The Hell of the Nine Realms: Book 1: The Mystery of the Odinsons

XVI: Another Member of the Reeves Tree. Joy...; XVII: Oh, and There's A Game

"Today," Nuria said as the class got settled. "I will be using the Regnum Mielen on all of you."Lizzy raised her hand. "But, Professor, isn't that illegal?""I've already asked Odin if it was okay." Nuria assured. "This lesson is just to see if you can resist the effects. This one is much more powerful than Incantatioloqui, and there are more forms of it that are more powerful than the form I am going to perform."Lizzy looked at me and stifled a laugh. "You look tense.""Do I?" I asked between clenched teeth."Everyone knows that Nuria is extremely paranoid," Dylan said from behind me. "She can't go three hours without revealing a conspiracy theory or an assassination plot.""Now, everyone form a line."

One by one, Nuria performed the charm. She got people to do incredibly hilarious things. She made Shaina do cartwheels across the desks while singing the Japanese national anthem in Ancient Egyptian. She made Flora squawk like a bird, then attempt to bite off her own arm. Dylan did incredible stunts that he probably wouldn't have normally been able to do (including the splits). Ashley was forced to begin kissing the floor and people's shoes. Lizzy acted like a dragon. Several others did things that I can't even describe. No one had been able to fight it off, and each of them only recovered after Nuria removed it. "Connelly," Nuria growled. "You're next."I moved forward to the middle of the classroom, into the part that Nuria had cleared of desks. Nuria raised her wand, pointed it at me, and said, "Zen'nō."It was a wonderful, instantaneous feeling. I felt as if I was floating, as every thought and worry in my mind was wiped gently and cleanly away, leaving nothing but a vague, untraceable felicity. I stood there, completely relaxed, barely aware of everyone watching me. And then I heard her voice, reverberating in some distant chamber of my empty brain. Breakdance onto the desks... breakdance onto the desks...I was beginning to get down obediently.Why? Another voice had awoken in the back of my brain. Truly. A stupid thing to do, the voice said.Breakdance onto the desks...No, thanks. I don't think I will, the other voice said, much more firmly. No. I don't really want to...Breakdance! NOW!The next thing I felt was considerable pain. I had both breakdanced and tried to not breakdance. The result being, I smashed into the floor, and by the feeling in my right arm, dislocated my shoulder. "That's more like it." Nuria growled, then suddenly the emptiness in my head disappeared and the pain in my arm doubled. "Look at that... Connelly fought! She fought it and she damn near beat it. David! Get up here and we'll try this again. The rest of you, pay attention. Watch their eyes, that's where you'll see it- very good, Connelly, very good indeed. They'll have trouble controlling the both of you."

Three hours later, David and I were finally allowed to leave the classroom. Nuria insisted on repeatedly using the Regnum Mielen on us until we could throw it off completely. My neck hurt, my left elbow twinged, my legs ached, and don't even get me started on my dislocated shoulder. David wanted to walk to our next class together after the break, but luckily Shaina came and whisked him away. When I was certain that he was gone, I moved as fast as I could to the library and found everyone already there. "Hey," Flora greeted me, holding her hand up in the air."Hi." I said and tried to move my arm, but immediately winched."Are you ok?" Jamie asked me, getting up from her seat. "I'm fine.""No, you're not." Jamie replied calmly."I'm fine, okay. OW!!" Jamie had just grabbed my right shoulder and my arm instantly began screaming in pain. "You're arm's dislocated." Jamie noted. "I can put it back. It'll be painful, but you're gonna have to suck it up."And that's what she did. I cried out and Jamie immediately clapped her hand on my mouth. Water came from something and enveloped my legs, my neck and my shoulder and soon the pain began to fade away. I moaned. It felt like a very deep and relaxing massage. After a few minutes the pain was completely gone and the water fell to the floor. Jamie and I sat down at the table and everyone stared at me."What?" I asked."How did you lose David?" Lizzy asked."Shaina came and took him away." I answered.My eyes flew to Jamie, who obviously was trying not to look sad or hurt. "But, that's beside the point. Jamie, what did you find?"The subject change brought Jamie's regular face back and she rummaged through her bag and pulled out three extremely large books."Are these the books we need?" Abby asked."No." Jamie said and began looking through her bag again. "Those are just for a little light reading."Dylan scoffed. "This is 'light reading'?" The books had to be at least 2,000 pages each. They were unbelievably thick and I needed both my hands to hold one of them. After a minute of searching, Jamie pulled out a medium sized book titled Unsolved Mysteries and Mythological Locations."How is that going to help us?" Dylan asked."Oh, I don't know, Dyl-Dyl." Jamie said in an innocent dumb schoolgirl voice.Dylan's face and neck immediately turned red, and he got an angry look on his face. "Don't call me that!" he yelled. "Whatever." Jamie said. "Anyway, listen to this. 'The Maze, more commonly known as the Labyrinth. The incredible work of the Ancient Greek architect, Daedalus. The lost home of the Minotaur. It swallows all secrets and all animals flee before it. Those who enter the Labyrinth never return alive, with one sole exception: Theseus.'""How does that help us?" Ashley and I asked."Guys, remember?" Lizzy said. "'You shall find delve in the endless darkness of the interminable maze of hidden things under school.' That's the labyrinth. And it must be under the school.""Quiet." Flora hissed. "What?""It may interest you to know that someone has eavesdropped on this entire conversation." she said. "What? Who?!""I don't know." "Great." I got up from my seat. "We should be getting to class."With that, I walked out of the library.