Death in a Paradox

The Ninth Chapter

The Ninth Chapter

~~~

Augustus

"I have accepted my title as the world's biggest failure," I just said straight out when I Annabella woke me up. "How long did I sleep?"

"Four hours," she replied quickly. "How much do you remember?"

I motioned to my head and Annabella laughed. "Are you trying to show me your mind was blown or what?"

"I forgot everything after tripping."

"What's your birthday?"

"July... seventeen? Eighteen? Uh, 1996?"

"I have never heard of people getting this question actually wrong. July sixteenth, 1993. If you were born in 1996 I'd be tripping you in the hallways. You, sir, definitely have a concussion. There's Tylenol on your right."

Everything was kind of hazy after that; Annabella kept on trying to open the box I gracefully fell over, but she had no luck. My head hurt way too much, but I kept my complaining to a minimum. Annabella later cast a type of spell on me that doesn’t allow me to sleep, but puts me in a state of rest that lets me sort out my memories. It’s really peaceful. I later remembered it was called something like a Reverie Dance Charm.

I thought about Meredith for a moment, how she and Annabella cause much more trouble than expected, and how I’ve been really unhelpful. Then my stupid brain caused me to think about my father, or Annabella’s adopted father. Then I realised I hadn't told Annabella yet.

"Annabella, remember your adopted father?" I asked her.

"Yeah, Evan Eltiise. What about him?"

"He's actually my dad, who isn't my dad either."

She stood up and inspected my body. "Walk in a line." I did.

"You're not drunk or high. What exactly are you talking about?" she was half yelling. Great, I have to deal with an enraged Annabella.

"So I was going to the Doreen offices to get a pass so I could enter the Underworld, and then I randomly got attacked- side note, the old lady working there is evil- by Carson freaking Girard. He framed me for some thing, truth is I don't even remember, but Professor Betlain-Saitela got me out of trouble. So then I got told that if I cause anymore trouble, I get expelled, so I left. Oh yeah, did I mention I'm expelled? I'm rambling, aren't I?" I stopped for a moment and cocked my head to the side. "Can I get more pills? My head hurts..."

"No!" Annabella yelled. I covered my sensitive ears, which made her look a little guilty. "Sorry, but you had one not long ago. Continue, please."

"So he was really confusing me. Girard, I mean. At one moment he was telling me he'll put my father out of business, which made sense, 'cause my dad owns the bookstores and stuff. Then he told me that my father gave him full permission to interrogate me, so I was like, hold up, you just said you'll put him out of business. One of the last things he told me was to ask you about your adopted father, then to talk to my stepfather. So I checked it out, y'know? I thought he was trying to get my blood boiling before torturing me for some fun. But once there's an idea in your head, you just can't ignore it. I checked it out."

"And?" Annabella prompted.

"Look in my bag. Left pocket." Annabella found the file folder in my bag. She skimmed through the first page, first looking a bit annoyed, then she looked confused. Her eyes widened when she turned to the second one.

"The First and Highest Order of the Silver Rose? I've heard of that!"

"I searched it up. It's a magical race that worships Destiny, the so called queen of fate. Supposedly, she took the bodies of a hundred dead Necromancers and created a Shadow, which is the name of their race. Also, most books about them have been destroyed. I think it's a good thing to mention that it was only after they were bought by Maxwelby Book Stores."