The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 19

“What on Earth are those?” J.J. cried out as a flock of birds with the body of an ostrich and the face of an eagle barreled towards us.

“Who cares? Just run!” Ginger avidly recommended.

I had no clue where we were running to, and I saw nothing in the immediate area that suggested we could exit out of this building either! I scanned our surroundings to pinpoint some sort of refuge, and I spotted some trees with branches that were gnarly enough to climb each of them as easily as a ladder, so I did. The others followed suit, and mercifully, these fowl foes couldn’t fly! Actually, their wings were so comically small that I wondered what Mother Nature had in mind when designing these creatures, and I wasn’t surprised they became extinct well before the modern time period!

Osra breathed a sigh of relief, “Phew! We’re safe up here!”

“Are we though?” Kamali challenged her. “Sooner or later, we’re going to need to get down!”

“I wish Aleck was here!” I lamented. “He probably has an encyclopedic knowledge of these things! I don’t know why we would’ve taken him dress shopping with us, but it would’ve been convenient!”

Miriam commented, “And I wish Blaise was here so that we could sacrifice him to these beasts!” J.J., Nick, and Cricket gazed at her in shock, so she clarified for them, “He’s a zombie, so he’s already dead! Of course, most of these guys are spirits, but unlike with my ex, I wouldn’t wanna risk them getting permanently erased!”

Ellie suggested, “How about we stop speculating on what we wish we’d have and start thinking of what we do have to get rid of these ugly monsters! Hmm… No coconuts or anything!”

As the feathery fiends pawed at the base of our stronghold, Natalia suddenly had an epiphany, “Hey! Our clothes are made from animal fur, so maybe that’ll count as flesh to them!” She removed her slipper and tossed it down to their level. The odd birds sniffed it, which I thought was impossible since they had no noses, and they apparently assessed there was not a sufficient amount of sustenance and resumed their pursuit. Natalia posed to us, “If we lose a garment here, it doesn’t count as losing it in real life, right? I doubt the Big Guy will be quite so forgiving again…”

“Seriously, what in the heck did you all do to be so afraid of him?” I probed. “Aren’t you on the same side as him?”

“Uh, Connor? Could this conversation maybe wait for a while?” Kendra shot back as she eyeballed our avian adversaries.

Cricket frustratedly yelled, “Does this place have anyone working here, or do they just let these freaks roam free without supervision?”

Jasper put forward, “Maybe they’d get repelled with water…”

“We don’t have any water!” Eamon pointed out.

“Yeah, but we do have other fluids in us!” Jasper argued.

Eamon winced at that notion. “That is the most ungentlemanly proposal I’ve ever heard! And I’m including all of the drunkest fellows’ ideas in the seediest of taverns! …Which I’ve only passed by…”

  Jasper contended, “But, we have nothing else!”

“There has to be some other method that’s far less crude!” Eamon quarreled.

“Uh, guys…!” I vied to get their attention as I observed the odd birds slowing down.

Jasper bickered, “How are you alright with slaying a beast but not peeing on it?”

The odd birds had outright ceased their movements, so I tried again, “Guys…!”

“It’s a fair fight!” Eamon disputed. “This… well… it could liberate us from danger, but… to perform such a feat with ladies present…”

“Oh, I’d be fine with it!” Miriam put in. “I’ve seen it a million times after dealing with my late husband’s inebriation! You two never met Blaise, did you?”

Jasper relayed to her, “We’ve seen him! We watch over Connor, and since he’s dealt with him a lot, so have we! He’s safe in Hell…  I’m pretty sure…”

Miriam balked at that last phrase, “Pretty sure? You mean, you’re not completely sure he’s getting the eternal damnation that he deserves?”

“Well, he’s been known to escape,” Jasper admitted.

“Guys!” I waved my hands around in this instance, but I couldn’t get them to shift their focus to me whatsoever!

Miriam’s eyes went wide upon hearing Jasper’s statement. “You mean there’s a chance he’s out right now? Where could he have gone? Who is-?”

Nick cut her off, “Woah! The birds are asleep!”

“Wow! Why didn’t you tell us?” Jasper accosted me. I threw my hands up in exasperation as a response.

“How soundly do you think they sleep?” Ginger posed to the group.

I canvassed the others, “Who wants to test it out?” Eamon eagerly volunteered, but given his recent history with this, I canvassed the others, “Anyone else?”

Nobody budged an inch. Cricket affirmed, “Not me! I won’t be the guinea pig!” She folded her arms definitely, and in so doing, she lost her balance and plummeted to the ground beneath us! “Or maybe I will!” she nervously muttered as she lay in a heap on the floor. She glanced up at the flock, and none of them stirred from her graceless entrance into their proximity, so she slowly rose up. “It seems fine!” Cricket determined in a soft tone.

We cautiously crept down, and while it appeared as though they weren’t going to stir, we didn’t want to take any risks. When we all descended to their level, Ellie nearly sneezed, and several fingers went to her nostrils to block it. She managed to stifle it while simultaneously flicking off everyone’s touch, and then we went back to tiptoeing out of their circle. Kamali stepped on Kendra’s foot by accident, and numerous palms flew to her lips to muffle her outburst. She swallowed the remainder of her exclamatory utterance, but she glared at an apologetic Kamali for a lengthy stretch. One of the slumbering avains randomly stretched out its limbs, which almost tripped Osra. We all caught her prior to her making contact thankfully! At last, after a panicky few minutes, we were able to return to a normal gait and flee that spot!

A significant amount of traveling later, we beheld the opposite end of the edifice! A glass observation window loomed over the treetops, and somewhere below that was a door marked, “Employees Only.” J.J. read that and then remarked, “Oh, and the rest of this joint is totally fine for the public to explore?”

“Finally! We found it!” Kendra rejoiced.

“Found what?” Ellie questioned. “We don’t even know what we’re looking for!”

Kendra didn’t get daunted by her presentation of this fact. “Yes, but someone in there is bound to give us some directions to the Eye! Whatever it is!”

Eamon exclaimed, “In any case, no one shall prevent us from progressing in this journey!” All of a sudden, a Tyrannosaurus Rex at least twelve feet tall positioned itself in front of that entryway and roared at us! Eamon casually dismissed this, “He’s nobody!”

“Everyone scatter!” I directed. “It can’t get us all at once!”

“I dunno about that! I’m pretty positive when I was a kid I was able to squish a bunch of ants that scattered on a sidewalk! I dunno why I did that!” Ginger shouted as she raced from the dinosaur’s reach.

Nick hid behind a bush and bemoaned, “Man, I would’ve stayed in the jungle if I knew we’d wind up in Jurassic Park!”

Miriam recalled, “Oh! I heard they can’t see you if you stand perfectly still!” She struck a motionless stance, and the T-Rex made a beeline for her. Once it got pretty close, she determined, “Well, that theory’s wrong!”

J.J. crashed into some brush, and a spear fell out of the branches! “Alright! We’re gonna live!” He expertly hurled the spear at the Tyrannosaurus Rex, and for a flash, we all grew hopeful that this nightmare would conclude! To our dismay, the spear bounced off of the dinosaur’s skin like a ball on a hard surface! “We’re all gonna die!” J.J. sobbed.

It got close enough that it could’ve swallowed J.J., and I simply couldn’t allow that to occur! I mean, I didn’t know anything about the dude, but it was as though he was a bad person! Or maybe he was a bad person in reality, but I was fairly certain that if he did anything heinous, he still didn’t deserve to get eaten by a monster! I threw a rock and hit its eye! It left its hunt of J.J., and I victoriously expressed, “Yes!” It started to chase me, so my tone altered completely. “No!”

To keep track of its activities, I hurried away from it backward, and in hindsight, this wasn’t such a fantastic plan! I did alright for a while, but soon, I wound up tripping over a stick and falling onto my rear! Nick denoted, “Wow! That’s a family  trait, isn’t it?”

“Not helpful!” I snapped. The dinosaur approached me, and I deduced that its breadth surpassed my range of motion to dodge its advances. “Someone do something!” The massive creature grew closer and closer, so I manically repeated, “Do something! Do something! Do something!” It didn’t seem like anything was transpiring on their part, so I readied myself to punch and kick in hopes that this activity would annoy it enough to make me less palatable. My body braced itself for a struggle, but then…

“Bad Lilith!” a man with gray hair, glasses, and a beard that nearly reached his belly scolded the behemoth as he sprayed a misty, red liquid at her. She recoiled, and he echoed his sentiments for emphasis of this chastisement, “Bad! Bad Lilith!” The T-Rex repulsively reacted to the substance (I didn’t get the impression his berating had much of an impact on her!), and she scurried off in sheer irritation.

I supposed I ought to have conveyed gratitude for him saving my life, but all I could do was snicker, “Lilith?” I chortled over this bit of unexpectedness until I caught his confused ogling, and then I briefed him, “That was my ex-wife’s name! A totally different kind of maneater!”

The man got slightly shocked by that information. “Really? Her name was Lilith? That’s a strange name for a human! …I’m Doctor Oogha Oogha, by the way!” I was about to introduce everybody, but a hideous shriek sounded from afar, so he advised us, “Let’s get you inside!” We swiftly complied with that prompt and tailed him through the doorway.

It astounded me to learn that this society had an elevator system! Albeit, it was a somewhat primitive pulley system, but still, their advancements perpetually astonished me! As he carted us up, he articulated, “Don’t play around- I know exactly why you’re here!”

“You do?” I got baffled by his assessment. I didn’t esteem that anyone from any era knew about the Rainbow Tektites’ existence let alone the least evolved one! It relieved me to postulate that someone in this world understood our plight- it certainly would’ve saved precious minutes as we discoursed with a knowledgable ally! Or was he? He did not instantly indicate that he was friendly to our cause, and given Damon’s ability to gain support somehow, I speculated on whether or not we would’ve been safer with Lilith! I fretted over the possibilities, but there wasn’t much I could’ve done about any negative circumstances coming into fruition! Seriously, there wasn’t exactly anywhere to escape to in this shaft!

“Naturally!” Doctor Oogha Oogha confirmed. I feared the worst, but then he merrily stated, “I know a teacher when I see one!”

I chuckled, “You got us!” I couldn’t help but laugh- we didn’t have to lie to him about our identity! At least not completely, we still couldn’t reveal why we arrived at this facility…

Doctor Oogha Oogha tittered, “You can’t fool me! Observation is my specialty- I’m a scientist!” 

When we got to the top level, we beheld an extensive laboratory with various workstations that had a view of the landscape that was rather breathtaking! I disliked that it enchanted me given all of the different manners in which we could’ve gotten snuffed out, but hey, what could I do? “Welcome to the Center for Enigmatic Discoveries!” Doctor Oogha Oogha pridefully beamed at us. “I’m excited that you’re considering this organization for your next field trip!”

“Yeah, this seems like a great place to bring children!” Ginger dryly kidded as she witnessed a Spinosaurus terrorizing a pack of small reptiles.

“What’s in that stuff?” J.J. catechized as Doctor Oogha Oogha set his repellent down.

We all anticipated hearing about a mysterious formula comprised of complicated and possibly impossible-to-understand ingredients, but instead, Doctor Oogha Oogha imparted to us, “What, this? It’s a blend of chili powder and other spicy ingredients. That species hates this scent!” He ignored our dumbfounded visages and persisted with his tour, “I founded this institute forty years ago, and it went through about a dozen name changes before I settled on this one! The other ones kept spelling out naught subjects with their acronyms!”

I grinned as I recollected Ismeray going through the same ordeal with what she called her covens, and I would’ve presumed he was her ancestor if we were on the same timeline! I spotted a book on an adjacent table, and it swayed my mind to Phoebe. If she had been present, I felt she would’ve reminded me to keep my focal point on the important task imposed on us, so I shook off this rumination and requested, “I heard the Eye of Stonerac is here! Could we see it?”

“Yes, you..” Prior to Doctor Oogha Oogha getting to finish his sentence, he noticed an empty cage on the carpet. “Where did he go?” He rubbed his chin contemplatively, and while a part of me was curious about what he kept up here, another part possessed no desire to find out. I would’ve rather it stayed a secret and never have had to contend with it, but I had a hunch I would find out in the most startling fashion possible! If he kept it in his quarters, it couldn’t have been dangerous, right? A knob on the opposite side of the room turned, and…

The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 18

When we landed in a jungle terrain, I expected the newbies to this whole realm-traveling gig to get frightened by this development. Most of them did, but what I didn’t expect was for Cricket to stare at her leopard-print duds and cry out, “Oh, uh-uh! This is the product of animal cruelty! I refuse to wear it!” She nearly tore it off, but many of the luggage store attendees eagerly anticipated this exploit, so she ceased that action and pouted, “Why couldn’t I wear environmentally friendly clothing for this hallucination?”

“Well, ‘cause they didn’t exactly have synthetic fur in the caveman days!” Jasper informed her as my ancestors manifested to our locale. “And trust me, that’s about to be the least of your problems!”

“My ex had something to do with this! I just know it!” Miriam vehemently expressed. Damon materialized in front of us with a cape made of mink, and Miriam iterated her assertion, “See! Blaise is friends with that guy!”

Damon cringed at that allegation. “Ugh! That cretin wasn’t my friend! He was my incompetent servant when I still had a spot in Demons’ Strait! And then these assholes came along and got me kicked out!”

I sarcastically responded, “Sorry we didn’t let you disembowel us!”

“Good! You should be!” Damon indignantly addressed me. “I’m pleased you wound up here! There aren’t any angels to prevent you from getting your insides torn out by vicious creatures in this era!”

“Just FYI, there aren’t any dinosaurs from my generation!” Osra frustratedly brought up. “There wasn’t anything more vicious than what exists today! Humans never got in contact with dinosaurs… unless you count alligators or emus!”

Damon leered, “Don’t forget, not all of the realms fall onto our timeline! There may be some surprises in store for you! Speaking of which, let’s discuss your quest! You shall-!”

The man who was trying on that vest in the shop next door blurted out, “Hey, J.J.! Isn’t that the dude who kidnapped all those kids?”

J.J. shook his head. “Nah! That idiot died!” He mulled that concept over, and then his eyes went wide. “Wait, Nick… Are we dead?”

“No, but you might be if you’re not careful here!” Kendra warned them. “Don’t pet the gigantoraptors! They may have faces like turkeys, but from what I’ve read, they were pretty vicious!”

“Dinosaurs weren’t around in the caveman days!” Osra shouted. “How did that rumor even get started?”

