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With nose pinched close with all five fingers the Magistrate asked, “Who are you?”
“I’m Henry White,” he replied. Ted’s heart missed a beat on hearing the name. He began to have a mixed feeling at once. Ted was unable to see Henry but he could perceive the smell a little, because he was not with his mirror. If Ted had been with it, it would have transmitted the smell in its fullest concentration into his nostrils. However, the smell still sieved into Ted’s hirsute nostrils, though in a lesser amount, from the mirrors of those around (though all the mirrors had now been upended to make the silvery reflective parts turned downward). No one was able to withstand the sight.
“Do you mean Henry White from America—the CCUL?”
“Yes sir,” Henry replied.
“You were but a young beardless man only two days ago, how come you have all these beards almost sweeping the floor?”
“I spent around five months in Gyrus sir.”
“It’s a lie. No human can spend up to three days in the Gyrus. Such will die.”
“It’s not true,” argued Henry. “Grandwala said he’d spent almost four centuries in here and he’s still alive.”
“You’re a fool, Grandwala isn’t human, it’s a Spider made with magic. I said no human—not a Spider.”
“But you should believe me for this beards,” said Henry. “There’s no way I could have grown such grimy beards and moldy teeth on earth within two days.” Henry was adhering to the advice of the Spider, which had asked him to tell the truth for his safety.
What Henry said last almost made the magistrate convinced. He beckoned to his co-magistrates and they quickly had some brainstorms concertedly. At last the dean was out to say something, but against Henry’s claim.
“Listen everybody,” he said as he made a little adjustment to his new pair of glasses by intentionally allowing the narrow hinge of the goggle to have his nose pinched closed, to avoid the dreadful reeks from Henry’s cadaver-like body. “I’ve come to testify against Henry’s claims. He’s alleging that he’d stayed in Gyrus for five months that’s how he’d got this funny look and smells.”
“Can you prove me wrong?” said Henry audaciously.
“Yes, and that’s why I’m out here,” said the man as he paused abruptly to harrumph out something phlegmy. The Gyrus cleaners did not let the slow moving phlegmy thing to touch the Gyrus floor before they rushed to the scene to have it cleared. It had landed at snail’s pace on their waiting mop.
“If you stay in America you’ll know that Halloween festival’s on already. I’m the dean of Science in CCUL and Henry happens to be one of my students. I’m sure all he’s done was artificial—the beards, teeth and so on. He has put them there so that he can win some Halloween Prizes.”
“No, you’re wrong,” shouted Henry.
“Keep shut Henry, your dean is talking,” hollered the dean back at him. At the dean’s explanation, all the magistrates and Lieutenants howled in joy, extremely happy for a riddle solved (that had been their habits whenever someone was able to solve a mystery).
The head magistrate said, “What a riddle! At last we’ve found the truth.” Everyone in Gyrus roared to life again, but with there noses still blocked.
The magistrate continued:
“Henry is such a silly boy to have conspired with the Spider so that he could have a false record here; that he was the only person who had stayed in Gyrus for five months and also—opened the Power House.”
“I’m saying the truth,” Henry hollered still.
“It’s a lie,” replied the man, calling the truth a lie. “Now Professor Wilson is getting a promotion as the Assistant Head Lieutenant for the riddle he has solved,” pronounced the magistrate, throwing the planet into a great hullabaloo.
The magistrate said, “Wilson what do you want us to do for this boy?”
The Professor leered at Henry beneath his large goggles. Ted was not sure of what he would say, just as the rest of the Gyrusers.
“Let’s set him free,” said the man to everyone’s displeasure. “As my boss had said, he was just too silly. Let’s release him and make it the last warning.”
Without further ado the magistrate said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I release Henry White, the greatest liar in Gyrus history.” The magicians screamed in joy not a little for the title Henry had just awarded. Henry could not believe his eyes that he had been set free as the spider had predicted, yet he feigned sadness as he traipsed to his seat, utilizing a speed of five kilometers per picoseconds.
Ted was protesting against the bad title given to Henry but no one heard his voice, except those sitting beside him, since he was not with his mirror.
Henry walked down the podium to take his seat. Every one had to poke their fingers into their nostrils to prevent the odor from damaging their olfactory nerves. Many passed some fast-moving spittle endlessly on him as he walked along the aisle. The cleaners were at work again in a moment, to get rid of the excess saliva on the Gyrus floor.
Getting near his seat, Harrison released the most voluminous spittle on him.
Henry had noticed Ted’s mirror on the aisle where it had fallen and he had recognized it and bent to pick it up straight away.
“Welcome liar,’ grinned Dolly. She was blocking her nostrils too.
“Ted must have been here,” thought Henry. “Why did he drop his mirror?” Henry felt Ted’s action of dropping the mirror there was to create another mystery. He felt that it would have been more suitable for Ted to be called the Mystery Maker instead of Kim.
“Order everybody!” commanded the magistrate. “As I’ve said before Grandwala’s interruption, there’s a fight of naturalization between Suleiman from Nigeria and Raul from Spain.”
“Nigeria,” said Henry. “The giant of Africa; I’m quite sure Sullyman will prove himself a giant indeed. He had pronounced the name wrongly.
“Will you close that mouth of yours?” Dolly shouted at him benignly, still closing her nostril. The nauseating smell floating out of Henry’s mouth as he talked had provoked her.
“Sorry,” Henry spoke.
“Uhm!” sounded the girl, nodding her head to gesture to Henry that he needn’t say sorry or anything at all, because speaking would only exacerbate the condition.
Suleiman held out his wand and Raul did the same. The fight began. Suleiman ran forward to meet Raul, but the latter became invisible. Suddenly Raul appeared at his back and cudgeled him. Then he gave Suleiman, who had almost falling down, a half nelson. The Nigerian boy screamed in pain and his kneels were almost touching the ‘gyrus’, but his neck was right inside Raul’s arms.
Suddenly he managed to hit his wand on Raul’s head, who fell backward instantly. Then Suleiman turned his wand into a dagger. He aimed a blow at Raul with the dagger but the Spaniard ducked it smartly, letting the boy’s dagger strike the ground.
Still bending and holding on to the haft of the dagger was Suleiman when he suddenly received a light tap on his back. Turning to see who was tapping Suleiman received a fatal blow of Raul’s wand turned sword. The sword sank into his stomach and came out from behind. He fell heavily, bled and died.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
HARRISON VERSUS KIM

Ted had arrived campus. He was getting set for Gyrus, yet having in mind his friend’s death, because of the great spider he had seen in his mirror two nights ago, which he believed must have eaten Henry up.
Having locked the door leading to his living room, Ted took his mirror out of his school bag, having left it in there since arriving the campus the day before. He was preparing to depart with it to Gyrus when he began to hear some bizarre hullabaloos from behind his locked door. He heard his name:
“Ted! Ted! We are the bloodsuckers. Come to us or we will come to you,” sieved the outlandish voices.
“Kids,” whispered Ted to himself as he vanished to Gyrus.
Landing, Ted got up immediately as if something from his seat had just pricked his buttock. As he was striding away, Kim passed beside him. Ted did not stop to say ‘Hi’, so did Kim too, who gave Ted a long fiendish leer and hissed silently, “Coward!” under his breath. Ted replied the hiss as he moved away with impunity.
Ted was hastening to Henry’s seat to see if he was there. On getting to the place, Ted discovered that it was empty and he was obsessed with fear.
“Where is Henry?” came two voices synchronously, each intending to pose the question at the other. They were Ted and Dolly. Ted’s fear was aggravated within him. He raised his mirror to his face willing to see Henry in it again, but he saw total darkness again.
“Henry is dead!” he whispered.
Still standing beside Henry’s seat, Professor Wilson rushed to the scene too, to see the boy.
“Ted, where’s Henry?” the man asked quickly, but all he received was a wintry shrug from Ted.
“Tell me, is he dead?” said the dean, jerking Ted’s shoulders vigorously.
“I don’t know,” Ted replied fearfully.
“I’ve been looking at my mirror for him since yesterday, but it had always been dark.”
“And mine too,” responded Ted. Just as Ted was preparing to tell the dean about the Spider the man suddenly said, “I must report this to the Magistrates immediately, so that we can search him out with the Ultimate Round Glass, dead or alive.”
“Is there any Ultimate Round Glass?” Ted asked ignorantly.
“Yeah, Ted, It’s in the Power House. There’s no time for discussion boy, I’ve got to act quickly,” said the man and sped off without listening to another question Ted had intended asking.
Ted pondered, “Is there anything like Power House?” and that was the question the poor boy was intending to ask Professor Wilson, who was quite impatient.
“Wait!” screamed Ted but the man was gone.
Ted was still standing before Henry’s seat when the bell of caution rang. He did not hear its chimes, having been engrossed in a serious thought. He was aware of it when he saw people speeding up and tossing each other out of the way to get to their respective seats.
Extremely afraid, Ted was set at a speed of six hundred meters per microsecond to get to his seat. Taking off with such speed, Ted was brought down by Harrison, who had wittingly pushed him hard when he was about to pass before Harrison’s seat he was trying to escape.
Ted managed to get up five microseconds later, skidding off at a speed far less than the one he had initially intended to utilize. He was lucky, getting to his seat a picosecond before the sound of the death bell. Just then, Ted realized that his mirror was no more with him. It had fallen off when Harrison pushed him to the floor. If the mirror had fallen before Harrison he would sure have picked it up, but the thing had only fallen on the aisle, which was not within Harrison’s reach.
“Your mirror in front of you,” declared the magistrate who was looking at a large glass, which was displaying all those who had fallen dead at the chimes of the death bell.
“Floor searcher!” whispered Ted, mentioning the name of the glass that was displaying the corpses. “It was a stroke of luck,” commented the boy on his escape.
Without having a mirror, there was no way a citizen would be able to see the person speaking, (even if such fixed his gaze at the screen in front of the hall) but such would only hear the voice of the speaker; that was the situation Ted had now found himself in. He was scared as he remained seated.
“Now the first thing on the meeting agenda of today is the fight between Suleiman Ahmed, a Nigerian, and Raul Paul from Spain,” said the magistrate. “It’s a fight of naturalization. Suleiman is trying to take over the citizenship of Raul for life. If he can win today’s fight and earn more points in the future, he’ll be able to make dreams, just as Raul Paul can do now,” said the magistrate without pausing to take a puff of the air.
It seemed many were surprised at the fight, which was just about to take place, perhaps because one of the fighters had possessed a lot of power and the other had only had some empty guts derided of power. However, the Magistrate’s further speech seemed to ratify the Citizens’ notions:
“But if Raul Paul wins, he shall earn five more points to himself and retain his position as a dream-maker. Suleiman is new here; he had only arrived a month ago. Let’s enjoy the fight.”
There were sounds of claps from the citizens as they sat eagerly to watch the fight. Just then a ‘Gyrus-quake’ occurred.
“Gyrus Quake!” they screamed. Such had never taken place in the presence of the Citizens.
They were attempting to get away from their seats to escape for their dear lives when the magistrate’s voice suddenly came up, “Get away from your seats and pass away!”
They all understood the euphemistic speech of the magistrate, Patrick Rutherford, so they all had to remain glued to their seats, else they will just pass away (die) if they try to get away (escape) as the man had declared.
The pronouncement seemed to have affected Ted more than the rest of the citizens, since he had wanted to seize such a great opportunity to get his mirror back. No one moved at the sound of his voice. All eyes were fixed at their mirrors as they beheld the Gyrus catastrophe through it, but Ted was not able to see it, since he was mirrorless. He was only hearing its resultant noise, since no one would be able to see the person speaking in Gyrus without the mirror, even when such is gazing far ahead to the large screen on the podium.
“Spider!” they yelled in horror, seeing Grandwala for the first time. Hearing their yells, Ted remembered the spider he had seen through his mirror two days ago.
“It must have killed Henry,” thought Ted.
“Grandwala what are you here for?” spoke the magistrate to the great spider without a single trace of fear on his worried face.
“My duty,” replied the spider.
“Your duty’s not here, it’s in the Power House.”
“Yes I know,” the gigantic hulky thing replied.
“Then…”
“A young boy came to the Power House and got it opened.”
“Are you serious?” asked the magistrate in an intrigued disposition.
“Yes,” responded the Spider.
“You’ve fed on him, isn’t it?”
“It’s not his destiny to be eaten by me,” said the Spider, whose statement had only incurred the wrath of the head magistrate. Before that moment it was only the magistrates and those in very high ranks that were privy to the fact that there was existing a Power House in Gyrus.
“You must be joking Grandwala,” said the man in annoyance.
“I’m not joking. You’re the one joking with your Power House and the existence of this planet,” the spider replied without fear. The magistrate was extremely gutted. He released fire on the Spider from his wand. The inferno was put out after Grandwala had been hurt by it.
“Grandwala, is the young man alive which you’ve mentioned?”
“Yes, inside my web.”
“Then bring him here. He must die.” The spider acquiesced, turning back to get him. In a short moment it was back with Henry held in his mouth. Henry appeared like an ant before an elephant in the Spider’s mouth. Grandwala lowered him to the floor gently and waited for a further instruction.
“Get lost!” screamed the magistrate at it and it strode away swiftly without any further ado. The people yelled “Old man!” at Henry, not recognizing him a bit. With his long beards and bemired body, no person was able to tell who he was. They soon kept shut blocking their nostrils when they began to perceive the extremely putrid smells from Henry’s body.

