you have seen it, you are her guardians. She will live forever, and so will you. You will serve her until the day she falls from divinity.” Tony bowed. “ It shall be as you say, Divine One.” Nova stared in shock. “ You are telling the truth.” The god, my father, Azreal, nodded. “ You are to follow Chloe’s every order. Whether it be, ‘teach the children’ or ‘clean my house’. Got it?” “Yes.” He turned to me. “ Come with me. We need to talk.” I took hold of his extended hand and we walked across the lawn to the building.
We walked up to my room and I sat down on my pillow with Kevin beside me. He stood. “ Chloe, do you understand everything?” “ Yes. I wasn’t an orphan. You created me and put me in the orphanage to be raised here on earth.” He nodded.
“ The military school was to prepare you for what was to happen, and Kevin wasn’t an accident. “ “ What do you mean?” “ One day, he is to be your husband.” Kevin blushed. “ Now, if you wish, you may stay here on earth, or you and Kevin can live in the heavens.” I looked at Tony who was standing by the door and turned to face my father. “ I would like to stay here.” He smiled and hugged me. “ You two may visit anytime you wish. Just concentrate and say ‘home’, and you’ll be there. Goodbye.” He disappeared with a swirl of fairy-like dust as I whispered “ Goodbye.” Kevin cradled me in his arms, and before I knew it, I was crying. Here I am, a sixteen-year-old goddess of magic, crying in my boyfriend’s arms. That sounds kind of pathetic, doesn’t it?
Chapter 13
Kevin woke me up at seven thirty a.m. “You slept through the alarm clock. It’s your turn in the shower.” I groaned. I had obviously fallen asleep in Kevin’s arms. He had taken the gown off of me and slept here. I sat up. “ Where’s the Tylenol? I feel like I just ran into a brick wall.” He smiled and threw me the bottle. I took some and got in the shower. I came out in my robe and opened the wardrobe. “ What the hell happened here?” Kevin came over. “ I’m guessing it has to do with the goddess-thing.” Instead of my usual robes, there was elegant, puffy, glittery, revealing gowns. In place of my hats on the top shelf were silver and gold tiaras-each with a gem to match the different colored dresses.
“ Boy, would I give for my cargos and tube-top about now.” Kat laughed. “ I would too, if I were you.” I randomly pulled one out. It was a simple, white, tube-top dress with a little bit of a puff at the bottom. “ I think I’ll wear this one for now.” I pulled it on. The matching tiara magically appeared, along with beautiful diamond jewelry. I sighed and put it all on. Kat did my make-up, as usual, and we headed down to breakfast.
We sat down at our table with everybody looking at me. I might as well get used to this. Sabina looked ready to tear apart anybody that teased me. I scratched her ears. She wagged her tail approvingly. Kevin came back with our breakfast. “ It’s cereal, cereal, cereal up there, but they made pancakes for us two. I could get used to this kind of treatment.” He said as he put the tray down. I laughed. Everybody at the table was silent. As if they didn’t want to talk to me like they used to, because I’m a goddess. “ Look everybody. Just because I’m a goddess doesn’t mean you have to treat me any different. I’m still the same old Chloe. Only now, I have the power to dismiss you from your homework.” Everybody laughed. “ Sorry Chloe. We just…” “ Just thought that you had to treat me different. I’m not gonna take away your magical powers or anything for treating me the way you would a friend.” Silence. I guess that was a bit deep. “ I don’t even know how to do that.” I added. Tony laughed. “ That’s the Chloe we all know and love.” I sipped my orange juice.
“ I think that this is all going way too fast. I mean, it was only twelve days ago that we found out that we were witches and warlocks, and now, here I am, the goddess of all of it.” Kevin nodded.” It is a bit confusing.” He confessed. “ But,” Gina cut in. “ If it weren’t for magic, Chloe, you wouldn’t be here. Or Kevin and Tony for that matter.” “ And I wouldn’t have met Gina.” Mike put his arm around her, and she rested her head on his shoulder. I smiled. They were right. I had almost regretted even being alive, and a few simple words convinced me that it would be all right after all.
Part Two
Chapter 14
There are so many things racing through my mind right now, I think that I might go insane. Here I am, Kevin, a warlock, Guardian and lover of the goddess of magic. I looked at the goddess, Chloe Black. She looked blank, like she was thinking a little too hard. I had been seduced, cut, gashed, bashed, and damn near killed for her. But I would do it all again if I had to. This might sound deep, but I love her more than anything. I can honestly say that I would kill myself before anybody so much as came near her with a knife. I put a reassuring arm around her and she perked up. I looked toward her uneaten pancakes. “ You gonna eat those or am I going to have to do it for you?” she giggled and started eating.
That’s what I love about her. The world could be turning inside out, and she’d be curled up next to me, giggling. I am so lucky to be the one that she marries and has kids with. Sometimes, I don’t think that I deserve her, but she always turns that around with a simple smile. I have the prettiest girlfriend in the world. She’s basically Malibu Barbie with one hell of a personality. She’s got knee-length beach blond hair, emerald green eyes, and the body that every girl wants.
I looked at my watch. We have like, three minutes to get to Critter Class. “Chloe, we have three minutes until Critter Class. I’m just guessing, but we might want to head out.” She nodded obediently and got up. I grabbed her hand when we got out into the hallway. She looked up at me and smiled.
We were exactly one minute late. Nova glared at us as we sat down. “ Detention, all of you.” Chloe looked her in the eyes warningly. “ Or not.” Nova said meekly. I grinned. Revenge. “ Okay class since you don’t have your creatures yet, follow me out to the building.” We all followed her to the building. She rattled off everybody’s animals and they ran off to find them. Chloe and I followed Tony and Kat, knowing what animal that they had.
Kat’s mouth dropped to the ground. Tony just stared. “ It’s huge.” He finally managed to say. Chloe walked into the cage. I reached a hand out to pull her back, and then remembered that she’s immortal. I followed her in. Chloe took hold of the dragon’s muzzle and rested her head against it. “ Of course it’s big. What did you expect? A dragon the size of a terrier?” Tony blushed. “ Well, no…” “ Then get in here. It’s not going to spit fire at you. Are you boy?” the dragon shook his head. “ No. Only if you pose a threat, which I know you puny humans won’t.” Katrina fainted. When we got her awake, she started mumbling. “ It talks, it talks.” Chloe handed her some chocolate, like she did to me after I fainted in Warlock Lane. Wait a minute, where’d she get that? Duh, Kevin, she’s the goddess of magic, hello.
Nova blew a whistle. “ Everybody listen up. We’re taking our animals outside. If you have an aquatic animal, stay in the cage.” Katrina looked at the dragon, whose name was Equan. “ How are we going to get him outside?” I looked up and pointed. “ Through that.” They all looked up while I looked down. Chloe crossed the cage a pushed a button. The sliding doors started to open. Everybody looked at Chloe suspiciously. She pointed to the button. Everybody looked up again. The dragon flew up and landed outside with a thud.
We walked outside and stood by Equan. A minute later, Gina and Mike came out from behind the building with little floating people. Wait a minute, were those fairies? I looked at Chloe and she nodded. How’d she know what I was thinking? Don’t ask. Chloe’s voice told me. Don’t ask. The fairies were about two feet in height with translucent wings. They were absolutely beautiful. They almost looked like hippies though, except that they didn’t wear tye-dye and bellbottoms. Mike saw me staring. “ Yes, these are fairies, and yes, I thought that they were smaller too.” He took the words right out of my mouth. The fairy that was flying behind Gina came over and sat on Chloe’s shoulder. “ Good Morning, Divine One.” She said in high-pitched voice. Chloe smiled. “ Good Morning, Eve.” The tiny fairy blushed and fluttered over to Gina again, whispering to her, “ She knows my name, she knows my name.” Chloe giggled and rested her head on my shoulder. Eve squealed with delight and hid behind the other fairy. Nova’s voice boomed from the center of our messed-up circle.
