Monachi: Masters of Water and Fire (14 page)

Ten minutes to save the Earth from certain
death.
We
got straight down to business. Tess
began to chant her age-old spell;

“We want to fly way up high.
Fly us high, fly us low.
Fly us as fast as a crow!”

Tess began to fly towards our destination,
Lake Lowell.
possible
(or
We flew as quickly as humanly
I
guess
Monachi
possible;
but

Once we got there, Tess didn’t even have to
say it; we landed. Jumping the gates, we ran over
to the lake. I jumped into the water until I was
knee deep in it. Tess came in next, and stood to
my right side, and Liam followed behind.

We all looked at the fire ball. Liam checked
his watch. “Five minutes until the Earth is
destroyed,” he said.

I
took a deep breath. What if the plan
doesn’t work and the world explodes?
I raised my hand. “Do you know if it’s
going to work?” I asked.
“No. We’re kind of just guessing here,” he
replied.
“Good enough for me.”
I sent a pump of water shooting at the
fireball and held the water steady.
The water stopped it, but I didn’t see it go
out. I sent another pump; surely two will take
care of it.
It still didn’t go out.
“Your
plan is going swimmingly,” Tess
scowled sarcastically as she turned to Liam.
“What did I do?” he asked with a hint of
panic in his voice.
“You thought of this defective plan!”
I kept focus. I couldn’t be distracted by
their debate. I had an idea.
Maybe an ice ball would put it out.
Without even including them in this plan, I
used my mind and somehow, in some mystical
way,
told
the water to freeze; and suddenly froze
the water that surrounded the fire ball.
Tess gazed back at the fireball and noticed
that it got darker. Then she glanced back at me
staring intently at the fire ball, shot another
glimpse at the fireball and then at me again, and
shouted in a panicked voice, “Maddy, what did
you do?”
“I had to use my head to think of a better
way!” I reacted.
“Good job! Now a gigantic ball of ice will
kill the earth! It wasn’t the fire that was going to
destroy the earth, it was the impact! Now it has
even more
density!”
I looked at the ball of ice. Nice job Maddy,
you’re ending the world.

While other families got to spend their last
moments on earth together, I got to spend the end
of the world at a lakeside,
panicking,
with a
stranger and my best friend.

Tess held up her hand, but then hesitated.
“Won’t it just become a fireball again?” she asked.
“We can only hope that this will be the last
time we see a ball of
whatever
coming towards
us.”
Tess nodded. It was time for her to give it a
try. She shot flames out of her hands as if they
were a flamethrower. It hit the ice ball, and I let
go of the water that was holding it up. This was
Tess’s job now.
It felt like we were out there for hours
watching the flames wrap around the ice ball.
“C’mon melt…” I said, hoping we just didn’t
create
another
fireball.
When
life
gives you a
gigantic ice ball, fight it with fire.
Finally, chunks of ice began falling off the
ball, and dropping into the lake. Chunk by chunk,
ice kept on falling into the water.
I hugged Tess, even though flames were
still
coming out of
her
hands
and told her,
“You’re brilliant! You know that right?”
“I know,” she replied.
We
both
just
stood
there
like
flame
shooting, water freezing, hugging fools.
After
I
finally
stopped hugging Tess, I
noticed that Liam had left us.
Whatever!
I bet he
was going to claim all the credit; saying that he
destroyed the ice/fireball. But I didn’t care, I was
alive.
We were all alive!
And I was with my best friend.
I watched the last remains of the ice ball fall
into the lake. I was so happy! We saved mankind!
Tess looked at me as the last chunk of ice
fell into the lake. “We did it!” she yelled.
“You did it really, I almost destroyed the
world,” I countered.
“You meant well. And you were a part of
it.”
We hugged each other again.
I’ve heard some people say that if you hang
out with your friends for an extended period of
time, you’ll get sick of each other, and start
fighting. Tess and I never fought; after all, we
needed each other’s company, especially during
times like these.
Tess didn’t even have to say the spell. She
snapped
her fingers, and we began to rise. I
highfived
her and said, “You’ve got this flying thing
down!”
We flew back home and landed in my back
yard. Tess looked down at the hole. Couldn’t she
just go back home the normal way? Like a normal
human being? You’re talking about Tess though,
right?
“Do you think we should take a break
from each other for a few days, and just hang out
with our families?” she asked.
I nodded with a smiley agreement.
“I’ll see you soon,” I told her.
After
Tess
crawled
into the hole
and
disappeared, I
headed inside. The house
was
dark, and my parents were asleep. I felt my way
through the house, bumping into an occasional
piece
of furniture of course, found my way
through the dining room and into the kitchen. I
fondled around for a bit, and grabbed a candle
that was lying on the kitchen counter.
I remember this candle, though it’s always
been in my room. It was a pink candle with rose
patterns wrapped around the wick on top. Tess
had given this candle to me for my birthday last
year. I found my way to the gas stove, turned the
flame on, and lit the candle.
With the candle guiding my way, I walked
upstairs and went into my room. I sat down on
my bed, let out a big sigh, and placed the candle
on its stand. It felt so good to be home, to be in
my own room again. I
crawled into my bed
wrapping the covers around me safe and snug.
My
bed was so comfortable, especially
my
favorite pink pillow.
Sleep didn’t come easy though.
My thoughts kept racing for the next few
hours,
thinking
about
everything
that
had
happened lately. Thoughts like, ‘
Where did Liam
disappear too? Will I ever see ghost Penny again? Will
those pesky government agents finally leave us alone?
And more.
I suppose only time will tell.
As the candle flame burned the wax down
to the nub, making a fizzle sound before going
out, I fell asleep.