Dybala11:
Thanks for the update OP, I'm waiting to read about the fight of naturalization between Kim and Harrison and to know who will emerge the winner.

Okay, keep your fingers crossed.

The reason for Ted’s impatience to depart from Gyrus two days ago was for fear of being discovered as a cultist by his uncle. What led to that was not far-fetched. Before Ted’s departure to Gyrus that particular day, he had demanded to see his uncle’s image in his mirror and it appeared. Then Ted asked, “When will you begin to look for me?”
“In the next six minutes,” the image replied.
“Where will you go looking for me?”
“In the bathroom of course,” the image replied critically. “Was that not where you’d just told me you were going?”
Hearing that Ted had determined not to wait behind a bit in Gyrus that day, for the fear of being detected as a wizard by his uncle, who might peep into the bathroom if Ted wouldn’t give a response when being called upon.
Though Henry delayed Ted’s departure from Gyrus that day, luckily for him, he was able to get back to earth (through the bathroom) just in time. His uncle was already at the door then, knocking hard at it. Ted came out with towel hung on his neck.
“Ted, I’ve been knocking this bathroom door and shouting your names. Didn’t you hear me?”
“I heard you sir,” said Ted, lying.
“And why didn’t you answer me?”
“No reason,” Ted replied, gazing at the floor. “I just felt that it was wrong of you to be shouting my name like that when you know that I can’t come out naked from the bathroom.”
Ted’s uncle was sorry for the act.
“I’m sorry, It’s just that I was eager to let you know about this good news I just received.”
“What good news?” said Ted expressing inquisitiveness.
“I just received the official transfer I’d requested. I’ll be transferred to New York City next week, and—” he paused calculatingly.
“And what?” probed Ted excitedly.
“Guess,” the man said lightheartedly.
“You’ve seen a beautiful lady to get married to.”
“No, keep trying.”
“You’ve—you’ve stopped having those nightmares.”
“Which nightmares?” his uncle replied, who was ignorant of Ted’s humorous intention. “You’re not good at all at guessing,” he concluded benignly as he declared, “I’ve been promoted.”
Ted hugged his uncle vivaciously on hearing this, but in the real sense of it the first news was more useful and beneficial to Ted than the second. Since the first, the official transfer, would mean that Willis Brown would no more be keeping all eyes on him, Ted also would not have to be looking left, right and left before taking his journey to Gyrus anytime he would be home on holidays or for any reason at all. No more close watches by his uncle.
“Congratulation uncle, but—”
“But what?”
“I’ll be lonely here during the holidays. I’ll be scared.”
‘Never worry Ted, nothing bad will happen to you.”
Ted pretended as if something was bothering him. His superficial appearance was turned dismal at once.
“Ted why this sudden mood?” his uncle asked.
“I don’t know how to say it.”
“Say it, I’ll listen.”
“I’m very sorry for the way I’d insolently spoken to you earlier,” said Ted at last, expressing suitable penitence for the past nagging action he had directed on his uncle.
“You don’t need to be sorry, Ted,” his uncle said. “I don’t have the right to knock your bathroom door that way. As from today I’ll desist from such act.”
“Even if there’s another good news to share?” Ted asked humorously.
“Yes, I’ll be patient enough for you to end your bath,” he said to Ted’s elation, though not superficial enough for the man to detect.
“That’s okay,” said Ted. “Uncle I think you know?”
“What?” asked Willis Brown keenly.
“That I’ll be going back to school tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” his uncle stumbled over his declaration. “It’s impossible Ted. You only came here yesterday and you want to depart tomorrow—to do what?”
“Uncle, have you forgotten that the session’s still on? I’m quite sure I’d have missed a great deal of lectures just today alone that I wasn’t in school.”
Willis Brown gave an affable grin.
“Ted, hope it’s not because of the Halloween that’s taking place in two days to come you want to go back to school. If that’s the case you’re not permitted,” Willis Brown concluded.
“It’s part of it. Uncle, why won’t you allow me participate in it?”
“Ted it’s a dangerous activity,” his uncle revealed. “There were always real witches and wizards in Halloween festivals. You can’t know the real from the fake. They can hurt you,” said his samhainophobic uncle, but Ted said, “Why is it me they’ll hurt? I’ll be very careful; uncle I promise no hurt’s going to come on me.”
“No hurt? You promise?”
“Yeah, no hurt, trust me.”
“Ted are you assuring me no hurt?” pestered Willis Brown who was not ready to take chances. He gawked critically at Ted’s face. “You know you’re the only one I’ve got in the whole world,” said his uncle, fondly pulling Ted to himself.”
“No hurt,” whispered Ted in an almost inaudible tone.
“Then you’re free to go tomorrow,” declared Willis Brown ultimately as he hugged Ted amiably.

It was going to be celebration day in Californian City University in Los Angeles (CCUL). It was Halloween day. As usual with the school, awards were going to be remitted to those who could scare other people most. Every one was in the business of painting there bodies with colors of different kinds, that would make them look weird and scary, for the single sake of winning the awards.
Susie came to Henry’s apartment to see him, but she met his door locked. She waited for few minutes behind the door, but Henry never came. As she was leaving, she met Ted coming to Henry’s apartment too.
“Hi, Ted,” she greeted.
“Hello Susie,” Ted replied fondly. “I can see you’re getting set for the Halloween.”
“Sure,’ she replied. “I came to see Henry, but—”
“Did you meet him?” Ted asked promptly, not affording Susie the chance to complete her ‘but’ statement.
“No, where has he gone?”
“Don’t know. I was coming to see him too.”
“Hope Henry’s going to participate in the Halloween,” she said, “’cos he could be impervious to it.”
“Yeah, he should join,’ said Ted, then he added, “Maybe he has gone to get some costumes to make him look awful for the Halloween, so he could win the awards.” Ted had only intended to deceive Susie into ending the discussion.
“Well, whatever, I’ll scare life out of him tonight. I’ll catch him unawares,” said Susie, wrapping it up with laughter.
“You think so? I’m sure Henry’s not going to be scared of you a bit, because he’s a genius,” remarked Ted.
“You’re wrong Ted. Genius or no genius has got nothing to do with this,” she said, expecting to hear Ted’s view again, but Ted having suspected her motive, said, “Maybe. You’re right. Bye.”
“Bye,” replied Susie, smiling as she walked away.
Ted remained on that spot, gaze fixed at Susie’s back part. Ted revealed a smile and whispered, “She’s in love with Henry.”

Harrison’s gladness knew no bound, because of the Power Guard’s wand he had now acquired. He had proved it and found it very effective, having used it several times to tune the TV.
The door flung open of its own accord and the Power Guard entered in.
“Harrison,” he called softly. Harrison was scared at the sight of the Power Guard.
“Yes sir,” the boy managed a reply.
“I can see you’re busy practicing with my wand.”
“Yes sir,” said Harrison. “ I’ve used it to achieve a lot. It’s quite potent.”
“Hmm,” sounded the man. “Boy, it was the wrong one I gave to you,” declared the man to Harrison’s surprise. “It will work against you.” Harrison was speechless, focusing his gazes at the man’s face in awe.
“Here’s the real wand. Have it and bring the one with you,” the Power Guard said as he stretched the wand toward Harrison, who hastily collected it and gave the man the one with him.
“Sir, but I’ve been practicing with it for more than twenty-four hours and it has been working well. It’s only an hour left for the fight. How do I get used to this new one within the short time left?” Harrison expressed his fear.
“Never worry Harrison,” the man calmed. “You won’t need practice with this new one at all, because it’s a powerful wand, knowing what to do by itself.”
“Thanks,” Harrison said as the man prepared to depart.
“You shall defeat Kim,” assured the Power Guard lastly guffawing along. As the man got out of the door, he became Kim.
“I am the Mystery Maker,” Kim whispered as he walked away gladly.

