The Second Prophecy (Part 1 of the Dragdani Prophecies)

by R. Alan Ferguson

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” said Peter. “Where are we going?”

  “Ah … We were planning on telling you later,” said Helen.

  Berlanin threw a worried look her way, as though he was trying to say ‘no, not yet.’

  “You see, as part of your birthday present, we’re taking you on holiday,” she lied.

  “Where are we going?”

  “That’ll spoil the surprise,” said Berlanin quickly.

  It seemed that they both momentarily forgot about Peter’s trouble in trying clean-up the slip up. And this was proven when Helen put her thumbs up behind Peter as he was distracted by Berlanin’s quick recovery.

  Berlanin saw this, and a slight smirk appeared on his face.

  Peter, thinking that Helen was doing something funny behind his back, whipped round, though by that time she had already stopped with the thumbs.

  “Well, a holiday sounds good. So we’ll forget about the school for now and start packing,” said Peter, excited by this great news and by the thought of no more school for a while.

  Helen’s eyes lit up as the thought of Weavger angered her once more.

  “Come on,” she said as she grabbed Peter’s arm and headed for the door.

  “Can I grab my wand before we go?” Peter asked, as he pulled in the direction of the door. “If things don’t go our way, I can try the new transformation spell Delsani taught me and turn Weavger into a real toad.”

  “Nice idea,” Helen remarked, “but no time.”

  “Good luck,” said Berlanin. The Wizard knew there was no point in arguing with her any longer and just decided to let her get on with it. Not that he would be able to stop her without using magic, which was not an option with Peter there.

  As Helen opened the front door, she saw and heard Saren and Henkot walking across the gravel driveway.

  “Hey,” said Saren as Helen looked up and caught sight of them, “we’ve come to help with pa… party-decorations,” said Saren. She said the last two words of the sentence so quickly it sounded like one. It was because she was surprised to see Peter, who was still fighting to free his wrist.

  “What is Peter doing home so early?” asked Henkot curiously.

  “It seems there’s a little something I have to do at his school before I can help,” said Helen.

  “Trouble?” said the Wicca.

  “You could say that,” said Helen. She quickly ran over everything that Peter had said. And as she was explaining, she let go of Peter, who was not wasting any time and had already started up the steps to the front door.

  “In the car,” said Helen, as if she had eyes on the back of her head.

  “I’m just going to er… get a board off the wall in case -”

  “You won’t need it.”

  “But I always bring a board whenever we go out -”

  “In the car,” she repeated as she pinched her left jeans pocket to press the button to unlock the car doors. She got it. The indicators flashed, and the doors clicked open as Peter walked as though to his execution.

  Helen asked Saren and Henkot to go on in and Berlanin would explain the rest of the story.

  It was not long before she joined Peter in the car and they were on their way.

  As Helen drove to the school, Peter thought that it might be a good idea to try and calm her down or even try to make it sound as though it was not as bad as he had originally made it out to be.

  “You know, mum, you don’t have to do this. The principal also said that if I apologized to Weavger, it would just be suspension. I know I wouldn’t like having to apologize to him, but if keeps me in school,” he said thinking more about his reputation more than school. For what would it look like if people saw his mum fighting his battles for him? Peter usually didn’t care what people thought, but this was different. This battle between Mr. Weavger and him had been going on for years, and if it looked as though Peter needed Helen to help him, well, it wouldn’t look good for him.

  “Why didn’t you tell me that before?” said Helen her temper getting hotter as she thought of it. “HOW DARE HE ASK YOU TO APOLOGIZE TO THAT GIT!” she shouted frantically.

  They turned the last corner and could see the grey school, its blue doors, white frame and matching window frames straight head.

  Helen pulled into the closest parking space she could find, just in case they needed to get out in a hurry.

  “Come on. The sooner we get in, the sooner this’ll all be sorted out,” said Helen. The anger could still be heard clearly in her voice as she stood waiting. “Come on, Peter.”

  “Can’t I just stay in the car?”

  “No,” she said firmly. “Either you get out of the car now, or I’ll grab you by the neck and knickers and drag you up to the principal’s office. It’s completely your choice.”

  “The principal’s office? So you’ve changed your mind about seeing Weavger?” said Peter hopefully as he stepped out of the car.

  “No, I’m still going to see him about the way he treats you, but you’re going to wait outside the principal’s office.”

  Peter’s hopes were suddenly shattered by her words.

  They went in right away, and just as she said, Helen left Peter outside the principal’s office and made her way to Mr. Weavger’s English Class. She opened the door gently and without knocking.

  Weavger looked up when the door opened.

  “Helen,” he said as though they were old friends who had not seen each other in years.

  “I want to talk to. Now,” said Helen firmly.

  “Fine, we’ll go into the empty classroom across the hall,” said Weavger kindly, as though he had not the faintest idea why she was there. “Right, boys and girls, keep copying the writing on the board into your books, and I’ll be back soon. Do not, under any circumstances, move from your seats unless absolutely necessary. Have you got that?”

  “Yes, Mr. Weavger,” said the class all at once.

  Helen moved aside for Weavger to get past and followed him to the empty classroom.

