The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 9

I expected something horrific to emerge from his lips (if mummies still have those!) like a noxious gas or swarms of bugs, or I also considered that he would emit some sort of utterance that would unleash monsters or anything that would do us harm really. What I did not picture occurring was a warm welcome! “Hey, Connor! Nice to see you again!”

Everyone turned to me in befuddlement, and I threw my hands up to convey my cluelessness. “Don’t look at me for an explanation! I’ve never been to this place- I don’t know anyone here!”

“Aw, sure you do!” the mummy jocularly disagreed. “You killed me last year when I went to your realm!”

“Oh! You’re that mummy!” I couldn’t have forgotten having to fend off that monstrous entity from the kids in Casper’s class, but it never registered with me that I’d ever run into him again! Partly because I hoped to have been done with battling supernatural forces, but mostly I presumed that my stint with him came to a finish after taking away his life! It was odd to see him again in another form, but what was odder was… “I’d apologize for killing you, but you seem to be tickled pink about your death!”

The mummy laughed, “Are you kidding? Being a ghost is great! I can travel through solid surfaces, fly around, scare trespassers who can’t touch me- I’m having a blast! Besides, you had every right to do me in! I mean, I was causing a lot of trouble in your land!”

We both shared in a bit of mirth, and the mummy’s comrades stood behind him in perplexion. A female mummy inquired, “So, are we still gonna terrorize this guy or what?”

“Nah!” the mummy I apparently knew replied. “He’s obviously on a quest to get home, that’s stressful enough! Believe me! What does your master have you doing? Stealing the queen’s jewels?”

“That would’ve made much more sense!” I huffed. “We have to get her spoon!”

The mummy puzzled, “Why a spoon?”

I exclaimed, “That’s what I said!”

“Well, since you know where it is, could you please spare us the hassle of overcoming inevitable paranormal barriers and bring it to us?” Kendra reran that line through her logic filter, and she took back her request, “Never mind! I just realized why that’s impossible!”

“Why is it impossible?” Peter scratched his noggin in confusion.

Osra beseeched the mummy, “Can you point us to the safest route to get the spoon?”

The mummy sadly notified us, “Unfortunately, no! I float through the walls, so I can say what’s the least booby-trapped. I can tell you that if you keep going down this pathway, you’ll get there eventually. Well, assuming you survive the hidden dangers lurking throughout this facility!”

“That’s a pretty big if!” Natalia remarked.

“There’s a skeleton a few feet away,” the mummy reported.

Jasper petitioned him, “What does it do to people?”

The mummy assured him, “Nothing. It’s the corpse of this burglar who saw something in the floor of the first trip and had a heart attack. His buddies ran off and didn’t look back when he fell out of fright of whatever pursued them!”

“Great! This is destined to be a fun excursion!” Eamon muttered.

“It is? Thank goodness! I was worried this would be really difficult and scary!” Peter breathed a sigh of relief.

Kamali appreciatively bade the mummy, “Thanks for the tip!”

The mummy waved to us as we departed, “Good luck!” As we trekked on, I inwardly prayed that this would be the extent of the curse of the ill-fated pyramid. 

When we traveled a small distance from the mummy, we beheld a slightly larger area covered in an ornate rug. I assessed, “That’s probably the monster pit.”

“No way!” Aniela disagreed. “The mummy told us that there was a skeleton near that trap, and there isn’t any-!” Prior to her having the ability to complete that sentence, Aniela tripped over an arm bone. 

“Wow! He was a tall lad!” Eamon commented.

Aniela tumbled onto the carpeted spot, but fortunately, Jasper got her before she went too far. “I gotcha, kiddo!” Suddenly, the covering disappeared, and a flash of green swooped her out of his grasp! “Let the record show I tried!”

We all peeked inside, and we were shocked to see an individual with the form of a man and the head as well as the skin of a crocodile! He held onto Aniela defensively, and Natalia shrieked, “Get your hands off of her, you predator!”

“Hey, what are you implying?” the crocodile man countered. “Do you think I would do something salacious to a child?”

“I wasn’t thinking that! But now that you brought it up, are you that kind of predator?” Natalia posed to him.

Kamali challenged the crocodile man, “What do you want?”

The crocodile man informed us, “I want you to answer a riddle!”

“Oh, jeez! Why? Why could you simply permit us to pass?” Kendra complained.

“I could obliterate you all right now instead,” the crocodile man shot back.

Kendra irritatedly relented, “Fine!”

The crocodile man dramatically communicated to us, “If you give the correct response, I’ll release the child and deploy the bridge. If you’re incorrect, I shall-!”

“Obliterate us all, we got it!” I realized it was reckless to interrupt a powerful foe, but my anxiety got the better of me. I wanted to get back to Rosemary King High as fast as possible! I’m fairly confident that I have never been more anxious to get back to work!

“Very well!” The crocodile clearly didn’t want to tolerate my rudeness, but he let it go so he could deliver his conundrum. “This once had eyes, but it didn’t see. It once had thoughts, but now it’s empty. What is it?”

We all gazed at each other, and evidently, no one had any inkling about what it could be. Aniela catechized the crocodile man, “If you were gonna threaten us all, why did you hold me hostage?”

My ancestors, Peter, and I all huddled together, and Osra canvassed the lot, “What once had eyes and thoughts? A potato?”

“Potatoes can’t think!” Kamali refuted that.

“What if they can?” Peter stared out into the distance in a horrified fashion.

Kendra directed everyone, “Focus! What else has eyes? A needle! Oh, but those definitely can’t think!”

Natalia suggested, “A computer has I’s and thinks! But they wouldn’t know that in this era…”

The crocodile man barked, “Time’s up!”

“Nuh-uh! You didn’t state that as a rule!” Jasper objected.

“Gah! This is pointless! Let’s just knock him out!” I proposed. “It worked for the gargoyle who did this death riddle thing! Well, I guessed it by accident, but it would’ve worked if I didn’t do that!”

Eamon apprised me, “If you do that, you may hit the child!”

I dejectedly deduced, “Oh, that’s why he held Aniela hostage!”

“I’m getting tired of waiting!” the crocodile man whined.

“Oh, shut up! You’ve got nothing better to do than sit around in a pit all day! Don’t act like we’re keeping you from an appointment!” I snapped. I, too, lost my patience though, and I impulsively made a decision, “Screw it! I’m taking my chances!” After grabbing the deceased’s skull, I charged up to the chasm and raised my projectile up to strike, but preceding any trajectories taking flight…

The crocodile man wailed, “Noooo! How did you figure it out?”

I glimpsed at the skull curiously, and rather than admit my dumb luck, I proudly articulated, “I went to medical school for a short while! I quit ‘cause the sight of a cadaver got me sick… And here I am touching corpses willingly! I’ve come a long way! Anyways, give us our bridge, you loser!”

The crocodile man glared at us, hurled Aniela back to our level, and put a lengthy board above his pit. As we crossed that span, Peter pondered, “So, what was the answer to the riddle?” No one illuminated him about it as we moved on.

Several paces later, we noticed a vast expanse full of gold, intricate vases, and other treasures, which prompted Osra to opine, “That was easy! A little too easy! What’s the catch?”

“I reckon the coffin guarding the entrance will hassle us!” Jasper indicated to the sarcophagus by the entrance.

“Is that a real mummy? Hah! Not very original!” Eamon scoffed. The sarcophagus became ajar, and a shapely woman’s leg stuck out. “Huh! That’s different!”

A gorgeous lady was revealed leaning against a tunnel behind her enclosure, and she beckoned us, “Congratulations! You’ve done well on your crusade! Join me for a celebration!”

Jasper, Eamon, and Pater all chimed, “Okay!”

The three men lunged towards her, but Kendra, Osra, and Natalia all grabbed onto their arms. Natalia scolded them, “You glupis! This is obviously a trap!”

“She can trap me!” Peter enthusiastically expressed.

“Knock it off!” Kamali stood in front of her to block the other guys from viewing her. “No more stopping unless we discover the site of the spoon or the Rainbow Tektite!”

The lady claimed, “I have the Rainbow Tektite!”

Kamali spun around with great interest. “Really?”

“Don’t be stupid!” Aniela advised him. “This isn’t a real method to get back home!”

“Yes, it is!” the lady swore.

Aniela grew significantly more hopeful. “Really? Thank the heavens! I’d much rather learn algebra than be here!” 