“Great Spider!” screamed Henry and a quake took place again. The spider climbed its way out of the rubbles made by the quake. On getting to Henry, he said, “I’m Hungry.”
“You should be,” Grandwala supported. “You’ve been here for five months and have only fed once. Here’s your food.”
“Hope it’s not human meat again.”
“It is,” said Grandwala. “I know you’ll not reject it.”
“Well—it’s just because I’m starving,” said Henry, collecting the chunk of meat and began to chew immediately.
“That’s what I’m saying,” concluded Grandwala.
“When will I be liberated from this bondage?”
“Today—in fourteen hours time.”
“How?” asked Henry stridently, but in a friendly manner, since he’d recognized that being rude to the spider would only bring him nothing other than loneliness.
“By the magic magistrates,” replied Grandwala.
“Impossible!” Henry doubted. “Will you tell them a lie, that I didn’t approach the Power House?”
“No, I’ll tell them the truth.”
“Then be sure I’ll be killed immediately.”
“No Henry,” said the Spider. “Magicians don’t believe the truth. They’ll not believe me if I tell them you opened the Power House.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s the truth, so they’ll ignore it,” said the Spider. “They’ll sure believe that my statement is spawned by a conspiracy between you and me to make them believe you’re such a powerful person, so that you can earn points and position.”
‘I don’t think so.”
“That’s what I’m saying. You’ll never think that the truth is the truth, because you’re a magician too.” Henry was obliged to keep silent, in order to end Grandwala’s never-ending vicious attacks on the status of the Magic Folk of which he belonged. However, Henry spoke later.
“The fight between Harrison and Kim today, who’s going to win?”
“The wiser of the two,” said Grandwala. “It depends on who plays the tricks most. The contest is won already before the fight.”
‘I want Kim to win.”
“It’s not of me to decide. It depends on who plays the tricks most,” re-affirmed Grandwala, then added, “You know Magic’s all about tricks.”
“Yes, Kim’s a Mystery Creator, I’m glad he’ll sure win,” deduced Henry, smiling for the first time in five Gyrus months. His action only incurred
another malicious attack on the Magichood as Grandwala uttered:
“You’re bias, so also are all Magicians in the universe. That’s one reason you’re all powerless,” declared Grandwala and Henry was mute.

Dybala11:
I'll do that later OP, I thought you've dropped another update, that was why I rushed here to check immediately I saw your moniker in the new post update.

Lol. I've been very busy. I'll soon drop one or two. Thanks.

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CHAPTER TWELVE
STARVING IN GYRUS

Henry had spent three months in Gyrus already without food. His stomach was completely deflated and he was lean and weak, unable to be on his feet. The spider had made a new web around him.
Henry cried out:
“Great spider, I need food!” All of a sudden there was a great quake; such had always preceded the arrival of the spider. Arriving, the spider said, “Young boy, hope you’re fine.”
“How can I? Not when you abandoned me for months without feeding me.”
“Didn’t you say that you hate my company? Well, if you’d asked me for food all this while I’d have fed you three square meals twice.” With the brief information the spider had just given (about the three-square meal twice) Henry was able to evaluate how many days he had spent in Gyrus—two earth days—three months.
“Okay, I need to eat something now,” Henry screamed. The spider dropped a piece of meat he had brought for Henry to feed on.
“Eat it,” said the spider.
“Raw meat,” said Henry. “Why should I eat raw meat? Can’t it be roasted?”
“It can, if you want.” A little fire descended on the meat and got it roasted. Henry picked up the nub of roasted meat instantly and began to feed on it in a way that had conspicuously revealed his esurience. A question crept up in his mind:
“This meat, where d’you get it from?” He put a chunk into his watery mouth.
“It’s part of my meal.”
“Here you go again, prevaricating. I’d only asked you where you got it from, not—”
“Where do you think? In this planet people die, just like it happens on earth too. You know citizens die here every five Gyrus calendar months and their carcasses no one cares for. What d’you think happens to those remains?”
“You feed on them? So, Mister Spider what you’re telling me is that you feed on those things, isn’t it?” Henry asked, horrified.
“Exactly,” said the spider and added, “Address me with Grandwala, any time.” Henry ignored its new instruction and said, “Gargantuan Spider, You’ve just made me a cannibal, isn’t it?”
“Well—if you say so,” said Grandwala, giggling. Henry was perspiring. He hung his head in disappointment. He was not able to continue feeding on the meat.”
“Get me out of here or kill me instantly,” Henry shouted at him, but Grandwala said, “I’ll go for the third option.”
“I’ve only given you two options.”
“Yes I know,” said Grandwala. “But in life, there’s always a third option and that option is ‘nothing’. I’ll do nothing to you.”
“Nothing!”
“Hear this, the earth is filled with nothing: no power in it. I read this from a book, Henry and that book had made me wiser. It’s the best of all books. The book said the earth was void and filled with darkness.”
Henry’s façade expressed boredom.
“I’ve got no time for fables,” he made known.
“It’s no fable. The universe is filled with nothing, no power, no light, no life—vanity.”
“What do you mean?” asked Henry impetuously and quickly said, “I’m sorry, I’m not asking a question” when he realized that he would not need to hear any further explanation, but Henry was late.
“Okay, you’ll understand it better now,” said Grandwala. “You went to the Power House, flung it open and saw something in it, isn’t it?”
“No, I saw nothing,” countered Henry. “It was empty.”
“Yeah, that’s exactly my point. You’ve just confirmed that the power of the universe is nothing."
Henry was sick of the spider’s ambiguities. He blocked his ears with his index fingers and the action vexed the spider, which at that instance, had begun to dig a hole which he got into after making an end of its excavation. The hole closed back on it.

Henry’s mirror, having been airlifted by the gust from the spider’s mouth, was smashed on a rocky structure behind Henry. The spider moved a foreleg, which was about twenty meter long, and almost placed it on Henry’s head. The great spider had only four legs; two forelegs and two hind legs. His forelegs appeared to be twice the length of the hind ones. Henry had envisaged dead, so he fastened his eyelids together, as though not wanting to witness the death of himself.
Amazingly, the creature said, “Henry, I can’t do that.” The spider placed his leg to the ground again.
“Why?” Henry asked, overwhelmed with shock.
“Because you’ve got a destiny no one can reverse.”
“Tell me, what’s my destiny?” asked Henry immediately, his head raised as if to look probingly into the large face of the spider, but Henry wondered if the strange thingamabob before him would notice his two puny eyes at all.
“It’s not of me to tell,” it replied soberly.
Henry was gutted.
“Then free me and let me go.”
“It’s not of me to free you either,” it replied, but in an amiable manner. “You see Henry, nobody can spend up to a week in Gyrus and survive, but you did it. You’ve set a record nobody can break. You’ve spent over three and half weeks in Gyrus. Can you see those beards?” Henry was not a bit interested in the Spider’s natters. All he needed was instant freedom or death, but the first appealed to him more now, since the spider had already said he had got a destiny. Henry had already made up his mind to try find it out, at least, before bidding earth (or Gyrus) goodbye.
“Great spider let me go.”
“It’s not of me to free you, I’ve told you before. Ain’t you enjoying my company?” smiled the spider.
“Not a bit,’ shouted Henry with a tone of bellicosity. “You’re not wise scraggy old spider. If you spare my life and keep me captive here the magistrates will kill me. Why not kill me now or let me go now?”
“None of the two is good for an option. You still have about four more months to stay in bondage here.”
“Then after that—”
“After that I’ll release you to the Magistrates to do whatever with you.”
“Okay, I’ve got two things to ask you, perhaps you’ll tell me the answers,” said Henry who was feeling that the time had come to clear his mind off the doubts and uncertainties that had befuddled him most.
“Ask them, I’ll answer,” said the spider to Henry’s elation.
“Professor Wilson’s Seventh Question, can you remind me what it was—now?” he said inquiringly, but the spider said, “Huh—uh, one problem about you magician is ‘now’. You want everything done ‘now’. Fame now, answers to mysteries now. That’s why you’re powerless.”
“Powerless,” Henry’s eyes developed into a bulge. “What d’you mean?”
“You’ve got no power all you magicians. The ordinary ones are more powerful than you are.”
“It’s a lie,” said Henry without giving it a second thought.
“It’s the truth,” the spider affirmed. “Ordinary men have power of self-control, magicians don’t have. They can refrain from revenge, you can’t. They even live longer than you do. Tell me, do you know when you’re going to die?”
“How can I know?” said Henry. “Why should I want to know? All I want to know is the Professor’s Seventh Question,” he added still.
“That’s what I’ve just told you,” said the spider slyly.
“You’re lying,” cried out Henry. “You never told me any Seventh Question.” Henry never realized that the spider had provided the answer in the course of its conversation.
“It’s better for you not to know, but if you insist on knowing someone else will let you know the answer to it later.”
Henry said, “What about my second request?”
“Ask on, I’ll answer it.”
‘Kim will be fighting with Harrison, but Harrison’s receiving help from the Power Guard. I want to pass this message to Kim. Can you tell him on my behalf?”
“Someone has told Kim already,” said the Spider. Then it sighed and said, “It’s that same chap that will give you the answer to the Seventh Question.”
“You’re not straight forward,” Henry maligned.
“That’s because I’m bending backward. It’s my posture,” replied the spider.
“That’s not what I meant?” grimaced Henry, then diverted, “Go away from me spider, you’ve not rendered a single help.”
“Are you saying that my help’s no more needed?” asked the spider playfully.
“You’ve not helped me before now, have you?”
“Look behind you, your mirror,” the spider called his attention to his broken mirror. Henry looked back and realized that it had been mended already, just as it was the day he had received it.
“It’s a small thing. Nothing to fuse about,” shrugged Henry intending to frustrate the spider.
“You sure of what you’re saying?” said the spider in a disappointed tone.
“Yeah, sure—just a mirror.”
“Well, magicians are ungrateful; I’ll never mend a mirror for anyone again in this planet. It’s an oath that cannot be altered,” said the Spider with a tone of sincerity. Then it sulked and withdrew from him. It swiftly made a hollow in the ground and got itself into it. Of its own accord the hollow closed its mouth to bury the spider alive.
Harrison smiled as he placed the mirror gently in a safe place. He had just finished communicating with the Power Guard through it. The man had asked him to come to his place to get his own wand. In a short moment, Harrison was there.
“Here’s it,” said the Power Guard as he handed Harrison his wand. “You’ve got to practice with it overnight. You know Kim’s a Mystery Maker, so don’t be fooled by his tricks.”
“I’ll be very careful sir,” Harry assured.
“You can go now.”
“Thank you sir,” said Harrison as he bobbed briskly to the Power Guard. As he pulled the door open the man said, “Harrison one more thing.”
“What sir?”

I dedicate the first post of the day(breakfast) to Dybala11 because he asked for it.

