Chapter 23: Chapter 18 – Working Hard

I hadn't received any text replies until I woke up. But by then, I was mourning over my wrecked jogging shoes. I hadn't realized the inner cushions in the shoes had been crushed until I went to put them on today. The extra weight caused by jogging in my stone form had been too much for them. Sighing, I started my computer to see if I could order new ones. I had other shoes like sandals, slip-ons, and boots but none of those would work for exercising.

Like in my last world, online shopping was a thing. It was just that most products had two categories: magically enhanced and normal. It wasn't something I expected but after looking through the shoes offered in both areas, I quickly learned that the cost of the magically enhanced shoes were at least ten times the price of the same product in the normal section. It was just they were guaranteed to hold up to certain user magic. The more it resisted the higher the cost became. So, a two-hundred-dollar pair of jogging shoes that could resist my weight in stone form was over two thousand. There was a little check box on the side where I could add options like fire resistant, forever dry, size adjustable and so on but with each one you checked off the price rose exponentially.

They only resisted the users magic and at least for now, I didn't have a lot of spells that would destroy my clothing. It was just that with every spell I received, I might need to upgrade my wardrobe. I couldn’t even plan ahead because to buy even one outfit, that could resist everything, would be in the hundreds of thousands. But even if I could afford the weight protected shoes, I still put the normal ones in the order basket. It wasn’t that I was being cheap, but that in my neighborhood, people get stabbed for less expensive things. I was actually a little surprised at how peaceful it seemed in comparison, if I ignored the monster attacks and the lecherous men.

I ate breakfast as I looked to see if there was anything else I needed. I ended up tossing a wooden drawing mannequin that I could use to practice my 'Puppeteer' spell on, into the cart. It was only five inches tall and because of that, I figured that most people who saw me making it move would assume it was the level one spell called ‘String Man’. It was well known because a lot of kids learned it to move their action figures. Satisfied with my selections, I sent my mom a descriptive text depicting my shoes untimely demise and asked her if she could purchase the stuff in the ‘cart’. I let her know I could afford to pay for the new ones and that I’d be more careful in the future. I put on a pair of thin cotton shoes that I could wear for cheer practice, added a “dance” outfit, and took the bus to school.

Ann was waiting for me when I got to school. She was so excited that she managed to get the new charm. Her “here, I finally managed to get you a new one!” was said with such passion that I couldn’t tell her it wasn’t needed since I now had magic. She seemed to have forgotten the main purpose of it.

I looked at the black coin sized pendant trying to remember where I’d seen it before. It was a very simple design with a black bead at the top, a tiny opal in the middle and a crimson bead on the bottom. There were faint scratch marks on the pendant that swirled and connected the black and red beads. It looked cheap but pretty. Even the black and red cord that had a thin silver thread running between the two colors used to hold it, could probably have been bought at any craft store. ‘At least her heart was in the right place,’ I thought as I took it over.

“Thanks, I love it,” I told her but didn’t put it on right away. Instead, I dangled it in front of my eyes trying to see if there was anything strange about it. It wasn’t until I saw a cord around Ann’s neck that I remembered she was wearing a similar pendant. I just couldn’t recall if it was the same or not. But Ann had said this charm was different from the last one so even if her charm brought me here this one wouldn’t be able to send me back.

“Want me to help you put it on?” Ann asked. Her voice making me look up into her hopeful eyes.

I nodded and let her put it on. I made a mental note to remove it after class. I didn’t trust it. So much so, that I made sure it stayed on the outside of my clothes, just in case. To keep it from touching my skin I waved at Victoria, who had just walked in, and said, “look at the charm Ann gave me.”

Whether she knew I was using her as an excuse or really wanted to see it, Victoria hurried over and after looking said, “I like it. Did you make it?”

“What?! No, no of course not.” Ann quickly denied it and then quickly changed the topic, "What do you think Janet's doing now?"

