They had been there a while and then a rumbling sound was heard from her belly, this caused her to place her hand on it as she gulped down some saliva in a bid to moisturize the walls of her gut.
"You are hungry. " Rockie stated.
He had heard it too and it was a bit of a funny experience for him. Hunger humbles the mighty and how well it had worked its magic on his roommate made him understand why she had been so quiet.
She nodded affirmatively in an embarrassed manner.
"No need to be shy about that." He said to her,
Being a gentleman, he remained on the floor letting her have the comfort of the bed. He didn't see it right to share a bed with a female, no matter how large that bed was.
He had wondered why Madam Claris would put him in such a situation, wondering if she had ignored certain topics in biology.
"Is it that we are meant to starve ourselves to order here?" She asked,
"Not at all." He smiled, getting on his feet.
"You haven't gone around since we arrived." He said,
"Come." He added, walking towards the door.
"You mean, there are more places than this one?" She asked in disbelief as she got up slowly.
He smiled.
"This room is underground. The building is kind of not the way you know buildings to be but come on, I'll show you." He said,
In confusion, she followed behind him, they got to the door and he pushed it open.
It wasn't even a door, it turned out to be an elevator on the inside, silver coated, see-through from the inside, and Rockie, not being strange to how things worked there, pressed on something invisible but she could hear the beep-beep sound it made while he dialled some sort of code numbers.
She spread her arms apart trying to maintain balance once the elevator began accelerating. Rockie wasn't the least scared.
"Are you okay?" He asked her,
"Yeah. I am good." She responded, clearing her throat and adjusting herself.
It stopped and in a second, the door opened by itself. They stepped out and ended up in the mini living room.
"A living room. O—kay, wasn't expecting that at all." She voiced,
"I know." He replied, walking ahead of her and then taking a right turn.
"There is food in the refrigerator, you have a—microwave over here, just not the regular microwave you must be used to, still it's easy to operate.
And there is the sink, your dishes, and cutleries. When you run out, you just press the button over there and have an instant refill. It is—magic." He told her in a loud voice to be audible enough.
"I am right here, I can hear you." She voiced from behind him.
"Oh, thought you still were filling your eyes." He responded having turned towards her.
"With all of this, I don't consider it as punishment." She said,
"Yeah, you would say that because I am here." He said, walking back to the mini living room.
She didn't quite get what he meant by his statement.
"This behaviour chamber is all over the school in strategic areas and only one is sent to any.
So you can have all these but no access to the internet, no t.v, no books, no nothing to occupy your head, meaning you would have time enough to reconfigure your mind before stepping out." He said to her,
"That could hurt a person's mind. It's like being in jail." She told him.
"Don't many people come out of jail a better man—or woman?" He asked,
"Whatever, I'll just make myself something. " She said, returning to the kitchen.
"Oh wow, you cook." He said, following behind her.
"Did that come as a surprise?" she inquired while heading towards the refrigerator.
"Not that i—didn't expect you to know how to, I just—you know—not many—pretty—girls fancy sweating out in the kitchen so I was—going to do the cooking. " He said,
She turned towards him with a shocked look on her face.
"Young man, i—am a natural chef." She boasted.
"And so am I." He replied.
"Well, no one has to cook. Too classy to let that happen." Nova's voice filled the atmosphere.
She appeared behind Rockie and was standing next to Noella.
"What are you doing here?" Rockie asked in shock.
"Relax, all is well," Nova said,
"I do not intend to get into any more trouble and do not wish to be the reason you both do." He told her.
"Oh Rockie, you know I pay attention in class and do my take-home and study a lot so yeah, I have been mastering some daring spells, spells they wouldn't like to teach us for times like this, so relax, I have got you covered," Nova said, patting him on the face.
He remained uneasy and took his eyes to Noella who was standing with her hands folded.
"Don't look at me, I don't want to be here but she made me," Noella replied.
"Hi." Nova greeted Blue.
"Hi.." Blue responded.
"It's okay. No need to fear or worry. We are not here to hurt you. I like you too much already." She told her.
"Thanks but being here isn't such a good idea, I think I'll go with Rockie," Blue said,
Noella rolled her eyes.
"We were able to make this moment completely invisible from the eyes of the authorities. So breathe easy." She said confidently and with a bright smile before walking away towards the window.
"Still you could get into trouble the moment Claris realizes you are not in your rooms and trace you two here," Blue told her.
Once she got to the window, she turned back towards the group and smiled again.
"It's actually sweet to know you are the caring type but if Rockie here didn't mind, I don't," Nova responded.
"Well, I do," Noella said, rolling her eyes from side to side.
"Oh, come on sister, you never have been scared of Madam Claris or anyone for that matter," Nova said, rolling her head as she demonstrated with her hands before placing them on her waist
"Now who was hungry for some proper English lunch?" She asked and waved her right fingers before snapping them.
Instantly, the table in the kitchen was filled with plates of Fish and chips, bangers and mash, cottage pie and a tray of fruits.
"Wow." Blue voiced,
"I want your powers." She added, pointing at Nova.
