Enchanted High Book I

Nicole’s journey through the forest had been exceptionally uncomfortable. For one, she wasn’t the sort to be kept outdoors, when she could be lounging indoors, with a fascinating gadget in her hands, on which she could be studying and analyzing the several mechanisms and parts that made it work. For second, she didn’t particularly enjoy the sensation of water dripping down her back, wetting her clothes, her hair, her body.

She was shivering when she heard the low growling sounds, echoing from what sounded like the depths of the ground beneath her. All around her, the trees began to tremble slightly, and then – the tree blinked.

She was staring at an eye in the trunk of the tree, slitted, and before she could make a move, the eye shifted. A scaled body formed from thin air. Claws like oversized hooks of a fishing rod made her skitter backwards. Giant razor sharp spikes the size of her hand shot out from the reptile’s tail.

When it was fully visible, it raised itself to its full height, which was taller than the tip of the highest tree in the forest.

The reptile’s insides rumbled in a warning growl.

Nicole raised her hands to show no harm, taking slow steps backwards. Her first instinct was to get away, far away from the monster, because she had no intention of fighting it. Hands down, she had no chance.

Five.

Just a few more steps to disappear into the darkness of the forest.

Four.

The reptile lifted its head, its eyes remained locked on the toothpick in its sliced vision.

Three.

She stepped on a twig; it crunched so loudly that she winced, shutting her eyes. But the monster didn’t even blink.

Cautiously, she took another step. Two.

One.

‘NICOLE!’

Her heart froze as the dragon cocked its head sharply. Someone yelled her name – and that someone had ran out from the copse of trees.

June.

‘Ni –’ the rest of June’s phrase, Nicole didn’t hear, for the dragon let out a blood curdling roar that shook every drop of water from the leaves.

Nicole dashed behind a tree; she barely glimpsed June do the same until she was next to her. Her face was inked with dirt and mud. Behind them, the dragon clawed at everything in its way; its tail slapped at trees, knocking them down.

‘Oh, June –’ Nicole began, ‘you have no idea how glad I am to see you –’ she was cut short as they ducked from a hurtling log.

‘No time for that now!’ June’s breathing was rapid. ‘We found a house –’

’What? Are you crazy? It’s taking down the entire forest and you’re saying we’ll be safe in a house?′

‘I’m betting that there are enchantments protecting it. Otherwise it would’ve been demolished a while ago.’

The reptile roared again. It dug its claws into the ground with such force that a large crack spread from the point of contact, towards the huddle of trees June and Nicole hid in.

‘Nicole – RUN!’

June was forced to run the other way. She could see another spot in dark of the forest – but her feet lost contact with the ground, and she slipped into the crevasse; her legs searching a sturdy spot, her fingers gripping the cliff at the last second.

The lizard spotted her; her fingers were the only thing that prevented her from falling into the earth. She struggled to get back up – the ground shuddered with each step the lizard took, advancing on her mercilessly. One giant leap and a chunk of land broke apart, knocking her flailing legs as it plunged and disappeared into the darkness. She regained her grip and pulled herself upwards. When she got back to her feet; she met the scales of the lizard.

She was trapped. She couldn’t move backwards. She couldn’t lunge forwards.

Her mind was racing; somewhere to the side of her, a figure dashed among the trees. She could feel the blue force field domed around her. But she didn’t dare tear her eyes away from the lizard. Her brain had found an escape route; one it very often turned to in times of trouble.

Water.

She did not think twice before summoning everything she could; from the puddles, from the rivers and lakes of Rain Island. She could feel that tugging; that pump of adrenaline as they water rushed towards her –

The next second – a tsunami of water broke between the trees – June’s hand shot in the direction of the lizard; forming a thick wall around him, incasing him in a giant bubble. But before a single drop wetted him; he was gone.

Disappeared into thin air, he did.

June paused; the waves of water hovered around her. Everything was at a standstill. Moments passed; June expected the lizard to re-appear behind her, and swallow her in surprise.

She heard the roar – and looked up to the sky just in time to see the lizard – about to crash on her –

The water domed over her protectively; the lizard splashed directly into it, hitting a force field, and fell through, breaking the ground with a thud. But it wasn’t finished. It got onto its feet again and thundered towards her.

June prepared a vortex to trap it in; she had to wait until the last second, until it was close enough to –

A loud shout distracted her. A crack of something breaking that sent jolts through her.

And someone swung towards the lizard; the person was a blur of white; clutching a rope that dangled from a tree – and collided with the lizard. The lizard was struck by surprise as it slammed onto the muddy ground; the person landed lightly like a cat, and before the lizard could know what hit it, the man had thrown a handful of powder over its head – and it fell limply. June realized that it was unconscious.

