by Bob Dattolo
Her mother frowned, “We’re allowed to question you, young lady! We’re allowed to question your friends!”
“Mom, we just finished the trial a few days ago. We wanted to relax. Not get sucked into family drama. That’s why we don’t have any plans to visit their families either.” Interesting, she played that well so that she doesn’t smell like she’s lying. She’s only somewhat, yet if she answered that wrong, they would have been able to pick that up.
I really expected them to congratulate her about making it out of the trial alive. I seriously did. Instead, her father shook his head, “I heard about your class already. More than 50 percent didn’t make it? Pathetic.”
“Kids these days. They’re being raised weaker and weaker.” Her mom studied each of us in turn, and it was obvious that I was getting the most attention. “And who are you three trespassing on our daughter’s property?”
Samantha’s hand went up, “Mom! I invited them, please don’t start!”
Her mother sniffed, just not like she’s trying to smell, more like she’s trying to make a point, “Well, I don’t see why you would bother. Were these your allies?”
Damn, how can two people get on my bad side so quickly?
“I’d hope our daughter would have better sense than to hook up with such a varied group.”
And we all know that the only varied portion of the group is me. My desire to say something died as Samantha’s shoulders tensed up. It was obvious from behind, yet I don’t know that her parents would have caught it. She’s expecting me to say something.
Let’s surprise all four of us and say nothing instead.
She literally looked at me, smelling vaguely of shock, before turning back, “Mom and Dad? I’d like to introduce you to my friends. Parece. She was an ally. Angelica. She wasn’t an ally. Or an enemy. And Maddie. She wasn’t an ally either.”
Her parents caught the omission, so I smiled at them, “I was an enemy at first.”
There’s the tension in her shoulders again. “Everyone? These are my parents, Victor and Maria.”
Hmmm, Victor…Victor Rodriguez.
Oh holy crap, now I know why he’s familiar! He’s huuuuge out here. Big into movies as a producer. Works with A-list celebrities and travels in powerful circles. He directly funds movies even if he’s not involved in making them, while also working on others. His wife is…shoot, a casting director or something like that? She’s also involved, I just don’t recall where.
Parece nodded to them, “Good morning.”
Angelica followed suit with a greeting, although she simply said, “It’s nice to meet you.”
Me, on the other hand? The filter I was trying to put in place wasn’t quite prepared for me to say, “Holy crap, now I know why you’re familiar! I’ve read articles about both of you! When Samantha said that you guys were powerful out here, I wasn’t sure what she meant. Now I recognize you both.”
They both smiled, although no joy reached their eyes. “Wonderful. It’s so nice to meet a fan. Even in such strange circumstances where you’re in our daughter’s home.” Her mom barely held back the accusation that I was somehow forcing this to happen.
Victor, on the other hand, tilted his head and looked me up and down, “How cute. You really don’t know how to read a room well, do you?”
“You’d think, but I do. You start from the top left and follow each line until you have to move to the next. The only confusing part is if you find yourself in a Jewish room and aren’t expecting it. Then you have to read the opposite way. If it’s Japanese? Waaaay worse. Vertical columns read from right to left. If you mess that up? Wow, so confusing.”
There are now tense shoulders on three girls in front of me, with two adults staring at me as if I’m some strange form of sentient fungus.
“Samantha dear, is your friend brain damaged in some way?” Maria looks me over again, nearly making me want to cover my naughty bits and to tell her to stop perving. Since they’re both buck naked as well, it doesn’t seem worth it.
Especially since I don’t care, so there’s that, too.
Samantha sighed, “No, no, she’s not. She just…she has a way with getting under people’s skin.” That earned me a glare over her huge shoulder, “Perhaps a certain someone should zip their lip and shut the hell up?”
“What have I told you about speaking out of turn, Angelica? We just talked about this last night!”
Angelica gave me the same look, “Seriously? Don’t suck me into this!” She’s hiding her humor pretty well, but I can see it in her eyes.
Samantha squinted at me, as if trying to give me a signal.
I bowed my head briefly towards her parents, “Maria and Victor Rodriguez, I apologize for being flippant with my response to you. I was mainly attempting to lighten the mood. As your daughter pointed out, I seem to have a knack for rubbing people the wrong way, many times even when I don’t intend to. In light of that, I will try to remain silent going forward unless someone has a specific question for me.” No one responded for the first ten seconds or so and the shoulders started easing up.
Then I farted.
It was long and loud and rumbling and filled the silence like an out-of-control truck.
Angelica’s soft, “Jesus Christ!” came just before she moved farther away from me.
“Seriously, Maddie?” Samantha started to say something else, then paused and shook her head before facing her parents again, “I’m sorry. Please ignore her.”
Her parents’ eyes were locked on me, “It’s hard to ignore someone that stands out so severely.” Not so hidden dig at my hair and eyes. Her mother continued, “Bypassing her childish sense of humor, tactless display of flatulence, and boorish personality, I noticed that she said she was an enemy at first? What have we told you about fraternizing with enemies and those that may endanger you?”
“We were enemies, Mom. We weren’t at the end. Not quite allies, either, but she did help through the trial. Several times.”