They all smiled.
"Guess I am not the only foodie around here," Nova said,
Blue quickly took a seat at the table as she watched Noella carefully control the dishes and cutleries from their racks to the table.
Once she was done, the others took their seats as well, the chairs were enough.
"Mmmm, This is so good." Blue voiced amidst chewing. She had her head tilted upwards with her eyes shut.
———
"Does anyone else feel bored?" Nova said as they all sat quietly at the table looking dull and gloomy.
"Well that's the purpose of this place, bore you back to your senses," Noella responded.
"I am bored. Perhaps if I knew a place like this existed, I would have been nicer to the Silver-haired guy." Blue added with her hands holding onto her face as her elbows pinned on the table.
"Been here before but it doesn't feel like this is something anyone ever gets used to," Rockie said,
"Great, I just needed to be sure we were on the same page so when we get caught, we would be guilty together—and punished together cause this feels good," Nova said after standing up almost immediately.
"What are you up to, Nova?" Noella asked sluggishly.
"Not something bad, you know me. So, I was thinking, we should explore the ark. We would only get to be there when we graduate, at least we should have a look." Nova said,
"No." Noella and Rockie chorused.
"Uhmm, Why? She has a point. " Blue inquired,
"See? Human girl gets me." Nova said,
"I have a name," Blue stated.
"Yes. Sorry. " Nova whispered.
"The ark isn't where we should be going, the security there is top-notch, we would get caught right there, at the gate," Noella said,
"Whoever said we were going through the gate?" Nova asked, with a mischievous look.
"I like her," Blue said,
"Well, would you also like to know that she has been tremendous at getting us into trouble since the age of eight? " Rockie asked her.
"I don't get you. You said earlier on that you wanted to take me there." Blue said,
"Wonderful." Noella breathed out.
"Well, I was going to come up with a p— plan first." He replied, guiltily rolling his eyes.
"And who says I don't have a plan?" Nova asked with raised brows.
"Our powers will not function there and we have no idea what lies beyond the gates.
From our study, the atmosphere will be toxic to strangers and we will be strangers there.
Until we graduate before we can be bathed in the moon river which will give us the ability to breathe the air there." Rockie said,
"All of that is something I am familiar with, genius. But— there is something we can use." Nova said,
"She sneaked into Madam Claris' office and touched her Umbrella. Now she has learnt to make copies of it which she intends us to use in sneaking into the ark." Noella said rather quickly.
"Thanks for taking a walk in my mind, sister," Nova said, lifting her hands to her chest level with her palms forward.
"Try harder next time by blocking me out of your head" Noella responded.
She shut her eyes in deep concentration as she brought her hands backwards, made her palms view her face and then pulled them downwards before turning the back of her palms towards her chest.
She separated her hands slowly with four pauses and just before the exit door of the kitchen, the exact replicas of the umbrella appeared floating in a straight line.
They all turned towards it, exiting their seats and standing beside Nova who stood staring at her masterpieces with a smile of confidence resting warmly on her face.
"I hope you don't get us killed." Noella voiced,
"I actually think this would be fun," Blue said,
"Yeah, flying is fun," Nova said,
"Wait—what?" Blue voiced,
Noella stepped forward and then opened up a portal that led directly to the sky.
"You should have asked why an umbrella?" Noella said with a devilish smirk.
"Wait— no." Blue tried to resist but with magic, Noella had caused her hand to pick, open up and hold on firmly to one of the umbrellas.
"We trust you, maybe you should trust that we wouldn't let you die," Noella said,
"Hey, no!" Rockie tried to stop Noella.
He wasn't quick enough, he could only watch Noella make her fall through the portal unsteadily with a magical push.
Blue screamed while holding onto the Umbrella. It felt as though her hands were glued to it. Her hair and uniform were being rough-handled by the wind for it felt like she had just dropped out of an aeroplane and couldn't even see the ground.
"Why did you do that?" Rockie yelled at Noella. He had a very angry look in his eyes.
Nova had come in between the two to refrain him from attempting to hurt her.
He turned away, picked an umbrella and then jumped out into the portal as well.
"You shouldn't have done that." Nova scolded her.
"I don't mean — to hurt her. He is only overreacting and it's obvious it's her first-time skydiving. How dare he raise his voice at me!" Noella responded with teary eyes.
"Hey.." Nova tried to touch her.
"Get off!" Noella yelled, walking back towards the dining area.
"None of this is easy for me, you keep making me do these things and don't even trust that I can do it right.
And him? I have no idea what has come over him. He just makes me feel like some devil or does he now see her as a better creature because she— she is a human and I am a witch!" Noelaa broke down.
"I am sure he didn't mean it that way, none of us do. You are just— hard to understand sometimes." Nova spoke apologetically. For she could feel the exact pain her sister was in.
"If there is anyone to get me, it should be you!" Noella replied, opening up a portal that led back to the school. She walked in and it shut behind her.
Nova remained there, heaving a sigh of frustration and wondering if to go after her or join the ones she had led into the sky.