Location-Earth

Manx awoke from yet another nightmare, only to see that the sun was already rising on this strange foreign world, meaning that she only had a few hours or less before Vaskin and Khashmyr woke up. She sat up in the darkness, straightened out the covers, and then decided it would not be worth it to go back to sleep like she had planned. She climbed out of the bed, planting her feet on the floor, and looked around the mostly empty room. She didn't bother turning on a light, because after all, she didn't need it. She could easily see in the darkness, giving her an extreme night time advantage over any adversary. She decided to get dressed and ready for the day in the quiet darkness, choosing to wear a dark grey sweater and a black skirt that came down to her knees. She then searched the closet for shoes and finally settled on a pair of gold colored heeled tall boots. She then remembered the amulet, and saw it sitting there on the dresser. She didn't really want to wear the thing and walk about in this world in the guise of a human, but she knew it was crucial to the mission that they keep a low profile. Manx sighed and put the glowing red jewel around her neck and felt the icy coldness of the amulet hiding her true form.

Manx crept down the stairs, not turning on a single light. She made her way to the kitchen where she looked around at all the strange things. She decided to leave the kitchen and sit down quietly in the living room. Manx quietly opened a window and looked at the lights of all the other houses glinting in the darkness like the eyes of a thousand hungry monsters, and she quickly closed the window in surprise. She decided to sit on the couch and just enjoy the present stillness before the sun rose and the strange world was awake with activity. She was startled when a light clicked on, but she instinctively didn't make a single sound. Vaskin wasn't nearly as quiet when he yelped in surprise.

"Ah! Manx...? I didn't see you there." Vaskin said in surprise.

"You think?" Manx sarcastically snapped, a little upset that he had broken the wonderful silence of the morning so early.

"I'm sorry I didn't know you were here..." Vaskin said in embarrassment.

Manx softened a bit and said, "It's nothing. I was just..."

"Yeah...I know. So, um...you hungry?" Vaskin said, trying to make conversation.

"Not yet." Manx replied, hoping that maybe, just maybe, that he would come closer.

"Oh. Well...um, okay. Are you thirsty?" Vaskin said nervously, not exactly knowing what to say and cringing in the fear that he might say something stupid. Manx stood up and said, "I can get my own water if I want to."

"That's nice...I mean, you can take care of yourself..." Vaskin said.

"Mmmhmm. Yeah, of course I can." Manx replied in annoyance.

"So...um...how did you like the park yesterday?" Vaskin asked.

At the mention of the park, she slapped him hard across the face in anger that he had dared to mention the park.

"What was that for?" Vaskin yelped. Manx turned her back to him with her arms crossed and said, "Figure it out, genius!"

"I...I'm sorry! I didn't know!..." Vaskin said, trying to console her.

"Of course you didn't know! You're so selfish and so in tune to everything else that you don't understand anything! And you will never understand me because here I am, right in front of you, and you talk about breakfast and water? Wake up, stupid!" Manx snapped.

"Well, what do you want me to talk about? It's not like it's easy for me to know what to say around you that won't upset you or tick you off!" Vaskin pleaded.

"What part of figure it out don't you understand? If you really cared about me you'd know when I'm afraid or upset or all alone and not knowing what to do!" Manx retorted.

Vaskin gently put his hand on her shoulder but she violently jerked away.

"If you really cared, you would know why I ran away to the harrow forest. If you cared you would know why I have a hard time talking to you sometimes, and if you cared, you would know...!" Manx said in exasperation.

"I would know what?" Vaskin asked, walking around to the front of her and looking her in the eye.

"Good morning everybody!" Khashmyr said, announcing her arrival.

"Khashmyr!" Vaskin said in annoyance, just when Manx teleported away.

"Oh, I'm sorry, was I interrupting something?" Khashmyr said innocently. Vaskin glared at her and said, "What do you think?"

"I think I'm hungry. What would you like for breakfast?" Khashmyr replied.

"Something edible, please." Vaskin said before turning and storming up to his room.

Khashmyr stood there and said, "Well, I guess I have the kitchen to myself." A wide smile spread across her face as she said, "This is going to be fun!"

Just as she stepped into the kitchen, Khashmyr suddenly spun around in realization that she had a mission to get on with. "Oh, mouse giblets!" She said to herself, before frantically running up the stairs, before forgetting why she was up there in the first place as many cats tend to do from time to time. Her arrival was greeted by two very loud door slams one after the other. And then she remembered why she had run up the stairs.

"Wait! People! The mission!" Khashmyr shouted at the top of her voice. Vaskin slowly opened his door and said, "What about it, cat?"

"Across the streets and to a block to a place the natives call school, there is a lead that we may need, so we mustn't play the fool!" Khashmyr said urgently.

