‘Your dad committed suicide?!’ Owen asked him, his mouth wide open, a spoon loaded with cereal waiting halfway from his mouth.
‘It’s a long story,’ Brendan replied. He did not want to re-think the whole scene, coming home to find Howard on the floor with medicine bottles lying next to him.‘You have cars too?’ Simon asked.‘Yes…two luxury cars and two sports cars.’‘Where are they?’ Simon asked again, this time with zest in his voice.‘Didn’t you see them? They’re at your house.’‘Really?! I must have missed them; I must go see them.’ He stood up and so did Owen. They had all finished breakfast.‘By the way, Brendan, school opens tomorrow,’ Owen informed him.‘You did just mention the Dance a few seconds ago,’ he said in an all-knowing manner. ‘The only thing I want to know is how they managed to repair theBrendan was still pondering over what Thomas…or, Black Ice had said; about how these people would never be grateful towards anything he would do for them. How could he even help such an ungrateful people? He looked back at Miss Putin who was fighting harder to break free from the ice on her throat but the effort was only fruitless. He walked towards her and she tried all the more to break free.She opened her mouth to scream but Brendan covered it with his hand and her scream was only muffled. With his other hand he pulled apart the ice which had been constricting her throat. The pieces of the ice scattered onto the ground, then he finally released his hold on her mouth.When she had been freed, Miss Putin rubbed her throat as if she was touching it for the first time. With her eyes fixed on Brendan, she began to move away from him with her back against the wall as if the wall was a human magnet. As soon as she was a short distance away from him, she put her l
‘Yes, Brendan? she responded, having recognized his voice. Her face was absorbed in the pop quiz papers she was marking. She was marking with such amazing speed, as if she was only comparing the answers with the names of the students.‘Do you happen to have the book, “MAGIC AND SCIENCE” with you?’She paused for a while as if trying to process his question. She finally said, ‘That book been boycotted by mayor. The principal told me to burn it immediately.’‘I just want to use it for a Science project.’She placed her chin in her palm and focused her gaze on her desk now looking deep in thought, then after a while, she jerked her gaze from her desk and turned it to him. She pulled her chair away from her desk and opened a drawer beneath it and took out a huge and heavy-looking hard covered book with the title, “MAGIC AND SCIENCE” at the very top. She placed the book in his outstretched hands. ‘Make it quick. If I seen giving you this book then I would be in big trouble an
When he had finished reading about the Supremes on that day, he tore all these pages and stuffed them in his pockets before giving the book back to Miss Putin. The questions troubling him now were, “What if someone already had suspicions that he was the Anonymous?” and “Why did the Finch betray his grandfather and all those other magician scientists?” So many stressing questions left him uneasy. If only he had gotten rid of the potion and never gone looking for the Finch maybe all this would not be happening. If only he had not gulped down all the contents of that potion! So many questions in his head were carrying the words “If” and “only”. The only way for things to get back to normal, he thought, was to put an end to all this madness.*Brendan was greeted by the doorbell when he reached the foot of the stairs. He was ready for school and he was not feeling like breakfast. He wondered who could be at his door at eight
‘No!!’ Owen shouted out of irritation. He turned to Brendan, ‘I didn’t quite understand what kind of language they were talking about, it wasn’t important to me anyway but..,’ his eyebrows helped him form a frown of suspicion, ‘…where did you hear the people talking about it, Brendan?’ he asked him.‘I… I heard some two guys talking about it and I just got curious. Anyway, how is your father taking the boycott of his book?’ he changed to another subject.‘He’s a broken man, but he’ll be fine,’ answered Owen. ‘He says the world will thank him one day because of something he’s currently working on.’‘Do you know what he’s working on?’ Brendan asked.‘He never allows me into his lab. He says he will when I turn nineteen.’‘Oh, man…when will she stop?!’ Simon’s expression turned into disappoint
‘Why…who…’ the last word he breathed out was like the last air in a punctured wheel. He knew it was a challenge, a dare. But a dilemma had been set before him by this girl. If he refused her invitation to come to the Dance, he would prove himself a coward. If he accepted, still, people would think that he and Samantha were dating, and the last thing he needed was attention: the once poor orphan turned millionaire now dating the daughter of a millionaire tycoon.He looked back at her. She was smiling, sinisterly, quite shrewdly, like theywere playing poker and she had the winning hand.‘Okay, fine,’ he conceded with the wave of a hand. ‘I’ll be there. But if it starts to get boring, I’ll…’‘You’ll leave, I know; me too.’ The bell for class rang and she stood up to leave.‘And, Sam…’‘Yes..?’‘I don’t want you to th
Brendan tried to flush these thoughts out by turning his refuge to homework. He spent one-and-a-half hours on Biology and two hours on Math. As soon as he was finished, he threw the books away and looked at the time; it was five-thirty and he only had two hours to prepare for the Dance. He showered and picked out a black tuxedo from his wardrobe and he sprayed himself with one of his colognes. Confident that he was ready, he walked up and down the living room. He glanced at the time. The time was six-thirty-five. He wondered what could have been keeping Todd. No sooner had he thought about this had he heard the honking of his car.‘Supper before you leave, sir?’ Miriam asked him.‘No, there’s food where I’m going.’She curtsied and left.Todd was beside the door of the backseat of the car. The Bentley was remarkably big and beautiful. It had classy thin tires and silver rims and it was beaming even in the dark.Todd opened
Brendan looked around and noticed that no one was even paying attention to them. He sighed, then said, ‘Why not?’ He placed his hands on her hips and she hung her arms right around his shoulders and they began to sway sideways in dance. It took him a while to fall comfortably and coordinately into this routine, but with Samantha’s patient and giggling help, he soon got the hang of it. Brendan looked over at the supervising teachers. They had turned their attention on them now. Mrs. Cooke had a hawk’s eye locked tight on Brendan, like a sports coach that was waiting for any one of her players to drop the ball so she could blow her whistle and start cussing him out.‘Why has Simon grown so cold?’ Samantha asked Brendan while they danced.‘It’s because of you,’ he answered. ‘He’s convinced that you ruined his life.’‘I can’t deny that but…why can’t he be like you?&rsquo
There was great panic in the hall.‘Sparrow! Price! Price!’ Mr. Benson and Mrs. Cooke called out.Brendan’s hunch was telling him that this was Mr. Price’s doing. There was no one else Brendan knew in that room that had made a deal with the witch besides himself and Mr. Price. What’s to say that Mr. Price owed the Finch some human skin, or liver and Mr. Sparrow was the unfortunate candidate for the sacrifice?So much noise was vibrating through the hall, students jittery and disturbed and their eyes searching each other for an explanation of what the cause of the power cut might have been. They would all have gladly run out, if their feet were not frozen where they stood, and Mrs. Cooke’s yelling only made the situation seem more ominous.‘Quiet, quiet everyone!’ Mrs. Cooke silenced the students. It took ten minutes to have everyone completely quiet. ‘Right…has anyone seen Mr. Sparrow or Mr. Price anywh