Hey guys sorry for the delay but I went to my grandparents' for the 4th of
July. Unfortunately, they don't have a computer, so I couldn't write
fanfiction. Boooooooo. So here's chapter 13 for all of you who've been
waiting. Kinda something I saw off of "So Weird", but hey.
Chapter 13: In the Darkness Is the Light
The next morning, although it was one day before Cecile's birthday, she decided to stay in her room, all by herself. But at least she had enough dignity to get out of bed, wash up and dress. Then, she just went back to her room and thought. What could she do that left her alone? How could she get away from everyone? Suddenly, it came to her. She sneaked out of the print shop, undid the rope that tethered Soot to her post. She mounted Soot and side-saddle rode to the little field that they owned. She tied Soot to the tree and walked off on her own to get away from everything. But she wasn't alone. No. She was never alone...
"Has anyone seen Cecile?" James asked around 9:30. "I'll go check her room," Sarah stated. She went up the stairs and knocked on the door. "Cecile?" she called. "Are you in there?" She turned the knob and pushed the door open. When she got in there, all she saw was a neatly made bed, a box that held Cecile's flute, and on her writing desk Sarah found a quill, some ink, and a piece of foolscap with writing on it. Curiosity killed the cat, one part of Sarah thought. The other part said, True, but satisfaction brought him back. She went with the second part and picked up the paper. She was sure glad she did, because it was a letter.
"Dear Sarah, James, and Henri,
I'm sorry I had to do this, but I really can't stand it any longer. I'm going to spend this day alone, by myself. Don't come to find me. You'll just make it worse. You can't come. I don't want you to get hurt.
Cecile"
Sarah looked up from the paper, flung the door open, slammed it, and ran down the stairs waving the paper in her hand. "Look what she left!" Sarah said to James. He read the letter and said, "What do you think we should do? Should we go find her?" "Well, I don't know..." Just then Henri opened the door to the print shop and ran in, practically out of breath. "Hi!" he said happily. He then noticed the mixed looks of confusion and dejection on Sarah's and James's faces. "What's wrong?" he asked, puzzled. James handed him the letter that Cecile wrote to them. "I say we go find her!" Henri said confidently. "Are you mad?" Sarah asked him. "Did you not just read what she wrote? She said not to come." "Then again, we don't really know if she's safe," James pointed out. He got his coat. "Henri, Sarah, you stay in case she comes back here," he told them superiorly. They scowled but agreed.
James mounted his horse and moved slowly towards the town. There was no sign of her in town, so they went out towards the suburbs, near the old field they owned. "It's Soot!" He sped up Caesar and galloped to Soot. He stopped and tied his horse to the same tree that Soot was tied to. "Cecile? Cecile? Where are you?" James called. He walked all around the field and finally found her sitting down, leaning against a tree. "Cecile? Oh, thank goodness I found you!" he said happily, picking her up. When he finally put her down, he noticed that she had a horrified look on her face. "James! What are you doing here?! Get out!" "But—" he started to say, but Cecile cut him off. "Get out!" she hissed. Suddenly, a strong breeze passed. "Come on!" she said. "You have to get out of here!!" But it was too late. Somehow, Caesar managed to break free from his rope and he was headed straight toward James!
Out of nowhere, something---or someone---picked him up and threw him aside. He gave a scream of agony and felt his right arm crunch underneath him. The breeze was gone. Cecile ran over to him and kneeled down. "Are you okay?" she said worriedly. "Yeah," he said. "But I think I broke my arm." "Oh my God!" she said. She turned around and found Sarah behind her. Sarah saw James sprawled on the ground, turned around and headed for the doctor. The doctor came right away and did his best to mend James's broken arm. "You'll have to stay in bed for a couple of days," the doctor said. "See? I told you. This is why I didn't want you to come. Now don't come back! I'm serious." "Wait a minute. How did that happen? Did you push me?" "She couldn't have," Sarah pointed out. "I was watching her the whole time. She stayed rooted to the spot. You moved all on your own." "You have to get out of here! Seriously! Go!"
A couple of days later, Cecile hadn't come back to the print shop. Everyone was taking good care of James. Around 2:00 in the afternoon, James called Henri to his room. "Henri? Can you do me a favor?" he asked. "Sure," Henri replied. "Please go get Cecile. I have to talk to her." "Uh...okay," he said. "But I thought she wanted to be left alone." "Please just go get her," James pleaded. "Okay, okay, I'm going," Henri said, yielding to the ever- popular puppy dog pout.
