The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 29

Kendra asserted, “You don’t think I’ve got a plan? Watch this!”

She handed Dennis the pouch, and the boss chimpanzee exclaimed, “Giving drugs to a minor? Are you insane?”

“A little. It runs in the family!” Kendra retorted. She espied my startled expression and unapologetically articulated, “Sorry!”

“I’m ready!” Dennis proclaimed. Kendra kneeled down, and Dennis climbed onto her shoulders. She stood up and wobbled slightly, so Kamali and Eamon aided her in regaining her balance. “This is fun!” Dennis gleefully opined as the three strove to keep him steady.

Eamon muttered, “Yes, fun!”

Once she was steady, Dennis became eye-to-eye with the chimps, and they grew somewhat wary of this move. One of the monkeys posed to the boss chimpanzee, “Should we kill him, or…?”

The boss chimp declined that notion, “Nah! It’s gotta be some sort of trick!’ Dennis unlaced the pouch, and the boss chimpanzee frantically asked, “Wait, what are you doing with that Star Spice?”

“This!” Dennis poured a silvery, sparkling powder onto the force field, and the force field repelled the substance by causing it to fly out in front of it. Incidentally, this projected the Star Spice directly at the chimps, who got a full blast of it in their faces! The monkeys all fell to the floor, and Ismeray as well as Yurei felt safe enough to cease their spell. The chimpanzees lay in a heap on the ground, so we cautiously went over to them to discern whether or not they were still a threat. They didn’t move, and I got nervous as I considered touching them to observe their status in case it was a trap. Or, they may have kicked the bucket, and it revolted me to possibly handle a dead animal. No one seemed keen on that prospect, but someone had to do it! We stood still for a moment, and eventually…

“I’ll do it! I handle deceased creatures all the time when we do dissections!” Aleck volunteered. He pulled a pencil out of his pocket, and he defended his decision, “What? In my class, we use gloves! I’m glad I brought this! Didn’t I say it was a good idea to pack for every eventuality? I did, and-!” I motioned for him to hurry and check on the monkeys, so he obliged, “Alright, alright!” 

He slowly inched his pencil closer and closer to the boss chimp, and once it made contact with him, the boss chimpanzee shot up and grabbed the pencil! We all readied ourselves to battle the chimps, but thankfully, it became apparent that our combat skills would not be necessary… “Woah!” The boss chimp ogled the pencil like it was the most amazing commodity he had ever seen. “Look at all the colors!”

The other monkeys were roused by this premise, and they gathered around their boss as if they were watching a fascinating show on television. The boss chimpanzee waved the pencil back and forth, and the other chimps cooed, “Ooooohhhhh!”

Aleck bargained with them, “Tell you what: you keep the pencil, and in return, you let us go on our way! Deal?”

“The colors…!” the boss chimpanzee gasped.

“I think we’re good!” I esteemed.

We carefully treaded around them in the event that the drug swiftly wore off and they renewed their aggression, but it shortly became evident that we were wasting our efforts- passersby traveled around the monkeys, and a few even bumped into them as if they were an innocuous occurrence like litter or a rain puddle! We all got perplexed by this phenomenon, and Ellie felt compelled to petition a man who briefly paused his gait to light a cigarette, “None of that bothers you?”

The man glanced at the high creatures and shrugged. “Eh! It’s still not as strange as the eel on the monorail!” 

He continued walking, and we all gazed at him in dumbfoundment. We looked back at the chimpanzees, who were wildly giggling, and Jasper chaulked it up to this: “Only in New York!”

“That was a fantastic idea!” I complimented Kendra.

“Why do you sound so shocked that I came up with something brilliant?” Kendra questioned me. I hesitated due to their general history of not producing adept courses of action, and she inferred my opinion from this lack of a response. “Hey! Listen, you sassy little descendant, you came from us! That cleverness didn’t just come out of thin air!”

When we reached the corner, Osra halted our movements and declared, “Alright, that was four blocks! We gotta cross the street now I guess!”

We gazed to the other side of the road, and we beheld a concrete bridge between our location and that one. On the surface, everything about that pathway appeared harmless- the denizens utilizing this expanse didn’t pose any kind of threat, and the fencing even had a net below it. None of us were eager to enter that passage though. It just felt like such a vulnerable position to put ourselves in, and traversing this route may have imposed an enormous risk to our well-being! I couldn’t fathom how far up we were, but even without Ginger’s adept math skills, we could all calculate that a fall from here would do us in! Would Damon ambush us somewhere with an escape from jeopardy so unlikely? It seemed like a huge gamble at first…

“Come on! It’s not like that a-hole is smart enough to strike here!” I concluded. The others agreed, and we gradually eked our way forward. I was hoping that any ambush he set in store for us would deploy immediately so we could run back to where we started if needed. We reached tortoise speeds, but it became obvious that this pace wasn’t going to suffice!

“Hey, jagoffs! Move it or lose it!” an aggressive lady behind us growled. She possessed so much authority in her voice that we hastily increased our momentum.

Jasper confidently determined, “This is better! The quicker we get over this, the sooner we can get ourselves out of peril!” 

We all tried to convince ourselves of his theory, but with so much pressure on us to move fast, our movement simply never had the sense of having enough alacrity. Seconds seemed like hours, and the finish to this section couldn’t couldn’t arrive expeditiously enough! We tore through this area more and more rapidly, and the nearer we got to our destination, the more I worried that we would run into a monster! We were within millimeters of the end, and then…

We braced the streetlight as if we just survived a shipwreck! I’m sure we looked bizarre, but apparently, New Yorkers were used to that sort of thing, so we didn’t sweat it much. Once we caught our breath a bit, Kala prayed, “Please tell me we won’t have to do any more bridges!” 

“Fret not, young maiden! We shall not partake in another endeavor such as that again!” Eamon swore to her. Osra stared at him reproachfully, and he justified himself, “What? What’s wrong with instilling some confidence in the child?”

“You know, I’m still thirsty!” Ismeray brought up.

Dennis pulled out a quarter from his pocket and offered, “Here! Use this! That Star Spice dealer said our money is worth a lot in this year!”

Ellie surmised, “Because it’s so old?”

“No! ‘Cause coins are an antiquated form of currency here!” Dennis informed her.

“Let’s not separate again unless we have to,” I recommended to them. “If you get attacked solo, then, well, it’d be real bad!”

Ismeray objected, “Oh, come on! There’s a hardware store right there! It’d only take a minute!”

Kamali forewarned her, “We may not have a minute!” Ismeray didn’t believe him, and then, suddenly, the streetlight sprouted legs! As it morphed into a more animated shape, Kamali verbalized, “For the record, this isn’t something I wanted to be right about!”

After a lot of mixing and matching, the streetlight morphed into a robot! It lunged at us, so we all scattered. It pursued whoever was closest, and nobody bothered to punch or kick it due to its metallic nature. It tersely droned, “Terminate intruders! Terminate intruders!”

“We’re not intruders!” Sam attempted to negotiate with it. “We’re only visiting this place, and-!”

“Terminate intruders!” the robot repeated itself.

Sam pled with it, “Don’t we get a fair trial? This is America, and-!”

The robot again repeated, “Terminate intruders!”

“Stop saying that!” Sam snapped.

“I got an idea!” Yurei announced preceding her departure.

Following her evacuation, I mumbled, “It would’ve been nice if she shared that idea with us! Does anyone else have a hunch of what we should do?”

Aleck petitioned Ellie, “What did we do to defeat the one that invaded the school hallway?”

“I dunno! Oh man, we’ve fought so many monsters, I’ve lost track of some of them!” Ellie bemoaned.

“Oh, wait! Didn’t Phoebe pour someone’s drink on it?” Aleck recalled.

Ismeray huffed, “Gosh, too bad no one has a drink around here!”

Osra and I accidentally crashed into each other, and Osra ruefully expressed, “Sorry! I get thrown off by modern clothing! Why do people like jeans? Denim isn’t flexible enough to move much!” Before I could process our brief interaction, this distraction allowed the robot enough time to approach us and loom over us enough that we couldn’t escape! I severely glowered at her, so she somewhat guiltily relayed to me, “Sorry again! I blame the garment manufacturers! ” I wanted to chide her for occupying my attention enough that I couldn’t flee, but as the robot lunged at us, I had to concoct an instant course of action for our survival! A part of me feared the worst, but suddenly…

Dirt flew onto the robot mostly, but a lot of debris fell onto Osra and me too! As we spat soot out of our mouths, we heard Yurei cry out in triumph, “It worked! It worked!”

“What do you mean? How would pouring soil onto a robot-?” Prior to me completing that sentence, we witnessed the robot short-circuiting! “Hey, if it works, who am I to question it?”

