The Peculiars’ Tale

Chapter 48

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/44/ The Carnies

Unbelievable.

All of the things happening right now were unbelievable. Time is still frozen. People were still frozen. Only special beings can move this time, only Peculiars like me, like them. This is the first time that I have encountered and know other people belonging to my kind... well, aside from Morris. Their special abilities are amazing.

"For now, we have to wait for some time before the things return to their normal state." The little girl named Seraphina mumbled. She"s the one who can control the flow of time. "Why don"t you come with us for the time being?" She invited. Left with no other choice, Morris and I followed her.

My consciousness about the surroundings returned when we were already inside a tent. We"re all sitting on mon.o.bloc chairs. The lanterns decorating the place faithfully provide illumination. It"s awkward. In front of me was Jing Rosca who was folding her arms in front of her chests while crossing her legs. She"s still wearing her pretty dress. Sitting beside her was Seraphina whose age is estimated to be eight or nine years old. Her feet didn"t reach the ground due to her height.

When I glanced at him, I can"t help but continue wondering why Otis is wearing a clown mask. There"s also the fortune-teller girl who is still holding onto her crystal ball. Even now, I"ve yet to know her name. On the other hand, Pascal is busily caressing the fur of his pet tiger. And lastly, there"s also Finnix who keep on staring at me while supporting his chin with his one hand. I noticed that his hair is brown. Probably it will only turn red when he"s using his ability.

"So, Jill Morie." Seraphina broke the silence.

I was surprised by this child"s speaking manner. She called me Jill Morie? Not Big Sis Jill? Finnix had probably noticed my shocked expression that"s why he laughed and said.

"Ajumma! Looks like you first have to explain to Jill Morie your situation."

Ajumma?

"I told you before. Stop calling me "ajumma", Finnix! Drop those foreign terms!" Seraphina scolded him so he shut up. "Hmm... Since our first encounter was not that clear, you should know first who we are. She, is Cecilia." She pointed out to the fortune-teller girl whose name is actually Cecilia. "The youngest among us---"

"The youngest?" I couldn"t stop myself from reacting because of what she revealed. Due to the confusion, Morris and I exchanged glances.

"Let her finish her sentences, Jill Morie." I looked at the person who spoke up, it"s Jing Rosca. She"s glaring sharply at me and it was as if her stares have hidden messages which I couldn"t decipher. Is this what they called "hate at first sight?" No, this is not anger though. It"s more like I don"t like her after seeing her for the first time. That"s what I felt about Jing Rosca. It"s true that she saved me but I still couldn"t bring myself to like her presence. I think she"s also not friendly with me so the feeling is mutual.

Seraphina soundly cleared her throat. Maybe she felt the tension between me and the one facing me. "Cecilia is the newest recruit here. She used to roam the Sentral city. Begging for money or sometimes telling fortunes to earn a living---"

"Y-you"re too much! I never begged even though I was once mistaken by Jill Morie as a beggar!"

Does it mean that when I saw her before, she"s still not yet part of this group?

"She was brought here by Jing and then discovered that she"s also a Peculiar like us. Her ability is called the sixth sense, also called extrasensory perception by other people. You"re familiar with ESP, right? Cecilia"s ability is like that and it covers a wide range of uses.""Can she also see the future, like me?" I asked.

"Yes, but not really like yours." I was stunned. So, is she saying that the scope of the future which I can see is different?

Seraphina continued speaking, "The next one is Pascal," She pointed her finger at him. Pascal only gave us a nod and then went back on petting his tiger. "If you watched the performance earlier, Pascal can not only control a tiger. He can manipulate every kind of animal. Since he was a kid, he"s been frequently seen talking with animals. His Peculiarity is a great selling point for our carnival." I looked again at Pascal and he"s trapped inside his own world, as if engrossed to his weirdness.

"Otis is the clown. He has an extraordinary strength and he can bend his body to whatever pose he wants. He can also carry and bend all heavy stuffs. Don"t worry, Jill Morie. You"re not the only one who is wondering why he"s always wearing a clown mask. Since the time he joined us, we had never seen him taking that mask off of his face." It means, even they didn"t know what"s behind his mask? What the h.e.l.l.

