... Five years later...
' I am making this harder than it needs to be!' thought Devon. She started to chew her nails. ' OK. Five plus eighty-two times a hundred twenty-seven divided by nine equals...' she looked to her right and then to her left. ' No one will notice...' she thought.
She closed her eyes and concentrated. In her mind she was pleading,' Just once.. one more time!' She felt herself grow light and float to the ceiling.
Below her was her own body. She went over to Jason's desk. ' That makes so much sense!' she thought. She felt herself going back to her body. She wrote down 1227.6667. She went over and put her paper into the core 3 box. Being 16 wasn't easy. Devon felt like 5 years of her life had just gone pointlessly by. She went through the rest of the day looking guilty.
" Why are you so pouty?" asked Rachel. " I did that... thing, again." answered Devon.
" I'm sorry! I just - Oh pizza! What a surprise! - can't get past those math questions! I'm surprised you even believed that I could do that." she said scooping up some tuna.
" Well of course! We tested it. I wrote something down..." Rachel said sighing and getting a slushy," And you did that thing with your spirit."
"Of course that thing you can do with your mind... You know, where you can bend things without touching them is so cool." Devon whispered typing in her lunch number.
" Yeah.. Bending..." said Rachel looking at Devon's left arm. Devon's arm was still wrapped with white cloth. The ends were frayed and Devon looked like a tough rebel.
Or something like that. Rachel had never admitted it, but she had bent the tree with her mind on accident... pushing Devon into the water.
They walked into the lunch room. " There's Dawn and Angela!" said Rachel waving to the two other girls. " AAAAAAAHHHHHHGGGG!" groaned Devon. All three girls, the teachers, and most of the students knew what this meant. Devon had a sick feeling. She started gurgling up blood. She knew what this blood meant, she knew what the gasps and shouts meant... it meant her 59th trip to the emergency room. She fought back the cough and the tears and stood up. She shoved the teachers hands away and took her tray from Rachel, who at the last minute had caught it, and balanced it on one hand.
Devon wiped her mouth and smiled. She walked over to Dawn and Angela and sat down. The room gradually got louder. Soon Devon was done with lunch. Everything had a faint taste of salty blood but she had been hungry. When Devon got home she switched on her TV. Fortunately, it was now christmas break. She was going to have to go to her Dad's house in an hour. She started looking at her recordings. Inu- yasha had been recorded and so she watched that.
When she got to her dad's house, her older brother, John, had come home from collage, her older step sister, Kaitlin, came home from collage, too, and her half sister Emily, had come over to visit. She was thirty. Her father was 64. He had married her mother when she was in her twenties and he was in his high thirties. She had a step mom named Diana and she was closer to her father's age.
The music was on and she could smell food. Lots of food. " Something smells good." said Devon. That was her only discreet way of asking," WHERE'S THE FOOD?" "Oh, well that is golden ham, honey glazed salmon, squash casserole, baked beans, and for dessert we have blueberry pie, Moosic City ice cream, and double chocolate cake."
" This isn't home! It's heaven!" said Devon. "Well, help yourself! It's all in the kitchen." said Dianna talking to everybody this time.
That night, Devon went outside. She looked up at the stars. She felt a slight breeze.
Everything was calm. Then she looked up again. This time she saw a bright light. It looked like a mirror. Only, she could only see a faint reflection of herself. A wave came out of the mirror and swept her towards it.
When Devon was conscious she saw a light blue haired boy staring at her. For a second she just looked at him. Then it got awkward. She shot up and hit her head against his hand, or maybe it was the other way around. " Ow! What was that for!" was what she was going to say, but then the boy put his other hand on her left arm and it felt soothing to feel something warm. She was cold. Devon realized that she was in a tent, but why was it so cold? ' Well, it's winter of course.' she thought.
"Ron! Is she awake?" said a green haired boy coming in. Only he was younger. Maybe about 12 or so. " Yes. Tell Rath that she'll be able to move soon, and we can leave this frosted mountain." The boy laughed and ran out of the tent. " Mountain!" Devon gasped. " Huh?" the so called Ron breathed. " Why am I on a mountain? Is there an emergency room on a mountain?" she asked, and suddenly realizing that that was a stupid question because she was in a tent.
" Haha!" he laughed. Devon blushed and looked down. " I'm sorry! It's my fault for not telling you." he said. " We're in the Sacae mountains, but we'll be out of them soon."
he said standing up. He grabbed something off a table and threw it to her." Change into these and then come outside."