Osra recited from memory, “The Ancient Egyptians had a form of algebra actually!”

“Not helpful!” I asserted. I then addressed the lady, “We’re not interested! Bye-bye!” I pushed her inside that tunnel and shut the sarcophagus door. Flames sounded from beneath the barrier, and we heard the lady screaming. I would’ve felt sorry for her if she hadn’t tried to murder us! I turned my attention to the others, “What was so tough about that?”

“You weren’t tempted by her whatsoever?” Eamon looked at me with incredulity.

I shrugged. “Not really! But I do wanna find that outfit for Phoebe when we get back to Terra Belle! Alright, let’s go in there and get Damon his stupid spoon!

Kendra bravely broadcasted, “Yes, maybe if we hurry, we can avoid whatever trap they have in store for us in there!” She dashed into the treasure room, and something massive barred her from advancing forward. “Damn!”

“Fret not, damsel! I shall rescue thee with my superior swordsmanship!” Eamon avowed as he pulled a gilded sword out from a pile of embroidered trinkets.

“Since when do you have sword skills?” Kendra probed as she dodged the advances of an enormous, horned snake.

Eamon retorted, “Do you want to get rescued or not?” Kendra clammed up as Eamon barreled towards her and her adversary. After gauging the serpent’s movements for a second, Eamon found a window to strike. With one clean blow, he was able to sever the beast in half! “Nothing to it!”

Suddenly, the two pieces convulsed, and a new head formed on the tail! Shortly after both halves sprung to life, Eamon cut each into two, and all four segments became animated! When Eamon repeated this process and it happened again, I commanded, “Quit doing that!”

“How do we kill these things?” Osra asked as she grabbed a scepter and swung at them with it like a baseball bat.

“Uh… I dunno… Aren’t you supposed to be guiding me?” I grumbled as I used a gaudy plate to fend them off.

Natalia declared, “I’ve got it!” She kicked one into the sarcophagus, and it lit up in the inferno! Unfortunately, the fire spat it out in a larger, newly red color! “I don’t got it!”

Peter decreed, “I’ll call my father! I’m sure he knows someone who can tackle this problem!” He pulled out his cell phone and queried, “Do you think they have a place that can get a signal around here?”

I gritted my teeth at his inane enquiry, but I didn’t have a moment to spare on voicing my opinion on his ineptitude. Another snake darted towards me, so I dove to evade it. I landed on something hard, and when I espied the culprit of my discomfort, my eyes grew wide…

The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 8

“What?” Aniela queried as though nothing was wrong. Evidently, she had no inkling that something drastic had occurred, and I was pleased she didn’t seem to have any other side effects besides the swirling vortex eyes! I had no doubt that I found a victim of the Rainbow Tektite consumption scheme, but I possessed many doubts on how to proceed from here!

“Nothing!” I lied. I wasn’t certain on what would activate the portal for interdimensional travel, but I didn’t want to gamble on any potential triggers, so I deemed it best to ensure that she wouldn’t gain any awareness of the issue. 

Peter passed by, jamming out to a tune blaring from his ear pods, so I stopped him, “Hey, Peter!”

He paused his song and inquired, “Yes, Mister Fenmore? Am I late?”

I replied, “No!” I glanced around at the empty hallway, and I amended my remark, “Well, yeah! But that doesn’t matter right now! I need you to go to the front office and talk to Principal Palillo!”

“Oh, ‘cause I’m in trouble for my lateness?” Peter surmised.

“No!” I couldn’t prevent myself from losing patience there! He was putting a needless delay in this process, and I needed to deal with Aniela immediately! I couldn’t decipher what exactly I needed to do since it wasn’t like I could take her to the school nurse to fix her, but I needed to do something quickly and didn’t appreciate this setback!

Aniela guessed, “There is a problem, isn’t there?”

Peter noticed her peepers for the first time, and his visage contorted into shock. “Woah! Your eyes! They’re-!”

“Beautiful!” I finished his sentence to avoid her cognizance of the dilemma. “You have beautiful eyes!”

“Thank you!” Aniela graciously responded. “They’re green like my uncle’s! You have eyes like his, that’s one reason I mistook you for him!”

I chuckled in a fashion that I hoped wouldn’t give away my unease over this situation, “Ha, ha! Isn’t that neat!” I turned to Peter and whispered, “Tell Principal Palillo or Mrithan that I need one of them to watch my fourth-period class!”

To my dismay, Peter appeared too transfixed by the ocular quandary to heed my word. “Why are they like that? And why do I feel like I’ve seen this before?”

“It’s called makeup, Peter!” I did my utmost to cover up his comment. Aniela grew concerned, so I assured her, “You did a lovely job on your cosmetics! Peter is probably getting déjà-vu ‘cause of your eyeliner. It’s historical, they did that wide outline thing in Ancient Egypt!” I wished Phoebe, Ginger, or Ellie were there at that instance to assist me with beauty terminology, but suddenly, my lack of maquillage vocabulary wasn’t a huge deal…

“Ancient Egypt! Ancient Egypt! Ancient Egypt!” Aniela chanted as the kaleidoscope in her pupils twirled faster and faster.

Peter fretted, “What’s happening?”

I commended him, “That’s an excellent question!”

“Thanks! No one ever says that to me!” Peter looked proud of himself.

“Uh…” I intended to advise him to run, but that statement threw me off! Prior to me having the ability to halt it, a giant vortex appeared and sucked us into its depths!

As if we had gotten off of a shot elevator ride, we softly landed onto a sandy floor! I opined, “Huh! That’s interesting! I wouldn’t have expected to have traveled through a space tunnel full of clocks and freaky stuff!”

Jasper relayed to me, “You watch too many movies!”

After the rest of my ancestors manifested, I canvassed them, “Would it have been too much to have shared the whole colorful eye thing with me?”

“Where are we?” a normal-eyed Aniela asked.

“It’s a mystery! Let’s solve it together!” Peter suggested. “Hmm… We appear to be in front of a building made of stone… It’s triangular in shape… There are markings on it! One is a bird…”

I snapped, “We’re in Ancient Egypt, detective!” 

Peter probed, “I know she said that, but is that where we really went?” I gritted my teeth, but before I could make a retort to his ineptitude…

“Yes, you most certainly are in Egypt!” a pale man in a white kilt and cape, a hairstyle not seen in a hundred years, and facial features that still somewhat resembled an old vampire spoke to us with a thick, Eastern European accent.

“You-!” My first reaction was a bubbling fury at his presence, but I didn’t act upon that sentiment because it was exactly what he wanted. Knowing his undeserved ego would thrive on anything else I did, I pretended to be totally unimpressed with this feat, “Oh! It’s just Damon!”

To my relief, Damon fell for this ploy. “What do you mean, ‘just Damon?’ I’m your mortal enemy!”

With a sly grin, I badgered, “Mortal enemy is a bit of a strong phrase for you! You’re more of a paranormal pest!” It delighted me to see how irked that made him, and I crossed my fingers that I had taken the wind out of his sails for whatever plot he intended to unleash upon us at that juncture. I continued, “Yawn! Alright, whatever half-brained scheme you’ve got in store, get it over with! We’ve all got things to do!”

“Ugh!” Damon gritted his teeth. “You’re the worst! I’m glad I caught you- you’ve been a thorn in my side long enough!” I laughed derisively at him, and he seethed, “Go ahead and have your fun! Let’s watch how much you’ll amuse yourself after you find out that I’m your Quest Master!”

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” I blinked in confusion.

Osra explained, “He gets to set the mission we must complete in order to get out of here.”

I deduced, “You mean, if we don’t do what he wants, we’ll get stuck here forever?”

“If we survive,” Osra affirmed.

“Hold on! Hold on!” Aniela beckoned us with furrowed brows. “You all know each other?”

I reassured her, “Don’t worry! In a few minutes, you won’t remember any of this!”

Damon scoffed, “Psh! Do you really think I’d be dumb enough to send you on a quest that would get completed in a matter of minutes?”

I shot back, “Oh, good point! Minutes, that’s giving you way too much credit! We’ll be done in a few seconds!”

Damon winced in annoyance, and then he vexedly announced, “I hereby edict that if you want to return home, you must bring me the Spoon of Queen Reanestec!”

