‘What!’ He choked on the muffin. It was as if these words were thorns in his throat.
‘It’s the least you can do after I gave you all my food.’ They were now whispering loudly.‘That’s no excuse. This is Thomas Bradley we’re talking about; he’ll snap both our necks like pencils.’‘Come on, Simon, are you a man or a girl? We’re best friends and best friends watch each other’s backs.’He was now silent, still holding a third of the muffin between his center and forefinger in one hand, waving it like a calm ocean tide on a windy day as if he was pondering over it. ‘I don’t know,’ he finally spoke, doubt clearly in his voice.‘Don’t worry,’ he assured him, ‘the plan doesn’t involve us jumping on him from behind and beating him up.’‘That makes a…’ he massaged his throat, ‘a neck relieving kind of sense.’‘Besides, it’s a simple plan, that’s why we’re putting it into action tomorrow.’‘What do I have to do?’ He threw the last of the muffin into his mouth.‘Come‘Wow! You said that to her?’ Brendan and Simon were walking home together and Brendan had told him about what had happened in the corridor with Samantha. ‘You know she deserved it, don’t you?’ Simon assured him.‘But don’t you think I was a bit harsh on her?’‘Harsh?’ he asked him half shouting. ‘Harsh is that girl’s middle name, or maybe have you forgotten about “Orphan boy” and “My mama’s on weed”? Think of the hell we went through because of her.’‘I know she dragged us through hell and made our lives seem worse but don’t you think I took it too far by regarding her brother as good as dead?’‘No, no, no; don’t tell me you felt remorseful after you said it?’ he waved his hands in objection. He was starting to get annoyed with Brendan.‘Of course I did. I still do. Come on, Simon, I hate her as much as you do but I think she felt sorry for me when I told her about Howard.’‘Don’t tell me you’re going soft on her, and…when did you tell her about your father’s death
Brendan immediately came to a stop. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he was not dreaming. He moved to a distance of about five feet from the tree the deer had vanished into. He stretched his hand towards it, jerking his gaze suspiciously in every direction hoping that the Finch would not jump out from nowhere and curse him with some kind of spell. He put his forefinger on the tree and just as he thought it would, it sunk in. He was beginning to feel terrified for the first time in his life. He kept submerging his hand until it sunk whole. His arm followed but it did not appear through the back of the tree as if the inside of the tree was bigger than it was on the outside. He pulled his hand out in panic and ran back in the direction he had come from.As soon as he got out of the forest, he began heading home but returned after having run a few hundred yards to put a small brown stone on the same spot he had used as an entrance and then he headed home, running as fast as hi
‘Come in,’ Mr. Benson said and in came Simon.Brendan’s heart skipped in excitement. It actually leapt for three reasons: One; Simon was still on his side, two; the action was about to happen, and three; what would be the repercussions to this daring act of retribution? Trying to avoid suspicion, Brendan slightly moved his desk from Angus and Thomas, at least about eleven inches from them. Simon was now talking to Mr. Benson. Did he maybe want to sell him out? Brendan abandoned this thought immediately. He knew his friend too well to have him stab him in the back. Brendan removed his backpack from his desk and placed it on his lap. He could feel the snake wriggling, fighting to escape.Suddenly, Simon started gasping for breath like he was drowning. ‘I…need…’ he kept repeating these words over and over again.‘What do you need, boy?’ Mr. Benson had stood up trying to find out what Simon was trying to say.Simon kept gasping for breath and as he did so, he threw a
He saw Simon sitting at their table, the same table where they had hatched this wild plan. ‘That was brilliant,’ Brendan said whispering and putting on a smile that ripped across his whole face like a slit on a puppet’s face.‘Did it bite him?’ Simon was eager to know the outcome.He sat in front of him. ‘You bet it did! Didn’t you hear him scream?’‘Of course I did. The whole school must have heard it. I was just thinking that maybe he just saw it and managed to get away.’‘No way, Simon, it bit him. I just didn’t stick around for the chaos.’‘What type of snake was it?’‘I don’t know but I’m pretty sure it was poisonous.’ Brendan was still smiling with satisfaction now beginning to eat. ‘How did you think of a plan like that anyway?’ he asked Simon.‘Well, when I left you yesterday…’‘You mean ran away?’ he corrected him, fixing his eyebrows and mouth into a friendly frown.‘Okay, okay ran away..,’ he admitted.Brendan noticed that Simon was chewi
He realized that she really was desperate for forgiveness. That feeling of hard worn triumph was beginning to turn against him. But he was not ready to fold. He sighed, ‘At this point I’m afraid it’s impossible, Samantha.’ He looked at Simon’s table and saw him wearing a smile of contentment. ‘You made me feel worthless, as if I was a disgrace to everyone. You absolutely have no idea how much pain you have caused me, personally. I’m sorry but I don’t think you deserve my forgiveness.’‘I know sorry doesn’t begin to count for the heartache I’ve caused you both. Its just that when my brother disappeared, I tried to find a way to forget about him…’‘And insulting two innocent boys seemed to be the best way, right? How pathetic is that? You should have known what you were doing was wrong not wait for someone to tell you.’‘I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness but at least just try to understand. I may come from a rich family but I do know that I’m far from perfect. I just wa
