Free Preternatural (Worlds & Secrets) by Lloyd Harry-Davis

followed her eagerly. She clutched documents to her chest as she led us to the reception. Jade still seemed shocked and unaware of the circumstances that had mysteriously happened. We made a stop at a blue painted door with a triangular sign reading “Reception” in white writing. Miss Fanwall swung the door open only to reveal a wide room with a broad, brown, polished desk that seemed to be nearly half the size of the neatly furnished office.
    “ Here you go, guys. Just go and make the phone call and I’m pretty sure your mother will be here in no time,” she said, still beaming at us. We advanced into the room and looked around. The room had a natural vibe to it: dark ebony floorboards with different tones of a nature brown and a flowerpot in each corner of the room where long exotic green plants with broad leaves were planted. The warm amber dimmer lights were on due to the horrible greying sky outside that grew blacker by the minute. Suddenly, as if my head had been forcefully turned to stare at it, a wilting plant in a glass, water-filled vase on the table caught my attention.
    Now it was probably just me and my overactive imagination – or maybe the confusion was getting to me – but I could have sworn I noticed a leaf starting to sprout ever so slowly. Concurrently the flower seemed slightly greener than a few seconds before. My eyes grew larger until Miss Fanwall snapped me out of my sudden trance.
    “ Aden, are you okay? It seems as if – well it almost looks as if your eyes have turned green?” Miss Fanwall was unsure and foggy about the situation. She didn’t know exactly what she was seeing.
    “ What?” I asked.
    “ Oh, never mind actually. Just go and make your phone call,” she said, gesturing to the telephone. I pushed myself past Jaden and Jade.
    “ Will you call or should I?” I asked my brother.
    “ You should. I don’t really know how to start explaining this to mum,” Jaden said undertone. I went to the phone and dialled mum’s mobile number. “It’s ringing,” I said to the others.
    Almost immediately, I heard a phone ringing outside the office, at which point I turned around cautiously. Mum suddenly walked in as if it was the most perfectly ordinary thing in the world and began talking to Miss Fanwall. I slowly hung up the phone with my mind perplexed. I looked at Jaden, who was just as stunned as I was.
    “ Mum,” I let go of the phone, “how did you get here so fast?” I asked.
    “ Well, I came to see Mr Leery.” Our faces were enough to tell mum we were lost.
    “Mr Leery? B ut it seems like you wanted to call me. Why? What’s wrong?” she quizzed. Jaden and I looked at each other. I pinched Jaden on the back and gesticulated to mum with my head discretely.
    “ Ow,” he silently said.
    “ Oh, right. Erm, mum, I have a toothache. So can I please go home?” Jaden asked, his sentence seeming so blatantly plain that he winced upon the end of his statement, convinced that mum would suspiciously react.
    I pinched him again.
    “Ow,” he exclaimed a bit louder through gritted teeth. “I mean Aden and I. It must’ve been all those sweets we had after the dentist’s,” Jaden spoke shrilly and in upright manner, as if he had been turned to porcelain and was unable to move. At that point I knew we were finished. Mum’s eyebrows rose in surprise and she slowly folded her arms. There was no dentist, and I’m sure she knew that. But what she said baffled me all the more. It really wasn’t a good day to be sane today.
    “Well , I’m sure if both of you are in too much pain to concentrate then that’s fine with me. Georgina, is this okay with you?” mum asked with a perfect blasé face.
    “ Oh, it’s fine. You can skip one day, I suppose. It’s more of revision now since you are seniors, so don’t be reluctant to just pop open a book,” said Miss Fanwall in her usual ear-to-ear grin.
    “ Seniors, seriously?” mum asked us with a confused tone.
    “ Yes,