Chamber of Magic

Chapter Nine - Spreading Rumors

დ. Amelia. დ

I felt sick, like, so sick that I could literally just go to the bathroom and vomit. The scene in front of me was the cause of it. I rolled my eyes again. Adam was certainly acting like a lovesick puppy, hanging onto every single word that came out of the stupid mind controller's mouth. Whatever the hell her name was. She got on my nerves. I didn’t like her. Not at all. I mean, she seemed like a cool chick and all that but just based on the fact that my Adam was acting the way he was, well, it was enough for me to feel sick and have a dislike in the girl.

“What is the best way to get rid of them then?” the irritating girl asked. I rolled my eyes yet again and turned away. I didn’t want to see Adam rushing over to answer her.

“Well, just about anything would kill them,” of course it was Adam who answered her.

“You know, there is one thing that I would love to try,” that stupid girl said shyly. I glanced over at her with a certain amount of dislike and curiosity.

“What’s that?” again, Adam addressed her. I did, however, noticed how uncomfortable Jareth was. I smirked then, finally being able to put the puzzle pieces together.

“I wonder if I could make someone or something think that they are going to explode and then…poof!” the pretty girl giggled, quite evilly I might add.

“Do you think it's possible?” Jordon asked from his spot in the corner. Admittedly I was also curious if she held that kind of power.

“Only one way to find out,” Jareth voiced his opinion in a cold, bored tone. I didn’t miss that silly girl blush.

“I agree with Jareth,” ugh, Adam would you just shut up already? I thought to myself.

“Yeah, but how?” Eva asked. Is her name Eva? Ellie? s**t, no idea.

“Easy, you’ll be on the case, all you need to do is let your team know of your idea and be given the chance to test that theory,” Adam offered, and Jareth nodded in agreement. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at them.

“Wouldn’t that be dangerous? What if it didn’t work?” I finally spoke up, asking the most obvious question. Eight pairs of eyes were staring at me and I did it again. I rolled my damn eyes. “What? I am just asking what everyone is thinking but too damn stupid to ask or point out…” I turned my attention back to the research I was doing.

“Well, Amelia certainly has a point,” I blushed as I heard Adam’s voice, acknowledging the fact that I had said something. “I still think its worth a try, so, come on Ellora, let's go find Manny and discuss it with him,” Ellora? Oh, right that is the stupid girl's name. I watched them leave from the corner of my eye and waited until they had left the library.

“So, Jareth…” I looked up at him and smiled warmly. He looked surprised but shrugged it off. This would be a lot easier than I thought.

“Yeah?”

“Don’t you think they make a cute couple?”

“Who?”

“Oh please, are you seriously going to sit there and play dumb?” I snapped. He looked down and avoided me, but I wasn’t going to let it go. “Anyway, it is so painfully obvious they are in a relationship. They can’t get enough of each other,” I let my words hang in the air for a while. I was giving him time to process it.

“Do you think?” he asked after some time had passed and I hid my smirk behind my hand as I pretended to seriously consider it. He was watching me with a look of disappointment and although it bothered me, I shrugged it off and then answered.

“Yeah, I do think, I mean, they’ve been sitting here for almost an hour,” I paused and looked at the time on my phone as if to prove a point. “And all they did was talk to each other about the same thing over and over. Looking at each other the way they did, the girl, constantly blushing,”

“Ellora,” Jareth offered.

“Yeah, yeah, Ellora, she was pink most of the time and Adam was all over her like a lovesick puppy. They have it bad for each other, although, no, no, not my place,” I trailed off and prayed he would bite.

“What’s not your place?” he asked curiously, and I nodded. happy that he had taken the bait.