I ridiculed that concept, “What’s with you and spoons? Never mind, don’t explain ‘cause I don’t care that much! Let’s just get the stupid thing and go home! Which way to the palace?”

“Queen Reanestec isn’t in a palace anymore! You want to know her current home? Well, you’re looking at it!” Damon maniacally guffawed as he pat the pyramid he currently lounged on.

“Why would she live in a pyramid?” Peter puzzled. “It’s full of dead stuff!”

Damon stared at him in disbelief, but then he shook off his perplexion of that assertion and leered at me, “Good luck!” He cackled as he disappeared.

I pouted, “Oh, great! We’re stuck obeying that demonic jerk!”

“Aw, there’s no use in agonizing over the affair!” Eamon consoled me. “We’ll only prolong our stint here if we dwell on that rapscallion’s absurdity! Let’s simply begin our mission, shall we? Now, we need to get inside of this building- how do we do this? We need someone who’s been here before… Kamali, you’re from around here, how do we-?”

“Excuse me, but I’m from a very different country in a completely different era!” Kamali folded his arms in offense to his remark.

Natalia exasperatedly sighed, “Can we argue about this later? I don’t want my soul to expire in this godforsaken land due to you two dupeks!”

Aniela’s ears perked up at that. “You’re from Poland? So am I!”

“Really?” Natalia gushed. “What part do you…? Wait, you’re-!”

“How about we search for a door?” Kendra recommended. “There has to be at least one, so… Eek! Scorpion!”

Kendra jumped onto Jasper’s shoulders in trepidation, and Jasper grumped, “What do you care? You’re not alive, their venom can’t harm you!”

She argued, “Yeah, but they’re gross!”

“Hey! I’ve been here before!” Peter recalled.

“Oh, thank Heaven! We can follow you!” I replayed that sentence in my brain, and I became alarmed. “Hang on…!”

Osra mandated, “No more delays! Let the boy lead the way!” I groaned, and we all tailed Peter as he trekked through the desert sand.

Those pyramids were bigger than I pictured them! Or maybe a certain Las Vegas casino’s structure misled me on the actual measurements! Regardless, I was relieved when we finally found the entrance, which was roped off. Peter gasped, “Wow! This place was off-limits back then too? Gosh, that’s too bad! Well, I guess we’ve gotta make ourselves at home here! Where do you think we can find some decent sushi in this neighborhood?”

After slapping my forehead and shaking my head, I grouched, “I’m so glad I won’t have any recollection of this soon!”

“Actually, since you were given prior knowledge of the existence of other realms, you won’t forget anything,” Kendra educated me.

“Oh, thanks for that!” I tried to show appreciation, but I was still rather vexed about this whole scenario.

Natalia corrected my misimpression, “Well, we’d love to take credit, but the Netherworld Guardian was the one who revealed this knowledge to you.”

I smiled slightly. “Ha! I bet Babelsama regrets trying to kill me now!” I sobered up, and then I decreed, “Alright, let’s go in.”

We got up to the ropes, and I held one up so the others could go in, but prior to any of us getting a foot into the perimeter, a couple of nearby guards commanded, “Halt! You’re about to trespass onto sacred grounds!”

“That sounds more like a guideline than a real rule!” I quarreled.

“Okay, fine! But it’s cursed, and we don’t want more to get more chaos sown throughout this land!” one guard nervously verbalized.

Aniela moaned, “I don’t want to go onto cursed grounds! I’ve had enough bad luck this year!”

I contended, “Yeah, but what choice do we have?”

“We do have one alternative,” Kamali elucidated. “We could retrieve the Rainbow Tektite that brought us here. They reassemble and get put somewhere random within the realm.”

“You want us to find a small stone in Ancient Egypt?” I wondered. “I don’t recall all the details of my homework on this chapter, but I’m pretty sure this area is frickin’ big!”

Jasper thoughtfully articulated, “So, it seems like we’ve got two options: one, we can take our chances in the pyramid, or two, we can stay in this era! They don’t have electricity or toilets, and women use crocodile dung as tampons! You wanna talk about curses, there’s your curse!”

The other guard ordered, “Stop! Go no further, or else!”

“Or else what?” I challenged him. “Is anyone gonna go after us if we go in?” The guards exchanged scared glimpses, so I asserted, “That’s what I thought!” I lifted the rope, and I pressed the guards, “Why don’t you seal this joint up if it poses so much peril?” The guards shrugged, and I rolled my eyes as I entered into the interior.

“So, now we’ve got the curse?” Peter catechized as we explored a dimly lit, narrow passageway.

Osra expressed, “I haven’t gotten the curse in thousands of years!” She mulled her verbalization over, and then she changed her tune, “Oh, you mean the metaphysical kind! It’s not likely to bring sincere misfortune. They mostly just spread that rumor so no one would break in and steal they always buried with their royalty.”

All of a sudden, ghostly figures began seeping out of the rocky walls! Kendra griped, “Oh, come on! We barely got here! You gotta release your dark magic already?”

The spectres each shifted into the shape of a mummy, and Eamon petitioned the rest of us, “How exactly are we to fight a phantom army of mummified soldiers?”

Preceding any of us having the ability to summon an answer, one of the mummies stepped towards us, opened his mouth, and…

The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 7

Jett rubbed herself against Osra’s legs, and Osra cooed, “Aww! Hello again, friend!”

Phoebe puzzled, “Again? I thought Connor just met you!”

“It’s his first time meeting us, but it’s not our first time meeting him,” Natalia explained. “We’re constantly around watching over our descendants!”

“Oh, you’re always around except in private moments?” Phoebe presumed.

Kamali let her know, “Not necessarily.” Phoebe looked bewildered at that notion, so Kamali defended that practice, “Hey! We have to! Sometimes, that’s when the most precarious situations strike! Don’t forget, the king died on the toilet!”

Phoebe inquired, “What king?”

Kamali replied like it was obvious, “Elvis!”

“Wait, you guys could’ve told us how to defeat Damon ages ago and didn’t?” I sullenly exclaimed.

“We can provide hints, but we can’t directly talk to you under normal circumstances,” Kendra educated me. “If it’s an emergency, we can intervene. Like, do you recall that ski trip you took, when you were seventeen? I personally stepped in to prevent you from falling down the mountain!”

I quarreled, “That was you? You knocked me into a tree, and I wound up breaking my leg!”

Kendra pouted, “Yeah, but did you die? No! You’re welcome!”

“Uh, thanks for that!” It felt strange to show appreciation for getting a pretty painful injury, but I deemed that I ought to have been more grateful that it wasn’t worse. If circumstances were normal, I may have delved more into how this spiritual guidance worked, but I wasn’t certain how long I would have this resource, so I canvassed them, “So, you’re not supposed to get seen, but you made an exception today. He must be up to something really bad!”

“Only if you consider the apocalypse a bad thing!” Jasper reacted with sarcasm.

While giving Jett a belly rub, Osra filled me in, “It appears that he has stolen the Rainbow Tektites from Heaven’s Gate, and now they are in the hands of someone giving them to children, who are using them without realizing it. Aren’t they, Miss Fuzzy-Wuzzy, Itty-Bitty, Pretty Kitty? She reminds me of the pet I had when I was alive!”

I found that tidbit surprising. “Really? I didn’t think sabertooth tigers were that friendly!”

“Cave people didn’t exist ‘til millions of years after the dinosaurs died out!” Osra vehemently pointed out. “Isn’t your friend a history teacher?”

“Yeah. Can you not mention this to her?” I requested.

Phoebe steered the conversation back to the original subject, “The Rainbow Tektites are making the kids disappear? But, they’re from Heaven! I thought Heaven only made beneficial stuff! Why are they sending out monsters?”

Kamali relayed to us, “Rainbow Tektites are stones, and they get used for interdimensional travel.”

“Our students are going to other realms?” I gasped. “How do they do that by accident?”

“We suspect they’re being ingested,” Eamon stated. “Don’t ask us how!”

I probed, “Why can’t I ask that? I really wanna know!”

Eamon retorted, “Yeah, so do we!”

“Alright, so I gotta figure out who’s getting them to eat or drink rocks. That seems easy enough! In the meantime, I just gotta convince teens not to eat weird junk! Oh crap, that’s gonna be impossible!” I fretted.

“You can assist those who’ve already been afflicted! All you have to do is look into their eyes, and you’ll know who’s in trouble!” Natalia advised.