Victoria chimed in, "She wasn't allowed to say but I checked the shows Twitter, and it looks like it's a series of challenges. They posted a black and white teaser picture of a forest, so I expect they will have to camp in the wild and deal with any monsters or problems that might come their way."

I already knew she took leave to record her television show and she’d be gone for an entire week. But the wild? "Isn't that too dangerous?"

"Na, the show has hired security and some of the regular actors are real powerhouses."

Ann had a dreamy smile on her face as she said, "Yeah, Lightning Johnson is as strong as he's handsome. I wish I could camp with him."

Both Victoria and Ann fell into talks about the older male actors that were on the show but since I didn't know any of them, I kept quiet. They stopped when Homeroom started and right after, I excused myself and ran to the bathroom. I took off the necklace and tossed it into my backpack. I'd try researching it when I got a chance and if it was safe, I'd wear it.

The rest of the day went like normal except my new dance class. First there wasn't a boy in sight. Instead, there were twenty girls doing different leg stretches as I walked in. The only two I recognized was the girl with the cupcake tattoo I had seen in the locker room and Hanna the redheaded roommate I had in the hotel.

Hanna gave a small wave before continuing to stretch. I wasn't sure about the Ms. Mirth here but in my world, I had her for dance before and "Mirth" did not match her attitude at all. She was prickly as a cactus if she found you goofing off. Judging from how focused the other girls were being, I was sure she was the same in this world. Because of that, I didn't say anything and started loosening up.

Ms. Mirth came in, looked around and when she spotted me nodded and said, “Good, you remember the rules. When you’re done warming up come over and I will teach you a new dance. You can practice it on your own and I’ll fix any issues I see.”

“Thank you, Ms. Mirth.” I replied but kept stretching.

She was a great teacher if you worked hard, so I never had a problem with her. I finished up and for the next ten minutes she gave me one-on-one instructions while the other girls began to practice. In my last life, my dance skills were mediocre at best, so I was a bit worried as she demonstrated the different moves it would require. As I watched, some of the moves she showed clicked in my brain. I had gotten use to just knowing things, thus having dance skills appearing in my head didn't surprise me too much. As she finished, I was sure I could duplicate about seventy-five percent of what she just did. She showed me one more time before leaving me to check on the other girls.

The dance she showed me was an adapted Chinese dance about spring. It was elegant and beautiful to watch. Ms. Mirth's arms had shot out powerfully as she swirled around. She did it so gracefully. For the most part, I thought I could do it but there was a spin in the middle where I would have to balance on the ball of my left foot and spin while contorting downward. It looked a bit similar to what ice-skaters did it and I wasn't sure exactly how to spin that way. Especially without ice to reduce the friction.

I placed myself away from the others and began to practice. This would be the first time I tried dancing in this body, if I ignored being made to while I was babysitting. I took the starting pose and to a beat only I could hear I rose my arm and began. My body moved with a grace I lacked in my last life but as I followed what she showed me, I felt a power stir within me. I couldn't put my finger on the feeling. I wasn't quite magic but if I had to label it, I would say it was something adjacent.

I twirled around like a delicate flower caught in the breeze until I hit the spot where I had to spin on the ball of my left foot. Then like a drunken sailor, I plopped onto the floor with a smacking noise that drew the eyes of the other girls. I might have been able to catch myself but the feeling I had while dancing backlashed and I felt like somebody sucker punched me in the gut. Use to the weirdness of this world and my lack of dancing skills, I picked myself back up and started again. That feeling I got while dancing recoiled with each misstep I made, making me pay more attention than I normally would.

But it wasn't until Ms. Mirth came over and pointed out what I was doing wrong, that I finally managed to complete the dance. As it completed, something within me seemed to unlock but I wasn't sure what it was. Before I could even think of trying to explore it, the feeling stopped. I did it one more time trying to capture that feeling. Then again, and again. With each completion, there was a brief window where something "unlocked" within me, but it was such a small window that there was no telling what it could be.

