Outside the time, p.21
Outside the time, page 21
"Yes, you do have a right." She sighed. "But I am sorry Nomag, my friendship with Mike will keep me from telling you. I gave him my word. If you want to know the answer, then bring it up with him."
"My name is Paula not Nomag." I muttered as I sipped through my red vine straw.
"I don't care. Nomag, Nomag, Nomag!"
We sat in silence the remainder of the trip, which seemed to satisfy Mike some. At least we had opened some kind of dialog with one another.
Part of me was angry with Mike for keeping it a secret from me. He knew exactly why Khail was after me and he had not told me despite promising me there would be no more secrets.
My insides were fuming and it took all my strength not to pop him one when he came knocking after we had been given our cabin assignments. Vanessa and I were assigned as cabin mates, part of me knew they had set that up with their mind control ability.
"What?" He asked innocently as he stepped in the cabin giving me a kiss on the cheek.
"This is my cue to leave. I'll scout the area. Try to keep your clothes on children." Vanessa snarled as she turned into an eagle and flew out the door I still held open.
I watched in awe as the beautiful brown and gold bird flew gracefully into the air. Humans that could transform into animals were probably never going to get any easier on me to swallow. Closing the door behind me I turned to face Mike who had plopped down on my bed and was watching me carefully.
"Oie! She told you!" He howled.
"No, she didn't. She said she promised you she wouldn't."
"Well she still told you I know! That's bad enough."
"Actually she didn't really say that either. I figured it out when I asked if she knew what it was. She flinched and so I caught her." He sighed making sure it was loud enough to know he was not happy about even that.
"We didn't tell you because it isn't going to make a difference and we honestly don't know much!"
"Mikeua Riley Ewah I have a right to know!" I shouted and sat down angrily next to him. "It makes a difference because I'm being hunted by a warlock from another dimension and I don't know why! So put my overactive mind at ease and tell me!"
He took a deep breath before locking his fingers with mine.
"Fine I'll tell you. There is some kind of energy flowing through you. I think that's part of the reason my magic is so hard to keep from you and why you have a sudden burst of energy after it moves through you. Your skin is always cold, I don't know if you've noticed it or not. But it is. The same way you feel extreme heat within you as the magic flows through you I feel extreme cold."
"Oh please don't tell me I was the one that made it snow that day." I groaned.
"In a way, yes. I made it rain but you froze the rain when you stretched your arms outward. Every time I touch you I can feel the energy link with my magic. The thing with magic is it takes energy from life around it using it to replenish itself while also replenishing the world's energy and when magic combines with each other…"
"You get an extreme burst of power right? Which is why I felt so happy and could run a thousand miles and not feel tired? Did you feel that way too?" I asked. He nodded.
"We think that energy is what draws Khail to you and it also might be why you can resist our control. Even my spirit guide likes you."
"So when people say someone has a puppy crush on someone you would be quite literal." I burst out laughing.
"Yeah, yeah, make fun of the boy with a dog inside him! But yes, the lab likes you too. After I realized what I felt wasn't him, I asked mom to describe it and I remember feeling it when in the form of the dog."
"Explain the spirit guide thing to me. Is it like Native American Spirit Guides?"
"In a way maybe. They are an extension of ourselves and when we're in that form we are more tuned with the world around us. If there is an answer that we seek and the question has been nagging on us then we can gain some clarity by turning into our animal and I guess communing with nature. It's remarkable the things you can see and hear around you. When we took our place at your tree we chose to be in the animal form in hopes that it would provide us some kind of answer as to what you have flowing through you."
I sat eagerly watching him try to explain everything to me. It really was ridiculously cute the way his brow furrowed as he tried to think of how to explain everything properly. Occasionally he would rub his chin with one hand and I could see the corner of his mouth twitch ever so slightly.
"We weren't able to tell what it was but when we were in that form it was ten times stronger. It was like something inside of you was calling out, begging to be heard."
"So I have magic but I don't have magic?" I asked. He shrugged.
"I really don't know. You haven't done anything to suggest you're anything but a Nomag. You haven't accidentally burned anything, floated, nothing that we normally do when our magic is first awakening. But there is definitely something going on. As a kid can you think of anything weird happening or you being able to do something you didn't think possible?"
Taking a deep breath I tried to wrack my brain for an answer. Other then being incredibly shy and uncoordinated I was a normal kid in my eyes. Sure I was picked on a lot and accidents had a knack for following me but none were particularly odd except maybe the one on the farm in the third grade that got the kids to start calling me Dr. Doolittle.
We were taking a class trip to a farm, basically see to how it worked, and we actually stayed on it for a weekend and did some small jobs. On of my jobs was to learn how to milk a cow. The farmer's son taught me and turned his back to go help another kid who was struggling. I had a naturally affinity for milking cows as I was able to get the milk to come with no problem.
While I was milking this cow, whistling Old McDonald, suddenly everything had gotten really quiet around me and the cow actually started singing the words in my head. Then the horses joined in and the farmer's dog had some puppies in the barn with us, who also joined in and started dancing on their back paws.