"Finnix is the next. He"s got a natural coffee-colored hair but it will turn red whenever he"s using his ability. The red line on his face is a tattoo. He can control fire and produce fire from his body without getting hurt." Finnix suddenly brought his palm out and then created small fireb.a.l.l.s. Seraphina reprimanded him though. "Stop showing off to Jill Morie." He did before giving me a smile.

"Now, the one next to me, Jing Rosca, is a telekinetic. She can manipulate all objects using her mind." Seraphina emphasized "all objects" and it made me exclaimed a "wow". As in, she can manipulate everything under the sun? "In short, if you were given a chance to choose who to fight among us, then Jing should be listed out from your choices. She"s not someone you would like to fight." I slowly nodded and glimpsed at her. However, she"s still glaring at me. "Don"t expect that she will be good to you. Jing is really like that and we"re just used to her personality."

Seraphina laughed. Of course, it only sounded like a child"s giggling. "And before I forgot, Jill Morie. You already know my name. I"m Seraphina and you"re maybe wondering since earlier, but I"m the oldest among the six of us."

"H-huh?" Morris and I blurted out.

"You didn"t hear wrongly. I can manipulate time. I can turn it back, stop it and make it run faster." She stopped. Her expression turned serious. She brought out a stained pocket watch. "Are you puzzled on why I look like this? Well, this is my Peculiarity. Or rather, this is the consequence of me using my power. Whenever I manipulate the time, my own time or life span shortened." I think I already understand. "Because of abusing my Peculiarity, I am now forever trapped in this body, forever not allowed to change back to my original form."

So, no matter how strong the ability of a Peculiar, there exist a particular limitation in using their powers. Now, I do not doubt them anymore. They are also like me. Even if Seraphina didn"t disclose all details about their origins, I"m already sure that each of them has a story. Complex. Bitter. Joyous. Sweet. No matter what it is, I think I still don"t have the qualifications to know it.

"You told me that you saved me before from Magnus" hands. Who asked for your help?" I inquired.

"Jill, it"s Miss Karen." Morris replied to me.

"He"s correct." His claim was seconded by Jing Rosca. "It"s Karen."

"Morris, are you acquainted with them since long ago?" I asked but he refused to say anything more. I turned to Seraphina and the others. "You know Miss Karen, right? If so, then who is she for real? What"s Miss Karen"s real ident.i.ty?" I gambled that they will answer my question but it seems it"s not possible. I felt their hesitation to open their mouths.

"Jill Morie, we can"t answer that." Said by Seraphina while shaking her head. "No matter what you want to know about her, you should investigate it by yourself."

Even they are obscuring the truth from me? I can"t understand why they have to hide it. Did Miss ask them to stay quiet about it? Even Morris is not spilling out anything even though I know that he knows. His eyes can see the past so it"s impossible that he doesn"t know.

But why? Why can"t I know about it now?

"I understand." Rather, I have no choice but just accept their opinions. "However, I know what the Memoire is, right? I want to ask why they are hunting me and forcing me to join them. Is it because of my Peculiarity?"

"The possibility is big. But I don"t know about their plan about your eyes." Seraphina answered.

"I"m confused. If there are many Peculiars in the world, like you all, who are stronger and with flashier powers, then why are they only h.e.l.l-bent on chasing after me?"

"Do you mean, why are we not chased by the Memoire, unlike you?"Jing Rosca stood up from her chair and raised an eyebrow. "You"re mistaking something if you"re currently thinking that we didn"t suffer and see h.e.l.l while escaping from them. They tried not only once, but for numerous times, to catch us and conscript us to them. Am I right, George Morris? You and Georgina went through that situation, right?"

I stared at the one next to me, waiting for his response to Jing Rosca"s statement.

"Yes."

"This is the fault of that person. That person is the one to blame for all of this sht! If he didn"t discover us, we won"t end up like----"

"Jing!" Seraphina reprimanded her and stopped her from her outburst. "Pardon us, Jill Morie."

Base from Jing Rosca"s tone, it was as if she was venting all of her negative feelings towards the world to me. I"m not sure if she did that on purpose, or if there"s a connection to me. When Jing Rosca sat down, silence resumed for a while.