“Well, I don’t know the girl, but ever since she’s come here, who hasn’t she been involved with?” I left that question hanging in the air and watched Jareth take my words into consideration. I did notice Jordon raise an eyebrow in my direction, but I ignored him. “She flirts with the guys, even to a point where I heard some girls talking about her being Manny’s favorite,” Jareth looked as if someone had stolen his favorite toy and I felt momentarily bad for lying. Yet, I continued. “And don’t forget Oscar, the bet they made, she easily gave into the idea of kissing him and I mean!” I threw my hands up in the air to emphasize my point. “He was such a nasty d**k to her and then boom, now they friends and hugging each other?” I shook my head as if confused. “I don’t know man, I just think that she’s a bit of a player, I’d say another word, but I don’t want to be rude, you know?” I stood up and gathered my personal belongings. “I feel sorry for whoever is her promised,” I gave the two boys a small wave before leaving the room. Eva, you messed with the wrong girl. I said to myself as I made my way to my room that I shared with Annie. She wasn’t there, thank goodness for that. Now, I could only hope Jareth wasn’t too clever to see through my lies, but I had a feeling he was too caught up to notice. Eat s**t and die b***h. Now all I had to do was drop a few words here and there and soon everyone would think that Eva was a no good, lying, manipulating slut. Ugh, Ellora! I smiled to myself. My Adam would soon see the error of his ways and come running back to me.

დ. Jareth. დ

I sat there staring at Amelia’s retreating back and wondered if it was true.

“Nah man,” I heard Jordon say across the room and I glanced over at him.

“What?”

“Nah man, I highly doubt any of that s**t is true,”

“She makes a good point though,” I pointed out. She may be grasping at straws about Oscar, especially since she did tell me about that. As for Manny and Adam, now that was something, I was unsure of.

“Yeah man, but come on, she’s going on as if Ellora is this flirtatious girl and has every guy panting after her. You know that ain't true,”

“How would I know? I’ve been trapped here in this hell hole for almost two weeks,”

“So, have I, man, yet, I don’t hear nothing about Ellora, aside from the usual of course,” I was curious about that.

“Such as?”

“You know, the last case, her and Kael, that kinda thing,” Jordon went back to work on whatever research he was busy with. Leaving me with my thoughts. Ellora is a flirtatious girl, maybe not with others but she definitely was with me. We flirted any chance we got. But then again, I wouldn’t know if she was flirting with other guys. I wasn’t always around. I remembered the hug she shared with Oscar, but she had explained that to me, so I didn’t see him or that hug as a threat. Of course, one thing I was concerned about was Adam. The guy was literally drooling over her. I cringed as I thought back to how he would hang onto her every word. Plus, I had not missed the moments where he would touch her hand or even brush his arm against hers. A fit of raging jealousy hit me, but I quickly blew out the flame. I would ask Ellora about it. I knew in my heart that she was my promised. From the moment I first saw her, I knew it. I felt it and up until recently, I had been one hundred percent sure that she had felt that connection too. However, I may have counted all my eggs in the basket before they had actually hatched.

“I’m going to get something to drink, do you want anything?” I asked Jordon as I stood up.

“Nah man, I’m good,” I nodded before leaving the library. As I entered the kitchen, I heard a loud squeal.

“What?! Seriously?!” I recognized the girl as Mia, and I rolled my eyes. Whatever it was I wasn’t interested. I entered the kitchen and went over to the fridge; the two girls didn’t even acknowledge my presence.

“I’m telling you, girl, she kissed him!”

“No wonder he hugged her!” Mia gushed out and I froze. Who were they talking about?

“I heard that he even asked her out!” the other girl said (no idea what her name is)

“Omg, what did she say to him?” Mia asked, obviously enjoying the gossip.

“Apparently she shot him down, telling him she already had a date with someone else,”

“Omg, I wonder who it is?”

“Tossup between Manny and Adam,”

“Eeww,” Mia scrunched up her nose. “Honestly, I thought Ellora was into Jareth, she is like a fumbling fool when she’s around him. I never would’ve pegged her to go for the older guys,” I quickly left the kitchen, without the coke. So, they had been discussing Ellora. What Amelia had said was true. I felt my heart sink at that thought. I guess Ellora isn’t who she portrays herself to be. Maybe, just maybe she isn’t my promised. It seems like she is the slut Amelia had hinted at her being. I guess my next step is to talk to her and break my heart. I took out my phone and texted her.

