With Your Half-Wired Broken Jaw
Chapter 4

AuthorNotes: Here we go again! :) not many reviews on this one but hopefully you all are reading it, lol. If you think it's a failure, let me know and I'll post something else! I won't take offense if it's a validated reason for not liking it or whatnot. :)

Everything seemed different after that faithful day with the proof that Akita really was a demon and not just in an insulting way. I rarely got picked on and even though I would've just to see Shuichi a bit more, I had grown a bit relaxed as I walked around. I brought up Akita once and all three of my friends had looked at me like I had gone crazy. "Who the hell is Akita?" Rio asked. I decided to play along with it and wave it off. I was glad I couldn't talk because stuttering would've given me away. I can't stutter with my hands.

The whole school was different, aside from my evil history teacher who still tormented me. I always saw teachers roaming around within eye sight of most of the kids so any bullying was settled nowadays. It was…strange.

As I sat in my physics class, leaning back against the seat and staring at my midterm exam, I glanced out the window I always sat next to. It was a beautiful morning and since it marked spring break, I couldn't wait to not have to worry about coming to school all next week, a full Monday through Friday vacation. I knew I had Monday off; I just didn't realize it was for spring break. I looked down at my exam and frowned. After spring break meant it was the hardcore part of high school: studying for the final exams before summer vacation. Honestly, I couldn't wait until summer vacation but I could pass on the final exams. I did horribly at those since I always stressed myself out.

"Pencils down," my teacher stated and I quickly filled in the couple last questions before naming my page and handing it in as the teacher walked down the aisles. "Just because its spring break doesn't mean I'm going to let up easily on you guys. I want you to prepare a two page long, minimum, paper on a certain situation and what you would do to execute that situation. For those of you who think you'll just skip it, it gives you an instant F and good luck fixing that before final exams." I frowned. What kind of situation was she talking about?

The bell rang shortly after that and I began heading out, toward my last class of the day before spring break officially started. I was glad it was my arts class. It always fixed my day to perfection. But as I walked in there, I grew slightly confused. The usual rectangular shape of the desks we got to change everyday was in the regular rows like every other classroom, facing the white board and the teacher's desk. I headed toward a desk and sat down, glancing around as students filed in with the same confused looks on their faces. Natsumi spotted me and headed toward me, sitting down and frowning, staring around. "What's going on?" she asked. I shrugged as I pulled out my drawing pad and pencil.

It was a while before an adult came strolling in. He was a burly man with a grizzly bear and narrowed, sharp eyes that looked strangely like an eagles. He had frizzy brown hair on top of his balding head and he had a thin layer of sweat lining his shiny forehead as he walked to the desk and sat down with a heaved sigh. Everyone stared at him, waiting for him to explain what was going on. He looked up, finally, and cleared his throat. A frog voice came out, no shocker. "Your present arts teacher is away on sick leave. I'll be filling in for him as he rests," he stated. "My name's Mr. Titsuka." There was slight giggling in the classroom, which made his forehead glow red. "We're hoping your previous arts teacher will be back by the end of spring break. Today, you all are going to write a page essay on why you like art. No questions. Begin." I made a face and began doodling on my piece of paper. I wasn't going to write an essay on why I liked art.

That was absurd. And stupid.

By the end of the class, I wasn't the only one who didn't do the essay in which Mr. Titsuka made a disappointed grunt at. Like I cared. He wasn't my permanent teacher. His assignments didn't really matter to me. I headed out with Natsumi, who hadn't turned in an essay as well, which was shocking. When I asked her, she simply said, "Didn't feel like it."

…::::…

Home was heaven to me and heaven is a piece of grace.

I smiled as I stepped off the nasty, smelly bus and stared at my home. I had a full week to sleep in and never leave my house and maybe see if I can reconnect with my scepter. I wanted it to love me again. I remember a time when it did and even though I'd hardly use it, it'd be a good feeling knowing your scepter loved you. I headed inside and tossed my backpack against the wall as I slammed the door shut, glancing around. It was Friday and usually my dad took Fridays off. I glanced in the living room but didn't see my dad so I figured he was at work today for that case. He was always in the living room, watching movies or sleeping. If he wasn't there, he wasn't home. And I didn't hear a flush or water running at all.

I walked into the kitchen and grabbed some snacks, deciding I'd do my homework later in the week. It would be a better idea to do it now but I didn't feel like it so I began heading toward my bedroom but a weird creaking noise sounded from upstairs and it made me pause, looking up at the ceiling as I narrowed my eyes. I stood there for a while before it happened again, which it did, and then I began heading upstairs to the coldest part of the house. I kept my snacks in my hands as I ate them, heading down the hallway and trying to find the reason for the noise. I came to the end of the hallway and turned around, narrowing my eyes and sighing. I shrugged and started to leave but then the creaking sounded real loud and I looked up, my eyes narrowing.