“Once, my dad sent me in to get salt to de-ice the driveway, and I accidentally spilled it on the self-checkout. It got into all the crevices and stuff, and the machine glitched out My dad was pissed, but it came in handy later! Oh, Ismeray, I got you a soda!” Yurei tossed the beverage over to her. “Never thought I’d see a bunch of grown-ass adults get so excited to get a penny from my sock!”

Ismeray joyfully accepted the cup, “Finally!” She took a giant swig of it, and once she wet her whistle, she more excitedly petitioned us, “Helly yeah! What’s the next bad guy we gotta fight?”

A myriad of startlement bombarded me, and I catechized, “You’re enjoying this?”

“Totally!” Ismeray chirped.

“Can we go on the next quest too?” Yurei requested.

I hesitated. No one had ever so willingly enlisted to participate in these paranormal misadventures- I even had to convince my friends to tag along! And yet, I wouldn’t have been a very responsible teacher if I purposely brought students into perilous predicaments, right? Fortunately for me, Jasper produced the best judgment for this difficulty, “Let’s ensure that we have another encounter at all by surviving this one first! Let’s go!”

As we vacated that vicinity, we heard a city official speak into a communication device, “Ten-ninety-one J, looks like we’ve got a blown transformer!”

A short stretch subsequent to that kerfuffle, we passed by a candy shop, and the juveniles’ eyes went wide upon viewing their ware. Natalia caught sight of this action and ruled, “Absolutely not!”

“Aw, why not?” Kala protested. “The candy of the future looks amazing! We need to try it!”

“No!” Natalia insisted. “We need to get that Head of Starcone! Besides, these sweets don’t look that different than the ones in the modern realm!” A guy with a bottle of alcohol in his hand and a sandwich board saying “Repent!” on his torso drifted out from a backstreet, and Natalia remarked, “Some bad habits never change, I suppose!”

The guy emphatically conveyed to us, “The end is near!”

I dryly acknowledged him, “Yeah, we know!” 

“No, you don’t understand! The apocalypse… Hold on, did you just agree with me?” the guy puzzled.

“Yeah, we’re with you, dude!” I confirmed.

The guy inquired, “You’ve seen the signs?”

I answered, “The universe is slowly collapsing, we certainly noticed that! But, we’re aiming to prevent that from occurring!”

“Best of luck to you, brother!” He took another gulp of his booze, and then he appealed to me, “Can you load a few bucks onto my multipass?” Preceding my ability to dole out a yes or no (It would’ve been a no since I didn’t know what that was!), the man lost consciousness.

“Oh, we can get dessert, but you can waste time talking to a hobo?” Dennis probed.

I defended my actions, “Listen, our next adversary could look like anything or anyone! They may appear harmless, but they could mutate into something scary! We’ve gotta investigate everything that enters into our path- these monsters could start off as anything!” We heard a loud roar echo from the university campus, and as bystanders ran away screaming, I changed my tune, “Then again, maybe it’ll be a straight-up baddie!”

The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 28

“Go where?” Ellie pressed me. “You keep telling us to go, but you don’t give us any directions of where to go!”

“Anywhere is better than here!” I argued. “If we wander around enough, we’re bound to find something! The solution isn’t gonna just come to us!” Everybody stood rooted to the spot and glanced around as though some sort of quick fix would materialize before us, and they seemed sort of surprised when it didn’t. “See?” 

The whole lot begrudgingly agreed to start moving, and as we started walking towards the lofty, circular buildings, Ellie pouted, “Sometimes it does come to us!”

A few feet away from where we landed, we saw a giant, round pad sitting below a set of those giant stilts, and Aleck wondered, “What is that? A landing site?”

“It says it’s the entrance to Odyssey Boulevard,” Ismeray observed a sign beside it.

“Oh no! Is it a giant version of the hoverboard thing that crackpot was riding? That’s not safe!” Sam mulled something over for a moment, and then he queried, “Wait, wasn’t that crackpot a student at the school previously?”

Natalia relayed to him, “He’s been a lot of things to a lot of people. Right now, he’s our Quest Master, and we gotta keep doing his deranged missions ‘til we get all the Rainbow Tektites back to Heaven!”

Something about her statement really struck me, so I interrogated my ancestors, “Wait, that’s why you got assigned to me? I thought you were the answer to my prayer!”

“We can do two assignments at once!” Kamali resolutely responded to me. “But, right now, we gotta do one assignment: get to wherever that Hand of Starcone is held at! And, to do that, we gotta figure out how to activate this entrance! Maybe if we stand on it, some guard rails will appear!”

“No way!” Yurei refused. “I’m afraid of heights! I’ll faint!”

 I counseled her, “Listen, I used to be afraid of blood, but I was forced to overcome it in order to save individuals who are important to me from vampires! And if-!”

Dennis victoriously expressed, “I told you! Vampires are real, and they came to our campus! Everyone thought I was crazy, but I’m totally-!”

“Congratulations, kid! Monsters are real! Happy?” Kendra folded her arms and stared at him inquisitively.

“Uh… I was!” Dennis’s mood quickly soured.

I continued my previous speech, “So, anyway… If I can overcome that, you can too! The universe is collapsing, so if we don’t get that Rainbow Tektite, we’re all screwed! So, when you feel your fear, try to suck it up for humankind’s survival, ‘kay?”

Kala remarked, “Rainbow Tektite? Weren’t we getting the Hand of Starcone?”

“Nary a fear, young lass! We rarely discover one without the other!” Eamon reassured her.

“Alright, so are we getting on this contraption or what?” Osra posed to the group.

Jasper fretted, “What if there’s a password or keycard or something we need to have in order to activate it? What if people who don’t have it are regarded as intruders and get blasted into smithereens by a giant laser?”

Kamali scoffed at that concept, “That’s ridiculous!”

“Fine! You go first!” Jasper prodded Kamali.

“Uh-uh! Screw that! I’m no guinea pig!” Kamali refused. “Not that there’s anything to be worried about…”

I suggested, “How about we all go at once?” Everyone reluctantly acquiesced, and we all linked hands. Once we were all connected to one another, I counted, “One… Two… Three!” Not a single person budged an inch! “Really? No one moved?”

Ellie pointed out, “You didn’t either!”

Aleck exclaimed, “Oh, this is dumb! Let’s all just do it!”

The entire crew concurred, but everybody remained frozen to the lawn we stood on. A young woman with a gray Great Dane on a leash passed by us and gazed at us peculiarly. “What? Are you guys on Star Spice or something?”

“Why does everyone keep asking if we’re high?” Dennis queried Kala.

“Are you getting on?” The young woman gestured to the giant pad.

I politely declined, “We’ll catch the next one!” She ogled at us like we were crazy, and she stepped onto the giant pad with her dog. After waiting for a few seconds, a beam of light transported her off of the surface. “Ah! No wonder she gave us that look!” 

Aleck excitedly chimed, “Cool! I’ve always wanted to use a teleporter! Let’s do it! Come on!”

We all climbed onto the giant pad, and within seconds, a blue light enveloped us. Then, it was like we blinked- the next thing we knew, we were standing in a new setting! Ellie asked Aleck, “Did that meet your expectations?”

“Eh! I guess so!” Aleck answered with a slight tone of disappointment in his reaction. I couldn’t blame him- this technology appeared remarkable, but I could see why it might become a mundane experience for the citizens of this period!

“Woah!” Kala commented as she scoped out the scenery in awe. The cityscape was a series of stilts supporting these lofty, cylindrical structures that were all connected by bridges no one could really notice since they seemed like fairly ordinary sidewalks! The signs and posters scattered throughout the walls of this metropolis were all digitalized, and even the most basic commodities were controlled in an impressive manner. We watched as a man flashed his wrist at a stand to get a newspaper, which was in hologram form, and that young woman with her dog only had to wave her hands at a lock to get into her apartment complex! We couldn’t help but take a minute to marvel at this spectacle! Kala gasped, “Gosh, I thought our time was advanced!”

Eamon muttered, “I thought that about my time too ‘til I got this spirit guide gig! I mean, compared to the cavemen…”

Osra took offense to that inadvertent slight, “Hey! We were advanced! Our ancestors were literally aquatic creatures that learned to walk!”

“Speaking of walking, let’s try that and go find that Hand of Starcone!” I recommended to both break up their spat and get us propelled forward. They seemed rather miffed at each other still, but they didn’t complain as we trekked this innovative terrain.

“Hmm… This could be New York City!” Kendra speculated as we passed by a bodega with residential quarters above it.

Kamali considered this notion and then disputed it, “Nah! It’s not the same! It’s missing some of that old charm…” A rat with a slice of pizza in its mouth ran across our path, and Kamali concluded, “Ah! There it is!”

Sam recollected, “My grandpa lived in New York City for a while. He said he got mugged twice, and his mom forced him to go back to Pennsylvania.”

