Chapter Four – Desperate (Friday, September 16, 1994)
The portal opens up over a small lake that is located within the woods. There’s a tall rock formation where water trickles down into the small lake that is deeper in the middle. The scene is beautiful but it’s hard to take it all in when I’m falling from the portal, heading straight down into the water.
I can feel the undertow playing at my legs as I try to swim to the surface. I can see Kyle flying above the water, dabbing his fingers into it. He wouldn’t try to use his electrical powers on the water, would he? What would happen to me if he did? My heart starts to beat faster at the thought and part of me can see small sparks coming from his fingers. Of course it could just be the sun reflecting off of the water. Running out of air I can feel a hard pull, like a force pulling me deeper into the lake and I panic.
Suddenly I see darkness and then I find myself at the edge of the lake, a sick feeling hitting me instantly.
Kyle flies down and kneels beside me, “What just happened?”
“I think I’m going to puke,” I say aloud before realizing it.
“Okay…try to breathe slowly.”
“How did I get out of the water?” I grab my stomach which feels like it’s in a vice.
“You just appeared out of thin air.”
“My head is killing me…”
“Let’s get you to Celestria,” Kyle says, trying to help me up from the ground.
“Spinning,” I say, falling back down. “I’ll stay here for a while.”
I place my head into my hands and close my eyes. Kyle isn’t sure what to say and I really don’t mind. The quiet is nice and right now, there are other things on my mind. What was that darkness and how did I get out of the water? Is this feeling of sick permanent or can Celestria fix this? It feels like I walked through a portal, like back on Zerron, but a million times worse.
I can feel my eyes water under my eye lids and all I can think about is if Celestria can use her healing magic to help me.
I slowly open my eyes and Celestria is sitting right in front of me.
“…”
“Anya?”
“I don’t feel good….”
Celestria lowers her book and stands to walk over to me.
Somehow I am now on the cold floor in a small reading room within the catacombs of the ruined castle.
“What happened?” a concerned Celestria asks.
I can feel my lunch trying to reach my throat as I manage to say, “Heal, please?”
“I can’t unless you tell me what’s going on. I don’t want to cast the wrong spell.”
“I feel sick,” finally coming to terms of what is going on, “I think I teleported here.”
“Okay, give me a moment,” Celestria places her hands together and there is a light blue glow. Within seconds my stomach clams down and I feel almost one hundred percent better. I then tell Celestria what had happened at the lake.
“Have you ever had a fear of drowning before?” she asks.
“I almost drowned in a wave pool when I was eight,” I recall.
“That might have what triggered it but it’s strange: I haven’t come across anything that indicated your past self could teleport.”
“So is this power here to stay?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Sweet,” I jump off of the floor, perhaps a bit too fast as my head starts to pound again. “Urg, what about the motion sickness?”
“I’m sure with practice it will go away. I just don’t know how you can practice something like this. Let me try to find some information on teleportation as a natural travel power.”
“Celestria!” we can both hear Kyle yelling.
Celestria walks over to the entry-way and sticks her head out. She can see a panic Kyle looking for her, “We’re over here.”
“We?” Kyle spins around to face Celestria’s voice and walks over.
“She teleported here.”
“What?”
“I was thinking about Celestria healing me and I was here,” I tell him, walking over.
“I’m going to check the library for anything about teleportation and in the meantime, take it easy,” Celestria says, walking out into the hallway and towards the library.
“You okay?” Kyle asks me after Celestria leaves.
“Yea, I’m fine. Celestria was able to help with the motion sickness but I can still feel a bit of it. Heh, I guess I have something else that I need to practice.”
“Why don’t you take the weekend off,” Kyle suggests.
“Why?”
“We’ve been pushing you pretty hard and,” trying to think of an excuse, “I don’t need to you to throw up while we’re sparring.”
“Oh, thanks.”
That night I didn’t eat much dinner and spent the rest of the night in my room with all of the lights on. I can’t seem to focus on anything but that darkness. It was brief before I reappeared again but I felt it within me, like an empty fear. What happens if I teleport and I can’t reappear again? What if I can’t control it?
I pace around in my room for what seem like hours before plopping on my bed; I hesitate before closing my eyes.
“I know why you teleport,” I can hear a voice, mocking me.
I sit up in bed and no one is there. I didn’t expect anyone to be there since the voice was more in my head than not.
I walk out of my bedroom and head outside to the small backyard. There is a large mango tree here that I enjoy climbing when I’m bored or when I need to think. My dad can’t go near this tree since he’s allergic and gets a rash on his skin if he touches any part of the tree. I’ve told him to get rid of it but he won’t.
I find my favorite branch and get myself comfortable. The only people that I really can talk to about this is Kyle, Celestria and to an extent, Tom. However if I tell them, they might suspect something and might make me stay on Crystaltina permanently. For now, I need to keep this to myself.
