The Spirit Stealers

The Potion

Hey! Managed to find time to upload. This chapter a bit short, but hope you still like it! Please read the bit at the bottom if you are confused about Old Ben! Vote, comment, fan if you really like this, and feedback always welcome! xxx :D S

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That was really weird. I think I just saw some of my past.”

“You did! And there’s no mistaking it either! You saw it, with your own eyes. Truth lies within those thoughts, remember them well. You may never see them again!”

I thought of this as a riddle. What did he mean I might not see them again? Would I need to?

“Well, I probably will only remember it vaguely.”

“Then wait here. I’ll be back in just a second.”

I waited, as Old Ben vanished and appeared again, this time with a potion. Two bottles. Small phials, containing a creamy white liquid with some sort of gas swirling inside it. I gulped. Would I have to drink it?

“You have to drink this.”

Crap.

“I’ll tell you what to do. For each of these potions, you must gurgle them, and think of those thoughts you just saw. You have to be very specific with them. You can’t just say, for example, Ben in a forest. You might think Old Ben was walking around in a muddy forest with overgrown beetles. Anyway, be very clear on the image, if you don’t you may see a patch of grass instead of the forest!”

I nodded, and took the phials. They would come in handy, but I had one question.

“How do I see them?”

“Aha! I have a very special object in this oversized tepee. You can see from there. You see, these phials are like memory boxes, that come in handy when you don’t have any room in your brain left. You simply do this, what I call Memory Extracting, and it will be stored until you throw it in to the lake of flames to demolish. You want to try? Here - let me show you first.”

He dragged a long, thick basin over from the kitchen. I hadn’t seen it before - had he just conjured it up?

He held one of the phials in his left hand, and closed his eyes, pouring it in his mouth. He looked deep in concentration, his eyebrows frowning. The sound of cars outside could be heard. I waited patiently, waiting… waiting…

“I’m done. Come over here.”

I walked over to the basin and watched him get out a sort of ladle to mix it around. A vision suddenly appeared from the swirling gas.

It was a sunny day. There were no clouds, and the sky was a light shade of blue. Birds were in every direction, and the trees were swaying contently. Old Ben was in the park I had seen earlier, the one with the wooden swing and slide. Old Ben was very young, about eight or nine. He was playing on his own, like a loner.

He stared at a tree. It stopped swaying, and froze. It soon turned into a cloud of grey.

He stared at the grass. The colour drained, and turned into straw and hay. Patches of white were dabbed around.

He stared at the fences surrounding the park. They broke and tore apart.

He started at the other trees, and they all turned into clouds of grey. The clouds rose up to the sky, and turned it grey. I heard a scream from a house. The house I was in before.

The vision disappeared in a swish of gas again. Old Ben looked at me, lips pursed. I didn’t know what to do. He kept looking at me.

“I planted that vision in your head. Only I know it. Use it well.”

“How do you collect it again?”

“Just put your phial in the basin and let the white gassy things float back into it. That may take a whole night  - you have to be patient.”

I nodded again, and we stood in silence again. I was just flabbergasted about what I saw. So… was Old Ben a friend of Petunia Trelladone???

“Would you like to try?”

I nodded even more enthusiastically this time. I took the phial from the table, uncorked it, drank the liquid, and did exactly what I saw Old Ben do. I closed my eyes - deep in concentration - and thought about the first vision. Sunny Agent’s…

When I finished, I opened my eyes again. My tummy gurgled as if it had had too much water. Ha, ha.

“Let us see then.”

It was the same vision as I had seen before, except the colours had gone a bit weird. 

“Can you change the visions?”

“Sadly, not. Unless you want to drink it all over again and do the whole process again. It is very difficult to do that, if you’re not me.”

I sighed, and decided to make do with what I had. It was somehow important… Why? I just had a feeling inside that I had to look after it well. So I did.

I thanked Old Ben, at least fifty times, before leaving the New York world and entering the honey grass one.

“Visit again! I would love your company!”

I left down the rocky path, and found my way back in to the city centre. I looked around in a few shops, but found nothing I needed desperately. So I headed back for Maple Tree House.

***

“Sammy!” Georgia shouted from the hallway. “Darren was getting so worried! He texted you - but you didn’t answer. You’ve been gone ages!”

“I’m sorry. Look, I need to talk to you both. Can I get somewhere private for us?”

“We could always squash into the storage shed in the back?”

“Yeah, okay. Please could you get Darren?”

“Sure! Meet you out there in a sec.”

They came out, Darren looking like he’d just found someone dead, and Georgia panting.

“What is it, baby? What happened?” Darren said, clasping my hand in his.

“Let us go into the shed first. We need privacy. Can you get someone to guard the shed, Georgia? We can’t have anyone listening. Bribe them with chocolate or something.”

Georgia nodded and ran back inside. I saw her get a drink of water before she went to find someone. I laughed awkwardly, and looked at Darren. “It’s about… You know what.”

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Thanks for reading ^-^

About Old Ben - when Sam tried to run away at 13 (yes she really hated Maple Tree House!) Ben helped her with food and money. He is a wizard, or you may imagine him as Dumbledore if you wish. You've probably already read this, but just in case you were confused about Sam running away! Hope you enjoyed it! And hope you understand fully! xx