Chapter Two: The Ghost In The Fog.
Ellen is walking down the hall when she hears a piano playing in the distance. She tilts her head and listens for a moment. The tune is sad yet full of energy at the same time. What an odd combination. After a moment or two she turns around and starts walking again.
"I thought I was the only person who decided to stay at school" She says to herself. "Hmm I wonder who it is? Maybe Donald stayed behind! It could be him he does like music. But I'm not sure if he can play any thing like that or not." She walks a little faster curious to see who it is. She reaches the door and takes a deep breath before slowly opening it. She peers inside but the person she sees is not Donald at all. It is a girl with long hair blond hair that rests at her hips. She can't see who it is though so she just waits and listens to her play.
After a little while the music stops and the girl says, "So what did you think?" Ellen gave a little gasp. "I heard the door when you came in." She turns around to face Ellen.
"ATHALIS!" Ellen shrieks with excitement. She rushes over to Athalis and gives her a big hug. "What are you doing here? I thought you were going home. Did you stay here with Professor Grabiner?"
Athalis looks at her and then sighs. "Not intentionally. My parents just never showed up to get me so I ended up having to stay."
Ellen's eyes open really wide and her mouth drops a bit, "Whaaaat!? No way! B-but I thought you and your parents had a great relationship."
"Yeah so did I." Athalis says with a sigh, "I waited for nearly 4 hours before Professor Potsdam came and got me."
"No way! I wonder why they did that... Did you try calling them?" Asks Ellen.
"Yeah, I did when I was at the bus station. They answered but they said they didn't have any children." Athalis started sobbing. "I-I don't know why they would say that."
Ellen hugs the now crying Athalis not knowing what to say. "Hey I hear there is a lake we can go to if you want to have lunch there and maybe we could go for a swim. Professor Potsdam says it's safe there for us and no one will bother us. What do you say?"
Athalis leans back and looks at Ellen. She wipes the tears from her eyes and smiles. Just then the sound of rain began to patter on the roof of the school. "Well let's go in a day or two, but how about we go to the library for now?"
"Oh sure! We can work on our magic together!" Says Ellen.
THE NEXT DAY AFTER THE RAIN HAS STOPPED AND THE GROUND DRIED.
Athalis is running down the hall looking for Ellen. "Ellen!" Calls Athalis.
Ellen comes out of her room. "Yeah I'm here! You want to go swimming today?"
"YEAH! I'll admit that it is oddly hot for it to be may though. Oh well it's lovely outside so let's hurry and go!" Says Athalis happily. She grabs Ellen's arm and smiles.
"Ha ha okay okay I'm coming." Says Ellen.
It doesn't take long before the two of them are ready to go. Luckily Ellen can teleport them to the nearby lake with out anyone seeing them since it belongs to the school. After a few moments Ellen walks into Athalis' new room where she is getting ready. The room is large with a dark wood canopy bed with white bedding in the middle of the wall on the left side of the room. The floor is a soft creme colored tile with a large silver and blue rug in the center of the room between the bed the desk. The walls are a powder blue with creme' trim. There is a dark wood desk in the middle of the wall on the right side of the room and bookshelves lining the wall on either side of the desk. At the far end centered between the windows is a pretty round table meant for two. "HEY! You got your own room just like me! Not to mention it's huge! How cool is that? You ready to go?" Shouts Ellen with excitement.
Athalis nods. With that Ellen teleports them to the lake. It is so hot today that you can see the heat in the air. "Ahhhh it's soooooo hot!" Exclaims Ellen.
"Ellen! I forgot to close my bedroom door!" Says Athalis.
"Oops. Well there isn't anyone else at the school so It'll be okay." Replies Ellen.
"Oh! Good point ha ha! Hey that looks like a good spot to set up." Points Athalis.
They set their bags and lunch down on a blanket that Ellen laid down just moments ago. After a moment or two the girls stripped down to their swim suits. Ellen's was a modest pink one piece with tiny flowers scattered across it in random places. Athalis' was a mint bikini that tied around her neck and back. Ellen is eyeing Athalis for a moment before she says, "Ah I wish I was as fit as you."