"I"m sorry. I"m sorry for asking that. I think you didn"t become pleased with that. I"m just feeling desperate but now I realize that on my current situation, I won"t be able to rely to anyone. I can only count on myself. But even though I can see other"s future, I can"t see what lies ahead of me."

Suddenly, someone grasped my hand.

"We understand. I just hope you won"t mind why we can"t give you the answers." Cecilia said.

"Hey Jing. All of us were suffering. True." Finnix faced Jing Rosca. "Don"t lash out your insecurities to Jill Morie."

"I can only promise you one thing, Jill Morie... We"re your allies." I couldn"t reply to what Seraphina said. All of their eyes were on me so I feel odd and awkward. But I feel relieved when I heard that. At least, I know I"m not the lone one. There are still people I can count on.

"Why?" The desire to know their reason for saying we"re allies came out.

"Let"s say... it"s our way of complying for a friend"s favour." The time controller said. Is she again referring to her, to Miss Karen? "If you need help, you can always find us." The child approached me to hand over a card. I grabbed and pocketed it.

"Thank you."

"It"s still too early for you to thank us, Jill Morie." I glanced at them, to Jing Rosca who is still not pleased with me. Finnix and Cecillia is her opposite because they are smiling. Otis expression couldn"t be made out because of the mask while Pascal is still enamored by his pet.

"It was nice meeting you, Jill Morie." Seraphina held out her small hand. I hesitated whether to accept it or not. Because Morris is holding my hand, I release it from him and accepted Seraphina"s handshake. After that, a ring was heard. "It"s time!" It was actually her pocket watch. "It"s done, the time is back to normal."

The outside became noisy, a proof that time is no longer frozen still. We all came out of the tent and then saw the lively carnival scenes.

"This won"t be our last meeting. I"m looking forward to the next."Seraphina said her goodbye.

"Take care, the two of you! And also, thanks for the fifty pesos, Jill Morie." Said by Cecilia. All of them waved their hands except for Jing Rosca who is just watching the two of us while having her arms folded. I ignored her. After giving them a nod, we started walking away.

"Hey."

"Yes?"

"You peeked at their eyes, right? I know you that you already saw their pasts."

"Yeah."

"That"s why you held my hand?"

He remained silent.

"Never mind." I said. "What do you think is the reason on why Jing Rosca was hostile to me? You saw her past so it means you know what made her like that."

"I think... this is the purpose of my Peculiarity, to understand every person." It seems his answer was far from what I asked. "They said, what we are at the present is the fruit of the past."

I still want to say something but I saw Aya and we"re crossing paths already. Baldo and the rest are behind her.

"Jill! Where did you go? Why did you suddenly disappear? Come on, let"s go to the horror house!" I almost forgot, Seraphina had fixed the time. "Wait! Wait! Why are you with Georgy?"

"Don"t call me Georgy."

"Let"s go back." I said. "It"s already curfew time, guys."

"Ehh! Please, take the horror house as the last!" – Aya.

"Geez, Aya. Stop that. Let"s go back before the bus left us." – Baldo.

"Hmp! Baldo, you"re acting like that because you already scored some points to Sabina! Now what? You"re past the limit! You, flirt!"– Aya.

"Hey, the heck with that?" – Baldo.

"Chicken lady is only envious, men. Hahaha. Don"t worry, babe. I"m here." – Tadeo.

"Yuck! Tadeo the Idiot, you"re disgusting!" – Aya.

"Lol, don"t tell me you believe you"re my babe? Duh, chicken lady."– Tadeo.

"Where is Stephen?" I asked. They stopped fooling around. I was just perplexed. Before going to the horror house, he"s still with us. Since Seraphina resumed the time around this scene, he should be together with Aya and the others.

"Huh? He"s with us earlier but when you disappeared, he also disappeared." Because of Penelope"s reply, Morris and I meet each other"s eyes.

We headed to where the bus is and found out that almost all students are gathered there. We saw that Stephen is waiting outside. I sighed in relief because nothing unfortunate happened to him. After waiting for several minutes, the section is completed. We went up the bus one by one while the staffs were confirming that no one is missing. I was the last one to board up but before going in, I faced Miss Karen and said...

"Thank you very much."

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