TGS - Starfall

[Hatkirby]

This is a TGS project. For more information about TGS, see The Greatest Story.

Starfall

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 - Normality is Normal by Drifty
Chapter 2 - Stars and Rabbits by Tamasys
Chapter 3 - Figurative Death by Hatkirby
Chapter 4 - When Things Happen by Drifty
Chapter 5 - Feeding The Flames by Tamasys
Chapter 6 - Broken In Blue by Drifty
Chapter 7 - Precipitation by Hatkirby
Chapter 8 - Mended In Green by Tamasys
Chapter 9 - Sticks and Stones by Drifty

[Drifty]

Chapter One – normality is normal

Hey.

My name's Ailé. AE - leh. Ailé Summers, if you're the kind who like full names. Ai for short.

I live in Santiearvy, a coastal town in the US of A. Nice place, with a park and a beach.

Obviously, I'm a girl.

I need to tell you something. Something about magic.

Yeah, we're the last town on Earth to have anything exciting to us, but this was just... magical.

Duh.

So, will you listen to me? It may seem like fiction, but it's real.

Really real.

----------------------------------------------

Mornings! Who on earth invented them?

This particualr morning was a nightmare. A Monday morning. Jesus, mornings are bad enough, but add school and you have a frantic mess-fest.

“Ai? Ai! Wake up!”

That was my mom.

I shambled out of bed and did all those early morning stuff EVERYBODY does. Unless you come from Mars, you probably have to make your bed, comb your hair, brush your teeth, eat breakfast and wake up. In that order.

My little twin siblings, Janna and Sanders, were at the table and pestering mom for more cornflakes. Annoying little brats, they were six years old and liked to tease their sister who is, like, EIGHT years older than them.

But I love them. Especially when they're asleep.

My dad, reading the paper as usual, grunted when I came to the table. He barely looked up, but at other times he's a good dad.

So I ate my flakes, teased my siblings and ran for the bus.

Few minutes later, school. School. Only thing it's good for? Friends. And I had a lot of them.

“Hey, Ai! See the new movie, High School Musical 4?” Mia ran up to me with the rest of my playground 'flock'. See, I call them that because I only see them before and after school on the playground.

“Duh, of course not. You know how stingy my parents are! I mean, not even buying a cellphone!”

We chattered and chattered, only stopping for me to wink at the cute new boy. We had to stop when the stupid watch hit 8:25. Then I had to rush to my locker, grab my stuff and sit next to Starla. She's my best friend, bester than my flock, and she's cool.

“Yo, Stargal.”

She blinked at me. “Star... girl?”

“No, GAL. See, everyone calls me Ai and I have decided that you need a nickname, so you are now officially known as Stargal.”

Yes, I am as cool as that. I am the coolest kid in school, what could I say?

So we talked and talked until the darn bell rang and Mr. Ralsh came in. He told us all to get ready for Maths, which is like the most boring class in the WORLD.

So, for the next hour or so, I totally zoned out.

And then, RECESS.

[tamasys]

Chapter Two - Stars and Rabbits

“See you when we get back!”
The front door slammed.
Up in his room, Tamesis didn’t move. He sat there, staring at the cupboard. Without warning, it smashed apart, covering the floor in splinters and coating the walls in dust. A small creature came from inside. It was about the size of a rabbit, but had much wider ears, and was more round in shape. It was also shimmering different colours, and was partially translucent.
“D*mn,” said Tamesis. “That wasn’t supposed to happen.” Slowly, the pieces of the cupboard floated back up to their original positions, joining the cracks perfectly.
“What on earth just happened?” asked the creature. “I’m here, but a minute ago I was… well… I wasn’t, I suppose.”
“I’m bored,” said Tamesis. “That’s why I created you. Although the cupboard wasn’t supposed to blow up.”
“Well,” said the creature, “what do you want me to do?”
“I just want someone to talk to,” Tamesis replied. “My parents are out for the next two weeks, and I’m in the house all by myself.”
“Couldn’t you have a friend come round? What do you need me for?”
“I’m slightly lacking in the friends department at the moment,” Tamesis said.
“How come?” asked the little creature, rummaging through the bin in the corner.
“I don’t know. I just seem to be… different… from everybody else. Not just the obvious reason, though. It’s something else. I just don’t fit in. Do you have to do that while I’m talking?”
The little creature looked up.
“Not if you don’t want me t—”
The little voice stopped, and was replaced with a snuffling sound.
“I can’t believe that you would throw this out!” cried the creature. “There’s a whole apple core in here!”
“You can’t focus on one thing for more than a second, can you?” Tamesis asked. “I think that you can go now.”
“Fine,” said the creature, looking hurt. “Just because you have problems…”
The creature jumped out the window, which was quite an effort, considering its minimal size and the height of the windowsill.
“You’ll have to find your own way down from the roof,” said Tamesis, “because my bedroom in on the second floor. Hmph!”
With that, Tamesis went downstairs and switched on the TV.


~


Tamesis turned over, and made as if it swat at his alarm clock. Despite the fact that he didn't make contact, it flew across the room and hit the wall, sending bits of plastic and metal all over the bed.
“Mmmphh…” groaned Tamesis. ‘School.”
He got out of bed, watched as the alarm started to feebly piece itself back together, and stumbled over to the bathroom. As the hot water of the shower ran over his head, he began to fully wake up.
Once out of the shower, Tamesis got dressed and went down to breakfast, which, like every other day, he had to make himself. He couldn’t remember the last time one of his parents had made him breakfast. They were always at work.
He brushed his teeth, then grabbed his bag and headed out the door.
School was only a short walk away, across the park outside his house and down the main road. As he walked through the main gates, he felt the familiar feeling of dread that crossed him every time he entered the school. He didn’t want to be there, and it seemed that nobody else wanted him there either.
As he walked down the hall to his locker, he was almost trampled by a horde of giggling girls. As he turned to shout at them about looking where they were going, the leader – what was her name? Ailé – looked around and winked at him. Maybe not everyone wants me gone, he thought.
Maths dragged by. Although Tamesis excelled in the subject, the teacher, Mr. Ralsh, was the most boring man in the world. His lessons should have come under the category of ‘Cruel and Unusual Punishment’.
He amused himself by making other people’s books change page, banging the door repeatedly, and changing what was on the board while no one was looking.
Finally recess came. Tamesis usually sat by himself on the library steps, and today was no exception. He would sit and watch the people talking, wishing that he could somehow break through this barrier between him and everyone else. As he sat down, something caught his eye – Ailé, the girl who had winked at him before school that morning. She was talking to another girl. He didn’t know her name, but he did know that Ailé seemed to be her only friend. At least that was one more than he had.

