Chapter 25: Waking Up A Nightmare

The irritating tap on her right shoulder grew stronger, harder. Kiara could feel the thick fingernail running against her skin again and again. Time to wake up, her angel side whispered in her mind. No, continue to rest. You have already skipped many days of school, the devil hissed. But all Kiara could see was a pitch black area. There were no angels or devils speaking to her after all. Just her mind playing tricks on her, but where is she? Kiara couldn't move, or feel. Sleep was the first thing she thought she was in. Then, death came into the picture. I can't die yet; Kiara spoke in her mind again and relaxed until she heard another voice.

Of course you can't die yet. You're still breathing. Open your eyes, you bitchy cheerleader.

Kiara did as she was told and had no trouble in doing so. Light scorched her vision before the real colours came into view, and the first person she saw was...

"Who are you?" Kiara managed to croak her words carefully as she laid eyes on an unknown person to her. "Where am I? And who are you?"

"My name's Austin," the mysterious boy named Austin smiled, "I found you a week ago along the corridor of the second floor of the boys' dormitory. You're in the infirmary now."

"A week?!" Kiara jolted up from her comfortable lying down position and almost banged into Austin, "Wha... What happened to me? What time is it? Where are David, Tiadora, Jason and Cornelia?"

"Whoa. Too many questions at one go," Austin pushed her back to the white pillow of the infirmary, brushing off the dirt of her shoulders, "Now it's four o'clock in the afternoon. Your friends are all attending to their usual activities that they'll be having on a Wednesday."

"You still haven't answered my first question."

"I was walking to my room which was at the third floor when I saw you lying down at the very end of the corner of the second level. You seemed to be unconscious and there was blood dripping from where you were bitten," Austin stroked on the left side of her neck. Realising what he was doing, Kiara beat his hand off and held onto the spot that he had caressed. To her dismay, Kiara felt on her neck two small holes. It wasn’t bleeding or anything and it felt rather disturbing and so real. Kiara looked back at her so-called hero, “How did I get this?”

“You think I know? I just found you there with that. I had nothing to do with it. I swear!” Austin held his hands up in defence and assured her, “The nurse couldn’t explain but I think this could be the work of a vampire!!!”

“That’s silly!” Kiara hated the thought of being someone’s meal, “There’re no vampires in the world.”

“Then how would you explain that?” Austin pointed at her neck, “You couldn’t have been stabbed by a fork. Plus, nothing's impossible."

"Shut up!" Kiara got up from the bed and looked around the infirmary to see that the nurse wasn't there, "How was my friends' reaction when they heard about me?"

"Didn't you tell me to shut up?"

"Cut the crap."

"The usual. They were terrified and scared for you. The new girl kept on insisting to have some alone time with you when you were still unconscious," Austin recalled the days, "They came here almost everyday. Though the Goth dude never really came into the infirmary whenever the others visited you. Whereas I also always stop by everyday, to see if my good deed was worth it."

"Good deed? Isn't a life worth it?"

"It depends if the girl's worth it. And surprisingly, you're my type."

"Hey hey wait. You mean, David didn't come in here to see if I was alright? He just stayed outside and waited till Jason and the others give him the newspaper report?! Wh... Why?"

"You're asking me?" Austin did that huh-look which made Kiara turn away from his face. Her world felt shaky again and she plonked back into her pillow. She pulled the blanket over her head to shield herself from Austin's praying eyes and closed hers so that the darkness may take over, but Kiara could still feel his presence there and that made it uncomfortable for her to sleep. Austin eventually got up from his position and headed for the door. Kiara felt a pang of guilt and called for him to stop. "Hey you," she pushed the blanket off her face and took a look at him, "Thank you. Very much."

A wave of appreciation could be seen from Austin's facial features as he winked before leaving Kiara with the infirmary all to herself. David didn't come here? Kiara buried her face into the pillow. The last thing I remembered was walking into school with David after school. How did I end up in the boys' dormitory? Kiara wondered in deep thought, punching her fist into the pillow trying to figure out of a reason. After a while, Kiara had realised, the nurse had came in and was very pleased with Kiara's recovery. The nurse gave Kiara the overview of her incident, which Kiara wasn't too happy about.

"You've suffered a big amount of blood loss, which will take about some time for you to get back your usual energy," the nurse read from her files, "There may be a chance of some memory loss. And that mark on your neck is healing, all right. But when that student, Austin, found you, blood was spilling so profusely all the way from the boys' dorm to into the infirmary. Do you remember what you were doing there that resulted in this?"

"No, I do not," Kiara said it in a whisper as she looked out at the window. A week is very long. She must have missed a lot. The thought of being left out crept into her mind. She wondered why no one was still here yet. It was six o'clock. That Austin guy had been lying about the time from just now. Shouldn’t at least Tiadora be here? Kiara asked herself, trying to think of why Tiadora wouldn’t be by her side when Tiadora doesn’t have any extra activities. “I have sent one of the CLs to inform your friends about your miracle awakening,” the nurse came over and took Kiara’s temperature, “Good. No fever.”

“Nurse,” Kiara’s voice became hoarse and rough as she tried to call for the nurse.

“Shh. I think it’s best for you to just go to sleep,” the friendly nurse suggested, “I’m sure your friends will understand.”

And then again, Kiara fell asleep.

☆

“And here comes the chu-chu train of Pasta!” Jason made a charging sound as he fed Kiara with a big spoonful of delicious Pasta, “Oh no! The train is going to crash! Mayday! Mayday! The cargo load needs to be stored in the bat cave. Bat cave open says me.”

Kiara laughed at Jason’s attempt to cheer her up and opened her mouth wide for the Pasta, her favourite dish. It was another three days since she last opened her eyes. Her afternoon was greeted with the cheers and warm hugs from Tiadora, Jason and Cornelia, who had decorated the infirmary with many colourful balloons and flowers just for her. Kiara was even more pleased when Jason had bought for her, her all-time favourite meal, Pasta. Jason had volunteered to feed her instead, and had turned himself into a full-time train conductor. “Oh dear. The bat cave is destroying the entire cargo load! Hey wait that’s not the bat cave, that’s Mr. Cookie Monster’s lair of cookies! Oh no! Mr. Cookie Monster won’t be pleased to see his cookies fill with extra spicy sauce,” Jason teased Kiara again.

“My mouth isn’t Cookie Monster’s house!” Kiara assured him in between her unstoppable laughs. That was good, Jason smiled at her happiness. It had been different when they entered the infirmary at noon. Kiara had a gloom expression on her face and she had a hard time smiling at them when they reached, especially to the fact that David wasn’t by their side. She kept on hammering questions about him with this sad, disappointed look on her face, almost on the verge of tears. “Is he outside now? Why is he so afraid to come in? Have I done anything wrong towards him? Where’s David?” Kiara had asked when there were only three who had come just now.

“David said that he had to see the principal,” Cornelia sat beside her and stroked Kiara’s hair, “again.”

And she didn't speak for the next half hour. Jason didn't mind waiting. He knew that David's absence would leave her emotional, but he was glad that he'd finally managed to at least make her laugh and fill her empty tummy with Kiara's fav. Ever since then, she had never asked for David anymore and continued just enjoying everyone's company. "So anything interesting happen when I was unconscious??" Kiara asked, this time sounded more lively and more Kiara-like.

"Snow White rehearsals."

"Volleyball semi-finals."

"Ian getting stuck in the boys' locker bathroom."

"What? Ian got stuck in the bathroom?" Kiara was shocked to hear.

"Yeah. Bobby, Kyle and Seth unscrew the handle of his cubicle. So Mdm. Marinda had a hard time trying to get him out with the other CLs. And the worst part was when he had finally come out with his towel, all of his clothes were gone!" Jason described it with the vibrant movements from his hands, "Luckily the CLs were able to get some clothes. Along with his blanky!!"

"Ian has a blanky?"

"Well, he kept on telling that it was just a big handkerchief," Jason recalled as Kiara started laughing all over again with the rest of them.

"Oh. And we've..." Cornelia looked to Jason to see if this will pull her laughs down, "found another mystical creature from Tiadora's time."

"Who's sacred animal?" Kiara sounded eager to hear.

"It's not a sacred animal," Tiadora, who had been on Kiara's right, explained, "It's a flower from my time. And unlike the 21st Century flowers, this one can grant three wishes."

"Like a genie?"

“Sort of,” Cornelia replied, “I found the flower in a tree.”

“This kind of flowers only lasts till three wishes. Once it has given its master the three wishes, it’ll wither like any other flower. Fortunately for her, no one has claimed her yet,” Tiadora continued with the explanation, “Until the day of the Veex is over, the flower is not safe here. Due to your incidentr, Kiara, there’s a vampire on the loose. It couldn’t have been a pure-blood who had bitten you because you didn’t turn into a human vampire. This means that the pure-bloods, Azric or Cyrus, must have gone on a killing spree and somehow had one of these unfortunate victims into the school boundaries or one of the students here have turned into a human vampire. This is why the flower isn’t safe here. With the information that Cornelia had heard from Marabonta and your vampire-accident, there may be a chance that the villains may already be lurking around the academy’s corridors under our noses with the applied Glamra and we won’t realize it.

“The flowers vibrate a certain type of aura that is different from a normal human, so if a disguised villain were to sense its presence in the school, which I doubt won’t be that long, he or she can wish whatever he desires. This will obviously result in a bad ending,” Tiadora discussed.

“So you think that a human vampire bit me?” Kiara felt very uncomfortable now.