"Hm? Why is that? I think you look great Ellen." Replies Athalis.
"You do? Eh I don't know I'm all short and stocky and you are not, you are tall and thin. You have like the perfect body you know." Says Ellen.
"Eh.. Not really I get really cold in the winter you know. I'd rather be just a little bigger. I eat and eat but never gain anything. It's really boring if you ask me. And don't you dare tell me being fit means you always get guys because I have never had a boyfriend. I've never even been on a date and I have only ever been kissed once and the person that kissed me only did it because I said I had never been kissed." Responds Athalis.
"Only kissed you out of sheer pity? What a guy. Donald kissed me." Says Ellen blushing
"AH did he! Awe how sweet! Is he any good? The guy that kissed me only gave me a short little kiss. It was so soft that I barely felt it. But it wasn't bad I guess for a first kiss."
"Er. Hey lets go get in the water for a bit!" Says Ellen as she runs off to the water avoiding Athalis' question. Athalis runs after her laughing.
AT THE SCHOOL:
Potsdam is walking in the gardens outside when she sees Hieronymous sitting alone reading. " Hieronymous!" She shouts so loudly it nearly gives him a heart attack.
"AHH! God woman DO NOT ever do that to me again!" He shouts back.
"Ah I'm sorry Hieronymous I didn't mean to startle you." She replies softly.
Looking up at her he says sharply. "Did you want me for something or are you just going to sit here and stare at me?"
"Oh! Right will you go check the barrier near the lake? I was scrying and it seems the barrier is weak." She answers.
Hieronymous lets out a deep and annoyed sigh. "Why can you not do this yourself?"
Potsdam smiles and says, "I have to fix the barrier for the school itself. Unless you would rather do that instead."
"No no fine I'll go." He agrees.
Potsdam claps her hand together and smiles, "THANK YOU EVER SO MUCH!"
"Yeah yeah." He says walking away.
Hieronymous is walking down the hall to go to his room to pick up the items needed to fix the barrier when he sees an open door. He looks inside but he doesn't see anything other than a few books sitting atop the desk and some female clothing scattered on the bed as if someone was quick to change and leave. He knows he should not enter someone else's room but the door was open. He walks in looking around to see if anyone was there, "Hello? Is there anyone in here?" He calls out. No one answers, he is all alone in an unknown room.
He walks around looking at the clothes on the bed. "Victorian clothing? Who here has such taste?" he says to himself. He sees books and various crystal figurines ranging from fairies to dragons all lined perfectly on the bookshelves. As he nears the desk he notices one of the books is a book composers use to write music in. He picks it up and opens it. It is filled with original handwritten songs. From what he can see the writing belongs to a female child. Hm... "I wonder whose room this is. What student here wrote this as a child? Astonishing!" He says to himself. He notices the book under the one he is holding is a sketch book. He picks it up and opens it. On the very first page there is a portrait of him! It is a well drawn portrait filled with exact details. "I-I whose is this!? This is amazing. I admit it's quite strange though." He asks himself. He quickly sets the sketch book down with shaky hands.
"What is this?" He asks as he sees the corner of a small book peeking out from under a cloth. He picks it up. He runs his hand over the green and sliver cloth cover. The pages are uneven and thick, this book is terribly old and there is something written in an unknown language on it. He opens the book to find it is a diary.
He says, "Oh I should put this down. It is not polite for me to read this." On the inside of the book there is a passage of some sort written in the unknown language. What is this written in? I have never seen this language before. I should put this down though since it seems to be someones diary."But just as he is about to close the cover he sees a short version of his name hidden among the words on the newest page. He begins to read the entry.
May 5th,
My life seems to be going to hell. First I get married to a man that hates or at least he hated me, then I was shunned by the entire school when they found out! I wasn't allowed to attend the Pancake Dinner and not to mention I didn't go to the dance! (Although I admit the outcome of not going was much much much better than it would have been if I had went.) Oh and I think my husband thinks I am pathetic! Not to mention my parents never came to pick me up and when I called them they said they didn't have any children. I started having those terrible dreams that I had as a child. I feel like my life is spiraling to its end. I wonder how long I have left to live... I remember as a kid I used to get sick after I would have these dreams. When I turned 16 I thought they were gone for good. Because I hadn't had the dream in 3 years. But the night of the dance I started having them again. I wonder what's going to happen to me.
