by K. G. Wilkie
“The girls have been demanding that something be done,” the dragon tattooed boy said, staring hungrily at the people in question.
“It`s no fair that the new girl gets all the attention, and no one even remembers to say hello to me,” the v-neck girl said. “It`s so lonely now,” another said with wispy longing. “If only someone could comfort us,” she whispered in the ear of the boy whose hair she was petting.
“I just want to see if anyone will be our hero and vanquish the bad girl,” short shorts said to Warren, looking up at him through her fluttering lashes. The other girls gasped at her bravery in attempting to flirt with such a violent guy, but he smiled, petting her head. “Yeah, I guess I could do that,” he said, grinning. “You want me to make her fall hard, then dump her, right?,” he asked.
The girl hanging off his arm giggled. “You`re just so smart,” she cooed. “You understood the best way to do things so quickly. I like a guy with muscles and brains,” she smiled. He rolled his eyes when she wasn’t looking, but when she turned around again he grinned back at her, flexing his arm muscles to show them off to her. She touched them, gasping at their great girth.
“Yeah, I`ll do it,” Warren said. “I was planning to anyways, but I can’t say no to a girl like you,” he teased. The other boys whistled as he started walking away.
“That was absolutely disgusting,” Jackie murmured. When she had seen Marina going in for a fight earlier, she had followed discreetly behind, intent on protecting the girl should any problems arisen. She had hidden herself behind one of the trees at the end of the park across the street where she had a good view of where they were talking. The threatening and posturing had been difficult to sit through, but she knew they were not any worse than the usual minor injuries the girl lived through every day with. Just when she had decided that things weren`t going to get too violent, the wonder boys (she had always thought that it was a wonder they had grown to be boys, they were so stupid,) had come up.
And then those girls! “That made my teeth rot, it was so disgusting. Purring and pawing those boys. And then those guys were flexing and preening,” she shook her head at the state of youths and forgot that in a way she was just as young as they were.
Jackie spent the next day following Alyss around, trying to keep an eye out for any problems from Warren. The two were never seen with each other the whole day, but she still grimaced in worry. Her thoughts were distracted though as she came upon the same delinquents from yesterday flirting and showing off to their girls. “It`s like a freaking menagerie, this place is so full of freaking peacocks. If I never see another human mating ritual again it will still have been too many times,” she snarled.They both turned their heads to look at the
Though not a single soul could be seen, a male voice responded to her. “They can`t help being stupid,” he sighed. “They`re just so young and fresh. You used to be rather stupid when you were that age, too, before you got so grumpy,” he chastised. A bell rang out clearly across the yard. “Looks like you skipped the whole last half of the day, because that sounds like the last bell,” he continued, amused.
They both looked towards the cluster of people. It was hard to hear very much but some words drifted over to them. “That guy is going to mess the transfer up.” She cursed, striding off towards the center of the grounds. After what she had heard, she was determined to look after Alyss like a hawk. She saw the girl then, and she raised her hand to call out of greeting to her, when it was yanked down from the side.
She turned to see who had done such a thing, a scathing remark on the tip of her tongue, when she saw that Aeron was the one holding her hand. She still protested when he started to drag her away, back to the end of the school yard and the copse of trees she had just left. She hotly complained about his rough man handling, shaking off his restraints. He grabbed her hand again, continuing to drag her away despite her vehement protests. They quickly lost their strength when she noticed the fire crackling around his clenched fists. “Who do you work for, Jackie?” punctuating the question by punching through the wall right above her shaking shoulders with his still flaming fists. “I work for you,” her voice was shaking. She pulled her self up to stand tall and continued, “I already did your job. I found her, and she came here. You know no one else was able to manage that much, including you,” she ended on a pout.
He raised an eyebrow at him. “You found her?”
She shrugged. “Yeah. One of your people, I think it was that Rowena,” she shuddered, “Found a trace of the Wizard’s activity in Florida and she chased their guy down and got rid of him.” She looked at him. “You know. The way people with fire powers like to get rid of someone they don’t like,” she said. “Anyways, most of your people just wiped their hands of things then, but I did some hunting in the area for a bit after that and another wizard popped up.”
“How could you tell it was a wizard and not just some shifty mundane human?”
She just gave him a sour look. “The same way I can tell a lion from a shar pei. They’ve got a different look, a different attitude about them.” She smiled. “And the guy showed up instantly from some sort of magical transport spell. And then he did some spells for appearance, set himself up in an alley, the whole nine yards. He looked like he was up to something so I set Red and Blue to watch him for awhile.”
Aeron frowned. “Why did you send them? Those two aren’t particularly sharp.”
She shrugged again. “I was following my assignment to search for Alyss. They didn’t have any particular orders at the time.”
He grumbled. “I like to see you taking initiative for my benefit. This isn’t what we were here to talk about though and I shouldn’t have let myself get distracted. I’m still mad at you. You are also supposed to facilitate an environment that can help me make her remember. You know that requires some trust on her part to be able to work at all.”
“I can`t help how she acts, Aeron,” she said exasperatedly. At his cold look she repeated, “Aeron. I`m certainly not calling you any titles, and I think I should get some leeway after doing so much, even if I didn`t technically finish the whole job.”
