Spellbinder Notes (Day 3)

Species (according to Ursa):

3) The Winds:

- The winds are the creatures who create the winds around the world and in the universe

- The winds in the natural appearance are massive wolves with wings, but they can change into any shape they desire (imagine riding a flying wolf. How cool would that be?)

- Ventus Cordis (Cor) is the heart of the winds. This means he is their leader

- The winds are nomads by nature and don't like staying put for very long

- There eleven winds (wow, there are so many!)

1) The Moon Wind

2) The Death Wind (Ursa says this is why people should leave windows open at funerals so the Death wind can escort the soul)

3) The Storm Wind

4) The Aurora Borealis Wind

5) The Aurora Australis Wind

6) The Celestial Wind

7) The Heart of the Winds (Yeah, Cor!)

8) The Southern Wind

9) The East Wind

10) The West Wind

11) The North Wind

- The winds serve Luoja in place of the gods at the moment, but they prefer not to involve themselves in many people's lives

? – if the winds don't like to involve themselves very often in people's lives why is Cor helping me?

The day passed with little interruption. Chris appeared in their shared third period class with a fat lip and chipped tooth. Since he was in pain and, therefore, not smiling, it was too hard for Chenoa to tell if his smile had been ruined or not. From what she could see when he talked, the chipped tooth didn't look too bad. It was only a small chip. Seeing it made Chenoa feel guilty for her moment of pleasure at his pain. A chipped tooth could really be painful. She had never been one to truly wish pain on others. Of course, Chenoa did not object to Chris's subdued nature in class that day.

Third and fourth period went by slowly but soon Chenoa was able to escape to lunch and find Gabby. This year, to the girls' dismay, they only shared afternoon classes, since Gabby didn't have to take a foreign language like Chenoa did in the morning. Separated all morning, they used lunch to catch up on what had happened in the first half of their days. That day, they giggled horribly about Chris, who was in Gabby's fourth period class.

"I can't believe his perfect smile is now chipped," Gabby giggled, covering her mouth. "I know it's horrible and I do feel bad, but he uses it to get out of everything."

"I know. Last week he forgot his midterm essay and Ms. Poggit just gave him another week. It was totally unfair," Chenoa chimed in. "If we tried that we'd get an F faster than he can smile."

"I know!"

"All well. Even though he kinda deserved it, I do feel bad that he is in pain."

"Yeah, I agree. But a little pain isn't bad."

The girls giggled again as they ate their hot lunches. Chenoa normally packed a lunch, yet, since she had overslept, it was a hot lunch day. Picking at her food and wishing she had not overslept, Chenoa recalled the perfect man from her dream. Pausing, Chenoa chewed on her lip.

"I know you hate the hot lunches here," Gabby said, reading her friend's mind. "Why didn't you pack a lunch?"

"I was up late writing that paper for Ms. Poggit and then I overslept. I had couple strange dreams. I don't remember most of them but in the one I had right before I woke up there was this guy. He was so perfect it hurt to look at him."

Chenoa described the man of her dreams in great detail as Gabby listened. Even Gabby blushed at the idea of the man and she smiled dreamily when Chenoa was finished.

"Maybe he is your soul mate or the guy you are supposed to end up with," Gabby smiled.

"How can that be? I've never met him. He probably doesn't even exist. He was too perfect, Gabby."

"My mom says that sometimes we see our soul mate in our sleep because our souls are calling out to each other."

"Says the woman who married a gay man."

"They are soul mates, just not sexual mates."

Gabby laughed loudly. She had long ago accepted her parents' divorce and her father's homosexuality. They often joked about it.

"Maybe, but I doubt it. I don't put much store in dreams being predictions of the future. My dad does sometimes, but there are far too many possible futures to know for sure," Chenoa shook her head.

"Well, if we do meet him, I'll take him, if you don't want him. He sounds majorly sexy," Gabby teased.

It was Chenoa's turn to laugh.