Meanwhile, Sarah was trying to figure out how James had moved just in time to get away from being trampled on by Caesar. She looked all over, even in Ben Franklin's office, until she finally found something that was printed by Dr. Franklin 20 years ago...
Henri mounted Penny and galloped back to the field. He found Cecile and said, "Cecile, James wants to talk to you." Cecile looked like a lost child. "I can't leave here," she said quietly. "Why?" he asked playfully. "Come on. He just wants to talk to you." "No, I can't leave here. I'm serious." The breeze came back. "No, Henri, you have to get out of here!" she said as if she were a small child afraid of the dark. "Get out!" "Look, he just wants to talk to you!" Suddenly, something---or someone---pushed him down. "What did you do that for?!" he asked crossly. "I didn't do that!" she tried to explain as she helped him up. "Really, I didn't!" Henri got back on top of Penny and rode back to the print shop.
Sarah picked up the piece of paper that was lying on the floor next to the printing press and sat down in the closest armchair she could find. She read this paper holding secrets that nobody had ever considered to read.
"Telekinesis is the magic of making things move with one's mind. In order to do so, one must concentrate on whatever he or she wants to move. When—"
"Sarah! Sarah!" Henri said as he came running through the print shop door. "What is it? What did you learn from her?" she asked excitedly. Henri slammed the door and stomped over to the armchair where Sarah was seated. "I learned that when Cecile said leave her alone, she meant it," he said angrily. "What are you talking about?" Sarah asked, confused. Henri rolled up his sleeve. Underneath it was a blossoming bruise, and right next to it, a cut with streaming blood. She gasped and got a bandage for him right away.
"Look what I found while you were out!" she said happily as they went back to the armchair. She gave him the secret paper, and they read it aloud.
"Telekinesis is the magic of making things move with one's mind. In order to do so, one must concentrate on whatever he or she wants to move. Whenever this happens, the object may levitate, be pushed over, or thrown aside."
Henri looked at Sarah with his brown eyes wide with shock. "Do you think that's how James and I got moved? With tele...teleki...?" "Telekinesis," Sarah said. "But Cecile said she didn't do it. Maybe if we read some more, we'll find out more about it." So they kept reading.
"One who has telekinetic powers may also create invisible life. Such life is of a topa. A topa is similar to an imaginary friend, created by someone. Each time that a topa is in range of someone, the topa may attack, which makes them harder to control with each person. The only way a topa can be destroyed is if the creator of the topa knows that he or she has the power to do so. When the topa is destroyed, so are the person's telekinetic powers."
"That's it!" Sarah said timidly. "That's why she doesn't want us to be there. She has a topa!"
"Henri?" James called from his room. "I'm coming!" Henri yelled back as he ran up the staircase.
"Did she come?" James asked. "No, she wouldn't come. But she did push me onto the ground the same way she moved you," Henri answered. "That's crazy," James said doubtfully. "If she moved me while staying rooted to the spot, then she would have to have telekinetic---" James looked at him. "Powers," they both said. "So she moved me? But she said she didn't." "She didn't. Her topa did it out of her control." "Her what?" "Sarah and I were reading this paper downstairs on telekinetic powers. Someone who has them, like Cecile, can create a topa. That's kind of like an imaginary friend who gets stronger and stronger when people come into its range. It starts getting out of her control, so it started attacking the two of us."
That night, James heard a knock on his window. He opened it and there was Cecile. "Hi," she said. "I'm really sorry about your arm. I told you not to come. I can only stay a while." "Come in," James said and she climbed through the window. "Look, I found out what's wrong. Have you ever heard of telekinesis?" Cecile just looked at him. The wind chimes in James's room tinkled. "Uh-oh. I have to go. Now," Cecile said. "Wait a minute! I know what's wrong!" James said, grabbing her arm, but she jerked it out of his reach. She ran down the stairs and stopped at the door. Sarah saw her. "Hi, Cecile," she said.
"Come on!" James said. "Can't you just stay for a little while?" He stopped in front of Sarah. "Leave me alone!" Cecile said, and something---or someone---pushed both James and Sarah down. Cecile gave them a worried look and ran out the door back to the field.