The man’s back faced her as he stroked the lizard. When he turned; June saw his face for the first time. His mouth was covered in a white mustache; his bare head shined with wetness. June saw blue eyes behind the glass of his spectacles that he let fall and loop around his neck with the string attached. In his hands, was a small brown bag which he slipped into the pocket of the shorts he wore. His hands clutched a spot underneath his protruding belly; his belt, as he walked towards June.

June stood her ground; she felt no threat by the man. When he was close enough to reach out a hand, she was struck by how old he looked.

‘And you are?’ he asked. His voice was as June had expected; that of an old man. He reminded her of Mr. Binstrel.

‘June,’ she shook his hand. ‘Thank you for saving me. How did you do that?’

The man smiled and looked back at the lizard. He tapped his pocket. ‘With a little creation of mine.’

‘June! June!’ James and Nicole hurled out of the trees and hurried to her. Nicole squeezed her in a tight embrace; James stood at a distance, frowning.

‘You didn’t tell me anything. You just ran away.’ His voice was stiff. ‘Don’t ever do that again.’

June bit her lip and nodded. She looked back at the man.

‘Oh,’ he said. ‘Allow me to introduce myself. I am Robbie Phillison, scientist, archaeologist and adventurer.’

Dominic’s skin burned as he strolled alongside the river of lava, flowing downwards from the volcano. He had gone two days without eating, he had no idea he could do that, and now he felt the effects. The drowsiness, the sensation that the world was tilted before you. He had trouble walking in a straight line too. And then those thoughts that crowded his head ...

Overwhelmed, he dropped to the ground; his knees striking it roughly.

He breathed through his nose; taking everything in profusely; it was an advantage to him that he was surrounded by heat and fire, or else he would have gone unconscious long ago. But even that energy that the heat gave him, he could feel it draining. He knew he didn’t have a long time before something drastic happened to him. He had to prevent that.

′Hey!′

Dominic’s thoughts were shattered; he looked up. He had imagined it. There was nobody else here. There could be nobody else here.

‘Boy!’

And then he saw two figures in the red distance, advancing towards him. When their faces were close enough, he saw that were frowning.

‘And this is the place I’ve been living in.’

June reached above to grip the final step of the ladder, and hauled herself up to the wooden floors. She stood and gazed around; the large windows circled the walls, the roof was coned, covered with dried leaves and there was even furniture, with dirty pillow covers. The place smelled like the rain that filled the island but with a mixture of something aromatic. She realized that the house was neatly kept, given the heavy storms that it must’ve been through.

‘Surprised?’ asked Robbie. He was standing in the midst of three couches; dirty and sewed at spots where it must have been torn.

Nicole swiped her fingers over a short table against the wall and looked up at him. ‘How can you be living here?’ she asked. ‘I mean, why –’

‘You mean an old man like me?’ Robbie raised his eyebrows. ‘I came here on an expedition to study the island. I gather information about and the weather and the vegetation, and add them to my journal. It’s an important research project that I am stuck with ... but I do enjoy it almost always.’

June stared at the vertex of the roof; it ended in darkness. To the left, she saw a long unlit passage, she wondered what could possibly occupy it. Robbie’s words were reminding her a lot of the archaeologist’s dairy they had found at the hot springs. She glanced at him briefly, he was curling his grey mustache, and she was struck again by his age. ‘When you say that you came here on an expedition,’ she began.

‘Yes?’

‘How long ago was that?’

Robbie began counting on his fingers and mumbling numbers under his breath. ‘About ... fifteen years ago,’ he said nonchalantly. ‘Yup, fifteen years of gathering information that would help our kind in the future.’

Nicole’s jaw dropped. ’You’ve never, ever been outside of this island for fifteen years?′

‘Precisely,’ Robbie nodded proudly. ‘And may I ask what exactly led you three onto this island?’ He looked at June expectantly.

She bit her bottom lip, quickly thinking of an excuse. ‘We,’ she began, ‘we were in a ship. And we were attacked, by ... by –’

‘Pirates,’ James finished.

Robbie narrowed his eyes as he stroked his mustache. He nodded. ‘A likely story,’ he said, to June’s relief. ‘In fact I know a few pirates myself; nasty people they are.’

James nodded along. ‘Yes, yes.’

‘In that case,’ said Robbie, his eyes shining, ‘You must be hungry. Thirsty. Injured, perhaps? Is there anything that I can help you with now that you are here?’