I freaked out. Ran away screaming, knocking the bucket of milk over in the process, and would not go near an animal the rest of the trip. They kept trying to talk to me.
My mom actually had to drive out and pick me up. She tried to assure me I was just imagining it but I did not believe her. I kept yelling they were singing and talking, I heard them.
"Did you ever have a conversation with an animal?" Mike asked after I finished my story. I nodded stiffly.
"Lately, yeah it's happened twice since then. Back then I just kind of wrote it off, I really did have an active imagination as a child. Used to think my stuffed animals could talk and I would have adventures with them before I went to bed. But animals talking to me happened once on the way to California and then when we were in San Francisco I talked with the Sea Lions." I lay back on the bed and stared up at the cabins ceiling.
"Really?"
"Yeah, they didn't say anything really important. I think I made friends with a pup though. They said the noble ones will awaken soon or something like that. That I was in special."
My voice trailed off as I stared up at the cabin. Mike stayed quiet as well.
The cabin was in dire need of a paint job and the ceiling was peeling in several spots. Tacky nature artwork hung on the walls and there was no TV and the bathroom was no bigger then one you would find attached to a motor home.
The two twin beds took up most of the tiny cabin allowing only enough room between the end of the beds and the dresser to walk by. It certainly was not the life of luxury or anything close to top of the line, our cabin was about as economy as it got.
However it was nice to have our own room as most kids were staying in a warehouse type structure with bunk beds. That's where the majority of the chaperones slept, as it was also a co-ed sleeping arrangement, Mike had another set of private cabins across from us with another boy.
Actually only six of us were lucky enough to have a private room and I think that was simply because there were too many kids on the trip to fit in the warehouse building. We had about three buses worth of students and chaperones as every art class in the school was on the trip.
"So they were really singing with me and trying to talk to me? None of it is my imagination, even now."
"I have to admit I've never had an animal talk to me, even when I am one. But I would be a fool to suggest it can't happen seeing as how I can fry and egg in my hand if I want to. I vaguely recall mom and dad saying it was common but they simply chose not to." He joked. I only half laughed with him as he curled up next to me.
My stomach twitched as he lifted my shirt up just enough to reveal my belly button so he could trace his finger around it, a trait he quite enjoyed.
"We're going to figure it out Paula. Even if dad has to do something he doesn't want to do and cross over to see why Khail is after you. He's going to exhaust all options here first but if it comes to that he will do it. And as much as it kills her Vanessa will protect you just as strongly as I will."
"Only until you wise up and realize she's hotter then me." I sulked.
"Not even if hell freezes over and that happens. Trust me she talks a good talk but she won't let anything happen to you. I'm sure you'll find this hard to believe but she really is an honorable person. Sure she can sometimes use her powers the wrong way but she is a noble warlock." He pressed his lips to mine and began yet another one of our make out sessions.
We had gotten better about not being permanently attached at the lips, but neither one of us could resist it for that long.
Mike had fallen asleep holding me in his arms by the time Vanessa finally returned from her trip. I was still awake staring at the moonlight shinning in through a crack in the curtains. She quietly crept around the room pulling her nightgown out of her sack. I turned my head to face her. Her form was barely visible in the mostly dark room.
"Thank you." I whispered, I could hear her huff in response as she pulled herself under her covers. Wiggling myself free from Mike's arm I sat up to face her bed. "Really, thank you. I know you aren't doing it for me but still, thank you."
"Whatever." She muttered.
"You know I really care about him right? If he ever said he preferred you I would step aside, I would hate it but I would do it. If you made him happy then that's all I could ask." She stayed quiet and I wondered if she had fallen asleep.
"Well that's never going to happen." She finally spoke. "Only way he leaves you is through his cold dead hands."
"I doubt that, we're only sixteen! Anything can happen to…"
"Not for him. I've never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you and even his spirit guide is yours. You may change your feelings towards him but he is going to literally be stuck in puppy love. Sure he would step aside, as you would, if you said you desired another. But it would kill him and any woman he would be with instead would simply be to continue his bloodline and nothing else. When we fall in love it is forever if the spirit guide also desires it."
I swallowed hard as she continued her explanation.
"As a human you can fall in and out, but when the animal falls in love it is forever. Most warlocks pretend that the animal can be in love and the human not be but it really is inevitable. I have never once met a warlock that loved someone without the animal also loving them. Sure they try but those relationships are ultimately doomed to fail."
I winced slightly and looked down at Mike's still figure as he slept soundly. Honestly I had not given any thought about how he really felt about me. My self-conscious side was always assuming that he would eventually wise up and realize that I was nothing special so it never once occurred to me that that would not be the case.
Trying not to wake him I laid back down and turned my body to face him. He had just gotten a hair cut so his bangs were not long enough to be tucked behind his ear, so I just moved them off to the side gently and ran a finger down his cheek.
"How do you know when it is the spirit guide and not just you that likes a person?" I asked.
