đŁđ¶left behindđŁđ¶
Meenah writes âïž
Episode 12
#Amazon
Zoeâs POV
It was alre-ady time for Jean and I to go home. Where the hell was that stupid Harriet? If I was alone, Iâd have just uped and left, but Jean kept insisting that we get her.
Weâd searched the whole market without a trace of her. Jean was getting worried, but I was glad that my wish for her to never return c@mÂŁ true. Then I sp©tted Denyse talking to a group of girls, Gia, Sabrina, Carol, Freya, and Umbria. Groups of gossips. I smiled, realizing that I hadnât talked to them in a while and I missed them.
âHey guys,â I called and went to them. They all st©pped immediately and turned to me.
âZoe, where have you been?â Sab (Sabrina) purred and pu-ll-ed me in for a hvg.
âWhere else, sheâs been busy with Ewan,â Carol said.
If only I was.
âSo tell us, have you and Ewan finallyâŠhmm?â Umbria asked, wagging her eyebrows.
I was about to answer when Gia pointed and asked, âWhoâs that?â
It was Jean coming towards us.
âThatâs Jean. Sheâs new here, with her other backstabbing friend. After weâd left her stay at Julianteâs place, she is trying toâŠ.â I trailed off when I saw that Jean had alre-ady reached me.
âSo any news about Harriet?â she asked with a nod and a small wave to the girls.
âNot yetââ
âHarriet? She went that way,â Denyse said and pointed. âShe was looking for Rex.â
âWhat!?â everyone except Jean exclaimed.
âYeah, my reaction exactly. Is she dumb orâŠâ
âWhoâs Rex?â Jean asked as we followed the path Deny pointed out.
We were on a hilly ground. Looking down below, we saw Rex and Harriet talking and laughing like theyâve know each other for ever.
âHim,â I said to Jean and smiled to myself. Exactly what I wanted.
**************************â ******************
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Harrietâs POV
.
I donât know, but I had this crazy urge to dress up for the outing with Rex. I mean, it isnât a d@tÂŁ right?
âHair up or down?â I asked Jean from my position at the dressing table.
âBut Harry really. I donât like this. You shouldnât be with any other guy but Ewan!â she nagged, like sheâd been doing since we returned at noon.
I rolled my eyes at her and Iâm sure she saw it throu-gh the mirror, because she frowned.
âUp or down?â I asked again.
She sighed. âDown.â
I let the hair down and began to brush it.
â Think Harriet. You know you like Ewan.â
I scoffed and turned to face her. âJean, I donât like Ewan and he doesnât like me!â
And thatâs true.
After that night where heâd actually flir-ted with me, Ewan had been avoiding me like the eleventh plague. I didnât catch him at breakfast, but I met him in the hallway. I was opening my mouth to speak when he mumbled something and walked away.
Then c@mÂŁ the time Juliante called for us to his study. He said something about us being bonded because of some blah blah blah I didnât un-derstand. Heâd ended with a âtell herâ to Ewan. But instead, Ewan had upped and walked out without risking a sideways glance to me.
And after weâd returned from the market, I couldnât find him at home.
Conclusion: Heâs avoiding me.
Reason: Not deduced. Probably the same reason for which he disliked me from the beginning.
I had really wanted to talk to him, and to ask him about the headache and the strong nagging feeling I had about this night, but he just chickened away.
I sighed. How do you tell if you like someone? Is it that your heartbeat increases when youâre closer to himâŠâŠor is it that the two of you get to communicate telepathically?
I turned to Jean and held up two dresses, ignoring my thoughts.
âYellow or Grey?â I asked.
Zoe had been surprisingly re-ady to borrow me her clothes, and I wondered why. Maybe sheâs seen that Ewan and I has no thing for each other?
âHarriet, you canât just go on a d@tÂŁ with a stranger despite him being a handsome one.â
âYellow or grey?â I repeated.
