Authors note: So school has started…wow, back to the grind. It’s going to be hard to update a lot but I’m going to do my best to update as soon as I can. That means you guys will have to forgive my typos and other grammatical errors. I’m considering a beta but I’m just not there yet. Trying to take things one step at a time. So, here we go. Hoping for the best! Enjoy!

Chapter Three

A Portal into Your World

Their eyes were shifting back and forth. Small droplets of sweat were cascading down their brows. As one would bring forth his hand, the other would wait with anticipation for his chance. Bystanders grew antsy with excitement. Soon, it would be over. The winner was still unsure.

“Is this over yet?”

All eyes suddenly turned to the blonde who was chugging down a Dr. Pepper with one hand and texting with the other. His blue eyes looked bored to tears and his hard breathing sounded annoyed.

The chess players and the crowd looked on him with disgust.

“You are supposed to be the moderator,” the player named John said, his high pitched voice making Jericho cringe.

“Yeah, and moderators don’t speak,” the other player included.

“Well can you hurry up?” Jericho inquired, “I’m having a party tonight.”

A crowd member raised their hand as the words were said.

“And none of you are invited,” Jericho finished as the hand slowly fell down.

“We didn’t want to come to your stupid shin ding anyway,” John mumbled.

Jericho smirked as he jumped off the referee seat and leaned on the chess table. The two players glanced at each other before looking up at the popular student.

“For starters, it is not a shin ding…it’s a party. Second, if you didn’t want to come then you wouldn’t say you didn’t want to, you just wouldn’t come. And finally…”

Jericho smiled as he raised his hand above his hand. A thunder of gasps followed as he swept his hand over the chess board. Kings, Bishops, and Pawns flew everywhere as each piece left the board.

“This game is over,” said Jericho.

Then he coolly left off, leaving the gym full of angered and embarrassed nerds to their anger and embarrassment.

They would be the least of the teenager’s parties.

“Jero, Jericho Haveen! What did you do? A nerd—I mean, a chess fan just came to the soccer tryouts and said you destroyed their game.”

Jericho rolled his eyes as Mary ran up to his side. She had her hair in a high ponytail, which was probably a good thing. Even in a ponytail, her hair was down to her waist. That made Mary just a little different than all the other girls. Probably a bad different.

“Mary, look…nerds and me…we just don’t mix.”

“Its nerds and I…proper grammar.”

Jericho crossed his arms and stopped to glare at the girl. Mary just sighed as she brushed her uneven bangs out of her face, revealing two pimples. Jericho’s face flinched.

“It would just be nice if you…” Mary started, “If you like would just try to like this school. Your father is so dedicated and-”

“Don’t compare me to my father, Mary. I’m nothing like him.”

Mary placed her hands on her hips, “Don’t you aspire to be?”

“I aspire to be nothing. I’m going to die some day. Might as well live it up while I’m here.”

“You can still live it up while living right which is definitely something your not doing right now.”

This made Jericho turned his head to the floor and Mary feel regret. She was never so outspoken with Jericho but today she just felt unnerved by the guy. She might as well take it back.

“I’m sorry…I didn’t mean it like that,” she mumbled.

Jericho glanced at her and saw genuine contrition in her eyes although he knew he didn’t really deserve it.

“It’s okay,” he said in his usual voice, “Just don’t do it again.”

Mary just nodded. Slyly grinning, Jericho brought his hand to her chin and peered into her glowing hazel eyes. This made her smile while she pushed his arms away.

“Get rid of those pimples and you can come to my party tonight,” he whispered.

At first Mary frowned but then her mouth turned into a small smile.

“I’ll ruin your rep…” she muttered, looking up at the ceiling.

“Eh, you got a cute butt…”

“You’re such a pervert.”

“Come...”

Mary beamed slightly before she slowly walked off from Jericho, a feeling of enthusiasm and worry building in her heart.