Ted’s uncle was jolted from sleep, this time by Ted’s scream, but he wasn’t sure of the main source of the sound that had just made the terrible jounce on him. He checked the bathroom and kitchen before he finally adjourned to Ted’s room. Ted had lain on the bed pretending to be fast asleep, saw wooding along. Willis Brown, whose eyes were now bulged out for fear instantly began to give Ted several short taps to get him up from bed. Ted delayed for few seconds before getting up with a simulated wide, yawing mouth.

“Ted, did you scream—” he said, “just now?”
“Scream? No, why should I? I was fast asleep,” Ted yawned again.

“I heard a powerful scream. It woke me up.”
“I heard nothing. Maybe it’s a hallucination.”
“Maybe—” said the uncle in agreement, yet doubting it. “Sorry for disturbing your sleep, Ted. G’night!”

“G’night,” responded Ted. As the man was about to pull at the door, Ted said in a low tone, “Uncle.” He looked back at him and said, “Yes, Ted.”

“Maybe you should try to see your Pastor today; he’ll pray for you.”

“Sure,” replied the man scarily without detecting Ted’s jest, “First thing at dawn,” the man added as he trudged out of the room, putting off the light again.

“Who are you?” screamed Henry. His memory had returned to him.
“You asked for my help, didn’t you?” the gargantuan spider spoke.
“I didn’t,” argued Henry who was already prepared for the worst.
“Didn’t you shout that someone should tell you what’s happening to you?”
“Was that why you’re here?” Henry asked.
“Yes,” the spider replied in a friendly gesture, “I’m the guard of the power of this kingdom. Where you opened last month is called the Power House. It contained all the powers of this kingdom.”
“I don’t believe you,” said Henry in an audacious tone. “I never saw a single wand in it—in fact I saw nothing,” Henry expressed repugnance for the weirdo right in front of him as he spoke. He had earlier fixed his thought on the fact that giving up the ghost right there now would be preferable to staying alive, since the difference his initiation had made ever since becoming a citizen was just that it had, according to his own thought, raised his troubles to the power of ten. The yardstick Henry had used no one knows.
“I said I never saw a single wand in there,” Henry repeated, “So, you ain’t guarding any power,” deduced Henry.
To Henry’s surprise the creature’s face beamed with what Henry had felt was a smile, then it said, “You’re right Henry, I’m guarding nothing, yet I’m guarding the Power House. Since its construction about four hundred years ago, no one had come near it let alone open it.”
“But I opened it, what’s the consequence?” said Henry with great brusqueness, not wanting to dabble into the Spider’s ambiguous speech, since he was not expecting anything other than ambiguity from an ordinary animal, which had even made amazing attempt in the first place to speak.
‘Death of course!” said the Spider.
“Then go ahead, kill me,” replied Henry like one tired of life. The large spider released a great draught from his nostrils and it blew Henry away along with the mighty black web which was taken off Henry’s head, yet Henry’s feet seemed glued to the ground.

Dybala11:
Wonderful update, give us more @OP

Good morning. You can always bank on me to give you more.

Ted was scared that his uncle would be woken up by the sounds from the mirror, but he managed to neglect the fear to continue his conversation.
“Henry, Gyrus’s shaking, what’s happening? My mirror’s shaking me.”
“How do I know?” replied Henry whose look appeared even more bamboozled than Ted’s own.
“Henry, try to remember, myself and yourself were waiting for the dean, but he vanished suddenly. Maybe you stayed over in Gyrus after my departure.”
Henry’s brain seemed healed by the statement Ted had just finished making. Henry said with a little emotion of elation, “Now I remember Ted, but that should have been quite an age now, for these beards and moustache to have grown,” said Henry touching them and getting pricked by the spikes at every contact his hand was making with it.
Ted was glad now that Henry had finally remembered something. He said, “Yeah, Henry the mystery is solved. You just try converting nine hours here to Gyrus time and let’s see what it will yield.”
“I can’t,” replied Henry promptly to Ted’s amazement. “Not without the converter,” Henry added.
“Why? I thought your Einstein’s magic is effective. So—’’
“Not under pressure. It’s addled for God’s sake,” Henry vociferated with a more humungous tone of voice. Ted thought that for Willis Brown not to have woken up this time his sleep must have reached a stage of quietus; somebody Ted had known afore for thumping up from sleep at every single drop of any tiny object such as pin, needle and many more.
“Okay, I’ll get mine,” Ted assured, rushing to his locker to get his Gyrus converter. Turning his head back to the wooden edge of the bed where his mirror was leaning upon, he saw a big spider inside his mirror. Ted screamed for fear.

Ted had insinuated that Henry was dead since Kim did appear in his mirror while he did not. Ted was going to put forward a second trial by demanding to see Henry once again.
“Henry White,” he spat into his mirror, but no response followed still.
“Henry is dead!”

Henry was still unconscious inside the gigantic black web. The blackout had spanned for twenty-seven days already (just nine hours earth time). Opening his eyes in a flash, Henry noticed how rough and unkempt he was. The stench of his body was like the remains of a carcass half-eaten by a vulture. He had to squeeze his nose firmly to block his nostrils from paving way for the foul-smell to gain entrance into his olfactory nerves. Maggots scampered about on his bedraggled cloth as if they were happy about his predicament.
When Henry’s lips paved way impulsively for shock, he shut them back with great impulse, because a strong nauseating and pungent smell had instantly emanated from his teeth. It was a smell of rotten egg.
For a period of twenty-seven days since Henry had remained behind in Gyrus, no one visited the planet. The reason was undoubtedly because such great period in the Gyrus was only nine hours on earth.

Henry had forgotten what led into such condition—the thunder, the lightning, the quake, the kick. Touching his jowl, Henry could feel a spiky outgrowth piercing his hand. Withdrawing quickly he desired to take a look at his mirror at once, so that it would reveal the prickly things that had just injured his hand lightly. It was a surprise for Henry seeing his mirror outside the encapsulation of the web but standing erect and facing him. He knew there was no way the mirror would have stood that way of its own accord. Something or somebody must have been responsible for it.
Henry employed every mean he could to reach his mirror but was not able to get it, since it was far away from him and himself was inside a web posing a great deal of challenge to his mobility. Each strand of the web was as thick as the leg of a mature elephant. At last Henry decided to resort into the paranormal method. This he did without further ado by calling it with a strange language himself did not know how it had come upon him. Then the standing mirror moved closer to the web where his finger tips could touch it lightly. Using much ingenuity Henry managed to drag it in by putting out his hand from beneath the web forcefully and patiently.
To see his own image in it Henry had to rub its face with its palm (that was how the mirror could reveal the image of oneself) so that he could view the reflection of himself. What he saw looked to him as a hirsute bizarre person, having beards as long as two inches and a shaggy handlebar moustache, which seemed to make him even weirder. Henry almost crashed the mirror in horror. Eventually after much fixation of his eyes on the image he got to know that it was himself.
“How did I get here?” screamed Henry. “I must speak to Ted now.” With mirror on hand Henry seemed not to have any problem putting a ‘mirrortone’ call across to him (that was the name given to the mirror communication). Ted appeared instantly in the mirror.
“Henry, Henry you’re alive,” the boy frolicked in the middle of the night. It was the drive to look into the mirror that had jolted Ted out of his drenched bed, which had all the while been soaked in sweat and tears, because of the notion he had had that Henry was dead.
“Was I dead before?” asked Henry, having forgotten what had brought him into the situation he had just found himself in.
“No, not at—” Ted had to pause after taking a closer look at the one he was speaking with. “What is this?” he ululated. Just then the smells from Henry’s body were conveyed without any abatement to Ted’s nostrils and Ted had to quickly apply some deodorants into the room to lessen the nasty reek. It seemed the lack of synchronization between the smell and the visual display was brought about by something scientific, but Ted never had any thought inclined towards that direction then.
Henry said, “I’m the same Henry, your friend. I need an explanation concerning my predicament.” A maggot crawled around his lips. Henry flicked it away.
“How do I know?” replied Ted. “I called for you few minutes ago but all I saw was darkness. You didn’t appear in my mirror. Where were you and what happened to you?”
“The ambience here looks Gyrusic,” said Henry. “But Ted, I don’t know what the hell I’m looking for in here. I’m in a stronghold here,” bewailed Henry.
“Gyrus! I thought we left there together yesterday.”
“I don’t know. All I know is, I just found myself here, haggard, awkward and like a ragamuffin; got no inkling what’s my business here. Look, my beards, as long as a broom and my moustache, as wide as a dust parker. Can someone tell me what’s happening to me?” Henry screamed very loudly. Then Gyrus began to shake again.

At a single mention of Kim’s name the boy appeared. Sighting Kim had evoked a sudden loud sob from Ted, which was accompanied by some showers of tears.
“Coward!’ cried Kim, yawning somnolently into the cavity made by his right fist, “Why should you disturb my sleep?” Ted was afraid that his uncle could be awakened by Kim’s loud tone. He said rashly, “Ssh! Lower your voice, you’ll wake up everyone at home” demonstrating the abstract with two of his fingers placed across his mouth. The action angered Kim, but Ted’s uncle had heard Kim’s voice already. Willis Brown rushed impulsively to Ted’s room to confirm what he had heard. Ted hid the mirror under the pillow quick.
“Hey, Ted, who’s with you there?” said the man as he pushed the switch that was controlling the bulbs there. The room had acquired illumination in a flash.
“Nobody, I just had a terrible nightmare.”
“And somebody in your nightmare made such hell of noise, isn’t it?” Ted was confused, but he tried hard to maintain his composure.
“No, it was my voice. I screamed out of bed. It was a terrible nightmare,” lied Ted again.
The man shook his head sideways, grinned suspiciously and said, “Terrible nightmare indeed. You’ll come with me to see my pastor today. He’ll pray with you.”
Ted seeming to loathe prayers, responded immediately, “No need. It’s only a nightmare.”
The man sauntered to the door, pushed the switch again and off went the light. Then he left the room silently.
Ted was relieved. He tucked his hand under the pillow and took out the strange mirror, which had provided him with the illumination needed before his uncle’s arrival. He turned up the face of the mirror to behold Kim again. Startlingly, Kim had not vanished from there, but was snoring heavily inside the mirror having slept off while being ignored by Ted. Were it not for the absorbing character of the mattress and the pillow, Ted’s uncle would have detected the whole secret through the snores the mirror was making.
“Kim,” Ted called to wake him up, but there was no response. The only response that came was the sudden change in the pith of the snores from a lower to a higher note. Ted had to put his mouth very close to the ear of Kim’s virtual image in the mirror to repeat the call.
“Kim!” Ted shouted into the mirror and Kim’s heart missed a skip as he jerked up in a shocked manner. Kim vituperated at Ted as he complained about his aching left ear Ted had made the noise into.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you man? You want to damage my aching left ear. Mama still treated it before I sleep.”
“I never spoke into your left ear,” protested Ted. “It was the right one I spoke into.”
“Liar! You did,” Kim argued, almost shouting again.
“I didn’t,” rebuffed Ted ignorantly still. “It was the right ear I used.”
“Shut up! Liar!” Kim yelled at him and Ted kept silent at once, insinuating that his uncle would soon come around again.
Ted did not realize the lateral inversion problem of the mirror until the topic was changed, though he had been taught in all the schools he had attended about such kind of properties always exhibited by a plane mirror. The two blind debaters had concluded falsely that the other was a liar.
“So, what d’you want to say?”
“I’m sorry for the—”
“I said what d’you have to say, I’m longing for bed?” yelled Kim as if no one was at home at his own end.
“Well, I’d called to tell you to beware of Harrison.”
“Hold it!” he said. “I’ll send him to his early grave—tomorrow.”
“Kim you’d better be watchful ’cos Harrison’s seeking the assistance of the Power Guard, you know what that means?” Ted warned critically.
“And so what?”
“I suggest you report that to the Gyrus Magistrates before it gets out of hand.”
“Shut up! Don’t you know who I am? I’m a Mystery Maker. I can always perform a single trick on them both to get them confused.”
“Kim, please heed my warning before it gets late. Let’s report to the—”
“I said I’m not reporting to any goddamn person,” he yelled, even louder than the way he’d done previously that had attracted Ted’s uncle’s attention; this time the wearied man was fast asleep, so he did not show up.
“Alright! Alright! Goodbye,” said Ted as he began weeping afresh, but silently, at the remembrance of Henry.
“Wait a minute,” expressed Kim. “Is that why you’re shedding tears?”
“No—yes, I mean yes,” said Ted, swapping between the truth and a lie, like a Sphinx. Ted had told the lie for two purposes; to prevent Kim from asking further what the reason was and to also make Kim believe in and ponder gravely on the warning he had given him.
“Coward!” Kim pronounced and evaporated.

