Chapter 3
A new Beginning
When Talida came out the other side she passed out. It took a lot of energy to open the portal as well as keeping it open. She had no idea when she was but awoke to find herself in the guardian's room. It was night time and the room was dark. She woke up on the couch and saw her uncle's staff leaning against the chair like nothing had happened. "What the?" She got up to see a boy step out from behind the chair no older than herself. He had the same coloured hair and wore glasses. He wore everyday clothes and wasn't alone. She turned to see a girl dressed in black and a creature which resembled a panther. But they had butterfly wings instead of feathered wings and didn't look to sure about her.
Talida turned back to the boy and wanted some answers. "No it wasn't a dream." He said. "Who are you? Where are Kiro and Yue? Where's Clow Reed? Where's my uncle?" The boy looked mysterious and told the others to leave. When they were gone he explained.
"I am Eli Moon, the reincarnation of your uncle. You know what that means don't you?" Talida turned her head and closed her eyes. "Yes I do."
"No one can escape from the past no matter how hard they try." Talida smiled. "Really? I hadn't noticed." Eli smiled too and looked less threatening. "I'm leaving today. You can stay here to go to school; someone you know will be here to look after you soon." Talida's smile vanished. "I loose you in the past; I come to the future only for you to leave me again. Is there anything you can say that won't leave my head spinning?"
"There are things that will leave your head spinning here all the time. But don't worry you'll adapt." Eli went towards the door. "I never thought I'd be saying this to someone my age but…goodbye uncle…see you around." Eli didn't respond and left whilst Talida tried to get her head around what was happening. She looked out of the window to see the world had changed a lot. It seemed the little town she knew had grown a great deal and surrounded the house. The garden remained unchanged, but the wood beside it had been cut down.
She stared in the darkness of the room trying to make sense of it all. After an hour or two someone entered the room. "Talida?" Her eyes widened. "It can't be!" She exclaimed as she got up. "Winston? You look…younger." Winston laughed as Talida hugged him tightly. "I may be a reincarnation too but I'm no different from the Winston you knew and loved. You are just like a granddaughter to me." Talida knew this wasn't a dream and smiled. "I've missed you so much."
"Me too." Talida cried tears of joy. They went somewhere else for a year and a half so she could learn about the future whilst having fun.
She was ten now and was going to school after Halloween. But she made a promise to herself about making any friends. She didn't want to go to any funerals again and a name change seemed to be in order. Talida and Winston thought about one but none seemed to fit. Talida then thought about writing her name backwards and it worked.
"Class." The teacher always said this when there was an announcement to make. "You have a new class mate today. I would like to introduce Adilat Deer." Talida was dressed in the uniform which she didn't like and covered it with a full length leather coat. She had a seat at the back of the class in the sunlight making her hair turn blue.
A girl with long black hair smiled at her in a friendly way. Talida didn't return it and just did her work. After lunch she went out in to t he playground alone. She noticed a secondary school was next door. The only thing that separated the school was a crosswire fence making it very easy for the younger students to ask advice from the older ones.
Talida was sitting beside it hearing a boy called Tori having and argument with his younger sister Sakura. The girl with the black hair who smiled in the morning at Talida came over to her. "Hi, you're Alidat right?" Talida nodded thinking. 'Your power of deduction is astounding.'
"I'm Madison. Do you want to come and say hello to Sakura? She's been here longer than I have and I know how scary it is to start at a new school." Talida raised an eye brow. 'Do I look scared?' Talida wondered how long she could take the company of this annoyingly happy person. "It is?"
"You're not scared?" Talida looked away. "No." Madison didn't know what to say next, Talida just wished she would stop talking and go away. "So…um…if you need anything just ask." Talida just kept staring away from Madison. "Yeah, I'll do that." Talida was relieved that Madison left. But not so when she saw her talking to Tori and Sakura. She had a feeling they were talking about her when they looked at her. 'Uh huh.'
She sighed and walked along the fence away from them. Talida went down some stairs and turned a corner to see a tree. She sat down under the shade and stared upwards not knowing what to do next with her back against the fence.
Behind her in the other school yard was a picnic table. A boy with grey hair and glasses sat down to have lunch, his lunch bag was huge. Talida was so lost in her thoughts she didn't notice anyone was near her. "Hello." Talida didn't respond, she thought he was talking about someone else. "I said hello, you are new are you not?" Talida came back to reality and turned round. "Who are you?"
"I'm Julian Star, and you are Adilat Deer I believe." Talida looked suspiciously at the boy. "Don't look at me like that; I'm not a mind reader. Tori told me all about you."
"Like what?" Talida said still looking suspicious. "Only what I said." Talida looked neutral again and stared at him. "Oh."
"So." Julian said taking a huge sandwich out of his bag. "Tell me about yourself. Do you live near here?" Talida nodded. "With you family?" Talida turned cold and looked away. "I think a quick change of subject would do well about now." Julian looked guilty and frowned. "Oh, I'm sorry." She looked at Julian and for some reason it hurt her to see him like this. She still looked sad but managed to say. "Don't worry about it." Talida thought it strange as to how Julian made her feel so relaxed.
