Beyond The Pages
Chapter 1
The Unexpected
I guess everyone's family has a tradition that is carried out on a regular basis like a stroll in the park, a game night, or a sit-down dinner. However, my family has no time or motivation to participate in such activities. My father would rather slowly go mad within the confines of his study, as he does day after day, and my mother has her grand parties to host in order to maintain the image of the VonLear family name. With that noted, I am quite sure that both of my parents would do everything in their power to avoid being seen with their "odd" daughter at any event, public or private. This is why I, Ellie VonLear, shall be known as the girl who was the first to raise one's self on take-out Chinese food and pizza everyday of their life since the age of five.
I would normally spend my free time in my room with one of my many novels and enjoy my destiny of solitude. However, this is the night of the annual VonLear family reunion, and to my parent's dismay, all family members must attend unless dealing with a life threatening disease. My great-grandmother believes we should act like a well-behaved family when in reality; we are all rich and act like spoiled children. This is where my story began; humoring my uncle Matt while he rambled on about time he "visited worlds beyond our own".
"And then I went through the tear the mirror made and met a boy who was half ghost," uncle Matt proclaimed as if it were true. We were sitting in one of the two sitting rooms in the mansion. I was only there because the room had the fewest family members there. Also because Uncle Matt's stories were more entertaining than the political and business talk that the rest of the family was engrossed in.
I went along with his antics and asked, "If all you say is true, where is this 'magic mirror'?"
"It's…" my uncle started to say when he was suddenly interrupted by my mother.
"Ellianna Roe VonLear! Why are you not wearing that dress I laid out on your bed?" My mother half whispered, half yelled at me as she took me be the arm and dragged me to my room.
"Maybe because I threw it onto the floor because I would rather wear a skirt than that pink waste of fabric." I whispered back as we left my uncle alone in the sitting room.
After pulling me up the grand staircase and down the Victorian styled hallway that matched the Victorian style of the rest of the mansion, we approached the last door on the left, my room. Inside is a teal walled, white-carpeted mess of magazines, books, empty food containers, and all the contents from my closet. Hey! Even though I said raised myself, I never said I was a neat about it!
"Ellie, why can't you be like other girls you age?" my mother asked as she started to shuffle through my crap looking for the dress I buried earlier that day.
"Because I don't wear pink," I exclaimed for what felt like the millionth time in my life.
"Nonsense, pink goes so well with your green eyes," she says as she rummaged through another pile of the chaos and found the pink dress she bought the day before.
"I am so not wearing that," I mumble as I attempted to leave, but my mother wouldn't have it.
She forced me into the dress and put my hair in some fancy looking messy bun. I couldn't get away quick enough before she put a good amount of make-up on my face. As she did my make-up, I noticed she had a look I have never seen before, she looking like she was worried about something. I decided to forget about it and cast it off as my eyes playing a trick on me. My mother never frowned in fear of wrinkles and I didn't think she would start at the reunion. When I finally got free with an "at least more decent than your jeans" from my mother, I quickly headed back down stairs to find that everyone moved into the den to enjoy some champagne. I decided to grab a can of Coke from one of the coolers in the sitting rooms and go off to find a family member free part of the house to enjoy it. Once entering the drawing room I heard my great-grandmother Nana call my father over to her.
"Austin! I saw that brother of yours going into the attic, looking for that stupid mirror, again. Bring him down here this instant; I will not have him ruining another reunion with his stupid fantasies," I heard my great-grandmother whisper to my father.
"I'll get him Nana," I yelled as I ran up the stairs towards the attic, leaving before she could object.
"Ellie! Don't go near that man!" my Nana yelled after me. I just ignored her, it was my Uncle Matt we were talking about, he was harmless.
I ran back up the grand stair case and back down the hall, but instead of heading left towards my room, I headed right towards my favorite room in the mansion: the library. Since I know exactly were I am going I headed to the very last row of books on the far side of the library and looked up to the left. Sure enough the hatch to one of the small attics scattered about the mansion was open. I knew Uncle Matt would be at this one in particular is because this one houses Nana's junk from her younger years. I carefully climbed up the wooden ladder and I found Uncle Matt rummaging through a box with Nana's name on it. I watched him as he threw out old photo albums and other items as ancient as Nana. It was a few minutes before he joyfully exclaimed.
"Ah ha! So this is where that old bat has been hiding you, my precious mirror," my uncle yelled and held up an old hand mirror, "Now! Let us continue our plot to take over those worlds!"
