Goodbye Normal (24 page)

“You’re a private person huh” she asked, betting on her intuition.

“I think because my life is not as private, I tend to grab on any private opportunities I get.” He said smiling briefly.

“Is that why you suggested we leave our phones in the car, coz I really wanna take pictures this minute.”

She couldn’t hold her urge any longer; every beautiful day deserved a memory. Josh stopped walking and frowned at her face.

“No phones Zoey.” He ordered and it was the first time he said her name. It was like he added y in the end “Please don’t spoil the moment in expense of your whims. Phones are distractive and you will not be able to concentrate on the incredible nature that surrounds you.” he insisted by showing her what she already saw.

She didn’t share the same point of view but she accepted to let it go so as not to scare him away. Zoe grimaced at the indication of her thoughts; does she want him to stay?!

“Tell me about the best town you’ve been to.” she said shifting her thinking gears.

“Do you travel?” he asked curiously.

“Huh” she said in between a cut short simper. “If you count Miami and Austin then I have, which was a smooth six years ago!”

“Damn.”

“That’s right, so you understand that I’d be glad to travel all the lovely towns through your eyes” she smiled playfully.

A group of six guys coming towards them stopped their conversation. They didn’t look like hikers, fans or didn’t have a friendly vibe either. From the distance between them she could feel the ruthless smell of danger. In a matter of seconds she was appalled by Josh who had tied her strength with a manacle. Her hands were restrained behind her back. She was cornered because she couldn’t generate her strength without using her hands.

Zoe’s heart began throbbing angrily, her breathing was uneven and her blue eyes blazed with a fire so sheer. Zoe glowered at Josh with overwhelming emotions. She was afraid to think if there was any possibility that…The intimidation, suspicion, questions, apprehension and pain all at once kicked aggressively into her system.

“What are you?” Zoe uttered breathlessly, her voice was shaky with the purest of anger.

 She wanted to believe that she still knew who he was, he was Josh. He had to be Josh! But was he a black magic witch. No way. He cannot be. She still found herself having the room to hope. One of the guys from the crew that had already besieged them was holding her tight by the arm. 

“Josh, what the fuck are you?” she shouted coldly.  As she watched his poker face, she fiercely wished her hands were untied. 

“I can answer that.” Zoe couldn’t believe the voice she heard, Lonard’s lazy husky tone.

The group turned and so did she. They faced her bossy team, three humeleons, Chris and Gigi. Zoe felt herself smiling and her confidence fled back into her pond of mixed feelings.

“Pablo Rodriguez, It’s so good to see you again. That Caucasian body has proved again to be your deceit hero. It always suit you greatly buddy!” Lonard said with a wicked grin.

Zoe could feel her heart throb so hard she had to hold her breath not to fall. The atmosphere was getting too intoxicating. Her eyes waved and her lips trembled with anguish. What she heard had to be a mistake, how was it possible. Chris had told him that humeleons changed to their original form in two hours. She had stayed with him for more than two hours and his skin had never altered. It had to be a mistake, a terrible mistake.

“What! You? You cannot be the forth humeleon, there has to be a mistake.” her voice was a crispy whisper.

Pablo needn’t answer. He boldly demonstrated. His skin turned darker, his hair black, short lean nose, thick lips and his eyes brown but his height remained the same.

Zoe could feel the world spinning a little faster than it should. Fudging from the irascible reality before her, she slewed her eyes to Chris who was strongly held back by Gigi. He looked like if given the chance he would be too happy to jump on Pablo. His fists were clenched and his eyes spicy with hate.

“Two centuries of imprisonment haven’t done you bad either brother. It’s good to see that you traitors managed all these years without slaying one another.”

“That’s old news buddy, what I need now is that pretty girl and we will discuss the rest privately.”

“I like private, but the pretty girl has to give me something before I give her back.

They talked of her like she wasn’t there, irritating her further. She wiggled her hand from the man but he tightened his grip.

“You treacherous bastard! How dare you, what did you do to Josh.” Zoe yelled, throwing her toughest kick to Pablo’s ribs.

It was a useless move, he barely felt a thing.

