"Ugh...."
Mari grumbled, the sharp pain in her head coming back. She rubbed her temple as she slowly opened her eyes.
She stood up. She found herself to be in the school infirmary, she adjusted her eyes and saw that their were cracks on the walls.
All of a sudden the realization hit her like a speeding arrow. She stood up from the bed and rubbed her temple again, the memory of her confrontation with Bianca, her snapping, and that weird energy coursing through her veins, all coming back to her.
She remembered the entire cafeteria was shaking, cracks forming and vines growing out from them.
"Did I....do that?"
"Yes you did"
The sudden reply startled the girl, she turned around to see Lloyd. He was staring at her, his face full of worry.
"Are you ok?" He asked, sitting at a chair beside her table.
"Yeah...I'm fine" She answered "But....did I really do this?"
She gestured to the crack in the wall, to which Lloyd only answered with a nod.
"How...."
"I'm sorry, it's all my fault" Lloyd said, lowering his head "I made you like this"
"What do you mean"
"Remember the day you became wild....well I was the cause of that"
"...."
"When you were still in the shop, you served a customer, he ordered bread and coffee, do you remember?"
"I do.....wait! that was you!" Mari exclaimed, the realization coming to her.
"Well...I didn't have any money, so I sort of used magic to make you.....not ask me for money"
"....." Mari was silent, she looked at Lloyd for a while then said "Wait, let me get this straight, you used magic on me, just so you could get free food"
"Yeah...."
Mari sighed, she wasn't angry at Lloyd, just disappointed that he would exploit his powers like that.
"Ok....but how does this affect me?"
"Well...when I used magic on you, your body got triggered, and something inside of you awaken. The contact with magic must have activated yours thus causing a chain reaction. The reaction caused the last hint of magic in your body to awaken, causing your body to convulse, since it wasn't ready for that type of energy"
"Wait so your saying that your magic, activated MY magic"
Lloyd nodded.
"But why do I have magic, and why do you have magic. How does this all make sense!"
"Calm down" Lloyd gently said "I'll tell you everything, just not here"
Mari nodded, she remembered what he said to her, She'll just have to meet him after school.
"Good, now let's talk about the incident a little bit" Lloyd looked at her "You really are quite something"
"What do you mean?"
"Well...you didn't just make the entire room shake, you affected the whole school" he gestured to the crack in the wall "That's not all, you also summoned all those plants without breaking a sweat, that's really impressive. Perhaps the citizens here might be good at using magic after all"
"Really?" Mari said in disbelief "I was just so angry at Bianca that something inside of me just snapped"
"Well magic is connected to emotion, so that makes sense, but even so that was still amazing. If I hadn't stepped in and knocked you out, you might have crushed the entire school"
"Can I do that?"
"Well with the right training of course...."
As Lloyd and Mari talked they heard footsteps coming from outside. Lloyd stood up and looked at Mari.
"Looks like I'll be leaving, remember, meet me at the alley in Milton street"
Mari nodded and Lloyd disappeared, just as he did though, two nurses and the school principal walked in.
They were shocked at Mari's awakening but quickly recovered. They went up to her and began asking her some questions.
"Are you ok?"
"Do you feel any other pain?"
Mari only shook her head, she didn't have enough energy to answer them. After finishing their round of questions the principal finally allowed her to be excused.
"Oh... and Ms. Hatcherson, I took the liberty of informing your parents, they should be here to pick you up"
"What!"
"Excuse me?"
"Oh....Nothing"
Mari controlled herself and quickly turned away. How is she gonna meet Lloyd if her parents are coming. After hearing this, they would surely keep her from leaving the house.
She was busy thinking that she didn't see someone walking towards her, without warning they both clashed and fell to the ground.
"Are you ok?"
Mari looked up and saw a girl was stretching her hand out to her, the girl was short and was wearing jeans and a dark blue hoodie. She had bangs and straight, black hair. After close inspection Mari new who she was.
"Oh thank you" Mari took her hand "You must be Chelsea"
The girl only nodded and lowered her head. She was always a shy girl and the one who gets the most bullying from Bianca. Mari felt sympathy for her, years of bullying lowered her self-esteem, now she couldn't even hold eye contact.
"I'm sorry, I didn't watch where I was going"
"Oh no....It's fine, I also wasn't watching where I was going"
Mari smiled, Chelsea was always the loner girl, no one would talk to her, she would always try to but she would avoid contact.
"Well, looks like we both weren't looking, I'm Mariposa, you can call me Mari"
Mari held out her hand, Chelsea was bit reluctant at first but eventually took it. After shaking hands she retracted hers and looked at her watch.
"I should get going now" with that she walked pass her.
"Wait I-"
Before Mari could finish her sentence, Chelsea was already gone. She watched the empty hallway, where Chelsea once was. She hoped she could get close to her, it must be hard having to always be alone.
