Preternatural (Worlds & Secrets) (8 page)

“
Here you go, guys. Just go and make the phone call and I’m pretty sure your mother will be here in no time,” she said, still beaming at us. We advanced into the room and looked around. The room had a natural vibe to it: dark ebony floorboards with different tones of a nature brown and a flowerpot in each corner of the room where long exotic green plants with broad leaves were planted. The warm amber dimmer lights were on due to the horrible greying sky outside that grew blacker by the minute. Suddenly, as if my head had been forcefully turned to stare at it, a wilting plant in a glass, water-filled vase on the table caught my attention.

Now it was probably just me and my
overactive imagination – or maybe the confusion was getting to me – but I could have sworn I noticed a leaf starting to sprout ever so slowly. Concurrently the flower seemed slightly greener than a few seconds before. My eyes grew larger until Miss Fanwall snapped me out of my sudden trance.

“
Aden, are you okay? It seems as if – well it almost looks as if your eyes have turned green?” Miss Fanwall was unsure and foggy about the situation. She didn’t know exactly what she was seeing.

“
What?” I asked.

“
Oh, never mind actually. Just go and make your phone call,” she said, gesturing to the telephone. I pushed myself past Jaden and Jade.

“
Will you call or should I?” I asked my brother.

“
You
should. I don’t really know how to start explaining this to mum,” Jaden said undertone. I went to the phone and dialled mum’s mobile number. “It’s ringing,” I said to the others.

Almost immediately,
I heard a phone ringing outside the office, at which point I turned around cautiously. Mum suddenly walked in as if it was the most perfectly ordinary thing in the world and began talking to Miss Fanwall. I slowly hung up the phone with my mind perplexed. I looked at Jaden, who was just as stunned as I was.

“
Mum,” I let go of the phone, “how did you get here so fast?” I asked.

“
Well, I came to see Mr Leery.” Our faces were enough to tell mum we were lost.

“Mr Leery? B
ut it seems like you wanted to call me. Why? What’s wrong?” she quizzed. Jaden and I looked at each other. I pinched Jaden on the back and gesticulated to mum with my head discretely.

“
Ow,” he silently said.

“
Oh, right. Erm, mum, I have a toothache. So can I please go home?” Jaden asked, his sentence seeming so blatantly plain that he winced upon the end of his statement, convinced that mum would suspiciously react.

I pinched him again.

“Ow,” he exclaimed a bit louder through gritted teeth. “I mean Aden and I. It must’ve been all those sweets we had after the dentist’s,” Jaden spoke shrilly and in upright manner, as if he had been turned to porcelain and was unable to move. At that point I knew we were finished. Mum’s eyebrows rose in surprise and she slowly folded her arms. There
was
no dentist, and I’m sure she knew that. But what she said baffled me all the more. It really wasn’t a good day to be sane today.

“Well
, I’m sure if both of you are in too much pain to concentrate then that’s fine with me. Georgina, is this okay with you?” mum asked with a perfect blasé face.

“
Oh, it’s fine. You can skip
one
day, I suppose. It’s more of revision now since you are seniors, so don’t be reluctant to just pop open a book,” said Miss Fanwall in her usual ear-to-ear grin.

“
Seniors, seriously?” mum asked us with a confused tone.

“
Yes, seniors,” said Miss Fanwall “look,” she gestured. “They have their crests to stitch on. It’s strange though, they should’ve gotten these at the beginning of the year. I guess they grow up so fast don’t they.”

“
Yeah,” mum forced out a fake and unpersuasive laugh. “That
must
be it,” she muttered underneath her breath.

“
So, Lina, how’s Jade’s performance in her new school?” asked Miss Fanwall, too inquisitive for her own good.

“
Oh, it’s great! She’s taking part in all these extra-curricular activities and I’m getting very good reports and comments about her.”

“
You
are
?” Jade asked in astonishment.

