Opposite Ink

Chapter 95 - The Wording

10am

Grace's View:
I finished my breakfast before going to the cruise library. I wanted to find out more about...about that family.

I knew quite a bit to be honest:
- Hope's mother had a twin brother
- Dream and Nightmare, and they were guardians
- Their families as well as their team's families all lived in a gigantic castle in the countryside of the timeline.
- Luna was half skeleton, half phantom

And that Bloom had died from an attack of a villain to their family. Someone called...Violetta. The two groups were in battle for these beautiful gems called the crystals of Ida, Ida being a timeline within this multiverse that broke long ago. The original owners of the crystals died in the timeline they were hiding in to protect the children to continue their legacy at some point in time.

Or so everyone thought. Some rumours revealed that the family actually went into hiding and plan to come out to save their children and the timeline one day.

But my guess was that it was just a rumour.

I continued doing my research, writing notes and printing off pictures. I needed to be careful, they could do anything to me.

Read my mind,
Curse me,
Turn me into st-

* Hey Grace. :)

I jumped as I heard Hope's voice, quickly closing my notebook.

"S-Sorry...you scared me." 😅

* My apologies, are you studying...?

I hesitantly nodded. He sat down opposite me and got out some holiday homework.

* I've been meaning to get some homework done.

He put his headphones on before starting his history work. I opened my notebook and continue to do research. A few hours passed by before I was satisfied with the quantity of research I had done. Hope had gone back to his room. I packed all my findings into a folder and put that into my tote bag along with my laptop and pencil case before leaving the library and walked around. In all honesty, I just wanted to avoid that family now...it just felt too awkward now. How was is that I was able to hide my magical abilities since I was a little kid yet exposed it so quickly when I met that family?

I was ashamed.

My mother would be so disappointed..I couldn't tell her. I went to get some food before returning back to my room. I sat on the balcony, watching the waves. They were aggressive today.

"Grace, I would love you to make some friends..I think it would be really beneficial for you."

"I'm okay Benji...I don't need friends."

"For me?.."

"Heh, I'll think about it."

I made a friend, and look at what happened.

Chaos.
Mayhem.
Pain.

If that was the cost of making a friend, then I would rather stay lonely. I heard a door slide open and without turning around, knew it was Luna. I quickly grabbed my stir fry box and was about to enter my room when my soul popped out of my chest.

I couldn't move-

* Can we talk about last week, please..?

"...there's nothing to talk about..please let me go.."

* You've been avoiding us at all costs, we should talk about what happened Ga-

"Wouldn't you avoid someone too after that? Let me go."

* You have every reason to be mad at me. None of my actions were justified, you deserve a proper apology.

She sat me down and she sat down where Hope would usually sit. My soul went back into my chest. The waves hadn't stopped being so lively.

* You have every reason to hate me; what I said and did crossed boundaries I never should've dared to approach. I let my anger get the best of me, and I'm so sorry.

"It's okay..you didn't know about him."

She sighed.

* If you don't mind me asking..what happened to him?

"My family and I are cursed. The curse killed my father and now my brother. My mother is next."

* What about you? Are you cursed too?

I nodded.

"My magic is...odd. It changes based on how I'm feeling. When I was cursed, I felt scared. So in order to stay alive, I have to be fearless."

* That must be so tiring...there's so many things nowadays to be scared of.

I shrugged.

* What's your favourite emotion?

"I don't have a favourite one."

* Aww c'mon, you've got to have a favourite one!

"Numbness. I'd rather feel nothing. Are we done here?"

She nodded, smiling. I glanced back at her before going back to my room. I laid out my research onto my bed and addressed each of them. Cross wasn't Hope's biological father...but they were very close. Luna's father and Hope's mother had no reason to get along...but someone got along. Mr Nightmare had ruined so many lives, including Solis and his family. I needed to stay away from him if I ever went to Hope's house. I hacked into the local hospital's database to find their magical abilities.

Hope:
- Osteokinesis
- Telekinesis
- Teleportation
- Light Magic
- Soul Reading
- Reforming with tentacles

Luna:
- Shapeshifting
- Telekinesis
- Tentacles
- Negativity Aura
- Reforming
- Portal Creation
- Superhuman Strength (from tentacles)
- Au-Hopping

Solis:
- Teleportation
- Water magic
- Dream Sighting..?
- Telekinesis

Slash:
- Energize
- Magic Manipulation
- Immunity to blue magic/attack
- Ability to hold hot objects
- Electric Blasters
- Teleportation
- Telekinesis
- Fire magic

I barely had any magic in comparison to them...

Slash and Luna had the most magic, and the most training. Solis, Slash, and Luna had moved to our school recently due to bullying that went on at their previous school. Is that why Luna was so.....mean?

For me, Solis's story was the saddest. He had a family once, and now he had nobody by blood. But Luna's family, Hope's family, Slash's family, everyone took him in. There was a locked file for Slash's family. Was is something dangerous? Part of me didn't want to hack into it...but another part of me needed to.

Well, wanted to.

I hacked into the file and read the case. It was about his parent, Epic.

Epic was pregnant...awww! My guess was that they'd kept is a secret because they wanted to surprise him? Or for protection?

That wasn't my business to find out.