26th November 2019

NOAH

I don't think I've been this happy in a long time.

It's been a week since Renee and I had reconciled, a week that was filled with so much bliss, that it was beginning to look like another person's life. We were inseparable, my hands forever entwined in hers as we strolled through high school, not caring as people began to speculate on how we'd fallen for each other this soon.

"Oliver and Renee met each other at a Science camp last summer," Clover could be heard narrating at the lockers. "Ren told me that she already had feelings for him back then. But even she'd never expected Oliver to shift schools for her, and well, the rest is history!"

Then Clover would beam as her peers let out a collective aww, declaring that we were the most romantic couple Greywood High had seen.

"Personally, it sounds a bit too melodramatic," I told Cloves as she sat down next to me, balancing her lunch tray with one arm and her bag in the other. "I don't think I'd shift schools-"

"Oh please, Noah," Clover rolled her eyes. "You left the Pit of Darkness with Johannes. Anyone with sense can see how much you'd risked for her! It's what lovers do!"

I knew that Clover hated Johannes like always, but she'd still decided to trust me, because her intuition told her to. It just made things a hundred times simpler, saving explanations and all sorts of apologies.

"Well, Ren had a hard time seeing that," I muttered.

"That's because she's been severed and she's lost her intuition," Clover told me bracingly. "Don't worry, Grandma Phyllis is working on that."

I nodded, not knowing why I felt moody for some reason. Maybe because Ren wasn't here yet, telling us vaguely about having to go to the locker.

I looked at Clover, now arranging a large crystal upon the cafeteria table and glaring at someone behind me. I followed her line of sight to see Chantelle watching us carefully, her eyes widening when she realised that I was alone.

I gulped. I didn't like the look she was giving me, like I was a lone antelope and she was a mountain lion, lurking upon the rock and ready to pounce on me.

"Oliver," Chantelle strutted up like a model, bending low so that her face was at my level.

"Chantelle," I replied, averting my eyes, and wishing Renee were here.

"Go away," Clover growled, thrusting her crystal towards Chantelle like a defence shield, who picked it up with a sly grin.

"My, my," She whispered, stroking the crystal. "This looks so pretty doesn't it? I wonder if it's real?"

"Isn't that a bit rich, coming from you?" Sam came up, giving Chantelle an evil smile he'd reserved for her. "I mean, you're the fakest person I'd ever known."

"You," Chantelle said, fury encased in her voice. It was hard to say who hated the other more, with them exchanging murderous looks.

"Me," Sam replied, his eyes narrowed to slits. It awed me at how menacing he could appear to be, especially when he had the personality of a golden retriever most of the time.

"You're cute," Chantelle cooed all of a sudden, surprising even Sam. "Look at you, you wear sunglasses even in the winter!"

I noticed that GhostGuy's sunglasses were now peeking out of Sam's shirt pocket. As I wondered why he even carried them, Chantelle snatched it and placed it upon her face.

"It suits me, doesn't it?" She threw him a flirtatious smile. "I look like a Vogue model."

Clover let out a snort.

"Give it back, Chantelle," Sam said quietly.

"Oh, I think I'll keep it," She giggled, stroking Sam's cheek. "I think GhostGuy can afford to buy another one."

All of us tensed.

"GhostGuy?" Sam repeated clueless, but I knew he was trying to throw Chantelle off the scent. "You mean that weirdo who'd blocked the LOLtube videos?"

"Precisely," She said, tossing me a feral smile, before glancing up at Sam again. "As a fashion blogger, I can't help but notice that you have the same sunglasses as him."

"It's called a Co-incidence," Sam told her coolly, trying to keep his temper within.

"No," Chantelle leered, folding the sunglasses over the neckline of her top. "It's called evidence."

Sam's eyes widened, but he was quick to react, swiping the glasses out of her grasp and tossing them to me immediately. I caught it, pocketing it safely, only to see Chantelle fuming in rage.

"Stealing is wrong, sweetheart," Sam flirted, bravely placing a hand on her waist. "If you want, I'll buy you another one."

"Take your hand off me," She huffed.

"Sure Chantelle," He breathed, taking all the time in the world before he stepped away from her.

Chantelle threw him an irritated look, before stalking away, her heels clicking with each step, heard even in the din of the cafeteria. As Clover and I exchanged an impressed look, Sam fell into his chair, looking sick.

"I didn't know you could flirt so well," Clover commended.

"Please, Cloves," He whined. "I hope that's the last time I'd ever have to resort to that."

I placed the sunglasses onto the table, and they fell silent, giving it a wary look. Only as Renee arrived did we all break our stare, pausing to glance up at her.

I remembered how she'd unearthed GhostGuy's identity. My watch had been the culprit back then. And now, Chantelle knew who we were, thanks to Sam's sunglasses.

"We've left way too many loose ends," I told Sam worriedly. "It's going to be a matter of time before the officials investigate and know it was us."

"We can hide the evidence," Sam suggested.

"We can't hide forever," I told him. "What if Chantelle informs the police?"

"Noah and Sam, calm down. It was just a video," Clover started.

"But, hacking is illegal," Sam told her.

"Um, guys?" Renee spoke up. "Is there any chance that Chantelle could be in touch with LOLtube? I don't think she could be acting alone on this."

I sat up straighter. Renee was right, Chantelle didn't look like she was smart to figure it out by herself.

"What do you suggest?" I asked her.

"We could spy on her?" Sam shrugged. "Maybe hack into her chats?"

"Good idea," Clover supplied. "Who knows, maybe they're using her to spy on us."

