A.R.I.S.E and the Snake Society
Chapter Twelve: Whispers
There was silence on the other end. Albus could practically feel the alarm radiating from Ever in his mind. He knew she was probably going through the same thing he had been when he heard her voice. He hoped that she would come to the conclusion he came to, and not think someone was attacking her mind. But, then again, who's to say they weren't?
His silent brewing was interrupted by a soft, almost scared,
Albus?
He focused on the thought, and let it pull him back into now.
Hi, Ever, he thought as hard as he dared, it's me.
She didn't hesitate. How is this happening?
I don't know, he responded. Maybe it's not? Maybe I'm dreaming?
A sharp pain occurred in his upper arm, and he rubbed it absent-mindedly.
Nope. She thought, not dreaming. I just pinched myself. It definitely hurt.
Wait. She pinched herself, and his arm hurt? And they could send each other messages through their brains? And he had felt it when she was scared before. He wondered is she'd felt when he was startled before and had mistaken it for her own feelings.
Ever, he began slowly, his stomach plummeting. I can feel your pain.
What? Really? She didn't sound shocked or scared, but curious.
Mm-hmm.
Then his face was soar, and he had no idea why. Was Ever experimenting?
Ow. They both complained at the same.
Okay, Albus thought, we've established that I can feel what you feel. Now, would you stop hurting yourself?
Sure thing.
Albus almost laughed, but didn't. Does this mean we'll have the same dreams? He wondered.
Maybe we'll just see each other's dreams. She suggested. Cold dread leaked over Ever, and Albus felt it.
Why is that bad?
What? Now she did sound startled. Oh, yeah, you can feel what I feel. That's starting to get old.
You're telling me.
Pause. What about my visions?
What about them? Albus wondered.
Will you see them?
He thought about that for a second. Don't think so.
This seemed to relieve her a tad. Good. Then, Albus, why are you awake?
I couldn't sleep, he answered, I've had a lot on my mind. What about you?
Same as you, I guess.
We should sleep.
Yeah. Sleep.
Albus whispered, "Nox," and the light on the tip of his wand to ceased.
Once he was in bed and close to sleep, Ever whispered in his mind, Goodnight.
He smiled at the darkness around him. Goodnight, Ever.
Then he got some sleep.
In his dreams, he and Ever were sitting by the Whomping Willow. Then a stray broomstick began chasing him, and Ever was laughing. She gained control of the broom and aimed it the other way. Then Indigo was there, and the broom was headed straight for her. He waited for Ever to stop it. She didn't.
Then Albus was in a living room. It led right into a kitchen, which was illuminated in yellow light. The rest of the house was dark, so dark he wanted to pull out his wand, but decided against it.
There was terrible floral wallpaper. It was blue and peppered with little pink daisies. There was a small TV sitting on a school desk. A worn-put white couch sat a couple yards away from it, and on the couch sat a young girl. Ever, he recalled absent-mindedly.
She looked very different. Her hair was longer with only one blue streak, and her face was rounder. She was shorter, and her eyes carried lightness that Albus had only encountered a couple of times.
"Mum!" she cried playfully, eight-year-old voice high and clear. "Come on! You're gonna miss the whole movie!"
Beautiful-sounding laughter came from in the kitchen, and out stepped a blonde adult with blue eyes and long legs. She had freckles sprinkled across her tanned nose, and a kind face. She was holding a neon-green bowl, containing popcorn that was almost over-flowing. "Okay, Ev, I'm coming," she said smiling, and the kitchen light clicked off.
She went to go sit down by her daughter on the white couch, but she never made it. The popcorn fell to the ground with a loud bang!
She fell to the ground in the fetal position and screamed. Ever rushed to her mother. She put her hands on her mothers back, obviously not knowing what to do with them.
The screaming doesn't stop, and Ever looks close to screaming herself. "Please, Mum," she sobs. "What's wrong? What can I do? Mum?"
His heart ached for her.
Then she got up and started looking around, mumbling, "Phone, phone, phone, gotta call an ambulance. Gotta take care of Mum."
He wished he could help her. But he stayed where he was.
After a few minutes of tearing apart the couch covers, tossing aside a couple pieces of junk on the floor, and still not finding the phone, she went back to her mother.
"Please," she cried, "tell me what's wrong so I can help!"
Her mother didn't open her eyes, just continued to scream.
Then Ever reached into her shaking mum's pocket and pulled out something silver and shiny. In the darkness, it took a couple seconds to recognize the object as a cell phone. She punched in a number, and a voice rang out, "Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?"
"It's my mum," she told them, breathing hard. "She's hurt. She won't stop—"
Then a bright green light was illuminating Ever's mother, and then the screaming stopped. She was completely still.
Ever dropped the phone, shouting, "Mum! Mum!" then she checked the pulse, then she was sobbing. "Mum, no! No,"
He vaguely heard a small "Ma'am, I need you to tell me what's going on . . ." coming from the cell phone, while Ever cried for her mother.