As painful as my mistakes were, I was happy that I could dance so well and decided to try harder to learn more. I cast 'Generate Air' as I left class and headed to English. I decided to cast it between classes because it was one of the few spells that couldn't be seen while I had it working. I also noticed while examining the spell that it could be cast without saying the guiding words. It just wasn't as effective. Even so, having that ability made this spell more useful in my eyes and I wanted to become more proficient with it.

Miss Vellum was teaching 'Wording for Spells' today or more specifically how synonyms of 'burst' affected a spell based on the element being used. Words like burst, explode and outbreak worked best for earth type spells. While words like rage, frenzy and blaze worked better for fire. She finished class by assigning us homework. But it was just writing a few poems based on our understanding and didn't look that hard to complete. I started thinking about what I would write as I cast and made my way to my next class.

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I noticed that Mr. Montgomery was slumped at his desk, his face a mask of despair. 'Self-Study' was messily written on the blackboard, and he didn't even bother to look up as his class filled up. But I still opened my book and started studying diligently. While I couldn't make my own spells, I could change the ones I already had, at least to a limited degree and what was in this book might keep me alive one day. Time seemed to fly by as I flipped the pages, and I was so absorbed in what I was doing that the dismissal bell caused me to jump.

We had a home game this weekend and Luna and Ms. mirth were on the warpath during cheer practice. Each routine needed to be perfect, and they nit-picked any mistake anybody did. After an hour of this I heard a few girls complaining. Their voices were quiet enough that their, "Just because were playing her ex's team" and "What the hell? Did Luna bet again?" didn't reach their ears. No matter the reason, they constantly interrupted the routines to point out mistakes causing our normal two-hour practice to extend an extra half hour.

After practice we piled into Victoria's dad's car. He didn't seem upset, but Victoria still said, "Sorry dad, practice ran late."

His weathered face wrinkled a little as he smiled, "It's ok." After hanging out with Victoria for a while I now knew her father was a fire mage that specialized in heat resistance, with a little bit of Bio magic. Because of that, he worked long hours outside in the sun and his skin was abused by it. His weathered skin made him look older than he was. Still, he was a good man that as far as I could tell only had one bad habit. He was very nosy and listened in on us to make sure we weren't up to anything. Like normal, he didn't say much as he dropped off Ann and then took us home. Because of our late arrival, I quickly said goodbye and ran upstairs to my apartment.

When I walked in, I saw Roy and my mom sitting on the couch. They were facing away watching a movie. The volume was up so they didn't react as I came in. They looked so loving as they cuddled close together. My mom was half-turned and leaning into him. Her left arm wrapped around his back while her right arm was hidden because of my angle. But from her shoulder movements, I knew she was slowly stroking his chest.

I didn't want to interrupt their two-person world, so I silently walked into the kitchen and grabbed some of the food that was left over from the dinner my mom made. With a drink and a plate of food, I made my way to my room. It was just that as I passed through the living room my mom caught sight of me out of the corner of her eye and quickly jerked her right arm up, and nervously said, "Ah Steph, your home!" Her cheeks were a rosy-red as she shifted her gaze from me to Roy, then back.

"Yeah," I acknowledged and held up my plate. "I'm going to go eat in my room and do my homework. You can go back to watching your movie with Roy."

I left them to enjoy each other's company and began to write out a few poems before working on testing some algebraic formulas. Mr. Schmell had mentioned before about pre-casting but so far, I hadn't gotten my spells to trigger. I wasn't sure if my math was wrong, or I picked the wrong trigger conditions. I'd ask Mr. Schmell if I couldn't figure it out, but because I wasn't sure how common this knowledge was, I wanted to try on my own first.

I kept trying until ten and then put my dishes in the sink before getting ready for bed. Like Roy's first visit, they had retired to her room and were "exercising" vigorously. My mom was trying to keep her voice low but by the time I was ready to get into bed her voice was reverberating through the house. I heard her screaming out her climax, one after the other. Apparently, our looks and height weren't the only trait we shared. She, like myself, came easily... and loudly.

