by Vaiya Books
“Then why did he call you if he wanted to be alone, huh?” Tianna asked, sarcasm brimming in her voice.
“Ian’s strange sometimes,” Eddy quickly retorted. “Get to know him better and you’ll see what I mean.”
But Tianna looked entirely dissatisfied as she merely rolled her eyes at him. “Fine. But if he’s not back in ten minutes, we’re looking for him, Eddy.” She softly brushed her wavy brunette bangs out of her eyelids. “And when we find him, he’s going to have a lot of explaining to do.”
Chapter 10
Boom. Ian jolted awake from the loud thunder, his eyes immediately flashing open, as he stared around the room in shock. Impossible … it couldn’t be; he was back in the attic at Hazel’s house. But how?
Picking himself off the floor in awed silence, he stumbled down the staircase, like a grandma wearing rollerblades, and entered the weight room. The room was untouched; the skateboard and weights were right where he’d last seen them, as if he’d never left.
So had that whole thing just been a dream then? Had he merely fallen asleep in the library? Pulling out his cell phone, he flipped it open, glad to see it finally functioning properly, and glanced at it--weird, Eddy had called him.
Pressing the send button, he noticed three missed calls from Eddy and shook his head in distress. Just great. His friend wouldn’t let that go without a fight. Not answering a phone or texting back within a certain period of time was not a way to get on Eddy’s good side.
Exiting out of the call screen, Ian quickly glanced at the time. To his horror, it showed 8:45. He’d been upstairs for about an hour, all alone, all by himself … and at a party. It couldn’t get much worse. There was no way he’d get out of this one, unless he could come up with a really good explanation for what he’d been doing the whole time. This wasn’t going to be easy.
But before he did that, he needed to make himself look presentable, as he had been in an attic, after all. There was no way he wanted Kenn to see him covered in cobwebs. Looking around him for a mirror, he immediately spotted a square one in the corner of the room and stepped towards it, glad to have found one so quickly.
As he approached the mirror, however, he caught a glimpse of his reflection and gasped, panicking, his heart falling off a cliff. In front of him stood a young man wearing a dazzling emerald cloak, a regal long-sleeved green tunic, which came down to his ankles, and a pair of black leather boots. This was a nightmare.
His tunic resembled a royal dress, his cloak looked like an illustration pulled straight out of a fantasy book, and his skin smelled like woodland flowers due to bathing with elven shampoo fit only for girls. It was actually real--all of it. If he hadn’t teleported back, he would’ve been interrogated by Master Thargon in the morning and would’ve likely been tortured or even murdered.
Thoughts swirling like a raging tempest, he didn’t even hear Eddy’s voice and characteristic plodding until it was almost too late. Eddy was right outside the room and fumbling with the doorknob. Any moment he’d be inside.
Frantic, no time to prepare, Ian acted on impulse when the door to the weight room suddenly flew open.
“Happy Halloween!” he yelled, leaping out in front of Eddy and unknown to him until now, Tianna. Not letting this new development faze him though, he burst out into evil laughter, as he nimbly popped up the collar on his cloak, his white teeth glistening with villainy.
Witnessing this in shock, Eddy stood stupefied, his eyes stuck open as if they’d been glued. Horrified was the best word to describe his look of utmost confusion. “What?” He tried to draw in a breath but coughed instead. Tianna, behind him, seemed equally astounded.
“Just playin’ a little prank,” replied Ian, still chuckling, hiding the swarm of emotions that sought to engulf him, “though I didn’t think it would take you so long to find me. You can’t imagine how bored I was.”
Despite Ian’s reassuring words, both of them still looked bewildered. Straightening out the sleeve on her magenta dress, Tianna struggled to make sense of the situation. “I can’t believe you did this, Ian,” she murmured, her face unusually stern. “This is so immature.”
Ian just smiled. “Perhaps, but it was totally worth it to see the look on both of your faces.”
But Tianna barely heard his response, as a look of wonder suddenly dawned on her face as if she were seeing him for the first time. Trotting up to him with the playful eagerness of a sprite, she touched his smooth cloak, eyes widening. “Whoa, where’d you get that? It’s beautiful.”