“Yes,” Tiadora had to agree, “The prove is in the bite mark. But you are very lucky to have been only bitten by a human vampire and even luckier and grateful that that vampire had decided to stop its thirst before it could drain you dry. Normally a human vampire won’t have that much strength to resist. Imagine being in the shoes of one,” Tiadora explained again, “Imagine being turned into a human vampire. Not only will you suffer pains to resist your thirst in front of your loved ones, not thinking of them of McDonald’s food, but the venom that has been injected into the body will actually poison every single organ you have. In the end you will turn into a Level E.”

“A Level E?” Cornelia became puzzled, “Elaborate.”

“Sadly for the affected vampires, all human vampires will turn into a Level E. It’s a turning point for which a human vampire loses all control for its thirst. The vampires will turn into a killing frenzy, devouring every single living being that stands in there way. It would be impossible for the human vampire to stop. It’s like having a crazy mental patient around hurting people and eventually we’ll have to take it down before it continues its raging rampage. And when I say take it down, I mean kill, even though the poor soul had no fault in this situation,” Tiadora recalled from her studies on vampires from her kingdom.

“Imagine of one of us were to turn into one,” Jason thought of the worst case scenario, “Do we have to kill him or her if one of us turns into one? I mean, aren’t we the guardians?”

“Let’s not go that far. Because we are guardians, we have far more better protection than any other average human being. All the more reason for us not to turn into one, right?”

“Are the eyes of the vampire, red in colour?” Kiara managed to asked Tiadora in her frail voice.

“Like the colour of blood.”

♫

“Mokona wants the heart biscuits too! Don’t take all of them!” Mokona tried to reach for David’s desk with its tiny paws as it saw the little flower girl continuing to have no trouble reaching for another one from the biscuit tin. “Don’t steal Mokona’s stuff!”

“But these are good.”

“Exactly why I don’t want to share it!”

“Mokona,” David called out to his sacred animal as he closed the book that he was reading on the bed, “Share your food. The one paying for it isn’t you. So share.”

“But you bought it for ME!” Mokona pouted and gave up on its attempt to prevent the flower from getting its food and jumped onto David’s bed, cuddling itself beside the guardian of Earth. This time David didn’t mind. He knew that Mokona wouldn’t snore anymore. He had politely asked for it not to do so anymore again, so David had no trouble having a good night sleep.

The flower, David recalled, was entrusted under his care, or more specifically, Mokona’s care. It was surprisingly a little girl. The flower from Tiadora’s kingdom was a little girl. She looked about seven year’s old, long curly orange hair that almost touched the ground and pale serene face. The girl had been very quiet during the time she was in his room. She kept on staring at David, he’d noticed, with those pure white eyes which made him feel very uncomfortable most of the times.

“It seems that the blood of the innocent has been drained,” the flower girl uttered under her breath again. “And yet nothing’s happening.”

“Very observant,” David shivered to the fear that she knew his secret. “Is it that obvious?”

“No,” the girl sat a good five-foot away on his desk chair. “But it will be soon.”

“How soon?” David was curious to know.

“I’m a flower, not a fortune-teller. If you want me to do what you desire, you must say ‘wish’. However, as a flower, I have the ability to sense the different species of people very easily whether or not that person is a guardian, flower, vampire, mage or magician. And I too can see through Glamra.”

“You mean if a villain were to be wearing Glamra, you could see its real identity?”

“Yes,” she nodded in response as she took a small bite from the delicious heart-shaped biscuit. “Though I don’t feel comfortable being around Jason even though he’s the guardian of Fire.”

“Jason is a good guy,” David scoffed at her response, “Why are you and Mokona so against Jason? He’s not who I am, a Goth.”

“It’s not his fault. It’s his destiny that we mystical creatures can sense. It’s a bad one indeed.”

“I don’t see why it should be. Whose fault is it that’s making you all avoid Jason?”

“His ancestor,” the little girl spoke softly again, “Like father, like son. Like ancestor, like descendant.”

♥

“Ladies and gentlemen, students of all years, it is in my honour to present to you the annual play of Kadic Academy’s Dramatizations!” Ms Serena announced through the microphone as the auditorium lights dimmed to have the main spotlight on her, “This year, these students from 9-A, will be dramatizing to you a play which many of you will see fit to understand. And no, it is not the tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet, but the loving adorable play of Snow White!”

And the drums rolled out as the play finally began. It was a Sunday, the very next day when Kiara finally woke up. Ms Serena had decided to spare her the role of Grumpy because of her condition and replaced her with one of the new students, Chloe Ames. In the auditorium, Kiara and the rest had good seats. The third row from the front is always the ‘good seats’ if anyone would want to enjoy the show. And because Jason was there, the whole soccer squad had decided to crowd around that area as well. It was slightly crammed but Kiara didn’t quite mind.

Beside her, on her right, Jason was digging his fingers into the big box of popcorn whereas on her left, Cornelia was texting someone on her phone. Cornelia seemed so into the message that she was typing that Kiara was curious to know why. “A guy?” Kiara quickly snatched Cornelia’s phone from her hands and read what was on the message, “Who’s Ulrich?”

“A friend.”

“Oh! That new Princeton kid, right?” Kiara finally realized, “He’s cute. But shouldn’t get hitched on Ian instead? You know that poor kid’s into you.”

“But too bad. I’m not into him,” Cornelia slipped her phone out of Kiara hands, “Ulrich’s a more decent guy anyway.”

“Ooo. Do I smell a love brewing?

“No!” Cornelia decided to keep her phone in her shorts, “I’m just saying that he’s a decent friend, you know. He bought me dinner that day.”

“A date already? Wow, amazing!”

“It’s NOT a date,” Cornelia beat Kiara on her shoulder, “Concentrate on the play please. We came here for David and Tiadora, not to chit chat.”

“Yes, Madam.”

On cue, the red curtains shifted aside. Sally, dressed in a beautiful blue and yellow gown stormed the hallway when her head high up. It was very obvious to differentiate Tiadora and Sally. One has pink and the other has brown hair. Sally/Snow White started to lip sing one of the songs that were supposed to attract the animals in the castle/stage. The song, however, attracted the young and handsome Prince/David of the castle instead. Sally/Snow White became very shocked and ran into the woods/stage hiding her from the world.

Backstage, Tiadora patted David on the back when his scene was over as he slouched back in his chair, “My next scene is when I find Sally dead!”

Tiadora giggled at the ironic words, “Mine is after the hunter-scene.”

“Well, good luck with worshipping Sally.”

“It’s showtime!”

Chapter 24: Beastly Shadow

An unbearable scream echoed through my ears as the images started forming in my mind. I knew my body was unable to move and my eyes were shut into deep slumber. In my hands was a long thin sword that dragged on the floor with two other people escorting me? It was vague, but it looked like I was in a large living room, lighted by chandeliers and painted walls of gold. A portrait of the late Queen Elizabeth hung above the grand fireplace and the tables of cuisines were destroyed, trashed like a mob had crashed the party. None of the lights were switched on so the moonlight was shining through the huge glass windows, showing the gore sight of the mansion. There were dead bodies. Plenty of them, all lay on the floor. Blood stained the red carpets and all the dead bodies had stabs directly to the heart.

Somehow, I felt my right hand squeeze the blade tighter unwillingly. There was this buggy feeling inside me. I could feel that their lives were torn by me, by my hands. I took a look at them. One held the exquisite craving of good sword craftsmanship and the other smeared with an innocent's blood. I felt myself walk forward, closer to the overturned chaises with my two other teenage confederates, whom which I realised were also holding onto swords as well. I couldn't help but glance back at them. One had a nasty scar on his hard face with his rapier wider and thicker than mine. His expression was focused and determined like as if he was doing his job.

My other accomplice though, was grinning. Across his left eye was a long graze as the blood from his face kept on dripping down from his chin. He acted like as if the cut was painless, enjoying the pang of his left eye. The right eye was an attractive colour of purple, staring straight into the direction that we were heading. I turned back to find myself already at the destination. An elegantly well-dressed couple, still alive, was cuddled up behind one of the sofas, cradling a baby in their hands. Their eyes widen with agitation as their grip on their child tightened even more, pleading and begging for mercy. In some way, I wasn't able to hear their pleas and cries. In my eyes, the couple was just mouthing the words, 'please' and 'no'. My right hand had a life of its own and lifted up the blade high above my head, taking its aim on them.

Kill them.

Who is that? I tried moving my mouth but the words were only heard in my head as my body concentrated on the slaughter. The next few minutes were intolerable. My saber was so swift that I was confused at where it was swinging and at which part of their bodies it was slashing. Moments later, the only being that was alive besides me and my comrades, was the baby. A small infant wrapped in a blue towel was asleep and unaware of its attacker. One of my associate, the boy with the purple eye, dropped his sword and carried the baby in his arms.

At first, I thought my uncontrollable self and the teenagers were sparing the poor child's life. But again, I was mistaken. My partner, instead, threw the baby high up to the ceiling. Twisting my fingers and my body, I involuntarily leaped out towards the thrown baby and knife the pitiful infant's head from its tiny body with my blade. The head plopped to the floor before the rest of its body could, spilling every ounce of blood from the cut neck. Again, without me commanding my body, I turned around to look at my comrades and surprisingly smiled at them like as if it was a job's well done. Unexpectedly, I spoke without intention. It was like there was another life or will inside of me that was controlling my body.

"I have no doubts. My soul depends on this," I could hear myself speaking in Shakespeare's language but then, the words turned back into English, a language I could understand finally. However, I couldn't celebrate. In this body, I have murdered a room filled with about fifty guests and a newborn. My hands are stained by the blood of the innocent and all this body did was to smile, ignore, forget and move on.