As I listened to her moaning out Roy’s name and how great he was, my hand trailed lower and lower until it slid beneath my underwear. I rubbed myself in slow circles and learned through trial and error where my body liked to be touched. I adjusted my speed and strength several times and became damp, then wet as my pleasure grew. My other hand caressed my breasts. Soon my low moans mixed with my mom’s. I tried to be quiet but unable to stifle my voice, I rolled onto my belly, my stiff nipples rubbing against the rough cotton of my sheets. My face was buried in my pillow, and I raised my ass into the air. I rubbed my clit in rapid circles. My ass was humping into my hand as I felt my orgasm approaching. Soon I was screaming my climax into my pillow. Satisfied, I closed my eyes with mixed feelings. My body was still basking in the afterglow of cumming so hard but the fact that I did such a thing listening to my mom, made me question myself. Conflicted, I fell asleep to my mom's moans.

Over the next couple of days, I practiced in the morning, studied during school, hung out with Janet, Ann, Neal, and his buddies during lunch and little after cheer practice, and continued to do my skincare routine at night. Having the boys hanging out will us was somewhat awkward because Jeff kept staring at me. I was pretty sure he wanted to date me but at most I thought of him as a potential friend. But he never asked, overstepped any boundaries, and kept the conversations friendly. The only “bad” thing that happened during the week was on Wednesday my passage felt tender, on Thursday I could feel a thin hymen had started to regrow and by Friday the barrier had reappeared. I didn’t even concentrate any healing to my private area, and it only took seven days for me to become a virgin once again. I wasn't happy.

Dejected at the prospect of having to experience that pain once again, I tried not thinking about it and focused on what I learned about my magic over the last few days. There first was that as long as I didn't get distracted, I could maintain a spell indefinitely. Well probably, I didn't know that for sure, but I had managed to keep up my most powerful spells for over two hours. It was just the longer I had a spell up the more I needed to focus on keeping it going.

Through practice, I became better at some of my spells. I kept re-casting ones like water shield and generate air while I jogged and Puppeteer during lunch. Because of that my shield didn't look so wobbly, I didn't have to say the incantation to activate the air spell and my little wooden doll could now move without the strings breaking. But the spells I thought would have the biggest growth because I constantly maintained them had little to no improvement. Still, I was happy with my progress. I made progress in almost everything except pre-casting. I could feel the spells activate but couldn't get them to trigger and after a while the feeling I had faded away little by little. I decided to ask Mr. Schmell if I still couldn’t do it by Monday.

Now Victoria, my mom and I were sitting on the couch. It was Friday and going on five o'clock. The first episode of Treasure Hunter (Junior Edition) was about to start. I was a bit excited to see Janet on the air. According to Victoria, this internet broadcast wasn’t the final cut I was used to. Instead, it was a preshow of what they thought were the more interesting parts. Each star would have their own window that you could enlarge, and you could follow your favorite team. The episode would play until nine and then they would use our feedback to trim it down to an hour. It was an interesting idea to get viewers involved.

Color bled into the black and white teaser picture as five o’clock hit. As it did, it became obvious that what I thought were shadows, was a large square building hiding behind the trees. The intro played showing dashing men and women, I didn’t know, before showing six teenage kids in explorer gear. The teenagers’ pictures spun and attached to the older contestants. Janet’s picture was beside a beautiful lady labeled Mary Eternal. The pictures flashed and were replaced with the Treasure Hunter’s logo. After a few seconds, it faded back into the picture screen, but that soon changed to a six paneled video screen. Victoria excitedly said, “Quick, Quick, click on Janet’s.”

“Ok,” I said with a smile and clicked her panel. The screen enlarged showing her standing next to the other contestants. Because of the camera angle, I could only hear the host but not see him as he explained to them, “Today we are going to explore the abandoned Concrete City in Luzerne County, PA. It has been abandoned for over a hundred years. Twenty years ago, after committing the largest bank heist in the United States, the suspect fled across multiple states and was found here but the money was gone. Since then, many people have come to look for it. It was later discovered. We have reconstructed the clues and place a treasure token where the money was hidden. You have a week to find it but beware because with so much money to be had who knows what’ll happen.” His voice was smooth and pleasant but held a bit of mischievousness when he said the last sentence.

