Monachi: Masters of Water and Fire

by Jade Sánchez

I went first.

  I picked the jar up in one hand. I used my

  other hand to create a water ball. I let go of the

  water ball and watched the liquid fall into the jar.

  I handed it to Zeke, who handed it to Carson,

  who was now standing by his right side. Tess went next. She picked up the candle

  with one hand and used her other hand as a

  human flamethrower. Once the candle was lit,

  she handed it to Zeke who handed it to Rodger,

  whom was now standing on his left side. Both of us looked at Zeke straight in the

  eyes. “Now what?” we both asked at the same

  time.

  “Now it’s time for your execution,” he replied as he motioned us to the door.

  Chapter Thirty-Six Avenge me

  We walked out of the room without a fight. We left the building.

  It seemed as if we were in the middle of

  nowhere, with the exception of a few scattered trees, although I did see a perfectly round lake about a mile or two away. We were then harshly thrown into a van identical to the one we were thrown into the first time. Was this the same van? Had it been following us this whole time? Is it going to take us to the same place? Impossible. It’s been torched; Thanks to Tess!

  As we rode in the back, I thought of all the good times in my life. The first time I met Tess she was wearing a shirt with a picture of the Tardis on it. When I asked her what the picture was on her shirt she said, “Time and relative dimension in space.” She confused me until she spelled it out T.A.R.D.I.S.; and said “most people just call it the Tardis.” Ahh. A light suddenly went on in my head; full of understanding.

  I confirmed my suspicions about the van the moment I saw inside wall of the Penny!

  She wrote: something etched into the van; a message signed by

  This isn’t over; Avenge me… Whoever is reading this.

  As I was reading it, Tess came over and sat next to me, and did the same.

  Tess quickly remarked;

  “I will avenge her.”

  All of a sudden I heard a voice say;

  Thanks!

  It was Penny.

  Suddenly, she appeared with a ‘poof’; kneeling right in front of us.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven Execution

  “Penny!” Tess cried out, attempting to hug her. She fell right through Penny.

  “I’m a ghost. No hugging,” Penny said, rolling her eyes.

  Tess replied, “How are you even doing this?”

  “I don’t know. I really don’t.”

  “Can you stay for a long time or is this just temporary?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. I’m just being a ghost, watching you guys (not in the creepy way). I said ‘thanks’ and somehow you heard me,” Penny stated.

  Tess then said, “Maybe we don’t notice you unless you talk to us.”

  “Possibly. I hope this isn’t temporary.”

  All of a sudden, the van came to a halt. Penny disappeared, nowhere to be seen. “I hope she comes back.” I said, speaking for the both of us.

  The doors flung open, and there was Zeke; with a look on his face that told me he thought he was the king of the world. Jerk! He doesn’t even know how much torture he has been making us go through.

  “So let’s get this over with!” Zeke said, urging Carson and Rodger to get us out of the van. I held my hand up and Carson fell to the ground, covering himself. He remembered what happened last time.

  I put my hand down as soon as Rodger took out a gun. I knew he would’ve shot, I mean we were getting killed anyway.

  They rushed us out of the van and pushed us towards a platform that was nearly surrounded by pointed rock where we noticed how we were going to die. Old school; with a guillotine.

  After having to climb up the rickety wooden stairs, Tess was the first to get into position. There at the top of the platform was a guillotine machine with two sets of blades and body clamps, so apparently it seemed that we were going to die at the same time. Against her will, Tess was forced to put her hands into position, and then her head. It looked really uncomfortable.

  After Tess was in position, they wanted me to do the same. I struggled away from them, but failed. They pushed my head into place, followed by my hands.

  After they placed me into position, all three men moved to a spot where they knew we both could see them. Rodger was holding the candle that didn’t seem to have much wax left, and Carson was holding the jar.