"Sure, Gabby, if we ever meet Mr. Perfect, you can have him."

Smiling, they both finished eating then stood to throw their trash away. As they started to leave the cafeteria, there was a loud creaking noise. Curious, Chenoa and Gabby turned around and gasped as the water fountain next to the popular kids' table snapped off the wall. There was an explosion of water as the water fountain was flung to the side. Screaming tore through the air as the popular table was blasted with high pressure water for about two minutes before it died down and stopped. Stunned, Chenoa and Gabby watched as the poor popular kids cried and shook themselves off. Teachers came running to make sure everyone was safe.

"Oh my god," Gabby whispered.

The girls watched as teachers and students slipped and slid, soaking wet.

"I can't believe that just happened!" Chenoa gasped. "I hope they are okay!"

Gabby nodded vigorously. More teachers flooded into the cafeteria and started shunting students not involved in the incident out of the cafeteria. Still in awe, Gabby and Chenoa made their way out of the cafeteria and down the hall. Everyone was buzzing about what happened, but Chenoa was too shocked to speak.

As the crowd bustled around them, Chenoa and Gabby went by a large window. Looking out of it for a momentary rescue from the confusion, Chenoa saw the electric blue man again. He stood on the ground, under one of the decorative trees. His gaze focused on Chenoa as if he were waiting for her to appear. She almost tripped over herself, gazing down at the man. The wind blew gently around him, rustling the trees. However, the wind never seemed to touch or disturb him.

"Chenoa?" Gabby called.

Chenoa had stopped walking and Gabby turned to see her friend missing from her side. Quickly, Gabby back tracked to her friend.

"Huh?" Chenoa looked up and realized that she had lost track of herself. "Sorry. Let's go."

Chenoa didn't need to look back to know the man was gone. She had to be having a waking dream or something. There was no way he had really been there. Gabby looked at Chenoa with concern but kept her thoughts to herself. Since Chenoa had turned fifteen a few months ago, she had been acting so strangely, oversleeping, staring off into space, and having unusual dreams. Gabby worried about her. She just wasn't sure how to tell Chenoa without upsetting her. Chenoa was always so independent and introverted about her problems.

Rejoining the crowd, the two girls made their way to the next class. There was no point in hanging out in the hallways. The bell wouldn't ring for another fifteen or so minutes, yet the hallways were too crowded from the cafeteria incident. Sitting down in class, Gabby started to doodle on her notebook. Chenoa lost herself in thought. Maybe she was losing her mind seeing the tattooed man where there was no one and the ghost dog as well. She had decided the dog had to have been a ghost because what else could be gray and appear-disappear in an instance. And what else would make sound in her bones rather than her ears. Papa Bear and his father used to tell Chenoa stories about how ghost communicated to your soul not your ears, since they no longer had real voices.

Just as Chenoa recalled her father's tales of ghosts, soft sounds reverberated in her bones. Whimpers and purrs. Squeaks and squawks. Stiffening, Chenoa could feel the sounds rather than hear them. More ghosts? She wondered fearfully. Licking her lips, she blinked as slowly faint images appeared around Chenoa. At first the images flickered like fresh smoke from a clean, dry fire, but, as they drew closer, their forms condensed until they were the same smoky gray as the dog from the bus stop.

Birds of varying sizes, frogs, snakes, small animals like bunnies and cats surrounded Chenoa. Her heart stopped then sped up to twice its normal rate. Her body was panicking, unable to understand what she was seeing. Ghosts couldn't be real, especially not animal ghosts. And yet the animals all stared at her with pleading eyes as if she was supposed to help them in some way. Their voices cried in her bones, making her eyes well up with tears. With every heartbeat, they drew closer and closer, begging her in words she could not understand. Chenoa could not believe they were there. She had to be losing her mind. Covering her face with her heads, she screamed in mind for it to stop, for it just all go away!