“
Yeah,” mum said staring at Jade so spine-chillingly that she shut up all together. Did mum know about all this? Or was she deliberately playing along?

“
Anyway, I’d love to stay and chat, Georgina, but I’ve got to take the kids home and stitch these for them. Oh and please tell Mr Leery I’ll try and stop by tomorrow – I’ll have to cancel today’s appointment. Come on let’s go,” mum said, hurriedly ushering us out.

“
Bye,” Jade, Jaden and I each sang individually as we walked out of the office door.

“
Oh, Jaden, be a darling and close the door on your way out, will you?” Miss Fanwall asked.

“
Thanks, love.” Miss Fanwall’s perky mood didn’t seem to wear off and was intoxicatingly nauseating at times. She finally sighed heavily as we left the room.

“
Tut’
, charming family.”

CHAPTER 3.

Misapprehension

We were marching down the hall
at such a viciously fast pace that I thought my hamstrings were going to tear and that the carpet would somehow wear out.

“
Mum, slow down. No one’s after you,” Jade quickly said as we tried to keep up with her rapid catwalk.

“
Huh?” mum didn’t seem to be herself at this point. I would say she seemed paranoid and quite fretful, always looking at each intersection in the corridors with a nervous tremble I could truly sense. “Oh, sorry. It’s just...I’m in a rush to do something,” she said.

“
Do you think we should tell her?” Jaden whispered as we tried to keep up with her rapidity.

“
I guess we should.” I took a deep breath, “hey, mum, can I ask you a question?” I started.

“
Yes, of course. Anything, sweetheart. What’s wrong?” she robotically replied.

“
Well, a number of things actually but I guess I’ll come right down to the point and say it – are we in 2014?” I asked. Mum halted and looked back at us whilst evilly chuckling.

“
What makes you ask that?” she replied unconvincingly innocent.

“
Because apparently we’re –” I stopped and groaned.

“
Never mind; it’s too long to explain. I’ll explain when we get in the car,” I justified.

“
All right, your choice. But we’re not dropping the subject,” mum replied.

She
did not seem to stop as she approached the main entrance. She merely walked on, obstinate, and swung the doors with each of her hands. Who did she think she was; calamity Jane in a saloon? Mum looked bizarrely eager to get back home and Jaden, Jade and I couldn’t help but feel so lost and disarrayed. It wasn’t even noon yet and we were already dreadfully worn out.

We walked out into the playground
to cross to the car park, but the weather seemed to have gone downhill. It was raining terribly; an ever-pouring deluge of bitter rain that corroded your skin as soon as it made contact. The sky was a terrible grey. A horrible night-resembling darkness had built up above as thunder and lightning threw tantrums in the heavens. The streetlights in the neighbourhood had been turned on to illuminate the darkened vicinity of Richmond upon Thames. Crows circled the skies in an orderly fashion. Mum continued to walk on through the deluge without a single care of her getting wet and we followed keenly.

Our car was a big Ford, parked di
rectly in front of us. We hopped through the rain with our hands stuck underneath our underarms for warmth whilst we walked with bowed heads. Mum was otherwise; headstrong and walking upright, completely unaffected by the drops of what could have easily been acid that fell from the sky. Mum’s normal piercing light-blue eyes had changed though. Maybe it was just the lighting and the darkness that had fallen around us, but her glacial blue eyes didn’t seem to look human anymore. They contrasted with the environment and simply stood out from her, especially her black pupils which were very visible from where we stood. She took the car key from her pocket and pressed the button – the car clicked and unlocked as the headlights flashed.

“
Hop in,” mum commanded.

Jaden and Jade went i
n the back seats from each side and I went in front. As soon as we slid in, mum started the engine and turned on the radiator. We gave a sigh of relief before she reversed the car and left to go home. Jaden looked at Jade with a narrowed expression.

“
Jade, we just walked through heavy rain.”

