The Adventures of June Wonder by Jeanne Esterhuizen (carter reed TXT) 📖

is ready, can you help me carry it?” she said, not looking him in the eye. “Yeah, sure” he said and picked up four plates, balancing one on his nose and three together in his hands. June waved her hands and then held it open in front of her. Nineteen plates rose into the air and hovered above her, in no precise formation. Her eyes were closed. But still she walked as if she could see. “Where will we eat” she asked. “Down the hall, fifth door on the left” June walked and entered the room. She put the food on the table and told Cole to go call the others. When he was out, she span around with a twirl of wind and you couldn’t see her for a while. When the wind settled, she had changed her clothes. From her fighting clothes she usually wore, to a very small top and a pair of short shorts. Her hair was tied in a bun, and she was chewing gum. She dropped to the floor and did fifty sit-ups. Then changed and started doing push-ups. The other people came in and saw her doing one armed push-ups. She saw them watching, stood up, twirled so her normal clothes were on again. She snapped her fingers and a bottle body spray appeared and sprayed her with an enchanting sent. Everyone’s eyes were glued on her. “That scent… that wonderful scent, it is… it is…” Cole couldn’t find the right word for it, but he absolutely loved it. It let him become entranced. “Lets eat” June said laughing, sitting on the floor behind a plate and folded her hands. “Well?” she asked, looking at them. They just stood still. She waved a hand sharply at them and they were thrown to their seats, sharply. That got them back to their normal selves. Cole was seated at the furthest seat from June. It was as if she was avoiding him. She couldn’t face him since earlier. She was ashamed, humiliated and sad. Sorry as well. She stopped every one just in time before they ate, closed her eyes and prayed. After she had prayed, she said “Now you may eat” and with that she bowed her head, looking only at her food. Even though she was almost starving, she hardly touched her food. She just sat there, looking depressed. After they had eaten, the oldest girl, whose name is Maria, showed them to some seats where they could sleep. After everyone was asleep, June was still awake. Sven woke and saw she was staring at the ceiling. He stood up and went over to her and sat on a piece of seat that was open next to her. “Can’t sleep hey?” he asked her. She shook her head lightly. “Yeah I find that problem myself sometimes. So, are you going to tell me what’s bothering you?” he asked her. She looked at him, wide eyed. “Let’s find the reason step by step” he said and she looked at the ceiling again “Like that song” she said and remembered a piece of it that goes:

Take one step at a time
There’s no need to rush
It’s like learning to fly
Or falling in love

Then she produced a cell phone from her pocket, plugged in her earphones and started singing along with ‘Better In time’. Tears were creeping up her eyes, but she quickly forced them back “You’re a big girl now June” she told herself “and you’re a Moondweller” Sven stood up and went back to his sleeping spot.