âUgh! Grey.â
*
Soon Iâd finished dressing. Even Zoe said that I looked nice.
Rex would be here any time soon, so I walked to the dinning and sat, re-ading a page I found there.
âNothing interesting,â I muttered to myself.
Just then Juliante showed up. I smiled to him, but his expression remained stoic. Especially when he saw that I was all dressed up.
âTo my office. Iâve outlined series of books youâll have to re-ad to get a hang of why you hear peoples thoughts and every other thing youâll nee-d to know.â
âBut Iâm going out!â
âThen youâll better get started to finish up.â
âCanât it wait?â
âIt canât.â Then he gave me a smile that seemed as if he knew some ju-icy secret. âAnd besides, Ewanâs up there too.â
He walked away.
What theâŠ
Now Iâm very sure I must be the one whoâs avoiding Ewan. Damn, my knees had alre-ady turned to jelly and my heart wants to jump out of my che-st!
These canât be symptoms of liking someb©dy, right?
__
#Amazon
Harrietâs POV
Climbing the stairs slowly up towards Julianteâs office, I couldnât help but think. Something was really bugging me, but I just couldnât place my f!nger on it. What with Zoe lending me two dresses and with Denyse and Jean warning me about RexâŠ
Well, save the thoughts for some other time.
I knocked on the door and peeked in throu-gh the p@rt that was open a crack. There, in the middle of the floor sat Ewan among piles of papers and stacks of books with an obvious dislike for the work evident by the scowl on his face. I resisted the urge to laugh out and said instead, ânee-d a hand?â
He looked up to me. The scowl eased a bit, but he still didnât smile. I missed his carefree attitude not this guarded one. He nodded and looked away.
But when I entered the room fully, his eyes fell on me again and didnât leave until I sat beside him. I tried to ignore him by picking up random papers strewn allover, but he still watched me intently like he was trying to discover something.
SNAP!
Thatâs the sound of my control breaking. I flung all the papers away and said, âWhy are you looking at me that way!?â I asked, a slight frown wrinkling my forehead.
âWere you going somewhere?â
âYes, with Rex.â
He scoffed and looked away. âHarriet what on earth is wrong with you and that guy!?â
I was confused⊠was he asking whaâ
âWhy are you so blinded to see that he isnât trustworthy?â
âOh, and you,â I poked him on the che-st, âknow this? What, did you re-ad his mind or something?â
Ewan made some noises at the back of his throat and resumed ordering the papers.
âWait, so youâre ignoring me. I was right all along.â
âRight about what?â
âYouâve been avoiding me. Why?â
âDonât be ridiculous. Why would Iââ
âI donât know, you tell me!â
He stared at me for a moment, shook his head. âListen, Juliante wants us to get re-ading all these done. So I suggest we start now so that you can be free to go on some fancy d@tÂŁ with a guy you donât even know.â
âWhy do you keep insisting that heâs bad?â I asked.
He didnât answer, and from the look of it, he wasnât going to.
I sighed and picked up a volume of what Juliante asked us to re-ad. It was titled Techniques of Mind re-ading. I smiled. Juliante looked like the kind of man that would have the answer to anything. And I was an avid re-ader.
I opened the book and got started.
*An Hour Later*
I closed the book and heaved a sigh of both relief and amazement. Of course Iâll nee-d Juliante to explain certain things, but I think I pretty much got the hang of it now.
The book talked about the various ways a mind re-ader could connect to anyb©dyâs thoughts, provided he had the focus. But it also talked about being bonded. Now that was the p@rt I didnât un-derstand.
I turned to Ewan who was now sitting at the desk. Since, he hadnât said anything to me. What was I expecting, that heâd tell me not to go out with Rex because of a better reason?
Hah!
Then the door opened and Juliante c@mÂŁ in with his hands at his back.
âI see you guys are doing a great job?â
We nodded.
