Chapter Eighteen – Tranquility (Monday, January 23, 1995)
“You seem distant, is everything alright?”
I look up from my bowl of cereal to look at my uncle. Why I am bothering with school anymore is beyond me. I don’t even know why I came back here to my uncle’s house. “Yea, I’m fine,” I mutter.
“They haven’t found your friend yet, have they?”
His words burn since there is no way that the police will find any trace of Teresa. Should I even say something to her parents? What could I say? Oh, by the way, your daughter was blasted out of existence by a crazed guy with super powers.
“You don’t have to go to school if you don’t want to,” Raven suggests.
“I’m fine.”
After a wordless drive in the car, dressed in blue jeans and a black shirt, I make my way to my locker to unfortunately start my school day. I had the chance to stay home and I declined it. I shouldn’t be here. Heck, I shouldn’t even be on this planet anymore.
As a close and lock my locker, I see Ty from the corner of my eye, standing next to me. With my hand still on my locker and looking straight at it, I wait for him to speak first.
“You killed my friend,” Ty says.
“He killed mine.”
“And taking his life justifies that?”
I look over at him, glaring, unable to think of anything to say. He was right after all. Finally I ask him, “Whose side are you on?”
“My own but I do know that you must be contained.”
I turn to face Ty, unknowing and uncaring of what he is capable of. I’ve never had any issues with Ty but being nice to me could have been an act all along. I don’t know who to trust any more.
He then smiles and closes his eyes. Suddenly I can feel a wave of pure happiness and tranquility within. I look around and the twenty students that are in the same hallway as I am, they seem to look happy and content as well.
I giggle aloud and look back at Ty, “What did you do?”
“It’s a tranquil status effect. Unfortunately it is not permanent but it’s a solution to keeping the demon at bay.”
Laughing I reply, “Are you going to follow me around and zap me every time it wears off?”
“If I have to.”
Normally that would annoy me; however I can’t seem to produce any negative reaction. “Ha, good luck with that.”
“I can’t allow yo-” Ty is cut off as the double doors open and Kyle and Taryn walk into the hallway.
I skip over and say, “He’s one of us. Well, not sure if he’s on our side but he has powers. He zapped me with some sort of happy spell.”
Taryn and Kyle exchange awkward glances before looking over at Ty. I lean on the lockers, with a giant smile on my face. It’s nice to see other students walking past in such a great mood as well, even if it is artificial. I wonder if I would be thinking the same thing if I wasn’t under this spell. I shrug it off.
“What did you do to her?” Kyle questions, walking over to Ty.
Taryn walks up to me and I say, “You have the brightest green hair! Like, ever!” I poke the top of her head. “And you’re so short!”
“Who is this person?” Taryn calls out over her shoulder.
“I simply cast a tranquility spell,” Ty answers; raising his hands to signal that he doesn’t mean any harm.
Kyle looks around and notices that others are affected as well, “And you just had to cast it on everyone in the hallway?”
“It’s a range spell, had no choice. These students will be alright in a day or so.”
“You’re not casting this spell on Anya ever again.”
“We can’t have that demon set free in this world. If this spell can suppress it, then I have no choice,” Ty replies.
“Neat, I get to be like this for a whole day?” I gasp and giggle aloud.
“It’s not fair to Anya to have her act like this,” pleas Taryn. “You can’t possibly think this is the solution.”
“Do you want to tell the parents that she killed their son or daughter because it wasn’t fair to her? Ever since I was eleven I was told the tales of that demon and what she can do,” Ty says. “You’re lucky that the order to kill the host hasn’t been made yet.”
I look from side to side and then I perform a standing back flip, “Oh my god, did you see that?”
The bell rings.
“We will find another way,” Kyle says coldly. “Just stay away from her and we will handle this.”
I skip towards my math class as I hear Taryn behind me, “She can’t go to class like that!”
I spin around on my heel and say with a smile, “Oh course I can! It’s not like I’m not in control or anything.” I pause and there is an awkward silence after that sentence. I shrug it off and I spin back around and wave, “I’ll see you in photo.”
I bump into Jacob in PE, who was in the hallway when Ty casted the spell. Just like me, he’s in a terrific mood. Even walking around the track isn’t getting us down. I even handled math class with a smile, paying more attention than I think I have all year.
“Hey,” he says. “Can you believe this great weather?”
“I know right, I’m happy that we’re outside,” I answer, taking in a deep breath of air. My high school isn’t too far from the beach and I can smell a hint of the ocean.
“You know, I haven’t been this happy in years, I don’t know what’s come over me. I want to be mad and upset but I just can’t. Is there something wrong with me?” Jacob laughs. “I don’t even know why I’m laughing.”
It seems that he wants to be hysterical about what is happening to him emotionally, but he just can’t. I’ve pretty much embraced it and I’ll deal with Ty later but I haven’t really thought about the other students and neither did Ty.
“I feel the same way, maybe it’s just something in the air,” I tell him.
“I think it’s a government conspiracy.”
