A Life Beyond by Mark Church (ebook reader web TXT) 📕

the way round the small stage which sat in the middle of the room so every pupil could see what was going on.

As the children all made their way towards their next class the two friend's bumped into each other in the corridor close to where the class was being held, with Lillie lagging slightly behind,

'Oh hi Dan' smiled Harvey as they walked on,

'Harv!!!' smiled Daniel as he threw an arm around him 'not seen you for a while, you looking forward to whatever is happening next mate?'

'To be honest I haven't really got a clue what's going on at the moment' Harvey replied 'all I know is that we are going to a class for protection or something!',

'Well from what I can work out we are going to learn how to protect ourselves' said Daniel as he saw Harvey's eyes light up,

'What you mean like fighting with swords and stuff?, just like back ho….oh...it's gone' Harvey seemed to be having a slight recollection of his past,

'What has Harv?, what were you going to say?' replied Daniel,

'Oh nothing...it's totally gone from my mind...can't even remember what I was talking about' he laughed when all of a sudden he felt a slap on the back of his head,

'Hey boy's…' a familiar voice filled their ears as they turned round, Lillie stood there smiling at the pair of them,

'Oh hi sis...how are you?, how's the classes going?' asked Daniel

'Meh...don't know what to make of all this really, but I've heard this next class is one to not miss!!, a few of the kids in the class have been telling me all about it so I may as well give it a go I suppose' she smiled,

'I can't wait now!!' Daniel said excitedly 'Toby said this lesson is made for me...can't think why he said that really, it doesn't sound like my kind of thing, all this magic stuff I mean!!'

'Oh I'm not so sure Dan' replied Harvey 'you do remember that invisible spell thing you done for us don't you, maybe this will help you use it properly!!',

'Hmmm, maybe Harv...I'll ask the teacher when we get into class to see what he thinks, so which hall are you in you two?' asked Daniel as they approached the split in the corridor, one way led to Valcam East Hall and the other led to Trendare West Hall,

'Oh I'm in Trendare today' said Lillie 'seems like we all are' she smiled as she looked at their timetable sheets,

'So come on let's go guys' smiled Daniel as they opened the hall doors wide and stepped inside slowly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Lesson Learnt….

 

As the children stood there in the hall doorway they were met with a glorious sight inside. The walls of the round hall were decked in the coat of arms of Erwin itself, also pictures of the former Kings sat proudly behind every area of seating as if watching over the pupils as the sat there ready for the lesson to start,

'Wow….this place is huge!!' said Harvey as he stared up at the never ending staircase that wrapped itself around the walls of the hall disappearing up out of sight, 'I wonder what's at the top of those stairs!!' he said pointed up at the ceiling which showed the staircase disappear up to a large wooden floor right at the top of the hall.

'I…..don't really care Harvey' laughed Lillie 'now come on let's go find our seats' as she dragged her brother and Harvey off at a speed which left them dragging their feet on the floor as they climbed the stairs to reach a row of unoccupied seats at the back of the hall,

'Move along dimwit!!' said Lillie as she pushed Harvey along as he was attempting to sit down right near the edge of the seats,

'I'm moving, I'm moving!!, no need to be so rough Lillie' Harvey replied angrily 'I just want to sit near the end so we can get out quicker!!',

'As if that's going to happen plank!!' laughed Lillie as she drew his attention to the hordes of children who had now filled the hall and were chattering loudly amongst themselves, all as excited as each other at what was about to happen for them, not a spare seat could be seen inside the hall as they awaited the start of the next lesson.

'All eyes were now focussing on the small square stage that sat in the centre of the hall as a hush descended the room in anticipation for what was going to happen,

'It's a bit quiet in here now!!' said Daniel as he clapped his hands together causing an echo to reverberate around the hall, the children

 

around him turned around and glared at him,

'Oooo sorry guys!!' he said sniggering as he let out a small ‘whoop’ which echoed once again of every wall and every window in the hall causing virtually the whole class to turn around and stare at him now,

'Sorry...I couldn't resist' Daniel laughed out loud as Lillie tried to put a hand over his mouth to stop him carrying on,

'SILENCE!!!' boomed a voice which seemingly came out of every part of the wall causing the whole hall to descend into a quiet hum,

'Who is that??' asked Harvey as he strained his neck over the children in front of him, trying to look for any sign of who was shouting out. Just as his eyes met the stage a figure appeared on it, a tall man wearing a long dark robe with gold stitching forming the crest of the castle stitched into the back of it, his eyes were as clear as a marble and his beard hung down onto his chest but was neatly trimmed, in his hand he held a small bottle with writing on the label which was smudged and smeared so you couldn't make out what it said,

'My name….' the man addressed the whole hall as he turned around slowly '...is Professor Deveraux and I am the teacher for this class, it is my job to provide you with the basic protection skills that might just allow you to come to no harm if...god forbid...anything evil should befall you',

