Hometorius : Coming Home

chapter 28 : Rules Are Made to Be Broken

Marylin POV

I woke up on the torn couch in Lynda's apartment. I was lying, covered with a woolen knitted blanket. I opened one eye. My pupil quickly narrowed, blinded by a narrow streak of light that broke inside through the gap between the boards that were covering the windows. On the floor, within my reach, was a cup of hot chocolate. I closed my eyelids slowly and turned lazily on the other side, accompanied by my long growl.

Suddenly, the cup of chocolate turned over, and its contents poured over the thick phone book beneath the mug. Wonderful. Or maybe it was the Book of Spells? They look very similar, both equally thick. Anyway, it was already done. The cover must have already been soaked with the hot, sweet drink.

Just as suddenly, the front door opened, and Lynda stood there with a shopping bag. She tiptoed past the sofa and put the groceries on the old counter. She tried not to wake me up, though I wasn't asleep. She didn't know that I woke up a while ago. I muttered quietly and turned on my back.

Then I opened my eyes to stare at the shabby ceiling. How could she live in such conditions? I sneaked a glance at her. She didn't fit this hovel at all. Where I'd rather picture her was a huge villa with a swimming pool, or a fancy house more suitable for partying than leading a peaceful life. But certainly not something like that.

With a slightly contemptuous look on my face, I looked around. Or maybe that's what it was all about? To not rouse any suspicions? Or maybe such a flat was cozier? I don't know, maybe I'll ask her later.

I heard the sound of broken glass and turned my head in the direction from which it came. Lynda stood in front of the stove with blood running down her hand and looked terrified over her shoulder. When our eyes met, I quickly stood up and walked over.

"I'm fine," she assured in a calm voice and continued taking stuff out of the bag. "There's no need to worry."

"That's not what I mean..." I muttered coldly and crouched to pick up the broken porcelain pieces from the floor. "Did you buy a cup or something?"

In my hand I held a mug ear decorated with many carved details. More precisely, the said details were nothing else but roses - black and blue, to make it funnier. Whatever the object actually was before it broke, it looked antique, maybe from the thirteenth century?

"I didn't buy anything like that," Lynda said quickly over her shoulder, wiping blood in a towel. "And no, I have no idea why it was in the bag."

How did she know I wanted to ask that? I don't know either.

"We have to get back home quickly," I ordered and hurried towards the door, going around the spilled chocolate on the floor. "Hurry up."

My voice was so cool that I could barely recognize it. Spending time with Anri, I started taking on his bad habits, although I admit to it with difficulty.

As I crossed the threshold, I slowed down a little to see if Lynda was moving. She walked towards me, still wiping her bleeding hand.

"Marylin, could you at least tell me HOW you are going to do that?" she asked with a grudge in her voice and stopped to lock the door.

I ignored her. How cool it is to ignore someone and not be the ignored one. I hurried down the narrow corridor, jumped over the vase pieces still scattered on the ground and quickly ran down the stairs, to then open the main door with impetus and find myself on the sidewalk, blinded by the sun.

What's with this weather? Just what the hell is going on here?

"Marylin," Lynda caught up and repeated in a bored voice; such as the old ladies prayed. "How are you going to come back home?"

I ignored her again. I could imagine her thoughts though, it was almost as if I heard them. "If she thinks she's going to make it work with 'Hometorius', she must be crazy. Victuvius was here less than half an hour ago. I walked by him when I went to the store. You can feel in the air that he once again threw one of his favorite Return-Blocking Charms. Eh, she's so slow and uneducated. Joseph could at least tell her what Vic specialized in. It's obvious that he would prevent us from returning."

Interesting, maybe I'll consider this. Or like Anri said, I will break all the rules, break out of the pattern. I went out onto the street and stood on the other side, at the bus stop where I had appeared before. Lynda, resigned, followed. She sat down on a cracked bench, stretched her legs out, leaned her back against the plastic wall, and watched me from under the strands of hair that the wind blew on her face gently.

"Here's where I appeared," I murmured under my breath as I approached the second bench. "There is no mirror here..."

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," Lynda scoffed under her breath, more to herself than to me.

I glared at her. "I'm not that stupid to look for a mirror at the bus stop." Maybe she even heard that thought, maybe not. Either way, I didn't respond anything to her remarks.

"Come, sit down here," I spoke after a few minutes of silence in my normal voice.

Lynda reluctantly rose and obediently sat on the other bench. I sat next to her and held her hand, interlocking our fingers tightly.

"You do know it's not going to work, right?" Lynda asked and looked at me. There was not even a shadow of doubt on my face for her to notice. And again, I heard her thoughts. "Turns out she knows". "Only the Icebloods can break the Forbidden Charms. And they are the only ones to cast them with no consequences, by the way."

But I didn't listen to her anymore. I closed my eyes and focused all my thoughts on one spell. I slowly brought closer the fingertips of my index fingers until they touched. Then, a blue light flashed, but aside from that, nothing else happened. Lynda gave me an 'I-told-you-so' look and snorted quietly.

I was already opening my mouth, I was already breathing in to say something when suddenly it started snowing again. Oddly enough, only above our heads. It didn't last long, literally a few seconds. As soon as the first snowflake fell on my jet-black hair, the blue light flashed again, it got significantly cold, and we were gone.

Ha, checkmate. I told you so.