Chapter 4: Consequential Surprises

I quietly got out of bed, Tip toeing to my not-mom's room. I silently walked up to the door, and put my ear up to it. I listened in. I could only hear the strange language that she was incanting in, so I quickly laid down, and looked through the small gap at the bottom of the door, and looked in. I saw a vibrantly glowing blue magic circle, not made of mana, but instead made of blue Phament flowers. I looked closer, and saw that there were some words inscribed on the floor, but they were unrecognizable. I tried to look around, and I saw that the lockbox was open. Inside, there were bottles of Phament flower powders, and many bottles of different strange liquids. All of a sudden, my not-mom looked in my direction, and I quickly rolled away. I tiptoed back to my room and pretended to be asleep. A few seconds later, my not-mom looked into my room, and I pretended to be still. I closed my eyes and hoped that she wouldn't find me. I heard the door close, but I waited a few minutes, just to be safe. I turned around, my eyes still closed, so that if she was still there, she would think it was just sleep turning. I just barely opened my eyes, not wide enough to be noticeable, but just large enough to see. No one was there. I opened my eyes, and sighed in relief. I got out of bed, and looked under the door just to make sure that no one was out there. I opened the door and headed outside. "What are you doing young man?" I jumped in surprise. My not-mom was standing to the right of me. "Just getting water." I replied. "Okay.." my not-mom said. Whew, I was so glad I hadn't been caught. I headed outside with the bucket, and pumped myself some water. I headed back in and scooped out a glass of water. I drank until the glass was empty, then I put it on the drying rack, for dishes that needed to be dried when my sister wasn't there. I headed back upstairs, and decided that I would just sleep now. I was already pretty tired. I eventually fell asleep after hearing my not-mom incanting for a while. I woke up, after a ray of sunlight shone into my room. I woke up with a jolt. I ran downstairs and grabbed the trays quickly, because the sun was just barely above the horizon. I ran to the market with a few pence, and went to the market, and was just barely able to get the last stall, and set it up. I remembered the sign, and I quickly paid a guy to watch my stand, as I ran towards the house. I quickly grabbed the sign and rushed back. I quickly put up the sign, just as shoppers started coming in. "Buy your light orbs! Buy your light orbs!" And you know the rest. Everything was going just well, until I saw the duke's son, Johnathon heading towards my stand. He saw me, but just ignored me. When he came to my stand he stole a yellow light orb, blew a raspberry at me, and walked away tossing it in the air, and rubbing it in my face. As the day went on I managed to sell half of my stock, and I decided to end the day early, since Jonathon stole two more of my yellow light orbs, I wrapped up for the day, and headed home. I started placing the trays back in their positions, and grabbed two pence. I headed towards Ms. Roxanne's, magic teaching place. As I entered the room, I placed the coins in the coin collection bowl. "Hello? Ms. Roxanne?" I said. I headed towards the room, and Ms. Roxanne walked out. "Why hello there! Please, come in." I went into the room with Ms. Roxanne, and she went and set up the burning bowl. "Please, Light?" She asked. I lit the wood shaving on fire and we sat down. "May you lift up the fire please?" I started to lift, and I was able to move it more than last time, however not more than three inches. "Very impressive, considering most people take one day, to move it half an inch." She told me. "How about we try making fire?" I was confused. "How are you supposed to make fire?" "Fire, is made from heat, and with enough friction, from sparks, you can get fires. And once you have fires, you can control them so they last." She replied. So I tried, and I tried, and she gave me some tips, and she gave me more tips, and this continued for quite a few hours, until the sun, set. I could maybe control a spark or two, but not very much. "Well, I have to go now, and I will keep on practicing. Thank you so very much for the cheap lessons." I told her. "No problem. Remember, practice makes perfect." She replied. I really never believed that was true, but I nodded and left. I headed out the front, and enjoyed the air for a solid five or so minutes, and then I started walking home. Everyone was packing up for the day in the market, so there were not a lot of people there. I started to walk home, and practiced along the way. Before I got home, I was able to control three sparks. All of a sudden, Johnathan, and his two friends, who I have absolutely no idea what their names are, stopped me. "Did you have fun selling your light orbs? I'm surprised anybody bought them from you, they were so pitiful." His two goons started laughing hysterically at that 'joke' I noticed he was wearing his emblem, so If I managed to damage that, his dad would get very mad. "What, too scared after last time?" He taunted. I created the sparks in my hand, and started to heat them up. There were three main parts of an emblem. The family crest, which was the symbol representing the family, a signature border, which surrounded the crest, and the material which it was made of, described what rank their family was, within their title. The most important part was the crest, which marked the family. I knew all this, because my sister had taught me all of these things when I was younger. I heated up the sparks more and more, and I didn't have to get close, because he was coming towards me. "Well well well, the little boy is speechless, is that so suprisi-" I launched the sparks towards him and damaged his family's crest. "What was that supposed to do? Iron three miniature spots?" The laughing grew even more hysterical. Luckily, he hadn't noticed me damaging his pin. "Hey! Don't mess with my brother!" All of a sudden, my sister was there, defending me. "What can you do, you can't even stand up to me in class!" all of a sudden, he was launched, high up in the sky, light tendrils holding onto him swinging him everywhere. All of a sudden, Duke Patton, his father appeared in the square and my sister set him down. "Dad! She pick-" He tried to act so innocent. "I saw everything that happened. You are grounded, and my escorts will lead you to and from school, to make sure you have no contact with your friends. "What? Bu-" His father cut him off. "No ifs, no buts, no whats." He told him. They swiftly teleported away, and I hoped I wouldn't be seeing Johnathan for a while. I hugged my sister and we went inside. It was dinnertime, and my not-mom was waiting inside for us, and we all sat down at the table. My sister poured us some water, and after such a long day, I was so tired, and thirsty, I drank the whole glass in one gulp. We ate our dinner, which today, was much better. Rice with sardines. I ate up, and it tasted so delicious, after having spam for so long. I sat on the chair and just then my stomach rumbled loudly. "Do you want a second serving? With how much money you've been earning us lately, we are now able to have more food!" My sister exclaimed. "Yes please!" I held out my bowl, and I got a second serving of rice and sardines. I happily ate my food, glad to finally have a full meal for once. "May I have a second serving too?" My not-mother asked. "Sure!" My sister replied. She scooped a few spoons into the bowl, and my not-mother happily munched on it. All of a sudden, I remembered that a long time ago, my real mom told us, that If we ever asked a stranger for the password that our mom gave us, and they said there was no password, and especially if they said Peach mango sundaes, that meant they were lying. If they said Blueberry strawberry shake with mango pieces on top, that meant they were really there to pick us up. "Hey, mom?" I asked, but I had to act normal, and not say not-mom. "Yes?" My not-mom replied. "What's the password?" Peach mango sundaes, why?"

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