Author's Note: Chapter Two is finally here!!!!! Or should I say Chapter One? The last chapter was more of a prologue. Anyway, enjoy. Please review.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own The Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles (owned by CLAMP), Edgar Allen Poe, The Tragedy of Macbeth (written by William Shakespeare), Evanescence, Pokémon, Hamlet (written by William Shakespeare), The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (written by Robert Louis Stevenson), or Raven's Gate (written by Anthony Horowitz).
Joannie woke up to the sound of the front door opening as well as footsteps. She knew that Amelia always put a security spell on all doors and windows at night, and Amelia would be the only one (besides from Joannie) to counter it. All said, Joannie didn't have to worry.
The teenage girl turned over on her side and glanced at her alarm clock: 1 AM is what it read. Whoa, she thought, Amelia must have had one hell of a drive. Nearly five hours ago, Amelia went out to pick up a guest they were going to host at her reserve—that is, a reserve for mages. Personally, Joannie didn't see why Amelia had to drive them—the person could have just taken a ride on the bus or train if not drive their own car. But I guess that's what happens when gas prices skyrocket, she mused.
At the moment, she heard the footsteps climbing the staircase.
"The bathroom is at the end of this hall," Amelia's voice said when the footsteps had reached the second floor, "and seeing what a long day you've just had, I'm thinking you probably want a nice, hot shower."
Another door creaked open, and this sounded close to Joannie's room.
"This is your room, complete with a dresser, blankets, sheets, etc. Though I'm afraid I left out the mints." Amelia stated jokingly.
A small laugh sounded, not Amelia's laugh, but the clear sound of a young man's voice. "That's quite alright Madame Sage. In fact, you've done more than enough for me, already. Thank you so very, very much!"
"Hey, it's no problem." Amelia replied. "But, please, don't call me, 'Madame Sage.' It makes me feel like an old lady."
Even though you are an old lady, Joannie good-naturedly thought. Technically, Amelia Sage wasn't elderly, but neither could she be called young as she was almost fifty years old.
A yawn was heard outside Joannie's door. "Well," Amelia's voice stated, "I'm going to call it a night. If you need anything, just give a holler."
"I will," the young man's voice replied, "and thanks again for everything."
Joannie heard footsteps walk down the stairs and a door nearby closing. After that, all was quiet. She sighed. I guess I should try to get some more sleep. I mean, I am having a Trig test first thing in the morning. And after that, she remembered, P.E.
Joannie groaned. She hated P.E., with a passion. Joannie, although could meet the quota for push-ups, was not a very athletic girl. Her instructor, she swore, was a Nazi drill sergeant than anything else. Not to mention, on several occasions, she had to pair up with another student.
Riverside High was far from the stereotypical environment portrayed in High School Musical. However, that did not stop the students from labeling Joannie Gordan as the School Witch. It wasn't that they knew about her having magic (and thank God for that). It's just that they're a bunch of jerks, she thought vehemently. Indeed, if they weren't avoiding her like the plague, they were harassing her with names and taunts. There were quite a few times in which Joannie wondered why she didn't just put a hex on these certain people.
"I guess it can't be helped." She murmured in resignation. And with that, she closed her eyes.
Unfortunately for Joannie, sleep would not come. Minutes ticked on to hours. Finally, throwing off the covers, she turned to glance at the clock again: four-fifty eight. Joannie grumbled. "Might as well get up."
She switched on the light to reveal her room. While it was neat and organized, it didn't exactly bring out the joy in the average person; not that Joannie was the average person. The walls were a dark gray-blue and the carpeting was jet black. In the corner was her small bookshelf, the same color as the floor. Besides from her spell books, it held Edgar Allen Poe's works; William Shakespeare's Hamlet and The Tragedy of Macbeth as well as Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. On her desk and burrow, which were also jet black, were several items which people would not exactly call cheery: a plastic replica of a skull, a small figurine of a gargoyle, a sketch she had drawn of a black widow spider on an intricate web, etc. And on the wall was a small calendar of her favorite music group: Everlasting Night1.
It was this calendar, at which Joannie glanced after grabbing a bunch of clothing from her burrow that made her face drop down so many levels. September 28th, she read. The day that it happened…so many years ago. I think I'd rather it be a funeral, today, she thought darkly.
A wave of resentment washed over her as it had done so the many years before. Calm down, Joannie, she told herself, it's no use brooding about it all day. What's been done has been done, and it's been that way for seven years.
But as Joannie went into the shower, she couldn't help but brood. "We love you and will forever love you, Joannie!" her mother had said. Joannie snorted at the memory. Yeah, right.
"You'll always be my little girl!" her father had smiled warmly. She clenched her fist. "What a load of bullshit!" She hissed as she hit the shower wall.
She forced herself to take several deep breaths. Forget it, Joannie thought; just think about the Trig test today. Sine over cosine is…
After the trip last night, Amelia was pretty tired. Nevertheless, she woke herself up at five-thirty in the morning since she still had to manage her bookstore (even mages had day-jobs). I think I should make an extra-strong pot of coffee, she thought drowsily. However, when she reached the kitchen downstairs, she was taken by surprise to see her fifteen year old charge fully dressed (in her usual gothic style) and already sipping a mug of the caffeinated drink.
"Am I dreaming?" she blinked. Joannie scowled at her. "Oh, har-har." Came the reply as the young mage sat down at the table.
