Allies of Plaxas

Chapter the Eleventh: Opal

"You have to concentrate. We need to be able to do this. Come on, Opal, please!" Ruby begs, standing in front of me like a teacher.

I think back to only two days ago when I was the one begging Ruby to try to work with her magic so we can work together. But oh, the times have changed since then.

I sigh and throw up my hands. "Look, Ruby. This is your dream, not mine. I never asked to be a part in all of this. You forced me into it....all of it!" I think back to the day that I was taken to the school. I was taken because Ruby, my twin sister had hidden in a closet. I was mistaken for her so I was taken instead. It's all her fault that I'm here at all.

But....she'd come for me. She'd arrived on horse when things were beginning to get bad at the school. And she's always here for me.

Her hand touches my back now, gentle and loving. "Come on, Opal. Let's take a break. Maybe you'll feel better after resting for a little bit. Here, drink some water,"

I sigh and head over to the brick wall at the edge of the courtyard to sit down, taking a huge gulp of water. My head is spinning and I'm more tired than I've been in years.

"Ruby," I say, putting my head between my legs. "Why....why did you come to the school, to come to me?"

Beside me, my sister stiffens. I look at her just as a tear begins to drip down her cheek.

"Ruby?" I ask.

"I forgot to tell you," she whispers. "I came here....I came here just to tell you and then I forgot. Opal....Opal, dad's dead,"

I stare at her. "What?" I ask. She's lying....she must be. Any moment now, she's going to jump up and say, "JK!" and laugh because I believed her. It can't be true.

She nods and the tears begin cascading down her cheeks. "A-a few days after you left, this, this terrible virus thing c-came. The ma-mayor, he caught it first, but it spread fast. Dad....since he worked really closely with the mayor, I guess he caught it next....but it wasn't't contagious. It just spread all around town. He....he died. And so I came to get you, to tell you. But when I arrived, there was so much hustle and stuff that I....I f-forgot. I-I'm so s-s-sorry, Opal!"

I reach for her and hold her close as my tears begin to fall. I had looked up to dad all my life. I wanted to be a government worker, to follow in his footsteps. And now dad, one of the strongest people in my life, is dead.

Ruby's feelings come cascading over me. Her mind, usually so closely guarded, is wide open right now. Her brain is almost exactly like mine, it's so easy to slip into. And almost immediately, accidently, I do.

Her mind swirls with color. Secrets she's kept for much to long, like her crush in sixth grade. Useless secrets that I knew just by looking at her. I know her too well already and I'm about to let her mind be, to give Ruby the privacy that she deserves, when I see one more thing.

At the very back of her brain, I find a dream. I've never been inside someone else's dream so far, but since it's part of someone's mind it's certainly plausible. This dream is one that she's stored in her head since she had it, a week ago. It's very clear, and I realize that this....this is how Ruby knows. And I have to see.

Without really thinking about it, I fall into her dream. Too late I realize that you have to be asleep to dream. And so I fall into a deep sleep, my head on Ruby's shoulder.