★

Tiadora shut the glass door behind her and found Jason asleep on a plastic chair right outside the flower shop. His head leaned back that it touched the glass while he slouched back in his seat. The flower pots beside him were just like what Ms. Hermione, her brand new employer, had described. Delicate and a good impression on the flower shop. Jason had brought her here to find a job and Tiadora was glad that the lady of the shop was kind.

Ms. Hermione, a rather fair-skinned lady, looked like she was in her fifties as her white hair and wrinkles stood out dramatically. From far, Ms. Hermione would look like a naggy granny of the block, but in truth, she was soft-spoken and had a sweet smile. Tiadora was told that Ms. Hermione had met Jason when he had sprained his knee in a bicycle race last year and that she treated his bruises. Since then, Jason would always stop by her shop once in a while to help out. Ms. Hermione didn’t marry nor had any children so all her life, Tiadora thought, was filled with loneliness. Somehow Tiadora was glad that she was introduced to her.

The flower shop wasn’t big or small. There were plenty of shelves with pots of many different kinds of flowers. Ms. Hermione was explaining all the special needs for special flowers and halfway through her explanation, Jason, who had been listening to their conversation for all this while, decided to make a call outside the shop. In the end, Tiadora made a decision that she’d work on Wednesdays as well as Saturdays. Though Tiadora knew that it was a small pay, she was happy that she at least had a job to earn money for her own expenses.

Tiadora stared again at Jason. She noticed that Jason looked rather peaceful when he sleeps, motionless and deep into his mysterious slumber and dreams. She knew once he’d woke up, she had to tell him the rest of what happened, how she had trained, the knowledge of the chest and especially the black smoke that hurt her from the box. Maybe it will help them, Tiadora wondered for a moment as she continued to look at Jason’s closed eyes. How could a phone call bore him to sleep?

Wake him up; she kept telling herself, it’s getting late. Tiadora shake his sleeves and Jason practically jolted himself off the chair. The impact accidentally made Jason fall onto Tiadora, whom Jason didn’t notice was right in front of him. Tiadora fell on her back as she felt Jason’s weight pressing onto her. When Jason realized what was happening, he quickly struggled to get up from his fall, giving out a helping hand for Tiadora. “My apologies,” Jason started wiping the dirt of Tiadora’s shoulders, “I’m so so so sorry.”

“Hey. It’s fine. It was just an accident,” Tiadora patted him. Suddenly, Jason pulled the hand that was patting his shoulder and hugged Tiadora. For a moment, Tiadora was stunned by his reaction and was confused of his feelings. They stayed onto that embrace for seconds and in between, Jason had murmured something that Tiadora managed to catch, “I’m so glad that you’re safe.”

Hearing that, she knew that he had felt bad for falling onto her. But somehow, Tiadora couldn’t shake off the feeling that the reason he had said that wasn’t for the fall. He feels hurt, that’s all that made sense to her.

♥

Kiara and David were walking together on their way back to Kadic Academy. They had just finished with their weekly modeling, again. Kiara felt energetic and was practically skipping during the journey. David was as always quiet and calm, looking straight ahead. Being very hyperactive, Kiara twirled and twisted her body. She notice David’s silence and decided to make the atmosphere lively, "Wasn't that session just awesome?"

"Awe-inspiring."

"You okay?" Kiara felt that there was something amiss, "Because you're starting to freak me out."

"And why is that so?"

"Cause this is like the first time ever, that you've talked to me like a friend," Kiara declared.

"Aren't we best friends?" David smiled friendly and continued walking while Kiara gasped that the answer he'd given her. They continued walking silently. Kiara wasn't sure of what to say anymore. That is until David spoke again, "Promise me something."

"It depends."

David then stopped in his tracks and stared into Kiara's brown eyes. Once he had sensed the sincerity to trust her, David asked, "If I ever became something that I'm not, promise that you'll never avoid me."

Kiara ruffled his fringe to get a better look at his face to see if he was serious. His green eyes looked like as if he was pleading for her to stand by that promise. She put her left arm through his right arm, which at that time were dug in his blue jeans, and leaned onto his shoulders saying, "I've n ever avoided you. And never will either. Now do you remember the promise that you made when we were five?"

David bends down to make his face only about an inch away from Kiara's. Kiara could sense her cheeks blush pink as she couldn't control her emotions. His face was so close; Kiara thought David was going to kiss her because of their childhood promise. "Now, how can I forget that one," David made Kiara smiled but soon, David frowned as he glanced at the entrance of Kadic Academy, "I have to go."

David slipped away from the connection and hurriedly breeze past the gates. Kiara chased after him and managed to overtake David, "Go where?"

"To see the principal."

"Principal? Why do you have to meet the principal now?" Kiara asked in confusion.

"Well," David hesitated, thinking of what to say, "She has asked me to join some competition. So I entered."

"You? Committed for a competition? I don't believe it."

"Nothing's impossible," David ruffled her red hair to cover her eyes so that she won't see him leave her side. By that time, she had already reached the academy. She hatched up a plan and quickly dashed into the boys' dormitory, up to the second level. While passing through the boys' common bathroom, Ian came out half-naked with a towel wrapped below. Kiara took only one glance at Ian's hard chest and continued on her walk to David's room.

Opening the locked door wasn't a problem. She knew that Mokona would happily open it for her. And true enough, it did. Mokona was floating when the door opened and greeted Kiara with its hugs. Kiara stepped into David's neat room and dropped short onto his tidy bed, playing playfully with his pillows. "Hey you," Kiara patted Mokona on its head, chatting to the sacred animal in a funny and joyful tone, "so tell me. Is David keeping anything from me?"

"Mokona don't really know," Mokona's smile turned to a frown, "whenever he comes back, David always looks so sad and lonely. And whenever I ask him why, he fakes a smile and says that everything's alright."

"Is that so?" Kiara smiled slyly but with full of curiosity and got out of his bed, scanning through the many books that David treasures so much, "So what's he hiding?"

All familiar book titles surfaced, The Black Book of Secrets, Artemis Fowl, PENDRAGON, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary, till her finger pointed to a blank side. Normally books would have the title at the backbone of the book as well as the author's name, but this book, surprisingly, happened not to have anything written on it. Kiara took the black book out and analysed the leather cover page. She flipped open to the pages but only saw yellow blank pages that filled the thick black book.

Is this a notebook? Kiara wondered in deep thought. David had always like old stuff. But that thought vanished when she flipped to the very first page of the book. There, written in beautiful curved handwriting, were 'For my princess. Xana.' Something David should have seen if he had gotten the book in the first place. Kiara slammed the book shut and crouched down to Mokona, "Do you know about this?"

"Princess Tiadora's servant brought him that book the afternoon of my arrival," Mokona recalled that very same day, "it was received a few minutes before I came."

"I should go find Tiadora and show her this," Kiara aimed for the door and turned the knob, ready to get out, "Tagging along, Mokona?"

"Kiara! Look it's..." Mokona screamed in its squeaky voice. But it was too late. Kiara had already opened the door to see what Mokona was yelling about. The next thing she knew, she took a nano second to look at her stalker, a purple bright light was shining in her face as the glare blinded her eyes. All she could remember after that were the black smoke clouding her vision, making everything absolutely blur for Kiara. The stalker hovered over her, but with her losing conscience, all she could see was a rough image of a human. A human with the eyes having the shade of blazing fire red.

♪

Another victory in battle is another step closer to winning the war. Another score in the regional is another step closer to winning the championships! Cornelia smiled to herself with that motto singing in her head. Once again, Kadic Academy has tackled its opponents in a recent fight with one of the strongest volleyball players in the nation. The Loretta Giants were of no match for the Kadic Knights at all.

Cornelia hopped out of the girls' locker, not wanting to shower like she always would and took a stroll along the open corridors of the academy. The breeze, she commanded, concentrated more on her and calmed her down so soothingly. Cornelia decided to skip like a ballerina in the woods and trees. "Yay! Yay! Yay!" Cornelia decided to go crazy, celebrating yet another win for herself. She jumped and leaped and toppled onto the dry grass, rolling on the greenery, ignoring the dirt. Till Cornelia bumped into someone's leg. "Opps. Sorry sorry sorry..."

Cornelia quickly got up to her feet and backed a few feet away, but came back when she realised who she bumped, "Ulrich?"

There, Ulrich Princeton was sitting against a tree, reading a thick storybook. He stared at her with curious eyes and removed his reading glasses from his face and started to chuckled, "Do you have to say every word three times?"

"When I'm excited, yeah," Cornelia admitted and sat right beside him against the tree bark, "I didn't know you wear glasses and read books?"

"I only use them whenever I read," Ulrich folded his spectacles and placed them on his opened book, "I can see without them though, just like you. And I do enjoy reading, just, just like your brother."

"Wait. How do you know that Jason reads?"

"Saw that dark friend of yours reading a book that had a sticker with Jason's name on it. So I figure..." Ulrich explained as he bumped his head on the trunk, "Oh. And guess what. Coach Dean accepted me in the team."

"You got into the soccer team? Congratulations," Cornelia fished out her mini-towel and wiped her sweat, "Does my bro know about this?"

"Since he wasn't there for training, so I guess not. And god you stink."

"My usual and natural smell. Deal with it, buddy."

And Ulrich, Cornelia noticed, was quiet again. Had he gone back to his book because I was too boring? Cornelia thought as she glanced over his shoulders. Ulrich was wiping his lens on the spectacles. This time it was Cornelia who laughed, "Obsessed much?"

"At least I'm cautious enough. And clean for that matter."

"Alright. I get what you're trying to say," Cornelia got up from her seat and started to walk back to the girls' locker, until Ulrich grabbed her by her wrist. "Hey. It's almost time for dinner," Ulrich realised, "And the food here kinda suck. Wanna grab something from that cafe near the outside library?"

