Enchanted High Book I
Chapter Fourteen: Home

Charlie stared at them as Nicole, James, Dominic and June entered the spy office. On the grey couch a boy, Lexis, the fire manipulator from sorcery class who claimed he was under a spell when the tree disappeared, was seated, also staring expressionless at the air in front of him; his pupils were nowhere to be seen; his every muscle was stiff.

‘What’s up with fire boy?’ James asked as they walked in.

‘He’s been like this ever since I brought him here.’ Charlie said, gesturing to him. ‘He was fine when we were walking.’

Dominic waved a hand in front of Lexis’s face. He didn’t even flinch or move a muscle.

‘I was trying to ask him if he can recall what he was thinking of when he casted the spell at the tree.’ Charlie explained. ‘But he’s not saying anything he’s just sitting there like that.’

Everyone in the room looked at Lexis.

‘Hello? Boy? Can – you – hear – me?’ James said.

There was no reply.

‘What – were – you – thinking – when – you – casted – that – relocation – spell?’ Dominic continued in the same tone.

Nicole rolled her eyes. ‘They’re obviously wasting their time.’

Almost suddenly, yet very carefully Lexis stood up, still staring ahead of him. The sudden movement made James and Dominic jump back. Lexis bent down to the coffee table, reached down for a piece of paper and a pen then sat down again. Not looking down at the page, he began to scribble something. They watched his hand tremble all over the page. June and Nicole leaned closer to catch a glimpse of a single word.

Lexis immediately stopped moments after and placed the page on the coffee table, still staring at the same spot on the wall.

June lifted the page and examined it. He wrote one word. Although it was written untidily, the word clearly read: Home. She glanced at Charlie nervously.

‘What did he draw?’ he asked approaching June. She showed him the page and he too stared at it.

‘Are you gonna tell us?’ said Nicole impatiently.

Charlie handed the page to Nicole who passed it to James and Dominic.

James looked bewildered. ‘What does it mean?’

Charlie bit his lip. ‘Exactly what it says.’

‘Home?’

‘Didn’t you ask him what he was thinking of when he casted the spell?’ Charlie said to Dominic.

‘Yeah.’ Dominic replied.

‘So that’s the answer. He was thinking of home.’ Charlie said.

Nicole frowned. ‘But why didn’t he do this when you were asking him before?’

‘Maybe I spoke too fast for him.’ Charlie replied.

‘See,’ said Dominic, leaning towards Nicole with a triumphant snicker. ‘The awesome dude’s always right.’

Nicole pretended as if she didn’t hear him.

‘So – home,’ said June, filled with thought. ‘Where does he live?’

‘I don’t know.’ Charlie’s shoulders sank.

The group was swallowed into silence.

June thought through the situation thoroughly. It was a possibility that Lexis thought of home as the spell was casted – but what if that was not the answer? What if he just wrote that because he wanted to? What if it didn’t mean anything? But on the other hand – what if it did? Then the tree was most definitely transported to his ‘home’ – but where in the world could that be? Maybe he had some friends ... other fire manipulators ... they would share the same home...

‘Dominic,’ June looked at him. He stared back, surprised. ‘You’re a fire manipulator.’

‘Yeah – so?’

‘So – where do fire manipulators live?’

‘Hot places,’ he said it as if it was obvious.

‘Places like?’

‘Volcanoes, hot springs, deserts.’

‘So if the spell that was casted was the relocation spell and Lexis was thinking of home and home is either a volcano, hot spring or desert, then –’ June started, pacing around the room.

‘Then, the tree is in one of these places.’ Charlie finished.

Again, a deep awkward silence fell on the room.

‘It’s important to find the tree,’ Charlie began slowly. ‘Then we can prove your innocence to Salvatore and find the culprit behind all this and everything will be back to normal.’