“ You are going to learn to morph into your animals. Chloe-I mean, Divine One, would you like to demonstrate?” Chloe glided over to her. “ Just call me Chloe. I’m sick of hearing ‘divine one’.” Chloe effortlessly changed into the form of a wolf and back again. “ Would you like to explain how you did it Chloe?” “ Why not?” she muttered under her breath. “ Picture your animal, don’t miss a detail, and then add the heart and organs. Go over to make sure that you didn’t miss anything, and think,’ I want to be this animal’, and poof, there you are.” She flounced back over to me. Obviously saying that she didn’t want to explain anymore. “ Poof?” I whispered in her ear. “ Explain it better.” She looked me in the eye. I pursed my lips embarrassingly. She giggled and hugged me. I swear, deep inside, she’s like a little girl. Only she would do that in public. I heard that. I kissed her on the cheek. You’re forgiven. I giggled this time. Softly though.
This morphing thing is pretty easy. Chloe said that if do it enough, I’ll barely have to concentrate. The first time, I forgot the heart, and Chloe changed me back before my forepaws even hit the ground. Katrina had one hell of a time trying. She always forgot something, whether it was the fire lung, or the tail. Behind me, Mike was already a fairy. I burst out laughing. The huge Mike that we all knew was gone. He was a tiny, green, winged fairy with no muscles whatsoever. Gina was a pretty pink one, chatting away with Trixie, who had become a pixie. I think that was somebody’s idea of a joke. Chloe looked at Mike. “ Mike, for once, you might be able to sit on my lap.” He did back flip from laughing so hard. One thing I noticed is that fairies laugh too much and too easily. Try not to think about what would happen if the fairies were in the room while we were kissing. Chloe told me. Despite her warning, I pictured me and Chloe making out, and the fairies laughing so hard that they were crying. I looked at her and she grinned.
We hit lunch and went to History of Magic class. “ Can anybody name the gods and their mates?” Alberto asked as an extra credit question. Tony raised his hand, and I buried my head in my hands. “ The Mortal Lord is a bachelor with no name, The Goddess of Magic is Chloe, Kevin is her mate, and The God of Gods is Azreal, and Nikita is his mate.” Alberto shook his head. “ Where did you come up with the goddess and her mate?” “ Weren’t you there Saturday night Alberto?” Chloe asked. “No. I was in Warlock Lane for something.” “ Tony, you tell him.” She leaned back on her chair. “Yes ma’am. As you probably know, Diana Foxx was the goddess. Chloe, who just so happened to be The Strong One, killed her and up took the title.” “ You kids and your stories. Can anybody name the real goddess?” Chloe stood. “ Damn it Alberto, don’t you ever listen? Go ask Nova, because every answer you hear will be the same thing that Tony told you. They all saw it happen.” “ Why aren’t you wearing your robes?” “ DO IT!” she yelled. He scurried out of the room and toward Nova’s office. She sat back down in her chair, calm as can be.
A few minutes later, Alberto came back, looking as if he’d just seen a ghost. Chloe stopped filing her nails and looked up. “ Do you believe me now?” he nodded. “Class dismissed.” We piled up our books and headed to Brewing Class.
After this morning, everything got pretty boring. After dinner, I headed back to my room to change into my racing uniform. I grabbed my broom and met Chloe down on the field. I walked up to Rinko and he looked up. “ You still want to fly?” “ Of course. Diana’s dead, so it shouldn’t be a problem.” “ And the goddess still cheerleads?” “ She’s still a regular girl Rinko, only as she said to us, ‘she now has the power to dismiss us from our homework’.” He laughed. “ You’re up first.” He pointed to the hoops. I hopped on my broom and flew up into the starting position. He blew the whistle, and I was off. You go back and forth between the hoops four times, and stop. I did just that, and hopped off of my broom. Rinko shook his head in amazement. “ Still the fastest. You just beat a school record. Nobody is going to win against you.” “ Do you know who made that record?” I asked. “ A girl, what was her name? Claire Logan.” I smiled. “ My mother.” “ Really?” “ Yup, and when my wife has a kid, they’ll beat mine.” He laughed. “ Tony, you’re up.” Tony breezed through it and reported back to Rinko.
“ Your brother is still at least five seconds faster than you.” I stuck my tongue out at Tony like I did when we were kids to taunt him. He rolled his eyes and went to chat with some other people near the cheerleaders. I saw that, Kevin James. Chloe said. What’s it to ya? I answered.
You finally figured out how to reply?
Obviously. Now leave me alone and practice your cheers.
I already know them all.
I saw you fall on your ass doing the back flip. Practice that. Fine.
I snorted and continued watching the others practice. After a few minutes, I turned back to sneak a peek at Chloe, who was desperately trying to do a back flip.
Chapter 15
Chloe and I walked back to the office, where she and I were going to ask if I could stay in her room for the night.
“ Would you all like to share a room together?” was the reply. Chloe nodded her head vigorously. “ Yes.” “ There are two empty rooms on the third floor. Go move your things while I get the key.” We walked upstairs and went into Chloe’s room. “We’re moving in together.” She announced to my brother, Mike, and their girlfriends. “ What?” Tony asked. “ There are some empty rooms on the third floor. Pack your crap, we’re moving up there.” I started to get her trunk out, but she stopped me. “ What?” she wiggled her fingers, a sign that she was going to use magic. With a wave of her hand, everything disappeared into our room upstairs. She did the same to the boys’ room, and we waited in front of the door for Nova.
A few minutes later, Nova came trudging up the stairs with a ring of keys in her hand. She opened the door, set the keys on the desk, and went back down to her office. Everybody except Chloe gaped in amazement. It was almost a house in here. I’ll bet if you call down, they’ll give us room service. I told Chloe. She looked at me and rolled her eyes jokingly. Lined against the wall were three king-sized beds, one already with Chloe’s celestial print bed set on. There were nightstands in between, and on the opposite wall were three dressers with desks in between. “ Where’s the T.V?” Tony joked. Chloe led us through a doorway to another room. In that was a big circular… bowl in the floor, lined with velvet pillows, and decorated with velvet pillows. By the wall was a big screen T.V. “ Oh.” Then he turned into a little kid again. He ran and jumped into our huge pillow haven. I laughed and followed him. I twisted in mid-air to face back the way I came. To my surprise, Chloe ran, jumped, and landed close beside me, laughing the whole time. I playfully rolled over on top of her and ended up in a push-up position. She stopped laughing, but she still had a grin from ear to ear. She put her arms around my neck, and we started making out. Tony pulled me off.
“ Bedtime, kiddies.” “ Kiddies? I’m only a year younger than you.” “ I don’t care, not tonight.” “ Fine.” Chloe gave him a disapproving look. “ When Kat and I are out of the room please, Divine One.” “ Okay.” She said. “ C’mon Kevin, let’s hit the hay.” I followed her, almost reluctantly walking away from the television. She changed into her nightie and climbed into bed. I stripped down to my boxers and joined her. She put her arm on my chest and cuddled up next to me. “ Tomorrow. Even if we have to do it in Pillow Haven.” She kissed me on the cheek, and before I could think of a reply, she was fast asleep. I snorted a laugh and dozed off.