Silence…lonely, empty silence that filled her every being. Shakily, she looked up as the class bell rang. She was in her classroom with her peers and nothing else. The animals had disappeared. Gabby placed the back of her hand against Chenoa's forehead. Worry and alarm creased her face.

"Chenoa? Are you okay? Your face is really pale, and you feel hot," Gabby inquired.

Gabby chose not to mention what appeared to have been a momentary freak out.

"I…I…I don't know," Chenoa whispered.

She searched the classroom for the ghost animals.

"Are you sick?"

"I don't know…"

Maybe she was developing schizophrenia, seeing things that weren't there. It usually developed during teenage years. The idea terrified her.

"Gabby, I think something is wrong with me," Chenoa finally said.

Chenoa looked at her friend with fear in her eyes. Standing briskly, Gabby took Chenoa's arm and led her out of the class, providing a quick explanation to their teacher. Escorting Chenoa down to the nurse's office, Gabby studied her. For some reason, Chenoa seemed scared; however, Gabby couldn't imagine what scared her. Yet Chenoa's hands shook, and she kept looking around as if she expected to see something terrifying.

At the nurse's office, the nurse took Chenoa's temperature, which was slightly elevated and told her to lie down. Some rest would do her good since Chenoa said she hadn't slept well the night before.

"You are probably suffering from a lack of sleep and stress," the nurse smiled. "Nothing to worry about."

Lying down, Chenoa smiled at Gabby and told her she would be fine. Gabby nodded in a worried fashion but left her friend to rest. Chenoa closed her eyes as the nurse hummed to herself. Sleep came quickly. The nurse hummed as she worked, her back to Chenoa.

As the girl slept, the smoke animals reappeared. They surrounded Chenoa and murmured among themselves. They wanted to call to her, but she slept, and they dared not disturb her. How they longed for her to see them and remember. How they longed for her to awaken.

Fanning herself, the nurse sighed and looked at the window near her. It was too hot in the school today for her. Standing, she opened the window enough to let a cool breeze in. The tattooed man suddenly appeared as silently as the wind. He smiled at the nurse who had not noticed him as she returned to her work. Walking to Chenoa, the man looked down at her with compassion. Poor little thing, he thought as he gazed at her. Placing a gentle hand against her cheek, the man's smile turned sad. Her body was burning up to his touch. As the man touched her, Chenoa sighed. She felt as if a cool summer breeze was brushing against her. She smelled all the seasons wrapped together.

"This body cannot handle the memories," he sighed with pity. "I shall hold them for now. Let the breeze carry them away like the spring wind carries away the winter's hold."

A soft wind blew across her face and the sweat that prickled her forehead dried. The animals that surrounded her whined in protest. Snarling like wolf, the man turned around to look at them all and they quailed.

"Selfish Spirits," he hissed, "your own desires blind you to your infinite wisdom."

Running a long index finger along one of his glowing marks, the man half smiled and half grimaced as his fingertip began to glow the same electric blue. Tenderly he drew a small box on her left eye with a spiral inside of it. He repeated the same process on her right eye. The marks glowed brightly.

"Lose your sight for these troublesome Spirits. Let them be but mere shadows in your mind. See only what the blessed can see, free from true insight and knowledge. Let the four winds blind your sight and free your mind of worry."

Pulsing, the marks on Chenoa's eyes seemed to whisper like the wind in the trees. Then they sunk into her skin and disappeared. With yips and howls, the animals faded from the room, now invisible to all. The man smiled at his work and watched her sleep finally in peace. He watched her kindly until the nurse stood and closed the open window. Then he disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared.

When Chenoa awoke a period later, her fever was gone, and her mind had cleared. Standing, she thanked the nurse and could not remember why she had felt so ill. Maybe she had been up too late working. Sometimes when she didn't sleep enough, Chenoa got sick from fatigue. That must have been it.

Heading to her final class, Chenoa grinned at Gabby. Her friend studied her with concern; however, Gabby saw that color had returned to Chenoa's cheeks and her face was calm.

