Sequel: Angel

The Blank Book

Annoyance

Mike woke up the next morning with a pounding headache, though he couldn't imagine what Billie Joe and Tre would soon be experiencing.

He winced at the sunlight streaming through the window. His eyes felt sensitive to light now along with his skin. He got up and gazed out of the window and saw was a beautiful and perfect picture. Instead of feeling invigorated and happy, he felt oddly empty and even slightly annoyed. There was only a cloud or two in the bright blue sky, and they were the wispy kind. Down below people were starting their days and he could hear some birds singing. The smell of freshly baked bread wafted up to him and in the distance he could see a forest. None of it made him feel any better, only worse.

He dug his nails into the wood of the window sill. 'What's wrong with me?! What exactly happened last night? What was that liquid?' He released his death grip on the sill and saw deep gouge marks. He sighed and turned to be face-to-face with Tre.

"My head hurts!" he whined, "And there's nothing here I can take to relieve the pain!"

Mike pointed out the obvious to him, "Just transform something into Advil."

"Ohhhh... okay!" Tre looked around for something and found a basin next to a jug of water. He picked up the basin and after a second, it transformed into a bottle of Advil. When he was done with them, he transformed it back into a basin. "No pills for Billie," he said.

"Let's go down and get some breakfast or whatever they call it here," Mike knew Billie Joe would be really grumpy if they woke him up now.

When they got down there they only saw three other people down there, including Trubane. The two dogs were tailing him.

"I see you made it down for breakfast," he said when he saw them, "Today it's bacon and eggs."

Tre licked his lips and grabbed a seat at a table. Mike joined him. Somehow Tre noticed that Mike seemed... off.

"Dude, what's wrong?" he asked after having had enough of Mike being silent and thoughtful.

"Er, nothing, just thinking about stuff."

Tre stared at him suspiciously but let it drop.

Pretty soon their plates arrived and Tre dug in. Mike paused before he began to eat. With some food in his stomach he started to feel a bit better, but the feeling of emptiness remained. Pretty soon a very hung-over Billie came downstairs, grumbling to himself.

He came over to their table, and he looked over at Tre. "How come you're not all hung-over and stuff?"

"I made extra quick working Advil pills," Tre whispered.

"Why didn't you leave me any?!"

"You're mean to me." Tre stuck his tongue out at him.

Trubane came over and gave a plate to Billie Joe and when they finished eating they got up to talk to Trubane.

"We're leaving soon, and we were wondering which way it is to where Lord Veldenbarr is?" Billie asked them.

Trubane stared at them. "Why do you want to know where he is?"

"So we can avoid him," Mike lied smoothly.

"Ah, of course," Trubane nodded, "He's north of the Dermack River where the river curves and has a lightning struck yew tree, then when you reach the village of Lenned, go east. The river is not too far from here; just go leave the village from where the bakery is."

The three thanked him for everything along with Katherine (Tre almost thanked her a lot before Mike dragged him away by the ear). When they left the village and got out of sight, Tre transformed the dogs back into horses and transformed himself into a... unicorn. Mike and Billie got on their horses and they rode toward where the river was.

"Tre, why are you a unicorn?" Billie asked.

"'Cause I feel like being one."

"Whatever."

Tre fell behind Billie and kept poking him in the back with his horn and then looking away innocently when Billie looked back at him.

Billie finally said, "Tre, quit doing that!"

"What makes you think I'm doing that?" Tre shot back.

"You're the only thing behind me!"

"So you're blaming me?!"

"No, I'm blaming Santa Claus."

"Santa Claus? Where?!"

"Have you ever heard of something called 'sarcasm'?"

"Yeah, I-"

"Quit fighting you two!" Mike interrupted them. He wasn't in the mood right now.

"Somebody's PMSing," Tre whispered to Billie.

Mike just ignored him and went a bit ahead. Billie glared at Tre before going up to where Mike was.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Mike just shrugged.

Tre cleared his throat.

'Oh no, another song.' Billie thought.