“Are you okay?” Jojo asked. It took me a while to wonder actually.
“I think so,” I muttered.
“How’s your shoulder?” Jojo nodded to my injury covered by my school shirt. How could I have forgotten? The pain had been squirming in my shoulder close to my collarbone as it tried to reposition itself. It was excruciating to the point I wasn’t bothered to do anything concerning it. It felt more like metal pliers being jammed into my shoulder and like my tissues were undergoing severe cramps. I looked to Tammy, Liam and Robbie in suspense.
“Guys…why didn’t you tell us. Why?” I croaked undertone. I felt no anger towards the Roxeths, but they definitely knew the time my father had died and left it undisclosed to us.
“Aden, we weren’t sure when your father died. Plus, we didn’t feel it was in our place to tell you. It would have been better for it to have come from your mother,” Tammy answered guiltily. Jaden let out a puff of hair and blew up on the strands of black and white hair in front of his face.
“Blimey, two thousand, six hundred and fourteen years. Wow,” he uttered through the silence.
“Why can’t we remember?” Jade asked. Jojo sat up perkily.
“Do you remember what Trailian said? In the Cavern?” she asked. We looked at her, lost as her green eyes scanned mine in this glowing orange, yet darkening, room.
“He said you three still smelt of magic. As if it had some sort of relation to your ageing and as to why you can’t remember.”
“Do you think someone’s done something to us?” Jade asked. We looked around at each other uncertainly but we gave up with hopeless shrugs. We laughed awkwardly at the happenings.
“I’m old enough to be your great, great, great grandfather and then some, though,” I pointed out to Jojo with a quirky laugh. Jaden suddenly gasped.
“What is it?” Liam asked. Jaden’s head turned from Roxeth to Roxeth swiftly and he slid his hands over his face.
“You were alive for approximately two thousand, six hundred and twenty eight years, you said. Well…we’re only about fourteen years younger than you. Do you think…do you think we knew each other?” he asked. Leave it to Jaden to figure out all the clever things. But it was true; the ageing difference between the Roxeths and us was a tiny gap (talking of our alien age). Robbie’s bottom lip quavered as he pondered.
“I’m not sure,” he said with an awkward wince.
“So you actually may have met us?” Jade asked, surprised.
“It may be, now that we think of it. But it really depends,” Liam started. “But listen, guys. What happened in the Cavern, stays in the Cavern. We never ever need to let this resurface.” And he was right. We knew it because we were nodding silently.
“This trip was so intense that our thoughts are going to be reeking of the Cavern. Angelina might even pick it up without even trying to snoop through any of our minds,” Jojo added. Tammy was contemplating quietly as her amethyst eyes carefully blended with the orange sunlight exploding like raging fire.
“Then…let’s wipe it.”
“What?” we asked her disbelievingly.
“The thoughts. Everything about the Cavern, about them breaking free this Christmas. Let’s wipe it. We won’t need to know. I’ll take out everything up until the day your Grandfather briefed us all that their prison was tearing. That’s all we need to know and we save ourselves any future hassle in the process.”
Our eyes drifted from one another. Did we really want to do this? It would mean never having met Mychaela, Tarmo, Jordan or Aemilia. But I wanted to. I really did. I didn’t want to know any of this. But I had already pushed the others to do so many things on my behalf. I didn’t want them to have to do anything again. So I kept silent.
“I’m in,” Jade instantly said.
“Yeah, you’re right. It would make life so much easier for us and we wouldn’t have to awkwardly hide things. I’m with you, Tammy,” Jojo concurred. I grew confused as Jaden and Liam then joined in with Robbie. They all joined hands as Tammy braced herself. They were all in on this? I couldn’t help but smile to myself weakly. They all turned their heads to look at me.
“What about you, A.J.? We won’t if you don’t want to, buddy,” Liam voiced out as the others nodded in accordance. I smiled and showed my point-tipped canines. Liam’s gloved hand was openly waiting on my left and Jade’s on my right. I carefully slipped my hands into theirs, waiting to be ridded of all the madness, the nightmares and the pain we had witnessed. We didn’t need to know. We didn’t need to know. We didn’t need to know.
I closed my eyes and waited, taking a breath and waiting for the transition to happen. It must have been over though, or maybe this was a side-effect because my eyes horrifically flung open and I violently yanked my hands out of Jade’s and Liam’s. The others broke the chain and looked at me strangely.
“Aden?” Jaden said worriedly. I was rushing, as if someone had thrown boiling acid onto my body and I was hurrying to dilute it with running water. I shuffled about as I tore my shirt open, buttons darting to all directions and as I swiftly pulled my collar down to expose the horrible, still bloody wound on my right shoulder. Something was scratching to be free. My goodness it was itching, clawing, burning, yelling. I was dying. I broke out in sweat as my insides churned. I was burning and I would blow up this entire household. I tensed my face and clenched as the injury coiled and contracted. It was destroying my muscles, tearing my tissues as if it were a wet towel that was being twisted to extract all the water from it. I grunted silently, teeth bared as I reflexively launched my right hand in front of me. Something was bursting to get out and I was on the verge of exploding if I didn’t let whatever was scratching and burning inside me to be released.
Like a breath of fresh air, with a loud sigh of relief as I began to pant, thankful that the brief nightmare was over, my veins surfaced to my skin and glowed as a cyan blue rushed through them, from my wound in my shoulder and to my right hand. The others had lifted their hands to their mouths and stayed silent in horror as if their worst fears were staring at them. Jade’s eyes began to sparkle with tears. My bottom lip trembled and my now sweat-drenched hair drooped over my face maddeningly as my shirt rested torn open on my torso.
I kept my hand hovered above the bed to make sure that the azure-violet flames dancing on my palm didn’t burn anyone.
It looks like I wasn’t going to forget about this anytime soon.
Table of Contents
COPYRIGHT
CHAPTER 1.
CHAPTER 2.
CHAPTER 4.
CHAPTER 5.
CHAPTER 7.
CHAPTER 8.
CHAPTER 9.
CHAPTER 10.
CHAPTER 11.
CHAPTER 12.
CHAPTER 13.
CHAPTER 14.
CHAPTER 15.
Preternatural (Worlds & Secrets) Page 37