Cornelia turned around and folded her arms, eyeing Ulrich, "Normally I wouldn't do such. But I guess, I could take a break from school veggies."

The guardian of Air and Ulrich together walked side by side outside the school boundaries and onto the peaceful streets outside. Cornelia made sure that there was at least a three-inch gap between them, just in case other students had the wrong idea. And speaking about other students, right in front of her, walking back towards the academy were her bionic twin and Tiadora. They seem to be not as cheerful as always, Cornelia thought as Jason waved frantically when he caught their attention. “Taking my sis out?” Jason winked at Ulrich when they reached the academy’s entrance.

“Just wanting to get something from the café,” Ulrich gave that gentleman smile and hand to Jason, “I think it’s appropriate to get permission first, right? Hi. I’m Ulrich, from your class and a friend of Cornelia’s. You’re her brother, am I right?”

“He’s he one I met on Friday,” Cornelia barged into the conversation, “you know, the day when I sprained my ankle. Well, if it hadn’t been for Ulrich, the bleeding might not have stopped at that time.”

Jason’s eyebrow went up, curious over her explanation but smiled at the new student and took his hand, “Yeah, I’m her big bro. Bring her home safely by eight. Her curfew’s at 8.10 at night, you know? She may be very clumsy sometimes so be careful. And do you know tha…”

“Shut up, Jay!” Cornelia ran her hand over his mouth as he silenced like an obedient dog and turned her attention back to Ulrich, “Let’s go before anything else gets out.”
“Oh hold on a sec,” Ulrich stopped her pushing and this time, eyed Tiadora with a smile, giving out his hand like he did for Jason to shake, “a pleasure, miss.”

Tiadora found the way he greeted her, strange. She stared at the outstretched hand once again and then, shifted her direction to his face. Like how she recognizes other students, Tiadora tried to look for something in his face that was different, unique. His eyes, the small sound in Tiadora’s head shrilled. Normally, the voice would talk to her in a calm tone, but this time, it was shouting and as if it was beating against the walls of her mind. She ignored it and concentrated on the friendly introduction. Ocean blue and royal purple, different coloured eyes just like hers but she has blue and green eyes, not purple. Jason nudged her for encouragement and assurance that it was alright. That made Tiadora took his hand and shakes it firm as she smiled back at him, “a pleasure indeed.”

Chapter 23: Erstwhile

"... Then she told me that she's not the only one from the academy who is Xana's goons," Cornelia recalled what Marabonta had said.

It was the very next day of school in the evening, the same time the Balistia came to attack. The police had come to a decision to release the guardians from their suspect list and move on to a hoax crime instead. At that time, Tiadora wanted everyone to get at least a full day rest from the experience before they were to discuss anything about it. Now, the guardians were all in Jason's room skipping dinner again, discussing on the events that took place the day before. David, for once, Tiadora noticed, had changed. Though he was lying down on Jason's comfortable bed, Tiadora realised that he wasn't as timid as the first time she saw him.

In fact, David has been acting as wild as Jason whenever Kiara, Cornelia and Jason weren't around. Now, he seem like he's fine with showing his true side. Tiadora didn't mind the change of personality but she sense something amiss in his actions lately. Although he was happy and cheery, Tiadora couldn't wear off the feeling that David's hurt inside. The door pushed open and Jason entered the room wearing a bathrobe, soaking wet from his bath. He ruffled his blond hair with a towel in his hand furiously, trying to get the wetness off as he stared at his guests in his room, "What? Haven't seen a guy bathe before?"

"Actually, I'm more than thankful that the academy provides us students with bathrobe cause," Kiara joked as she covered her eyes, continuing her speech, "Girls would be blind the minute you step out."

"But honestly, bro," Cornelia kicked him in the backside lightly, "You look nicer without your hair spiked up. Looks good when it's wet."

"I'll think about it," Jason imagined himself with his new hairstyle and smiled to himself as he sat down on his bed where David was enjoying the softness of the pillow. "No drool," Jason gave a warning to David as he took his bolster and hit David on his side.
Cornelia ignored her brother's actions and became serious about yesterday's situation again, "Tiadora, doesn't that mean Xana and his team are in the academy?"

"Actually, there are two possibilities," Tiadora rocked the chair that she was sitting on, "either that Marabonta was lying or the villains are using glamra."

"No offence, Tiadora," Kiara voiced out, "but when a foreign word comes in, please explain."

"Glamra is..." Tiadora struggled to say it in their language, "a potion that when worn, it gives away your identity."

"I don't get it," Jason admitted.

"Well, I'll give you an example. If I were to walk pass you," Tiadora stood up and walked from her position to the door, "You'd recognise me as Tiadora, right? However, if I was to use Glamra and I walk pass you again, you won't recognise as Tiadora. Your mind would tell you that you're looking at a total stranger and that I'm not Tiadora. So I may look exactly the same in both walks but all of you would only recognise me if I didn't use Glamra."

"So you're suggesting that if Marabonta was telling the truth," Cornelia confirmed, "that means that many of Xana's goons are here?"

"No, we don't know for sure if what Marabonta said was true," Tiadora came back to her seat, "but then again, it's good to be extra cautious. Glamra needs to be worn on the person if he or she would want it to work. So I suggest, we keep a look out for anything that could contain the potion."

"What colour is it?" David finally spoke.

"It's pink," Tiadora recalled, "bright pink. Though the potion has a time limit, and if I were to fill the potion in this," Tiadora pointed at Jason's Adidas bottle, "it'll last for a week, but that means that the bottle must be carried by the Glamra user at all times. Look out for things that are portable, something that people would wear on everyday and possible Glamra holders like necklace, braclet, bottle, pens, etc."

"Pens??"

"The ink inside," Tiadora demonstrated with an imaginary pen, "anyway the Glamra is very noticeable when seen because it's normally either glowing or have a really bright shade of pink."

David sat up, concern all over his face, "What about the Balistia? How would you explain that?"

"Since Marabonta was seen, there might bea chance that the Balistia was one of Xana's caught preys," Tiadora thought it over, "and sad to say, the Balistia is an easy monster to tackle and capture. That's why it simply just collapsed when Cornelia did a full strength whereas certain monsters are more than difficult to control."

"Then if you could have sealed the monster in a flash, then why choose me to do it in the first place?" David asked, "And what if the Balistia wakes up?"

"For the first question, it was a matter of test. I wanted to see if you were able to rise up to the next level and fortunately, you passed," Tiadora started to slouch for the first time in her seat, "and for the second question, since the Balistia is one of the 'dumb' creatures, the spell I cast made it sleep for about six months. So we don't have to worry about it now."

"Speaking about spells, " Cornelia wondered, "what was that mind-message that I got from Jason?"

Tiadora smiled, "It's your special skill. You are telepathic. You can speak to anyone through their minds and the person can also reply back to you telepathically. Though it only works with Cornelia. Example, Kiara and Jason can't talk telepathically unless Cornelia is in the telepathic conversation as well."

"Awesome! How will I master it?"

"Let's not concentrate on the special skills first," Tiadora walked over to Jason's desk and took out a piece of paper and pen, "Jason, may I borrow your stationeries?"

"Go ahead."

This time, Tiadora sat on his desk chair and wrote as she spoke, "Another main point of the discussion today is for you all to familiarise with your enemies before actually battling them."

"Say Xana's first," Kiara felt so eager to hear.

"Well, Xana is the first enemy I encountered when I just became a guardian. I and your ancestors did pains to find his source for power but Xana kept changing his tactics on very fight. And for all this while till now, I have not seen the face of the man behind that hood. Sir Lancelot and Xana were always game to challenge one another to an extent where both of them overdo it. He's known to be very strong among the other villains and many do respect him, in a negative way. He normally fights alone unlike some.

“On the other hand, Marabonta is a hypnosist. She can easily fool her prey by chanting. Normally fights alone, so it's a surprise to me why she'd want to team with Xana," Tiadora wrote down the points as the others attentively listened. She appreciated that. "So if Marabonta has said to warn Jason and not me," Tiadora turned to Jason, "Be careful. It may so happen that you might be her next target."

Jason gulped, probably scared of the thought being hypnotise. He stood up and walked into his wardrobe, a gift from his aunt. Although Jason's got lots of clothes, he always picks his favourite, army green jeans, a lighter green jacket with an even lighter shade of green for a singlet inside. His jacket sleeves is always folded almost to his shoulders and never fails to spike his hair but just for the night, he thought, let his hair be. When Jason stepped outside his walking wardrobe, he appreciated that Tiadora had waited for him to dress before continuing on the villain after Marabonta. Though he still had goose bumps about Marabonta, Jason knew that he had to be prepared for the attack.

Again, Jason sat down on his bed wit h David beside him, leaning against the wall. Jason noticed a smile appeared on David's face, a thing you won't see everyday, but somehow he felt that th e smile was forced. "You okay, man?" Jason placed a friendly hand on David's right shoulder. David nodded, "Yup. Why you ask?"

"Nothing," Jason ended their conversation and urged Tiadora back to explanation.

"Alright. Cyrus and Azric are both pureblood vampires," Tiadora started to cross her legs, beginning to get used to Kiara's jeans, "Now, these two normally they go in packs. And these packs are human vampires. Human vampires were previously humans w ho were bitten by purebloods. Other than normal magic, they have their usual vampire abilities such as flight, telekenesis, sixth sense..."

"Sixth sense? Hey someone here has sixth sense too," Jason nudged David in the elbow.

"David has sixth sense?" Tiadora felt confused.

"Since birth," Kiara, who sat on the floor commented, "David has always been able to sense these things and my family doctor says that its sixth sense. He has it in his medical status."