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His parents wouldn’t know. They were somewhere in Canada on another business meeting. They wouldn’t be back till Monday. And his maid…it was her day off. So Jericho had planned it perfectly. His father didn’t want to see anymore parties. And he wasn’t going to see it any of it.

“Hey everybody, the beers in the kitchen!” he screamed as he grabbed Paige’s waist.

A roar of screams and laughter followed Jericho as the words spilled from his mouth. A few students patted his back as they scrambled to the kitchen to get their taste of under aged drinking.

Jericho smiled. Inside he felt rather accomplished. Everyone was stratified, content. And he was reason.

“Let’s go upstairs…” Paige whispered temptingly, “Let’s find a closet…”

Jericho grinned lowly, glancing back at Paige’s real boyfriend. He was busy flirting with a freshman in the dim lighted room. Jericho sighed, finding the whole situation almost stupid.

“That dick over there is making out with a first year…aren’t you going to-” Jericho said before Paige pressed her lips against his.

“Who cares?” she said softly, running her lips over his right ear. The two smiled deviously as they clasped hands before moving their way through the crowded house. Finally, the made it to the staircase. Jericho couldn’t’ even tell it was his house anymore.

He tried looking around but Paige was already moving quickly up the stairs. He forgot the ill attempt.

The two already began making-out as they burst into Jericho’s parent’s room. The room was nice and tidy and would stay that way. The pair made their way slowly to the master closet, their bodies smashed together.

“A little farther…” Paige said breathlessly, grabbing at his shirt.

As she backed herself inside, the two instantly fell to the ground.

They were not alone.

“You?!” Jericho screamed his body intertwined with Paige’s.

It was her. The goth girl. At his party, in his parents closet.

“What the hell?” Paige cried, “Jero, what is she doing here?”

“I don’t know!” he spat, “What are you doing in my house?”

The goth girl didn’t answer. Her gray eyes just looked on with confusion. She was clutching her knees, her black torn dress covering her spindly white legs. She was wearing a black veil, as if she had just come from a funeral.

Paige stared at her with disgust.

“Jericho, just call the police. This girl and her stupid friends are trying to harass you!”

This almost sounded like good reasoning. Jericho nodded as he and Paige stood up, glaring down a the meek figure. They both were turning to leave when suddenly.

“Stop—freeze!”

And so everyone did. Everyone who was dancing downstairs in the Haveen’s living room. All the students stealing alcohol from Mr. Haveen’s cellar. Everyone breaking neighbor’s windows down the street. Even the cheerleader Paige, who now had a plastered expression of hatred on her face.

Everything just stopped. Everyone except the little girl sitting frightened on the floor and oaf gazing at her in disbelief.

“What…what…” Jericho could barely say as he quickly backed away from Paige.

His body fell heavily to the ground as he tripped over his mother’s side table. Trying to grab the carpet in his hands, he watched as the girl walked slowly out of his parents closet. She glanced at Paige’s statue of a body before pacing slowly towards Jericho. He cringed in definite fear.

“How…how did you do that?!” he asked, his voice starting out low and then growing into a crazed shriek.

“You need to calm down,” Nirvana answered.

“You froze everyone…you stopped time!”

“I didn’t stop time; they just can’t move right now…it’s nothing to be frightened of.”

Nirvana slowly brought forth her right hand to touch Jericho’s arm. He bolted to the other side the room, his face almost as pale as hers now. He glanced back and forth, trying to find something to defend himself with.

“You stay away from me!” he screamed as Nirvana began to creep towards him, “Don’t touch me…don’t…don’t touch me!”

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Then what are you going to do…freeze me?!”

Nirvana rolled her eyes, dropping suddenly to the ground.

“If I really wanted to freeze you...wouldn’t I have just done it when I did it to everyone else?”

This logic made Jericho suddenly feel more at ease. The fact that Nirvana was sitting quietly all the ground also calmed his nerves. Soon, he was able to sit down also. His blue eyes were still fixed on Paige’s lifeless body.

“Do you want me to unfreeze everyone and just leave?”

Jericho glimpsed at the goth girl when she said this.

