The bus skidded to a stop and Zoe threw open the door angrily. “Well, that was a colossal waste of time.”
“You tell me.” I rolled my eyes and stepped out after her. Digging my hands deeper into my fleece hoodie, my basketball bag bounced against my side as I glared at large school building.
“What are you waiting for?” Zoe slapped my shoulder and nodded to the building while other members of our team got off the bus, dejection in their faces.
“Let’s go.”
Just like the others, I felt no anticipation from what greeted us behind those doors after our massive failure. At least, classes were not over yet.
I bit the insides of my cheeks as I heard the goddamn bell ring. Classes were over for the day.
“Panthers! Panthers! Panthers!” The student body chanted as we sauntered across the hall.
As long as we can just walk into the locker room without a word, we should be fine. It looked like no one has seen the scores yet.
My forced smile fell when I caught sight of him grinning at his phone across the hall. He raised his head then locked eyes with mine, making his way through the chanting crowd.
“Ugh, not him again,” Sam, one of my teammates, groaned.
At least, I was not the only one less than excited to see him.
“I will deal with him,” I said, stepping forward.
“Looks like the Net Rippers are keeping the throne this semester,” he said, his eyes falling on me.
“Reed Hastings, don’t gloat for too long. I will pull the medal off you myself.”
Leaning forward, he smirked. “Oh, I would love to see you try, Phoebe Woods.”
All the phones across the hall pinged with the latest news including mine. Too furious to check, I pushed past him with my shoulder and marched to the locker room with the rest of the team.
“Everybody knows,” Zoe bemoaned, her attention on her phone.
“They were going to anyway,” JoJo said.
“The plan was to win all match this term,” I said, roughly pulling off my hoodie. I could not keep Reed Hastings entitled smirk out of my mind.
Before the term began, I and Reed Hastings had a bet; whichever team won all three match will take home the first Centennial High School gold medal home. The reason I trained harder than ever was to win the bet and watch him put down but that would never happen because someone slipped. Shaking my head, I tried not to blame any of my teammates. Hawkeyes were a talented opponent.
“Girls!” Coach barked into her megaphone, slamming her board against the locker room’s door.
“Hey, coach,” we chorused, forming a line.
“Get on the field! One, two! One, two!”
“But I just took off my top,” Zoe moaned then wore her top.
We jogged in a single line out of the locker room and into the field. The students who were still around booed as we jogged past.
Ugh!
“Three laps around the field. Now!”
Exhausted, I pumped my legs forward, my hair pasting on my forehead. My muscles bunched and surged as I ran, sure-footed around the field. The scorching weather did not help matters either as the sun beat tirelessly. After the third lap, I stopped in front of the captain and placed my hands behind my back, breathing heavily.
“Phoebe Woods, are you captain?” Coach asked, using her ruler to smack my head.
“Yes, sir!” I strained.
“Are you captain?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Lead your teammates. The last match of the heat and you all failed. You should be ashamed of yourselves.” She left, the disappointment evident on her face.
“Fuck!”
“I am so sorry, guys,” Lily pleaded. “This is all my fault.”
“Don’t worry about it. We will train harder for the next match. First, let’s rest before taking two more laps.”
“Two?” They grumbled.
“Make that four laps.”
“Aw, come on. Don’t be an asshole, Phoebe,” Zoe said.
With a sigh, I settled onto the grass and laid down, spread eagle. My eyes fluttered close as I breathed in the earthy scent in spite of the heat. Suddenly, the breeze is cool against my skin and there was not a single sound. When I opened my eyes, I found myself in the forest at night. What happened to the sun? Was this another weird dream?
The forest is oddly still. Gradually, I became aware of the soft pad of feet near me, a dark whisper of fur behind the trees. The large figure stepped out of the trees, cautious and ears shifting. I took a step back when it stepped into the moonlight but oddly, I was unafraid. The wolf stands beside me now, avid eyes of two different colors, fangs flashing in the moonlight. I turned but he followed effortlessly, his movement matched perfectly to mine.
