by Rue Volley
“I wasn’t talking to you,” she said.
He looked at me and rubbed his neck. I stepped to her and leaned down.
“Listen, he was joking… I swear. Josh needs to stay with me, so if you don’t mind him coming, I would appreciate it.” She stared at me for a moment and then leaned to look at him.
“Only because she asked me nicely, but you don’t talk anymore.”
Josh looked at me and grinned.
I stood up and she took my hand. It felt odd, but I figured that we were at least back to a good start… no thanks to Josh, of course.
We stepped outside and the land had changed. It looked like the forest next to my house… my real one. I looked at Josh and he crinkled his eyebrows. She gripped my hand and led me in. I ducked branches and tripped a couple of times while she kept pulling me along.
We finally came to a clearing and I looked up and back at Josh. There was tree house, not too high up, but hidden just enough that I would have passed it up, if she didn’t point it out to me. She let go of my hand and walked to the tree. She gripped the sides of it and started to pull herself up. I stepped up to it and looked up. Maybe it was higher than I thought. I felt Josh grab my sides and start to push me. I looked for something to grab onto and then realized that there were notches carved into the tree. I placed my hand in one and then found another one with my foot. I held on and started to climb. I made it to a branch and grabbed it. Josh was right behind me. I felt him push on my butt and I “oh’d” a little too close to sounding like I enjoyed it. I heard him laugh and I swung my hand down at him.
“Quiet,” I muttered. He grinned up at me.
I pulled myself up onto it, just about as graceful as a… well, like a girl that never climbed a tree before. Josh grabbed the branch and swung his leg over it. He pulled himself up and popped onto the branch like an expert. I tried to balance, but I started to tilt and he grabbed me from behind. He pulled me to him and I felt the heat from his body. My heart fluttered a little. I heard him laugh. So I pushed away from him, determined to do it myself and ran forward until I slammed into the side of the tree house and grabbed onto it like my life depended on it. He walked up behind me, no problems of course, reached past me and opened the door as grinning. I rolled my eyes and pulled myself in, almost falling down. He stepped in and held his hand out to me. I straightened up and brushed myself off, not accepting his help.
We stood there and looked around. It had so many books in it I didn’t know where to begin. I looked at Josh and he grinned at me.
“Looks like you were a klepto,” he said. I rolled my eyes.
“I did not have a tree house… and I never stole anything… ever,” I said.
Josh picked up a book and opened it up. “Property of Calvary Library,” he read out loud.
I grabbed it from him and didn’t believe it, until I read it myself.
I looked out at the stacks of books and back at him. “I swear to God, I don’t remember this place at all,” I said.
He nodded his head, mocking me.
“I don’t!” I said.
He looked around and found a makeshift seat, a pile high stack of books.
I dropped the book and walked to a small space that had only a few books in it. I leaned down and picked one up. I blew the dust off and ran my fingers across the cover. It had a silver tree embossed on it. I opened it up and read the hand written inscription.
“To my daughter… always remember who you are.” I looked at Josh and held the book up.
“This one was a present I guess.”
Josh stood up and walked to me. He took the book from my hands and looked at it.
“Holy crap,” he said. I looked at him.
“What?” I said.
“This book is old, from the first of the protectors who were created… It is a book of old magic, when they were just figuring out who they were,” he said as he stared at it.
I grabbed it from him and he sighed.
“You won’t be able to read it Rue, in fact I don’t know who could, it’s an old language… coded, this knowledge was lost with the books,” he said.
I opened it up and looked at the first page. The words looked normal to me.
“In the beginning we knew that we could feed from the tree of life. It is our Mother and Father and we owe the creator all of our thanks…”
Twelve-year-old Rue stepped from behind a large stack of books and started to recite the book...
“But we are meant for more, so much more. We need to understand our place and the reason that we have been chosen to protect,” she said.
Josh and I looked at her. I stepped forward with the book in hand and continued to read from it.
“It is wicked to treat others with such a sweeping insensitivity. We must save ourselves from this indulgence.” She stepped towards me and looked down.
“We are not what we should be, we stray from our reason.”
I looked at the book and the words started to fade on the page. I tried to read more but it disappeared from sight. I closed it and looked at her.
“Did you memorize the whole book?” I asked her. She looked at me and grabbed the book from my hand.
“No,” she muttered. She held the book to her chest like it was a treasure. I held out my hand to her.
“I am not going to steal it from you,” I said with compassion in my voice. I hoped she believed me. She softened her look.
“The book always stops right there. I open it up and I am able to read to that point and then the words fade away on the paper, like they never existed.”
I looked at Josh and he stepped up to her.
“Can I see it?” he asked her. She grinned and handed it to him. He opened it up and nothing. All the pages were blank. He flipped it over and looked at the back.
“One of nine,” he muttered. I looked at him with curiosity.
“One of nine?” I asked him. “What does that mean?”
He flipped it over and handed it back to her. She clutched it to her chest. He turned to me.
“One of nine books, it was said that the original nine families. The first protectors created, wrote these books, they hold all that they learned in the beginning. No one knew where they went though.”
I looked at her and smiled.