~

After school, Tamesis walked home though the park. It was good, because it was just big enough to have some areas where no one ever went, meaning he could practice his magic without anyone seeing.
As he walked along the path, he saw Ailé and the other girl, who he had found out was called Starla, walking home together ahead of him. Starla seemed upset, walking just ahead of Ailé. Not my problem, Tamesis thought.
He turned off the path and into a secluded clearing, which had some unkempt flowerbeds and a fountain, barely managing to push out anything more that a trickle of water. He stopped. To anyone walking past, it would have appeared that a boy was staring at a pond, and they would have wondered what could possibly be so interesting about cracked stone. But they weren’t, so they didn’t.
Slowly, the surface of the water began to bulge. It began to rise more rapidly until an entire blob of water separated and hung above the fountain. It began to take shape, until it looked like a rabbit. Suddenly, the wobbling of the water stopped. And the rabbit went white. The water had frozen. It slowly lowered itself to the ground, coming to a halt just as it touched the flagstones. The leaves on the ground began to flutter, spiralling towards the sculpture, until there was a twister of leaves circling it. The leaves slowed down, falling to the ground, to reveal the rabbit, now holding what appeared to be a star made out of leaves.

[Hatkirby]

Chapter Three - Figurative Death

I awoke. Opening my eyes, I saw a familiar blur I took to be my bedroom. I looked at the clock. It was 6:30. Any moment now....

There was a knock on my bedroom door. “Starla,” came my mother's voice, “Are you awake?”

I yawned and managed to reply, “Coming Mom.” Just like any other day.

As the sound of her footsteps padded down the stairs, I stumbled out of bed, put my robe and my glasses on and went downstairs. I barely noticed what I was eating, went back upstairs, brushed my teeth and hair, got changed and the rest of it. I gave Mom a “Bye”, walked out of the door and began walking to school (as it's not that far away).

Maybe I should introduce myself. My name's Starla Insigna, I'm a 14 year old girl and my best friend in the whole world (and only friend at that) is Aile Summers.

When I got to school, I stuffed my bag into my locker, pulled out my English books and sat in my usual seat. A few minutes later, Aile turned up and sat next to me. As I said, we're BFF.

We chattered away until the teacher turned up and started talking. The rest of the day also passed just as normal..... Until Lunch.

At Lunch Aile and I were telling silly stories, breaking into uncontrollable giggles every five minutes or so. Eventually, the bell rang and we raced to pick up our books and rush off to Science, but someone had scattered them across our homeroom. Already late, we rushed up the stairs to Science.

Somehow, I managed to get my pencil case caught on the old railing, and the entire thing opened up and spilled everywhere. Aile attempted to help me pick them up, but I told her to just go to Science and tell the teacher what happened.

After about half a minute, I felt a finger on my back. “Come on, Aile, I told you to just go to class,” I said to it.

“Oh look, she thinks I'm Aile,” came a deep voice from behind me.

I twirled around. Standing there, in the small hallway, were three fat boys, probably in 12th Grade or something.

“Hey look,” said the one who had been touching me, “It's the little blind girl.”

I stared at him. “I'm not blind,” I replied feebly.

Faster than I could have believed a person his size capable, he pulled my glasses off, dropped them and stepped on them. “Now you are,” he said.

“Wh..... wh.... wh..... what was that for?” I asked, attempting (and failing) to hide a sob. The biggest blur laughed.

“What, you needed those?” he asked, pretending to be surprised. “Here you go, then.”

He handed my glasses back to me. I held them close to my face and I saw that they were utterly destroyed.

“That wasn't nice!” I yelled, losing temper, “I need those! You wouldn't be like that if YOU has eye problems too!”

“Awwww, look at that! The baby's upset!” The blurs all laughed. I attempted to run, but one of them grabbed me.

“Hey, you can't leave yet! We haven't finished our fun!”

I was beginning to get scared. “Wh.... what are you going to do to me?” I asked.

“Oh, nothing. We just want a talk,” one said, and then punched me.

It hurt quite a lot. I considered crying, but I managed to keep it in. Somehow.

“So, how's it feel not to have a father?” one asked.

That hurt, and they knew it. My father had died when I was four, the same year we moved to this town. I was actually born in California. I can get upset easily because of my dad's death. The saddest part is perhaps that I've never even visited his grave. I'm plactophobic, afraid of gravestones.

“And how about your stupid friend, Aile. She's an idiot. Why do you talk to her? She's the only one you have? Stupid! You blithering idiot, you don't know anything....” They all insulted me and threw in their own contributions for about 5 minutes. The crack about Aile was also pretty painful.

Finally, they thought I had had enough. They ran off, after giving me one last punch. I attempted to pick up the rest of my stuff, but most of it was a blur. I tried to walk to Science in a straight line, but failed, not only because of my eyesight, but because of the torture I had just undergone.

I finally made my way into Science. The teacher was annoyed at me for being so late, but didn't seem to notice my lack of eye wear. I sat down next to Aile, but didn't talk to her.

I was silent for the rest of the day. After dismissal, I ignored Aile's pleads for me to talk to her. I could see she was just trying to help, but I remained silent. I let Aile guide me home, trying my hardest to hold back tears.

I ran into the house, muttering a “thanks” to Aile, and ran right past Mom. I recall her asking me where my glasses were, but I didn't respond.

I stomped up to my room (occasionally bumping into the wall), feeling worse with every step. I slammed my door shut, put my book-bag on the floor next to the door and climbed onto my bed.

It felt as though there was some kind of monster inside me, attempting to force its way out. It was becoming impossible to prevent it, so I laid down on my bed, and started crying.

I cried as if I had never cried before, as if the world was about to end or if I had heard that one of my relatives had died... again.... The things those people said... Images kept flashing through my mind.... My dad..... Aile.....

Head in hands, I didn't hear a thing except for the sound of my crying, and the creak of a tree branch outside.

Much later, Aile told me that she was sitting outside my window, on our special tree that night. She likes climbing trees, and that one's a pretty sturdy tree, so she sometimes climbs up on it, I open my window, she comes in and we chat forever.

She told me that she saw me crying, that she had been sitting on the tree since I had entered my room and one thing that I had never expected. She told me that as I laid there, sobbing into oblivion, an extremely strange thing began to happen. As I cried and cried, my feet began to glow. Bright blue.

[Drifty]

Chapter Four – when things happen

Okay, something was wrong. My parents had told me a few times that I’m a little un-sensitive to feelings before and I’m proud of that fact, but sometimes you really cannot ignore what’s in front of you. And I definitely could not ignore the fact that Starla had almost ignored me all afternoon.