"You feeling better?" Gabby asked.

"A lot. I must have just needed sleep. You know how I can get sick when I don't sleep enough," Chenoa waved away the question.

"That is true. You had me worried. Maybe you should take one of those ibuprofen PMs tonight so you can sleep early."

"That's a good idea. I got my papers all finished so there's no homework tonight."

"Good."

Laughing, they sat down at their desks and prepared for taking notes. Chris Downy appeared in dry gym clothes, though looking as if he was in a bad mood. His backpack was nowhere to be seen. People were asking him what had happened and how he was. He told them grumpily that he was fine. That they didn't know what happened. His stuff had all been destroyed. Anything that was in his backpack was gone, including his reports and phone. The teachers all understood, of course, given the circumstance, and he was going to be able to reprint them that night and hand them in tomorrow.

"You have had the worse luck today," a guy named Joni Thompson shrugged. "You must have done something really bad to build up this karmic punishment."

Chris frowned at Joni then glanced at Chenoa, who had been listening along with Gabby. Chris's frown softened when he saw that she did not look smug or anything, but rather relieved and worried.

"I am glad you are alright," she said kindly to him. "You all could have gotten seriously hurt by that water pressure or the water fountain if it had hit any of you."

"Yeah, everyone was safe. Just wet. Thanks, Chenoa…you're being so nice about it."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Blushing, Chris looked at his hands.

"Well, 'cause you may think I have this coming."

"You do, but that doesn't mean I want you to get hurt while you get your comeuppance."

Laughing mockingly, Chris sneered and turned back to face the board as the teacher began speaking. Chenoa sat diagonally behind Chris, but he could still see her out of the corner of his eye. Her head was bent, writing down her usual detailed notes. The tumbles of red, curly hair she had thrown up into her usual messy bun were slipping out and around her face. Her top teeth bit her bottom lip in thought as she worked out the example problem on the board before the teacher even explained it. Chris couldn't explain his attraction to Chenoa. She was very pretty, but so were many girls in school. There was just something more there and it drove him crazy that he couldn't put his finger on what it was. As she closed her eyes in concentration, electric blue designs flashed on her eyelids, causing Chris to jump and fall loudly out of his chair. The whole class broke into fits of laughter as he turned crimson and stood up, brushing himself off.

Returning to his seat, Chris thought that it really wasn't his day. Not in the least. Yet he could have sworn he had seen something on Chenoa's eyelids. However, when he looked back as Chenoa blinked her large eyes, Chris saw there was nothing there, not even makeup.

The rest of the period and day went by without incident. Chenoa was grateful for the end of the day and to go home. She was exhausted for some reason. Chris felt the same way after his day of bad luck. However, his day seemed a little brighter as Chris exited the bus and Chenoa smiled and waved, wishing him a better day tomorrow. Chenoa got off the bus a short time later and trudged home. As she walked away from the bus, Gabby watched her friend. Just as Gabby was about to turn away from the window, something caught her eye. Blinking, Gabriella was unsure if she saw what she thought she was seeing; the shadows on the ground seemed to be following Chenoa. They flocked after her as if they were trying to keep up.

"You see it too, huh?" a voice said next to Gabby.

Turning her head, Gabby saw Nick Lasso watching Chenoa walk away. Gabby had not even heard him sit next to her.

"See what?" Gabby asked.

"The way the shadows follow her," Nick said seriously.

His eyes stuck on Chenoa as she disappeared.

"You see it too?"

"Yeah. I noticed it a couple months ago, but I was never sure if it was just my imagination. But now that I saw your face, I know you see it too."

"It's not possible. Shadows don't follow people."

"They aren't supposed to, but they seem to follow her."

"Maybe we are seeing things."

"Both of us? Doesn't seem likely."

"And shadows following Chenoa is?"

"I don't know, but it's nice to know I'm not the only one who has seen it."