Ted woke from sleep at eleven-thirty pm. His uncle was fast asleep in a separate room. Ted walked furtively to his bathroom to pick up his mirror. He had intended to have a mirror communication with Henry as earlier agreed upon by the two, back in Gyrus, but he was not aware of the fact that Henry was still remaining in Gyrus then, captured. Ted, now with his mirror, gazed expectantly at the mirror and said, “Henry.” As Ted said so, its lustrous face became darker than it had been initially. Such happening sent a great fear down Ted’s spine, believing that such could only happen if the person at the other end was dead.
“Henry, speak to me,” Ted called again, but the mirror became darker even more. He remained in front of the mirror, some minutes, sweating, but nothing changed. Fear gripped him.
“No! No! No! This can’t be,” he wept in the middle of the night unwary of the fact that his sobs could jolt his dozing uncle, who was in another room, out of sleep. When Ted realized this fact, he bowed his head gently and tried to suppress the weeping. At last an idea hit him.
“Maybe it’s my mirror that needs replacement,” said Ted, though he had never witnessed a ‘mirror-replacement’ scenario before; he was not even sure of the existence of such envisaged event. To be sure of it, Ted felt that trying the mirror on another fellow would be the solution. Whatever case, by so doing, he was going to detect what had gone wrong.

HENRY MET GRANDWALA

Henry was tempted to take a tour round the planet, perhaps engrossed with the thought that he would include it in the autobiography to be written later, that he was first man to travel round a planet other than the earth on foot. Henry had earlier been told by the dean that it would not take more than forty-five minutes Gyrus-time for any citizen to take a tour round the planet, but had warned him that the adventure could be impossible because of some dangerous animals in the jungle there. Henry had not proved the authenticity of the Professor’s confession before then, so he felt that now would be the most suitable moment to try that.

Henry, as well as many other citizens, had never seen the said jungle before. As a matter of fact most of them never knew if such a thing was existing in the planet. All they knew about was Gyrus garden, which was a bit farther from the meeting hall, though an average citizen could get there within a matter of seconds.
Henry discovered a cave. It was conical and seemed like a palatial edifice. To his utmost surprise Henry had got a metallic door of unimaginable modernness. It glittered with the greatest splendor ever witnessed by Henry. Attracted by the structure, Henry’s curiosity was heightened. He was going to get inside by all means.

Henry pulled hard at the door handle to get it opened but nothing seemed to change. The door was standing as rigid as it was before the pull. Then it occurred to him that an entirely different method would pay off—but which one?
He felt that using the magic would provide the solution, but he’d never used it before.
“Using it for something worthwhile is reasonable,” he thought.

Naturally, but shockingly, some obscene words flowed out of his mouth in whispers. The door shook at the first and second attempt, but was wrenched open without a hand at the third attempt. The interior of the cave seemed to be two times the size of its exterior. But unfortunately, it was only opened for a period of one second before it was shut of its own accord again. But Henry had seen the inside already. It was empty and partially dark.

Still of the thought of what to do, the whole planet went dark suddenly and thunder struck concomitantly with accompanying lightning in a humongous amount. Henry fell. It seemed his fall had resulted from a struck by the lightning.

Still managing to get up, the whole planet appeared swirling at a great rate. That was all Henry saw due to the great kick he had just received from behind, from a thing he did not see as a result of the poorly lit environment at that time. The kick had sent him flying in the air and then fell with a heavy thud—blackout!

The creature, which had sent the kick, drew closer to Henry. It had the visage of a spider. It was almost twice as big as an elephant, but amazingly it spoke.

“Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!” laughed the spider as it spun some webs at an inexplicable rate to trap Henry in. Awesomely, the webs were black.

“Henry. A boy whose destiny remains hidden to all—even himself,” the spider uttered noisily with a mixture of many different voices, almost ten times deeper than a bass tone of a normal human. Just then a swarm of insects made its way toward the Spider, but he got them swallowed up in a single gulp.

“Naughty little mosquitoes,” sounded the Spider as it picked Henry’s fallen mirror and made it stand facing the web Henry was trammeled by. Then the humongous ugly looking creature traipsed away into the rubbles it had initially come out from.