‘You doing anything tomorrow?’ he changed the subject realizing changing Simon’s mind was impossible.‘What did you want to do?’‘Well, there’s something I saw in the forest that might just interest you.’‘Does it have anything to do with magic?’ He looked excited. Anything supernatural was Simon’s best subject when it came to conversation.‘It’s something that has got something to do with that,’ he responded.‘Great. I was supposed to visit my mother but I can go today, so…what time?’‘I’ll meet you at our crossroads at ten-thirty.’‘Okay,’ he agreed.Brendan moved his eyes towards the entrance of the cafeteria and saw Thomas pacing straight towards them, a sea of students following closely behind him.There was a scar on his lip and a bandage on his finger and he was breathing heavily in fury. He stood bes
When he got into the house, he headed straight for his room and threw himself on the bed and began sobbing softly into his pillow. Tears of rage. He kept replaying the whole fight; how he had tried to fight back to no avail. Did Samantha talk to him just to keep him seated until Thomas arrived? Had they been working together all along? Samantha did have an unpredictable character. And to think he had almost forgiven her! Or maybe the nickname he had picked for her had no effect on her at all? He removed his face from the pillow and stared at the cupboard beside his bed, the same cupboard that had the purple liquid. The Oxygen potion, Howard had called it. His eyes had become red from crying. He reached over and opened the cupboard and took out the glass container. He remembered Howard’s words; “Do not take more than the smallest of sips”. Brendan did not even believe Howard’s words, that this liquid could make one superhuman. Without thinking, he opened the container and
‘You see, Eriksson? Dat’s what happens when you mess with a madman with a temper. I came here to conquer pathetic weirdoes like you.’Brendan felt like punching him in the face but he knew what would follow so he remained as cool as a cucumber and as quiet as a church mouse.In the beginning of the third period Brendan began to feel a burning pain in the left side of his chest. At first he thought it was just temporary but it worsened by every second and restraining himself from showing it was becoming even more difficult. When Mr. Price came in on the last period for the Physics lesson the pain had now moved to his head. It was as though his brain was vibrating. He made a slight groan and Mr. Price noticed it.‘Something wrong, Brendan?’ he asked him.‘No, I’m fine, sir. Just a slight headache.’‘We all know where dat came from,’ Thomas whispered to Angus from behind Brendan’s back and they b
‘But if this Pernicious is that strong then there’s nothing you can do about it. Just let it go,’ she pleaded with her face full of tears.‘I wish I could but this is where I was born. I am human before anything else. You saw for yourself what these Supreme Races can do. If I left the people of Bradwield to protect themselves then they’re just as good as doomed. Simon, Owen, Miss Putin, Mr. Benson…everyone will die, Samantha. I’m the only one who can protect them.’She wiped the tears from her eyes vigorously. ‘Promise you’ll come for me when you’re done.’He looked aside, pain and grief gripping his heart. ‘Promise me!’ she begged him.‘I can’t.’‘Why? Don’t you love me anymore?’‘Sam, there are possibilities that I will die or I could lose myself, my humanity to my power.’ He realized that every single word coming
‘And what is this…banishment?’ she asked him as her eyes wandered in search of any sign of life.‘More or less.’‘What do you mean, “more or less”?!’‘This is a lot better than being burned alive if you ask the Marauder.’‘Banishment is worse if you ask “The Samantha”! What am I supposed to eat or drink or let alone sleep…in the sand?’‘Do you really think the Marauder would bring you out here to die?’‘You tell me! I mean, it’s not like I know you.’His black eyes slowly simmered down to their natural blue. He pulled his mask from his head. ‘OH MY!!!’ she gasped. ‘Brendan! But…but…but how?!’ She was beyond horrified.‘Calm down and I’ll explain everything.’‘Calm down?!’ Her eyes widened, ‘How am I supposed to calm down with what I&r
‘Is she going to die?’ he asked whispering too.‘Can someone dead speak through the phone?’ he asked rhetorically in impatience.He obediently nodded. He took one last look at his wife and daughter who were still in tears with their arms wrapped around each other. ‘I love you; both of you…very much,’ he said and then he ran off into the road until he was concealed by a building nearby.‘No!’ Mrs. Patricks shouted and began to run after him.Samantha followed too but Brendan called her back. She stopped after having run a few yards. Her face was bowed low and covered in tears. She turned her face towards Brendan, ‘That’s my dad!!’ she shouted at him. Her face was red with grief.‘The Marauder knows…he’s doing this for your own safety.’‘How is this for my own safety?!’‘Do not question his judgment, little girl!’ he snapped at he