His fists smashed into the wall on either side of her, so close to her shoulders, pinning her with his predator`s gaze. “What trick did you think you were pulling?” She flinched as he leaned in staring at her shoes. His very breath stirring her bangs. “One more false move…”
“I haven’t done anything wrong or worked against you at all master,” she protested.
“Regardless of what you`ve done so far,” he growled, “If you can`t complete your job properly now, I may have to ask your sister to. I could also help those fans of hers spend a bit more time with her free from your guard dog tendencies, or I could allow the council to do some more investigation,” he added.
“I won`t tell her anything, I swear! Her body shook, a tear slowly rolling down her face. “She just wouldn`t stop asking questions, so I just said she shouldn`t annoy you! Really that`s all,” she gasped, her voice strained and squeaky.
“You`ve upset me, Jackie.” She blanched, looking at the sides for an opening with abrupt, rabbity motions. He looked at her, weighing the truth in her traitorous words.
“I told her to lay off, and to be nice, and, um, stop. Really!” She started panting, he breaths coming short. “Just please, Aeron,” she gasped, “Don`t take Priscilla.”
He sighed and leaned back. “I am not a monster. I only punish people after they have failed me. I still have faith that you will prove to be loyal.” He thought in silence for a moment. “She needs you. Needs a friend. She won`t like me if she`s alone and stressed but for me breathing down her back. It will help my cause if you can stage the setting well to predispose her to like me. Besides, she will be happier if she has a friend, and I want her to be happy.” She breathed deeply, slowly slipping under his caging arms.
He yanked her pony tail up so that she faced him, the motion sharply cutting off her air. “Do not cross me. You are not
my first servant, and you will not be the first underling to betray me,” colorful fires danced along his arms and crept up her skin. “Just one more failure, and you`re done for,” he dropped her and the fire abruptly disappeared as he strode away.
She desperately wanted to run away, now, while he was already out of her hair. She managed to restrain the instinct however and sighed audibly. “Look, I can`t change who she is. If you try to do too much behind the scenes, she`ll just be ostracized and depressed. I assume you don`t want to have gone through all this work to restore her, only to break what`s left of her?”
They stared at each other, a silent battle of wills. He pursed his lips and looked away. “You`re right. It makes sense she`d be a little weird after all this time.” He released her. She started to slowly creep away. He lifted one finger, and she instantly stood stock still. “Bring her to that party this weekend. Talk to her, make her laugh. And more importantly,” he leaned in threateningly, “Make sure that at some point she talks to me when she’s feeling happy or comfortable, I don’t much care which one it is. You know us monarchs are so particular about the people we care about” He smiled. “Speaking of, this is Priscilla`s last chance. I’ve sponsored the two of you when you were up for the death penalty and I will not tolerate yet another failure after all these years I’ve championed you both.” She soured but still bowed to him in acknowledgment of the order.
He strode away.
Exhausted, weak, she wilted, doubled over and gulping in desperate breaths. How did he know I told her? Who told him? The thoughts swirled around in her head, but it didn`t seem like she`s be getting an answer anytime soon.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Dreams
Aeron`s words tumbled through her mind over and over. “You should have remembered your past, should have remembered me.” She’d ignored it during the day, but somehow in the hours since she couldn’t forget about it. There was some importance to the words; but the meaning escaped her, haunted her. Alyss spent a sleepless night, restlessly tossing and turning. Dreams came to her in fragments and pieces.
Legs desperately pumping, throat burning, lungs huffing in and out. He glanced across at her as she twiddled her fingers, speeding up so that all he could see was her hair swishing in the back. He looked at his goal so desperately and thirstily, the gnarled hand magically formed in the grass only to begin reaching up for his foot went unnoticed. With one great tug he fell into the leaves, struck by the heady mixture of decay and freshness the rain had brought to the scent of the forest.
She ran back to him, more anger than worry on her features. He tried to get up and brush off, but his cheeks darkened when he fell again. She started growling.
“I swear, I didn`t mean to, but I just can`t seem to get up. It`s really not my fault! I-“ She whirled around to face him and put a finger to her lips, then rotated so she again faced the tree. Her growl grew stronger, a haze of pink mist surrounding the tree. She spoke in the tongue of her people, and blue spots sparked around the tree. Its leaves rustled, and a creaking branch came down to his level. He stared at it with wildly, eyes darting from it to her.
She smiled. “It is going to apologize properly. You need to shake hands.” He looked at her in complete bewilderment, then tentatively offered his hand, and jumped when the tree shook it. She looked at it more strongly, and it shuffled out of the clearing.
Catching his gaze still on the tree, she smiled and caught his hand. Laughing, she pulled him forward, and they both ran off under the trees.
Two noses were pressed at her bedroom window and observed Alyss mumbling in her sleep. “She has awoken,” the left one said, “The binding is losing its grip of her.” They both looked at her expectantly. A sparkling purple aura surrounded her, slowly dieing down again.
“It has begun,” the voice on the right said with authority. Both disappeared into the night.