Reciting from memory, Ellie illuminated her, “Fossils of small primates who could have evolved into humans as we know them were found, so people associated all unevolved humans with-.”

Damon interrupted her, “Excuse me! Quest Master talking here!” They begrudgingly gave him their attention, and then he dramatically announced, “Your mission today: destroy the Eye of Stonerac!”

“When you say eye, you don’t mean the actual organ, right?” Ginger posed to Damon.

“Sounds like you have some boning up to do!” Damon clearly thought he was being clever, but his smile vanished when some of the witnesses giggled at his keyword. “No, I was making a play on words! Because it’s the Stone Age… Ah, screw you guys! I’m leaving without giving you any hints! Good luck!” I wasn’t certain if he had sincerely intended to dole out any more helpful tips for us, but I hid my disappointment in this unfolding until after he was gone so I wouldn’t give him that satisfaction!

Once again, I expected the bystanders of this misadventure to grow frightened, but one of the luggage store patrons vociferated, “Pass!”

I became quite flabbergasted by that move. “What do you mean, pass? You can’t pass! We gotta do this in order to go back to Terra Belle!”

“Yeah, pass!” the luggage store patron echoed his previous sentiments. “I’m gonna sleep this trip off!”

“Let it go!” Kamali advised me prior to us getting the chance to quarrel with him further. “We don’t have time to convince everyone to do what’s in their own best interest! I had to do that frequently when I was still alive! Do you know how many of my patients refused to quit eating foods that they were obviously allergic to? Sometimes, you gotta let them figure it out on their own!”

I disliked the premise of leaving anyone behind, but I recognized that he had a valid point. I couldn’t spend precious minutes bickering with stubborn jerks, but I didn’t believe everyone from that store was like that, so I projected to them all, “Listen, this assignment could get dangerous, but so could standing around in this area! You never know when you could get ambushed by a…” I glimpsed at Osra standing beside me, and I opted to avoid her wrath by suggesting that dinosaurs existed in this period. “…something! I don’t know about you, but I have a lot back in the Earthly Realm to return to, so I’m gonna fight for them! If you wanna stay here, fine! But the sooner we complete this job, the sooner we can leave, so anyone who wants to join us is welcome!”

Nobody budged an inch at first. I didn’t predict a large number would volunteer, but I presumed it would be larger than zero! After a few seconds, Nick stepped forward! J.J. stared at him in shock, and J.J. justified himself, “I’m not sticking around here! What if that kidnapper dude shows up again?”

“Oh, that’s true!” J.J. subsequently stepped forward too.

“Well, I’m not going!” Cricket folded her arms adamantly. “This whole expedition sounds messy, and I want no part of it!” A giant dragonfly glided past her, and after emitting a blood-curdling scream, she jumped into Ellie’s side and wailed, “Don’t leave me here!”

Ellie huffed, “Fine! But I’m not carrying you!” She pushed her to the grassy floor and then commanded, “Let’s go! I wanna get back to the mall before it closes!” Cricket got up, and we all headed away from that site.

Following several minutes of travel, we espied a streak of smoke in the sky. Ginger remarked, “Oh, look! We must be getting close to a village! Thank Heaven! Now, we just gotta hope whatever’s guarding that Eye isn’t too complicated to defeat!”

“I’m not worried!” Eamon boldly asserted. “We have the advantage of having someone from this generation with us, so this quest should prove itself as rather simple!”

“Yeah! I don’t care what that brat says- I really doubt this society is that different than mine!” Osra grumped. All of a sudden, a vehicle comprised almost entirely out of stone zoomed past us! “What the-?” 

We ran ahead, and we were confronted with an unforeseen spectacle… A vibrant metropolis lay before us, and nearly all of the buildings and structures were assembled from a rocky material! Citizens read a newspaper at the bus stop, bought snacks at the kiosk in the corner, and even played ball at a nearby field! It almost appeared like a normal section of civilization if you didn’t count the folks walking small dinosaurs on leashes! “I’m not admitting the brat was right!” Osra obstinately insisted.

Natalia muttered, “There goes our advantage!”

“Hey, guys! I found it” Nick declared.

“You found my original outfit? Thank god!” Cricket rejoiced.

Nick stared at her incredulously. “Uh, no! I found Stonerac!”

He indicated to a sign by the city’s entrance, and we flocked over to it. A giant slab had the words, “Welcome to Stonerac,” etched onto it! We marveled at this discovery until J.J. observed, “There’s no eye on this thing!”

“Of course not! It’s not gonna be that easy for us to find!” Ensuing that sentence that I uttered, I spotted a small shard with a kaleidoscope hue, and I reversed course, “Or maybe the way out will be that easy!” I ran over to the shard, picked it up, and requested, “Please, take us to the Earthly Realm!”

“Mommy, why is that man talking to a lawn decoration?” a child queried to his mother as they passed by me.

I glanced around, and I then realized I had wandered into a yard whose perimeter was lined with rocks that were eerily similar to the Rainbow Tektites! I tossed the one in my hand down and wondered, “How are we supposed to find the portal home under these conditions?”

A small raptor emerged from the abode and charged towards me like a guard dog, so I hurried off of that property. Osra griped, “We had normal pets back then!”

Ginger forlornly assessed, “It’s gonna take a miracle for us to get through this!”

“Did someone ask for a miracle?” A fellow with a long, luscious mane and a toothy grin put his arm around Ginger’s shoulders and quizzed her, “What’s the matter, little lady? Are you lost?”

“No, but I’d like to be!” Ginger threw his limb off of her, and as she distanced himself from him, she commented, “Gosh, I thought this community was supposed to be more evolved!”

The fellow’s visage bore a very hurt frown, and he dismally regarded us, “I’m sorry! You seemed rather confused, so I was going to guide you to my church! I’m Pastor Aage! That’s my parish behind us!”

Ginger felt a little guilty, but Osra still saw red. “We didn’t have any organized religions!”

“Excuse me?” Pastor Aage blinked in confusion.

“And by that, she means could you give us directions?” I cleaned up that snafu as best I could so that we could proceed. Preceding him getting to question this awkward interaction, I petitioned him, “Can you tell us where the Eye of Stonerac is?”

Pastor Aage somewhat hesitantly filled us in, “The Eye of Stonerac? It’s in the Center for Enigmatic Discoveries at the other of this boulevard. But…. surely, you’re not going there!”

Natalia reacted in intrigue, “We are! Why?”

Once he took a moment to shudder and then collect himself, Pastor Aage stated, “I’ll pray for you!”

“Why? What’s wrong with the other end of the boulevard?” Cricket called after him as he scurried into his chapel, but he didn’t respond. After he shut the door, Cricket moaned, “Oh no! We’re gonna have to deal with something gross, I’m sure of it!”

“Gross if we’re lucky! Which we’re not! Let’s go!” I directed everybody as I began moving in that direction. 

The entire group tailed me timidly except for Miriam. I gazed at Miriam in surprise, but she shrugged it off. “I had to see Blaise naked! After that, nothing scares me!” It seemed like an absurd notion in the beginning of hearing it, but in the end, I kind of saw her point and didn’t press it any longer as we trekked on.

Several minutes elapsed, and then we came across a giant, glass building with a myriad of tropical trees and plants in it. When we got close enough, we were able to distinguish a placard that labeled the edifice as, “The Center for Enigmatic Discoveries!” J.J. breathed an alleviated exhale, and then he opined, “Phew! That pastor made it seem like it was gonna be so difficult, but we…” His tone changed when he noticed a message of caution above the entrance, “Warning: Untamed Species Present… Oh, crap!”

“Isn’t there a back door we could use?” Nick catechized.

“A back door to what? It’s not like that Eye thing is gonna be located in a nice, safe room!” Ellie retorted.

I opened up the aperture, but my feet planted themselves on the path below me when the juncture to go inside arrived. So did everyone else’s! A considerable stretch of silence transpired, and eventually, Eamon brazenly proclaimed, “This task requires the bravest and most nimble of us all! Therefore, I shall initiate this perilous feat!” He audaciously marched into the architecture, and we less confidently mimicked his movement.

It may have been an enjoyable experience if it weren’t for the threat of deadly entities hovering over us! Nothing immediately jumped out at us though, and I dared to hope that this pursuit wouldn’t turn out so problematic for once. I didn’t truly buy that the Eye would wind up becoming effortless to uncover, but since we had a bout of downtime, I was going to suggest we make an attempt at scoping it out. In that instance, a realization fell upon me… “Uh, keep your eyes peeled for hints as to what exactly the Eye actually is…!”

“What?” Almost the entire crew uttered in unison upon learning that none of us knew what were looking for.

“Say again?” Eamon had gotten so wrapped up in his heroic role that he was hardly paying attention to the rest of us. Once he heard my admission to our primary objective having a mysterious status, he swiveled around to verify this fact. In so doing, he didn’t heed the trail ahead, and he wound up tripping on a stick! As he lay on the surface, he assured us, “I am still in peak condition, never fear!”

Out of nowhere, a herd of giant kangaroos with short snouts emerged and ogled at him inquisitively! Eamon picked himself up and avowed, “I’ll slay these vicious animals, worry not, friends!” One of them growled, so he piteously groveled to them, “What do you want? Jewels? We can get you jewels…!”

Natalia pondered, “Why do we keep letting him lead the pack?”

More of the odd kangaroos emerged and surrounded us! Their reddish hairs glistened like blood, and their sharp toenails alluded to our bunch that they could readily tear apart flesh. As a couple of them sniffed over Kamali in a voracious manner, Kamali asserted, “Perhaps we should’ve grabbed some spears before we went in!”

“Shoo! Go on, boy!” Jasper urged the odd kangaroo facing him. It tried to bite him, so Jasper amended his statement, “Sorry! Go on, girl!”

“Why is this open to the public?” Kendra probed as a few started pawing at her.

An odd kangaroo went within inches of Cricket, and based on her behavior, I assumed she was going to faint. Instead, she belted out a visceral scream! To our astonishment, the noise she made didn’t enrage it! On the contrary, it grew so alarmed that it ran off! She aimed her hollering at the remainder of the odd kangaroos, and they too vacated the vicinity! Upon seeing that the coast was clear, Cricket celebrated, “Yeah! The sounds coming out of my mouth made a real impact!”

I kidded her, “Wow! You really are gonna be a politician someday, aren’t you?” Prior to her giving an answer, a cacophony in the distance told us we were far from finished…

The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 17

“What is this?” Roxy marched right up to us as soon as we arrived, and before I had a chance to reorient myself from that interdimensional stint, she shoved a voluminous tome in my face! “Care to explain?”

“That’s called a book, Roxy!” I couldn’t resist that highly sarcastic response. “It’s like a website on paper!”

Aleck tittered at my quip, but Roxy was not amused. “I was doing research for my final project in history, and suddenly, the page changed! You did this! I just know it!”

I didn’t want to encourage this deranged behavior, but my curiosity got the best of me. I peered at the passage she referred to, and I roared in amusement. There was a section titled, “The Pantless Battle,” and it had a censored picture of General Cartones and his troops standing in formation with their lower halves exposed in a triumphant fashion! “No way!” I cried out in delight.

Fletcher and Aleck dashed over to check it out, and they were tickled pink too. In an accusatory tone, Roxy shouted, “I knew it!”

“What? This doesn’t prove anything except we have the sense of humor of middle schoolers!” I attempted to justify our actions. I wasn’t certain if I could assuage her suspicions, but I definitely had to try! If Roxy grew wise to our plans, she might have wound up tagging along on our otherworldly expeditions! I mean, it wouldn’t have prevented us from completing our missions, but considering her tendency to assist our opposition, she would’ve been annoying to bring along! Like we needed more obstacles slowing us down!

“But, it wasn’t there before!’ Roxy contended. “And you guys went somewhere!”

I had no desire to keep lying, but thankfully, not all of the travelers remembered this trip! “Uh, no one went anywhere!” Maria quarreled.

Donna added to that, “We were trying to go somewhere though! Come on, I feel like I’ve had to pee for twenty minutes now!”

“No! None of you were here a minute ago!” Roxy insisted.

“Where else would we have gone?” Corvina shot back. “I was in the gym the whole time! I think! I can’t recall why I came here, but I would’ve recalled leaving! Wouldn’t I?”

Even though Aleck, Fletcher, and I enthusiastically agreed with that, Roxy didn’t budge on her position. “Then why did these paragraphs appear out of thin air?”

Casper furrowed his brows at that premise. “This wasn’t there previously? It seems so familiar…” He read a bit of it, and then he reiterated his theory by citing, “This definitely sounds familiar! ‘Inspired by his distaste for confining garments, General Cartones surprised their enemies with an innovative attack…’”

“What?” I pored over the text, and it stunned me to see no mention of us! That was my idea, how did I not get credit for it? “They didn’t include-!” I caught myself preceding my slipup of our rule of secrecy in this endeavor, but now I had to concoct an excuse for my outburst. “They didn’t include the little bird who told him what to do? Hmm, maybe that was only in the movie version…”

“Isn’t your friend a history teacher?” Maria queried.

I retorted, “Doesn’t your friend need to use the toilet?” The two cheerleaders hurried to the bathroom, and I gently addressed Roxy, “Listen, I know senior year is rough, but you need to rest! Yes, there’s a lot to do in your final semester, and it’s important to get everything done, but if you don’t get a solid night’s sleep, your memory will start playing tricks on you!”

Roxy bristled at this tactic I deployed. “I didn’t forget anything! You did something in the past, and I’m positive it had something to do with spoiling my honey-bunny’s plot! Mark my words, I’m gonna double my efforts in surveilling you, and when I do, I’ll figure out what you’re up to and put a stop to it!”

“When do you get any homework done?” I pondered. Truthfully, the concept of her hanging around more bothered me, but I wasn’t about to show her that! She gave me a contemptuous glare, and then she stormed out. However, she didn’t go far- she could be seen peeking through a small window on the door! I let out an exasperated exhale at this development.

“Can I go now?” Corvina inquired.

Aleck replied, “I don’t see why not!” When she was out of earshot, Aleck whispered to Fletcher and me, “Those realms involve real historical events?”

Casper joined our circle and pried, “What are we discussing here?”

I reached my limit with that dude! He may have accidentally come in handy for one set of monsters, but on the whole, he had been a huge nuisance! Without giving it much consideration, I snapped, “Nothing!” He appeared stunned by my animosity, and it then registered to me that he didn’t recollect anything about our Revolutionary War jaunt! I needed to make a quick repair, and I spouted out the first thing that popped into my mind, “It’s a surprise for the guests at our wedding…”

“Oh, that’s exciting! I’m gonna go share this with Kaleva!” Casper eagerly ambled out of the gymnasium.

