Realm of Noah

Chapter 26

1st December 2019

NOAH

Somewhere along my dream, Shay and I had scrambled up to my rooftop, watching the rows of identical houses and fake trees that looked like leafy lollipops. I almost felt like I'd stepped into my boring ISA neighbourhood since Shay had recreated the place impeccably.

"Why did you choose to make this place?" I asked her, as she gazed at the sky.

"This is your home after all," She muttered.

"Shay," I began in a low voice. "You know that I'm not coming back, right?"

She ignored me, now continuing to watch the sky studded with stars and constellations that had sprung from her imagination.

"I can't come back... I'm an outcast!" I told her, slightly annoyed at her inaction. "My parents abandoned me, Augustus hates me..."

"Yeah," She cut me off. "I know."

"Then why-"

"Noah, has Johannes possessed you already? Or are you just that blind enough to not notice that he's using you!" She turned around, looking exasperated.

I stiffened. I could already sense a huge lecture coming up. Mike had gone paranoid knowing that I was hanging out with Johannes. It was no surprise that Shay would advise me on the same.

"Isn't your Enlightened power supposed to tell you that?" I narrowed my eyes.

"My half-Enlightened power doesn't tell me everything," Shay looked bitter. "Especially when it comes to Johannes."

I sighed. There was no way out of this.

Without missing out on a single detail, I told Shay about how Melody had been forced onto me, how Johannes's deal was the only escape and way to Ren. Then I told her about GhostGuy, how he'd been a sudden idea, and how we'd saved so many people.

Shay listened quietly, reacting in all the right places and keeping her scathing opinions to herself. It felt so relieving to share everything with her, my heart light now that everything was out in the open.

"I don't trust Johannes," Shay replied as soon as I was done. "I'm sorry Noah, but everything he's done this far seems like an act to me."

"Maybe he has been pretending," I shrugged. "But he's helped me more than harming me, Shay. I can't help but think that I have the upper hand here..."

"And yet you need to hide the identity of GhostGuy, while he can prance around in public," Shay remarked dryly.

"We didn't have time to think it through," I told her, exasperated.

"No, Noah. That's what he wants you to think," She frowned. "If he cared so much about stopping LOLtube, why didn't he dress up as a ghost?"

"Because he's horrible at talking to an audience!" I told her.

"Him? Horrible at talking to people?" Shay laughed loudly. "Wasn't he the one possessing Mike and charming the internet?"

I paused, as realisation hit me. How had I forgotten something this crucial?

"He's using you, Noah," She repeated. "If things get too hard, he's going to ditch you in this LOLtube mess and disappear into thin air."

"I don't think he will," I told her, hating myself for believing her words

"Let's see," Shay suppressed her smile.

"He did convince Miss Claire that I wasn't possessed," I reminded her.