Osra assured me, “Don’t worry! We’ll be there to lend a hand when the timing is right!”

They all began to disappear, and I tried to stop them, “Wait! Now’s a good time! You can lend a hand now!” Once they were gone, I grumped, “That’s it? That’s all I get? Look into their eyes to know if they ate an interdimensional stone? What do I do when I find the victim who has that in their system?” Phoebe shrugged, and Jett happily snoozed on her back. I frowned, totally unsure of what I was going to do with this ambiguous revelation.

“Okay, who wants to go first?” I petitioned my initial class of the day. As usual, no one volunteered except for Roxy. I questioned Roxy, “Do you plan on giving a presentation on business, or are you gonna gush about Damon again?”

“I need to talk about him!” Roxy raved. “He can’t get forgotten! I need to keep his spirit alive, and I’m not sure if talking will do that, but I’ll do anything for my Day-Day!”

Ismeray brought up, “Couldn’t you keep his spirit alive by talking to a shrink instead of us?”

Her peers laughed at her insulting jest, and I wanted to join them, but as the adult in the room, I had to discourage this sort of behavior, so, after hiding my snickers behind my textbook, I returned with a straight face and gently chided Ismeray, “Thaat’s not very nice!”

“I wasn’t trying to be nice!” Ismeray countered. “Everyone was thinking it, and someone had to say it!”

“Damon is not a joke!” Roxy snarled. “Aside from being the love of my life, he is our future overlord as society succumbs to his wrath, and during his reign of power, he-!”

Corvina volunteered, “I’ll go first! Anything to end… all this!” She took a position at the head of the rows of desks, and she read aloud from a piece of paper in her hands, “Mister Johnson paced around his office, wondering how on earth he would get the word out about his amazing new invention. ‘I’ve got an idea, sir!’ his protegé shouted as he ran into his chambers, his eyes brimming with hope!”

I cut her off, “Did I tell you to make this into a short story?”

“No, but I miss my creative writing course, and you didn’t tell me I couldn’t!” Corvina shot back.

“Touché! Proceed,” I permitted.

As she prattled on, I probably should have been paying attention to the accuracy of the facts she belted out between her characters’ lines, but I couldn’t help but study the pupils of my pupils. Everyone seemed regular, and by regular, I mean they were engaging in their typical behavior. Some students in particular could never get described as regular in any context though! Peter’s seemed a little too perfect, and I reckoned that he was wearing contact lenses specifically designed to improve their appearance. Yurei’s were glazed over, and Roxy’s were glaring in defiance, as usual. Corvina’s were a bit bloodshot, but I didn’t think that was significant until she yawned. “Can I get a drink real quick?”

I acquiesced, “Sure!” I didn’t expect to get through all of the presentations that day, but I began to worry that I wouldn’t be able to return to an activity that would allow Manuel to sub and me to roam the halls once more any time soon. I let it go and tried to relax as she hurried back to her desk. I expected her to take a swig from a water bottle, but instead, she had a paper cup of coffee on her desk! “Did you spend a long night rehearsing again?”

“Yeah. I was with the band…” Corvina’s gaze shifted guiltily. I didn’t press the issue any further because, quite frankly, I didn’t want to know! She gulped down some of her hot brew, and then she blissfully commented, “Ah! Thank god for Mrithan’s shitty cappuccino machine!” My eyes grew wide upon hearing that verbiage, but Corvina obviously thought I had grown alarmed by something else. “Oh, sorry! I didn’t mean to swear!”

“Huh? Oh, right! Don’t do that!” I scolded her without any real effort. As she resumed her presentation, my brain reeled from the insight she unintentionally provided. The Rainbow Tektites were being consumed by youths at Rosemary King High, and coincidentally, Mrithan had a new beverage dispenser. Mrithan swore he was afraid of Damon now, but could that have been a front for him to get away with this latest plot? How tasty could the coffee be with rocks in it? These were enquiries I had to investigate immediately!

Well, I wanted to do it immediately anyway! At lunch, I was tempted to skip eating to scope out this lead, but it never seemed to go well when I missed a meal! I begrudgingly headed to the teachers’ lounge, and just as I was in the midst of a self-pity party, commotion suddenly erupted from the cafeteria! I anticipated another disappearance was imminent, and I raced to try and prevent that from occurring! 

Or, at least, I hoped to get a clue that was a bit more concrete than what I currently had! When I swung the door open, I wasn’t positive what to expect, but what I didn’t predict to see was a small bird getting chased by a bunch of excited juveniles! As Mary strove to get them to calm down, I recognized that she distributed food to students quite frequently. She never struck me as the evil-doer type, but truthfully, I didn’t know much about her, so who knows, maybe she was! I couldn’t fathom how I would hover around the cafeteria without rousing suspicion, but I vowed to find a way to do it if Mrithan turned out to be a dead end!

I sped into the teachers’ lounge as fast as I could in order to swiftly convey to the others what I learned. I was so laser-focused on revealing this news to the m that I didn’t see it coming- Imelda abruptly got into my periphery and queried, “Want a date?”

“No, thanks! I’m engaged!” I politely declined. Privately, I thought I would’ve responded in the same manner if I were single, and I stood there cringing in fear that she wouldn’t take the rejection with composure.

“Uh, I didn’t mean that sort of date…” Imelda waved a plate of fruit so I could more easily view it.

I felt foolish for assuming she meant a romantic excursion! I grabbed one and sheepishly regarded her, “Thank you!”

To my astonishment, Casper strolled up to her and verbalized, “I, too, would not like to engage in an amorous affair since I have a girlfriend, but I would be delighted to partake in this nutritious snack since Kaleva is into healthy eating! Did I tell you she’s a model?”

“Yes! A hundred times!” Fletcher pounded his fist on the table out of irritation.

“Forgive me! I can’t resist bragging about her!” Casper imperiously roosted himself at our seating arrangement as he spoke.

Ginger growled, “Could you try harder?”

Casper chuckled as he scrolled through Phoebe’s phone, and then he proclaimed, “No, no, no! None of this will do any good against warding off the Fairy Folks!”

“Fairy folks?” I echoed incredulously. Casper had made some pretty far-out-there assertions, but this one really took the cake!

“They’re not the cute, little pixies you see in movies!” Casper narrated while chewing on the date. “They’re vicious creatures who like to punish any mortals who enter into their territory! All of these disappearances are proof that fairy folks are prevalent and intend to cause as much mayhem as possible! So, what you need is some cold iron! Or perhaps a plant like ivy or boxwood…”

Phoebe faked a grin at that concept. “Yay! What wonderful gifts this will be for our wedding!”

Casper smugly articulated, “It is, isn’t it? I’m so thrilled that my expertise in ghosts and other paranormal practices can… What?”

As he babbled, it occurred to me that Imelda had repeatedly doled out edible morsels to people! I couldn’t comprehend how anyone would hide stony shards in produce, but perhaps that was the ideal coverup for the crime! Or, perhaps not. I monitored his peepers to distinguish any compelling changes, but all this did was make it appear as though I yearned to glimpse longingly at him! I had to hastily manufacture a distraction from this ineptitude, so I asked, “Hey, can you share with us that memory of how you won that football championship back in the day?”

My friends balked at that suggestion, and as he elatedly answered, I mouthed my regrets to everyone. As I listened to him ramble on and on about this recollection, I bitterly noticed that his eyes remained unaltered. It wasn’t as though I wanted him to wreak havoc on us, I just got upset that my efforts had proved to be a waste of time!

I disappointedly headed back to my classroom, and I rued not spending lunch with Mrithan and getting to the bottom of this conundrum! Precisely as I was contemplating an early morning visit with him, I spotted Aniela hovering around the water fountain. Remembering her penchant for pranks, I started to wonder if this entire episode had been the result of a humorous escapade gone wrong. I wasn’t about to tarry with this one, I had to check on it straight away! I posed to her, “Whatcha doing?”

When she turned around, my jaw dropped…

The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 6

“Listen, I know I haven’t picked a venue yet, but I haven’t had time to look into doing it at the school,” I lied. I could have done research on that if I wanted to, but Phoebe and I already decided we weren’t interested in saying our vows there. I just didn’t have the heart to tell Manuel that!

