The Valley of Mysteries | Book 1: The Beginning

Chapter 9 - THE SCRIB

A vibration woke Aaron. He opened his eyes and saw Natalie sleeping next to him.
"You weren't here before!" he muttered to himself and checked Natalie's phone. It had over 10 missed calls from Caitlyn. He looked between Natalie and her phone, then sighed. He covered her with his jacket and walked out of the tent. The fire protection was still ablaze.
"I didn't know there would be cell service here!" Aaron looked at the phone and unlocked it. He hesitated and looked back towards the tent. He sighed and called Caitlyn. It was 5 in the morning.
"Hello? Hello? Nat? Dear, where are you?" Caitlyn's voice was shaking as she whispered.
"Caitlyn? It's Aaron. Are you okay? You sound..."
"Oh, Aaron!! I don't know how long I'll keep up. They'll eventually find me. Garry went missing last night. I think there's someone outside my hiding place. Please... please take care of my Natalie. I..." she fell silent.
"Caitlyn? Hello? Where are..." the line disconnected. He stared at the phone in horror. He took a deep breath and went inside. He placed his hand on Natalie's shoulder. She muttered in sleep.
"Mmm... mom... just two..." she said.
"Natalie..." he said. She held his arm and fell asleep again. He smiled but shook his head and pulled his arm. "Natalie... get up!" he said.
"Huh?" she opened her eyes and looked at him. She quickly sat up and away from him.
"Your mother..." he showed her the phone.
"You called her? How dare you to take my phone!!" she said angrily and tried to snatch it from his hand.
"SHUT UP AND LISTEN!" Aaron's voice roared. Natalie jumped in surprise and nearly fell. "IF I HEAR ANOTHER WORD COMING OUT OF YOUR MOUTH... I SWEAR TO GOD I'M GONNA SLAP YOU!!" he had never been this angry.
"But..."
"I SAID... SHUT UP!!!!" he bellowed even louder.  It was thunderous. Her eyes were moist, barely holding back tears. Aaron took a deep breath and sighed. "Look, don't make me do that again. I don't want to... uh... I'm sorry. But you can't always have your way. Anyways, there were 10 calls from your mother so I called back. You should be glad I did. She's in danger and Garry is missing." he sighed heavily.
"Wait... what... what do you... is she? Where? Wha... Dad! I..." she collapsed to the ground. Aaron rushed towards her and supported her.
"She couldn't tell me everything. She mentioned something like... she thinks someone was around her hiding place. She was... pretty shaken up. I'm sorry." he hugged her even tighter.
"It's all my fault... isn't it? I... I did this to them. If I had..." she buried her face in Aaron's chest.
"I... I don't know what to say that'll make you feel less bad. But... I can say this... things will eventually get better. Ever heard about Regression to the mean?" he rubbed her back, empathetically.
"N... no." she sniffled.
"It means... no matter how good or how bad things are... they always even out. Always come back to the mean. Things might seem really bad right now, but it'll come around. You'll see. You'll have your friends back, you'll have your family back and... you'll have me off your back." he chuckled lightly as she looked up at him. She smiled, tears still flooding out.
"I... I don't want you to go away. I mean I do feel like ripping your head off sometimes. But you're not all bad." she managed a laugh in between sobs.
"I'm going to take that as a compliment. Because, hey! No one is all good either." he smiled.
"I'm... sorry."
"Better be... I usually don't have control over anger when I lose it." he looked away.
"Huh?" she squinted.
"My anger... isn't any better than yours. In fact, I nearly ripped a guy in two halves when I first joined Hale's. If the professors had not pulled me away... I would..." he sighed and looked at her. "... And I shouldn't have yelled."
"You didn't yell. You howled and nearly killed me. But it's okay. I've been worse." she smiled. He chuckled.
"Now let's talk about the scrib!" Aaron said.

Aaron and Natalie sat in front of the bonfire, outside the tent and started reading it.

Hey, I hope you're alive and keeping your horns out of people.
I've found our little regent and Al is with me as well. I hope Natalie is okay.

DO NOT RESPOND! 

I miss you, man. See you on the other side! - S

Aaron finished reading the letter and sighed.

"So?" Natalie asked.
"It's from Sean!" he answered, he sounded relieved.
"And...?"
"And he has found Edward and Alyssia. they're safe somewhere. He has asked me not to respond though! I hope they really are okay!" he closed his eyes and sighed loudly. 
"Oh, my God!! I can't tell you how relieved I am." she folded her hands and grinned.
"I can see that." he smiled.
"You were going to tell me about the scrib thing." Natalie pointed at it.
"Oh, yes. This is a scrib. It's pretty easy to make but a little tricky to send. Takes lots of energy."
"Oh?"
"All you need to do is write on a piece of paper. Hold it between your palms, like this." Aaron joined his hands, end-to-end. "Now, all you need to do is concentrate on the person you want to send it to. But keep this in mind, write as little as you can. The words are going to pass through you after all. The incantation is...  Nuntius!" he closed his eyes and said the incantation. The paper vanished from between his hands and materialized as a golden ball of light in front of Natalie. She gasped as it appeared. Aaron opened his eyes and saw Natalie's face light up with excitement. He smiled.
"Can I try?" she looked at him, expectant.
"Yeah, give it a go. But concentrate only on me!" he said and looked away suddenly.
"Okay..." Natalie furrowed her eyebrows in concentration as she sandwiched the paper between her palms. Her eyes were closed. Aaron gazed at her and smiled, shaking his head. "OW!" she yelled after a few seconds. The paper dropped from her hands and burnt into ashes. And she frantically waved her hands in the air.
"Careful!" Aaron held her hands and laughed. "You're supposed to teleport it, not burn it!" he shook his head and gave her another piece of paper. It was blank. "Try with this first." There was a calmness in his voice. Natalie tried again and again. It finally vanished and a ball of light materialized near the tent.
"Well, that's something!" Natalie clapped her hands and giggled.
"Yeah, good start. You'll get it." he gave her a thumbs up.
"Thank you. You're a good teacher!" she said.
"That's something new I've heard. By the way, tell me about your journey to the valley. I don't think we'll be able to leave until tomorrow. The storm has passed, but the path isn't clear." Aaron looked at the sky. Natalie's face dropped grimly and she let out a sigh.