Something's Wrong With the Different Realms

Twelve: Fleur & Gillian

Then, it was my turn. I had to hold back tears and bit my hand as the serum was painful. It burned like fire, and it felt like my ears were blazing hot and being charred off by fire. I had to refrain from scratching at the tip of my ears as I exited the bathroom to sort my stuff while Horizon took a wash and applied the hair ink.

After both of us had taken a wash and returned to the dining room table, our ears had returned to their regular colors and their tips were almost fully rounded.

Fleur returned carrying four sets of clothes and set them down on the table. "These should work for now," she said, "they're some clothes Gillian and I bought too small but never bothered to return. So they're basically brand new."

We took the clothes. I had got a plain olive green long-sleeved top with some stiff blue trousers known as jeans, a light red short-sleeved top and stretchy black trousers known as leggings. Horizon had gotten pretty much the same things except he had two pairs of jeans and his clothes were different colors and sizes than mine.

"Are they good enough?" Fleur asked.

"Yes," I said, then turned my head, "and we finished applying the serum as well so my ears are now normal."

"Okay," Fleur placed her hands on the table, "let's move on to the next order of business. We have to talk about school."

"You'll be going to school the day after tomorrow on Monday. Gillian will show you how to take the bus there and you should be able to find your classes by following the school map and looking at your schedule. Your class times and classroom numbers are listed on your schedule.

"Anyway, I talked to the principal about what classes you have to be in. Math, science and English are all required by the curriculum so you'll be taking these three subjects. The good news is that, other than English, they are similar to a lot of the things you learned in Zenobia.

"The last subject I chose for you is creative writing. Out of all the electives available, it's the only one that has available spots where you two will be together. Because you have math, science, and English separately because you guys are in different grades, I thought it would be good to have one subject where you guys are in the same class.

"What are 'grades?'" Horizon asked as he glanced over at the schedule and map that Fleur placed in front of us.

"They are sort of like age divisions for schooling. I'm sure you guys have these divisions back in Zenobia as well," Fleur answered.

Horizon took some time to process this information before saying "okay."

"Anyway, I want you to study your schedule and the school map and familiarize yourself with them. I will also send you some of the course content if you want to take a look over that in advance. And if you have any questions about any of the subjects, feel free to ask my son, Gillian. He's your age Allaira, and he can also speak the common Shallngsean tongue as I can. Though, he doesn't speak the best. Yeah, feel free to speak the Shallngsean tongue when you're in my house if you want to, but try to speak English outside, okay?"

"Yeah," we said.

Then Fleur proceeded to take out two thin rectangular devices just as someone entered the room. He was a bored-looking medium-skinned lanky boy with curly black hair and rounded glasses. He greeted Fleur first and placed a kiss on her forehead before glancing at us strangely. He was probably Gillian, Fleur's son.

"How was work?" Fleur asked.

"It's okay," Gillian shrugged as he took the last remaining chair. "It's the same thing every week."

Fleur nodded then turned to us. "This is Allaira and Horizon. I told you about them. For reasons pertaining to the universe, they'll be staying with us for a while. I was just helping them set up their cell phones. You can help if you want to."

Gillian shrugged. "Okay, sure, why not? I'm better at technology than you are anyway."

"I know," said Fleur.

Gillian took one of the thin black, rectangular, shiny devices from the middle of the table. "So this is a cell phone," he said as he pushed a button, making the surface of the shiny rectangle light up in vivid colors.

Horizon and I stared intently at the screen, it was nothing like we'd seen before. "Fleur and I managed to get two decent-quality slightly-used phones for you guys. You'll need a phone because it's important for communication. You'll be able to call or text us if you ever need any help. And you'll be able to search up things as well and find resources more easily.

"Allaira, you can take the blue phone and Horizon, you can take the black one. Oh, and before we start setting up anything, it's important to know that each of you has 3G of data each month. This will allow you to search up whatever you want at any time, okay?"

We spent some time setting up the phones. Inputting information, changing language preferences, downloading something called "apps," and getting the hang of a new phone. Gillian even insisted that Horizon and I create an Instagram account. He said that it'd be our best bet, along with checking our emails, to keep in touch with what was going on at the school.

"Oh, yeah," Fleur spoke up. "We need to start addressing you as Alexa and Harry. But, anyway, we got you guys a phone number as well. We'll help you install your Sim Card and tell you how to use it. Okay?"

Fleur and Gillian removed a panel from the sides of our phones and installed a tiny chip in them, then placed them back. She told us our phone number and got us to test it out. To me and Horizon, it was something quite extraordinary. Humans from all around the world could link up to one another with a single press of a number. What an efficient and cool system it was?

When we were done, we cleared the table. Then, Fleur and Gillian led us upstairs to a large, spacious room with three beds. Two of them were stacked on top of one another and there was a third one in the corner of the room. Besides the two beds was a wardrobe. On the other side, there was a larger bed with a drawer and a closet beside it. In the front of the room was the door. There was also a desk and a small shelf. At the back of the room, there was a large window that overlooked the backyard.

"So this is your room," said Gillian. "It's not big but I hope you find it comfortable. We had to rearrange a lot of things so you guys have a space to sleep in. We don't have another room in the house and the basement is kind of small and unfinished."

Fleur poked her head in. "You guys can set up your stuff. After that, we'll eat some dinner. I trust you guys won't try anything funny, right?"

Gillian made a disgusted face. "MOM!"

Fleur laughed, "just teasing, I know you're a good kid, Gil. But Alexa? Harry?"

"We'll be um, fine," muttered Horizon, looking down, embarrassed.

"You know, if you've been talking to Allurie, you should know that creature development tends not to happen until you're older. That's why we live pretty long lives in general. Our development is slowed down. But don't you fret, nothing 'funny' or bad or illicit will take place. I'm a moral creature, you know?" I fired back with a slight venom in my tone.

Fleur just shrugged it off. "I know, I'm a witch. I'm originally from Shallngsea as well but somehow, when I was young, I traveled to Earth and never managed to find my way back. I managed to make a home here. Anyway, I just hope that you're comfortable. I know it's difficult to be thrown into a new realm that you know nothing about."

We unpacked our stuff. I decided to sleep on the top bunk bed. Bunk bed, what a funny word. And Horizon situated himself at the bottom bunk. We unpacked our things and studied the new information that Fleur had presented to us. Then, when we were called, we ate a quick but hearty dinner.

I sat cross-legged on my bunk and stared out the window. The sun had just dipped below the horizon and the blue of the sky was darkening by the second. I wondered what my family was doing right now. Were they asleep? Were they awake? Was Alleana scribbling something for her job? Were my parents planning the day? Not being able to just hop over and talk to my family was slowly killing me.

I was infuriated at how much I missed my home.