In my dream I am running through a long and dark hallway that seems to go on forever. I always run past a mirror where I can see a face that isn't mine. Well I mean the girl looks like me but her hair and eyes are different and she has weird tattoos on her face. Anyways, I am always covered in blood and as I am running I can hear the screams of people who are fighting and dying. I keep running until I get to a big white door at the end on the long hall. When I open the door I see a man who is nearly dead and he always says, "Athalis go and hide. Forget who you are and begin life anew." Then this blue light surrounds me and I wake up.
Come to think of it the blue light reminds me of the light that surrounded me when I teleported out of the school dungeon the first time I went in! I don't understand though because I had these dreams even as a kid and I just recently discovered magic. I don't know if I should tell someone or not. Well I could tell Hiero but I'm afraid he will just brush it off like it's nothing, and if I told Potsdam she would just tell me to go ask Hiero. I wonder how mad he would be if he knew I called him that...
He closes the book before he finishes reading. "I should not have read this. This is Athalis' diary. I hate that she feels so depressed. I also hate that she thinks I don't love her. What about these dreams she is having? They almost sound like memories. And what it this strange writing I have never seen. Something is very wrong here. I cannot do anything until she comes to me about it. I hope she does! Hiero... She calls me Hiero... Ah surprisingly enough I do not mind if she calls me that. She is my wife after all." He sets the book back where he got it and he covers it back up to make it seem like it was never touched. He leaves the room and continues to his in order to pick up the items he originally went to go get.
On his way to the lake Potsdam stops him. "Oh Hieronymous!"
He flinches, "What is it that you want?" He says sharply
"Oh no need to be so grumpy. I just wanted to give this to you." She hands him a towel.
"What am I going to need this for?" He asks
"Well it is hot out today for some reason." She responds.
He hadn't noticed that it is indeed hot today. "Why is it so hot in may?" He asks himself. "Hm yes I agree. I thank you, now I will be off." He mutters a few words and he teleportes himself to the lake. Unfortunately his aim was a bit off an he ended up having to walk the rest of the way to the lake. As he nears the lake he can hear splashing and laughter. "What? Who is here!?"
He creeps a bit closer trying not to be seen. As he hides behind a tree he can see two girls playing in the lake. He can't clearly see who they are so he creeps a bit closer so he can see. He manages to remain unseen. He notices one of the girls is Ellen from Horse Hall. The other girl has her back turned to him for a while. He closes his eyes and mutters a few words to prepare the barrier for him to fix it. He does not want to bother the girls in the lake.
He turns around to see if the girls have noticed him yet. They have not. The other girl turns around. His eyes widen as he see who it is. It is Athalis! He can't help but to look at her in her swim suit. "Oh god! Wow! I feel almost like pedophile for looking at her and being very pleased. But she is my wife. I have never seen her in anything other than her school robes. Her body, her skin. Oh wow. I am a terrible man for looking at her aren't I?" He is so lost in looking at Athalis that he drops his book and tools.
The girls look up at him. "Hiero- Er... Professor Grabnier!" Calls Athalis with a smile on her face. He shakes himself back to reality.
"Oh-" He starts but then stops when Ellen lets out a shriek when she sees Hieronymous standing by a tree. Ellen screams some words and the teleports away leaving Athalis behind.
"Well some friend she is." Says Athalis laughing. "I think you scared her."
He looks up at her again. "Oh god woman you are going to kill me if you don't cover yourself soon!"
"Uh... Are you okay?" Asks Athalis. He doesn't respond, he just stands there staring at her. She begins to walk out of the water towards him.
"Oh no! Don't come out of the water! Oh god please cover up. Please please don't walk over here. Regardless of what others think I AM STILL A MAN!" He says to himself.
