The Ghost of Sander Jones

Chapter 20: Arrival

December seventh came faster than my birthday had. But in these recent times life had sped up from a crawl straight to sprinting, nothing was gradual anymore. The day following my birthday to now had been spent in a furious fight with Mark. Not a real fight but practice. That day, yesterday, had been rough and today would be no different. I sighed stepped into the closet and then slipped on the dress that Mom had bought for me in the previous month. When I was done I slipped my hair forward over my shoulders letting it cascade around them evenly. I peeked in the bathrooms mirror at myself. I sighed feeling silly; I still felt that I needed to presentable even though there were much bigger and heavier items on my plate at the moment.

I stepped out of the bathroom feeling edgy. This was it. The day that I had been preparing for since I found the book of En-zar in the maze. If this really would be my last day I wanted to at least leave an impression, no matter how small, on my opposing forces. Sander wasn't here this morning and I knew that he would be back soon. I shifted my eyes to my wand. The wand seemed ominous to me now, so very menacing. I forced myself to pick it up and tuck it into one of the folds in the dress.

I took one last glance at myself in the mirror in the bathroom then I left the room. No one was down there yet, nothing stirred. Peaceful and quiet. I sighed taking a deep breath slumping over a chair. The funeral didn't start until ten o'clock a.m. it was barely after six right now. I sighed again and waited thinking, drifting in and out of sleep...

The smell of food was what woke me. I yawned and then stretched looking around groggily. Helga was in the kitchen cooking. She was wearing a long simple black dress that stopped around her ankles. "Good morning child." Helga said without turned to look at me. I bit my lip before speaking. "Good morning Helga, nice to see you this morning." I said with forced politeness. I worked to get the nervousness and worry from my tone.

"Good luck today." Helga continued ignoring my reply. Her tone was friendly and was heavy with her accent. "Thanks." I said a little drily. I had to remind myself that the future events were not her fault and she bring them up again with me trying to banish the thoughts was really unavoidable. I slid off the chair, my legs taking a little while to respond to my command and I felt the need to smooth down my hair because of nervousness. I wished Sander or Mark were here, they would have been a great soother for me right now but I had hardly heard anything from Mark since my birthday and Sander had left the night before to take care of some unnamed business.

I sighed and stretched now that I was on my feet and I felt the blood flow down my legs. "Is anyone else up yet?" I asked after a long silence had passed between us. "Not yet. It is still very early in the morning." Helga turned her head slightly to look out the window and my gaze followed. The sky was barely starting to lighten. "How long was I sleep?" I asked feeing suddenly unsure of time. "Maybe about twenty minutes or so. Not that long." Helga said focusing her attention back to what she was cooking. I stared back out the window.

By the time Helga had finished the food my dad and mom were up wrapped in the robes covering their pajamas. All throughout breakfast there was a tense and awkward silence. Helga had showed signs of her own knowledge to the situation, though it was not enough to give away her own situation. My dad had noticed too: though he did not comment on anything because he was oblivious to everything that has been happening lately. Mom was definitely the source of all the tension this morning followed by me. I tried not to show any knowledge that would give away everything and I guess I had succeeded. Shortly after everyone has eaten we left for the funeral. I still had no idea where we were going so I just sat back and waited patiently. We ended up going to the training platform (and I had to hide my shock and recognition). The route we took was a lot easier to get to and a shorter distance. If I had of known about this way, I thought sourly, and then I would have taken it.

On the short walk to the training arena I began to panic again. The same fears that had been plaguing me and the same one I had shot back every time, for the past weeks were back again with a vengeance. What if I really can't do this? What if I die? What, why, why....

I took a deep breath trying to calm myself before we reached the entrance of the platform. I could do this, I knew I could. After I recited these words I felt better and I looked out for the first time, and actually saw my surrounding.

Not as many people were there as I had originally suspected to be. Aside from the people that lived in the manor, and a few people that I didn't recognized, the area was empty. I vaguely noted that Mark was not there as he had promised two days earlier. The platform we were now standing on was changed so that it looked like a building than like the open space that it really was. My knees began to shake from nervousness. Am I the only one who noticed that the room temperature had risen? I straightened my posture in hopes that I could conceal my wobbly knees.

Someone cleared their throat behind me and I jumped then turned around slowly. Mark stood behind me his hands in the pocket of his suit pants. He had a smile on his face though it was grim. Despite my mood I smiled slightly relieved that he was finally here. "Hey Elizabeth." He greeted casually. "Cold?" He asked after looking me over and finding me shaking. I shook my head and scuffed. "Hardly." I made and effort to slow my shaking so that it was less noticeable.

Mark noticed my action but did not comment on it further. Instead he said, "Don't worry. You have nothing to worry about. I'll be here to back you when" - he altered his wording, hesitating while he thought - "if things go wrong." He finished. From the pocket of his jacket he pulled out a small box that was similar to mine. His own personal wand back. He placed it back into his pocket. I nodded feeling temporarily assured by Mark's presence.

"Come on," I said spinning around holding my hand up beckoning Mark to follow me. "The service is about to start."

Shortly after being seated the ceremony did start. I noticed that everyone there at there had to say something and I was glad that I did not have to say and that mark and I had chosen seats in the back. I wasn't to in tuned to what everyone was saying, but I was on the look out for anything suspicious. After all the speeches the pope came to speak again. When he had finished speaking everyone stood up and paid our respect to the body and for a split second I wondered of I had dreamed everything up. In that second the scene changed.