“Don’t let that scare you! New York City isn’t any more dangerous than any other major city! Besides, this place seems more evolved than our era! What occurred to his grandpa isn’t gonna occur to us!” I avowed. As if on cue, a shady-looking fellow popped out of an alley beside us, and I cried out, “You’ve gotta be kidding me!”

“I’m not gonna rob you!” the fellow promised us. “I simply wanted to see if you were interested in buying some Star Spice!”

Yurei pondered, “Is that related to Starcone?”

The fellow claimed, “No! But, if you take enough Star Spice, you’ll think you used Starcone!”

“Where is Starcone?” I petitioned him.

“At the university, of course!” the fellow informed us. “It’s four blocks up and three blocks over- you can’t miss it!”

I graciously regarded him, “Thanks!” I paused and added, “And what exactly is Starcone?”

The fellow’s brows furrowed, and I could tell he was confused as to why I would enquire about such a thing if I didn’t know what it was. I wracked my brain to drum up an explanation that would make sense to the fellow prior to him remarking on our strange behavior, but prior to that event unfolding, a police cruiser floated by us. The fellow’s eyes widened, and he panickedly conveyed to us, “Gotta go!” He dashed back into the alley without getting seen, and we shrugged preceding our resumption of this odd journey.

A short distance later, Ismeray moaned, “I’m thirsty! Can we stop for a quick drink?”

“No,” Natalia tersely told her.

“What? How do you expect me to search for that stupid thingy with such a dry mouth?” Ismeray probed.

Natalia shot back, “How do you expect to pay for it? With cash that’s a thousand years old?” She accepted her rationale, but she also displayed clear bitterness about it.

Dennis grumped, “I’m tired! This adventure is the worst!”

Jasper laughed, “You think it’s bad now! Just wait ‘til the monsters show up!”

“Monsters?” Dennis gulped.

“Maybe they won’t show up this time!” I optimistically communicated to the discouraged youths. I didn’t anticipate that they would get fully enthralled by that assertion, but before they could express more cynicism, a group of chimpanzees turned up by crawling on the surface of the dome adjacent to us! “Maybe they’re friendly!” I theorized. They brandished some spears, and I sighed, “Figures!”

The head of the troop menacingly addressed our collective, “You are not welcome here!”

Kala anxiously voiced, “We’re about to get murdered by talking monkeys! This is so weird!”

“It’s about to get a whole lot weirder, so buckle up, girl!” Osra advised her.

“Listen, we don’t wanna be here either!” Ellie appealed to them. “We’re stuck here ‘til we get the Hand of Starcone, so if you could bring it to us, we’ll leave immediately! I think… I dunno! We usually just find the Rainbow Tektite instead of completing the quest!”

One of the chimps reminded his boss, “See? Didn’t I tell you they were up to no good? That strange man didn’t send us here for nothing!”

Sam questioned them, “You guys followed the orders of some random dude? That’s so…” The chimpanzees pointed their weapons at him, so he changed his tune, “Brilliant! Obviously, a bunch as distinguished as you wouldn’t get duped!” He nervously chuckled, but upon viewing their animosity heighten, he sputtered, “You… You want a banana?”

“That’s it! Let’s kill them!” the boss chimp decreed.

“I don’t think so!” Yurei boldly verbalized as the chimpanzees raced towards us. She and Ismeray positioned their palms so that they faced our voracious opponents, and they created a force field that the chimps couldn’t penetrate! “Awesome! That was badass like a superhero!” Yurei celebrated her achievement.

Ismeray cautioned her, “Don’t get too excited! The spell won’t last long- my dehydration is gonna make me weak soon…”

Aleck apprised us, “If the protection breaks, do not run! This species can reach speeds up to twenty-five miles per hour!”

“Alas! We are truly doomed!” Eamon bemoaned.

“Or, we can just get her a drink!” Kendra countered.

Dennis’s visage grew perplexed. “But, I thought we weren’t allowed to spend money here!”

Kendra briefed him, “When your life is on the line, the rules are different! Come on!” She grabbed his arm and dragged him in the direction we originated from. “We’ll be back!”

“That’s fine! We’ll wait here!” I displayed an aura of casualness to alleviate the fright of this dire situation. I was a little daunted by the capabilities of our foes if the hold should fail, but I couldn’t contemplate that much! My instinct was to keep the children calm, so I shifted my focus back to the chimpanzees. I leaned nonchalantly, and then I disinterestedly conversed with the monkeys, “So, tell us about yourselves! What are your names? Where are you from? How’d you learn to speak?”

“Shut up!” the boss chimp spat. “When we get out of this bind, you all will die!”

Kamali illuminated him, “Technically, some of us are already dead!”

The boss chimp puzzled, “Really? Then, how are you here in a physical vessel?”

“It’s complicated,” Kamali asserted.

“I hope they don’t bring me anything fruity!” Ismeray remarked. “I’m not taking any more chances! We could get transported somewhere even worse next time!”

This concept hadn’t previously crossed my mind to discuss, but since it got brought up, I took the opportunity to gain some valuable clues in this interdimensional mystery. “Who gave you that tainted fruit?”

Ismeray and Yurei each jogged their memories, and then Yurei remembered, “We were in the English department putting up an ad for the prom, and the school secretary dropped his boxes. He was all on edge, but he didn’t say why. We were helping him clean up his mess, and everything after that is blank.”

“Mrithan!” I mumbled. “He had to be involved! What other explanation is there?”

“We’ve returned!” Kendra announced.

Natalia eyeballed them in bafflement, and then she inquired, “Where’s the girl’s beverage? What did you do? Buy some magic beans?”

Kendra replied, “No! We would never do such an irrational act!” She pulled out a small sack and revealed, “We bought some Star Spice!”

“Ha, ha! You fools! Victory is ours!” the boss chimp proclaimed.

“You wish! They’re not idiots! They have a plan for that!” I defended their decision, but then I inched closer to them and whispered, “You do have a plan for that, don’t you?” Kendra smirked, and then…

The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 27

I asked Aleck, “What’s wrong?”

Aleck answered, “What do you think?”

When an occasion as significant as this occurred, I would have expected myself to react with horror or aghast, but it was beginning to become so routine that I found myself groaning from the tedium I was set to endure. I unwillingly got out of my seat and took a position where I could verify Aleck’s assertion. Sure enough, Yurei’s eyeballs donned that kaleidoscope hue! A voyage to another realm was destined to transpire, and the question became whether or not we could get her out of the library and prevent its entire assemblage of patrons from tagging along!

“Yes, Mister Fenmore?” Yurei gazed at me in confusion at my presence at her table. It stunned me how blissfully unaware the victims of these interdimensional mules were of their predicament!

“How…? How are you?” I recognized that was a lame response, but at that juncture, I mainly wanted buy some time so I could drum up something better.

Yurei gave me the exact reaction I anticipated from a baffled adolescent- a very peculiar stare and a somewhat snotty enquiry, “I’m fine! Why wouldn’t I be?”

I gingerly broached the subject, “You… Well, you don’t look well…”

Ismeray approached this seated and put in, “What are you talking about? She seems normal to me!”

“She seems normal? Are you serious?” I couldn’t fathom why in the heavens she would utter such a falsity! I knew she ran a coven and that her spells could produce real results, but I sincerely doubted this spectacle was typical even in the magical community! I ogled at her in astonishment of how she could belt out such an audacious claim, and when I saw her face, I exclaimed, “Oh, for Pete’s sake!”

“Oh no! She has it too!” Ellie assessed.

Ismeray wondered, “What do we have?”

That was a fair aspect to solicit information on, and the only idea I had in what to relay to them stemmed from my brief stint as a pre-med major. I gently delivered the bad news, “Listen, there’s no need to panic, but we have reason to believe you two ingested some poisonous fruit!”

“What do you mean, there’s no need to panic?” Yurei fretted. “That sounds like a perfect thing to panic about!”

“Shh!” a bunch of her peers around the vicinity shushed her.

I assured her, “There’s no need to panic because there’s a remedy that will clear it up straight away! Just follow us, and for the love of god, don’t say any times or places!”

Ismeray challenged that, “Why not?”

“We’ll explain later,” I lied. “Come on, let’s go get you that remedy!”

“Where are we actually going?” Ellie whispered to me as she escorted Yurei out of these quarters.

Roxy popped up and echoed that thought, “Yeah, where are you going? Not infringing on my honey-bunny’s plot, are you?”

Aleck steered Ismeray’s visage so Roxy couldn’t view it, and he strove to persuade her, “Of course not! We wouldn’t do anything like that!”

“Why are you hiding their faces from me?” Roxy interrogated us as she bobbed around our group trying to catch a glimpse of Ismeray and Yurei’s front half.

