Chapter Two: A New Place

Jayden seeks the sender of the message to find more than he bargained for . . .

“Huh?” was the first thing Elliott said since he started following Jayden, who now turned his head slightly to look at him. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Well, uh... I was—“ he began. “Uh... you know what, never mind.” Jayden rolled his eyes at him. He could tell what his reasons were. Elliott had always been easy to read. “So you saw the text, right?” Jayden said as Elliott nodded.

Elliott suggested, “Maybe it’s from Madison.”

Jayden looked perplexed. “I never gave her my number,” he commented as Elliott almost immediately replied, “She could have got it from someone... Or maybe she looked you up on the internet! The little stalker!”

Jayden let out a small chuckle at Elliott’s last comment but then it became silent between them. It wasn’t exactly the time for laughing. After a few moments, Elliott inquired, “So are you gonna go?”

“Dunno,” Jayden said truthfully. “Should I?”

“Yeah. Just see who it is. If it’s Madison—who I’m pretty sure it is— then just go set her straight before asking Rebecca out.” Elliott responded.

Jayden nodded and made his way out of Toby’s house. And doing that was no easy task. It was quite confusing to have to get past mobs of partying people in Toby’s maze of a house. Finally he arrived at the exit, and no one seemed to notice he left.

The park was only a few blocks away. Jayden sometimes walked there with Elliott after school. After what seemed like only a couple of minutes, Jayden arrived at the section of the park with groups of trees and bushes. His eyes searched the environment around him. Suddenly, he heard a rustle of leaves in a bush.

‘This is so cliché,’ Jayden thought. “Who’s there?” he asked. Indeed, it was very cliché. He heard another noise and this time focused his gaze on the exact bush it was coming from. He waited for something to happen. The he saw a few leaves part only to reveal...

A cat. It had dark gray fur that could easily be mistaken for black if not looked at closely enough. It seemed like any regular cat you’d see except for one particular thing. It’s eyes. They weren’t yellow, green, or even blue like other cats, but instead, they were purple. And not just any purple either. Jayden couldn’t put a finger on it, but it’s eyes, like his own golden ones, were stunning and very unusual for their own... kind.

Unexpectedly, Jayden found himself reaching for the cat, attempting to carry it in his arms. Strangely enough, before he could get close enough to it, he heard a voice yell, “Don’t touch me!”

Jayden immediately whipped his head around to find out where the voice came from. It was already dark out, but Jayden could at least tell if anyone was there.

“Hey you!”

The voice came again. This time Jayden paid more attention to it. It was the voice of a girl, probably a few years younger than him. It was commanding, supporting the words it spoke and wasn’t as high as some girl voices you’d hear, but high enough to still be distinguished as a girl. The most peculiar thing about it was that the voice was coming from the direction of the cat.

It couldn’t be, right? Cats couldn’t talk. Of course not. At first Jayden though maybe there was a girl hiding behind the bush that the cat emerged from. But then, the voice was very close and surely, if a person was to be behind the bush, their voice would sound muffled in some way.

His thoughts were interrupted when the voice spoke again. “Hey you! Over here!” The cat’s mouth moved.

“Did you—“ Jayden started to say, looking at the cat, but then it cut him off and said, “Yeah it was me. Don’t worry though, I’m not really a cat.”

Although it’s voice sounded intolerant, it had a hint of comfort in it for some reason. Jayden opened his mouth to say something, but then as if it could read his mind, the cat said, “Never mind about that. You’ll find out what I am later. Right now you need to come with me.”

This confused Jayden. “Why do I need to come with you? And to where?” he asked.

The cat sighed. “I can only explain a little, the rest you’ll find out later,” she began. “You need to come with me to the Magic World, because trouble is coming and we need your help.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not coming. I don’t think I can help with this. I need to go back to the party and—“

Jayden was cut off by the cat. “Is going to a party more important than saving a world and learning your past!?”

Although the cat managed to keep a monotone in her voice, Jayden’s refusal seemed to make her more frantic. “My past?” Jayden repeated. “What about it? My dad went missing and was presumed dead, and then my mom remarried to that guy. Nothing else to it.”

More annoyance glittered in the cat’s eyes. “No. That’s only part of it. Your past goes deeper than you think.” She said.

Jayden suppressed a sigh. “Then can you at least tell me my past?”

“I was instructed not to tell... yet.”

‘What was she instructed to tell?’ Jayden thought, but then gave in. “Alright,” he said. “I’ll come with you.”

The cat appeared to smile as she replied. “Good, now step through the portal.” Suddenly there was a blinding white flash and a portal full of several different hues and colours appeared before them. Jayden saw the cat leap into the portal, so not knowing what else to do; he followed her through the portal.

Going through the portal was like going through a tunnel made of nothing but light. In few short moments, Jayden felt himself on a hard surface. Fortunately, he landed on his feet, but it took him a while to balance himself.

“Come on,” the cat said, motioning ahead of it.

“Where are we going?”Jayden asked almost immediately.