"Are you all right?" they asked each other. They both nodded. Henri came down the stairs with a candle. "Hey!" he said. "You're supposed to be setting the type for the newspaper." He pointed to Sarah. "And you're supposed to be in bed because of your arm." He pointed to James. "So why should I find you on the floor doing that?!" Sarah gave him a get-out-of- here look. "That's not what we were doing, I swear." "Cecile just came back and her topa..." "...Pushed us down," James said. "We weren't doing what you thought we were doing," Sarah said, and they both reddened. "Now go back to bed, both of you. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
The next day, James's arm wasn't so sore anymore. Henri brought him a blueberry muffin and some milk for breakfast, and as he ate, Henri asked him about Cecile's visit the night before. James told him every single detail.
Henri gasped. "Hold on! Unroll your bandage. I think I have proof that it was a topa!" James took the end of his bandage and slowly unraveled it. He gasped and Henri said, "Aha! C'est vrai!" There was one big bruise on James's arm. He turned it around. There were four more on the other side of his arm. As he twisted it towards the left, he noticed something about it.
The five bruises looked like giant finger prints. He put his fingertips on top of the bruises. They fit perfectly. "Henri," he whispered. "It is a topa. Look." And he showed him the fingerprints. They both ran downstairs and told Sarah. She told them to get their coats. "Why?" the two boys asked. "Because," Sarah said exasperatedly. "We're going to get her to kill that topa."
Five minutes later, they were back at the field, in front of Cecile. "Cecile," James said. "We know you have a topa. And we know you can get rid of it," Sarah continued. "You just have to believe in yourself," Henri said. The strong breeze came back. "Come on! You really have to get out of here. I don't want you to get hurt!" she whispered tremulously. "We're not leaving. We know you can get rid of it. Just concentrate."
All of a sudden, a nearby vine slithered over to Sarah's legs and wrapped itself around them. It pulled Sarah towards the tree. She screamed and tried to pull the vine off, but it would budge. "I knew this was going to happen," Cecile said anxiously. "You can do it!" Sarah cried. "Just concentrate," James said. "CONCENTRATE. Concentrate on what you want to do." Cecile shut her eyes tight. Images were swarming in her mind. She opened her eyes. "I can't do it," she said.
The vine was pulling Sarah closer and closer to the tree, as if it wanted the tree to kill her. Cecile closed her eyes again. One part of her mind was saying, Don't do it. The topa's your friend, remember? Another part of her mind was saying, Sarah's your friend. Concentrate. You can do it. Then there was a conversation between the two parts of her mind.
"Don't do it. Why should you do it? What's Sarah ever done for you?" "She's been the best friend I've ever had." "But the topa's been your friend longer." "Who cares? Sarah's been the better friend."
"Concentrate," James was saying. "Concentrate."
Go away, topa, she thought. Go away. GO away. GO Away. GO AWay. GO AWAy. GO AWAY. die. Die. DIe. DIE.
"DIE, TOPA!" she yelled. The vine let go of Sarah. The breeze was gone. All that was left was a picture of a monster on a piece of paper. Cecile lifted her foot and stomped on the piece of paper. "And don't come back," she declared.
James, Sarah, and Henri cheered and rode back home. They were happy that Cecile could come back. As they rode, Cecile told them the story about how that particular topa came to be.
"I loved to draw when I was really little. Then my parents died in the boat accident. Henri's dad saved me and took me in. Henri and I used to draw pictures together. Then he and his parents left for America. Nobody liked me after that. So I made up a friend. She was really nice to me and everyone around me. Then she started to get harder to control. She finally forced me out of the print shop and left me to stay in this field, and whenever anyone came around me, she would attack them. She used to be really nice. I don't know why or how she became so cruel.
"How's your arm, by the way? Is it feeling better?" she asked James. He nodded. "Much. But why didn't you tell us about this earlier?" "Well, I couldn't tell you without you getting hurt. I just decided to keep it a secret." "But it's okay now." "Yeah, I guess," she said, and without warning, she drooped over and slid off of Soot. James stopped and picked her up.
"Poor kid, the topa's tired her out," he said. He placed her on top of Blaze and clasped Soot's rope. He led Soot home while Sarah held Cecile and rode Blaze home.
A couple of minutes later, the four of them were home. Sarah got off Blaze and then picked the sleeping Cecile off of Blaze. She carried Cecile to her room and laid her on the bed. She put the covers over the young girl and wrote a letter.