I decided to stand back and watch what Uncle Matt was up to. Uncle Matt walked over to an old wardrobe that sat along the far wall of the attic. He opened the door and walked into Nana's old fur coats. He backed up, repeated this twice more, then looked at the mirror and yelled, "Why won't you send me beyond this world? Is there a new 'Guardian'? Who?"
It is that moment when he saw me in the reflection of the mirror. He stared for a moment then quickly turned around to face me. In the terrible lighting of the old and creaky attic, Uncle Matt had looked as though he wanted to kill me. Then suddenly the look of hatred was replaced by his small friendly smile.
"Ellie! Can you come here and look at this mirror for me?" he asked as he handed me the hand mirror.
I took the mirror from him, looked at it for a moment, and then said, "It looks like a plain old mirror with a fancy frame." This mirror was is no bigger than my hand and its frame consisted of two silver dragons holding pieces of onyx.
"Look at the mirror's surface, not the frame," my uncle snapped at me.
I did what he said and looked into the surface of the mirror, expecting to see myself. My reflection, however, is the furthest from what I saw. In the mirror, I saw cities burning, animals changing to monsters, water becoming toxic, and worst of all, people dyeing. I handed him the mirror and turned to head back down stairs because I feared that my uncle was not as crazy as I once thought. I looked back at my uncle and he started to laugh when he saw the fear on my face.
"Well, it looks like she can see what your capable of my cursed mirror," I faintly heard my uncle said after he finished laughing. I kept going and didn't look back.
When I finally reached the landing of the grand staircase, I found that everyone was enjoying yet another round of champagne. I decided to act like nothing was wrong and join everyone as they listen to one of my cousin's military stories. Though I did notice the looks of concern that came from my mother, father and Nana from across the room. A few moments later, Uncle Matt came down the stairs, quickly looked at me and headed straight for Nana. When she saw him approaching, her look of concern flashed to one of horror, then pure hatred.
"Where did you put the mirror?" He asked her. Wait! That can't be right, I was there when he found it. What is he up too?
"In some landfill, I hope," said my Nana in an irritated voice.
"Why? You know that it has been in this family for a reason." Uncle Matt argued with a look of anger on his face. What is he up to?
"That mirror almost killed this family! If I didn't do away with it when I did we would all be in the asylum!" Nana said as calmly as she could though I could sense the anger and fear in her voice.
In one swift movement, my uncle took the mirror from his pocket and placed it in Nana's hand. For a second Nana sat there with a look of fear in her eyes and then she looked at me with a serious face and said, "Ellie, your uncle is a fool for reawakening this cursed piece of junk. So no mater what, I want you promise me, for once in your life promise me, you will never enter the stories! And never break…" but before she finished, Nana and everyone else from her side of the family disappeared in a flash of light. Everyone else besides my mom and I could not leave the mansion fast enough. For ten minutes all I could hear was screaming and car wheels screeching. Throughout the chaos, Uncle Matt just laughed as the level of panic grew. My mother then did something unexpected; she grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the kitchen, most likely heading for the garage. However, when my mother reached for the door that opened into the garage, it started to open and Uncle Matt came through. One thing I knew for certain was that that was not our four-car garage behind him but wall of swirling purple smoke. My mother pulled me behind her and placed herself between Uncle Matt and me.
"Ellie listen carefully to every word I say alright?" My mother whispered to me as she slowly backed us up toward the room we just came from.
"Alright." I answered quietly.
"You are more special than anyone in the family realizes. Your Nana, father, and I have been preparing you for the most difficult path you will ever travel. Your Nana had a feeling all of this would happen so she has been telling me everything that I need to know to guide you since I am not tied to this family by blood."
While I listened, I noticed we were making our way slowly out the front yard and towards where my mother's car was parked. Uncle Matt followed us the whole way. When we finally reached the car, my mother and I quickly got into the car and drove off away from the house. I see Uncle Matt just laughing at us from the driveway. Once we drove onto the expressway a few moments later my mother continued. "The direct descendants of the VonLear family have a major responsibility that is passed down each generation. They are called 'Page Guardians'. It is their job to ensure that the balance in stories that have good and evil stay as their authors intended. You have been chosen as the next guardian. However, it was originally Uncle Matt's responsibility, as the most recent guardian, to train you and teach you all that he knows. But he realized that with the help of the mirror, he could control the stories and make then to how he wished. Nana was heartbroken at the damage her grandson had caused and stripped him of the title and powers he was born with. This greatly angered Uncle Matt and when he tried to destroy Nana, she defeated him and locked away the mirror. As his punishment most of his memories were erased and most of his ties with the family were cut."
"So what does this have to do with me?" I asked as she pulled into a parking space at the mall.
"Everything," was all she said as she quickly got out of the car.
