Tintin and the Heart of Stone

Chapter 6: Choice

Tintin looked towards the door then to Anais then back at the door, "Wait here," Tintin sternly ordered Anais, "Don't do anything, say anything, don't even-" the knocking grew more constant, Tintin sighed and quickly rushed to the door to open it. A short man in a green coat and bowler hat was outside, "Tintin my boy!" the man said, "How are you?" he shook Tintin's hand and walked in like some high and almighty figure.

"I'm fine professor..." Tintin said as he tensed up and constantly flashed looks of concern towards the kitchen, "W-why are you here?" he smiled awkwardly, the professor tilted his head and ruffled his beard. Now this was pretty rude, the professor was astonished by the lack of manners his young friend had today but in the kitchen Anais was trying to muffle her laughter. This caused Tintin to quickly send a glare towards the kitchen and divert his attention away from the professor(R00D). "Tintin!" The professor snapped, "What's wrong with you today?! You're quite jumpy!" he furrowed his brows at the boy and crinkled his nose, fuming with annoyance. Tintin turned around, embarrassed, scratching his head and apologized to prof. Calculus. "I'm sorry prof. It's just, I've been busy today and anxious because of uh... Um..." Tintin was trying to find an alibi that would make the prof. leave asap.

"Oh never mind that my boy!" The prof. shook his head and walked with the boy farther into his home, "Maybe this curse isn't real. Maybe it was just a prank!" his face beamed as if it were saying 'eureka!' Tintin darted his eyes left and right, staring awkwardly in the kitchen a few times to see if Anais was not offended by this. 

"Well," Tintin chimed, "Prof. maybe the curse is real but it just hasn't fully started yet-"

"No, no, no my boy. The moon could've been blue due to smoke." The prof. continued on and on trying to explain the discrepancy of the curse, Tintin just awkwardly listened. Anais, who was patiently sitting in the kitchen, having her fun listening to this conversation, decided to work a little magic. Anais opened a small glass bottle which contained a small cloud, "Arise my spirit and soul." she whispered into the bottle, causing the cloud to float out and grow. The air grew cold and the cloud floated all the way to Tintin, sending a waft of cool air down his neck, he swore he heard Anais's voice, "Oh the curse is real alright, you humans just don't see the change yet." a soft whisper, faint but still audible, caused Tintin to shudder in his place. His eyes widened and he turned around to see nothing, he could only hear the faint laugh of the little angel in his kitchen.

"Tintin?" Calculus tilted his head, "Everything alright?" 

"Yeah," He fidgeted around, "Just peachy..."

"Don't tell me you have a lover!" Calculus's mustache wiggled with surprise. Calculus started walking towards the kitchen, Tintin jumped after him and tried to stop him from getting to the kitchen. If the prof got to the kitchen and saw Anais then the man would probably think that those two were dating. "No I don't!" Tintin cried, "I don't."

"Then why are you blocking my path from the kitchen?" Calc tilted his head, "You're hiding someone..." He pushed the boy out of the way and entered the kitchen, which was seemingly empty. Calc scanned the room and glared at Tintin who was trying to keep his cool. Where did the angel go?? "See?" Tintin smiled awkwardly, "No one here~" The professor stared at him for a while, he noticed the coat closet was making a weird creaking sound and headed towards it like it was a clue. Tintin was frozen as the prof went to open the closet, he covered his eyes, the prof opened the door only to find a bunch of playboy magazines... 

"Oh..." He turned slowly to Tintin, "No wonder you wanted me to leave so quickly..." Tintin was trying to explain himself but the prof would have none of it, he simply said his goodbyes and left Tintin all by himself. Tintin just stared wide eyed, the anger inside him was growing. "ANAIS!" he yelled as he heard the girl's laughter float through the room, she was right above him floating. "I'm starting to think that you're a witch!" he kept trying to whack her out of the air but missed epically. 

Anais laughed more, watching Tintin's anger boil, "Aw thanks! That's so sweet." she smiled as she landed right in front of him, "So about that adventure-"

"Bitch!" Tintin clenched his jaw, "Pull another trick like that and I swear that I'll kick you out of my apartment!" Anais stared at him and then continued what she was about to say, adventures of course. "You can join me whenever you want and you can just ditch whenever you want too. Your choice." She smiled and extended her hand to him which Tintin reluctantly stared at. She shrugged it off and started towards the door, Tintin ran after her desperately. 

"Wait!" he grabbed her wrist before she could waltz out, "So, this is goodbye? Forever?" he didn't want this to be the last time he talked to her, "You're never coming back?"

"Tintin," She rolled her eyes, "A goodbye forever is a farewell, and heavens me this is not a farewell." She flashed him a reassuring smile to calm him, "I will come back, but only when I've finished my job." She broke free from his grip and continued to walk when Tintin stopped her again, Anais let out a tired sigh and shot the boy a look of impatience. "Uh, may I help you?"

"How will I be able to contact you? I mean-" he was interrupted when Anais handed him a piece of paper with writing.

"This is the phone number to the house- I mean area I live at is right here."

"But you won't be at that area." Tintin pouted and continued to keep her stuck there, she sighed again and then tossed the boy a little blue rosary. "What's this?" he asked as he looked at it.

Now, this is a rosary for those of you who are not familiar with the Christian/Catholic faith, a rosary is a little necklace (or trinket like object) that is made up of 50 beads. For every ten beads there is a big bead that separates(or marks) where one part of Jesus's life ends and the other begins. There are 3 other beads which are used for saying prayers to Mary and one little crucifix to top off the whole "I'm trying to talk to you God/Jesus, please pick up and answer." thing. 

(Author's note: I'm a Catholic so I know what a rosary is, if there are any other Christians/Catholics reading this please tell me if I left anything out about the Rosary.)

The rosary was to "contact" Anais when she was gone, how? A rosary is kind of like a phone to call God or one of his angels. Tintin fiddled around with the blue rosary, inspecting the ornate crucifix, "How do I use this?" he asked as he looked to the girl.

"You pray," She replied as she pulled out her rosary to show to the boy, "You pray to me specifically if you want me to talk. You can either say this prayer out loud or in your head, either way you will hear my voice in your head and we can talk."

"So like telepathy?" his eyes lighted up with interest.

"Yes." she nodded, "Like that."

"But," Tintin said sheepishly, "I...I don't know how to pray..." Anais stifled a laugh and shook her head. She seemed to have taken a liking to this human, made things seem a bit brighter for her. "Well," She smirked, "I suggest you go consult a priest, or if you're too arrogant to ask for help make one up yourself." and with that she left...