The next day,

It was the day of the school trip and Magnus was excited about it. He always wanted to see where the queen lived and now his wish was being fulfilled. ​​

“Mummy, is my lunchbox ready?” He asked from his room by shouting.

“YES, COME DOWN NOW, MAG. IT’S TIME TO GO.” his mom’s voice came from downstairs.

Magnus picked up his school bag and went downstairs. There he saw his parents already dressed up in their military clothing. They had to go to work too.

Because Magnus’ school lasts till 3 in the afternoon and his parents get off work at 5. He had to spend 2 hours doing some extra activity. So, for the past 2 years, he had been doing extra curriculum activities like swimming and karate. He was into karate these days.

His school was not too far away and it also lay on the way to his dad’s office so he used to go with Adam. Grace had her own car and because she was a doctor she would sometimes get late from work and was hence not good for sending or picking him from the school.

“Bye Bye, mummy.” Magnus waved his hand.

But Grace caught him before he could go. “Hmm, aren’t you forgetting something?”

Magnus paused for a second… then he suddenly jumped and kissed his mother’s cheek. He was a bit embarrassed but nobody was watching him.

“Haha, see you in the evening, sweety. If you feel anything wrong then tell your teacher to call me. Okay?” Grace worriedly said. She had checked Magnus’ temperature and it was still fixed at 110. But Magnus was very healthy and didn’t show any signs of someone being sick. He was also looking forward to this trip so she didn’t have the heart to stop him.

Magnus ran to his dad’s car and left. He waved his mom from inside.

In the car, Adam reputedly instructed Magnus. “Mag, your mom is very worried about you. I know you feel okay and I believe you. But science and all the previous records say that your body temperature is way beyond normal. So, I just want you to take care of yourself. If you feel anything, just call my office. You have the number.”

Magnus nodded, “Yes, dad. I also wanted to tell you something. That day, when I was in the park. I slept under a big pretty tree. It was warm and nice. I talked to it too. But when I woke up, there was no tree.

“Dad, how can the tree go poof?”

“Hah, you were very tired back then, Magnus. You must have dreamt something. Didn’t you read Jack and the beanstalk a few days ago? Maybe you had that in your mind.” Adam tried to reason.

“Hmm, I don’t know.” Magnus didn’t say more. They had also arrived at his school, Northview Elementary School.

He got out of the car, “Bye dad. I’ll be waiting here in the evening.”

“Take care, Mag. Remember, if anything happens, call me.” Adam loudly advised from the car.

Magnus embarrassingly waved his hand and ran into the school compound. He was thankful that his mom rarely comes to drop him off because every time she would ask him to give her a flying kiss before heading into school.

Magnus ran into his classroom where all kids of his grade were gathered. The class teacher was going to make a rollcall first and then they would leave on buses.

He went ahead and took his seat by his friend. His name was Brandon but everyone called him Bobby. They were best friends because they’d been together since kindergarten. Bobby always had bowl-cut hair and it made him look funny. His family wasn’t in a good monetary condition so his mom always cut his hair and this was the best she could do.

But, Bobby was a good soul. He would ignore the bullies. Though it was also Magnus who always stood by him.

“Mag, do you think we will meet the queen?” Bobby asked him as soon as Magnus took his seat.

“Maybe. I saw her in the paper yesterday. She looked grumpy.” Magnus replied.

“Me too, she looked grumpy. But I want to see her crown. They say that it has the world’s biggest diamond. Must be expensive.” Bobby commented. But he was surprisingly drooling.

Magnus shook him to wake him up from his fantasies, “Don’t think about how many chocolates you can get for it. We will probably not even get to see it.”

“Come on, Mag. Let me have my dreams. They make me happy.” Bobby replied.

Soon, the roll call was done and all of them followed their class teacher in a neat line. They all wore similar school uniforms and walked orderly.

Everyone was excited about today’s trip. But sad for Magnus, seating on the bus was arranged in alphabetical order. So, he was stuck between a girl on his left and a girl on his right.

As kids of small age, all the boys generally didn’t meddle with girls a lot, let alone sit with them. So Magnus was a bit uncomfortable there.

“Linda, isn’t it so cold today? I’m shivering.” The girl on his left spoke to the girl on his right.