Dedicated to Dybala11


Harrison was a totally bad-tempered fellow.
Seeing Henry not enthusiastic about such
fight, Harrison had made a plan to relocate. He
was going to give the fight of naturalization a
consideration. Having endured the stay beside
] Henry for seven months, Harrison felt it was
time to put his thought into action. He walked
clumsily on the aisle separating the Chinese
and the Japanese in Gyrus. The population of
the Chinese nativity in Gyrus was
approximately four times that of the Japanese.
Such claim might just have justified their
respective populations on the planet earth.
Since every Gyrus citizen had got some
freakishly large range of view, Harrison had no
problem scanning through all those seated in
the section of the large hall where the Chinese
had sat. Spotting Cheung few kilometers away,
Harrison made a swoop to him in less than a
second. Harrison touched Cheung’s shoulder
lightly, but inimically, and said, “Here’s the
person.”
Fear gripped Cheung, who had been hiding his
face away from Harrison ever since his eyes
were roaming the Chinese area for someone to
have a fight with. Cheung’s tears flowed like
rivers of water. Cheung was of the thought
that his end had come. Cheung pleaded for
mercy, but Harrison’s fiendish nature would
not allow him to pick another for a fight. He
needed to fight with Cheung badly, having
sensed fear in his eyes earlier.
“He’ll make a walkover,” muttered Harrison to
the hearing of himself alone.
Seated on the left of Cheung was a boy of
about the same age as Harrison. His name was
Kim Park. Kim had been awarded the coveted
post of a Mystery Maker, having fought and
overcome many fights. Kim had watched
Cheung’s reaction ever since the time Harrison
had challenged him. Seeing Cheung’s reaction,
Kim had instantly developed a strong
sympathy for Cheung at that instance.
The Chief magistrate’s voice suddenly came up
saying, “Li Cheung, you’ve been picked for a
fight, so hurry up to save our time.”
Cheung’s head ‘rang bell’ on hearing the
suicidal call. Shivering to get up, he suddenly
heard a voice beside him:
“You can pick up a fight with me either.” It
was Kim. Harrison was scared on hearing
Kim’s pronouncement. Harrison had never
fought since getting to Gyrus, but had seen
Kim fight several times, defeating his
antagonists. Though Harrison was very much
afraid of Kim, he would not reject the fight
because of pride. The magistrate’s voice came
up again.
“Hurry up Harrison. You may decide not to
have a fight with Kim and go for Cheung
instead—if you insist.” The advice did a great
harm to Cheung’s system, who had instantly
resumed his whines.
Suddenly Harrison said, “Dear Management of
Gyrus, I’m not a bit scared of Kim, but I’d
loved it if you can just grant us some times to
practice for the contest.” Harrison bowed his
head to the magistrate as a sign of respect
after his speech.
“You’ve asked a hard thing,” came up the
voice of the magistrate. Well, left to me I’ll
grant you the permission, but I’ve got to
consult my co-magistrates, generals and
lieutenants to hear their views too.” Instantly
the mentioned ones had crowded around the
chief magistrate; all heads lowered to begin
brainstorming. They had one voice at last.
The magistrate came up again to say,
“Permission granted, but you’ve got only two
days.” Kim’s annoyance arose. He screamed,
“No, it’s better to fight it out now.”
“Shut up boy, we have spoken,” scolded the
magistrate.
Cheung’s gladness knew no bound. His bitter
tears were transformed to tears of joy at once.
When the meeting was rounded off, Cheung
was the first to leave the planet.
The Power Guard, Kent Robins, walked up to
Kim.
“Hello little boy, I can assist you to defeat that
boy,”
“Who are you?” replied Kim with a tone of
hostility.
“So, you don’t know who I am? You don’t
know the magic Power Guard. One who
maintains balance between Magic and Minors.
I see you’re nervous, that’s why I’ve come to
your rescue.”
“Me? Nervous?” the boy replied insolently.
“Sorry to say, I don’t need your help. I can
always defeat him.”
Harrison was listening to their conversation.
He waited patiently for Kim’s departure, then
he rushed to the Power Guard.
“Sir,” Harrison called out.
“Little boy, what d’you want?”
“What Kim had just refused.”
The man ran his hand through Harrison’s hair
and said, “You’re a wise boy Harrison, like
your father. We shall see tonight in the
mirror.”
Ted heard the brief discussion between
Harrison and the Guard while he was passing
by, but he had only walked past them as if he
was not concerned, since he had no single
interest in Gyrus fights.
Ted found Henry still glued to his seat.
“Henry, ain’t you leaving?”
“I’ll see Professor Wilson first.”
“About what?”
“To get the seventh question, or have you
remembered it?”
“No!” exclaimed Ted. “I don’t think I can ever
remember such question for the rest of my
life. Why can’t you pretend as if you’ve
forgotten there was any seventh question, so it
won’t bother you anymore?” Henry ignored his
suggestion, quickly changing the topic.
“Ted, what d’you think about the fight in the
next two days? Who’ll win?”
“I don’t like watching such fights. Whoever is
more powerful should win.”
“I don’t enjoy watching too, but this time I’d
prefer the Chinese boy.”
“Why d’you want him to win?”
“It’s obvious he’ll win.”
“I can bet it with you, Harrison will win,” Ted
said. Henry laughed a great deal.
“Let’s watch and see who wins this argument.”
Ted was about to leave the planet, but Henry
said, “Ted, are you not going to wait for me to
see the dean?”
“No, Henry, I’m perceiving that my uncle’s at
my bathroom door. He’s always watching my
moves these days. It’s already six minutes
since I’ve entered the bathroom.”
“Okay Ted, give me a minute more. We shall
be through.” Ted agreed and remained.
Henry said, “Why d’you think Harrison will
win? I don’t want to take chances. If he wins
I’ll sure drop my magic.”
“Why d’you say so?” Ted asked, full of
surprises.
“I don’t like him.”
“Why? He’s the son of Sergius. His father was
a good man.”
“For all I care Harrison’s nothing like his
father,” rebuffed Henry sharply.
“Why?”
“Because he hates me. Ted, remember I told
you I don’t like anyone who does not like me
and I like anyone who likes me.”
“What about Cynthia?” Ted reminded. “She
doesn’t like you but you love her.”
Henry said funnily, “Sorry, I’ve got to modify
what I’ve just said: it was a slip of tongue.”
Ted looked on to hear what Henry would come
out with.
Henry said, “I don’t like any boy who doesn’t
like me.” They laughed.
Ted said, “What has he done for you—I mean
Harrison?”
“He’s always wanting violence. He almost
made me lose my life one day while I was
racing to my seat to escape the death-bell. He
placed his leg on my path and I stumbled over
it. I wobbled to my seat just two microseconds
before the death-bell rang.”
“Huh!” sounded Ted in awe.
“And when I got to my seat he gave me a
thunderous slap; then I was still very new in
Gyrus.”
“So such a thing happened and you never told
me!” Ted said expressing shock. If you had
told me then I’d have picked a fight with him;
I’m his senior—got here before him,” boasted
Ted as if Gyrus position had been awarded
according to arrival time.
“Why should I tell you?” Henry said. “I
thought you said you don’t enjoying watching
two citizens fight.” Henry evinced his victory
in the argument by a grin, but Ted had
something to say.
“But I never said I don’t like participating
myself. What I don’t like is standing back while
the fight’s going on.”
The two burst into long-lasting giggles. Henry
howled, “Again!” and added, “Ted, on a more
serious note, did you use the magic to know
that Harrison will win?”
“No,” he replied. “You’re wasting my time,”
Ted expressed his uneasiness.
“Oh, I promise I’ll not exceed one minute.”
Henry remembered as he glared at his
wristwatch and screamed, “Wow! It’s one-hour
already! I wonder what it will be on earth!”
Ted hurriedly poked a hand into his pocket
and took out an object. It was a Gyrus
converter. Ted was intending to convert the
time mentioned to its earth equivalence.
“It’s not necessary Ted, I’ll use—”
“What else can be faster?”
“Einstein’s magic,” said Henry. “It’s the
human brain,” admonished Henry and added
excitedly, “Forty-five seconds approximately,
fifteen seconds left.”
“I don’t believe you. I’ll confirm that with
this,” said Ted as he hurriedly pushed a button
on the converter. The answer came clearly.
Henry was right.
“C’mon boy, you’re damn right,” ululated Ted.
“Yeah, won you this time.” Henry put his arms
up to celebrate his victory, but Ted was not
ready to give up the debate.
“No, you didn’t win me. You–said,” Ted was
thinking of what to say.
“Talk! Talk!” Henry said laughing heartily.
“I said I don’t believe your conversion, but—”
“But what?”
“I believe in Einstein’s Magic which you used.”
The two guffawed.
“You know something Henry?”
“No,” he replied.
“You’re a genius, like Einstein.” To poke fun
the more Henry said, “But Einstein’s a pure
genius, but I’m backing mine up with magic.”
“That’s why you are unique,” said Ted, then
he added, “Who can tell if he had also patched
it up with the big letter ‘em’?”
Henry was still on it.
“Do you agree I won the argument?”
“Sure, I quite agree.”
“Then it’s infinity-one—” declared Henry, “our
arguments score line so far.” Another laugh
followed. “Ted, tell me why you want Harrison
to win, or why you think Harrison will win.”
Ted then explained what he had heard the
Power Guard tell Harrison.
Henry yelled, “No, we mustn’t allow it. We’ve
got to report to the magistrates.”
“Let’s tell Kim to be careful instead,”
suggested Ted.
“Yes, in a mirror conference communication
tonight,” Henry said with unwonted zeal. It
seemed he was now, for the first time,
interested in using the mirror.
“That’ll be cool,” Ted uttered softly.
The two saw the dean at that instance. He’d
just ended his protracted discourse with the
head-magistrate.
“Hey, Ted, here’s the dean; let’s hurry to him,”
Henry suggested, but Ted contradicted. But
raised an apparent better, “Let’s shout his
name instead. Can’t you see he’s already set to
take off. Let’s shout now.”
The twosome hollered, “Professor Wils—”
They had to pause, since the dean had
vanished already. It irked Ted that his stay in
Gyrus since the close of the meeting was only
a wasted endeavor. Before Henry could say
“I’m Sorry for the delay” Ted had gone too.
It was Henry’s first experience to be left alone
in a whole planet.
“Awesome!” he screamed, but was not
preparing to leave yet.

dlawsamesq:
This is sammyluvin formally known as sammyho. The brain behind ebiag.com serving u as he dey hot.

Thank you so much bro.

Dybala11:
This is a wonderful story, it got me hpoked all night long. I'm waiting patiently for the next meal @OP, it seems I'm starving already.

Next meal is on fire and it will be dedicated to you. Thanks for following.

CHAPTER TEN
HARRISON BURTON
Henry had discovered the name of the boy,
whose seat Henry’s own was abutting in Gyrus.
His name was Harrison. Ted had explained to
Henry that Harrison was the son of the
predecessor of the current Gyrus head of
magistrates. His name was Sergius Burton. He
was the most respected of all the past rulers
of Gyrus.
“Harrison’s father was Sergius Burton. He was
the most influential in the history of Gyrus. He
ruled Gyrus for quite a long year, died at
seventy-five. His death occurred just a week
before you were initiated, then his assistant,
Patrick Rutherford, the current head of
magistrates, was sworn in immediately to
succeed his boss.” Ted took time to talk about
Sergius. “Sergius was the only person initiated
at birth in the history of Gyrus. He made
immense contribution to Gyrus’ civilization
too. He upgraded the mirror so that it became
mobile of its own accord. No one knew the
man had a son until he brought him to Gyrus
recently to initiate him. Sergius died only three
days after his son’s initiation.”
“How?” asked Henry.
“It’s a mystery. Harrison alone was the
witness, since his father’s death took place in
a large study in his home. Harrison told us
that the man was murdered by some people he
had called thieves, explaining that his father
was stabbed by the thugs.”
“Serious!”Henry expressed shock. “Didn’t you
say he was powerful?”
“Of course yes, Henry, but I perceive the man
was on amnesia then.”
“Amnesia—loss of memory?”
“Yes, but that definition of yours is only valid
on earth,” said Ted. “In Gyrus ‘amnesia’ means
deliberate or unintentional loss of magical
power, which could be as a result of the
owner’s feeling that he needs to be without
the magical power for sometimes, or had been
stripped off it against one’s will by another
magician. The second is often performed
during fights between two or more magician.
“It’s crazy,” said Henry. “What’s the advantage
of the first—I mean the deliberate one?”
“It’s just to make you temporarily become an
ordinary person, you know, in feeling, thinking
and everything—you’ll be without power.”
“poo!” said Henry, expressing hatred towards
the concept. “I can be with my magic and
never make use of it, just as I’ve been doing
ever since I became a citizen of Gyrus.”
“Liar,” Ted said. “You can’t give me that poo—
you used it against Jeff, didn’t you?” Ted
revealed to Henry’s confusion.
“I didn’t. It was Cheung that used it—not me.”
“You used it to help Cheung, so you’ve used
it.”
Henry kept shut, feeling that Ted had won him
once more. “You this guy, were you not the
person that coerced me into it?”
“Not at all. You can’t push blames on others if
you want to make it in life. Henry, you can’t do
without using your power as a magician.”
“Hmm,” sighed Henry, “What about Cheung
you told me of? He has never used the poo!”
“Cheung always put himself on amnesia,
always occupying himself with the thought of
how to break lose from witchcraft.”
Henry did not tell Ted how Harrison had
proved to be an adversary to him without
reason. It then occurred to Henry the reason
Dolly and Harrison had never spoken to one
another since Henry’s arrival. However, Henry
had considered Harrison’s failure to socialize
as an oversight, trying on each ‘Gyrus-day’ to
make friendship with him.
Henry soon discovered that Harrison’s hobby
was to sit down watching Gyrus bloody fights,
something Henry loathed with all his soul. In
Gyrus, there had always been two kinds of
contests between two or more citizens—fight
of naturalization and fight of position. The
first was a kind of fight between two people
from different nations of the world, whereby
one is seeking to naturalize to the country of
the other. Such fight must always end up in
the death of one of the fighters, meaning that
if the one seeking to naturalize won the fight,
he would take up the seat of the other among
the nation he had wished to naturalize to. But
if it was the other way round, the winner
would maintain his seat, but would earn some
points.
The fight of position was a fight in which one
is seeking the position of the other. The
position-seeker must need win the fight to
earn some points (though such may not be
given the position immediately). If it was the
other way round, then the original position-
owner will earn more points. This may not
involve death.
Harrison had always harbored strong
indignation toward a winner who had
deliberately let alive his antagonist in the fight
of naturalization. During the fights, Harrison
had often looked to his side to discover that
Henry was bowing his head, disinterested in
the ongoing fights, not watching it.