“I’m not here to discuss that,” Manuel let me know. “Although, we should put a pin in that ‘cause I think the theatre department has some props leftover from a wedding scene…” I liked the cost-effectiveness of that idea, but I wasn’t positive about how elegant any of the stuff would have been if it was made by children! Manuel seemed tempted to stay on the subject, but then he remembered why he sought me out in the first place. “Okay, well, I heard rumors you’ve had entanglements with otherworldly things…”

I articulated with a slight glare, “You mean the same rumors the staff used against me last semester to try and convince you I was crazy? The same rumors that caused you to send me to a psychiatrist? Those rumors?” I didn’t mean to have an attitude with my boss, but I was still a bit salty about what transpired months ago!

Manuel guiltily shifted in his chair. “Crazy is subjective! The reports I received about your behavior were distressing, but…” He espied the growing glower on my visage, so he swiftly followed that with something more acceptable to me, “…but, so is the current situation! There is no rationale I can generate that explains what’s occurring at this school, and the only thing that does is maybe something from the supernatural has invaded the campus!”

“It took you two school years to realize that? Am I the only one that didn’t need a kid buried alive without a person around to shovel the dirt to realize that we had a paranormal problem?” I threw my hands up in frustration.

“No, but I was hoping the exorcism would’ve solved the problem,” Manuel responded. “Actually, Casper has expressed concerns about this kind of activity too, but truthfully, I suspect he sometimes makes claims up just to get attention!”

I chortled at his remark, and I felt less resentful about assisting him knowing that it would really anger Sir Pompous Dorkington. “Alright, so what do you want from me?”

Manuel detailed to me, “I want you to find out what’s going on around here! Aside from the brief disappearances being disruptive, it’s potentially dangerous! Mary said a group of kids who were early to lunch disappeared from the cafeteria, and when they came back, one kid had a broken leg! I don’t know what’s happening, and quite frankly, I don’t wanna know! I just want it to stop! So, I’m giving you permission to roam the halls during your classroom hours. I’ll cover your classes whenever you need it. Or maybe I’ll make Mrithan do it & keep him out of trouble for a while…”

“Well, if he gets himself stuck in something or whatever during a lesson, my students can get him out of his jam!” I chuckled, and Manuel did too, but then I leveled with him, “Look, I don’t have the foggiest notion what’s occurring here! I wouldn’t even know where to begin! The students who vanish can never recall where they’ve been or what they were doing, so how can I get any clues to this mystery?”

“There’s gotta be something somewhere!” Manuel proclaimed. “Nobody commits a crime without some sort trace of their actions! If somebody is using dark magic, there’s evidence of it someplace! Don’t give up! The future of these young people is in your hands! And that’s not hyperbole- we’re depending on you here!”

I kidded, “So, no pressure, right?” I tittered, and then I mulled over this proposal. There wasn’t any question about my desire to spare these youths from a terrible fate, but I felt reluctant to pull time away from my lessons so close to finals! Of course, if my lecture attendees never returned, then I wouldn’t have had anyone left to take my tests! I disliked the prospect of extra work on my plate, but I agreed to do it, “Fine. I’ll see what I can do!”

Manuel gave me one of his very fatherly smiles. “Excellent! Thank you so much! I… Oh, I fixed your crane!”

After I ogled the origami he mended, I queried, “How did you do that?” Before he could reply, my fourth-period class manifested into their seats drenched in water (I hope it was water anyways!). I notified Manuel, “They’re doing popcorn reading for chapter fourteen.” As Manuel fumbled with my textbook, I exited the room.

“Okay, I’ve calmed down!” Phoebe declared as we went into our tiled mudroom. “I don’t need to feel guilty for leaving my class to throw up! That didn’t cause my students to disappear! They had sting marks all over them, but they’re all healthy still! No one was seriously injured! Everyone is well!” As soon as we entered the house, Phoebe asserted, “I’m gonna be sick!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah! I’m getting it!” I barked at my impatient cat. As I pulled out her bag of food, I apologized, “I’m sorry! I just had a bad day! I spent all day searching for clues on how to prevent the kids at my school from disappearing, and I came up blank!” I sat next to Jett as she merrily munched, and I continued, “I actually saw the children in Ellie’s fifth period vanish, but I have no idea why they left! One guy had to go to the hospital ‘cause he had a spear-axe thingy stuck between his shoulder blades! I mean, his backpack caught the brunt of that assault, but still! People are getting hurt, and I can’t figure out what to do to protect them! I need a miracle! How do I get it?” Jett gawked at me quizzically, and I questioned myself, “Why am I asking you?”

I emitted an exasperated exhale, and as I gazed at the ceiling, I saw a speck of light reflecting off of my cell phone. It kind of reminded me of the stained glass I saw in the church I went to during my early years. I kneeled before the light, and it felt insane to do so, but hey, I was conversing with my cat seconds ago, so my sanity seemed fleeting anyways! I prayed, “Hello, Lord! I know, it’s been a while since I gave you a ring, but better late than never, right? Well, this isn’t about me! Innocent souls are suffering, and that’s bad! You probably already understand that, but it’s, like, really bad! And… I’m not very good at this! In sales, it was easy to convince people to side with me ‘cause I could make out what they wanted, but you’re the Lord, and you can make whatever you want happen! Oh, I got it! You probably don’t want undeserving victims to go through torment, correct? Can you provide me with the key to saving them? Please?”

Feeling like that was a totally lame plea for assistance, I stood up feeling rather remorseful for not doing a better job when lives were depending on it. I let out a sorrowful sigh, and in an effort to block my anxiety over the matter from overrunning me again, I shouted, “Phoebe! Do you want a glass of wine too?” I heard some retching, so I assessed, “Alright, maybe later when you…”

Nothing could’ve prepared me for what I beheld at that juncture! Six strange individuals were sitting in my living room! And I mean strange in every sense of its meaning! One woman had eyebrow ridges, bushy hair, and a ragged dress made of animal skin, and another woman wore a maxi skirt with a corset over a long-sleeved shirt and flowers in her hair. There was a man in a brown tunic as well as tan tights and a matching cape, and another man with bronzed skin donned a striped vest that went to the floor and a turban. Another lady wore an ornate gown with long and very wide sleeves as well as a coordinating bonnet-like hat, and the last fellow had on a fairly modern sweater and slacks. None of these individuals appeared like they belonged either let alone in my domicile, so my brain locked up simply trying to comprehend what was going on right then!

“Babe! I think our house got broken into!” I yelled to Phoebe over her vomiting. I peered more closely at their unique garments, and I supplemented my sentence with, “…By members of the community theatre?”

“It was a halberd,” the bushy-haired woman informed me.

I puzzled, “Huh?”

The bushy-haired woman elaborated, “The weapon you described earlier. They were used in Europe in the sixteenth century up until about seventeen-ninety-three when they were replaced by spontoons.”

“That’s great! So, I don’t mean to be rude, but what the hell are you all doing here?” I did not intend to come across as mean, but I couldn’t resist that enquiry! They didn’t give off the impression that they were dangerous, but their motivation for this unauthorized visit became more and more confusing as this interaction went along!

“Boy, the guy asks for a miracle, and then he freaks out when he gets one!” the sweater fellow chuckled.

I examined his visage to discern whether or not he had arrived as an answer to my imploration or if he merely overheard my clumsy verbalization, and something deep in my memory indicated that I had seen this fellow before! “You’re gonna help me? You didn’t help my Grandma Dotty much after you left her, Jasper!”

Jasper defended himself, “I didn’t leave! I was taken away! By the FBI!” He saw my stunned expression, so he elaborated, “I had multiple wives! But, in all fairness, divorce was still very taboo in my generation!”

“And bigamy wasn’t?” the man with the turban scoffed.

“Well, the legal system didn’t like it much!” Jasper pouted.

As they bickered, I studied them further, and I noticed that the lady in the animal print had my nose, and the woman with the ornate gown had my eyes! I was on the brink of piecing everything together, but I still possessed one troubling thought, “Phoebe! Can you come in here, please? Hurry!” I called out.

Phoebe griped, “What? What’s so important that I can’t clean out my barf breath first?” She saw the six strangers, and she scolded me, “Why didn’t you tell me we had company over?”

“You can see them too? Phew! For a second, I thought Doctor Cifarelli was right about my hallucinations!” I breathed a sigh of relief, and when Phoebe stared at me peculiarly, I elucidated, “I think they’re my family!”

