She pointed in the direction George had run. I watched Lucian disappear through the mass of people gawking in the hall, until I could no longer see the broad lines of his back.
“Elena, please snap out of it,” she begged, while a couple of students stood there staring and chattering to each other as if I had lost my marbles. “There's nothing to see, go to your classes!” she yelled, trying to disperse the crowd.
“Why did George do that?” I managed to say, my voice breaking.
She grabbed my neck and pulled me into a tight hug, stemming the tears threatening to expose my fear to the entire hall.
“It’s a stupid prank, Elena. I told you those guys are jerks!” She led me back to the cafeteria, slowing her stride to match my hesitant steps.
“Where are you taking me?”
“To Master Longwei.”
“No, please, Becky. I will be fine,” I begged.
“Elena, are you sure?” she asked with reservation in her voice.
“Yes, take me to the room, please.” My eyes pleaded her to listen.
The second we crossed the threshold, I felt the vomit rising in my throat and made a run for the bathroom. I barely made it to the toilet before I hurled. My body was wracked with painful dry heaves as it tried to expel the adrenaline that had been pumping through my veins. This was stupid. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. Rising not very gracefully from the porcelain bowl, I got up, walked over to basin, and turned on the tap full blast. The girl looking back at me in the mirror looked terrified. Strands of blonde hair shielded her face from the harsh glare of the lights. Hints of fear still remained in her light green eyes, and she trembled slightly. I closed my eyes and the horrified expression on the face in the mirror disappeared, replacing it with the image of the blue dragon.
“Elena, are you okay?” Becky's voice came from the other side of the door as she knocked softly.
“Yeah,” I yelled back, and splashed cold water over my face before I opened the door.
Reaching out, she hugged me again. “I'm so sorry about what happened.”
As I struggled to control my quivering lower lip, Becky piloted me to the couch. “Here, sit.” She ran over to the fridge.
I buried my face in between my legs and took long, deep breaths.
“The sugar will help,” she said, and thrust a soda into my hands.
I frowned at the word Coca-Cola twirled in white letters all over the can.
“How's this possible?” I asked, perplexed.
“Oh, they're so fast in between morphing. They need five seconds at the most,” she explained with a Coke clutched in her hands as well.
“No Becky, this?” I held the Coke can out for her inspection.
She frowned.
“Apart from the dragons and unexplainable things like a school built on air, you guys live a normal life with things I'm familiar with from the other side. How is it possible that you guys got Coke and know stuff like pizza and burgers?”
A small grin played around the corners of her mouth. “We have cell phones too.” She took out a phone. It looked like a smart phone. “They're way more advanced, or so I've heard.” She settled herself in the chair next to me, sliding the cover of the phone open. “It is called a Cam-phone.”
The top didn't have a screen, just a small red, blinking button.
“Watch this!” She turned the phone upside down and spoke with a soft voice to the rubber part on the back corner of the cell. “Lucian McKenzie.” She turned the phone back again. After the tenth beeping sound she started to tap her thumbs impatiently. A holograph in the shape of Lucian's face appeared before us.
“I'm not losing another Cammy, Becky,” he grunted in a whisper.
“Sorry, I'm showing Elena our cool toys,” she spoke, putting the phone on her lap.
“She okay?” he asked quietly.
“She's a tough girl; I don't think she's going to the wacky-bin.”
Lucian shook his head. “Bye.” The 3D picture of his face disappeared with a small flash.
“You can send text messages too, but we don't type. We say what we want to, and the phone transforms the voice recording into writing. Then you can send it by speaking the person's name. They'll read the text the same way Lucian's face appeared. It comes with so many apps, like silent mode, homework app, but you have to be careful of it. Sometimes it gives you the wrong answers. My favorite is the what-looks-good-on me? app. Just to name a few. Cool, huh?”
I nodded, still impressed by the talking hologram.
“The dragons still do business on the other side. We have the currencies of every country in the whole world, right here in the bank of Paegeia.” She took a sip of her Coke. “I mean honestly, Elena, who do you think invents most of the technology?”