I awoke to Mike shaking me. “ Kevin, you bastard, wake up.” I hit him on the head.” I’m up, I’m up. Where’s the fire?” Mike sat down on his and Gina’s bed. “ Gina is gone.” “ You’ve checked everywhere?” Chloe sat down next to him and rubbed his back. “ Everywhere.” Was Mike crying?! Next thing I knew, Mike was buried in Chloe’s shoulder, crying his poor little heart out. I got up and got dressed quickly. “ Can’t you do a freaking locating spell or something?” Chloe shook her head. “ I think that she was kidnapped. I can do a simple spell and see if she was anywhere in the world, normally, but somebody has a magical force field up. I can’t find her anywhere. It’s like a game of ‘Where’s Waldo?’” Mike started crying harder. “ I’m sorry Mike, but you need to know what’s really happening here. If I just say I know where she is, she’ll be fine….” Mike cut her off. “ I know.” She rubbed his back again. “ We’ll find her- even if I have to break down the gates of hell itself to do it.”
Chloe stood up and did a silent yell- as we call it. Father-We need you, NOW! A swirl of golden dust appeared, as it had before when he came to us in the field. “ What is it?” “ My best friend has been kidnapped. I’ve tried a locating spell- the kidnapper has a magical force field up.” “Well now, that is a problem. Ummm… Do you know who might have done it?” “ Trixie.” I spoke. “ It had to have been her. She hates Mike for not dating her, and is jealous of Gina.” Mike looked up. “You might be on to something.” Azreal looked pleased, and then sighed. “ Chloe, I have to go now, some fool in London needs me-badly. He’s about five seconds away from dieing a very painful death in a dragon’s stomach.” “ Okay father. I think I know what to do.” He swirled away in the golden dust again. “ What are we going to do?” “ Rely on our wolf senses.” “What?” I asked. “ You and I will change into wolves. With our keen sense of smell, we’ll be able to find her trail and follow it. When Dad said dragons, I thought of it.”
“ Wow. That just might work.” I started changing into a wolf, but she stopped me.” Wait. I’m going to tell Nova.” “ You don’t need to. If you leave the school, there’s nothing she can do about it.” She blushed and took her hand off of my shoulder.
“ Oh yeah.” She changed into her wolf form, and I followed.
Chloe stood up straight and proudly like a wolf. Kaya, my wolf, challenged her. He is supposedly the alpha male. He stood up straight, and Chloe bit his muzzle. I’m the boss he reluctantly cowered low. She nudged Mike to get up and open the door. He did it as if he could hear what she was saying. He probably can. I thought. She told Sabina and Kaya to stay here and sauntered out the door.
Chapter 16
I picked up Gina’s scent immediately. Chloe sniffed around. Do you smell it? No. She changed back into human. “ You’re a natural. Follow it.” I followed the scent, Chloe, Mike, Kat, and Tony all trailing hurriedly behind.
We trailed her scent all the way out the front gate and into the forest about a couple miles away. When it started to turn dark, Chloe stopped me. “ Kevin, hold up. We’ll rest here for the night.” I slipped back into my regular form. “ Don’t do that, you’ll lose the scent.” She snapped. I changed back and trotted over to her. Mike set some logs he had gathered in front of us. Chloe pushed them over further and lit the fire, using pure magic. Kat and Tony had turned back at the front gate, so we were all alone. Chloe plopped down a few feet away from the fire. “ I don’t think I’ll be able to walk tomorrow.” Mike sat down. “ Me neither. But I can fly too. Why don’t you magic yourself up a white stallion?” “ Why didn’t I think of that?” She pulled some blankets out of thin air and threw one to Mike. We all laid down and fell asleep.
It was pretty fun sleeping alongside Chloe as a wolf, but I’ll tell you, being a wolf DOESN’T take away hunger. I have this sudden craving for raw rabbit… When I finally awoke, Chloe was cooking breakfast over the fire she had managed to keep going all night. “ Go wake up Mike. Breakfast is ready.” Surprised at her mood, I nudged Mike on the cheek. He jumped up; startled by my cold nose. “ Breakfast is served. “ Chloe informed him, waving a plate of hot pancakes in front of him. He snatched it away and started eating. She set a plate in front of me, and I gobbled it up. When we were finished, she clapped her hands, and every hint that someone was there disappeared. Mike changed into a fairy, and Chloe summoned her white stallion. “Are you sure you don’t want a horse Mike?” She asked. He nodded fiercely. “ I like being able to fly.” She shrugged,” Whatever.” and climbed up onto the horse. “Lead the way wolf-boy.” I sniffed the air and took off to the east, deeper into the forest.
Around noon, Chloe sat up straight, sending Mike, who was perched on her shoulder, tumbling to the ground. “Hey, watch it.” I turned to face her. What? “I sense some strong magic nearby.” You can sense magic? “Only strong magic, until I get used to this.” Do you think It’s Trixie? Which direction? She pointed straight ahead. “ A little further up there, maybe half a mile.” I took off in the pointed direction. Stay here. I’ll check it out. Okay. Be careful. I ran ahead, and stopped after a minute. In front of me stood a large archway, made of leaves. I walked through it, nothing happened. It’s safe, but strange. Get yourself up here, quick. A couple of minutes later, Chloe came up at a canter, Mike fluttering hastily behind her. “ What is it?” I changed back into a mortal. “ Don’t worry. I can still sense it as a human. This archway.” She walked up to it cautiously. As soon as she put her hand on it, she sighed.
“ It’s a gateway.”
“ To what?”
“ The other world.”
“ Huh?”
“ There’s another world. It’s kinda like visiting the past. It’s all medieval and stuff.” “ Well, you need to open it. Gina’s scent stops right here. I’m guessing that they went through.” “Oh man, how are we going to find them in another world. I’m not sure that you’re powers will work over there.” “ I think that’s what Trixie thought.” “ Here goes.”
Chloe stepped up to the archway, muttering an incantation. This must be strong magic. She NEVER used incantations. I put my arm in front of Mike, warning him to stay away, and we backed off. She continued the chant, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying. I think that she’s speaking Latin, I’m not sure though. As she slowly put her hands down and finished the spell, a black screen filled the archway. It looked like something that would be on ‘Twilight Zone’. “ Go, quickly.” She pushed us, and the horse, through. I stopped short of fainting as I landed in the other world with a thud on the floor of a short cave. Chloe stepped through and lightly landed on her feet.” Show off.” Mike muttered. We had just fallen from a ten-foot drop onto hard ground and nearly broken our backs, and Chloe looked as if she had been there the whole time, waiting for us to stand. Mike extended a hand to me. I took it, and he pulled me off of the ground. I brushed the dirt and pebbles off of my robes. “Well, now what?”
