We went down to dinner and were confronted by Bill Peterson, the principal, but he only likes to be called Bill. He said Mr. Peterson is his father. "Hey, have any of you seen Aednat or Marie? I've been looking for them since class has gotten out; I need to talk to them about an important topic." He had a looked as if he were perplexed when I glanced over at Damon nervously. "What's going on here?" That lined sounded all too familiar. I knew we couldn't let Bill in on our little secret.
"They're probably upstairs redecorating their room, Nit had been telling me how much she wanted to do that," Damon said coolly. Bill started walking toward the direction of the girls dormitory. "Or they could always be out buying stuff for it," Damon added quickly.
"I see," Bill said slowly. I could see suspicion in the brown eyes of the thirty year old, but seemed to have so much more wisdom in them. He ruffled his brown hair and walked away in a way that let us all know his suspicions and know that he wanted us to know that he knew something was up; if that makes any sense.
"Well," Nathan said. "When are we gonna start gathering stuff?" I bit my lip, still not too sure of the plan. "I'm not trying to add any pressure," he added hastily. I looked up into his blue eyes, tears sprung into my eyes. I thought Aednat being gone was hard for me, but this poor boy's sister was gone.
"We could . . . start tonight," I mumbled, looking up at Nathan's face again. Damon gave us his I-can-tell-something-is-going-on-here-look.
"I'll go get the supplies, you guys can find the book, wherever it landed in my room, and go to Aednat's room and wait for me," he said semi-hesitantly. I looked up at Nathan nervously. 'Is he okay with it? Will it be awkward? Oh my, he's so gorgeous.' Damon walked away and Nathan grabbed my hand.
"Come on," he whispered right in my ear. "I need to talk to you." The butterflies in my stomach felt like they increased by ten, I shivered and followed him up to Damon's room.
We stepped in and Nathan pulled me against the wall and kissed me. "Mary. I-I'm sorry. I don't know what just got into me. I've liked you for a while, but I haven't realized how much until now." I stared at him like a deer in the head lights and let out a huge breath.
"Nathan, it's okay, I've liked you too. But, don't you think we should think about helping Aednat at the moment?" He looked confused like he couldn't remember what was wrong with Aednat, or who she even was. Then realization hit his face and he ran his hand through his hair.
"Right, here's the book." I sat down against the wall and he sat so close I could feel the heat radiating off of his body. He was flipping through it and finally dropped it in his lap. "I'm sorry, I just can't concentrate!" I rested my head on his shoulder and started flipping through the pages while he stroked my hair. I suddenly sat up and gasped at what I read.
"Nathan? I do remember what Jonathan said when he cast the spell! And," my face fell. "It's this one." I showed him the book. His head snapped up and he took my hand, pulling me along to meet up with Damon.
I ran into him, literally. The candles and herbs he was carrying nearly fell down the stairs. "Sorry, sorry," I panted. "Damon! I know what spell Jonathan did! He banished her into another realm. It was permanent, if you don't try to get her back. We can get her back!" Damon didn't look very excited. "Damon! We can get Aednat back! What's wrong?"
"Well, the thing is how do we get her back? What about the plan?" My smile went down a little, but it wasn't completely gone.
"The plan stays. It's still plan A, but now we have a plan B," Nathan said. Damon looked down, I followed his gaze to see mine and Nathan's interlocked fingers.
"It's-" Damon held up his hand, cutting me off.
"I don't want to know what happened up in my room," he smiled. "Just tell me our plan B for getting my girl back."
I settled myself on Aednat's bed, but it felt wrong. I shook myself mentally. 'She's not really gone, we're getting her back. And soon.' Damon and Nathan sat down on the floor and started organizing the supplies for plan A. It felt weird just sitting there and watching them do all the work. I was the one that was going into the Trance, might as well prepare myself.
Sitting between the two boys, I took a deep breath and went through everything I knew about Trances in my head. They're different than having a Vision. An outside source takes control of your body, your mind. You have no idea what is going on, you don't even know when you are in the Trance, where as a Vision, the outside source is showing you something, not taking control. Only you know what's going on during a Vision, everyone on the outside knows what's going on during a Trance. It couldn't be that bad. Just giving my entire being up for a spirit we don't know is good or evil. Can't be that bad, right?
I felt a pressure on my hand and opened my eyes to see Nathan. "We're here," he said, but he sounded so far away. "You don't have to worry." It was then I realized how bad I was shaking. Taking a deep, calming breath I said, "Okay, I'm ready when you guys are."
Damon lit the candles and started the video camera so we would be able to replay what happened while Nathan said unfamiliar words. Slowly everything started fading; the lights, then the voices, and then everything was gone. It felt like I was swimming in a pool of black.