“Great! Now I gotta plan something extra for our nuptials!” I grumped as we headed out of the side door. “We don’t even have the location picked out yet!”

Fletcher disagreed with my argument, “You don’t gotta do anything to please that prick! If he asks about it later, you can just say you couldn’t fit it in the schedule or tell him to shove it up his…!” He trailed off when he espied the boys’ soccer team, who had apparently been running around the field the entire duration of our absence! Fletcher blew his whistle and decreed, “Practice is over! Nice job, fellas!”

Jimmy objected, “But, we didn’t even play the game!”

“Do you really want to after all that?” Fletcher probed. Jimmy’s spirit clearly wanted to, but following an honest evaluation of his body’s status, he had to shake his head. “Alright then! Go home! And get plenty of hydration!”

“I could use a drink too!” I kidded, but in all actuality, it wasn’t a joke! I said goodbye to Aleck and Fletcher, and as I went to my car, I could hear Roxy trailing me on her bicycle. I sighed, but I did find some solace in all this- if Roxy was truly committed to stalking me again, she was bound to get caught up in our realm shifts, and I would get some gratification in seeing how disturbed Damon would get from her showing up!

The next day, I entered into the mall with Phoebe. We went up to a bench by this ornate fountain that somehow failed to bring more class to the joint, and once we were there, we beheld Ellie and Ginger pouting as well as a woman that resembled an older version of my fiancé sitting there with a sheepish expression. Based off of what I saw, I inferred, “You told them, Miriam?”

Miriam differed slightly, “I didn’t exactly say it, but when they grew jealous of me not having to perfectly match anyone, I may have slipped that Paloma would get that honor…”

“It doesn’t make sense! Your stepmom is gonna be the Mother-of-the-Bride, and your actual mother is gonna be the Maid-of-Honor?” Ellie huffed.

“I couldn’t choose between the two of you, so…” Phoebe caught sight of Ellie’s irate face, so she asserted, “Well, you didn’t make me Maid-of-Honor at your wedding either!”

Ellie pointed out, “Victor and I got married in eighty-nine! You were… what? Three?’

Ginger argued, “How could you do this? After all we’ve been through!”

“What? And I haven’t been through a lot with her?” Miriam challenged her. “Did you take thirty-six hours to give birth to her? Or stay up all night when she wouldn’t quit crying? And then massage her tummy for hours ‘cause it turned out you can’t have gassy food when you’re breastfeeding? If I knew all that garlic would make her constipated…”

“Oof!” Phoebe clutched her stomach. “Don’t remind me! I’m glad I’m not trying on gowns today!” The ladies still seemed miffed, so Phoebe swiveled herself to me and queried, “Did you have this much trouble picking out your best man?”

I shrugged. “Not really! Rowan was glad to do it!”

Ginger reacted in astonishment, “Rowan? Rowan’s your best friend?”

“Not really. When Aleck and Fletcher found out they had to give a speech, neither of them wanted to do it!” I sensed some hostility still, and the last thing I wanted to do was listen to bickering the entire evening, so I made a bid to alleviate the situation, “Listen, we’re all here ‘cause we love Phoebe, and she included all of you ‘cause she loves you too. The title you get for the ceremony doesn’t matter- we simply need to focus on doing what’s best for Phoebe! So, let’s pick out some dresses without any more fuss, ‘kay?”

“You sound excited to go shopping!” Miriam raised her eyebrows at my statement. “You only do that when you’ve run out of booze or you’re trying to escape from some frustration at home… Is everything okay? My ex isn’t here again, is he?”

I reassured her, “No! Everything’s fine!” That was an odious lie, but I didn’t want to reveal the truth to her! She was the one outsider I could have disclosed details of our supernatural snafus to without sounding crazy since she was privy to that world thanks to her undead former husband, but I still wanted to avoid doing so if I could help it! This whole gig was already complicated enough, I didn’t want to complicate it further. Besides, she was at peace not knowing our situation, so it seemed kind of mean to involve her. She didn’t deserve that kind of punishment! Perhaps I should have let Casper get in on this after all!

Miriam eyed me distrustfully. “What’s going on?”

My imagination reeled with different explanations that would plausibly support my actions, but when I spotted Roxy watching me from behind a trash can, I articulated, “I’m trying to forget I’m getting followed by a dumb blonde!”

“I heard that! I’m not dumb! I-!” As Roxy marched toward me, she slipped and fell head-first into the garbage bin!

“Hurry!” I ushered the ladies out of the vicinity preceding her recovery.

As we headed to our destination, Ellie brought up to Miriam, “You know, your ex is gonna be at the wedding…”

Miriam waved that off. “You mean Gene? Oh, I don’t care about that! I think I can handle him after dealing with over a decade’s worth of Blaise’s bullshit! Gene looks like a saint compared to that asshole! Seriously, who frickin’ lies about being a zombie?” She noticed a girl with a tray staring at her in startlement, but Miriam was undeterred. “What are you looking at?”

“Free sample?” the girl timidly offered small cups with a brown beverage in them to us. “It’s our new Olive Oil Espresso!” 

“Olive oil and coffee? Isn’t that basically a laxative?” Phoebe mulled that concept over, and then she eagerly grabbed several cups. “I’ll share it with them, I swear!” As she guzzled down the first one, the barista girl indicated that she clearly didn’t believe her and was miffed about it.

Minutes later, Phoebe’s abdomen lurched, and she observed, “That was fast!”

The rest of us waited in the hall, and I was prepared to scroll through my phone when I overheard a familiar female’s voice yell, “I should sue you!”

“What’s going on, Cricket?” I asked the angry female by the kiosk.

“I told that man no, and he continued to pester me about the lotion he’s selling! That’s harassment!’ Cricket bellowed.

I sardonically catechized, “How’s that pre-law major treating you? Real stress-free, huh?”

Cricket chimed, “I love it! Why wouldn’t I?”

“Nice try!” Roxy conveyed to me with messy hair and used gum on her collar. “I’ve caught you! I’ll stop you from ruining my Day-Day’s scheme! You-!”

“There’s nothing going on, Roxy!’ I refuted her claim. “We’re gonna have a nice, normal day in the mall, and there won’t be any-!”

To my horror, Cricket’s eyes turned into that kaleidoscope hue! It baffled me since neither Mrithan nor anyone else from the school was present to hand out consumable goods! Cricket was a college student now, so she hadn’t gone onto Rosemary King’s campus in ages! I wanted to get to the bottom of this mystery, but prior to that occurring, I had another issue to tackle… “Hey! There’s a monster hiding in that shoe shop! Let’s get it!”

Roxy exclaimed, “Oh, no you don’t!” She zoomed into the footwear emporium and avidly scoured the grounds for the non-existent beast.

While she was distracted, I pushed Cricket down the aisleway. “Take her to the luggage store! That place is always empty!” Ginger directed. When we arrived, it was actually pretty packed! “Really?”

“What’s happening?” Cricket wondered. I strove to unearth a rationale that wouldn’t upset her, but before I could cook up any stories…

“Bleck! I hate it!” A guy in the space next door glimpsed at his buddy as he tried on a vest from a nearby rack in disgust. “You look like you belong in the caveman days!”

I wailed, “Nooooo!” It was too late to prevent it though…

The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 16

“Please, don’t!” Maria begged as she braced for impact. We were all prepared to defend against this assault, but before we could move an inch…

“Wow! Even with death imminently approaching, you acted politely!” The Headless Horseman put down his axe and leaned against it in a relaxed repose. “Manners are in such short supply these days, it’s refreshing to see!”

The entire group gazed at each other in confusion over this abrupt change in demeanor, and no one was sure how to proceed. Everyone seemed too afraid to do anything, but someone had to do something! Finally, I summoned up a bit of bravery and asked him, “So… you’re gonna let us go? … Sir?”

After a pleasant chuckle, the Headless Horseman answered, “I have no quarrel with such kind individuals, so yes, go forth and do good in the world!”

It was tempting to question his sense of morality considering he was perfectly willing to murder us a few seconds ago, but everyone clammed up as we very cautiously passed by him. Nobody dared to turn their backs to him in case this was a ruse, but he simply watched us in a congenial fashion, so evidently, he was telling the truth! Even though he didn’t have a visible noggin, I swore he was smiling! Once we gained a considerable distance between him and us, we hurried off a little quicker. 

Minutes later, we were out of range for his invisible ears to hear us, so we collectively released a sigh of relief. “We’re going to be alright!” Kendra rejoiced.

“Are we though?” Aleck pondered. “Shouldn’t we have defeated him?”

“No! We’re supposed to talk to that Cartoons fella, and then we’re supposed to get the hell out of this realm!” Fletcher asserted. “He’s the villagers’ problem now! We’re not going back there!”

Aleck articulated, “I know! But, I feel kinda bad leaving them in danger like that!”

Maria assured him, “They’ll be fine if they were paying attention to what we did! I can’t believe I saved everyone by being respectful! Wait ‘til I tell my parents! Oh, wait! I can’t mention any of this without sounding like a complete lunatic, can I?”

“Welcome to my world!” I muttered.

“Gosh, teachers lead such interesting lives outside the classroom!” Donna remarked. “I didn’t know this is what you do in your free time!”

I was about to relay to her that I did not do this as a hobby or even a real choice, but then Casper butt in, “We certainly do go on extraordinary adventures! Did I ever tell you about the staker I partook in to search for the Bog Behemoth?”

Donna groaned, “Ugh! You’re not gonna sing again, are you?”

I bursted out in laughter at her comment, but Casper now bore a very pronounced glower. He appeared to be on the verge of ranting, but luckily, a set of soldiers blocked our path with their bayonets! Well, maybe that wasn’t exactly lucky, but it did shut Casper up anyway! The first soldier notified us, “Civilians aren’t allowed in military territory!”

“You don’t understand! We’ve gotta go in there!” Jasper argued. “We have a mission of the utmost importance at hand!”

“Oh?” The second soldier looked intrigued. “And what might that be?”

Jasper clearly blanked out at that reaction, so he sputtered, “It’s… uh… so urgent that we…” He turned to the rest of our lot to get some clues on how to finish that sentence, but we were at a loss too, so we decided to go with, “…we can’t even discuss it out loud!”

The soldiers were highly skeptical of this rationale, and so Osra stepped in, “You see, we’re here to… deliver a message!” She obviously just concocted that excuse on the spot, and she seemed quite proud of her ingenuity.

“Hand us the message, and we’ll deliver it to the appropriate party,” the first soldier decreed.

“No…” Osra refused. “We… We have to chat with General Cartones ourselves!”

The second soldier scoffed at her, “Psh! You can’t merely meet with the general for a casual discussion! He’s a busy man, and…!” He cut himself off when he beheld Corvina, and then his tone completely altered, “Hold on! Are you his daughter?”

Corvina blinked in bewilderment at that characterization. “Um, no!” Since I saw a window of opportunity for us to complete our quest, I nudged her with my elbow to indicate that she should change her tune. Thankfully, she was smart enough to figure out what I meant with that gesture! “No… I’m his princess!”

After the two soldiers heartily tittered, the first soldier queried, “Why didn’t you tell us that in the first place?”

Corvina had no inkling how to respond to that, so Eamon stepped in, “Thank you for mentioning that and making us feel foolish!”

“Who are your companions?” the second soldier posed to Corvina.

“Spirits visiting from the Heavens!” Corvina conveyed that in a sarcastic enough tone that it sounded as though she was kidding. “Are you gonna keep asking me idiotic things, or do I need to let my dad know you two were interfering with our mission?” 

The two soldiers hastily moved aside, and, once again, I was grateful for the utility of teenage attitudes during these chaotic misadventures!

As we trekked through the sea of tents, Fletcher complained, “All these look the same! How are we supposed to know which one is General Cartoons’?” We subsequently came across a big canvas shelter with a sign that depicted his name, and Fletcher was startled by the unexpected ease of this discovery. “Oh! Oh, good! We can get this moronic goal done in time for supper!”

Aleck gently reminded him, “Yes, but don’t call him Cartoons!”

“Right! We don’t wanna insult the guy!” Fletcher concurred.

“No! Cartoons don’t even exist yet!” Aleck corrected him.

Fletcher huffed, “If he doesn’t know what it is, then he won’t get insulted if I call him that! Why can’t I say it?”

A middle-aged man with dark hair in a ponytail and piercing blue eyes that mirrored Corvina’s poked his front half out of his flaps and petitioned us, “Why can’t you say what?”

We all jumped from shock at his unforeseen appearance, but we quickly collected ourselves given the high stakes of this diabolical but dumb objective. I formally communicated to him, “Sir, we have a serious proposal we’d like to go into detail with you.” He seemed surprised to hear this, but he permitted our entrance nonetheless.

I distinctly remembered learning about this man in history books, so I thought I knew him well. As I stared at him, I realized I didn’t have much background on him at all! He had a shorter stature than I pictured, and he didn’t walk as majestically as I imagined he would! As far as I could make out, he was an ordinary person! It was a strange revelation since he was always portrayed as larger than life!

“What is your proposal?” General Cartones catechized.

“Oh! Uh…” At that juncture, it registered to me that we didn’t have a plan for this eventuality whatsoever! It seemed stupid at that moment, but to be fair, it’s a little hard to contemplate anything when monsters are trying to kill you! He looked at me with the expectation of getting a reply, but I couldn’t formulate a proper sales pitch under that sort of pressure, so I just blurted out, “We want you to go into your next battle without your pants on!”

General Cartones’ eyes grew wide at that proposition, and the others ogled at me in dumbfoundment. I cringed at my action, and I prayed that I didn’t blow the whole operation with my tactlessness! To my relief, General Cartones erupted in a merry guffaw! “You said your proposal was serious!”

Casper placed himself at the forefront of our assemblage and carried himself with the air of feeling superior with the solution he dreamt up in his cognizance. “Listen, my friend may sound preposterous with that concept, but there is a simple explanation for this line of thinking! We believe you should do this because…” He opened his mouth as if he had something thoughtful to express, but evidently, he couldn’t conjure anything up either. I was glad that he fumbled his shot at showing me up, and my appeasement made him fold his arms and pout.