Athalis is almost out of the water when an odd wind begins to blow. Hieronymous notices that it is a spell at work. He noticed a ripple in the air behind her. "someone is using a cloaking spell. What is their intention?" He starts walking towards Athalis. "Hey may I ask you something?"
She looks at him and smiles, "Yes of course." The cloaked being moves towards Athalis slowly.
"Can you tell me what you are still doing at the school." He says drawing her attention away from who or whatever is behind her. He is still walking to her.
"Oh ha ha w-well... You see my parents never showed up to get me." She responds.
"Really why on Earth would they do that? Everyone needs family yes?" He moves even closer. "Did you try to contact them?" He says still keeping her attention. He can see something shiny in what is more than likely the hand of the being. "What is that?" He says to himself
"W-well yes." She starts to cry.
"What happened?" He is almost to her now. He can still see the rippling movement getting closer to her. He notices the shiny thing in its hand appears to be a knife!
"T-t-they told me they did not have any children." She sobs to him.
He has made it to her. He wraps the towel Potsdam gave him around her. "I do not know what could have happened but if it means anything I am happy to see you here. I was afraid I would not get to see you until the new school year starts. Do not forget I am your husband so that makes us family."
She looks up at him with tears in her eyes. "D-do you mean that?"
He smiles. "Yes of course I do." He hugs her causing her to bury her face in his chest. He then mutters a few words and a spectral lightening of sorts hits the rippling figure just as it was raising the "knife" behind Athalis and it disappeared.
Athalis looks up at him, "What was that?" She asks.
"Oh I was sent here to fix the barrier around the lake. I was preparing it. Would you like me to teleport you back to the school so you can get dressed?" He responds.
She nods her head slightly. "Thank you Hiero- Uh I mean-"
He cuts her off, "Hiero huh?"
"W-w-well I ju-" She tries to speak.
"I like it. I don't mind if you call me that. I mean that is if you don't mind me minding. I- Uh... I think it's great and -" He blabbers on. "Oh god I just need to shut up. I am making a fool of myself."
Athalis hugs him again and this time she kisses him on the cheek. "You are blushing Mr. Grumpy Gills. You can teleport me now if you want to. I think I need to go check on Ellen anyways."
"Oh er... Right." He smiles and teleports her back and then he gets to work on the barrier.
LATER THAT NIGHT AT THE SCHOOL:
Athalis is in the bath relaxing. "Oh man what a day that was. I got to see Hiero and I got to swim with Ellen... Until she freaked and ran off. I'm glad I found her and that she was alright." Athalis sank down deeper into the hot bath. "Thank goodness I attend a magic school because the water here is amazing. It is filled with herbs and sweet aromas. It really calms the soul." She says to herself.
As Athalis was getting out of the shower she felt a sharp pain go through her head and chest. She screamed in pain as she hit the floor. "Oh no! Not this again! Not now!" She cries as she tries to get up off the floor. There is no one around to help her either! When she tries to stand up the pain becomes unbearable and she collapses and everything around her goes dark.
The screams of people fighting and dying fills Athalis ears as she is running through the long and dark hallway. Aware that this is the dream Athalis stops running and looks around. There is a mirror on the wall near her. She walks over to it and peers in. The face she sees is that of a young girl about 8 or 9. Her long white hair and her alabaster skin in covered in blood. Athalis can see the little girl has tattoo like markings all over her body. The little girl in the mirror moves on her own and she says., "Hey wake up! We can't die here!" With that Athalis wakes up on the bathroom floor.
"Oh god what was that about! That was different than before. What's going on with me? Hm I should go talk to Potsdam. I can't hide this anymore." Athalis gets to her feet and pulls on some sleep shorts and a tank top. She soon leaves her room in search of the professor. As she walks out of her room Athalis can see that tonight is foggy. She walks over to the window and looks out into the fog but when she does she can see the figure of a little girl standing in the midst bathed in the moonlight. The child looks up at Athalis and points. Athalis notices the girl looks just like the girl in her dream. She jumps back away from the window. "What the hell! That's the girl from my dream."
