THE SYMBOL
Back at Zipfara’s Palace:
Dead silence still reined in the inner courts of the palace. It seemed that Zipfara’s words had casted a dumb spell on the occupants of the room. The aged man with white long beards opened his mouth, and then closed it, at a loss of what to say.
Emma’s right eyebrow was raised as she stared at Zipfarah. ‘What the hell was the queen talking about?’ She thought, aware of the stunned silence in the room. She tried reading the queen’s mind but was met with a huge block, even as the latter shifted her gaze to her that same second, causing her to squirm a bit on her seat, and direct her attention to Prescott.
The squirrel was appraising her.
She couldn’t read his mind either. It seemed that he had been expecting her to do so.
“Seems she caught you huh?” He asked, telepathically.
” Who?” She asked, a bit surprised that he had caught in, on the silent transaction that had gone on between her and Zipfarah.
“The queen, dumbo. You are really crazy, yunno. What were you expecting? She is not our queen for fancy sake.” Prescott said.
Emma could hear a tone of rebuke in his voice.
Well, she deserved it. What had pushed her into trying to invade the woman’s privacy? Now, she was in trouble.
“Prophecy? What prophecy?” She heard the woman who had insulted her earlier, ask incredulously.
Obviously, the woman wasn’t believing what she was hearing.
Well, she didn’t either.
At least they were on the same boat on this one.
“You know the prophecy I am talking about. We don’t have so many, or do we?” Zipfarah asked, raising her eyebrow at the rude elder.
“Not at all. Forgive me, my Queen,” She apologized with a bow, “… but she… she… she is a human.” She said, looking at Emma with wide eyes. Gone were the look of hostility and anger. Shock and awe replaced the negatives.
“I don’t think so.” Zipfara stated with a confidence that shocked Emma out of her muteness.
“What do you mean by ‘I don’t think so’? I’m a human of course, stop putting ideas into their heads. I think you got the wrong person rather.” She mentioned, a bit unsettled when she saw the small smile that graced the beautiful pink lips of the queen.
What was the woman smiling about?
‘Oh no, don’t tell me that she’s about to tell them that I had tried reading her mind.’ She thought, and cussed.
“Then how do you explain the fact that you could read minds. Are you going to deny that?” Zipfarah asked, smiling the more when she heard the series of gasps that escaped from the mouths of her already stupified audience.
“I…” Emma’s voice faltered as she saw the shocked amazement on Daniel’s face.
When had he gotten to sit close to Leila, much opposite to her?
“It’s true…” She heard one of the elders mutter in astonishment, and groaned loudly.
“So… what if I can? I’m not the first person that can do that. And there’s nothing so rare about it. If you’re looking for people like that, you’re welcome to check in my school. I believe you will see your prophecy there.” She said, pronouncing the prophecy sarcastically. No way, was she going to believe that crap. It was bullshit.
“Hmm, tell us about your school then.” The elders with white beards requested.
She sighed as she saw the rest nod, even Leila was encouraging her to go on. The girl whom had always hissed at the sight of her was now looking at her in awe and respect.
She wasn’t sure if she liked it.
“We are waiting, Emma. Tell us.” She heard Zipfarah say and sighed again. The woman still had the smile on. She had a feeling that the latter was just humouring her.
“Well…” She began, believing that there was nothing there to lose.
She told them about the group of five that had troubled her in the cafe, she told them about the professor, she told them about the strange boy that had inflicted pain on Maya, and she told them about Derek.
“…. see they all possess supernatural powers, more higher than mine. So, any of them could be your prophecy, not me.” She stated, as she avoided looking at Daniel whom she believed would be annoyed at her for dating someone else.
Well, that was his business. After all, he left first. She thought.
“You see, Emma, all these personalities you just mentioned and talked about, aren’t humans. They might be born with magic like us, they might be from the cougar family, they might be shape shifters. As you already know, your boyfriend is a werewolf. They aren’t ordinary humans. They are supernatural beings rather.” An elderly woman with gentle eyes, who was two seats away from her, spoke to her.
“O… Kay..” She stuttered, processing the information.
So, all the beings she had read about in story books were true then. Wonderful! She exclaimed sarcastically in her mind.
What about vampires then? The woman hadn’t mentioned them. Could it be that they are unreal?
No, she didn’t think so. She had seen one in her dream, and she hadn’t talked about or watched a movie about them before she had slept that night. So, there was no room for the subconscious interference.This is from NôvelDrama.Org.
“But I just read minds. And I wasn’t born with it. Perhaps, the environment or something affected me.” She said, looking at each one of them, in hope that they will believe her.
She was not ready to be some kind of super hero or some kind of prophecy that will stop some war or something.
She just wanted to go to school, get a job, marry and travel around. No big deal.
“Maybe you are right, or maybe your abilities were being repressed by something, and is now popping out one after the other because they are being triggered by something.” Another elderly woman said.
“Yeah, perhaps. But if I can remember correctly, there’s one way to actually confirm if she is the one.” A younger woman opined, standing up from her seat and walking towards Emma.
“What are you doing?” Emma shrieked, as she felt the woman’s hand at the helm of her top.
She instantly held down the woman’s hand, before turning to stare at Zipfarah who wasn’t looking at her, but at the woman, her smile gone.
“What are you doing, Shitta?” The Queen asked.
“The symbol. The symbol that marks out the prophecy should be etched on her back.” The woman, Shitta, replied.