NICCO
The only one who is able to catch my speed was Heath. Luke was left because he tried to perform his signature 'supernado' power towards the crows, which is of course, a total failure. While Jesse... well, he is still the same Jesse I've known my whole life. Really not a runner material.
We keep running at this unusually quiet road of Bremin, until we found the first unlocked building in sight: a magic shop. Which is as long as I can remember, was closed years ago.
"I'm sorry but we're closed for today." said the dark clothed, creepy looking lady who seems to own these junks. Jesse locked the door, and still with panting breath, he said, or more precisely, shout at her, which apparently make her even more pissed. "There's a flock! A full, crazy flock! Of crows!" his eyes widened along with his vague movements, "And they chased us! As if we were waving a string of fresh popcorns at them."
"We need a shelter and this is the closest we can get." I moved closer as I saw the lady was about to open her mouth, "After they're gone, we'll leave."
"If they're gone." Luke stares at me, then Heath, but skipped Jesse as anger started to filling his stare, "I told you guys this is dangerous! But no one listened!"
I swallow the guilt, the biggest, perhaps, because I was the one who insisted to do this spell and ignoring the Air guy, even though I know that his instinct is the strongest of all of us. I insisted because I need an escape. I want to do the spell just to release my mixed emotion after Heath confessed his feeling for me. I really want to punch him to say that, but I can't do that either. Now after all these time, after making me the third wheel in every 'date' he had in order to win Brooklyn's heart once again, after our late night phone calls just to talk about her, and when he finally realize that all of his efforts were useless, he said that he loves me. He said it at the moment when I was only a breath away of winning the war against my feeling towards him, a crush that started to spark because of us spending so much time together, then become a love that stupidly growing each day.
"Now we lost the talisman! And have no idea where did the boys go, or Ellen. Basically, we trapped here! In a place that I believe is not our dimension."
"Someone said dimension?" Felix swings the shell curtain behind the creepy lady. He looks very tired, and skinnier than the one I remember. Everyone in the room turned at him, surprised but happy. And the first one who expressed it was Jesse.
"I'm glad we found you! But what happened to your clothes? And hair?" he said using his fashion critique tone, "And where are the others?"
"You remember me?!" the goth's eyes widened in disbelief, "And Jake, Sam, and Andy?"
"Of course we do! You were with us when we did the spell."
Some footsteps approaching. "The spell?!" Sam sneaks his head between the curtains, "You're a witch too?"
"More than that." Felix turned at him, "They remember us. And it looks like they've crossed dimensions too."
"Oh good, another stupid people that casted the Unmaking Spell..." Jake came behind him. His face tells nothing than anger, which he brings along in every step he took toward the window to peek from its blinds. Now I know something isn't right. And it's not only about the clothes and hairstyle that Jesse keep asking to the boys. It's more than that. It looks like they all are younger, maybe in the same age as me, and clearly they don't know a lot about magic when Felix showed us the broken talisman and said that he have no idea how to fix it, which is I know was written in his Book of Shadows.
Our Felix's Book of Shadows.
The answer hit me a soon as one of the crows started to bang the window, trying to break the glass and make its way in. We're not only crossing dimensions, we've crossed time. To the day where the boys were 'lost' in the school excursion. To the day that they were still a group of clueless teenagers in a universe where they were never born. When a Restoring Demon still wandering around universes to fix any magical disturbance.
The crows finally managed to break the window's glass, followed by its friends on the other window. Suddenly, the place is filled by dark feathers, caws, and fluttering wings, and our footsteps leaving for the backdoor.
"We have to do something!"
"Yeah, keep saying it, Nerd! It's very helping!"
Again, we run for our life. But this time only until we reached a yellow Kombi and stuffed ourselves in it.
"Phoebe, go!"
But the Kombi doesn't start no matter how much Phoebe try to turn on the engine while cursing in mumble. I hear the crows coming closer, cawing in distance. Not at all lost its appetite to attack us, or worse, try to kill us. In the middle of desperation, I felt Heath's warm grip around my hand that I don't even realize is shaking. His stare trying to give me calmness and support as he did after my mom and Yiayia were disappeared. The first time the crush was sparking.
The crows only need seconds to finally reach the Kombi. Screams and fears were unavoidable when they started to pecking the glass, especially from Jesse, who almost made me deaf with his 6 octave voice.
"Divinity of the elements, I summon Thee. Air, fire, water and earth. Aid in my quest, I call you forth!"
Without any poof, without any wind or fire, the crows are suddenly gone. Instead of a form of elemental attack, there are four boys outside, running to the Kombi with one of them bringing a talisman. The working talisman. While the other one, whose his younger self could do nothing than rubbing his eyes and said something about momentum, holding the ancient Book of Shadows.
"You can do magic! The spell worked!"
"Yeah, thanks to you and your friends, Jesse. But we have to—"
"What?!" Felix looking at his older self, "How? Who?"
"Are you coming from the future?"
The older Andy answered his confused yet excited younger self, "Sort of."
"If that so, are Mia and I still together? Do I still popular? Because it sucks to be not."
"And why do I—I mean, you," Jake nodded to the tallest of the 22 years olds, "still hanging around with him?! The one who put us here?"
"You all will know about that." the older Jake said before turned at me, "We have to go. It's too many magical disturbances here."
"And the spell won't hold the demon off for too long." Felix added, "By the way, it's nice to see you again, Phoebe."
"I don't feel like I should, but me too, Felix." it's weird to see Phoebe smiles. Like looking at a bad carved Halloween pumpkin.
