Chapter 4 The four story building was painted bright red, and seemed full of energy. May opened the door, and stepped inside. The walls were lined with posters, and hand drawn art work. On the wall closest to the entrance, there was a schedule that read as follows, 10:30am - 11:20am, Allison Smith, Magic Plants and Their many uses. 11:30am - 12:20pm, Ethan Hooper, basic sword play 12:30pm - 01:20pm, Lunch 01:30pm - 02:20pm, Everett Hooper, How to effectively kill a monster I almost laughed, Everett, A.K.A Sir. SpearBonk, was teaching the most important/dangerous class. Paige motioned for me to come with them. "Jane, come on." I ran to catch up with them. The halls were quiet, but I heard muffled noises coming from the classrooms. May let us down a staircase, and into a dark basement. May flicked on the lights. Along one of the walls there was a bookshelf, I couldn't quite make out the titles on the books. (My vision is wonky and I don't wear glasses, sue me.) May walked over to a table with six chairs and sat in one of them, the rest of us did the same. Paige pulled her straight, ginger hair into a ponytail. "Why are we down here?" "Because it's about to be very busy up there with class and all." That made sense, I wouldn't want to be discussing important information during a passing period. Will picked at the skin on his thumb "So, what do we have to do to get James back?" "We would probably have to go to Unheimlich's realm, better known as the demon realm. Most of it is... unpleasant, to say the least. Time and space flow differently down there. Some of it is built up, really nicely, like cities we have here inthe United States, but the parts that aren't built up, it's almost impossible to survive, human or monster. " Will drummed his fingers on the table. "So James is probably somewhere is some weird monster guy's realm who's name I can't even pronounce. " May nodded. "Great. Just Great." I heard the distant sound of weapons clanking together, that was getting closer and closer. Everett swung the door open Jackson ran, and jumped in attempt to touch the top of the door frame, but he missed, and tripped over his own shoe lace. He stumbled for a few steps before finally getting his act together. "Jackson, put the weapons in the barrel." he pointed at-you gussed it, a barrel! Jackson stuck his tongue out at Everett, but he did what he was told. Everett and Jackson joined us at the table. Everett took a crumbled letter out of his pocket and slid it across the table to May. "Good news, look at what I found in the mailbox." She picked it up and began to read, "Make sure this finds its way to one of the Venturi siblings. " she glanced over at me and Will, that's y'all, right? Will and I nodded and she continued reading. "As you already know, I have your brother James. If you want him back, then come to me in my castle in my realm, all I want is a peaceful negotiation." Everett's face went pale. "Come within seven days, or I crush the child. Good luck! P.S is he Autistic?" Seven days, or I crush the child. That's what this all boiled down to? Seven days or James dies. My last name, Venturi means good luck, or good fortune. It felt ironic, given the situation we were in, like some cosmic level joke the universe decided to play on me. May tapped me on the shoulder. "Hey, you okay?" I nodded, the truth was, I wasn't okay, I could hardly remember what my life was like before he was born. I couldn't even imagine how I would feel if the seven days passed and we couldn't save James.
Chapter 5 We exited the basement, Everett and May lingered by a photo of a blonde boy (looked to be about nine or ten) who was wearing a red baseball cap and grinning ear to ear. Jackson sneezed, and Everett and May followed us up the stairs. "What time is it?" Will asked. Jackson checked his watch, "11:27, we still have time to go to basic sword play. Everett's older brother is teaching today." "Ethan is doing that today?" Everett chimed in. "I thought that was next week." They kept talking but I wasn't listening. I didn't want to go to sword class. I wanted to go save James. I wanted to leave this place. I wanted life to be normal again. Jackson turned around to face me. "Jane, you coming?" "What does it matter?" I snapped "James could die in a week, and we're just, standing here!" "Jane, you don't know how to use a weapon, and if you don't learn, then both you and James would die. And I don't think Will wants to have to tell you parents, hi Mom hi Dad, both of your younger kids are dead, but hey I'm still here." I glanced over at Will, he was making a face that said, indeed, I don't want to say that . None of us said anything after that, we just silently followed Jackson to where the class would be happening. Everett and May branched off, probably so Everett could set up his lesson. After a couple more minutes of walking, we reached this large green field, everyone was holding a wooden sword. A boy walking over to where were standing. "Jackson, shouldn't you be in school right now?" I decided he had to be Ethan, he looked almost just like Everett. "In theory yes, in practice no." "Jackson, talk normally." Jackson rolled his eyes. "Fine, something happened and I don't have to go to school. " "What happened? " "I'll tell you in a second. " Ethan nodded. "I'm assuming these people are your friends." "Yeah, these two are Jane and Will Venturi," he pointed at me and Will. "and this is Paige Turner. " "Wait, your last name is Turner?" Will asked, hardly containing his laughter "Yes Will, I've lived below you for ten years, how do you not know?" Will was to busy cracking up to answer, honestly it it felt good to hear him laugh after all that happened that morning. "I guess your parents are big readers. " He laughed even more at his own joke. "Can you guys go grab a wooden sword from that pile?" He pointed at a small pile of wooden swords. We walked over there, Will still laughing. Jackson stayed behind for a second to talk to Ethan, so I also had to grab on for him. After we got the swords, we walsked back over to where Jackson and Ethan were. I handed Jackson the sword, and we joined the rest of the class. I was standing next to a girl with long, curly brown hair, and tan skin. "Hi my name is Allison, whats yours? " "My name is Jane" "I take it you're one of Jackson's friends? " "Yeah, he lives in the apartment right above mine." "How long have you known each other?" "Since first grade." "Jeez, that's a while to be around someone like Jackson." I laughed. "He's a bit crazy at times, but he's a good person." She looked like she was about to say something, but was cut off by Ethan. "To start today's lesson about basic sword play, I'm going to show you how to disarm someone with a sword. Jackson, get up here, I need a demonstration."
