Open Minds || Book 1 || Golix [OLD]

Chapter 8: FaceTime and a "sleepover"

3rd POV

  Phoenix looked at the camera, then looks away, and Jeremy noticed a tear rolling down her cheek.

"I'm sorry..." She whispered.  Jere looked at her, confused.

"What do you mean?" he asked her.  Phoenix looked down, in the direction of her wrist.  Jeremy felt his stomach tighten, guessing what she was about to tell him.

"I-I broke the oath!"  Phoenix was now shaking. 'Why? Why do I do this?' she asked herself.  Jeremy stared at her. 

"Phe, when you g-got home, did you..."  he stopped, already knowing the answer. 

"Y-yeah, I did." 
 
  Phoenix heard yelling from the background from Jeremy's room. 

"Who the hell are you talking to, you little shit?!"  his father yelled at him.  Jere flinched. 

"N-no one.  M-myself." 
 
  Phoenix sighed.  "Jere, get your school stuff and anything you want to sleep with together.  I'm gonna teleport you over here........okay?" 
 
  He looked stunned.  "B-but what about your dad?"  Jeremy saw Phe's eyes flash with uncertainty before she spoke. 

"Don't worry.  He...he doesn't come up to my room unless I disobey him, and he won't- be won't beat me when someone else is here.  And if he does get drunk or mad, I won't let him hurt you."

  Phoenix got an idea in her head and pulled out her other cell phone, though this one is a small black one.  She looked at Jeremy and told him, "I'm gonna call him and put him on speaker so you can hear, but you have to be quiet" 

  Jeremy nodded and made the locked lips gesture.  Phoenix dialed her fathers number and put him on speaker, just like she said.

[Key: Dave.Phe]

"Yes, sweety?  What the hell do you want from me, ya little shit?"  Was his little opening.  Phe flinched before speaking.

"S-sir, I don't want anything from you.  I-I was just wondering if...if I could teleport one of m-my friends over for a sleepover?"  The last part sounded more like a question than she wanted it to be.  Jeremy looked from the black phone in Phe's hand to her face.  He could see the fear in her eyes as they both waited for an answer.

  A deep and exasperated sigh came from the black phone.

"Fine.  Not sure what friends that you're talking about, since you have none, but fine.  Also, you better be quiet and stay on your floor, or else."  Then there was a click and the dial tone.

  Phoenix looked at Jeremy as she clicked off the phone, her excitement barely contained.

"Jere, get your stuff.  You've got ten minutes."

  With that, they both hung up.

Phoenix's POV

  I look at the clock.  30 more seconds.  I look out my window.  It's just after sunset; no longer dusk, but twilight.  I look back at my clock.  It's time.

  I close my eyes and try to concentrate.  Somewhere in the back of my mind I can hear a voice saying don't do it!  You'll drain yourself again!  You could get hurt!  But, like usual, I choose to ignore it.  I focus on one memory that I have of Jere's bedroom, it's from a previous sleepover, A night that his dad wasn't home.  After a 2 second delay, I feel magic and sparks around me, air flying through my hair and electric running through my veins.  It feels like I'm being squeezed through a tube as I teleport. Milliseconds later, I'm standing in Jeremy's room. 

  The feeling of being drained of powers once again trickles through my body.  I fall backwards onto Jere's bed, hearing him squeak as I do so.

"Ph-Phoenix?  Are yo-you okay?"

  I smile at this.  "Hey Jere.  Yeah, I'm...fine. Just a bit drained."  I sit up and look at him.

  I see him wearing one of his usual fern green sweaters, a worn green-grey hoodie, his normal black skinny jeans and black sneakers. 

  On his back he has his backpack, ready for tomorrow, and slung over one shoulder is his grey duffel bag.

  He seems nervous, but his eyes give away his excitement.  Suddenly we hear pounding on his bedroom door and a voice yelling, "HEY, LITTLE SHIT!  WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING TO?!"

  Shocked at this, we stay silent.  Bad idea.  The door knob turns, and is about to fly open when I move as fast as I can at that moment.  And when I panic, I can move pretty darned fast.

  I fly off the bed and wrap my arms around Jeremy's neck, pulling him into a tight hug.  Shutting my eyes tight, I focus my powers and think about my own room.  Thanks to being drained earlier, it doesn't work at first, costing us vital milliseconds.  Concentrating harder, the feeling of magic from before returns and we teleport away just before the door can slam open.

  I can feel my feet float off the ground and feel both of us hover in the magick tunnel of teleportation before our feet hit solid ground, causing me to stumble.

  Once again I open my eyes and see that we're in my room.  Fighting weariness and the urge to puke, I let go of Jeremy and smile at him.  He smiles back, but I can see the worry in his eyes.  I listen to his thoughts and find out that my guess was right.

  W-what is she doing?  Phe could have drained herself even more, or could've gone into a sleep coma from using so much of her energy!  But...she looks fine- NO! She's probably hiding it from me like she usually does!  Her...wait!  Her eyes are duller than usual!  She is drained!

  I let out a sigh and I slowly lower myself into a sitting position.  Well, I try to.  I manage to get into a crouching position before my body kinda gives up and I fall the rest of the way, landing on my butt.  Then I notice that after collapsing, I started to shiver, almost, even though I wasn't exactly cold.  I actually felt warmer than I usually do. It's probably a fever, one of the possible side effects from over using abilities/powers.

  Jerebear sits down next to me after setting his stuff down in the corner of my room.  Finally giving into my exhaustion, I lean on Jere's shoulder and close my eyes.  I can feel him tense up in shock and instinct, but being as drained as I am, it barely registers in my mind.
 
  Just before I allow sleep to consume me, I mumble "'Night, Jerebear...."   And I slip into complete darkness and silence.

Jeremy's POV

  As soon as I sit next to Phe, she leans on me.  I tense up, mostly in shock, but partially on instinct.  Heh...habit from being beaten and abused...you flinch at almost everything, tense up, and are always expecting to get hurt.  But I know that Phe would never hurt me.  Not purposely, anyway.

  I hear her mumble "'Night, Jerebear," so I look down at her.  Wow, she's already asleep!  Well, it isn't really that surprising because she's drained herself of energy twice today.  She's shaking slightly and her cheeks are dusted with a faint pink, telling me that she has a fever.  Her eyes are closed, and she looks so peaceful.  I pull the blanket off of her bed and wrap it around us.

  Phoenix smiles softly at this, but it quickly fades.  She starts mumbling something that I can't understand, but the tone of the sounds tell me that she's scared.  Probably a nightmare.  I start softly humming a time that always calms her down for some reason.  After she finally calms down, I feel my own eyes start to droop.  I then drift into dreamland. Night, Phoenix.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whoop! Another chapter up!  This was actually chapters 12 and 13 in the original book, but now it's chapter 8!  Improvements!  Now, I'm going to try and update another book as well.  Word count is 1302 without this note.  Ciao, Spirits!

(December 10, 2018)