Concrete City consisted of over a dozen dilapidated buildings that circled a large courtyard. Time has taken its toll and dulled the once white concrete to a dirty gray. Graffiti and splatters of paint gave it more color. While the beer bottles and trash scattered about showed others had been here recently. The host pointed out where the bank robber was found and then left the groups to figure out the rest. I lost sight of the other groups as Janet’s team started searching for clues and a spot to set up camp.

As the audience, we had it easier than the contestants, because when they passed a clue, it would light up a little to draw our eyes. The first time that happened was when the host pointed out the place the bank robber was captured. A discarded lime green spray paint was laying in the corner of the room even though there wasn’t any green graffiti.

As Janet walked by the can for the third time, Victoria’s voice rose, “AHHH it’s right there. Come on look down!” Her outburst was so unexpected that it caused me to flinch.

Her partner, Mary, stood in the middle of the room, brushed her long hair so it was behind her ear and after a long melodic chant, flung her hands out wide. But other than looking gorgeous, the actress Janet was teamed up with just stood there. The name ‘Fragments of the Past’ was displayed across her moderate chest as she stood still. Janet seeing her teammate casting decided to try. Unlike whatever her teammate’s did, I knew Janet’s. I watched as her clothing began to flutter as the wind began to pick up and the screen soon displayed ‘Whispering Winds’ over Janet’s image.

It was the first time I saw Janet cast and I realized she was an air mage. The spell she cast was a level two and explained how she knew all the school gossip. The wind acted like a snitch and told her everything that happened in the area. The downside was wind was everchanging and unless what she was looking for happened recently, it was unlikely to give her anything useful. Still, it showed skill to learn such a complex spell at her age. Time passed and if they got any information, they didn’t say anything out loud. Over the next couple of hours, I watched as Janet and Mary searched, camped, and then began searching again.

Little hearts would occasionally flutter up from the bottom as viewers liked something they did. It was usually when they found a clue. Janet’s team had discovered the green spray-paint and had used it to track down several leads. Sadly, his markings weren’t the only ones in green. “Bish” had tagged one of the buildings with a lot of green markings and unsavory phases and delayed their progress. By the third hour, Janet’s team had figured out that the diamonds, triangles, and squares formed a type of pattern and were closing in on the treasure. They weren’t the only team heading to the building that the treasure was likely in when the screen flashed red.

With a woosh, the boy running to get to the building first stepped into a concrete circle and with a flash vanished. Janet slowed down but that only helped to make sure Mary and her disappeared together. The screen darkened and then lit up. They were in a huge room and on the other side of it was a similar stone circle they had stepped on. The only difference is this one wasn’t hidden under grass and debris. To get to it they would have to get through multiple obstacles that I thought looked difficult. I pointed at a spinning top and asked, “Is that even possible? Geeze that thing is way too fast.”

My mom pointed to the ones I ignored, “Don’t you think you should worry about the five things in front of that one first?”

“Maybe, I think she got those.” But my ignorance showed because as soon as she started, she was tossed into a vat of water by a foam pendulum. She swam to the end and got out but being wet made climbing the slime covered stairs even harder. We watched as she flailed around until a buzzer sounded and the screen showed the boy that first disappeared with his teammate holding a medallion. A golden “WINNERS” icon was spinning over their heads.

They gathered up all the contestants and the host explained, “You might be interested to know that this maze had been a real thing and was the bank robbers last gambit to protect his treasure. It is just that his version was less playful than ours and had claimed a few lives before somebody had managed to break through it. Rodriguez’s team won the spoils this round." He looked at the camera as if talking just to me, "Remember, when hunting for lost treasures, to always protect yourself first because you are the greatest treasure there is." He gave a gleaming smile that I was sure made many girls legs go weak and continued, "We treasure your feedback, so I hope to see everybody next episode."

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