Athalis quickly turns and begins walking as fast as she can to get to Potsdam. As she rounds the corner a sharp pain goes through Athalis again and she falls. When she recovers and stands to her feet she notices fog filling the hall. She can feel someone looking at her from behind. When she turns around she sees the girl again. Her long blood stained white hair is flowing as if a breeze is blowing. Her bloody gown is torn revealing that she is barefoot. Her skin is dirty and her eyes are closed. Athalis walks a closer to her. "Who are you?" She asks the little girl. There is no answer from the child. Again Athalis calls, "Who are you?" Still no answer.
Athalis creeps a little closer to the little girl. "Oh god what am I doing? Why aren't I running away!? Am I stupid or something?" She asks herself. When she gets about 5 feet from the little girl she asks again, "Hey kid who are you!? What are you doing here?" Athalis bends down closer to her level and when she does the little girls eyes pop open revealing them. Her eyes look like a dragon's in a way. They are a bright yellow color with the pupils that look like hey should belong to a dragon. Athalis jumps back a little. "W-what are you?" She asks.
The child looks up at Athalis with her dragon like eyes. She raises her hand and points at Athalis and says, "I am you." But before Athalis could respond the girl disappears along with all of the fog.
Hieronymous comes around the corner. "Uh. Athalis what are you doing? Who are you talking to?" He asks.
His voice makes Athalis jump because she didn't see him at first. "I uh... you... Ah..." She says.
He sighs, "Is something bothering you? It may not mean much to you but you do know that you can talk to me. I am your husband after all."
She looks at him and then starts crying. "I- I- I" She studders through her tears.
He walks over to her and grabs her hand. "Come on I'll put on some tea. We can talk about whatever is bothering you alright." She just nods to him. "Well at least I will be able to help her figure out what is going on."
He leads her to him room and he brings tea to Athalis who is still crying. "T-hank you." she says.
He sits down and looks at her. "So tell me what is wrong? Who were you talking to?"
"You're going to think I'm stupid if I tell you." She says.
"You don't know that. No tell me what is bothering you." He reponds. She tells him about her parents and the dreams she had been having and how the little girl in her dream had appeared to her and said that she was Athalis. She told him about how she had always had the book she uses for her diary and how she didn't know where it came from or what the writing meant. It took her a while to completly tell the story.
"-So you see that is what is wrong." she says.
"Odd. It sounds like you are reliving someone else's memories. But that wouldn't make any sense why the child would say she was you and why would you have a strange book. I'll have to figure out what this child is. It is clear that she is not human based on the way you said she looks. Human children do not have "dragon" eyes or "tattoos". Perhaps this child is reaching out to you for some reason. But then why would you always have the same dream even as a child?" He explains and questions himself at the same time.
"I don't know. Do you think it has to do with my parents too? And what about my diary? I have had it for as long as I can remember. But my parents never said anything about it." She asks.
"Honestly if they cannot remember you then something is wrong somewhere because we never erased their memories of you." He run his hands through his hair. "I don't know what to tell you right now. As for the book I'll have to see the writing on it okay. But for now let's get some sleep and get to work on this tomorrow okay?" He suggests.
"O-okay." She stands up to leave. But Hieronymous grabs her hand.
"Listen you may sleep in here with me if you wish. This way if you have the dream again you can wake me up." He says.
She can feel her face flushing, "O-o-okay."
He then says. "Don't worry I will wait until you fall asleep before I sleep okay. I want to make note of what you told me before I sleep anyways." He points to his bed. "You can sleep there."
She climbs into his bed. The bedding smells just like Hieronymous. It is comforting to her. "Thank you Hiero. I love you." She says just before she dozes off.
"I love you too Athalis." He whispers after she is asleep. He begins to write down everything she told him. After awhile he finishes and he looks over at his sleeping wife. "She is truly amazing it's too bad she has such a hard time with life. I hope I can protect her fro whatever is after her. I also need to figure out who or what that what at the lake as well. It was clear that who or whatever it was, was going to hurt her. I cannot allow this to happen! I will not lose her like I lost Violet!" He vows to himself before climbing next to his wife. Eventually he dozes off as well bring the day to an end.