June was about to deny; she felt like Robbie was being too friendly towards them, even when their excuse that three teenagers were on a ship alone was nowhere near believable. She knew that they had to get back on track with their mission, but she had no idea how to without the watches working ... a thought hit her. Why didn’t Nicole fix her watch? There must’ve been some other problem, she’d speak to her about it later.

‘Actually,’ June said, reaching into the backpack, ‘there is something you can help us with.’ Her fingers fumbled around in the bag until they found the smooth surfaces of hers and James’s watches. She held them out. ‘Can you, by any chance, be able to fix these?’

Nicole fixed a warning glare towards her; the same thoughts must have been swimming through her mind. June nodded her head slowly, explaining her decision indirectly. She seemed to understand, but still, she was reluctant to just hand in the watches. She placed her watch on Robbie’s palm nevertheless.

Robbie turned the watches in his hands, slipping his spectacles up the bridge of his nose. He eyed June from the top of the lenses. ‘Out of everything, food, fresh water, medical care, you want to know the time?’

June swallowed and nodded. ‘Yes.’

Robbie seemed skeptical again. His eyes hopped from her, to Nicole, to James, and finally, to the watches in his hand. ‘Will do, I will try my best to repair them.’

June beamed. ‘Thank you.’

‘But it will take a while,’ Robbie added.

June’s stomach sank. ‘How long?’

‘About ... two or three days,’ he glanced at James wearily, as if making a decision. ‘You are welcome to stay here if you would like while I work on them.’

‘Yes, thank you,’ June smiled gratefully. But a place of accommodation wasn’t the problem. Three days meant they would have to stay here until Saturday and right now, time wasn’t in their favor. Already one week had passed from the deadline. Which meant that they had only one week left to leave this place and search Mount Deep Pozaru.

Robbie seemed to have noticed June in deep thought. ‘Is there somewhere you have to be?’

She cleared her head. ‘No, no,’ she smiled.

‘Very well.’ Robbie pocketed the watches. ‘Let me show you to your rooms then.’

‘Rooms?’ James asked surprised as they followed Robbie into the passageway. ‘How big is this place?’

’Actually not rooms – I meant to say room. In singular,′ Robbie explained, ‘so you all would be sharing one space for two nights.’ He paused at a door and glanced at James, as if he didn’t trust him, then swung it open.

June was overwhelmed by the amount of light that flooded into the room, even though the sky outside was full of clouds. It was roughly furnished; one bed and a small table with a single drawer. But still, it was neatly kept for a house in a jungle. The scent of rain lingered at every spot. She realized that Robbie must have put in a lot of work when he built the place, as her gaze found the balcony, running across the width of the room. Trees bloomed so close to it that its leaves looped over the wet wooden railings.

James patted the bed frame. ‘You built all this furniture?’

Robbie shrugged. ‘It’s not much, I agree, but I have to keep myself busy when I’m not researching or conducting any experiments.’

June clutched the shoulder straps of the bag tighter, not wanting to let it down as she watched Robbie smile at them one last time before he left the room.

‘You there!’ The taller man yelled. Their footsteps thundered angrily as they stormed towards Dominic, who still lay with his knees on the ground, too tired to do anything else.

‘What are you doing here?’ The other man asked.

Dominic barely heard the words, he was starting to feel too drowsy to even keep his eyes open. He breathing sharply, and craned his neck to see their faces. The taller man had brown eyes, and the other was dark-skinned.

‘I don’t think the kid can’t talk,’ said the dark-skinned one. They glanced down at Dominic, almost with mercy for some reason.

The taller man shook his head and retrieved something from his pocket. ‘We have to do what boss said, no matter what. I’d do this to my mother for what we’re getting.’

We have to do what boss said. That was what Dominic’s ears had decided to hear out of all that was said. Who was his boss?

The dark-skinned man ruffled Dominic’s hair, not playfully, but harshly, as if it was a mocking gesture for someone who was being led to their beheading ceremony. Dominic told himself that he had to move, he had to stand, not appear weak. But it was as if exhaustion had ridden him paralyzed. He groaned.

The taller man grinned. ’Don’t worry, kid. Soon you’d be in a better place. In a much, much better place.′ And he tossed the object from his pocket, into the burning river of lava. Dominic heard it splash. Why did he do that?

Dominic barely turned, when he saw them running into the red distance for their lives. His instincts told him to run to, he should run. But he didn’t even move a muscle.

A sound, a rumbling, filled his head.

At first Dominic thought that it was his stomach, but no – a figure shadowed over him, large, soaring into the sky. Its head, its body was in flames, half submerging into the lava. The heat that it sprayed into Dominic was about what gave him some strength to raise himself to a stand; but he was still weak. It’s only fire, Dominic reminded himself, I control fire ...