I quickly, and quietly, pulled the attic stairway down, setting my snacks aside and beginning to climb up the staircase. I poked my head in and cautiously looked around. I saw a shadowed figure digging around and I narrowed my eyes, climbing out and heading toward the figure. "Where is it? Where is it?" the voice of the person stated and it sounded horrible. It was like glass scraping on a blackboard with the sound of bones moving against each other. It was horrible and it almost made me gag. "Gah! I sense it more now!"

The figure turned around and my heart literally stopped and my eyes widened at the gruesome face. She had an enlarged nose with warts and her teeth seemed to go every direction except the right way and her eyes were large and bugged with a shocking blue color in the right eye and plain white in the left. She wore haggard clothes and her fingers looked like shriveled up hot dogs with bones inside. "You! You have it!" she screeched before reaching out to me. I ducked, wanting so badly to scream but I couldn't. I rushed to the trunk and pushed it open, grabbing Mortiga and pointing it at the haggard lady. A large beam of red shot toward the haggard lady and slammed into her chest. I narrowed my eyes and ignored the bonding the scepter was trying to do. I charged forward and twisted my scepter so that both ends would slam against the haggard lady. She screamed, causing my ear drums to bleed. I could feel the blood falling from my ears.

I pointed at my scepter at the haggard lady and thought hard before a large erupt of fire shot toward her, engulfing her being, as well as the wall of the house. She screamed and waved her arms around as I held my scepter to my chest, which was shaking and trying to escape but when both my hands are clutching it from fear and it was pushed against my chest. The fire reached up to the ceiling and I fell back, dropping my scepter, which shot into the trunk. I crawled backwards and tears fell out of my eyes. The haggard lady erupted into her own flames and vanished as I began crawling toward the staircase but my luck would have one of the ceiling beams crash down and most of the roof cave in, just before me.

I began coughing as I reached up, clutching my chest, feeling my pendant there. I clutched it, keeping it safe as I tried to crawl the other way to the small round window of the attic. Smoke began filling the room and I could hardly see. I felt around with my arms, trying to stay low to the ground but I could feel the heat of the flames licking at me, daring me to try to get out but after a while, oxygen was getting so low, I could hardly keep crawling.

I finally collapsed somewhere in the attic, couching and hacking as I curled my legs up and lay in fetal position, wheezing as I breathed. My head grew heavy and my fist relaxed around my pendent. I hardly coughed anymore as I heard distant sirens in the background. If only I had my voice, I could scream or something or somehow let a person know I was up here. But I did leave the staircase down so hopefully they sent smart firemen to fetch me…

My thoughts turned to slush as my eyes bobbed around, staring at the bright orange and yellow flames around me. Why in the world did I grab my scepter? It burnt the last house down. Why would it do any different this time around?

I was so stupid…

…::::…

"Daddy, look what I learned!" a small child who had beaming soft brown eyes and her dark hair pulled up into a 'do it myself' ponytail. A man with a five o'clock shadow looked over and grinned as the small child held up a large, almost five foot scepter before waving it and creating a rush of wind around her, which picked her up, causing her to giggle, and ease her back down.

"My smart intelligent sorceress! That's amazing. I don't think the grand chancellor could do any better," the man stated. The girl giggled and spun in a circle before twirling her scepter in her hands and pointing it to the sky, which shot a large rainbow. The man chuckled and rushed toward her, picking her up and grabbing her scepter and pointing up at the sky, winking. "Rainbows are suspicious when it hasn't rained at all, my darling. Remember, humans aren't at naïve as most thing they are." The girl grinned.

"Of course, daddy. That's the first thing you taught me in our lessons. Here. I'll make the pretty rainbow go back into the pot of gold," the girl stated, grabbing her scepter and pointing up, making the rainbow vanish. "Humans can hardly notice rainbows so if anyone saw, they could be named crazy."

"That's right, my darling!"

My head felt so light. I felt like if I lifted it up, it'd shatter into a million pieces. As my brain started to wake up, my senses kicked in finally and I could smell the clean air and feel something weird on my face. I forced my eyes open, almost waiting for bright lights but it was very dim inside the place I was. I blinked, clearing my eyesight as I looked around. I could hear a faint, almost annoying beeping and looked over to see a heart monitor and a respirator right next to it. I followed the clear tube up to my chest and reached up to find a rebreather mask. The bag was making an air sound as I took a deep breath in but I never heard my air going in it. I certainly felt good breathing in the new oxygen.

I sat myself up but winced as a sharp pain shot up my arms. I looked down and raised my arms to see bandages. I narrowed my eyes and felt my forehead, shaking my head slightly as I wanted to smack myself multiple times. That's right. I had caused a fire, again, and now I was in the city hospital. I sighed and stared around. I saw my things on the table and quickly took the rebreather mask off and began heading off the bed. I almost fell to the ground from the pain but I quickly sat on the edge, staring down at my legs. I frowned.

