The second classes ended the next day, Calli, Harlow, Naomi, and I dropped off our school supplies in our dorms and raced down towards Chaiyn’s area of the woods. Even though we knew he wasn’t dead, I was still worried. Maybe he’d died while we were waiting? Or maybe he was stuck? The fantasies I had concocted in my head had no bounds. I recalled the day before, after Chaiyn had flickered out. Elena had broken down into tears, and Naomi had comforted her by saying /Don’t worry. He’s alive. He’s out there somewhere. I can sense his consciousness./ I stole a glance at Naomi. She didn’t look particularly nervous, unlike Calli, or Harlow, or me, for that matter. I wondered how she always managed to look so calm. Harlow broke the tense silence. “Did either of you see movement yesterday?” I’d forgotten about that. I nodded. Naomi did as well. “Who - or what - do you think it was?” Harlow asked. Naomi shrugged. “Maybe Jessica. She did seem like she wanted revenge for something when we first encountered her. More than just showing up to stop us from stopping the monsters.” I nodded. “That makes sense. But what would she want revenge for?” “You said that her father was Cozbi, right? What if she wants revenge on us for killing her father?” Calli asked quietly. None of us wanted to think of that any further. Luckily, we didn’t have to. By then, we’d arrived at Chaiyn’s clearing. I hesitated, but pulled aside the curtain of vines. The four of us stepped inside. Chaiyn was there, as well as his sister. He was writing in a notebook while talking to Elena. I’d never seen him in such a good mood before. Elena noticed us first. “Hi, guys.” I nodded, smiling. “Hey.” Chaiyn looked up. His blue eyes startled me for a second. He smiled lightly, but didn’t say anything. He looked back down at his notebook, scrawling something down. The notebook had a turquoise cover, one I hadn’t seen on any other books of his. “What are you writing?” Naomi asked. “Observations,” Chaiyn replied. Harlow laughed. “Back to vagueness, are we?” Chaiyn looked up again, but there was no ice in his gaze. “I can have my secrets when I want them.” “What happened?” I asked. “When you returned to your home world, how’d you get the ring off?” Chaiyn’s expression darkened. “I made my father take it off.” Elena looked at him expectantly. I got the feeling he hadn’t shared what he’d done, even with his sister. “Did anyone else notice someone or something in the trees yesterday?” Chaiyn asked instead of offering an explanation. Elena rolled her eyes and sighed, used to her brother’s vagueness but still annoyed. I nodded. “We saw,” Naomi said. Chaiyn nodded. “Any theories?” Calli raised her hand, which surprised most of us, since even around her friends she was still shy and quiet. “A few. We think it might have been Jessica, and that she didn’t actually want revenge on the monsters. Cozbi was her father, right? So maybe…” she trailed off as she noticed Chaiyn looking at her funny. “What?” She asked cautiously. The Sight-seer looked confused, but he blinked and shook his head slightly. “It’s nothing. You were saying?” “We, um, we thought that Jessica would want revenge on us for killing her father. But why were you looking at me like that?” Calli asked. “What powers do you have?” he asked. “Uh, I’m a Healer. Why?” “Are you sure you’re just a Healer?” “What do you mean?” “What aura did you see, Chaiyn?” Elena asked from on top of the black-covered bookshelf of notebooks. He bit his lip. “Ever heard of a Vitania?” Calli shook her head slowly, but Naomi’s eyes lit up. “I have!” I stifled a laugh. Of course she had. I knew the teachers always claimed that I was the smartest person in my year, but in truth, that honor belonged to Naomi. She’d read every book in the library, I’m sure of it. “A Vitania is someone who can both heal /and/ harm with a touch,” Naomi said, a little less excited now that that power applied to Calli. Calli looked extremely confused. “But-but I thought I was a Healer,” she stuttered. “Vitanias are… complicated,” Chaiyn started. “Sometimes, they only manifest as one of the two halves of the power domain, healing or harming - life or death. Generally, they never realize what they actually are, just refer to themselves as a ‘Healer’ or a ‘Necronia.’ “Most of the time, though, once they’ve mastered the one aspect of their power, the other side comes into play. Vitanias are weirdly intertwined with Fate and that sort of thing, so usually the other side - either life or death, depending on whichever manifested first - comes into play at a very specific time.” He shrugged. “So either it’s a grand coincidence, or you’re going to need that Necromatic power soon, Calli.” Calli nodded slowly. “Okay. Cool. But when we first met, you told me I had a strong healer’s aura. Wouldn’t a Vitania’s aura be different from a Healer’s or a Necronia’s?” (cont.)
(story cont.) “Sometimes the Sight-Seer power tells me what the aura is, sometimes it doesn’t. Your aura is close enough to a Healer’s that I just assumed that’s what it was.” Calli nodded again. She looked like she didn’t have a clue as to what to do with this information, and to be fair, I didn’t blame her. Just as the span of silence was about to get awkward, the dinner bell rang. The four of us left the Seer’s lair, somehow more on edge than when we’d walked in. Notes/Credits: If you're reading this, you probably know I wrote The Wolf Boy. Well, here's the sequel: The Monster's Curse. This is Chapter 29. Previous Chapter(s): Chapter 1: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/652476202/ Chapter 2: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/652950608/ Chapter 3: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/655177024/ Chapter 4: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/655177565/ Chapter 5: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/655621072/ Chapter 6: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/656955201/ Chapter 7: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/657580423/ Chapter 8: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/657583863/ Chapter 9: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/657586191/ Chapter 10: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/657668860/ Chapter 11: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/658404211/ Chapter 12: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/659115920/ Chapter 13: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/659116659/ Chapter 14: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/659117186/ Chapter 15: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/659420154/ Chapter 16: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/661425573/ Chapter 17: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/661428771/ Chapter 18: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/661974554/ Chapter 19: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/662108449/ Chpt 20 Pt 1: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/663144219/ Chpt 20 Pt 2: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/663156194/ Chapter 21: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/663760516/ Chpt 22 Pt 1: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/674644356/ Chpt 22 Pt 2: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/674648505/ Chpt 22 Pt 3: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/674658226/ Chpt 23 Pt 1: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/683757147/ Chpt 23 Pt 2: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/683765009/ Chpt 24 Pt 1: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/685766546/ Chpt 24 Pt 2: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/686198230/ Chapter 25: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/700792854/ Chpt 26 Pt 1: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/700796432/ Chpt 26 Pt 2: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/700878172/ Chapter 27: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/708908365/ Chapter 28: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/708908899/ Chapter 28.5: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/708910102 Credits: Me, for being the author Shannon Messenger, JK Rowling, Eoin Colfer, and many other authors for inspo @aqua_di_angelo, @AL600AWESOME, @Lanze_cupcake_face11, and @Yayabinks for inspo and supporting the story! QOTC: Do you think there's a reason that Calli manifested as a Vitania now?