"Amazing! Unrelatedly, your special skill is not as similar as your sixth sense," Tiadora finalised, "You can be intangible and you, Jason, have the power to teleport from place to place. However, I'd rather you all concentrate on your elements than special skills."

"Fine with me," David said dully as the door became ajar and Mokona walked in. It looked small, white and puffy as it jumped onto David's lap and poked his stomach with its head. David lifted him up and Mokona tapped his nose, asking, "More heart biscuits! More heart biscuits!"

"I just bought it last Friday," David shocked, "You ate a hundred biscuits in five days?"

Mokona happily nodded in response and began jumping on David's lap. David just sighed not knowing what to do with his greedy sacred animal. It was bad enough when it began to snore resulting in sleepless nights and now it's fishing out money from him because of its appetite. It was a sacred animal after all and didn't want to risk being hated or less. Though David was always curious why Mokona disliked being hold or carried by Jason. After moments, David heard Tiadora giggled, "You know, David, you're supposed to be the boss of Mokona and not the other way round. It'll follow every of your order, even to stop eating."

David sighed and laughed, "Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"

But all laughs died out when the door opened with force once more. Jim, the fattest gym teacher in Kadic Academy, tapped his foot and eyed everyone in the room. For a moment, Jim smelled like sweat socks from the boys’ locker room, but when Jim saw Kiara pinched her nose, he fished out his perfume and sprayed everywhere on himself. Satisfied with his smell, Jim got back to his main objective of his visit and growled, "Aren't you all supposed to be at the cafeteria? Jason, Cornelia, today's carbo-load day. It's good for your stamina, athletes!"

"Actually, Jim," Cornelia slouched in her chair, "We're all on a diet for today."

"Cornelia, volleyball regional is tomorrow and you need your strength," Jim came in and patted her on the shoulder till something caught his eye, "What is this?" Jim took her right arm and examines her silver that was from her wrist till elbow. The white element wasn't glowing as last time which was all Cornelia needed as he let go of her arm and took a look at all of the guardians silver bands. "Jason," Jim saw one on Jason's wrist, "What's that?"

"Friendship band," David answered instead. Jim wasn't used talking to David especially in front of other students but Jim knew that Jason and David were friends which he thought was awkward. "Jason," Jim repeated his name again, "How many types of friendship band do you want to make?"

"This is the special kind," Jason smiled ironically, "Only my best friends get it."

"Well," Jim stepped back about to go out, "Just make sure you don't wear it to the regional tomorrow, Cornelia."

"Bye, Jim," everyone said in monotone as Jim shut the door behind him. Mokona who had been hiding under Jason's blanket popped up. Everyone didn't say anything for a while and stared at the floor. Tiadora stared at her paper and realised it was of no use. The paper disappeared in seconds and Mokona decided to try out something that it couldn't last time.

Mokona burped out loud.

♥

About several blocks away from the academy two days after the attack of the sixteenth century monster, the day of the volleyball regional, Jason arm was slung across Tiadora's shoulders walking on the same street. Tiadora had wanted to work for some cash as she felt bad letting Jason pay her school fees and borrowing Kiara's clothes all the time. Jason had tried to tell her yesterday night that it was not a big deal to him as he had a lot to spend anyway but Tiadora was persistent in her persuasion. Initially, when she asked for her search to be done on Wednesday, Jason had soccer, Kiara and David pushed their modeling to Wednesday because of Kiara's cheerleading and Cornelia was going for regional. However, Jason volunteered to skip his practice to help her out.

"You still haven't told me where we're going. We've passed so many shops," Tiadora grabbed onto the hand that was dangling over her shoulders. Jason had mentioned earlier that he was familiar with a shopkeeper who needed an assistant. They've been walking for thirty minutes and there've been getting nowhere.

"Aren't you supposed to be speaking in Shakespeare language?" Jason asked, totally changing the topic, "Like how Xana spoke his first sentence that night."

"What's Shakespeare?"

"A legendary storywriter who wrote the love story Romeo and Juliet."

"Is it a nice story?"

"It's more of a love and tragedy story. It's touching," Jason explained, "Now back to my question."

"In my kingdom, that language is called Veronian," Tiadora remembered, "After being exposed to many of the 21st Century people speaking in English, I catch up."

"Easily?"

"Yup. Your teenage slang included," Tiadora boasted, "Now back to my question."

"Okay okay," Jason chuckled at his plan, "I thought maybe we took the long way instead. Get to know you and Anastasia better."

"So what's the first question?"

"What are the differences with now and then?"

"There are more and taller buildings but no animals and not much greenery here," Tiadora spoke while she analysed the building surrounding her, “Plus, it’s more magical. You could always see at least three different species flying in the skies before sunrise. Flowers are always dancing in the meadows during afternoons and the winds are always breath-taking in the evenings. Love will always bloom in the night though. And it’s peaceful, unless you include the fact that the villains attack my kingdom once in a while.”

“How did you know,” Jason slide his arm away from her and dug it in his pockets, “that you are the guardian of Energy?”

“On my tenth birthday, my parents, the King and Queen, had a huge ball dedicated to me,” Tiadora started her story again, “Many who came gave plenty of presents to me. I didn’t have any friends at that time because I’ve never been out of the castle grounds before. The only people I could associate with were the servants and peasants like Figis. At that time, I was happy, dancing around with numerous strangers. Some were the nobles’ sons who were either younger or older. My parents were dancing too. Everything was so perfect until a strange music tune played.”

Tiadora fell silent, not wishing to continue but she felt like as if she needed to tell Jason what happen. She stared at Jason’s attentive face, waiting. They made another turn on their left towards a deserted side of the building as Tiadora continued, “When it was played, everyone stopped dancing, including me. There was an obvious bad feeling in the tone. Sort of like an uncomfortable vibe wrapping everyone in the ballroom. They played for about two minutes, and then the music stopped completely. My father kept shouting at the musicians about the music but none looked up from the ground to answer. Instead, all of them turned into dust and scattered onto the ground. That’s when the clock strike midnight.

“The gentleman, who I was dancing with, started to vanish slowly before my eyes and so did the rest of the guests. It was horrifying to watch. The people who were disappearing didn’t panic or struggle, but just smiled and were soon gone. In the end, there were only seven of us left, the King and Queen, me and four boys. Suddenly, I spotted a red light forming across the ceiling, and before I could say anything, my mother screamed in agony. The mysterious red light had turned into an arrow and had pierced into my mother’s heart. My father was cradling her in his arms as I ran towards them. The other boys were just as stunned as I was and came to his majesty’s aid.

“The Queen, my mother, didn’t bleed nor had any wounds from the shot. Her eyes were shut and face was lifeless, like the arrow tore her life away so quickly that it wasn’t merciful enough to give me seconds with my mother before she was gone forever. All I could do was wail at that time. I heard my father yelling orders at the guards outside the room for help, but no one came through the doors. Suddenly, my mother’s body glowed white. It was impossible to see but it looked like as if it was a light which rolled into a sphere and floated there. The light then fell to the ground and formed a chest. Unnoticeably, I found my father collapsed at the far side of the ballroom.

“I wanted to run to him like I had run to my mother, to see if he was alright. However, the chest was so mesmerizing, that I couldn’t take my eyes off it. The other four boys came behind me and together, we walked towards the chest with curiosity. Slowly, I lifted up the cover and till this day onwards, I have regretted doing such. Because immediately after I opened the chest, black snake-shaped smoke rushed out of the chest, scratching against my skin and tearing the lovely piece of fabric. It was a rather long time before all of those smokes were released into the world. I instantly closed the lit, but there was a little voice booming in my ears.

“Initially, I had thought it was the boys’ doing but all four of them had scalds and blood dripping from their faces. The voice kept shouting ‘Let me go! To defeat, release all of me.’ That’s when I realized that it was coming from the chest. I wasn’t committed to opening it again as I was afraid the darkness will hurt me again but somehow the feeling of goodness was strong and my will was telling me to do what the voice had told me. So I lifted up the chest once more and this time only light shone from the inside of the chest. It healed me within a second and I felt a weight on my wrist.

“It was this silver band,” Tiadora lifted up her right arm to her face to see, “This silver band was somehow growing onto me like fungi. Around me were all white like as if the light had enveloped the entire universe. And when the light faded, all that was left were an empty box and five of us with these silver bands. All four boys had the very same band when I turned to look at them, except every one of us shared a different coloured element. Then, all turned back to normal. The dancers were back dancing and the musicians were playing the tune that was before the eerie tune, but my father was still lying there at the side and the other four boys were still behind me. With everyone enjoying themselves despite us, I couldn't help but scream. The guards came in immediately, the musicians stopped their music piece and the dancers were rooted to the ground," Tiadora began to weep.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as Jason tried to comfort her. She fell to the ground and continued to cry, letting her release. Jason crouched down to her level to see Tiadora covering her eyes with her palms. He pulled her brown hair back behind her ears and cradled her face in his hands, telling her, "Tiadora. Tiadora! Look at me. It's not your fault. Your mother's death is NOT your fault. She's not gone. We just met her that day."

"That was not my biological mother," Tiadora wiped her tears and stood up, "My father remarried a month after the incident, and I was too young to say anything about their marriage. Then..."

"Jason?" a lady who was standing in front of them asked, "Welcome. Welcome. Is this the assistant you brought me?"

Jason suddenly realised that they have already reached the shop. 'Heta' was written in gold ink at the signboard at the top. He then knew that the rest of her story is still left untold, and before he could move on with the present as a guardian, Jason has to learn his own past, whether it’s his ancestor's or his very own. Because deep down Jason knew that there can't be two guardians with the same ancestor.