Chapter 6: Those darn cute ears

June had fallen asleep short after putting on music. But she forgot to but it off. So Cole had a bit of a surprise when he picked up the earphones and put it in his ears. His ears were fried. The music was very, very loud. He shouted and pulled them from his ears. “How can she sleep with such loud music in her ears?!” he shouted. The sweepers had arrived about 3:17. By 4:33 they had finished eating. At five June had fallen asleep. She woke at twelve. The others were up at ten already. She went out, found a river, and bathed. Very in the presence of two nervous fishermen. She washed her day-to-day clothes and dressed. She walked back to the factory, deep in thought. She bumped into someone. She looked up “I’m sorry. I was deep in thought” she apologized. Then she saw it was Sven. She pushed past him and continued on her walk. When she was quite close to the tents, she chose a sandy, warm flat piece of land and sat. In the blazing sun. Maria came over after a moment and asked she wanted some food. June’s eyes kept being closed and she simply said “No”
Anyway, inside the hospital, Sven and Cole were talking over a table. There was a window behind Cole and you could see June from it. “I’m really worried about June. She isn’t eating. Not sleeping well and doesn’t want to talk to anyone” Sven said putting down his newspaper and picking up a cup of coffee. Cole was looking out of the window towards her. The sun was shining on her hair and it had a golden colour. His mouth was open and a thin line of drool was running down his cheek. Sven took his newspaper, rolled it up and hit Cole over the head. “Hey, why’d you do that?” Cole asked, rubbing his head. “If you’re still that in love with her, go talk to her”
Outside, June scratched her head. Just a few inches above her ears. ‘Damn it itches.’ She thought, scratching ferociously. “I wonder why she’s scratching her head like that” Cole said. June had picked her leg up and was using it to scratch her head. She flopped over and rolled in the sand, still scratching. “Urrgg!!” she yelled, running in circles. She ran into the bus, her eyes looking bewildered. There was blood on her hands and dripping down her head and neck. “Help! Can you see what's happening?! Something’s very wrong here!” she said, voice straining. Cole rushed out of the room, June not noticing. A moment later he came back in, wet towel in hand. He came over where she sat and dabbed at her wound with it. “Thank you” she said, head still bowed. Her voice was shaking, but grateful. Cole backed away very suddenly, letting the bloodstained towel to fall to the ground. “What is it?” she asked him, looking up. “Your… your head… you have wolf ears!!” Cole stammered. Sven looked up from his paper again. His eyes became wide. “But… but I’m not trying to morph or anything. How can this be happening?” June moaned, letting her head drop in her hands with frustration. Once again the wolf form on the right of her chest glowed. Maria came in. “Hey, June? Can you do us the favour of helping Mary with lunch?” she asked. Then she saw that June was covered in blood and shaking. “Eh, don’t worry about it, she just called to say it isn’t necessary anymore” she said, making a move to go. “My ears are super strong now, I know she didn’t call. But I’m to… well let’s say I don’t want to” she said, standing up. Cole rushed forward, pulling her arm over his shoulders, supporting her. “June, I don’t think your ready to walk yet, you lost a lot of blood” “I have to go bath, I’m covered in blood and now I stink” she said and started wobbling towards the door. Cole picked her up lightly and walked out of the door towards the river. After they had a bath together, and June was clean again, she inspected her new ears in the lake. “Well, I do look cute with ears” she said, touching them lightly. They were a pleasant grey colour and pink on the inside. “Hmm, I like them too, it brings out the real you” he said, taking her hand. He walked back together, chatting and laughing. Sven had dropped Azura down at her home town before going to the tent hospital place. This made June very happy. She was smiling again. When they got there just as lunch was done. All the children were around the table, waiting. The smell was drifting into the room. This was a different room than before. This one was smaller and it led into a small kitchen. Mary came out of the kitchen, carrying a black half-moon thing on a plate. She put it on the table in front of the kids. “Eeuh! What’s that?!” one of the boys asked, puling a face. “Sam! That’s rude!” Maria said. Cole’s stomach growled. Everyone stared “what? I’m hungry” he said, looking at the black thing, which turned out to be an omelette. “You eat it then” one of the girls said, and all of them started chanting ‘eat it, eat it, eat it’ Cole hesitated. “If you don’t wanna eat that, I could always go catch some rabbit that we can eat raw” she joked, smiling. Nobody wanted that, so Cole picked up the omelette and took a bite out of it. Chewed, and swallowed. “Its not al that bad, just a little burnt, that’s all” he said taking another bite. A white cat strolled into the room. The same cat that saved Cole the kiss from Azura. Everyone stared at it. Mary went over and picked up the cat and gave it a hug. “I will call you… wait is it a boy or girl?” Mary asked, holding it at arms length. “And how do you check?” June and Sven started laughing their heads off. “What?” she asked. June came over. “Hold it on its back, and I’ll look” she said. It was a boy. “Ok, lets call you… what names do cats have?” Mary asked. “You don’t know much about animals, do you? Well, why not call him Spooky?” she said in a fun-serious voice. “Yeah! That would work great!” Sven said. Cole was busy fighting with the kids over the omelette. They turned towards him, staring. June fingered a strand of her hair. Cole stopped and dropped the omelette from his mouth. “You can have it” he said under his breath. He went over to June and put his arm around her waist. It was awkward for June that he was so small. He was smaller than she was! He laid his head on her shoulder. Her hair smelled of Marula. A real African smell of wild, bush and animals. Cole liked it. He tried to kiss her forehead. She giggled and pushed him away.

She suddenly grabbed her human ears out of the blue and dropped to her knees, a pained expression on her face. She rolled around and moaned.. Blood was dripping through the space between her fingers. Her eyes shot open. They were blank and glowed a light golden colour. She stood up, no longer in pain. She let her hands fall to her sides. There where her human ears were, only bloody flesh is left. “Are you alright?” Cole asked. “Yes. Yes I am. Can someone please help me clean off the blood?” she asked., eyes still blank. She didn’t move much, only stared and blinked. Cole and Sven thought it was probably from losing so much blood so suddenly. She touched the space gingerly with her hand. She flinched in not feeling her cute ears, and her eyes turned to normal again. After Maria had cleaned June, she ate some of the omelette. June can stay awake for always, she doesn’t get tired. Only if she chooses to be. It was getting late. About 19:30 and the moon was high in the sky. A full moon.

Chapter 7: The werewolf

There was one boy