A sudden earthquake makes me fall directly into Heath's arm. And I hate to admit that I wish I didn't have to quickly stand up and awkwardly took two steps away from him while ignoring Jesse's annoying smile. "Jake's right. We have to go. I don't wanna die here."
"We're from the same universe, aren't we? Can you take us too?"
"Same universe, yes. But different timeline. I'm sorry but you have to go on your own." I moved more further from Heath as the two Felixes are talking, "Fix the talisman. Recast—"
"Felix!" I pointed at the dark clouds with some lightning and thunder above us, "We really have to go!"
"Divinity of the elements, I summon Thee…" the older Sam started the spell, followed by the rest of us but Felix, who still shouting directions to his younger self between the crazy winds spiraling around us. "Recast the Activation Spell! You're gonna need Oscar! Then do the Unmaking Spell. All of you!"
"…return us all to where we want to be. Take this Earth, Fire, Water, Air. Universe reclaim and repair!"
The next thing I know is I'm sitting on a bunch of orange leaves and branches, a few meters from the Altar that Ellen made. She still standing on her place, hands covering the four candles she ignited from a slow breeze left from the tornado that left a perfect circle mark around us.
"What happened?!" she run towards her boyfriend, "I can't see anything other than the candles. Did it work?!"
Sam blows Felix hair with the wind controlled by his hand and smiles. "Perfectly."
"And you? Are you okay?"
"We're good." Luke answered, "It wasn't a bad idea, by the way. You know, the spell."
Jesse shook his head and tap his friend's shoulder, saying that next time he will listen to him. "Maybe with a little argument." he added, "Life's not fun without it. Right?"
"Anyway, thank you so much, again and forever."
"Free ticket to your next game?" I asked.
Jake smiles, "Sure. And every game I play after that if you want."
While the boys are testing their newly-returned elemental powers, Heath whispered at me. So low and almost unheard between Ellen's scream when Andy accidentally splashed a bit of water on her shirt, "Can we talk?"
I nodded and wait. But Heath shakes his head and whispered again, "Not here."
No one seems to notice that we were leaving, not even Jesse since he was too busy being a judge of water-ball ping pong between Ellen and Andy. "I think it's far enough." I stopped after we walked for a while, fold my hand on top of my chest and lean my back on a tree that hide myself perfectly from the group of people laughing in background, "What do you want to say?"
"I can't stop thinking about what happened the other day." he looks at me deeply, "There's something wrong. Something that makes you so mad and avoiding me in the last three days."
"I did that to everyone, so don't take it personally."
"Maybe I can't read, but I'm not blind." he said, "You're acting like you don't wanna see me again. That somehow, we've became enemies."
"Then so be it!" I can feel sorrow even though every word was spoken as an anger, "It will be the best for everyone! The best for me!"
"Nicco please… Don't—don't say that. I can't—"
"Yes, you can! It's not like me and Brooklyn are—" I gulped to hold my tears, "This conversation is done! We're done!"
"Why didn't you say it?" his voice stopped me from leaving, " Why did you act like you didn't want it?"
"Want what?!"
"Us. Together." I heard his footsteps are coming closer, "I saw it in your eyes. You were so upset when I expressed my feeling as if you were hoping that I never said that. But then, I see something else..." he stopped, "It also hurt you, in a way that I didn't understand. Until now... It's all because of Brooklyn, isn't it? You were jealous."
"I'm not."
"I never try to win her back. She was the one who wants us to be together again. That's why I always asked you to go with us, and also the only reason why I talked about her in our phone calls is because I thought that it would be the only thing that will keep our conversation. Which is now sounds really stupid."
"You can simply say no."
"To the spoiled daughter of the school's Principal that already hates me? I still want to graduate, Nicco."
"You're lying!"
"You can use the Truth Spell." he sighed, "I love you. And I—"
"Stop it! Please..." I said, "Save it for someone who really cares. I wouldn't change my mind."
"I'll be surprised if you do. But at least, please, can we still be friends?"
I wiped my tears once again before turned back at him, "No. We can't! I don't wanna be your friend anymore..." his eyes filled with a lot more sorrows, "I don't wanna be someone you'd call every night only to talk about another girl. I don't wanna be someone you'd do the magic training with. And I've done being a third wheel on your dates. I don't wanna do any of it. Not again! I want to be more than just a friend to you. I want to—"
His warm and soft lips touched mine with a sweet, deep kiss. So loving and caring. Which make me crave for more. Somehow, he knows about it, because the kiss doesn't end in a blink of an eye, that now both completely closed, mine and his. And even this is mean that I finally lose in the war I was in, I don't regret it. Actually, I waved the white flag proudly, since I know that happiness is the only punishment I would get.
"Hey, Lovebirds!" Felix's voice echoed inside the forest, "You want to go home or not?"
We drifted apart, realizing that the night is falling during our moment. "I can't wait to get my driving license." he laughed, "It's kinda suck not able to drive on my own."
"You did it before." I said while we were walking together.
"In the Empty World." Heath grabbed my hand, "I don't wanna have any more problem with the cops."
I giggled, "Yeah. Right. The worst time of our life."
"Nah. Not the worst." he looked at me, "Remember us being the only person left in Bremin? Some spell could do a Mega Demon, but not the cops."
I raised my shoulder, "An earthquake will."
Heath laugh while shaking his head, and I feel that his grip is getting tighter. Not in the way that hurt me, but more like a promise.
A vow of a bright beginning.