  “I find it only fair that we show you why we wanted these samples. Carson will drink the water and Rodger will touch the flame, giving them a transfer of your powers,” Zeke declared. Well, this was going to be interestingly fun watching his dream fail. Nothing would happen, I’m almost certain of it.

  Zeke held up three fingers…two….one. Carson positioned himself in a confident stance, took a deep breath, exhaled, gave an assertive smile, and put his mouth to up to the jar. At the same time, Rodger rolled his eyes at Carson’s dramatics, and motioned his fingers toward the flame of the candle. You’ll never believe what happened next.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight Dissolution

  The impossible happened! And let’s just say that Zeke’s dream was crushed.

  As soon as Carson drank that first bit from the jar his entire body turned into water; splashing down to the ground creating a nice big puddle.

  And at the very same moment that Carson took his drink, Rodger touched the candle flame. And like a human firework, he shot straight up into the air and exploded into sparks.

  It was quite a show.

  Zeke turned to me. “You did this!” he said, pointing to the spot where Carson had melted. He then turned to Tess. “You did that!” pointing to the dark spot of ash and embers of body remains.

  Tess didn’t even flinch at the mention of it. “Yeah I did, and you gotta admit, it was quite a show.” she stated.

  “Yeah, but you turned him into a human light show!”

  “So what. It was pretty cool!”

  “This is why I’m killing you!” he said.

  He pulled both of the ropes that let the blades down. I closed my eyes really tight. I heard the blades loosen…

  ***ATTENTION***

  Spoiler alert!

  Spoiler alert!

  ***If you don’t want a spoiler…don’t read this section*** If you are still reading this, or if you are just reading this after reading the last chapter, well done. What I’m about to say is a huge spoiler.

  But before I tell you what it is, think about this...Isn’t this whole book a spoiler?

  I don’t mean that someone you know named Maddy, or someone you know named Tess, is a Monachi. Though you could ask them if you want.

  I mean, how would there be pages left in this book if we were killed?

  Or how would this book get written, if we were dead?

  Only one answer:

  It’s nearly impossible.

  The reason I say nearlyis because I don’t think anything is impossible anymore.

  I mean, most people would call what we’re going through impossible. But it’s not. It is happening.

  Do you honestly think I would make up pain and suffering like this? This is some real stuff. Tess’s powers, my powers, and all of these deaths are real.

  And if you don’t watch out, you’re next.

  ***End of spoiler***

  Chapter Thirty-Nine Moment of Impact

  I braced myself for impact. I braced myself for death. But I didn’t feel the blade. I didn’t feel pain.

  My first thought was; I was already dead, and am now a ghost lucky enough to not feel pain. I opened my eyes slowly. I was still in one piece, and in a head lock.

  I looked up at my blade. I was surprised at what I saw. The blade was frozen in place, and by that I mean with icicles and all!

  I looked over at Tess’s blade. Hers was frozen, but it was frozen at the last moment before impact. It was inches away from her neck. S
he open her eyes and asked, “Are we dead yet?”

  “Nope. Somehow, the blades froze.” I replied. What happened? I thought Monachis only had three powers.

  I looked at Zeke, who was freaked out. He was paralyzed in place. “H-how did you d-do that?” he asked me.

  Did I do it? I looked at the lake. I thought about the lake freezing over. About ten seconds after thinking about it, the lake started slowly freezing. The ice crawled up the lake like water crawling up a paper napkin.

  Tess looked at me.

  Tess, I could tell, was trying to find out how to get out of the guillotine head lock. “Alorahamora!” she yelled.

  I rolled my eyes. Alorahamora is a un-lock spell used in Harry Potter©.

  And then she said, “Ok, let’s try this….

  with the water and fire powers invested in we, un-lock us!” She didn’t use proper grammar, but surprisingly it worked. I heard a click, and suddenly the latches holding the head and hand clamps together, rose. “I’m a witch!” she yelled as we both quickly wiggled out of the clamps and stood on the platform.

  I tried something else;

  “With the water and fire powers invested in we, lock those!”