“We’re your ancestors!” the man in the tunic illuminated us. “Hello! I’m Eamon of Fenmore! I hale from Ireland in the year six hundred. I was a prominent merchant until I got put to death for stealing a horse!”

I reacted in aghast, “You were executed just for stealing a horse?”

Eamon stated, “You have to understand, people relied on horses for their livelihood!”

“But the horse was fine?” I catechized.

“Yes!” Eamon confirmed. “I had one drink too many, and, well, they say alcohol kills!”

The man with the turban winced at that characterization. “I’m a doctor, Doctor Kamali Nur, and that’s just… wrong! Oh, hi! I did well in the region now known as Yemen until the British took over! To clarify though, I wasn’t a big of fan of the colonization of the nineteenth century, but I fell in love with an English woman who had me murdered so she could steal my fortune!”

The woman in the gown regally jumped in, “Not all of your ancestors from Cornwall were criminals! Greetings! I’m Lady Kendra of Tintagel! I’m delighted to me you, and I’m delighted to see that the men of our lineage have maintained the same exceptional taste in female companionship that they always have! Your bride-to-be is quite lovely!”

“I’m glad you still have that view after hearing me hurl!” Phoebe blushed.

“My name is Natalia Melchior!” The woman in the skirt curtsied. “I emigrated to Southern England from Poland to escape political exile in eighteen-thirty-one, and I wound up dying of tuberculosis a year later! Go figure!”

I conversed, “That sucks! We have a vaccine for that now!”

Natalia folded her arms resentfully. “Hmm! Must be nice!”

“And I’m Osra,” the bushy-haired woman introduced herself. “I lived in ten thousand B.C., and I’m what you might call a ‘cave woman,” but I actually lived in a small hut!”

“This is fascinating!” Phoebe exclaimed. “Most folks have to pay decent money to get a family background like this!”

I somewhat concurred, “Yeah, it’s interesting and all, but…” I couldn’t unearth a polite fashion of wording this, so I chose to blurt out what was bugging me, “You still haven’t said what the hell you’re doing here!”

Jasper repeated, “I told you, dear boy! We’re here ‘cause you wanted a miracle!”

“We also need your aid!” Eamon brought up. “There is an evil plan afoot, and we must put a halt to their scheme prior to disaster unfolding!”

“It’s Damon, isn’t it?” I guessed. “I knew that S.O.B. was up to something! Tell me! I’ve been dying to learn what his plan is!” The six of them glanced at each other, and finally, Osra stepped forward. She opened her mouth, and…

The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 5

“What’s this?” I gestured towards the entrance to the Literary Arts wing where Aniela had her arm sticking in the doorway in a manner that suggested she was gazing at something in her hand.

“I dunno! Maybe it’s some sort of social media trend?” Phoebe gestured in a fashion that portrayed her lack of insight on this subject.

After emitting an exasperated exhale, I concluded that someone needed to address this peculiar behavior, and that someone might as well have been me. I strolled up to her, leaned on the wall beside her, and opened the entrance. She nearly fell in from the shock of the moment, and when she recovered from this stumble, I noticed she was carrying a mirror. I puzzled, “Isn’t that easier in the girls’ room?”

Aniela explained, “I was using the reflection to per into the classrooms. I wanted to make sure no monsters popped out to get me! One boy said he got chased by a fire-breathing chicken!”

“I didn’t breathe fire!” I objected to this characterization. I realized how that must have come across to her, so I swiftly changed course, “Listen, don’t let one kid’s fear of birds scare you!” I gently steered her into the hall and assured her, “There isn’t anything too creepy at our school!”

“Have an apple, dear!” Imelda offered as she darted in front of our path with a bowl of fruit.

Aniela looked to me for a rationale for this oddity, and at first, I had none. Eventually, I stated, “I did say there wasn’t anything too creepy!” She seemed rather nonplussed, so I fibbed, “Well, she’s a British Literature teacher- obviously, she’s doing a bit from Snow White!”

Imelda corrected me, “Actually, that’s a German story originally!”

“You’re not helping!” I snapped. Aniela resumed her safety measure, and I sighed.

“I feel a little bad telling my students there’s nothing to be afraid of,” Phoebe quietly brought up to me as teenagers weaved around us to get to their classrooms. “Damon could strike at any second, so maybe they should act with more caution!”

Whispering, I argued, “Yeah, but we can’t tell them that! The mass hysteria this would create would make everything worse! Probably! Well, it certainly wouldn’t help!”

Phoebe softly debated me, “But, if we don’t warn them about potential danger, we’re potentially leaving them as sitting ducks!”

“What are we supposed to do?” I hushedly contended. “Somebody is gonna do something somewhere? We don’t even know what to watch for, so how can we give them a heads up about anything?”

“You’re right,” Phoebe faintly relented. “But, I’m still feeling guilty ‘cause that demented dolt is going to attack soon, and he always attacks children first!” That concept tied my stomach into knots, but the correct remedy to this conundrum wasn’t clear. Before I could respond though…

“Hey! How come the teachers get to make out in the halls and we can’t?” a nearby girl accosted us.

I disputed her accusation, “We weren’t making out! We were just talking!”

She didn’t appear to buy that. “Uh-huh! Well, excuse me while I go find my partner and do some talking!”

Prior to me getting a chance to scold her for that plan, the bell rang. I gave Phoebe a kiss, and the girl smirked victoriously. “You can smooch your partner all you want when you get your teaching certification!” I had to leave it at that and race to my class.

The final bell rang as I reached my room. As I went inside, I reminded my pupils, “Me being tardy doesn’t give you permission to do it! I had-!”

My eyes grew wide as I beheld the space- it was completely empty! I glanced at the clock, and I verified that I wasn’t even an entire minute late! It perplexed me as to why not a single soul had arrived, and then I figured it must have been some sort of joke, so I sat at my desk and waited for them to emerge with their gotchas. No one did though, so I pulled out a book. Finally, after a few minutes, the knob turned. I expected to see a bunch of smiling youths, but instead…

“It’s not my fault this time! My mom got into an argument with a deer, and-!” Roxy cut off her own sentence when she finally noticed the absence of her peers. “Did I miss something?”

“No, this is totally normal!” I sarcastically responded. “It was like this when I came in, and… Wait, did you say your mom argued with a deer?”

Roxy speedily elucidated, “She almost hit it, and it wouldn’t get away from her van!” She then interrogated me, “So, you didn’t dismiss anybody?”

I shot back, “Why would I stick around if I let everyone go?” 

“So, they disappeared!” Roxy inferred with a twinkle in her irises. “That means some magic happened! My sweetheart has finally resurfaced!”

“Oh, please!” I disagreed with that premise. “What makes you suspect it’s a spell and not some sort of walkout they excluded you from?”

Roxy debated my assertion, “A walkout from what? These guys stuck around despite the dragon invading the quad and the Grim Reaper sliding around the gym! They’re pretty ride-or-die, so they’re not gonna stage a walkout!”

Her reasoning had some validity, and I started to fret about this notion. What if Damon did manifest here and held them hostage somewhere? I didn’t imagine that he would do so without bragging about it first because he was vain like that, but I had to consider that perhaps the dolt actually learned his lesson and acted with more stealth! I wasn’t certain on how I should have proceeded if he finally grew some brains! “You’ve got a point!”

“Aha! I knew it! He has returned, and his plot has unfolded right in front of us!” Roxy celebrated.

“That’s not what I meant!” I lied. “Yeah, it’s strange to have a few dozen teens disappear, but that doesn’t mean they were forcibly removed by magic! They vanished, but they didn’t vanish into thin air!”

In that precise instance, the majority of my first-period attendees materialized into their seats! Their visages were all frozen in fear, and their clothing was disheveled and torn! Undoubtedly, something drastic occurred, and I was burning with curiosity to obtain details regarding their ordeal, but unfortunately, so was Roxy. “O-M-G! You were in the presence of my beloved’s grand scheme! Did it inspire horror and nightmares? Ooh, you have to tell me everything!”

Peter filled her in, “Alright! We were in class, and then… I think we left!”

“You think?” Roxy scathed at that verbage. “How do you not know if you were drawn out of the building or not?” She made another fair point, but I wasn’t about to tell her that!

“I dunno! My mind’s a total blank!” Peter scratched his noggin in confusion.

