by Nicole Thorn
Normally, I would have disappeared to my studio by now, but I was enjoying spending time with Kezia. Even Zander was cool, once you got past the whole insane thing. I’ve been around Jasmine enough that that wasn’t too hard.
Which was kinda scary.
We were settling in to watch a movie that Juniper and I had never heard of, but the demigods swore was amazing, when Jasmine came rushing downstairs. She started talking almost immediately. “Everyone hide! The source of all evil is peddling down the street right this second!”
I hung my head and sighed. Heavily. Juniper was scowling hard enough that I was waiting for holes to appear in the wall. Jasmine skidded to a halt behind the couch. “Don’t you dare answer that door!” She pointed at me.
“What’s going on?” Zander asked, sitting forward. I’ve never seen him look so serious.
“Nothing,” I said, getting up. “And I have to answer the door. Both our cars are in the driveway. She’ll realize we’re home and just keep knocking, wondering why we aren’t letting her in.”
“Good,” Juniper said.
“Seriously, what’s going on?” Kezia asked. “This is like the third time you’ve made a comment like that.” Three times and we’ve barely known them a week. That’s just great…
The doorbell rang three times in a row.
I started towards it.
“Do you not love us!?” Jasmine hissed, ducking behind the couch, like that would keep her safe.
“Guys?” Zander demanded.
“Jasper’s ex-girlfriend is here,” Juniper pouted.
The silence behind me was nothing short of profound. I ignored it and pulled the door open. Celeste beamed at me, with her extra white, straight teeth. She was wearing a hat today. Her medium blond hair was down to her waist and hanging loose and her blue eyes were practically sparkling. She was wearing a white tank top, tucked into a denim skirt and flats. As usual, no makeup.
She stood on tiptoe and kissed my cheek. “Hey, Jasper.” She grinned, strolling past me and into the house. Her bike, I noticed, was leaning against the demigods’ car. I mentally prepared myself for something horrific to come of that.
“Hey, Celeste,” I said.
We walked into the living room and Celeste stopped in her tracks, looking at the demigods. Kezia got a cursory glance, while Zander got a more thorough once over. The demigods were giving her the same examination. I tried not to get squirmy when they turned those eyes back onto me.
Celeste was beautiful. I was… not. I’m not ugly, but there’s nothing really special about me either and I didn’t need to see them wondering how the hell I had ever dated someone like Celeste.
Finally, she turned to my sisters. “Juniper! Jazzy! Don’t I get a hug?” She threw her arms out and waited patiently. My sisters obliged with the hug, both with identical looks of martyred resignation on their faces. Both of them also glared at me, but I just shrugged. I couldn’t have left her out on the porch.
She just would have come around back and knocked on the backdoor until someone answered her.
Celeste released my sisters and then turned towards the demigods. Unlike the rest of us, Celeste was just plain human. No connection to the gods. No idea they even existed. I trusted my two friends to realize this and not make any mistakes that could not be reversed. She stuck her hand out to Kezia. “Hello. My name is Celeste DuPont.” She smiled brightly.
Kezia looked panicked, but took Celeste’s hand. “Kezia Dovetree. Most people call me Kizzy.”
“Kizzy. That’s so sweet,” Celeste said. “I bet you were just the cutest little girl, running around with pigtails, with everyone calling you Kizzy.”
Kezia looked unsure. She glanced over at Juniper and Jasmine, who had schooled their faces into neutrality. Like she was trying to figure out why my sisters call her evil in every way possible. Since she found no help from them, she offered Celeste a small smile. “Thank you?”
“And who are you?” Celeste asked, offering her hand to Zander. With her back to Kezia, she couldn’t see the way her smile changed. Becoming just a tad more welcoming.
Zander did not look impressed. Mostly out of politeness, I think, he took Celeste’s hand. “Zander Dovetree.”
“Oh! Are you two brother and sister?” Celeste asked. “That would make so much sense. You two look so much alike.”