Dearest Mother,
America is turning out to be much better than I thought it would be. However, my friend Cecile has just been in the biggest predicament in her life. It turns out that she had telekinetic powers, which means she could move things with her mind. She also created a topa, which is similar to an imaginary friend. The topa was taking over her life and she couldn't control it. Finally, when a vine was pulling me towards a tree (I think it wanted the tree to kill me), she had enough courage to kill the topa. But when the topa was killed, she lost all of her telekinetic powers. Now she has to physically move things. It sounds like she'll get exhausted a lot faster.
Your loyal, loving daughter,
Sarah
She then wrote another letter to another friend of hers.
Dear Mrs. Adams,
How have you been doing? It's been a long time since we last cast eyes on each other.
Cecile has just been in the biggest predicament in her life. It turns out that she had telekinetic powers, which means she could move things with her mind. She also created a topa, which is similar to an imaginary friend. The topa was taking over her life and she couldn't control it. Finally, when a vine was pulling me towards a tree (I think it wanted the tree to kill me), she had enough courage to kill the topa. But when the topa was killed, she lost all of her telekinetic powers. Now she has to physically move things. It sounds like she'll get exhausted a lot faster now that she has to do the chores without using her mind!
Your true friend,
Sarah
Sarah heard a small moan. She turned around and found Cecile twitching. Cecile finally woke up and sat up in bed. "Sarah?" she said weakly. "What happened? I feel like I got hit by a carriage." "Cecile! You're all right!" Sarah said as she hugged the little girl. "Do you remember ever having telekinetic powers?" Cecile nodded. "I still have them." "No, you don't," Sarah said. "You lost them after you destroyed the topa." "I destroyed the topa? I couldn't have." "But you did. You saved my life." Sarah hugged Cecile again. "I can't believe it," Cecile said hoarsely. "I destroyed the topa." "But your powers got destroyed with it," Sarah said sadly. "Oh, well. It's not like I was using them anyway." Cecile got out of bed with Sarah's help, and together they walked down the hall and down the stairs to the main room. She saw James and Henri, and they never looked so happy. Sarah eased Cecile down in the armchair, and then sat in the one next to her.
"You're all right!" the boys said happily. "She doesn't look all right," Henri said. "You're right. She's pale, and she's shaking. Is she really all right?" James asked Sarah. "She is okay. She just needs a little more rest. She's still suffering from a little trauma. She didn't even know that she got rid of the topa, and she still thought she had telekinetic powers." "What she really needs is bed rest," James agreed. "Let's put her back in bed and wait until she's fully recovered."
So Sarah helped her back up the stairs and put her in bed. She woke up a few hours later feeling much better. She went back down the stairs without Sarah's help and then realized something. Nobody was upstairs or in the main room. She looked everywhere and finally found them in the kitchen having lunch. "Come here and sit down," Sarah said gently. She made a sandwich for herself and finally sat down.
"We're really sorry you had to spend your birthday like this," Henri said sympathetically. It was her birthday?! She completely forgot. Dumb topa, it made her forget her own birthday. "Yup," Sarah and James agreed. "We really are."
"It's okay. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the topa earlier. I just didn't want you to get hurt." "Well, you're not about to get hurt again, are you? We've got something for you," James added as he took a white box out of his pocket and handed it to her. She read the note on top.
"Happy birthday, Cecile! Henri kept this from you, too. But we hope you like it anyway.
Your everlasting friends, Sarah, James, and Henri"
"Hmmm, I wonder who wrote this note?" she teased. Everyone knew that James always signed his letters the same way. "Your everlasting friend, James." Everyone laughed and James said, "Just open the present," with an apologetic grin.
She took the lid off of the box and gasped. There was a heart-shaped locket that perfectly fit inside the box. "It's the kind of locket you hold with you, not the kind you put on a necklace," Sarah explained. Cecile pushed the button on top of the locket and gasped when she read what was engraved.
"Dear Cecile,
Have a great 13th birthday. We love you.
Love,
Mother and Father"
She looked up and almost cried. She gave everyone a huge hug. She asked Henri, "How did you find it?" "I found it under a bunch of ashes," Henri said. "A bunch of ashes? I thought your parents died in a boat accident," Sarah said. "They did. But when word got out that they died, the King gave them permission to burn down my house," Cecile explained sadly. "Them?" "Our neighbors. They hated my parents. Nobody ever liked us until I met you three."
Henri put a hand on her shoulder. "The first person who ever did like her was me."
