Pangaia: Agendas (Year One: Fall)

Chapter Twenty-Two - Cheyenne

 "This is why I never wanted to be popular." Cheyenne groaned into the couch cushions once they got back to their dorm. "I don't like drama. It'd be so much easier if I didn't have to deal with people, and then I couldn't go to this stupid dance period."

Halyn frowned as she took a seat nearby. "What do you mean? You were so excited earlier."

"I don't think I have to explain it."

No, she thought, you're the only one that's been excited. She grabbed a pillow and moved it over her face to block out the light of the room, to block out everything around her. She wanted to be invisible and to not be liked by popular boys, or lusted after by vampire wannabes, or betrothed to demons.

"I think I'm going to bed," she said.

"It's so early though," Halyn protested. "Come on, Chey. Talk to me. Tell me what's bugging you." She sighed as Cheyenne stood up from the couch and avoided looking at her. "We'll talk and shop tomorrow."

"Fine, after lunch or something should work if I can get it cleared."

"You go to sleep and I'll take care of it."

Cheyenne nodded and walked into her bedroom in a daze. She took care of her things, being mindful enough to at least put them away. Just as she was about to climb into bed, she was startled by the flowers on her window sill as they started to shout.

"Be careful. Look where you step."

She jumped and frowned, wondering what on earth they were talking about. She watched the ground where she walked, not noticing anything out of the ordinary, at least not at first. Then she spied the long creeping legs of a rather large and furry spider crawling across the floor toward her. She could have sworn it was the size of a dinner plate. She'd never seen anything like it before, and she was frozen in place as it inched its way closer.

"Don't let it bite you."

She shrieked as she ran across the floor, leaped over the spider, and jumped onto her bed. "Halyn! Help!"

Halyn burst through the door, took one look at the ground, and screamed also.

The two watched in horror as it redirected itself to the bed. It had little interest in Halyn. In fact, it completely ignored her and followed after Cheyenne. The spider lifted its legs to the comforter of her bed and tried to find its footing so it could crawl up the side.

Cheyenne continued to squeal and began jumping up and down on the bed in hopes of shaking it off, but it was all in vain. Halyn ran out of the room and returned with a broom, using it to bat at the monstrous arachnid. It fell to the ground with a fight and a hiss. Halyn proceeded to pummel it viciously until it ceased to move.

"Is it dead?" Cheyenne asked, her voice shaking. She knelt on her bed and stared down at it, but didn't dare move any closer from fear of a spontaneous resurrection.

"Thank you. I hate those things," she whispered to both Halyn and the plants.

"Tarantula, but I've never seen one this big before. I..." Halyn stopped as the spider's corpse began to smoke and hiss before melting into a strange green gelatinous goo. Slowly, it shrank in size and took on the shape of a tiny, dark, green stone, dull in color and lifeless. "I was about to say, I don't think it's natural."

"What is it?" Cheyenne asked. She couldn't take her eyes off of it.

Halyn picked up the stone and examined it. "I guess you could say it's for summoning. Some witches have the power to take certain objects and turn them into different spells. Each stone has a specific set of magical properties. Some pretty nifty things can happen. This one was used to summon the spider. Once it's killed, the stone loses its magical power and returns back to normal. It's not a common practice. Only certain witches are born with the ability. I guess you could say it's a specific classification. I've only seen a few students here who can, and they all kind of knit together in a group."