Part Two
“I'd like to call this meeting to order,” the lady said with a big, booming voice. “I'm Martha Jones, and I'm the head witch of all the good witches.” The way she said that kind of scared me. I didn't know why, because she looked really nice.
“Our first item of business, Jan had a new baby girl. Her name is Katherine.” Everyone smiled and chatted for a minute, then got quiet once Martha put her hand up.
“Our second isn't so happy I'm afraid. Madison would you like to stand up and tell everyone what happened?”
A lady stood up with a dark blue dress on. “I broke rule number four hundred and eight.” Four hundred and eight? How many rules were there?
“And remind everyone what rule that is,” Martha demanded.
“Never chew gum loudly in a big crowd, because it could attract unwanted attention.” Are you kidding me? What kind of rule was that? Now I was starting to get scared. What if I broke a rule by accident? Would I still get in trouble?
“Exactly. So sadly we all know what that means. Madison is no longer one of us, but a bad witch. It is very bad to break the rules, I would just like to remind all of you of that. Now we all would like to say farewell.” Madison looked down in shame. “You can leave now.” She got up while still looking down and left the room.
“Isn't that a little harsh?” I whispered to Emma.
“Well that's what happens when you break the rules. Times are getting harder, so they have to be really strict about them. You never know whose on your side and whose not, so we can't take any chances. Anyone who's not willing to follow the rules must be kicked out. It was something we all agreed on.”
“Talk about not controlling people.” But Emma didn't answer me.
For the next fifteen minutes they talked about some plan of the evil witches. “They are very smart,” Martha said. “They know how to blackmail, bribe, and make any good witch feel guilty. We must be constantly on our toes. We are the last witches in the world that can stop them. I have just been recently told of their plan. They plan to destroy the human race.” I felt my heart jump a little. That really scared me. But they couldn't have succeeded, because I just came back from the future when there wasn't many of them around anymore. “That would be a really bad thing because without humans us witches would just be normal. And we need them. Without us marrying humans we would have died out by now.”
“Martha,” the only guy at the table stood up and said. He had a short beard and a really pointy nose. He was really short, so he reminded me of Rumpelstiltskin in a way. “I know of one of their strategies. I have insider information that they plan to use the males. There are so few of them, so they are an a lot easier target and they have found out they are also easier to work with.”
“Thank you Walter. Yes, they are planning on using the males. So I advise any male in here and also their mothers to be very careful. They will do anything possible to convince you to go to their side, so don't give in.” I kind of just brushed it off. I wouldn't become a bad witch if you paid me. The only thing I wanted was to go back to the year 2010. But then it made me think, would I be willing to go to their side if they promised to help me get back home? But it wouldn't do much good, because they would destroy the humans and that's who I wanted to go back to.
“Okay, now our last item of business before we wrap up is welcoming a new member who just recently received his powers. Everyone welcome, Nathan Haul.” It took me a minute to figure out that was me. Hey give me a break, I just barley found out my name was Nathan yesterday.
“Nathan stand up,” Emma ordered. I stood up and everyone in the room looked at me. I heard some whispers. I guess they were all surprised there were two boys in the same year.
“Well Nathan would you like to show us a little bit of what you can do so far?” Martha asked.
“I don't think that's such a good idea,” Emma said quickly. I could have been offended, but then I realized she was right. Something always went wrong with me.
“Well there's no harm in trying. Go ahead Nathan.”
I walked toward the center of the room. I figured I would just do what Emma tried to teach me yesterday. I saw a mug at the table so I focused on that. I concentrated really hard, but just like before the mug broke into a million pieces. It startled everyone in the room, including Martha. “Stupid cup,” I said out loud. Everyone just kind of looked at me weird and I casually went back to sit by Emma. I guess I shouldn't have said that out loud.
“Well that's too bad,” Martha said. “Work on that, and we'll give you another chance at our next meeting.” I looked over and saw Emma hiding her face. I guess I must have embarrassed her.
“Okay. And our very last item of business is also someone new. He was at our last meeting but I failed to introduce him. Joshua, would you stand up?” I looked over to one of the corners and saw Joshua stand up. Now there were even more whispers from the people who didn't realize it before. “Now go ahead and show us what you can do.”
“No problem,” he said confidently. I watched as he concentrated on the dirt on the floor of the room. I watched in amazement as it flew up and all the little pieces made a spiral. He dropped it and then looked up to face everyone. “I call that magic art.” everyone laughed and then clapped as if he had just put on a show. I clapped but was frowning. He just completely showed me up. I looked over and saw his mom looking up at him proudly. He sat back down as she gave him a hug. That made me even more annoyed.
