Chapter 2

Miranda woke to the beeping of a pulse monitor. She found herself in a hospital bed, her best friend Normia had a chair pulled up beside her and was sitting cross-legged texting on her phone. "What happened?" Miranda asked lightly.

Normia looked up at her through opal green eyes and said, "Hey bitch."

Miranda rolled her eyes and flipped Normia off.

Normia put her phone down and pulled her long wavy black hair into a ponytail and tied it. "You fell or jumped or, something off the bridge into the river. Some kid pulled you out and called an ambulance, and now you must suffer through the horror of hospital food."

Miranda sat up in her bed, trying to recall what happened, but it was all blank. "Last thing I recalled was getting a strange text before school ended and then ditching the sixth period... Then I woke up here."

Normia turned her chair to face Miranda and said, "Creepy, you think it has anything to do with the Tomes?"

"I don't know, did they get that boy's name? The one who saved me I mean?"

"Nope, he ran off after they loaded you into the ambulance, least that’s what I heard from the nurse."

Miranda sighed and lay back down.

"Hey cheer up this gets you a school free pass that we can probably milk for a good week of no school or homework."

"School is the least of my problems right now… okay, it's slightly less of my problems. What I want to do is find the guy who saved me, he might know something about what happened to me on the bridge."

"Or we can take this as a sign that another mage is onto us and whoever they are they kicked your ass. Meaning you shouldn't run off alone when you get a mysterious text telling you to go somewhere secluded by yourself."

"Well, I wasn't aware any other mages out there were after me, or that there were many others."

"I've only met a few others back in New York, but I'm sure there're countless others." Normia grabbed Miranda's hand and asked, "You sure you don't want to make this injury count for just a few days of absence from school?"

Miranda smirked and said, "Okay maybe just a couple, it's Tuesday after all."

Miranda returned to school on Friday, as expected it was mundane, and there was good fortune that word of her accident hadn't leaked out to her peers; only rumors. After school, she met Normia in the parking lot, and they drove to her house to pick up a some stuff and drop off her bag and change out of her pink blouse and striped skirt into jeans and a t-shirt. Then they were on the road and heading out of the city for the weekend.

They went north to the town of Pine Ridge, feeling that after the incident on the bridge it would be best to take a break out of the city. Over the weekend, they went further north into the Dunwall Forest for a nature hike. They crossed over glistening streams and Normia climbed near the top of a spruce tree for a better look. She called down for Miranda to climb up there with her, but Miranda was against it.

"It's really amazing come on you'd love it." Normia shouted down from the trees.

"You know I'm sure I would but, I'm not the climbing type. And unlike you I can't teleport safely to the ground if I slip and fall." Miranda argued.

Moments later Normia had appeared in a wisp of thin grey light next to Miranda and said, "Fine let's continue our hike."

They kept ascending through the forest. The higher they went, the more the forest grove receded and the trees became thinner. Soon the soft grass was replaced by a rocky terrain and before long the trees were altogether gone. They found themselves at a peak extending from the Bartley Mountains into the forest.

Due East, a golden glimmer caught their eyes. They turned their heads to see far off in the distance something golden, shining like a star in the middle of the day. After an exchange of looks, Normia teleported them closer to the strange light phenomenon.

They found themselves in front of a cavern entrance an instant later: the golden glow dwelling deeper inside. Cautiously they walked into the cavern, after a few steps the slope descended much quicker. They continued ahead, though, their hearts pounding in their chests like a beat of drums.

The golden light seemed to recede further the deeper they got until it was altogether gone. A new light was replaced by it, though, a lilac hue emerging from thousands of tiny crystals that lined the cavern walls. They descended further until the slope stopped altogether and they were walking on a flat surface now.

They dared to go further into the darkness until a large pair of almond-shaped eyes, shimmering in vibrant orange, appeared from the darkness. The eyes seemed to lock onto both of them, and they felt the gaze pierce through them, examining their body and mind. Miranda couldn't stop quivering with fear as distant, lost whispers started echoing in her head.

Next thing she knew she was running along with Normia back up and out of the tunnel. Soon as they made it outside, where night had fallen, Normia teleported them back to their room at the inn.

"What the hell was that?" Miranda asked incredulously after gathering her thoughts.

