Chapter 1006 - 1006 Chapter 191- Epilogue 2 (VOLUME 5)

1006 Chapter 191- Epilogue 2 (VOLUME 5)

Back to School Part 1

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Talia

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It hadn’t even been a full seven days, but I was allowed to go back. I felt a little awkward though, trying to walk back into the school and pretend like nothing had happened. Especially when I walked into Mr. Amadeus’s classroom. I knew that all of the kids in this room would be wondering if I would have another freak out.

I was sitting there, trying not to let my skin crawl as I felt the eyes of everyone on me. By now there had been enough rumors that had spread among our community, and consequently our school. And those rumors were all about the battle that took place over on the mountain. On the very same mountain that the king and queen lived on. They all knew that there was an epic fight for our lives. And they all knew that those reports of deaths, that had been coming every five days for the last several weeks, had stopped. Everyone had noticed that.

I knew that there was relief sighing through the school, but most of the students didn’t know that it was our kind that was being killed. And they sure as hell didn’t know that I was the main reason that all the big baddies were stopped. I didn’t want them to know that either.

I didn’t want anyone to know what I had done. I didn’t want the kids in the school to look at me even more awkwardly. I didn’t want them to think that I was even more of a freak than some of them thought that I was. I just wanted to move on with my life. I wanted to have that normal life that people kept telling me that I needed before I went off to rule the underworld.

There was only one problem. I didn’t know how to live a normal life. I didn’t know how to be a normal teenager. I only knew how to be Talia. And I thought that I was quite strange indeed. Though, that feeling had grown over the last few days. Ever since the battle.

.....

I was sitting in class, in Mr. Amadeus’s class to be exact, when someone slid into the seat next to me and started to talk to me in a low voice. I recognized her scent right away. She was one of the few kids in the school that smelled like the ocean. There was more to it than that, but that was the number one thing that I noticed about my friend’s scent. And considering that she was a Mermaid I really didn’t think that was a problem.

“Hey Talia.” She spoke softly as she leaned in. We both knew that a lot of people around us would hear what we had to say if we were too loud. Shifter ears were really good at picking up sounds.

“Hey Ada.” I smiled at her. “What’s up?”

“I..I wanted to talk to you about something.” She fixed me with a hard stare then. Her eyes showed me that she was worried about something, and that she needed answers. I just hoped that I was able to give them to her.

“OK.” I closed my notebook that I had been drawing in. I was done with the homework and had just been trying to look busy.

“That last time that you were here, you had a vision, right? That’s what was said. You had a vision of something bad happening, and that’s why you screamed.” She knew this already, it had been confirmed that day.

“Yes, Ada, I did.” There was no reason to lie to her about this. And I didn’t want to lie either.

“After that, you stopped coming to school. I was so worried about you. I thought that something bad might have happened to you.”

“I am sorry for worrying you, Ada.” I looked and sounded repentant about that. “My parents wanted me to stay home after that. It was for the best.”

“And your siblings?” She levelled a hard glare at me then. Something that was penetrating and told me that she wasn’t fooled at all. “I know that Zachary, Zander, Zayden and Zaley all stopped going to school as well. And so did Reagan and Rika. You all started to stay home. And not just them. All the kids that associated with your family. The school was so empty without all of them spread around here.”

“Y..y..yes, my family was worried about the vision that I had.”

“Oh, I know.” She smiled at me, something that felt a lot more knowing than it should be. “And not long after that vision, after everyone went MIA from school, I was at the mall with some friends.”

“I..I know.” She was leading to this. I know that she was.

“We met a few college guys that seemed interested in us. You know, we’re seniors and all that, so we didn’t mind the attention. However, when we got to the park, something strange happened. And your parents were there as well. They saved us from something. I am still not sure that I know what exactly they saved us from, but they did, didn’t they?” She just wanted confirmation. I could give it to her, but what was this going to do to our friendship? Still, I wasn’t going to lie to her. That wasn’t the right thing to do.

“Yes, Ada, they saved you. I..in that vision that I had, I saw you die. I saw all five of you die. And that is why I screamed when I saw you that day. When I woke up. I was terrified of the images coming true.”

“Thank you, Talia.” She didn’t move. She didn’t sound appalled. She just said those three words.

“What?” I asked her, not quite processing what this was all about. “I don’t understand, Ada. D..don’t you think that I’m-?” I was in the middle of asking her a question when she interrupted me with a hug.

“The bestest friend that I could ever have.” She was squeezing me tight.

“But I uhm, I didn’t tell you. I didn’t stop it before it could get that far. I didn’t tell you that day that I had the vision.”

“It’s OK, Talia. I understand that you were scared. And that this all had to do with something more major than just me and the other girls. This was something that was affecting a lot more people than just us.”

“Well, yes, it was.” I nodded in agreement. “And, in truth, I ended up having three visions in all over the last few weeks. They were all about five days apart from each other. Well almost. The last two were closer.”

“Were they all about people dying?” She asked me. “Did you save them all?”

“Yes, and no.” I answered the questions in order and that just made her look at me like she was very confused. “You see, Ada, the first vision didn’t happen the same way. I didn’t know that it was a vision. I saw what happened to a girl that was murdered in California. I didn’t even know that it was California though. There was nothing to tell me where it was or when it was. I..I wasn’t able to save her.”

“Oh, Talia.” She pulled my head against her chest then, seeing the tears that were welling up in my eyes. This was difficult for me. “It’s not your fault. If you didn’t know what it was, then you couldn’t be expected to do anything about it.”

“I..I know.” I nodded at her as I pulled away from her hug. “B..but that was why I wanted to do something when I had another vision. When I saw you and the others being murdered. I had to save you. I couldn’t let my friends and classmates die.”

“And I am so thankful, Talia. I am glad that you have this ability of yours. I don’t know where it came from, why you have it, or anything like that, but I know that I am alive today because of you, Talia. And that is what matters to me. And, well, I hope you don’t mind this, but I told the other girls that you were the one that saved us. They are so thankful as well.”

“I..is that why everyone is staring at me?” I looked around and saw that, just like before, there were a lot of eyes on me. It had been like this all morning.

“I am afraid that it is. And, well, after what happened, Mr. Amadeus tried to explain to people that you were trying to save lives with what happened that day. They are staring at you right now, Talia, because they are in awe of you. You are amazing, Talia. We all know it to be true. And I want you to know that you don’t need to hide yourself away. I know that you are shy, but no one here is going to make fun of you or stop you from being yourself. You’re a part of us, and we all want you to know that we love you.” She hugged me again and I felt a little better at that moment. There was a lot that was going on around me lately, so very much, and having this little moment, knowing that things were actually OK, it was helping out way more than Ada would ever know.

Later in the day, as I went to lunch, I had a lot of people calling out to me. They were telling me that they were so proud of me and thankful for me. They had somehow worked out that the news reports stopped coming after my vision, and they were contributing all of it to me. Me and my family. They didn’t know what I had done really, but they knew that I had saved a lot of people.

I finally felt like school might be a little better than it had been. And that maybe I didn’t need to focus only on school. I was allowed to have a little bit of fun, right?

And as soon as I thought this, sitting there in the lunchroom, I saw a familiar face walk in and come straight toward me. I didn’t know that Arthur was still here in town, nor that he was coming here to school with me.

The moment that he sat down next to me, I felt all the eyes of the girls in school turn toward me. I instantly blushed, but I couldn’t help but feel a rush of excitement. School was a place that was away from my dad and Lex. This was where I would be able to be me, without them interfering in it all.

“Hi Talia.” Arthur said and made all the girls around me giggle in delight.