I wouldn’t have blamed General Cartones for kicking us out of his tent after that display, but after glimpsing at us in perplexion for a spell, he decreed, “I’ll give you a minute to figure out how to explain yourselves!” He went over to a full-length mirror in the corner and glanced at his image in disgust. “I hate these garments! They’re so confining! And, I dislike not being able to express my individuality wearing them!”

Corvina’s face lit up at the topic he brought up. “I said the same thing!”

“I’m glad someone agrees with me!” General Cartones turned around, and when he caught sight of Corvina’s visage, he inquired, “Are we related?”

“Very distantly!” Kamali replied with a wry smile. We all found that humorous, but we had to suppress our mirth so that General Cartones wouldn’t get weirded out! Well, even more weirded out than he already was!

Preceding General Cartones broaching the subject any further, I articulately orated, “But, this is exactly why you should go into battle pantless!” He gawked at me with a baffled intrigue, and I produced a more ardent and persuasive appeal. “How can you perform at your peak if you’re not comfortable? Let yourself be free! That’s what this struggle is all about, isn’t it? Liberate yourself! How stunned would your enemies be to see such a spectacle? They would freeze from disbelief of this vision, that’s for sure! And, you can use this momentary distraction to attack them unopposed! So, what do you say? Will you deploy this unconventional advantage or not?’

I stupefied everyone (including myself!) by making that ridiculous notion come across as a logical strategic technique! General Cartones shifted into a reflective stance, and I grew hopeful of ending this quest immediately! I also became curious- at what point would the realm consider this mission as complete and send us home? Would we have to actually see them engage in combat, or would his agreement to this circumstance suffice? Regardless of the scenario, General Cartones seemed as though he was on the verge of announcing his decision when…

“General Cartones, I have the intelligence report from your lieutenant!” Damon unceremoniously entered into the space wearing an American uniform, and my blood instantly boiled at his this intrusion! It was inconceivable for him to have a presence at the precipice of our victory, and if it weren’t for an innocent bystander in our proximity, I would’ve unleashed my fury on that scoundrel!

“Excellent! Set it on the table,” General Cartones directed him. Damon very willingly obliged, which was undoubtedly a sign he was up to something devious. As he unfurled his parchment, I speculated as to how long his subservient act would last! General Cartones peered at the paper and frowned. “Who wrote this? This handwriting is atrocious!”

Damon got insulted by that statement. “It seems pretty clear to me!”

As General Cartones strove to decipher the markings, Damon subtly slipped low and reached underneath the surface. He inched closer and closer to a small chest, and persisted in this effort until General Cartones demanded, “I give up! Since you can read this chicken scratch, you explain what is on there!”

It was entertaining to witness Damon swallowing his pride like that! He very reluctantly stifled his indignation over his slur, and then he mustered as much cordiality as he could as he verbalized, “The enemy is just beyond the ridge adjacent to the northern end of our camp!” 

“Oh, dear!” General Cartones exclaimed. “We don’t have a plan for an attack at the base!” Damon resumed his attempt to seize the content of that chest, and I couldn’t fathom what he was seeking, but I recognized that it must have held a huge significance for him to resort to this antic. We all gathered that we needed to intervene, but nobody could concoct a method inconspicuous enough to thwart him without upsetting General Cartones. General Cartones frantically quizzed him, “What did Lieutenant Van Halen recommend we do?” I got too enchanted by that reference to one of my favorite classic rock bands to notice that Damon had opened his mouth to, most likely, dole out some bad advice. Thankfully, someone else was quick on their feet…

“Don’t listen to him! He’s evil!” Donna implored.

Yet again, we left General Cartones dumbfounded. It would’ve been better if she had done something slightly more low-key, but since the cat was out of the bag, we had to provide him a reason for that outburst that would make more sense to him than a Hellian escapee was trying to rip apart the fabric of society with time-traveling stones! I recollected our conversation with that paranormal pest prior to the onset of this eighteenth-century journey, and I revealed, “He’s a loyalist!”

General Cartones looked at him in aghast. “Is this true?”

“Of course it is!” Natalia reiterated this fact. “He’s from Romania, and they’re allied with Germany!” She replayed her words in her mind, and then she softly bemoaned, “That’s the wrong war, isn’t it?”

“You’re a Hessian?” General Cartones seethed. “You’ll pay a price for your treachery!”

General Cartones pulled out a sword, and Damon belted out a high-pitched scream as General Cartones chased him out of the vicinity. Fletcher pondered, “You reckon him and his army’ll get that S.O.B. out of our lives forever?”

Osra grinned. “That’d be nice! In the meantime, let’s see what he was so desperately after!”

Casper and I both dove for the chest, but I beat him to it. When I opened the lid and saw something familiar at the top, I had to laugh, “We should’ve guessed!” I held the Rainbow Tektite in the air, and everyone but Casper, who was pouting, celebrated in alleviation. I didn’t even bother to ask if everyone was ready to return home, I just assumed and gazed at the stone as I requested, “Please, take us back to the Earthly realm!”

The vortex took us out of that era, and we gracefully landed back in the gym. But we weren’t alone…

The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 15

“That’s it?” Maria questioned as a small, black cat emerged from the flowery fencing and perched itself on a pumpkin. “That’s the monster?”

“Don’t be fooled by its appearance!” I cautioned the girls. “Sometimes dangerous things pose as stuff that’s harmless and adorable! Not as adorable as Jett, but still!”

The cat began licking one of its paws, and all of the adults (except Casper) gazed at each other for cues on how to proceed. Casper had his eyes closed as if he were waiting for something, and we ignored him as we tried to figure out what to do. Finally, Osra spoke up, “There’s only one way to know the truth of its nature…”

Casper disagreed, “Wrong! There are several methods of detecting supernatural entities! Unfortunately, most of them can’t be utilized due to my tools being stored in my classroom, which we won’t likely have access to out here. However, we do have one advantage in this situation- any deception can get rooted out with my third-eye abilities!”

“Oh, jeez! This dope believes he’s psychic now?” Fletcher grumbled.

“I’m seeing… I’m seeing…” Casper kept his lids shut as he allegedly scanned the animal’s aura, and he apparently arrived at a conclusion when his peepers flickered wide open. “It’s a Howler in disguise! Don’t worry, this one is benign, we’re safe!”

Corvina started to enquire, “What’s a H-?”

Aleck interrupted her, “Don’t ask any follow-ups to his nonsense!”

“It’s not nonsense!” Casper reacted in offense. “I have been awarded a gift, and… Okay, so I had to do a lot of honing to activate it, but even so, it is my gift, and I choose to share it with you! And how am I repaid? By-?”

“Hey, if you’re so sure it’s harmless, why don’t you go over and test to see if it’ll let people pass?” I challenged him.

Casper boldly accepted my dare, “I’d be happy to!”

As he approached the feline, Kendra softly chided me, “I understand that you don’t like the guy, but don’t risk him getting killed over it!”

“He won’t get killed! Maybe really hurt, but…” I espied her reproachful stare, so I begrudgingly agreed, “I’ll stand by just in case!”

“Hello, wayfarer from Beyond!’ Casper prouncedly greeted the kitty. “We mean you no ill will, so, will you grant us passage into your territory?”

The animal ogled at him judgmentally, and that led me to cast it as an excellent judge of character. All of a sudden, there was more rustling in the sunflowers, and I regretted joining Casper for this dumb venture! I despised that I would most likely have to fight to save this pompous dork’s life, but seeing how I basically put him in peril’s path, I didn’t have much of a choice! Besides, I didn’t want whatever was there to attack the children present! The entity there had a more considerable size than what we were standing before, so I braced myself to defend everyone… somehow! It’s hard to truly prepare for a barrage when the perpetrator is a total mystery!

A young lady in a bonnet poked her head in, and she looked alarmed by our activity. “What are you doing to my cat?”

“Did you realize your pet is a monster in an assumed form?” Casper pressed her.

“Pardon?” The young lady eyeballed him as though he was completely devoid of sanity, which made me snicker but also gave me an idea.

I went up to Casper and apologized to the young lady, “We’re so sorry, ma’am! We’re in charge of this patient, and he recently escaped from the asylum!”

Casper denied that allegation, “We’re not from an asylum! We’re from the twenty-first century, and we came to combat otherworldly beasts as well as convince General Carnotes to take his pants off!”

“Does that sound like something a sane person would come up with?” I posed to the young lady.

“I see… Well, carry on then!” The young lady parted her plants and permitted us passage.

Fletcher, Jasper, and I forced Casper to put his arms behind his back, and as we paraded him out, Casper claimed, “We were sent on a quest by a malevolent spirit!”

Eamon ruefully regarded her, “Sorry for our intrusion!”

When we exited onto a dirt road, Donna canvassed the young lady, “Do your parents escort you everywhere?”

“Of course not!” the young lady affirmed. This surprised the girls, but not as much as what she followed with, “But my husband does.”

“Huh? But, you’re our age!” Donna exclaimed.

The young woman chimed, “Oh, are you also fourteen?” Donna, Maria, and Corvina’s jaws nearly hit the floor from that tidbit, but their appall only heightened when she brought something else up, “Say… My husband has a brother who is unwed…”

Prior to the girls expressing their horror at that concept, Eamon as well as Kamali and Aleck linked arms with them, and Eamon informed her, “Forgive us for disappointing your kin, but we’re courting these ladies!” Ironically, the girls seemed rather grateful to have adults escort them at this juncture!

We walked down the lane for a while, and then Kamali wondered, “Where are we going?” 

I shrugged. “Down this way ‘til we find someone who can tell us where General Cartones is.”

Osra squinted her eyes, and then she determined, “It looks like we’re coming to the entrance of a town.”

“Please, let the general be right there at the entrance!” Aleck crossed his fingers on both hands and beseeched this desire to the universe. My ancestors, Fletcher, and I peered at him skeptically, and he defended his actions, “Hey! What’s wrong with hoping for the simplest solution?”

“There is something there!” Covina noted. “Maybe it’s his horse? Wait, it’s super pale!”

We grew closer to the entity, and as I studied it better, I came to a realization, “It’s a ghost! Also, it’s a moose! Wow, random!”

Jasper remarked, “A Ghost Moose? That doesn’t sound too bad!” As it stood in the archway bordering the hamlet’s perimeter, it glowered at us and emitted a guttural growl. “Hmm! I always heard these creatures were gentle!”

“It’s blocking the only route inside!” Kaleva observed.

“Alright, Mister Occult Expert! How do we get rid of it?” I quizzed Casper.

Casper tapped his noggin as he contemplated the matter. “Under typical circumstances, one could use tangerines or blue paint, but I distinctly recall a unique quality attributed to this form…”

The Ghost Moose continued with its menacing stance, so I proposed, “What if somebody distracted it while the rest of us snuck in? I mean, that person would have to race inside when they got an opening, but…”

“That’ll never work!” Casper belittled my proposition.

“Do you have anything better?” I retorted.

Casper resumed his rumination. “Perhaps… We’ll need a bag and breakable glass though…”

Eamon opined, “It couldn’t do any harm to give it a chance!”

“Thank you! See, I told you I was brilliant!” Casper pridefully commented.

“I wasn’t referring to you! Connor is on a decent track with his suggestion, although, once again, we’ll need someone nimble to pull it off, so, once again, I’ll volunteer!” Eamon steeled himself up to perform this task, and then he marched over to the Ghost Moose.

The Ghost Moose snarled at him, and Eamon taunted it, “Come hither, Moose! Whoo!” Eamon’s lure tempted the Ghost Moose enough to leave its post, and we initiated our sneaking in. Eamon soon tripped backward on a branch, and as he fell onto the floor, he discouraged the Ghost Moose from reaching him, “Turn around! They’re getting away!”

Natalia dryly stated, “Thanks, nimble one!”

The Ghost Moose dove for Eamon, and I sped to both of their proximity preceding any contact. The Ghost Moose aimed to bite him, so I strove to block its jaw from touching Eamon. I stretched toward it, and… It shocked me to watch my grasp go straight through the Ghost Moose’s mandible! “What the-? Oh, duh! It’s a ghost! They’re transparent!”

“I’ll save you, friend!” Casper valiantly threw himself in front of Eamon and stood in a heroic fashion. His pathetic attempt to garner admiration made us all shake our heads in disappointment.

“Alright, let’s go! Everyone ignore the Ghost Moose!” Aleck replayed his words in his mind, and he articulated, “Huh! There’s a sentence I never thought I’d say!” 

We all moved forward, and the Ghost Moose persisted in its efforts for a while, but eventually, it became discouraged and morosely gave up. I almost felt sorry for it! Almost!

We saw several citizens of this city browsing fruits and vegetables outside of a market, and Fletcher esteemed, “We should ask these folks for directions. Unfriendly people don’t take forever to pick out produce!”

Kamali argued, “I don’t think that’s true! How could there be a correlation between-?”

“Who cares? We gotta ask someone!” Jasper quarreled. He then addressed the marketplace patrons, “Excuse us! We’re visitors to this region, and we could use some assistance.” They gladly turned around to respond, but when they took a gander at our crew, their eyes went wide and they all ran inside. Jasper took exception to this behavior, “What? Do we smell or something?”

“Everyone smells here!” Natalia asserted.

A woman behind an adjacent window shouted, “How rude!”

Natalia blushed at this development. “Oh, you heard that?”

“Don’t expect us to show remorse! You didn’t even let us complete our question before you fled from us!” Jasper confronted them.

“We weren’t fleeing from you!’ The woman indicated to something behind us.

A strange, low-pitched howl emanated from our backside, and I mumbled, “Why didn’t we guess it was a monster?” We swiveled around, and we beheld shaggy beasts with bodies like bears and faces like cats with inverted noses. “What the hell are those?”

While using a barrel as a shield, a man illuminated us, “Why, they’re the Howlers, of course!”

“Ha! Didn’t I say that there were Howlers around?” Casper folded his arms triumphantly.

“Yeah, but you didn’t say how to defeat them!” I riposted as the Howlers crawled off the rooftops and towards our locale.

Casper’s proud grin faded as he attempted to recall this vital info. “I dunno! But I will! I haven’t revisited my research on them since college, so give me a minute!”

Corvina pointed out, “Uh, we don’t exactly have a minute…!”

“I wrote a song about paranormal defense,” Casper recollected. The Howlers got within inches of us, and we all grabbed whatever was handy to defend ourselves. A few from our lot snagged some rocks, but the rest of us resorted to the ware from the store’s bins! At the precise instance I was praying a lemon would save me from getting mauled, Casper belted out a tune: 

“Granite, quartz, and running water,/

Can get used to combat beings from the hereafter!/

And make no mistake,/

You can also use a stake!/”

“Holy smokes! It’s working!” Kendra observed as the Howlers seemed repulsed by his crooning.

