STATIC; JR [2]

1.6

After a day with no magic, Felix had called our group and asked us to meet a Phoebe's place. Even though the instruction was quite strange, I obliged. As I was crossing the road on the way there, Sam had called my name and ushered me toward him. He seemed overly happy to see me, but I think he was just glad to get out of the house. Funnily enough, we'd all been placed on some unofficial house arrest. I think our parents were all just scared that we'd go out somewhere and disappear, just like we did back in the forest.

The rest of the gang were there, subtly hiding in Phoebe's garden as we approached. I was a little surprised to see Oscar by Jake's side, but he was a welcomed presence. The younger boy and I had always been close acquaintances, but very distant friends. I smiled at him, and I was glad he returned the gesture. Andy was on the other side of him, reading a comic of sorts. I ruffled Jake's hair before following Sam to where Andy sat. I looked over their touching shoulders, noticing the detail in the hand drawn comic. Felix turned his head to us, but that was the only act to acknowledge our appearance. He crept forward, peeking past a tree so he could have a better view of the house. I realised how creepy this seemed, but I tried to ignore the thought.

When the Goth returned to his crouched position beside us, he shook his head. "Nothing." He only offered one word, but it seemed to be enough. I moved my eyes back to the pages in Sam's hand, almost gasping at the art on the paper. It was a cartoon Sam, but the freaky part was that it was a drawing of him skating over the bins, something that had actually happened. Oscar shouldn't have known about that event, but somehow, he did.

"Hey, that's me." Sam mentioned, pointing at the little person before his eyes darted to Felix. "Did you tell him?" The skater didn't even allow Felix to respond before his head flicked toward Oscar. "How did you do this?" The wheelchair bound boy only gave a sheepish smile, but it was very small.

"Oscar's Spirit, in the other universe and this one." Felix answered for his brother, quietly proud. We were all pretty pleased with this announcement, and so was Oscar.

Jake grinned at him, his eyebrows pulling together in slight astonishment. "You've got a power, too?" He asked, and Oscar's only reply was a single nod of confirmation. Jake's smile grew, and he nudged Oscar's elbow with his own, an action to show his support.

"There she is." Felix mumbled, and right on cue, the sound of Phoebe's van echoed around us. Even though I knew she couldn't see any of us, I ducked down a little more, and that helped ease my sudden anxiety.

"Do you really think she's going to tell us how to defeat her sister?" Andy questioned, his gaze drifting away from the vehicle. The sarcasm was clear in his voice, but Felix must have decided to ignore it, because he didn't throw a sassy remark back at him.

"Only one way to find out." He said, abruptly jumping up from where he crouched behind the line of low plants. Sam followed suit, whereas Andy scowled to himself. He really didn't think this was a good idea, but he'd just have to let it go. He walked behind me while Jake wheeled Oscar out of hiding. Now that I thought about it, it didn't seem like the brightest plan we'd ever come up with. We just waltzed into Phoebe's house, and that was hardly safe and very far from okay. Felix called her name, but when we got no response, Sam did the same. In the silent seconds that occurred after we'd finished calling her name, we had the opportunity to take in the details of her house. It was clean, and bigger than I had previously anticipated. Everything in the room was just so unlike what I had expected her to like, and there was nothing that even hinted at magic. But, I should have assumed that much after Felix told us that she'd emptied out her entire magic shop. We didn't know the reason, but I had a strange feeling it was because of Alice.

A loud bang sounded toward what I guessed was the kitchen, and then the woman we'd been searching for finally revealed herself to us. With a glower on her face, she addressed us. "What are you doing in here? This is private property." It seemed as if she was threatening us with that remark, but before she could further scold us, Felix interrupted.

"We need your help." He said, a brave statement.

The woman's eyebrows furrowed angrily, and the crease in her forehead was more prominent upon that small facial gesture. She began to shake her head, but stopped as soon as she started. "If you want help, try your parents." She grunted, practically shooing us away with a flick of her wrist.

"Dude, she doesn't know us in this universe." Sam mumbled, reaching forward to grab Felix by the sleeve of his jacket. Felix didn't say or do anything to respond, but Phoebe did.

"And there is no universe in which I want to know you." She retorted, throwing a rude comeback at us with any chance she got. "Move it." Even though she spoke with such malice in her tone, nobody moved.

"Your sister is a demon." Oscar said, blurting out the deadly information without a second thought. I didn't believe that this was wise, but it was too late now.

Andy looked to Felix's brother, a slightly pained expression covering his face as he decided to add onto what Oscar had been saying. "Alice tried to kill us." Phoebe's face hardened at this, but she didn't get the time to reply before Sam stuttered out a statement.

"She was in this hurricane thing." He said, clearly unsure of himself. He opened his mouth to elaborate, possible correct his very vague version of the real story before something caused him to choke on his own spit. Our eyes flew to where his were looking, and we all froze at the sight.

"What's going on?" Alice asked, the sound of her voice so innocent as she gazed at our pale faces. There was disbelief on my face, and I could feel it as I watched the scene play out before me. Phoebe rushed to her, politely ordering her back to bed.

Felix was suddenly fumbling with the fabric of his shirt, then he finally clutched onto the talisman. He raised it, a silent threat. I didn't expect him to actually do anything with it, but when he started chanting, I was proven otherwise. He murmured the spell, but Alice didn't seem fazed by the magic. She stepped forward, slowly approaching us as she kept her eyes on the talisman.

"What is that?" She asked him, only to be met with a more aggressive rendition of the spell. The witch jumped back, startled by the volume of Felix's voice.

"It's not glowing." I noted, my words extremely quiet compared to his. "Doesn't that mean there's no danger?" I asked, swallowing the lump in my throat.

"I don't understand it." He replied, now speaking in a low stammer.

"I'm serious, get out." Phoebe said, the anger in her voice easy to decipher. Felix stalled, so that caused us to do the same. Alice remained silent, just staring at us with creepily wide eyes. "Get out!" Phoebe repeated, screaming while chasing us and her demands out the door. Sam had to push Felix out the door, and we didn't stop until we were well away from her house.

"She didn't look like much of a demon to me, Felix." Jake said, still pushing Oscar along as he walked. I agreed with him, although almost everything about her stirred apprehension in my chest.

"Yeah. There were no crows, no bees." Sam said. "It all seemed pretty fine to me, even though she creeped me out." Felix rolled his eyes at this, but said nothing as we finally came to a stop in the middle of town. I looked to my side, noticing that we were standing right where Sam had skated over the bins in the other universe. Sometimes, things like that shook my mind.

"If the talisman didn't glow, that means Alice's not a threat, doesn't it?" Andy asked, greeting Felix with a confused expression.

Felix gave a small shake of his head, then tried to shrug. "Maybe the talisman works differently in this universe." He didn't speak with much confidence, but at the moment, any response seemed to be good enough for him. "Maybe it's broken."

"Maybe she's just Phoebe's sister, like she says she is." Sam rebutted, sighing with a little too much exasperation.

Felix shook his head again, but it was more violent this time. "She came back the same time we did, there's no way that's a coincidence." This reply was overshadowed by Sam's overdramatic groan, causing Felix's face to fall.

"Just let it go, Felix." Sam told him, and now he was the one to roll his eyes. "We've got a party to get to." There was a slight smile on his face as he walked away, closely followed by Andy. Nobody else said anything to partially take Felix's side, but I did offer him an apologetic glance. Oscar was silent, obedient as Jake wheeled him after Sam, nodding at me to walk beside him. I didn't look back to see if Felix was coming with us, but it didn't matter, because one way or another, he'd show up.