âGood.â He sat on a chair. âBecause now, I want to explain why you can connect with each other.â
âConnect?â Ewan and I chorused. âBut we just communicate.â
âAye, thatâs the basic skill. But if you werenât bonded, this wouldnât have been. You told her?â he asked Ewan, who shook his head slowly. âBlast it all Ewan. We mightnât have time.â
Ewan nodded his un-derstanding. I could only wonder what they meant.
âShe is the one,â Juliante said.
âThe one what?â I asked.
âThe one the Masterâs looking for. She had been blessed by the Spirits of The Times, with the ability to destroy what ever evil plan the Master builds, and him as well. But the Master also knows that he could harness these gifts for his destructive purposes. Now in a way, you both were connected from the very beginning.â
âHuh?â I asked.
âI mean before birth. Itâs sort of a lifetime bond. You nee-d the other to survive.â
He paused for a long while till I had to ask:
âAndâŠ?â
âAnd that is all I can tell you.â He stood up.
âHey, you canât just leave. Youâve just ended up confusing ms the more!â
âThe rest is up to you to figure it out.â And he shut the door.
The One. Spirit of Times. The Master. Absolute poppyc0ck!!!
I stood up to leave when Ewanâs voice st©pped me in my tracks.
âThe reason I donât trust Rex is because he looks so much like him.â
I turned back. Something told me that he was about to tell me whatever it is he shouldâve told me.
âWho?â I asked gently and sat on the floor beside him.
âThe Master.â
*****************â *****************
Zoeâs POV
âYou really nee-d to do this for me OK? Harriet keeps getting closer and closer to Ewan. I donât want that.â
I looked around to see if anyone was approaching. No one, so I turned back to Rex, who was leaning on the wall casually.
He chuckled. âSo you expect me to keep her away throu-gh out the night?â he asked.
I nodded.
âOkay. JustâŠ. donât regret it,â he said and walked away.
That sounded pretty much like a warning, but I wouldnât bother to heed it.
Iâll do anything to get Ewan.
***************â **************
Rexâs POV
I know what Iâm supposed to do, and Iâll have to keep reminding myself that.
âYou canât fail.â
I turned to the source of the voice behind me. He wore a black outfit that covered him completely, and a mask that revealed only his eyes. He hands were behind his back. His ha-rd stare was on me.
Pure epitome of Evil.
âI wonât. Iâm getting her tonight.â
****************â ************â****
Harrietâs POV
I was scared inside out as I listened to Ewanâs story:
âIt was like two years back. I was seventeen then. I lived with my parents, not Juliante. He took me in, so I take him as a grandfather.
Years ago, when I was quite little, Amazon was the Home of Myth and Magic. Good ones. People used it to help each other, train rare creaturesâŠ.. there was peace for a while.
Then people started thinking they could use magic for their personal gain. The peace was destroyed. Somehow, the Master had managed to steal the secret of the spirits power, their existence. The first thing he did was to take them prisoners. That was after theyâd promised that theyâd left a savior in one of us. Ever since then, chaos reigned. People lived in terror, closed doors. But the fault was all on the tourists. They always visited this place. It was one of them who brou-ght the secret of how to capture a spirit.â
I nodded, un-derstanding now why he hated tourists.
âWhen I was seventeen, I had gone out for a stroll. The evening was cool and nice. Iâd left mom and dad at home. That was the stupidest thing Iâve ever done. I was the one who always defended them againstâŠ. I was such a fool. Iâll never forget that itâs my fault theyâre gone now.â
I hurriedly placed my palm on his th!gh and smoothened.
âDonât blame yourself Ewan. It wasnât your fault.â
âYes it was. But I donât want to talk about it anymore.â
I nodded. âItâs OK. Whenever youâre re-ady to tell me Iâllââ
âItâs not that I donât trust you. I donât want to talk about it because right now, the only thing I want to do is k!ssyou.â
And before I knew, heâd leaned down and k!$$ÂŁd me, cu-pping my chin in his hand.
To be continued