“They’re ill, they need privacy,” I spoke in a calm tone, but inwardly, I was getting anxious. I didn’t want Roxy’s obsession with her apocalyptic paramore to drag a lot of innocent bystanders into a dangerous situation! Plus, if she joined us, it would make whatever quest Damon sent us on that much more difficult! Roxy may have been fairly airheaded, but even she wasn’t so dense that she couldn’t figure out what was going on! I had no inkling on how we would shake her off though…

Roxy blocked our passage through the doorway and proclaimed, “I’m not letting you leave ‘til you prove to me they’re actually sick and you’re not planning to intervene in my love bug’s vengeful scheme against the rotten sinners of this town!”

Yurei queried to Ellie, “She sounds ill! Shouldn’t you give her the cure too?”

I grimaced. A lot of individuals would get dragged into this foray if Roxy didn’t move, including the librarian! I couldn’t imagine taking that old grouch on a misadventure that required cooperation! I glanced at Ellie and Aleck, and they seemed clueless too. The whole scenario appeared grim, but then…

“You’re wasting your time here!” Aniella informed Roxy. “I saw his other friends in Woodshop with the real victims. They were hoping you’d get distracted up here so you wouldn’t involve yourself with them.”

“Psh! You’re lying to protect them!” Roxy rejected her premise.

Aniella shrugged. “Suit yourself!”

Roxy’s focus flickered between Aniella and us, and I could tell Aniella’s casualness threw her off. She wasn’t certain who to believe, but ultimately, she decided to trust Aniella. “If you’re lying, I’ll… do something!” Roxy manically dashed off.

“Are they really there?” I inquired.

“I don’t know for sure, but probably not,” Aniella replied. I gazed at her incredulously, so she explained, “This whole school is full of weirdos, so I had to pick which weirdos I wanted to support. You appear to be a good one, whatever you’re doing! So, I pranked for a just cause!” She peered at Ismeray and Yurei, and she petitioned me, “Do I have to get involved with this?” We shook our heads, so she concluded, “I better go then!”

As she ran off, I shouted, “Thank you!” I then turned to Aleck and Ellie, and I instructed them, “Let’s hurry!”

We raced out of the library, and Ellie pressed me, “Where are we going?”

“I thought we were going to get treated for our poison!” Ismeray brought up. “Isn’t that at the school nurse’s office?”

“No! It had to be stored somewhere special…” I could practically see the wheels in Aleck’s brain turning as he struggled to finish that explanation. We came across the yearbook classroom, and Aleck completed his sentence, “It’s gotta be in complete darkness, so they put it with the never-developed film!”

Yurei’s brows furrowed. “Film? Since when do movies gotta get stored in the dark?” Ellie, Aleck, and I moaned from the lack of understanding of this concept since it made us feel old, but we didn’t comment on it- we simply shoved the girls into the room.

When we did that, we presumed the space would be empty because, well, I’m not really positive why! It just always gave off an aura that it was unoccupied! But, that assumption was wrong! Sam was in there with his arms folded in a stern manner, and Dennis along with a young girl I didn’t recognize were crouching behind a desk. Dennis refuted, “We weren’t making out in here! I was searching through records to prove that vampires once existed on this campus!”

The proper action to have taken at this point would have been to say nothing and bring the afflicted to an actually vacant sector, but my big mouth couldn’t resist blurting out, “You should’ve really stuck with the making out bit!”

“Mister Fenmore! You worked with my brother and his girlfriend! Tell them this supernatural stuff is real!” Dennis pled with me.

“Supernatural stuff! Don’t be ridiculous…” I shielded Ismeray and Yurei from their view so their presentation wouldn’t blow my assertion.

Sam growled, “Kid, if you keep making up crazy stories, I’ll call your folks and recommend they kick your behind from here to Tim-!”

Ellie interjected, “He’ll behave!” That was a relief! I wasn’t quite clear on what Timbuktu was like, but I still didn’t want to go to a realm based on it!

“He didn’t do anything so bad!” the girl attested. “Alright, so his theory about vampires was a little… interesting, but we did see some cool, vintage photos! I even got to see pictures of my parents growing up in the ni-!”

“Well, we better be going!” Aleck interrupted her.

That was a stellar plan, but there was only one small hitch… “Hold on, what about the cure?” Ismeray urgently alerted us.

Sam gawked at us quizzically, so I improvised, “They’re a rock band from the ei… past! Come on, I’ll describe them someplace else!”

I seriously thought our role in this conversation had ended, but then the girl called out, “Wait! I wanna hear about The Cure!”

“Nice try, Kala! You’re still on the hook for breaking into this place without permission!” Sam austerely regarded her.

“As opposed to getting permission to break in!” I chortled. Sam gave me a reprimanding glare, and I admonished myself for interjecting some humor where it wasn’t warranted. I felt terrible for undermining his authority, but Dennis and Kala didn’t seem too influenced by my shenanigans. Actually, Kala looked genuinely disappointed not to learn about this old-school music! I couldn’t close the window completely on somebody who wanted to discuss eighties pop culture, so I promised her, “We’ll chat about it sometime in the future!”

Instantly, I recognized I made a huge mistake- Ismeray and Yurei began chanting, “The future! The future! The future!”

Ellie and Aleck both hit my arm, and I affirmed, “I know, I know!”

“What’s happening?” Sam catechized as the swirling vortex manifested above us.

“You wouldn’t believe it if we tried to explain it!” Ellie responded to him shortly before we got engulfed into the paranormal portal.

We landed on lush grass with tree-filled mountains surrounding its perimeter, and I would’ve concluded that nature took over the planet if it weren’t for the giant, metal stilts! We craned our necks up to behold a series of circular buildings with the traffic of flying cars flowing between them! It was awe-inspiring to witness, but it was all a little too incredible for some people to accept as actuality. Sam pressed Dennis and Kala, “Alright what hallucinogenics were you smoking that got us all under the influence?”

My ancestors showed up, and Jasper conveyed to Sam, “I hate to break it to you, my friend, but this is reality! Oh, we’re Connor’s spirit guides, by the way!”

“You’re not doing much to convince him this is reality!” Yurei noted.

“Perhaps I could add some authenticity to this experience!” Damon snickered as he entered the scenery on a circular board that hovered in the air with a constellation-patterned suit complete with a sparkly cape.

Ismeray bluntly stated, “Yeah, your cheesy getup isn’t helping either!”

Damon clicked his tongue out of annoyance. “Okay, first of all, I wasn’t trying to help! And second, the authenticity will come as I lay out my quest for you!”

“Hey! How come our clothes stayed the same?” Aleck complained. “I want a cool, futuristic outfit like they have in the movies!”

“See! I told you otherworldly events were connected to Rosemary King!” Dennis triumphantly stated.

Damon seethed, “You can’t fathom how accurate that is!”

I eyed him suspiciously, “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing!” Damon chirped in a fashion that didn’t quite convince me that his allegation had no significance to it. Prior to me getting a chance to investigate further, he dramatically announced, “Your quest is… Bring me the Hand of Starcone!”

“Ew! We gotta sever someone’s hand?” Kala remarked in repulsion.

Damon threateningly warned her, “If you don’t complete it, you will pass… away!”

Kala grew positively alarmed by this notion, so I consoled her, “Don’t worry, it’s probably not an actual hand! It’s most likely something that we’ll wind up destroying and cause a lot of chaos and destruction.”

“That’s supposed to make me not worry?” Kala wondered.

“No, you’re supposed to worry! You should be terrified at these very real circumstances!” Damon cackled.

I retorted, “She’s scared now, but give her a bit of time, and she’ll learn what a dumb demon you are like we all did!”

Damon gave me a hard stare, and then he declared, “You can poke fun now, but I’ll be the one needling you after you meet your demise at last!” He emitted a diabolical guffaw as he ascended away from us, but his malicious merriment got cut off when he smacked his noggin on the bottom of a towering structure. He spotted our amused expressions and vociferated, “This changes nothing!” He shifted out of harm’s path and rose into oblivion.

“So, this is the future, huh?” Aleck queried.

“All of this has been the future for us,” Osra articulated.

Ellie looked at the city above us and pondered, “So, how do we get up there?”

I verbalized, “Let’s go find out so we can preserve our future! Which is in the past, but it hasn’t happened for us yet, so… uh, yeah! Whatever! Let’s just go!”

The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 26

“You!” I exclaimed when I recognized the individual hiding behind the stall.

“Shh!” Mrithan beseeched me as he squatted behind some boxes of lemons. “Can you pretend that I’m not here?”

I leaned against the adjacent elm and relayed to him, “That entirely depends on why you’re doing this! I won’t lie to the cops…”

Mrithan explained, “Imelda wanted a second date, and I told her I was spending the day giving my dog a sanitation trim…”

“You’re afraid of dogs!” I pointed out.

“She doesn’t know that! Besides, I had to say something that she wasn’t interested in. Previously, I said I was gonna hang out with my mom at her rest home, and she seemed really eager to join me in that! I think she thought I was ready to commit after one date! One half, really- I bolted out after 20 minutes! She’s insane, and yes, that’s coming from a guy who used to listen to voices in his head!” Mrithan agitatedly expressed.