Chapter 22: Attack Of The Sixteenth Century Monster

"Cornelia, heads up!"

She did just that and her eyes widen with fear. A greenish-grey beast, standing higher than the auditorium beside the volleyball court, had only one eye like a Cyclops. Though it has two arms, only one had fingers that brawled into fists. The other was shaped like a baseball bat. Its legs were rather shorter than its arms but the wide red mouth showed many sharp rows of teeth. Cornelia took a good look around her to find the court empty. She need not worry about the creature as its intention was on the auditorium, banging onto the glass ceiling. Should I be finding for Tiadora? Cornelia thought. Is this a sacred animal? Why does it look so ugly? And before she could run off in another direction, a voice was booming in her head.
Cornelia! It's me, Jason. Listen. I've got no time to explain. Get into the auditorium quick.

"Are you crazy?!" Cornelia shouted out verbally at the voice, but she didn't hear any reply. "Bloody half-kid."

With that she looked around to check that no one was in sight and closed her eyes. Let the air carry me, Cornelia whispered in her head, and when she opened her eyes, her feet was off the ground, at half the level of the auditorium. She gave a little shrill and leaped from nothing towards the beast. The air followed her body posture and brought her behind the beast's head. This time, the creature began to dig its hands into the broken glass and tore open the cement ceiling, roaring at the empty seats of the auditorium. "Hey ugly!" Cornelia shouted out to the monster as it turned away from the auditorium towards the floating girl, "Get away from my school!"

Cornelia then flinged her left hand towards the monster and a huge white beam fired through the beast. With the powerful impact, the monster fell forward and lost its footing. It tumbled into the auditorium, crushing the blue chairs and the big stage. Cornelia didn't know why, but she began to laugh at the monster. Amused by her work, she threw a fist into the air with excitement and glory, until she heard a more devilish laugh behind hers. Cornelia turned behind and saw a blue-haired girl folding her arms, laughing at her.

"Who...who are you?" Cornelia realised that it was neither her friends.

"I'm your worst nightmare!" the girl laughed some more and pointed her index finger towards Cornelia, "Remember my name, descendant of the great Sir Thomas. I am Marabonta. Tell Jason that."

Jason? Cornelia wondered. Shouldn't she have said Tiadora? What does she have against my bro? "You're one of Xana's?" Cornelia managed to ask, but Marabonta smiled and hissed at Cornelia, "I'm not the only one in this school who is."

This time, Marabonta clapped her hands once and a green sphere formed from her palms. In a nanosecond, the sphere grew in size and Marabonta threw the sphere at Cornelia who wasn't as fast as the formation of the attack. The green sphere pricked Cornelia's body as it went through her without a sweat. The pain was unbearable and Cornelia clutched onto her tummy, concentrating on the pain. Cornelia couldn't take it and let go of all resistance of her power as she lost grip on the air and fell.

♥

"Tia, I can't get out," Jason struggled with the damaged door once, "It's stuck!”

David heard Jason saying that the second time. The place was a mess, with all the debris and dirt getting in the auditorium. Tiadora ran to him, panting to say something but David couldn't hear them as he was attending to Sally's scratches with Kiara. He noticed that she looked weird with the dwarf, Grumpy, mask because it made her nose look ten times bigger than her original size. He had laughed at her before the rehearsal, and seeing her like that again made him wanted to laughed out loud, but in this situation, it's better not to. Tiadora came back to their aid along with Jason as Tiadora swept over Sally's minor bruises. "Jason," David wondered as he thought Jason wanted to get his sister, "Where's the Enchantress of Sports?"

"Jason has sent a telepathic message to her," Tiadora said quickly, trying to lift Sally up with Kiara. But both David and Kiara gave that 'huh' look. Tiadora snapped her fingers, "There's a Balistia over there. Let's get a move on unless you want to get squashed."

True enough, the Balistia began to wail in agony, Tiadora noticed, and it looked like it was falling towards them. The building cracked and more debris fell into the auditorium. David caught sight of a chunk of rock falling behind Tiadora, concentrated with his right hand and sent the rock crashing at the door. And on queue, the Balistia fell, tumbling over the many rows of seats. After the mist was cleared, the monster never moved and just laid there motionless. Tiadora dropped Sally on the ground and ordered, "Jason, Kiara combined both of your elements and seal the Balistia's arms and legs. David, you come with me."

"But how are we supposed to get on that thing? It's enormous," Kiara argued.

"Use your imagination. Come along, David!" Tiadora commanded for David to hurry up. He rushed to tag along Tiadora and almost tripped over a broken chair. "Hurry up, David," Tiadora's voice urged him to quicken his pace as she took his hand, ran without turning and eventually stopped at the baseball-shaped hand.

"So, what's the plan, Einstein?" David asked under his breath.

"Who's Einstein?"

"Oh. I had almost forgotten that you're from outer space."

Tiadora rolled her eyes and stared at the Balistia's big hand, "We're going to bury it."

"What?!" David shouted in disbelief, "We don't even know if it's dead."

"It's obviously not dead, so I suggest we put it to sleep."

"It's going to sleep in the soil? What happens when it wakes up?"

"We'll worry when it's time. Right now, once Jason and Kiara have finished securing the beast, I'll need you to visualise something difficult. I need you to erase the whole of the auditorium floor so that the..."

"Are you mad!? You want to bury this thing in the auditorium!?"

"So that when it wakes up, we'll be ready. Trust me," Tiadora pleaded. The same plea David recognised when she had given before jumping off the clock tower. At that time, he couldn't trust her yet. Everything was happening too fast to understand the whole picture and because of him not trusting, he had tried to release her grip from his. But if he had let go, he would have fallen like someone who wanted to commit suicide. He looked back into her blue and green eyes once more and nodded, "Very well, my princess."

David faced back to the monster and looked cunningly back at Tiadora, "Though, you're not my type."

One of Tiadora's eyebrows went up, "What does that mean?"

David chuckled and stared at the teamwork that Kiara and Jason were demonstrating, "Sometimes it's good that you're not from our time."

"And why is that so?" Tiadora asked curiously.

"Cause what I'm going to say next, you won't understand."

"And what would that be?"

"I think, Jason has got the hots for you."

Tiadora definitely didn't understand with that blur face she put on, David thought, and continued staring at Jason and Kiara who were standing on top of the slimy beast. Holding hands with one another and releasing a weird silver beam from their hands. David noticed that the silver beam that came in contact harden, so the arms of the Balistia were literally stuck to its own body. What is that? David pondered for a while till Tiadora pulled his sleeve. "David," Tiadora was looking around in all directions while talking to David, "Where's Cornelia? The plan can't work without her."

"Didn't you say Jason sent her some kind of message?"

"Yes, and so she should have been here few moments ago.”

That's right, David began to realise, where's Cornelia? But his question was soon answered when Jason looked out into the sky and shouted her name. Falling from the skies into the auditorium, Cornelia looked unconscious. David acted fast and the ground below him cracks a circle around him. Soon, the circle spot loosen from the ground and lifted David up. The thin granite disc pushed him forward to the ceiling and managed to catch the damsel in distress.

David knew Cornelia was having volleyball just now as she was still wearing her sleeveless pink jersey and shorts that David thought was too short. He smiled at her flawless face and caught a glimpse of another girl in the air. He instantly recognised her, the girl from the academy's beach. The girl who gave him the icy stare.
Once she saw him, she'd disappear from the scene. David continued to wonder why Xana's troops were trotting around the area as he came down to Tiadora's side. So," David put Cornelia on the ground and faced back to Tiadora, "how deep do you want to bury this thing?"

"So long as there's at least one level of soil apart from the auditorium floor to the Balistia."

"Jason!" David called out to him, "You done?"

"Yep," Jason gave a thumbs-up.

"Then hurry down. We're got to bury it quickly before the principal gets through," Tiadora yelled. And on queue, the police sirens were heard from afar, even the ambulance were noticeable. Once Jason and Kiara reached their side, David clamped his hands together, closed his eyes and concentrated on erasing the auditorium floor. Halfway through his concentration someone took his right hand and gripped it. Then, he felt more power flowing through his veins, tempting him to release it all. Without opening his eyes, he raised both of his hands, ignoring if the one holding his hand disapproved. He felt the energy forcing though his palms and the next thing he knew, a rumble took him off balanced.

David fell on his back and finally opened his eyes. True enough the Balistia was in some kind of a deep pitch black bowl. David had to bend down to look at the Balistia's back. "David, stop daydreaming. We've got to cover this...this...thing," Kiara pulled him back away from the hole.

"It's okay. I'll do it," Tiadora then just slowly waved her right hand and the auditorium was back to normal. With its thousand-blue-seats and clear clean walls, the ceilings was back into one piece like as if it was a jigsaw puzzle. The glass panels were back in place and the stage didn't have anymore fist-shaped holes. Tiadora then bend down to Cornelia and touched her forehead. Automatically, Cornelia's ruffled jersey turned into just-ironed fabric and the dirt on Cornelia's face faded away. When the healing was done, Cornelia shot right up and stared at the auditorium, "Is it me or did a monster actually attack us?"

"It's you," Jason joked and patted her on the back as he brought her up to her feet. "Tia, how did you do that?"

"Yeah, I mean," David interrupted her answer before she could say anything, "if you could have disappear this thing with a dance of your hand, then why ask me to do it?"

"Talk later. Now, we've got to deal with the principal outside," Tiadora said as she took Sally's arm around her shoulder.

"Don't forget policemen," David reminded.

"What's a policeman?"