Ted,” Henry whispered on seeing him.
“Henry, What’s wrong?”
“I have a fever.”
“Sorry,” Ted said. Not minding the condition Henry was, Ted said instantly, “Cheung will have a fight with Jeff tomorrow, 5pm. I’ll need you to help him.”
“I don’t fight,” said Henry with an unusual lean voice.
“I’m not asking you to fight. I only need you to combine your ‘em’ with mine, Joyce’s and Ken’s. We’ll blow up that fool, Jeff.” Ted had said ‘em’ in order to avoid using the word ‘magic’, justifying his thought with the fact that those in the ward could pick it up.
Henry replied, “I’ve got no ‘em’ to combine… What d’you mean? Ted bent his back, lowered his face close to Henry’s head and whispered it to him. He got it. Henry raised his head too, to speak to Ted, “I’ve told you I’m not going to make use of it.”
“Cheung’s using it, not you,” said Ted worryingly. “Or you want Cheung beaten up?”
“Why should I? But I’m quite sure you guys’ own are enough to deal with Jeff, so leave me out of this. I’m sick over here for God’s sake!”
“Jeff’s powerful, one more effort will do—yours. Henry it’s tomorrow, 5p.m, venue, my room, bye,” Ted had said, taking some quick strides to leave the ward.
‘I’m not coming.”
Ted’s commanding tone was the most offensive to Henry. Though Henry would want Jeff beaten up, yet he made a resolution not to be involved in it, reason, the manner of approach Ted had utilized to disseminate the information.
“ It’s going to be fun all the same, either Cheung loses or win,” Henry had thought.
The following day was the fight. Funny enough, almost all the spectators were with placards, which were bearing the statement, “US versus China, who wins?”
Seemed Cheung was the only Asian present. He was not a bit willing to take up the challenge, but Ted kept reassuring him of victory. Ted handed a camera to someone he knew among the throng, who had come to watch the fight. Amazingly, a commentator was available to narrate the fight.
“Who’ll be the referee?” said a boy. “You do it,” he added, pointing to Ted.
“Me? Never…have I got to go now,” replied Ted as he took some steps away from the scene. He soon came to his door to find out that Joyce was waiting.
“You kept me waiting,” she said.
“I’m sorry,” said Ted as he opened his door with a key.
“Go in, Joyce,” Ted said, but Joyce replied in earnest, “I’m sorry I’ve only come to tell you that I can’t participate any longer.”
“I’m having fever,” she announced with a countenance underscoring her point, but Ted did not countenance her excuse.
“What’re you saying Joyce? Poor Cheung’s going to get killed. He’s too young to face Jeff all alone. He needs us now?” Ted barked at her.
“I’m sorry I’ve got to go—now,’ she said as she made to depart. Ted obstructed her and said, “You ain’t going nowhere. Listen to me, half cake’s better than none—”
“But I’m not better than none. I’m a girl, weak, sick and without strength,” she yelled. Ted yelled back, “You’re a giant, witch, skillful and with sorcery,” Joyce calmed down as if touched by Ted’s words. She began to weep, speaking vaguely, to expressing the pain in her heart. Ted drew closer to her and patted her back to console her. Already lost in the reverie of a future blissful marriage, Ted was jolted by the howls he was hearing, which was diffusing from the outside.
“US! US! US!” came the never-ending chants from Jeff’s supporters. Cheung had been beaten to a decubitus position. The two Gyrus-citizens indoor could no more wait to perform the magic. They held each other’s arm tightly and power flowed. The door was suddenly pushed inward and Ken emerged. Ken had earlier gone to witness the fight with the thought that the other three, Henry inclusive, would carry on with the energy transfer at his absence. He did not want to miss the imaginary scene of a small man dealing with a big and muscular one.
“What happened!” he screamed and Ted explained:
“Henry’s sick, Joyce’s sick too. Our effort’s not enough here.” Ken hasted with great impulse to contribute his effort to form a strong magic bond. Just then Henry emerged too.
“Enough!” Cheung suddenly cried out as if instantly invigorated by something. Jeff did not hearken to him, since the boy had been making same noises ever since the fight had begun. Cheung rose up swiftly and gave Jeff a heavy-duty punch on the face. Swollen face!
Jeff held his face and fell headlong. He wobbled to his feet again, but Cheung doled out slaps to his cheek, coupled with a head-butt and a kick. He fell again, this time with a heavy thud.
“Here’s the Bruce Lee stuff,” Cheung poked fun childishly to the horrified spectators, as he landed powerfully on the loser, whose body was already motionless.
“Who’s next?” Cheung had said, after dealing ruthlessly with the unconscious Jeff, but no one was ready to pick up the challenge.
“I said who’s next?” Cheung yelled even more, but himself began to hurry away before someone would say, “I’m next” having felt the withdrawal of a great deal of energy from his system at that instance.
Henry, who was just convalescing before the energy transfer, had managed to walk away, unlike Joyce, who fell helplessly to the floor, having contributed the little strength she had got at that moment. Henry felt light and powerless after the dismantling of the bond. He staggered for balance as he trudged back to the clinic where he had earlier sneaked out. On getting to his ward, Henry met a surprise:
A MONSTER ON THE BED!!!
It was Jeff wrapped up in bandages.
“Surprised!” said a nurse to Henry. “Your space was the only vacant one. Since you decided to sneak out earlier, you’re a-u-t-o-m-a-t-i-c-a-l-l-y discharged.”

dlawsamesq:
tongue licking.

And you'll not lick your tongue for too long.

CHAPTER NINE
JEFF VERSUS CHEUNG

Li Cheung appeared too immature to be in the university. He was only thirteen and was in his third year. Cheung was gentle, just as Henry had said. Seeing Cheung no one would believe he could belong to a magic cult. His face looked innocent. Indeed Cheung did not like the condition he had found himself. Cheung had not asked to be initiated into cultism. He had only got there by accident.
What led into his initiation was his timid nature. Since becoming a freshman, at a tender age of ten and half, Cheung had begun to experience incessant troubles from Jeff, who had utilized the opportunity that Cheung was too little to fight back to ride roughshod on him. Jeff had asked Cheung to always share his pocket money with him; the bully would always part with the lion share. Cheung’s timidity had made him keep silent, not telling anybody about it.
One day, while Jeff was cruelly dealing with Cheung, Professor Brown witnessed it per chance. Jeff took to his heels as he sighted the man. The man took Cheung to his office to have a rapport with him. He told Cheung to meet him by Six pm the next day, promising to take him to a place where his timidity would be taken from him permanently. Cheung had accepted innocently, not knowing where the man was taking him. Getting to the man’s office, he was asked seven questions, as usual with the magic world where the man had belonged. Cheung could not answer any. In that state, they left for Gyrus. Cheung was extremely scared. He wept sore in Gyrus that day.
Professor Brown never lived to tell Cheung the answers to the seven questions, because he died that day in Gyrus in a fight of position with Professor Kent Robins, who was the ‘Power Guard’ in Gyrus. Cheung, who had remained weeping after the meeting, had to be brought back to earth by Professor Wilson’s touch on the head.
Two years since becoming a magician, Cheung never used his magical power. He never even knew that he had any such thing. Jeff continued to oppress him. Ted saw the poor boy one day when Jeff was beaten him up.
“Ain’t you from China? You must show me the Bruce Lee stuff,” Jeff said to Cheung as he threw his fist at his chest.
Ted was unable to bear it. He approached Jeff and said, “Hey, leave the poor boy alone, bully. Don’t you have little ones at home you can use as a punching bag?”
Jeff was surprised beyond measure. No one had ever challenged him in such manner. He came closer to Ted as if to beat him up, but Ted had backward fast to avoid him.
“You want to fight for him, isn’t it? I’ll handle you both—with my smallest finger.”
“You’re stupid,” Ted said, not regarding the presence of Jeff’s followers. Jeff beckoned on his accessories to take hold of Ted and they did. After punching Ted on the stomach, they shoved them off and they fell. As the bullies were departing, Ted screamed.
“Wait there!” His shout brought them to a halt. Jeff said, “D’you want to fight back?” Unexpectedly, Ted said, “Cheung will fight you back, not me.”
They laughed.
“No! No!” Cheung gave a frightful yell in disagreement.
“You see, he doesn’t want it,” said Jeff, who was ready for the fight. Then Ted said, “Not today. He’ll surely fight you tomorrow, 5pm. Save your power till then—uh.”
“It’s a deal,” said Jeff, walking away.
Ted, who was on his feet already, helped Cheung to get up too. It was the first time they would be coming together, though Ted had seen him in Gyrus aforetime.
“Thanks mister,” said Cheung. “He’d always been treating me that way.”
“Since when,” asked Ted.
“First day at school.”
“What the hell!” Ted screamed. “Ain’t you with power?”
“Power!” Cheung had said in abject ignorance. “I can’t comprehend you.” Ted reduced his tone and said, “You are a magician, isn’t it?” Cheung expressed shock and said, “How d’you know?”
“I’ve seen you in Gyrus many times with this same kind of lugubrious face.”
“You’re right,” admitted Cheung. “But it was against my wish that I became a magician. I want to quit, but it seems no way,” said Cheung, shedding tears.
“Hey, stop that man. You’re a big guy.”
“I’m not!” shouted Cheung. “I’m only thirteen.”
“You’ve got much power Cheung. You should have stopped Jeff long ago—with your power.”
“How? I’ve never used any such power. I don’t know if I’m in possession of such. I’ve got no one to put me through since joining the magic, so how would I know?”
“The person that took you there, why didn’t he put you through?” asked Ted in a surprised state and Cheung said, “He died before returning from Gyrus that day.”
“How?” Ted asked. “In a fight—with the Power Guard,” Cheung replied.
“Who?”
“Professor Brown.”
Ted nodded and smiled having just discovered what the real death of the late Professor Brown was. Ted had earlier thought that some armed robbers, according to the news that was aired on TV, killed the man. Professor Brown’s age was only forty-one when he gave up the ghost. It was just two weeks after Cheung’s initiation that Ted was brought to Gyrus too, by Professor Wilson.
To intimate Cheung with the possibility of achieving things with the magic, Ted revealed the mystery of Julius’ missing teeth. Cheung was intrigued.
“So, boy, you’ll surely fight Jeff tomorrow.”
“No, I can’t,” Cheung said, still timid.
“Don’t panic. Listen to the plan. I’ll inform the Student-Gyrusers I know, Ken, Joyce and Henry. We’ll combine our effort together and you’ll deal with that fool, I can assure you.” Doubting, Cheung said, “How?”
“Magically.”
“Will they co-operate?”
“Just leave that to me—uh,” said Ted and Cheung nodded childishly in the affirmative.
“So—may I know you?” said Cheung giving him a hand.
“Ted—Ted Manuel,” responded Ted. The boy smiled a reply, “Li Cheung my name,” he said.
“As if I don’t know,” Ted had replied amicably.
“Thanks a lot.”
Leaving Cheung, Ted went straight to inform Ken and Joyce about the fight. The two had agreed willingly to give out their energies. Ted had sought after Henry, but he could not find him. Ted was told later that Henry was sick, and he was in the clinic.

