Chapter thirty five
So his new plan was dancing with magic. No problem.
I took out the lights once more, bringing them back on only for the people to notice a ball in my hand that wasn't there before.
I grinned, wondering how Marshall wanted to dance with a ball. But as always, he had other plans.
I threw the ball down to my feet, kicked to it my head, rolled it to the back of my neck, then front, then head again.
Ahhhhh! The roar I expected from the people came of course, mostly the males. But that wasn't all the finishing move I needed to win Angela.
There were just some stunts only people who were controlled by muses could pull with an ordinary ball. I rolled my left foot round the ball in the air, severally, perfectly.
There was nothing like a good old fashioned dance battle where you secretly used magic.
And for my finishing move, I kicked the ball high up away from me, watching it and calculating the point where it would land.
When I found it, I slid on the floor and raised a leg to get the ball. The crowd laughed mainly because it was going to seem impossible to do that. But when I did, they gawked at me. And that was when I knew I was going to win this.
I spun my body quickly on the ground in circles, the ball still upon my leg without falling off. I could hear screams and claps now. When that was over, I kicked the ball high up again and got to my feet, catching it with the back of my neck once more.
Long story short, I won! In your face Clara Maxwell.
After my muse left my body, I panted and laughed, "I've never had this much fun in my life. Thanks Marshall."
He smiled at me, putting his hands around me happily in a hug I was going to forever remember. With a beautiful tune playing in the background, I relished in the moment, wishing he was my own blood.
"Me too Edward. Me too," he replied to my silent wish and patted my back. I mean he was everything I needed.
The night ended and I went home, my second family even better than my first.
***
We boarded the first flight that morning. When Norwich air came into my lungs once more, I smiled warmly, surprised by the way I missed this place.
When we landed, Marshall and I immediately teleported to my room, just to find the dreadful Paul Norman, my replica sleeping comfortably under my sheets.
With a frown on, I walked to him and rolled him out of it, slumping upon it in his stead. Oh those sheets, I missed them, compared to the very heavy ones back at Oxford.
He pulled the lamp on and rubbed his eyes. It took half a minute for him to bounce out of sleep and recognize me, "Finally!"
He got on his feet, looking down at me, "Why the violent alert though?"
Sighing tiredly, I answered, "It's been a helluva trip for me. Coming back to find you on my bed was not pleasant. I'm back, you can go."
"And my pay?" He asked.
"Check your phone," I yawned.
He immediately rushed for his device, smiling appreciably when he saw a bank message for a whole grand, "Thanks a bunch. Your family though gave me a pretty hard time. I was wondering..."
I clenched a fist and looked at him, making him teleport immediately away from my home to wherever nature called.
"That was rude," Marshall said while he walked to me.
I sat up, bracing my back against the head of my bed, "I learnt a lil something from you. My parents are asleep. Can we go brainwash them or something?"
"Already done that," he confirmed solemnly.
I gave him a look and a big shrug, "But you never left."
"Do I need to," he answered reasonably.
I nodded and leaned back into my bed, "True."
Marshall watched me drift away to the realm of the half dead with a smile on his face, "Left with your sister though."
When he said that, I bounced up from my bed, "No. Leave Sophie with the memory."
Marshall frowned at me. When he took his hands out of his pockets, meaning something really disturbing happened. And he did, "Are you crazy! Why?!"
"Look Marshall," I sighed and got to my feet, "My sister has been through a lot because of this whole muse thing. She lost her friends, she thinks she's crazy...."
"And leaving her with the memory of seeing her brother as a supernatural will help with her craziness," he cut me off in sarcasm, giving me a glare with his brown eyes.
I eyed him, almost succumbing to the urge of picking a fight with him. But this was serious business, "I assured her she still had her sanity because Ghosts were actually real. You feel. And I told her I'll prove it to her but..."
The rest of what I wanted to say hid behind my throat, because I didn't have the balls to ask for it.
Marshall who had been listening to me frowned when I suddenly went silent, noticing the gasps I released and realized I wanted to say something. And when I didn't say it, he had no choice but to find out himself. In other words, read my mind.
I just sighed and watched him.