დ. Ellora. დ

I followed Adam silently downstairs to where we knew Manny would be. I felt uncomfortable and awkward. It was obvious to me that Adam was hanging onto my every word. Using every opportunity to be around me or to even go so far as to touch me. Adam pushed open the door and waited for me to enter, as I did so with a muttered ‘thanks’ he placed his hand on my lower back guiding me and I blushed yet again at the closeness.

“Manny, do you have a minute?” Adam asked. Manny was alone in the training room and looked up at us.

“Yeah, sure, what’s up?” we spent the next hour discussing the plan before waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. I smiled over at Riley who entered first with a very flustered looking Kolton. I silently questioned Riley with my eyes, who waved her hand dismissing me. I knew I would get the information out of her later. Next to come in was Brent and his girlfriend/promised Claudia (I know right, who would’ve thought?) and of course little Annie.

“Hi, guys!” Annie greeted as she came and sat down next to me, brushing her thigh against mine. I was tempted to pull away from her, but I thought better of it. I didn’t want to cause any unnecessary issues. Plus, I knew she was teasing me and as I looked over at her, I saw that smirk and I couldn’t help but just grin back at her. Silly, yet sweet, Annie.

“Ok team listen up. I know its not normal for Adam to join us on a case, not unless we need his ability and quite frankly, we don’t need it on this case…but…” Manny paused as he looked around at their confused faces. “He and Ellora have come up with a plan and after discussing it for an hour, I do believe it is a chance worth taking,” he looked over at me and I knew it was my turn to talk. Nervously, I stood up and went to stand between Manny and Adam.

“So, this thing popped into my head earlier,”

“That’s dangerous,” Riley snickered, and I rolled my eyes at her.

“Yes well, this idea that I have sounded quite silly but as Manny said, we’ve been talking about it,” I took a deep breath as I looked at my team. My friends. “I wondered, what if I could enter the mind of a monster and made it think it was going to blow up? And I would really like to try it,”

“On whom?” Brent shouted out. I could tell just from the look on his face that he was worried, and I smiled.

“On the Djinn,” Adam spoke up.

“But how? Djinn is powerful mind controllers; do you really think you could do it?” Claudia asked and I nodded.

“I do think so, I mean, if I can make you see anything, feel anything, then shouldn’t I be able to control your body to a point where you blow up?”

“Disgusting,” Annie mumbled.

“So, what’s the plan exactly?” Kolton questioned curiously.

“Now, that is a very good question Kolton,” Manny said and proceeded to inform the rest of the team of what the plan would be.

დ.დ.დ

I was nervous. Again. Hell, how could I not be? I re-read Jareth’s message.

Jareth   ➺ Care to go for a walk after dinner?

Ellora     ➺ Yes

Jareth   ➺ Meet me at the bench

Ellora     ➺ Ok, see you then

Even though I was beyond excited, I was still nervous to be spending time alone with him. Our relationship, or whatever it was that we had, consisted of flirting, soft innocent touches and sneaky glances. I knew that my small crush was no longer a crush, I like him. yes, I, Ellora Stone, like Jareth Yates. A lot. Did I say a lot? Well, yeah anyway, I quickly made my way outside and through the gate. It was late already but the lights on the pathway made it easy for me to head to the bench. I was slightly surprised to see that he was already sitting there waiting for me.

“Hi,” I said as I sat down next to him.

“Hey, thanks for coming,” he nodded over at me with a small smile and my insides melted.

“Sure, is there a specific reason for this?” I asked him curiously. I hadn’t really thought there may be a specific reason. I had just been so excited that he had even asked me.

“No specific reason, just thought we could hang out, chat and yeah, is that ok?” he looked at me then and I nodded, not trusting myself to say anything at that moment. “Actually, do you mind me asking you some questions?”

“Ok,” was what I managed to choke out.

“How are you liking being here so far?”

“It’s great,”

“That’s it?”

“Well,” I frowned slightly, thinking. “Yes, it is great. After my parents were killed and I got my ability, things were hard for me. I wanted answers, I needed to know the truth,” I glanced over at him. “I’ve been alone for about a year, Jareth, and I was about to give up on this when Riley came to me, so yes, it is great,”

“Cool, so, um is everyone treating you alright?” I blushed at his question.

