Chapter Three
I woke up completely frozen. I was really surprised I slept through the night because I could feel a huge neck ack. I really missed my warm and soft bed.
I remembered going on a trip with my school a couple years ago. My parents called often but I always just said two words to them and then hung up. I was gone for at least two weeks, which would make any normal child homesick. I came home and decided nothing could ever make me home sick. But as I sat there I realized something. It had only been an afternoon and a night and I was extremely homesick! I didn't know how long I could last, and I didn't know how long I would have to last. I could be here for days, months, maybe even years.
I really missed my parents. I missed the way my mom would kiss me before I went to sleep at night, and how she would make the best meals in the world. I missed how I would come home from school on a cold winter day and she would make me the perfect hot chocolate. I missed her telling me a bedtime story every night when I was little. She was a great mom, and I didn't know what I had until it was gone.
I even missed my father. I missed how he was crazy about football, and how we would have the Super bowl party every year and I would stuff my face with a lot of food. I remembered one time it was snowing out so the power was out. My mom had gone to my grandma's house and she couldn't get back so she had to stay there the night, leaving me with my dad. I was really cold since there was no power to turn the heat on. Then he came over to me and wrapped me up in a big blanket and let me fall asleep on his shoulder. That was proof that he loved me. And my mom was right, he sacrificed a lot for me. Now I just wished I could see them both again.
I got up out of bed and came down the seven steps. I saw Emma in the kitchen quickly doing something. “Oh there you are Nathan,” she said as she quickly turned around. “We have to go so we're not late for that meeting. I guess they moved it up to today without telling me, so now I have to do everything at the last minute.”
I just kind of stared at her. I had just woken up from a very cold sleep, I was tired, and I hadn't had any breakfast or dinner the night before, so I was very hungry. Come to think of it, I didn't have anything to eat at all yesterday. I woke up too late to eat anything at my house, and then I was dragged here and hadn't had anything to eat yet. I had never been a huge lover for food, but I was really hungry so I felt like I could eat anything right now.
“Don't just stare at me we have to go.” She walked out quickly and I slowly followed her.
I followed her to the side of the house. I stared up in amazement as I saw her climb on top of a horse. “You own a horse?” I asked. I wasn't too fond of them. I didn't really hate them, but they seemed to hate me.
“Actually it's not mine it's the neighbors. But they told me I could use them anytime unless they tell me otherwise. Now hop on the other one.”
“Umm...I actually don't know how to ride a horse. My dad hated them so we didn't get anywhere near them. And the one time I did it was disastrous.”
“It's easy. I've been riding them since I was three. It's just a natural thing every human, or witch, should know how to do. Just hop on and you'll get it.
“Oh no I forgot something.” She climbed off the horse like it was the easiest thing in the world. “I'll be right back,” she said as she went inside.
I stared at the horse. It looked back and me as if saying, what are you waiting for? I swallowed. I decided to put what happened the first time I tried to ride a horse out of my head. I told myself this was different. But I knew I had to do it sooner than later, so I braced myself. I held my breath and tried to get on. Unlike all the horses he had seen before, this one had no saddle.
I thought of the best way I could get on, then decided to pull myself up. I grabbed the horses main and tried. That was a really bad idea. The horse freaked out and jerked hard. I fell to the ground with a hard thud. I was sure I would have a black eye after this.
I got up, regained my balance, and dusted my pants off. Okay that obviously didn't work. But then I had another idea. Maybe it would be easier if I tried to get on from the back of the horse. I went to the back and tried to climb on.
“Okay we can go now,” Emma said as she came out. But just as she said that the horse got mad and kicked me right in the eye with its back legs. I hit the wall with a huge thud. I started to see stars as I heard Emma's voice. “Oh no. Are you okay?”
“Oww,” was all I managed to get out.
“Maybe you should just ride on the back of me. I suppose we can master horseback riding later.”
“Thank you,” I said as I got up. I was a little dizzy at first, but I regained my balance.
About a half hour passed and I was so bored. We had just been riding in the mountains for the last twenty minutes. Then Emma finally stopped. I couldn't have been more grateful. We both got down and Emma tied the horse to a rock. “Where are we?” I asked.
“Shh,” she told me as she put her fingers on her lips. She went up to a rock wall and I just watched without saying a word. She made a pattern with her finger as she said some weird words I didn't understand. Then the wall started to light up, like there was a really big flashlight inside and the cracks were exposing it. It soon started to crumble away like there was a earthquake, but the ground wasn't shaking. It crumbled away completely to reveal an opening. Emma went in, and so I followed. When we got inside I realized we were just in a hollow rock. The light had gone out and now it was pitch black. The only thing I could see was the light of Emma's eyes.
Then the strangest thing happened. I felt the earth come down, kind of like I was in an elevator. I thought we were going to a cave or something, so this totally freaked me out. “What's going on?” I asked all panicked.
