TSP Draft Three - Ch11

Overview: https://kaylinrosealexande.wixsite.com/kaylinalexanderbooks/post/draft-three-of-the-secret-portal

Read-aloud, pt1: https://www.tiktok.com/@kaylinrosealexander/video/7187034325077003566?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7168171927235937835

Previous: https://kaylinrosealexande.wixsite.com/kaylinalexanderbooks/post/tsp-draft-three-ch10

This chapter is exactly the same in both versions of the draft.

Chapter Eleven

November 22nd Time: 1:55

Place: Baxter’s house, basement

Alexia

Why Did it Have to be Us to Face the Evil Wizards?

“Training?” I asked, completely confused of what was going on. I mean, I had just found out I had powers, and she had mentioned something about it, but since I wasn’t in any sports, the word “training” was not a word I heard every day. I had never trained for anything before!

Carla nodded.

Hannah was still looking around the room. “I don’t understand. When I came, you just taught me upstairs, saying I had to use my powers for good. Does this have something to do with—“

“Yes,” said Carla. “Why don’t we sit down for a minute? We should discus what’s going on.”

I looked around the room until my eyes landed on couches. Carla and George sat on one while Hannah, Aurora, and I sat on the other.

“Let’s start at the beginning,” said Carla. “Three years ago, when Hannah came on her birthday, Raven Falls was peaceful. You could trust anyone. Powers only go to good people. Evil does not get them.”

I smiled to myself. I guess that was nice. I was good.

“Guess Andrea’s not one of us,” said Aurora.

I laughed. Andrea seems to like bad guys, so Aurora and I like to joke she’s one of them.

“Actually,” said Carla, “she is.”

We stopped laughing. “So,” I said, “how many of our friends have powers?”

Carla shrugged. “Most of them. People with powers usually are close to other people with powers. Probably because they’re good people.”

“So none of the bullies at school have powers?” Aurora asked.

This time, it was George who answered. “No. Powers don’t go to bullies. They could use their powers to bully.”

Made sense.

“Everyone with powers comes from here,” said Carla. “It’s in their ancestry. Long ago, a husband and wife named Alice and Fredrick Thomas discovered the portal. They visited it, and fell in love with the place. One day, during a family reunion, Fredrick was telling a cousin about it, and soon, the word spread across the land.

“People everywhere kept visiting the world, and some daily. Many other portals were found, each leading to different places. But soon, Alice Thomas fell in love with a man named Harry Jenkins.

“She soon decided to stay in the mortal world, and many soon did the same. Even today, people of this world are falling in love with people without powers.” She seemed to hesitate on this. Then she shook her head. “Now, not all children who had a parent with powers actually had powers. If both parents had powers, the child would have powers, unless their future was evil. If only one had powers, there was a 50% chance they would get powers. And if neither have powers, well, if there was someone with powers on both sides somewhere down the line, there’s a small chance they have powers.”

Carla paused to take a breath. “Any questions so far?”

“Yes,” said Aurora. “We both like to know where Mikey, Madison, and Kelsey are! They were with Hannah! Where are they?”

George took the lead. “The last few months have been difficult. Ever since Hannah started high school, she hasn’t been able to see us.” He turned to her. “Right?”

Hannah nodded. “I last visited on the last week of summer.” She turned to Aurora. “Remember that? I said I was going with friends.”

Aurora stared at her sister. “I didn’t, but now I do….”

“That must be another part of your powers,” said Carla. “You don’t only read minds, you can look into them and see memories.”

Aurora smiled. “Cool.”

“Back to the story,” said George. “In early September, the witches and wizards came. They live in this world, but don’t have powers, since their evil. Everyone is born without powers, but they don’t come out until ten. If a child doesn’t get their powers, it’s because they have an evil heart. Parents will desperately try to raise their children to be good, but it wouldn’t happen. The used to rule the land five years ago.”

Carla shuddered, as if remembering a bad memory. I glanced at Aurora, but she shook her head, obviously either not picking up anything, or not wanting to.

“Five years ago,” Carla repeated. “They had ruled for five years before that.” She shuddered again. “They were terrible years.” She looked up. “Do you want to know why I look so young? It was the wizards. When I turned ten, I realized I could control time. The wizards knew about me. Somehow. Only a year later, one named Eli found me. He tried to get me to join, but my parents refused. He cast them into the other world and…”

“Wait,” I said. “If they didn’t have powers, how did the witches and wizards become…witches and wizards?”

Carla looked annoyed, and I knew it was because I interrupted her in the wrong spot. “They learned. I don’t know what we used to call them, but we called them those five years ago because they used other items. You see, they didn’t have powers, but they were all geniuses. For years they made experiments of potions, wands, powders, those sorts of things.”

