Chapter 34: Exploring
The voice made both Victoria and Vanessa jump. It was Queenie!
"Oh… That explains it, you thought I was my cousin."
Queenie stood in front of Victoria and crossed her arms "What do you think you are doing young lady?"
"Um… Exploring."
"Um, yeah. Exploring is leaving your tour and sneaking into the library? That's your idea of exploring?"
Vanessa said "Well… When she puts it that way, it does sound weird."
Miranda walked to Vanessa and said "Hey girl, what's going on? Stuck on the scavenger hunt?"
Queenie replied "It's nothing. I'm just picking up a little mouse."
Miranda replied "What?"
Queenie simply pointed down at Victoria.
"Oh."
Queenie said, "See you later Vanessa."
"See you later Queenie."
Then Vanessa's cousin walked away, holding the reluctant little girl's arm.
Victoria protested "I can walk by myself! Your hand is cold!"
Vanessa whispered in Miranda's ear "Her hands really are cold."
Miranda whispered back "Are you sure she's alive?"
"Miranda!"
"Kidding." replied Miranda with an insincere tone.
The two girls went back to their scavenger hunt and resumed their class.
~The Next Morning~
Classes resumed and the school tour for the first year Leo classes continued with a trip to the greenhouse. Vanessa saw a lot of different and interesting plants that she had never seen or heard of before! It was almost like she was in the rainforest! With walkways. She couldn't help thinking that her mother might like the greenhouse.
The teacher this time had glasses and looked very strange. He had the gloomiest expression until he instructed them to stay on the yellow path otherwise the trees with vines would grab them, thinking that they were intruders. Vanessa couldn't help wondering if the teacher wanted them to get grabbed by vines or if he was smiling because of something.
The teacher led them to the middle of the greenhouse, surprisingly, there was an open space where there were long tables for potion making. He raised his arms and began chanting a spell. Multiple magic circles appeared beneath their feet. There was a group of 5 people in each circle.
At least, Vanessa knew one person in her group, her roommate, Agnes. The other three people in the group were practically strangers, well, except for the Asian boy with glasses but Vanessa only knew him by face.
The teacher assigned them to look for a specific plant. He gave them rules which was another reminder not to stray off the path, not to touch any moving plants, no hanging upside down.
The teacher made them recite the rules as "Don't stray, don't touch, don't hang upside down."
While most students understood the first two rules, the last one left them at a loss. Agnes raised her hand then the teacher pointed at her "Yes?"
"Um, Mr. Irving. What do you mean by don't hang upside down?"
"As long as you follow the first two rules, you don't need to worry about the last one."
This left the students baffled but Mr. Irving told the class "Alright. Let's get started."
Mr. Irving sent each group headed towards a different direction.
The Asian boy with glasses looked like he was pulling a book out of a shelf or miming that action.
Vanessa's and Agnes' eyes widened as they saw a book appear out of mid-air!
Agnes asked, "Do you have creation magic?"
Before the boy with glasses could reply, another male teammate said "Are you blind? He clearly pulled his dictionary from a dimensional pocket."
Agnes frowned while Vanessa retorted "Well, how was she supposed to know that?"
The rude male teammate replied "Amateurs."
The handsome teammate waved his hands up and down and said "Now, now. Let's not get into a fight. Aaron, you're clearly in the wrong here. You should be polite to these pretty young ladies on our team."
Aaron exclaimed "Stfu Alex!"
"Ken" clearly offended, replied "Now see here! My name is Alexander!"
"Yeah, yeah. You still ain't no Greek conqueror."
The Asian boy with glasses faced the girls and said "You flatter me when you thought I had creation magic. By the way, my name is Timmy."
Vanessa couldn't help thinking "Timmy. What a cute name."
Agnes put her hand over her chest "It's nice to meet you Timmy, my name is Agnes."
"My name's Vanessa."
Timmy held out his hand "It's a pleasure to meet the both of you."
Timmy shook the hands of both girls. There was a pleasant atmosphere surrounding the three of them which alienated the other two boys.
Aaron said, "Are you done, nerds?"
The three of them all fixed Aaron with an intimidating glare and their glasses shone even brighter.
Alexander held up his hands and said "Now, now, let's not fight." He turned to Aaron "Come on Aaron. As gentlemen, we should introduce ourselves as well."
The "nerds" of the group were dubiously thinking "Gentlemen?"
Alexander put his hand over his chest and bowed "Greetings everyone. You may have heard my name earlier from Aaron, but my name is Alexander."
Alexander turned to Aaron and said, "Come on, Aaron, you introduce yourself."
Aaron had a bored, irritated expression as he said, "Name's Aaron."
The glasses people continued to frown at Aaron.
Aaron scowled "What?!"
Alexander held Aaron back by the arms "Now, now. Everybody has moved ahead. We should move too."
Everyone agreed then continued walking on the yellow path.
Timmy then looked up the names of the plants they were told to find in his 'Supernatural Botany Dictionary.'
"Ah-ha! Here it is." Timmy pointed at a picture of a three-pronged seaweed. 'The Fork Leaf'."
Aaron remarked "Wow. They couldn't have come up with a better name."
Agnes asked, "Why is it called 'Fork Leaf'? Is it because it has three apexes? Where's the handle?"
Timmy answered "You're right about the apexes Agnes. Here's the handle." He pointed at the lower part of the seaweed plant.
Agnes commented "That. That's a big handle."
Just as Aaron was about to grab the Fork Leaf from where he just found it, the group heard an "Ah!"
Alexander went running towards the sound of the female voice.
Aaron yelled "Wait up stupid!" Before running after Alexander.
When Vanessa, Timmy, and Agnes caught up, they saw Victoria dangling upside down with her feet tied by the smooth green vine.
