Status: Read me!
The Princess
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter 15
Aster
As I was trying to get on my Astral, Garo, I looked over at Sarasi and saw her already on hers! That is not fair. How did she- Then I remembered her ‘Speaking to Astrals’ book. How can she understand their language? It’s not talking, it’s more of a musical trill. Just then, Garo turned his head and trilled. It sounded like he was scolding me. I looked at him. He moved a little to the left so my hand moved down his back. I got the message. he didn’t want me boarding from high up. I might hurt his wing. I started to board, but stopped because I almost put my foot on his tail. I didn’t want what happened to Sam to happen to me.
“May I?” I asked him. He bobbed his head as if saying yes. So I climbed up. Nice view up here. Now Sarasi wasn’t the only one up. I was too. Soon, everyone but Sam was up.
“Sam! You need to ask before you touch the tail! How many times do I have to tell you?” Mr. Motz asked.
“But they can’t understand me.” Sam protested.
“Yes, they do! They understand every single word we are saying right now! Don’t you?” he asked Ams. Ams nodded.
“That doesn’t prove anything.” Sam said.
“Class. Dismount and head into the classroom. Sam, come here.”
I carefully got off of Garo and went into the classroom. This time I didn’t bother to find out what Mr. Motz would tell him. When I walked into the classroom, Petraeus walked up to me and asked, “What do you think Mr. Motz wants to talk to us about?”
“I’m guessing it’s something about the Astrals.” I told him, stating the obvious.
“No duh. I mean, what exactly do you think he’ll talk about? Like, you notice he told us to come in here after him and Sam had an ‘argument’ about talking to Astrals. Maybe he has the book ‘Speaking to Astrals’ and is going to teach us how.” he said excitedly. I thought of Sarasi’s book.
“I doubt he has one. You know how hard they are to find. Even if you do find one, they are expensive.” How did Sarasi pay for one?
“Yeah, I know. But it would be sweet to see one.” Petraeus said wistfully. I spotted Mr. Motz.
“Hurry! Get back to your seat! Mr. Motz is coming!” I told everyone. (I normally warned everyone.) Everyone rushed to their seats.
Mr. Motz pointed at Sam’s seat when he walked in. Sam sat down.
“Okay class. Sam still doesn’t believe that Astrals can understand us. So we’re going to prove to him that they do. Each of you will do a project that proves Astrals understand us. It won’t be for a homework grade, it will be for extra credit. If only we could get our hands on a ‘Speaking to Astrals’ book. Hey Aster, do you have one?” he asked me.
“No. I’d be nice if I did.” I told him. I glanced back at Sarasi to see her looking down. Hmmm..... Still need to talk to her.
“Okay. Sam, you will write a paper about each project-”
“Each one gets a paper? I’m not doing that!” Sam protested.
“If you had let me finish, you would know that you write one paper for all of them. You just have to mention each project. Then summarize your conclusion. Also, say if your mind has been changed or not.” Mr. Motz told Sam.
“What if we don’t want to do it?” Night asked.
“Then you don’t get extra credit. But I wouldn’t chose that if I were you. You need the extra credit.” he explained.
“How much points do we get?” Petraeus asked.
“The most you can get is 100. The amount of points you get depends on your project. If you do bad, low grade. If you do average, average grade. If you do well, 100. If you do better than well, you’ll get more than 100 points. You know how I grade.” Mr. Motz explained, “I will give you the rest of class to plan your projects. You might want to start now. They are due in one week. Oh, yeah. You'll be presenting them in the other room.” One week? That’s more than enough time. The question is, what am I going to do?
⚜ ⚜ ⚜ ⚜ ⚜ ⚜
When Red and Fred got back to the gang, they left Silver with a doctor and went to see the boss.
“Where is she?” he asked calmly. (We’ll call the boss Vie, since we can’t pronounce his full name, Viejukerd.)
“We couldn’t get her.” Red told him, clearly frightened. (There is a rumor out about what happens when you fail to do what Vie wants. It’s not pretty.)
“Why?” Vie asked.
“Something threatened to kill us and the thing almost killed Silver.” Fred explained.
“What?” Red and Fred were surprised to hear shock in Vie’s voice. “It almost killed Silver?”
“Yes. He’s with a doctor now.” Red got over the fear because he realized that the rumor was fake.
“What was it?” Vie asked, completely serious.
“We have no idea. All we saw was eyes and a big shape. It was very dark.” Fred told him, seemingly apologetic.
“What about the girl?” Vie asked.
“She didn’t stir. It was definitely the right room though.” Red said.