Casper sullenly spat, “My musical ability isn’t a magical deterrent!”

The Howlers resume their voracity when he quit warbling, so Maria urged him, “Keep singing, Mister Von Dutchman!”

After uttering an exasperated exhale, Casper went on:

“Some cannot cross a bed of roses,/

And some can be kicked in their noses…/”

I realized that he wrote this jingle, but it still bore the hallmarks of getting sung off-key! And rhyming mistake with stake? As much as I disliked his ditty, I appreciated it tremendously at this moment! The Howlers writhed in agony at the noise coming out of Casper’s mouth, and thankfully, after several seconds of this, the Howlers let out a final shriek and quickly scurried off!

The onlookers cheered, and Kendra complimented him, “You did it!”

I would’ve expected Casper to lap this fond focus on him up, but he stunned me when he grew miffed and pouted, “Yes, but I can’t brag about how I did it! What was the purpose if not that?” He stormed off, and we tailed him down the avenue.

At the other end of this borough, we viewed a field with tents and Revolutionary soldiers on it, and Osra breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank goodness! We don’t have to get directions from anyone else! But, no one is outside! There must be another subhuman threat lurking about!”

“Maybe this one won’t be so bad!” Aleck tried to buoy our spirits. “I can’t imagine anything worse than the Howlers!” As if on cue, a dark horse came into our range of vision. Its rider had ornate clothing and no head, which caused Aleck to amend his previous sentence, “Yes, I can!”

“How does he see where he’s going with no eyeballs?” Corvina cried out as the Headless Horseman circled us fast enough that no one could budge. 

The Headless Horseman brandished an axe, and I advised Corvina, “Let’s figure it out later and assume he can see his targets for the time being!”

Suddenly, the Headless Horseman raised his weapon up, and…

The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 14

“Will you two stop acting like babies?” Fletcher shouted to us from the soccer field. “It’s not like it’ll happen twice within twenty-four hours with nearly the same set of students!”

“Yeah, we know!” Aleck responded as we stood by the gym’s side entrance. “We… We’re just… enjoying the shade!”

Fletcher, understandably, didn’t buy that claim. “Whatever you’re scared of, hurry up and get over it! These agility hurdles aren’t gonna set themselves up!”

I griped, “Oh, why not? It’s the twenty-first century- why doesn’t equipment like that exist?”

As we grabbed the rods that bore the appearance of monkey bars that were separated and three-dimensional, Aleck pointed out, “If they did exist, we probably wouldn’t have the budget for it!”

“Oh, yeah!” I acknowledged the accuracy of his statement. As we began setting the agility hurdles up, we kept glancing at the boys’ team practicing passes close by. Eventually, I asked Fletcher, “How does everything look out there?”

“Totally normal!” Fletcher huffed. Jimmy put a bouquet of dandelions in his mouth and motioned for his teammate to aim there, so Fletcher blew his whistle. “Spit those out! What did I say about eating crap off the ground?”

Jimmy argued, “I wasn’t gonna eat them! Well, not on purpose anyway!”

Fletcher gritted his teeth, and then he relayed to us, “See! That’s totally normal!”

“That’s true! ‘Kay, you win! We’ve gotta stop!” I acquiesced to his argument. “It’ll be nice to think about something else for a change! Okay, no more talk about spooky stuff!”

“Hey, Connor!” Casper approached the field. “I wanna talk to you about some spooky stuff!”

I let out a frustrated breath, and then I grumbled, “So much for that idea!” When he joined our group, I relented, “Alright, Casper! What is it?”

Casper narrated, “So, I was on my search for the source of that dark magic, and my divination rod led me to the English department. It suddenly jerked when I came to Room One-Three-Nine, so I opened the door. Do you know what I found in there?”

“Imelda grading papers?” I presumed.

“Yes!” Casper confirmed. “There weren’t any signs of the fairy folks anywhere, but I knew they must be around there somewhere! When I sought Imelda’s permission to search the area, she told me no! Can you believe that?”
I responded, “Uh, yeah!”

Casper seemed affronted by my lackadaisical attitude regarding his revelation. “Really? I thought we were on the same page with this matter! How are you not outraged?”

“What do you want me to do?” I shot back. “Scour the space without her permission? Consent is important, Casper! A woman has a right to say no!”

“Kaleva never tells me no!” Casper folded his arms and pouted. 

Aleck clicked his tongue in complete skepticism of his remark. “I don’t believe that for a second!”

Casper looked miffed, so, to end this potentially long spat, I humored him, “Fine! When we get the chance, we’ll check out her room.” Aleck gazed at me quizzically, so I gestured in a manner that indicated that I wasn’t serious. I attempted to finish this conversation by telling him, “We can’t do anything today, so you can go home. That concludes the spooky business for today!”

“Mister Fenmore!” Corvina ran up to me with a frantic frown. She appeared to be in a panic, but she oddly kept a tight grip on the sunglasses she was wearing. “I was just in the girls’ restroom, and… I  think something’s wrong!”

“Oh, gosh! That sounds like something you should bring up to a female teacher! Coach Huppert is in the wrestling loft running cheer practice…” I had enough knowledge of medical lore that I probably could’ve advised her with this issue, but it made me uncomfortable to do so! I mean, there was a reason I dropped my pre-med major!

Corvina insisted, “No! I need to show you now!”

We all shielded our eyes, but when we dared to have a peek, we realized she wasn’t referring to any feminine problems! Our relief in that was short-lived though- Corvina had kaleidoscope eyes! Our skin paled, and all I could determine to do was to put her sunglasses back on her head. We found the latest victim (well, technically, she found us!), and as much as we anticipated this event, we still didn’t have a plan for what to do with the afflicted, so, for a lengthy stretch, we were at a loss of what to do!

“Hey, Coach Jackson! What’s going on?” Jimmy craned his neck in an attempt to catch a glimpse of our activity.

“Nothing! Everyone go run laps!” Fletcher directed them with his voice at a slightly higher octave than he typically had it.

Aleck decreed, “I cannot go on another trip with them! Let’s get her away from here!”

I suggested, “The gym is empty. Come on!” As we steered her away from the field the boys were now running around, I requested to Casper, “Can you watch soccer practice real quick?” We dashed into the gym prior to getting an answer.

“What’s happening?” Corvina frantically pressed us.

“Nothing!” I espied her disbelieving expression, so I altered my assertion slightly, “Not yet anyways” I turned to Aleck and Fletcher, and I ruefully commented, “Out of all the medication I saw developed during my stint at Novak Neander, I don’t recall seeing anything that’d cure this!”

Casper perched himself in the doorway of the gymnasium and posed to us, “What is this?”

I grimaced at his presence, and since I was aggravated, I accidentally blurted out my honest opinion, “Ugh! You are truly useless!”

“Ouch!” Casper didn’t seem to relish that insult, but he didn’t seem deterred by it either. “Nice try, but I’m not leaving ‘til I understand what’s going on! Tell me, Corvina, did you encounter any individuals with webbed hands and blue skin?”

“What?” Corvina stared at him in confusion.

Aleck recommended, “Don’t ask!” He shifted his attention to us and theorized, “Maybe we can get the cure if we track down the person who fed her the-.”

I cut him off, “Shh! Don’t give him any information about the… you-know-whats!” I lowered my volume and entreated them, “Let’s minimize the amount of people who know about the other realms! Him especially! If he learned about this, he’ll always get involved with our plans, and we’ll never get rid of him!”

“I disclosed my findings to you, so I demand you give me the same courtesy!” Casper badgered us. “We’re part of a collective that combats the occult, so it doesn’t benefit any of us to cause rifts with one another! When I played football, my fellow players and I never-!”

“Will you shut up for a minute?” Fletcher rubbed his temples in exasperation. “I can’t conjure up a solution with all your yapping!”

Corvina clutched her stomach and moaned, “I don’t feel so good…”

This behavior struck me with a bolt of inspiration. “Real fast while you still have your memory, what did you eat and drink today?”

I eagerly awaited her response, and I avidly anticipated the notion of finally obtaining a clue to the culprit responsible for carrying out Damon’s demented misdeeds for him! Unfortunately, my strategy only perplexed Corvina further. “Huh? Why am I gonna lose my memory?”

“It’s a part of the spell, undoubtedly,” Casper put in.

“No! It’s not a spell! It’s… Argh!” I emitted a noise of sheer annoyance, but I fully intended to continue with my interrogation… until…

Two cheerleaders emerged from the entryway to the loft, and one of them exclaimed, “So, yeah! Now, my abuelo wants to have a ‘chat’ with my date before we leave for prom! Can you believe that, Donna?” The pair of them spotted us, and they justifiably ogled at us in bewilderment. Donna’s friend inquired, “What’s going on?”

“Detention! She was tardy to all of our classes!” I fibbed. They appeared mollified by that explanation, and when I sensed Casper readying himself to deny that statement, I pinched him to shut him up. I was glad they were appeased, but the girls’ arrival caused me to wonder if this would become a trend, so I catechized, “Is cheer practice over already?”

“Oh, no! We gotta use the toilet, and someone clogged the drains up there!” Donna shared with us.

Fletcher recollected, “That’d probably be Stevenson! He carbo-loads before wrestling matches, so when he goes, he goes! Ooh, I probably shouldn’t have mentioned his name…”

The two cheerleaders were clearly at a loss for words from that exchange, so I sagaciously communicated to them, “In general, if you don’t know what to say, you should just walk away!”

“I believe that, Maria!” Donna heeded my advice and headed towards the bathroom as though she hadn’t witnessed our oddity whatsoever. “My parents wanted to escort me to the prom!” They nearly exited the arena, which would’ve garnered us more time to unearth a remedy for this catastrophe, but then Donna scoffed at her folks’ intention, “I’m, like, what is this? Colonial times?”

“Colonial times! Colonial times! Colonial times!” Corvina chanted.

As the swirling vortex manifested above us, Fletcher vexedly uttered, “Gosh darnit! This is not what I wanted to do with my afternoon!”

Casper differed, “It isn’t? Why not? We’re off to an adventure!”

I got the impression that if the vortex hadn’t swallowed us up, Fletcher would’ve toed the line of letting himself smack Casper! Not that I would’ve blamed him, and not that the interdimensional travel provided us any real benefit, but at least in this instance, perhaps it prevented one bad scenario from unfolding!

We gently landed on some vines, and a tri-corner hat fell over my vision prior to me getting to scope out our new surroundings. Once I readjusted myself, I saw that we were all donning eighteenth-century garb in the middle of a pumpkin farm. Corvina gawked at her outfit in disgust. “I can’t wear something so utterly conventional like this!”

“Trust me, in a minute, your wardrobe will be the least of your worries!” Aleck knowledgeably addressed her.

My ancestors materialized by us, and Natalia proudly showed us her footwear. “Look! The Big Guy gave me new shoes! Thank goodness! For a while, I was worried He’d make me go barefoot!”

My brows furrowed at the image she raised. “Why wouldn’t He give you another pair?” Natalia’s visage shifted in a slightly guilty fashion, but preceding her ability to explain herself…

Damon sat on a giant pumpkin as if he was lounging on a comfortable recliner, and he taunted her, “Yes, Natalia! Why wouldn’t he want to do you a favor like that?”

Natalia glared at him, but Kalmali was the first to react, “What? Like you’re so righteous! Didn’t you steal property belonging to Heaven?”

“Maybe…!” Damon snickered.

“Why did you do that?” I probed. “I mean, other than trying to get petty revenge against our town! You have such a grudge against Rosemary King High School- what did that place ever do to you?”

I’m not sure why I expected Damon to actually reply to that! It did make his expression sour though, so I deemed my effort as worth it. Damon seethed, “We’re not here to discuss my past! Only your future… in the past! Are you ready to hear your quest?”

Maria anxiously articulated, “I don’t even understand what this is all about! Are we in some sort of dream?”

“Some sort, yeah,” Osra stated.

“Your goal for this mission: persuade General Carnotes to go into battle pantless!” Damon dramatically announced.

Kendra threw her hands up in puzzlement. “You can’t be serious!”

Damon laughed, “He was the American Rebels’ most trusted military leader aside from George Washington, and not only will this humiliate him, but it’ll cause his men to lose a hundred percent of their confidence in his competency! Therefore, the British will become the rightful victors of this war!”

“You’re a Loyalist?” I questioned. “I don’t see why a nihilist like you would have a stake in this conflict!”

“If the colonists don’t win, then Terra Belle will cease to exist!” Damon leered. “Ha! And you probably all thought I lost my mind!”

Eamon verbalized, “We still do! Why expose the poor chap’s undergarments like that?”

Damon shrugged. “Well, I was going to have you kill him, but I assumed you do-gooders would’ve refused to do that!” We all recognized the accuracy of that accusation, and since that objection got resolved, he wrapped up our interaction, “Have fun!”

“Yes, we shall!” Casper enthusiastically avowed. Damon gave him a peculiar stare as he disappeared.

“Gosh, I hope this General Carnotes has nice legs!” Donna gushed as she and Maria giggled.

Aleck warned them, “Don’t get too excited! Before we judge whether or not this historical figure has a cute butt, we gotta survive the monsters first!”

The girls grew terrified at that concept, and Corvina implored us, “What kind of monsters are we gonna face?”

We heard some rustling in the sunflowers on the crops’ perimeter, and Jasper proclaimed, “We’re about to find out!”

The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 13

“Hey! That’s cheating!” I yelled as I viewed Damon in the cave. “You can’t sneak in there before we get a chance to complete the quest!”

“I’m not sneaking in so much as I’m trying to escape out…” Damon disputed my assertion. “It’s been a little difficult with Torcaness blocking the only exit!”

I queried, “Who’s Torcaness?” That mystery got solved when a massive, green-scaled dragon opened its red, reptilian eyes and emerged from its lair. I retracted my enquiry, “Got it!”

Torcaness let out a ferocious roar, and Kalmali admonished it, “Was that necessary? You don’t have to be so loud, we’re right here!”

It dove in our direction, and thankfully, we were all able to dodge its advance! Fletcher ordered, “Everyone, spread out!”

“Isn’t that what they said in that horror movie before everybody got killed?” George pondered. 

“When we get back, you’re getting detention!” Fletcher barked.

As Aleck eluded the vicious creature, he reminded Fletcher, “He won’t remember any of this when we get back to the Earth Realm!”