She studied his bag and contents. He ate one large piece of food after the other and Talida was wondering where he put it all. "That's a lot to eat." Julian smiled after he swallowed noisily. "I know, but I'm always hungry."
"I'd hate to see how much you would engulf at an all you can eat buffet." Julian sniggered, unable to laugh for all the food in his mouth. "It's amazing you're not as huge as your bag." Julian smiled and Talida smiled back. But then Julian pointed something out after he eventually finished his lunch that made Talida feel edgy. "Is that a necklace?" Talida realised he spotted her chain. "Yeah, my father gave it to me…before he died."
Just then the bell rang and Julian knew he had said something wrong. Talida looked sad when she left and he felt like kicking himself.
The next lesson was P.E and Talida did some gymnastics along with Sakura. The cheerleading squad looked impressed and wondered if Alidat would like to join them. Nikki went up to her when she finished a triple back flip. "Hi I'm Nikki and I was wondering if you would like to join the cheerleading squad." Nikki pointed out a picture on the wall with Sakura, Rita and herself in their uniforms. "No offence but I really can't see myself wearing that." She said in a rude way and Nikki looked highly offended. She straightened her glasses as she returned to Sakura and Rita. "So?"
"She's so rude!" Nikki told them what Talida said about the uniforms. "What makes her so high and mighty?" Sakura and Rita didn't know what to say about this and just looked at each other.
Chelsea tried to talk to Talida at cooking class. "Hi." Talida didn't say high back and just muttered. "Hmm." Chelsea knew she was dealing with a tough customer and broke out her secret weapon. A cuddly bear by the name of Mr. Biggelsworth. Talida looked sickened at his little poker dot bow and fuzzy appearance. "I think he would like you to be his friend as much as mine." Sakura and Madison watched as Talida said something that made Chelsea stuff her bear quickly back in to her bag and moved over to them looking very angry.
Sakura and Madison looked concerned and asked what happened. "Nikki is right! That girl is impossible!"
"What did she say to you?" Chelsea looked very angry and didn't know if she could repeat it. "I said 'Mr. Biggelsworth would like you to be his friend as much as mine.' Then she says 'I think Mr. Biggelsworth would prefer it if he committed suicide in the microwave.' Which person in their right mind would want to do that to a teddy bear?" Sakura and Madison looked at each other before averting their eyes to Talida. Talida looked back for a second before getting back to her cake.
Zachary heard about how Talida was causing a stir and tried to give Talida one of his lectures. Nikki and Chelsea were there too. "I'm head of the class council and notice that you are new here but I've been getting complaints about you."
"Your point being?" Zachary didn't like the way Talida said that but wasn't about to back down. "If you want any friends then you should try to act civil towards people and try not to offend them."
"So you want me to pretend to be something I'm not. I speak my mind Zachary, that's just the way I am, and if people don't like it then they can just stay out of my way." Zachary looked a little put out about this and didn't know how to respond. "Forget it Zachary, if that's the way she feels then we should just leave."
"That's the most intelligent thing I've heard all day." Chelsea, Nikki and Zachary looked angry and walked away talking about her. Talida didn't care, this is what she wanted and that's what she got.
At the end of the day she was walking past the lockers when Sakura herself tried to get through to Talida. "I heard what you did today." Talida sighed. "And I suppose your going to try and make me apologise too?" Sakura shook her head with no trace of a smile upon her face. "Why are you treating us like this?"
"What business is it of yours?"
"I know how hard it is to loose someone very close to you. My mother died too." Talida turned round. "You just don't give up do you? Did you loose your father too?" Sakura shook her head. "Your uncle?" Sakura shook her head again. "Well then you have no idea how lucky you are Sakura. Good bye, oh, and do please try to keep out of my business." Talida felt something as she walked away from Sakura. 'So she has the same type of magic surrounding her like it did my uncle. That Julian guy has something too, but what it is I'm not so sure about.'
Over her learning holiday she had quite a fondness for modern day sports. Talida already knew how to swim and ride a horse but some things in the modern world captured her heart. Ice skating, parachuting and snowboarding, but her favourite was skate boarding. She skated to school and did the same on the way out.
She went to the outdoor skate park and enjoyed herself there. But this attracted some unwelcome attention from a small gang of older skaters. They went to Tori's school and didn't like the fact a complete stranger started skating at the park. The other skaters didn't really mind her being there but that didn't matter to them. She was getting better far too quickly for a girl her age and they wanted her to pay. Before she came they were the most renowned and respected skaters in the park. Some of the bigger skaters told them to back off from Talida but were easily out numbered.
Today she performed a great trick getting a round of people banging their boards on the ground to applaud her. That tore it for the gang so they chased her out of the park but that wasn't enough. They wanted a piece of her and chased her all around town.
Julian, Sakura and Madison were walking around town. Julian looked worried when he heard about what Talida did today. They heard some shouting coming from the top of the hill and Talida was coming down it very fast with the gang behind her.