“Very good,” Martha said with a smile. “We'll need people with your skill Joshua. So welcome.” I didn't remember getting told she needed people with my skill. “Now I would like to bring this meeting to a close. Thank you all for coming and I will see you all next month.”
Everyone got up and started to leave. I just followed Emma, careful not to let anyone see me. But luck didn't go my way because Joshua grabbed me and pulled me out of the crowd. “So we seriously have to keep in touch,” he told me. “Our parents sort of know each other so that should help. I don't want to wait until the next meeting to see you again.” I just kind of gave him a look. “What? Is this about my spiral thing? Don't be so hard on yourself,” he said as he patted me on the shoulder. “I've lived with a witch for years, and she's given me a lesson or two. Even if I didn't have my full powers. And you've lived with mortals all your life, so you just recently learned how to use your powers.” I gave him a fake smile and he gave me a real smile back. “I'll see you later.” Then he left.
I turned around and almost ran right into Emma. “He's right you know,” she told me. “You just barely found out you're a witch, so you have to give yourself some credit.”
“You didn't seem like you thought that after I did it.”
“Oh that.” She looked kind of embarrassed as she said it. “I just worry. I know you shouldn't care about what other people think, but I have a pretty big reputation with them. I'm one of the top ten most powerful witches you know.”
“You are?”
“Well it takes an extremely powerful witch to know how to time travel. Not just anyone can send a person through time you know. And I can get really mean when I'm angry. I lit on mortal on fire when I was only three. He didn't die thank goodness, but I sure hurt him pretty bad.”
This had completely taken me by surprise. Emma always seemed like the perfect little good witch to me. She was in the top ten most powerful? There must have been hundreds of witches just at this meeting.
We made our way to the elevator. Luckily there was more than one, so we didn't have to wait for like five hours. We went back into the hollow rock and the darkness. We were just silent for a moment, and then Emma spoke. “I see you made a new friend. That's good. Everyone was amazed that there were two boys in the same meeting room. And Martha was being one hundred percent serious about them going after the boys. Right now we have only about seven male witches out of the thousands on the earth. One of them was the man you saw at the meeting, you and Joshua are two, and then other four are all on the bad side. It's depressing. I think you and Joshua will have a great future. And I'm glad you guys get to go at it with each other, and not alone. You are extremely lucky to get another male in the same year as you. That must be a new record for witches.”
“Yeah Joshua's pretty cool. Do you know his mom?”
“Sort of. She lives in the city. Only about ten of the witches that were in that room can say that. Our city is very dangerous because they take witches very seriously. I only live in it because it's where I grew up, and I can't bring myself to leave. I don't know why she lives in it, but we've seen each other around. She became a local celebrity when she found out Joshua had powers. The mothers of the few males we have are very popular. I was already popular, so they didn't give me much attention when I told them you had powers too.”
“When did you figure it out?” I asked.
She smiled. “When you threw a temper tantrum when you were three and you caused the bookcase to knock down. It scared your parents half to death, but that was when I was for sure you had powers.” I knocked a bookcase down when I was three? My parents never mentioned that.
“You saw that? How?”
“Us witches can see anything we want. All we need is to say a few words over a pot of boiling water and we can see anywhere or anytime. I was always watching you Nathan. I saw from the time your parents first found you to the last time you saw them. I saw all the trouble you had at school, how you would hurt people when you got angry, all the accidents you caused, and everything else in between.”
I started to go a little red. “You were watching me the entire time? Why?”
“Why? What kind of a question is that? Like I said before, I didn't abandon you. I only wanted you protected. When I sent you through time I told myself I wanted to see how you grew up, and I wanted it to be the right people that raised you. I was doing a quick search throughout all the western hemisphere and I came across your parents on a vacation. They seemed like a really nice couple, but I did a background check just to be on the safe side. I looked around to all the people that knew them. I found out they had just lost a baby and they wanted to be parents more than anything. So now that everything was in place, I led you mom down to the basement. It wasn't that hard, because she was curious anyway.”
“Wait, lost a baby? When did this happen?”
“I don't know if they ever told you, but they had a son born only about a week before they found you. But he died while he was in the hospital, from what I heard.”
“Really? They never told me that story.”
“Well Nathan I'm sure it wasn't easy for them to talk about,” she said. “I've had some friends that have lost a baby, and I know it's not easy at all. I was lucky enough not to have to go through it.”
“Oh. Well they deserved a baby. They were amazing parents.”
She smiled. “They were. I hope you know that your mother loved you more than you'll ever know. She was willing to give you the world if it meant you were happy. And your father, well he was a little stubborn. But trust me he loved you, he just had a hard time showing it. He was frustrated because of everything that was going on, and he didn't deal with it as well as your mom. But I was glad they stuck by you even when things were getting a little freaky. Any normal adoptive parents would have just given up on you, I hope you know that.” I smiled to myself, and then got a little depressed. I wondered if I would ever get to see them again.