Normia shook her head, "I don't know. My damn magic wasn't working in that cave either."

"You know, suddenly being back in Astermont doesn't seem so bad right now."

"You're right, let's check out of here and hit the road, the further we are from the mountains the happier I'll be."

Monday's school was a welcome respite for her given the events over the weekend. She wanted her partially abnormal life to go back to being only somewhat unusual, not full blown weird or spooky.

After school, she met Normia in the parking lot next to her 2004 lavender Pontiac. Her mother had gotten an amazing deal on it last summer and gave it to Normia though the title was still in her mother’s name. When Miranda approached, Normia looked up and asked, "Why can't I be a senior?"

Miranda countered with, "Why can't I be a junior?"

Normia was wearing black combat boots, dark fishnet stockings, with a dark grey skirt, and black buttoned shirt with four of the buttons opened to show her cleavage. "Did you even go to school today?"

"Most of it, I left after second lunch, so I only had a couple classes left."

"Why'd you do that, the day was almost over."

Normia shrugged, "I had a date, a college guy."

"Was he cute?"

"Yea he's pretty handsome, we went to the movies."

"Oh? I'm surprised you came to pick me up then instead of continuing your date."

Normia shrugged, "He got called into work, we'll see each other again Saturday."

"That's good, dinner?"

"Actually I'm just hoping we can just skip straight to the sex."

Miranda cast her eyes down and blushed. Unlike Normia she was still a virgin, in fact, she intended waiting until after high school to have sex. "You're kind of a slut, you know that?"

Normia scoffed and said, "Hey we all have our own ways of relieving stress, and after this weekend I could use this."

Miranda shook her head and put her bag in the back seat, "Don't remind me."

She closed the door, and a voice called out to her from behind, "Excuse me?"

Turning around, she saw a slender young man, probably a freshman, with wavy brown hair, and hazel eyes with dark bags under them. He seemed familiar to her, but she couldn't figure out why. "Yes?" She said with a light smile.

"Umm, hi I-I'm uhh I'm Thomas Mykell. I pulled you out of the river last week and called the ambulance."

Of course! That's why he was so familiar. "Yes now I remember you!" He blushed and looked down at his feet for a moment then back to her face.

"I'm sorry for uh bothering you. I just wanted to make sure you were alright." He paused a moment before going on. "Well um it seems your fine, so I'll just leave you alone now."

Miranda hesitated, so it was Normia who spoke up, "Hey wait up!" She called out to him.

Thomas turned back around nervously.

"Do you need a ride home?"

He looked back over to the buses for a moment then back to them and said, "I uh, sure I guess."

Normia got in the car, and Miranda went around to the other side to sit in the passenger seat. Thomas got in behind Normia and Miranda told him just to move her bag over.

When they got out to the road, Thomas said, "I live on the east end of the South Edge district, so you can just drop me off at any of the bridges or even by the bank if you want.

Normia scoffed and said, "I live in the south edge district too, the middle area with the crap suburbs."

All three of them were silent for a time after that until Normia said, "So Thomas, Miranda has a question she needs to ask you."

Miranda shot her a look, but Normia's eyes were dead set on the road, with her mouth turned up in a smirk. With little choice, Miranda turned to Thomas and said, "She's right I wanted to ask you about when you pulled me from the river."

"Oh?"

"Well after the accident I have no memory of what happened so I was hoping you could tell me."

Thomas hesitated, "I mean there's not much to tell really."

"Just tell me for you what had happened, what you might have seen, was there anyone else with me?"

"No, not that I could see. I was just walking home, and I heard this loud, bang sound coming from the bridge. Next thing I know I see you tumble over the safety rail and into the river. When you didn't surface, I dived in after you, pulled you up onto the bank and performed CPR. You woke up for a few seconds then blacked out again, so I called an ambulance.

"They wouldn't let me ride in the back or tell me if you'd be alright so after they left I went home. I was looking for you ever since because I was worried you..." he trailed off at the end.

They dropped him off at the south end of the Lannis Bridge as he requested then Normia turned the car around to drive Miranda home. "Well looks like we're back to square one and won't know who attacked you until you get your memories back."

Miranda sighed with exhaustion, "Don't go further down the rabbit hole Alice."