STATIC; JR [2]

5.10

Felix took us all to his backyard, knowing his parents were both at work and Oscar was at school; if he'd caught wind of us doing this, he'd want to be apart of it, for sure. Jake was still a little shaken, walking with unbending knees and ragged breaths. I wasn't so confident we should have performed any other spells today, especially one as difficult and draining as this one, but both Jake and Felix assured me that things would be alright; I was thankful for their constant support. 

Sam helped me assemble a circle with a few bundles of sticks we found laying in the blanket of trees behind Felix's house as he mentally prepared himself for the magic ahead. I was a little worried, stomach turning occasionally, but I tried not to let it bother me too much. Besides, we were about to get Andy back. 

Ellen was her ever-casual, sarcastic self while we got organised, verbally judging everything we set out to do. Our time frame was so limited after the ordeal with Jake and we had to move fast, and try as she might, her sardonic comments didn't slow us down. She stood a few meters away, clicking her tongue and chuckling to herself. "So, we're going to another universe to save Andy; who got magically sucked up into the sky to get there." 

Her sass was catching on Felix's nerves and she knew it, straining him on purpose in order to end what she deemed insane. I supposed, she hadn't been so mistaken - I watched Sam stand back to admire our work of branch placement in the grass; he smiled at it and then grinned at me, beaming excitedly. His bubbly personality engulfed him to take on high hopes and I quietly wondered whether or not it was going to hurt him later on... if something went wrong. 

I didn't have all too much to do with Ellen, but she targeted me on a psychological level she didn't use with the boys. It was tense and degrading, but below that grit was an intimidated teenage girl who was afraid to find out what we wanted to happen next. "Edith, come on." She'd said to me, wrists lifting exasperatedly into the air when I crossed the lawn to sit Jake down in his place in the circle. "It's fair enough the boys have these crazy imaginations, but you?" 

I straightened my back and blinked at her. "Ellen, you have to trust us." I told her simply, shrugging lightly before moving to stand where I was meant to sit. I watched her disbelief grow and decided to take a more emotional approach. "Trust me, then." 

Hook, line, and sinker; I got her. She stalled where she remained but then drew her pointed gaze to the ground and crept over to the large circle with her hands in her pockets. 

Jake piped up as she lingered beside me, blue eyes full of wonder and mystery. "It's the same universe we were stuck in when we went missing." He informed, little grimace as he spoke. He was remembering some of it - I could see it on his face; his lips turned down into a frown that told me he wanted all of this to be over, that he wished we never needed to deal with it in the first place. I felt panic and pain sting my heart and roll my thoughts into that of our missing Andy. We desperately wanted him back and we were running out of steam, ideas were short and time was sparse. 

I wasn't so sure how much more of this trauma I could handle before I exploded all over the place, and I wasn't very certain I was kidding. 

I moved to sit down, crossing my legs politely beneath me and tucking my dress into my lap. I caught the draw back in Ellen's demeanor when she followed my lead, securing her bag across her neck and dropping it in front of her shoes. "I hope that crazy isn't contagious." Her mumble was so low I grew confused as to whether or not I was meant to hear it, but stifled a smile and a gave a light sigh to Felix when he narrowed his glare to her ill attitude. 

He pulled a small wooden bowl out from his pack and threw a dodgy plastic water bottle over to her; minor justice for him when he realised she wasn't prepared to catch it. She shrieked and then huffed, pretending he didn't just embarrass her. Incoherent whispers rose to my ears from Felix's lips and as he tossed his head around, staring at everything we'd done to concoct the spell and at first he looked at ease - but then his features changed and I knew something was off.