STATIC; JR [2]

2.1

We all stared, tear filled eyes looking up into the dark clouds. We still called out to him, yelling his name at a slightly harmful volume. No response came, and the only thing that changed was the sky. The clouds dispersed, separating and allowing sunlight to hit us and everything below. We all stalled, blinking our eyes a few times to adjust to the soft light of the sun.

Felix suddenly leapt forward, racing over to the pile of scattered pages that lay in the grass beside the now calm pond. "What was that spell?" He asked, possibly mumbling to himself.

Sam darted closer to the pond, staring down into the water with squinted eyes. "Andy, can you hear me?" He exclaimed, almost slipping as he anxiously danced across the mud.

Jake's face contorted, and he watched Sam with disbelief and irritation. "He got sucked into the sky, doofus." Sam took no notice of this comment, and just kept shouting at the murky water. The sight of the rattled boys was the thing that triggered my tears, and against my mental protests, I started to cry. I didn't know what else to do, or what other rational way to react. I couldn't stop the tears as they cascaded down my cheeks in salty waves. I dropped my face into my hands, unable to control the sobs that escaped my dry lips. I felt a pair of arms gently wrap around my shoulders, and I instantly knew the limbs belonged to Jake. He just rubbed small circles into my back, soothing me with his soft touch. I tried to stop crying, but it just seemed like a terribly difficult task.

"Edith, c'mon." He cooed, his chin resting on my hair. I refocused my attention on the sound of Jake's heartbeat, which sat against my ear. After a few minutes, my cries quietened down, and my breathing no longer consisted of short, rapid breaths. I didn't realise that we would be handling another magical disappearance in such a sort amount of time. When I pulled away from his chest, I felt the sting of the cold breeze brush past my damp cheeks. Jake reached up, his hand caressing the side of my face as his eyebrows furrowed, the sadness etched into his features.

Reluctantly, I turned away from him, forcing my eyes to Felix. He was still gathering up the loose sheets of paper that had slipped from his diary, but when I spoke to him, he stopped his actions to look at me. "How could this happen?" I mumbled, my vision blurring as the tears accumulated once again. His entire face softened at my expression, but the panic was still written deeply into his eyes.

"It looks like Andy was using magic he didn't understand, and wasn't able to control." Felix said, refolding the pieces of paper. His voice was calm, but I knew if it was the other boys who had asked him that question, he would have shouted his reply. It was my fragile state that made him speak at a level volume. Jake left my side, storming off toward a nearby tree. He brought his hand up to his head, pulling at his blond hair.

Sam started to aggressively address Felix, which in turn, caused him to get the same sort of reply. "Yeah, it was your magic from your Book of Shadows." He spat, pointing an accusing finger in Felix's direction. "So reliable!"

The Goth boy's mouth fell open, and his eyes narrowed as the anger made itself prominent on his face. "It wasn't my spell!" He yelled, his arms flailing. "I don't know where he got it." He came away from the pond, quickly walking to stand beside me.

"Where is he now?"

Felix paused, a sad sigh leaving his already parted lips. Clear defeat was laced all through his voice, and his body language spoke no differently. "He could be anywhere, or nowhere." He muttered, meeting our gazes with a hesitant greeting. "I don't know." I squeezed my eyes shut, no longer wanting to look at the torn expression on Felix's face. This piece of information was a hard thing to understand, because it contradicted everything that we knew about magic.

"Felix, you always know." Jake countered, his words almost seeming to plead for a positive response from Felix. Sam started shouting, causing me to do the same. At first he screamed at Felix, then he screamed at me. I returned the deeply distressed shrieks without knowing what I was yelling about. This went on for another twenty seconds before Felix demanded we shut up.