Unfazed

Chapter Twelve

Catherine couldn't sleep, it was late at night, she spent most of her night twisting and turning in bed trying to push away the accretion of thoughts that had recently inhabited her mind. She left the window open, the curtains were drawn apart and she could see the moon through her window. Which world is this? A world full of magic? The uneasiness in her chest was growing ever since she saw her mother's portrait in the professor's study room. She did not even know where she was, when she had asked James, "This is the Academy", was all he said.

Catherine stood up with a pillow and walked towards the window. She placed the pillow at the window alcove and climbed up to sit there. She looked towards the desolate land near the Academy. She could see the nightlamps lit on the nearest street far away from the Academy. She could see some miniature figures moving on the streets, jumping around as if in reverie. Catherine saw a figure standing up from the barren grounds near the Academy. Catherine did not realize someone was there until the figure stood up and  started dusting his clothes. 

This guy wasn't wearing his cloak, Catherine thought. He turned around and started walking towards the Academy, the moonlight hit the figure and Catherine could see him clearly, it was Theo. Catherine could see his face gleaming like an angel as the moonlight hit his face. There was something about his walk, Catherine thought, that made him look stout. His head high, as if filled with hauteur, his lips tightly drawn in a straight line. 

A rush of air hit Catherine's face, the curtains were flowing as if patterns of waves in the ocean. Catherine was still gazing at the figure beneath when Theo looked up and saw Catherine sitting by the window. He stopped in his tracks, a few feet before the Academy entrance. He looked at Catherine suspiciously, as if on que somebody knocked on Catherine's door and she tore her gaze away from Theo and hopped off the window alcove to open the door. 

She opened the gate only to find Noah standing there, fiddling with his fingers while looking down at his feet. 

"Noah?", Catherine said. 

"Yeah, I figured you would be up", Noah replied pensively. 

"Can I come in?", Noah asked reluctantly, looking at Catherine, who wasn't wearing her cloak. She was wearing her old clothes, the ones she was wearing when Noah and her had entered into this world through the portal. Catherine wanted to feel normal again. She wanted all this to be just a bad dream, which will go away once she will open her eyes and wake up. She was eagerly wanting for someone to snap her back into reality. A reality where none of this was true.  

"Yeah", Catherine replied and made way for Noah to enter the room. Noah's eyes looked enervated, as if he had betrayed sleep purposely, his hairs were messy, some of the strands were falling on his forehead just above his eyes. Catherine suppressed the urge of reaching out and pulling them aside. 

"Are you alright?", Noah asked, his eyes concerned. 

"Yes, I am fine.", Catherine replied while looking away from Noah. She wasn't fine, she hadn't been fine in a long time but now was not the time to dwell on that. Catherine knew better than letting her feelings get to her. 

"What should we do now?", Catherine asked, wanting to circumvent Noah's inquisition. " How do we get out of here?"

"We need to find the portal.", Noah replied. "The portal?", Catherine looked at him, baffled. 

"Yes. The portal brought us here, I think it is the only way back.". Noah replied and Catherine nodded in agreement. 

"But I don't know what brought us here", Noah confessed. 

"What?", Catherine mumbled. 

"I-I don't know what brought us here. One moment we were standing in Ms. Aritzvah's hall and the next we were here.", Noah explained. 

"It was the blue veneer in the doorway", Catherine told Noah, who just gave her a puzzled look.

"The blue veneer? It looked like I was seeing the ocean waves from within the water.", Catherine elaborated. "You did not notice?"

"No. There was no veneer when I got there.", Noah said.

"No. It was right there. We fell through it!", Catherine exclaimed, her eyebrows raised and eyes wide open. 

Noah's tongue ran across his lower lip, "I saw nothing.", he replied. 

"How is that possible?", Catherine murmured, more to herself than out loud. "Only I was able to see it? "

"Maybe it was there for you.", Noah whispered as the epiphany dawned upon him. His mouth open in amazement. It was like he demystified a convoluted puzzle. It all came to Noah in flashes, Noah sitting with Ms. Aritzvah listening about the tales of Gryneff. About how a young girl went from being a cyffredin, a mundane, to battling in the most valorous battles in the kingdom of Gryneff. She knew about Gryneff, Noah thought. She knew it is not just a make believe place for children. It was another world indeed. 

"Cathy, the portal was there for you.", Noah said, his face pallid, Catherine could see him gulping down in fear. Noah's facial expression changed from amazement to terrified. She could see his eyeball moving around as if he was trying to solve an inexplicable equation. 

"Uhh. No. That's not possible,", Catherine replied impassively. But she did know it was possible, very much possible. She had seen her mother's portrait in Grace's study room. That meant something. What was here portrait doing here? In this world? It could not be a coincidence. Noah knew about this place before he entered the portal. He knew about it because Lorelai told him.  This was not fortuitous. 

The words that Catherine anticipated, finally came out of Noah's mouth, and Catherine shuddered. A shiver ran down her spine giving her chills. Catherine sucked in a breath as Noah said, "You mother, she wanted you to come here."