“If it’s supposed to be global
warming,
then
why is it so cold that I have to wear a snowsuit to
keep warm?”

This is what Tess told the man who was
trying
to sell
her
a magazine
about
global
warming and the coming apocalypse.

I pulled her away from the guy. “I’m so
sorry,” I told him as we left.
We continued walking down Shopper’s
Square. “Focus,” I told her. “Remember what we
came here for.”
She nodded.
We came here to get an outdoor pool that
we’ve been saving up for. I know it seems out of
place to buy one in the winter, but we wanted to
get it before we wasted our money on something
else.
We walked into
Wal-Mart and started
looking around. It was like trying to find a needle
in a haystack, and the haystack was a mile high
and just as wide. Tess finally shouted, “Maddy
get over here!”
I ran over there expecting to find a pool.
But no, I found something even better.
We found a book on
Monachis
.
Tess snatched it, and read its cover aloud.
“Everything you ever wanted to know about
Monachis
.”
I grabbed one too, and told her, “A pool
can wait until the spring. We need this
now!
”
We went up to the cashier. “Excuse me…” I
began, but stopped. You would not believe who it
was.
“Liam!” Tess shouted.
Liam started staring. “You two. I haven’t
seen you girls in a while!”
I said, “It’s been six months. Where have
you been?”
“Six months since you two saved the
world. That’s crazy!”
“We wouldn’t have saved the world if we
didn’t know it needed saving. You’re the one
who showed us the fireball.”
“The media is still wondering what
happened that night. The water
pump, the
freezing, and the flame throwing; It’s all still a
mystery to everyone.”
The people behind us were beginning to
grow impatient. We put our books on the
counter. Liam glanced at the books and then at us
as if we were crazy. He finally rang the books up
and said, “$16.50 is your total.” Tess and I split
the cost equally, giving him $8.25 each. Liam put
the books in a bag. “Enjoy your books!” he
remarked.
We walked out and started heading home.
It was about two miles away, but any walking
distance for us isn’t much at all. Ever since we
walked (and flew) across country a couple of
times, we found any walk easy enough.
When we got Tess’s house we went straight
up to her room. Using a lighter, she lit a candle.
We took our books out of the bag. “Why don’t
you just light the candle using your powers?” I
asked.
“Until I can fully control them, I don’t use
them in the house. Too much of a risk.” She
answered. She tossed my book to me.
I caught it and flipped to “Chapter One.”