’It could be in any volcano or hot spring or desert,′ said June. The locations were endless; there were tons of deserts in Comikaycrest, at least fifty different volcanoes and who knew how long it would take to search every nook and cranny of these places for a single plant.

‘No,’ Dominic said, shaking his head vigorously. ‘It can’t.’

‘What do you mean?’ Nicole asked.

‘If I remember clearly at one of the Board of Nations meetings ... fire manipulators – we were given permission to live only in specific areas,’ He explained then looked at Charlie. ‘Because some areas were either heritage sites, or too dangerous to live in.’

‘It still could be one of the many places,’ said Nicole.

‘At least it shortens our list.’ Dominic shot back.

‘Do you remember their names?’ Charlie asked.

‘No, sorry,’ Dominic hung his head guiltily. ‘I don’t usually pay attention at those meetings. Although now I wish I did.’

‘Alright – it’s not a train smash,’ said Charlie calmly. ‘I’ll search for any mentions of this meeting you speak of, then maybe we’ll have an exact location of the tree.’ He walked off to Nicole’s desk and busied himself instantly with a computer.

‘What can we do?’ asked James.

‘Don’t interrupt me.’ Charlie replied, without even glancing up from the screen.

‘What about Lexis?’ June asked. She looked at the boy, who was still staring expressionless at the wall.

‘Leave him,’ said Charlie. ‘When he returns to his senses I’ll send him to his dorm.’

‘Right,’ said James. He launched himself onto the grey couch and munched on an apple from the fruit bowl. Dominic sat beside him and read a magazine that was left on the coffee table. Nicole went to the bathroom and fidgeted with the contents of the shelf.

But June stood and watched them, unsure of what to occupy herself with. She sat on the couch silently and allowed her mind to wander around. She thought about what Aunt Audrey might be doing at this exact moment. About the year to come – that was if she didn’t get expelled before that. Then, observing her nails, she thought about the predicament they were in. Would they live happily ever after? At least for this year?

Minutes later, she could hear the muffled sound of the school bell ringing, signaling the students to the second period of the day.

And then, because she ran out of things to think off, she gazed at the room. She had never really noticed the portraits along the walls opposite her. Beautiful paintings they were, the artists must have had a story to tell. Then she glanced at James, and for the first time, she noticed that he had a tattoo, dug into his left arm. Huh. She never really thought that he was a tattoo person. It was of a ship, a majestic ship from June’s opinion, with great big sails and a hull that made the water disperse as if it was a king walking through a mob of people.

‘Nice tattoo.’

‘Thanks,’ James glanced at it, raising his arm. ‘The Golden Deck ... she caused a lot of trouble this thing. I probably should try and take it off.’

June was intrigued. ‘Why?’

James stared at her. ‘My br – friend, he – uh,’ James sighed, almost painfully. ‘Never mind.’

‘What’s wrong?’ asked June.

James nodded off the question. ‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ he picked up another newspaper and just stared at the words.

June sat in wonder of this ship. The Golden Deck. It sounded so enchanting yet James described it so bitterly ... gradually, her mind flowed over to Magic Ball. When the time came next year, would she make the team?

She saw herself, racing through the sky, a tsunami of water rushing behind her – following her every command. She saw her opponents, saw her flick her hand and send a wave of the water to the other players, sending them out of sight. There was the thrill of excitement flowing through her veins – her head pounded as she neared the goalpost – the pulsating ball in her arms –

‘Aha! I’ve found a list!’ Charlie threw his hands up into the air triumphantly.

June jerked.

‘Everybody come here.’ He called. ‘Look at this – there’s only three valid areas that the Board gave permission to the fire manipulators. The Rungee desert, Flamed Pearl hot spring and Mount Deep Pozaru.’

‘Deep what?’ James asked.

‘Mount Deep Pozaru, it’s a volcano.’ Charlie replied. ‘It means deep hole of fire. It’s not a very popular volcano though, it’s unsafe rather. I don’t even know why they were permitted to live there ... it is a rather dangerous looking venue.’