The monster was growling and moving towards him in swift, slithering motions. Dominic scampered backward and tripped, hitting the hard ground, hurting his spine. The monster took its opportunity and surrounded him.

June stared out into the moonlit balcony; it poured heavily now, the wind was ripping at the trees, and without proper windows to shield them, she felt the full consequences of the wind.

Nicole was lying beside her, facing the other way, her breaths were slow and natural. James was on the floor, curled up in the sleeping bag. June was aware that none of them were asleep; what with the sounds of the storm to distract them.

She couldn’t find sleep either; she kept shifting uncomfortably, thinking about what Dominic’s state must be, alone in another foreign place, without the backpack, without supplies. She felt helpless; she was unable to do anything to get them out of the situation. Somewhere, Xavier was getting his way. And all she did was lie here.

She swept the blanket away from her body and got to her feet. Not caring whether she made a sound, she left the room and walked down the cold passageway.

When she reached the living room, she found that the wind blew stronger across it; rapping violently at anything and everything. At the same time, she felt little trickles of rain land lightly on her skin. The allowed it to wet her, to cool her pounding heartbeat.

‘Ah, you’re awake.’

Sitting in the midst of a pile of metal junk was Robbie, his face lit with moonlight, already fiddling through the watches in interest. His hair was untidy, jutting to the left with the wind. He was struggling to keep every small part of his tools on his desk, his one hand grabbing at his journal to keep it from flying and the other was a handful of screws.

‘Do you need some help?’ June asked, stepping towards him as he nodded. She crouched, collecting small pieces of something silvery and placed them in a drawer in his desk.

‘Thank you, June,’ said Robbie, neatening himself.

June leaned against the backrest of the couch. She watched as Robbie adjusted his spectacles and continued with the watches. ‘Are you almost done?’

He didn’t look up, but June could see that he was smiling. ’Not almost, but almost.′ He fidgeted with something in the drawer, but couldn’t reach it. ’June, could you hand me the magnifier please?

June began rummaging through the third drawer; her fingers gnawed on something smooth, then something hard and rough and finally, she found what looked like a magnifier to her. It was a metal device, that separated into several branches, each one ending with a circular glass. ‘This?’ She asked Robbie quizzically.

He took it from her and spun a knob she hadn’t noticed before. In the moment that she had blinked, all the branches had aligned themselves, and Robbie had taken off his spectacles and was looking into it keenly, examining a watch.

‘Hmmm,’ he hummed thoughtfully. One hand adjusted the settings of the magnifier while the other fiddled around the table for a screwdriver. ‘Someone has tampered with these,’ he said.

June was taken aback. ‘What?’

‘Indeed,’ he said softly, leaning closer to the magnifier. ‘Someone fidgeted with the settings ...’

June’s blood pumped through her brain. Someone had been fidgeting with the watches? Someone wanted June, Nicole, James and Dominic lost, to spin off course, so they changed the watches settings to lead them anywhere else but where they need to be? Who? Who would do that? It had to be someone who had access to their watches, someone who knew of their plans ...

But the watches were with Charlie in the office the whole time. June remembered about the day she was called to Salvatore’s office and how he accused them of stealing the two books which was later found in their dorm rooms. Charlie was there too. Charlie planted the idea that someone framed them. And someone placed the books in their rooms, so the person had to know their dorm room numbers. His words appeared in her mind, right before they were leaving for the volcano; it would probably be better if you four go in different directions. It was as if he was hinting what would happen ... June’s mind jumped to a conclusion that her heart didn’t agree with.

That Charlie was the one who framed them.

The arm of fire looped around Dominic, stinging his body with white hot heat, but all he felt was more energy pump through him. He ducked as another arm shadowed over him, covering even the unhealthy red sky.

He looked behind him, his breaths catching in his throat. The boulder. He scampered backwards, nearing the boulder as the monster roared and thundered towards him, creating great cracks in the hard land beneath them. Dominic’s back slammed into the rock, he hid behind it, collecting his rapid breaths. He slowed his thoughts, willing the monster, built with fire, to do his commands.

Stop.

But he could still hear the creature, its deep growl emitting from the depths of its gut. Dominic could hear its rough breathing, feel the ground shake as it took giant leaps towards his hiding spot.

Stop!

But his powers weren’t working. Why? Someone else must have been manipulating the monster ... it was the only logical reason.

So if Dominic couldn’t control it – he’d have to fight it and escape.

Too late.