“Smile for the camera!” my mom said as
she held up her iPod.
“I think that’s enough photos,” I told her as
I snatched it away.
Tess and I had just graduated high school.
Tess was still taking pictures with her dad. She
held up her diploma. She graduated with straight
A’s.
After
Tess
told her
dad “enough,”
she
joined me over by my VW car that I called ‘
the
Blue Bug.’
Tess had a red car of the same model,
which she called her
‘Red Bug.’
“Hey Maddy, did
your parents take a ton of pictures too?” she
asked.
“Only my mom and I had to take away her
iPod,” I told her while holding up my mom’s
iPod.
She snatched it away. “Hey, Mrs. Webber,
catch!” she yelled as she threw it.
My mom
caught
it. “Thanks Tess!”
she
yelled.
Tess looked back at me and asked, “Wanna
go swimming?”
I thought about it.
“Sure, why not?” I replied.
“Meet you at home!” Tess remarked.
I got in my car. I was happy that I even had
this thing. My parents got it for
me
for
my
birthday. I decorated the inside of it. It had a blue
steering wheel cover, and blue seat covers.
I drove around town, still trying to get
used to such a far move. We had moved to San
Diego about two months ago. My dad got a new
job here, so we moved. Tess was pretty upset that
I was moving, so her parents suggested that she
move to San
Diego
too. After
convincing my
parents, Tess got to come live with us. Tess’s
parents weren’t going to let her go at first, but
Tess was eighteen anyway so she got to decide if
she wanted to go or not.
When I got home, I saw Tess’s car parked
in the driveway. I
went inside and
dashed
upstairs. I burst into my room and quickly got
changed into my bikini. When I looked into the
mirror, I noticed how much had changed since I
was twelve. My once shoulder-length blonde hair
was now down to the middle of my back, just
how Addie’s used to be. I had grown about
another five inches as well.
I wasn’t the only one who had changed a
bunch. Tess’s hair had grown like weeds. Her
hair was now five inches below her waist. She
had grown about six inches; we were both about
the same height.
I left my room and knocked on Tess’s door.
“One second!” she shouted. About a
minute later she answered the door. “Come in,”
she said, opening the door wider.
Her
cat,
‘carrot-top’
started
brushing up
against my leg. I leaned down and petted her. She
called her
‘carrot-top’
because she was an orange
cat with a green cap that Tess had made for her.
“Hey carrot-top!” I remarked as she stared,
purring. Tess’s cat was paranoid; she never left
Tess’s room.
Tess
was just finishing
up untying
the
braid she had in her hair. “Yes?” she asked as she
put the rubber band around her wrist.
“Almost ready to go?” I asked her.
“Yeah, just let me feed carrot-top.”
As soon
as carrot-top heard
‘feed’
she
started meowing, and ran over to her food bowl.
Tess went over to the mini-fridge that she had in
her room, and pulled out a can of tuna. She took
the lid off and poured the tuna into the bowl.
“Eat up carrot-top, I’m going to the beach.”
We left her
room and went to my car.
Tess’s fiery red bikini and my aqua blue bikini
surely looked odd. As we were driving to the
beach, Tess
plugged her
iPod into my car. I
turned it up and we listened to some Katy Perry
songs.
After about ten minutes, we made it to the
private beach.
We began to mess around. Tess pushed me
into the water. “Oh, so that’s how it is,” I said. I
took her hands and threw her into the waves.
She came back up. “Jerk! You’re a jerk!”
“I know.”
We cracked up laughing. It may not be that
funny, but when you’re deprived from sleep,
anything is funny. We had been staying up late
these last few days studying for finals.
Tess
got out
of
the
water
and
started
running to the car. “What are you doing?” I
yelled.
She opened the trunk, ignoring me. She
took out our snorkels. “Time to go under!” she
yelled as she shut the trunk.
When she came back to the sand she tossed
me a pair. I put the gear on and went under. Tess
was already down there. We swam out a couple
of yards and started looking at all the fish.
Tess tried to catch one, but failed.
After snorkeling for about ten minutes, we
rose above water level, and swam back to shore.
We took our snorkels off and left them to dry in
the sand. We laid down in half wet and half dry
sand.
After
a
few
moments,
Tess
stated
“Wouldn’t it be nice if we could do this every
day?”
I raised an eyebrow at her. What was she
suggesting? “What do you mean?” I asked.
“I’m just saying it would be nice if we
could go to the beach every day, sometimes just
sitting there with
our summer
dresses and
wearing big hats, watching the waves.”
“Tess, I know you all too well to know that
isn’t
just
a
statement.
Any
time
you
say
something like that, you have a plan.”
“Fine. I was going to pitch the idea to you
about us moving away from here, and moving to
Hawaii.”
Was she crazy? I looked at her and said,
“Tess, we just moved here. We’ve barely been
here two months, and you’re already suggesting
moving?”
“Not right now, silly.
If we start saving
up
now, we could