A truck was passing the bottom of the hill. Talida went even faster and seemed to be on a collision course with it. Madison called out and Sakura had her necklace in her hand. However Talida didn't hit the truck. She used it to her advantage and jumped through the space in between the cab and the cargo. It was so quick that the driver didn't notice her even being there.
Talida went straight down the road in front of Sakura and the others. She didn't see the looks on their faces; they were astounded she didn't kill herself by making that little stunt. The gang were cut off by the truck and they lost her.
Over the week she still didn't want any friends and just wanted to be alone. The gang chased her everyday after school through the town. She stopped going to the skate park and found that the whole town was a skate park in itself. But the gang was still annoyed and waited for her after school. She didn't need to use magic and just used her skills to loose them. She succeeded in loosing them everyday and felt great satisfaction every time.
The weekend proved to be less fruitful. She was practicing her fighting skills against Winston and noticed a presence after she performed a tricky move. Sakura and Madison were standing by the gate with impressed looks upon their faces. Winston followed her gaze. "Friends from school?"
"Not really. Just see what they want and let them leave." Talida disappeared in to the house and Winston came over to the two girls standing by the gate. "May I help you young ladies?" Sakura and Madison were holding on to a basket with an assortment of things inside it. "We have a welcoming basket for Adilat."
"She would like that. I'd let you in for tea but we cannot entertain today I'm afraid."
"That's ok, we only came to drop this off and say high." Winston looked curiously at Sakura before smiling at them. The girls left and he took the basket in to the house.
Talida was sitting in the dark again staring in to the fire place. She had her face in her hands. "Must you sit in darkness? It's so depressing."
"It helps me to think."
"About what?" Talida sighed and removed her hands from her face. "Life."
"Life?" She looked away from her staring point and rubbed her eyes. "Never mind." Winston came around the chair and plopped the welcome basket on a coffee table in front of her. "What is that?"
"The young ladies said it was called a welcome basket." Talida leaned forward to get a better look at the assorted items. "Oh, that was nice of them." Winston looked confused. "You're not happy?"
"Don't get me wrong Winston I think it's great but I really don't want any friends. Just want to be left alone. You are the only one I really want around me. You and…mum, dad, Uncle Clow, Yue and Kiro. I miss them so much it hurts to think about them sometimes."
"But Talida, they are closer than you think." Now it was Talida's turn to look confused. "Huh?" Winston knew she didn't get it so he sat beside her and explained. "You carry memories of them and their love for you. Those that are gone aren't actually lost if you remember them." Talida smiled and stared out the window. "Thanks Winston."
When Monday came round she went up to Sakura and Madison. Their other friends walked away whilst they stayed put. "I just wanna say thanks for the basket." They smiled and looked annoyingly cheerful, but this time Talida kept her mouth shut. "No problem. We're going shopping after school, wanna come?" Talida turned away and thought about this. 'Whoa, that was too fast! I don't want any friends. When will they understand this?' But instead she said. "Can't, I'm busy after school."
Sakura and Madison looked a little put down. "Oh…well maybe some other time then." Talida sighed. "Yeah, sure." Talida walked away and went to class.
"She seems so sad. Sakura?" Sakura looked like she was in deep thought about something. "Did you see where she lived Madison?"
"Yeah, and she has the same hair colour as Eli. Do you think?" Sakura looked suspicious now. "She could be like him? Maybe, but if she is then she ain't telling."
Talida took her classes and went outside alone after lunch. She preferred it that way and didn't talk to anyone. She sat in the same spot again to reflect on things running around her head.
"Back again Alidat?" Talida didn't turn this time and just looked up. "Likewise Julian."
"Hey I'm here too you know." Tori protested behind her. For a while she just sat there listening to Tori and Julian talking about nothing important. Talida closed her eyes and smiled. She hadn't felt this relaxed in a long time. But then something caught Tori's eye. "There's a spider on your shoulder Alidat." Talida turned to see a large spider looking right at her. She picked it up and examined the eight legged passenger. "Hmm, a daddy longlegs. Big, but not as big as a tarantula."
"You're not scared?" Tori asked looking curious. "Did you expect me to run around screaming until it jumped off in fright Tori? If you informed me for that then you are a very mean person." Julian smiled and Tori glared at her. "Are you cold?" Talida shrugged her shoulders at Julian's question. "Is that why you wear that coat?"
"I guess." Talida said as she let the spider run across her hands. The bell rang and she put the spider on the tree.
Tori and Julian also made tracks back to their school. "That girl's very strange." Tori said with a slightly miffed look on his face. "Sakura told me where she lives."
"I wonder what Yue would think about that." Tori whispered casting a wary eye towards Julian. "He thinks she's strange as well. We are wondering if she has any magic like Sakura." Only Talida, Winston and Eli had the answer to that question.
Talida was very careful not to use any magic beyond her house. (Unless it was an emergency). But so far there have been very few reasons to use it at all.