The Strange Apprentice- Book Two

Chapter 1

It was Saturday morning. I woke up in my room in the Sanctum. My parents were out of town for the weekend, since they were visiting some friends in Chicago. You know how I feel about getting up too early on a Saturday, so I was crashing in the Sanctum for the weekend. I put on my usual tunic and trousers ( which i had been accustomed to wear even when it was cold), brushed my teeth, washed my face and put on my contacts. After that, i made my bed .Doc hates things out of place, he will notice anything out of place, it's almost a disease. If one of the hundreds of books that exist in the Sanctum it's not on their specific shelf, in the exact sequence that he wants, he will know, and probably blame me. I actually don't mind him being so observant. If something is wrong with me, if i'm feeling down or tired, he notices and helps me. Of course sometimes that backfires on me, because I can't keep a secret from him, but honestly, I don't have nothing to hide, I learned that I didn't need to. I went downstairs, and there he was, sitting on his usual table, with the same old clothes, eating the same thing he ate everyday. It is almost a ritual to him, it brought him peace and, in some way, to me aswell. I could count that he would do that every morning, which made me think that I could count on him for everything. When we first met, I never thought one day I would look up to him the way I do now, the more trust him with my life. Funny how things turned out.
Once I reached the bottom of the stairs, he was reading something on his tablet ( yes, we may be sorcerers and dress like people in the middle ages, but we are not savages, we know how to use the Wii):
- Good morning Casey- he said, taking a sip of his coffee.
- Morning Doc- I replied back. I was craving for toasts and coffee and the Sanctum answered to my wishes. At the same time I sat on the chair, toasts with butter and a cup of coffee appeared in front of me (It was also a routine of mine)- what are you reading there?
- I don't know yet.
- What you mean you don't know? You know everything, even stuff that don't matter to anyone.
- If you are referring to knowing all the roads of the country as stuff that doesn't matter, we had this discussion before and i'm not repeating it.
-Doc, we use portals to travel to places, why would we need to know about all the freakin highways in America?
- I'm not doing this again.
- Fine, just my opinion- I kinda liked to bust his chops now and then, and he liked to do that to me. I was our way of having fun and saying that we actually like to spend time with each other:
- Look at this- he said intrigued while he turned the tablet, so I could see what he was reading- there has been an increasing number of people admitted into mental asylums all over the country in the past few weeks, all of them showing the same behavior. Specialist said the symptoms don't coincide with any know disease.
- You think they might have discovered a new mental illness?
- That's what i'm not sure about, it takes years for a mental disease to be recognized, they don't just appear from nowhere. They are a result of a combination between genetic pre-availability and the environment that surrounds them. From what I can see these people lived apart from eachother, had totally different lifes and backgrounds, and they all appear to have the same illness.
- Is it possible that it is a virus or a bacterium? One that has not been detected yet?
- No, nothing was found in their test results that's what made them think about mental illness to begin with. It takes years to develop a mental illness, it's not a vírus or bacterium, you don't just catch them, these people don't even have approximate ages.
- Well you're the expert- I affirmed.
-Something doesn't add up- I noticed this matter was annoying him. Not because he didn't knew what was going on, but because he would not have the chance to figure it out. I saw the neurosurgeon/scientist in him desperate for an answer, so i asked:
- Doc have you ever thought about returning to neurosurgery?- he didn't take to long to answer, he obviously had that answer prepared for a long time:
- I suppose I never really thought about it, but I guess not.
- Why? I could cure your hands. They would return to normal and you could return to your old life ,and you know that. Why didn't you ask me to do that that right away?
- I realized there were other ways of helping people that didn't involve depending on my hands completely. I have already accepted my faith, and one day you will to.
-Well you sure helped me- i said smiling to him. He smiled back:
- C'Mon we should start practicing so you can have the rest of the day of- i was a bit shocked when i heard this.
- Why are you giving me the day off? I appreciate it but this doesn't sound like you.
- It's your anniversary right? You and John's? I thought you would like to spend at least half of the day together.
- Well, that's thoughtful of you, but you know John ins't like that, we are not that kind of couple that celebrates anniversaries.
- Why not?
- Doc, let's face the facts. Me and John aren't exactly an ordinary couple. There is no reason for us to act it. I guess we are not that cheesy and lovey dovey, that's all. Besides ,we have been together for the past 2 years, it's not like we started dating yesterday, I can spend time apart from him.
- But you miss him.
- Why would I miss him? We talked yesterday.
-You're wearing the bracelet he gave you for your birthday last year, you keep checking your phone constantly, and you are spending a lot more time here than usual, if that doesn't mean you miss him, I don't know what it means- like I said, Doc was very observant, and worst of all, always right. The bracelet John gave me was composed by little green emerald stones with silver embroidery, that matched my talisman perfectly, but they weren't just ordinary stones. They were under a spell. If there was a threat near me, they would turn light blue, like the highlights in my hair. He said it was his way of keeping me safe, since sometimes he would go away for weeks solving other people's demon problems ( I know I said we were not all lovey dovey, but we had our moments). Usually i wouldn't wear it in the Sanctum, and sometimes not even in school, but today i had " forgotten" to take it off:
- Fine you got me... wait, how do you know today is our anniversary?
- Exactly 2 years ago, you came in here for practice with a stupid smile, all red and bubbly... you really think i wasn't going to notice that?
-Point taken, but he is out of town helping a friend so i really can't see him even if i wanted to... what are those next news?- I swiped left on the tablet, and i saw the front cover of a magazine with a bunch of what it looked like vigilantes or something. Five to be precise. One of them looked like a green monkey, the other was half robot. There was also a tall redheaded girl and one that looked goth with a temper. And then, in the center was a boy around my age:
-Weird group right? They are the new sensation in Gotham city. They have reduced alien attacks to almost 0%- Doc said impressed
-Hum... to be honest i don't realy care, shall we practice?- I didn't care about vigilantes, for me they caused more mayhem than actual villains ,and Doc thought the same, so we let go of the matter..
-Well, I thought you would never ask!