“Whoa easy honey, we go way back you and me, remember! No need to get feisty.” he said. She could feel her veins burst with a renewed anger. The concept of him being a humeleon explained his constant body warmth. Whenever they’d hug she would notice his body’s temperature abnormally high. She had never considered it relevant until now. It was until she referred to feeling the same warmth with the other shifters.

At the memorial park, was it also him? The way he had fought the gang that attacked her!

 How long had he known she was the Channeler? How much more has he lied to her. As if to answer her thoughts, Pablo supplied her confusion with answers.

“A day after I saw you at the beach I was informed that you were declared Channeler. It was one helluva Bingo for me, so I had to do everything to get your attention again. It wasn’t hard after playing hero in that staged fight with my man.” Pablo explained carelessly veering to the black magic witch who had punched her in the group, Zoe gasped with terror, she hadn’t recognized him because he had a cap on.

“Err about Josh, well he is dead, unfortunately. My sincere condolences” Pablo broke it down like he was giving her news of a lost pen, while glowering back at him Zoe felt nauseous.

 “So his parents couldn’t take his death. It was a coincidence that I kinda looked like him. I presented my offer to take his place as their deceased son. They gladly accepted and took me in as their new son Josh.” He said smiling a smile so evil she could see the devil in him.   

 “You’re a despicable monster, you killed Josh and you threatened his family!” Zoe roared.

He shrugged like he was accused of killing a mosquito “No honey it’s called a compromise, I negotiated and everybody got their fair square. Besides, I didn’t want someone confusing me with some stupid kid. Although we weren’t exactly identical, but the kid really had my looks going for him. But not my muscles and height of course!”

The powerful drive to kill him was overpowering Zoe. She wiggled about trying to set herself free and things started happening so fast.

“Why do you want this chain?”

“Oh, that’s none of my business mi amor. But I gather it is of great importance which brings about my business. Take the damn chain!” Pablo ordered.

 The guy clutching her arm removed the necklace from her neck with the use of his free hand, she struggled furiously but with her hands tied behind it proved rather useless. In a matter of seconds the black magic witches fanned around running away in every escapable direction. Adrenaline kicked in and everyone was running up and down in the maze aiming for their target. All she heard around her were curses, shrieks and groans.  Pablo was engaged in a slugfest with Lonard, they were throwing uppercuts at each other accompanied by occasional sweeping kicks.

In the meantime Chris, Clay and Gigi followed the mob of black magic witches and she sprinted towards Jin for help.

  Watching Pablo and Lonard fight each other, she noticed they had shifted to different skins, Lonard was black and Pablo was Chinese. She noticed their identities because she was able to distinguish their voices. They looked like they had unfinished business that added up to the aggressiveness. Pinning Lonard to a tree trunk, It was clear that Pablo was stronger than Lonard.

“You scoundrels deceived me! You let me to go alone with Darkeel.” Chinese Pablo hissed.

With use of his super powers, Black Lonard regained position by pinning him on a rock.

“Actually that is our motto! Remember Defend and Deceit. But we didn’t know anything about that.” Lonard gnarled back then spat blood when he was done talking. Abruptly Lonard was pinned down by Pablo and continued receiving blows on the face.

“Good stuff came out of your deceit brother, I’m stronger. I can stay with a foreign skin for a whole month. Plus you don’t wanna know how many ethnicities I’ve gained.”

“I…will gladly take em down till your left with your stupid Latino.” In the midst of getting beat, black Lonard still had the guts to reply.

 Jin broke the cuffs apart like she was breaking a biscuit. Then with help of her supernatural flying speed, Jin kicked Pablo off Lonard on the shoulder. Chinese Pablo crumbled down to the ground but nimbly shot up to defend himself.

Zoe channeled all the strength in her body, soul and mind and cast her spell on Pablo.  She hated him with all her sanity and insanity. That minute she didn’t care about what was wrong or right. Her mind concentrated on strangling him to death. He was currently fighting with Jin who like the rest had transformed to a white girl and was evidently failing to keep up to his advanced strength. Zoe supernaturally held his neck and started cocking him. He fell to the ground fighting against her Herculean strength.