I was sitting on top of this tree, looking at my friend sitting on her bed crying and feeling this… horrible feeling, like I’d done something. I mean, she’s ignoring me and generally, as a rule, you do not ignore your best friends unless you’re pissed off at them.

I was also tossing rocks at Starla’s window. They made a cool ringing sound as they hit the glass, almost like a tinkle tinkle tinkle PLOP, but my friend didn’t notice.

She always noticed when I threw rocks at her window.

I was about to crawl closer to the window when… something began to glow. Was… was that her feet? Yup, her feet were glowing like the sun – all… glowy.

That freaked me out majorly. I clung to the branch for dear life and watched as my friend lit up like a Christmas tree. First it was her feet, then her hands… I dropped the rest of my pebbles and nearly fell off the tree.

Then… WHOOSH.

The glow exploded! I felt a major chill all over my body, like someone had walked over my grave, and all my hair stood on end. A major headache developed in my head as well, and far away, I heard a scream of pain… By now, I was extremely freaked and ready to run all the way to Timbuktu.

The glow must have done something else, as the branch was slowly cracking. Gravity was calling my branch and it was high enough to break bones…

“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Good thing there was a trampoline there. Man, I would never be able to climb that thing again! Picking myself up and dusting myself off, I hopped on the bike and high tailed it to my house, where I would likely be SAFE. Along the way, I came across this bully from our class. He was on the ground, screaming in pain. There was a crowd around him. I wanted to stop, but…

I felt extremely uneasy all the way home. Was the glow some kind of… weird thing? Was it connected to the boy on the ground? Was it… magic?

I had to find out.

Rushing into my bedroom, I jumped onto the chair and switched on the computer. Logged in, clicked on the internet button, searched for glowy magi… I wasn’t actually much for the computer, preferring to hang with my homegirls but this was important.

The first link looked cool, so in I went. I signed in as MusicNote and watched as the chat went by very insanely.

--

Code: Select all

*** MusicNote [~7f000001@NewNet-3A43EAF4.vic.bigpond.net.au] has joined #magick
<BobSlee2> Hey, a/s/l.
<Jiggles> want some magic? come over here!
<Jiggles> http://www.makesomemagic.com/porn
<BobSlee2> That site really sucks
*** monkey [~H4R7YP0@NewNet-L9IK0H7G.vic.bigpond.net.au] has joined #magick
<monkey> i need to tell you something
<monkey> it’s really important
<BobSlee2> It’s got lots of porn in it.
<MusicNote> Hey, I have this friend
<BarbieXX> I HAVE FRIENDS!!!!
*** BarbieXX was kicked from #magick by @larvae [Use etiquette]
<MusicNote> And I think I saw her do magic.
<Jiggles> that site is awesome! It tells you the best
<monkey> i am the reincarnation of Harry Potter
<MusicNote> It was really weird.
<MusicNote> She started glowing and...
<Jiggles> HEY! We've got chocolate! MAGICAL CHOCOLATE!
<=thedarkone=> What's this?
<MusicNote> Can anyone help me?
<monkey> i can cast spells in real life!
<MusicNote> WTF? Can anyone help me?
<=thedarkone=> I think I can.


I stared in shock. Maybe… maybe this person can help me! I grabbed a pen and paper, then turned back to the computer

Code: Select all

*** BarbieXX [~23f89a00@NewNet-3A8C98DC.vic.bigpond.net.au] has joined #magick
<BarbieXX> OMG U MEANYS!!!
*** BarbieXX was kicked from #magick by @larvae [shut up]
[Private] <=thedarkone=> www.magicisreal.com
[Private] <=thedarkone=> The password is swordfish
<MusicNote> Thanks a lot!


A few more clicks, and I was on the other website.

Code: Select all

*** MusicNote [~7f000001@NewNet-3A43EAF4.vic.bigpond.net.au] has joined #magicisreal
<MusicNote> Hi!
<Burninate’d> Cool, a newbie!
<=thedarkone=> She was asking about glowing magic on #magick.
<Burninate’d> That place?!
<blumonky>  … definitely a newb
<=thedarkone=> Let’s listen to what she has to say.


I took a deep breath and thought back to my friend. Her feet had glowed first, then her hands? Then I had a headache, then the scream. I slowly typed out what had happened and asked them if I should do anything.

Code: Select all

<bluemonky> hmm…
<Burninate’d> Sorry, in my research I haven’t
<=thedarkone=> interesting…
<Burninate’d> come across glowing magic
<=thedarkone=> I sensed a strong outburst of magic
<=thedarkone=> just now
*** @MagicIsReal [~6433F6F@NewNet-8SH76GF.vic.bigpond.net.au] has joined #magicisreal
<@MagicIsReal> hi!
<Burninate’d> Oh dear.
<@MagicIsReal> what’s been happening since
<@MagicIsReal> I’ve been here?


I was guessing this guy was the owner of this chatroom, but from Burninate’d’s response… I quickly repeated what I’d said earlier.

Code: Select all

<@MagicIsReal> OMG, she must be a mage!
<Burninate’d> … Mages don’t exist
<@MagicIsReal> have I told you about the
<bluemonkey> :D
<@MagicIsReal> secret society I came across?
<thedarkone> Don’t be silly.
<@MagicIsReal> and your friend must be a member of it!
<Burninate’d> There is no such thing!
<@MagicIsReal> dont tell her, though
<Burninate’d> In my studies…
<@MagicIsReal> she’ll kill you if you know!


What?! Was this guy for real? But… what if he wasn’t joking? What if Starla would kill me if she knew I knew about her magic?

Code: Select all

<MusicNote> So… I shouldn’t tell her?
<Burninate’d> Don’t listen to him.
<@MagicIsReal> no!
<MusicNote> well… thanks for the help!
<Burninate’d> Argh!


I shut down the computer and slumped in my chair. So… I didn’t really know if MagicIsReal was joking or not, but… I couldn’t take the risk.

I just couldn’t.

[tamasys]

Chapter 5 - Feeding The Flames

Code: Select all

==thedarkone==: What the Gloria Jean was that for?
==thedarkone==: You might own this channel, but unless you have something useful to say, stay out of it!
==thedarkone== has signed out.


Why are there so many stupid people in the world? Tamesis slammed his fist on the desk, sparks flying out like fireworks. He just needed one more minute… Well, there was nothing he could do – MusicNote, whoever she was, was gone.

