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"hey Ray, we are leaving for Woodland Lakes on Saturday, and your summer practices for La Crosse don't start until after Independence Day; think your mom will let you come with us again this summer?" Risa asked Rachel as they left class the last day of the spring semester.
"I don't see why not, but I will have to ask. Are you taking the turbo-prop again this year?" she asked.
"No, Mom said we are taking the Mooney, so you have about as much space as a golf caddy. Mom said the flight will be about eight hours because we will have to land in Ohio to take on more fuel."
"The plane she flew last year took less time."
"Yes, but the plane last year cost three times as much in fuel to do it. besides, the Mooney will be fun, and I will have to ride in the back seat, so the co-pilot seat will be empty, she might let you control it for a little while if you come." Risa added with a grin as the girls got on the bus to go home.
"Why do you have to ride in the back seat? none of your episodes have ever resulted in anything physical, and aside from the first one, you haven't passed out again." Rachel asked.
"It's because I might bump the controls mid flight, or grab something. just because they have only been sounds, feelings, visions, or sensations the past five years doesn't mean a bad one can't come again." she looked down at the seat she was about to sit in, and plopped down next to the window so Rachel could sit next to her, "I wish I knew what caused them, and why I feel like they are normal." she finished.
"I know what you mean. but hey, we did gain something out of all of this." Rachel grinned.
"And what is that?"
"Well ever since school let out, neither of us has said a word in English, and nobody has a clue what we are talking about." Rachel answered. Risa hadn't even noticed the change.
"Great! Another episode speaking the Gemini language and I don't even realize it."
"Well, you switch between them easily, it took me a second to realize what you said at first."
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Jeramiah held up the pink stone to his face, its familiar hue beckoning to him. His vision shifted for the first time in a while, to the place where he always witnessed amazing things. He heard the familiar girl talking, she was speaking to a friend of hers, he had seen her before, but had never seen the face belonging to the familiar voice. They were talking about flying somewhere. he had never seen either of them use magic before, so he wondered how they were going to do it.
"How do you plan on flying without magic?" he asked aloud. a feeling of fear washed over him. he knew it wasn't his feeling, but the girl's.
"Who said that?" he heard her say. He stood from his chair and his eyes stared off into the distance, he was completely focused on what he saw through her eyes now. He had never tried to contact her this way, and was surprised it accidentally worked.
"You heard me?" he said tentatively. he heard the other girl through his ears.
"Who is who?" Rachel said.
"I just heard someone ask how I was going to fly without magic, and then they asked if I had heard them." The girl said to her friend.
"You've never had someone talking to you during your episodes before." the friend said.
"I'm going to try something, please don't be frightened. grab ahold of your friend's forearm, and don't let her go." Jeramiah said.
"Voice, if you are going to try something, at least wait until I get home. I don't want something to happen while we are on the bus. whatever you want to try can wait until then." the girl replied.
"I'm sorry, My name is Jeramiah. I don't mean to frighten you. I'll try to hold the connection open. can I ask your name?" he said trying to calm him down.
"My name is Risa, and this is my best friend Rachel." Risa looked outside. "Ray, we are the next stop. Whatever happens, make sure I get to my bedroom okay?"
"Are you that afraid of me?" Jeramiah asked.
"I don't know you, where you are at, who you are, or anything about you, yet you are talking to me, and I don't know how you have contacted me." Risa told him.
Jeramiah turned, and looked at the door that had just been opened by Silene's lady-in-waiting that held the wand at his birthday; she and the princess opened the room.
"Oh, god. that's Silene." he heard her say.
"How do you know Silene?" he asked, and both the girls in front of him stopped and looked at him strangely.
"I only know her from my drawings, visions I get sometimes, my therapists told me to draw them, to keep a record." she said as Rachel was dragging her off the bus, and toward her house.
"Drawings? is there a way I can see them?" he said, again, the girls in front of him hadn't said anything, and Silene was surprised she still hadn't been properly greeted, Jeramiah had never neglected a formal greeting in the past. "I apologize for my rude behavior, Princess, and Rebecca, something has happened, and I must attend to it."
"Who are you talking to, Jeramiah?" Rebecca asked.
"Her name is Risa, and her friend is Rachel." he answered. he felt Risa being laid down on her bed, and Rachel laid beside her.
"Alright, whatever you are going to try, make it quick." Risa said, his vision looked toward Rachel, and saw a resolute look on her face, whatever her friend went through, she would do the same if able.
he felt around for the bond to this person, his manna sense quickly found it, and it went straight into the white stone in his pocket.
"Princess, may I see your essence stone?" he asked her. when she pulled it out, he noticed hers was clear, but had an extremely faint pink hue. when it touched his hand, it shifted to the deep vibrant pink his other stone was.
He opened the void and corruption channels of his magic, letting it flow through the two essence stones, in his hand, then he let the void slide on the inside of the corruption, and tied the two together. he imagined a rope grabbing the people the stones were attached to, and pulling them to him, but leaving them a way back to wherever they were as well.
The spell was using a lot of his Manna, and the magical guards in the castle had already arrived at his room after feeling the amount of magic being used. He set both of the pink stones, as well as his white one, down on the bed, and pulled with everything he had, and he felt Risa's body shift through dimensions, and then he saw her on his bed, laying on top of the stones; her friend Rachel had followed her through, along with a boy who looked scared, and had a strange black and silver horn held to his mouth.
"Risa, this looks just like your drawings." Rachel said, she then turned and saw the boy. "Mordecai! how did you get here?" she said in her own language, but Jeramiah understood it.
"What is the name of that language? he asked her.
