Bloody Hell, I Blew Up A Toilet Seat (The Descendants of the Founders)
Ch.1 Happy Birthday Valora
My fifteen years of life, thus far, have been completely void of meaning. I've always felt that a part of me has been missing, like my meaning in this god forsaken world has yet to be found. I've searched for my meaning, oh yes, but the nuns at the orphanage where I've grown up haven't been helpful in the least bit. Whenever I asked the nuns questions about my parents, or my past for that matter, the only thing they would tell me was that I had been left on the doorstep of St. Lucia's Orphanage at the age of one with a letter taped on the side of the basket that I was lying in. The letter said that I was to be called Valora Lee Grim, and that I was to be taken care of properly.
On the same night that I had been left on the doorstep of St. Lucia's, as the nuns had told me when I was five, two other girls had appeared on their doorstep, both younger then I had been then. Nodia Blaine Relum, and Amora Noelle Hue, had both been found on the doorstep of St. Lucia's within the same night that I had arrived. The nuns pondered over us, wondering why three girls had been brought to St. Lucia's on the same night, each exactly an hour apart, with almost the same letters attached to their baskets. What confused the nuns even further was that the next morning, when many of them left the orphanage to do the daily errands, there were odd whispered tales in the town square. One of them had to do with a boy name Harry, while other stories told of a man the nuns claimed to be named "Lord Something-or-other". Never the less, my appearance on the door step of St. Lucia's, along with Amora's and Nodia's, has always been a mystery to the nuns.
I soft tinkle of a bell awoke me from my thought filled trance. Nodia and Amora walked through the entrance of the bookshop where I've been working since the age of thirteen, both of them smiling broadly at me. They were obviously trying to look inconspicuous, but were looking a teensy bit anxious instead. Both of them had their hands behind their backs as if they were trying to hide something.
Amora cast Nodia a quick sideways glance and smirked. I rolled my eyes at the both of them as they made their way towards the counter that I was sitting behind. They marched purposefully towards me now, and just as they were about to reach the counter, Amora took her hands out from behind her back, and held out towards me a haphazardly wrapped box. I gave the box a quick skeptic look, and then looked directly at Amora's face, which had a wide grin spread across it.
"HAPPY THREE YEARS OF EMPLOYMENT!" Amora laughed as she grinned at me, still holding the badly wrapped box out towards me.
Nodia elbowed her in the ribs.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Nodia yelled as she held out the box that she had also been hiding behind her back. This one wasn't wrapped, but instead had delicate gold lettering across its top.
"Yeah...whatever she said," Amora shrugged, while arching her eyebrows in Nodia's direction.
Nodia and Amora put their boxes on the counter in almost perfect unison.
"Aww, guys, you shouldn't have." I beamed at them, feeling a bit awkward. I thought about what the date of today was for a second, and then cocked an eyebrow at them. "But you do know my birthday's tomorrow right?"
"It'll be tomorrow in five minutes, stupid." Nodia mocked.
"We just wanted to be the first to celebrate your b-day with you." Amora chuckled.
I turned my head to cast a look at the clock behind me. Sure enough, the time read 11:55. I turned back to Nodia and Amora and said, "Well thanks guys. I appreciate this."
Nodia shrugged and asked," What else are friends for?"
Amora looked around the bookshop skeptically, and laughed.
"Really, why the bloody hell do you work this late? Who in their freaking minds is going to want to buy a freaking book at twelve o' clock at night?" Amora asked skeptically.
I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Some stupid arse that has insomnia, doesn't work, and lives in his mum's basement."
Amora and Nodia laughed at my completely honest answer, because truthfully, no one ever comes here at twelve o'clock at freaking night.
Amora pushed the badly wrapped box she had brought towards me. "Open this one first; it's your birthday present."
I reached for the box and was about to tear it open when I hesitated. I gave Amora and Nodia skeptical looks and asked, "It won't jump out at me will it?"
"Nope, it won't jump at you." Nodia said.
"Or bite, or kick, or spray, or eat my face off, or gouge my eyes out, or cause me harm emotionally or physically in any way?" I asked hesitantly, cocking an eyebrow.
"NO!" the both yelled in unison.
"Sorry, don't be so snappish. I just wanted to make sure that lasts years b-day fiasco doesn't repeat itself." I said as I started to relieve the box of its crappy wrapping job.