END CHAPTER 13
Awww. That was so nice! But it was so weird! And so sad! Anyways, you know the drill. Please review so you can get chapter 14!!!!
Chapter 13: In the Darkness Is the Light
The next morning, although it was one day before Cecile's birthday, she decided to stay in her room, all by herself. But at least she had enough dignity to get out of bed, wash up and dress. Then, she just went back to her room and thought. What could she do that left her alone? How could she get away from everyone? Suddenly, it came to her. She sneaked out of the print shop, undid the rope that tethered Soot to her post. She mounted Soot and side-saddle rode to the little field that they owned. She tied Soot to the tree and walked off on her own to get away from everything. But she wasn't alone. No. She was never alone...
"Has anyone seen Cecile?" James asked around 9:30. "I'll go check her room," Sarah stated. She went up the stairs and knocked on the door. "Cecile?" she called. "Are you in there?" She turned the knob and pushed the door open. When she got in there, all she saw was a neatly made bed, a box that held Cecile's flute, and on her writing desk Sarah found a quill, some ink, and a piece of foolscap with writing on it. Curiosity killed the cat, one part of Sarah thought. The other part said, True, but satisfaction brought him back. She went with the second part and picked up the paper. She was sure glad she did, because it was a letter.
"Dear Sarah, James, and Henri,
I'm sorry I had to do this, but I really can't stand it any longer. I'm going to spend this day alone, by myself. Don't come to find me. You'll just make it worse. You can't come. I don't want you to get hurt.
Cecile"
Sarah looked up from the paper, flung the door open, slammed it, and ran down the stairs waving the paper in her hand. "Look what she left!" Sarah said to James. He read the letter and said, "What do you think we should do? Should we go find her?" "Well, I don't know..." Just then Henri opened the door to the print shop and ran in, practically out of breath. "Hi!" he said happily. He then noticed the mixed looks of confusion and dejection on Sarah's and James's faces. "What's wrong?" he asked, puzzled. James handed him the letter that Cecile wrote to them. "I say we go find her!" Henri said confidently. "Are you mad?" Sarah asked him. "Did you not just read what she wrote? She said not to come." "Then again, we don't really know if she's safe," James pointed out. He got his coat. "Henri, Sarah, you stay in case she comes back here," he told them superiorly. They scowled but agreed.
James mounted his horse and moved slowly towards the town. There was no sign of her in town, so they went out towards the suburbs, near the old field they owned. "It's Soot!" He sped up Caesar and galloped to Soot. He stopped and tied his horse to the same tree that Soot was tied to. "Cecile? Cecile? Where are you?" James called. He walked all around the field and finally found her sitting down, leaning against a tree. "Cecile? Oh, thank goodness I found you!" he said happily, picking her up. When he finally put her down, he noticed that she had a horrified look on her face. "James! What are you doing here?! Get out!" "But—" he started to say, but Cecile cut him off. "Get out!" she hissed. Suddenly, a strong breeze passed. "Come on!" she said. "You have to get out of here!!" But it was too late. Somehow, Caesar managed to break free from his rope and he was headed straight toward James!
Out of nowhere, something---or someone---picked him up and threw him aside. He gave a scream of agony and felt his right arm crunch underneath him. The breeze was gone. Cecile ran over to him and kneeled down. "Are you okay?" she said worriedly. "Yeah," he said. "But I think I broke my arm." "Oh my God!" she said. She turned around and found Sarah behind her. Sarah saw James sprawled on the ground, turned around and headed for the doctor. The doctor came right away and did his best to mend James's broken arm. "You'll have to stay in bed for a couple of days," the doctor said. "See? I told you. This is why I didn't want you to come. Now don't come back! I'm serious." "Wait a minute. How did that happen? Did you push me?" "She couldn't have," Sarah pointed out. "I was watching her the whole time. She stayed rooted to the spot. You moved all on your own." "You have to get out of here! Seriously! Go!"
A couple of days later, Cecile hadn't come back to the print shop. Everyone was taking good care of James. Around 2:00 in the afternoon, James called Henri to his room. "Henri? Can you do me a favor?" he asked. "Sure," Henri replied. "Please go get Cecile. I have to talk to her." "Uh...okay," he said. "But I thought she wanted to be left alone." "Please just go get her," James pleaded. "Okay, okay, I'm going," Henri said, yielding to the ever- popular puppy dog pout.
