Other Half III

"Bright are the stars that shine, Dark is the sky, I know this love of mine, Will never die, Like I've died... Oh, Raven excuse me, those aren't the lyrics sorry about that," Johnny the skeletal bard chuckled and scratched the back of his neck.

"It's alright, Johnny, don't worry about it, you've been playing great," I said.

Johnny tipped his hat, "Thank you, Marla. Allow me to continue."

"Actually that's alright, I think it's time Marla and I head out," Raven looked me in the eye. "It's 8pm, I'd be happy to walk you home, or, if you'd like to come over my house and meet my parents, you'd be-"

"Yeah, I would love that," I beamed and stared.

Our lips were inches away from connecting.

"Sounds great, Johnny, you can head home now," Raven said, rotating his head away.

"As you wish, thank you for listening," Johnny bowed, stood perfectly still and sank into the earth in front of the fountain like going down an elevator.

"Raven this whole evening feels like a dream," I said.

"A good or bad dream?" his lip curled up.

"A good one."

"Come on, let's head out of here," Raven took my hand and lifted me up from the grass. We dusted ourselves off and sauntered towards the exit.

"Calling it a night already?' a punk kid's voice hissed.

Two tall figures emerged from the woods. A scrawny sunken cheeked kid and another who was quite muscular.

"Z-Z-Zonn, L-Lyzo? What are you guys doing here?" Raven pulled me behind him.

"Just hanging out, came to enjoy the little show you put on," Lyzo, the thinner kid sneered.

"Y-you guys s-saw th-"

"Yup. Saw the whole thing, Rave-y Jones. We were quite surprised you conjured up some hollows," Zonn cackled. "I thought you were a mage? Too good for us, are ya?"

"Please, I don't want any trouble, and please don't tell anyone!" Raven quaked.

"Just take your punishment and we'll forget the whole thing ever happened," Lyzo sneered.

"Please, I didn't hurt anyone, we're on our way out. I'll take my punishment back at Fyra, let me take her home, she's a vem, she hasn't done anything wrong!"

Lyzo snickered with a pig-squeal snort. "How about this, Rave', we'll give you a running start. 5...4..."

Raven sprinted at the exit, clutching onto my hand, holding on for dear life. I was expecting to see flashes of something come from behind us but they stopped counting at '1' and nothing happened.

I was running out of breath, but escaped. We were back outside the black pointed gates.

"I'm so sorry, usually no one from the other side comes to the fountain until midnight. I thought we'd have more time."

"Raven!" I blurted, still trying to catch my breath. "What the hell was that all about?"

"I can explain. Let's walk and talk though, we should really head to my house in case they follow us, but they shouldn't," he scoffed. "Can't believe they said... hollows," Raven shook his head. "It's a derogatory term for skeletons."

"I'm sorry that happened," I frowned.

"I'm sorry you had to deal with that," Raven hung his head.

We wandered away from the gated park, towards the graveyard which was on the edge of town where the farmlands started popping up.

"Fyra is the magical land where my people come from. It's kept a secret to this world. My demonstrations of necromancy in front of you were technically illegal but, I-don't-know, you just seem, special. We've been friends for a while now and I just know I can trust you," Raven said.

"Raven, I trust you too," I said. "Your secret is safe with me."

"Fyra is where I go every summer. On Baton Lake I get on a boat that takes me out to sea, and with the right incantation a brilliant green flame blazes on the horizon. You sail through the fire and you appear in the land of Fyra, hence 'the other side of the fire' in a lot of the spells."

I nodded. We strolled past the large town graveyard up to an empty plot of land next to it.

"We're here!" Raven smiled.

"You live in a field?" I chuckled.

"Kind of," he scanned the area to make sure no one was looking, then focused on the vast space. "Here's my home and here's my poem, the place where I always retire, hidden by the other side of the fire."

A three-story white brick house with black Gothic accents appeared in front of us. It reminded me of a castle with its towering turret and tall windows.

Raven jogged up the steps and spun around. "Come on!" he beckoned for me, even though I was rooted to the ground. "You gotta meet my parents, I think you'll get a kick out of them."

I nodded and followed Raven as if I was hypnotized, but there was nothing more I wanted than to dive deeper.

Inside the house the walls were festooned with skeletal art and jars of different colors containing parts of things in organized shelves.

From the living room on the left I heard a French song fill the air with two people singing: "Aux Champs-Elysées, aux Champs-Elysées Au soleil, sous la pluie, à midi ou à minuit Il y a tout ce que vous voulez aux Champs-Elysées"

"Mom, Dad! Could you turn that down? There's someone I'd like for you to meet!" Raven facepalmed himself and turned to me. "Sorry, they can be so embarrassing sometimes."

"Nothing to be embarrassed about," I shrugged.

"Come on in here, Raven!" his dad called out.

The music stopped and he led me in the living room where his mom and dad were in the middle of the wide open floor, hand in hand, dancing. They looked like normal people, just paler than the average person.

They spun to face us and the color (what little they had) drained from both of their faces.

"Raven!" his mom yelped. "You brought company?"

"Yeah you didn't hear me because you were blasting your music like a bunch of savage teens," Raven eye-rolled. "Anyways, this is Marla, I wanted you two to meet her."

"Nice to meet you, I love your house," I smiled.

Their jaws were dangling. "Raven, can I have a word with you? In the other room? ...Now?" his dad said.