Chapter 65

65 Recruiting a Friend

I was snapped out of my thoughts by the sound of footsteps coming towards us. I tensed up, preparing for a fight, but it was September.

“Chill,” September chuckled, as if reading my mind. “It’s just me.”

“Oh, sorry,” I said, relaxing a little. “What’s up?”

“It’s fine,” she said. “Just was talking with Mr. Robbs from Mage History Class. He recommended a few good books on mage history if you’re interested.”

“Well I mean, I ain’t really attending classes after I won the WAC contest really,” I said.

“I figured as much,” September said with a nod. “But he did say that if we’re interested, he’d be willing to us some books.”

“Heh,” I said with a nod. “Figures.” September then took a seat next to me and began to munch on an apple.

“So, what’s been up with you lately?” she asked.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked. She chuckled, “It’s quite self explanatory, don’t you think?” “Oh, right,” I said with a nod. “I’ve just been hanging out with Malachi while you weren’t here, and uh, not much else.”

.....

“I see,” September said. “Well I’m glad you two are getting along better.”

“Yeah,” I said with a smile and a nod. “He’s not so bad, once you get to know him.”

“That’s good,” she said. “I’m glad you think so.”

We then lapsed into silence as we continued to eat our lunch. It was nice to have some company, but at the same time, it was a little awkward. Not sure why, but it was.

“So, what are your plans for after lunch?” September finally broke the silence.

“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “What about you?”

“Oh, I was just going to go to the library and do some research,” she said.

“Research on what?” I asked.

“Of course, the Cybertron thing. It’s peaceful and quiet there, which is great for my concentration,” she added. “I can check to see what I can learn about it,” she said. “Oh right, right, right,” I said, snapping my fingers. “I forgot about that.”

“Yeah,” she said with a nod. “So I guess I’ll see you later then?”

“Yeah, see you later September,” I said as she got up and left.

Once she was gone, I turned to Malachi and sighed. “Libraries, huh?”

He nodded. “Never really liked them.”

***

Time passed and now it was time for us to start talking with Mr. Drails. Malachi said we should wait, that we had to be sure, but I was getting impatient.

“I say we go now,” I said. “The longer we wait, the more time Rocke can prepare.”

“Fine,” Malachi said with a sigh. “But let me do the talking.” September chuckled, “Who every said you were talking?” This caused Malachi to give September a withering look.

We approached Mr. Drails’s office and I could see him through the window, hunched over his desk, looking at something intently.

“He looks busy,” I said.

“That’s because he is,” Malachi replied. “But he’ll make time for this, for sure.” He knocked on the door as Mr. Drails’s eyes immediately lit up and stared at us.

He motioned us in and we took our seats. Mr. Drails leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. “So, what can I do for you?” he asked.

Malachi cleared his throat before beginning. “We’re here to talk about the Cybertron mission,” he said. “The whole ‘Save Tisiah’ thing. We found the address.”

Mr. Drails’s eyes widened and he sat up straighter. “You did?” he asked. “That’s fantastic news! Where is it?” Then September handed him the sticky note, where he looked with thought.

“Hmm,” he said. “I’m not familiar with this area. Is it in the city?”

“No,” I piped up. “We think it’s actually in the middle of nowhere. The address is very unfamiliar anywhere in the world to be honest.”

“Interesting,” Mr. Drails said, tapping his chin. “But that doesn’t matter. We need to go there as quickly as we can. I’ll try and get the coordinates of the place by tomorrow, so you guys can go there. Have you guys talked to your new teammates yet?”

“No not yet, but I’ll reach them soon after this,” I said.

“Good, good,” Mr. Drails said. “I’ll be in touch.”

And with that, we were dismissed.

We walked out the door, as September looked at me with hope in her eyes. “Just talk to them alright, I’ll try to see more on the Cybertron with Malachi okay?” I nodded as we went our separate ways for now.

I’m not sure where Matt or Mari is. Once it ended, I never was able to find them at all to be honest. It was gonna be hard to find them to tell them the news, but I’ll have to try. I began to walk through the halls, as students galore were talking and laughing.

It was really cramped, and the unpleasant sensation began to radiate through my body. I walked faster, as I wanted to get away from the people. I turned the corner and saw Mari, who was talking with some other girl.

She looked very clean since the whole WAC contest, where she was more covered in dirt than before. It made me feel a little happy, as I saw her laughing and joking around.

I approached her and the other girl gave me a weird look.

The girl was wearing some jean jacket, with orange hair and blue jeans. She also had on a backpack and high top converse shoes. “Who are you?” the girl asked.

“I’m a friend of Mari’s,” I said, as she nodded. “Do you guys need uh...” the girl said as she slowly walked away. “I’m gonna use the bathroom.”

“O-Oh, okay,” I said, as the girl walked away. I turned to Mari, who was looking at me with a weird expression. “I didn’t think you were gonna see me again,” Mari said. “Why are you here?”

“I wanted to talk to you about something,” I said. “It’s kind of urgent.”

“Oh, okay,” she said. “Go ahead.” I cleared my throat, feeling weird for some reason. “So there were some things that happened and we needed new teammates. I was hoping you could join us on our mission.”

“What mission?” she asked.

“It’s a long story,” I said. “But we need to go save someone.”

“Oh, like the President?” she asked.

“No, but someone you may know from the WAC contest.”

“Nikki?”

I shook my head. “No, it’s not Nikki. It’s Tisiah.”

Mari’s eyes widened. “Tisiah? Oh no, what happened?” she asked.

“He, got kidnapped by someone from the TSA, we need to save him before it’s too late,” I said.

“Oh my,” she said, as her hand flew to her head. “That’s terrible! I’ll help you guys, of course.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said. “Let’s confirm it with Mr. Drails!” I held up my finger, “Well, I was going to ask Matt and someone named Rin who helped us in the WAC contest.”

“Oh, that’s no problem,” Mari said. “I know where Matt is. He’s in the library studying for a test.”

“A test?”

“Not the academy test, but you know, his actual school test.” I nodded, as I remembered he was still attending school.

“So, should we go now?” she asked.

“Might as well,” I said.

Preview:

We began to walk over to the library, which I had no idea where it was, but I just followed Mari who seemed to know somehow. We walked for a while in silence, before Mari decided to talk again. “So, how have you been?” she asked.

“Well, not too well I guess,” I said. “I mean, I just found out that my friends and I are going to have to leave our homes and go on a dangerous mission to save a person who tried to kill me before.”

“That’s how it’s always gonna be,” Mari said. “It’s hard most of the time.”

“I know,” I said. “But it’s worth it.”

“Yeah, it is,” she said. “To save people and to keep them from destroying our way of life. It’s what we have to do.”

“I know,” I said. “But it’s still hard.” We finally arrived at the library, and it must be a very big one. The building was quite wide, very wide in fact.

It had many different levels and a big sign that said “Library” in big letters. “This is the place,” Mari said.

The building had this brown and gray pattern and the structure was quite exhilarating. It made me feel a little giddy, as I had never seen such a big library before. “Let’s go in,” Mari said, as she walked in.

The place was really just something else. The tiles when walking in were gold and the chandeliers were a bright white. It was really something to see. Then after about a fifty feet ahead was the actual library, with shelves upon shelves upon shelves of books. It was like a maze and I got lost just looking at it.

Many students were there for some reason, as I saw them walking around with their books. “This place is amazing,” I said.

“Yeah, it is,” Mari said. “Alright, let’s find Matt.” We began to search, me taking the right and her taking the left. With every shelf hallway, I keenly looked through, trying to find him. But he was nowhere to be found.