My pulse leaped as I felt his hot breath on my neck. Shivers race through my body, and I know I felt exactly what the wolf felt; his excitement, relief and desire. Taking a step forward, I reach and touch his cold snout. He relaxed under my touch and drew closer with a low whining sound with a slow wag of his tail.
I felt the cold on my skin and little snowflakes fell on the wolf and on my cheeks. Raising my face upward to the sky, I watched the snow continue to fall like small raindrops.
Why was snow falling in the middle of summer?
“Phoebe!”
I gasped and blinked. The sun came into view and the sweltering heat returned. Using my hand as shade, I got to my feet and looked around. What was that?
“Did you just doze off?” Zoe asked, putting a hand on my forehead.
“No, I did not.” I slapped her hand away then said, “Alright girls. One, two! One two! Four laps around the field.”
I followed as the rest of the team began to run around the track field. The weird dream or lapse or whatever that was kept replaying in my head like a broken record. What was with the heterochromia wolf and snow?!
After running, I returned with the girls to the locker room for a well deserved shower. I smelt like exhaustion and two weeks’ dirty laundry. I changed into my school uniform and stepped out with my bag.
“Phoebe.”
“Oh hi, Connor.”
Unlike his twin brother, Connor Hastings was an easy-going, gentle guy who loves to read and is known as the smartest kid in school. His imposing stature seemed to give people the wrong idea about him.
“What’s up?” I asked, picking up the pace to match the strides of his long legs.
“I heard about the match. You okay?”
“I wish I was but I’m not.”
“You can just train harder for the next match, and sorry about my brother. He can be a bit immature sometimes,” he softly said then placed a hand on my shoulder. “Hey, do you want to study for the finals together?”
And miss the chance to actually study so I could stare at your handsome face? “Yes.”
“Great. I will text you later.”
And I will be waiting.
“You still have that on?” He asked, taking my hand in his.
I tried to steady my erratic breathing and replied, “What?”
“That weird bracelet.”
My smile fell as I looked down at the said accursed silver bracelet. It has always been on my hand from the day I was born and any attempt to remove it proved futile. On it were strange writings I never understood. Zoe who is heavy into supernatural believed they were spiritual writings.
I noticed Connor moved his fingers further away from the bracelet on my wrist as he stared at it with genuine curiosity.
“Yeah. My dad said to never take it off, something about promise to my mom,” I lied.
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
I shook my head and tried to brighten the mood. “Come on, let’s go.”
Somehow someday, I will definitely get rid of it.
Chapter Two “Your exams are in two weeks…” As Mr Timothy taught, I felt the strange shift in the room. I was in the class but not in the class at the same time. Closing my eyes, I relapsed into the cold forest brightened by moonlight and this time, I was running through the forest. The wolf followed closely, trotting with the wind. He was larger than the last time I saw him and like before, I felt everything he felt, more vivid than before. I stumble as I reach the base of a waterfall, its cool spray doing nothing to control the heat inside me. As I turned to face the wolf, he rose to his hind legs and bore me down into the pool. Why did he do that? I thought, breaking into the surface and coughing out water then breathed in air. Everything felt too real to be a dream. Suddenly, the wolf is gone, body lengthening and fur melting away until I am face to face with a man, eyes the
Chapter ThreeWhen I came to, I was in the nurse’s office. Zoe waited by my side, going through her phone.As soon as she saw me awake, she called for the nurse. “Miss Sheppard, she is awake.”“Ow,” I groaned, rubbing my head.“Sorry, dear.” The nurse appeared in her white coat, her short hair bouncing with each step she took. “How do you feel?”“Awful,” I cried , trying to feel my numb face.“The swelling has reduced, thank goodness.” She peered at my eyes and probed gently.“Wait, swelling? Zoe, do I really look that bad?”“No. You look like there regular you, only pale. All that purple black is gone.”“You had a concussion but I suggest you go to the hospital for a CT scan just in case of brain injuries,” Miss Shepard
