Quest for the Omnistone

Chapter 35: The Lady with the Stapler

Johnny:

I stepped out of the portal and onto the dusty sidewalk, just outside the front yard of the Rockwell residence. I thought of stopping by to say hello to Aunt Ria, but decided against it. Time was running out and Aunt Ria was quite chatty.

As I walked along Corbel Street, I tried to recollect my thoughts. Crystal seemed anxious earlier about tomorrow's deadline, and she usually never cracked an emotion. Weird for a teenage girl, but it must've been a Traveler thing.

'FWOOM!' I rounded a corner and heard a fire being lit somewhere nearby, reminding me of my power malfunction. I never had a problem with keeping my cool, which was necessary in keeping my fire in check. But now... well, things couldn't get any worse, right?

'SKREE!' 'BONG! BONG!'

"Argh!" I put my hands up to my ears, trying to block out the deafening noise. I tried to look around for the source, but my vision zoomed in and out like a broken camera. I shut my eyes immediately, willing the nausea to go away. In my three-second glimpse, I managed to see that there were no cars in the area, meaning I was listening to highway traffic three miles away.

'WHEEE-WOOO!' 'CLANG!' 'THUMP! THUMP!'

I stumbled down the road, hands on my ears and eyes in a half squint, silently praying that no one would see me. I never knew super hearing and super vision had a disadvantage until now.

When I finally reached Zurriban Street, I was almost back to normal. The screeches of noontime traffic were getting fainter and my eyes stopped zooming in on useless pieces of junk. Sighing in relief, I began to look for the Clifford residence.

"Blue roof, garden fountain... ah, here we go." The place was easy to find for it seemed to be the most cheerful one on the block. While other houses had flower bushes and trees of one kind, the Clifford residence had rose bushes, lilies, tulips, apple trees and sycamores. It was impossible not to look at the place if you passed by.

I walked up to the front door and knocked on it lightly. It immediately swung open. "Good day, I— hello?" The door had only swung open halfway. I pushed it open even further, revealing an empty hallway. "Hello? Anyone home?" I slowly walked around the hallway, waiting for someone to make a sound. It seemed downright odd that the door was left open like that. A thief? A trap?

Just as I assumed that the house was empty, a faint singing voice came from upstairs. Under normal circumstances, I would've tried to get the person's attention and waited downstairs, but things were urgent so I climbed up the stairs in search of the source of the sound.

As I got closer and closer to a certain door, the sounds became clearer. Someone was... squealing about something while listening to really loud music, music that Crystal usually listened to. I prayed as hard as I could that my hearing wouldn't act up again because that would be a bad way to be discovered.

'Even if the stars and moon collide, I never want you back into my life. You can take your words and all your lies, oh-oh-oh I really don't care.' "Yes! Finally! Take that, Prince of Weselton! Jack is waaaayyy better than you!" Squealing followed that very odd statement.

"Um, hello?" I called out. There was a gasp and the music stopped. I waited for fifteen seconds but no one came out. So I ever so slowly opened the door and immediately deduced that I had entered Johanna's bedroom. The walls were beige and had fuchsia floral designs painted all around. The bed had matching sheets and sat in the middle of it was a small blue speaker, along with... what's that old touchscreen device called again? Oh yeah, a tablet.

Suddenly, a high-pitched scream came from my left. I turned just in time to dodge a high kick. "Whoa, calm down, miss." That didn't seem to help as the girl screamed even louder. And just my luck, my hearing acted up again.

"Argh! Ugh!" I clapped my hands over my ears. She aimed another high kick and hit me in the chest. I stumbled back a bit as she thankfully stopped screaming. I looked up and my eyes widened. "Lady. Put. The stapler. Down please." I ducked swiftly as she threw it at me. "Man, you're even feistier than Crystal."

"Wait, you know Crystal?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact I'm her cousin, Johnny." I said, dusting off my shirt as the slight pain in my chest faded.

"C-cousin?" The girl, who I figured was indeed Johanna, dropped the scissors she had grabbed from her bedside table.

'Man, good thing I mentioned Crystal. I could've lost an eye.' I thought, eyeing the scissors carefully before getting a good look at the girl my cousin claimed to be the solution to our problem.

Johanna Clifford looked to be around Crystal's age, if not a little younger. She had waist-length, dark brown hair that was currently in a French braid. Her eyes were a nice shade of brown and seemed to have a permanent sparkle of mischief in them.

"You are Johanna Clifford, correct?" I clarified. The last thing I needed was to bring in the wrong girl.

"Well, yes. But—"

"Good. I'm going to have to ask you to come with me. Crystal is in need of your help."

"My help? With what? Does it somehow have to do with the fact that I haven't seen her in person for nearly two years? And the fact that she never talks about it when she calls?"

I glanced around the room, noticing the snowflake patterns on her closet and the drawings of Elsa and sketches of Jack's staff pinned on the wall beside her bed. Huh, a fan of Frozen and Rise of the Guardians is the only chance of survival for the said realms. Interesting. "That is something only Crystal can explain. Now—"

"Wait, how'd you get in here anyway?"

"The front door was open, so I—"

"Oh, god. I left it open again?"

"It would seem so. Now—"

"That reminds me, my parents are out and may come back anytime soon. Is this gonna take long? So I know if I should leave a note or not."

"Maybe an hour or two in Earth time. In my opinion, it would be most appropriate to leave a note—"

"What do you mean by 'Earth time'? Are we leaving the planet or—"

"Tyton, would you stop interrupting? I'll explain once we get there. For now, just change clothes. We're leaving in five."

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing now?"

I eyed her clothes in slight distaste. She had on a white cotton t-shirt with the words 'Be the best that you can be' on it, along with knee-length shorts and sandals. "You'll need to wear something more practical, Johanna Clifford. Five minutes."

"Ten. I need to get a bag ready."

"Wha—... Eight. That's final." I strode out the door without waiting for a reply. I heard one last squeal of excitement and made my way out to the garden.

~

"I said eight." I told Johanna when she came out the door. She wore a black t-shirt this time, along with jeans and gray running shoes.

She rolled her eyes and hoisted her backpack up her shoulder. "And how long did I take? Eight minutes and thirty seconds?"

I shook my head solemnly. "Eight minutes and thirteen seconds."

"You Rockwells and your time exaction. It's maddening, I tell you!"

I snorted, creating a portal with my DW-Generator. "Time is plutonium. Precious and life-threatening. And for the record, my last name's Archer."