31/03/2024
Second Book of Avalora City Series | THE PHANTOM HEROINE
Read here: https://www.wattpad.com/story/366087707-the-phantom-heroine
***
Ch. 01: Invisible Touch
───────── ౨ৎ ─────────
The acrid tang of burnt ozone filled my nostrils, momentarily pulling me from the daydream scrawled across my notebook. Mr. Tanaka's booming voice cut through the haze of my inattention.
"Alright class, settle down! Today's experiment is a fundamental exploration of..." his voice faded as I wrestled with the malfunctioning stopper on my test tube. Violet Skye, queen of unintentional chaos, was about to strike again.
With a hiss and a pop, the stopper shot free, showering my lab partner, Alex, and me in a cocktail of emerald-green liquid. A choked yelp escaped Alex, and I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the sting.
Except... it never came. I opened one eye, then the other, blinking furiously. Alex, however, wasn't faring so well. He sputtered, swatting at his clothes where the liquid had splashed.
"Dude, what is this stuff? It feels like..." he trailed off, his eyes widening comically.
My heart raced in my chest. "Like what?"
He held his hand in front of his face, turning it this way and that. "Like it's... gone?"
Panic clawed at my throat. "Gone? What do you mean gone?"
"Look," he stammered, thrusting his hand closer. "My fingers! I can't see them anymore!"
My breath caught. Tentatively, I reached out and brushed my own hand against his. My fingertips met... nothing. It was like reaching into empty air. A cold dread seeped into my bones.
Mr. Tanaka, alerted by the commotion, lumbered towards us. "What's going on here?" His booming voice echoed through the lab.
"I... I don't know," I stammered, my voice barely a whisper. "The experiment... Alex... he's..."
Suddenly, a loud crash from the back of the classroom ripped through the tension. We both whirled around to see a bookshelf teetering precariously, textbooks tumbling to the floor. Before anyone could react, a figure, blurry and indistinct, darted out from behind the bookcase, snatching a vial from a nearby table. The figure, cloaked in an impossible-to-describe shimmering distortion, was gone before Mr. Tanaka could even blink.
My mind reeled. Was that... me? Invisible? But how? The emerald liquid... the experiment gone wrong... a strange, exhilarating power coursed through me.
Mr. Tanaka, oblivious to the invisible acrobatics that had just transpired, was barking orders, herding the bewildered students towards the door. The confusion was a perfect cover.
As the classroom emptied, I slipped out the back, my heart pounding a frantic tattoo against my ribs. Invisible. Me, Violet Skye, the girl who perpetually blended into the background, was now invisible. A nervous giggle escaped my lips, a giddy mix of fear and exhilaration.
The hallways stretched before me, an unfamiliar landscape suddenly brimming with possibilities. For the first time in my life, I wasn't invisible. I was unseen. And in that newfound invisibility, a strange sense of power bloomed within me.
The school halls thrummed with the usual pre-lunch chaos. Laughter echoed in the distance, punctuated by the rhythmic squeak of sneakers on polished floors. But for me, the world had become a silent movie. Invisible, I was a ghost in the machine, a phantom sensation brushing past oblivious students.
The excitement I felt earlier morphed into a chilling awareness of my isolation. I couldn't touch anyone, couldn't high-five my best friend Chloe, or even grab a cookie from the vending machine without causing mass panic.
Reaching the library, a haven of hushed whispers and the scent of old paper, I sank into a plush armchair behind a towering bookshelf. Pulling out my crumpled notebook, I scribbled furiously, trying to make sense of the situation. Was it magic? A curse? A sudden, inconvenient superpower ripped straight from the pages of the very comics I devoured during lunch breaks?
As I flipped through worn pages of folklore gleaned from the library's dusty archives, a headline leaped out: "The Fae's Touch: Blessing or Curse?" My breath hitched. The legend spoke of a mischievous Fae with a penchant for pranks, often bestowing temporary invisibility on unsuspecting mortals. The "blessing" turned sour when the recipient, unable to control the power, became lost between the realms. Lost. A knot formed in my stomach.
Suddenly, a voice, low and urgent, sliced through the library's quiet hum. "We need to talk, Violet." My head snapped up, searching desperately for the source. Behind a towering stack of encyclopedias, a sliver of green shimmered – Alex!
Relief washed over me, quickly replaced by a surge of panic. "How? How can you see me?" I whispered, my voice barely audible.
