As Jack entered the den, narrowly avoiding being squashed, he swore for the 50th time that he'd ask Chase to get a back entrance, one with better manners.
That is, he thought as he breezed through the entrance, After I tell him about Regina's wierd little sleep-talking incident.
"Hey Jacky-boy." Wuya cooed, appearing from the entrance of her bedroom. "Got time to help out a poor widdle sorceress?"
Despite her come hither look and usually undeniable plea, Jack forced himself to breeze past her. "I am not going to calm Chase down for you, Wuya."
He could hear her frustrated mutterings as she stormed back into her room, slamming the door behind her.
As he advanced on Chase's private library, Jack saw the thin line of light emenating from under the door.
Thank god Chase is a night owl.
As he entered he said a quick, defensive: "I have a reason for bugging you."
"Good," Chase smirked poisonously. "You're learning."
He re-shelved the old tome he had been reading. "Now what is that reason?"
"Regina-"
Before Jack could finish his sentence, Chase was two inches from his face.
"Is she hurt?" He demanded.
"N-no!" Jack stuttered, taking a step back from the seething Heylin Master. "She's absolutely fine."
Chase relaxed visably. "Then what is the problem?"
"She fell asleep on the way home-"
"Did you touch her?" Chase was tense again, his eyes scrutinizing Jack's every move."
"Jesus christ, Chase!" The horrified boy exclaimed. "NO! Let me finish a damn sentence!"
Chase stepped back, surprised to see the usually cowardly "genius" taking a stand against his mildly unreasonable outrage.
"You may continue."
Jack took a deep breath. "Thank you. Anyway, Regina fell asleep and started sleep talking."
"Sleep talking?" Chase echoed, confused.
"Yeah." Jack said hesitantly. "About some strange shit though. First she was muttering about 'Hating this part.', then all of a sudden her voice got all creepy and harmonized and she was calling out for some chick named 'Aleera'."
"Aleera." Chase growled. "As in the Heylin sorceress?"
"I dunno." Jack said, baffled. "Why?"
Chase stormed over to his crystal orb, ignoring Jack's question, and placed his hands on either side of it.
He took a deep, calming breath and cleared his mind of everything but Regina.
Suddenly her image appeared in the cloudy crystal.
Chase let out a relieved sigh.
She was stretched out on her bed, one long, pale leg peeking out from under her sheets. Her arms were crossed over the book he'd given her, which lay open on her chest. She was sleeping soundly in her own bedroom.
"She looks alright, for now." Chase said. "But I'll contact Aleera, just in case."
"In case what?" Jack asked.
Chase looked back at him, almost having forgotten he was there.
"In case someone is trying to contact her through Regina." He replied.
"So you really think Regina is psychic?" Jack said, sounding surprised.
Chase nodded, remebering the page that had come up after He'd had trouble entering Regina's body.
"Innate psychics," His grimoire had read. "Are able to be possesed by a visiting spirit, if it is powerful enough to break through their natural barriers."
At first he thought the book had been mistaken, but it certainly made sense. After all, if a spirit had already been sharing Regina's body there was no way he'd be able to squeeze in as well.
"Now if only I could remember that woman's location..." Chase muttered, frowning.
"You want me to get out your little black book?" Jack joked.
"Ah yes!" He replied, grinning devilishly. "It's on the top shelf."
He motioned to a towering oak bookcase with a rickety looking ladder.
"Me and my big mouth." Jack muttered.
****
The high, shrill call of my alarm raised me from my sleep. I scowled and reached over to unplug it. With that hideous noise out of the way, I could concentrate on the aching pain in my neck and shoulders.
I shifted my position, wincing as my muscles protested. Something on my chest slipped down a bit.
Reluctantly I opened my eyes to see a heavy, green book lieing face down on top of me. I redirected my scowl to it's yellowed pages before setting it down next to me and getting up.
After two cups of coffee and a half-toasted blueberry waffle, I was feeling more like myself. I sped through my morning routine, donning a soft black sweater and dark blue jeans, and stuffed the god-forsakenly enoromous Chakra book into my bag before running out to catch the bus.
That late autumn chill had seeped into the air, making me unusually happy for the cheap heat blasting up from under my seat.
I stared out of the cold window as we wound through the more rural part of our route. Picturesque fields and autumn-dyed flora provided a pretty backdrop for my distracted thoughts.
Groggily, my memories of late night studying came back to me. I'd gotten about a hundred or so pages in before falling dead asleep, feeling accomplished for having finished the introduction at least.