Startled by her emotional turnaround, he blushed. “I can’t tell you.”
But she wasn’t even listening. “And what’s that underneath?” she asked, as she unclasped the onyx brooch on his cloak and drew it back, touching the silky tunic underneath in awe.
Annoyed beyond reason by her disrespectful behavior, he fumed inwardly, as he impatiently waited for this clown show to end.
However, rather than ending, it only got worse. “Cool dress, Ian,” she said jokingly. “How’d you manage to sneak that in here?”
“It’s not a dress,” he blurted out, cheeks burning. “It’s a proper tunic … you know, what guys in the medieval ages wore.”
“So you’re a knight then?” she asked, before smiling shrewdly, a twinkle in her olive eyes. “Or perhaps a prince?”
At the word “prince”, Hazel’s teasing remarks about him being Prince Charming echoed through his mind again, and he fought back a deeper blush. “No, I’m not a prince, Tianna,” he argued rather mildly. “If anything it’s more of an elven vampire costume.”
“Ooh.” Tianna held back a smirk, deeply amused. “So you’ve invented a hybrid. Too much Twilight and Lord of The Rings, eh?”
“Actually, I take that back,” replied Ian, in humiliated haste. “It’s really just an elven costume.” To even think of himself pretending to be a character from the Twilight series was more than he could handle right now.
But she was oblivious to his anxiety; his clothing still entirely entranced her. Reexamining his tunic and golden belt buckle, she must have caught the lingering floral scent on his clothing for her smile immediately widened. “I get it … you’re an elven princess then, aren’t you?”
“I told you--it’s not a dress,” said Ian, anger rising, aggravated that he was once more on the defensive. “And I’m not a princess. Why would I ever dress up as a girl?”
Tianna’s smile quickly faded away, as she pretended to look hurt. “Wow … that was harsh, Ian. I can’t believe you just said that.”
“Yeah, well it’s not like your comments were any nicer.”
With that, Tianna just shook her head as she turned to Eddy with a playful frown. “Hey, man, you need to keep your friend in line … teach him some chivalry.”
Eddy smirked. “Like I know anything about that.”
“Hey, you’re supposed to be on my side, Eddy,” said Tianna, looking offended. “Besides, I had a valid point. Don’t you think your friend looks like a princess?”
Eddy scrutinized Ian and after a few seconds, started chuckling, “Could be … though, the hair’s a bit too short.”
“I meant the clothing.” A faint blush on her cheeks, she faced Ian again as she added hesitantly, “And not to be blunt, but is that perfume you’re wearing?”
“It’s not perfume,” Ian blurted out, exasperated, trying to save the rest of his dignity, as he scratched his neck and then stopped her with a swift hand motion just as she was about to argue. “It’s complicated; I’m not going into the details.”
Tianna frowned playfully. “Aw, you lost a bet, didn’t you?”
“Of course, I did,” he said sharply, a sarcastic edge to his voice, though he’d never bet in his life.
Her eyes twinkled, the smile of a detective riding on her face. “You said that awfully fast, Ian … I think you’re lying. Why don’t you tell me what really happened?”
Before Ian could respond and likely do a poor job of it, Eddy butted in. “Is
Jimmy Ivans behind this?”
Ian looked over at Eddy with paranoid uneasiness, hoping his friend wouldn’t go off on another tirade about Jimmy’s weirdness, yet still glad that the awkward subject was thrust aside. “No, why would he be?”
“Because he’s insane.” Eddy laughed heartily. “That kid’s got a huge addiction to fantasy and anything that lives in a castle.” He grinned--a story was coming. “Not too long ago, he joined a sword fighting league; and even crazier, he’s handcrafting his own longbow and reading books about royal etiquette. Now that’s extreme, even more extreme than my killer skateboarding.”
Waiting until Eddy’s laughter subsided, Ian systematically reclasped the brooch on his cloak, brushed off a cobweb strand from his tunic, and wiped the dust from his boots. This conversation had to end. He didn’t even care to reply to Eddy. Not only did he hate it that he kept on picking on Jimmy, he was also worried the focus would switch back to him.