Everything around them moved faster than ordinary, the trees swayed sharply while the wind blew strongly. Fallen leaves and dust bobbed with a nasty speed. Each element of nature was orbiting around them.

Pablo was struggling to breath, he gasped with his hands clenched on his neck. He fought with all his might what he could not see nor touch.

One life was taken away from him. Pablo lay down still, his china man dead. Immediately his original body resurfaced but he was still, still.

“Shouldn’t we take him with us? For leverage?”

“No. You don’t want to give Darkeel reason to massacre your family. Now more than ever you need to avoid his fury.

Zoe, Lonard and Jin ran towards the direction taken by Chris. They had not gone very far when they met them half way. Facing one another, each group appeared haggard. Chris eased Zoe’s fears by flaunting the pendant in the air. She briefly closed her eyes and smiled broadly, a smile so real it showed when she opened her eyes.

She stood waiting for him to close the distance between them. Chris did, and he closed it completely. He helped her wear the necklace. Zoe held it on her hand, happy that it was back where it belonged.

Chris on the other hand had better thoughts in his mind. He tilted her chin with his finger and finished their share of unfinished business.

He locked his thin lips on her fullness. At that point Zoe was nothing near diffident and very far from questioning herself as she always did. She welcomed his warmth, savoring his crushes on her soft lips with sheer delight. His hand slowly trailed to cup her nape for a better hold and she respondent by twinning her hands behind his neck. Her eyes closed as she melted away into his passion. The kiss had urgency, a depth of longing and a feel of tenderness. She could care less whether they were dating or not, the tingles and butterflies were worthwhile.

A pat on Chris’s shoulder broke them up.

Lonard!

“Hand me the car keys. I have better things to do than watch smooching puppies.” his eyes wavered at them.

“Don’t dare me Lonard.” Zoe warned him with eyes that were not bluffing.

He smirked then vanished.

Putting aside her jeans and short, Zoe felt stunningly elegant in her formal Monaco blue strapless dress. On that night she made a considerable effort to accessorize her look with red dangling earrings and matching heels. She also went overboard by applying makeup and pulling her curly hair into a tidy tight bunch.  

Her feet graced the glittering candle lit hall of DAW with pride and merriment. Going over the vicious day’s events, the possibilities of not making it that night had been very high, but Liz made certain Carol didn’t oppose to their
slumber party
.

She was escorted by her mentor, Chris who looked dashing in a black tux. They were directed by Gigi upstairs for their formal announcement. Below the flashy crowd, she identified a good digit of people. The ball was attended by esteemed witches from different parts of the world. They were all anxious and eager to see the Channeler and her humeleons. Meanwhile as they awaited their debut, cocktails were served around, and curious craning heads popped around the audience.

Maydith approached them with fast hugs and cheek brushes then proceeded to face the excited audience.

Impacting a spoon to a glass of wine, Maydith was able to regain order. 

“Ladies and gentlemen. It is a great honor to have you with us on this glorious evening. We have so much to celebrate but I will start with what is most of all above the rater. You and I know how long we have waited for this moment. I take much pride to introduce this to the world. In front of you ladies and gentleman, Is our beloved Channeler Zoe Brown, escorted by her mentor Christopher Moore.” announced Maydith who was not looking very bad herself in a long orange gown.

They smiled and waved at the audience, she spotted Clarissa cheering so hard and she automatically broadened her smile.  Claps and whistles followed them as they descended the spiral stairs and made way for the second group to be introduced.

“And protecting our coven from all harm and evil lets welcome to the 21st century… the Humeleons.”

Maydith said with a broad fake smile. Her words were the exact definition Zoe would have used to describe the intimidating humeleons, harmful and Evil.

No one clapped.

The humeleons stood above the stairs unaffected by the response. They were looking arrogantly breathtaking in their stolen outfits. Staring up at them Zoe couldn’t help but attest that they truly were made to deceive. They had a rare quality about them, almost abusively sexy and very believable all the same. People in the crowd were busy chattering, pointing and staring.