They didn’t. Not really. The only thing they really had in common was the fact that they were both so beautiful that they almost didn’t look human. Having seen both their mothers, I could see their resemblance to them. However, the demigods had something the gods didn’t. Approachability. The goddesses had been inhumanly beautiful. I couldn’t believe that they ever managed to walk the Earth unnoticed.
“Twins,” Zander said, another smile. Sharper than his last one had been.
This was starting to get uncomfortable.
“So, how do you guys know Jasper?” Celeste asked. “I’ve been friends with him for three years and he’s never mentioned you two.” Celeste stepped back, as if she were giving Zander some room, but in doing so she put herself right next to me. I, as subtly as I could, took a step away from her. I didn’t mind Celeste, but there’s not minding her and then there’s self-destruction.
“We’re just friends,” Kezia said. “We met recently.” She was still eying Celeste, trying to figure out why my sisters hated her so much. I couldn’t blame her, either. Celeste seemed like a complete sweetheart.
“Would you like something to drink?” I asked my ex.
She smiled. “That’d be lovely. You know what I like.” She playfully pushed against my chest. I went around her and into the kitchen. Funny, I hadn’t realized how tense it was out there until I had been away from it all. I sighed, grabbed a glass from the cabinet and a soda from the fridge. Celeste refused to drink from cans.
There was a scuffing sound behind me. I turned around and saw Kezia standing in the doorway. “So, uh,” she said. “That’s your ex?”
I nodded.
“She seems nice,” Kezia said.
“She’s not.”
Kezia blinked, in surprise and I shrugged. “Do my sisters strike you as the kind of people to call someone the source of all evil without a really good reason?” I asked, pouring the soda into the glass.
“Well… no. But she doesn’t seem that bad,” Kezia lied. She played with the hem of her skirt. “Why do they hate her so much?”
I grew thoughtful. Did I want to tell her? Strangely enough, I did. “Celeste is extremely good at getting what she wants. Mostly because she’s equipped with the ability to change her personality at the drop of a hat. I dated her for six months and it took me and my sisters that long to realize that she was doing it.”
Kezia shifted her feet. “Is that why you guys broke up?”
“No. She dumped me,” I said, with a shrug. “Honestly, probably the best thing to have ever happened to me. She broke up with me because she started dating this guy who owns a gallery. She’s an artist. She said it was true love, but sometimes, I wonder how accurate that is.”
“Why do you let her keep coming over?”
Ah. That was a harder question to answer. I knew why I did it, but I wasn’t sure how to explain it to my friend. She hadn’t been there for the six months that I was with Celeste. She hadn’t seen how quickly the girl could change herself to be what she needed to be. To the point where she fooled me, my sisters and my father, who had met her three times.
“We met when I was eighteen. We had only been living in this house for about two months,” I explained. “I didn’t really have social interactions outside of my family. I needed clay, so I went to the store and ran into her. She was nice. She was the first person I had met since moving who didn’t seem completely put out with me. We started dating and that was nice too. Then one day, she dropped me like I was nothing and said some things she probably shouldn’t have. My sisters wanted to kill her. I was too confused to really talk them down.”
“What di
d she say to you?” Kezia asked.
“That I was a foolish kid who couldn’t pull my head together enough to grow up,” I said.
“Okay. Back to my original question. Why the hell do you let her keep coming over?” There was a note of rage in her voice. Guess Celeste hadn’t made any new friends today.
“Because we were together for six months. She was the first person who was kind to me. She needed to dump me in a way that didn’t allow me to try to get her back. When she does come by, I let her in the house because I keep thinking that not all of it can be a lie. Not all of it could have been an act and I’m waiting to see which pieces of it were and which weren’t.”
Kezia blinked. I couldn’t read the emotion in her eyes, but she stepped forward and put her hand on my arm. For her, that was a huge step.