Fletcher stubbornly insisted, “I don’t care!”

Kendra esteemed, “These bushes look pretty thick. They’ll keep us safe from the wretched beast!” She changed her tune when she pulled out a slightly singed knight’s armor from the branches. “Never mind!”

The sun reflected off of the mail, and it caught the dragon’s attention, so Kendra had to run from it as it neared her. It chased after the shiny object, and Kendra darted back and forth, keeping it distracted. Ginger wondered, “Is there somewhere unsafe we can lure it to?”

“We could probably find a cliff and trick it into plummeting off the edge!” Osra mulled that brainstorm over for a moment and then frowned. “Oh, but these things can fly!”

“Take your time! This situation is fine!” Kendra sardonically regarded us as she fled from Torcaness.

Out of the corner of my periphery, I caught sight of Damon attempting to tiptoe out of the cave, so I instructed the others, “Figure out a way to slay the dragon! I’m gonna go get the Gilded Pheasant!”

When I grew closer to Damon, he rushed back into the cave as if I wouldn’t dare to enter those quarters. When I followed him inside, he let me know, “I don’t have your precious bird! See?” He alluded to a golden fowl roosting at the top of a pile of coins and jewels.

My vision flickered between the Gilded Pheasant and Damon seemingly unopposed to the premise of me retrieving it, and my suspicion got roused. Getting that feathery treasure would satisfy our goal for the mission, but it was definitely out of character for that devilish dope to permit us to gain a victory so easily. After weighing my options, I finally decided the risk involved with this venture was too high to trust his integrity, and when I realized he had none,  I felt compelled to ask him, “Alright, what’s the catch?” 

“Nothing!” Damon answered with a shrug.

“What was that?” I probed as a luminescent glow flashed off of his hand when it was visible.

Damon hid his arms behind his back and acted innocently, “I have no clue what you’re referring to!”

From outside, I heard Phoebe propose, “Why don’t we strangle it?”

I chased after Damon to uncover the truth, and Eamon objected to Phoebe, “How would we do that? Our grip would be useless against its massive neck!”

Damon tripped over a tiara, and he exposed his fingers- one of which had turned into a glittery yellow hue! Damon unwillingly admitted, “That’s what happens if you touch it apparently!”

“What if we use a rope?” Jasper posed to the rest of them.

“A rope would help in this scenario!” I noted. “But I doubt Toraness would have any in this-!”

Ginger determined, “We’d need something that’s at least forty-four inches long!”

Damon demonically laughed at me, “It looks like you’re about to fail your quest!” As he cackled, he stretched out his limbs victoriously, and in so doing, he knocked a pile of trinkets down. At the top of the heap, a new set of valuables got revealed, including the Rainbow Tektite! Damon and I each got the same idea, and as we strove to reach the summit, we inhibited each other from moving forward.

While all this was occurring, Ellie remarked, “Forty-four inches? That’s my waist size! Oh, why did I say that out loud?”

“Hold on! That means we can use your corset to choke Torcaness!” Aleck exclaimed as Damon managed to push me off of the heap.

“Nuh-uh!” Ellie refused as I used Damon’s cape to pull him off of the rubble. “You can’t use my clothes to… Wait, none of this is mine! Here!”

I reached for the Rainbow Tektite, but Damon pulled my leg so that I couldn’t reach it. As this struggle went on, I heard commotion blaring out from the exterior, and I couldn’t discern whether or not our side was winning. It was inadvisable to entertain any negative possibilities at that juncture, so I presumed that someone was able to get Ellie’s corset around the dragon’s neck. I wished I had a second to spare to commotate on what a bizarre plan that was! If Damon prevented us from getting home, we would be doomed to remain in this realm forever! We would’ve missed our family, lost out on our jobs, and had to buy Ellie another corset without any of their currency at our disposal! I had to unearth a method of shaking Damon off immediately, but I was at a loss of what action to take… until…

Our brawl pushed a bronze egg from its lofty position and nearly whacked Damon in the noggin! Damon swirled out of the peril’s path, but he had to loosen his hold on me to do so. I garnered the ability to speed to the Rainbow Tektite, and mercifully, I was able to obtain it! Precisely when I grabbed it, Aleck entered and proudly proclaimed, “We slayed the dragon!” He spotted the Rainbow Tektite in my palm, and he somewhat sourly observed, “Evidently, we didn’t need to waste our efforts!”

I would’ve normally reassured him that they pulled off a magnificent feat, but seeing how everyone had convened in the cave, I judged it to be more prudent to flee from the medieval realm as soon as possible. I requested to the Rainbow Tektite, “Please, take us to the Earthly Realm!” The twirling vortex appeared, and I was delighted to catch a glimpse of Damon pouting prior to our departure from the land!

We manifested in the gym in the same spots we previously stood, which made the Ancestral League breathe a sigh of relief. The boys of Fletcher’s P.E. class gazed at each other perplexedly though. “Did something just happen?” Huey questioned no one in particular.

“What happened? Volleyball happened, that’s what!” I conveyed this to him. That wasn’t even a total lie- we did use a volleyball to defeat a monster in part of our journey!

“Why do I have this burn mark on my arm?” Jimmy catechized while peering at a scorched blemish on his skin.

Phoebe fibbed, “That’s a haphazard of the sport!”

George stated, “Why do I get this weird vibe like I did when Rakey was around?”

“You were in trouble then, and you’re in trouble now!” Fletcher articulated. “Detention after school today!”

“For what?” George reconsidered his protest, and then he accepted his fate. “Eh, I probably deserved it for something! Besides, the day is going by fast anyway! It’s already almost third-period!”

Ginger, Ellie, Aleck, Phoebe, and I all glanced at the clock, and we were horrified at the accuracy of his comment. Without saying goodbye or giving one another accolades for a job well done on that mission, we barreled back to our classrooms.

It wouldn’t have surprised me to have seen my students in the hall after dealing with whatever potential disaster Mrithan manufactured, but I did get surprised to encounter Casper in the foyer! He eyeballed me suspiciously, and then he grilled me, “You’re doing another paranormal investigation, aren’t you?”

“No…” I did my utmost to make that sound convincing, but I lacked confidence in my persuasive skills in that instance.

“How could you neglect to seek my advice once again?” Casper upbraided me. “Don’t forget, the occult is my specialty! I’m the expert in this field! Every person in town knows that! Especially Kaleva- that’s actually how we met! You see, we were on this ghost-hunting tour, and she… Where are you going?”

With my hand on the doorknob to my room, I couldn’t resist giving him a sarcastic response, “The North Pole! Actually, that wouldn’t shock me at this point!”

Casper grew indignant about my attitude. “Here you’re making jokes while I’m sincerely attempting to resolve the problem plaguing the school! Not listening to my wisdom and experience will-!”

“No one’s stopping you from doing your investigation!” I brought it up in hopes of ending this tedious conversation.

“You’re right!” Casper’s visage lit up in furor of the truth I inadvertently spoke. “I’ll conduct my own research, and, as a courtesy, I’ll share with you anything I find.”

Without a hint of authenticity, I verbalized, “Sounds great!”

Casper rubbed his chin contemplatively. “I need to uproot the fairy folks from their hiding spot! Where did I put my divination rod?” Preceding him explaining what that tool was or why he was so certain the culprits behind these attacks were fairy folks, I went into my classroom.

To my startlement, I walked into my space only to behold Mrithan hanging from the ceiling! He had evidently gotten tangled up in the projector’s screen holder, and all of the kids from second-period were in the midst of a mirthful uproar. Mrithan noticed my presence, so he requested, “Assistance, please!”

“They didn’t see any of the film?” I reacted in dismay as I pulled him down by his ankles.

“No, no, no! I mean, yes! They saw all of it!” Mrithan swore as I wrestled with freeing his sweater from the contraption. “I was merely trying to create a larger aisleway for everyone as the period ended!”

The bell rang, and as the pupils piled out, I shook my head in disgruntlement. I supposed I ought to have felt grateful that he kept the lesson plan running in my absence, but it irked me that I was forced to tend to his foolishness when I could’ve spent my few minutes of pause between second and third period to consider remedies for the existential crisis of the Rainbow Tektites appearing in our realm. I wasn’t clear on what I could’ve come up with in that short stretch, but still! I could’ve considered the suspects and who may have slipped the mystical rock shards into consumable goods that Aniela, George, and others all partook in. Suddenly, it occurred to me that the fix to my difficulty was literally staring me in the face…

With as much nonchalance as I could muster, I petitioned Mrithan, “So, are a lot of children gonna miss out on your special brew since you’re away from your desk?”

“Huh?” Mrithan obviously wasn’t expecting that topic to get raised on this occasion. “Oh, that! Nobody usually gets that unless it’s the start of the day or lunchtime.”

“I heard there’s a secret ingredient to your espresso that isn’t found anywhere else on this planet. Is that true?” I pressed him as he became dislodged from his ensnarement.

Mrithan’s brows considerably furrowed at that concept. “There is? Hmm! I never thought about reading the ingredients before, but since you mentioned it, I’ll take a gander at it! Well, unless I missed a bunch of calls again! See ya!”

I wanted to interrogate him further, but the bell rang again, and I would’ve appeared insane if I delayed the teens’ learning to chat about coffee! I watched him leave, and I was glad I arranged to show a short flick today- I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on anything that required any sort of thinking as I soaked all that transpired in!

After school, I went to the grocery store and put two bottles of wine on the conveyor belt. Once I was through, my phone rang. Assuming it was Phoebe needing something from the supermarket, I picked it up, “Hello?”

“Hey, Connor!” my dad greeted me. “Just a friendly warning- your mom is coming to your house this Saturday to introduce you to the wedding planner she hired.”

“Okay!” I sighed. With all of the recent tumult, I nearly forgot about the whole marriage ceremony undertaking! It was aggravating that I didn’t have a valid excuse to postpone it, but I certainly couldn’t reveal that I needed to wait to do this until I thwarted an escaped Hellian’s apocalyptic scheme!

My father reluctantly added, “There’s more… She’s bringing a couple of family members too! Sorry!”

I groaned, “Relatives wanna visit too? Ugh! Well, thanks for the heads up!”

Following another exasperated exhale, I put four more bottles of alcohol onto the counter. The clerk guessed, “Your relatives are heavy drinkers?”

I affirmed, “No.” She raised her eyebrows but didn’t broach the subject any further. As I took off from that locale, I beseeched the universe to keep that paranormal pest away from my abode until my loved ones concluded their stint in Terra Belle!

The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 12

“Hey, Coach Jackson!” Huey nervously communicated to Fletcher as he glanced around the tall trees and thick fog.

Fletcher maintained a cautious eye on the path ahead of us, but he still responded to Huey, “What?”

Huey relayed to him, “I changed my mind! I wanna play volleyball now!”

After rubbing his temples in a frustrated fashion, Fletcher articulated, “It’s too late for that now! But I want you to remember this experience when we get back, and-!”

“Their memory of this experience will get completely wiped out when we go back to the Earthly Realm,” I informed Fletcher.

“Lucky them!” Aleck muttered as he untangled himself from a pointy branch. “I wish the monsters would hurry up and bother us already! Sam only agreed to watch my students ‘cause I told him I’d be back in a minute!”

Phoebe remarked, “No one is watching my kids! I said I was going to the bathroom real fast… which I still need to do!” She clutched her stomach, and then she notified us, “I’ll be right back!”

Ginger critiqued her decision to run into the thicket, “You can’t go potty in the woods! There are bugs there!”

“And possibly monsters!” Kamali added.

“Oh, come on! What are the odds she’d run into a monster at this precise moment?” Jasper pushed back against that notion.

From the spot Phoebe chose to occupy, we heard a male’s voice cry out in anguish! Phoebe reemerged, and after hoisting up her pantaloons, she announced, “I found the next monster! Maybe if we run, we can-!”

A statuesque wolf in people’s clothing entered onto the scene walking on his hind legs and glowered at us. “You humans are disgusting! You think you can leave your droppings just anywhere, huh?” As the boys huddled together in fright, he threatened, “You’ll pay for your misdeeds!”

The adults prepared to fight the wolf, but the children whimpered at this terrifying development. Jimmy exclaimed, “Oh no! We’re gonna get eaten by the Big Bad Wolf!”

“Hey! Who are you calling big?” The wolf shielded his guy from our view as much as he could.

“Isn’t that your name?” George inquired.

Quite affronted, the wolf replied, “Wow! Who taught you your manners?”

Huey indicated to my friends and me standing behind him. “These guys did!”

The other five awkwardly waved at him, but this interaction struck me with interaction, so I hurried over to the boys and whispered, “Forget all the rules of politeness we gave you! Be as mean as possible to this wolf!”

“Are you giving us permission to bully someone, Mister Fenmore?” Jimmy incredulously asked.

“No, in this instance, I’m encouraging it!” I answered.

The wolf bristled at their rudeness. “Ooh! I’m going to thoroughly enjoy killing you!”

I urged the boys, “Do it! Now!”

“How are you gonna kill us?” George somewhat timidly spoke to the wolf. “Are you gonna breathe your nasty breath on us?”

“My breath doesn’t smell!” the wolf indignantly stated.

The boys began to pick up on the wolf’s vulnerability, so Huey more jocularly jeered, “Maybe that’s his nasty feet we smell! He’s not even wearing shoes!”

Getting rather depressed, the wolf spat, “It’s hard to get footwear for paws!”

“Guys, he’s probably too poor to afford any shoes!” Jimmy snickered. “I mean, who’s gonna hire this nasty creature? He can’t draw a salary!”

“You’re all just… cruel!” The wolf busted out into tears and ran back into the knotty trees as the entire class laughed at him.

Ellie amusedly noted, “Teenage callousness has its place!” As the boys celebrated their victory, Ellie advised them, “Let’s not give him a chance to rebuild his self-esteem! Get a move on!”

We soon came to a babbling brook with a stone bridge above it. Prior to anyone setting foot on the span, I held my arms out so no one could embark on it. “Hold on! If I remember my fairytales correctly, there’s a troll underneath that bridge!”

“Who said we were in a fairytale?” Ginger challenged me.

“I dunno!” I shrugged. “The Big Bad Wolf thing made me go the fairytale route I guess!”

Jasper opined, “Seeing how it’s our only route forward, it couldn’t hurt to see if there was some sort of trap there.”