Surprisingly the material had been pretty interesting. Alot of it even made sense, the energetic connections to our physiology and mental states, but some of it I would need to clear up with Chase. Like this whole "Magick" thing. At first I thought I'd missread a few passages, but after much frowning, squinting, and general mulling over, I found that a good chunk of the introduction did indeed talk about Magickal manipulations. Most of which involved a base element called "Chi".
Even simply remembering what I'd read was giving me a headache. Dryly I wondered if Chase had written the book himself, just to screw with me.
Just as I entered the lobby, Cara called out to me.
"Regina!"
I smiled at her, tucking the book discreetly back into my bag.
"Tommy's pissed." She said in a low voice, as soon as we were away from the general morning crowd.
I looked into her dark eyes for more meaning.
"Why would he-" Suddenly I remembered our plans for yesterday.
It all came back with biting clarity.
"Oh." I groaned.
Shit.
"I saw him this morning." She continued quietly. "He didn't say much, just that you'd ditched him yesterday after detention." I groaned again. "I wasn't sure what you would want me to say, so I just explained to him that Mr. Young had to leave early-"
Oh no.
I stopped her, my hand gripping the sleeve of her brown leather bomber.
"You told him Mr. Young was there?" I stressed.
"Yeah." She replied. "but don't worry, I didn't tell him about what happened between you two."
"Nothing happened!" I exclaimed.
"Okay, okay, chill." She said, eyes wide as she put up her hands.
I sighed and let go of her. We continued down the language hallway.
"So what else did you tell him?" I asked quietly.
"Just that I came to pick you up." She said solemnly "That's it."
I frowned. "So why is he pissed?"
She shrugged. "Could be the Mr. Young thing. I told you he's jealous."
"Yeah," I sighed as we entered the Latin room. "I know."
***
As soon as class ended I ran toward Tommy's first period class, hoping to catch him on his way to Math.
If you've ever attempted to make any sort of fast pace through a crowded high school hallway, you'll appreciate how difficult this was.
Kissing and cursing couples blocked my every turn, trumped only by the tortoise like herds of students in front of and behind me. I quickly got fed up and ran upstairs to math, narrowly avoiding the late bell by about 4 seconds.
Ms. Tyler watched me with a poisonous smile as I took my seat.
"Any luck?" Cara asked, handing back my test.
"No." I muttered.
I glanced over to Tommy, but he was staring intently at some papers.
"For the most part," Ms. Tyler began, halting all conversation with her sharp tone.
It's cooler when Chase does it.
"You all did rather well-"
I glanced down at my test to find a big, fat 70 circled next to my name.
Guess I'm the exception.
"-but some of you-" Of course she took a moment to look ,rather pointedly, at me. "-could use a bit more practice."
I groaned inwardly.
Here it comes.
"So, anyone who recieved a seventy five or below on this exam, must stay afterschool today for a tutorial."
"Ter-fucking-rific." I muttered.
Cara half turned around.
"Sorry." She whispered.
I shrugged and dove into the worksheet we'd started yesterday, determined not to let Ms. Tyler piss me off.
Why does she hate me so much anyway?
It wasn't like I didn't try in her class. I was getting a respectable B plus and I never once cut out, So I couldn't figure out her deal.
"Miss Lambert."
Speak of the devil...An ominous inner voice reminded me.
"Yes, Ms. Tyler?" I hissed, meeting her venomous gaze.
She smiled with lipstick red lips.
"The class is still going over that test. You know, the one you got a seventy on?"
"I recall it." I ground out, mimicking her mocking smile.
She arched an oddly colored brow. "Well then, perhaps you wouldn't mind following along, despite your obvious expertise on the subject."
"Mhm." I replied, pursing my lips for fear of what would come out if I didn't.
"Thank you." She replied, turning on her heel and striding to the front of the classroom.
I glanced up momentarily to check how many people were gawking at me, but happened to catch Tommy's gaze.
His expression was momentarily sympathetic before he forced a scowl over it.
I scowled right back and turned back to my desk.
He has no right to be so damn upset! So what if Chase just happened to be holding detention? Was that my fault?!
Bitterly I reached down into my bag and pulled out the Chakra book, figuring that if I'd just be going over the same test afterschool, I might as well get some real work done.
***
From another dimension, in a dark den's library, Chase smiled at his apprentice's choice of reading material.
In the background, Jack fell off a very tall, unstable ladder and was smooshed by a gigantic black book that he'd been holding.
Could Chase help it if he was good at networking?
A/N: Who is your least favorite character on XS? Can you tell who mine is?
