5th December 2019

NOAH

The clatter of plastic plates and the buzz of bored students welcomed me as I entered the cheerful cafeteria. Usually, I found Ren or Cloves in the line, but today they were already seated, engrossed in a deep conversation.

After picking up my food, I sauntered over to our usual table, highly curious about what they were discussing.

"I can't believe it," Ren whispered out aloud. "Are you sure you saw them together?"

"Yes!" Clover looked positively mad, her eyes bulging out in disbelief. "They were holding hands!"

I threw them a curious look, as I set my tray on the table. Today's lunch was relatively boring, with more vegetables than I could name. Maybe I should've been happy that my school was so health-conscious, but it only reminded me of Johannes's stews and salads.

Maybe he was secretly influencing Miss Claire to torture my life with veggies.

"Noah, did you see them together?" Ren asked me, her pretty eyes lined with worry.

"Who?" I asked, clueless.

"Sam and Chantelle," Clover answered, holding her fork upright as she looked murderous. "What's up with them?"

"Oh, them," I smiled as I thought about giving them marshmallows in the morning. "They're okay."

"Okay?" Ren repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," I reassured her.

"Noah Stark, I can't sit and pretend not to worry as my friend Sam fights the She-devil!" Clover blurted out, nearly making me fall out of my chair.

"Shit, Cloves, calm down-"

"I will not calm down!" Clover raged, making even Ren cower behind her bag. "She tortured my life, she tortured yours, and now you're okay? Maybe you don't care about Sam, Noah, but I do. And I can't see him being-"

"Cloves?" It was Sam, now holding his lunch tray and looking slightly terrified.

Behind him, Chantelle peeped through, watching Clover cautiously, who now lowered her fork and reduced her glare.

"Can we sit?" Sam asked hesitantly.

"Why not?" Clover laughed mirthlessly. "I guess my crystals have been useless in warding off evil!"

I exchanged a glance with Ren, who motioned her to calm down. Clover fell back into her chair, looking defeated and surly, as Sam resumed to speak.

"Hasn't Noah told you guys?" He inquired. "Chantelle is my friend now."

"Yes I am," Chantelle answered defiantly, throwing Clover an extra look, who picked up her fork again, paired with another death stare.

"How did this happen?" Ren asked, trying to look nonchalant as if she were asking about the weather.

Sam recalled the tale this time, about how he'd seen the messages to how they'd sought help from Johannes. Chantelle and I nodded in the right places, hoping that it would somehow calm the fiery Clover.

"I don't buy it," Clover frowned, the minute he'd done narrating.

"You don't buy it, because you want to hate me," Chantelle corrected. "We don't need to be friends, Clover."

"That's fine," Clover sulked. "You can't take back four months of insults you've thrown at me."

"I'm sorry for that, but I didn't have a choice!" Chantelle yelled. "Do you think it's fun to see your sister being possessed?"

"I don't have a sister," Clover retorted coldly.

"And I don't want to talk to you," Chantelle stood up, balancing her tray with one hand. "I'm sorry guys, but things like this can't be healed in a day."

With that, she marched away, her heels clicking with each step.

Sam looked at Chantelle. He then turned towards Clover.

"I just... I have to go," Sam blurted out, watching Clover apologetically.

She pressed her lips together, looking anywhere but at Sam as he ran after Chantelle.

Next to me, Ren picked up the pack of marshmallows he'd left on the table. It looked like he hadn't opened it.

"You knew that they were friends?" Clover looked at me in disbelief.

"Yeah, they told me today," I revealed, feeling strangely guilty for some reason. "It's not what it looks like, Cloves."

She remained silent, taking the pack of marshmallows from Ren and watching it dully. Outside, through the glass panels, I saw Sam consoling Chantelle, who looked equally mad.

It seemed as if this was one of the rifts that would take a long time to heal.

*****

That evening, I marched straight up to Johannes, a.k.a the root cause of Chantelle and Clover's fight. I found him in his room, listening to music and sipping on wine, lost in thought.

"Boy, what's wrong?" He grunted, annoyed that I'd stolen his moment of bliss.

"Can you really bring Violet back?" I demanded. "Or did you give Chantelle false hope so that she wouldn't do anything drastic?"

Johannes blinked. Then he gave me an exaggerated sigh.

"It works both ways, Noah Stark. While there are ways to get Violet back, it was also necessary to keep Chantelle contained-"

"Contained?" I frowned at his choice of words. "So there isn't a guarantee that Violet is coming back?"

"Boy, I never said that," He frowned back. "It is entirely Violet's choice on whether she'd like to return or not. I can only provide the means for her to return..."

I let out a breath, sitting next to him on the edge of his bed. He threw me a concerned gaze.

"Chantelle trusts you so much," I told him truthfully. "I don't want you to feed her lies as you do to me."

"Alright," Johannes answered, twirling his goatee. "Besides, I do not lie to you-"

His words fell short as he met my glare.

"Maybe I do lie, but they're harmless pranks, Noah Stark!" He corrected himself.

"Harmless to yourself, you mean," I gave him a knowing look.

"Well-" He shrugged guiltily.

"You're such a huge liar, Johannes," I rolled my eyes at him. "I'm surprised that your schemes don't backfire on you."

"I'm called the criminal mastermind for a reason, Noah," He boasted, twirling his goatee.

"You wish," I scoffed. "Didn't you give yourself the name?"