“What is the extent of Silver’s injuries?” Vie changed the subject again.
“He had claw marks on his cheek and a big bump on his head. The claw marks were deep enough to scar, but not deep enough to kill him from blood loss. I think whoever or whatever attacked him knew what it was doing.” Fred told him.
“Tell me what happened from beginning to end.”
“We went to the house that Fred saw the girl go in. We stood out there a while until Silver told us to come or he’d leave us.” Vie showed no sign of being surprised. “We went inside and found her room. It was easy to open the door because that was unlocked. But once we walked in, we heard the voice, saw the eyes and felt the malice. The voice said, ‘If you value your lives, you will leave right now. If you don’t, then stay.’ We didn’t move. Then the thing launched itself at Silver and started its attack. When it was done it asked if would leave now. We left. We had no choice. It was either stay and die, or leave and live. We grabbed Silver and left. We came straight here.” Red said.
“Hmmm..... What will we do now?” Vie thought, then snapped his fingers. “I got it! Simon! Come here!”
⚜ ⚜ ⚜ ⚜ ⚜ ⚜
During lunch, I quickly ate and hurried to the library. I didn’t tell any of my buddies what I was doing, because I didn’t want to make Sarasi uneasy. She might end up defending herself by lying. I know I would.
When I got to the library, the librarian looked up. I put my finger to my lips. She gave me a confused look, then understanding dawned in her eyes. She pointed to an aisle, then waggled her eyebrows. I rolled my eyes. Let her think what she wants to.
I quietly walked down the aisle beside the one Sarasi was in. When I got to the end of the aisle, I peeked around the corner. Sarasi was leaning against the bookshelf reading a book. I couldn't see the title from here, so I crept closer to her until I could read the title. The title is, ‘The History of the Kingdom Aels’. The book has a picture of the ‘castle’ on it- the cottage the last King, Queen, and princess lived in until the Cleansers came. Why would she be reading that?
She stopped to write something down. It was then that I noticed that she had a pad of paper sitting beside her. I crept closer until I could read what she had written. I am such a snoop. I was a few feet away from her. She still hasn’t noticed me. This was on the pad of paper:
Me- princess?
-No-Niya doesn’t talk
-Bracelet/ tattoo= magic?
-hasn’t shown yet
-Cleansers= retarded
-SO TRUE!
-burned my house down?
-Yes
-house on front of book?
-yes
-What do they have against me?
-No idea- unless I’m the princess
-then I’m dead
-What does Aster want?
-I will find out
-Find out if there is more books like this one
-very interesting
So. She does have some suspicions. That helps and hurts. She wants to believe it, but she also can’t. Make sense? Thought so. She still hasn’t noticed me, so I started the conversation.
“Hi. What are you reading?” I asked.
“A book.” she answered, without looking up. I asked for that one. I decided to delve deep.
“So, find anything about your bracelet tattoo?” I asked.
“No. Nothing except that it’s-” she stooped. She looked up and her eyes widened.
“Except what?” I asked.
“Nothing that you should know.” she visibly clammed up. I’m not giving up that easily.
“That it’s a sign of magic. That’s what you were going to say, right?” I asked her. I knew this. I just didn’t know about the mark on the back of her head.
“What? Yes... that’s what I was going to say. How’d you know?” she asked, bewildered.
“I just do. So, what’s this about Niya? She’s a Nyager Cat, right?”
“What? How’d you know about her?” she demanded. I pointed to her pad of paper. Her eyes widened and she grabbed it.
“I don’t know why you keep bothering me, but leave me alone.” she was quickly withdrawing. And getting very defensive.
“Then I’ll change the subject. How can you talk to Astrals?” I asked her. She froze, “I said, how can you talk to Astrals? You have a book right?”
“N-No.”
“You do. I’ve seen it. How were you able to find it, let alone pay for it? I can’t even find one.”
“Uhhh...... I’ve had it since Niya gave it to me.”
“Who’s Niya? She’s your Nyager Cat, right? But she doesn’t talk.”
“How’d you.... Never mind. Just go away and leave me alone.” she sounded defeated.
“No.” I told her.
“Then I’ll leave!” she got up to leave and I grabbed her arm.
“Hey! Let go!” she hissed quietly.
“Do you know about the mark on the back of your head?” I asked her, completely serious.
“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about! Leave me alone!” she jerked her arm out of my grasp and ‘ran’ out of the library. I didn’t chase after her. As I walked out of the library, the librarian looked up.
“Girl troubles?” she asked.
“You can say that.” she doesn’t need to know the nature of it.