We entered the mall and headed straight for the hair salon. My mother explained that we had to change our appearances a bit so she would have more time to teach me some other things I needed to know. So I ended up dying my hair from a light shade of brown to a darker shade that made my green eyes pop. I then decided to cut my long hair short so I didn't have to worry about it later on. My mom ended up going dark blond and adding extensions. Once we left the hair salon we went to a clothing store across the way to change out of our dresses. I had no problem finding a blue top, a denim skirt with matching jacket, black and white stripped tights and a pair of black converse. My mother settled with green V-neck tee, skinny jeans, and another pair of converse.
We as were about to leave the mall my mom mentioned we would be traveling for a few days and to get anything I would need now. I bought a new charging wire for my phone with a car power converter and a dozen large books. My mom bought some CDs and some audio books to listen too. Once we left the mall we ended up driving all night and for the next two days only stopping at truck stops to shower and get food. By the middle of the second day we were tired and felt disgusting. We finally pull up to a large house that is buried in some woods outside some town I have never heard of. As is if she read my mind , my mom explained that this was where she grew up. We ended us spending the night there and in the morning my mom mentioned that we would be going out to a place that would help me with my journey. So we got into the car and drove through the town and pulled into a dump just outside of town.
"Why are we at the dump?" I ask her.
When my mother put the car in park she answered me with a question of her own, "Are you curious as to why you uncle didn't follow us?"
"Now that you mention it, yes." I respond after thinking for a moment. We both then got out of the car.
"I have another secret to share with you," she said as she walked towards a large pile of garbage. "My family has had a strong telekinetic ability for hundreds of years. We also have some telepathic mixed in there too though, it is not that strong in me. When your Nana walked in on me using my abilities to clean our whole kitchen at once, she asked that I let no one else know. The only ones who knew were Nana, your father, and myself. I was surprised that she didn't seem surprised. It was only later that evening that Nana told me about the Page Guardians, then I realized I wasn't the only one with a family secret.."
"Wait! Let me just ask something real quick." I shouted as I followed her.
"Go ahead. You have the right to ask me anything," is what she said as I caught up.
I run up next to her and ask, "So I am this 'all powerful' Page Guardian AND I have mind powers?!"
"Yes and I am going to teach you how to use your mental powers, but I can only tell you how to enter the stories since I only know what Nana told me," was what she answered.
"And how come I never noticed any of this before?" I had to ask because I was sure I would have noticed floating objects.
"Your powers were unstable after you were born. In order to prevent anyone from figuring it out, I hid your powers with my own. Remember when that pop bottle burst at your eighth birthday party? I told everyone that I accidentally dropped it and it was just shaken up. In reality, you were angry with your friend for smearing frosting in your face and you subconsciously wished for her to receive similar treatment. She never was able to get the stains out of her dress. " She answered with a small laugh.
I laughed at that memory because my friend's face was priceless, but then I remember the matter at hand a yell, "and why should I believe you?" It seemed so farfetched to me. "There is no way this can all be true!"
"How else do you explain Nana and your father disappearing before your very eyes," she answered as she raised her hand towards an old junked car, "or this?"
Then right there my mother, the one who never did anything in fear of breaking a nail, who wouldn't lift anything that had a speck of dirt on it, lifted a whole, disgusting, car twenty feet into the air with out touching it. At that moment I realized that she was telling the truth, that she couldn't have lied about any of it. There is no way she can fake making a car float in the middle of nowhere. She put the car down and looked at me and said, "Even though it hurt us, your father and I raised you to be strong, independent, and brave because we knew this day would come. We wish I wouldn't but there was no doubt that your Uncle Matt would find the mirror eventually. We are so sorry we were not the best parents and we understood that you might not have ever forgiven us for what we did. We were just trying to do what we felt was right." After she said this she started to cry. "We thought it would help keep you safe."
At that moment, seeing my mother cry, I didn't care about the stuff of the past or that our family disappeared or the fact we are being chased by a mad man or that I am some freaky mental powered guardian. I was wrong about my parents not loving me. Something I was glad to be wrong about. I ran over to her and hugged her and said, " I am sorry for thinking that you didn't care about me. All this time I thought I was unwanted, but now I understand. Please teach me mom."
With that said, I spent the next four weeks learning all I could about my powers. I made plenty of mistakes along the way. A car, a refrigerator, and a stove almost crushed me. Kitchen knives almost pierced me and I accidentally hit my mother with an old door. She just goes up and started to do something completely new to me, she started to laugh. Then I started to laugh as well. It felt good to spend those precious hours with my mother. We were having such a good time, we let our guard down and we didn't notice the figure approaching us.