"Its English, its the language we speak at home. He doesn't understand yours, I only learned it because of my friend here." Rachel said as Risa was looking around the room. her eyes rested on the princess.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Rachel, follow my lead." Risa said and walked over to the Princess, and gave a curtsey. "I apologize Princess Silene, I am unaware of the majority of etiquette rules when approaching you; I beg your forgiveness for entering your home without permission." she said. "And I believe your name is Rebecca. I have seen you before, but today was the first time I heard your name."
"Jeramiah, who are these girls, and who is that boy?" Silene asked.
he picked up the three stones on the bed, and the smaller one was now white, and the other two were glowing silver, as they had just made contact with the bonded. Jerimiah took her stone, and touched it to Mordecai's forehead and it glowed silver.
"Rachel, I'm going to be sick." Risa said.
"Where is your toilet?" She asked Jeramiah.
"We don't have those, I don't know how they work to bring them here. we use chamber pots. this way." Jeramiah opened the door, and Risa went into the small room, and vomited into the pot. Rachel noticed that Rebecca had left the room, and then came back with a girl who was obviously a maid. When Risa was steady enough to stand, Rachel looked toward Jeramiah, who was the person who obviously brought them here.
"She needs something to eat, now. preferably something sweet, fruit if you have any, There are things that will work better, but she never taught me the words for them." she looked toward Mordecai, realizing he still didn't have a clue as to what was going on, and the Princess was studying him intently. "What was that stone you touched him with?"
"Oh, its an Essence stone, its how mages find their bonded ones, most of us never meet the one our soul bonds to, so they are more like talismans, and the Princess' just reacted to your friend over there." Jeramiah explained. so Rachel spoke to him in English while directing Risa back to the bed they appeared on.
"Mordecai, this girl is bonded to you, and you to her. the best way to explain it, is that she is your soulmate, so quick gawking at her, you will have plenty of time to do that later."
"Rachel, I left a way for you to get back to your world, so you can come and go as you please. if what she needs isn't here, you can take her back."
"Hey, Dipshit, we can't use magic, remember? now, I know where the kitchen is, I am going to go get her something to eat, can one of your guards come with me? I'm sure you wouldn't want me unescorted in this place." she said to the six guards who haven't left the room.
"How do you know where the kitchen is?" Rebecca asked her. Rachel simply pointed to Risa.
"That girl has been drawing this place for the last five years, little snippets here and there. I've memorized them all, and put them together. I probably know this building better than your guards do after studying all her drawings. There are only two rooms I haven't seen the inside of, but I know where they are at as well: the treasury, and a room labeled as 'Emeth and Tikva' on the map she drew. she called this place Alva Castle; now I must get her something to eat if she is to stay awake."
"I will come with you, I want to see if you know my home as well as you say, for never stepping foot in it." Silene said to her. Rachel simply nodded, and walked out the door, and turned left toward the stairwell that led to the first floor, where the kitchen was located. two guards followed her.
"You are wearing strange garments." Silene finally said to her.
"Where I am from, you are the one wearing something strange, Silene." Rachel said, "I'm sorry, Princess, I am so used to thinking you are only in a drawing. but now I see why you were drawn with only your eyes in color. the blue she used in her drawing doesn't do your eyes any justice." she finished quickly, as she opened the kitchen door, and then the pantry. she looked around and didn't see what she needed, but found some butter, and a sack of potatoes, and a sharp knife. "Do you know where the salt is kept?"
"What is salt?" she asked.
"That's a no. Who is the cook? You and the attendant girl we left back there, are the only people I have ever seen in Risa's drawings."
Silene looked over and saw two of the cooks standing in the corner, seeming very nervous. "Where is Greggor?" she asked. "He may not be the head cook, but he is the one responsible for all the requisitions the castle staff asks for." One of the guards left, and came back a few moment's later with the man, just starting to show the first vestiges of grey hair. "Ah, Greggor, my guest here would like to know if we have any salt, and where it's kept." she said.
Greggor walked over to the spice rack, and picked up a glass bottle of thick pieces of salt. "We rarely use it, mostly just for curing hams."
"Thank you sir." Rachel responded. "You two, in the corner, one of you bring me a meat tenderizer." they looked at each other like they had no idea what she was asking, even though she was using their language. "A Hammer, any thing to hit these salt rocks with." she glanced around and saw a mortar and pestle. "This will work." and she ground the salt into a semi-fine powder, and dusted a buttered pan with them, then sliced the potatoes to make french fries. one of the cooks showed her how to operate the stove, and began getting interested in what she was doing. when they were done, she put them in a covered plate, and almost ran back to the room where she appeared. Risa was almost unconscious at this point.
"NO! Risa Stay awake!" she shouted in English. at the sound of Rachel's voice, Mordecai went to Risa and started smacking her face lightly to keep her awake. "Come on, girl, you need to eat something. here I made some fries." Rachel again spoke in English.
"What is going on?" Rebecca asked Jeramiah.
"I think Risa has a weak constitution. and when she threw up earlier, it made her considerably worse than normal."
About this time, Archmage Alec entered the room in a panic.
"What is going on in here? and who are you three, wait, nobody move." Alec walked to the bed, and touched Risa, then did the same to Mordecai, then touched Rachel, while looking to Rachel, he began to speak. "You three all have the gift, but its only awake in the one on the bed." he turned to face Silene and Rebecca. "Where did you find them?" the two girls looked at Jeremiah, who gave a nervous giggle. to the man.
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Anne had just gotten home, she knew the girls would already be home from school, they were probably in Risa's room talking about their summer plans. Last year she had borrowed the King Air from the local flight club, but she had purchased a Mooney on her own, and wanted to take it on the flight instead. She saw the girl's school bags on the floor next to the door, and Risa's bedroom door was cracked slightly opened.
it was quiet, she figured the girls had taken a nap after their last day of school, and decided to do the same.
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