I wasn’t certain if I was prepared to believe that story or not. Sure, Imelda seemed a little overly passionate about healthy eating, but other than that, she didn’t act irrationally. Mrithan, however, frequently behaved like he was on edge, and we often found him near the sites where otherworldly incidents occurred. Okay, so he worked at the school and a lot of it happened there, but still! His claim seemed plausible, but something still felt off… “Why are you seeking refuge here then? Do you expect her to be stalking you by your house or something?”

Mrithan illuminated me, “No! I was planning to buy honey! If it’s sourced locally, it helps reduce your allergies. I didn’t get a chance to get it today- this week is gonna be a mess! But anyway, she saw me here and wanted to know why I wasn’t being truthful. So, I ran, and here we are!”

“If all you’re doing is hiding from a girl, then why did you give Peter a soda?” I challenged him. I could understand wanting to remain unseen from someone who might present an awkward conversation, but if that’s all it was, then why give a student something to consume? His rationalization didn’t come across as, well, rational!

“He saw me go back here. He thought I worked here, and when I said I didn’t, he wouldn’t stop babbling about the stupid prom!” Mrithan regaled me.

Phoebe took exception to that, “Hey! My committee is working hard on that!”

Mrithan apologized, “I didn’t intend to disparage your efforts! I was just upset ‘cause I could hear Imelda coming and he wouldn’t leave me alone! I gave him that drink so he’d go away! That was mine, and now I’m thirsty!”

“Why didn’t you just tell her you’re not interested?” Aleck questioned him.

“Because I’m a coward! Happy?” Mrithan spat.

Ellie opined, “That’s dumb! It’d solve all your problems if you quit being a crybaby for one second!”

Mrithan disagreed, “I’m not positive she’d accept that! Connor already told her I didn’t want to go out with her again, but she kept trying to get me to change my mind! She’s obsessed! Do you have any idea what it’s like to have someone who relentlessly pursues you like that?”

I spotted Roxy peeking her head over some bushes in the distance, and I reluctantly empathized with Mrithan, “Yeah! Yeah, I do!”

“Oh, this is hogwash!” Fletcher snapped. “Be a man and have the balls to tell her you guys aren’t gonna be a thing!”

“You’re right! I can’t shield myself from her forever! I’ll simply have to bite the bullet and-!” Mrithan started to emerge, but when he beheld Spike nearby, he dashed back to his safe-haven. “On the other hand, maybe if I keep ignoring her, she’ll get the hint! I didn’t really give that method much of a shot…”

Fletcher, Ellie, and Aleck showed signs of wanting to critique his gutlessness, but Ginger steered them away from that discourse, “So, what do we wanna do?”

Phoebe whispered, “We can’t prove he did anything based off of what we have so far. If we wanna prove he did more than act like a big chicken, we’ll need further evidence! Like, if Peter’s eyes turn into a kaleidoscope… Hey, where’d he go?”

“What are we talking so quietly for?” Brielle interjected into our discussion. None of us were confident about what excuse we were supposed to offer her- we were just openly chatting about a colleague who is striving to remain obscured, so I could understand why she would get perplexed by our current activity! The longer we went without giving her a response, the more suspicious it would appear to her. I was about to blurt out something dumb (since it was all I could think of), but then…

“Pardon me! Have any of you seen Mrithan?” Imelda canvassed us.

I glanced behind me and seriously considered revealing his whereabouts to punish him for his scaredy-cat choices (or possibly more serious crimes), but I realized that I would have been throwing a campus official right at my prime suspect for these interdimensional ambushes! It would’ve been foolish to hand ammunition to an enemy ready to strike! So, I begrudgingly fibbed, “Not today! Last I saw him, he was stuck in the water fountain at the quad.”

Imelda asked, “How does one get stuck-?”

“No clue! I didn’t delve into it ‘cause I was rushing to class,” I answered her.

“Oh, I see. Well, if you see him, can you let me know?” Imelda requested.

I worded my statement so that technically I wasn’t displaying dishonesty, “Yes, I certainly could!”

Once she was out of the vicinity, Mrithan gratefully relayed to me, “Thank you!”

It irked me that he got the impression that I had done that for his benefit, but there really wasn’t a minute to spare in this scenario for further discourse with him, so instead, I directed the other, “Let’s go find Peter!”

“Is he in trouble?” Brielle wondered.

“That’s what we’re attempting to figure out!” I affirmed. Clearly, she found that remark cryptic, but she didn’t investigate the issue beyond that as we explored the Farmer’s Market more.

We rounded the corner, and we beheld a plethora of people shopping for various products in these quarters, but we didn’t espy anyone from Rosemary King… unless you count Roxy! I was starting to give up on locating anyone, but then Ellie gasped, “Look over there!” She raced to a stall filled with handicrafts, and we all eagerly followed her. We anxiously glanced around for Peter or possibly one of his peers with food or a beverage in their hands, but there didn’t seem to be a teenager in the area. Preceding anyone enquiring about her abrupt interest in something unknown, Ellie cooed, “I love these potholders! I was just telling Victor we needed a new set!”

I was annoyed by this distraction until Peter abruptly popped up and chimed in, “We used to have a set like that! I accidentally caused one to catch on fire a few months ago though. Apparently, you’re supposed to turn the pot off before you take it off the burner!”

“Even if it was on, I still don’t get how you got it close enough to the flame to singe it!” Aleck commented.

“That’s what my dad said!” Peter recalled. “Now, I’m not allowed in the kitchen unless my parents or the cook is there to supervise me! Maybe I should replace them for… Yes?”

Roxy had gotten uncomfortably close to Peter, and she resolutely declared, “Whatever you guys are up to, you can’t do it without me! If you so much as budge an inch towards ruining my Day-Day’s scheme, I’ll be right there to stop you!”

Brielle became baffled, but prior to her getting to speculate about it, Ginger assured Roxy, “We’re only here to have a good time! Nothing is going to happen!” Precisely after uttering those words, the air around us flashed like a computer preparing to glitch, and we all gave her hard stares in admonishment. Ginger insisted, “That would have taken place whether I uttered that or not!”

The sky flickered once more, and the gathered populace began to panic. I grew curious by it- if we were destined to travel to another realm, undoubtedly, the swirly vortex would manifest above us… The atmosphere quivered again, and I wasn’t absolute on the provocation of this phenomenon, but the sunshine got shrouded by dark storm clouds and it poured rain! Everybody fled to their vehicles, and one concept was obvious to me- the universe’s fabric really was getting torn apart! Not that I didn’t believe my ancestors when they divulged this to us, this merely reiterated their proclamation!

After school the next day, I went up to the counter where a stern, older woman with her gray hair in a bun was thumbing through a very girly magazine. I decided to break the ice with her by amusedly noting, “Business is slow, eh?”

“No, this is my business!” she sharply shot back. “I have to ensure we only shelve quality selections! Earlier, I caught one with a female’s anatomy drawn on an ad that was only supposed to have a head! Would you want one of your students to see that?”

“I wouldn’t, no!” I stated with a slight snicker at the premise. She glowered at me, so I defended myself, “Oh, come on! Boys will be boys!”

The librarian notified me, “It was on a cat!”

I furrowed my brows at that image. “Huh…!” I shook it off, and then I cordially addressed her, “Well, I’m sorry to interrupt your work, but I could use your assistance in finding something…”

“Bah! It’s probably something strange!” she muttered.

“Hey! That’s hurtful!” I hesitated in revealing my request, but after a few seconds, I admitted, “I need a book that describes how to disguise the taste of rocks inside of food…”

The librarian’s visage somehow soured even more than it already had been! “Remind me to R.S.V.P. no to your wedding reception!”

I denied that allegation, “It’s not for that!” She didn’t believe me, and I would’ve argued the point further, but it wasn’t as though I was eager to have her attend the celebration! Besides, there really wasn’t a moment to spare for bickering! “Alright, fine! Whatever! Can you help me or not?”

She exasperatedly indicated to one of the aisles, “It would most likely be over there with the rare recipes and cookbooks!”

I politely regarded her, “Thanks!” She merely sniffed as a response. I should have left it there, but with her cantankerous disposition needling me, I couldn’t resist jesting, “And don’t worry if you can’t make it to the wedding- Phoebe and I will see to it a slice of cake gets sent to your office!” She glanced up and stared at me incredulously, and I tittered as I went to retrieve a publication with the information I sought in it.

Ellie and Aleck each read through a couple of tomes while I perused through a title that once gave off a hint of promise. I dismally reported to them, “Wow! Apparently, we eat rocks all the time! Iron, calcium, zinc… And it’s easy to grind rocks into a powder and hide them in frosting and stuff!”