Meanwhile, Sarah was trying to figure out how James had moved just in time to get away from being trampled on by Caesar. She looked all over, even in Ben Franklin's office, until she finally found something that was printed by Dr. Franklin 20 years ago...
Henri mounted Penny and galloped back to the field. He found Cecile and said, "Cecile, James wants to talk to you." Cecile looked like a lost child. "I can't leave here," she said quietly. "Why?" he asked playfully. "Come on. He just wants to talk to you." "No, I can't leave here. I'm serious." The breeze came back. "No, Henri, you have to get out of here!" she said as if she were a small child afraid of the dark. "Get out!" "Look, he just wants to talk to you!" Suddenly, something---or someone---pushed him down. "What did you do that for?!" he asked crossly. "I didn't do that!" she tried to explain as she helped him up. "Really, I didn't!" Henri got back on top of Penny and rode back to the print shop.
Sarah picked up the piece of paper that was lying on the floor next to the printing press and sat down in the closest armchair she could find. She read this paper holding secrets that nobody had ever considered to read.
"Telekinesis is the magic of making things move with one's mind. In order to do so, one must concentrate on whatever he or she wants to move. When—"
"Sarah! Sarah!" Henri said as he came running through the print shop door. "What is it? What did you learn from her?" she asked excitedly. Henri slammed the door and stomped over to the armchair where Sarah was seated. "I learned that when Cecile said leave her alone, she meant it," he said angrily. "What are you talking about?" Sarah asked, confused. Henri rolled up his sleeve. Underneath it was a blossoming bruise, and right next to it, a cut with streaming blood. She gasped and got a bandage for him right away.
"Look what I found while you were out!" she said happily as they went back to the armchair. She gave him the secret paper, and they read it aloud.
"Telekinesis is the magic of making things move with one's mind. In order to do so, one must concentrate on whatever he or she wants to move. Whenever this happens, the object may levitate, be pushed over, or thrown aside."
Henri looked at Sarah with his brown eyes wide with shock. "Do you think that's how James and I got moved? With tele...teleki...?" "Telekinesis," Sarah said. "But Cecile said she didn't do it. Maybe if we read some more, we'll find out more about it." So they kept reading.
"One who has telekinetic powers may also create invisible life. Such life is of a topa. A topa is similar to an imaginary friend, created by someone. Each time that a topa is in range of someone, the topa may attack, which makes them harder to control with each person. The only way a topa can be destroyed is if the creator of the topa knows that he or she has the power to do so. When the topa is destroyed, so are the person's telekinetic powers."
"That's it!" Sarah said timidly. "That's why she doesn't want us to be there. She has a topa!"
"Henri?" James called from his room. "I'm coming!" Henri yelled back as he ran up the staircase.
"Did she come?" James asked. "No, she wouldn't come. But she did push me onto the ground the same way she moved you," Henri answered. "That's crazy," James said doubtfully. "If she moved me while staying rooted to the spot, then she would have to have telekinetic---" James looked at him. "Powers," they both said. "So she moved me? But she said she didn't." "She didn't. Her topa did it out of her control." "Her what?" "Sarah and I were reading this paper downstairs on telekinetic powers. Someone who has them, like Cecile, can create a topa. That's kind of like an imaginary friend who gets stronger and stronger when people come into its range. It starts getting out of her control, so it started attacking the two of us."
That night, James heard a knock on his window. He opened it and there was Cecile. "Hi," she said. "I'm really sorry about your arm. I told you not to come. I can only stay a while." "Come in," James said and she climbed through the window. "Look, I found out what's wrong. Have you ever heard of telekinesis?" Cecile just looked at him. The wind chimes in James's room tinkled. "Uh-oh. I have to go. Now," Cecile said. "Wait a minute! I know what's wrong!" James said, grabbing her arm, but she jerked it out of his reach. She ran down the stairs and stopped at the door. Sarah saw her. "Hi, Cecile," she said.
"Come on!" James said. "Can't you just stay for a little while?" He stopped in front of Sarah. "Leave me alone!" Cecile said, and something---or someone---pushed both James and Sarah down. Cecile gave them a worried look and ran out the door back to the field.