☥☥☥

Tamesis was angry. Between @MagicIsReal being an idiot on IRC to Tamesis ruining his jeans on the pavement, nothing was going right for him. He stared at a trash can and watched as a small fireball erupted from it. A couple girls at a nearby table screamed. Ha.
Tamesis continued on to his locker, but before he could walk very far he heard a voice behind him.
“Hey, hey, wait up!”
It was Ailé, the girl he’d seen yesterday. What did she want?
“Tamesis, right? I’m glad I caught you. I was afraid you were going to disappear into the classroom, and you know how dangerous that can be.” She laughed.
“Yeah, I might never find my way out,” Tamesis replied. “Mr Ralsh is crazy – maybe he’s just gone mad trying to get out of the building.”
“I heard he keeps a man eating spider in the closet,” said Aile. “I don’t think it would fit in his stupid briefcase, though.”
“Well, I think it would probably make a better teacher,” said Tamesis, “As long as it didn’t eat us.”
“Yeah, probably.” She took a deep breath. As popular as she was, she had never tried what she was about to do. “Tamesis, I wanted to ask you something.”
“Mm?”
“What would you say if I asked you to the prom?”
Tamesis was speechless. He wasn’t expecting to even go to the prom, much less be asked to go with someone. “Um...”
“I mean, if you don’t want to then that’s fine, but—”
“No, I’d love to! It was just kind of unexpected, that’s all.”
Ailé smiled. “OK then… well, I’ll see ya ‘round.”

☥☥☥

Wow. Tamesis walked into the classroom in a daze. He’d barely even spoken to Ailé, and she was asking him out to the prom?
Mr Ralsh entered the room, and the class became silent. He began his daily lecture.
There was a knock at the door. Mr Ralsh looked like he’d been slapped in the face. An interruption? In his class?
The door opened, and Starla walked in.
“Um… sorry I’m late but Mrs Lindsay needed some help and I have a note and—”
“Yes, yes. Sit down. You’ve wasted enough time already. Hurry up!”
Starla looked around for an empty seat. As usual, the only one was up the back at Tamesis’ table. She hurried towards it and sat down.
“Hey,” said Tamesis.
“Um… hi,” Starla replied.
Mr Ralsh started talking again, and the class rapidly zoned out.
“Have you ever noticed how much Mr Ralsh looks like a chicken when he talks?” Tamesis asked.
Starla struggled to contain her laughter. “Yeah, I’ve always thought he was some kind of bird. Do you mind if I borrow a pen? I think I must have dropped mine yesterday when… yeah, would you mind?”
“No, that’s fine.”
Starla reached across and grabbed one. As she did so, her bracelet shone in the light from the window.
Tamesis noticed something strange. “That’s a pretty bracelet you’re wearing,” he said.
“Oh yeah, my Dad gave it to me when I was little.”
“What’s that symbol on it? Do you mind if I take a look?”
“Sure,” said Starla. “It’s just decorative, I think. Nothing special.”
Starla handed the bracelet to Tamesis. He held it up, looking at the symbol etched into the surface.
It was just as he thought. It couldn’t have been just decorative, no one outside the magic community even knew about it. It was a charm of protection.

☥☥☥

Starla and Tamesis had the same subjects for the next three classes, talked through them all. It was great to have someone to talk to, but Tamesis couldn’t stop thinking about Starla’s bracelet – why did her Dad give it to her, and who was he?
The bell rang, and Tamesis and Starla left for their respective classes.
Starla walked down the hall. She saw Ailé at her locker, and made her way across to her.
“Hey Ailé!”
“Hey! What’s up?”
“Oh, not much,” Starla said. “I was just talking to Tamesis, he’s pretty cool, isn’t he?”
“Well, that depends on your definition of ‘cool’, I suppose,” said Aile, “but he seems like a nice guy.”
“I’ve been talking to him all afternoon, and I really like him, and I was thinking that maybe I should ask him to the pr–”
“Hold that thought,” Ailé interrupted. “Looks like I’m needed,” she said, pointing to her group of other friends.

☥☥☥

It was lunch time, and Starla was hoping that Ailé would have time to listen now.
“Ailé! Wait up!” she called.
“Stargal!” Ailé said.
“Earlier, I was going to say, that I really like Tamesis and I thi–”
In her excitement, Starla had knocked over her drink.
“Oh no!” Ailé said. “Ah, my dress! Quick, napkins? Anyone?”
Ailé ran off to the toilets to clean the juice off of herself.
D amn! Why did Ailé keep disappearing? Well, Starla would just have to do it without talking to Ailé.

☥☥☥

After school, Starla waited by the doors for Tamesis. When he walked out, she called him over.
“Hey Starla, what is it?”
“I just wanted to ask you something,” Starla replied. “I was just wondering if… um…”
“Yeah?”
“If… you… ah… wanted to… ah I mean, um…”
“What is it?” Tamesis laughed.
“Do you want to go to the prom with me?” Starla blurted out.
“Oh… Starla… I’d love to, but… the thing is… Ailé already asked me.”
Starla looked stunned.
“I’m really sorry, Starla,” Tamesis said.
“Oh, that’s… that’s ok… don’t worry, it’s fine… um… yeah…”
With that, Starla turned around and ran out the gate.

☥☥☥

“WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR!?” Starla shouted across the street at Ailé.
“What… what are you talking about?” replied Ailé, puzzled by Starla’s outburst.
Starla ran across the street, narrowly missing a car.
“You asked Tamesis to the prom! You don’t even know him!”
“What? Yeah, so?”
“I asked him out, and he told me that he was going with you, and it was the most embarrassing moment of my life! I hate you!”
Starla ran down the street, pushing Ailé out the way. A blue glow followed her as she went.

[Drifty]

Chapter Six – Broken in Blue

As I stared after Starla, I was thinking that… I broke her. Into itty-bitty pieces, so small that it’s going to be hard putting them back together again. If all the King’s Men can’t do it, I certainly couldn’t.

I hate my life. Hate, hate, hate.

Well, Starla should have talked to me about Tamesis. She kept dithering and she should have told me, like friends do. Friends don’t keep secrets from each other! We had never kept anything from each other, ever since we met! Friends are supposed to support each other, and I’m pretty sure I told Starla about asking Tamesis out…

Wait, I didn’t actually tell her. Not good. I said a word that would make teachers cry, but thankfully no one was around. I thought I heard someone walking, but looking around, I couldn’t see them.

So Starla ran off in a puff of blue. I had seen that blue glow before, and that was apparently magic. This means that if I try to repair our friendship, I would go the same way as that guy on the ground. I didn’t think I saw him that clearly, but I just had a sudden flash of him, bleeding out of everywhere. Were there bloodstains on the road as I cycled to school that morning?