I must've gotten burnt on my extremities. I sighed and frowned, looking over at my stuff. I could see the golden pendent, chilling there. I really wanted it, though I had no idea why.

"Oh, Miss Quintus, please lie down and put the oxygen mask back on," a female voice stated. I looked over to see a brunette nurse heading toward me, setting down her clipboard and gently easing me back onto the bed and putting the mask back on me and adjusting the oxygen intake. "You mustn't exert yourself. You were practically blue when the firemen rescued you," the nurse stated. I sighed. She grabbed her clipboard and began reading numbers and I looked up at her, pleading with my eyes. She glanced down at me but didn't say anything.

She simply walked out after taking the notes and headed out the door. I growled and slammed my head against the pillow, in frustration. Damn my voice. If I had a voice, I could've said to her that I wanted the damn pendent. Ah well. I stayed there, relaxing until I heard the door open and close once more before hurried footsteps reached my ears and a face came into view. It was my dad!

"Ardelia, you're awake!" he stated. His eyes were red and puffy and his lips were swollen. I could tell he had been crying. He was one of the rare people whose lips swell when crying, or balling. "I was so worried when I got home to see the house half burnt down. I thought…this time the fire claimed you." He started crying again so I reached up, squeezing his shoulder with a smile. He sniffed back his tears and smiled at me. "That's my tough girl. Oh! Your friends are outside, waiting to see if they can come in. I told them I'd see if you were in the mood for guests…" I smiled, nodding. My dad nodded, leaning up to kiss my forehead as he headed toward the door. I sat up again, pulling the blanket higher up onto my body before a crowd of people hurried in.

It only looked like a crowd because all three of them tried to fit through the door at once. It was funny really. Little Natsumi squeeze through first and was holding my right hand as the other two stood on the opposite side. I was surprised Rio was here. She wasn't really social and didn't show she had much affection for me. "We were so worried about you, cutie!" Ritsuko stated, frowning. I shrugged as Natsumi's thumbs rubbed the back of my hand. It felt nice.

But then I saw someone else walking in and my heart accelerated, making the heart meter beep a bit quicker. Shuichi walked in with a smile with his hands in his pockets. "Glad to see you're awake, Ardelia," he stated, heading to the foot of my bed. My dad followed after him, smiling as he stared at me. I smiled at him and out of my peripheral I saw something I really didn't want to see. I saw Ritsuko glaring harshly at Shuichi as her hands gripped the bars keeping me from rolling off the hospital bed. Her knuckles were turning white.

I looked over at her, glaring and everyone, besides Shuichi, looked at her, confused about her bizarre attitude. "Why are you here, Shuichi?" Ritsuko asked. Her voice seemed cold and uncalled for. I looked over at Shuichi, frowning.

"I was walking through town and heard that Ardelia's house had burnt down so I came to the hospital to make sure everyone was alright," Shuichi stated. I grinned with a tint of blush as Shuichi smiled at me. "And it seems that everyone is alright, now." My dad let out a laugh as he clapped Shuichi's back, grinning.

"Charming lad. I'm going to go get some drinks and food for Ardelia. Anyone want to come?" my dad stated. Rio and Ritsuko clambered out and Natsumi stayed for a while before she giggled, kissing the top of my hand and heading out. I made a weird face as Shuichi chuckled, moving to the left side of my bed.

"What happened?" Shuichi asked. I blushed and quickly explained to him, in sign language, what had happened. He knew about my life and hadn't rejected it so I figured I could tell him I accidentally lit my house on fire. By the end, Shuichi had a thoughtful look on his face before he nodded. "Do you have any idea what that woman was looking for?" I shook my head and then glanced behind him at the glinting golden pendent.

'Can you do me a favor and grab that pendent over there? I don't like it being so far away,' I motioned in sign language and Shuichi nodded, heading over to the table and grabbing the pendent to hand it to me. I quickly strapped it over my neck and smiled, fingering it before staring up at Shuichi, who smiled.

"You're lucky you're alive, Ardelia. Your house had a lot of damage done to it," he stated. I sighed. That meant we'd have to move again. My poor oak tree wouldn't be able to go with me. It'd be cut down and used for wood and suffering the rest of his life. "What's the matter?" Shuichi asked, breaking my silent mourning of my tree. I shook my head, grinning in embarrassment. Shuichi chuckled. "If it makes you blush all the way to her shoulders, it must've been something good. What's wrong?" I beamed and quickly told him. Shuichi's face turned serious before he chuckled lightly, shaking his head. "You worry more about a tree than your own well being…" I nodded. Shuichi reached for my hand and leaned down to kiss the top of it, just before the knuckles. I made a weird face. "You should know that any oak tree that had this much affection from you would die in a loving fashion so you shouldn't worry. I'll try to find a way to move it along with you guys." I grinned.

He's really way too sweet for his own good…