Chapter 9

Something was off. I immediately felt the Shade and the wizard, their dark energy suffocating me, but we weren’t in the stone room like I have seen so many times before. Surrounding me was a frost bitten field that looked oddly familiar, while, off in the distance, the moon blanketed the tips of trees. Stars sprinkled the sky, the light pollution hiding only a sliver of the brightness of the stars. I slowly inched forward, scared that even the slightest movement they would find me. As I approached them, the intensity of their conversation increased.

“We are going to attack then, whether you like it or not! I will not have you disappoint me once again.” The wizard growled out.

“My lord, the List knows and will be waiting for us then. They will be expecting an attack.” The Shade responded, its voice sounding like the wind howling.

“Prepare your brothers for battle. We will fight on the Frayden’s 18 of the December. You will capture Michaels, dead or alive.”

I shot straight up. Looking around I wondered what disrupted my dream. I looked at the clock; it was only seven am on a Sunday. My phone rang again, Steph’s name popping up on the screen. She better have a pretty good reason for waking me up this early in the morning.

“What do you want? Did anyone tell you not to mess with someone’s sleep on a flippin’ Sunday?” I grumbled into the phone.

“Good morning sunshine!” Steph loudly replied into the phone. “Guess what you’re going to be doing today?”

“Sleeping in, oh wait, I can’t!” I said sharply.

“No silly, we are going dress shopping! Now get your gorgeous butt up, I’ll be over in two.” And with that she hung up. I grumbled. Why did I have to have a best friend who loves shopping? I sat up and nursed my slowly growing headache. Nothing has happened in the past two weeks sense the discussion on who was taking me to the formal so, as planned, Shane is taking me. Brian had asked a cute freshman who is in the chess club and one of the hottest hockey players asked Steph. I took a quick shower, knowing that I was going to need all the relaxing I could get before we went. By the time I had gotten dressed and had come downstairs, Steph was talking up a storm with Clara about possible stores to go into to get a good dress. The one thing I was really looking forward to about this Formal is the fact that the theme is a masquerade ball.  I grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down enjoying the moment to myself.

Looking outside the window a slight fog hugged the tops of the skyscrapers while the windows reflected the soft glow of the waking sun. Clara had taught me very little in the magic area, scared that she might hurt me or scare me. The most useful thing she taught me was how to protect my mind from weak mind attacks. Even though she hadn’t taught me much she use her magic like it was just another arm. Every few moments I would see something randomly fly past my face or freeze in midair.

By the time we left it was around ten. Clara had said to use the credit card and that nothing is too expensive for her “little niece”. Steph had named all the places we were going to visit, all of them being really famous name stores that I don’t even remember. As we walked up to the front steps of the store, I immediately knew I was out of my element. I am here for Stephanie, I kept repeating to myself. As Steph grabbed dress after dress, my thoughts ventured back to my dream. I hadn’t told Steph yet, wanting her to have a normal girly day which we seem to never have anymore. December 18 is the day of the dance. It is about a week from today. Slowly my thoughts shifted to the details of the dance. I wasn’t too excited with the fact that I was going with Shane, but I mean, it could be worse. Steph has everything planned out. We were going to go to her house to get ready where she has booked a professional hairstylist, and the day before we were going to take school off, to go for mannie and petties, which I was perfectly fine with. Steph snapped me out of my trance.

“Nora? Hello, earth to Nora!”

“What do you want?” I replied in a winey tone.

“Go try these on. You’ll go first so that you’ll actually stay awake while putting the stupid dresses on.” Steph puffed out. I smiled in her direction and headed towards the dressing room. “Oh and you have to show me all of the dresses missy!” I turned around and glared at her as she returned my glare with a sweet, innocent smile. Rolling my eyes, I closed the curtain and got into the first dress. Five dresses later, I walked out in a skimpy orange dress that hugged onto me for dear life.

“Really Steph, orange?”

“What? I thought it’d look cute on you, but now that I see it, I honestly don’t know what I was thinking.” She said with a sigh. I had only one dress left. It was a strapless gown with a sweetheart neckline and lace at the top that slowly changed into tulle by mid-torso. I’d picked this one out, the only dress that really catching my eye. Sliding the dress over my head, I took a deep breath, reminded myself that this was the last dress, and walked out.