“I don’t…”
“I don’t know if I can take this. I know these are not my feelings but I can’t stop myself from being happy.”
“Listen,” I say “Meet me at lunch back here. I have a friend that might be able to help both of us.”
Laughing, the blond replies, “We don’t even talk that much and you want to help me?”
“Yup, just meet me back here at lunch.”
In photography, I can feel Kyle’s eyes on me even in the light red glow of the darkroom, “I’m fine, silly.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“Stop being so negative, it’s not like I don’t know what’s going on,” I tell him. “Maybe this is for the best, for everyone.”
“It’s not that simple,” Kyle says, moving closer to me so the other students can’t hear, “You don’t really think that she can be suppressed by a status effect spell?”
I shrug, “She feeds on negative feelings and desires, right, well this spell negates those, which means she doesn’t have any fuel.”
“What are you two talking about?” asks Dawn, a strawberry blond junior with black rum glasses.
“Just this RPG game I picked up the other day,” I lie.
“Really? I didn’t know you played,” she bursts out.
“Oh, you have no idea,” I grab her arm and we make our way to her station, giving me the chance to get away from Kyle.
Kyle shakes his head in defeat.
As lunch begins, I try my hardest to find Ty. There has to be a way for him to undo this. Unfortunately, most of the seniors leave campus for lunch and part of me thinks that Ty has done the same. I then start to feel a pair of eyes on me. Grinning, I turn to see the guy that I am looking for. I grab his hand as I try to pull him towards the track. “You need to help this sophomore out, I think he’s going to crack because of what you did to him,” I say as we make our way through the outside hallways.
“I can’t undo it. The spell wears off after 24 hours, give or take,” Ty says.
“You have to do something, this kid is freaking out,” I laugh. I don’t want to laugh, but I can’t help it. It does feel great not hearing Saturn’s voice and feeling much better than I did this morning. “Listen, maybe you can use that spell on me when other people are not around? That way other people won’t be effected by it.”
“You’re willing?”
“I don’t want—what the heck is he doing up there?”
Before reaching the gym and track, we have to past the cafeteria. There are several benches outside for those who don’t like to eat inside. On the top of the off white building, is Jacob.
“You see, this is what I meant. You can’t use your powers on normal humans. Is this what Ozma teaches you guys over there?” Giggly, I turn around to leave.
“Wait, shouldn’t we do something?”
“Already being taken care of,” I spin back around. “I just hope Jacob will be alright after this. Maybe you should think before using your powers on someone. I might be high on happy spell, but at least I still have common sense.” I look up to see Kyle talking with Jacob and I assume that once he saw Jacob on the roof, Kyle flew from the back of the cafeteria to the top. I can only wonder what he’s telling Jacob but whatever it is, I hope it helps him. I turn back around as men in blue police uniforms show up. They begin to usher the onlookers away from the area as they try to reason with Jacob.
“But…” I can tell that Ty is concerned for Jacob and the repercussions of casting the range spell at school.
“Kyle will clean up your mess, don’t worry.”
Classes after lunch were a bit awkward as the majority of the students kept talking about Jacob and Kyle. Drama, the last class of the day and one of two that I share with Kyle is nothing but dull as the majority of the class sits around on the stage. We’re supposed to be going over our monologues for the end of the week but everyone wants to talk to Kyle.
“You’re so brave to go up there like that,” Mary sighs, while twirling her blond curls.
“It’s not a big deal,” Kyle says.
I walk out of the light and sound booth, which is in the back of the auditorium to see the majority of the class on the stage, surrounding Kyle. I sit at the top of the row which is at an angle since our seats are stadium style. I just wish movie theatres would take a hint and make their seats this way. Tim, who is the main tech for all of our shows, walks out of the booth. He’s been showing me how to work the lights since I asked him about it a few weeks ago. Since I’ve been in this class, I’ve mostly worked backstage.
“What do you think happened?” Tim asks.
“No idea,” I say, stretching out my legs and reaching for my toes.
“Jacob lost his brother a few months ago; I’m not surprised that he finally cracked.”
“That’s awful,” I say, holding back a smile. That explains why Jacob was questioning is state of happiness.
“Yea,” he says, returning back into the booth. He then flicks the brights on the stage and the students all scream up at him.
I decide to lie down sideways, tucking my legs in, I roll down towards the stage. I stop at the first row of seats and giggle a loud. I then stand and reach for my bag, grabbing a book of monologues from it. I tuck the book under my arm, with my backpack over my right shoulder; I skip towards the backstage area. With everyone adoring Kyle, there isn’t anyone lurking backstage which gives me the chance to teleport to Crystaltina.
I end up right in front of Celestria, of all the luck, who says, “School isn’t over yet.”
“Kyle saved a student from the roof because Ty casted a happy spell in the hallway on me to suppress Saturn,” I laugh. “It’s a range spell so it affected some of the students as well. I told him that he needs to be more reasonable next time.”