Chloe handed us clothes that she had pulled out of nowhere.” Put these on.” I held them up in disgust. Tunic, hose ,a belt, and a cloak? She swirled around in a cloud of that gold dust. When she stopped, she was in a medieval-looking dress, all white, and a snow white hooded cloak. “ Now, boys.” She tapped her white-booted foot impatiently. I quickly undressed and pulled the clothes on. It feels like January in here. Mike was still hesitant. “ She means business.” I whispered in his ear. He slowly undressed, then sped to pull the new clothes on, feeling how cold it was. “ It feels like winter.” He remarked, rubbing his arms. “ It IS winter, Mike.” Chloe told him. “Oh.” She summoned another horse, equipped with a saddle, bridle, and the whole ten yards. “ Hop on Mike.” He mounted the horse from the right side, clearly showing that he knew nothing about horses. I sneered.” Country boy doesn’t know how to ride.” Chloe motioned for him to get down. “ In that case, Kevin, you get to ride this horse while Mike gets to ride behind me.” I flinched and got on. She sat sidesaddle, and Mike straddled the stallion, holding on to her waist. “You go any lower, bud, and you’re dead meat.” He jokingly slid his hand down, only to be elbowed in the stomach by Chloe. I pulled up and kissed her on the cheek. “That’s my girl. Lead the way honey.” She set off at a brisk trot out of the cave.
Chapter 17
This is way freaky. Here I am, mounted on a horse, wearing a tunic and hose, in a whole other world. Chloe stopped her stallion. “There’s a city up ahead, see it?” she pointed. I nodded. Way up ahead was a gate that seemed almost tiny from this distance. I heard a rustling in the bushes by Chloe, and quickly turned my head to the side, only to see five men jump out of the bushes. The stallion bucked, scared. I pulled up and grabbed the reins from the petrified Chloe and settled the animal down. “What do you drunks want?” I snarled. You could smell the alcohol all over their clothes. One pulled a sword out of a sheath with a blue ribbon tied to it.
“ I’m not drunk. Get down here and fight like a man.” I was just about to get off when Chloe started laughing. “ A young boy like you, hanging out with a bunch of drunks, armed with only a blue-ribbon sword?” The young man blushed, then puffed himself up.” None of your men are armed; I see no reason why you should be laughing. Let me kick their butts, then you and me can have a little frolic in the woods.” She grinned. “ That sounds so tempting, but who said that only men can fight?” She pulled her hood down, and skirt up, reveling a sword’s handle and a red ribbon sticking out of her boot. She pulled it out, wiping the blade with the red ribbon.
“Oooh.” The drunks sneered. Chloe rolled her eyes.
“ How about I kick your butt, and be on my way?” “ Is that a challenge, coming from a girl who probably stole that sword?” “ Yes, It is, and No, the sword is mine.” She hopped down off of the stallion, leaving Mike and I bewildered. The man and her went up ahead a bit, and started fighting. Chloe handled the sword as if she’d been using it all of her life, living up to the high level of her red ribbon. She knocked the sword out of her challenger’s hand, catching the handle in her left hand. The blow sent the man to the ground on his back, with the point of Chloe’s sword at his neck. “And besides, I’m not the young, innocent, virgin that I appear to be.” She gave him back his sword and helped him up. “ You’re not bad, for a blue.” “I’m surprised that you’re not black yet. Is that really your sword?” She nodded and put it back into the boot. “How old are you, girl?” “ Sweet sixteen.” “ Really?” “ Yes, and don’t call me girl. My name is Lady Charity.” Lady Charity. Does that mean I need to make up a name? “ Charity,” I cautioned. “ Don’t worry Berit, he’s not gonna do anything. His heart is pure, for the most part.” There goes my making up a name. She climbed back up onto her horse. “What’s that supposed to mean?” The man asked as he reached up to help her. “ Do you want to ditch these fools and travel with us?” He looked shocked. “ My Lady, you don’t even know me, yet you want me to travel with you?” “ I have no qualms about it, and my men can’t do anything to stop me.” He smiled. “ My name is Rand, I’m eighteen, and eager to get away from my brother and his cronies.”
Cronies? I didn’t know that people talk like that here. I told Chloe as we waited for Rand to get his horse. They don’t. I think that he came through a portal, like we did. That explains it. Rand came back, leading an ebony black mare by her lead. “ Nice horse.” I muttered to him. It was, compared to my frisky, young, brown gelding. “ Thank you. It took me a year’s pay to buy him, I’d hope so.” I laughed. “I’m Berit, and this is Charity’s brother, Cole.” I pointed toward Mike. Cole? It was my turn to pick a fake name. She stuck her tongue out at me. “Hey.” Mike managed to mutter. “ Can we get going? I’m hungry.” “Yes brother.” Chloe clucked to her horse obediently and started toward the gate.
Rand stopped us and pulled us into the bushes a little bit later. “ Hey, what was that for?” I demanded, helping my girlfriend off of her horse. “ I didn’t want the guards to see us. This city is Dragonia, and here, they believe that women are property. Any woman wearing a dress, that is seen without a collar or leash, and is not accompanied by her master, is hung.” Chloe gulped, and I looked down at her white gown. Rand pointed to her. “ You need proper clothes.” He explained the wardrobe to her, and she went off into the forest to change. We saw a faint golden light, and then she returned to us in tight-fitting bellbottoms, high-heeled boots, and a Brittany Spears-looking belly shirt that had long, droopy sleeves. Did I mention that it was all leather? Her blonde hair was pulled back into her hairpiece, and she had a black leather strap around her neck that I assumed was her collar. You look like you just got home from a Metallica concert. She burst out laughing.
“Here, take my horse. White horses are for masters only.” Rand directed. She climbed onto his horse, and Rand clipped a leash to her collar. “ Sorry, I don’t want you to get killed.” “ It’s okay. Don’t use my real name though.” He nodded and looped Ebony’s reins around his saddle horn while Mike basically held her on the horse. We started toward the gates with Rand in the lead. Don’t you think that he’s being a bit bossy hon? No. I didn’t know a thing about that city. We could have just walked in without knowing, and I would have been hung. Then where’d you be without me? True, so true.
A guard stopped us and yanked Chloe out of Mike’s hands, sending her skidding to the ground. Rand walked up to him. “ Is something wrong?” “ Where’s her ownership tattoo?” “ She’s new. Just recently became a woman. I’m getting her tattooed as soon as I get into the city.” What’s her name?”
“ Leona.” “You may go through.” Rand nodded and lifted the bleeding Chloe back into Mike’s arms. He led us through the gate. Tattooed? I guess, not that I’m not going to have a permanent scar from that bastard back there. What will Azreal say? Don’t know, don’t care. I’d like to live to see him again, wouldn’t you? I guess so.
Rand checked us into an inn and led us to our room. Mike laid Chloe on the bed that her and I were to share, and I got a wet rag to clean her gash up. “ I’m fine Berit.” “ There’s dirt in the cut. Let me just wash it out…” I pressed the rag to her side, where she was thrown to the ground. “ Ow, ow, ow…” She struggled to get away. I pushed her back onto the bed, this time using sheer strength. She stopped, knowing that I was really irritated, and let me clean the cut. When I was done, the bleeding had stopped, but it was still tender. “ What are we going to do about your tattoo?” Rand asked between sips of ale. “ No problem. What’s your family’s crest?” he showed her his pendant, and the colored image of a dragon appeared on her lower back. “ Witch!?” Rand jumped back; startled. “ I’m sorry. I’ve heard of witches, but have never seen one until now.” “Lucky you.” I muttered. “Anyways, that’ll do until we get to Flaerie, where men are considered property.” Mike spit out that ale he was drinking “ What!” “ You heard me.” Chloe soaked up Mike’s mess with a cloth just as the innkeeper knocked on the door. She got up off of her hands and knees and opened it. “ There’s no dinner being served tonight. You might want to go to the tavern next door to eat.” Chloe nodded. “ Thank you sir.”, and closed the door.