"Are you all right?" they asked each other. They both nodded. Henri came down the stairs with a candle. "Hey!" he said. "You're supposed to be setting the type for the newspaper." He pointed to Sarah. "And you're supposed to be in bed because of your arm." He pointed to James. "So why should I find you on the floor doing that?!" Sarah gave him a get-out-of- here look. "That's not what we were doing, I swear." "Cecile just came back and her topa..." "...Pushed us down," James said. "We weren't doing what you thought we were doing," Sarah said, and they both reddened. "Now go back to bed, both of you. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
The next day, James's arm wasn't so sore anymore. Henri brought him a blueberry muffin and some milk for breakfast, and as he ate, Henri asked him about Cecile's visit the night before. James told him every single detail.
Henri gasped. "Hold on! Unroll your bandage. I think I have proof that it was a topa!" James took the end of his bandage and slowly unraveled it. He gasped and Henri said, "Aha! C'est vrai!" There was one big bruise on James's arm. He turned it around. There were four more on the other side of his arm. As he twisted it towards the left, he noticed something about it.
The five bruises looked like giant finger prints. He put his fingertips on top of the bruises. They fit perfectly. "Henri," he whispered. "It is a topa. Look." And he showed him the fingerprints. They both ran downstairs and told Sarah. She told them to get their coats. "Why?" the two boys asked. "Because," Sarah said exasperatedly. "We're going to get her to kill that topa."
Five minutes later, they were back at the field, in front of Cecile. "Cecile," James said. "We know you have a topa. And we know you can get rid of it," Sarah continued. "You just have to believe in yourself," Henri said. The strong breeze came back. "Come on! You really have to get out of here. I don't want you to get hurt!" she whispered tremulously. "We're not leaving. We know you can get rid of it. Just concentrate."
All of a sudden, a nearby vine slithered over to Sarah's legs and wrapped itself around them. It pulled Sarah towards the tree. She screamed and tried to pull the vine off, but it would budge. "I knew this was going to happen," Cecile said anxiously. "You can do it!" Sarah cried. "Just concentrate," James said. "CONCENTRATE. Concentrate on what you want to do." Cecile shut her eyes tight. Images were swarming in her mind. She opened her eyes. "I can't do it," she said.
The vine was pulling Sarah closer and closer to the tree, as if it wanted the tree to kill her. Cecile closed her eyes again. One part of her mind was saying, Don't do it. The topa's your friend, remember? Another part of her mind was saying, Sarah's your friend. Concentrate. You can do it. Then there was a conversation between the two parts of her mind.
"Don't do it. Why should you do it? What's Sarah ever done for you?" "She's been the best friend I've ever had." "But the topa's been your friend longer." "Who cares? Sarah's been the better friend."
"Concentrate," James was saying. "Concentrate."
Go away, topa, she thought. Go away. GO away. GO Away. GO AWay. GO AWAy. GO AWAY. die. Die. DIe. DIE.
"DIE, TOPA!" she yelled. The vine let go of Sarah. The breeze was gone. All that was left was a picture of a monster on a piece of paper. Cecile lifted her foot and stomped on the piece of paper. "And don't come back," she declared.
James, Sarah, and Henri cheered and rode back home. They were happy that Cecile could come back. As they rode, Cecile told them the story about how that particular topa came to be.
"I loved to draw when I was really little. Then my parents died in the boat accident. Henri's dad saved me and took me in. Henri and I used to draw pictures together. Then he and his parents left for America. Nobody liked me after that. So I made up a friend. She was really nice to me and everyone around me. Then she started to get harder to control. She finally forced me out of the print shop and left me to stay in this field, and whenever anyone came around me, she would attack them. She used to be really nice. I don't know why or how she became so cruel.
"How's your arm, by the way? Is it feeling better?" she asked James. He nodded. "Much. But why didn't you tell us about this earlier?" "Well, I couldn't tell you without you getting hurt. I just decided to keep it a secret." "But it's okay now." "Yeah, I guess," she said, and without warning, she drooped over and slid off of Soot. James stopped and picked her up.
"Poor kid, the topa's tired her out," he said. He placed her on top of Blaze and clasped Soot's rope. He led Soot home while Sarah held Cecile and rode Blaze home.
A couple of minutes later, the four of them were home. Sarah got off Blaze and then picked the sleeping Cecile off of Blaze. She carried Cecile to her room and laid her on the bed. She put the covers over the young girl and wrote a letter.