“It's just taking us down to the meeting place,” she said calmly.
“So where exactly is this meeting place?”
“It's in the center of the earth.”
“What?” This week was just getting crazier and crazier.
“Well it had to be some place no one could find it, or stumble upon it by accident. But don't worry you're a witch so you'll be able to breathe fine. But it's kind of a long ride down. But this rock goes pretty fast, so it's not as long as it could be.” I just went silent, because I was starting to feel a little sick. It's not every day that you ride a hollow rock to the center of the earth.
“Okay Nathan,” Emma told me. “Let's go over the rules of this meeting. Number one, if anyone asks your name it will be Nathan.”
“Why?” I asked. “Austin is my real name. It's what I'm used to being called, and it's a force of habit to say when someone asks my name.”
“Because that's the name everyone else will know you by, and Austin will just confuse them. Plus it will help you in the long run because people in this century aren't too familiar with the name Austin. Your full name will be Nathan Haul.”
“Where did the Haul come from?”
“That was your father's last name. But if anyone asks you about him just say you didn't know him, because that would get you into all kinds of trouble. He's the only Haul around, so someone's bound to ask if you're related to him when you tell them your last name.
“And number two, remember what I said about not trusting anyone at this meeting. Even the girls that look like they couldn't possibly do anything wrong could be against us.”
The rock finally came to a stop and it started to shake as it stopped at the very bottom. Emma and I stepped out into a big wide open space. It certainly did look like a cave. But just like Emma said I could breathe perfectly. But there were people everywhere! I guess there were more witches in the world than I thought.
I saw a lot of adults and a few kids. Most everyone here was a woman, but I saw a few men. She wasn't kidding when she told me boys didn't get the gene very often. Looking at all of them in their dresses I could tell women were pretty thin at this time. Emma walked off and I just kept looking around. Some of the little kids were laughing because someone blew something up. They didn't have their full powers yet, so of course they thought that was cool. Just looking around I felt a little better. These people were all like me. Here I wouldn't be the weird boy everyone was afraid of. I really like knowing that.
“Hey!” a boy shouted from behind me. I once again got startled and jumped.
“What is it with you people?” I asked. “Do all witches scare the crap out of anyone they can find just for the fun of it?”
He thought what I said was funny. “I don't think so. I just think it's fun to do. My name is Joshua. I've been the only teenage boy at these meetings forever, so I'm so glad your here now.”
To me he looked about twenty, but then I remembered this time period's teenagers and decided he was probably only about sixteen. He had really thick, short blonde hair and green eyes. He was fairly tall, but not scary looking at all. I knew he had to be nice, considering he talked to me. Anyone who was willing to give me the time of day had to be nice.
“My name's Austin Maze,” I told him. But then I remembered what Emma had said. “I mean Nathan Haul.” If what I said at first surprised him at all, he didn't show it.
“Your Nathan?” he asked me. He looked really excited.
“Have we met before?” I asked. “Because you seem like you know who I am.”
“Well the meetings they have are only for people with full powers, so you can't go in them until you're at least sixteen. Well I turned sixteen last month, so I went to my first one. Your mom was trying to get permission to use time travel to bring you back to this century. I just remembered your name is all.”
“Oh,” I said. She had this planned out since last month? I couldn't even remember what I was doing last month. Just going through life, not realizing in only a little bit my life would be changed forever.
“So what's it like to time travel? There are rumors that it feels really awesome.”
“What do you mean? I'm sure you've time traveled loads of times.”
“Well not just anyone can time travel. Only a select few can say they have. When you time travel it can get pretty confusing. You could end up messing up the entire time continuum, so it's not easy to get permission to do it. I'll probably never get the chance to ever do it.” Wow, I felt special. I had no clue not many people ever felt it. “So what does it feel like?”
“Awesome. It felt like cold fire. I don't really know how to explain it. I would definitely do it again if I could. And I hope I'll be able to.”
“Cold fire? That's so awesome. I wish I could try it. But even if I could get the counsels permission, I wouldn't have a time period to go. This time period is my one and only home.” It's good he could say that, because I definitely couldn't.
“Attention!” a lady yelled from the other side. The room got quiet and everyone turned to her. “The meeting is starting now. Anyone with their full powers can come.” Then she walked toward a hole in the wall and then room got loud again.
“Come on,” Joshua said. “Both you and me are sixteen, so we can come. They're pretty cool to watch. You learn a lot of things you had no clue about before.” I nodded my head and then followed him. We went to where they lady had gone in and saw a really big room with a really long table in the center. There were some witches sitting on the table, and then all the rest of them were sitting on a loose chair by the wall. I guessed the witches sitting on the table were the really important ones. I only saw one guy sitting on the table, and he looked pretty old. And I didn't see any guys sitting on the loose chairs. It must have been a record that me and Joshua were two boy witches that came at the exact same time. I came over and sat by Emma, just to make sure I didn't do anything stupid.