“Hey, will I ever get the chance to see them again?”
“Why of course. They raised you for sixteen years. I wouldn't just take you and never let them see you again. In time you will, but for now we just have to stick with what we have. Time travels not easy to get through Martha, so you'll have to be patient.”
“Okay.” Then the doors opened, and we were back to the surface again. I had never been so glad to get some fresh air. It was beginning to feel a little stuffy in there. We saddled our horses back up and began on the long ride home. Or at least what was my home now, but not my real home. My real home would always be in the year 2010, with my adoptive parents. I didn't care if I was born here or what family I had living here.
About an hour later I was sitting on the old table in her house. I didn't realize how hungry I was. I hadn't any anything to eat in two days, because I left 2010 before I could even eat. And I hadn't had anything to eat since then. Yesterday morning, it seemed like years ago. I couldn't believe I had only been here for a day and a half. It had felt like a lot longer.
I heard Emma come down. She seemed to be smiling to herself, like she had just found a quarter. “Hello Nathan,” she said to me with a smile. “I'm sure you're probably hungry. I mean you haven't had anything to eat since you've been with me.” She had read my mind. I was really hungry now. “I could make my homemade bread for you. It's been passed down in my family for generations. I'm a fairly good cook you know.” Then she went to the cupboards and started to get out the ingredients.
I was amazed by how bare they were. There was probably only like three items of food in each one. I wonder how often she ate, and what she ate. She saw me staring and started to get a sad look in her eyes. “Yes I know,” she sighed. “I really do try, but I jump from job to job and house to house.” She pulled out some wheat and shut the cupboard. “I don't eat much anyway. I've lived alone for a long time, but hopefully now I won't have to.” I started to feel a bit bad for her. She was pretty much the lonely old lady next door that no one liked. The only thing she had to look forward to was when she would get the chance to check on the son she never got to raise. And then the day finally came that she would get to see him again, and he would rather live with his other parents. That had to be hard.
“Sometimes I've felt alone,” I told her. “But I've never actually psychically been alone.”
She turned around to look at me. “You've never been alone. You've always had someone there. Whether it was your family or your friends, someone was always there looking out for you. And I was always watching you of course. I would have never let anything happen to you. Nathan, do you remember the day you went to that amusement park and the ride crashed?”
Oh I remembered that day like it was yesterday. My family and I went to an amusement park for a family vacation. I was so excited to go on this ride that was inside a pitch black cave so you couldn't see anything. Closing your eyes would pretty much be pointless. Well my parents refused to go on it because they didn't like roller coasters, so they just waited for me by the exit. Well when I got on something went wrong, and the roller coaster went crazy. The seatbelts weren't working either so it threw the four of us that were on the train off into the darkness. I don't remember what happened, because I had a panic attack thinking I was going to die and I fainted. But I didn't die, I woke up in the darkness and could hear some people come in with flashlights. They were amazed when they saw that I was alive, and didn't have any bruises.
They took me to the hospital and my parents met me there. The doctors told them it was a miracle I survived that, because the other three people all died. I didn't even have a scratch. Other than being afraid of roller coasters after that I was fine. My parents told me I had a guardian angel watching over me.
“Did you know anything about that?” I asked her.
She smiled. “I saw it all happen like a movie being shown before my eyes. I couldn't just let you die. But I had never tried using my magic to another time. After realizing it wouldn't work, I did the quickest curse I ever did in my life and took a portal to the year 2010 to where you were. I levitated you really quickly, just seconds before you hit the ground. Then I disappeared just as fast as I came.”
“Wait, you were actually there, in the ride?” Come to think of it I did remember seeing a light, but I thought it was just my imagination.
“Yes. It was the only time I ever went there. I promised myself I wouldn't interfere, no matter how much I wanted to. But in that particular situation I didn't have a choice.” That was crazy. She was right under my nose and I missed her.
“Well the bread's ready,” she said as she handed me a very small looking piece of bread. “Have as much as you want. I'll be upstairs.” Then she headed upstairs.
Okay, so when she said have as much as you want I hope she meant I could have the entire thing. I had never been so hungry before in my life. I tried not to act like a pig, but I was so hungry I wasn't really paying attention.
That night I really couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned all night long. Maybe it was too cold, maybe the bed was too hard, or maybe it was something else. I was to the point where I just wanted to go home more than anything. I missed my parents, I missed George, I even missed the jerks at school. Not that my mom and Joshua weren't great, they just weren't at my home. I wanted to go to my real home, not this temporary home.
