Chapter 4: The Miracle of the Script

Smack!

The slap echoed, sharp and final. Derek’s cheek flared red, and for a moment, you could hear a pin drop. The dust in the air seemed to settle in slow motion.

Derek stared at me, stunned. He tried to scribble something, but I punched him right in the eye before he finished the first letter.

Thud!

He staggered back, holding his face. “Wait! I haven’t finished writing yet. How can you hit me?”

He sounded more offended than hurt—like I’d broken some sacred rule at the local basketball court.

I shot back, “Why not?”

Derek gaped, momentarily speechless.

At the lower ranks, living script takes time to write. Even Derek, the local prodigy, had rushed to memorize thirty-six words without truly mastering them.

He tried to provoke me. “If you’re so tough, let me finish!”

I shrugged. “And what if I do?”

It was crazy—the living script was just English words. You could write anything, and it would happen. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have wasted months as a janitor.

“You said it!”

Derek wrote ‘stone’ in the air. Power twisted, forming a massive boulder above us. He wanted to crush Lillian and me—no hesitation.

I narrowed my eyes. “You’d kill your own sister?”

Derek’s face was cold. “Senator Maddox doesn’t know what she looks like. I’ll just find another girl.”

Lillian’s fists shook, the betrayal etched on her face.

She shot me a bitter look—like she blamed herself for dragging me into this.

I pointed my finger, heart pounding, and wrote a word in the air.