Roomies 4: Part Four

      Jhudora didn’t share the same sentiment.

      The dark faerie grimaced as she sat on top of one of the creaky beds, trying in vain not to touch the thin white sheets that hundreds of sick faeries had coughed up on before. A small stand next to the bed that normally displayed “Get Well” cards was eerily bare, the enchanted lights on the ceiling were too bright for her dark eyes, and the air smelled too sterile for her liking. It was just unnatural and creepy.

      Jhudora glanced over at Jesc in the bed to her left. The air faerie was snuggled under the covers comfortably, her eyes latched on the faraway ceiling with a strange look on her face. Jhudora sighed, compassion stirring up in her stomach like a bad omelette. “What’s wrong?”

      Jesc’s blue eyes flickered over to the dark faerie. “What do you mean?”

      “As much as it pains me to say this,” Jhudora grumbled, “I know you, Jesc, and normally you’d be bouncing off the walls. Or at least on these beds. So you might as well spill what’s on your mind before we go through this whole stupid ordeal.”

      The air faerie frowned gently and Jhudora instantly realized what was wrong.

      “You’re afraid of taking this Remember-whatever potion, aren’t you?”

      Jesc fiddled with something in her arms: a worn Red Ixi Plushie that she had snagged from her dorm before coming down to the healing wing. “A little bit,” she admitted. “I’m scared that I’m not going to be able to find out the reason Mrs. Pierce hates us so much, and I’m afraid that I’m not going to be able to stop Mrs. Pierce from hurting everyone here at the Academy, and I’m worried that I may get stuck inside of you forever.”

      Jhudora’s stomach twisted at the last bit, but she calmed her own nerves by taking a deep breath. “Just don’t worry about it, Jesc,” she said, drumming her green nails on her thigh. “All you have to do is focus on Mrs. Pierce. And if you somehow have problems getting back to your own body, believe me, I’ll make sure you get back.” If not just to preserve my sanity, Jhudora added to herself silently.

      Jesc’s pale pink lips slipped into a sincere smile. “Than--”

      Suddenly, the large double doors to the hospital wing burst open, interrupting Jesc’s words. A swarm of teachers flooded inside the room, their faces displaying clear signs of anxiety as they milled around Jesc and Jhudora, their sudden presence suffocating. Mr. Sully was the last one to file inside, clenching two glass vials in his ragged paws. One was a pale blue mixture that was nearly white, while the other was the color and consistency of dirt-rich mud.

      “All right, people. Move aside,” the grey Wocky commanded, pushing past the crowd so that he stood in between the two beds. “We’re running out of time, so if we want to get this done, we have to do it now.” He passed Jesc the blue mixture and gave Jhudora the brown.

      “Great,” she mumbled, holding her vial to the light. “I get the one that looks like a dung smoothie.”

      “The potion is divided into two components,” Mr. Sully announced, ignoring Jhudora’s remark. “Since Jesc is the so-called ‘traveler’, her potion is light blue like the sky. By drinking it, it should put her in a deep sleep as her soul transfers inside of Jhudora’s mind. She’ll be in this state up until sometime early Friday morning which gives her four days to retrieve the proper memory, although time in the mind is very different from the time out here. In this time, she should be able to relive a good month or two of Jhudora’s memories.”

      He then turned towards the dark faerie glaring up at him impatiently. “As for Jhudora, she is the ‘grounded’, so her potion is the color of the earth. When she drinks it, it should send her into a brief state of unconsciousness which should last no more than a few minutes, the amount of time it’ll take for Jesc to be successfully transferred over. No one is to touch either of them while they are in this state,” he added forcefully. When the teachers all nodded in agreement with murmurs of “of course,” he nodded.

      “All right, that’s about it. Whenever you two are ready, uncork your vials and take a swig.”

      Jhudora glanced from her bottle towards Jesc. “Are you ready?”

      Jesc smiled nervously, taking out the stopper carefully. “Ready as I’ll ever be, Roomie.”

      Jhudora rolled her eyes and uncorked the bottle. Plugging her nose with one hand, she announced nasally, “On the count of three, all right? One... two.... three.”