“Where did you get all these books?” I asked her. She stood up and paced a little.
“I borrowed them,” she said.
“Well, that’s okay… but where did you get the book you are holding?” I asked her.
“I took it out of Mom’s room,” she said. I looked at Josh.
“So, it was given to my Mom?” I asked him… knowing he may not even know.
He shrugged his shoulders. “I didn’t even know that any still existed, I’ve never even seen them.”
I walked up to her and grinned.
“Can I see the book one more time? I will give it right back to you, I promise,” I said.
She handed it to me and I opened it up. All the pages were blank. I leafed through it and came to the end. “Valon” was burnt into the last page. I held it up to Josh and he squinted at it. “What?” he said.
“Look,” I said to him. He leaned in to get a better look.
“I don’t see anything, Rue,” he said to me. I looked at the page and could see it clear as day.
“It says ‘Valon’ Josh,” I said to him. She tilted her head at me.
“Your name is Rue?” she asked me.
“Yes… yours is too, right?” I said to her.
She smiled at me. I leaned down to her.
“How old are you?” I asked her.
“I am eleven… almost twelve,” she said. I stood up and looked at Josh.
“This is not the same memory,” I whispered to him. He looked at me.
“Well that would explain why she is not going psycho on us,” he said. She frowned at him and stuck out her tongue. He crinkled his eyebrows at her.
“Why do you hate me at every age?�
� he asked her.
She ran to the door and jumped out. I ran to the door and she was gone. I looked back at Josh.
“Why?” I asked him. He shrugged his shoulders at me.
“I just don’t know why you hate me every time I run into you,” he said. I smiled.
“Who said I like you that much now?”
I looked out the door. “We should go now,” I said to him. He looked at me.
“How do you plan on getting us out of here?” he asked me.
I closed my eyes and started to see flashes behind my eyes. I started to feel light headed. I leaned backwards and Josh caught me. His knees buckled too and we fell inside the tree house.
I blinked my eyes a few times and looked up at a bird that was sitting on a branch overhead. I sat up too quickly and my head started to spin. I looked over and saw Josh lying on his side. I scooted over to him and kicked him with my foot. He started to grumble and pushed himself up on his elbows. He sat up and rubbed his head.
“What happened?” he asked me.
I looked at him and pushed myself up. I held my hand down to him and he took it. He heaved himself up and I almost fell from his weight. I looked at him and grinned.
“I pulled us out of memory,” I said. He tilted his head.
“You pulled us out,” he said. I looked up at him and nodded.
“You become more of a mystery every day,” he said.
“I don’t want to be a mystery. I want to be normal… predictable,” I said as I started walking. He caught up to me.
“No… it’s not a bad thing,” he said as he tried to make a save on a bad subject with me. I stopped and looked at him.
“I’m not mad, Josh,” I said.
“We should go home,” he said to me.
“I am not going back there,” I said to him. He kept his pace up to match mine.
“Well, what are we doing then?” he asked me. I stopped and looked at him.
“We don’t have to do anything. I am leaving for a while,” I said, hoping he would just give up and go home. He laughed.
“No,” he said. I stopped and looked at him.
“This isn’t a discussion Josh… I just need to be alone for a while.” He stopped and sat down. “Okay then, I will sit here until you return,” he said. I looked down at him and placed my hands on my hips.
“You are going to just sit there?” I asked him. He nodded and smiled as he kicked back and crossed his legs.
“Yep,” he said to me. I tilted my head at him.
“You can’t just sit here Josh,” I said.
“I sure can.” He grabbed some grass and placed a piece in his mouth and stated to chew on it. I sighed.
“Get up,” I said as I turned my back to him.
I heard him push himself up. He stood behind me and I weighed my options. Maybe it would be better if I had a partner, just not one that I want to jump on and grope. I shook my head.
“Fine… you can come with me.” I said.
He leaned around me and smiled. I had my arms crossed at this point and I didn’t want to smile at him. I didn’t really want any company, but I was not going to leave him out there in the middle of nowhere waiting on me. He’d probably follow me at a distance anyway, so we are at an impasse. I started to walk again and he didn’t try to talk to me. I didn’t feel like flashing anywhere. I just wanted to walk for once… no running for my life, no battle… no protector crap.
We came to the edge of the forest and I could hear music. I looked out and saw lights. It looked like a carnival of some sort. I love the carnival, don’t know why… well I do. I loved the smell of deep fried food, the bright lights, and the rides with their shady owners. I wanted to go. I looked at Josh and grinned. He looked down at me and scratched his head. He looked out at the lights and back at me.
“You are kidding,” he said.
I shook my head “no”. He stepped forward and started to head towards the bright lights and the screams from one of the many unsafe rides. He stopped and looked back at me.
“Well...? Are we hitting this carnival or what?” he asked me.
I smiled big… first one in a while. I started to jog up to him and slowed my pace, so that we walked side by side. He looked over at me.
“I can’t believe that of all things, you want to go to this crap,” he said. I shot him a look and he held up his hands.
“Sorry,” he muttered. “I didn’t realize that you liked it so much.”
