The Hopper Chronicles Book 1: Recruitment

Chapter 16

It had been a week since my first Primal Magic session with Snicket. I had mainly been practising with elemental spells. There are four. Fiyera for fire, Flusion for water, Plentious for earth and nature, and Winus for air. I had also gotten pretty good at casting Flutterus, but hadn't started practising flying yet. Snicket and I had decided not to tell the others for a bit for the same reasons he didn't want to teach me at first, with the added reason of Picquery's fury if she found out before I'd shown it off.

For now, I was hanging out with Alex downtown and walking along. "It's been way too long since we've done this", they chuckled. I felt really guilty about neglecting them. They didn't deserve that. "Ya, it has. Listen, I'm sorry if I've been distant recently. I've been really busy". There face fell. "I did want to talk about that, actually. Why have you been so distant? I mean, we used to see each other every single day but now, whenever I call, you're too tired or you've had a long day, but we just got back from school where you were fine".

Looks like time freezing isn't all perks. "I know. Look, I got a job and it's surprisingly important. It keeps me really busy, even at home, and it's quite tiring". Alex was confused. "Why didn't you say so earlier?". I went blank at that. They were right, I could've mentioned having a job. "Not important. What is important is that I'm going to try harder. I promise". Alex elbowed me and said "You better. We have way too much to catch up...".

They froze. Actually, everyone froze. I turned around and there was Jiminy, his rings in his hands and a portal behind him. "Jiminy, come on, I'm fixing my regular relationships here!". Then I noticed his face. He was scared, and if he was scared, it was bad. "What happened?".

*

I jumped out of the portal, staff in hand, and what I saw wasn't pretty. The entire main area was filled with agents taking on different troll-like creatures. In the middle of it all was The Hooded Man, watching the chaos unfold. "Jiminy, where's our team?" Although he still doesn't think it, I noticed him wiping a tear before he responded. "Josh and Henry are down in the battle, while Picquery is raiding Snicket's library for a solution".

I noticed he excluded someone. "Where's Snicket?". He started tearing up. "He hasn't been seen since this all started. We don't know for sure, but Henry scanned the whole building and... we couldn't find him. We think he's dead. I'm so sorry Marcus".

I went white. I couldn't properly process the information, but I did know one thing; this would be the last fight The Hooded Man took part in. I put my hand on my back and whispered "Flutterus". Two white wings grew from just under my shoulder. I turned to speak to him but Jiminy, for good reason, was just staring at the wings.

"I'll explain later. If the battle ends and I'm not back.... Look out for my family. OK?" Jiminy shook his head, saying "No, you'll be back because I'm coming with you." I looked at him, dead in the eyes and said "I just lost Snicket. I'm not losing you as well". I put out my hand and said "WInus", knocking Jiminy back a little harder than intended. OK, I still didn't have complete control of my Primal Magic, but it still got me a head start. I went to the edge of the almost destroyed balcony and decided that, if I was going out, I'm doing it protecting people. I put out my wings, got ready and jumped......