I nodded, but Carla didn’t notice. She just continued. “He sent our parents to the other world and used my powers against me, leaving me frozen in time.” Her voice broke. “For five years.”

She started to cry. Her brother put and arm around her. She wasn’t in the mood for continuing, so George did. “That left me to fend for myself. I was only 8 at the time; my powers hadn’t come. I went to neighbors, and begged for food. I soon found out the Resistance against the wizards. I was too young to join, so I just stayed alive with the help of them.” He looked at his sister. “I also fed her. She might’ve been frozen in time, but she was alive.

“When I turned 10, I got my super speed. I had help, but I built this.” He gestured around the room. “It was one of the Resistance camps where we helped others who were injured.

“At 13, I discovered I could maybe wake her up.” He looked at his sister. “I don’t remember exactly, I kind of blacked out, but something with my speed saved her.”

Carla gave a weak smile. “Whatever it was, you saved me.” She turned back to us. “I was grateful to be woken up, but I was 16 in an eleven-year-old body. I struggled to adjust. I was aware the whole time, wishing to help my little brother stay alive.”

“During the time she was asleep,” George continued, “our side fought against them. We won, and banished the wizards for good, at least we thought. The Resistance disappeared, but we kept the camps”

“When Hannah came to us, the war had been over about a year,” said Carla, wiping away the tears. “Everything was back to normal. We could trust everyone again.”

Hannah finally joined in. “I remember you telling me that everything was safe. I remember a slowly learned the history of our kind. Three years, and I never knew yours.” She looked at Carla and George. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It didn’t matter,” said George. “It was over.”

“But now,” said Carla, “they’re back.”

“At first, this basement was just another living room, but now it’s a training room.”

“The Resistance has formed again, and we recruit other kids with powers from the other world here. We’ve had help over the months getting the recruiting done. After the years of visits from the other world, we soon found out kids with powers were drawn to the portal on their thirteenth birthday if they ever got near one. Interestingly enough, most are near schools.” Carla thought about that. “What’s the name of your school?”

“Falconwing Middle School,” I said.

Carla snapped her fingers. “Yes! Rosemary Falconwing! She was the leader 15 years ago!”

George thought about it. “Uh, I don’t remember.”

“That’s fine,” said Carla. “You’re a boy, but most girls in my kinder-garten had Rosemary on a lunchbox. When Percival Chase was elected 15 years ago when Rosemary’s term was up.”

“15 years ago was when the school was founded!” I exclaimed, super happy to know that the founder of my school was like me.

“Perfect!” said Carla.

Hannah’s eyes lit up. “And Mikey’s school is P. J. Chase Elementary, founded 10 years ago!”

“Well now we know where the leaders go!” said Carla. “They go to the other world to build schools where the portals are!”

Aurora wasn’t sharing the excitement of the discovery. “But what about Mikey, Madison, and Kelsey?”

Hannah looked down. “I made a mistake. Now I know. Since I came here when things were peaceful, I didn’t know about witches and wizards. This man came up to us. I had knocked on this door and no one answered. He said you weren’t home. He took them to get you guys.” She looked at Carla and George. “But when you opened the door and saw me standing there, I knew something was up.” Her eyes teared up. A single tear dripped down her cheek, turning into ice half way down. Ice started to spread out of her fingers and across her jeans.

“He tricked you,” said Carla, reaching across and putting her hand over Hannah’s before the ice went everywhere. “It’s not your fault.”

She looked up, her brown eyes wide. “But if something happens to them…”

“They’ll be fine,” said Carla. “They have powers, too you know.”

Leaders of what? Why is this a discovery? Why would you have these people on lunchboxes? I don't get ittttttttttttttttttt.

Also I don't like the worldbuilding of "bad people aren't given powers" that's kinda awful considering they're given powers when they're kids.

This is actually the last chapter I wrote of this draft. Except for this little bit:

Chapter Eleven

November Something Time: ???????

Place: Forest

Alexia*

Powers Can be Useless

We are totally not fine!

Really, Lexi. We aren’t. I know you didn’t say it, but still!

I mean, how could we be fine? We’re in the forest!

Now, for you clever readers out there, we have powers. We should be fine.

Well, gold star for you! That is true! But guess what? We don’t really know how to control it! Also, how would our powers help in this situation?

*I have no idea why this says "Alexia" when it should obviously say Maddie.

So... that's it. I'm not going to put out Draft Four of TSP because it's too similar to what I currently have. So tomorrow, I'll begin posting old drafts of School of the Legends.

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