“Did you know tektites have an atmospheric entry count of two?” Aleck inquired.

“I don’t even know what that means!” I replied.

Ellie catechized, “Is that relevant to our cause?” Aleck signaled that it probably didn’t, so Ellie determined, “Then zip it!” She then slammed the text in her hands down and grumped, “Ugh! This is no use! It doesn’t matter about the history of these stones on Earth- they don’t come from here! We’re wasting our afternoon here! I really need to vacuum my carpets- Victor has taken up gardening during his retirement, and I guess he doesn’t realize dirt is involved with the process!”

I encouraged them, “Don’t give up, guys! Somewhere, someone wrote something useful for us, and that might assist us in saving our entire existence from collapsing, so we can’t quit!”

They didn’t appear entirely convinced, but they relented to my avidity. I was relieved to view this, but a couple of paragraphs later, I began to inwardly acknowledge the truth of their assessment. To keep their spirits up, I brought up, “Apparently, some people eat chalk! It’s lucky we switched to whiteboards, huh?”

Ellie’s lips twitched as though she were trying to feign a smile but couldn’t quite get it out, and Aleck let out an exasperated exhale. He continued to scan his pages, but he leaned back in an unamused manner. In so doing, he unintentionally bumped into someone behind him, which prompted him to ask for their pardon, “Oh, forgive me! It’s been a long day!” He recognized the individual he offended, and he pondered, “Yurei! How… How much of that conversation did you hear?”

“Did you say something?” Yurei took off her headphones and posed to him.

“Nope!” Aleck’s expression was alleviated until he peered at her face more closely, and then his eyes went wide. “Uh-oh!”

The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 25

“Isn’t it illegal to open other people’s mail?” Mara sourly queried.

“Is any of this legal?” I gestured around the federal property we were currently occupying, and she pouted but offered no verbal response to my logic. I smirked slightly, but I continued to tear open the envelope with a bit of trepidation. I was pretty certain that I was correct, but if I was prying into someone else’s parcel, I would’ve felt bad! It usually turned out to be a pain in the neck to contact customer service in the twenty-first century, but I could only imagine it being worse in an era without online chats or even a phone that isn’t tethered to an outlet! I supposed if I got proven wrong, I could leave a note of apology or something… I shook off the notion of a negative outcome and kept going. I snatched the contents from within out, and…

Phoebe, my ancestors, and I breathed a sigh of relief upon viewing the Rainbow Tektite, but Raphael’s eyebrows furrowed at the stone. “So, this thing will take us back to the present?”

I confirmed, “Yes! I know it probably sounds crazy…”

“Not crazier than almost dying by killer dolls!” Raphael affirmed.

“Ha! I wish I could see that apocalyptic a-hole’s face when he realizes that he literally handed us the key to toppling his plan for the Eighties Realm!” Phoebe laughed.

Everyone but Mara gleefully giggled at that image. Was the doom she predicted something she wanted to be right about? After our moment of mirth, my dad advised, “Let’s not waste too much time here! Why don’t we go get my brother and Aunt Mildred before anything else weird tries to murder us!’ We all concurred, and everyone hurried out of that sector.

As we neared the lobby, my mom brought up to Jasper, “So, are we ever gonna talk about why you left my mother?”

A group of men in suits entered into the vicinity, so Jasper relayed to my mom, “Probably not!”

“What are you guys doing back here?” one of them questioned us.

“Uh… We were just…” Osra absentmindedly gesticulated between the rear and the front of the post office as she drummed up an excuse for our presence there.

The Secret Service man who made that enquiry inferred something she didn’t intend to communicate from her action. “Oh! I get it! But, as much as I can sympathize with your need to hide, you can’t do it here! Don’t worry though- that old lady put her clothes back on!”

Another Secret Service agent shuddered. “Only ‘cause I agreed to take her phone number!” I grew alarmed upon learning this fact- what would’ve happened if he tried to call her? Would he have simply reached a random person who currently owned that number, or would dialing a number to someone living in the future disturb the natural order of the universe? Fortunately, he assured me, “Don’t sweat it, I’m not gonna waste my long distance on that!”

As that man threw a scrap of paper away, Rezart canvassed the congregation, “Long distance? What the heck is that?”

The Secret Service agents gazed at us quizzically, so Rowen nervously chuckled, “He doesn’t pay the bills, how would he know? Okay, we’ll be leaving now!” We dashed off prior to anyone allowing this interaction to persist further.

“Oh, hey! Sorry, we didn’t wait inside! They trespassed us from the building,” Uncle Chester explained as he and Great Aunt Mildred hung out on the sidewalk. “And there’s no need to fret about their documentation over this matter- I gave them names from characters on a sitcom that won’t exist for another thirty years!”

“Great!” I gave him a thumbs up and inwardly thanked the heavens that they didn’t do a background check on them! I surveyed the street before me, and when I discerned that it was vacant, I denoted, “Wow! The monsters are gone!”

Phoebe recommended, “Let’s get out of here before any more of them decide to show up!”

Great Aunt Mildred agreed, “Yeah! I wanna hurry to my cellphone in case that hunk decides to give me a ring immediately!” No one had the heart to tell her the reality of that aspiration, and I uttered the magic words to exit this realm.

Or, at least I thought I requested to go to the Earthly Realm! We landed on a country road by a field where a little girl in a dress that covered her from neck to ankles was playing, and Kendra grumped, “Oh, fantastic! We’re in the eighteen-eighties again! See, didn’t we say the situation is getting worse?”

Natalia asserted, “We need to put a stop to Damon’s scheme quick! The problem is only going to get worse!” She gave the little girl a look, and the little girl wept as she handed the Rainbow Tektite over to her.

Thankfully, after that round, we landed back in my abode! I didn’t know what I would have done if we got sent to a realm where our transportation home wasn’t so easy to obtain! Everyone but Phoebe and me blinked in confusion- they were all winded, but they couldn’t comprehend why! My parents, Great Aunt Mildred, Uncle Chester, Raphael, and Rowen all pushed their wine glasses away,, and Raphael muttered, “See! This is why I never drink on the job!”

“Gosh, I didn’t think you gave me any, but apparently you did! I’m so sorry!” Mara apologized to me. Phoebe gave her a contemptuous stare, and Mara backed away from me. “I wasn’t gonna hit on him, I swear! Although…”

“Why do I feel strange?” Rezart wondered. “All I had was fruit today!” He sniffed the red stain on his shirt, and then he fretted, “Oh no! Papa, am I grounded?”

Rowen measuredly responded, “That depends… Did you have fruit before supper?”

As Rezart struggled to manufacture a justification for this misconduct, I was prepared to fess up to “accidentally” spilling merlot on the child, but then the subject of this conversation triggered a memory for me. If Damon’s mysterious ally slipped Cricket the Rainbow Tektite shards in her smoothie, and Rezart ate some produce preceding his interdimensional travel, then that could only mean one thing… “Rezart, where did you get the fruit you ate today?”

“At the Farmer’s Market,” Rezart reported.

“Who gave it to you? And what was it?” I interrogated him.

Rezart scratched his noggin in perplexion. “It was something sweet…”

I requested, “Could you be more specific?” I hoped I was hiding the desperation in my voice! We may have missed out on nabbing Damon in the Eighties Realm, but we stood a chance of nailing him back on Earth! I felt my relatives’ judgmental glances on me right then, and I’m sure it sounded strange for me to care so much about what the neighbor kid ate, but if I could save the fate of humanity by learning what snack he snuck, it would have been worth it!

“No! I can’t remember anything from that trip!” Rezart earnestly strove to recall this information, but his brain appeared to have fogged up!

“Alright! Shall we get back to what we were discussing previously?” Raphael suggested. His expression contorted in befuddlement, and then he puzzled, “What were we discussing?”

Miriam helpfully supplied, “The location for the wedding!” She studied Phoebe and me for a few seconds, and she asked, “Did I miss anything good?”

Phoebe answered, “Good? No! Luckily for you, you didn’t!”

“You know, in the eighties, I married a dude at this chapel by the interstate… Ah, the eighties! I was a real hoot back then!” Great Aunt Mildred happily recollected.

“Yeah, I know!” I instantly recalled. She seemed surprised by my reaction, so I supplemented that with, “You mentioned it recently…”

Raphael articulated, “I love that we’re group-thinking ideas on this! Who else has-?”

Prior to Raphael finishing that sentence, Roxy stormed in through the glass door. She gawked at us furiously, and she vehemently concluded, “You tricked me! You got me distracted so you could do… whatever dastardly deed you did against my honey-bunny! How dare you commit such an atrocity! Well, you may have fooled me once or twice or three times, but I won’t let you do it again! I promise, I shall get revenge for what you did to… What are you doing?”