  As soon as the door of the empty room shut, the whole class got up, ran to the class door, and strained their ears to listen. But they soon found that they did not need to, for the shouting started shortly afterward. The students could hear all being said. However, Peter could only hear muffled shouts.

  It was Helen who started it, and Weavger retaliated almost immediately after the shock wore off.

  Weavger’s voice was loud and his temper hot, but it seemed he had found more then his match in Helen, whose voice was louder and temper most certainly hotter.

  As Peter continued to sit, the boy seated only a few chairs away from him was trying to listen just hard as Peter. “Who is that?” he asked.

  “That’s my mum,” replied Peter.

  “I wish my mum would come and do that,” said the boy.

  It was at this point that Peter no longer cared what anyone else thought, for now he felt pure unadulterated pride for what his mother was doing for him, and as the shouting carried on, Peter found that he almost felt sorry for Weavger. Almost.

  “She’s my mum,” said Peter again only more proudly.

  The shouting suddenly became louder and easier to hear as Helen opened the door to leave, feeling that she had accomplished what all that she could with the teacher’s telling off.

  Then suddenly, “DON’T YOU WALK AWAY FROM ME WHEN I’M TALKING TO YOU! WHO THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO COME HERE AND START ALL THIS AND THEN THINK THAT YOU CAN JUST WALK AWAY AS IF NOTHING’s HAPPENED! I’VE BEEN TEACHING HERE FOR OVER TEN YEARS -”

  “TEACHING!” screamed Helen straight back at him. “PERSONALLY, I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU WERE ALLOWED TO BE A TEACHER! YOU’RE NOT FIT TO TEACH A DOG TRICKS, NEVER MIND CHILDREN’S LESSONS!”

  “WHAT DID YOU SAY?” the disgruntled teacher shouted.

  “YOU HEARD ME! YOU’RE NOT FIT TO TEACH ANY CHILDREN!”

  Helen walked away straight after this. It was not long before she appeared
round the corner and stood beside Peter, her face flaming red.

  “Right, come on,” she said to him. “We’re going in to see the principal and then we’re going home.”

  Great, thought Peter as his mother put her hand on the door handle of the office, I’m getting the rest of the day off. Maybe this isn’t the worst day of my life after all.

  “I’m sorry, but Principal Holmes is taking an important call at the moment and can’t be disturbed,” said the secretary seated behind a small office desk.

  “If you would like to leave your name and take a seat, I’ll tell him you’re here as soon as his call has ended.”

  Peter thought that Helen would not like to be kept waiting with her temper being what it was and all. However, she calmly told the woman her name and pushed Peter back toward the chairs.

  Only four minutes had past then the secretary called, “Mrs. Lince, Principal Holmes will see you now.”

  “Hurry up, Peter. You first,” said Helen.

  Peter went in first as Helen said.

  “Peter, Helen, please take a seat,” said the Headmaster.

  “What, just one?” Peter said with a snigger.

  Helen leaned into his left ear and whispered, “Stop being a smartarse and sit down. You’re in enough trouble as it is.”

  “Yes, well, I don’t think that is prudent at this time, Peter, with all that has happened today,” said the principal.

  “Well, I think humor can dull the pain a little,” Helen said hastily.

  “Yes, well, I was hoping you would heed my letter and show up quickly.”

  “Yes, I read your letter, and I’m curious,” said Helen, “as to why, without any witnesses or any prove that my son had anything to do with what happened to this damaged locker.”

  “Well, from what Mr. Weavger told me -”

  “Mr. Weavger is an arse,” said Helen, “and I personally wouldn’t believe him if he told me the sky is blue.”

  “Please don’t talk about my staff like that,” said Holmes. “Mr. Weavger told me that Peter was the only one there when he got there. And the fact that there were only a few seconds between the noises of the locker being vandalized, Peter shouting, and Mr. Weavger finding him, means that if anyone ran past the English classroom, Peter would have seen them. And there’s also the fact that if there was someone else, Mr. Weavger would have seen them before they could have gotten to the exit at the other end of the hall.”

  “Fine,” said Helen. “As soon as you show me the tool that was used to damage the locker, I’ll accept your decision to suspend my son. But then there’s the physical strength needed to damage the locker that badly.”

  “Well, I -”

  “Peter’s just a teenager, and I doubt that he would have the strength to do that kind of damage,” said Helen confidently. “Let’s be real. Would you even have the strength for it?”

  “Maybe,” said Principal Holmes.

  “Maybe. So not only do you have no witnesses or proof but you also don’t have whatever was used to damage the locker. Is that right?” said Helen.

  “Yes,” said Principal Holmes flatly.

  Just then, Mr. Weavger burst in through the door. He was pure white, whiter than white, and his hands were trembling. He seemed to turn paler when Helen was the first thing that he saw.

  “I need to talk to you after,” he said to the principal as even his voice trembled.

  He slammed the door and was gone as promptly as he appeared.

  “Oh, yes. There’s something I wanted to say to you,” said Helen. “When that man attacked Peter, you tried to make him apologize for defending himself. What kind of a Headmaster are you?”

  “I don’t think -”

  “Well, there’s a shock,” said Helen scornfully.