After her encounter she exited the school, everyone was sent home, so the school was unusually quiet. She stood at the foot of the stairs where she began thinking about what happened earlier.
She remembered the energy --magic-- coursing through her, empowering her. She swallowed her saliva as she stared into her hands, without thinking she closed her eyes.
She stood still, her body not moving a muscle, when all of a sudden she felt it. A spark ignited in her chest, without hesitating she made it spread throughout her body.
She opened her eyes, and she could see her body emitting a faint glow, she looked to her side and saw a bush. Remembering earlier, she walked towards it and held her hands over it.
She could feel the plant, it was as if she could talk to it, so she stared at it and started releasing her energy. The bush started growing rapidly, the branches were spreading and the leaves thickening.
Mari removed her hands and the bush stopped growing, she stared in disbelief before her mouth turned into a smile.
"I have magic"
She mumbled to herself.
She started jumping up and down, feeling shock, happiness, and excitement at the same time.
She continued to jump, without knowing it, her body started glowing brighter, and the plants all around her started growing rapidly.
This continued until Mari opened her eyes, she saw that the entire front of the school was now covered in wild vines and shrubbery. The cement ground was covered in vines and leaves, she was shocked by this and concentrated her magic, the light from her body died down and the plants stopped growing.
She stared at it, trying to hide her grin, she continued to raise her arms and wave them excitingly.
"Honey!"
Mari looked and saw her parents car, they drove pass the building and towards her.
"Hey mom" she said cheerfully
"Well your happy today, considering what happened"
"Oh never mind that, let's go home"
Mari hopped into their car and closed the door. Her parents stared at her, they were worried for their daughter, but seeing her happy made them feel better. They turned on the car and drove home.
Once they arrived, Mari hopped of the car and skipped towards the front the front door.
"Wow, something big must have happened, you haven't been this happy since we visited Disneyland"
"I'm fine dad, today Is just a happy day"
"Ok..."
"Now go get changed were having dinner" her mother said.
"Oh...Is it ok if I skipped dinner tonight, I'm quite tired, and I wondered if I could just go to sleep"
"Are you sure" her mom questioned "I made chicken calderetas"
Mari's mouth watered, she hadn't had calderetas in forever, but she had to stay on task.
"It's ok mom, just leave me some for tomorrow" she said as she opened the door and went in.
"Ok sweety"
Mari climbed the stairs and walked to her room, once she was in, she locked the doors and closed the lights. She was planning on escaping, but knowing her parents, her safest bet is to wait for them to fall asleep.
She sat down on her bed and proceeded to wait.
Mari has now been waiting for an hour and she could hear her parents walking into their bedrooms and closing it. Hearing this, Mari stood up and dusted her shirt.
She opened her window and looked outside, it was a tall height, and she couldn't find anything to hold on to.
She looked around and saw a vine, she stared at it and an idea popped in.
"I hope this works.."
She raised her hands and just like before she could feel the energy in her body, she directed the said energy into her hands and focused it on the vine.
The vine began growing, it started getting thicker and longer until it reached Mari's window and the ground. Mari smiled and climbed on to the vine, she closed the window and continued to climb down until she reached the bottom.
She looked around, seeing no one, she dashed towards the road, disappearing around the corner.
She was now several blocks away from her house and just a few more from Milton street. Without wasting time she ran, not noticing something was following her.
She was now in a darker part of the city, it was quiet and hardly no one was here, all she had to do was cross the road and she would be in Milton street. She slowed her running and was now walking, she approached an old building, and when she passed it, she couldn't help but get goosebumps.
When she was about to cross the road, something grab her by the waist ad hoisted her up. She was about to scream but something covered her mouth, it was gooey and slimey.
Realization struck Mari, she looked forward and saw the black, gooey mass from before.
It was now restraining her, keeping her from moving or screaming.
The hold on her waist started tightening, she was now closing her eyes, her lower body feeling as if it's being crushed.
Mari looked around, desperately trying to find a way to escape. She moved her eyes and saw a piece of greenery growing in between the cement ground.
Without hesitating she summoned her magic and aimed it the greenery below her. The mass on the other hand saw this and started squishing her tighter.
Mari groaned, using all of her power she aimed her magic at the greenery and watched. The plant was now getting bigger and now growing around the black mass.
It quickly crawled up its body and towards its head, without hesitation it squeezed, its vines were now ensnaring its body keeping it from moving. The vines then moved to the hand holding Mari and squeezed it tightly, the monster let go, and Mari fell to the ground.
Mari coughed, she was now gasping for air. She looked at the monster, and saw the vines were now squeezing it harder, despite of it being made of goo, it took on a solid shape, allowing it to be constricted.
The monster let out a loud screech, Mari covered her ears and the monster extended its limbs. One by one it peeled of the plants surrounding it until there were none.
Mari stared in horror, she forced herself up and ran as fast as she could, the monster saw this and quickly chased after her.