CHAPTER NINE
Party Time
The week moved too slowly, the excitement of the party making everyone restless in their classes. The day finally came, though the sun had barely swallowed the stars when Jackie showed up on Alyss`s stoop. There was a cursory “Hi,” as she was unceremoniously pulled out of the house and dragged to the car. “What are you doing!?” Alyssa demanded.
“Fixing your look. If the last week is anything to judge by you’ve probably only got street style or preppy happening in your closet and we need to set you up for something that screams party today and then we have to glam up the rest of your image. I`m thinking clothes, hair, and nails would be good for a full look.”
The other girl groaned as the car flew through the turns and twists of the road. “That sounds really fun and all but kind of excessive. Besides, I don’t think I have the money to pay for all that nonsense.”
“Call it a treat,” the driver grinned at her in the mirror, “And besides I probably missed your birthday back when I’d never met you so this could be called an IOU or something. Mostly though it’s something I’m going to do either way so I figured it would be fun to bring a friend along for company. And I want to go to the party with you but I don’t want to ruin the aesthetics standing next to a person in a different style so this is a fun thing that also solves lots of problems and is a total win-win.”
“You are never going to let me live down my fashion faux paux on the first day, are you?” Alyss grimly clutched the handle bar above her door as the car sped far beyond the speed limit. “You really have no right to say anything, going twenty above the limit is much worse than under dressing,” she added dryly.
“Meh, I`m a car kind of girl,” Jackie responded, eyes shining. “This is one of my favorite models out there. I saved up forever to get this thing!” She patted the dashboard fondly, cooing, “Aren`t you a nice girl, Ruby?” Alyss choked with laughter in the passenger seat. “The car has a name! A name! You`d think she was talking to a baby,” she laughed, wiping away in imaginary tear.
“Yeah, well,” Jackie replied, stung. Their speed slowed down to the limit. “Hey, why did you come here so late in the year? I know you said it was something about your parent’s jobs, but aren’t companies usually willing to adjust transfers around the school year? Or like your dad could have come ahead with you and set up the new place while your mom waited for the transfer date or whatever the problem was,” Jackie asked.
Alyss was silent for a moment, staring out the window. The scene came back to her so clearly. The doctor said I would get better if I weren`t in such a damp climate, he said we have to move to a drier area. Ugh, I don`t get why you never care about anything. I`ve almost died a few times from my asthma attacks, and all you care about is going to work and keeping the house shiny clean. Why don`t you care about your daughter at all? Why didn`t you care when I brought a boy into the house? Why don`t you care about anything that matters?
“Alyss, are you okay?” Darien asked, coming into the room. “Yeah, sure, why not,”? she blew him off, stomping away. “Hey, this is serious! I want to know what`s wrong with you right now,” he asked with clear concern.
“They aren`t doing anything,” she tossed a pillow at the floor. “The doctor said we have to move but they can’t be bothered because ‘their lives can’t revolve around my needs and I should just make do.’ Make do with what? My likely death?” The aching pains, the constant lethargy. Her body felt like it was on fire, and her parents just didn’t seem to care. About her health, about her, about anything. That doctor. He`d seemed to feel that her home in beautiful Florida didn`t agree with her, and if the marked improvement she`d experienced since coming here was anything to judge by, he`d certainly been right.
“Well, my parents just aren`t good at arranging things like that, I guess you could say it just took longer than anyone else would have. They were getting around to it but I just took care of all the details of the move myself to speed things up a bit, I’m sure my parents would have finished the whole move by November at least,” Alyss was still lost in her thoughts but easily gave the
lie in reply without much thought after all the practice she’d done on it. She was well aware of the truth that rather than her parents lacking the skills necessary to have set up the move in a timely way, though, they simply didn`t seem to care. They never asked how her day was, or checked her report cards, or even remembered her doctor appointments half the time. This even though they were always on time and ready for their own dates and schedules. Rather than being terribly forgetful or selfish, they really just seemed to not notice that their daughter even existed.
“What, so you moved your family practically by yourself?” Jacqueline asked, obviously shocked.
“Well, in a word, yes. I mean, Darien would have if I`d asked him, but he works so hard to stay near the top of his grade, so I figured he should be free during his free time. Besides, my family matters don`t really concern him,”Alyss tried to brush off her friend`s concerns.
“What do you mean?” Jackie seemed eager for a potentially juicy bit of gossip. “Is he your live in boyfriend, instead of your brother?”?
The other girl blushed furiously. “It`s not like that,” she said earnestly. “He really is a brother to me. We just adopted him into the family a year or two ago, is all.” Jackie let it drop, clearly disappointed.
In fact, she was the one who brought Darien into the family. With the way her parents were, she`d never really felt she had a family until she met him. All she`d seen was his shivering form in an alley near her house, as he clutched an equally cold cat with battle scars and a missing eye. She`d felt so lonely that day, aimlessly walking through the streets. But seeing him with the furball when it was clear he had nothing of his own and couldn’t really afford to care for another was touching. To do something so small, but so kind, she knew she had to take him home then. Her parents hadn`t complained or even mentioned the change, though the table gained an extra place setting at dinner that night. The boy and that cat had become her true family since then, and she had never regretted their addition.