eventually move there. It would be nice, don’t
you think?”
I thought about it. I loved swimming, so
Hawaii would be perfect. “But what about our
parents? If we moved there we wouldn’t see them
too often. We’d probably only see them like twice
a year, if we’re lucky,” I told her.
“Maddy, you’re not a little kid anymore.
We have to move eventually, so why not plan
ahead?” she replied.
She won. Logic beat me.
We got up from where we were. We were
covered head to toe, in sand. Tess jumped into the
water to get all the sand off her body. I followed
her into the water.
Once we got it all off, we grabbed our
snorkels and went back to the car. We tossed
them into the trunk, and grabbed our towels. We
put them on the seats, and sat down.
The ride home started awkwardly silent.
“So, what made you think of Hawaii?” I asked,
trying to break the silence.
“Oh, you know, stuff.”
“What
stuff
, just tell me.”
“Well, we were in the water having tons of
fun. We both love water, we both love fun, Water
made me think of islands, and islands made me
think of Hawaii; a magical place
full of fiery
volcanoes, beautiful water, and a place full of
supernatural myths. It sounds so
Monachi
. Then I
thought, ‘Hey if we lived in Hawaii we could do
this every day.’ Thus, my idea sprouted.”
Tess’s brain works in weird ways, but it
partly made sense. I mean, it would be cool to
live there. We would feel truly at home.
Once we got home, I knew I would have to
present this idea to my parents. I took a deep
breath; this argument could go either
way. It
could be good, and they could say that it was a
good idea; or it could be bad, and take days of
begging. We would just have to leave out the
Monachi
part. That’s between us.
When we got home and parked
in
the
driveway, we both stayed in the car for a while. I
turned the car off so I wouldn’t waste gas, or
pollute the air.
“Are we ready to take the possible
heat of coming up with a somewhat silly idea?”
I
thought to myself, as I sent the mind message to
Tess.
I got a mind message back.
“Let’s do this!”
I grabbed my things from the car,
clicked
the key remote until I heard a
beep
, and went into
the house. I looked around and noticed that my
parents weren’t home yet, so I ran upstairs to take
a shower and get into some clean clothes.
By the time I reached the top of the stairs
and to the bathroom, I realized Tess had beaten
me to it. I banged on the door. “Take a quick
shower, I don’t want to wait!”
I heard a reply, “I’ll try!”
That meant that I was going to be waiting
another thirty minutes.
While I was waiting, I went to my room. I
lit a candle; the same candle I lit the night I
officially got home after that awful ordeal five
years ago. I stared at it for what seemed a long,
long time, as the flame danced around the melted
wax forming a smooth puddle of liquid roses.
Whew, the memories that candle held. If it could
only talk. Just then, I felt a cold breeze go
through
me,
and heard in a faint sound… “
Maddy.
”
Are you serious? Am I losing my mind?
Was it Tess
mind
messaging me from
the
bathroom? No, that wasn’t Tess. Penny, is that
you; after all these years? Nothing. No response.
No breeze. No voices, or
whispers. Just the
flickering candle. I shook it off as crazy, and went
to get on my computer when I heard the shower
turn off.
I guess for once in her life, Tess actually did
take a short shower. I ran out of my room and
headed for the bathroom at the end of the hall. I
heard Tess’s toothbrush turn on and off. Tess
opened the bathroom door shortly after, with a
towel wrapped around her body, and one around
her hair. She stuck her tongue out at me. I gave
her a quick smile, and nudged her out the door.
I prepared a really hot shower, steaming up
the bathroom. I climbed in, cleaned up quickly,
and then got out. When I went to brush my teeth
I noticed something on the mirror; drawn from
the steam and dripping the pattern down the
mirror in water droplets. It was some sort of
symbol; it looked like fire, yet looked like water,
meshed into a circle pattern. Where did that come
from? Tess? Penny? And just as I was pondering
where it came from, it disappeared. Just like that.
Gone. The mirror was back to just a solid, steamy
nothing
.
Tess and I need to have a talk for sure. But
it can wait, for now.
After brushing my teeth, I tied my hair up
in a towel, threw a large pink towel around my
body and went to my room. I got into my nightie,
sat on my bed and brushed my hair.
I heard the front door open and close. My
parents were home. I went out of my room, and
knocked on Tess’s door. “Hey Tess they’re home.
Time to go, present the
idea,
” I told her, hoping
she was in there, and that I wasn’t just talking to a
door.
She came out
seconds
later, with her
nightie on.
We went downstairs and braced ourselves.
I went up to my mom. I tapped her shoulder.
“Yes Maddy?” she asked, as she turned
around.
I glanced at Tess and winked. We mind
messaged a countdown; Three… two…
one…
and in unison, said;
“Hey, what do you think of the idea of us
moving to Hawaii?”