Without explanation, they got out of the auditorium at the main doors, which they were greeted by the many policemen. The police stopped them in their escape and allowed the chief through the uniformed sergeants, into the auditorium. As the chief entered, Jason tried to squeeze through the men but they just threw him banging on the door. "Think you're some tough guy, sport," the police who bashed him to the wall shouted in his face.

"Oh yeah," Jason answered back rudely, "I'm a way tougher guy than you, and that's more than a fact. Want me to show it to you in your face?"

With that, Tiadora worried that Jason would just lose control and tell them everything. So she came in front of Jason and tried pulling the police's hand away from Jason's jacket, "Stop it please. Can we get help? A girl is unconscious here."

The policeman just pushed her back to her and glared back at Jason, "Who are you, boy? Looks like someone's father gonna get a crime report about his son."

"Who've got no idea who my father is."

The policeman laughed and made a pretend-sacred sound, "Ooo. I'm scared. Tell me the name and I make sure he gets it."

"It's Kingston, you hotshot," Jason hissed in his face with a evil smug on Jason's face, "I'm Jason Theodore Kingston! And the one receiving the crime report ain't me, but you, buddy. And I won't be surprised seeing you in jail for injuring me."

Instantly, the policeman let go of his grip on Jason and walked away, hiding among the other policemen. Jason, though, wasn't done with him yet, "Remember that crime report, we talking about? Well, don't worry about it cause I've memorised your name from your badge.”

Tiadora quickly covered his mouth with her hand and gave a shut-up look. Jason obeyed like a puppy. By then, the chief came out angry and stormed to the guardians, "What happened to the monster and the auditorium?"

"What are you talking about?" Kiara tried to act clueless but was very not convincing.

"When my men came to the school, the auditorium was in pieces and the principal was able to take a few pictures of the beast," the chief then grew angry, "We got here, saw the damn thing and when we enter the crime scene, you all came out and there's no hard evidence that it was there in the first place!! Explain it to me, boy!! I don't care if you're the Kingston's son or whatever. I wanna know what the hell you did back there."

Cornelia came up with an idea and was about to tell the chief but Tiadora stopped her, giving her an assuring nod. Tiadora stepped forward and took a deep breath, "We were rehearsing an act before it came. I mean, look at me and my nose. And him and her." Tiadora pointed to both David and Kiara before continuing, "Don't we look like some people performing? Anyway, after about thirty minutes, a monster was punching through the ceiling. And after a while it just fell and tumbled over the whole auditorium. At that time, most of the students have already gone. We were about to leave when we found out that our friend," Tiadora pointed at Sally who was being carried by David now. "Our friend was stuck inbetween the fallen rocks, and all of a sudden, the monster disappeared and the auditorium became normal again. The end."

"Then you lot look like a bunch of brave souls," the chief couldn't believe what he heard from them.

"Look!" Tiadora's rage finally flared, "Sally's injured! Now are you going to stand there and let her bleed or help us?!"

Like robots, the policemen acted on like as if they were remote controlled, taking Sally in their hands and dashing out of the scene. David guessed that they've given up asking them about the Balistia as they were ushered down outside where he finally saw again the school. The new principal looked like she'd wanted to cry, seeing that the first day of her job turns into a monstrous disaster. But when she saw the guardians coming out of the auditorium, her smile was up and running as she came to hug everyone of them. David detested the fragrant smell from Mdm. Marinda's perfume and was relieved that his turn was over. He was about to turn to the crowd when someone had punched on his back, hearing a familiar voice, "David! What a surprise."

David dreaded to look as he’s got no alternative as the new student was grinning from side-to-side. It was one of the new pupils and David couldn't recognise the guy as how he'd known him. And when realisation struck him, David backed away for a few steps and gasped, "Austin?"

"That's me! And, man, have you grown," Austin gave a friendly patt on the back but David didn't acknowledge it. Austin looked taken aback but flashed a smile, "What's the matter? Afraid that I'll shoot someone again?"

"What...what are you doing here?"

"To settle a score. Someone here needs to be taken down. You up for it? For old time's sake."

"No. I'm not that person anymore," David grew tense and scared.

"What do you mean, pal? I thought we made that pledge together."

"Well, good news," David started to walk away from him. "Haven't you heard that I quit?"

And when David finally managed to get back to Tiadora and the others, Austin chuckled and hissed quietly, "But, Vincent, once a killer, always a killer.”

Chapter 21: First Day Of School

"Ladies and gentlemen, it has been a great honour in serving Kadic for eight years and it is time for me to take learning to a new level. I'll be flying to Australia to further my studies and be awarded the Bachelors Scholarship. Till then, I'll leave you in the safe hands of my most trusted colleague, Mdm Marinda," Mr. Galili ended his speech as Mdm Marinda took the mike from him. The school's auditorium was filled with students once more, and the gathering was the first moment together after the one-week break. Mr. Galili had made an announcement yesterday night to inform the students of the talk and everyone gleamed with excitement.

Jason slouched back in his seat, resisting the temptation not to put his feet over the front seat. They were all seated according to their classes now, though Cornelia was diagonally behind him, chatting away with her other non-guardian friends. Ian slapped Jason's back to get his attention from his daydreaming once more, "What's up with you, rich boy? Hitting on the new principal, I see."

"Now that you've mentioned it, she's not that bad," Jason gave him a sly smile.

"Yeah! I mean look at the size of her butt. Wow."

Jason shifted uncomfortably in his seat when Ian said that, "Talk like that, and my sister will never go to the prom with you."

"Aw man! C'mon! Your sister's the bomb. Like I told you before, she's been my crush since pre-school."

True, Jason thought. Ian had been his childhood playmate too. Met when they were only 3 years old but Ian's parents migrated to 5 years Kadic before Jason did. Jason drew his attention to the stage. He couldn't wait seeing Tiadora come up and be introduced as a new student. He knew that she won't have a hard time getting to know everyone as she and Sally looks identical. Thinking about Sally made him felt like he wants to puke. All she ever wants was to get notice as the luckiest girl in the school. It was already a bold move to dye her entire hair all light pink and the thing the Jason doesn't like about her, was that she always swayed her hair whenever she's beside or near him and it was very irritating.

"Now, I'll have this honour of introducing to you the new students of Kadic Academy!" Mdm. Marinda sent the crowd applauding as five kids graced the stage. A princess, two chicks and two dudes, Jason wondered cunningly as the two chicks drew his gaze and smiled flirtatiously at him. Ian punched him, “Whoa. Barely a minute in this school and they’re checking you out, dude! Share me your wisdom.”

Jason laughed at that one. Ian seldom calls Jason the smart one because Ian saw himself as a person as high as Jason. Ignoring his curious thoughts, Jason winked at both of the girls in response and they sink in paradise of his gaze. The names and description that Mdm Marinda described were clear and interesting, “Melody De Fouton, a French student who is here on a special scholarship. She will be joining the class 9-A. Next, Austin Davis, a student from Cross Academy here to take on the special courses that unfortunately, is not available in our neighbour’s environment. He will be in 10-B. Third, Tiadora Sanders, an overseas student from Australia who wants to continue her studies with her sister instead. She will take classes with 9-C.”

Australia? Why Kiara did came up with that? Jason wondered as he felt it was an unproductive reason. “Up next is Ulrich Princeton, another European student who is in one of the richest families in the world. 10-A, please welcome Ulrich with open arms. Last but definitely not the least, Chloe Ames, a dropout student from her previous school. I trust you won’t vandalise the walls with ‘I Love Justin Timberlake’ in our school, am I right?”

The girl vigorously nodded, ending the introduction speech for students. Just when Jason thought everything was over, a well-dressed man walked up to the stage and stood beside Madam Marinda. The principal smiled and held the microphone to her mouth again, “And here is a new English teacher which you will all address him as Mr. Alex. He will be teaching most of the nine graders during his time here.”

And after minutes of goodbyes and farewells passed, classes resumed as per normal. Jason took his place after taking his hand-scan from the sliding entrance of his classroom. His sister took her seat beside him and played with her volleyball again. Doesn’t she ever get tired of that thing? The thought always flowed back whenever she played with herself which is always every time. He watched her do a round toss over her head until the teacher’s voice boomed through the classroom, “Students, let us all welcome one of the newcomers of the school. Come in here, young man.”

Everyone forward from their seats to take their first glance at the new student. Even Jason was eager to meet the new kid, and on queue the boy came in as he brushed his bronze hair to the side. “Yo! I’m Ulrich Princeton! Nice to meet ya’ll.”

★

“I’m glad that you agreed to come back,” David whispered to Kiara who was in front of his desk, talking about the time when Kiara was about to quit as a guardian. “I thought you really wanted to bail, knowingly that irresponsible attitude of yours.”

“I am not irresponsible. Just a slow-learner, that’s all. Who knew I could see into the future,” Kiara whispered back.

“Me, myself and I. Though I’m worried about what you saw that day, about your stalker.”

“Tiadora said that the visions don’t come in sequence. I could see a 100-year-later vision now and a one-day-later vision after that. Weird, right?”

“If you mean that you saw yourself being stabbed one hundred years later, then of course it’s weird. A person like you won’t bear looking at herself in the mirror once you’re 115 years old.”

“Hey! I’ll be on of the most beautiful old lady at that point of time.”

"Whatever..." David shifted the attention to Tiadora who now sits beside him. "Yo!"

Too loud. The Literature teacher, Ms Serena, snapped her head back to the students and eyed David square in the face. Her plum body seemed too big for her cardigan as she took two steps forward and frowned, "Vincent! I understand that Tiadora is a new student but there's a time for talk and a time for listening. Were you listening, Mr. Fields? Can you repeat to me the title that the class will be acting in?"