Vaskin rolled his eyes and said, "You're doing that rhyming thing again, Khashmyr."

"Sheesh. Who yakked in your breakfast? Anyway...hey, don't look at me like that. As I was saying, you have to go to school in this world because that is the place where they are most likely holding the Empress. And school starts at nine o'clock. And it is eight o'clock now, so we have an hour to get you two ready and briefed." Khashmyr replied, only to be hit in the back of the head with a shoe that came out of nowhere.

"Well, you should've thought of that!" Vaskin shot back as Khashmyr turned around to see Manx's door slam once again.

"You two sure are friendly this morning." Khashmyr mused, before rushing down the stairs. Vaskin rolled his eyes and slowly trailed after her, secretly hoping that she hadn't yet made breakfast. Manx however was nowhere to be seen, but eventually Khashmyr figured out that Manx was hiding and decided to coerce her out of her closet. Her attempt was met with another shoe and a very loud and deliberate "Go away!". Still, Khashmyr persisted and before Manx knew it, she was once more strapped into that dreaded hot rod convertible with an odd sack full of blank books and pens and pencils, and on her way to an earth high school.

"Alright, so before you go in, you should know that I cannot be there to accompany you today because I have some other work to do. And also, try to blend in. Well, as much as you can at least. Look for any human that resembles the Empress, as she was sent here in human form. Oh, and I got you both cell phones...er...magic talking devices. You press this button and dial a number to call. I put my number in here if at any time you need to reach me. You must sit in the classes in the desk and listen to a boring human drone on about some boring topic. But your objective today is mainly to see if the Empress is there..." Khashmyr began, and on and on she went, explaining lockers, important signs, and then handing Vaskin a stick of gum saying, "This is to make your breath fresher. You eat it, but don't swallow, and spit it in the trash."

Vaskin gave her a confused look but did as she said, when she handed him a strange object saying, "This is deodorant...DON'T EAT IT! Um...you put it under your arms. No, not like that...sheesh! You twist this thingy after you take the cap off, then rub it under your arm, and then put the cap back on. But don't do that in public, only in the bathroom. And it may smell good, but DON'T EAT IT!"

Manx watched nervously and gave Khashmyr a look, when Khashmyr said to her, "You're fine. Your kind doesn't exactly produce any odor noticeable to humans. Vaskin however sweats like a pig on a hot summer day, especially when he's around you."

"Hey!" Vaskin exclaimed, going red in the face.

"Hey yourself. I'm not the one who forgot to bathe before the trip. I am a major personal groomer, if you didn't notice, and my spit is cleaner than anything you would wash with, so shut your yap." Khashmyr retorted.

"Enough!" Manx snapped at the two of them, as the strange school building approached nearer and nearer.

"Oh, yes. Here we are! Well, here is a map of the school, a class schedule, and there you go. Go on, get in there!" Khashmyr said before driving away without another word, leaving Vaskin and Manx standing there in front of the large brick building as the human students all flocked inside.

"So...this is it." Vaskin said. Manx shot him an angry glare before storming off into the school, the map in hand. A crowd of boys huddled nearby snickered at Vaskin and one of them said, "Rejected!" and another added, "Man, what did you do to make her so angry? That was so cold!"

Vaskin ignored them before racing after her into the school just as the bell rang, startling him. He walked through the flood of bodies, feeling like he was swimming upstream. He couldn't believe how he had made such a mistake that morning by mentioning the park to Manx.

Vaskin barely managed to open the combination lock on his locker, despite his expertise in picking locks, and he barely got into his assigned first class before the bell rang. He recalled all the information Khashmyr had told him, and found a desk in the back row and sat down. He looked towards the front of the class and saw Manx sitting in the second row. Her posture said it all, she was absolutely traumatized and wanted to be anywhere but here. The teacher up front began rambling on about mathematical equations, while Vaskin was desperately trying to get Manx's attention, despite the giggles of the other students. The teacher wrote out a problem on the white glossy wall up front, just as Manx spun around and locked eyes with Vaskin. Excitedly, Vaskin raised his hand high in the air and waved at Manx. It was all poor timing, because the teacher said, "Mister...Baskin, is it?"

"It's Vaskin!" Vaskin said in slight annoyance.

"Yes. Well, you seem so enthusiastic about this problem. Can you tell me what the answer is?" The teacher disdainfully replied.

Vaskin turned a vibrant shade of red and sank into his seat, and the teacher began to move on with the class, when suddenly Vaskin recognized the answer to the problem.

"It's four!" Vaskin shouted aloud, while some of the other students snickered.

"Mister Vaskin, this kind of horsing around is intolerable in my class. If you would like, I can find you a seat in detention." The teacher growled menacingly.

"But I got the answer right! It's four!" Vaskin protested. The teacher looked over the problem and said, "Hmmm...yes, indeed it is. Well done."