‘The Blind helper committed these crimes all by her…’‘I said I do not die alone!’ she repeated as she nodded in Samantha’s direction.He stared at the Finch, his eyes still consumed in black.‘This city owes me that girl,’ the Finch said.‘How so?’ he asked.‘Ask the proud daddy,’ she said, falling on her knees at the same time.Samantha’s mother looked at her husband. ‘What is she talking about, honey?’ ‘It’s a lie! Don’t believe her!’ A man within the multitude shouted.‘It’s true,’ Samantha’s father confessed, bowing his head and releasing his hands from Samantha’s shoulders.The multitude began to quiet down.‘Baby, I’m really sorry. I’ve always wanted to tell you but…’He was slapped hard on the cheek by his wife. Tears were in her eyes and Samantha
Brendan stood right where he had been buried. His whole costume was covered in dust and smudges of blood by the arms of his leather jacket. His eyes were completely black in color, smoke spiraling inside them like a fog, like there was a darkness that had resurrected him from his grave.‘How can this be?!’ The Finch walked towards him with her eyes focused on him in astonishment. She began massaging her head, ‘You’re a figment of my imagination or…or a ghost. There is no way you could have survived the Dirty Fate fist…Yes, that’s true….you’re just a ghost…Sweetheart, you’re a ghost or a soul who lost his way to hell.’One would think that the Finch had gone mad as she walked slowly toward Brendan, her eyes closed, talking almost to herself like a schizophrenic.‘You couldn’t have survived the Dirty Fate fist…or maybe did they lie..? Or maybe there’s something I didn&rs
‘Gri-what?!’She blew on her bruised knuckles and as soon as she did, a green fire circled around her fist. ‘Now, puny hero..! Meet your fate!’ she roared then she threw her fist towards him.Brendan turned and used his heightened speed to run as fast as his two feet could carry him. The Finch however, was in hot pursuit.‘Accept death like your best friend…just like you did before, you scum!’ she shouted from behind him.As he zigzagged around buildings, he managed to throw a hesitant but quick and brief glance over his shoulder and he saw that her fist was still covered in the green flames and she was clearly catching up to him. He ran up the walls of a multi-storey building, thinking this would at least shake her off his tail, but he was wrong. In the split-second that he had reached halfway up the building, he jumped in a backward flip so that when the Finch was below him he went for her throat with his right hand.
She nodded, ‘You’re not used to your powers yet so I doubt that you have tapped into this ability. Anyway, I’ve been keeping the scrolls for a long time…’‘How did you even manage to get your hands on them?’‘Magic.’‘If your magic is that good then why didn’t you mingle some herbs and brew a potion that could force me to join forces with you?’She chuckled softly, ‘My magic is the best but no matter how hard I practice, it could never force another creature to do my bidding. Anyway…Maglereto didn’t use the most of his intelligence and make the writings more complicated…’‘Why did you steal the scrolls?’‘I didn’t steal them only for myself. The plan was to study them then give them to other Versatiles to study.’‘Why not steal them only for yourself then?’‘That’s only because I believe
There was not a sound that came from the two Versatiles as they stood facing each other. Murder was written on both faces. There was no human being in sight but only the path of destruction that had been carved by them both. The wind had even calmed down as if in fear of the two powerful forces standing inside it.The Finch blinked and just as she did, Brendan made his move…He ran towards her using his heightened speed. As soon as he stopped in front of her he began throwing punches and kicks.The Finch had no difficulty in blocking these blows, yet her expression was anxiety.He landed a punch on her jaw and she shook her head for a brief moment but quickly recovered and the fight continued.Fortunately for Brendan, the basic boxing moves he had been taught by Howard were coming in handy now. He had never been taught how to use his legs but he was doing the best he could, assisted by his unique speed. He would dodge one of her punches then retaliate
The strange thing about these voices was that they were in different parts of his head and they were identical to his. He tried to stand up but his body quivered violently and he barely managed to stand up straight. His body temperature was rising and decreasing in instability. It felt like his skin had been poured with a bucket of boiling water. The voices in his head kept increasing. Some got louder but others just maintained their whispers.The Finch now stood before him. ‘I’m surprised you’re still breathing,’ she said standing with her arms akimbo. ‘I guess that potion you drank turned out to be stronger than I thought. Well then…let’s finish you off, shall we?’ She grabbed him by his throat and she placed her other hand on his mask. ‘Maybe I should give you a kiss goodbye before I put you out of your misery.’ She began pulling on his mask.Brendan released a bellow of frustration, ‘Stop!’ he sho