And then I had a sudden mental image of me bleeding out of everywhere. I’m not a very squeamish person, but oh God I did not want to go that way. For starters, what would everyone think? And if I know Starla, she would be beating herself up for that for ages. Unless she didn’t know about her blue glowy powers. Or maybe she did. Was MagicIsReal lying?

But if MagicWasReal was telling the truth, I would probably already be in hospital with my body mangled beyond recognition. Or the morgue, with the same thing. That would not be good. I like my body the way it is, thank you very much!

Blood or no blood, however, I would not be Ailé Summers if I did not run after Starla and try to reconcile. I jumped on my bike and thought about just how much I would be regretting this – if there was a scale from one to a hundred, with one being “I don’t care at all! Whee!” and a hundred being “I hate myself for doing this, I’M GOING TO DIE!”, my reading would be a thousand. Okay, exaggeration, but at that moment, I was really scared.

After cycling for about ten minutes in the direction I thought she went to, the air began to look a bit blue. Maybe it was my own imagination, maybe the stress was making me see things, but I was pretty sure that blue was Starla’s. It was a pretty blue, light blue, and was a blobby shape. I was thinking that if I followed it, I would probably find Starla.

The blue glow drifted away from me and I followed, cycling hard to keep up. I was beginning to get a bit tired when the blue glow suddenly stopped. There was a shriek which sounded just like Starla – where was she? Then, the blue abruptly rushed at me which was rather scary.

“You pushed me!” said Starla, out of nowhere. “Look, my leg!”

“Where are you? I can’t see you!” I was stating the obvious, I know, but I really did not know where she was. She could be in Timbuktu for all I know, tele–thingy to me.

There was a pregnant pause, which ellipsed into more pauses. Then Starla took a deep breath, which meant she was really upset and angry. “Y-you… I hate you! I wish you would just crawl into a ditch and die!”

My bike was suddenly yanked forward, and I fell off, managing to land on my feet. “What was that for?” I wasn’t that hurt, but I definitely did not need a bruise over everything else that had just happened.

Another heavy breath, and then Starla said, all choked with tears, “You know what you did.”

“Look, I’m sorry about not telling you about asking Tamesis on a date, I’m really sorry!” Really, I was. I stepped forward, my hands out in that peace gesture, and then I tripped.

I fell, and I could feel a body under me – but there was no one there. I was floating. I could clearly see the ground under me, and I could feel clothes under me. Which meant… Starla? Invisible?

I was very forcefully pushed away, crashing into a car and setting off an alarm. As I watched from a very glamorous position under the car, the blue glow slowly faded away with the sound of footsteps. Starla was gone and she was infinitely times more mad at me.

She had also turned invisible with those freaky powers of hers. As I got up and got onto the bike, I was thinking about what she had said. She was acting like… she didn’t know about her invisibility.

D*mn. She had absolutely no ideas about her magic, I was wrong and MagicIsReal was an idiot. I was an idiot. I should have told her about Tamesis earlier! I was going to! It was going to have been fine if I had told her.

Which meant that I was at fault. I felt like I should be dying in a ditch, but if there was a little chance that I could repair our friendship, then I would. As I began to cycle home, I was trying to think of how to talk to her. I would do it tomorrow, obviously, but how? Maybe I could just wing it, like I do a lot.

Hopefully, it would not make things worse.

[Hatkirby]

Chapter 7 - Precipitation

"I HATE YOU!"

I didn't care if she couldn't hear me, having already jumped on her bike and pedaled off. I didn't care that it wouldn't help at all because—actually, scratch that. I did care. I wanted to tear her EYES out. I wanted to run after her and push her into another car. I wanted her to know that WHAT SHE DID WAS WRONG.

I didn't know what was going on.

I was sprinting down the road before I caught myself—before I did something horrible to the girl that used to be my best friend. What was I doing? Was I really about to do that to her? Was I about to kill someone for—yes. She did deserve it. She deserved EVERYTHING I had in store for her.

I heard a loud CRACK above and looked up. I hadn't even realized that it had begun to rain. I was dripping wet, inside and outside. It was time to go. There was nothing left to do here.

I would just have to get her tomorrow.

My mother looked at me strangely when I got inside the house, probably a bit angry about my soaked clothing, but one look at my face and she was gone. Good. I didn't need any inquisitions now.

I ran into my room and jumped onto my bed. My head pounded from being trampled at school and my heart felt like it had crawled out of my chest. This.... this was odd. What was happening to me? I felt shouts and screams and curses bouncing around in my head, all aimed at one person.

Ailé.

Bit**.

Ailé.

Bit**.

Was there a difference anymore? I couldn't tell.

Ailé the bit**.

GET OUT OF MY HEAD—

It was still very clear, the memory. I was at school again. Tamesis....

AILÉ THE BIT**.

“I'm really sorry, Starla.”

I TRUSTED YOU.

Blood. It was everywhere. There was screaming too, but I barely heard it. All I saw was the one person I needed to see. And there was blood.

“What... what are you talking about?”

Was I doing this? What? WHAT?

AILÉ THE BIT**.

Blue danced before my eyes. It whispered to me and led me the way.

----------------------------------

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I opened my eyes. The first thing I realized was that I could see. The second thing was that it was morning. I must've fallen asleep last night without taking off my glasses. Though....

What happened last night? I could remember anger and stupid decisions... Oh god, did I somehow betray all of my values and drink? Did I go out with some stupid boy and get drunk—

A photo of Ailé winked at me from my desk.

Oh.

Anger welled up in me again. HOW DARE SHE—

“Starla!” My mother.

Postpone that breakdown. “Yes?” I yelled, trying to sound as together as I possibly could.

“There's someone here to see you!” she called back.

I grumbled a response that my mother couldn't possibly have heard and threw on some clothes before plodding downstairs with the darkest tone I could muster. I threw the door open and—

“Hi Starla.”

Where did that knife come from? No matter, it would help. Her face was bleeding before I could even blink. My mother screamed in the background. Who cares. This bit** had to die—

I suddenly realized that, not only was I staring into the distance like a maniac, that I hadn't responded to the greeting.

“Hi.” She didn't have a name anymore.

“I, um, wanted to have a talk with you. Please,” she added, seeing my automatic scowl.

She was lucky my mother was watching. Very lucky. But her luck would soon run out.

“Fine,” I replied, though it didn't feel like I was answering. It felt like.... somebody else.

“Let's step outside, okay?” Her again. How easy was she making this for me? Who cares. It's her death.

“Yes, let's.”

Soon, we were both standing outside my house, with the door safely shut behind us, preventing any maternal eyes from seeing what was about to happen. Just the way I wanted.