I didn’t respond. I didn’t really have to. He saw the look on my face. He knew that with or without him, I was going to have some dirty fun. That was my guilty pleasure.
We stepped up to the entrance and the ticket holder looked at us. We were both dressed in our white leather. I didn’t even think about it until he looked at us funny. I looked at Josh and he looked at me. I turned to the boy behind the booth and smiled.
“We are here to perform,” I said.
He leaned forward and looked me up and down and then started to smile at me. Josh stepped up and cleared his throat. I touched his arm. I just wanted to get in… I didn’t need any boy crap. I stepped up to the boy, who had a hat on that said, “Ladies love me.” I read it and then leaned in really close to his face.
“I would really appreciate it if you would let us get to work, my brother here…” I pointed back at Josh. “…is always late and I managed to get him here on time for once, I need to get paid.”
He leaned up to me, and I tried to hold my ground.
“Did you say ‘paid’ or ‘laid’?” I felt a vibration from Josh and squeezed his arm.
“Well, that all depends on whether we get to work or not,” I whispered.
Josh’s body was humming at my fingertips, and I won’t lie it felt good to mess with him. I was still disgusted with him over the “Elin incident”. I smiled and placed my finger to my mouth. The boy sighed and looked at me as he bit at his lip. I knew I had him. He looked at Josh and winked at him. Josh stepped up and I squeezed his arm again.
“Okay then… go to work,” he said to us.
I grinned and stepped back, looking up at Josh as he stood there staring at him so hard I thought he was going to pull his blade and stab him.
“Come on,” I muttered to him. I looked at the boy and whispered, “Thank you.”
Josh snorted as I dragged him in. I let go of his arm and looked around at the lights flashing and the rides moving in chaos. Josh stepped up to me and leaned into my ear.
“What the hell was that?” I shrugged him off.
“Just getting us in,” I said, as I scanned the scene.
“Were you just flirting with that freak?” he asked me.
I sighed and started to head for the freak show. I loved the freak show. I was having a hard time deciding whether I wanted to go see it first or grab some disgusting food and walk and eat. Josh caught up with me.
“Did you see his hat Rue?” he asked me.
I kept looking around.
“Yes… yes I did,” I said, without caring.
“Okay… so you know he’s a tool then,” Josh said, just insisting on talking to me about it.
I looked at him and grinned.
“Oh, I don’t know about that… he was kinda cute,” I said.
I stepped forward and pushed my way through some people crowding in front of a raised stage with a red, black, and white sign that read “Will and Wonder.” I made it to the edge of the stage just in time to catch a girl handling a snake. I looked up and grinned. Josh leaned into my ear.
“He was not ‘cute’,” he said to me, sounding aggravated.
I smiled and watched as the girl let the snake kiss her.
“Look,” I said to him. He looked up and stared at her.
“Awesome, snake handling… it’s been going on for hundreds of years,” he said.
“Oh I forgot… you’re old,” I said to him.
He muttered something then the girl ended her show and a boy came out in a top hat with a black
and white striped shirt on. He wore red shoes and tuxedo pants. I stared at him. He was cute.
He started his speech. “I would be a liar if I told any of you that what you were about to see was anything less than a miracle… not trickery, not a slight of hand… but true magic.”
He looked down at me and smiled. He paused for a minute and stared at me. I felt a little heat in my body and Josh looked at me and then at him. Josh leaned into my ear.
“You are kidding me,” he whispered.
I didn’t respond to him, I kept my eyes on the boy on the stage. He tipped his hat to me and winked. I looked down. He had a British accent… didn’t help, kind of made him cuter.
“No he didn’t,” Josh muttered. I looked back up at the boy and he stepped back still looking at me.
“I will need a volunteer from this most gracious audience.”
People started to hold up their hands, mainly girls, he was cute, very cute. I didn’t raise my hand. He ran up to the edge of the stage and leaned down to me. He leaned up to my face and held out his hand.
“Would you like to assist me?” he asked me.
Josh started to shake his head no, but the boy grabbed my hand and pulled me upward. I pushed myself up and looked at him. The boy looked at my white leather outfit, really looked me up and down, and then cleared his throat. He raised his hat and bowed at me. I grinned. I wasn’t sure what I should do. I looked out at Josh and he had his arms crossed, with a bad look on his face. He mouthed the word “no” and I raised my eyebrows at him and looked back at the boy. I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. He held out his hand and led me to a chair in the middle of the stage that a velvet curtain had just been lifted from.
He leaned up to me and whispered, “Sit down.”
I looked at him and sat down. I didn’t know how amazing me being in a chair was going to be. He took off his hat and his hair was cut short on the sides and longer on the top, it fell into his face, and he leaned up to me. He grinned.
“Would you like to walk through a mirror love...? By the way, you look way too hot in that outfit,” he whispered. I smiled.
Okay, a mirror, I am asking for it… but I look hot, I guess. He stepped up behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders then he slid them down. I sat there trying not to look at Josh, but it was hard. He was pissed. Suddenly the velvet fell around us and only my feet could be seen by the crowd. He stepped to my side and looked down at me.