"Hey, that was an accident!" Amora said defensively, slapping the counter with her open palm.
"Sure." I said, rolling my eyes. I put my finger under the edge of the wrapping paper and ripped it upwards.
"How the hell was I supposed to know that your present got mixed up at the post office with a rabid raccoon? Who in their right mind would have thought that could happen?" Amora pouted, leaning against the counter dramatically.
"Well, the air holes on the sides of the box might have been a hint that there was something LIVING inside the box." Nodia scoffed as she leaned against the counter next to Amora.
Amora stuck out her tongue at Nodia, and glowered evilly at her.
"Just open the damn thing." Amora said grudgingly, waving her hand towards my present.
I tore off the rest of the wrapping paper. I unfolded the lid of the box and took out my gift. It was a black cloth messenger bag. It felt good to touch, and across the front flap it said "Fight Club" (if you have not read that book, or seen the movie, GO DO IT NOW!)
"Guys this is awesome, thanks." I said happily. I leaned across the counter and enveloped Amora and Nodia in a bear hug.
Amora sputtered and gasped," I like breathing, don't take that away from me please."
I let go of them and sat back on my stool. Nodia pushed the other box towards me.
"That's your cake," Nodia said as she nodded towards the box, "But there was a little mix up at the cake shop."
I opened the box and quizzically looked down at my cake. It had white frosting with blue trim, it looked mouthwatering, but the only problem with the cake was that it said "Lordy, Lordy, Valora's Forty", it even had forty candles on it.
I looked up at Amora and Nodia and smiled. "Well, at least it's not carrot cake."
"Yeah, we learned the hard way that you're allergic to carrot cake." Amora said. She shuddered, remembering my eleventh birthday and how I had swelled up like a balloon after eating my carrot cake that the nuns had provided. I was stuck looking like a freaking chipmunk for weeks, even after I got a shot to stop the swelling.
I took the cake out of the box and set it on the counter. Nodia took a lighter out of her pocket and started to light the forty candles on the cake.
"So, are you going to go to the DMV tomorrow to get your license?" Amora asked, Nodia was lighting candle number 12.
"Yeah, I took off work tomorrow so we can drop by the DMV, and then go buy my blue Mini Coop that I've been saving up for freaking ever to get." I smiled.
"Done, make a wish," Nodia laughed as she pushed my fully lighted cake towards me.
"What, you're not going to sing Happy Birthday?" I asked, laughing.
Amora and Nodia gave me looks that clearly said, "No way."
I shrugged and said, "Fine, I guess I'll have to live without it."
I smiled over the cake at Amora and Nodia then looked back down at the cake itself. I thought about my wish for a moment then inhaled deeply. I wished to know who I was. Just as I blew out all 40 candles in one try, the clock chimed 12.
The tinkle of the bell over the shop's entrance sounded and my head whipped up to look at the front door of the bookshop. Amora and Nodia looked over their shoulders at the man who had just entered.
"Well, if that isn't your twelve o'clock asshole who has insomnia, doesn't work, and lives in his mum's basement." Amora chuckled.
Nodia rolled her eyes and stood up straight.
"I'll get rid of this guy so we can get back to our new chauffeur's birthday." Nodia laughed as she walked over to the guy who was dressed quiet shabbily.
I looked at the man skeptically as Nodia walked towards him. His face was blank, and he didn't exactly look like he was a lover of books. He was gruff looking; a five o'clock shadow covered his chin. His clothing consisted of a battered raincoat, discolored jeans, ratty sneakers, and a stained button down shirt. He looked a lot like a homeless man, but more, I don't know, sinister? He watched Nodia approach him with his eyes. He watched her in such a weird way. It almost looked as if he were…..hungry?
I inhaled deeply, an iron grip constricting my body. Even though he stood across the room, I could smell him. He stank of old liquor and something irony. I didn't like him, something about him being here felt wrong. Very, very wrong.
Nodia stopped just inches away from him, put her hands on her hips, and said "Yeah, sir, you've gotta leave, we're sorta..."
The rest of Nodia's words were drowned out my deep, guttural growl that the man let out from somewhere deep within his chest. Nodia took a few steps back, looking mortified. I stared, opened mouthed, at the man as he sneered at Nodia.