Suddenly, he closed his eyes and began shaking his head in disbelief, "There is no way I am going to do that! I mean.... Edward, how could you even think of something like that?!"
I gave the saddest face I had, giving him those eyes that always worked on him. But this time, he was not buying it.
I went on anyways, "Please Marshall. For Sophia. She's demoralized at the moment and I'm pretty sure it'll help her if you do this for me."
"So what if she's demoralized," he opened his arms and shrugged angrily, "I should show myself to someone who's not a host to prove she's a sane person just because she shed half a litre of tears!. Read my lips, it is against the muse rule. Which in one word means NO."
Okay this dude could be a real dick when he had a crazy set of principle to stick to. At that, he gave me the narrow frown that I began getting used to.
I closed my eyes, calming down before speaking so I won't say the real thing on my mind, though he already knew that, "Kuma is destroyed. You have no one to answer to or someone who could punish you."
He began pacing up and down the room, expecting that dominant way could stop me from my thoughts this time, "Look Eddy. The muse world is a secret society. No other human except hosts know about our existence. What if she has a bestie she trusts so badly and tells her this little secret so she won't tell anyone. Then maybe the bestie has a mom who's close to her like hair and skin. Then she tells the mom she trusts. Ahhhh then imagine if that mom has a trustworthy husband...."
"Marshall. Marshall." I stopped his blabbering, "I get you. Sophia won't tell anyone. I know her, I guess. She's had all this fantasy and the best gift I can give her is to prove them true. You've fixed your problem with your sister. Help me fix mine."
He eyed me up and down, shaking his head unbelievably, "You think you can just kiss my arse anytime you want?"
I almost smiled, "I'm serious though. It's a rule that we shouldn't be breaking. But we all know that sometimes we break some rules just to make things work."
He sighed heavily, his hands on his face. That was when I knew I was getting to him.
And as a real con artist would do, I pushed on, "Please Marshall. Please."
He looked at me, his hands on his hips, "Do not say this to anyone."
I grinned at him and nodded, "I love you."
"Eww," he replied coldly, "And if anything comes out of this, blame your sorry arse."
***
We passed the lobby that had Sophie's room at then end. When I reached her door and knocked, I realized it was past midnight. There was every possibility she was asleep. When I was just about to turn around, she clicked the door open, groaning when she saw it was her Thor of a brother.
"What do you want?!" Sophia asked coldly.
I leaned back,glaring at her in shock, "Why the cold welcome?"
She eyed me ruefully. After a sigh, she looked around the corridor then back at my face, "What are you Edward?"
"What am I?" I asked, a sad frown on my face, "Look. No matter what you saw that day, I'm still me, Edward Hanson, your brother."
She almost laughed at me. Sophia crossed her arms over her chest with an arch of her waist, "Yeah sure. Some kind of scary human with blue eyes that glow in the dark. A body that bends metal and the exact type I saw in my dreams. You had something to do with me going crazy Eddy... In simple language,what do you want?"
I sighed. She wasn't helping the whole issue by rubbing all the guilt on me like that. My hands upon my waist, I said, "I have come to tell you everything. To let you know exactly what you saw."
And as always, she didn't help out.
"What!" She began, "Contact lens? Or a metal vest that bent the knife? Look Edward, I still have that sanity to see that everything that happened that night was crystal clear. It was real. What could you possibly explain that'll change that?"
Rubbing my face in frustration, I held my hands out in a serious explanatory pose, "Look Soph, I'm not here to lie. All you saw the night was real. And.... I've come to tell you everything."
Sophie frowned when I said that, contemplating if she was to give in or not. When she looked up at me, I pleaded with my eyes, trying my best to make her see things my way. After a while, she left the doorway and stalked back into her room. Well that was as good as an invitation.
I made sure to close the door shut. Mom and Dad were not going to take a news like this as righteous. It was straight to church.
"Start talking," she snarled with the same pose of crossed arms and arched hip.
I delayed in thought, looked towards Marshall who had teleported into the room some time ago. He still seemed uncertain about this, taking his gaze away when I was yet to speak.
"Fine," I began, "It all started like two months ago."