Rand cursed and sat down on the bed. “What?” “ I’ve only got a little bit of money left, so you’ll have to dance for our meal.” “ Like this?” Chloe did an exotic, very sexy dance. Rand nodded excitedly. “ You’re the best I’ve ever seen! Where’d you learn that, My Lady?” She shrugged. “ Dunno.” A mix of my nightclub job in Florida, lap dancing and freak dancing. I got up and kissed her sweetly on the lips. She pressed two fingers to my mouth. “ Later. Right now I need to eat.” I laughed. “ Me too. Shall we get going?” Rand looked at us; dumbfounded. “ You two are lovers?” Chloe shook her head. “Yes.” “ I should have noticed it before, how protective he is of you.” I blushed. Chloe just rested her head on my chest. “ I’m still hungry Rand.” He smiled. “ Alright. Let’s go.” He put the room key in his boot and led us to the tavern.
Chapter 18
“Oh, shoot. Almost forgot the leash.” Rand clipped the leash to Chloe’s collar as we walked out the door to the inn. “ If anybody asks, boys, we’re brothers, and all three of us own her. Got it?” “ Sounds like a good idea to me.” I said. Mike nodded his agreement. Chloe shrugged. “Whatever.” I almost felt sorry for her right now. Here she is, wearing a leash and being dragged around by us men, who are able to do whatever we wanted. Not to mention that she’s a goddess, and should be treated like one. Why hasn’t she spoken up yet? It’s too dangerous for me to do that. I’m just going to suck up and take it. Don’t worry.
We seated ourselves at a table near the stage in the center, where the women were supposed to dance. Rand got up and had a talk with the bartender, who just nodded his head and handed Rand three tankards. He got back to the table and handed me one. I peered into the mug. Ale. I wonder how it tastes. I took a small sip and swallowed. Not too bad. I gave Chloe a sip, and she immediately spit it out. “ No thank you Master.” I shivered. Let’s hope that’s the only time that she has to talk to me like that. I focused my attention to the center of the one-room bar, where one girl was getting up to dance. She looked an awful lot like Trixie; only her hair was jet black. I shook my head. It couldn’t be. I’m hallucinating. I pushed the tankard away and watched her dance.
The girl was almost as good as Chloe, shaking her body to the beat of the music. Mike looked horrified, and Chloe looked as if she’d seen a ghost. “ What is it, honey?” I whispered lightly in her ear. She shook her head unbelievably. “ It’s her.” I started to get up, but she held my arm. It’s no use. She doesn’t have Gina, and if we kill her, we’ll never find her. Do you understand? I nodded meekly and took another sip of ale. So I wasn’t hallucinating. Mike nodded as she told him, too. I looked at Rand, who had already downed three tankards. The girl finished, and he snorted.
“Our girl can do way better than that.” He said as Trixie’s ‘owner’ clipped her leash back on. “ You think so, boy?” “ I know so.” “ Shall we have a contest?” “ You bet.” He put whatever money he had left on the center of the stage, and the man he challenged did the same. “ The winner gets all, including the money that the men throw up there.” “ Alright.” They shook hands to seal the deal, and I took Chloe’s leash off of her. She walked up there with her ‘ I know you want me’ strut, and looked Trixie in the eye warningly. “ Kick her ass Leona!” Mike yelled over the cheering crowd. Chloe’s eyes lit.
“ Yes Masters.” She crooned. The music started, and the girls began to dance. After a minute, they began to dance more exotically, and the drunken men started throwing money onto Chloe’s side of the stage. Even I was surprised at the way that Chloe was dancing. I had only seen this side of her in bed, but right now she was way more intense. The men started shoving coins in her shirt, and then music died down and stopped. The bartender walked up and held both of the girls’ hands up.
“ The winner?” “ Leona!” The crowd shouted. The man dropped Trixie’s hand and shoved her off of the stage.
Before Rand could get up there to put Chloe’s leash back on, Trixie dove at her with a dagger, which went straight into Chloe’s thigh. I ran up there and picked up the crying and bloody Chloe in my arms, kicked Trixie away, and carried my girlfriend back to the inn.
Rand and Mike joined me a couple of moments later with a bucket of hot water and a rag, and some food. Rand unlocked the door, and I laid Chloe on the bed. Mike put a thick towel under her thigh where it was bleeding, and I carefully wrenched the knife out of her leg. “Ouch!” “ Calm down, Charity. Everything is going to be fine.” Rand took the knife and inspected it. After a second, he took a small lick of the blood on the blade. “ You’re lucky it wasn’t poisoned.” I gently pulled the tight leather pants off of her and put the wet rag on the cut. The poor thing. She’s already been hurt like this twice, and we’ve only been here for an hour. That fool. She could have gotten herself killed for that if her owner wasn’t the mayor. She tried to sit up, dizzy from the loss of blood. I lightly guided her back down. “ Lie down. I’ll get this fixed up in a minute.” Mike looked at the length of the knife. “ She’s gonna need stitches.” “ No Needles!” Chloe said firmly. If it was one thing she was afraid of, it’s needles.
“You’re right Mike. Otherwise she’ll die since she’s too weak to heal herself.” “ NO NEEDLES!” “Shush. Do you want to live?” she nodded wearily. “ Then you’re going to get stitches, even if I have to tie down to the bed to do it. Got it?” “Yes.” “ Now calm down. You’ll barely be able to feel it if you concentrate on something else. I can’t sew. Can either of you?” Rand shook his head. I looked toward Mike; who was nodding embarrassingly. “ Well then, get to it.” “ I’ll need a needle, thread, candle, and ice.” We got everything he needed and I knelt by him and held Chloe’s hand.
Mike sterilized the needle by heating it over the flame of the candle, then cooling it with the ice. He threaded the needle and got to work. Chloe squeezed my hand as he started to stitch her up. “ It’s okay. Concentrate on something else.” Rand stood back in the corner and watched as we put all of our training to good use. Before I knew it, Mike was done. Chloe let go of my hand. “ See,” I told her. “ Nothing to be freaked out over.” “ It tickles.” She informed me. “ I told you.” “ Yeah, yeah, I know.” I wrapped some bandages around her thigh and lifted the blankets up over her, taking the bloody towel out from under her and placing it in the bucket of now luke-warm water. Rand stepped out of the shadows.
“ Where are you all from?” “ Umm…” “ I thought so. You guys came through the portal, didn’t you?” I nodded.
He grinned. “ So did I, last year.” “ Really?” “ Yes. Where did you learn how to do that?” “ Military School.” I shivered as I said it, remembering that horrid day where I was called home to find out my father had died in a car crash, only last year. Chloe sat up, seeing the look in my eyes. “ Don’t cry,” I sat down on the bed, and she swung over the side to console me. Rand looked at her. “ Was it something I said?” “ No. It wasn’t your fault. Maybe when he’s ready, he’ll tell you, but I’m not going to say a word.” I put my head on her shoulder and started to cry, not being able to control myself. She rubbed my back and cradled me in her arms. “ Are Charity, Berit, and Cole your real names?” Chloe shook her head. “ I’m Chloe, the big guy next to you is Mike, and the one I’m holding is Kevin. What’s your real name?” “Rand.” “ For real?” “ Yeah. My mom liked weird names.” Chloe laid me down on the bed and took my shirt off. “ We’re going to bed. I want out of here A.S.A.P.” She took her shirt off and snuggled up next to me.