“Oh. My. God. Nora!” Steph squealed. With tears in her eyes she got up and gave me a hug. “That dress was made to be yours.”

“Or I look so bad that you’re crying because you have to look at my ugliness.” I said in a matter-of-fact voice. Her face immediately went into a frown and she slapped my arm hard. “OW!”

“That’s what you get! You are freaking gorgeous, so don’t you ever say you’re not!” She replied sharply. I laughed and smiled at her.

“Thanks.” I said, still smiling.

“I only speak the truth, cutie! I can promise you one thing. Shane is going to have the most beautiful date to this dance.” Stephanie said returning the smile. I rolled my eyes and went back to change out of the dress. A few hours later we were walking out of the store with our dresses and some accessories plus shoes that cost over a thousand dollars put together. We shortly found a little café and stopped to grab some lunch. When we ordered and found a table I finally asked some questions that were on my mind.

“Stephanie?”

“Oh no, full name is out. What’s up?” She replied cautiously, her body tensing up in alert.

“It’s nothing bad, I promise. What was your childhood like? I mean with… knowing and all.”

“Oh!” Steph replied, the tension rolling out of her body. “I always forget that you weren’t born into this. It always just seems so natural for you, you know? Anyways I was born on the world Jangate, but my brother and I didn’t live there very long. We moved to Bysilver shortly after we were born and when we became of age we immediately started our training. We lived there pretty much our whole lives. Time moves differently there, the farther in you go one Freyden year is added. The thing is, is that because of that, we live much longer than how long Freyden humans live. Our bodies age slower but time moves faster, I’m actually sixty eight but I look seventeen.” I stared at her. My best friend is sixty eight years old. Why is my life so weird? “Anyways, Jangate is the world where the, I guess, middle class lives. That is one of the two main home worlds. It is four worlds away, so it’s about five years added on to Freyden time. Bysilver is the world of knowledge. It is where young pupils go to train to be a part of the List, though few make it. Families who are members of the List live there and raise their children there.”

“Oh my god, that is a lot to take in. So my best friend is sixty eight years old, and is a kick a*s ninja who has been training her whole life.” I summarized. Steph laughed and looked at me, her brown eyes glistening with happiness.

“Ha yep, I’m pretty freaking legit!” She said with a smile. We ate our lunch, the conversation continuing to be on the topic of Stephanie. By the time we finished it was around three in the afternoon. Figuring that we should go back and work on homework that we haven’t finished, we hailed a cabbie and drove home. The atmosphere had changed sense this morning out on the streets. People were casually walking, not worrying about having to be anywhere. Steph and I said our goodbyes, both of us promising to text each other later today. I walked into the condo, hands full, and slowly made my way to my room.

Placing everything gently in the closet, I walked over and grabbed my journal from its hiding place. I sat down in my normal seat by the window and wrote what happened in my dream, everything still fresh in my mind. When I finished, I texted Steph saying that I needed to talk to her tomorrow. My gaze looked around the tall buildings, still bright with daylight. People moved like busy little ants far below on the streets, each of them having a specific purpose. I closed my eyes and thought about how drastically my life has changed this weekend. “Grandma,” I whispered, “I hope you’re listening. I understand why you didn’t tell me, but I wish you did. I miss you like no other. I promise I will find who did this to you, don’t you worry. I love you Grandma.”

It is amazing how much we take for granted the many beautiful things in the world, the small things that truly make a difference in our lives. The simple task of a humble bumble bee is to take pollen from flowers, which in turn helps both the bee and the flower. It’s those things that truly matter most in the world. The simple life of a single tree brings life to thousands around it. It is but a simple tree, one tiny living thing amongst thousands, that keeps those who take it for granted alive. One small living thing can make a difference, no matter the background or the looks. It is truly the action that makes a difference. That one leap of faith that changes the course of the universe, and either makes it a better place to live in or a worse. It is up to us to decide what to do and decide, am I doing this to make things better, or am I doing this for myself. The more we look around and observe what is happening in our lives, the better we can recognize the importance we have on other living creature’s lives, whether big or small. So take a step back and smell the roses.

-Nora’s Journal