~ Chapter 20 ~
Return to Reality: Part 2
I assembled everyone, including myself, into a tight circle to begin. I took another breath.
"Okay … everyone ready?" They all nodded mutely. I turned my head to Mitsukake a little.
"Forgive me … this'll all be explained soon enough."
"…What??"
I ignored everything else around me as I brought my hands together, closed my eyes, and silently went over the spell in my head. Soon enough, my body started to glow scarlet … instead of emerald … soon passing on so everyone else was glowing as well. I shut my eyes tighter; cold sweat dripping down the back of my neck, as I knew what was coming next. My wings sprouted from my back so quickly, it was almost painful. I spread them out full length and wrapped them totally around the small group, still going over the spell in my head … over and over again. The scarlet glow started to flash faster and faster, until we disappeared entirely.
"Yes! All right!!" Joanna had her nose pressed flat against the television screen, and both her hands pressed against it on either sides of her face as well. Her eyes got very wide as she saw us, as well as the picture on the screen itself, disappear. Since I was coming back, there was no medium in the other world that would allow Joanna or anyone else see anything but I bright red screen.
When the screen turned red again, she reeled back abruptly and switched it off, shoving the huge TV back into her walk-in closet.
Just as she had shut the door, we had arrived back safely with no trouble. She froze in place: her hand still on the door's handle, and her eyes staring at the wood grain.
"Ah … perfect!" I exclaimed happily as I used another spell to retract my wings. "That went so much better than I thought it would!"
Joanna slowly turned her head toward us, with the hugest, scariest grin that I had ever seen.
"Holy ……"
Joanna charged like a bull at Mitsukake and sent him crashing into her dresser, squeezing the hell out of him.
Chichiri and Tasuki cringed. I put my hand over my face. "…Shit."
"FFFFIINNAAAAALLLLLLYYYYYY!!!!!!!" Joanna screamed as loud as she did through the bracelet. "I THOUGHT YOU'D NEVER GET THE HELL OUTTA THERE!! JEEZ!! YOU COULD HAVE GONE A LITTLE FASTERRRR YOU KNOW … LEAVING ME WAITING THIS LONG!!!!" She gave him another squeeze, and through my fingers, I could have sworn he turned a shade of blue.
"Umm…you must have been only waiting a few minutes compared to our 2 days …"
"BUT STILLL!!!!" Joanna didn't finish. She didn't seem to care anymore.
Mitsukake finally caught his breath. "Wh-what the hell is going on here?!" He sputtered.
Joanna grinned at him. "I would be Joanna … and I think you're going to have to get used to me real fast … since we're gonna be around each other for a loooooong time, buddy!" Mitsukake gave her a look, clearly confused.
I sat down on Joanna's bed, fumbling with the quilt on the top. "Um … now that I'm back … how am I going to explain to my parents where I was?!" I sighed. "I gave them a note saying I wasn't going to come back … damn it …"
Joanna sat down too; the other three already had made themselves comfortable around the room. Mitsukake slumped in the circular chair, Tasuki leaned against Joanna's second dresser near the computer, and Chichiri sat in her computer chair.
"I'm not sure either … I haven't really thought of that until now …"
I thought of something. It really sounded outrageous, but maybe it could be done … if we did it right.
"How about we get an apartment somewhere for all five of us … and live on our own from now on?"
Joanna stared at me like I was crazy. "What the hell are you talking about??"
"I'm talking about getting an apartment in … I dunno … NYC and living by ourselves from now on! We could get jobs and pay off the rent easily!!" I was convincing myself. "Plus … I can't go back to my house now … it's too late."
"I don't know about this … I mean … how are we going to afford it in the first place?"
"Well, I've been saving up for over a year now … and if you have something we could pile it together and have enough!" I grinned. "Whattya think?"
We turned our glances to the guys … who in turn looked at each other and nodded. I looked at Joanna again.
"Okay …" She said, smiling at the end. "I do have some money on me as well."
~~ That night, at about a little past midnight …
"I'm back!" I whispered, reappearing into Joanna's room quietly. The room was dark except for a little light, just enough so we could see each other and not trip over anything.
"You got th' money?" Tasuki asked.
"Yep … no problem." She handed over a wad of bills and some loose change. "I just teleported there … it was very easy, actually." Joanna counted what she and I had.
"It looks like we are gonna be able to get an apartment … we definitely have enough, and some extra cash to get food and other stuff." She looked up and smiled, stuffing the money into her wallet. Mitsukake and Chichiri sat in silence, just listening for any other noises around the house.
I sat down in the little circle. "In order for our parents and relatives to not find us … we'll have to change our first names, naturally." I thought for a minute, my eyebrows coming together. My gaze wandered to my 'C' bracelet.
Joanna caught on as she saw what I was looking at. "How about …" She thought it over again, raising her own wrist to show her 'M' bracelet. I caught on as well, grinning and exposing my fangs.
"I'll be Chiri … and you be Mits!"