The warmth of her body against mine calmed me down, at least until I stopped crying. I am such a baby, crying in front of two men and the woman I love most. When I finally stopped crying, Chloe came up and kissed me on the cheek. “ It’s okay, he didn’t know.” She whispered. “ I know that. I just couldn’t help myself.” “ I know how that can be. Just settle down and go to sleep.” She kissed me again and cuddled up tighter against my body. I held her close and fell asleep.
Mike woke us up early in the morning, and we set off, being very careful to remember Chloe’s leash and collar. When we were well away from the city, Chloe changed back into the white dress and cloak, and took the collar off. Rand put it and the leash in his saddlebag and motioned for us to continue.
“ If we keep going at this pace, we’ll reach Flaerie by tomorrow night.” “ I want my horse back, Rand.” Chloe said impatiently. They switched horses and we started toward the city.
When the sky started turning dark, Chloe stopped us and set up camp. Rand looked up at the starless sky. “ It’s going to rain. We’re going to need a shelter.” Chloe looked up. “ You’re right. I’ll be back in a minute.” She dragged me off of the path and into the forest. We found a small clearing, only big enough for an eight-man tent. Chloe walked up into the middle and said something that I couldn’t make out. The grass in the clearing grew thicker, and the outside began to grow, weaving solitary blades of grass together. The result was a waterproof, dome-shape shelter. I ran back to retrieve the others and led them back here.
Rand dropped his horse’s reins. “ I’m not even going to ask how this got here.” Chloe patted his shoulder. “ Smart boy.” “ Well boys, it’s whatever we can find in the forest for supper, since we can’t have a fire. Go find something, and I’ll get set up here.” We each went separate ways, me edging along the main road. I heard someone speak, so I stopped dead in my tracks. It was a girl’s voice. I followed the voice quietly until I saw the source. Trixie. I hid in the bushes and listened in on the conversation. “ That bitch! How’d she know that I went through the portal?” another girl cut in. “ She’s the goddess Trixie. You can’t fool her, or my boyfriend for that matter.” “Shut up. One more word, and I’ll make sure you never see your precious little Mike ever again.” Gina stopped. So Gina was with her! What should I do? I can take her down now, and return with Gina instead of food, or I can wait and make sure that she doesn’t have a few knights with her. That’s a good idea. I noiselessly made my way back to the camp.
“ Kevin James, did you find any food?” Chloe demanded, stomping her foot. “ Shush. Not so loud. I found something way better.” “ What?” “ Gina, and Trixie. I thought of bringing Gina back, but I wasn’t sure if Trixie had knights with her or not, so I came back.” Mike stood. “ You found her?” “ A little bit ahead of us, maybe half a mile.” “ I’m going to get her.” “No.” Chloe held his arm. “ Kevin’s right. She could have body guards or something.” “ I don’t care.” He shook her off, sending her flying into my arms. “ Michael, don’t even think about leaving Chloe in world that you have no clue about.” Tony appeared out of nowhere. “ Tony, how did you get here?” he shrugged. “When we turned back at the gate, I told Nova what was going on and we followed you.” Kat came out of the forest behind Tony. Chloe almost instinctively ran over to help her out of the tangle of vines.
Mike chose this moment to sneak away. I grabbed the collar of his shirt, catching him off guard and sending him to the ground. “ What did we tell you?” he glared at me. “ I told you I don’t care if she has knights with her or not, I’m getting Gina back.” He wriggled out of my grasp and took off running. Tony put his hand on my shoulder. “ Let him go. Trixie will hold him captive as well, and we’ll get him back when we save Gina. Maybe he’ll learn his lesson.” I nodded. Chloe picked up the berries that Rand and Mike had found and offered them to us. “ Here’s dinner.” “ Chloe, I need to put clean bandages on your leg. Remind me after we eat.” “Okay.” She replied as she popped a berry into her mouth. “ Bandages?” Tony asked. I lifted Chloe’s dress to reveal the partially bloody bandages around her thigh. “ What happened?” I explained the whole thing in-between swallowing berries. “ Oh.” He looked at the empty basket that Chloe held in her hand. “You might as well get to it bro.”
I dug the bandages out of my saddlebag while Chloe fumbled with her skirts. I gently undid the old bandages and re-cleaned the skin around her stitches. Chloe started coughing and turned her head to the side while I put the new bandages on.” Are you okay?” I asked when I was finished. She nodded and started coughing again. I put my hand on her forehead. “ You have a bit of a fever.” “ I’m fine. Don’t make a fuss about it.” “You’re sick.” I told her bluntly. “ No, I’m fine. It’s just a migraine, that’s all.” Irritated, I picked her up and set her on her blanket. “ I’m okay.” “ Sure you are.” I said sarcastically as I undid the back of her dress and pulled it off over her head. She covered her mouth and started coughing again. I put her cloak under her head for a pillow and put my blanket over her. “ Get some sleep.” I ordered.
Kat and Tony came into our grass shelter a few minutes later, followed by Rand. “ It’s starting to rain. We might as well go to bed.” Kat said. “ It’ll be a lot easier without Mike’s snoring.” Rand added. We all laughed. I summoned some more blankets and went to sleep.
Chapter 19
I awoke to Katrina heaving up what little supper she had. I crawled over to her. “ Is everything alright?” “ Yeah. It’s just morning sickness. Get used to it.” I smiled “ Okay.” And crawled back over to Chloe, who was now awake. “ Feeling better?” “ A bit.” She smiled and stretched. “ I don’t know what I’d do without you.” “Cough yourself to death.” I answered as I helped her up. She giggled and pulled her dress on. Rand got up and came over. “ If we’re going to get to Flaerie by tonight, we might want to head out.” Chloe grinned and looked toward Tony, who was still sleeping like a baby. I went over, yanked his pillow out from under him, making his head hit the ground, waking him up, and hit him with it. He grabbed it from me and rolled back over to sleep again. Chloe kicked him in-between his legs. He shot up, putting his hand over where she hit. “ I’m guessing that you feel better.” “ Get your shirt back on. We’re leaving.”
As nightfall came, and we could see the gates of Flaerie, Chloe pulled us into the bushes, this time to change us boys into proper clothes. She somehow already knew the outfit, because she called them out of nowhere and handed them to us. She changed into the clothes that the women wear while we changed ours. “ Uh, Chloe, you forgot our shirts.” “ There are no shirts.” “ But it’s the middle of winter!” I whined. “ It’s cold!” Chloe sighed and handed Kat her outfit. “ Would you like forty lashes for disobeying the law?” I shrunk back.
“I guess not.” The final outfit was the thin black hose that men normally wear, black boots, and a black belt. Don’t forget the black collar and leash, Oh joy! Chloe had white sorceress robes, like she wore at school. Seeing the expression on my face, she explained. “All of the women in this city are young sorceresses. Once you pass the age of twenty, you’re booted out.” “Can I say that I’m 21 and just go out the other gate?”
“They’ll catch you and cut out your tongue for lying.” I gulped and helped her back up onto her stallion, following her up, now that Tony and Kat shared my horse.
The guards at the gate did an inspection, a little gentler than the guard at Dragonia, and let us pass. Tony’s chin dropped at the sight of the city. They were all so young! There were hot women everywhere, some of them only fourteen or fifteen, carrying children! There were younger children almost everywhere, ages ranging from four to twelve. The older men were wearing the same getup that we were, some on leashes like us, and some with just their collar, carrying his kids. “Good Evening, My Lady,” one of the children bowed to Chloe as we rode by. She smiled and nodded. I have a different identity here, so bear with me. Okay, what? I’m the mayor’s adopted daughter. WHAT? I’ve been in this world before. I came here when I was twelve, to get away from the orphanage, almost every day. She motioned for me to get down and lift her off of the horse, and I obeyed. “ Keep the rest of them here for the moment, Layla.” She said to Kat. She nodded understandingly and pulled Rand closer to her.