 All the cat said was “You’ll see.” Jayden sighed as he followed the cat. At the moment, he seemed to be in a forest of some kind, the trees around him just like around his neighbourhood, only...more alive somehow. All he could do was stare at them in wonder as he followed the cat. The time seemed to go by unusually fast. Probably because Jayden spent it marvelling at his surroundings.

Before he knew it, the cat stopped in front of a wall covered from top to bottom in vines and greenery of all sorts. A puzzled expression reached Jayden’s face. Why in the world would the cat lead him into a wall? The cat, as if reading his mind again, said, “Right now we are in Myrene Woods, one of the many connecting forests of the Magic World. Ahead of this wall is our destination, where I will take you to my master.”

“Master?” Jayden questioned. “Like an owner or something?”

If even possible, the cat rolled her eyes. “No, more like a mentor. I’m not a pet or slave.”

Jayden shrugged as the cat disappeared into bushes briefly. A loud clicking noise was heard before her head reappeared and said, “Hurry up.”

“Uh, yeah,” mumbled Jayden as he followed the cat, realizing that there was a gate hidden beneath all the plants.

As soon as he went through the gate, a bright light shone on his face, like when you draw the curtains on a sunny morning. Once his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw a city before him. Or rather, a village.

 

It looked just like any other village he would see travelling, but it had more of a fairy tale look to it. Another thing was the people. They looked like regular people, only dressed differently. They looked like the witches and wizards Jayden read about in stories, only more modern.  He even saw a girl turn a guy into a frog with a wave of her hand.

 

All of it was incredible in Jayden’s eyes, though the cat snapped him out of his trance. “Hey Jayden, hurry up! I haven’t got all day,” she scolded. Jayden nodded and continued to follow her.

 

They passed by many streets and people, even more wondrous plants and creatures before the cat stopped once again. This time she stopped in front of a small house. The foundation and walls of it looked plain and simple, but the roof looked strange, like two fairy wings placed at an angle on top of a box.

 

The cat pranced inside. The main room was almost as strange as the roof. There was smooth stone flooring like what you’d see on someone’s patio and the walls looked exactly like the sky outside. It was like you never really entered the house. They turned to see an old man enter the room. He wore a long midnight blue robe covering his feet with the sleeves hiding his hands. His hair was white and balding, and he had a long beard reaching down to his chest. He reminded Jayden a lot of Dumbledore from Harry Potter.

 

The man seemed to have noticed Jayden come in, as he smiled warmly and said, “Ah, I see you have decided to visit.”

                      

‘More like I was dragged here by a cat,’ thought Jayden. He just nodded as he saw the man conjure up a couch from thin air, motioning for Jayden to sit in it. Jayden agreed and cautiously did as he was told, sitting down as the cat rushed over to the man’s side.

 

“Well, young man, I am known as Master Caldern around these parts, but you may call me Master,” he commented. “And this,” he continued, gesturing to the cat, “Is Echo.”

 

Then, Master Caldern turned to face Echo. “Echo,” he said. “You may show this boy your true form.”

 

This interested Jayden, but Echo didn’t seem very willing. “Can’t I just stay like this?” she pleaded stubbornly, but Master Caldern gave her a stern look. She grunted and gave in. “Fine”

 

Jayden was playing very close attention to what was going on, though he didn’t really know why. Moments after Echo had agreed to reveal her true form; a bright flash of purple surrounded the small cat, getting longer with each passing record until it removed around the height of Jayden’s shoulder, maybe a tad shorter.

 

As the light began to dissolve, Jayden could see the figure of a person, and in mere seconds, he knew what Echo REALLY looked like. Standing before him was a girl that looked like the age 13, her height around 5 feet, her eyes were just like when she was a cat, a stunning shade of amethyst, while her hair, unlike her fur as a cat, was pure black. Her hair cascaded straight down her back, some lingering in front of her shoulders and her bangs were styled in a front fringe.

 

The dress Echo was wearing looked more identical to the colour of her fur as a cat than her hair did. It had long sleeves almost completely concealing her hands and flared out at the ends. The bottom of the dress ended at her knees in strange wispy curls, like the curls of smoke you see after blowing out a candle. The top of the dress hung off her shoulders and she wore a necklace with a very detailed crescent moon pendant.


Her arms were crossed as she stood putting more weight on her right foot. She was quite unhappy and she looked away from Jayden. “There,” she said. “Happy?”

 

Master Caldern and Jayden both nodded. Jayden was about to say something until they heard a yell from outside. It was muffled, but Jayden was able to make out that whoever was shouting just said, “Ouch!”

 

Master Caldern switched his gaze from Echo to the door, and opened it, only to reveal a boy that looked about Jayden’s age, on the ground rubbing the back of his head. Even without looking at the boy’s spiked auburn hair, or looking closely at his face, Jayden immediately knew who it was.

 

“Elliott!?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reviews

[Not Here]

The "Hihi" clearly gave it away.
And LOL to both of your last comments :)

[she who must not be nam..]

Hehe!! Do you know who I am?? Maybe this'll help:
Hihi!!!
If not then may I remind you that today is day 105 of Canada Dry??

Anyways, I'm glad you have great grammar... unlike some people...