Lost In Time

Aftermath

A storm of voices erupted just as the clock ended its echoing chimes. A flurry of anger, shock, and disbelief hit my senses like a freight train, sending me to my butt on the cold marble floors. Dim flinched as his father reached him, yanking him up by his collar and yelling profanities that were best left unspoken in his ears. I felt sorry for him in spite of myself, and the threats we had just uttered to each other. It was like a crowd of angered peasants with torches and pitchforks was surrounding us, except they were sophisticated people who had just lost a costly bet, against me. A newcomer to the horse track. It was terrifying, and there was nothing to do but to keep my cool. I tried and failed to stand under the rolls of furious magic several times, until I managed to get to my feet, stumbling up. As calmly as I could under the circumstances (I had gone deaf by now, seriously get a grip folks!) I looked around for Caroline and the others, and spied them, not moving, in the same corner where they had been before, faces slack with relief and eyes wide with shock. Useless. Who I didn't expect to find was Marie, standing just out of the circle the angry Walkers had set around me, with a pleased smile on her face. Her deep forest green eyes sparkled with mischief and satisfaction. She began to speak in my mind, obviously mindful of my numb ears and the deafening white noise of the people miming throttling me; why I wasn't dead by now, I probably would never know. Maybe the house was protecting me in its own way, who knew? I haven't seen the Walkers this beside themselves since the fight that began these trials long ago. Her voice sounded amused in my head, paired with immense pleasure. Fight? A fight began these stupid trials? Goodness, who screwed up that badly? Whoever they were, I could easily shoot them in the face and get a great night's sleep...speaking of sleep, that sounded way good right now. I was exhausted. My descendants, your ancestors. But some things are better left unsaid, or shall we say discovered? She gave me a conspirator's wink that just left me feeling frustrated and curious. Darn you, Marie Laveau. She continued, smiling slightly. You must get them to quiet down. You are the heir. You're the winner this generation, make them come to terms with it. Quickly, before this gets out of hand. I groaned loudly, the sound going mute by all of the angry shouts and yells still going on. Sheesh, folks, I won, y'all lost, get over it already! It's been ten minutes, and at this rate I'll never go to bed! I growled, fed up with their petty tantrums, and shouted, at the top of my rather impressive lungs.

"ALRIGHT, ENOUGH! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS, EITHER BE QUIET AND COURTIOUS OR JUST LEAVE FOR GOD'S SAKES!" I let out a blast of energy that made my voice grow deep, easily overcoming their riot, and almost immediately everyone quieted down and backed off me, allowing me some much needed breathing room. I took a deep breath and let it out, eyes blazing with power. Finally, I glared at the crowd and let them know just how much I wasn't joking. A few looked at me coolly, apparently thinking I was no threat, and gave Dim disparaging and disappointed looks. He kept his eyes down on the floor, glaring at his shoelaces. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from smirking. No need to ruin anymore of his ego. The rest swallowed as they met my different colored eyes, and curiosity and awareness showed in their eyes as they said their quiet goodbyes and quickly left. Soon, it was just the Laveaus, Narkis, Dim, and the rest of the boys from the trial, all of whom looked worse for wear. The twins looked beat up, with heavy bruises everywhere, and one of them was minus a white jacket. A faint blush still tinged their cheeks, which made me bite my lip to keep from laughing. Blonde spirit animal guy was being supported by a very pale green Clover, who was breathing heavily, and bleeding from a lot of cuts and burns, which I was assuming he had absorbed from his precious plants. Walking Muscle helped Clover with Blondie, cursing every step he took as it stretched his very burnt and crispy skin. I winced. They all looked worse for wear, and when Dim saw them he gave a high pitched strangled cat sound, looking at them in horror, before looking at me with new eyes. I simply grinned cheekily, which pissed him off and made the tips of his ears, still sticking out of his curtain of hair, turn deep red. I turned my attention to a fuming Narkis, who was doing deep breathing exercises to calm down, but anyone could tell it wasn't working very well. Footsteps coming up from behind me made me remember Caroline and the others. A quick peek around showed Marie had come closer as well, to stand at my side. No one could see her it seemed. I briefly wondered why.