FRIGHT SCHOOL BOOK 1 (COMPLETE) EDITING

C.CLOSE CALL

Am I going to die?

I slowly felt my body parts go numb and just before I blacked out, my eye fell on a symbol, a large stag.

It was engraved on the silver container next to my right leg, unopened.
The stag had huge horns and seemed to be standing next to a tree.

Maybe.

I willed myself to open the container but my hands didn't listen, they just lay there covered in purple veins.

I remembered Yivul, how did he do it, he was a mummy same as I and even though I was young, I knew I was capable.

"J..just like Yiv," I said under chattering teeth "Fo...cus"

I struggled to keep calm despite everything and looked intensely at the container.

Come.

The container remained where it was.

Come.

It still remained there, not a budge.

Come.

My eyelids were closing on their own, was I dying?

Hurry Allan.

I focused, how did Yiv do it...how did Mum do it too?

My eyes were half closed and I began to accept it, this was the end, it was death.

At the very least, Mum would be waiting but then I felt a rush of ease and my eyes snapped wide awake.

I could breathe well again, the headache had gone down, I looked to my leg and saw the container opened.

I breathed quickly and looked at my hand, an empty vial was in my grasp. I could've screamed with elated joy, it worked.

How?

I moved my hand over my sore and trickles of liquid floated out before settling back in the sore.

I had learned the technique!

I sighed deeply, "Better late than never" I croaked and lay back as my temperature receded.

I didn't move again as I let myself sink in the feeling of survival, I was overjoyed but I needed to rest.

That was too close.

After a while, I took out a loaf of bread and ate hungrily without stopping to take breaths. I took out meat stored in a jar and ate those as well and gulped down grape juice.

Once I was satisfied I laid back on the boat and took in deep breaths whilst looking at the sky.

It was different from the skies at Thomis-Heracleion, it didn't have other moons and pink, green, blue and all other forms of colorful clouds but still, it was beautiful to see the early morning sky.
It was plain light blue but something about the simplicity made it even more beautiful.

After about almost an hour, I fell asleep and to be honest, it was the best sleep I had had in years.

I dreamt of many events, some real and some not.

One was of back home, when I was barely twelve years old, still reeling from the death of my mother. My dad was holding me crying with me, apologizing repeatedly.

"It's going to be okay Allan, it's going to be okay, don't cry."

The next dream had me going to one of the many classes royals were required to attend. Many of our tutors were old mummies who had lived for many generations, some had even lived in the era of the first Queen.

So it wasn't out of the ordinary when more than one always spoke of the rogue Priest, The Death's gaze.

The priest who went rogue and betrayed the Queen, the tutors were always adamant whenever it came to the story of that priest.

It was a topic that always fascinated me mainly because I also wanted to find out how exactly one could take down a Queen.

I never understood why my father had to marry the one responsible for my mum's death and all the time he said: this is bigger than you, Allan.

It didn't take too long before a weird noise woke me up, I fluttered my eyes open to see a squirrel looking down on me from a branch, it held a chestnut to its chest as its mouth made nibbles.

I sat up and looked around, the Sun was up and I looked around happily.

I had only read about the Sun in books and the books did no justice, it was nothing compared to the real thing as I breathed in feeling the warm bath my skin.

I wished Hub or Renal were here with me to see what I saw.

The sun lit up the place, as more birds made sounds as they flew about, the lake glittered with the sunlight. I looked around in curiosity as suddenly my eyes caught little fishes swimming by.

The sky was now bright blue with beautiful white swirling clouds, I smiled like a little boy it was a beautiful sight.

Abu would've fit in this place.

I suddenly heard a low growl and my heart skipped a beat -I knew nothing good lasted forever.

I looked around quickly for the source, my eyes scanned the many trees on both sides, the bushes.

I saw a couple of deer ran quickly away, I had seen them countless times in the market in the city. After a while, I assumed it was my imagination or my stomach, ''Get a hold of yourself Meroe, it's all in your head" I told myself.

Just as I was about to relax again a black bear burst through a pile of bushes, it roared loudly and run into the river towards me.

I gasped as the bear thundered after me splashing water all about, ''Crap, crap!'' I said as I got ready to jump out of the boat, I knew the boat wouldn't last a second against that huge body.

Just as I prepared to leap off the boat, the bear passed me, splashing water all over me.

What?

The bear had no interest in me, it simply ran by me, I glanced at the animal and saw deep claw marks on the animal's side.

Blood gushed out but the animal was determined to leave the vicinity.

I was confused, I read that the bears were powerful animals who couldn't be taken down so easily, whatever hurt the bear was without a doubt a dangerous animal.

Then that same growl I heard earlier came again.

I slowly turned to the distant front as I realized that whatever hurt that bear was now directly ahead of me.

''Okay Meroe, you've read about this, this is probably a mountain lion or a wolf'' I told myself as I wore my bag containing my treasures and braced myself.

''You know how to avoid animals like that, even kill one, you've escaped Moab countless times, how different can this one be?" I looked carefully at the path the bear came sprinting through.

I then saw the two carnivorous green eyes in the distance and the growling was louder.

Ok, so this was a mountain lion, I read how to escape them in my dad's book but my heart nearly stopped after the beast slowly stepped into the light.

The beast was big and black, it's height was too tall, about five meters if not more.

It's back brushed against the branches of a tall pine tree, my eyes looked up to how tall and huge the beast was.

It had huge canine teeth, and a scar that ran along its face and upon closer look, the animal looked more like a saber tooth.

It was twice the size of the bear-this was no ordinary animal, ''Oh no!'' I whispered as the animal caught sight of me.

What now Meroe?

***

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