“You’re a demon,” he remarked coldly, “Sent from hell to condemn my life. So why not just kill me?”

Nirvana didn’t seem hurt by the words. She was more annoyed than anything.

“I’m not a demon,” she mumbled, “I’m a just a girl you should’ve left alone.”

Jericho couldn’t respond. For she was right. Why hadn’t he just left her alone? Why did he always have to make stupid bets and prove to everyone that he was on top? It all started with that kiss. All his problems; or so right now it seemed that way.

“Why is it that I always forget you? But when I see you…I remember everything.”

Nirvana found the question quite interesting. This guy was pretty stupid and foolish. To have a question actually worth answering was probably something not to be taken lightly.

“You’re supposed to stay with me…” she murmured, “We’re-”

“Soul mates…” Jericho finished, “I remember…”

Nirvana almost smirked. Jericho was sounding rather intelligent. A silence lay between the two for awhile. Jericho decided to keep his distance from the “witch”. After awhile, he ventured over to Paige and slightly caressed her cheek.

“How can you do these things?” his inquired gently, his hand moving slowly over her iced lips.

“It’s dark sorcery…like I said before…” Nirvana replied from the floor, “We…my family and I…we can almost do anything.”

“So you can make cake appear?”

Nirvana raised an eyebrow, “No…that would be stupid.”

Jericho smiled and then frowned. Smiling would make this witch think he was comfortable with her, and he was surely not.

“Then wizards, vampires…mermaids, they’re all real?”

Nirvana took a fleeting look out the Haveen’s window before turning to Jericho. He was now feeling Paige’s hands. They felt like shards of crystal, broken glass.

“People only think we’re not real because we’ve been seen that way…made that way. If one person were to just give us a chance…then maybe things would change. But change scares people…we scare people.”

Jericho stared at Nirvana. For once, she didn’t seem like the goth girl. No, she was creepier.

“Look,” he finally answered, “I’m sorry for kissing you, okay? It was…wrong. I take it back. Now can you just erase my memory or something…or wake me up from this nightmare because-”

“This isn’t a nightmare!” Nirvana loudly interrupted, “This is real Jericho Fare Haveen! You just can’t wish it all away!”

Jericho fell back. Nirvana was now on her feet, although short in height looked quite tall. Her eyes almost seemed black. Jericho remembered the same eyes on her sister. The looked identical.

“How…did you get in my closet?” he whispered.

Nirvana shook her head, walking quickly past him.

“Your useless…hopeless…and damn fool.”

Nirvana muttered these words as she walked backed into the room’s closet. Her small hands grazed over the craftsmanship of the wooden door. It made her squirm. She wasn’t home.

As she sat back on the floor, she gradually lifted her hands to her chest. Her gray eyes closed shut as she elongated her arms, perfectly parallel to one another. Leisurely, she lifted her right hand and then dropped it suddenly.

To Jericho, it almost seemed like that part of her party was completely dead. It was as limp as wet tree trunk. He gasped when Nirvana suddenly looked at him.

“My family won’t let me come home…” she muttered, her hand swiftly regaining life, “Not until you come with me…”

“You arrived in my house…from somewhere else,” Jericho remarked, ignoring the words Nirvana had just spoken, “Like from…another portal. You were…you were trying to make a portal.”

This made the girls glimmer and the sides of her mouth almost wanting to smile. Her dark exterior almost looked bright.

“Your right,” she mumbled, her voice sounding a little satisfied.

Jericho just shook his head. All he had done was suppose the worst. Sadly, it was true.

“So…” he began, “Your family won’t let you come home…which I’m guessing is through the portal you were about to make…because I’m not with you.”

The goth girl nodded quickly, looking rather excited. Jericho pursed his lips.

“And kissing mortals makes them your soul mates?”

Nirvana, her pale face now with a little pinkness, looked up at him.

“Yes…but almost, something more. Your like my…my protector.”

“Protector? Protector of what?”

