Missing Pages

Chapter 20: Old Enemies, New Motives

*•* SPOILER ALERT! *•*
There may be spoilers associated with my first book in this chapter...

"What are you doing in there young lady?!" spoke Barbara. "Get your butt out of there right this instant!"

I screeched in pain as I was dragged out of the shed by the skin of my ear.

"You could have gotten hurt--or worse! The sake of this whole planet was in your hands!" she continued.

That lady showed no mercy as she tugged on my ear all the way to her house, and shoved me into her hallway before shutting the front door.

"What was that for?!" I exclaimed, "Are you aware that humans have sensitive body parts such as ears?!"

"That was for you, an inexperienced teenager, traveling in an unauthorized vehicle that causes major trouble for so much as a little mistake."

"I didn't go hopping through time out of my own accord, Miss Barbara... Nina, a vile girl from my school, trapped me into the machine so that I couldn't get out!"

"I know that, I'm not stupid. She put a very advanced spell on the door so that you'd be unable to escape. If it weren't for me, you'd still be trapped in that time machine. Only a very experienced person could be able to break the spell that she cast," Barbara told me. "Your grandmother is really disappointed with you."

I stared down at the space between the brown floor tiles in shame until I remembered one very important detail.

"Don't you mean to say 'my grandmother would be disappointed'?" I asked.

"No."

Hmm... She didn't speak about my grandmother in past tense, which means that Maya is somehow still here. Barbara also mentioned that only and experienced person could free me from Nina's spell, so she must have experience in the magic field.

I gasped before saying, "My grandmother is alive, and you can do magic?!"

"Took you long enough," she muttered, "I would have expected someone as smart as you to figure that out sooner. Did you take any of my words from the last time we spoke into consideration?"

I thought back to what she had said the last time I saw her.

~*~
"Hello little darlings!" a voice behind us cheered, "What are y'all doing on such a fine afternoon?"

It was Barbara, a family friend of ours. She was one of Maya's many friends and they'd all get together from time to time.

"Oh, hello Miss Barbara! We're just checking up on the house," I told her with a smile.

"Cool. I haven't seen you girls since...well, the funeral," spoke the lady. "I know it might seem silly, or maybe even crazy, but your grandma still lives on."

Carmen and I nodded. "It was nice speaking to you. Bye lovelies!" Barbara hugged us before going back inside her neighboring home.

We continued down the cobblestone pathway to the shed in the backyard. I believed that there was something more behind Barbara's words than she was letting on. She stated with certainty that Maya still lives, like she wanted us to understand and comprehend what she was hinting at...
~*~

"No... I've been too caught up in school drama to break down what you meant," I said finally.

"Well now that has been cleared up, lets go back to the subject of that troublesome enemy of yours," an unknown voice spoke.

I looked all around for the source of the voice.

"Who or what was that?" I asked Barbara.

She smiled and motioned to the air around us.