Crossing Into Forever

Chapter 37

The next several weeks passed by uneventfully. Ella was more relaxed now at the school since she had settled into a routine. Professor Addington had not been hassling her, Christopher had not been bothering her that much and the doctor seemed to be indifferent to her. This actually made her happy because she was still of the opinion that the less attention she got from him the better. She still got a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach when she was in his class, but she could usually ignore it and carry on with whatever activity they were doing. She had gotten to see Mother Christina and Aunt Mary a couple of times recently and this made her very happy.

Nicholas on the other hand had been in a foul mood a lot lately and was trying hard not to take it out on his students. He had not been feeling like himself and felt restless much of the time. He had not had a date with one of his lady friends in the past two months, nor was he interested in seeing any of them. As a matter of fact, he had got into a small argument with Cecelia two weeks ago because he refused to meet her for dinner. He had no interest in seeing any of them at the time and he wasn't sure why. He did know that the loss of interest for any of them made his mood even darker because he didn't know what to do with himself.

To make matters worse, Erebus had been on the prowl. The ministry had been breathing down his neck about either riding the planet of Erebus or making Ella leave the planet. He was not willing to allow Ella to leave the planet because it would mean certain death for her. He was trying his best to catch Erebus off guard, but the monster seemed to be more agile and elusive now than ever. It was like he found a new motivation in Ella, and he was determined to get to her. Nicholas knew that he had a plan to use Ella as a means to gain more power to fight his brother and this gave the creature an increased sense of purpose and power. Still, he was sure he would catch him off guard one day and be able to destroy him, it had to be perfect timing though.

It was late one evening when two representatives of Parliament arrived at the school stating they wanted to speak to the headmaster and Nicholas together. Once in the privacy of the headmaster's office, the head minister announced that they had had a meeting among the parliament and it had been decided that as long as Erebus was alive, Ella Xander would either have to leave the planet permanently or get married. If she were married, she would not be valuable to Erebus any longer and he would no longer be stalking her at the school. They had decided that it would be in everyone's best interest for an arranged marriage to take place. They would not take no for an answer as they had the safety of the school and other students to consider. Nicholas assured the men that his students were safe and even though the two men knew he was right, the decision had still been made that Ella would have to be wed in order to stay on Spirotest. The decision was made by dignitaries that were in a higher court than the headmaster of the school and Nicholas, so they had no choice but to agree to the terms of their arrangement, unless of course Nicholas could kill Erebus in a timely manner.

"And who is it that you propose to marry Ms. Xander?" Nicholas was most unhappy, and his mood was dark.

"We have a couple of prospects in mind. It shouldn't be hard to find a suitable husband for the girl. We have heard she is a pretty and smart girl albeit with a timid disposition. That might actually be a positive attribute for some of those that are interested."

"How long do we have before this arrangement is carried out? I do hope you will at least give me a chance to catch our friend and behead him in the process." It made him grin to himself because he knew that both of the men were not accustomed to such graphic discussion, and he could tell by the looks on their faces that it made them feel a little uneasy with such things being spoken aloud. He indeed hoped it would make them feel as sick as they had made him feel at the insistence that Ella either leave or be married. He had a sneaking suspicion that there was more to this than met the eye. The men knew the headmaster and Nicholas would never do anything to jeopardize the safety of their students or staff. They also knew that they would never send Ella home to face certain death and that Nicholas was having a hard time catching Erebus to kill him. Was there an ulterior motive here? He would be waiting and watching to see. He didn't trust many in parliament and he certainly didn't trust the two men that had brought the news to them. There was some other evil at work here, he could feel It.