"Same as when you are in love as a human. As a human someone could detest you but when you are in your animal form every touch, every word, it sends butterflies in your stomach. You can't wait to see that person their happiness is everything to you."
"Is that how you feel towards him?" I heard her laugh.
"No. The human in me has always desired him, I won't lie. I still do, he knows it and has always known it. But my eagle never has. I always held the belief that would come in time and him with me."
"Oh…"
"He loves you Nomag, don't ever doubt that." Vanessa said. Traces of detest lined her words.
The sun shined brightly over the waterfall cascading down the mountainside. Each student was broken up into groups with one chaperone each and we had all split off into various directions for hiking some of the trails.
Our group had climbed up to one of the many waterfalls and chosen it as the place to stop for drawing. We were required to stay in groups for safety purposes but once we got to our destination we could spread out for drawing as long as we kept the chaperone in sight.
Vanessa did not bring any material to draw with, though I was certain everyone thought she had. Instead she hopped up on a boulder and laid down on it to get a suntan. It was not particularly warm out, spring had not really started yet, and the higher elevations still had snow on the ground.
But there she was, wearing a sports bra and shorts getting a tan. She would have worn a bikini had Mike let her, that was one thing he refused to let her leave the room wearing, but she had tried.
Mike had carried a portable easel with him so that he could paint and I had my sketchpad with chalk. Even though we had used canvas most of the time in class, I still found myself more comfortable in a smaller sketchpad then using a full sized canvas or even a larger sketchpad.
I sat on the granite near where the waterfall fell over the edge while Mike sat almost right on the edge painting the Yosemite Valley below. Even with metal railings on the edge I still was not comfortable going near it as heights were not my favorite thing in the world.
Yosemite was amazing with its collections of redwoods towering over us making me feel like an ant, a day earlier we had spent some time walking through them and trying to sketch some of the giants.
I made sure to get a picture by the roots of one that had fallen over at some point in its lifespan. Mike had to step far away just to get all of the roots in the picture so that you could see the massive size of that tree. It was incredible and I almost was nothing more then a speck.
As we were hiking up to the waterfall a deer had been hiding in the woods watching us while birds flew overhead. I could not tell what kind of birds they were but I did see a couple of eagles soaring overhead and could hear their screeches. While they all stopped to look at me they thankfully did not talk to me. I had done as the Sea Lion suggested and pictured a wall in my head.
The half dome mountain, that we would not get to visit on that trip, stuck up above the trees like a protective father. That was my chosen focal point for one of my sketches. It was amazing how it looked like somebody had literally sawed off half of the mountainside. The day seemed almost too perfect.
I did not even notice the fog quickly seep out of the gushing river until it had formed a solid wall between Mike and me. He screamed my name and tried to run at me but the fog kept him at bay. I watched in horror as his fireballs were completely absorbed by the fog.
Desperately I turned to look for Vanessa just as she turned into an eagle and soared over the fog to land beside me. She grabbed my arm tightly as the fog moved in closer to surround us. Once again the feeling of helplessness fell around me, as nobody else seemed to notice anything yet again. The perception filter thing was really pissing me off.
"Paula!" Mike hollered again as he pounded on the fog wall. Slowly it began to get thicker and cover above me, sucking away any and all light.
"Mike." I squeaked, his name barely getting out.
"Don't worry Nomag, I wont let go." Vanessa pulled me in tighter, practically hugging me, as the fog tightened around us. It grabbed at our legs and wound its way up our body. The coldness of the entwining branches made want to scream again but my voice stopped working.
My whole body shook in fear as I wrapped my arms around Vanessa and buried my head in her side. The last thing I remembered was the world fading to black and all sound ceasing to exist as the fog overtook us.
Chapter 17 – Lost. Period.
My stomach churned, my entire insides felt like they were on fire and I had to fight back the urge to vomit. Slowly I tried to open my eyes but the piercing light of a fire made me feel even more nauseous. I groaned.
"Just stay still Nomag, the feeling will pass." Vanessa's voice echoed in my head. I could not fight the urge any longer I quickly turned to my side and vomited. I felt her hands as they pulled loose strands of my hair away from my face and held them back as I puked. "Shh, just calm down. It's ok."
Slowly the echo faded away and her voice was soft and trying to calm me. It was extremely unlike Vanessa so I began to worry about what I would see when I finally could open my eyes. When the feeling of vomit finally subsided I pulled myself to my knees and tried opening my eyes again.
We were in the woods but we were no longer surrounded by the redwoods of Yosemite, instead it was mostly moss covered beech trees and evergreens that still towered around us. The forest was dark and eerie with the only light coming from a small fire I assumed Vanessa had lit. She was still sitting behind me rubbing my back.
Animals gathered around the edge of our little clearing, their eyes watching me intently. Occasionally their voices would ram themselves into my head, cheering on my arrival, and I fought hard to keep up the wall to force them back out. My head felt like it weighed several tons and I groaned as I lowered it into my hands.
"It'll be ok Nomag."