Out of nowhere, the guy started twitching and convulsing in a way that made him look like he was having a seizure, but much worse. Right before our non believing eyes, his body began to melt away into something not quiet as human. His head began to lengthen and so did his body. His shoulders were hunching. Hair was sprouting visibly on his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws.
My throat tightened, and I couldn't bring myself to breath.
Just as suddenly as it had begun, the twitching and convulsing of the man stopped. His new figure was gruesome, almost wolf like, and it was staring right at Nodia.
Its snarling muzzle opened greedily as Nodia tried to back away even further. It advanced on her, and before Nodia could move anywhere, it leapt at her. Nodia didn't even scream, as she was pinned to the ground. It lunged at her neck and clasped on. It shook its head vigorously back and forth. Blood poured from the puncture wound, but neither Amora nor I moved an inch. I could feel the utter terror constricting us both from taking action. The only choice the two of us had was to stand there, looking like idiots as our best friend was being torn apart.
A popping sound that was much louder than the wolf like creatures snarls erupted through the store. Then the word, "Stupefy!" rang through the room as if it had been blasted through a bull horn.
The thing that had been attacking Nodia fell and lay rigid on the floor with a muffled thud. Although still terrifying, it looked more like a stuffed animal than anything living.
I took a frightened glance over at Nodia. Her body lay just as motionless as the thing that had just attacked her, except, she looked like a living creature…but just barely. Blood silently trickled from the bite wounds on her neck, her eyes were closed, she looked very peaceful, yet horribly gruesome. I cringed away from the site of my friend. How could I have mistaken her for a living creature? She looked dead, lifeless. Tears welled behind my eyes.
I looked, tear blinded, over at the front of the shop where the bull horn sounding voice had yelled Stupefy. A tall man with a snow white hair and beard stood in the He walked urgently towards Nodia's limp body. Silvery robes billowed out behind him as he kneeled down and bent over her.
"Dear God, we must get her to St. Mungo's at once." the man muttered in a softer voice than he had used to say the strange words that had made Nodia's attacker rigid as a board.
The man with the billowy robes stood up and took a book off the shelf next to him. He tapped it with a thin stick that he had been holding ever since he entered the shop.
"Portus," he said sternly.
He looked up at me and Amora and said," Come, touch the book."
I didn't even think, but instead I shook my head vigorously.
"No, no." I mumbled, my voice shaking," No, I won't go. How can we trust you?"
The man looked up at me over his half moon spectacles and said in a soft, quiet voice, "My dear Valora, if you want Nodia here to live through the night you must come quickly."
I looked over at Amora, hoping to get some support, but her eyes were glued on the bleeding Nodia. I realized then, that this wasn't a trick, as I was hoping it was ever since the man started convulsing. I looked back at the man with the half moon spectacles and nodded silently. I grabbed Amora by the elbow (she seemed too shocked to even comprehend what was going on) and advanced on the man leaning over Nodia. He flicked his weird stick and a stretcher appeared under Nodia. He held out the book to me and Amora.
"On the count of three, touch the book." he said lightly. "One...two...three."
I placed my hand on the book. There was an immediate jerk right by my navel. It felt like I was being dragged by an invisible hook. The world began to swirl around me. Lights and scenes flashed past my eyes. I clutched tightly onto Amora's elbow, praying to God that I she wouldn't be torn away from me. The next moment, before I knew exactly what was happening, I fell onto a cold tile floor next to Amora. The tile was like ice to the touch. I shook my head vigorously, trying to clear my vision. By the time it had cleared, a woman was rushing towards us.
The man that had brought us here was standing up, talking to the woman who was rushing towards us. She was dressed completely in white.
"She was attacked by a werewolf." the white bearded man said quiet certainly to the woman in white.
"Oh goodness, are they muggles?" the terrified looking woman asked as she skidded to a halt in front of us and cast a glance at Amora and me.
"No, no. They're witches." he said solemnly.
I sat up from the cold tile floor, letting go of Amora's elbow, and asked, "We're what?"
The man looked down at me over his half moon spectacles and said, "Yes, I have much to explain, but for now, we must make sure Nodia is ok."
Amora and I stood up just as a team of ladies in white were taking Nodia away on the stretcher that this queer man had procured.