“
You’re a very observant boy, Jaden. We get it. What’s your point?” she snapped in a moderate tone.

“
But you’re not the least bit wet,” Jaden concluded. Jade looked at her arms and rubbed her hair, noticing that Jaden was right. Not a single sign of the water’s touch. She was as dry as a bone. Whilst on the road, the silence between us was broken by the raindrops that bulleted on the car’s rooftop, the windows and the windscreen.

“
So, A.J., what was it you wanted to tell me earlier in the hallway? Something about 2014?” asked mum.

“
Well – um…yeah – so anyway, I was asking whether or not we were in 2014?” I asked.

“
I already told you, no,” said mum, “why; are you already counting down how many years you have before you leave home?” she added with a scoff.

“
Well, let’s just say a series of inexplicable oddities have been happening to us. And when Nicholas gave us our clovers – already being strange because only seniors get clover crests and we’re in year
nine
– it said on it,” I pulled out my clover crest, “
senior Year 10, Academic Year 2014–2015: Cressile International School
. Everyone had theirs stitched on, further implying that they had had them for some time,” I finalised.

“
How did they get theirs stitched on already?”

“
Well, we’re in October. If we really
have
advanced a year, one should assume the school year
obviously
started in September, at which point they would have already had their clovers stitched on,” Jaden said.

“
Yeah, alright shut up, Jaden. You and your big English,” I muttered.

“
Don’t worry. Nature doesn’t have glitches. I’m sure this is all a little science fiction from you boys,” mum said with a grin. We really hoped it was.

Bef
ore we knew it, we were at home; still underneath a blanket of sheer dark clouds in a bleak sky. It was getting hard to tell whether it was night or if the sky was still gloomy. Mum parked the car outside our house. All of a sudden the sound of the raindrops stopped. We stepped out of the car and observed the skies. Thunder roared but was muffled by the thick layers of clouds and gases and what seemed to be lightning flashing every so often to lighten the sky to grey. But suddenly, as if dissolving into the atmosphere, the clouds were clearing up and the sun was peeking behind them. In no time, the sky was a stunning azure again.

“
Well, what do you know,” said mum with her hands over eyes, looking at the sky observantly. The colour of the sky merely seemed to be reflected from mum’s Antarctic-coloured eyes. She brought her head down to look at us and threw Jade the keys.

“
Go open the door. I’ll catch up,” she ordered.

“
Wait! Where are you going?” Jade asked.

“
I’m going up to Tantrus and Anne’s. I need to speak to them very quickly,” she answered. “Just…go home and eat some snacks and watch television or something,” she said hurriedly as she rushed away.

“Couldn’t you just use the telephone?” Jade yelled back, but sighed hopelessly as mum continued to march on into the distance.

“In a way, she’s saying we can do anything you know,” I said blithely.

“
Funny!” Jaden responded sarcastically, showing no emotions. Jade turned the keys twice and flung the door open. Jaden entered after I left Jade to lock the door, which she did so savagely with two forceful jolts of her wrist behind us. Jaden and Jade rushed upstairs, stomping on the staircase as they did.

I stopped myself from following them and turned to
face the wide mirror hanging on the wall. I advanced towards it and pulled the skin from underneath my eyes lower. An almost unnoticeable,
thin
ring of red was wrapped around my hazel iris. I exhaled deeply and blinked. This day was
not
being good to me – but hey, who knew; maybe I had died in my sleep and this was just some awkward illusion of stuff that
should
have happened in my life. Ergh, see? I’m so distraught I can’t even seem to be making coherent sense. At that point, all I wanted was to lose myself in the arms of Morpheus and, dare I say it, have some sanity back in the world. I might’ve just started hating jokes now. I sprinted upstairs and invited myself into Jaden’s room.

“
You could
knock
!”

“
Erm, ye– no. First sunburn without sun and now
this
,” I snapped, scratching the back of my frizzy hair. He shook his head at me.

