To the Source and Back

Nick

Nickolas Foster's (Nick's) P.O.V

We reached the bus stop at about 6:00 in the morning. It took us six hours to walk 30 miles to the nearest bus stop. Lacy was quiet the whole six hours, which wasn't normal for her. I checked my phone as we waited for the bus. My parents had bought me one before... the incident. It was old, yes, but it was the only item that reminded me what happiness felt like. I looked through all the pictures. My parents and I were happy in those pictures, and I hadn't seen my parents smile in years. It brought salty tears to my eyes and started bawling like a baby. I sat on the sidewalk and buried my head in my thighs. I hated this. I hated my parents for drinking. I hated my life entirely. I couldn't think about that though, so I quickly wiped my tears and got up. I had already earned a weird look from Lacy. I didn't need anything else.

I pocketed my phone and put my bag on the floor. I took out the book and started looking through it. Man. Those words. They were really hard to pronounce. I needed to practice them before I tried one out for real. Thankfully, there were titles to each spell in the book. In English. I took out an apple from my backpack and was about to turn it into an orange, when the bus arrived.

Lacy tapped me on the shoulder and signaled me in. I walked in with her, but I noticed something odd about the driver. He looked totally normal, but something, something was off about him. I couldn't quite put my finger on it. As we walked down the aisle, two people stopped and stared at us. We sat down at the back and put our bags down. Lacy took off her keychain/sword and started spinning around her finger like a tornado. I, on the other hand, had a better idea. I decided to take pictures of all the pages in the book, just in case I lost it. I was very good at losing things. That would take a while, but we also had about six hours to get the Amazon. Living in South America had its perks. I started to take pictures of each page, and for the first four hours, everything was smooth sailing.

We stopped at the side of the road, near some portable bathrooms. We took our bags with us and got out of the bus. Lacy and I went inside the bathrooms, did what we had to, came out, and washed our hands with bottled water and some soap I had brought. Almost everybody was inside the bus, and we were still outside stretching our legs. Then, we heard the screaming. Piercing shrieks filled the air and Lacy and I ran inside to see what it was going on.

All I saw was a dead body, bystanders, and about three people with mouths filled with blood. The monsters. One of them bent down and scooped out what looked like intestines. Then I got a closer look on the body. He was an adult and in his thirties. His stomach was sliced open, showing his innards. I wanted to puke. He had a look on his face that showed a mix of shock and horror. The monster that scooped up the intestines had gobbled them up in one bite. It was the bus driver. I was right. My suspicions were confirmed. The monster was the bus driver. Lacy had a look of shock, but her eyes twinkled with excitement. I looked at her in a way that showed how messed up I thought that was. She took out her keychain, pressed a button, turned it into a sword, and got into a fighting stance(probably from Naruto), and yelled to the bystanders, "Hurry! Get behind us!"

The people didn't care whether she was a 13 year old girl or not. She had a sword. That was all that mattered. They ran up behind us. I led them out the door one by one and made sure they got out safely. Now it was just three blood-thirsty, power hungry monsters that wanted to take over the world with their friends, and two teenagers that didn't know how to fight and only had a sword and spell-book to protect themselves. So, basically, the odds were pretty even.

The monsters shape shifted into their original form. Boy, were they ugly. They had the body of a man, fur like a gorilla, horns that were sharp enough to cut through steel, sharp fangs that could rip my head off, venom that was dribbling out of their mouths, and of course, enormous bat wings that could out fly a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird(the fastest jet in the world). These monsters always needed to have wings. Why couldn't they be little baby monkeys with sharp teeth and venom that couldn't kill you and have NO WINGS? I had no idea.

"Nicky boy, uhhhhh, I think you need to use a spell. Now please," requested Lacy.

"I'm trying, Lacy! And don't call me Nicky boy!"

"Today, Nick. You know what, I'll give you some time. Charge!"

She charged at the nearest monster, and swung her sword with such precision that she didn't even make a cut on the monster. Her next swing, though, cut off the monster's right wing. Bright orange blood splattered everywhere, on the windows, the emergency exits, me, and even on her face. She didn't care. She swung again, this time aiming for his heart. That's where she got him. The monster screamed in such agony that I felt my ear bleeding, a little. It hollered and wailed, until finally, the monster burst into a pile of gray ash. The other monsters looked confused, when they realized what had happened, they attacked. This time I was ready for them. While Lacy was busy stabbing a monster in the heart, I found the perfect spell to vanquish both of these monsters.

I held my hand out, closed my eyes, and I chanted a spell in Latin, "Sollicitatione venenosi animi I ad vespertilio varium atque opprimere te ad requiem tempore!"(bat winged creatures with venomous mind I vanquish thee for the rest of time!) The two remaining monsters were about to split me in half, when they also burst into a pile of gray ash.

Lacy looked at me in disbelief, as her sword shrank back into a keychain.. "Nick. You're a....a..."

"I'm a what?"

"You're a mage!"

"A what?"

"A mage! You can do magic. You're a human that can do magic!" She started jumping up and down in excitement.

"I thought the dream explained that already."

"The goddess in the dream said that you would have a spell book! She didn't say you'd be able to do magic! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, OH MY GOSH!!!!"

"Ok, fine. But why are you paying attention to the fact that I could do magic, when we both just vanquished bloodthirsty monsters?!"

"Right. There's that too, I guess. I just thought there would be more action, and less goop on my face."

I handed her a napkin from my backpack, and she wiped her face. "We still have a long way to go. It would have taken us two hours to get to the Amazon by bus, but now, I don't know how long it'll take," I told her.

"Yeah, yeah you're right. We better hit the road now, and see if we can reach the Amazon before dark. But let's eat first. I'm starving. Why don't you conjure up some food?"

"Magic 101 is that you should never use magic for selfish purposes. There'll be disastrous consequences."

"Right. Then let's get off this highway and find something to eat."

I nodded to her, and we got off the bus. The area we had stopped in was rural and humid, and the highway went through it. There was only a barbed wire fence blocking the way to an old dairy farm. We saw an old house and a farmer sitting in a rocking chair, outside on the porch. I pointed to the farmer and Lacy knew exactly why. We decided to climb over the fence. So, I kneeled down on one knee, and cupped my hands. Lacy stepped on them and started climbing the fence. She was really light-wieght and good at climbing for a 13 year old. I followed her up the fence, but unlike what Lacy was wearing, I had short sleeves and I was prone to getting scratches. That was exactly what happened. Every step I took, I got a new scratch, until I finally jumped over the fence. By that time, I was bruised and cut up, and just a complete mess. Lacy looked at me and grimaced, but she waved me on. I caught up to her, and we started walking over to the farmer. We thought that the farmer would show some hostly hospitality to us, and give a place to eat and sleep. We... were not right at all.