  The principal looked furious, and Peter tried his hardest to suppress a smile, as did Helen herself.

  “I’m willing to forget it all if you apologize to him right now.”

  There was utter silence.

  “I will stand by Mr. Weavger, and I will not apologize for anything that he may or may not have done,” said the principal loyally.

  “Let me put this in a way you might understand. Peter is a minor. A grown man manhandled him and physically hurt him. I’m sure that you don’t want the authorities involved. And I’ll tell you something else. That man doesn’t have the best reputation with most of the students or their parents, which means we’ll have lots of people willing to help us.”

  “You don’t know that anyone will want to be involved in anything that you would decide to do.”

  “This school will be put under investigation, as will you and the rest of your staff. But to stop that from happening, all you have to do is apologize to Peter for your part in this.”

  “And has Alistair Weavger himself apologized?” asked Principal Holmes, knowing full well that the teacher would not have done so.

  “No, simply because I don’t want an apology from him, because it would only be a lie from a bitter man and would mean absolutely nothing,” replied Helen.

  Holmes said nothing to this. Helen reached into her handbag and took out her mobile phone. As she pressed the first digit and its droning tone sounded, the principal threw up his hands. “Please wait,” he said pleadingly.

  “Admit that you were too quick on the decision to suspend my son, and I’ll forget any of this ever happened,” said Helen calmly.

  “I think that you’re right. It was unfair to suspend Peter without any real proof, and I apologize, but you must understand that if a member of my staff tells me that there was no one else at the scene of the incident, I must ask the only person who was there if they saw anyone else. I’m sure if you ask Peter, he will tell you that I did just that. I asked him if he saw anyone or if he was protecting someone and if so, to tell, but he said that there was no one. So you understand what I’m saying.”

  “What you’re saying is that because my son saw no one there you, blamed him whether he was guilty or not,” said Helen.

  “No, that’s not what I meant.”

  “But that’s what happened,” said Helen loudly and angrily.

  “And I’m sorry for that,” said Holmes.

  “Then I think that’s it,” said Helen.

  “Well, you won’t need to worry about Mr. Weavger. I’ll talk to him, and I think it best that Peter take the rest of the week off. Then when he comes back on Monday, it’ll be as though this never happened,” said the headmaster more confidently.

  “No,” said Helen firmly. “Peter will never be back to this excuse for a school again.”

  “But he has to go to school; it’s the law.”

  “He will not here. Come on, Peter let’s go.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Forever Young

  Peter emptied his school locker then both he and Helen walked to the front doors. As they came closer, they saw Weavger and two other teachers standing in front of the entrance.

  “There’s a back door if you want to go that way,” said Peter to his mother.

  “No,” said Helen, “we’re not going the long way because of that gimp.” They walked up to the teachers and as they passed them, Weavger, who had not seen them, or perhaps did not want to, stood talking to one of his colleagues. “Do you have a match?” he asked him kindly as he put the butt of a cigarette between his dry lips.

  “My ass to your face,” Peter replied quickly and most happily.

  Helen instantly started into a fit of the giggles while they walked on.

  “HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME LIKE THAT, YOU LITTLE RUNT,” yelled a fuming Weavger. “What kind of a mother could raise a brat like that?” he said to his colleagues, though loudly enough so Helen and Peter could hear it. They heard it loud and clear, and Helen halted, turned on her heel made rude gestures with her middle fingers. “I would tell you to kiss my arse,” she replied, “but I’d be afraid of catching something.”

  The mother and son walked on giggling and laughing as th
ey went. When they got to the car Helen pinched her pocket again. The doors of the car unlocked, and Peter dumped everything from his locker in the boot while Helen phoned home to tell Berlanin, Saren, and Henkot they were on their way back. In doing so, she found that Delsani had turned up at the house. He told her to get back as quickly as possible.

  She decided it was probably wise to do just that, for the old Wizard sounded deadly serious, so they set off as soon as she got off the phone.

  “What happened with Weavger?” Peter asked his mother who looked very anxious, but he just thought that it was because of all that had happened in the school.

  Helen laughed as the memories flooded back into her mind. However, even her laugh was a nervous one, and Peter could tell that there was something wrong.

  Helen saw that Peter was about to say something else, so she got there first and told him what happened at the school and what was said on both sides.

  What neither of them realized was that a black sports car had followed them out of the school car park.

  When they reached the first set of traffic lights, the lights had just turned red. Helen continued with her story, and still they did not know they were being followed, not until it was too late.

  The black car raced up the road to meet them. It was only then that Helen saw it. To her, it was like waking from a dream into a nightmare. It felt as though a shroud was suddenly lifted, and she could see fully again. She saw the car speeding toward them and quickly shoved the gear stick into first and slammed her foot down on the accelerator. The car shot forward. The junction was empty, though it did them no good, as their attacker was already on them and smashed into the back of their car and sent them flying across the junction. The only thing that stopped them from slamming into a wall was Peter, who threw out has hands, which caused a net of blue energy to stop them instantly.

  Peter felt his head, which was the only part of him that hurt. Other than that he was fine. There was not a mark on him.