“
What are you talking about?” Jaden pondered. I merely stood in front of him and showed him my eye.

“
Is that…red? What, did you put on colour contacts?” he continued.

“
No
, I just noticed it downstairs in the mirror.” Jaden yawned. I twitched for a split second and touched the back of my neck. I quickly flinched with a sharp sting.

“
Aww, no!”

“
What? What’s wrong?”

“
The heat, it’s back again. I feel like I’m in an oven!” I said uncomfortably. I couldn’t stay still and glistening balls of sweat slid down my porcelain white forehead. I quickly took off my blazer and lifted up my shirt to see my back in front of Jaden’s mirror. Jaden winced and I exhaled out of exasperation.

“
Come on, the sunburn thing
again
?!” I exclaimed. Jaden stifled another yawn.

“
Aden, buddy, I’m really sorry about your situation, but I’m really tired. So if you’ll excuse me –
wait, what am I saying this is my room
– Aden, get out! I’m going to sleep!” Jaden commanded.

“
Wha –” My sentence was instantly cut short as the door slammed in my face. I walked to Jade’s room. I knocked gently and let myself in, but she was fast asleep as well. I sighed hopelessly. Was nobody active in this household? I twitched and almost fell to the floor as the heat began to sieve into my pores. The problem wasn’t that it was painful – it was just that I felt hot. Too hot. Unbearably sweltering. Thus preventing me from reasonable judgement and proper movement. Not that my judgement had ever been fair anyway, but my hand-eye coordination had gone off. Red was green and blue was yellow, colours combined and I felt like my mind was crashing.

I trudged to the bathroom and ran a bath with only cold water. As soon as the tub was full
, I impatiently turned off the tap and slowly entered the tub with my clothes on. The heat was distracting and it made it very hard for me to concentrate – but I then found tranquillity in the water. I sighed and breathed out profoundly, falling into slumber in the cold, relaxing and soothing liquid.

It was more
realistic than ever before. I seemed to be in a corridor with two long aisles on both sides – each with hanging light bulbs that seemed to work perfectly. I came to a stop at a big wooden arch door. I opened it only to reveal a very large room, which I casually walked into. But I wasn’t exactly myself. I looked at my hands and noticed they weren’t mine. I must’ve been someone else because my skin complexion was darker. But I was still conscious. It was like being in a body that was a jumpsuit which took control of all my acts and movements.

Everything seemed to be indistinct
. I was in a small compact room and the heat that tortured me was no more a bother. Suddenly, I felt something cold touch my shoulder. It was
her
hand – Tammy’s. Robbie stood in the doorway observing the room silently and rather shyly.

“
You okay?” asked Tammy.

“
I think. I hope the Blues are okay. I can feel a slight tremor in my head telling me something will go wrong,” Robbie mumbled.

“
No, not wrong, but as it should. Trust me nothing’s going wrong.”

“
But what about Jojo? Do you think they will mind about her not telling them the things her and her family can do?” Robbie quizzed out of paranoia.

“
Well, we can’t afford disapprovals with the situation that I know is going on.” 

“
What situation?” Robbie asked.

Tammy closed the door and looked around just to
prevent any living soul hearing them. She drew herself closer to him and whispered.

“
The void, it’s expanding. Only the king and the Supremacy know at the moment.”

“
Their prison?” he asked, baffled by the words Tammy spoke.

“
Yes.” Tammy fiddled with her pendant.

“
I can’t get the adults worried, but I think the void is large enough for the Lurkers to pass through. If
they
can, then they’ll be able to call the minor demons,” concluded Tammy.

“
Wait, how do you know all of this again?” Robbie asked. Tammy threw him a look of blatancy. Robbie all of a sudden looked down to see her holding her pendant.

“
Oh, right, yeah. Sorry, forgot about that,” Robbie spoke ignorantly.

“
What are you talking about? I’ve had this ability for centuries!” she snapped undertone.