Chapter 16 part 1

Heathcliff slammed the phone down. Not only did Shirley fail in what she was supposed to do, but now he would probably need to make amends with the girl and her friends. Not only that, but his niece had decided to try and cut ties with him.

While he wasn't happy that she failed, especially since this was the first task she'd failed on, he still needed her to be part of an expedition through the gates. Her experience with magic would be invaluable to the expeditions and he needed to make sure that they would return.

So much of what he'd carefully put together was starting to fall apart. Not only was the only gate he'd been able to learn of that was relatively close by and wasn't as visible to the public as the one in front of the state capital was, but now he had kids running around with magic that he had no control over, his niece was considering going on her own, two of his subordinates weren't allowed in the Unicorn's Forest and so had to be assigned to an expedition that would go through a gate rather than through the forest and search for gates through that method.

Maybe he was just getting old and that was his biggest problem, but he couldn't be sure that was true. After all, his predecessor wasn't as young as he was when Heathcliff had his magic unsealed. Then when Heathcliff took over, that man was close to his nineties and still had been going storn, until he died in his sleep.

No, this had nothing to do with him not being capable or too old or any of that. Events were just happening faster than he could react and get them under control. As it is, even if he managed to seal this girl's magic again along with her friends, would she be able to unseal it on her own without him approving it? The world that she had gotten a gate that opens directly into his basement showed that there were several unicorns living in it, which meant that she could theoretically be able to unseal her magic without him.

Not only that, but the bicorn that seemed to be in charge of that world was another matter that he couldn't think of a way out of. From what little information he had about unicorns showed that there was no true way to control them, that they were more of a force of nature and any attempt to bridle them, for lack of a better term, would prove useless, on the best result side of the coin. Considering the bicorn in the mix, he could only assume that bicorns would be the same as unicorns, impossible to get and maintain control over.

Which meant that as things were falling apart around him, there was little he could do to try and salvage everything he'd worked towards. It was almost like the ship he was in charge of suddenly found itself in the middle of a storm out in the open ocean. Battling the waves could be dangerous and since he didn't have any idea of how to navigate the waves, all he could really do was hope that things would turn out alright for him.

Hoping for things was never one of his strong suits, which meant he was in for one really rough ride.

_

Charlie was surprised to learn that Alex was in the same homeroom class that she was in. Not only that, but the teacher had assigned Charlie to sit in front of her. While Charlie was happy to see Alex, she wasn't sure really how to react around her. Although, since they had a few classes together for the entire year, Charlie wondered if that might change through the year or if she'd feel just as awkward around her as she did right then.

Even though Alex had difficulty broaching the subject of romance with Charlie, now Charlie was the one who found herself flat footed while Alex was able to be more relaxed. For one thing, as Charlie had agreed to go with Alex to the Homecoming dance, did that make them going out? Or was there more for that to be considered in relation to them?

Charlie was in turmoil trying to figure that out. It was torture for her.

Then, at the beginning of school assembly, Alex pulled Charlie to sit next to her and holding hands had always been a sign that Charlie considered two people were going out, yet Alex didn't even reach for Charlie's hand. Which she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed about. It actually surprised her at how much she'd like Alex to hold her hand. She really wanted to reach out and take Alex's hand in hers, but felt far too unsure if that would be the right move or not.

What also made things difficult for Charlie was that normally she didn't care for much physical contact, yet now she was longing for it, if only in relation to Alex. She thought that she might even seriously consider trying on a bikini if Alex wanted to see her in one.

Though, as soon as that thought entered her mind, she quickly shoved it out of there and focused completely on the principal with her opening address. For as long as she could, as she normally got bored early on in the speech.

"Good morning, students," Mrs. Garfield said. "I would like to welcome back all students who were here last year and haven't graduated yet as well as to welcome all the new students who are either transferring to this school or are just reaching high school level to Pine Vale High. I always consider it a privilege to welcome all of you because it's always great to see faces of young people eager to learn so they can work to achieve the dreams they've been working towards. Whether those dreams were from when you were a child or if those dreams have come to you more recently, it's always a privilege to try to work with all of you to see if we can make those dreams a reality."

Charlie couldn't help herself as she was already bored with the speech and had to look around. While Alex had pulled her to a seat around the middle of the rows in the auditorium, she saw her friends were in a row almost to the front. Part of Charlie wanted to be with them, while another part was happy to be around Alex, though she wasn't sure if that was good or not. Then another part wondered why her friends were so close to the front, and she started to worry that Ralph, at least, had in mind to pull a prank or something at this assembly.

"Are you okay?" Charlie heard Alex whisper to her as she leaned close to Charlie.

"I'm okay, just getting bored of this assembly already."

"I'm sure it'll be over soon," Alex smiled at Charlie. "I'd like to give you something today if that's okay."

"What for?" Charlie was confused. Was there something she should have remembered and maybe gotten something for Alex for?