"I did not!" Johannes pretended to look offended. "Where did you hear that?"

"You said it last night when you were drunk-"

Suddenly, Johannes's phone began to ring, making him topple his glass of wine and spill over the beige bedspread. I could see Fergus's face peer up at us from the screen, watching us anxiously as he chewed on his nails. Johannes picked it up hastily, morphing his face into that of concern.

"Fergus?!" He called out. "Son, what's wrong?"

"It's Lord Augustus, Sir!" Fergus cried as he cast a careful look around his surroundings. "I have news that he's going to visit the Pit of Darkness within the next hour!"

I paled, as Johannes's wrinkles drew up to their full form.

"Stall his time!" Johannes barked. "We'll try to be there, but you need to distract him, Fergus! It is of utmost importance!"

"Alright sir," He nodded earnestly. "See you soon!"

Then the screen went blank.

"Boy, come on!" Johannes began to screech again. "We need to get going!"

"Already on it," I replied, as we hurried out of his room.

I entered the Realm of Noah and tried to meditate out of my human body to take up a Spirit form. Johannes followed suit, with both of us donning grey prison robes, depressed spirit looks and copious amounts of the Shield.

The Portal Bubble was waiting for us, reminding me that it would take twenty-four minutes to reach the Spirit Realm. To my right, Johannes sat with a rather constipated look on his face, looking like he'd be anywhere else but here.

I averted my eyes, trying to soothe my anxiety-ridden nerves. What could Lord Augustus possibly want with us?

Did he know that we'd escaped the Pit?

Or worse, did he know that we were humans?

Or... Did he know about GhostGuy???

I swallowed hard, chiding my brain for coming up with impossible scenarios. Augustus couldn't possibly know any of that. We'd been careful with our ways, especially Johannes, who was discrete at everything.

Maybe, I was just thinking too much.

*****

The Pit of Darkness hadn't changed a bit since I'd last visited.

The dark cavern loomed closer, with arched rocky formations of obsidian, interspersed with the dark fluid like a trail of thoughts it was so good at concocting. We found Fergus at the entrance, holding the gate open and looking scared to death.

He couldn't see us yet, for we were still under the Shield.

After we'd reached, the bubble collapsed into the air, and Johannes dusted his robes, his malicious smile back onto his face. I resumed my look of depression, going to settle down at my favourite corner, and feeling the hallucinations swim across my vision.

Now wasn't the time to slip into those horrors. I was only here to meet with Augustus and slip away quietly.

The Pit flared like an enraged beast at my rejection, the waves of slimy mist swimming around me, encircling my arms and ankles like I was being doused in cold water. I let out a shaky breath, knowing that I had to control my thoughts, and not let the Pit feed off my happiness.

"I know how vulnerable you are," Renee's voice drifted down onto me. I looked up to see her in front of me, appearing the most beautiful that I'd ever seen her be.

Her lips were cherry red, her skin pearly white as she threw me a look of pity. Her dress was pure white, enhancing her slight frame and making her look older than she was. I stared at her transfixed, mesmerized by her beauty, and yet feeling her words pierce through me like arrows.

"After everything you've said, do you still think that I want to be with you?" Renee asked, moving closer to me. Her delicate fingers lifted my face, giving me a patronising look.

"You wanted me to share my feelings," I told her.

"You are far from a man, Noah," She told me cruelly. "You hide your identity, your secrets, from the law and otherwise... Any brave man would face them headfirst... "

She leaned forward, giving me a torturous kiss on my forehead. I didn't want it, it only made the sickly bile rise in my throat.

"I do not want to be with you," She announced. "You're never human enough."

"Go away," I cried out, closing my eyes tightly. "I do not want to be with you either!"

Renee scoffed, now drifting away into the black smog that the Pit had concocted.

I clutched my chest, this hallucination reminding me of how twisted and painful the Pit could be. How it had the power to mock me for all my deeds and render me powerless if I'd caved in.

"Johannes," I staggered up, nearly blind in the darkness. "Where are you?"

To my surprise, I found him lying on the floor, covering his head as the black smog surrounded him. He was stuck in a hallucination too, which intrigued me because this was the first time I was seeing him powerless.

"I didn't want to hurt you," Johannes was muttering. "I am not a bad man."

I stared at him, transfixed. Who was he hallucinating about?

"I loved you... And I still do... " His voice broke. "It was always you..."

Sweat dripped down my forehead, as I stepped back uneasily. Was he talking about Phyllis?

Did he love her this much?

Before I could brainstorm further, the Pit of Darkness filled with light, powerful and radiating as Lord Augustus stepped inside. I squinted through the brightness to see his form, an egg of a head upon an equally rounded body. As his light dimmed, and he took up a normal Spirit form, his beady black eyes fell onto Johannes, who was now writhing upon the floor.

Augustus simply stared. Not a trace of emotion was evident upon his pasty face.

And when I finally wanted to yell at him to do something, he spoke up.

"Enough!" He yelled. "For I, Lord Augustus, am here."

*****

(A/N: First of all, a huge thank you to all those who've come this far in Noah's journey. Half of the book is complete at this point, and I'm so glad for the constant support I've been receiving.

The next two weeks are going to be hectic for me, so I might take a break from Wattpad. But the good news is that I'll be back soon, and I'll update twice as frequently as now.

Hope you guys like the story so far!)