"Starla," she began--

"What?" I snapped. "What are you going to say? What do you think you could POSSIBLY SAY that would make your situation any better?"

She seemed visibly shocked by this. Good. Scare her a bit... and then attack.

"Wh-whut?" she stuttered, and as she did so, she began to step backwards, towards the park on the other side of the road. It was as if she was trying to get away from me. Heh. Let's see how that works. "You seem really angry, Starla."

I started walking alongside her. "Oh, really? You think?"

"Um, yeah--" she started.

"THAT WAS RHETORICAL," I yelled.

She was really frightened now. I could hear it in her voice. "Starla, wait! Was what I did really that bad?"

I stopped walking, suddenly. We had reached the middle of the park by now and my ever-increasing temper had just peaked. "WHAT? HOW DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU DID. I CAN'T EVEN BELIEVE IT! OH MY GOD, AILÉ, I HATE YOU!"

I was fuming so much, it seemed like I was ready to explode. Answer, answer! I wanted her to answer again so I could keep yelling. GOD I needed to let it out!

But she didn't answer. Instead, she seemed to be staring at my hands. What the...? I looked down at my hands and saw... what? My hands were glowing bright blue. Like Macy's during Christmas time. It was kind of scary.

What was even scarier was when, a few seconds later, my eyesight went all blue. It was very difficult to see anything through that thick haze and it was definitely scaring me. What was happening to me? Was I about to explode or something?

She continued to stand there, staring at me like I was some sort of sea urchin. In an instant, I forgot about my sudden eye trouble. The hate poured back into me like a waterfall and I prepared myself to scream at her again.

"YOU--" I started.

Suddenly, there was a massive BOOM. An enormous blue shockwave seemed to burst out of me, taking the blue haze with it, speeding across the area. I heard screaming. Someone was hurt. I collapsed to the ground, all of the energy sucked out of me. The last thing I heard before I blacked out was the voice of a man I did not know. He wasn't happy with me. I didn't think I was either.

-----------------------------------

My eyes opened slowly, trying to accommodate to the light. Wtf just happened? I was right here, screaming at Ailé when--

Ailé.

She wasn't getting off that easily. No shockwave of energy was going to stop me from putting her in her place.

But where was her place?

Looking around, she was nowhere to be seen. She must've run off when she saw me collapse. Coward. I'd find her.

I started walking off, when I suddenly realized that there was a pile of clothing on the ground. Odd. On closer inspection, I noticed that it was Ailé's. Wtf? So she's a coward AND a public nudist? That girl was messed up. However, she did have good fashion sense, so I bent over to pick up the clothes.

There was something in the pile. I felt it moving when I stuck my hand under it to pick it up. I reflexively pulled my hand back, but when I picked the clothes on the top of the pile off, I saw that it was just a bunny rabbit. Awww, how cute. I picked it up, admiring the way it's species was so adorable.

It freaked me out.

I'm going insane.

There's no way that this is possible.

Those eyes....

Tell me it's not so.

It's Ailé.

NO IT'S NOT.

What? It's not possible.

But it was.

Sitting right in the palm of my hand, in the form of a rabbit, was Ailé.

All too easily, I realized what had happened before. The shockwave, her sudden disappearance....

Oh god.

I did this.

WHAT?

I DID IT.

I DID IT.

OH MY GOD.

Someone was screaming. Was it me? Was it the rabbit? I dropped it and started running in circles.

WHO ARE YOU?

I DON'T KNOW!

I looked at my hands. They were blue again. Oh god.

I DID IT.

Come back! I miss you!

YOU BIT**!

My hair was tingling. Mid-scream, I whipped around and sniffed it. It was bright blue too.

WHAT WAS HAPPENING‽‽‽‽

Blood. EVERYWHERE.

No, it wasn't mine. It wasn't there.

BUT SHE WAS.

I started cackling. Who was that? Not me. Definitely not me.

A giant BOOM exploded in my head and I felt all sanity leave me. Everything was that color, that color of hatred, that color of magic, that color of HER. She was everywhere. In my thoughts, in my mind, IN MY HEAD. I screamed and ran off, sparks flying off me and burning what they touched. I could no longer think. Nothing was real anymore. Nothing. Nothing.

It was too late for anything.

The storm had arrived.

[tamasys]

Chapter 8 - Mended in Green

Another morning with the house to myself, Tamesis thought. Great.

Tamesis walked into the kitchen, his shoes clicking on the tiled floor. Tamesis loved his shoes. They were one of the few things his parents had bought for him that he liked. Apparently they got them in Paris on one of their trips, and he guessed that they were obscenely expensive. Not that money mattered to them. Their business took them all over the world, and their salaries were enormous. The stereo turned on as Tamesis walked into the kitchen, switching to his favourite song. Simple spells like that were fun to practice. It was also nice to hear some sound. Although Tamesis was used to his parents being away for long periods, he still didn’t like being on his own. Silence was one of the few things that creeped him out. Tamesis searched through his pantry for something interesting. Right at the back of the top shelf he spotted his favourite cereal. Reaching up, he just managed to grab the box, only to have the surrounding packets tumble towards him, spilling their contents across the floor. Today was not going to be a good day.

Tamesis stepped out his front door into the crisp morning air. A thick fog clung to the trees in the park, and the grass was covered in frost. Tamesis loved winter. Everything looked so perfect and white. He crossed the road, and almost lost his balance as he stepped onto the ice covered footpath. He had just managed to right himself as he saw a faint blue colour from the corner of his eye. Then the noise started. It began as an electric crackling, a faint hissing. Tamesis heard voices, getting louder. This was not good. He broke into a run, heading down the path through the park. He could see the blue light clearer now, and it was coming from the other side of the park. Even running, it would take him at least five minutes to get there. The light grew, and erupted into an enormous flash of brilliant blue light, followed by a crack. Tamesis was knocked back as the light flew past him. Picking himself up, Tamesis reoriented himself and started off again. What if someone was hurt? He kept running. Minutes passed, trees blurring past unnoticed by Tamesis. Following the sound, he turned down another path in time to see a blue cloud of light move off in the other direction. Everything was silent, except for the sound of… laughter? Starla’s laughter? Was that blue light Starla? As Tamesis tried to make sense of the situation, he saw movement from a pile of fabric on the path. Looking closer, he saw a snow white rabbit sitting on top of the cloth, blending in with the white… was that a shirt? He’d seen someone wearing that before. A sickening feeling settled over Tamesis. The rabbit was not a rabbit at all. It was Ailé.