"Romeo and Juliet?" David tried guessing the obvious.

"Incorrect. Kiara help your unattentive classmate."

Kiara leaned back and finished the touches on her high ponytail as she smiled, "We're doing a Snow White play."

"Excellent," Ms Serena complimented, "A Snow White play will be very interesting, rather than the usual Romeo and Juliet. I have already decided the characters for everyone that includes our two new students." Ms Serena started passing out pieces of paper to the students which held their parts for the play. David snatched his slip before Kiara could get it from the front and slouch back onto his chair as he concentrated on the words on the paper.

David Vincent Fields: The Prince.

The Prince? David frowned in disappointment. He didn't want to have a big part in this, having the audience tempting to throw food when he's acting. David tapped Tiadora's shoulder to see her character, and then he asks for Kiara's character. "Why do you and Tiadora have good parts?" David made himself sound very symphatetic as he folded his paper in half.

Kiara eyed him, "Being a dwarf is not a good part."

"What does the reindeer do in this story?" Tiadora asked, puzzled in her part of the play.

"It's one of the animals that Snow White is friends with. You'll just have to act as an animal," Kiara winked and turned her attention back to David, "What about yours, Prince Charming?"

"How did you know I'm the prince?" David said sarcastically as he watched Kiara’s jaw drop in shock. A high pitch voice came from the other end of the classroom, sounding excited. Sally got up from her seat and tried to catch Ms Serena's attention, "Madam, who is the Prince?"

"Maybe you can ask Vincent that."

I hate it when she calls me by my middle name, David thought. Makes me so eew. "Why can't we ask some of class 10-A students??" Sally eagerly asked.

"Those students have already gone through their moments last year," Ms Serena started to sit down when the bell rang as the students wasted no time in leaving.

♫

Tiadora walked into the cafeteria and found the air-conditioned room crowded even though it was bigger than the auditorium. She remembered Kiara's teachings on taking her meal from the 'lunch-lady'. "The food is already paid for as you enter the school," Tiadora recalled her saying, and when asked who paid for it, Kiara wouldn't tell. Tiadora took a yellow tray and joined the line of students waiting as she scanned through the food laid out. She was surprised that people eat in three stages here, appetizer, main course and desert. When Tiadora reached to the lunch lady, she was confused what to get. She could tell that the lady across her was getting impatient but decided to ask Tiadora in a nice manner, "What do you crave for today?"

"Give her the Asian Chicken Rice," Jason spoke for her from behind, "It's my favourite. You should give it a try." The lunch lady smiled at Jason as she lays out the plate of rice with the cut chicken and a bowl of soup. Tiadora turned around with her tray to face Jason and murmured, "Thanks."

"No problem. Hey. Sit with me?" Jason asked with his face close to hers. The nod from Tiadora made Jason snatch away her tray and grabbed her hand, ushering her towards another crowded table. From afar, Tiadora could recognise some students. Kiara and Cornelia were chatting with some other students whom Tiadora could see, were Ian and Bobby. Once they reached, Jason sat beside Tiadora, still holding her hand. Tiadora noticed Sally stood up from her seat and shifted on Jason's left seat, everyone turned quiet. Jason smiled, "This is Tiadora, a new student. She's one of us now. Lets toast."

From frowns, it turned to smiles and cheers as the ten other students on the table toast their cans and spill their drinks. Tiadora enjoyed the company though it was an unfamiliar custom to it, she felt appreciated. Jason went through the list of his pals. Tiadora tried remembering them by their 'special' feature. Ian's the one with the crooked smile, Tiadora thought over it again. Sally's the one with the pink hair and the same face. Shaniqua ties her blond hair in two ponytails. Bobby is the tallest among them. Daniel, or as Jason calls him, Danny, is the one with the yellow cat eyes. Isabella has the multi-coloured finger nails and Edward with a banana-shaped scar on his hand.

But all, including Kiara and Cornelia, had a colourful wristband wrapped around their left wrist. Jason's friendship band. Maybe he'll pass it to me later; Tiadora spared a positive thought for herself. She then realised that there was someone missing. Someone who should be here. Tiadora craned her head towards Jason and pulled his folded sleeve as she asked, "Where's David?"

The noise stopped from the table and confused eyes were on Tiadora. Nobody said a word till Ian said out loud, "Goth-zilla is not one of us."

"Goth-zilla? Jason, what are they talking about?" Tiadora stared with pleading eyes.

"During..." Jason tried crafting his words carefully in front of everyone, "school time, David doesn't really hang out with us."

"But isn't he your friend?"

"No," Jason said aloud but his expression was a sad one.

☆

Jason kicked his coke can again as he stared at the volleyball court where Cornelia kept her cool. The other girls kept on missing the ball as all eyes were on Jason, the heartthrob. Cornelia laughed silently at their distraction and continued being in the lead. But after a while, Jason felt bored just standing there, looking pretty. He had heard from David, via sms, that their class will be acting Snow White. He scratched his head in wonder, why Snow White? Last year's memories flowed back when he played as Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet.
Initially many of his classmates, mostly girls, voted him for the Romeo position but Ms Serena, the same Literature teacher as David’s, had decided to give the hero's post to someone else. The piercing scream tore him from his flashback. This scream was so familiar, he'd recognised it anywhere. It was Sally's. Jason rushed to the auditorium where class 9-C was having their rehearsals and where the scream was from.

Once there, Jason forced open the blue doors and looked upon the dressed students. Some were clad with fur and feathers while a few dressed in weird long costumes. Jason spotted David, who was wearing a rather stunning knight's armour, just standing there in front of Sally. "Yo. What's up?" Jason came from behind David.

"What's up?!" Jason heard Ms Serena's angered voice from one of the seats, "How many times have I spoken to you kids before. No hip-hop language in any of my classes!" But soon, Ms. Serena blasts a fierce gaze towards Sally and growled, "What's the matter with you, Sally? Is there a problem?"

Sally moved away from David but kept staring into Jason's eyes. Her face, Jason thought, so similar to Tiadora's in every way. That soft feeling made him smile, making Sally think that the smile was for her. Ms. Serena repeated herself once more, bringing the attention back to the Snow White play. "Ms. Serena," Sally almost hissed, "How could David be...be the PRINCE when I'm the princess?!"

Jason heard someone corrected Sally from behind, 'Snow White'. He turned around to look at a girl kneeling on the floor in a brown-fur coat with two branch-like sticks attached to a hair band that was worn on her head. Jason instantly recognised the girl behind the painted-red nose. He took her hand, brought her up and pushed her back into the curtains where they were alone in the dark. "You?" that was all Jason could say.

Tiadora giggled, "You."

"Nice outfit."

"It's itchy. I'd prefer Kiara's night gown better."

"Hey you should wear that one more. It looks good on you."

"But it makes me feel all tingling inside, and that's not a good feeling at all."

Jason laughed at her, "It'll go away. Oh hey listen. About just now. When I said that David wasn't my friend, well I lied."

"Why do you have to lie to your friends? Don't all of them have that friendship band which indicates 'Jason's friend'?" Tiadora wondered aloud, giving him the hint.

"Life in the 21st Century isn't as simple as your time. People here judge other people for their looks instead of their attitude, and unfortunately, David had accidentally gotten himself hated by many people."

"Accidentally gotten himself hated?"

"Didn't Kiara tell you about the cheerleader incident before we left for Iceland?"

"Because of that? I really don't understand. Didn't that cheerleader girl already gradiate?"

"You mean, graduate? Well yeah but many cheerleaders have respect for that cheerleader cause she's pretty skillful. And hot."

"Kiara said that that cheerleader was a bitc..."

"Ah-ah-ah," Jason placed a finger onto her lips to shush her, "remember what Ms. Serena said. ‘No hip-hop language in my class' "

"A-hem! Theodore!" Ms. Serena stood a feet away from their position. That was when Jason realised that he had been holding onto both of Tiadora's hands, standing so close to her. Quickly, he let go of her hands and took a step back. Ms. Serena stormed towards them. Tiadora looked down like as if she was being scolded but Ms. Serena glared at Jason instead. "Are you done talking, Theodore?"

"It's Jason, Ms. Serena," Jason tried to say.

"Aren't you Jason Theodore Kingston? I can call you Jason or Theodore so don't try to defy, Theodore! Out of my class."

"But...but..." Jason didn't get to finish his sentence as the ground shake. His fears sent on alert as he looked at Tiadora for an explanation. He could sense that it was no normal earthquake.

BRAWL!! A hoarse noise came right outside the auditorium and scared everyone in the set. Again, Sally yelled out a cry because through the glass ceiling at the stage, she laid her eyes on a grayish-green hand about to be thrown forward to the glass. “Sally, watch out!” David shouted at her when the glass began to crack, but Sally just stood there watching the monster continue in its attempt. And soon, the shards fell straight for her face.

David threw himself forward and pushed Sally away from the glass as the pieces dropped to the wooden stage. Tiadora pulled Jason to follow her to David’s aid and once there Sally had fainted in shock. Tiadora touched Sally’s forehead and closed her eyes. Nothing happened but Jason and David knew what was going through. The monster wailed louder as Jason asked Tiadora in a frantic voice, “What’s happening, Tiadora? One of the sacred animals?”

“Far from it,” Tiadora yelled as the noise was loud. The fist of the monster finally got through the broken glass and made a hole in the middle of the stage. Kiara came from the back curtains and crouch down to their level. The creature then put through its fingers in the glass opening and pulled open the rest of the cement ceiling like as if it was a piece of paper. Finally, Tiadora got to see the face of the monster clearer. Analyzing the features correctly, she shake Jason’s sleeve, “Get Cornelia. A Balistia has attacked the school!”