Roxy banged her fists on the table in frustration. “I realize that! Don’t change the subject- where did you go?”

I snorted at Roxy’s inadvertent quip,, which garnered some addled stares. I hurriedly shifted back to a more serious tone and petitioned the juveniles, “So, none of you recall where you were?”

“No! But, I’m pretty positive we didn’t get these marks just sitting in our seats!” Yurei ogled at her sweater in bewilderment. “Oh man, my parents are gonna kill me!”

“Ha! I knew it!” Roxy triumphantly shrieked. “My baby struck again! He’ll wreak havoc on this disgraceful campus once more, and after he finally gets the revenge he deserves, we’ll stay together forever!”

A part of me instinctively shied away from encouraging her madness, but I couldn’t miss  this opportunity to delve into an important clue into Damon’s background and motivation! I asked her, “Why does he hold such a grudge against Rosemary King? What went on here that pushed him over the edge?”

Roxy indignantly answered, “You are unworthy of this knowledge!”

“You don’t know, do you?” I guessed.

“I will not stand for this!” Roxy attempted to storm out, but she slipped on a rock by Covina’s foot and tumbled to the ground!

Ismeray cradled herself and expressed, “Someone used an enchantment against me, and I have no recollection of it! I’m, like, seriously freaked out! What do I do with myself now?”

I couldn’t drum up any solace for this bizarre situation, so I simply handed out a piece of paper to each of them and instructed, “You’ll distract yourselves by studying the vocabulary from Chapter Thirteen! Since we lost several minutes, I’ll allow you to cheat and use your phones! Just this once though!” As they worked on this assignment, I hid behind my textbook and contemplated the significance of this transpiration.

“Something happened, guys!” I announced as I arrived in the teachers’ lounge.

“What? What happened?” Phoebe peered at me with concern. The others followed suit and gave me rapt attention.

I confessed, “I don’t know!”

Aleck inquired, “Okay… Do you at least know who was involved?”

“Other than my first-period class, I don’t know!” I replied. “They were gone, and they came back with signs of a struggle!”

“Where did they go?” Ginger catechized.

I shrugged. “No idea! They can’t remember a thing!”

Ellie posed to me, “Can you give us any clues more than that?”

“No! But something definitely happened!” I surveyed their skeptical faces, and I surmised, “You don’t believe me, do you?”

“We believe you!” Fletcher reassured me. “But, you didn’t give us much to go on!”

A woman with a curly mullet and a gym ensemble commented, “Senior pranks go too far sometimes!”

I refuted that statement, “This wasn’t a prank! The jerks that do that are usually very amused by the reactions they get, and these kids were seriously scared! I think dark magic was involved!”

“Dark magic?” Imelda echoed as she approached our table.

“Oh, no!” I muttered as I sensed a lecture on morality brewing within her.

To my surprise, she somewhat alarmedly relayed to us, “It happened to my class too! Just now in third-period, I stepped out briefly to offer the custodian caffeine-free, sugarless soda to replace the awful energy drink he was gulping down, and when I went back inside again, everybody was missing! When they reappeared, they had sting marks and pieces of vine all over them!”

Up until that juncture, I didn’t care much for Imelda due to her prudish tendencies, but right then, I was super grateful to have that prude in my corner! Only one aspect of her narrative baffled me. “Hmm, it sounds like wherever your students went, they faced different obstacles than mine!”

“What does this all mean?” Coach Huppert wondered.

“It means I’m not gonna retire anytime soon! I can’t with all this weird stuff going on!” Ellie shook her head in dismay. No one else spoke after that because, well, nobody could comprehend how to deal with this seemingly supernatural mystery.

Now, this part is full of accounts that were told to me, so I can’t vouch for their accuracy, but I really doubt that any of us could make these events up! Yes, the creative writing teacher might have been able to, but she transferred to stupid Julieth High… Anyways, the next day, Coach Huppert observed dozens of girls go into their locker room, but they didn’t exit until they resurfaced with shards of glass stuck in their garments and hair. Later, the physics teacher reported that a group of boys that used the restroom to wash their hands reentered with more grime than ever. That Friday, the woodshop instructor thought he was catching a few folks smoking cigarettes, but in actuality, their outfits were singed! Ginger’s class got lost hours later, and on Monday morning, Phoebe lost her second-period pupils. Everyone experienced different side effects, but no one remembered what transpired. None of the staff had any inkling on how to handle this dilemma!

During fourth period, I sat in my empty classroom trying to follow instructions on how to do an origami crane. “Step fifty-two, fold down the wings on both sides, and… voila!” I gawked at my work, and I frowned at how lopsided it looked. “Hmm… that’s not right! Where did I go wrong?”

As I unfolded it and tried again, Manuel entered and assessed, “Oh good! You’re not busy!” I opened my mouth to object to that characterization, but ultimately, I saw that he was technically correct. He sat beside me and declared, “We need to talk…”

The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 4

I walked into a large classroom with long, rectangular tables, science posters that covered the walls, and small aquariums with little snakes that lined the border only to hear Fletcher proclaim, “Maybe they’ll remember bleeding from their rectums and think twice about going to bed with every boy they meet!”

“I don’t wanna know!” I commented as I took a seat.

“His girls have hemorrhoids,” Ellie filled me in. “It’s really common to swell up down there when you’re knocked up! It happened to me, actually! They were causing me so much pain, I had to get them surgically removed! You should see the scars!”

I squeamishly reacted, “I’d rather not!”

Phoebe remarked, “The more I hear about pregnancy experiences, the less I wanna go through the process! I mean, I’d like to be a mom, but I’d like my butthole to remain intact!”

“Symptoms vary from person to person though, so it’s not like you’d necessarily have the same experience as Loretta and Lynn,” Aleck knowledgeably imparted to Phoebe. “A lot of women don’t notice anything ‘til their final trimester! You could be pregnant right now and don’t even know it!”

“Was that supposed to make me feel better?” Phoebe questioned him.

I conversed, “Fertility issues run in my family. I got conceived through IVF, and I was going to do the same with Lilith, but she had some scarring in her uterus that made her a poor candidate for implementation. Thank god! I nearly had to deal with her for the rest of my life ‘cause of that! If I hear from… Nope! I’m not gonna even say her name anymore! I heard somewhere that it could jinx them into your life by saying their name! Wait, where did I hear that? Oh, yeah! Mrithan just said it! Speaking of whom, check this out!”

After I plopped a piece of paper onto a counter, everyone eagerly peered at it. When they beheld its appearance, they all frowned. “That looks like coffee!” Ginger observed.

“It is coffee,” I confirmed. “Mrithan’s a nervous wreck, and he spilled a cup a student left in the front office! But, look what’s beneath the stains!”

“A permit for special events?” Ginger read the document quizzically.

I regaled everyone, “Yup! Manuel had him give this to us. He wants us to hold our wedding here!”

Phoebe’s visage appeared totally aghast at that notion. “No way!”

“Listen, I’m no romantic, but holding a marriage ceremony at a normal high school sounds completely devoid of sentimentalism!” Fletcher opined. “But, to do it at one that gets invaded by ghosts and creepy crap is lunacy!”

“Speaking of which, did Mrithan give you any clues about what Damon is doing?” Ellie wondered.

I reported, “No, not at all. Since the voices he used to hear worked for that dumb demon, I suppose we should’ve figured they wouldn’t have provided him with anything that could possibly be used against Damon!”

Ginger posed to us, “So, now what? Do we just wait for him to unleash some mayhem to understand what his plan is?”

“We could investigate the portal to the Netherworld,” Aleck suggested. “We could see if it survived the fire or not. If it’s gone, we have nothing to worry about! However, if it’s there, then we… I dunno! Ask Babelsama if Damon’s passed by his quarters as he escaped from Hell?” 

“I don’t wanna take a trip to another realm right now!” Phoebe objected. “I like this skirt, I don’t wanna get scorch marks on it!”

Ginger concurred, “Yeah, me either! Plus, Brielle and I have a date planned tonight, and I don’t wanna be late! Maybe we can battle his devilish army tomorrow. I have a power yoga session scheduled, and I don’t really wanna go!”

Fletcher inquired, “Isn’t there a solution that doesn’t involve going to the brink of the abyss?”