“Yeah, Nat(short for Natalie.) It’s freezing here. Do they not have a heater on this bus?” She questions.

Linda then proceeded to take her water bottle that she had hung on the headrest of the seat in the front.

However, she mistakenly touched Magnus’ hand. But instead of retraction her hand, she held it tightly.

“Woah, Magnus, your hand is so warm. It’s so comfortable. Let me hold it, please. Nat, hold Magnus’ hand. It’s so warm.” She told her friend.

“Really, it’s warm.” Nat also held his hand. Soon, the two got closer to him because of his body’s warmth.

Magnus was embarrassed and was getting red. He was getting angry at his fever now. ~Fever is bad, it’s making me warm. I hope Bobby doesn’t notice me. Otherwise, I’ll be the laughing stock of the classroom.~

Soon after, Magnus quickly retracted his hand away. Thankfully, nobody noticed.

Eventually, they reached the Buckingham Palace. The bus was parked a distance away and from there they entered the palace.

A tour guide told them about various things in the Palace. About various portraits, statues and rooms.

“This is the painting of Charles I by Van Dyck…” The guide kept blabbering.

Magnus and Bobby looked at the painting and chuckled.

“Look at his moustache, Mag. Must’ve been useful in poking people.” Bobby joked.

After that, they looked at a replica of the crown. It looked pretty but that was it, compared to the original, it was lacklustre by the word of mouth of the passerby.

“Must be very heavy,” Magnus muttered. But suddenly he heard a voice.

“*Yawn* That bastard must be having fun at that creepy school. Dammit, why did he make me invisible.”

Magnus found the words funny so he tried to look where the voice was coming from. After looking for a few minutes, he found a painting on a wall.

Magnus was utterly shocked. He had never seen a painting that could move. The man inside was blinking his eye and also playing with his sword.

He rubbed his eyes to make sure he was not hallucinating. But his doubts were cleared as the painting spoke to him.

“You… can see me? REALLY? Oh good lord, thank you. I was so close to insanity.” The painting babbled.

Magnus blankly stared at it. He looked left and right. But nobody was reacting.

“What are you?” Magnus asked.

“Oh, how rude. But I guess you do have my blood in you. Considering how I was at your age, you’re a saint, boy.” The painting replied.

“MAG, who are you talking to?” Bobby came to him.

Magnus pointed to the wall, “T-That painting, it moves.”

Bobby stared back at the wall. “What do you mean? It’s just the wall.”

Magnus confusedly looked at the painting and at Bobby.

“Haha, he can’t see me, kid. He’s a Magbob, or to be more precise, they call them Muggle these days. Oh boy, how low the magical society has fallen.” The painting muttered to itself.

“Muggle?” Magnus was confused.

The painting showed a shocked expression. “Wait… Are you… Bwahahaha… you’re a magbob too? Ah, I would love to see that bastard’s face now. You inherited owe will.”

Magnus was utterly confused. He had no idea about what this magical painting was talking about. On top of that, only he was able to see it and so he couldn’t even ask people.

“Who are you?” Magnus asked again.

“Who are you talking to, Mag?” Bobby asked again.

“Kid, I’m the one and only… The great… The best… Obviously better than that bastard, King…”

“MAGNUS AND BRANDON… DON’T BREAK THE LINE.” Suddenly his teacher scolded him and Bobby. Both of them ran to the line. They were leaving for the next site.

The painting shouted as he left, “IT’S OKAY, KID. WE WILL MEET AGAIN SOON. IT’S WRITTEN IN OUR FATE. YOU HAVE MY BLESSINGS…”

Magnus wanted to stay and talk to the painting but he also didn’t want to anger the teacher. She had a bad habit of calling parents for any mistake students make. Nobody liked her.

[A/N: Any guesses on who the painting is?]

[You can see Charles I by Van Dyck and the talking painting on my Discord – https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn OR see them on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mister_immortal_novel]

______________________________

If you want you can read all chapters and 20 advance chapters on -patreon.com/misterimmortal.

Special thanks to *Douglas Flower* *Umar Latif* *Julian Rocamora* *Darrien Steely*

Thank you for your support!