This didn’t make sense. Why would Starla do this? Ailé was her best friend! They were fighting when he saw them the other day, but surely that couldn’t have made Starla do this. Regaining his composure, Tamesis made a plan. Take Ailé home. Fix Ailé. Find Starla. Do… something. That was about as far as the plan went. Tamesis scooped up the rabbit, and shoved Ailé’s pile of clothes into his bag. Right now he needed to avoid panicking. It wasn’t working. He felt completely over his head. The strongest magic he’d ever encountered was used by the Wicca group in his hometown of Guildford, and they were just teenagers like him. The closest they had ever come to being destructive was when they accidently burned down an abandoned stable they were trying to summon rain in. That had been a fun afternoon, trying to put it out. That was Tamesis’ first big use of magic. That was simple, easy magic. The magic used by Starla was powerful, and very dangerous.

Tamesis opened his front door, and ran up to his bedroom. Placing Ailé on the bed, he yanked out his drawers, searching for everything he needed. Starla might be able to transform people without any help, but Tamesis certainly couldn’t. There wasn’t a lot involved in setting these things up, despite what most people thought. The difficult part was getting it right. Organised magic was quite a precise science. Everything had to be exactly the right distance from everything else. If his parents had cared, they might have found it odd that Tamesis kept long rulers in his room. But they didn’t. Grabbing one, Tamesis measured out a circle of 13 inches, and placed stones with certain symbols on them at regular intervals around the circle. They could have been drawn on bits of paper, but Tamesis found the stones more fun to use. Fun was the last thing on his mind at the moment, however. Tamesis grabbed Ailé from the bed, and placed her in the centre of the circle. “This won’t hurt, Ailé. Don’t worry; I’ll have you back to normal in no time.”

Tamesis had never done transformations on people before. He’d done them on smaller things like mice, and they had worked perfectly. But a person in the form of a rabbit? This was going to be a little bit of experimentation. Tamesis put his hands together above the circle, and they began to glow green as he focussed on Ailé. He imagined Ailé changing from rabbit to human, feeding energy into the circle as he did. Thin strands of green light formed between his hands and the stones, creating a cone shape. The inside of the circle began to glow green as well, and Tamesis shut his eyes as he concentrated as hard as he could on the transformation. The light began to pulse, and Tamesis moved his hands apart, light and mist spilling between the gap. A thick smoke wound its way up into a column, and with a hiss it disappeared. The light faded, and Ailé stood where the rabbit had been.

Ailé screamed. “OH MY GOD I’M NAKED!! WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES??”

“Don’t worry, I’m not looking!” said Tamesis, his eyes still closed. “They’re in my bag.”

Ailé began to hurriedly get dressed. “How did I get here?” she asked. “I walked up to Starla’s door, and she started shouting, and… and…” she faltered. “Oh god… Starla… I remember now. You brought me here when I was… when I…” Ailé started sobbing.

“It’s ok, Ailé,” said Tamesis, moving towards Ailé. “You’re alright now. I don’t know how yet, but we’ll fix this. Starla will be okay.”

Ailé put her hand on Tamesis’ arm. She looked tired. Tamesis was about to say something, when Ailé’s eyes closed, and she slumped to one side, almost falling before Tamesis caught her. Laying her down on the bed, he checked her pulse. Her heartbeat was slow, but steady. There was nothing he could do but wait. He picked up the stones from the floor, and put them back in the basket on the desk he stored them in. He knocked off a pile of paper, scattering it everywhere. For Christ’s sake… Tamesis pushed all the paper together in a pile, and felt the painful slice of a paper cut. He pulled away, shaking his finger as the pain subsided. He could see what had done it – a photo halfway down the pile. He pulled it out with his other hand, and instantly recognised it. He remembered when it had been taken, about eight years ago when his parents had taken him to Florida. They only had one mobile between them, and it broke just hours after they arrived. His parents had been cut off from their work, and suddenly things changed. The whole week that they were away, his parents paid attention to him. They went to Disney World, and even when they were stuck in the queues he enjoyed himself, because his parents were talking to him. It was one of the best weeks of his life. They returned home on the weekend, and things were back to normal by Monday. His parents went back to focussing on their work, and he was relegated to the sidelines… again.
Ailé groaned. “Wha… why am… STARLA. We have to find Starla! Where is she?” Ailé looked around frantically. “Tamesis! What are you still doing here? Starla’s lost it! We need to find–”

“It’s okay Ailé. Calm down. We’ll find Starla, but first we need to work out what we’ll do when that happens. She’s not… normal Starla at the moment. I don’t think she knows how to control the magic in her.”

A bang cut the air, and blue light streamed through the window. Ailé and Tamesis ran to look, and saw a blue mist in the distance. Time was running out.

[Drifty]

Chapter Nine - Sticks and Stones

…

Yeah.

There was really nothing to be said.

Starla was magical and had turned me into a rabbit because I was going with Tamesis to the prom, and Tamesis was also magical and had magicked me out of being a rabbit, and I had been naked.

In front of a guy.

You could see that I was in a state of shock. Probably overwhelmed Tamesis with my questions, but that was understandable, really.

“Calm down,” said Tamesis. “We’ll find Starla...” and then I stopped listening to him, because my mind felt like spaghetti and I could not focus. Tamesis looked blurry and clear at the same time – this was breaking my brain, if it hadn't been broken when I was a rabbit.

There was so many things wrong with the last sentence, and -a blue bang happened. It shocked the part of my brain thinking about long ears and tasty grass.

Tamesis went to the window and I followed in a dazed manner. “Look,” he said, and there was a blue mist in the-

“Is that Starla?!”

Tamesis didn't answer me, staring outside distractedly. Finally, he nodded. “She's lost control. Or the magic is controlling her.”

“Can you fix her? Um, can you undo the misty thing and- and-”

He turned to glare at me. “This hasn't happened before, so I don't know – or if it did, I still don't know, so please be qui-”

“Okay,” I said. “But, last question: you do have a plan, right?”

“I'm thinking.”

We stood in silence, watching the blue mist get bigger and smaller, contracting and... oh god, what the Gloria Jean is that? Something had stumbled out of the mist, something with far too many arms and legs. It was screaming, the sound horrible and wretched.

Oh God.

Turning away from the horrid sight, I watched Tamesis look at some of his papers and books. He took out a compass, a ruler and a set square and began to muck around with things on the floor. “Stand on this piece of paper,” he said, and I did so.

After a while, he stepped next to me and closed his eyes, muttering something. Looking down, I saw that we were surrounded by rocks, a mini Stonehenge glowing with jade green. Some smoke out of nowhere began to move up our bodies in sinous, snaky movements, making me sneeze. The smoke completely covered us and all I could see was green. If Starla's magic was blue, then was Tamesis' magic green?