“I see, so you rewarded her foolishness with travelling with you?”
“No, Mom, that’s not it.”
“Then what is it, young lady?” Her father cut in, “We get a call this morning that all hell broke loose last night, and you were somehow involved when we didn’t even know you were in town. Children of people in our social circle have been reported as being dead, all tied to here. Your space. We honestly thought we would arrive and find someone squatting here, pretending to be you. Instead, that’s not the case. You’re here, and you have others in tow, including…” he focused on me again, “including someone that truly does get under the skin very, very quickly.”
My God, it’s hard not to say something. A full-fledged response about being akin to jock itch, causing them to claw and dig at their dangly bits came to me, and it killed me to stay silent.
“I’m not sure what you were informed about last night or who you spoke with. We did have an issue. The guys that were here didn’t look familiar, though.”
He bristled with anger as power flared around him. Her shoulders rounded under his attention. He’s powerful as fuck, and unless she’s hiding something, she’s not at his level. No one was really prepared for me to step forward to stand next to her. Nor were they prepared for me to stand straight, giving them a clear sign that I wasn’t submissive to them.
Samantha caught my hand, squeezing, “Don’t!” Her voice was low, nearly hissed, yet everyone here could hear it plain as day.
Instead of answering, I looked at her. I told her I wouldn’t say anything unless asked a question, and that wasn’t a question.
“Maddie, don’t!”
Parece caught the issue, “She said she wouldn’t say anything unless asked a question.”
Our host squeezed my hand tighter, straining the bones, “Oh my fucking God, please don’t. Just back off!”
Her father’s soft, “You dare stand up to me?” got me to look back at the two adults.
I smiled at them.
> “I’m sorry, was that a question for me?”
Power from both of them swamped the space. Both dragon and magical. They’re trying to get me to submit to them. Admit their domination of me.
Too bad I did that with Reggie. I won’t do that again, even if I know death waits immediately on the other side.
“Stop pretending, girl! Submit to us!” Spit flew from his mouth.
Samantha tugged on my arm, “Please, Maddie! Don’t do anything!”
Not a question again.
“You gotta ask her a question!” Parece hit the nail on the head.
“Please, Maddie! What are you gonna do?”
Good, a question. “I don’t have any plans just yet. I’m taking it a moment at a time as the sands trickle through the hourglass. I’m waiting to see what your parents decide here and how they want this to go.” I faced the adults again, “You come in here to ask your daughter questions and think you’re gonna lord it over me? I don’t think so. I get that you’re powerful. You’re rich. You’re huge dragons basking in the adulation of your fans and those you work and deal with. Let me be perfectly clear here that I don’t work for you. While I’ve heard of you both, that’s the limit of my ability to give a flying fuck about either of you beyond the fact that you’re Samantha’s parents and are here in this room with us right now. I will never bow to you. I will never submit to you. I will never recognize your domination of me. Not now. Not next week. Not in a thousand years. You want to try to beat me into getting on my knees? Go for it. I won’t stop you from trying. I’ll certainly do my best to stop you after that, though. Either I’ll be standing upright again, or you’ll have a corpse at your feet. I don’t give a shit which it is. You came here to ask about kids dying? I have to think that it’s Pete, Russell, Vijay, and Em. If that’s the case? Then yes, they came here last night. They died here last night. That’s what they get for fucking with me and challenging me. Russell, when he crushed the back of my head on the street in front of witnesses. Vijay, Em, and Pete when they decided to attack when Pete wanted a bit of forced pussy. Now they’re dead. Challenges, as witnessed by the police and our statements. By the videos they were able to pull from the patios. So you came here to talk about that? Have at it. If you think you’re coming here to treat me like shit for standing up for myself? Then you have another thing coming. Those assholes deserved it. I gave them an out, they decided to bypass it and attacked.” I spread my hands, “Now you’re here. You know what happened to your friends’ precious children. What you do with that information is up to you. I don’t really care what you choose to do. What you think you’re going to do. You want to dominate others? Lord it over them? Flex your might and money and make people afraid of you? Knock yourself out. Your desire to make people follow you ends at my desire to stop that from happening to me. And, as I just showed you with your attempt to get me to bow to you? That won’t be happening.”
Samantha tugged me again, “What the fuck, will you just be quiet!”
Not a question, so I stayed staring at the parents.
If anything, they flooded the room with even more power as her father’s skin roiled from the barely contained dragon inside of him. They started working spells like they’re going out of style, and I tried to follow along to see what they think they’re gonna do.
Samantha jumped in front, blocking me from them, “Maddie? Go back to your room. Please. I beg you. Just go!”
Her eyes are flooded with sincerity, so I took a step back, watching the parents over her shoulder. Their daughter stepping in the way slowed their magic but didn’t stop it.
So I blew them a kiss before turning my back on them and heading towards the bedroom. Their power swelled behind me and I expected them to try to hit me with something, yet it never happened. Their power outlay eased up tremendously when I closed the door to the room. The mom’s power spiked without warning, and a silence spell went up. This one feeling like a barrier to stop me from hearing them.