Chapter Four“Is something wrong?”After the weird halo shit that happened, Dad and Uncle Al drew into the kitchen for a ‘private discussion'. They were not being very quiet about it as I heard my name and words like ‘spell’, ‘charm’ and ‘bracelet’.Frustrated, I leaned against the kitchen door with my arms crossed. They kept quiet as soon as they saw me then looked at each other with raised brows.“There is no point keeping quiet about it now,” Uncle Al said.“Keeping quiet about what?” I asked.“We cannot just tell her. There should be a way to reverse this,” Dad contemplated, rubbing his shaven chin.“Going back in time?”“It is against the rules, Albert.”“Then, we tell her.”“I promised her mother that I will not have
“Has anything out of the ordinary happened?”For the nth time, I shook my head then raised my hand expecting something magical to happen but nothing did.My father sighed and shook his head. “Did you learn the spells I taught you?”“Well…” I thought to my room in disarray and the dark cloud that formed on the ceiling. “I’m getting better,” I said.“Buckle up.” The car came to life as he turned on the ignition. The sun set behind as the car pealed down the quiet street.This was the first time this week I stepped out of the house. Instead of hanging out with friends, I was learning to ‘defend’ myself from whatever might want to harm me. It was beginning to feel ridiculous repeating spells my father taught me but what I could do with magic never failed to amaze me.“Why are we here?” I asked a
The burn in my stomach dissipated as soon as I ate the chocolate bar which tasted horrible and smelled like the wet mud.After Mama Owen kicked me out, the store sign switched to closed. I trudged down the lit but quiet, dark street. How fast does time go when using magic? I really need to learn that stupid teleportation spell. Perhaps Zoe could give me a ride home. I drew out my phone and tried dialing her number. My relief was short-lived as signal bars refused to come up.What happened to the network? Looking down the empty street, I drew my hoodie closer. Since when did cars not come out at the nine in the night? Why am I so bothered about that all of a sudden? Mama Owen’s words about the dangers danced around my mind. I wonder if I could call my Dad or Uncle Al?Yeah, right. No fucking bars.I hurried along the str
I slouched on the bleachers watching my teammates practice. While the other benchers cheered, I pretended to be fixated with my phone. It was practically useless but it served as a protective shield. I could not bare to look anyone in the eye after losing my cherished position.Why could I not just take it back? I’m back from my random disappearance.“Hey!” I froze in my seat and watched from the corner of my eye as the boys basketball team poured into the court.Fuck! I need to get out here without being seen. This was so mortifying.I rose up and began my descent down the bleachers. I bet they would barely know I left since everyone was too busy fooling around.“Phoebe, where are you going?”I cursed in my head. Who the fuck was that? Raising my head, I pulled a smile on as I faced the teams. “Bathroom. Why?”“Hey.&r
“Aer sit mihi pontis. Mitte quod peto,” I chanted in a loud, clear voice keeping my focus on the spade.The tool shook violently then rose from the ground and flew straight into my outstretched hand. I can’t believe I did it.Finally!“Again,” Mama Owen barked behind me.Rolling my eyes, I repeated the spell and tools flew into my hand, quicker and fluidly with each repeated chant. When training was over for the day, I slumped against the wall, exhausted and sweaty.“Hurry along now, I need to close up shop.” She threw the nasty chocolate bar into my hand. She called it Protein Bars, I call it crap but its energy reviving benefits outweighed my disgust for it.“Exams start tomorrow and I have a lot to catch up on. Can you like teach me a spell to retain memory?”“There is a reason why we forget things, Phoe
“What are you making?” I asked when I found Mama Owen hunching over and pounding herbs in a bowl.“Potions.”“What for?”She stepped aside to reveal small lid bottles with labels. “Foresight, Memory Retention, Invisibility, Keen Smell, Love, Plant Growing, Protection and Truth.”“Huh. How do you make these from scratch?”“Go water the plants.”“You have to teach me how to make these potions. Don’t you want me out of your hair?”“Trying to rush magic will not help you.”“Well, I got that memory spell right. I used my earrings. When does it wear off? Do I have to incant the spell again? How do I stop it?”“You remove the earrings and cleanse them off all spells. Phoebe, the longer you use this spell, the more you would forget important things.”“Why did you not menti