Natalia declared, “I’ve got this!” She took off a shoe and hurled it onto the span. Within seconds, a creature with brown fur, pointy ears, fangs, and a portly belly sprang out and ravenously devoured her footwear! When it realized it had been tricked, it glared at us and retreated into its shelter. Natalia bemoaned, “Oh, great! Now, I gotta get another pair!”

“Wow! I’m not used to hearing a woman complain about having to go shopping to expand her wardrobe!” Aleck commented.

“I’m from Heaven- there aren’t exactly a lot of malls in a place that doesn’t use money!” Natalia huffed. After I emitted a noise of disappointment at the premise of a favorite hangout of mine not having any residency up there, she continued, “I gotta get another pair from the Big Guy!”

George puzzled, “The Big Guy? Do you mean…?”

Osra elucidated, “He goes by many names! God, Spirit, Lord, Zeus, Brahma, the sun, Yahweh, Jeff…”

Ginger questioned that, “Jeff?”

After sighing, Osra clarified, “It was a cult thing!”

“Maybe we can ask him nicely to let us pass,” Phoebe suggested.

“I don’t think we have time to ask Him for a favor right now!” Kendra put in.

Connor gently corrected her misimpression, “I think she meant the troll.”

Kamali scoffed at that notion, “Who’s gonna volunteer for that death trap?”

“Aren’t you guys dead?” Jimmy pressed him.

“Yeah, but our spirits can still perish!” Kamali shot back.

Eamon audaciously asserted, “This task requires someone that’s nimble and quick enough to flee should things go awry, and none of you possess that quality! And, while I do, I cannot possibly perform this feat because…” When he realized the fault in his logic, he dismally went forward. “Alright, I shall make this attempt!”

He gingerly approached the troll’s proximity at the foot of the bridge, and he politely addressed it, “Excuse me, dear chap! My companions and I would like a hasty use of your domain. It seems mutually beneficial to not quarrel with one another, so I propose a peace agreement between both parties. What say you?” The troll did not come out or even acknowledge that it heard Eamon, so Eamon begrudgingly accepted that he would have to broach the beast’s terrain. As he carefully approached the span, he kept striving to negotiate with the troll, “If there is some other toll we must pay, we-.”

Prior to him getting to finish that sentence, the troll scurried out from its site of refuge and charged at Eamon at full speed! Eamon sprang off the structure in time to stay safe, and he rejoined our group with a visibly shaken visage. Fletcher tersely posed to everyone, “Now what? Do we gotta kill the varmint?”

“What if we built our own bridge?” Ginger propositioned.

“That’ll take too long!” Aleck argued.

Ginger contended, “I don’t mean anything fancy! We could use a tree trunk or even some large rocks! I see some over by the bank there…” As she went to retrieve them, she tripped over an unknown commodity behind a bush! “Man, I wish they didn’t put me in a skirt for this!” The boys rushed over to catch a glimpse of this sight, but preceding their arrival, Ginger already stood back up. After they groaned from disappointment, Ginger announced, “This is what tripped me!”

She held up an archaic volleyball, and George perplexedly regarded Ellie, “Missus Wayan, didn’t you say they invented that sport in the eighteen-hundreds?”

“Oh sure, now you’re paying attention to the facts I present!” Ellie pouted.

“Property of the Three Little Pigs!” Osra read some writing off of the volleyball. “I guess that other beast really was the Big Bad Wolf!”

At that moment, a lightbulb went off in Fletcher’s head. “Hey! We can use this to clock that sucker! We can lure him out, and then- bam! We can move on!”

Natalia folded her arms defiantly. “I’m not using my other shoe! Someone else can sacrifice their footwear!”

“What if we use this long stick?” Kalmali picked up a slender and lengthy twig high enough so we could all see it.

“Oh, fine! Make me look foolish!” Natalia sulked.

Fletcher instructed, “Alright, you three reach that branch out as far as you can, and as soon as that troll comes out, serve the ball to him, Huey!”

Huey objected, “Why me? I know I said I wanted to play volleyball earlier, but… Why can’t he do it?” He indicated to George. “He’s the one who brought us here, and you said his form was so awesome!”

“He was only saying that to distract him from his weird eyes!” Jimmy disputed. “Besides, you’ll be a big hero, so you should cherish this honor!”

“Okay, you do it then if it’s such a big honor!” Huey tried to hand the ball to Jimmy.

Jimmy threw his hands up in refusal. “No way, man!”

The boys began to bicker, so Fletcher intervened, “Shut it! You wanna know why you, Huey? This nonsense! Quit it and let’s get this over with already!”

Kamali, Phoebe, and I guided the narrow piece of lumber to the bridge, and Huey nervously readied himself to complete the task. When our sprig finally reached far enough on the span, the troll shot out with its usual fervor. Huey launched his projectile, and…

“Wow! You missed the bridge completely!” Kendra noted.

“I told you not to let me do it!” Huey vehemently reacted. “I choke under pressure!”

Ginger asserted, “It’s all about angles! If you hit it from the right point, your trajectory will follow a motion that-!”

Cutting off her geometry lecture, I directed everyone, “Hey! Look at the ball!”

“I get it! My aim sucked!” Huey grumped.

“No! See how it’s sitting in the river…” I alluded to the spot it rested at, and everyone could discern it was only partially submerged.

Osra raved, “It’s been shallow all along! Ugh! Let’s go!”

We all heeded her decree and crossed the wet ravine. Ginger tossed the ball out of her pathway, and we heard the unmistakable sound of it landing on the Big Bad Wolf! We eagerly trudged through the brook to avoid dealing with that annoying foe once more!

“Are we there yet?” George moaned as we trekked through a shadowy sector of the woods.

“Yeah, but we kept going for the fun of it!” I sarcastically verbalized to him.

George’s eyes widened at that concept. “Are you serious?”

I irritably assured him, “No! You’ll know when we’ve found the Gilded Pheasant ‘cause we’ll have to fend off the dragon guarding it!”

Aleck probed, “How do you know it’ll be a dragon?”

“Because that’s the ultimate boss in fairytales,” I reasoned.

“Not necessarily,” Phoebe differed. “There could be a blood-thirsty giant or a witch with powerful spell-casting abilities! Gosh, I don’t know what to root for!”

Aleck opined, “We’ve dealt with giant creatures and jinxes before, and we know we can deal with them with whatever random crap is at our disposal. We were only able to defeat that dragon ‘cause I concocted a substance that combusted in its digestive system. We don’t have any of that at our disposal unless we happen to come across Merlin’s hut!”

Kendra protested his imagery, “Merlin didn’t live in a hut! He shared residence with us in Tintagel! A hut would’ve been nice for him- he was clumsy and destroyed several vases and small tables!”

Everybody except for the rest of my ancestors garnered so many questions about that revelation, but prior to any of us getting to delve into that subject, a puff of gray smoke blocked our route! We heard some guttural growling, and the entire collective understood what that implicated. Ginger tried to encourage us, “Maybe it’s a little dragon!”

We tiptoed around some hedges bordering a rocky crag. When we reached the edge, we warily peeked around the corner to behold what we were destined to duel. We all hoped for Ginger’s prediction to manifest, but in reality, we all expected a giant monster to greet our view. What we didn’t expect to espy was…

The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 11

Roxy demanded, “Tell me everything!”

Peter threw his arms up in a totally flummoxed manner. “I told you all I know! I was heading to class, and suddenly, I… was in the same exact spot! But it felt different! It was like I did manual labor or something! I’m glad I don’t remember any of it!”

“You have to remember something!” Roxy blocked his path to the hallway. “You were in the presence of my Day-Day darling! I need to find out where he is and what he’s doing! TELL ME!!!!!”

“Roxy, don’t make him late to second-period!” I warned her. “If he pushes you out of the way, I’m gonna pretend I didn’t see anything!”

My statement steamed Roxy up enough that she marched right up to my desk without noticing that Peter slipped out! She glowered at me in a furious fashion, and she seethed, “I don’t know what you did, but I’m positive that you spoiled my poor Damon’s plot! Mark my words- I’ll figure out what you did and get revenge! Wait, why am I waiting? I should come up with a plan for vengeance since I already have the knowledge you’re interfering with his efforts again! Be afraid! Be afraid!”

I took out my cell phone during her tirade and purposely scrolled through it to show complete disinterest in her pathetic, little attempt to intimidate me. The bell rang after she finished ranting, so without glancing up from my screen, I notified her, “There’s a tardy sweep going on- you better run!’ Roxy glared at me as she backed out of the room, but once she was in the corridor, I heard her sprinting. I tittered at the concept that she probably had no inkling that Damon most likely instructed his ally to strike when she wasn’t around! Not that she would’ve recalled anything her “Day-Day” would’ve said or done, but she would have roiled to know he was intentionally avoiding her!

“I found it!” Mrithan popped in as the students settled in.

“Huh?” With all that transpired in the last twenty-four hours, I couldn’t drum up what Mrithan was referencing there!

Mrithan explained, “The paper I forgot yesterday! It’s a permit to hold your wedding here, and it doesn’t have any coffee stains this time!” He peered at the sheet, and he amended his sentence, “Well, not much anyway! This one is loads more visible!”

Inwardly, I weighed whether or not I ought to act with honesty and express my disinterest in tying the knot on Rosemary King High’s campus or display some kindness by thanking him for his effort, which would have ultimately been the fastest route to ending this interaction and starting my lesson. I hadn’t reached a conclusion yet when I saw a text from Fletcher in our group chat- it read, “S.O.S.!” That was short for “Save Our School” in this instance, and it meant he spotted a teen afflicted by the Rainbow Tektite!

“I gotta go!” I immediately jumped into action, but prior to me dashing out the door, I informed him, “They’re just watching a video- all you have to do is push play!”

“Okie dokie! I can handle that!” Mrithan avowed. As I hurried towards the gym, I wasn’t sure how he could screw that up, but I still doubted that he could adhere to his guarantee.

When I arrived at the gymnasium, I saw that Ellie, Aleck, Ginger, and Phoebe got there around the same time as me! I relayed to them, “Only one of us needs to respond to these things!”

Aleck concurred, “Yeah! So, if this happens again, the first person to respond with “O.M.W.” takes care of the rescuing! That stands for ‘On My Way’ incidentally. My son had to explain that to me when I was picking him up from band practice…”

“Uh, maybe this can wait ‘til later…” Fletcher interrupted as he indicated to a boy by one of the volleyball courts.

“Hey, Coach Jackson! Why is everyone staring at me?” George asked. 

We tried not to flinch when we beheld his kaleidoscope-like eyes. Fletcher feigned as much cheer as possible when he answered, “Just your great form, buddy! Keep it up! And Jimmy, remember to keep your palms flat! Don’t forget how you broke your finger by attempting to pass it with your hands straight up!”

Jimmy didn’t seem to have heard Fletcher- he remained transfixed on George’s peepers. I recommended to the others, “Alright! Let’s move quick or Jimmy’s gonna get hit in on his skull or something!”

“Sure thing, babe!” Phoebe readily complied. “What do we do?”

“Uh…”  I had to mull that one over. With Damon’s past dimwitted schemes, it was easy to eke out a solution. Well, eventually! In the past, merely encountering his monsters and ghouls for a couple of minutes made the key to solving the problem work itself out somehow. With the banshee, I simply had to ask her to leave, and with the walking pumpkin, we only had to bash it in the head. With the radioactive bunny, we defeated it by getting it stuck in a narrow ally, but the remedy for the Rainbow Tektite ingestion hadn’t become clear yet. It was maddening to be so close to the pending disaster and not have the ability to do anything to prevent it from occurring! There had to be something, but I had no clue how to find it out!

Ginger suggested, “What if we keep him away from the other students? We could isolate him until… I dunno! He consumed it, so sooner or later, it’ll pass through his system, right?”

We all agreed to separate him from the rest of the P.E. class, and we collectively beseeched the universe that we could uncover a cure for this strange ailment sometime afterward! Fletcher blew his whistle and decreed, “George! You’re out!”

“Aw! Why can’t I be out?” another guy whined. “I don’t wanna play this old-timey game anymore!”

“Old-timey?” Ellie balked at that notion. “It’s only been around since eighteen-ninety-five, which isn’t that old really! Lots of sports are loads over than that! Like tennis- that’s been around since medieval times, which is…”

Suddenly, George became stiff and started chanting, “Medieval times! Medieval times! Medieval times!”

Over his speech, I directed the rest of the children, “Run! Run! Run!”

Jimmy whined, “But we ran the track yesterday!”

I gritted my teeth, but I didn’t have a moment to spare in straightening out his misimpression. In a trice, the swirling vortex appeared, and all of the occupants in the gym got sucked inside!

As we stepped out onto a cobblestone road, I was preparing to canvass the others about whether or not they expected to float around in nothingness as we traveled between realms too, but we were immediately greeted by an overpowering odor! The stench was so awful that it caused us all to gag, and Phoebe remarked, “It smells like my stepdad multiplied! I forgot they don’t have underground sewers! Bleck!”

“Pardon the intrusion, but are you all ill? Do you need me to fetch a physician?” a young lady in a corset dress with a matching veil queried.

“No, thanks! We’re…” I got distracted from my polite refusal when I caught sight of the shift in my outfit- my slacks, polo, and loafers morphed into a loose, puffy shirt beneath a cloth vest that tucked into baggy pants with boots over the bottom cuffs! I glimpsed at the others, and we were all donning peasant garments! I confusedly gasped, “What the-? Why did our clothes change?”

The lady hesitantly addressed us, “I… I shall go fetch that physician for you!”

After she rushed off, Jasper filled me in, “The rules are different for each realm. Sometimes, the universe cares about us blending in, and sometimes it doesn’t. No one knows why!”

“Who are these guys?” Fletcher inquired.

“They’re my ancestors,” I replied.

Fletcher griped, “Oh, great! More people to keep track of! This is gonna be a disaster!”

Bearing the appearance of a feudal lord, Damon manifested before us and delightfully cackled, “Having fun already?”

The kid who took issue with playing volleyball chirped, “Yup! This beats exercising! And it reminds me of this video game I played called-!”

“Let’s see if you’re still having fun when you hear what your quest is gonna be!” Damon huffed with clear signs of getting miffed that the youths got some enjoyment out of his deranged arrangement.

“So, it is like a video game!” Jimmy reacted in glee.

Natalia briefed him, “Yes, but if you die here, you don’t get any more lives! You’re just gone forever!”

Damon became pleased at the juveniles’ worried visages, so I added, “Don’t sweat it! He’s a moron, and you can definitely outsmart him!”