The monster hurled the boulder with a mighty heave, and tossed it into the river of lava. Dominic’s heart jammed, he could feel it beating somewhere in his throat. He made a run for it; dashing around the crevices in the ground – but the monster was much faster, too huge and too quick.

It lunged at Dominic, one palm slamming into his already weakened body.

The last thing he saw was fire, before everything went pitch black.

June would have never guessed that Charlie would do this to them.

He always seemed so helpful, so caring and friendly towards her and the others. She had even almost begun to look at him as a father figure. But his real goal all along was based on his own selfish needs. June began wondering whether he stole the tree, or whether he casted spells on Lexis and James, and most frightening of all these assumptions; whether he is Prince Xavier’s incarnation. All of these thoughts disturbed her very much. She decided that she’d keep her assumption to herself, in case she was wrong.

‘... this,’ said Robbie, ‘is very interesting ...’

June put a stop to her thoughts. ‘It is?’

‘These watches ...’ He looked up with raised eyebrows. ‘They aren’t used to tell time, are they?’

June was silent. She could lie, she was good at it ... but looking into Robbie’s eyes, blue and soft, made her feel guilty of even thinking that.

‘It’s all right,’ he said. ‘I was a student at Enchanted high too when I was young. I see this is trademarked with the school’s coat of arms.’

‘You know about Enchanted high?’

’Of course I do,′ he snorted almost as if it was funny. ‘Did you think I belonged to the human world?’

June shook her head, not entirely sure what she thought of him.

‘I enjoyed my time there ... very nice place,’ he stared across the room, dazed. ‘Although I must say, some teachers had an apparent dislike for me. But the headmaster didn’t. Oh, no. he was like a father to me.’

June saw him smiling as he turned his attention back to the watches. That was just how Aunt Audrey smiled when she told June stories about her school days. June wondered whether, guessing by Robbie’s and Audrey’s age, he knew her. ‘Did you know anyone by the name of Audrey Price?’

Robbie paused in mid-screw and looked up at her, his face expressionless. ‘Do you know her?’

‘Y-Yes,’ June said, surprised by the sudden change of tone ‘She’s my aunt.’

Robbie stared at June silently as if this was the most difficult thing he had to hear. Then his blank face crumpled into a hearty smile.

‘Did she have children?’ he asked.

‘No,’ June replied.

He nodded faintly. ‘I do know her. She was my friend.’

When Dominic regained consciousness and opened his eyes, he saw blackness.

He blinked several times, his eyes adjusted to the dark, and he realized that he was looking at a roof. His muscles tensed; he was lying against something hard and cold, his arm trickled with his own blood. He attempted to sit, to move his hand, but the room did a somersault before his vision, making his head throb with pain he hadn’t known existed.

He lay his head back, groaning. His arms and legs were strapped down with tight metal shackles; with the little energy he had, he tried to shake himself free.

‘The boy is awake, sire.’

Dominic stiffened. Voices.

‘Ignore him,’ said another, harsh and commanding. ‘Get a move on, you pathetic things! There’s no time!’

‘Y-yes s-s-sire.’ The sound of shuffling echoed across the bare room, the men hurried to do as they were commanded.

‘Faster, faster!’ said the harsh voice. Dominic heard footsteps pace back and forth impatiently. ‘Everything needs to be in perfect order – worthless buffoons!’

Dominic raised his head, only a little, and glimpsed a figure, silhouetted by the red light shining through a window, one arm holding a thin object that stood from the ground and reaching up to his head. The figure raised the staff, and directed it to the two hunched people.

‘Sire – no! Please, I beg you –’

A silver-blue light burst out of the cloaked figure’s staff with such power, Dominic felt the ground tremble. There was an agonizing yell; sparks of silver light covered the room – making Dominic shut his eyes –

Then everything went quiet. No light. No screams.

Dominic opened one eye; the cloaked figure was staring out the window, his back facing him. He held the staff firmly as he spoke: ‘Get rid of it.’

Another man, his hands trembling, scurried to the floor and picked up a limb body. Dominic shut his eyes, pretending to be asleep as the man walked past him. He heard a door close.

But he kept his eyes shut.

Whoever this cloaked man was, he was heartless. He killed a man for no reason – with a staff. A staff that shot lightning ...

Dominic’s body tightened. He suddenly realized that he was in the same room as King Xavier.

Figured it out? Robbie’s house is the same as the Polkadot Mansion. Rain Island has long been submerged, and the only thing that was left was this house, because it was built so high. I found this bit of information incredibly interesting. Do you?

Love from all the fur on my back,

--THUG.