She led me into the Mayor’s house, calling her ‘adoptive father’s’ name. “ Sirius, dear father, where are you?” A woman came out and hugged her. “ Anya, you’re back!” Chloe, Leona, Charity, Anya, whatever you want to call her, nodded. The woman gasped.“ And you found a man!” Chloe nodded again. “Two actually. It’s good to see you again, sister. Where are mother and father?” “ Mother is at the market in Tobin, and father’s… not with us anymore.” She hung her head. “ How?” “ Those damn Dragonians, you know how they’re always blaspheming us,” Chloe nodded, fake tears in her eyes. “ They raided the city a few years ago, after you left, and skinned him alive, making all of us watch, and raped mother and I. You’re lucky that you were safely out of the city, because they were looking for you, to get you too.” The fake tears came pouring out, and Chloe turned to cry on me, like she’s used to. I held her close, like always. I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to talk without permission, so I rubbed her back. She postured herself after a minute. “ Go get Layla and bring them inside.” She ordered me. I nodded and did as I was told.
When I had finished unsaddling the horses and bringing the packs inside, I joined Chloe and everybody in the kitchen, where they were eating a snack. Chloe and Kat were busily chatting away with Chaya, Chloe ‘sister’, so I stood against the wall by Tony and did a little bit of eavesdropping…
“He is pretty handsome. How much was he?” Chaya asked. How much was I?! They buy men?! Chloe made up some ungodly price while I just stood there and tried not to look surprised. Lower your eyebrows hon. Chloe told me. I did just that. “Good Goddess! He shouldn’t be worth THAT much!” Chloe shook her head. “ He is sister, believe me.” “ Whatever. It’s your money. Go get in the bath. You’re filthy. “ Chloe stuck her tongue out disgustedly. “ I know. Come Kaya.” She motioned to me. My wolf’s name? I asked as Rand and I followed her to the bathhouse. It was all that I could think of on short notice. Hot water was already in the tub, Chloe must have asked for it while I was getting the horses taken care of. I undid the back of her dress and pulled it off. She scampered into the tub, obviously freezing.
“Come in Kaya,” she winked at me. “ You’re just as filthy.” She smiled her ‘ I’m feeling naughty’ smile and dunked her head under the water just as I was pulling my pants off. I climbed in and went underwater for a moment, then popped back up. Rand! I shot a look over my shoulder and watched him go out the door. I shrugged and kissed Chloe. She giggled and pulled me closer to her… you don’t want to know what happened after that.
A little while later, we got out and dried off. Tony came in, obviously looking for us. ”Aha. I thought so.” He turned on his heel and shut the door behind him. Chloe burst out laughing at his casualness. I kissed down her neck. “We’d better hit the hay.” She nodded wearily and allowed me to carry her to her bed. I took her clothes off and covered her up. “You’ve got to sleep on the floor in case Chaya comes in.” I frowned. She threw a pillow and a thin blanket at me, rolled over and fell asleep.
I tried my best to fall asleep on the hard wood floor, but it wasn’t easy. Finally, I dozed off, and it seemed like a few seconds later, was kicked awake by Chaya. I bit my tongue and stood. “That’s better. Wake up your mistress and inform her that her other man is going to be lashed in five minutes.” She left the room, and I did just that, only in English. “ Chloe, Rand’s busted.”
“Chaya!” Chloe yelled after I had dragged her out of bed. “Why?” she demanded of Chaya as I fiddled with the stupid thing that sucked her gut in- not that she need’s it. “ He disobeyed the law.” She shrugged. “Which law?”
“Since Kaya is in the black collar, he’s obviously your favorite. Only favorites are allowed intercourse with their mistresses.”
“Huh?”
“I was informed by your friend’s man, Dryden, that he was with you last night in the bathhouse.”
“May I speak, My Lady?” I asked Chaya as I pulled Chloe’s black sorceress robes over her head. She nodded.
“I was with Anya last night in the bathhouse, not him.”
“Well,” she looked out the window” He’s already bound to the pole with the whole city booing; there’s nothing that I can do.” She walked down to the square.
“I’ll have Tony’s head for this.” She said as we walked out into the square. “Oh, no you won’t. A) He’s your guardian, you’d be screwed without him, B) If you kill him, I won’t marry you.” She looked at me with a look of pure amazement. “ Kevin, he’s immortal, so are you.” I shook my head. “Duh.”
Chaya gave him the proper number of lashes-40, and Chloe and I helped him back to her room, where she rubbed a hand-made salve on his back. “Ouch!” “Oh, toughen up, you baby.” “You get lashed forty times for something that you didn’t do, then tell me to toughen up.” He snapped. Chloe whacked him on the back. “OW!” “ Don’t talk back to me; Rand Almeada, I’ll have you permanently scarred in a matter of seconds.” “Guess so.” He muttered as she wrapped bandages around him. Chaya came running in. “ Anya, mother’s back!” She shoved Rand away, hopped up off of the bed, and ran down the stairs. I grabbed her cloak and followed.
Chloe ran outside and stopped dead. With her ‘mother’ rode Trixie, Gina, and Mike. I put her cloak around her shoulders, and she pulled the hood up. “ Kaya, run inside and fetch Chaya’s cloak, would you?” I nodded understandingly and ran inside. When I returned, they were right in front of Chaya and Chloe. I swear, I have the worst timing. I set the cloak about Chaya’s shoulders. “Thank You, Kaya.” Mike pulled up. “Did you say his name is Kaya, my lady?” she nodded, and Mike looked me in the eyes helplessly; he knows who I am. Gina spoke. “ Will you have Kaya tend to my horse please?” Chaya shook her head and pointed to Chloe. “Ask her. He’s Anya’s man.” Gina looked at me quizzically. ‘Anya’ pulled her hood back and shook her long, silvery blonde hair out, and getting the desired effect from Trixie.
“Ah, Lady Xara, we really must be getting to the next city, we don’t want to keep my husband waiting, do we?” she glanced at Gina. “My brother can wait. I would like to stay here.” Chloe stepped in. “ We would be honored. Kaya, please tend to their horses, Riyan,” she motioned to Rand. “ Please take their bags into the house and set them up in the two guest rooms.” I took the horses’ leads and did as I was told.
I got back and delivered a warm meal to their rooms just in time to save Gina from a world of hurt. “ Why you little….” I grabbed Trixie’s hand before it could clasp itself around Gina’s neck.
“ Mistress Anya would like to see you two ladies in her chambers at once.” I said, dropping Trixie’s hand. She slid sulkily from the room, and Gina hugged me in thanks before following.
I emerged from the room to find Trixie blown into the wall across from Chloe’s room. I grabbed the jewel-embedded sword from Chloe’s hand before she could do what I’ve been dreaming about since I was shaken awake by Mike a week ago. “Allow me Divine One.” Chloe smiled and leaned back against the wall, letting me kill Trixie- slowly and painfully.
