Beyond (Simon Snow Series)

15

AGATHA
I can't believe I'm really here. Mixed up in another crazy situation. I wouldn't even call it an adventure. It's more like a hazardous series of events, all of which I would very much not like to be a part of.

Again, I just came back for my wand. Now I'm being told I can't go home?

This is totally unfair. I'm not even sure why they need me here.

Penny's mum is waiting for us at the door where we had entered the building. Her brown hair is braided loosely down her back and her dark purple shawl is wrapped around both her shoulders. She brought us to a part in the village that's so overgrown with vines and climbing wisteria. The beautiful purple flowers mostly hid the chipped edges and dirt along the buildings.

We stop in front of an old shipping container, so covered with rust that I can't tell what colour it used to be. Someone has cut a door out of the side of it and propped it up on some hinges, but it doesn't quite fit back in the frame.

"This is Noah. He's the only pixie that still lives here. Well, sort of lives here."

"What do you mean sort of?" Simon asks.

"It means," a voice says from the crate, "I'm not always around. I spend a lot of my time traveling since I arrived home."

An intensely rugged looking boy comes through the doorway and leans against it. His hair is parted down the middle in a dusty blonde heap on top of his head. He's wearing a dark blue t-shirt and a belt holding up his very baggy, very retro cargo pants.

"Well don't you all look very well kept." The boy crosses his arms and lets his gaze drifts over to Simon. "Maybe not all of you."

Simon frowns and looks down at his clothes. He's wearing a red t-shirt and khakis. A poor fashion choice if you ask me.

Then the boy looks at Shepard and cocks an eyebrow. A piece of dirty blonde hair falls into his eyes, but he ignores it. Shepard is wearing his jean jacket that's been littered with different pins and round glasses that seem to fit his face well.

"You. What's your name?" The boy jerks his head up in a nod at Shepard, who lets a small smile grow on his face.

"Shepard," he says.

"I like your style Shepard."

Shepard smiles even bigger, so that it devourers his whole face.

The boy skips over Baz scowling at him and stops on me. He smirks and I roll my eyes in response.

"What's a pretty little princess doing in a place like this?"

"I am not a princess."

"Yeah, you look like a real trickster," he teases.

Baz snickers and I glare at him.

"Now that we're all acquainted," Penelope's mum says, "Noah has been helping us keep these families safe from whatever has taken over."

"How? He lives in a pile of junk," I say.

Noah crinkles his nose. "I do not. For your information, this is all real valuable stuff."

I raise my eyebrows at this. "All of it?"

"Yes. All of it," he said, so I let it go.

"Noah has provided those people with a place to stay. Most other hidden places have been found already," Penelope's mum says. "He even gave away his only jacket, and to a little girl no less."

She says this like we should be giving him more credit.

"So what you collect stuff and just let it rot here while you go out looking for more? Sounds like a waste of time to me," Baz speculated.

"How can you help those people if most of the time you're not even around?" Shepard asks.

Noah crosses his arms and looks down at him. "I know how to prioritize."

"Now come on, let's not be so hard on him, he helps plenty."

Noah doesn't stop.

"And," he says taking a step towards Simon, "I've still been around more than you. Where've you been, 'Chosen One'? Huh? Snogging your boyfriend while the rest of us are fighting?"

Baz shoots him a glare but doesn't say anything.

Simon's silent.

"At least I was here when it started."

ehehheheheheh thank you so much to those who have read this far!! More on its way soon!❤️❤️