Nirvana instantly looked down. “You wouldn’t understand…”

This only made Jericho sigh heavily with a groan as he fell back on his parent’s bed.

“I have to marry a goth…” he whispered.

“We’re not getting married. We’re soul mates. There’s a difference.”

“Your right…when you’re married, you can get a divorce.”

Nirvana glared at the blonde from the closet. He was now muttering profanities into his hands while speaking gibberish about her “creepy” family and what nonsense the whole situation was.

She stood up, her little legs making loud stomps as Nirvana walked to stoop over him. Jericho quickly crawled to the front of the bed when he noticed she had arrived.

“I don’t care if you think I’m a joke,” she said as he grabbed the beds headboard, “I don’t care if you…if you think my family’s a joke. But all of this, all of this is real. You can deny it all you want but it won’t go away! Now you can be a cowardly bastard if you like. You can try to throw me away…leave me to rot. But I’ll always come back to haunt you. We…we’re meant to be.”

Nirvana said this, her eyes black with fury as she headed for the bedroom door. Jericho was just staring at her, his hands loosing their grip on the headboard. When her hand touched the doorknob, he was completely off the bed.

A crazy feeling was building in his chest. Like a rush of ice or a tiny ember of fire. It was the same emotion when he had kissed her. That moment when their lips had touched, it was nothing he could explain. He hadn’t told Ben or any of his other companions. They would only laugh.

If he told them the kiss with Nirvana was the best of his life, they would tell the whole school. But it was. It surely was.

As Nirvana opened the door and began to pace down the hallway, the feeling overcame Jericho’s body. Suddenly, he began to move—run for her. When he caught her walking down the stairs, his usual self seemed to disappear into his shadow. Something else, almost unworldly, spoke instead.

“Nirvana, Nirvana wait!” he called, not even noticing the many frozen bodies in his living room.

The goth girl nearly looked like she wouldn’t stop. But after she reached the third step, her legs seemed to give out. Her body whirled around, making her veil almost drop to the ground. She straightened it as Jericho walked up to her.

Trying to ignore the urge to move within inches of her face, he grabbed the stair rail.

“I don’t believe you,” he said softly, “I think everything you just told me is a bunch of bull crap…and, I’d like it if you would just leave me alone. But, and…I’m-er…not sure why…but I’m going to give you a chance. Take me…take me to your family. If it’s all a hoax then you pulled a pretty a good one…okay?”

The girl seemed irritated by the overdone sarcasm but there was a tint of interest in her eyes. She looked at the floor and then at the ceiling before turning her gaze to his unblemished face. He was just staring with a blank expression.

“No lies?” Nirvana questioned in a harsh voice.

Jericho rolled his eyes, “No lies.”

“Fine then,” she answered after awhile, “Let’s go.”

Jericho’s eyes enlarged as he followed Nirvana down the stairs.

“Now?!” he asked.

“Now.”

“But…wha-what about my party? You can’t just leave all these people frozen.”

“The term is Narani…they are all under the spell of the Narani.

Jericho rolled his eyes again, “Fine…you can’t leave people under your little magical spell of Narnia.”

“It’s not magic!” Nirvana yelled now, “It’s dark sorcery…and it’s Narani. Not…Narnia.”

Jericho now had a scowl on his face that looked overwhelmed and perplexed. Nirvana just placed her hands on her hips.

“Are you going to make everyone move again?” he questioned.

“Yes.”

“Without me here?”

Nirvana glimpsed around the room. “I think it will be better without you here. You already let them break into your father’s wine cellar.”

Jericho looked away. “Let’s go.”

And so she opened the portal, her hands now free to do as they wished. He was with her. And now her family would let her come home. Letting go of the spell of the Narani, everyone in the Haveen’s house was set free. This was just as the two disappeared.

They walked into the portal; into the darkness, into her home and his unknown.

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Authors note: Please tell me what you think. I need a lot of feedback this time. This chapter kind of decides whether or not I write anymore during the fall. So please…please review! I’ll try to update soon if I can.