Chapter 20
Back in our room at Mystica, I felt a lot more comfortable wrapped in a blanket lying on a pile of pillows watching MTV. Mike, Gina, Tony, and I sat there dazed by music videos while Kat and Chloe sat on our bed discussing baby names. Tony and Kat had found out that I was to have a little niece. Well, they think. On a commercial, Tony and I walked over there. “So, what choices do I have?” Tony asked. Kat handed him the list printed in her neat, tiny scrawl. “Liliana Marie. I like that. The rest are too,” he paused for a moment. “Normal.” Kat nodded. ”Liliana Marie it is.” Chloe hopped up and ran into the Pillow Haven- as we now call it- to watch her favorite music video, not even glancing at Mike and Gina making out behind her.
She had been almost silent after watching me kill Trixie two days ago. I had asked her why- for revenge of course, then I simply whacked off her head and let it roll down the hallway, her died black hair trailing behind her. Chloe hasn’t spoken to me since. I sat down next to her and demanded to know what was wrong. “Nothing.” “That’s the first word you’ve said to me in two days. Something’s wrong.” “I just can’t stop thinking about how you killed Trixie. It was horrifying.”
“She deserved it.” “ I know, but you could have told me to hide my eyes or something, you know I can’t stand seeing too much blood.”
“You’re right, I should have.” I kissed her on the forehead. “I’m sorry.” The video ended and she returned the kiss lightly on the lips. Before I knew it, I was holding her delicate naked body against me, caressing it in my hands and kissing her tenderly.
Saturday night, Nova had decided to hold a Renaissance Ball, since there was only a week of school left. The first snow had fallen here at Mystica, leaving a fresh coat of that dazzling white powder over the school and grounds. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…
I was sitting on my bed, ready in a tunic as green as Chloe’s eyes, black hose, black boots, and a thick, wide belt holding the emerald-embedded sword that killed Trixie. “Chloe, five minutes!” “ I’m coming, I’m coming.” She walked out of the bathroom and giggled when my jaw dropped.
She was wearing an emerald green tube-top dress, accentuating her large bust and sparkling forest green eyes. It was puffy at the bottom and came up to such a tiny waist that I knew my own two hands could easily wrap around it. She never used to look like this. The rise to divinity had changed her tough, muscular body to a delicate rose- with the occasional thorn. Her body now looked as if one punch could easily shatter her- break her as easily as glass. Her long, Barbie-blond hair had been let down to hang at her waist, and she was wearing a tiara and other beautiful diamond jewelry. She was my princess, my goddess, and my life. I knew then that had been wrong. I do deserve her. No other man could love this lively rose as much as I do now.
The ball was pretty fun after I had recovered from Chloe’s looks. Chloe had to converse with everybody, so I was dragged from group to group with a fake smile glued to my face. God, that hurts. Finally, the music started. It wasn’t old, classical music like I thought that it would be. Instead, the ball opened with ‘Baby Got Back’! Chloe, as shocked as I was, coolly regained her composure and slid my hands down to rest on her hips, and we started dancing.
About an hour later, Nova approached us. “Kevin, I have just been informed that Rinko will not be teaching next year. Would you like to take his place teaching brewing and coaching racing?” Chloe smiled and hugged me, and I nodded. “You bet.” “Thank You. Your brother turned it down because of his child.” “I figured.” Nova spun on her heel and walked away. Chloe stood up on her tiptoes to kiss me on the cheek. “I hop you know that means you have to come to the school a week early.” I nodded and pulled her back onto the dance floor.
Chapter 21
It’s about time that’s over. We all said our goodbyes and finally, we’re on the plane back to Mexico.
After a nice round in bed with Chloe, I pulled on my robe and wandered into the kitchen to get something to eat, leaving her sleeping like a baby on her star shaped bed. It was early Saturday morning, probably 2:00 0r 3:00. The light was already on, and Gina sat on a beanbag chair drinking a coffee. I yawned and sat down next to her. “Lemme guess. You miss Mike.”
“Like you would Chloe.”
“Well, Texas isn’t that far away, you could visit him.” She shook her head. “ We got into a huge fight before we left.”
“Oh, why?” She mimicked his voice. “ Long distance relationships don’t work. I’ve got a girl back home anyway, sorry hon, but playas gotta play.”
“That bastard.”
“ Tell me about it. You’re not pregnant with his kid.”
“Oh my God.” She was crying now, and I hugged her. “ I just found out.” My robe muffled her voice. “Did you tell him?”
She un-buried her face, looked me straight in the eye, and lifted her shirt to reveal a huge bruise on her side. “Dear God, I never knew he was like that.” I put my hands around her waist and pulled her close to hug her again. “Neither did I.”
I turned around to see Chloe standing in the doorway in her sheer blue robe. “No need to explain. I heard it all.” She yanked the sobbing Gina off of me and hugged her. “ I’m sorry, I should have known that he was trouble the moment I had to clean up Kevin’s lip.” “Don’t blame yourself. You warned me.” I stood up. “If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s Mike’s. Why don’t we all get some sleep.” Chloe obeyed, and I carried Gina to her bed, where she fell asleep almost immediately. I went back to our bed. Chloe sat up. “Still hungry?” I put my robe on the floor and sat down next to her. “As all hell.” She kissed me, putting her tongue in my mouth like a pro. She let up. “Help any?” I pulled her back towards me and caressed her lips again. “A little.”
Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
Back at home; I got the living daylights squeezed out of me by Mother, along with the news that there was a county skateboard competition tomorrow! The winner goes on to city; then state; then country. I sat down on the couch, bummed. “Don’t worry Kevin, I entered you a week ago.” My mother informed me after I’d chucked a pillow across the room. “You Did?” She nodded. “Even though I hate the sport, I know how much that you’d love to win.” I hugged her. “Thanks. I’ll go work on something to do.” I grabbed my skateboard out of my closet and picked up Chloe before heading to the ramps. I know how much she loves skateboarders. She quickly threw on something ‘suitable’ (Mom would say slutty) and I borrowed Tony’s car, just to piss him off.
Something about skateboarding takes my mind off of everything around me. When I skateboard, I go into this ‘zone’ and don’t come back out until my session is over. Chloe sat there, surrounded by other skateboarders, while I threw something together for the competition. I really don’t mind, because some boys tend to be real dopes around pretty ladies like her and won’t gather up enough courage to ask her out and get rejected. She’s all mine. I know that she won’t cheat on me or break up with me, because I’m going to ask her to marry me tonight. It does seem kinda early to be doing this, but hey, if a god says you’re gonna marry her, you’re gonna. Why wait?
I finished up and shooed all of the other guys away from Chloe, and kissed her, clearly telling the other guys to back off. Tony gave me something. “ You forgot your wallet bro.” No, I didn’t. Oh, it’s the ring. Duh! “Thanks Tony. Can I use the car to take Chloe out to dinner?” “It’s not like you haven’t already.” I grinned. “Thanks. C’mon Honey, let’s go get something to eat.” Chloe hopped into the car. “ Tony, if I’m mean to you ever again, remind me about how I almost forgot the ring.” He smiled. “No problem.”
Dinner was a success- so far. Be prepared, it’s happening like it does in movies. “ Chloe,” “Yes?” “There’s something that I’ve been meaning to ask you.” I laughed. “I feel so ridiculous.” She giggled too.
“Go for it.” “Willumaryme?” “Huh?” “Will you marry me?” she stared at me, I’m not sure if it was shock or delight- until I heard the answer. “What do you think?” “I’m praying for a yes, I can’t think right now.” She giggled. “Kevin, I love you with all my heart and soul, did you really think that I would say no?” “ So your answer is…” “Yes.” I slid the ring on her finger, and she eyed it with delight before kissing me.