Right before he woke up, Albus thought he saw a picture of a snake swallowing it's own tail hovering over Ever's mum's body.
"Aren't you awake yet?" Scorpius complained as Albus's eyes flickered open. "It's nearly time for breakfast. Get up."
But Albus wasn't listening. He recalled his "conversation" with Ever the night before, and thought, Ever? No answer. Ever!
Good morning to you, too. Ever replied icily.
I guess we do make guest-appearances in each other's dreams. He stated.
You saw that, huh?
Yep, he responded. And now we know it was the Snake Society.
He could feel her surprise. What? How?
He was puzzled. Hadn't she seen it, too? The snake swallowing its tail. The Snake Society symbol was hanging over your Mum.
Woah. I must have been distracted.
I would say so. He wished he could help her.
Wanna call ARISE? She asked.
Yeah, I think we have to. We don't have to tell them about your mum, but we should talk about this weird mind-connection.
"Are you going to get up or not?" Scorpius asked, and Albus climbed out of bed.
Throughout the day, their mind connection got the two in trouble. In Defense Against the Dark Arts, he kept reminding Ever to pay attention. In History of Magic, he made a comment about their ghost-teacher's captivating voice, which made Ever sputter a laughter right after a kid read, "and three wizards were gravely injured." Ten points were taken from Gryffindor.
In Herbology, Albus nearly dropped his supplies when Ever spoke to him. In Transfiguration, Killjoy was droning on and on. Ever gave a joking insult inside Albus's brain, and he shouted back jokingly, "Hey!" Unfortunately, it was out loud. Five points from Gryffindor this time.
By the end of the day, Albus was almost used to the sound of Ever's voice in his head. His friends all met in the library, by his request, and were waiting for him when got there. Except Rose. Surprisingly, she arrived ten minutes after them all. Her eyes were glinting with rebellion, her hair slightly damp. Albus didn't mention it, or give Scorpius a chance to.
He told them what happened between him and Ever, even though he wasn't quite sure what had happened. Ever interjected a couple of times, but other then that no one else spoke.
"You guys can read each other's minds?" Indigo asked incredulously.
"Not really," Albus answered. "More like, we can feel each other's moods and talk to each other through our minds."
Everyone looked skeptical. "Don't believe us?" Albus asked.
"We'll prove it," Ever promised. "Albus will leave the room, and then you say something to me that's completely random that he couldn't possibly guess. I bet you he does, because I'll tell him in here." She tapped her temple. "Now, Al, leave,"
He gave a half-hearted salute, which got a laugh, and then walked from the library. He stood just outside.
They're thinking about it. Indigo looks pained. Then, they're deciding on something together. Gosh, you'd think they were deciding something life-threatening. OK! They got it. It's . . . Albus is not as cool as Ever. Ever is great.
Ever, Albus scolded, laughing.
Fine, fine. It's actually "Do not go gentle into that good night." Got it?
Albus grinned. He liked that poem. Got it.
His friends were all talking in hushed voices, which completely stopped when he approached. "Do not go gentle into that good night."
They all gaped at him, then at Ever. She was grinning smugly at them. "Told ya," she sang.
"Well, now that that's settled," Rose said, "I've got something to propose."
"Oh, gosh," Scorpius replied, faux-surprised, "right in here in front of everyone else?"
She rolled her eyes at him. "Not that kind or proposal." She shook her head. Then she pulled out black papers from her robe. She lays one out on the table. It says ARISE in big, white letters. Under it is a picture of a hand coming up from a grave, which is a little creepy.
"Gross," Scorpius complained. "Why would you put that on our posters?"
"He's arising," Ever told him, defending Rose.
"More pressing issue is," Indigo said, "why'd you make us posters?"
"Well," Rose began, "this whole running around and telling us we need to meet isn't working. These posters are charmed. I've been working on them since we decided the name. There's one for each of us. You can do whatever you want with it. But just keep it. I designed for it to look like a band poster, so if someone finds just say that's what it is. We saw them in show together, if someone asks why we all have one. When you have something to tell us, just tap the paper with your wand and say ARISE. I charmed them to be linked, so if someone wants to call a meeting, then the word Arise will glow on all our papers."
"What about after the meeting?" Ever wondered.
"Whoever called the meeting will just tap the paper twice and say, 'Mission Accomplished.'"
"Mission accomplished?" Scorpius scoffed. "That's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard."
"I invented it myself," she shot back, flustered.
"Oh," his brows shot up. "By dumb I meant clever and . . . brilliant."
"Seriously, Rose," Albus interjected. "This is brilliant. You're a genius!"
"Yeah," Ever agreed. "It's great!"
"Good job," Indigo said.
"Yeah, well," she started modestly, but she couldn't hide the grin of pride.
Even though Scorpius and Rose seemed mildly impressed with Ever's and Albus's new skill, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was a dark, sinister reason he and Ever kept getting strange abilities. Was it possible that someone, or a group of wizards, could give another person rare powers? He hoped not. Because, if so, then they were planning on using the two of them as weapons.