“Hi, Sage! This is Connor!” I spoke into my cellphone. “Your daughter broke into my house and is spewing gibberish! What’s that? You want me to hold her here so you can pick her up and punish her when you get back to your place? Okay, if you insist…” Roxy’s eyes widened, and she slipped out the back. I tittered as I set my phone on the table, revealing it wasn’t even on! I contemplated it briefly, and I opined, “I should get her folks’ number!”

“So anyways… I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but can we get back to planning that marriage ceremony?” my father begrudgingly recommended. My mother ogled at him in admonishment, so he sardonically stated, “I mean, I enjoy this kind of stuff…”

As the topic steered to themes and motifs, my mind wandered off. Not because I shared my dad’s disinterest in the small details (though I did!), I couldn’t prevent myself from deliberating on how these youths unwittingly consumed transdimensional rocks. What possibly could have masked that taste? I couldn’t drum up anything, but if Rezart got his tainted nosh from the Farmer’s Market, I thought that ought to have been worth checking out…

Phoebe and I stood with Aleck and Ellie under a shade tree near a parking lot, and Aleck brought out various items from his pockets. “…bandages, scissors… Let’s see! What else? Oh, dental floss and a pencil…”

“What exactly are you preparing for?” Ellie inquired.

“I dunno!” Aleck replied. “That’s why I packed a bunch of random objects- you never know when one or more of these things may come in handy!”

Phoebe pointed out, “Yeah, but most of the time, the universe takes away our clothes, so you may not have access to any of it!’ Aleck opened his mouth to argue with that, but he couldn’t come up with a valid riposte, so he clammed up instead.

Fletcher arrived and had a leashed bloodhound trotting alongside him. “That’s why I brought old Spike here! If we get transported anywhere, he’ll come and assist!” Spike let out a huge yawn, and Fletcher defended his decision, “He’s gotta recharge his batteries a bit, but he’ll be rarin’ to go when he’s needed!” As Spike lay down to rest in the grass, I seriously doubted he would provide much protection against any monster we might have faced in the next realm!

“Ooh! What a lovely day! This was such a great idea, babe!” a thin, blonde woman chirped as she strolled with Ginger. “Oh, hold on! I forgot my sunhat!”

“You don’t need it, Brielle!” Ginger contended.

Brielle shot back, “Yeah, but how often do I get a chance to wear it?”

I quietly accosted Ginger, “You brought your girlfriend?”

“Not exactly! I told her where I was going, and she invited herself to join us!” Ginger informed me.

“Are you nuts?” Ellie quarreled. “We don’t need any more family members getting mixed in with this paranormal nonsense!”

Ginger disputed, “What was I supposed to do? Tell her she can’t come in case we gotta fight something spooky in another dimension?”

The others showed signs of wanting to bicker over this move some more, but since I knew we couldn’t waste a minute under these circumstances, I instructed everyone, “Keep an eye out for Mrithan or anyone else from the school handing out food or drinks to our students. If you see something suspicious, just tug on my sleeve, and we’ll-!”

“Ready to go?” Brielle prodded us.

“Gah!” I jumped from the fright of her abruptness.

Brielle chuckled, “Relax! It’s me! What were you expecting? A ghost?”

She had obviously delivered that in jest, but it was so close to the truth that it was hard to display any amusement! I gave her a weak smile, and then I directed the collective, “Let’s explore, shall we?”

There was an array of stalls selling crops as well as other edible goods and handcrafted ware, and if it weren’t for an escaped demon threatening to wreak havoc on all of society, it may have been an enjoyable excursion! We were all too on edge scouring the scenery for clues to appreciate any of it, but we had to bear an agreeable visage whenever Brielle showed interest in something. We hadn’t crossed paths with anyone from Rosemary King High yet, so it was starting to feel like a waste of an afternoon until…

“Fancy meeting you all here!” Manuel merrily greeted us. When he peered at us more closely, he pondered, “Why do you all seem so pale? You realize you can sleep in on Sundays, right?”

“Oh, it’s just… um… wedding planning stuff!” I fibbed. That wasn’t a total lie, I simply didn’t mention what occurred during the meeting about our nuptials!

I cringed after I brought up tying the knot with him! Neither Phoebe nor I were keen on doing it on campus, but it was hard to dole out an honest refusal since he was so excited about the premise! Mercifully, he didn’t bring that up! “Understandable! Understandable! Hey, you guys should check out Mary’s stand on the other side of the market! She makes the best muffins! Not the best for my diet  though!”

Manuel guffawed at his quip, and I feebly kidded, “Boy, you’d think since she works in a kitchen, Mary would want a break from it, but apparently not!” Manuel tittered as he ambled off to another section, and once he was out of our vicinity, we glanced at each other questioningly. I considered the possibility, “Well, muffins might be a decent method of disguising…”

“What are we waiting for? I wanna try one! I’m starving!” Brielle prompted us. We swiftly acquiesced and headed in that direction.

“Oh, hey!” Peter waved to us as he guzzled down a bottle of soda. “Is this a field trip or something?”

Ginger ignored his airheadedness and quizzed him, “Where’d you get that?”

Peter relayed to her, “This? Oh, that stand over there…”

He indicated to a small stall that was currently unoccupied. I sincerely wished that the culprit didn’t conceal the Rainbow Tektites in his beverage since I positively didn’t want to go on another misadventure with that… (shall we say, less than bright?) kid again, but if that was the case, at least we were better prepared at this juncture! Nobody appeared to be at that site, but when I poked my head over the counter, I could see that I was wrong…!

The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 24

“Move!” Raphael commanded from next to a fire hydrant as he used a tool to make water rapidly stream out. Most of us had already instinctively dodged the movement of the liquid when we sensed it coming, but someone apparently didn’t…

“Move what?” Great Aunt Mildred queried.

She got the brunt of the gushing, but luckily, my mom’s reflexes were fast! She pulled her out of harm’s way in the nick of time, and then she asked Great Aunt Mildred, “Are you okay?”

Great Aunt Mildred sort of slurred her answer, “I’m better than okay! I’m in the arms of a hot stud like you, handsome!”

“Uh, Aunt Mildred… It’s me! Katherine!” my mother corrected her. “I’m married to your nephew, William…”

“Oh hi, Katherine! Can you bring back that beefcake that rescued me?” Great Aunt Mildred requested.

My father briefly glanced at them and decreed, “No more alcohol for you!”

We watched as the torrent pushed against the Lettuce Grove dolls. They earnestly strove against its vigorous force, but they seemed unable to advance themselves forward. We breathed a sigh of relief, and Raphael proudly commented, “You’re welcome, darlings! I may have left the military, but I’m still proud to serve my country!”

Uncle Chester conveyed to Raphael, “No offense, sonny! But, you seem too campy to have ever become an officer!”

“DO NOT QUESTION ME, SOLDIER!” Raphael boomed and got into Uncle Chester’s face. As he cowered from this startlement, Raphael petitioned him, “Is that better?”

“Thank you for your service!” Uncle Chester squeaked.

I got amused by that brief drama, but I returned my attention to the task at hand as soon as the theatrics concluded. “I’m glad they’re not smart enough to go around the flow!”

Everybody but Mara concurred with me. Mara snidely brought up, “Yeah, but aren’t they blocking our only path to the postal distribution center?”

“No! We can go around!” I argued I noticed that it was at the finish of a dead end. Mara smirked, so I shot back, “Okay, Little-Miss-Know-It-All! How do we destroy the dolls?”

“Uh…” Mara clearly blanked out. I felt slightly victorious at that small feat, but it was hard to stay smug- how on Earth we were supposed to rid ourselves of this enemy? All of us stood there contemplating the matter… until…

A car with a catchy rap song sped through the intersection, and I had no clue if the driver saw those monstrosities for what they were or if they were really not focusing on the road, but they plowed right through the dolls! The vehicle sped out of sight, and the smashed dolls lay motionless on the ground! Eamon wiped his hands against each other as if he had played a role in this endeavor and proclaimed, “Problem solved!”

Osra instructed, “Quick! Maybe if we run, we can avoid another cumbersome horror!”

“I should probably give the construction crew back their tool!” Raphael stated.

“Later! Let’s go!” Natalia grabbed his arm after he shut the water off, and we all rushed towards the post office.

We barely crossed Soarcent Street and Beach Boulevard when the sound of tremendous tremors thundered from the near distance! Everyone paused under the assumption of a fresh foe readying themselves to attack us, but prior to anyone swiveling around to behold our adversary, Kendra propositioned, “What if we simply ignore it and grab those Golden Jellybeans?” A large shadow loomed over us, so Kendra resentfully sighed, “Forget it!”

Bystanders screamed as a figure comprised entirely of a fluffy, white snack towered over the adjacent buildings and headed in our direction! Phoebe exclaimed, “The Ever-Rising Popcorn Man! Great, that movie’s ruined for me forever!”