Uneasy, he pulled out his cell phone and glanced at the time, before putting it back in his cloak pocket and stepping towards the doorway. “Hey, I think it’s time to go down now, guys.”
“Like that?” she asked, a puzzled grin on her face. “You’re not going to change?”
Her words struck a soft nerve in his heart, yet Ian knew he could do nothing about it. He couldn’t change back; his clothing was probably now in the elven palace, being served up to the elven king and queen as evidence by the palace servants. Like it or not, he’d have to go downstairs just as he was.
Trying to make the best of the situation, Ian smiled faintly. After all he’d been through today, couldn’t he handle a few weird looks? “Of course, Tianna,” Ian replied, after an awkward silence. “I didn’t wear this just to show it off to you two.”
She lowered her eyebrows, her eyes pooling with confusion. “But the girls will tease you,” she argued. “Don’t think I’m the worst.”
Ian blinked casually, his hands in his cloak pockets, not a fair substitute for jean pockets. “Since when did I ever care what the girls thought?”
She just rolled her eyes, shaking her head around in irritated laughter. “Don’t give me that, man. Of course you care.”
Frustrated, Ian tried to avoid a confrontation. “Ok, so you have a point. It may be a bit uncomfortable at first.”
“And that doesn’t bother you?”
“Not really.” Ian gazed at her brazenly, as he readjusted the brooch on his cloak--it seemed the only thing to do to ease his nervousness. As he headed towards the door, Eddy blocked his path, a penetrating look in his eyes.
“Hey, not so fast, man. I wanna ask you something.”
Ian stopped in his tracks, the faintest trace of fear in his voice: “Yeah, go ahead.”
Eddy stared at him, rather exasperated. “So how’d you sneak it in here?”
Hands pulsating, Ian racked his brain for something, anything, and quickly came up with an answer, as a sly smile grew on his face. “Well, let’s just say I had some assistance.”
“Yeah, I’d say so. So who was it?”
Ian’s smile widened, then he laughed. “I’m not saying.”
“And why’s that?” Eddy frowned at him, before glancing at Tianna and then back at him. “Is it because she’s here?”
“Nah, I just think it’d be more fun if I didn’t say.” Sure, it wasn’t the best response and didn’t even make that much sense, but it was all he could come up with on such short notice.
Eddy didn’t appreciate it, however. Shrugging his shoulders, he feigned disinterest. “Ok, you just hold onto your secrets, man. I don’t even care anymore.”
“Cool,” he said, smiling weakly, seeing the silent agony on his friend’s face. Though he’d never kept a secret from his friend before, right now he had no choice. If he told him the truth, Eddy would likely think he was going insane and would blame his madness on his new friendship with Jimmy. There was literally no way Eddy would believe that he’d somehow gotten teleported to another world.
These thoughts greatly diminishing his guilt, he jerked open the door and glanced back at Eddy and Tianna. “Let’s head down, guys.”
Stepping out of the weight room, Ian walked down the hall and then descended the stairs, a heightened sense of fear enveloping him. Even though he was glad to be back in his own world, thoughts about what people would say to him kept cycling through his mind, terrorizing him. Would they say he was obsessed with Halloween? That he was trying to get attention? That he needed to stop taking fashion advice from Jimmy?
As much as he’d been through today, for some reason, this was even harder to deal with. Even if Hazel had begun to like him, this might just shred up any chance he had.
Climbing down the last step, his black leather boots barely making a sound on the maroon rug runner, he turned a corner that led into the kitchen, where he saw some girls playing some type of card game. They didn’t even glance his way. Not relieved, as this only delayed his fate, he took a deep breath and headed into the basement, hoping for the best.
Chapter 11
Eddy flipped the car key into his hands and put it into the ignition, a wide smile on his face. “That was the best party ever, man.”
“Same here,” replied Ian, as he hung his arm out the window of Eddy’s blue sports sedan into the humid night air washed clean by heavy rain, the sleeves of his cloak flapping violently in the strong breeze. “Tianna’s really amusing, isn’t she?”