"I heard about your birthday last Wednesday, so of course I had to get you a present," Alex said playfully. Charlie half expected Alex to call her silly or something on those lines.

"What is it?" Charlie couldn't help but wonder.

"I can't, that would be telling," Alex teased.

Charlie laughed quietly at that. She hadn't expected Alex to tell her, but she could always hope.

When the assembly was finally over, they went to their respective classes, which meant that Charlie wouldn't be around Alex until the next period. So, she couldn't hope that Alex would give her the present she'd gotten for her. Or made. Or whatever. Charlie shook her head in hopes it'd descramble it. At least for the moment.

She couldn't figure out what the reason why she was this way. She certainly didn't have this problem the rest of their trip after the incident she couldn't remember and there wasn't anything else that came to her mind of what the problem could be. So, she did her best to put it out of her mind, especially with her first class being math. While her schedule indicated that Mr. Samuels was again her math teacher, she fervently hoped that it was a mistake.

Sadly, it wasn't. It was just the next level of math, which Mr. Samuels also was one of the teachers for. Much to Charlie's annoyance.

In all, Charlie's classes weren't much different than the year before, just some were more difficult because of the subject being taken to a higher level, like math, while others were completely different.

The classes that Charlie had with Alex were wood shop, social studies, and history. Charlie wished they could have shared PE, since they might be able to squeeze time to just talk with each other, but that apparently weren't in the cards.

Each time Charlie saw Alex that day, she felt like she was on pins and needles wondering what it was that Alex had gotten her. Which baffled her each time she thought about it, after she wasn't around Alex.

She couldn't remember a time in which she was this interested in a present. What was wrong with me? Charlie wondered several times during the day.

At the end of the day, when they were issued their lockers, Charlie was happy that hers was actually next to Alex's; or more specifically just above Alex's.

Though, Alex waited until they were done with all their classes, before she pulled a small package out of her backpack and gave it to Charlie in front of their lockers.

"Happy Birthday, Charlie," Alex said quietly, clearly nervous.

"Thanks," Charlie replied, opening the package, not sure what to expect.

Inside was a single pouch purse. It was a weird green denim, that Charlie couldn't explain until she noticed a spot that was blue, which she suspected that Alex tried dying it to turn it green.

"I thought you might like something like that, since I've never seen you with one," Alex mumbled.

"I'll make sure to use it," Charlie said, not really sure what exactly she'd use it for, but figured if nothing else, it would be useful to hold her phone in, since there wasn't much room in her backpack most of the time for it. Charlie put it on, where it hung on her right shoulder.

"So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow," Alex said, as she closed her locker and left.

Charlie leaned against her locker, trying to make sense of her behavior and the way she looked at things. What was up with her? It was almost like she was someone else.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't even notice when Beth arrived or how long Beth was standing there before she got impatient with Charlie and shook her shoulder.

"Anyone home?" Beth called out. "School's over, you know."

Even then it took Charlie a minute for her brain to get back to her surroundings. When she saw Beth, she couldn't figure out what Beth was doing there for a minute until she remembered that end of the school day had occurred.

As they started walking out of the building, Beth was interrogating Charlie. "Where were you? I mean, you were standing there for at least five minutes before I got bored and tried bringing you back, and even that took a few minutes."

"Sorry," Charlie replied. "I was thinking about things from the day. I guess I just got lost in thought."

"Lost in thought I think is an understatement. You'd pretty much started to move in."

"Sorry, I'm not sure what's up with me today," Charlie said, not really wanting to deal with all that, since her mind was still a bit preoccupied with what was wrong with herself.

"Yeah, that trip really took a lot out of us," Beth commented, clearly not realizing what Charlie really meant. Which she was grateful for, as she really didn't want to talk about it right then.

"So, are we meeting up with the others or are you going to tell me what you wanted to tell me during the trip but couldn't because we were always around others?" Charlie asked, hoping what she said made sense.

"Yeah, we will," Beth merely replied. Then her gaze went to her new purse. "Where'd you get that? I know I haven't seen you with something that hideous before."

Charlie blushed and looked away as they left the building. "Actually, Alex gave it to me as a birthday gift," she said, not sure why she suddenly couldn't talk very loud again. What's with me? she wondered.

Beth laughed. "I see, I guess that explains it," she said.

On the way, they did meet up with the rest of their group and what annoyed Charlie most was rather than asking about why Alex gave her the purse, they all assumed exactly that Alex had let Charlie know of her interest in Charlie and the gift was merely a part of that. They didn't even pretend to be curious about it or what Charlie thought about it.

As a result, Charlie decided to just be quiet around them, as they didn't always pull her into their conversations, so her being quiet wasn't out of the ordinary, and maybe she'd get time to think more on what was going on with herself that she was being just so… weird.

When they got to Charlie's house, they entered Petals' forest where they would have much more privacy and wouldn't have to worry so much about wondering if what they were saying would carry farther than they realized.