‘So, when do we visit these places?’ Dominic asked.

Charlie sprung up excitedly. ‘Right now!’

‘Now?’ Nicole repeated. Their eyes followed Charlie darting across the office in excitement.

‘Yes, now,’ Charlie walked to Nicole’s desk cabinet. ‘All I have to do is teach you the functions of these gadgets. Give you two,’ he pointed a finger at James and Dominic. ‘... those watches and set up gear over here so I could monitor you.’

Clutching Nicole’s silver briefcase that he took from her desk cabinet, he walked to June’s and pulled out another.

They just stared at him while he struggled connecting the wires and retrieving signals.

‘Ow!’ He yelled as he dropped a heavy item on his foot.

‘Do you want some help? Nicole can just –’ began June, but Charlie interrupted.

’No, no I can do this on my own. I have to. I’m your helper.′ He hopped on one leg.

So they sat and observed for nearly ten minutes when he finally called out for Nicole.

They found him crouching underneath the desk, black wires running from all directions and he seemed to be tangled in the middle.

‘A little help?’ he smiled weakly.

Nicole pupils turned misty grey, and, with a wave of her hand, she restored all the computers and wires into place in an instant. They flew around the room, assembling themselves at Nicole’s command. Dominic even had to duck out of the way once; June guessed Nicole was aiming for his head.

When she was done, Charlie looked flabbergasted. His hair was wet from sweat and his eyes were drooping from lack of sleep. He looked at Nicole, gulping.

‘Right,’ he said. ‘Thanks, Agent Fox.’ He sat on the chair and opened one of the briefcases. Inside were a variety of tools, all lay carefully in custom made spaces of rough foam.

‘These gadgets will make up for the powers you don’t have,’ Charlie returned to his bossy self. ‘For example X- ray vision and night vision.’ Then he pulled out two more watches, identical to June and Nicole’s and handed them to Dominic and James. ‘These are multipurpose watches. As I mentioned before to Nicole and June, they tell time, tell weather, direction and has teleportation abilities.’

James’s eyes widened. ‘Teleportation? As in travel from one place to another in an instant? Anywhere on this planet?’

’Correction – anywhere in this galaxy,′ Charlie replied, leaving James staring in wonder at the watch he held. ‘We’re going to be using that to visit our first location: The Rungee Desert.’

‘The Rungee Desert,’ June repeated aloud. It had a familiar ring to it, a name she could have heard before but knew she didn’t.

‘And this,’ Charlie displayed a metal cube, about the size of a ring box. ‘This is a portable hovercraft. It opens up into a powerful stealth machine. Invisibility, terrain, underwater sand storms ... the list can go on.’

‘No way!’ cried Dominic. ’He gazed maniacally at the cube. ‘Invisibility ... hovercraft ... my dream ...’

‘The next one ...’ they looked eagerly at the case as Charlie pulled out something that looked like a torch. ‘This is your everyday torch,’ said Charlie. ‘Simple but handy,’ he dropped that into the bag.

Dominic looked confused. ‘But we don’t even need the torch as long as I’m–’

‘Water, Night vision goggles ...’ Charlie continued, checking a list. ‘Oh yes – the walkie-talkie that I will use to communicate with you ...’

‘All these things are cool, Charlie,’ said James. ‘But are you sure we’re even going to use all of these? It just seems unnecessary.’

‘Of course you will, you’ll see.’ Charlie replied, zipping the bag. ‘I almost forgot about your food and water ...’ he got out a single lunch box and water bottle. He opened the lid of the lunchbox.

June peered into it. ‘It’s empty, Charlie.’

‘Not for long,’ they watched as the air inside the empty lunchbox began to shimmer, flickering like a hologram. And suddenly, it was filled to the brim with sandwiches and chips, and junk food that made Dominic’s mouth water.

‘Cool.’ James took a chip. ‘It tastes so real.’