When he left the room she stood up. She had the same clothes on... but they were in rags. They were frayed and burnt. She took the clothes. They were really cool, and
comfortable. There was a set of long black pants that only revealed her toes. Then there was a red piece of cloth that tied at the waist. Then was a tight black shirt with a second, but shorter red shirt that was loose and came over it. She then put on her black leathered boots that had a fur interior. Then there was the final coat. It was thin but warm and was also black.
When she came outside there was a group of men sitting at a fire. It looked like there had been a lot of tents but everyone was packing them onto their horse's backs.
Ron came up to her and said," Let me help you onto my horse." Devon looked back to where her tent had been. She then saw that what it really was, was a piece of canvas had been pinned to a slump in the ground. Ron took her hand and led her to his horse. It was a black stallion with gray spots. He hoisted her up onto its back. He jumped on in front of her and kicked the horses belly lightly. It thundered off down the mountain. Dodging every rock in its path, the horse ran faster and faster, and the weather gradually grew warmer. When Ron stopped once to wait for the rest of the group, Devon took off her coat and tucked it under her bottom.
When they got down into the valley Devon could tell that where ever she was, it was summer. White flowers were scattered on the field, and there was a very light breezy mood to the whole scene. Then the horse reared and went faster than ever across the huge endless valley. Devon whimpered and hugged Ron even tighter. She couldn't help but to peek out to the side. She just knew what HE was thinking. 'This girl is a whimp! Why is she so scared?' So Devon released her grip on Ron and put her hands on his shoulders. He had been laughing and shouting to the horse the whole time, so she took her turn. " This is fun! Do you get to have this much fun all the time?" she laughed.
" Truthfully, I like it better now when you're here! " he said looking back at her and smiling.
" Oh, so I guess you are having fun right now." Devon said sliding her hands down back around his waist.
" Yeah!" he said. The horse came to a stop near a lake. Everyone got off and took a drink. They decided to stay there for the night. Devon was leaning over the water when
Ron popped out of the water and pulled her in. Fortunately she had taken her shoes off. The lake was crystal clear, and you could see right down to the seaweed bottom.
Devon hadn't been swimming since the accident. She floated to the top gasping and paddling. Ron grabbed her and smiled," It's okay! You know how to swim, don't you?"
She thought a moment. She remembered how much she use to swim and how she could swim like an otter, her dad had said so. " Of course!" she said. "Good!" said Ron, he dove beneath her and pulled her down. Devon could open her eyes easily in the crystal water. She even thought it felt like she was wearing goggles. She sped through the water. She twisted and turned, and flipped and dove. Devon felt so happy. Ron was swimming right beside her. Maybe that was why she was so happy.
Devon swam back and forth and started spinning so much she got dizzy. When she came up, almost all the people in the group were staring at her and smiling. " What?"
she said and then splashed them as she dove back under. The men looked at each other and started taking off their shoes. It was a spacious lake, so the whole group didn't even start to come close to filling the lake. No trees surrounded it either. Just flat land and then the edge of the lake. Once Ron and Devon bumped into each other, not with their heads, but with their backs.
When they got out, Ron introduced her to some of his friends. Jacob: A swordsman of Sacae. Luke: A fire magician. Rath: A short bows man. Tak: A thief.
Art and Ark: Ax men. Luther: Lightning Priest. Rudolf(Devon giggled when she heard that.): Horse trainer. Sir Erin: The teacher of Sacaean Knights.
They then retreated to a high grassed area where they hid themselves. " So what do you do?" asked Devon. " I... well..." he said rubbing his neck. ' This has got to be fire Emblem!' Thought Devon,' But maybe, it really is real!' " Well, what?" asked Devon.
" I have some skill in the bow... but that's not my true speciality. I'm... a healer." he said.
"That's wonderful!" said Devon," I don't have any skill." she said blushing.
" But you do!" said Ron. Devon put her fingers through her hair. It was now covering half of her face and the other half was not, it was cut a bit shorter, but all in all it was all short hair. " What do you mean? My lame... uh... stupid power?" She laid down on her stomach. " That thing that I can do with my spirit is just weird."
"That is only a small pinch of your true power! You can do so much!... Well I'm not aloud to tell you, but I can tell you that Devon is not your name." said Ron looking over at her.
"What is it then?" she asked. " Why can't you tell me what's going on?"
"I'm not aloud! The priest has to tell you!" he said in a sort of a desperate voice.
Devon put her hand on his. " I understand." she said quietly, and she got up and walked away.