      Simultaneously they drained their glasses, the potion seeping down their throats as everyone in the hospital wing looked on curiously. For Jhudora, the effect was almost instantaneous; one second she was gagging on the foul taste, and the next she was out like a light.

      But for Jesc, the effect was slower. As the potion settled in her stomach, everything around her started to get blurry, faces distorting as she slowly went under. Clenching her plushie to her chest, the last thing she heard before completely blacking out was the voice of a grey Wocky murmuring, “Come on, Jesc. Don’t let us down.”

     ***

      Sunlight.

      Jesc blinked, startled by the bright light surrounding her. She was outside.

      It took her a second to catch her bearings, but once she did, everything clicked into place. “Wow, that potion worked quickly,” she murmured, looking around. The grass beneath her feet was bright green, and a couple of trees nearby were painted in rich hues of mahogany, crimson, and gold. It was autumn.

      Turning around, she smiled, finally realizing where she was. A tall castle stood in the distance, made primarily of sparkling white stone, with six tall towers dotted with purple flags: the Faerie Academy.

      And milling around on the front lawn were hundreds of faeries. Some were hugging family members as they said goodbye, while others were greeting old friends with smiles. Everyone’s arms were laden with suitcases, bags, and pillows, and a long line led to the open front doors.

      “It’s the first day of school!” Jesc cheered, but as she did she noticed that something was in her hand. Looking down, she spotted her Red Ixi Plushie.

      “Mr. Snuggles!” she smiled, looking into his stitched-on eyes. “You came too? I wonder how that potion works... I mean, the spell transfers my mind over, but you’re here too... but yet again I’m still in my clothes, so there must be some residual effect worked into it, something to slightly counteract Ginerva’s Twenty-Seventh Law of Out-of-Body Motion, like a teaspoon of Mint Jel--”

      She stopped abruptly, remembering suddenly that she had a job to do and people back home to save. Brushing herself off, she started strolling towards the Academy, announcing, “Come on, Mr. Snuggles. Let’s go find Jhudora!”

      As she drew nearer to the castle and started to pass by faeries, something became apparent to Jesc: No one could see or hear her. No matter how much she hummed to herself, no one turned to look at her or even spared her a second glance. She was totally invisible. In fact, she was just about to try and poke one of the nearby faeries to see if she could touch anything when she spotted Jhudora.

      The dark faerie looked so different that Jesc only knew it was her because of the tell-tale green streak in her hair. The rest of her hair, a deep purple, was cut in a ragged style that gave her a rocker edge while framing her face nicely at the same time. Her lips were tinted plum instead of the normal noxious green, she was wearing a long fitted shirt with skinny jeans that accented her figure, and her nails were short and painted with indigo nail varnish.

      But besides all that, she looked young--not saying that Jhudora didn’t look young normally, but now it was clear she was just an adolescent like Jesc herself.

      The dark faerie strolled through the crowd of people, a ragged leather suitcase in one hand, and Jesc weaved her way around faeries to catch up with her. Jhudora’s violet eyes scanned the crowd, and once they stopped, a genuine grin slipped onto her face. Picking up her pace, she raised a slender arm in a wave and called out, “Illusen!”

      An earth faerie looked up at the sound of her name, and then as her freckled face slipped into a smile, she answered with a shout of her own. “Jhudora! How are you?”

      The two friends rushed over to one another and gave each other quick hugs—“Wow,” Jesc murmured in shock, knowing that nowadays attempting to give Jhudora a hug was as hazardous as trying to train Meepits for the circus—and then they were talking. Illusen slipped a piece of chestnut hair behind her ear with a green gloved hand and asked, “So how was your summer? How was Aunt Kryta?”

      “Horrible. She’s a total witch,” Jhudora said bluntly. “The only thing she did the entire time I was there was drone on and on about the family dream to conquer Neopia. And then she made me brew all these horrible potions that she sold in her dumpy little shop, and once I was done with that she used me as her maid. It was the worst experience of my life and I never want to go back.”

      “Aww,” Illusen sympathized as they joined the long line leading inside, Jesc following them both like an invisible shadow. “Well, at least it’s over. And now that school’s about to start...” She trailed off, her emerald eyes glinting.

