Journey for the Gem

Journey for the Gem- Chapter 9

*~* JADE'S THOUGHTS

The next day at exactly eleven thirty six, Jade, Ruby, Opal, and Jasper sat in the choir room with twenty other bored to death kids sitting in plastic, hard seats. Opal had brought Jade some crutches from the school nurse, since her leg wasn't back to 100% yet.

Mrs. Euphoria, the choir teacher, sat in her humongous piano seat, still half of her overly large self hanging off the end. (No need to say; she was a lady who ate a couple too many Twinkies.) Mrs. Euphoria, who insisted on her class calling her Songbird, though Jade didn't see the Songbird in her figure and her singing. More like sick chicken with its head cut off that weighed a couple extra pounds.

She had a nose that resembled a tomato, minus the red part. Her wispy, short brown hair was slicked back with about ten cans of hair mousse. Too much makeup made her plump cheeks look less appealing than the rest of her body (and that was saying something.)

She thought that since she had guess-starred on Les Miserables that she was famous and that her voice was so wonderfully appealing.

"Let's sing the star hit!" Songbird (ha-ha!) said loudly, hitting the note F on the piano. Twenty-four miserable students rose grumbling to their feet, trying hard not to make a break from the room. Yes, her class was that bad.

Merino, a Hispanic girl that was new last year, sidled up to Jade. "Is this seat taken, or can I sit here?" she asked politely in a slight accent.

"Sure," began Ruby, but she was cut off by Songbird's screech. "MISS RA WHAT ARE YOU THINKING WHY ARE YOU DISRUPTING THIS GREAT SONG OF MUSIC HISTORY? YOU WILL GO OUT INTO THE HALL RIGHT NOW I SHOULD SEND YOU TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!?!" shrieked Songbird (or Scream bird right now,) in one breath. She was veerryy protective and sensitive of her music class and disrupting the cough, cough *wonderful* music.

"I was just offering her a seat," said Ruby calmly, her eyes sparkling with fake tears. "That music was so wonderful it was hard to disturb it, but she was asking me a question, so I snapped onto her."

Songbird seemed transformed. "Why, Miss Ra! You have the same musical taste as I do! That music is way back from seventeen seventy nine, about the time Amazing Grace, the hymn, was created. It was made in my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandma's home, etched into the wall in the dirty basement. I- "Yes, we get it, I know, you are the founder of this great discovery," interrupted Merino hastily, her dark eyes sparkling not with tears but anger and frustration with this teacher. Merino's hair, equally dark to her eyes, shone in the bright light.

Then Jade felt a queer sensation, like she was being tugged along from around her middle. All of Songbird's room disappeared, and Jade found herself in a grassy green place with Jasper, Opal, and Ruby there beside her. A pond lay innocently beside them, and Opal got up to investigate it.

"I know what this is!" she gasped. "It's a TransPortal, like an in-between-the-worlds place. The wizards made it in a secret forge when they needed to contact people without others knowing! You are allowed to see into the pond, but people cannot see you from in there, in Mrs. Songbird's room. We are not there...Ruby, are you listening?" Opal said all in one breath. Ruby's head was tilted to one side, and her eyes were glassy.

"You know how many people say 'cannot?' Not many," wondered Ruby out loud. "Off-track, dork," mocked Jasper, knocking Ruby upside the head. Ruby responded by socking him in the shoulder ten times harder.

"As I was saying, it was made long ago by some wizards with a very fancy spell that if used right, would make you immortal. If not, it would kill you like that. The one that used it would become immortal if they succeeded, and they would get one wish to create anything they wanted to help or hurt the world. Once it had been brought into the world, then it couldn't be taken out. Only very powerful people could summon us here without our okay. If Set gets a hold of this spell, then we will all be doomed, be tortured by his contraption, and then die a very painful death." "Pleasant," muttered Ruby. Opal continued, "Well, I'll tell you the spell now, though I can't tell you all of it or I will be able to actually have a wish and become immortal, or be killed immediately, which I don't want to do. It's: I call on the gods; I summon their power, to make me immortal; grant my wish within an hour."

"Man, they were original. Hey, is there a spell that makes pizza guys confused so that they will deliver their pizza to your front door?" questioned Ruby. Opal sighed while everyone snickered. Opal was about to speak when a booming voice rocketed off the in-between world.

"Where are my minions?" the voice roared. Surprisingly, it was female. Then they saw the source of the booming voice, and Jade forgot everything else when she looked at her.

^_^ RUBY'S THOUGHTS

A fierce, terrible woman was standing in the once-green grass. It was once-green because wherever she stepped, lava dripped from her fingers and shoes. Her dark, long, beautiful hair curled menacingly around her shoulders and down her back, her finely shaped hips shifting from side to side as she strode purposely toward them, her bright green eyes literally glowed in the dim light. (People must have a lot of green eyes around here.)

"Minions, you are here. Very good job, but I must know your names before we go on further. You there! Tell me your name now," the lady said, pointing to Opal. Opal trembled and shook like a leaf before mumbling "My n-name is O-opal N-nut." The woman's eyes seemed to burn right through Ruby as she turned to her. "Yours?" she demanded. "I'm Ruby Ra, she's Jade Isis, and this is Jasper Horus," Ruby said without flinching. "And how did you get here?" the woman asked. Ruby felt flushed with anger. This woman was practically scaring them out of their wits to get answers.

"Look now, why do you want to know? Huh? What's your name, oh your majesty?" Ruby talked back to the woman. She looked surprised for a moment, then recovered and sauntered up to Ruby and grabbed her hair, pulling her face back. The woman studied Ruby for a full minute, then let go none too gently.

"You are no magician, at least not like The Red Lord. The mark of it is not on you," she said. Ruby glanced at the others in confusion. Jasper and Jade looked as clueless as she felt, but Opal's face was paler than usual and her mouth was open wide.

"Who's this red lord, lady?" Ruby asked. The woman looked angered for a minute, and then her eyes flashed like fire.

"And you dare question the Red Lord's ultimate power? Do not say his name like scum, say it like the greatest treasure of value in the world, for that's what he is. And I hate being called lady, thank you very much," the lady ranted.

"Then what else can we call you, lady?" asked Jade, finally speaking up. She was a little big paler than usual and Ruby saw that whenever the lady walked closer, Jade's leg twitched and looked weird.

The lady straightened her ostentatious robes full of diamonds and pearls.

"You may call me Keres, assistant and proud worker of Set, The Red Lord."

{A/N: Ha, you like? Well, here's the message from me that no one ever reads: If you actually read this note, please comment and put ***(your message)*** in your comment, and I will dedicate the next chapter to you. I'm that desparate. I'll also dedicate it to you if you vote. PS you guys didn't make my one-vote or one-comment challange, and I'm getting pretty discouraged. I have all of the chapters written out, so should I continue to post this onto wattpad, or not? Please tell me. Thanks for reading. ridingrl.}