Aster
As I was trying to get on my Astral, Garo, I looked over at Sarasi and saw her already on hers! That is not fair. How did she- Then I remembered her ‘Speaking to Astrals’ book. How can she understand their language? It’s not talking, it’s more of a musical trill. Just then, Garo turned his head and trilled. It sounded like he was scolding me. I looked at him. He moved a little to the left so my hand moved down his back. I got the message. he didn’t want me boarding from high up. I might hurt his wing. I started to board, but stopped because I almost put my foot on his tail. I didn’t want what happened to Sam to happen to me.
“May I?” I asked him. He bobbed his head as if saying yes. So I climbed up. Nice view up here. Now Sarasi wasn’t the only one up. I was too. Soon, everyone but Sam was up.
“Sam! You need to ask before you touch the tail! How many times do I have to tell you?” Mr. Motz asked.
“But they can’t understand me.” Sam protested.
“Yes, they do! They understand every single word we are saying right now! Don’t you?” he asked Ams. Ams nodded.
“That doesn’t prove anything.” Sam said.
“Class. Dismount and head into the classroom. Sam, come here.”
I carefully got off of Garo and went into the classroom. This time I didn’t bother to find out what Mr. Motz would tell him. When I walked into the classroom, Petraeus walked up to me and asked, “What do you think Mr. Motz wants to talk to us about?”
“I’m guessing it’s something about the Astrals.” I told him, stating the obvious.
“No duh. I mean, what exactly do you think he’ll talk about? Like, you notice he told us to come in here after him and Sam had an ‘argument’ about talking to Astrals. Maybe he has the book ‘Speaking to Astrals’ and is going to teach us how.” he said excitedly. I thought of Sarasi’s book.
“I doubt he has one. You know how hard they are to find. Even if you do find one, they are expensive.” How did Sarasi pay for one?
“Yeah, I know. But it would be sweet to see one.” Petraeus said wistfully. I spotted Mr. Motz.
“Hurry! Get back to your seat! Mr. Motz is coming!” I told everyone. (I normally warned everyone.) Everyone rushed to their seats.
Mr. Motz pointed at Sam’s seat when he walked in. Sam sat down.
“Okay class. Sam still doesn’t believe that Astrals can understand us. So we’re going to prove to him that they do. Each of you will do a project that proves Astrals understand us. It won’t be for a homework grade, it will be for extra credit. If only we could get our hands on a ‘Speaking to Astrals’ book. Hey Aster, do you have one?” he asked me.
“No. I’d be nice if I did.” I told him. I glanced back at Sarasi to see her looking down. Hmmm..... Still need to talk to her.
“Okay. Sam, you will write a paper about each project-”
“Each one gets a paper? I’m not doing that!” Sam protested.
“If you had let me finish, you would know that you write one paper for all of them. You just have to mention each project. Then summarize your conclusion. Also, say if your mind has been changed or not.” Mr. Motz told Sam.
“What if we don’t want to do it?” Night asked.
“Then you don’t get extra credit. But I wouldn’t chose that if I were you. You need the extra credit.” he explained.
“How much points do we get?” Petraeus asked.
“The most you can get is 100. The amount of points you get depends on your project. If you do bad, low grade. If you do average, average grade. If you do well, 100. If you do better than well, you’ll get more than 100 points. You know how I grade.” Mr. Motz explained, “I will give you the rest of class to plan your projects. You might want to start now. They are due in one week. Oh, yeah. You'll be presenting them in the other room.” One week? That’s more than enough time. The question is, what am I going to do?
⚜ ⚜ ⚜ ⚜ ⚜ ⚜
When Red and Fred got back to the gang, they left Silver with a doctor and went to see the boss.
“Where is she?” he asked calmly. (We’ll call the boss Vie, since we can’t pronounce his full name, Viejukerd.)
“We couldn’t get her.” Red told him, clearly frightened. (There is a rumor out about what happens when you fail to do what Vie wants. It’s not pretty.)
“Why?” Vie asked.
“Something threatened to kill us and the thing almost killed Silver.” Fred explained.
“What?” Red and Fred were surprised to hear shock in Vie’s voice. “It almost killed Silver?”
“Yes. He’s with a doctor now.” Red got over the fear because he realized that the rumor was fake.
“What was it?” Vie asked, completely serious.
“We have no idea. All we saw was eyes and a big shape. It was very dark.” Fred told him, seemingly apologetic.
“What about the girl?” Vie asked.
“She didn’t stir. It was definitely the right room though.” Red said.