Dearest Mother,
America is turning out to be much better than I thought it would be. However, my friend Cecile has just been in the biggest predicament in her life. It turns out that she had telekinetic powers, which means she could move things with her mind. She also created a topa, which is similar to an imaginary friend. The topa was taking over her life and she couldn't control it. Finally, when a vine was pulling me towards a tree (I think it wanted the tree to kill me), she had enough courage to kill the topa. But when the topa was killed, she lost all of her telekinetic powers. Now she has to physically move things. It sounds like she'll get exhausted a lot faster.
Your loyal, loving daughter,
Sarah
She then wrote another letter to another friend of hers.
Dear Mrs. Adams,
How have you been doing? It's been a long time since we last cast eyes on each other.
Cecile has just been in the biggest predicament in her life. It turns out that she had telekinetic powers, which means she could move things with her mind. She also created a topa, which is similar to an imaginary friend. The topa was taking over her life and she couldn't control it. Finally, when a vine was pulling me towards a tree (I think it wanted the tree to kill me), she had enough courage to kill the topa. But when the topa was killed, she lost all of her telekinetic powers. Now she has to physically move things. It sounds like she'll get exhausted a lot faster now that she has to do the chores without using her mind!
Your true friend,
Sarah
Sarah heard a small moan. She turned around and found Cecile twitching. Cecile finally woke up and sat up in bed. "Sarah?" she said weakly. "What happened? I feel like I got hit by a carriage." "Cecile! You're all right!" Sarah said as she hugged the little girl. "Do you remember ever having telekinetic powers?" Cecile nodded. "I still have them." "No, you don't," Sarah said. "You lost them after you destroyed the topa." "I destroyed the topa? I couldn't have." "But you did. You saved my life." Sarah hugged Cecile again. "I can't believe it," Cecile said hoarsely. "I destroyed the topa." "But your powers got destroyed with it," Sarah said sadly. "Oh, well. It's not like I was using them anyway." Cecile got out of bed with Sarah's help, and together they walked down the hall and down the stairs to the main room. She saw James and Henri, and they never looked so happy. Sarah eased Cecile down in the armchair, and then sat in the one next to her.
"You're all right!" the boys said happily. "She doesn't look all right," Henri said. "You're right. She's pale, and she's shaking. Is she really all right?" James asked Sarah. "She is okay. She just needs a little more rest. She's still suffering from a little trauma. She didn't even know that she got rid of the topa, and she still thought she had telekinetic powers." "What she really needs is bed rest," James agreed. "Let's put her back in bed and wait until she's fully recovered."
So Sarah helped her back up the stairs and put her in bed. She woke up a few hours later feeling much better. She went back down the stairs without Sarah's help and then realized something. Nobody was upstairs or in the main room. She looked everywhere and finally found them in the kitchen having lunch. "Come here and sit down," Sarah said gently. She made a sandwich for herself and finally sat down.
"We're really sorry you had to spend your birthday like this," Henri said sympathetically. It was her birthday?! She completely forgot. Dumb topa, it made her forget her own birthday. "Yup," Sarah and James agreed. "We really are."
"It's okay. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the topa earlier. I just didn't want you to get hurt." "Well, you're not about to get hurt again, are you? We've got something for you," James added as he took a white box out of his pocket and handed it to her. She read the note on top.
"Happy birthday, Cecile! Henri kept this from you, too. But we hope you like it anyway.
Your everlasting friends, Sarah, James, and Henri"
"Hmmm, I wonder who wrote this note?" she teased. Everyone knew that James always signed his letters the same way. "Your everlasting friend, James." Everyone laughed and James said, "Just open the present," with an apologetic grin.
She took the lid off of the box and gasped. There was a heart-shaped locket that perfectly fit inside the box. "It's the kind of locket you hold with you, not the kind you put on a necklace," Sarah explained. Cecile pushed the button on top of the locket and gasped when she read what was engraved.
"Dear Cecile,
Have a great 13th birthday. We love you.
Love,
Mother and Father"
She looked up and almost cried. She gave everyone a huge hug. She asked Henri, "How did you find it?" "I found it under a bunch of ashes," Henri said. "A bunch of ashes? I thought your parents died in a boat accident," Sarah said. "They did. But when word got out that they died, the King gave them permission to burn down my house," Cecile explained sadly. "Them?" "Our neighbors. They hated my parents. Nobody ever liked us until I met you three."
Henri put a hand on her shoulder. "The first person who ever did like her was me."
END CHAPTER 13
Awww. That was so nice! But it was so weird! And so sad! Anyways, you know the drill. Please review so you can get chapter 14!!!!