Bloodlines

by Trisha Lynn

Chapter Seven

  Well, her brother hadn't told her parents, but it still didn't make her feel any better about missing his game or the fact that he'd caught her kissing her boyfriend. She'd apologized numerous times, but the boy couldn't really care less. He just wanted to be left alone. She slunk her shoulders, but tousled his dark red hair, and told him she loved him. She got only a humph for a response as he turned away to get in the shower. Sighing, she figured she deserved that. Her family were not the “I love you” type of people. She had tried starting the trend but it never stuck with any of the others. She'd given up, only saying it during really dramatic moments. Her sister would likely have a complete “mean girl” drama fit if she'd tried saying it to her. At least with her brother she sometimes got it said back. Very rarely, and not in the past year, at least.

  Giving up, Adeila ate dinner alone, in silence. Her family were not ones for doing dinner at the table like most families. Her mother typically picked up dinner on her way home from work, ordered, or made something from a box. Since pretty much everything from a box or take out made her sick, she generally made salads or fruit bowls and ate alone.

  She thought back to how difficult it had been to chow down the pizza at Erik's house the other day and act as if she enjoyed it. Although she could handle pizza much more than most fast food. She looked down at her pathetic salad consisting of kale, cucumbers and cranberries. She could only use a faint drizzle of dressing or that too would make her sick, unless she made her own Italian. It really was a nuisance. She'd been tested for everything and every test had come back normal. She had no allergies at all. Her mother insisted she was faking it, despite Adeila genuinely feeling nauseous. Granted, it typically only lasted a few minutes, but it was still annoying.

  So here she was eating yet another salad. Alone. Her Dad wasn't home yet and her mother was in the basement working out, or doing something. Her mother had her office downstairs in the basement so that she would have to walk past the work out equipment in order to get to her desk to remind herself to work out more. It was an interesting theory, but her mother hated working out. She hadn't even stuck to the yoga classes she had originally brought Adeila to. And to make it worse Adeila hadn't had her license yet so she couldn't even go to them herself. She'd convinced her Dad to bring her to a few. So as soon as she had gotten her license she had taken up a class on her own. Such things happened all the time and she knew her parents had good intentions but rarely followed through with anything.

  Almost at the end of her meal, her father came home. George Burton was a short man, with thinning dark hair and very dark brown eyes. He had begun his technology company around the same time she was born, per her parents. He'd been struggling to get it going for a while, and they say that her birth was the inspiration he needed to get the ball rolling. She wasn't really sure how any of that had come about but whatever, she was a teenager and that was just more information then she cared to ask. Now he owned four major companies. Three were in California, and one was in Nevada. She was proud of his success, but she also saw that the lifestyle was going straight to his belly. She hadn't noticed the rotund way his belly protruded above his belt until that moment. She should really get him to start walking with her or something. Do or say something to make him more aware. He was always so busy that he rarely had time to worry about his health. He came into the kitchen, set his bag down on a chair, rummaged the fridge, said a hollow hello and went downstairs to find her mother. What a strange family life they had. She'd been around Marissa's family enough to know that not every family was like that. Some loving, attentive, caring, compassionate and united.

  Sighing again - she seemed to do that a lot lately - she washed and put away her bowl then heated water for a cup of tea. After preparing the green tea, and grabbing a coat, she wandered outside onto the deck. Dusk had crept over the back yard, etching the sky in dark gray. She could see the light fade and the dusky darkness come over the tops of the mountains and across their manicured back yard. The restlessness was eating away at her with every ebb of light.

  She just wanted more. More of something. All the time. She didn't even really know what she wanted; she just knew it was more than this. She assumed it was just the looming thoughts of college to prepare for, and the rest of senior year. And like everything else she fought to brush it aside and just live day by day, but her mind was a current all on its own wavelength. She thought more and more about her weird mind powers each day, and what they meant. What was she? There was no way she was normal, right? Were there other people out there that could move things with their mind? Was there a cult or club or something? Was she a witch?

  As her mind continued to drift, movement caught her eye, gaining her attention, down by the edge of the trees. She squinted in the edging darkness, but when she didn't see anything again, she sat down and waited for night to blanket around her. It was probably just a bird or a rabbit or something. The nights here were so peaceful.

  Adeila waited for the stars to blink into focus before standing up and leaning over the railing picking out constellations. When she came upon the North Star, she was always a little confused because there were so many other stars around it that seemed to make up a whole different constellation. She, herself, saw a deer, with antlers and something else near the antlers… maybe a crown?

  When she looked down and across the lawn, she again thought she saw something, a flicker of color. A light color. She looked back towards the kitchen, lights were on all throughout the house, but not a soul was around.

  She sucked in a breath, and then looked back towards the trick of color. It was still there. Her curiosity wore at her, but paranoia sunk in and she turned back to the house. She went inside, locking the slider door, checking it several times before going upstairs. She didn't bother telling her parents about it, they'd likely scoff at her.

  She did her homework, checked to make sure her windows were securely locked before letting herself sink into her mattress. Sleep was hard to come by, however, and when she finally did fall into that depth-less sleep state she dreamt of a gyrfalcon with human-like predatory eyes, a golden horse and a steel gray wolf.