The day after, Henry began to walk to the dean’s office to tell him that he had discovered the photographer, or the designer of the posters.
“Come inside,” said the dean and Henry rushed in with great alacrity.
“Henry, you came so early. Hope nothing’s wrong.” Henry went straight to the point.
“I know who pasted those posters—sir, you’ll have to promise me that you’ll not punish the chap.”
“Don’t you worry Henry, It’s Ted. He had just left this place. You guys should have met each other outside there.”
“We didn’t,” Henry whispered in disappointment. The man’s statement had enervated Henry immensely. “Did he tell you he was responsible for it?”
“Of course!’ the dean said.
“So…did you do anything to him? Remember, you said you’ll strangle him.”
“Definitely, I did something for him. I gave him some cash. He had come pleading for mercy, but I surprised him when I threw some dollars on him.”
“But why?” The man smiled and said, “That guy has done me proud. Placing me beside Einstein means I’m better than Einstein—that’s the impression he’d created in the heart of everyone who had seen those posters. If I’d lost the award then it could have been the other way round.”
“Meaning that you won’t remind me of the seventh question anymore,” Henry had deduced sadly.
“Forget it. Don’t talk about that question anymore. And—don’t even ask anyone about it.”
“Alright,” said Henry in a frustrated manner. “So—what’s my reward for the award?”
“It’s an open check Henry. Ask whatever you need,” said the dean. “But not what I cannot do,” he added as an afterthought.
“Sir, I need your influence—get me into the school basket ball team,” said Henry in a very serious manner.
Surprised, the dean said, “Is that the request?”
“Yeah, just that,” Henry replied.
“You’re unpredictable, he said. “Your request is granted.”
Henry was going to have a great conflict with Ted. He blamed himself for not being fast enough to have got to the dean’s office before Ted.
“That Ted’s always a stumbling block. I’ll end this relationship,” Henry soliloquized in the heat of his wrath. His vexation was hinged on the fact that Ted had cost him getting the seventh question.
Henry walked down to the court. He was going to meet Ted, who was busy in the practice of Volleyball. Henry beckoned to Ted as he caught sight of him and Ted left his mates immediately, asking them to excuse him for a minute. After walking to a secluded place, the two began to discuss.
“Ted, you’ve gone mad. Why did you go to the Professor?” Henry said angrily.
“Didn’t you say he was going to strangle me? For fear I had to let him know I was the designer of those posters before he finds it out himself.”
“And why d’you think he’ll kill you for such a minor issue?”
“I just felt that way,” said Ted, “Can’t explain.”
“With your action Ted, you’ve cost me knowing the seventh question and its answer. I’ve never failed this much,” Henry complained.
Ted consoled him. “Calm down Henry, you’re a man. I’m assuring you, gradually you’ll acclimatize in the magic world. No one’s going to sit you down to tell you the heap of rules and regulations in the magic—you get them by experience.”
“By experience?” said Henry, expressing disgust. “What if I inadvertently broke a rule whose penalty is death?”
“That’s the risk you’ve got to bear. Listen, every great men face such risk too. Faraday died by what he invented. Marie Curie was not also exempted from this. She died by over-exposure to radiation,” Ted revealed. “Henry, If you stop taking risk then you stop achieving something in life. Life is a risk.”
“Liar!” Henry uttered immediately. It stunned Ted, who asked Henry why he’d called him a liar.
“Not you,” said Henry genuinely. “I mean life. Didn’t you say ‘life is a risk’ just now?”
“So…”
“Letter ‘l’ for ‘life’; ‘i’ for ‘is’; ‘a’ for ‘a’ and ‘r’ for ‘risk’—liar!” Henry deduced to Ted’s amazement.
“Have you had that before?”
“Not at all. Got it just now—as you speak.”
“You’re a genius,” Ted said as if he was just knowing it.

Searching everywhere for Ted, he was not found. Henry had endured much insult, resulting from the friendly wink he had made to Cynthia the day before. He had felt that if life could be rewound he was going to have the wink replaced with a wrinkled face to make a whole difference. The reason for this intention was brought about by the winks Henry now receiving from every side.
Henry’s winking action towards Cynthia a day ago had become a household stuff, the happening having been spread by Pete. Henry felt it was the ‘law of sowing and reaping’ taking effect:
“Give out a wink, receive back a handful.”
Henry had been rechristened “Winkie!” by allies and foes. All the girls he had turned down their proposals in the past now had him in derision.
“Winkie!” they called anytime they set their eyes on him, but one of those girls had a different view. She was Susie.
“I’m sorry I caused all this,” she said to Henry.
“You caused nothing, it’s my fate,” Henry told her, having the feelings that Susie’s continuous plea had got into a state of redundancy. But factually the more Susie was saying that she was sorry, the more Henry was getting enamored with her secretly.
“I know you never put those posters out there,” said Susie.
Susie seemed to be the only one who believed the pasting of the posters was not Henry’s handiwork, contrary to the belief of others, the dean included, who had opined that Henry had done it as a means to achieving some ends. However, her reason was backed up with the fact that she’d not only seen Ted putting those pictures in place everywhere they’d been situated, but she had also seen him standing behind the dean’s office to take some shots with his camera. Her evidences had justified, or rather, corroborated Henry’s claim.
Getting to Ted’s door, Henry gave it some hard knocks. It appeared the boy was going to knock down whatever would come out of there the same way he was knocking the door, but
fortunately—perhaps unfortunately—nothing came out of Ted’s room.
“Shit!” Henry vociferated as he turned back to go, having punished the door with frequent knocks. Just then he heard a clanking sound behind him, then a loud, “Winkie!” followed. Henry, shocked, looked behind him and saw the door opened as if of its own accord. Henry got inside and was gazing haphazardly at every corner to see who was in, but it was a futile exercise. He was gutted.
“Winkie!” he heard again, and a thud came in tandem with the voice.
“Ted!” screamed Henry, surprised. Ted had jumped down from the ceiling where he had hid himself. Henry, who was not in the mood to have any lengthy discussion, said, “You fool! I’ve been looking for you since yesterday. You pasted those posters, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Ted had responded.
“The dean’s picture in there, you snapped it—on February 27.”
“Yeah, but how d’you know this?” Ted was amazed.
“How I know these is none of your business,” Henry bawled. “Ted you’re in trouble.”
Ted began to panic.
“So… you two saw me rush out of the dean’s office yesterday.”
Ted was thinking that Henry and Professor Wilson had seen him while he was trying to escape from the dean’s office. Hardly had he put the poster in there when they arrived. He had managed to escape unnoticed.
“We never knew you were there, but Ted, be sure you’re dead.” It was Ted’s turn to bark at Henry.
“Why then did you say I’m dead? Did the dean see me?”
“No Ted, but I’m assuring you that you’re a dead man.”
Ted was upset. He had managed to say, “I’m sure you guys saw me fleeing, which was the reason I’ve been hiding since yesterday. It was the second version of the poster I had just finished pasting there when you arrived—the one that has your picture. Henry, please tell me, how did you know I was responsible for it?”
Henry left saying, “You are dead” to respond to Ted’s question.
“The door was opened without a key, so what else? The dean will roast you alive.”
“He saw me, isn’t it?” said Ted with great trepidation.
“Not at all, but I’m quite sure he’ll discover it.”
“How? Through you?”
“As if you don’t know how. Ted, you’re the only one in the magic known to him apart from me, so what other clue does he need?”
Ted laughed and said, “Stop fibbing Henry. We’ve got lots of us here—magicians. I know five, Ken, Joyce and Cheung inclusive—so leave that talk man.”
“What!” Henry cried out. “Li Cheung a magician—Impossible? Not that gentle and naïve boy in the department of Mathematics.”
“Who else?” Ted had said, using rhetorical question to affirm his confession. Ted went further to say, “You can’t tell from the face—Cheung can be pretending.” Ted added, “Back to what I’d said, there’s no way the dean would know it’s me—if you don’t tell him. By the way, how did you know that I snapped the man?”
Henry told Ted about the flashes he had seen.
“Wow!” Ted expressed great shock. “I never knew you were the guy in there with him that day; didn’t see you clearly through the panes.”
“All the same the dean will have you strangled—by himself,” said Henry in a way that had suggested his disinterestedness in the tête-à-tête going on.
“He didn’t know, did he?”
“He’ll surely use his power to get you,” said Henry. His statement had evoked laughter from Ted, who said, “He can’t. He is not going to use it on trivia such as this. Listen dude, in the magical circus it’s forbidden to use the magic just anyhow. Every unworthy use of the magic reduces your lifespan gradually.”
“Holy Connolly!” yelled Henry. “So, what’s the yardstick—used to distinguish trivial matters from cogent ones?” Ted’s sudden silence had suggested that he was confused, not able to clearly spell it out himself. At last he said, “I don’t know, but I’m feeling that this issue’s a trivial one.”
Ted’s confession seemed to have opened the door to the room of questions for Henry, and he’d readily entered into it:
“It means the issues of me getting Cynthia by magic or controlling Kate by it too are trivia, or what d’you think?”
“Maybe—” said Ted tardily, “I’m not sure.”
“So, how on earth is one going to know the difference between trivia and serious matters in the magic world if you keep saying you’re not sure?” Henry had yelled out his fear, but had only received a sudden muteness from Ted as a response. Henry was scared, having delivered his heart to a horrible thought decked with fear—the thought of reduction in lifespan. Since Ted was not going to speak, Henry’s heart began to pulsate and he started murmuring.
“What has been my gain? Since getting into magic only fear has been my reward. The ‘winkie stuff’ is the current one now. Yet, any attempt to use this shit may reduce my life…” Henry hesitated and looked at Ted, who was still in the posture Henry had last seen him with, but this time sweating profusely.
“Ted!” Henry shook him, but he wasn’t responding. Henry shook him the more and he responded.
“I’m sorry for keeping silent on you,” Ted apologized. “What you said made me horrified—that the Professor will kill me if he discovers this.”
“Didn’t you say it’s trivia and he won’t check it out?”
“I’m not sure of that anymore,” Ted said secretively. “Please Henry, don’t tell him I did this,” pleaded Ted in a disposition suggestive of the fact that Ted was scared of something, even beyond the present issue.
“Why should I? What’s going to be my gain if I tell him?” said Henry, deceiving his conscience again, and Ted too. Deep down Henry’s heart he had determined to tell the dean about it (though he would plead with the dean not to do anything to Ted) so that he could get the seventh question from the man.
“Thanks a lot,” said Ted and Henry replied, “No thanks, dude. I’ve got to go now.”
Recalling the response he had given to Ted, Henry gave a smile. He was proud of himself again.
“Why should I? That was my response,” Henry thought. “At least I’ve not told a lie. I’ve only asked a question.”