Then Tamesis said, “Done!” and the smoke evaporated in a sound accurately described as “pfffissz”. My entire body tingled and I could see shadows in the corner of my eye. Trippy.

“What did you do that for?” I asked.

He was sweating, tired. “Protection,” he said. “Hopefully, we won't turn into anything, although that spell would have worked better with a fragment of Starla's own magic.” He turned to his desk and foraged through it some more, picking up a bracelet and some rope. “What calms Starla down?”

“Um... she used to like talking to me? She likes reading, writing, listening to music, normal stuff like that,” I said. “Why?”

“She'll be highly agitated, so I need you to focus on that when I tell you to. And try to think of more – I'm going to try a force-calming spell.” He looked thoughtful. “When we're near Starla, when I count to three, hold my hand and concentrate on those things, okay?”

Hold his hand? In another time, I'd be very happy. But with all these weird things... and the fact that Starla went insane because of this...

“Okay. So, uh, are we going to go to Starla?”

“Would you rather she came here?”

Good point. A few minutes later, we were out the door and headed towards the blue mist.

+++

I felt sick when we went into the inner town. Like, physically sick. Tamesis looked like he was going to throw up, too. I guess the effort of holding the shield spell was exhausting him.

The first weird thing we saw was a weird mashup of a vending machine and a person. My gut reaction was to run for the hills, but Tamesis grabbed my shoulder and we marched on.

We passed floating cars, vines made of twitching cat tails and people lying on the street, not dead or alive. A classmate of mine walked past – a vain classmate who had once bullied Starla – and she was faceless. She had lipstick and eyeliner, but...

“Oh, God,” I moaned.

Tamesis held onto me. “It won't be far,” he said. “It won't be-” He stopped, suddenly because we saw Mr. Ralsh.

He was- well- he was walking down the street, a few metres, and then he dropped some papers that looked like maths tests and-

he moved backwards, the papers zooming into his arms, his legs walking backwards and he looked so utterly inhuman and unnatural that I threw up.

And then he walked forward and dropped his papers.

It was horrible. It was cruel. I could see a warped kind of justice in it – Mr. Ralsh often droned on for long periods of time, and I had joked to Starla that he was repeating himself every time.

This was all my faul-

“Snap out of it,” Tamesis said, noticing that I had slowed down and started to sob. He pushed a stone with a smiley face on it and I felt... not happy, but optimistic. Everything would be okay!

Probably.

So we walked past all the living horrors. Once or twice, Tamesis actually covered my eyes – I think that we were going to pass my house, and no, I did not want to see what an Ailé-hating-Starla would do to my house and my family.

Now I felt better, the things were actually quite interesting in a terrible way. The bullies in our school had been shrunk to about half a metre tall and were wrapped in thick, black spiderwebs. Some of my friends were dancing like music box ballerinas – maybe Starla saw them as...

This isn't me that this is happening to, I thought giddily, clutching the stone tightly. This isn't happening. I wasn't a rabbit. It's a dream, or it's real but Tamesis will make it all...

Tamesis pried open my hand and took back the stone, and everything was suddenly clearer – though not happier. I suddenly noticed the blue mist right in front of me.

“Starla is in there,” he said. “So, ready? Three, two...” He grabbed my hand.

Focusing with all my mental might, I thought of all the good times I had with Starla. It was hard to push past the fog left behind by the stone and the rabbit brain hoping for carrots. I managed to think of the time Starla and I had went to the beach – it was nice, and we splashed each other and Starla commented on a hot guy suntanning himself and-

her hands glowing, she stares down at me and I cower and screaming and

No. That was not what I needed to think about. Starla, you like listening to Imogen Heap, right?

Mr. Ralsh reliving his moments just as the blue hits and he is frozen in

No. I needed to think of happy things, like Starla's birthday! Presents! Starfishes!

her face as she storms out and scolds me, tamesis was hers, how could I do such a horrible thing?

No!

It wasn't working. The buildings around us warped some more, strange protrusions from the windows and the distorted wailings of innocent people.

YOU?! said someone whose voice would be recognisable except for being slightly crazy and magic. And you're helping her?!

The blue mist suddenly lashed out at us and Tamesis plowed into me, knocking us to the ground. “Run!” he yelled. “My shield can't withstand her-”

I grabbed his hand, he stood up and we ran. The blue mist snaked after us, stopping as Tamesis grabbed another stone and threw it at the mist. There was a flash of green and an “Ow!” in a human voice.

The blue mist stopped for a minute or so, so we ran like he.ll and stopped when we couldn't see the blue mist anymore.

Coincidentally, we were at the park.

We collapsed onto the blue grass, amidst a ton of apples that had been dislodged. The apples looked relatively unscathed and I was starving, but I probably would not want to eat these apples.

“New plan,” said Tamesis, shakily.

“Can she detect us here?”

Tamesis shook his head. “The shield spell also shields from detection. Actually, it primarily shields us from magical detection first and magical effects second.”

“And you tell me that now?”

“We need to think.”

We sat for a few minutes, breathless. There wasn't really much we could do to stop Starla, but -

“Your rock actually hit her,” I said. It was a dumb thing to say, but I wasn't worried about that sort of thing.

“Yeah, I was lucky. It was the wrong stone, the calming charm I gave you, and it didn't even work proper- wait a second...” Tamesis clicked his fingers. “Let me think...”

+++

The blue mist drifted ever-so-closer to me, decevingly slow. It eyeballed me without actually having eyes.

I stared back, shivering and shaking.

Do you know what you have done? the mist asked, sounding totally reasonable.

“Um...” I said, very helpfully.

It moved forwards, bits of blue cloud spiraling away. About a metre away, it stopped – and all the mist wooshed away to reveal Starla. Her skin glowed with an unearthly blue, and she glared at me with pupil-less blue eyes.

Ailé, she said. You bit**.

“I'm really sorry!” Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Tamesis perched the roof next to me. He was readying himself and nodded at me.

I got ready to run.

Starla lifted her hand to do something, and that's when the apple just narrowly missed her. She turned towards Tamesis and got promptly hit in the head – the apple splattered, spraying me with fruit chunks. Eww.

She looked a bit unsteady on her feet but wasn't actually falling unconscious, so I slapped her. Tamesis also threw one of his stones at her, which must have done the job because her eyes rolled back and her body stopped being... blue. At least, it was a healthier shade.

She fell, and then I fell because I was so freaking exhausted.

Good thing I didn't actually faint, though.