Fire and Ice

5- Magic, Fire and Nightmares

School the next day was a bust for Theo. Suddenly he wasnt invisible anymore.  Every pair of eyes in the hallway was on him as he walks to class.

He ducks his head and slouches a low as he can, his steps speeding to a run.

By the time he reaches his class with Charlotte and Azarlea, hes out of breath. He wanders over to his desk at the back, pulling out his history text book and a pen.

He starts the task that was set as the students start to file in slowly. Charlotte and Azarlea walk in, both walking over to him. Marissa stops in front of the red haired girl.

"Zarli!"

"Yeah Marissa whats up?" She flicks her ginger hair out of her face.

The small blond smiles a suggestive smile. "You know the group projects over right?"

Azarlea nods, her eyebrow raised.

"So you dont have to sit next to the freak anymore," she lets out a laugh. "We can sit together again."

"Marissa," Azarlea starts with a fake smile. "Stop calling Theo a freak. Hes not a freak okay? Good. Now I'm going to sit with him so you can go and sit with Ashley okay? Cheerio."

She walks over to the desk where Charlotte and Theo sit talking between each other. She smiles at them.

Theo looks up, happiness flaring in him. He'd never had someone stand up for him before.

Charlotte also smiles. "You gunna sit?"

Azarlea does exactly that, sitting in the other chair beside Theo. He smiles at me, showing his pearly whites. "Thanks for that."

The red head girl gives him a small smile. "Anytime."

After a week had passed, everything died down again for Theo. He was invisible again and couldn't be happier. 

Although he was happy he can't help but notice the way things are changing for him. Suddenly he has two friends and a changing he needs to control.

Walking through town days later, Theo notices a woman sitting at a table with a smile.

Interested Theo walks forward. The woman grins at him, a knowing glint in her eye.

"Theo Baker," her voice is deep, for a woman anyway. "I was wondering when I'd be seeing you."

Theres a gap between her two front teeth. She clicks her tongue at him, playing with the blue beads around her thick neck.

"Uh who are you?" Theo cocks an eyebrow, taking in her appearance.  Shes on the plump side, with a purple lepard print shirt covering her arms. The print leads to her hands, which had fingers like small sausages with pink painted nails.

"I," her voice rises, sounding only slightly more womanly. "Am Jaqueen: Reader of Tea leaves; predicter of the future; mistress of magic."

"Okay uh Jaqueen, how do you know me?" Theo asks with a slight edge.

"Young boy!" She snaps, "did you not just listen to me!? I know everything about you!"

"Okay thats creepy."  Theo takes a breath stepping away.  "I'm just gunna go.."

"I see grave danger for you boy!" She shouts as his feet carry him away.

"AND ROMANCE!" She continues to yell. He stops. "Strong strong romance. Yes and heartbreak! The breaking of a heart due to the keeping of a secret."

He turns around. "Whos heart? Whats the secret?"

"Such things are unclear dear boy." She says gravely. 

Theo nods awkwardly, sweeping his hair out of his eyes. "Well... thank you."

"Any time dear boy."

He continues his walk down town over thinking his conversation with Jaqueen. It was strange, but apparently shes a phsycic so he supposes its just some mumbo jumbo.

But how in the world did she know my name?  He asks himself. Shrugging it off he decides to just go home and go to sleep.

His plans though, did not at all go the way he wanted. Walking down the trail to his street he stops dead in his tracks. A cloud of smoke smothers the sky above him.  He runs home at top speed, only to find his house on fire.

Panic builds up in his stomach as flames lick at the surrounding sky, a thin layer of smoke eloping the air. Theo tries to breathe through the mask, his throat burning. Tears fall from his eyes, wetting his hot cheek.

Looking around he cant find his mother. Her car is still gone, which means shes still at work. He picks up his phone, calling the fire department.

After they arrive, Theo calls his mum, letting her know hes okay. When she shows up, in her blue Ford Angela, she wraps her arms around him, muttering how she must of left the oven on before she went to work. 

Theo looks down at his fisted hands. Sighing, he gets in his mothers car. She drives to god knows where. After about 15 minutes they pull up at an unfamiliar house.

His mum knocks on the timber door, footsteps approch and the door opens. There stands Charlotte with her golden hair and blue green eyes.

"GDAY GDAY!" She shouts, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Is your mum home dear?" Theo's mum asks, stricken.

"Yeahh, in the kitchen." His mum walks inside, leaving Theo and Charlotte standing at the door.  She beckons him inside and leads him up to his room. 

Her room is different to how he thought. The walls are painted yellow, and covered in posters and things of various super heros and music artists. Theres a desk in the corner with a messy pile of books stacked on top. A timber bookshelf is piled with all different genres.  Framed pictures are sat all around the room. The coolest thing of all though, is the large drawing of a Phoenix on the wall above her bed.

"Your room is cool." Theo says, laying in her bed.  She grins, jumping in with him. The two of them watch movies for a while before Melissa shows him to the spare room.

He rolls over and falls into a restless sleep.

Out of breath, Theo runs through the forest. Trees stand still on either side of him as he belts through them. A strong hot wind follows him. He looks back for a moment. Orange flames flicker at his hair, as the fire burns his heels.

Theo continues running, panic building up his chest, crushing his heart. He looks around, a pulse of shock accelerating through him when he sees that woman, Jaqueen; with her beefy neck and sausage fingers, she sits at her table, with a deck of taret cards in front of her.

She points at him,"YOUR IN DANGER BOY!" Her deep voice rumbling through his brain.

He stops for a short moment, letting the flames over take his body. Suddenly, everything goes black.

When he opens his eyes again hes in his bedroom, the white walls holding a wicked, mocking smile. Cold, grey eyes watch him as ropes wrap themselves around his body.

He shakes and quivers as his mother is pushed out on a wheely chair. Before he can do anything though, a metal object appears out of nowhere.

The bang of the gun mixes with the splattering of blood and brain matter.

Theo shoots awake, shaking and drenched in a thick layer of cold sweat. His breathing is uneven and ragged, his heart thumping against his rib cage. Putting his hands on his knees, he leans forward over the edge of the bed.

He gets up and walks to the kitchen, getting a large glass of water. The liquid freezes in his hand. He sighs, before pouring another glass, which also freezes. He places the glass down and storms back up to the spare room. When he lays back down though, he doesnt sleep. He just stares at the white painted wall, drifting into his thoughts.