'Blimey...he's a bit full on isn't he' whispered Harvey to Daniel as he sniggered to himself, Professor Deveraux stopped mid-sentence while he was still addressing the class and popped the lid off the bottle tipping a small amount of the liquid into his hand, no sooner had the first drop hit his hand he disappeared in a puff of smoke from where he had been standing before reappearing right in front of Harvey causing him to jump back in his chair with a ‘WHOA’,

'You scared the living daylights out of me sir, my heart is thumping here, AND I nearly had an accident!!' Harvey said looking extremely rattled,

'What is your name boy?' asked the Professor staring intently at Harvey now,

'Wh..Who me??' he replied looking rather confused and pointing a finger at his own chest,

 

'Not you, the boy sitting behind you…' Professor Deveraux said sighing heavily causing Harvey to turn and be met with the sight of a brick wall staring him in the face,

'But there's….' he stammered slightly before turning back as the Professor folded his arms '...Ohhhh I get it, you were being sarcastic'

'Of course I meant you boy..I want to know who it is who is talking during my class...I don't think you realise just how important this class might be for everyone who enters those doors' Professor Deveraux stood up and bellowed loud enough for everyone to hear he wouldn't be standing for any interruptions or bad behaviour,

'I...I'm sorry….my name is Harvey...Harvey Jones, I'm new to this school' he said confidently as the Professor towered over him trying to figure him out, staring deep into his eyes as Harvey looked right at him

'Hmmm, interesting..' the Professor said as he raised a hand to his beard and began to stroke it gently,

'Wh..What do you mean by that?' asked Harvey 'where are you looking?',

'I haven't seen eyes that distant for a long……' his attention was broken by the sound of the hall door creaking open as his class assistant Kaley entered the room carrying a box,

'Sorry to interrupt you Professor but here is the equipment you requested earlier, I had a bit of trouble tracking down a few bits but I'm sure it's all there now' she said as she laid the box carefully on the stage in the centre of the room,

'Ahhhh Hawkins...I am most grateful, I trust you brought the Manix Catcher along also?' replied the Professor as his head was turned to the side with Harvey still looking scared in his seat, not daring to move,

'Yes sir, I have fully prepared it for you this time so we can't have any more...accidents' she smiled awkwardly as she stood there rubbing her arm with one hand,

'Good good, now thank you and run along please, Oh and Kaley...please prepare the equipment for my next class if you please, I have a good feeling about today' the Professor smiled at her as she creaked the door open again and slipped out, shutting it with a gentle thud,

'So anyway...where were we?' asked the Professor 'Ahhhh yes I remember...you had offered to be my first classroom assistant of the day' smiled Professor Deveraux as made Harvey stand up from his seat,

'Huh??' Harvey was now looking confused as the Professor placed a hand on his shoulder and clicked his fingers, both of them vanished in a spiral of colour before reappearing on the stage, Harvey standing there wide eyed and looking petrified, his arms stuck to his side as Professor Deveraux clapped his hands together ready to address the class,

'Well good morning once again class..' the Professor started 'I'm sorry for the slight disruption to the beginning of the lesson but as you can now see that I would require your FULL attention from this point on, do I make myself clear?',

'YES SIR' the class shouted out in one voice,

‘Excellent, so shall we begin?' the Professor said as he turned back to Harvey who was still standing there looking scared

'YAAAHHHHHH' he shouted out, panting heavily as he tried to catch his breath 'WHAT...JUST...HAPPENED???' he asked as he stood there shaking now,

'That...Mr Jones... was a small taster of what this class can help you with the ability to remove yourself from one place when threatened and allow yourself to appear safe from harm' Professor Deveraux smiled as he looked around the class and saw every child hanging from every word he was saying now, 'So as you can see I have a willing volunteer here to help me with the first part of the lesson...Protection', Harvey snapped out of his trance long enough to see the Professor walking around the edges of the stage slowly addressing everyone in the class, his head felt a bit groggy as he tried to shake off the effects of the spell,

'Now children…' the Professor started getting himself into a position likened to a defence stance '...I will use this boy here to show you the right way to implement the shield spell or ‘REPELIS’ as we like to call it, now what this spell does is allows the user to extend a semi invisible shield around anyone lucky enough to be close to them at the time allowing total protection from any harm coming their way, but with practice this shield will be able to extend over a wider area that what you will be capable of casting right now' as the Professor readied himself to cast the spell a voice shouted out from high up in the seats,

'So how long does the shield last for when you cast it?, I mean is it a quick use spell or what?' said the small boy who now had hundreds of pairs of eyes staring right at him causing him to shrink into his seat slightly,

'In answer to your slightly interrupting question young boy the spell you cast depends on how experienced you are at holding