Vaskin pumped his fists and said "Yes!" in the triumph of the moment, when a bunch of the other students laughed again. Vaskin once again turned a bright shade of crimson in the face. The rest of the first class droned on for what seemed like hours, leaving Vaskin desperate to leave his seat, until the bell finally rang, causing a chain reaction of students rushing to the next class. Vaskin just followed the crowd out the door, struggling to get to his locker.

Manx faced the same problem, and she stood there in the middle of it all like a deer in the headlights, frozen in fear, when suddenly, as if by some odd miracle, the sea of students parted down the center. At first Manx was relieved that she finally had some space, but then she locked eyes with a human with the deadly gaze of a basilisk. With a voice as venomous as the fangs of a viper, the girl tossed her long auburn locks and said, "Um, Excuse me, but what is this degenerate doing in MY way? And WHAT is it wearing? Eew! Black skirts are so like yesterday! Make it go away!"

Manx clenched her jaw, remembering that horrific scene on the battlefield, face to face with Ariandra the spider elf, bent to the will of the venom of the two tailed juggernaut scorpion. She had been there, trapped in her own body, watching with horror as her own hand plunged into the spider elf's chest, blood flying everywhere. She had stared in shock and horror as her own hand ripped the heart from Ariandra's chest and held it before her, alive and beating and dripping wet. Ariandra had been horrid to her throughout the quest, and she had admittedly hated the spider elf, but she had never intended to do what the venom had forced upon her. And nobody knew but her what had happened to the elf, making Manx even more guilty. For a split second, she froze in front of the girl, seeing blood on the floor, blood on the walls, and a beating heart in her hands. She was shaken back to reality when the mean girl said, "Um, excuse me! I'm talking to you! Hey stupid, who dressed you, the halloween department? Like seriously, who does that?"

"I..." Manx started, desperately wanting to run away. Suddenly out of nowhere a girl stormed out of the crowd to face the monster. The girl had short hair, golden like the sun, and was dressed in jeans and a kitten tee shirt.

"Leave her alone!" The mystery girl shouted, stepping to Manx's defense.

"Like, chill out! I was just giving her fashion advice! But like, who dressed you?" The mean girl snapped.

"I dressed myself, thank you very much Samantha. And by the way, what makes you the boss of this school? I've had it with seeing you bully and torment everyone around you, and I will NOT stand for it!" The mystery girl spat in wild fury.

"Oh my gosh! Oh no you didn't! It is on, girlfriend!" The girl apparently named Samantha said.

"Oh, I am so not your friend! You are a vicious two faced SNAKE, and your sense of fashion is so overrated! Besides, just because you think you are better than everybody else doesn't mean you are! And your definition of 'friend' is crony who does your evil bidding, so why don't you just crawl back under your rock, you self absorbed FAKE!" Mystery girl shouted back, leaving the entire hallway to gasp with shock and awe.

Samantha recoiled and motioned to her cronies, but the mystery girl stood tall and said, "Who among you wants to follow this evil witch? Who among you wishes to do her bidding? If you want to be her human footstool, raise your hand! A revolution is upon us, and it is time that the people of this school spoke against the injustice of the world!"

"Y'know, honey, for a girl who lost her memory and was found on the side of the highway, you sure have a lot of nerve! Why don't you just shut your yap and get lost. All of them are bound to me for life!" Samantha said.

The Mystery girl looked around at the crowd and said, "Who among you wishes to bow to this tyrant? Raise your right hand! It doesn't matter where you come from or who others think you are. Everybody here is too valuable to waste their life a slave to this beast!"

The crowd was silent, and no one dared to move. Then the Mystery girl continued, "If any one of you is willing to join me in this revolution, step forward!"

Manx looked around at the crowd, at all the distant faces, and she knew whose side she was on. She nervously took a small step forward and turned her gaze away from Samantha.

The mean girl snapped her fingers and said to Manx, "You're afraid of me, aren't you?"

Manx clenched her fists and her jaw, but she said nothing. Samantha stomped up to her, her daisy breeze perfume suffocating and painful for Manx's delicate senses.

"Answer me when I speak to you!"Samantha said, trying to intimidate the crowd and regain her sense of power. Manx stood firm and shook her head.

"I think we all know that you have lost your throne. Admit it, Samantha." The Mystery girl said for all to hear. The mean girl stormed away in front of the entire crowd, causing a cheer to erupt from all the students. When the halls were a bit more clear, Manx said to the girl, "Thanks for standing up for me back there."

"Oh, it was nothing. Nobody should have to face monsters like her." the mystery girl called over her shoulder as she walked to her next class. Manx hurried to her next class, barely making it to her seat. She saw Vaskin in the back of the class and secretly wished that just for today he didn't have classes with her.