Amelia resignedly sighed. "I guess not." Still, it was unusual for Joannie to be up this early; Amelia had to fight her sometimes just to get out of bed. As the middle aged woman went over to pour herself a mug, she glanced at her own calendar (one with a farm theme). September 28th, she read. She winced; while Joannie's parents rejecting her was not as traumatic as many other young mages who had been raised in a non-magical families, it was still something not that easy to get over.
Amelia glanced over at her foster daughter. Joannie was hunched over, reading a new book she had borrowed from the library (Raven's Gate by Anthony Horowitz), her expression blank, save for a slight frown that would appear every once in while. Amelia knew better than to think that the teenager was not the slightest bit upset on this bitter anniversary.
"Hey."
Joannie glanced up at her guardian.
"Are you feeling okay?" Amelia asked, concerned.
The girl looked back at her book. "Just dandy." She muttered.
"You sure? Because if you want to talk about it –
"Look, I'm fine, okay?" Joannie almost shouted as her head snapped back at Amelia. She caught herself a second too late. She groaned. "Look, Amelia, I'm sorry. I just feel really, really crappy today."
Amelia put an arm around her. "It's all right," she said softly, "but do you want to take the day off from school if you're not feeling so well?"
Joannie shook her head. "Love to, but can't. I've got a major Trig test today and I am so not going to stay after school to make it up."
Amelia sighed. "All right. If you say so."
Silence ensued for a few moments. Then, "I think I'm going to head to school, now." Joannie stated as she packed her book into her black bag (complete with a cute little skull sticker2). Amelia glanced at the clock. "What? But it's not even six o'clock, yet!"
The girl shrugged. "I'll just kill some time at the park."
"Well, aren't you going to say 'hello' to our guest, first?" Amelia asked.
"No." Came the curt reply as Joannie walked out the door. Amelia shook her head in defeat. Kids these days…
Just then, another door, upstairs, creaked open. "Madame Sage," the voice of her guest called out, "is something wrong?"
"Don't worry, Hon." She called back, "Everything's fine." And with any luck, she thought, things will turn out for the better.
It was pleasantly warm that autumn morning. The sky was clear and the sun was just peeking over the horizon. In fact, had it not been September 28th, Joannie probably would not have been in such a glum mood.
It was such a nice day that when she reached the park, she was half tempted to fly across the area (she was especially good at levitation). However, she knew that if anyone who had no knowledge of magic (and there were a lot of them) caught her flying midair, she knew she'd get in trouble, and with not just the witness but also with the Mage Council (dropping what you were doing to erase the witness's memory was always a pain for them). Also, the other half of her mind wasn't really up to flying.
Her eyes caught sight of the playground, just yards away. A playground…, she thought, a playground just like this one…where it happened…
She had grown up with her parents in Connecticut. There was supposed to be an after school event going on at that day, September 28th, seven years ago. It was to take place in the playground.
The adults talked, joked, and laughed at the corner while the children played and squealed on the swing-set. Joannie was playing with her friends on the grounds when some bullies came over and grabbed her bag.
"Give it back. Now!" she demanded.
The leader, Kale Harris, stuck his tongue out at her. "Nuh-uh."
"I said, 'Give it back!'" Joannie snarled.
"C'mon, guys! It's hers so give it back!" a small redhead named Danielle Kierson exclaimed. Several other little voices echoed Danielle's cry in Joannie's defense.
Kale smirked. "You want it back so badly, Princess?"
"You bet I do, Stupid."
Kale and his cronies exchanged mischievous glances, then in a blink of an eye, he unzipped Joannie's bag and spilled its contents on the ground.
"Here's your bag, Princess!" He called out as he threw it at her feet. "The rest is ours!"
Then he and his cronies started to kick her things around, kicking and ripping the pages of her books, dirtying her drawings, breaking her pencils and crayons. Joannie felt hot with anger. She screamed at the boys. "I HATE YOU!!!"
At the same moment she shouted those words, several things happened at once. First off, the sand nearby sprang out of the ground like a geyser. Then the wind whirled around the boys, whose now terrified faces were being pelted by sand and rocks. Then the leader, Kale Harris, was lifted off the ground and flung across the field. He landed on his back several yards from where Joannie stood.
The children all started screaming and ran. Even Joannie's friends stared at her in terror and scampered off.
"RUN!"
"SHE'S A MONSTER!"
"WITCH!"
That last part was yelled out by Kale who had seemed to recover from his fall and quickly ran in the opposite direction. Joannie stood there, dazed, as if she was in some sort of bad dream. She turned to look at the parents and teachers—they were all staring at her with hostility and horror. As quickly, as they could, they gathered up the children and ran off, looking back to see if Joannie the "Monster" was chasing after them. She just stood there. She glanced at her own parents with a silent plea in her eyes. They glanced back with shock and utter revulsion. Then they both shook their heads at her and sauntered away.
The present Joannie shuddered at the memory. Amelia had told her that nobody had gotten seriously hurt, including Kale Harris. Everyone except her parents had their memories erased. Her parents…
Aw, c'mon Joannie, she chided herself, they don't want to remember you. So why bother thinking about them?!
1 This is a fictional band. I made it a spin-off of Evanescence.
2 Think of anime cute. I was thinking of one of those Pokémon from said anime.