10: This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race
Kezia
This poor, poor, kinda sad boy. I wasn’t quite sure why I was attached to him and his sisters so quickly, but I saw that I was. I wanted to hurt their father for how he was to them, more so that they didn’t notice how he was. And I wanted to hurt the slut in the other room for breaking Jasper’s heart so deeply that he wouldn’t want to crawl back to her. Both pissed me off, but I only had access to one at the moment.
I went back into the room with Jasper so he could serve Dracula her drink. She sipped, like a little bitch. Oh, I felt that one…
“So what do you do, Zander?” She smiled up at my brother. “Are you a model? I bet you’re a model.”
“Nope,” he said in his version of cold. It was hard to tell since his voice was more godlike and appealing than a typical demigod. The Braless Wonder probably thought he was flirting. “Me and little sis…” He smiled at me before looking up with a frown. “…just moved into a new place. It’s being fixed up, so we’re staying here for a bit.”
Bitchy The Joy Slayer smiled tightly at me. “You’re staying here? In the house?”
“Well they don’t have me sleep on the roof, if that’s what you’re asking.” I smiled back.
Jasmine perked up. “Yes, she is staying here.” She glanced at her sister. “She’s right next to Jasper. All taken care of.”
Juniper caught something. “Yeah, best room in the house.”
Zander was smiling, but I wasn’t quite sure why. “They’re all so nice, Celeste. But I’m sure you already know how kind they are.” Jasmine and Juniper were moving closer to us and Zander put his arm around Jasmine. “We really feel taken care of.”
She looked at Jasper. “Could you show me where the ladies’ room is? I just can’t remember. My head’s all a mess today.”
He left with her, falling for that bullshit.
I looked at the girls with a hard frown. “What the fuck is up with Hats in the Belfry? Does anybody else wanna curb stomp her?”
Jasmine beamed. “About half as much as I wanna kiss you right now.”
I chewed on my lip and didn’t let myself react. “Juniper, I will be more than willing to help you scrub this place with holy water later once Deadeyes leaves.”
She snickered as Jasper walked in. “Huh?”
I shifted on my feet. “Nothing. Did you touch her skin? Because if you need an antidote to Joker Venom, I’ll need to start making it now.”
“Hmm,” Jasmine said, eyes sharp on me. “Kitty’s got claws.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Zander looked far too happy at the moment as he looked at me. Then he looked down at Jasmine. “We need a Superfriends meeting later.”
She nodded. “Aye, aye, Cupid.”
He laughed. “Eros wishes he was me. I have better aim with an arrow. As you are finding out in.” He looked at his empty wrist. “An hour or so. Is The Vampire Queen going to need to wait till the sun goes down to leave?”
I wasn’t sure if Jasper was amused. “I doubt she’ll stay long.”
I leaned behind Zander to whisper to Jasmine. “She just needs to collect our souls first so she can eat tonight.”
“I love you,” Jasmine whispered.
The Bitchwoman of Alcatraz came back and took her drink from Jasper. “Thank you, so much. I’ll need to do something sweet for you in return.”
“I’m good,” Jasper said, making me smile.
Then the demon was looking at me with false sweetness. How could I think for a moment that she was nice? All it took was a three-minute talk with Jasper to know better. “Kiz,” she said. “And what do you do with your life? Boyfriend, girlfriend? Both?”
“No.” I crossed my arms. “I don’t date.”
Jasmine stepped in. “Lately,” she said. “She’s just getting settled, but I’m sure she’ll be back on the prowl soon. We just need to find her a sweet, thoughtful guy. Maybe tall. I bet you like tall,” she said to me. “Quiet? How do you like quiet guys?”
Celeste smiled again, but this one reminded me of a lion. “If you’re looking, I have a guy I bet you’d like. He rides a motorcycle, he’s a ton of fun. Or maybe this girl I know. Do you like girls?”
My hand tightened on Zander’s. I didn’t even know I was holding it. “No,” I said, quiet as a mouse.
“Aww,” she said. “Have you tried it? Girls might be fun for you. All soft and warm. You shouldn’t rule something out until you—”
“That’s enough,” Zander said with a voice from down below. “She likes guys and she doesn’t need you setting her up.”