“But—”
“So everyone is surrounding Kyle in class and nothing is going on, I came here. I didn’t even have a destination in mind, so I guess that’s why I ended up in front of you. I’m going to have Ty cast that spell on me every day until you guys find a better way. Don’t tell Kyle or Taryn, they don’t agree.” I suddenly cover my mouth, realizing that Celestria would most likely disagree as well. “Don’t give me that look.” I touch the tip of Celestria’s nose with my finger and laugh. “It’s the only solution we got, right?”
“And how do you feel about this?” she crosses her arms.
“Absolutely terrific!”
“Is that you talking or the spell?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes, it does.”
“If it means no one gets hurt, yes. I’ve read the books, Saturn won’t just go away and we need to stop her,” I say, as I start to get a headache. “I’m not going to let her control me like some puppet. She’s enjoying torturing me and that pisses me off.” I stop as my head bangs like a loud drum in my head. A wave of nausea hits and I reach for the wall for support.
“You need to be scanned,” Celestria says.
“Huh?”
“Zar-Q got one of his projects running,” she says, waving her hand in front of me. “Better?”
“A little, thanks,” I say, grateful for the spell. “No lecture about having a spell casted on me daily, then?” I add, rubbing the back of my neck.”
“Just follow me,” Celestria says, walking down the hallway towards Zar-Q’s lair. I mean I don’t know what else to call it. His area is like a mad scientists dream from twenty years into Earth’s future and maybe then some.
“Wow, this place is amazing!”
There are computers everywhere and main one in the middle with an over sized screen.
“Well, I won’t be touching anything in this place. Did you get everything working?” I ask.
“Don’t,” Celestria shakes her head. “He has so many projects and programs running, I’, surprised that he gets one thing done at this rate.”
“Have faith, I know what I’m doing,” Zar-Q grins, turning around in his chair.
“Can you scan Anya, please?”
“Of course! I need to get everyone’s data and vitals for the database,” Zar-Q happily stands, with a small device in his blue hands, he walks up to me.
A small wave of fear passes over me, what’s Zar-Q up…wait, fear? I think Ty’s spell wore off when I was feeling sick to my stomach. That side effect sucks.
“Okay, stand still,” he says, as a green light flickers on and scans my body. “All done, he walks back to the main computer and plugs the device into it. “Miles wanted this set up like a video game so it would be easier for everyone to understand. I don’t quite understand that logic but went with it anyone since it’s pretty neat. Take a look at the screen.”
I look up to see an RPG-like status card, “Are you serious?”
“Cool, huh?”
Celestria rolls her eyes.
“Heck yea!” I exclaim.
The computer screen reads:
· Name: Anya Paige Crystaltina (second incarnation)
· Age: 15 (Dec 22)
· Class: Fighter
· Element: Fire, void magic (time/space)
· Weakness: Cold, status effects (poison, mind control, slow, others unknown)
· Level: 3
· HP: 254
· MP: 145
“The last part was strongly Miles’ idea, but it’s pretty much means your vitals,” Zar-Q informs me.
“Neat.”
“Wait…,” I pause.
“Do you need a second to figure it out?” Celestria asks.
“Huh, am I missing something?”
“Wait for it…”
“Why am I only level three?”
Celestria face palms and laughs a little, “Your weakness. You can’t have Ty use that spell on you.”
“What spell?” Zar-Q asks.
“It’s some sort or tranquility spell that makes Anya happy and content even if she really isn’t.”
“Well, it was a good idea,” I mutter. “So! What about you guys?”
“I haven’t had a chance to scan anyone but the three of us but I’m glad that it’s working. It should auto update at key points.”
I tap my foot and wait for Z to show me his and Celestria’s results, “Well?”
“The database will be available for anyone of us to view but a password will be required. This is just for security reasons so I know who is looking at what,” Zar-Q says. “I’m sure that we’re all on the same team, but this is just a precaution.”
“So…?”
Zar-Q grins and puts up the stats for himself and Celestria:
· Name: Zarnel Quentin Trell (first incarnation)
· Age: 20 (Feb 15)
· Class: Tech
· Element: None
· Weakness: Unknown
· Level: 4
· HP: 142
· MP: N/A
“Wait, how are you a higher level than me?” I ask.
“I’m older?”
“You have no idea, do you?” I laugh.
“Still working on the code,” he shrugs.
· Name: Celestria Ferris (second incarnation)
· Age: 21 (July 15)
· Class: Healer
· Element: Light
· Weakness: Unknown
· Level: 4
· HP: 100
· MP: 153
“Neat. Well, I better head on out,” I say, turning to leave by Zar-Q stops me.
“Here,” he tosses me the scanner. “I have two of them. This way we can get everyone added faster.”
Celestria follows me out of the room. As we walk down the hallway she tells me that I don’t need to do this on my own and that I have friends that are more than willing to help me out. I knew I would get a lecture today, but I didn’t think it would be about this. I assumed it would be about Ty and even though it might be a weakness of mine, I still want him to use that spell on me. Alone or not, I know there will be moments where I won’t be able to control Saturn. This is a temporary solution, I know but at least it’s something.