‘It is real,’ said Charlie with a laugh. ‘If there’s a signal between the lunchbox and my monitor, it will automatically re-fill when its finished.’

Nicole frowned. ‘What happens if the signal is lost?’

‘Then, unless you are willing to hunt or eat each other, you’ll probably starve to death.’ Charlie paused and stared at the floor. ‘But don’t worry; I won’t let that happen.’

‘What about the water bottle?’ June asked. ‘It’s also empty.’

‘It functions the same way as the lunch box,’ Charlie replied. ‘It’ll fill any moment now.’ He shuffled in the briefcase. ‘And here’s your tent.’ He pulled out a thin metal object, which almost looked like a cell phone without a screen.

‘What?’ Nicole asked.

‘This is your tent. Just like the car, it’ll open up. It has a sensor to detect when it touches the ground so all you have to do is drop it and it will open up itself.’ He dropped that into the bag and looked at them, crossing his arms as he did so.

‘What’s wrong?’ June asked.

‘Your clothing,’ Charlie bit his lip. ‘You need something to help you survive the weather conditions there.’

‘Like what?’ Nicole asked.

Charlie didn’t reply. Instead he reached into the cabinet behind him and pulled out four hangers.

‘I’m not giving you the usual spy suit that most of the agents wear – here –’ he handed one hanger to each of them. ‘Go on now, use the bathroom and change.’

Twenty minutes later, the four of them were dressed in their desert attire as Charlie rounded up their equipment, shuffling hastily with the zips.

‘What about school?’ June asked.

‘You won’t be attending school for the next two weeks.’ Charlie replied. He zipped the bag and handed it to James.

‘But the exams!’ cried Nicole.

‘I’m truly sorry – but you will miss the exams and there’s really nothing I can do about it.’ Charlie looked at the four of them, and June noticed that it was in a fatherly way. But any such expression was dispelled immediately and he continued: ‘And last but not least, the most important gadget of all ...’ he paused, gaining suspense. ‘Your brain,’ He tapped his head. ‘A spy is nothing without his wits, remember that.’

‘Brain ... wits – got it.’ Dominic adjusted himself and stood in a prepared stance.

‘Now since you haven’t had much training I won’t be surprised if you do a few things wrong.’ Charlie softened his tone. ‘But I still have full confidence in my team. And even if you don’t find the tree today, we still have two more locations left. It’s bound to be in one them. Now put your watches on and look at this picture.’ He pointed to the wall behind him.

June glanced behind him but all she could see was the bare grey wall. ‘Which picture?’

Charlie spun around. ‘Oh, silly me.’ He pressed a button on Nicole’s laptop and the next moment, the wall behind him slid away and a screen appeared with the picture of a desert during the day. As June looked at the picture, she could almost feel the heat; the space above the sand actually rippled, the horizon azure, cloudless.

′That picture,′ said Charlie. ‘The watch depends on your thoughts to transport you to the place you desire and since you don’t know how the Rungee Desert looks, I figured I should show you this picture.’

‘So we must memorize it?’ Dominic asked.

‘Yes. It won’t take long just remember key aspects, not just the sand.’ Charlie turned to look at the image. ‘See that dried up bush there? Remember that. Ready?’

They shuffled, glancing at each other nervously. Next to June, Nicole held her hand, squeezing slightly, reassuring. For some reason, the gesture made June feel more anxious than she actually was. She began to think about how far away she’d be from Audrey ...

Her hand moved to her wrist, without her brain giving permission, and clicked a silver button on the side. The last thing she saw from Enchanted High was the picture of the Rungee Desert, before her body was flung across the delicate fabrics of space.

Naturally, my boss had to visit the desert too - and drag me along. Naturally, I have quite nasty memories from my time there - The Rungee Desert Monster, the Raiders, the - oh, I could go on. It was horrible, but strangely beautiful at the same time.

Love from all the fur on my back,

--THUG.

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