"It's the potion," came the muffled response. "Apparently, it only affects humans."
The revelation sent a jolt through me. Alex could see me, hear me. But the rest of the world wouldn't even know I existed. An idea, desperate and audacious, sparked in my mind.
"We need to find that Fae," I hissed, the weight of the situation settling heavily on my shoulders. "It's the only way to reverse this."
A sliver of hesitation hung in the air before Alex replied, "Alright. But how? Remember, the Fae are creatures of legend. They don't exactly advertise their locations."
I grinned, a mischievous glint returning to my eyes, even if they were the only ones that could see it. "Leave that to me. After all," I said, my voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, "I'm practically invisible now. The perfect spy."
Invisibility, a power I'd only dreamt about in comic books, now clung to me like a shimmering second skin. Yet, the exhilaration was quickly overshadowed by a chilling realization - I was adrift in a sea of oblivious faces.
Taking a deep breath, I focused on the task at hand. Finding the Fae. My gaze darted across the deserted hallway, the once familiar lockers and bulletin boards now imbued with an unsettling alienness. Just then, a flicker of movement at the end of the corridor caught my eye. A sliver of emerald green, like the spilled potion, winked out of existence behind the janitor's closet.
My breath hitched. The Fae! Adrenaline surged through me, erasing the prickling fear of the unknown. With a silent whoosh, I propelled myself towards the closet, the air whispering past my invisible form. Reaching the door, I hesitated. There was no way I could open it without revealing myself.
Suddenly, a mischievous glint sparked in my mind. Reaching into my backpack, I rummaged through the usual clutter of forgotten homework and half-eaten granola bars. My fingers brushed against something cold and smooth – a glass marble, a relic from a childhood game. A grin stretched across my face, barely visible even to myself. This might just work.
With a silent flick of my wrist, I sent the marble skittering across the polished floor. It bounced once, twice, before coming to a rest with a satisfying thump right in front of the closet door. Silence stretched for a beat, then the door creaked open a sliver, revealing a single, emerald-green eye peering out suspiciously.
Bingo.
The emerald eye widened in surprise, a miniature storm brewing within its depths. Before it could slam the door shut, I cleared my throat, the sound barely a whisper in the vast silence of the library.
"Uh, hello?" I ventured, my voice wavering slightly. "Look, I know this might seem strange, but I think you might have something that belongs to me."
The eye narrowed, its suspicion growing. A voice, light and tinkling like wind chimes, drifted out from the crack.
"And who might you be, invisible trespasser? And what, pray tell, could a creature like me possibly have stolen from a human such as yourself?"
My heart thumped like a trapped rabbit in my chest. Talking to a mischievous Fae was not part of the plan. But with no other options, I plunged ahead.
"My name is Violet," I whispered, hoping the sincerity in my voice would bridge the gap between our worlds. "And what you... borrowed" – I stressed the word, hoping to avoid outright accusation – "was my visibility."
The emerald eye flickered with amusement. "Ah, the invisibility potion. A classic prank, wouldn't you agree? Though I must say, watching you fumble around like a blind bumble bee was quite entertaining."
The audacity of the Fae stole my breath away. "Entertaining for you, maybe," I retorted, a spark of defiance igniting within me. "But for me, it's terrifying. I can't touch anyone, I can't... I can't be seen."
The amusement in the eye seemed to dim, replaced by something akin to curiosity. "Terrifying? That's a rather dramatic word, wouldn't you say? Think of the possibilities! You could eavesdrop on conversations, play pranks on unsuspecting teachers..."
"I don't want to play pranks!" I exclaimed, cutting through its mischievous monologue. "I just want to be me again. To be seen."
For a moment, silence reigned. Then, with a sigh that rustled the nearby books like wind through leaves, the door creaked further open. A figure, no taller than a child, with shimmering skin and clothes that seemed woven from moonlight, stepped out.
"Very well, Violet," the Fae said, its voice softer now. "Perhaps a good prank has run its course. But a deal is a deal. To reverse the potion, however, requires a little... entertainment."
A mischievous glint returned to the emerald eye, but this time, it was laced with a hint of challenge. "Bring me a single tear from the toughest gym teacher in this school, Mr. Grogan, and your invisibility will be lifted. Now, go on. Make me laugh."
![15% DISCOUNT [https://payhip.com/IncognitoXhinjo]USE PROMO CODE BELOW:](https://img4.medioq.com/233/020/407023852330208.jpg)
