The Newest Normal

Chapter 4-Cody

School was cancelled due to "some unfortunate, disturbing things happening", were the principal's exact words. I didn't care, nor did I really want to know. Everything seemed perfectly normal to me, aside from the sudden snowstorm, but seriously, why was everyone freaking out over a snowstorm in March? Who said it couldn't snow in March?

And I couldn't exactly say I was upset about the sudden arrangement either. School was boring for me, and I could never handle all that school drama happening. Especially with that girl, what was her name- Morgan. I bump into the halls with her once, send her papers flying, tell her the honest truth about what she should improve on, and she throws a childish tantrum at me. Talk about immature.

My dad is out and about once again, hunting or whatever it is a hunter does. To tell the honest truth, he's barely at home. As we live in a forest, I decide to take a walk outside to enjoy the new found air, a scent of snow and pine trees mixed together, when I bump into her.

"Watch where you're going!" She exclaims, grabbing a nearby tree to steady herself.

I roll my eyes. "What are you doing here anyway?"

She looks up at me, sarcasm dripping her voice. "Oh it's you. Cody, am I correct?"

I nod. In a way more mature voice, I repeat the question. "And you're Morgan, correct?"

She nods, looking a bit out of place. "I have no time for your childish games. I need to get going."

I laugh. "Me? Childish games? What about yourself?"

She frowns. "For your knowledge, I've been having a really bad day so far."

"Like what?"

"Well, the kingdom is in crazy condition with magical things you only read in books. You're not suppose to see those kinds of things in real life! It's not normal." She shakes her head. " On top of all this, I just figured out that I was the one who caused all this! Now I feel uncomfortable, anxious, annoyed and careless and guilty."

"Really?" I didn't believe her, but my day had been pretty boring so far. She was entertaining. "Could you tell me what magical things exactly?" I reach my hand out to grab an apple from a nearby tree.

"Don't!" She knocks the apple out of my hands. "Can't you see that the apples look strange? They're not even the right colour."

I look and examine them. A moment ago, they looked yellowish white, but now they looked rainbow coloured.

"They're poisonous." She opens her arms wide. "Just one of the weird things. This may look normal here, but apple trees are growing in the cities too. You know the rule- no apple trees in cities or towns."

I was more than amused now. The words I'm looking for is... interested. I was intrigued by what she was saying. "What other magical things?"

A sudden rumbling noise suddenly fills the forest. Morgan shivers, from the cold or from the noise? "What was that?" She mumbles.

I glance over my shoulder. Nothing. "Probably nothing-" I start. Out of the corner of my eye, a blur of a creature jumps out. All I see is grey before it jumps onto me. Morgan screams. It lunges for my eyes with its claws, but I manage to dodge just in time. It swipes again, but I'm ready this time. I hit a blow to its face and it weakens. I land a few more. It does another weak attempt to scratch my face before falling to the ground. I look at it closely. It looked like a wolf... but it had sharper claws than a wolf ought to have. Faster speed too. Plus, it had four sets of razorblade like teeth with red beady eyes.

Morgan screams again before coming to my side. "What was that?!"

I laugh.  Luckily, the creature didn't get blood on my clothes. "I'm fine, thank you very much."

She closes her eyes. "Weird weather, humming streetlights, poisonous apples, dancing pencils and now this..."

I study her. Should I believe her? "So you're telling me that this is actually real?"

She nods. "And getting weirder."

I pause for a long time before finally making a decision. " I'll help you, only because you're interesting and I'm interested by all this."

She doesn't look convinced. "Two questions. Why and how."

I shrug. "Better come to my house unless you want to get attacked by another wolf creature  huh?"

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I lead her through the back doors of my house. The wooden, brown door swings open, and I enter the room, which smells like wood, forest and cinnamon.

"So this is where you live," She comments.

I nod. "Yeah so?" The wolf attack was still giving me shivers, even though I didn't want it to.

She takes another step forward. "Don't get so defensive. I just didn't know what to expect."

I bring her to a small corner of the attic, where there are some couches with blankets over them and some old bookshelves filled with stacks and stacks and rows of books.

"Wow," She observes. "You have a lot of books."

I glaze my fingers over a few of them. "What can I say? Books are where I go to when real life is boring."

She narrows her eyes. "Real life is not boring."

I shrug. "To me it is. The only interesting thing that happened all day for me was you telling me about these objects and that wolf."

She doesn't argue, but her face is set in a hard line. "Can we get back on track?"

I grab a book with a gold spine off of the bookshelf. "I was reading this book the other day and I came upon something interesting." I flip to the page and point to the paragraph.

"Are there magical powers set out into your world..." She starts reading off the page. "Weird powers or objects? There's one way to undo everything..."

"And it basically tells you how you have to collect five objects. The five objects will form a sceptre that when waved three times counterclockwise under the light of the moon, will suck all magical things back into where they came from." I pause. "And it can only be used once. Once created, cannot be used again."

"So the five objects are listed below. Have you ever seen this list yourself?"

I realize she likes to ask a lot of questions. "I haven't read the list since it wasn't there last time, but this is your only bet. Either take it or leave it."

"You know, I hate it when you're right."

The corners of my mouth lift up before I force them back down. "Is that one of your pet peeves? Me getting stuff right?"

She rolls her eyes. "Let's skip the first object. The other four are something with the royal seal on it, a moonbeam, the Official Address Book of Against, and an invitation." She frowns. "These objects won't be easy to collect."

I seriously cannot believe her and her attitude. "What did you expect? Apples, brushes and pencil crayons?"

She looks away. "Maybe."

I sigh. "Not everything in life comes easily. You have to work towards them and endure challenges. The heroes in books always do that kind of stuff."

She looks at me questionably. "Wow, you really are into this book thing, aren't you?"

I ignore what she just said and pull her towards the door. "Something with the royal seal on it, huh?"