  They didn’t lock.

  Tess tried this chant;

  “With the fire and water powers invested in we, lock those!” Suddenly, the head clamp locked. I had an extra power, and Tess got to be a witch. Seems fair.

  Tess decided she wanted to try something else, and then while pointing at Zeke, chanted…

  “Don’t let that guy get away. Lock him in there until the end of the day!” He vanished with a ‘poof,’ and re-appeared with a ‘pop,’ with his head in the clamp.

  I looked at Tess with amazement and said, “Are you just going to let him starve?”

  Tess ignored me and went up to Zeke and pronounced. “I will execute you unless you do me one thing.”

  Zeke struggled. “What do you want?” he asked, his voice sounding desperate.

  “Quit the mission. Stop hunting down those who are different and leave them be.” “Impossible. I’ll never do it!”

  “Why not? It’s not fair to capture children and treat them like dirt, then kill them!”

  “Different is a danger to society. You see what you’ve done? You have murdered innocent people, and burnt down buildings.”

  “Take me to court. I’ll plead not guilty, in order of self-defense. Everything I did was because you were trying to kill us!”

  “We were trying to protect the citizens of America!”

  “We are citizens of America! We live and breathe just like everybody else! It’s not like we have a second head or a third leg! We look human and act human!”

  “But you aren’t human. You are E.T.”

  “You still don’t get it, do you? WE ARE HUMAN ON THE INSIDE AND OUT!”

  “You are an E.T inside a human shell!”

  Tess sank down to his level. “I’m human. If you have a problem with that, deal with it,” she said. She started walking away. I took one last look at Zeke, then turned, and started walking with Tess.

  About five seconds later, Zeke yelled “Fine, I’ll leave you and everyone else alone!”

  Tess stopped walking and looked at him. “How do I know you’re not lying?” she asked.

  “Hmm…” he started to think. “You can cast a truth spell on me; or a spell so that if I break my promise, I’ll die.”

  Tess looked at me. I nodded; it seemed like a good deal.

  Tess began to think, and then chanted;

  “Make thou not break thy promise, or Thou shalt choke on thou mucus, and die.” Death by mucus? Who would even think of that? She then did the un-lock chant and he was let go.

  Excited to be promise I will not free he said, “Thanks, I bother you, or any other magical creature ever again!” He hopped into his van and started the engine.

  As he drove away, Tess said, “He’s gonna die by choking on mucus pretty soon.”

  I laughed.

  She was probably right.

  Chapter Forty Window view

  And now the problem on our hands: To get home again.

  We walked out of Area 51, or whatever

  they called it; and headed to the nearest shop, which turned out to be about a mile away. As soon as we got to the shop, we headed inside. The first thing we noticed was that it was a treat shop. It had rows of candy, soda, and chips. I didn’t spot a single healthy treat.

  I walked up to the clerk and asked, “Excuse me ma’am, but do you mind telling me what city in North Dakota we’re in?”

  The woman looked at me and answered dryly, “You’re in Williston.”

  “Thanks,” I replied.

  I went back to Tess and told her, “We’re in Williston.”

  She took out the map. I’m surprised that she still had it. “I think if we start walking now and don’t stop, we can make it back home by tomorrow night; but if we can quickly find a place to hide and rest for the night, and start fresh in the morning, we’ll make it back home around 2 a.m. the following morning,” Tess stated.

  That was a long time away. I couldn’t stand another minute out here. We left the shop and went outside. There had to be a quicker way to get home. But what could we do? We can’t take a train or a…

  “Tess, I have the perfect idea!” I cried.

  Tess turned to me and asked, “What is it?”

  I said, “What if you cast a spell so that we could just fly our way home?”

  Tess thought for a minute. “That just might work,” she finally replied.

  I jumped up and down in excitement. I’ve always wanted to fly, and now I just might. We went back to Area 50-whatever.