As soon as they were in the forest, Ralph spoke up while they walked towards the center. "So, what really happened with Charlie? While she doesn't seem much different, she wouldn't just call out for help without a reason," Ralph said.

Charlie couldn't help but feel a little pleased that even Ralph would be concerned about her.

"I won't go into the details, because I sealed Charlie's memories about what happened so she wouldn't have to deal with trauma that probably would take years to resolve. What I will say is that Shirley did something and it was directed by Heathcliff. She also started putting small enchantments of Charlie during the drive to the hiking trail. Then the reason Charlie was so energetic on that day was because of another enchantment from Shirley, which I think was to make Charlie more compliant from just being so tired. In the end, Charlie's magic saved her from all that Shirley planned on doing, though I'm not sure of the exact details, but apparently Charlie's what's known as a thought mage," Beth said, then paused for a minute as she took a deep breath. "I'm not sure what that exactly means, but I think we could ask Arachii this weekend. That way we might be able to have a better understanding of it."

Charlie wasn't sure what to make of all that Beth said. It was a lot of information to digest. Though, others didn't seem to need so long as Charlie did.

"So, when do we confront Heathcliff about this?" Amelia asked, her tone sounding like she was ready to enter battle right then.

"Actually, I think that should be left up to Charlie," Tim said. "And only those who she would like to accompany her when that happens would be up to her."

"Sounds like a plan," Ralph said, which surprised Charlie, since it sounded like it was already decided and there wasn't going to be even a pretense at a discussion about it.

Not that she could really complain about deciding when and who would accompany her to deal with Heathcliff, especially since because he was behind whatever Shirley had done to Charlie, they needed to do something about him. Sooner rather than later.

"I was thinking of taking time Saturday to deal with him," Charlie commented. "I mean, I'm not sure how long it'll take and since we have school now, we might get in trouble if it takes too long if we go after school."

"Do you want any of us to join you?" Beth asked.

"Maybe just Beth," Charlie said. "I mean, she's the one who knows most of what happened to me."

–What happened to you?– Petals asked, walking up to them as they continued making their way to the center of her forest.

–Talk to Beth about it.– Charlie replied. –She sealed my memories about it out of concern for me and we're discussing what to do about those behind it.–

–Let me know if you need my help.– Petals said.

"Anyway, when do we look at the next world through Petals' forest?" Hannah asked. "Even if we don't start going in search of…" Hannah trailed off as she realized Petals was by them, but quickly recovered. "Of Charlie's first focus until next summer, we can at least look through at what the other worlds Petals' forest connect to."

"True," Tim said. "We can discuss it, but I think it would be best if we did it during a break from school That way we won't have to worry about getting back by a certain time and can take a little longer there, as well as being able to come up with an excuse for our parents more easily."

"So, fall break?" Amelia asked.

"Yeah, shouldn't be too far away," Ralph said. "November, right?"

"Maybe we should go sooner than that," Wes said. "I mean, winter break is only a month away from that."

"What about labor day weekend?" Hannah suggested.

"Not exactly a long period to work with, but it is more than just one night," Tim said. "Should be enough to take a look around and see if it might be a good world to start our search when we begin."

The conversation died down for a few minutes, before it started up on the topic of what classes everyone had. Charlie refrained from saying anything about her classes and was glad when she didn't get pulled into the conversation, not that she was able to make any headway on why she was being so weird through the day, especially when she was around Alex. It was almost like there was something she just couldn't see.

Eventually they made it to the center of the forest, where everyone found a seat near the cradle where the Heart of the Forest rested. Even though she really didn't understand why they needed to come here to discuss some of the topics they'd already talked about, she enjoyed the atmosphere of the forest, almost like she was at home here, so she didn't complain about being here.

"So, in regards to which world we look at next, which one should we go to?" Beth asked.

"Should we roll a dice or something to determine?" Wes asked.

"Come on, let's just go with the one to the left," Ralph said.

"Which one's to the left?" Hannah asked.

"Of course it's the one to the left!" Ralph replied, eliciting a groan from everyone except Ralph and Petals, who just appeared puzzled by their reaction.

"Why not the one between our world and Arachii's?" Amelia asked.

"Not a bad suggestion," Tim said.

"But that's to the right!" Ralph complained.

"Sorry, you had your chance and you didn't make yourself clear, so we had to go with another suggestion," Beth replied.

"So, what else is there to talk about?" Amelia asked.

Eventually they ran out of time and had to start heading back, so they left and shortly after everyone went quiet. Though, it took Charlie a minute before she realized it.

When she did, she noticed a buzzing sound that she couldn't place. She looked around and noticed her friends weren't talking, but were shifting their eyes and facial expressions as if they were.

Which made Charlie wonder if they were talking to each other with their magic. If that was true, she couldn't help but wonder what they might be talking about and why deliberately leave her out of it. After all, that was the only reason she could think of that they'd use their magic to talk to each other at this point and not Charlie herself.