“Yes, everyone has been really nice. I mean, Oscar was a bit of a d**k at first, but not so much anymore,”

“What changed?” he asked me, and I wondered if I could tell him.

“I don’t know you all that well yet Jareth, but I am going to trust you, ok?” I looked at him and he nodded. “When Oscar was calling me out, I did take a peek inside his head, I saw things, I know things that I’m certain he didn’t want anyone to know. Not yet anyway. He reminds me of a bully from my high school and if there is one thing I know; bullies have secrets too. Anyway, going slightly off-topic here, Oscar approached me before Manny reminded everyone of the bet. He apologized to me and he meant it. Now, he could’ve just been protecting himself and his secret, but it doesn’t matter because I would never out him like that,” I stopped as I realized what I had just revealed. Glancing over at Jareth, however, he didn’t seem to pick it up, so I quickly continued. “It wouldn’t be my place to reveal his secret. So, I asked him, who would he be comfortable kissing without you know, humiliating him and that’s when he said, Annie. In a way, he still expected me to hurt him and when I didn’t, things got easier between us,”

“Makes sense, and may I ask about you and Manny?” his question caught me off guard and I stared at him with my mouth hanging open. “Sorry, not unless, it’s a secret or something,”

“Jareth, no, whatever you are thinking the answer is no. Manny and I have an understanding. He is helping me understand my abilities. Teaching me about all of this stuff, there is nothing and I mean nothing going on between us. Hell, why would you even think that?” I was beyond confused, and if I am being honest with myself, I was even a bit pissed off.

“I just heard that you are his favorite,”

“Well, sure, Manny and I have been spending a lot of time together, but I have been spending a lot of time with you too and there is nothing going on between us,” I said it but I hated it because the truth was I really did wish there was something going on between myself and Jareth.

“Ok,” Jareth said and then he pulled out his phone and got so busy with it that I sighed and got up. I didn’t leave, I just standing walking around a bit. What were all these questions? Why was he asking me about Oscar? He had already asked me, and I had already informed him of everything. “Ellora,” I turned back to Jareth and felt that tingling sensation and I knew Kael had zapped me somewhere. I opened my eyes and blinked. The light burning my eyes as I had just been in darkness.

“Woah, Kael, you have got to spot doing that,” but it wasn’t Kael in front of me, it was Jareth.

“Sorry, I texted him, asking him to zap us here,” I looked around the library and wondered why he had chosen to zap us here. “He and Riley are watching a movie,” he said as if reading my mind.

“Oh,” I said simply before pulling out a chair and sitting down. he sat across from me and was staring at me so intently that I shifted uncomfortably.

“Ok, so now, tell me about Adam, you two seem,” he paused looking down at his hands. “Close,” he finished.

“Adam and I…yeah, that does sound complicated doesn't it?” I breathed out loudly. Unsure if I even wanted to talk to Jareth about Adam.

“Do you like him?”

“Yes, of course, what’s not to like?” hearing my answer seemed to make him angry and he stood up abruptly and I quickly pushed my chair back and went to him. “Jareth, when I say that I mean that I like him as a friend,” I was having an inward battle with myself. Side one: why the hell do I need to explain myself to him? we aren’t a couple or anything. Side two: Don’t let him think there is something going on when there isn’t, you could stand a chance to lose him. Jareth was quiet, almost like a statue and I took a step closer to him. “Kiss me,” I suddenly blurt out. Jareth stared at me as if I was crazy and I immediately regretted saying those two little words. I wished the ground would open up and swallow me whole. I looked down and was just about to make some lame excuse to get out of the room when he pulled me roughly against his chest. My breath caught and my heart started pounding as I gazed up at him.

“This is what you want?” he asked me in that sexy hoarse voice of his, I nodded, and he leaned in. my heart was beating so fast as I closed my eyes, I was ready to have my very first kiss. “I don’t kiss sluts,” he whispered, and I opened my eyes. I couldn’t believe he just said that. Tears welled up in my eyes and I pushed away from him. I didn’t want him to see me cry, so I did what I do best, I ran.