  Tess thought for a minute and then grabbed my hand and started to chant;

  “We want to fly way up high. Fly us high, fly us low. Fly us as fast as a crow!”

  I felt my feet lift off the ground.

  Tess let go of my hand and flew up higher. I flew up and matched her. I looked down, a foolish mistake. “Um… what if the spell wears off while we’re in the air?” I asked.

  “Don’t worry; the spell only goes out if I put it out,” she said with a smile.

  I smiled back. We were finally heading home.

  Once again, Tess flew higher up, and once again I matched her. We were now high enough to be in the clouds, as I placed my hand in one. I took my hand out as soon as a mini-cloud started forming around it.

  “This is amazing!” I exclaimed.

  Tess flew to me. “Ditto,” she replied.

  “It’s time to go home,” I said with a hint of excitement in my voice as we now soared above the cloud line, which now appeared like a blanket covering the earth below.

  All of a sudden, we heard a plane coming. It was so deafening that I held my hands over my ears. Tess shouted a spell over the noise;

  “Mute that plane like a far off train!” I took my hands off my ears; I didn’t hear anything anymore, at least not from the plane. I decided I would give the people in the plane a surprise. I flew up to the plane, but it quickly passed me.

  Tess gave it a go. She flew quickly up to one of plane’s windows and kept speed with the plane. She knocked on the window.

  At first there was no reaction, and then someone put their window shade up and saw Tess. I flew to Tess and kept up speed.

  I heard someone scream, “It’s a kamikaze!” Tess yelled back, “Nope, just flying

  humans; nothing to worry about.”

  There was an awkward silence.

  A girl took out her cell phone and started

  recording. Tess held up her hands as if she were about to play rock paper scissors. The girl at the window held up her hands too. They played, and Tess won.

  Tess and I were both getting tired of flying at this speed, so we waved bye to the people and stopped flying along. As we watched the plane fly on, Tess sighed. “Well, that’s going on the internet.”

  It was now sunset. The sky was a toast
y brown color, as the gentle, warm air was blowing. The sun was beginning to hide behind the blue mountains. Tess yawned. It may not be that late, but we were exhausted.

  We flew back down to just above the ground as Tess yelled;

  “Release!”

  And we gently touched ground. Her spell must have also released the plane’s sound from mute back to normal, as we heard an unusual sonic boom coming from the plane as it disappeared into the sunset.

  We laid down in the grass as we looked up to the sky. We were so far from home, but now we knew that we wouldn’t be disturbed anymore by those people. At least, I hope so.

  “Do you think they’ll let us back in school?” Tess asked.

  I shrugged and replied with; “Probably not. I don’t know if they will even let us go back into the education system.” I closed my eyes. I soon heard Tess’s heavy breathing, which told me that she was asleep.

  I didn’t find sleep so easily. I tossed and turned. It wasn’t that I was cold, it was a warm night. I was worried. What would life be like when we got home? I finally drifted to sleep about ten minutes after Tess.

  We had a big adventure tomorrow.

  Chapter Forty-One Going Home

  It was now early morning. I woke to the painful feeling of something hitting me in the face. I opened my eyes. They were sore, probably because tree sap dropped on them in my sleep. I wiped my eyes off; it was sticky, as if it had just fallen a second ago.

  I looked around and saw Tess in the tree, picking at the sap. “Did you drop this on me?” I asked, showing her the sap that was stuck to my hand.

  “Yeah, I thought it might wake you up,” she said, jumping out of the tree.

  “Well it didn’t. It just made my eyes and hands sticky,” I retorted.

  “Ok, are you ready to go?” she asked.

  I looked around. Did I have a reason not to be ready?

  Tess continued, “If you need to go to the bathroom, find a bush.”

  Now that she mentioned it, I did have to go. After we both went to the bathroom we were ready.

  Tess began to chant;

  “We want to fly way up high. Fly us high, fly us low. Fly us as fast as a crow!”