Shadows of Another World

Chapter 4

   Liam pulled off his covers and started toward the door. When he opened the door, he heard so many voices. Everybody had been going out to somewhere. Liam started to follow another boy who seemed to know exactly where he was going. He followed this boy up a flight of stairs, up to the top of the tree. Liam kept following him until Marisa showed up.

   "Liam! I was looking for you," Marisa spoke this next part a little quieter, "I don't want to sound lonely, but I'm actually a new student, and you're the only person I know,"

   "That's no problem, I'd love to walk around together. Maybe we can both meet somebody new," Liam replied. "I do want to tell you something which happened to me last night," Marisa looked at Liam as he said this with curiosity in her eyes, "There was this weird creature that just slithered away when I saw it, so I followed it. Then, it went this way which nobody was traveling along. I thought I had it cornered, but this guy named Victor came by saying that I couldn't be there."

   "Vanish?" Marisa asked; Liam only nodded. "Victor Vanish is only about a year ahead of us; though, I know he looks like he's older. He had a lot of family connections to the head of the school, and he was able to get clearance for all the rooms that only certain teachers get access to. He's also my cousin." Liam looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn't.

   The two just kept walking around the various walkways connecting the different rooms of the top area of the school. The boards seemed much sturdier than the ones Liam had crossed the other day on the bridge.

   "Hey Marisa, where is there a place to eat around here?" Liam questioned.

   "Follow me," Marisa told Liam.

   They walked along until they pulled up to a building in the tree which had large window walls. The building also had a roof which went from low on one end and high on the opposite. Liam and Marisa continued to walk until they got to a table.

   "So, what is the deal with this school. What is this gift that everyone is going on about?" Liam question.

   "So, Liam, every single person here comes from a family with a specific magical gift. This gift lets you do things that others can't, or it lets you be more skilled in a particular area of magic. Victor's ability is turning invisible. Mine is making other people, but not myself, fall in love with someone else. Your family is special, Liam. The Beckets are known because they have every single gift that every other person has. Liam, you can turn invisible; you can do what I do. You can do just about anything," Marisa explained.

   "Really?" Liam wondered, "I can really do all of that cool stuff."

   "Yes, you just need practice. However Liam, you have to be careful because people have ways of taking your gift. A select few people who are in the shadows can take your soul, life, and gift. They only go after people with high profile gifts, like yours, and they can only get the gift from the youngest child in their family, again like you." Marisa said all of this with a grave tone.

"Okay, I guess I'll be careful," Liam replied.

"You'd better, otherwise I'll have to eat by myself," after Marisa said this, they both laughed. "let's get some food before we both starve."

"What is there here, food wise," Liam asked.

Marisa snapped her fingers, and a menu appeared in front of them. They both skimmed through it. To Liam, everything sounded either good or weird. The items were things like pancakes, gnome bacon, or unicorn. The unicorn was extremely expensive.

"I'm having the gnome bacon; it's bacon made by gnomes, not bacon made out of gnomes," Marisa told him.

"I guess I'll have some waffles," Liam replied, sounding very confused.

Marisa, once more, snapped her fingers, and their food appeared in front of them. Marisa, then, clapped, and their menus disappeared. Liam looked astonished.

"What, have you never been in a restaurant here before?" Marisa asked to answer Liam's face.

"Uh. No," Liam said, sounding very impressed.

"Okay, snapping your fingers bring things to your table, and clapping your hands take them away," Marisa responded, like it was surprising that he didn't know.

The pair finished eating and began to wander. They both walked up to numerous amounts of people, most of which turned them away. Finally, they came up to a boy who sat alone.

This boy had a honey colored head of hair. His eyes were a beautiful shade of blue. He looked lonely, but he looked good, like he should be popular. He was short.

"Hey, I'm Marisa, and this is Liam. We just wanted to meet some new people," Marisa said this with her usual bubbly tone; however the boy just looked up at her.

After a few seconds of waiting the boy finally spoke. "Hi, I'm Jonah." Jonah's voice was low and quiet.

"Well, can we sit with you," Liam asked in an impatient manner.

"Oh, of course," Jonah replied.

Liam, Marisa, and Jonah continued to talk for a while longer, maybe an hour or so. They started to open Jonah up little bit more with each word spoken. However, this all stopped when a small group of people walked up, four boys and three girls.

"Look here boys, we got us that new boy, Becket," One said, which caused the rest of them to laugh.

   The one who spoke was tall. He was dressed in fancy clothes. His grin was charming. His hair was fluffy and of medium length. If you weren't on the receiving end of his remarks, you might actually be friends with him.

   Marisa began to speak. "Of course, it's the charming Troy."

   "Well, you're one to speak Marisa," Troy replied in a mocking tone.

"Is there something between you two?" Liam questioned.

"No, Troy and I just had a run in a while back that never quite healed," Marisa answered.

"Never quite healed!? You messed with my mind, and played me as a fool. I would have killed you right then if it weren't for your cousin," Troy screamed. "You know what I'm out of her let's go."

At the word, the entire group started to leave, all but one girl. This girl was short with long black hair with weirdly colored tips. She was dressed in a long black dress as if she were mourning.

"I'm sorry for the way Troy was acting. He can be a bit of a handful. I'm his sister. Well, step sister. Oh, my name is Layla by the way," Layla said all of this with a quiet, but bubbly, tone.

"Hey Layla, I'm Liam. I guess you already know Marisa, and there's Jonah," Liam replied.

The four of them continued to speak for a while longer, until they decided to get some dinner where they spoke some more. They spoke mostly about the classes they have tomorrow and the different aspects of the school. This continued until they decided to call it a night.

Liam opened the door to his room. The mushroom lamp was turned off, and Liam didn't even feel like staying up, so he decided to just hop into bed. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Water surrounded Liam. The sky was deep black, and he couldn't see in front of him. Long tentacles slithered around him before reeling back toward the darkness. A knife sat on his hip. Finally when one tentacles came to close for comfort, Liam cut off the end of it with the knife; however this was mistake. Flames emerged from the darkness, making it so that you could see further, but it was still dark. The heat felt so real. The flame trickled closer and closer. It started to crawl his foot. The heat was unbearable. It all started to burn. Finally, Liam woke up in a cold sweat.