My snide comment made his mirth sour, so I snickered. Damon ignored my merriment and dramatically revealed, “Your mission today: collect three feathers…”

“Done! Easy!” George espied a nearby chicken and began chasing it around the plaza. 

“I’m not done yet!” Damon snapped. “I didn’t mean any old feathers! You must get the feathers of the Gilded Pheasant! It’s not a bird you’ll find hanging around the village, so good luck finding it!”

George chimed, “Thanks! This dude is so nice!”

Damon almost corrected him, but instead, he chose to emit an exasperated exhale and fold his arms as he disappeared. 

“I got here as soon as I could!” A man in a robe and a bird-like mask arrived on the scene and set his bag down as he visually scanned over our group. “What seems to be the problem?”

“We’re fine! We…” I mulled it over for a second, and I realized he actually could provide us with some assistance. “Well, physically, we’re alright. But, we could use some advice… Can you tell us where the Gilded Pheasant is located? Please say it’s walking distance!”

The physician, who had begun digging into the trinkets he brought, dropped a wooden hammer in shock at my enquiry. “It is guarded in the Driscoll Cave centered in the Belician Forest, which is due north of our hamlet. But surely, you did not forget this! After the horror that has emerged from those woods, you could not have let that slip past your memory!”

Kendra pretended to recall, “Oh, that cave! Of course! Well, we best be off!”

With eyes bulging wide enough to see through his mask, the physician articulated, “Please, do not tell me you intend to seek it out!”

Aleck affirmed, “Okay, we won’t tell you…”

“Oh my!” The physician shook his head in dismay. “Wait here! I shall retrieve a priest to expel whatever demon that’s afflicting you!”

“Sounds great!” Aleck planted on a fake grin. As soon as he was out of sight, Aleck advised the boys, “Let’s get out of here!”

George catechized, “Hold on! What about the priest? Wouldn’t his blessing be beneficial to us?”

The boy who didn’t want to play volleyball posed to him, “If that’s what the doctors wore, do you really wanna see what the priests wear?”

“Huey’s right! Let’s go!” George stated with a harried expression on his face.

“I said that!” Aleck objected.

Ginger verbalized, “Who cares? Let’s go!” We all sprinted in the northern direction before it was too late.

After a while, we got tired and switched to a slower gait. If we weren’t in mortal danger, I would’ve savored the scenery quite a bit. The architecture of the structures in this neighborhood was quaint, and the games that the children played in the street were rather inventive. The bread displayed in the bakery window looked delicious too! I assumed everyone was relishing our surroundings until Ellie complained, “Ugh! That’s not historically accurate!” We all stared at her in confusion, so she illuminated us, “The addresses on the buildings! No one attempted to number any houses until fifteen-twelve!”

“Do you really want this place to be a hundred percent accurate?” Ginger challenged her. “They used to burn women as witches for knowing how to read!”

“We’re not in the exact era that occurred on Earth,” Osra filled Ellie in. “A lot of the traditions stayed intact, but not everything is a replica.”

Phoebe puzzled, “So, this universe had a modern postal system but not modern plumbing?”

Prior to anyone providing a reaction to that, we reached a vast expanse of trees behind a wooden sign that read: “Belician Forest. No trespassing! Surviving violators shall be prosecuted!”

“That’s new!” Eamon observed. “I used to do trade all over this land, and on the many occasions I traveled through these woods, I never once saw anything that warranted a cautionary message like that!”

“You probably never saw monsters lurking in the shadows either!” I shot back. “But, if you did, could you describe them? Please? That’d be great!”

Jimmy griped, “We gotta fight monsters?”

Kamali conveyed to him, “We gotta find the Gilded Pheasant or the Rainbow Tektite, and I doubt either of those would be free of perilous creatures guarding them!”

“It’s either that or go through a strange ritual with the bird man’s priest!” Kendra kidded. One boy made a bid for the village plaza, so she grabbed him preceding him from getting too far. “Woah! I wasn’t serious! If you want to see your precious video games again, we must do this!” And, with that, we set foot onto the murky path.

The Terra-Belle Ancestors, Chapter 10

“Is this the Rainbow Tektite?” I queried as I held the kaleidoscope-like rock in the air. One of the snakes lunged at it as if it was trying to grab it with its mouth, so I deduced, “It must be if they want it! How do I make it take us home?”

“You gotta talk to it!’ Kalmali informed me as he fended off a couple of serpents. “Make a request to return to the Earthly Realm.”

I felt pretty silly speaking to a hunk of mineral like that, but I had no choice but to risk looking stupid at this juncture! We were losing this battle to get Queen Reanestec’s spoon for that dastardly dolt, and if we could avoid seeing Damon again for a while, all the more better! I put it close to my lips as if it were a microphone, and I requested, “Take us back to the Earthly Realm!”

Nothing occurred! For an instant, my heart broke into pieces thinking that I may get stuck in Ancient Egypt trying to defeat a monster that showed no interest in leaving us alone, and I almost started to search the treasure room for our dumb Quest Master’s moronic demand, but then Kendra advised me, “Use your manners!”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake!” I grouched. I held the Rainbow Tektite up to my lips yet again, and I cordially beseeched it, “Take us to the Earthly Realm… please!” We didn’t have to wait long for the swirling vortex to appear! It swallowed all of the humans present into its whirl, and, once more, I expected to float around in a strange void for a significant stint, but before I knew it…

“What the hell happened to you three?” Sam the hall monitor ogled at us in perplexion. 

At first, I thought his arithmetic was off, but as I surveyed the hallway of Rosemary King High, I realized that my ancestors had vanished. I could only assume they were safe wherever they disappeared to, and I strove to shift my focus to the situation at hand, but I couldn’t fathom a response that would make our haggard appearance seem reasonable. Thankfully, Peter’s cluelessness (admittedly justified right then!) came in handy for a change! “I have no idea! Why do I feel so winded? Am I late for class?” The bell rang, and as his peers streamed out of their classes, Peter became even more mystified. “Wait, I’m early? Then why…?”

Aniela gazed at me for an explanation, and I threw my hands up as though I couldn’t recall a thing. A twinge of guilt surged through me for lying to her, but I was also fairly positive that the truth would’ve been more disturbing than this slight deception! Sam’s eyes focused between the three of us in an investigative manner, and when he could discern no rationale for our odd circumstances, he exasperatedly exhaled and trudged away. I was grateful that I dodged his scrutiny, but I couldn’t relax quite yet…

“Oh, Connor! There you are!” Mrithan jovially ambled over to me, and then he reported, “I went to your room to deliver another form about your wedding, and when you didn’t show up, I kinda figured you got lost into the nothingness, so I stayed and listened to the presentations. Everyone did so wonderful that I gave them all A’s!”

“Great!” I privately doubted that all my students had merited high marks, but I couldn’t take away something they were promised, so I begrudgingly accepted this development. “So, where’s the paper?”

Mrithan pat himself down in search of that sheet. “What did I do with that? Did I leave it on your desk? Oh, Manuel is gonna get mad! Well, don’t let me make you tardy!”

I began sprinting towards the classroom when something clicked in my brain- someone was slipping children Rainbow Tektite dust in consumable goods, and my prime suspect was right in front of me! Keyword: was! I circled back, and even though I was out of breath, I pressed him, “Hold on! …Is… there… something… different… about… your… coffee?”

“Well, there is something…” Mrithan seemed alarmed by this conversation initially, and I imagine it may have stemmed from my wheezing. Now that it appeared he was willing to fess up, I inferred that he grew nervous about what he intended to reveal. My own nerves flooded with the excitement of putting this misadventure to rest at the beginning of it, and then Mrithan leaned in and whispered, “It’s actually decaf! Don’t tell anyone!”

“Oh!” As the campus emptied again, I stood there feeling like a deflated balloon. He didn’t show any hints of dishonesty, so either he rapidly became adept at concealment or I took a total misstep with this direction! As I slumped back to my room, I pondered what my next move ought to entail.

In Phoebe’s classroom, I sat with Aleck, Fletcher, Ginger, and Ellie as Phoebe held a discussion with a small group of teens at the opposite end. Slightly miffed, Phoebe explained, “No, Dennis! We can’t have live birds at the prom! Even if we had the budget for that, it’d be impractical Do you know how hard it is to get birds out of the gym?”

Dennis objected, “But it’d be such a cool photo op!”

The other four were becoming restless in anticipation of the news I was set to deliver, and I grew anxious to tell them. What was occurring with the Rainbow Tektites was far more intense than any of us previously pictured, and I sincerely hoped to receive some insight from any of them that would guide us to a path that would get us out of this mess faster. Yes, I realized that was a long shot, but hey, it was at least vaguely possible that my experience could have provided the key to solving this puzzle! To dissipate some of my fidgety energy, I pulled out the Netherworld key and twirled that spoon around with my fingers. After a minute or so, I mused, “Out of all the stuff he could’ve used to unlock that door, including an actual key, why did he pick an eating utensil?”

“Maybe Damon was hungry when they were coming up with the design,” Aleck thoughtfully articulated.

“Wasn’t he a vampire when the door was made?” I brought up.

Aleck argued, “They could use a spoon to feed themselves! Imagine if their prey was already bleeding out- they could grab the silverware, and…” Aleck became aware that the youths’ attention tuned into the conversation at that point, so he fibbed, “We’re discussing animal behavior. Specifically, cercoithecidae since they’re primates with the capability to-.”

Phoebe interrupted him by addressing the athletic male in the front row, “No, we’re not doing a drum circle, George! No one would hear it above the music!”

“Drum circle?” Fletcher’s brows furrowed. “What in tarnation is the theme of this dance?”

“Uh.. it’s Woodstock,” Phoebe sheepishly relayed to Fletcher.

Fletcher’s eyes widened upon that revelation. “Oh, no! No, no, no! I’m not chaperoning no damn hippie fest! You have to change that immediately!”

George proposed, “What about ‘An Enchanted Evening?’”

“We did a magic theme last semester,” Phoebe apprised George.

“Yeah, but I liked it!” George contended.

Imelda popped her head in and stated, “I couldn’t help but overhear…”

Phoebe muttered, “I bet you could’ve tried!”

“What about a theme that teaches everyone about upright behavior?” Imelda continued as if she didn’t catch Phoebe’s slight. “Imagine if everyone dressed appropriately, used polite language, and maintained a healthy distance from one another!”

“That sounds boring!” Dennis expressed with frankness.

Imelda was not deterred by this slur. “You haven’t seen the refreshments yet!” She held out a tray of red circles that were centered around a bowl with a mushy, white substance in it. “It’s a nutritious substitute for nachos! You see, you take these radishes and pour on this dip made of Greek yogurt, tahini, and-!”

Fletcher griped, “Bleck! I’d rather do the hippie fest!”

His insult caused Imelda to glare at him, but prior to a battle of words commencing, Phoebe let Imelda know, “Listen, it’s too late to change the theme now, but feel free to suggest that for our Homecoming!” Once Imelda left, Phoebe espied the juveniles’ worried visages and assured them, “Don’t freak out! I said she could suggest it, I didn’t say we’d do it!” She then glanced at the clock and decreed, “We’ll pick it up from here on Friday. We gotta start ordering supplies, so please, no more expensive ideas!”

“Define expensive!” George demanded. Phoebe gave him a reproachful look, so he slinked out of the room.

“Seriously though- why Woodstock?” Fletcher catechized. “Is that dumb trend coming back or something?”

Phoebe responded to him, “Oh, who cares? I wanna hear what Connor went through today! It must’ve been crazy for him to not put it in a text!”

Everyone gave me rapt attention, and I took a deep breath as I dramatically narrated, “On the way back to my class after lunch, I saw…” My cell phone rang, so I declined the call and went on, “…by the water fountain, I saw…” It rang again, so I peeked at the screen. When I saw the source of the persistent communication, I groaned, “It’s my mom! I gotta take this!” The other five protested, so I had to insist, “I already made her mad! It’ll get worse if I don’t!” Much to their chagrin, I answered it, “Hello?”

“Oh, you’re ignoring my calls now?” my mother accosted me.

“No, Mom! It was an accident!” I lied.

She didn’t quite seem like she believed me, but for whatever reason, she decided not to press the issue. “Whatever! Guess what? I’m about to make your life a whole lot easier!”

Given the subject we were just on, I automatically assumed she obtained some sort of intelligence that would help us in toppling that supernatural pain in the neck’s scheme, so my interest piqued by her assertion. It did perturb me a bit that she found out about our paranormal problem, and I garnered a ton of questions on how she did so, but I tabled that notion to ready myself for what she planned to disclose. “Oh, that’s awesome! What did you find?”

I envisioned all sorts of messages that she might have delivered to me, but what I didn’t predict was… “I found you a wedding planner!”

“Oh!” Her announcement felt super anticlimactic to me. With the apocalyptic nature of our current conundrum, I could hardly care about issues related to our upcoming nuptials! I instantly regretted not adhering to my buddies’ advice and dearly wished I could hang up on her!

“What do you mean, oh?” my mother challenged me. “I’m doing you a huge favor here, and… Ah! I forgot to mention that the expenses are taken care of! Your dad and I agreed to pay the bill!”

Somehow, I doubted that my father had much of a say-so in the matter, but I refrained from bringing that up. “Yup! That’s what I was disturbed about!”

My mom affirmed, “Perfect! I’ll set up a meeting between you, him, and Phoebe! Oh, and he needs to know who your Maid of Honor is.”

We swiveled to view both Ellie and Ginger, and they both stared at each other probingly. Ellie eventually proclaimed, “It should be me! I’m her oldest friend!”

“Maybe physically!” Ginger retorted. “I’ve definitely known her longer! Plus, you’re married- I’m the only one who’s still a maid!”

“Please!” Ellie scoffed at that argument. “You and Brielle have lived together long enough that you technically have a common-law marriage!” Ginger opened her mouth to bicker with that, but she closed it when she recognized that her allegation had some merit.

I told my mother, “I’ll get back to you on that!”

My mom chirped, “Yes, do that as soon as possible! And I’ll send you the details of your meeting after I arrange it.”

“Cool! Well, I better get back to my current meeting! Bye!” After she bade me farewell, I complained, “I don’t know why that couldn’t have been a text!”

“Who cares?” Phoebe repeated that phrase. “Tell us what happened before something else bugs us!”

I broadcasted the Ancient Egyptian story to them, and their stunned silence spoke volumes! It became evident that none of us possessed an ounce of insight on how to move forward from there…