      Jhudora laughed, shaking her head as the line moved up. “More pranks? Oh, come on. Those light faeries already know every trick we’ve thrown their way.”

      “We’ll think of new ones,” Illusen said simply. “Plus, I already have a couple ideas that we could start pulling in about a week’s time.”

      “All right, if you say so,” Jhudora said, giving in, but there was a smile on her face.

      By this time they had reached the inside of the Academy. Jesc was acquainted with the entrance hall, with its tall ceilings and magical lights sparkling, but Jhudora and Illusen, who had been deprived of the sight for the whole summer, took a moment to gaze upwards before taking a scroll from the secretary with their dorm numbers and schedules.

      “Looks like I’m back in room 689,” Jhudora announced, glaring at the piece of parchment. “I hate having to climb almost all the way up the tower.” She turned towards her friend. “And let me guess: room 213 again?”

      Illusen blushed sheepishly. “Yeah, I’m sorry... but it’s not my fault they assigned me a low dorm!” When Jhudora still looked annoyed, Illusen ventured, “To make it up, how ‘bout I help you unpack?”

      “All right,” Jhudora agreed reluctantly. “But you have to carry my suitcase.”

      “Fine,” Illusen mumbled, taking the bag before they started for the dark faerie tower, discussing their schedules as they went along.

      Getting to the tower wasn’t a problem, but Jesc realized after a couple minutes of climbing the spiral staircase that it wasn’t fun having one of the topmost dorms. When the three of them (plus Mr. Snuggles) finally reached room 689, they were all out of breath. It was with apparent relief that Jhudora opened the door and stumbled inside.

      Jesc looked around curiously as Illusen plopped Jhudora’s raggedy suitcase on top of one of the beds. There were two beds topped with thin sheets, two wardrobes, magical lights that flickered from sconces on the walls, and the floor was slightly scorched from previous magical attempts. But besides the fact that it wasn’t as comfortable as her own dorm room, Jesc felt strangely at home in this place from Jhudora’s past.

      “Ugh,” Jhudora groaned, looking over at the other bed which was already draped with a crocheted purple blanket. “Looks like Miayn is my roommate again.”

      “That’s not too bad,” Illusen said, unzipping Jhudora’s bag. “Last year you hardly saw her after she moved into another dark faerie dorm for the winter.”

      “I so wish I could room with you,” Jhudora said wistfully. “Stupid rules.”

      “’Tis all right. I’m sure you’ll survi—what’s this?”

      Jesc turned her head towards the earth faerie, noticing a large book in her slender grasp. It was dark brown with crinkled pages, and there was no title.

      “Aunt Kryta!” Jhudora hissed angrily. “That’s her spell book. I bet you she slipped it into my bag before I left.” She rubbed her forearm tenderly. “No wonder it was so heavy.”

      Illusen sat herself on top of the bed with the book in her lap, flipping through the yellowed pages and scanning the spidery script with her curious eyes. “I bet this book has some awesome spells in it.”

      “More like evil spells,” Jhudora muttered, slipping a stray piece of dark hair behind her pale ear as she leaned over Illusen’s shoulder. “I doubt anything in there is good news.”

      “I wouldn’t be so sure,” Illusen said pointedly. “Sure, this book looks suspicious, but I bet if we look carefully enough and tweak a few things here and there, we could find ourselves a nice little prank to pull...”

      “Is that all you think about?” Jhudora asked, slightly exasperated, but when she noticed Illusen was still eying the book, she decided to change the subject. “Come on,” she said, pulling a crumpled shirt out of her suitcase. “You promised to help me unpack.”

      Illusen put the book down with a wistful sigh. “Fine.”

      Together the two faeries took out all of Jhudora’s items and put them away, hanging her clothes up in the wardrobe and placing her other few items around the room in various places. And even if Jhudora was totally oblivious, Jesc caught each of Illusen’s furtive glances towards the spell book on the bed, the earth faerie’s mind wheeling with possibilities.

      “Oh, Mr. Snuggles,” Jesc murmured to the plushie in her arms, “I already don’t like where this is going...”

To be continued...