The Divide Between Us | Book Two of The Judgement series

Chapter 13

 Cora's Point of View

A few weeks have passed and things have been unusually calm. School has been the same, though once the news that Mr. Nightmare was my father things went absolutely nuts for me. Rumors spread like wildfire and for a time I didn't go to school. I had started talking but since that happened I've talked less and less at school. I know that I have enemies somewhere in the void between universes, those who ordered my mother's death, but I also found that I have enemies in the school. No matter Bunny does all she can to harm me. She's the same one I helped PJ with on my first day of school. I haven't let anyone know about those incidents because of what happened last time. 

I haven't started practicing with magic yet. For some reason I can't summon it anymore. I've thought about talking to the Creator about it. I think he would know why it happens the way it does. The children of the skele-family and I have been getting along well, especially PaperJam and I. Right now, I'm standing on the back porch, watching the boys and Cil practice their attacks. 

There was a crash and a yelp from inside that caused everyone to stop. We all had the same thought as we rushed inside the house. A couple chairs were tipped over in the kitchen, along with some broken cups on the floor. I felt my magic in the back of my mind and my hands glowed orange. I was filled with BRAVERY. We made our way through the house and to the front door, where there was talking. Dark skeletal arms were wrapped around Ink and Error in a hug and the pair seemed to be hugging back. PJ was the first one to move. 

"Gradient!" He rushed and tackled the small group of skeletons. They all fell over, laughing and I felt myself smile. My magic dissipated as Cil rushed past me. 

"Bro! You're back!" She jumped on the dark-boned skeleton and when they pulled away I got a good look at him. He looked a lot like Error, like A LOT like Error. He wore blue rimmed glasses that reminded me of Harry Potter and a black hooded jacket with blue accents and lined with red fleece on the inside. Underneath the jacket was a white sweatshirt and there was a red and yellow scarf like cloth tied around his waist. He had glitch signs around him but instead of them saying ERROR they said CREATE.

"You know it's rude to stare." I shook my head and looked up at the stranger named Gradient. 

"I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. I've never met a skeleton that looks so much like Error." I froze and face palmed. "I said that out loud, didn't I?" 

The skeleton laughed, "I get that a lot so don't worry about it." He held his hand out. "Name's Gradient and yours is?" 

"Coraline, but I go by Cora," I took his hand and shook it. Palette jumped on my back and I tumbled forward. 

"Cora! You realize what you did right?" I was confused by what the small cheerleader meant. What I did? "You summoned your magick!" 

Ink and Error perked up at this and stated in unison, "She did?"

"I did?" 

"Oh yeah. You did. I saw the orange glow as we were coming in to see what happened." Cil stuck her hands in her pockets and shrugged. 

"Nice job, Cora." PJ ruffled my hair, causing me to laugh. I stooped down and let Palette off of my back. It was clear that Gradient was confused. 

"A human that can use magick," he raised a brow bone at me in question. 

"You remember Raven and Dove?" Ink asked, ushering everyone into the kitchen. At the mention of my mother's name, I looked down at my hands. Gradient nodded in my peripheral. "Cora here is Dove's daughter." 

"That still doesn't explain why she can use magick," Gradient's confusion leaked into his tone. "And I thought Raven was the one obsessed with understanding monster magick."

"She is," Error pitched in. "But that part doesn't really matter. The reason Cora can use magick is because-" 

I cut him off. "Because I'm half monster." 

Gradient's yellow and red eyes looked me over. "Who's your father then?" 

"Nightmare." I answered his question bluntly. The tension in the air was felt by everyone as silence enveloped us. All of a sudden, Gradient started laughing. 

"Mr. Nightmare got some for once? That's a-freakin'-mazing." 

"I know it's hard to imagine but its the truth," PJ chuckled. I raised an eyebrow at him and he stifled his laugh with a cough. 

"Whipped," Cil whispered to Palette, who was oddly quiet. He was looking at his phone. 

"You okay, Pal? It's unusual for you to be this quiet." Palette took a shaky breath and I could tell he was about to start crying. Cil looked over at the phone and then at me. 

"Trouble in paradise. Big time." I shot up out of my seat and pulled Palette up to his room. As soon as I shut the door, Palette broke down. I held him until he cried himself to sleep. I knew it was too early to ask him what was going on. 

I grabbed Palette's phone and took it downstairs. The skele-family's worry was evident. "He's sleeping right now. Cil, what did you see on his phone." 

"Alphys sent him a picture of..." 

"Of what?" 

"Cray and Goth. They were making out. Cray had Goth pinned to one of the bookcases in the library." I felt my anger flare. 

"I know that look. You get it whenever Bunny is around." PJ draped an arm around my shoulder. "You need to calm down. Getting angry for Palette isn't going to help anything." 

"Can this day get any worse?" I muttered to myself. 

"Don't say that. You'll jinx yourself." PJ muttered back, pressing his teeth to my head. I could feel my face flush and I jumped away from him. 

"W-Welp, it's late and I have to get home. Aunt Raven will kill me if I make her worry." 

"I'll call your dad to pick you up since no one wants you out alone." Ink stood up and I nodded. 

"Good idea. It would be nice to have some father-daughter bonding time too." Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a small portal close. I froze up. On the other side of the portal was my mother's killer and a skeleton with tentacles and dripping with black ooze. "Ink! Summon the creator!" I called out to him. 

"Why?" PJ looked at me, confused. 

"They're watching us."