My nails were digging into Zander’s palm and I didn’t even know until I smelled blood. I let go and I couldn’t say I was sorry until we were alone.
Celeste wasn’t bothered. In fact, I don’t really know if she caught the hostility. “Okay, let me know if you change your mind.”
There was silence for a few awkward moments. I was picking at the bottom of Zander’s shirt and trying to chase the shadows in my head away. Too many pictures.
The Wicked Bitch of the North West smiled again. “I just remembered, I had a very good reason for coming over. Jasper.” She turned and put her hand on his arm. “I’m having a show tonight. I would love it if you would come. I mean it’s not my show.” She shrugged, “But I’m heavily featured. Really, it might as well be all mine. Zander.” She turned. “You should come too. All of you.”
Zander tried not to look miserable at the idea. “Um…”
She whipped out a piece of paper and handed it to Jasper. “It’s really nice, so dress up. You too, Kizzy,” she said to me. “I bet you clean up really good.”
And I bet it would take me weeks to clean you up ‘really good’ out of the carpets. “You’re so sweet.”
“Thank you,” she said in a voice like poisoned sugar. “I think you’d look better if you didn’t look at the ground so much. Maybe wore a different color. You would be so, so pretty.”
“Mmm, thanks. I often think of how much better my life would have turned out if I were pretty, like… you,” I said with perfect falseness. “I bet I could have avoided a lot of trouble if I looked like you.”
Zander eyed me.
Celeste took it as a compliment. “It’s not hard, I don’t even try.”
“Oh.” I smiled carefully. “I bet you try real hard.”
It soared over her head. “Not really.” Her eyes scanned my brother and then widened. “Oh, are you bleeding?”
Damn.
“I’m fine,” he said, looking at his hand.
Juniper rushed over. “That’s going to need attention. I have a whole kit. Get upstairs.” She started pulling him while Jasmine pushed.
“Yup, can’t risk you getting sick,” she said.
Zander looked at me as he was being dragged away, used perfectly as an escape. He looked sad for me, but I was used to being alone. I guess I wasn’t alone now.
“I have to get ready,” Celeste said. She kissed Jasper’s cheek and I wished I knew why that bugged me. “Tell everyone I said goodbye.” She waved to me. “I really hope I see you later.”
She walked out the door and I did the same.
I went to the backyard without saying a word. I needed to expel some of what was in my chest. There wasn’t much outside other than grass. I sat in the middle of it and I closed my eyes.
The wind was cool against my skin, but I still rolled my sleeves up. I picked one of my favorite flowers and started growing them in massive numbers. I smelled them as they grew, taller than they were meant to be. I didn’t care.
“What are these?” I heard from beside me.
I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was Jasper. He was sitting with his legs crossed, staring at his anemone-filled backyard.
“Don’t worry, I’ll have them gone before Juniper sees.”
“I’m not worried.”
“Anemones,” I finally said. “Roses get boring from time to time.”
He nodded and leaned back on his hands. “And why are we sitting in a pile of them?”
I breathed. “Mom said that someone like me would do well to find a way to get control of things. It’s supposed to help me when I don’t feel control. I left a lot of flowers in my wake after… the thing.”
“Ah. Did Celeste upset you?”
Yes. “I’m sorry I was bitchy to her, but I couldn’t help it. So if she’s offended… whatever.”
He smiled. “I don’t think she was. Is there a reason you don’t like her?”
My forehead wrinkled. “She dumped you, horribly and for someone else. If someone did that to one of your sisters, I think you would hate them for it. So now I’m wondering if you just don’t care enough about yourself to be upset when people treat you badly. Because people should treat you like you deserve, not what you let them get away with.”
“I think you’re reading into some things.”
I laid on my back, looking up at the sky. “I have no right judging people for not stopping people for doing less than kind things, but you really deserve better than that kind of person. Don’t you think you could have done better?”