“What is the extent of Silver’s injuries?” Vie changed the subject again.
“He had claw marks on his cheek and a big bump on his head. The claw marks were deep enough to scar, but not deep enough to kill him from blood loss. I think whoever or whatever attacked him knew what it was doing.” Fred told him.
“Tell me what happened from beginning to end.”
“We went to the house that Fred saw the girl go in. We stood out there a while until Silver told us to come or he’d leave us.” Vie showed no sign of being surprised. “We went inside and found her room. It was easy to open the door because that was unlocked. But once we walked in, we heard the voice, saw the eyes and felt the malice. The voice said, ‘If you value your lives, you will leave right now. If you don’t, then stay.’ We didn’t move. Then the thing launched itself at Silver and started its attack. When it was done it asked if would leave now. We left. We had no choice. It was either stay and die, or leave and live. We grabbed Silver and left. We came straight here.” Red said.
“Hmmm..... What will we do now?” Vie thought, then snapped his fingers. “I got it! Simon! Come here!”
⚜ ⚜ ⚜ ⚜ ⚜ ⚜
During lunch, I quickly ate and hurried to the library. I didn’t tell any of my buddies what I was doing, because I didn’t want to make Sarasi uneasy. She might end up defending herself by lying. I know I would.
When I got to the library, the librarian looked up. I put my finger to my lips. She gave me a confused look, then understanding dawned in her eyes. She pointed to an aisle, then waggled her eyebrows. I rolled my eyes. Let her think what she wants to.
I quietly walked down the aisle beside the one Sarasi was in. When I got to the end of the aisle, I peeked around the corner. Sarasi was leaning against the bookshelf reading a book. I couldn't see the title from here, so I crept closer to her until I could read the title. The title is, ‘The History of the Kingdom Aels’. The book has a picture of the ‘castle’ on it- the cottage the last King, Queen, and princess lived in until the Cleansers came. Why would she be reading that?
She stopped to write something down. It was then that I noticed that she had a pad of paper sitting beside her. I crept closer until I could read what she had written. I am such a snoop. I was a few feet away from her. She still hasn’t noticed me. This was on the pad of paper:
Me- princess?
-No-Niya doesn’t talk
-Bracelet/ tattoo= magic?
-hasn’t shown yet
-Cleansers= retarded
-SO TRUE!
-burned my house down?
-Yes
-house on front of book?
-yes
-What do they have against me?
-No idea- unless I’m the princess
-then I’m dead
-What does Aster want?
-I will find out
-Find out if there is more books like this one
-very interesting
So. She does have some suspicions. That helps and hurts. She wants to believe it, but she also can’t. Make sense? Thought so. She still hasn’t noticed me, so I started the conversation.
“Hi. What are you reading?” I asked.
“A book.” she answered, without looking up. I asked for that one. I decided to delve deep.
“So, find anything about your bracelet tattoo?” I asked.
“No. Nothing except that it’s-” she stooped. She looked up and her eyes widened.
“Except what?” I asked.
“Nothing that you should know.” she visibly clammed up. I’m not giving up that easily.
“That it’s a sign of magic. That’s what you were going to say, right?” I asked her. I knew this. I just didn’t know about the mark on the back of her head.
“What? Yes... that’s what I was going to say. How’d you know?” she asked, bewildered.
“I just do. So, what’s this about Niya? She’s a Nyager Cat, right?”
“What? How’d you know about her?” she demanded. I pointed to her pad of paper. Her eyes widened and she grabbed it.
“I don’t know why you keep bothering me, but leave me alone.” she was quickly withdrawing. And getting very defensive.
“Then I’ll change the subject. How can you talk to Astrals?” I asked her. She froze, “I said, how can you talk to Astrals? You have a book right?”
“N-No.”
“You do. I’ve seen it. How were you able to find it, let alone pay for it? I can’t even find one.”
“Uhhh...... I’ve had it since Niya gave it to me.”
“Who’s Niya? She’s your Nyager Cat, right? But she doesn’t talk.”
“How’d you.... Never mind. Just go away and leave me alone.” she sounded defeated.
“No.” I told her.
“Then I’ll leave!” she got up to leave and I grabbed her arm.
“Hey! Let go!” she hissed quietly.
“Do you know about the mark on the back of your head?” I asked her, completely serious.
“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about! Leave me alone!” she jerked her arm out of my grasp and ‘ran’ out of the library. I didn’t chase after her. As I walked out of the library, the librarian looked up.
“Girl troubles?” she asked.
“You can say that.” she doesn’t need to know the nature of it.