Eddy paused briefly, as if startled by the question, before smiling, saying, “Yeah, she’s got a killer sense of humor.”
Ian nodded his head, thinking back to the euchre game that he and Eddy had won right before they’d left: “Yeah, and who knew she could be so funny and yet so annoyed at the same time?”
A wide smile crossed his face as he likely recalled Tianna’s agitated face and exasperated expressions as her and Samantha lost to Ian’s loner. “I can’t believe they didn’t even get one point though; that’s just pathetic.”
“More like we were just lucky,” Ian corrected him.
Eddy just stared at him silently. Then, a strange glint appearing in his eyes, he added seriously, “I can’t believe she talked to me so much, though; it was kinda weird.”
“Weird?” asked Ian, a faint shadow in his eyes. “You didn’t like it?”
Eddy looked at him doubtfully. Then just laughed. “Are you kidding me, man? Course I loved it. It’s just … ” he trailed off, uncertainty on his face, “she never talks to me that much. It seems too good to be true.”
Ian latched onto his words. He’d thought nearly the same thing about Hazel. Today, he’d talked to her during school, right after he’d come into her house, and during the two games of chess, while in a normal week, he barely said more than “hi” to her. Her abnormal behavior was more than just weird; it was bizarre, almost uncanny. Something was amiss....
A loud honk quickly broke him out of his thoughts. Turning around sharply, he caught the faintest glimmer of a black cat scrambling up into an oak tree and hissing at them. As he refocused on Eddy, still a bit startled from the unexpected noise, his friend took over the reins of the conversation:
“So what about Hazel, man?” he asked, as if reading his thoughts. “I knew you were gonna talk to her. Some trapdoor spider you are.”
“Hey,” he argued, a bit embarrassed. “You were the one that made that analogy. And, besides, she talked to me first.”
“Yeah right.”
“No, really, she did.”
But Eddy just smiled, amused by himself. “Quit defending yourself, man. I don’t blame you for talking to her. If you haven’t noticed, she is rather pretty.”
Blushing, getting upset, Ian decided to switch the conversation to something else. The first thing that came to his mind was chess. He plunged into it awkwardly. “Yeah … so anyway, what’d you think of the chess games?”
“They were closer than I’d thought,” Eddy said, still chuckling. “You’re not bad.”
&nbs
p; “Yeah, I know. Who ever thought I’d be good at chess?”
“Good? You lost both games. Though I see what you mean. You nearly had that last one.”
“Yeah, I only made one dumb mistake,” murmured Ian, shaking his head in frustration. “I should’ve won.”
Laughing at him, Eddy turned on the radio and lowered the volume. “I don’t know about that--I think she was taking it easy on you. Still, you did surprise her by taking her rook with that elaborate knight trap. If only you’d seen that your king was in danger by her queen.” Grinning, he placed one hand on the steering wheel, and turned it sharply, whipping it onto the road.
A disgusted look came into Ian’s eyes. “You sound like you play chess a lot,” he grunted, as he closed the window and slouched back in his seat.
“I’ve played a few times online.” That was all he would say on that subject, though he was far from done talking. He spent the next few minutes summarizing the highlights of the evening, going into great depth on some points and staying surface level on others. After he’d finished talking about himself, he glanced at Ian, a humorous look suddenly emerging in his eyes.
Ian instantly caught it, expecting the worst. “What?”
“What?” He laughed. “Don’t give me that, man. You know what I’m gonna say.”
Not wanting to face the inevitable, he hesitated for several seconds, before muttering, “You mean the costume?”
“Touchdown!” His eyes lit up with burning zeal, before he continued, a little less frenetic, fortunately, not readdressing the touchy issue of how Ian had gotten the costume to Hazel’s house, “So why’d you wear it, man? That was one of the most random things you’ve ever done. It totally threw everybody for a loop.”
Nervous, Ian sat motionless, his heart beating wildly. Part of him wanted to tell Eddy the whole truth, but he couldn’t get the words out. So instead, he made up something: “I thought it’d be funny,” replied Ian, a serious look on his face. “You didn’t like it?”