Crossroads-Book 1

•Chapter 21•

§Tanya§

Trevor looked petrified.
His flaming hand was hung in front of him, steady.

He kept his hand so still like it would burn the whole house down if he moved it an inch.

"Woah," he agreed, nevertheless.
We heard footsteps and Trevor panicked.

His hand was still on fire.
Whoever was coming couldn't see that.

Beside Trevor was a fish bowl.
He immediately dunked his hand into the bowl.

...good news, the flame went out.
Bad news, the innocent little fish in the bowl died.

Tom and Michelle entered the room at that moment with the chess set.
Trevor yanked this hand out of the bowl, spraying water on the ground.

Michelle rushed to the fish bowl.
"What happened to Steve?" she bellowed.

My first thought was ,"Your dad and your pet fish are namesakes?"

But the moment was serious.
Trevor looked back and forth between them, anticipating his next movement.

Mom was our life saver.
She yelled for us to come downstairs so we could leave.

"Uh...bye!" Trevor said, practically running out of the room.

I giggled and followed behind, taking a mental picture of the two siblings' perplexed faces.

"Bye!" we yelled to their parents before exiting.

**********

We were on the road.
I sat at the back on the left side.
Trevor stayed at the right, gazing out of the window wistfully.

I felt bad for him, somehow.
He was a big softie.
He really didn't want to start living like this, worrying about magic powers and dead goldfish.

I knew he loved basketball and that was what he wanted to do.

I guess he wasn't ecstatic about the news of inhabiting a magic spirit crashing down into his normal, mundane life.

My parents sat silently at the front.

They were a happy couple. Although, they were never too close or too distant.
I liked their relationship.

My dad was average heighted.
He had skin the colour of burnt clay. He was muscular and sturdy and his hair was a thin layer of curls.
He had brown eyes.

My mum, unlike all of us, was light skinned.
Her hair was permed and long. She usually had it in a bun at the back of her head, like she did today.

She was willowy and had a kind face but whenever she got mad, her irises dilated so much that she looked so terrifying.

She tried to start a conversation.
It didn't work.
My dad's attention was lost on the road and we were all in a sour mood.

I almost even brought out my phone, contemplating on playing Olivia Rodrigo's sour album.

I looked over at Trevor and tapped his arm.

He flinched and turned to me in surprise.
"Did the gold fish actually die?" I whispered.

Unfortunately, my mum heard me.
"What gold fish? You killed their gold fish?" She whipped around.

I clenched my teeth and looked at Trevor.
He glared back at me.
I saw red sparks in his eyes.

That thing was starting to scare me.

"Um..." He fished his phone out of his jacket pocket and put it to his ears.

"Hello?... Alexis."

Smooth, Trevor.
"He's on a phone call." I said to mum, helping him out.

She turned back around and kept silent for the rest of the car ride.

The fact that Trevor was a clown was so conspicuous that even He tried to hide it sometimes.

Trevor muttered a few incoherent words and dropped his phone on the car seat.
Then he gave me a cold glance and looked back out the window.

I think I was getting on his nerves these days.

I looked out the window, fixing my gaze on the empty, purplish sky.

The thought of being a superhero was thrilling.
It was crazy but I was excited.

I knew it wasn't a joke but... joking is kind of in my blood.

In the past few years of my life, a lot has changed.

So far this has been the biggest.
I was still trying to register it in my mind.
Just like Alexis in the training room, my perspective on life had shifted.

I had to talk to my brain and tell it that all it had believed since it was created wasn't all correct.

"Magic is real. God didn't make the world. There are four kingdoms in the world." I said to it incessantly.

It's been like a week since I discovered my powers.

I've been able to produce a beam of white light through my palm and every time it happened, I felt a surge of electricity course through my veins and finally flow outward through my hand.

My heart always raced every time I did it because it was scary. But it was cool.
I had a magic ability!

It wasn't the coolest but it was something.
I wondered what I could do with it.

What amazing things could you do with light, besides enabling you to see or search for something?

I'd ask Chang and I'll practice more.
I had to get better at it.

Even if the others were so laid back and lax with it, I was going to be serious and really determined.

I wondered why the spirit of light chose me.
What was so special about me that out of the millions of people in the world, that is, all the four kingdoms included, I was the one who was chosen to inhabit the spirit?
Was I somehow connected to light?

I was as interested in it as the next girl.
Maybe I was connected to it somehow and I didn't know.

I felt flattered that a sacred spirit would choose me, anyway.
It even made me want to do this more.

If I accepted this role, my life would be more of a risk than it had ever been.

I could do amazing things but I could also endanger myself and everything around me, including my family, friends, country...what am I even saying, the whole world!

The main question was, could I run away from it?
Like, I'm here contemplating on accepting the role and the spirit.
What If I didn't have a choice?

What if I'd be dragged into whatever craziness that is associated with the kingdoms and Reina without my consent just because I was inhabiting a spirit I never even knew existed or could even exist?

As young as I was, my life was going to be even more precarious than my parents'.

After thinking about it for a while, I made a decision.

The car jerked to a stop.
We were finally home.

I got out of the car and walked to my room, slumping on the bed as soon I got to it.

I let out a enormous sigh and stared up at the roof.

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Ppl ask me, should Tanya be thinking this?

Hahaha idk.
I guess it's necessary since it's a serious matter

Anyway, have a nice day!