“In Phantom Slayers, they destroyed him by crossing their ray guns,” I recalled.

“And how are we gonna destroy this one?” Kamali challenged me.

I asserted, “We’re gonna pray!”

Kamali riposted, “No, we’re the answer to your prayer! We need something else!”

We couldn’t come up with a solution, so we just fled. We couldn’t go far though because the lane didn’t continue, which I felt foolish for not remembering. The Ever-Rising Popcorn Man got close enough that we wouldn’t have been able to escape if we tried! I panicked and scoured the grounds for a remedy to this catastrophe, and to my surprise, we weren’t alone…

“Huh! Didn’t see that coming!” Jasper remarked as we witnessed the B.O.B.S. swarm on the Ever-Rising Popcorn Man’s legs. “They’re on the same team, aren’t they?”

“Let’s not question it too much! Let’s just get out of here!” I directed everyone. We shifted towards the entrance to the postal sorting center, and there stood Damon! He seemed disappointed about our survival, so I taunted him, “Sorry to rain on your parade, but we’re going in!”

Damon pouted, “You’re not sorry!” He saw us sprinting towards his position, and he emitted a high-pitched scream preceding his retreat to the interior.

When we went into the lobby, I expected to view several people scared and stunned by the commotion outside, but everyone appeared to be carrying on like that was a totally normal occurrence! Did they actually get used to the presence of otherworldly creatures in their city? I inquired to a guy standing in line, “Did you see what happened out there? Didn’t it freak you out?”

The guy replied, “You must be tourists! We’re right by Hollywood, dude! They pull these stunts all the time!”

There was an enormous thump from the exterior, and we could only presume that the B.O.B.S. successfully took down the Ever-Rising Popcorn Man. It astounded us, but no one in the lobby even batted an eyelash at it! It perplexed me that they could get used to such oddities, but I couldn’t really complain since mass hysteria would cause the situation to worsen, so I shrugged it off and rejoined the others.

“I can’t find Damon anywhere!” Phoebe reported. “He must already be in the back!”

“Why? I thought he wanted us to get the Golden Jellybeans!” Rezart catechized.

Kamali informed him, “He does! He’s guarding us from the Rainbow Tektite, which is the only mechanism home! Well, not the only mechanism! We could give him the Golden Jellybeans, but I’m sure there’s some kind of horrible catch in letting him have it!”

My dad canvassed the group, “So, what do we do? It’s not like they’ll let the public into the employees’ area! It’s federal property, after all!”

“Speaking of federal, Secret Service agents are supposed to get here soon, so we don’t have long to get this done!” my mom pointed out.

“So, what are we doing?” Mara bitterly pondered. “I doubt we could convince any of the workers to let us in, and if a gigantic monster didn’t distract them, how could we possibly pull it off?”

Great Aunt Mildred volunteered, “Leave that to me!” None of us could fathom what she had in store, and we grew bewildered when she got onto a counter where forms were stashed in her still-damp garments! She certainly caught a lot of scrutiny for her actions! That multiplied tenfold when she dramatically addressed her audience, “I’ve lost my third husband, I’ve lost my damn mind, and now, I’m about to lose these clothes!”

She hummed her own stripper music as she clumsily performed a dance of seduction, and the majority of the populace became appalled at this spectacle. A few onlookers tried to seize her, but she flipped her shoes off at them. A postal personnel from behind the front desk warned her, “Ma’am, you can’t do that in here!” She ignored them as she continued her exhibition, and that woman entreated her colleagues, “What do we do? This wasn’t in the training manual!”

Aside from not wanting to catch a glimpse of a relative in such a sordid status, I craned my neck away from her makeshift stage to scope out a route for our exit. I spotted the package pick-up door, and it was momentarily vacant there, so I motioned for the others to follow me there. Uncle Chester recommended, “Maybe I should keep an eye on her!” He glanced over to Great Aunt Mildred, shuddered, and supplemented that with, “Well, I’ll ensure that she doesn’t fall or get arrested!” I nodded, and we hurried into the private sector.

I don’t think any of us imagined a flurry of activity in such a normally quiet building, so it caught us off guard to observe a maze of various metal chutes zigzagging all over the facility! It was slightly intimidating to see the mechanics at work, but it was also fairly intriguing to see the advanced process! “Ah, so this is how they sort international mail! Fascinating!” Kendra opined as she beheld the system’s many functions.

“Can we learn about this later?” Phoebe posed to her.

“No! Because you’ll all be dead!” Damon histrionically hollered.

Eamon retorted, “Some of us are already dead!”

Damon clicked his tongue in annoyance. “I meant the ones who weren’t, obviously! And as for you, you’ll…!” Evidently, Damon couldn’t concoct a proper response for that, he chucked a box at us and fled.

We chased after him, and he continually hurled parcels at us to slow us down. At least, that was his intention, it didn’t deter us much in reality! At the other side of the chutes, Damon was cornered. He was overtly nervous, but he made a bid to appear as though he wasn’t by leering, “So, you caught me! You still gotta complete your quest to go home, so you’re wasting your time hassling me!”

“True! But, we could… Wait! We could capture you and take your spoiled-rotten butt back to the afterlife!” Osra countered. She then muttered to herself, “Why didn’t I think of that sooner?”

“You’ll never take me alive!” Damon shouted.

Jasper laughed, “Finally! Something we agree on!” 

Damon quivered as we advanced on him, and I could hardly believe we were, at long last, going to seize him and put a halt to his apocalyptic plot! We got closer, and it seemed as though victory was inevitable, but then Damon found a large envelope with something hard in it on a table beside him and threw it at us, hitting Rezart! It hit Rezart’s noggin and then bounced into one of his palms, and Rezart used his free hand to rub the site of the impact and groaned, “Ow!”

“You scumbag! You could’ve killed him! He’s a child!” Rowen bellowed.

“Meh! I nearly kill children practically every day!” Damon waved that off. Rowen’s visage contorted as though he couldn’t decide between beating him up or delving more into what he meant by that sentence, but prior to him picking either option…

A staff member went up to us and gently accosted, “Excuse me, folks! We can’t have you back here!”

I knew we had to act fast, so, without thinking about it much, I spat, “Yes, we can! We’re the Secret Service! We’re here for the Golden Jellybeans!”

Instantly, I regretted relenting to that impulse! I could hardly blame him for ogling at us skeptically- not a single one of us was dressed for the part! The others glared at me in a reproachful manner, and my insides plummeted! We were so close to capturing Damon and returning to the present, and I may have blown it with an odious lie! I gulped apprehensively, but to my astoundment, the staff member concluded, “Well, you must be telling the truth, or else how else would you have known about those! Carry on!” As he walked away, he complimented us, “Nice disguises! Totally had me fooled!”

“Thanks!” I chuckled as the tension I had just built up got released. As soon as he was out of our range of vision, I switched my diligence back to Damon, but he was no longer there. “Dammit! The coward disappeared!”

“He’ll return as soon as we get those jellybeans!” Natalia reassured me. “Come on!”

We traveled to an office space, and we discovered them sitting in a supply room! They were sitting in a plastic case with their burlap bag slightly opened so passersby could discern their authenticity, and they weren’t there by themselves! Next to the gilded candy was a letter in a foreign language, and suddenly, Raphael’s recollection kicked into high gear. “Oh! That’s right! The Soviet Union sent the Golden Jellybeans as a peace offering along with a nuclear disarmament proposal! I guess it wasn’t a great offer since the Cold War went on for another six years!”

My dad probed, “So, we’re not gonna obliterate the planet from a radioactive conflict by giving them to that scoundrel?” Everyone peered at him in consternation, and he grilled us, “What? How else are we gonna get home?”

“Unfortunately, he’s correct!” Osra dismally concurred. “We haven’t found the Rainbow Tektite, so I suppose we have no choice!”

Mara banefully asserted, “Well, I guess we’re doomed! Thanks for dragging me along with you!”

Kamali insisted, “No! There’s always something else we can do! We… um… Ooh! We could stay here until we find our precious interdimensional stone! It may take years, but hey, if the Cold War finishes before we find it, we could go get the Golden Jellybeans, can’t we? They wouldn’t need it anymore! You know, assuming Damon doesn’t tear apart the fabric of existence before then…”

The entire lot ruminated on this issue, but nobody could produce a proper solution. Several long seconds later, Rezart put in, “It might not be that bad if we stayed a little longer! I can always find stuff to do! Papa, what kind of apps did they have in this decade?”

Rowen relayed to him, “They didn’t. I don’t think they even had the internet yet!”

“What? How am I supposed to be entertained here?” Rezart folded his arms sullenly, and in so doing, he hit the envelope he still had for whatever reason against a pipe. It made a noise that caused my eyes to widen…

“Give me that!” I ordered him as I hastily snatched it. Okay, that was a bit rude, but I swear, he was about to thank me for it later…