Megan talked to Geo until the bell for lessons rung. One moment, Geo had been playing Minecraft; the next, she was in Minecraft. It was a real mystery. However, Megan couldn’t waste any time. When she asked Geo what setting she had put the game on, there had been a long pause. Then she told her that it was on hardcore.
The next lesson was double Chemistry. Megan flung her books in her bag before rushing downstairs. She had hidden Geo’s laptop in her wardrobe, so that the cleaners wouldn’t accidentally turn it off or something.
Megan narrowly avoided being late as she slipped into her chair. Tobi sat next to her, and on the other side, a blank space. Megan sighed. In every lesson possible, Geo had secured a spot next to Megan. It was brilliant, except now, it just made her lonely.
As the lesson went on, Megan noticed something on a shelf above the teacher’s desk. It was some sort of round purple crystal, no larger than the palm of her hand, encased in a glass dome. It seemed to be glowing. She raised her hand.
“So what’s the answer?” the teacher asked. Megan went blank.
“Um, I just wanted to ask… what’s that crystal on the shelf?”
“Oh, that?” The teacher placed the case on the desk. “It’s called potestite. It’s highly dangerous, so I need to keep it in the case at all times. If it comes into contact with oxygen, there’s no telling what’ll happen…”
The teacher put the case back on the shelf, and continued talking about the empirical formula. But Megan couldn’t concentrate. Her mind lingered on the crystal. She wanted it. Needed it.
So when the lesson ended and only a few people were left in the room, Megan reached up to the shelf, and hid the case under her shirt. She was almost out of the classroom when the teacher called out.
“What’s that under your shirt?” he cried, and Megan dropped the case with shock. The glass cracked.
No-one moved. The crystal within stood still for a few moments. Then it began to shiver ever so slightly. It started moving more frantically, causing the case to move as well. The glow grew brighter, and brighter, until Megan could no longer look directly at it. However, she could still hear the loud smash.
A piece of glass grazed her cheek, and she cried out in pain. She heard other people shout and scream. The glow faded, and she looked around.
Megan realised that she had gotten away fairly lightly. All around her, children were lying on the floor, blood pooling around her. Everyone was out cold, or even worse, dead. The teacher was slumped on the desk. A large shard of glass stuck out of the side of his head.
It didn’t seem real. It felt like a dream, seeing all these people she had harmed. In a trance, Megan picked up the crystal, and walked away.
She kept on walking, out of the door, into the school grounds. She paid no attention to the students relaxing around her, but kept on holding the crystal. She walked up to the gates of the school, and pushed them open. It was only when she was on the unkempt grass outside the school that the reality of it hit her.
Megan collapsed onto the grass, and cried. She lay on her stomach, staring at the tiny ants that hurried among their green jungle. Her tears soaked into the dry earth, and she sighed bitterly.
She sat up, rocking back and forth and crying, head in her lap. After a while, she looked up at the sun. The brightness was nothing compared to the crystal’s glow earlier.
Suddenly, Megan noticed a yellow flower with a long stem. She picked it out of the ground. The centre of the flower was an odd colour – purple. Like the crystal. She put the two together.
Megan gasped as the crystal started glowing again when it touched the flower. The petals of the flower closed around the crystal, sealing it tightly. The petals seemed to meld together, becoming a golden ring around the precious stone.
The healthy green stem thickened, and became black flax. Shrivelled leaves fell onto the grass. Eventually, the glow faded once more, and Megan was left with something that looked oddly like an amulet in her hands.
~o~O~o~
When Megan was back at her room, she had a quick chat to Geo before thinking about the amulet. Should she put it on? Not before doing some research first.
Potestite. A smooth purple gemstone, easily identified by its glow. This gemstone was discovered in the early twenty-first century…
Megan scrolled down the page. In the corner, Minecraft was still running. Geo would play a music disc if she needed Megan’s help.
It is said that this stone has special properties when worn around the neck, including the ability to time travel.
Megan gasped. She had no idea how to rescue Geo, so perhaps she could go back in time and prevent the whole scenario from ever happening.
With a deep breath, Megan put the amulet on.
~o~O~o~
It was Megan’s first day at her new school. She had been bullied at her last school so much that her parents had decided to transfer her to a boarding school, even though Megan had begged for them to let her stay. Her parents insisted it was for the best, though.
All of Megan’s valuable possessions were packed tightly into the pale blue rucksack she carried on her back, except for a precious purple amulet, which clinked softly around her neck as she walked.