That was enough to put us in a grim mood. We spent the rest of lunch debating on what Chantelle could be doing, why she was so determined to help LOLtube and if spying on her would unearth anything. Clover was responsible for watching her channel, Renee would spy on her at school while Sam and I would hack into her social media and her relations with LOLtube.

It wasn't a solid plan, but it was a first.

Working as a team, that is.

*****

Johannes wasn't home.

Which was convenient, because I didn't want any of my friends running into him and his nasty personality. The last time he'd met Ren, he'd been speaking with great fervour about my imaginary funeral, going on and on until Ren called him out on his bluff.

I didn't understand the guy. There were pranks, and then there was him, practically jumping at any opportunity to talk about my death. I could only hope that he was insane enough to joke about these things and that he didn't long for my death as he'd claimed.

"I'm with Claire. Not coming back for dinner.
-Theodore."

Renee stood at the fridge, reading out the note Johannes had posted upon it.

"Who's Claire?" She asked with interest. "And who's Theodore?"

As I answered her questions, Sam opened his laptop, getting ready to hack into Chantelle's accounts. Clover was close by, eyeing the books on the mantelpiece curiously.

"He's written a lot of books over the past," Clover mumbled. "Grandma Phyllis would binge read each one of them."

"And yet, she still doesn't know how to unsever me," Renee added dryly. Cloves rolled her eyes, before picking up a particularly fat book and examining it.

"Noah, I need your Wi-Fi," Sam called out, now entering my Realm. I knew that both of us were thinking about that night when we'd hacked into LOLtube, and how perfectly we'd carried out our plan.

I walked into my Realm, which was nothing but a small room. I closed my eyes to summon my hand-made WiFi. Sam strolled in, setting the laptop on a tiny desk and waiting for it to get connected.

"This is so cool!" Renee grinned enthusiastically, leaning behind Sam as she watched the screen. "I hadn't even imagined that magic could help with human technology like this."

"Well, WiFi is from the fourth dimension," I told her.

"Which is a part of the Earthly Realm," She finished. "Yes, Noah, I still remember your lessons."

"That's because I'm an excellent teacher," I boasted as I neared her.

"No, it's because I'm an excellent student," She retorted, her eyes shining mischievously.

For a moment, we simply stood there, watching each other with fire-like intensity. Today she'd divided her hair into two tiny braids, which barely reached her shoulders. It made her look even younger, and so adorable that I wished nothing but to close the gap between us.

"I can't believe you guys ditched me," Clover grumbled as she walked into my Realm. She was still hauling Johannes's fat book, her thin arms struggling to hold it any longer.

I waved my fingers, creating a comfortable corner for her to read. It had a beanbag, a portable desk and even snacks that were very much edible.

Clover and Sam gaped at me. Renee giggled at their bewildered faces.

"You can make things appear out of thin air?" Sam questioned, sounding awed. He'd seen me make WiFi before, but that had been invisible, so he hadn't witnessed the magic of it.

"Only in this room. This is the Realm of Noah," I explained.

Clover deposited the book upon the desk, before turning towards me. "I didn't know that Realms could be made in the third dimension."

"I didn't either," I shrugged. "But Johannes told me that it was very much possible."

"That's how he made himself a human body," Renee pointed to me.

"This is crazy," Sam looked slightly terrified. "Does that mean you'll never die? You can just keep creating bodies for yourself, can't you?"

"I guess so," I told him, wondering how I'd never gone into the details of it.

"You could make yourself look exactly the way you want to look," Clover mumbled.

"I could. That's how I made Johannes look like he could be my dad," I replied.

"In a way, it's dark and twisted," Renee stated. "Some things shouldn't exist, and this looks like one of those."

"What do you mean? I asked her in disbelief. Did she say that my Realm wasn't supposed to exist?

"Noah, this isn't natural. You being a human, that is," She blurted out. "If this kind of power went into the wrong hands, imagine the things that people could do with it."

"Yeah but... I'm very much natural, Ren," I insisted. "I'm made up of cells and tissues, just like other humans."

"You weren't born out of one," Renee retorted. "It isn't exactly the same."

"I did this for you," I repeated, slightly annoyed.

"I didn't ask you to," She answered, irritated.

"Guys, look at this," Clover intervened, pointing to an illustration in her book. "This place seems interesting... It called the Arbor Vitae or something-"

"So you don't want me to be a human?" I demanded.

"I never said that," Renee fumed. "I just think that it's not natural-"

"And why is that a problem? Half of the things that exist in the Earthly Realm are man-made..."

"They're not from other Realms," She pointed out. "I think that this could backfire in ways you aren't thinking of."

"Like what?" I narrowed my eyes.

"I mean, look at it logically," She started. "Matter can neither be created nor destroyed... And since you're creating matter here, you should be destroying matter somewhere else, right?"

Why did it sound scholarly and stupid at the same time?

"Magic isn't bound by science," I rolled my eyes.

"The Earthly Realm is bound by science," She shot back, looking irritated. "And the fact that this Realm exists creates an imbalance in space-time-"

"Guys, I'm serious," Clover yelled over us, looking annoyed. "I think that this place can make you unsevered, Ren!"

That caught our attention.

"The Arbor Vitae?" Renee asked cluelessly.

I paused, trying to placate why the name felt familiar. Had Isaac mentioned it before?

"Yes," Clover grinned at us, now holding up her book, and pointing to the illustration of a huge tree. "Also known as the Tree of Life."

*****

(A/N : Sorry for the late update, guys! I've been really busy, and it's been hard to find time for Wattpad. I'll try to catch up on your books, incase I've missed them.
I hope you're all okay!)