“Yes!’ I ardently stated. “What that is, I don’t know! But, there’s gotta be something! Besides, after the fire damage, there’s always the possibility the property will get visited by Lilith and her new hubby, and… Oh, no! I said her name again!”

“Oh, stop! You’re not gonna jinx it!” Ellie declared. As if on cue, my cell phone rang! The others seemed spooked, but Ellie hissed, “It’s not gonna be her!” I showed her the Caller ID, and when she beheld that it read ‘Lilith’s Minion,’ she folded her arms and pouted, “I was still technically correct!”

I initiated the conversation, “Hello?”

The man on the other line professionally greeted me, “Good afternoon, Mister Fenmore! It’s Hadeon Thanatos, Esquire.”

“Yeah, I know. I have your number saved on my phone,” I dryly responded.

“How are you?” he genially asked.

I scathingly answered, “That depends. What do you want?”

Hadeon seemed slightly affronted by my somewhat hostile attitude. “Yikes! You’re always so grouchy, you know that?”

“Forgive my rudeness! I’m simply not that receptive to slimy worms who frequently try to wriggle my ex out of paying alimony!” I retorted.

“I don’t do it that frequently!” Hadeon protested. He paused, and then he added, “But, about that alimony…”

After I emitted a derisive chuckle, I expressed, “Here we go again! She accumulates more wealth through her new husband, but she claims she’s too poor or too ill to pay up! She’s getting creative with her excuses, I’ll give you that! I thought the dog eating her checkbook was a cute one! Alright, go ahead! What’s the excuse this time?”

A few days later, the six of us all sat on a church pew wearing entirely black clothing, and Fletcher quietly articulated, “Well, at least she finally has a valid excuse for not paying alimony!”

“Why are we here? She didn’t even like us!” Ginger complained.

“We’re supporting Connor,” Aleck reminded her.

Ginger acknowledged that, “Yes, but why did Lilith request us to attend her funeral? We’re taking real estate from people who might actually feel sad she’s gone!”

Aleck pointed out, “Uh, Ginger- in case you didn’t notice, the service starts in two minutes, and there are still empty spaces!”

“Wow! All that money couldn’t buy her any friends, apparently!” Ellie denoted.

“Not true!” a guy behind her disputed. “We’re only here ‘cause her widower paid us fifty bucks to fill seats!”

Fletcher huffed, “What? Where’s that old geezer? He owes me money for this favor!”

Phoebe pat my knee and checked in, “How are you feeling?”

“I don’t need the fifty,” I assured her. “It’s nice enough that Engelbert agreed to pay me her spousal support! He seems like a decent dude! I wonder what he ever saw in Lilith!”

“Probably the same thing you saw in her when you first met,” Phoebe brought up.

I nodded in concurrence with that logic. “That’s fair! In the beginning, she wasn’t a bitter, money-hunting harlot! She was supportive and a lot of fun! I mean, I didn’t know it was ‘cause she caught her prey, but still! It’s not like I was miserable all of the twelve years we were married! Of course, I was gone most of the time…”

Phoebe probed, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. But, it’s weird to think she won’t be randomly turning up to try and fail at petty vengeance attempts! I already gave her my goodbye in the divorce, really! However… well, her death does bother me quite a bit!” I confessed.

“It’s natural to mourn the loss of a former love!” Phoebe assured me.

I shook my head. “Nah, it’s not that! There’s something disturbing about her dying, but it’s not because her presence will be missed! It almost feels like unnatural interference! It’s the same sensation I get each instance I learn about one of Damon’s stupid plots… I’m not saying he had anything to do with this, but it’s got the aura of a paranormal manipulation forming! Does that make sense?”

Phoebe affirmed, “Absolutely!”

“Really?” I gazed at her in surprise. “Maybe you can explain it to me then since I don’t get it!”

“Actually, I don’t either! I was just being polite,” Phoebe admitted.

I rested my chin on my palm and contemplated this matter. I didn’t believe that foul play was involved in her demise, but something about her departure sincerely didn’t sit right with me! I didn’t comprehend what it signified exactly, but I was certain it didn’t bode well for us! Was it a mere coincidence that she was lost around when Damon was set to be found? That would’ve been nice, but I really doubted that I had that kind of luck!

Suddenly, an older priest with wispy, white hair, a bushy mustache, and a frail but short body manifested at the podium, which made me jump out of my stupor! He spoke to everyone with a thick, Russian accent, “Welcome, my children! Well, technically, you’re not my children since this is a non-denominational ceremony! I am Father Barbelo, and it was requested that I do this funeral in a non-Catholic manner for time purposes, which I’m a little offended by… But, it’s alright! I serve my community however I’m called to! Today, we mourn the loss of a very rich soul! She had lots of money, and this wealth was much deserving to this woman of means… Oy! Who wrote this drivel? Oh, the departed did! Eh… It kind of goes on and on like that. Let’s just skip ahead, shall we? Her surviving husband would like to say a few words.”

A fellow with heavily wrinkled, olive-toned skin, a stringy crown of gray locks, and a gaunt frame hunched over a walker slowly ambled to center stage. As he inched along, he croaked out, “Thanks for waiting, young man!”

“No problem!” Father Barbelo waited patiently for a moment, and then he verbalized, “Okay, now I understand the non-denominational request!”

“Hello!” Engelbert addressed everyone. Father Barbelo hurried over to the dais and lowered the microphone for him. Engelbert then continued, “It seemed like fate when Lilith showed up in my life!”

I muttered under my breath, “It wasn’t fate! She probably found the oldest-sounding name in the business section of the phone book!”

Engelbert reminisced, “She found me in the phone book, and I thank the heavens each day she did! She put a little bit of excitement into this centenarian’s day! I could’ve done with less excitement the day we exchanged our vows though! If I knew it was going to be stormy, I would’ve moved it away from Camael’s Gardens!”

“Right, so tell your mom that place is out!” Phoebe whispered.

“Goodbye, mon petit chou! I’ll take good care of your legacy as soon as we find the rest of it in the rubble!” With that, he scuttled off of the platform.

Once Engelbert cleared the main area, Father Barbelo petitioned the throng, “Would anyone else like to go next?” The room remained silent, so he pleaded, “Come on! Someone must have something to say to the guest of honor!”

A small hand went up, and after Father Barbelo permitted her to go up, I was shocked to see it was Roxy! She and Lilith crossed paths occasionally, but I didn’t expect her to have enough of an acquaintance to even attend her funeral! Although, she had more of an established bond than the paid seat fillers! Nonetheless, I was struck by the fact she was upset enough about her passing that she felt compelled to pipe up! I couldn’t fathom what she wanted to articulate, but whatever it was, I thought it was bound to be a doozy!

“Ahem!” Roxy commenced. “Hi, Lilith! Thanks for letting me use your place while I stalked the jerk fighting with my beloved!” Roxy threw me a pronounced glare, and the entire congregation stared at me questioningly. I awkwardly waved at them because, well, what else was I supposed to do in that situation? Roxy went on, “Now that you’re amongst the fallen in the realm of the dead, I just have to warn you… If you go anywhere near my Day-Day, I will find you and kill your spirit! I swear, you better keep your hands off! He’s mine!”

“Uh…” Father Barbelo was at a loss for words following that outburst, and the attendees were too bewildered to provide him with any hints on how to carry on. Finally, Father Barbelo decided to canvass the lot, “Anyone else?” Somehow, the mass got even more motionless than before! “Please! One more, and we’ll end this proceeding!”

With an avid eagerness to go home, I readily volunteered, “I’ll do it!” Murmurs spread throughout the space, and I could hardly blame them! Not only did I get divorced from Lilith, but Roxy told them seconds ago that I was fighting her unalive paramore! I was glad that everyone assumed she was crazy! Once I was in position, I realized I had no clue what to discuss! Eventually, I decided to just wing it, “Hey! What did the Grim Reaper-?” Phoebe cut my joke off by strongly indicating I shouldn’t do it, so I changed course, “Never mind! So, how does one tell their first love farewell? I’m actually asking! No takers? Whatever! Um… Oh, I got it! Well, Lilith, your physical form may be gone, but you’ll always live on through the memories you’ve left behind! I’ll never forget you, and I’m sure someday we’ll meet again! See you down the line!”

As I exited the orator’s station, I felt slightly haunted by my own speech. Even though I was pulling garbage out of the depths of my imagination, I couldn’t help but ponder if I would run into her in some form once more…