The Magic Within: Shadows of Two Worlds

Chapter 40 ~ Jamie

     When we got back to my dorm, which everyone had gathered in, we all burst out into laughter. "That was perfect," I exclaimed, looking specifically at Lilly. "Your acting really is amazing." She blushed and laughed. "Oh, I wouldn't say that." I rolled my eyes, then turned to Ella. I pulled her into a hug. "Best little sister ever," I said. She smiled. Then I looked at Christopher. "Thanks for acting as my boyfriend." He nodded, and his face got a little red. Then I turned to Harmony. She looked absolutely delighted as well. "Thank you-" I started, but she interrupted me. "No. Thank you. You could have shunned me out and hated me, but instead you invited me to join your little revenge plan." I grin spread across her face when she said that. "I'm so happy I got to meet all of you." All of us cheered, hardly caring that other people could hear us down the hall, and had a giant group hug. When we broke away, we said our goodbyes and Ella and I were left alone in our dorm again. "That was awesome!" I exclaimed, jumping down onto my bed. Ella chuckled, laying down on hers. "Yeah. That felt great." I paused. In the back of my mind, a feeling rose up. All this has distracted me, huh? I thought about our parents. Ella must have seen my face fall, because she immediately asked, "what's wrong?" I paused. I didn't want to ruin her mood as well. Of course, it didn't take her long to realize as well. "Oh," she mumbled. I turned the other way. I can't go to sleep on this note. Just think of how good the day has been! With that, I tried my best to remember Jeff's horrified face and not my parents' before they hung up on us for the final time.

~~~

     The next day flew by. Sure enough, Jeff had "mysteriously" disappeared and everyone was talking about it. A few people came up to me and Ella and asked how we found the information. We knew not to share. We didn't do much. We wanted a break for a bit, but we did have a meeting with Lilly and Amelia later. When we got to the waterfall, we sat and waited in the grass. Ella was bending the water as she spoke to me. "I'm still wondering how we're going to accomplish this," she murmured. I shrugged. "We will figure it out." Deep inside, I was also worried. Lilly and Amelia arrived only moments later. Ella parted the water and we walked in. I let my wings appear. Lilly did too. All of us sat down on the ground. "So, where should we start?" I asked. "I'm honestly not sure," Amelia murmured. "We have to do undercover hybrid work, and that's going to be very hard." Especially when we're also going to school at Yale, I thought, but I didn't mention it. "Yeah. How about we all do research on the Hybrid Hunters? They're the main group of people hurting hybrids. They... you know, are after our parents." Lilly nodded solemnly. "If we find out more about them, we can find out their strategies. If we find out how they work, we can stop them." I grinned. "That's the spirit." Ella smiled. "Alright. This weekend, all of us need to focus on research. Learn everything you can. We'll report back next Friday." The four of us continued chatting for a little bit, but we wanted to keep our meetings swift. We couldn't be gone for too short or too long, or people would start getting suspicious. Soon enough, we would have to come up with an excuse for why we left every Friday. We couldn't be doing completely different things for too long. When we got back to the dorm, Ella and I started researching. It was hard work. We had to use our laptops, but we had to dig deep to find anything of any worth. Unfortunately, we failed to find much that night, and we fell asleep at three.

~~~

     Ella and I had been in our room since breakfast. Jeff was already gone. "Have you found anything?" She asked. I sighed. "Only that their motives are to get rid of all hybrids, unlike some people who think we deserve less. I mean, no duh. They try to kill, not capture," I mumbled. Ella looked at the time. "It's twelve. We should probably go get lunch." I nodded. Shutting my laptop gently, I got to my feet. The two of us made our way to the food court. We walked over to our friends. "Wow. You two look exhausted," Jake muttered, looking a little concerned. "We were just up late," I started to lie. "playing board games." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lilly and Amelia steal a glance at each other. They also looked pretty tired. Christopher moved closer to me. He looked serious. "Jamie, I know it's the weekend, but please try to get some sleep." I chuckled, brushing it off, but in all honesty I thought it was cute that he cared so much. We were about to leave to get our food when a professor came up to us. I didn't have her, so I wasn't sure of her name. But her face was grim. "Ella and Jamie Glynn, there's a police officer here to talk to you." We glanced at each other in shock. Did someone find out!? was my first, terrifying thought. Then the professor added, "His name is Frank Hoffman. He has... something to tell you two." I froze. Our parents, Ella said to me in her mind. "Of course," she murmured, then we followed her to the entrance of the school. Frank's deep blue eyes were set on the ground when we arrived. "You're that police officer that Trevor knew. What's going on?" Ella demanded. Frank sighed. "Look, you two. I know you've been going through a hard time right now, and I hate to be the one to tell you this, but..." his voice trailed off and he paused, then whispered, "Your parents died." It took a moment to process the words that came out of his mouth. I felt as if the whole world was spinning. No. This can't be happening. No... Ella was frozen as well. "They were killed. They were hit by a car by someone from- well, you should be able to figure that out," Frank murmured. "I'm sorry." I took a deep breath. Dead. I tried to speak, but I was at a loss for words. It was Ella who spoke first. I could tell she was on the verge of tears. "Officer Hoffman, thank you for protecting them as long as you could. We owe you everything..." He simply lowered his head. "Please, call me Frank. I... I'll give you two time to think." Then he turned and walked away. Ella let out a sob and fell to the grass. At that, I couldn't take it anymore either. My legs collapsed beneath me, and I pulled my sister into a hug. I felt tears running down my face, and, unlike the usual, I didn't even worry about how I was in a public place. It didn't matter. Our parents were gone. Forever. I remembered the last time I had seen their faces. Over a phone. Them telling us that they had to cut off from us. At that thought, all of my childhood seemed to flash before me. Our parents protecting us from the reality of the world, from all the people who wanted to hurt us. Caring and loving us despite having so little. Even the simple memories that meant nothing to me at the time. Laying with my mother, sobbing, after having a bad day at school. Playing cards together at the dinner table, laughing and breaking the rules just for fun. The way she used to tell stories to me and Ella before we went to bed. About how the world used to be, before humans turned on us. She would tell us that one day, all of us would live like that again. She promised us that we would all be together for it. The whole world faded to nothing. It was just me and Ella. My hands wrapped around her, feeling her shaking as she sobbed. Now I wasn't sure if a world like that could ever exist again.