On a whim, I created a listening spell, something I’ve never done, and set it to basically listen to anything said near Samantha.
“…the hell does she think she is talking to us that way?”
“I’m sorry, Dad!” Her voice is filled with worry, “She’s incredibly dominant. Like crazily so.”
“You expect us to believe that when she seems to follow your lead?” I swear her father wanted to spit on the ground.
“You can smell that I’m telling the truth, Dad!”
“I can’t tell anything, young lady! You smell like fear more than anything else.”
“What do you expect? You come in here trying to take over and immediately bump heads with Maddie!”
“She is a child!”
“A crazy, crazy powerful child, Dad! She killed two shifted dragons while in her human form, Dad. Two of them. One she choked while in a ball of flames and that dragon died. The other one was during the trial. She buried her arms through his eyes up to her elbows and killed him. Please don’t antagonize her!”
“She’s a joke, dear.” Her mom oozed malice, making me want to head out there again. “She has those ridiculous scars on her face, as if she’s trying to make a statement of some sort. She’s obviously lying about so much. You spoke the truth about the two dragons as you know it, but just because you’re repeating something someone told you doesn’t make what you said factual.”
“Oh my God, Mom! I was there! I saw both of them. All three of us saw both of them. One was a challenge before the trial. The other was during the trial. I’m begging you, please don’t start anything with her.”
“Samantha? Sweetie? If we start something with her, we’ll be finishing it as well.” Her mom dropped the mic, at least that’s the visual I got from that.
“Skip the little white freak, which I don’t know why you bothered to bring her here with you but ignore her for now. Tell us what happened last night with the boys. Our friends are very upset, as you can imagine.”
She broke into an explanation of what happened, starting with meeting the guys at the club and dancing. I’m shocked at how much she caught about how they were treating me. Then again, none of the people in our class are idiots. None of them. Some people may think that because she’s big and strong, but this right here goes to prove just how observant she is and how much she recalls.
The retelling, including the fight, took about 20 minutes. I’m curious about why she didn’t mention their powers being drained, then figured it’s not quite germane. You can’t tell if that’s happened when someone is dead. Hell, if I use the spell that I know that isn’t showy, they can’t even tell when they’re right there.
Her parents didn’t talk for a solid couple minutes when she stopped talking. I keep getting whiffs of fear from the girls, making me think I may have to distract the adults at some point.
Finally, her father said, “I don’t like this, Samantha. I don’t like that she’s involved in this. The parents of those boys are strong. Very strong. I would not be surprised if they try to find more information on what happened. If and when that happens, they very well may attack anyone near her. That would be you.”
“She didn’t start any of this, Dad!”
“Start? No one cares about cause, Samantha. Not even we do. I’m tempted to go in there and kill her right now simply to be able to get points with the parents.”
“No, Dad, you can’t do that!”
“You don’t tell me what I can and cannot do, young lady! You are our daughter! You are a child. That thing in there has disrupted our lives. Disrupted the lives of our friends. I’m not sure I can pass up taking advantage of the fact that she’s right in there and has no clue any of this is happening.”
Maria laughed, “Let’s go visit, Victor. I think we can have some fun before we leave Samantha and her friends behind.”
“Mom, Dad, don’t do this!”
An aborted scream and two eeps came a hairsbreadth before something sounds like it exploded. The door in my
way went down under my punch as I stalked from the space, tearing through the silence spell just for the hell of it. I can’t do it all the time, but when I can? It’s lots of fun.
Samantha is across the room, halfway through a wall. Her father is extended sideways, looking like he backhanded her hard enough to catapult her across the room, sending her through two tables before she even reached the wall.
Maria jerked at her magic and sent something at me that I barely picked up as a telekinesis spell. I grabbed at it and crushed it, which again isn’t always something I can do, and she groaned through the backlash. “Hey, Samantha’s parents! Lovely to see you again. My little vow of silence gets wiped out whenever one of my friends gets hit by their parents. And, would you look at that? I believe that’s Samantha over there struggling to move.”
Her father growled as magic swirled around him, “You, child! You killed our friends’ children!”
“Boo-fucking-hoo! How sad, let me play my invisible violin for them and for your hurt feelings. Then you can go fuck yourself with it. They came after me. Perfectly allowable. Now you think you’re gonna come after me too?”
Her mother twitched, and I knew it was her dragon facing me. She took on a dominant posture and her nostrils flared when I faced her and pretty much ignored her. Then sent out a wave of power, working to crush her under.
Her shoulders just started to round when her husband’s spell went off and I was picked up and rammed through the wall behind me in an explosion of wood, drywall, and at least one electrical cable.
Then the huge armoire in the room caught me, crushing beneath my weight and the mighty throw that launched me there.
Neither parent was prepared for me to flex my magic and step out of the wreckage not even two seconds later, yanking the chunk of wood from my cheek and healing in a rush of knitting flesh.
“Come to me, Samantha’s parents. I’m feeling hungry, and you two smell delicious!”
They freaked, and magic began hammering me as they alternated from affinity spells to general spells, making it nearly impossible for me to power forward through them.
