“PUT ME DOWN,” I slowly looked up to see Lander dangling just above the deck. I held back my laugh as I watched Calamine walk up to him. She raised her hand and slowly passed it across his eyes. I noticed her stiffen as she took several steps back. Tears started running down her face while she shook her head over and over again. Jakey saw what was happening and rushed over.
“Calm down, Cala. Calm down. What happened?” he asked handing her a cell phone. We watched as she typed the same word over and over again. Danger.
“Danger? What do you mean danger?” Jakey asked concerned. Calamine shook her and flung her arm out to the side. I didn’t know what she was doing until I heard Lander scream. I turned around just in time to watch him get flung off the ship.
“Cala! Lass, you can’t throw people you don’t know off a ship!” Jakey yelled as he ran to the side of the ship to join the others who were making sure that Lander was alright. I helped Calamine up and walked her over to the rest of the group. We looked over the side to see Lander stuck in a tree. His wings were tangled up in one of the branches and he was struggling to get them free.
“Cala, get him down!” Jakey yelled. Calamine just shook her head and sank to the floor. Jakey sighed and started to climb off the boat.
“I’ll get him,” he groaned. We heard a crack and watched as the tree bent down far enough to touch the ground. I looked at Calamine who was curled up on the floor. It wasn’t her doing it. Lander screamed as the tree snapped back up and sent him flying onto the ship. He smacked into the same door Thorn had used and laid there staring at the sky.
“CALA!” Jakey yelled when he saw what happened, “What the bloody ‘ell was that?” She shrunk down further and cowered before him. Her mask was soaked with her tears as she kept shaking her head.
“Hey, it wasn’t her okay? Can’t you see how much you’re scaring her?” Leo said walking up to Calamine and scooping her into his arms. Calamine was roughly two inches taller than Gabriel so it surprised me when he picked her up so easily.
“Are you okay?” Leo asked. Calamine nodded her head and snuggled into him. Leo rocked her slightly and they kind of just had their own silent conversation. It was cute. Jakey just shook his head and walked over to help Lander. Calamine sighed and lifted the ship in the air. She was so in touch with her ability that it was...smooth sailing. Don’t judge.
Calamine held the ship until it was safely in the golden water. Lander walked over to me rubbing his head.
“What’s her problem?” Hh asked.
“Calamine’s? I don’t know,” I said. Lander stiffened and looked at Calamine.
“I’m guessing you know her,” I said. He shook his head and snapped out of whatever had him.
“Anyways, how’s my flower?” Lander asked, placing his arm around my waist. I looked at him and smiled sweetly.
“Your flower? Oh, she’s doing just,” I grabbed his hand and twisted it behind his back, “fine.” His wings tried to make me let go by hitting me in the face. I pulled tighter until I heard him cry out.
“Don’t touch me,” I said letting go of his arm.
“Love! You need to be nicer to those around you,” Thorn said coming from goddess knows where.
“Where the even hell do you keep coming from? And why at the worst possible moments?” I asked turning towards her. She stood there with her hands on her hips and a smile on her face.
“Hello, I’m Thorn Arbellis and you are?” she asked with an outstretched hand. Lander shook her hand.
“Lander Harden,” he said with a smirk.
“That’s an interesting name. Maybe I know your father,” Thorn said as I slowly snuck away. I walked over to the back of the ship and stood there looking at everyone. Mona was talking to Ethan and by the look on her face, she was pretty happy. Eris was talking to Jakey, who had finally made it to the ship’s wheel. Leo and Calamine were in their own little world. Everyone was happy while I stood here feeling out of place. I sighed and turned around to stare at the golden water.
“The water isn’t going to change the longer you stare at it,” Gabriel said as he walked up behind me. I chuckled before turning to face him. He stood there with his hands in his pockets and a soft smile on his face.
“Why aren’t you talking with the others?” I asked leaning against the edge. He scoffed and leaned against the edge next to me.
“Are you serious? Mona wants my head, fuckface over there can get his head cut off, Leo looks like he wants that weird girl to give him head, and things are kinda uh...screwing with my head after um...after what happened at the party,” he said running his hand through his hair.
“Since when did you care what others thought,” I said. He groaned and tilted his head back before looking at me again.
“Since I was born, Snowdrop. Things just went south since I last saw you. Things changed,” he said. I saw something change in his eyes. His normally joking look turned to a softer expression.
“What happened?” I asked. I cocked my head looking at him closely. He sighed as he lowered his head and stared at the floor.
“Remember when I left in Starters School?” he finally said after a while. I nodded my head.
“Yeah cause it was the same time the biggest jerk left school,” I said flatly.
“Me?” he asked laughing. I nodded as I smiled a bit.
“Now, what about it?” I asked.
“Well, I left because my little sister was sick. I wanted to be there to help take care of her, so my mom let me go to the Tainia Pry School. My sister died three years later. I didn’t feel like going back to the Starters school so I stayed in Tainia with my mom. After I graduated from Cnd School I got offered a job working as a reaper and the rest you already know,” he explained softly. That explains where he was and why he is such an ass but what happened? He went from being an ass to a huge douche between Arou and Tainia.
“Okay, but what changed after you got back because you turned into the biggest asshole ever,” I asked. He chuckled and shook his head.
“After Eris had put me down and I saw we were back in Tainia, I panicked. I already lost my sister so my mom was all I had left. Then I found her dead in our old house. I guess I acted a bit out of line.”
“A bit?”
“Okay okay, I get it, I was as far out of line as I could go. I jumped off the edge and did a double backflip while flipping everyone off. Look I’m sorry. I get a bit pissed when something bad happens to someone I care about,” he said looking at me. He smiled and moved the hair out of his eyes. I nodded my head.
“I understand. I don’t like it, but I understand,” I replied, “how old was your sister?”
“Three. She was going to be four, she told mom she wanted a new doll and for dad to come home for her birthday. She still didn’t fully understand that dad was going to be gone for a very long time. Er, well I guess she did get to see him after all,” he said rubbing the back of his neck. I awkwardly patted his back and stood up.
“Hey Snowdrop,” he said grabbing my arm. I turned to look at him. His joking eyes were back but now that I know what they hide I understand what’s on his mind a little more.
“Maybe you should change out of that dress. It seems a bit torn,” he smirked.
“He has a very good point, love.” I groaned as Thorn walked up to us.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“I want to show you to your rooms and give you some new clothes,” she replied, “Now what color do you like to wear?”
“White,” I said flatly.
“But, love, white is so plain. Why not a nice turquoise?” she asked.
“No, I want white,” I said. She groaned and shook her head.
“Fine be that way,” she shrugged as she turned towards Calamine.
“Calamine would you pl….” she saw how Calamine was just lying there seeming a bit irritated. Calamine looked over at her and scurried away from Leo. She stood up and looked at me with her ever so sad eyes.
“
Now, Calamine, would you please show Cerise and her friends to their rooms,” Thorn said walking away. Calamine seemed to brighten up as she skipped around us. I looked at Gabriel confused until he pointed down at my wrist. I looked down and saw a light golden ring around my wrist. There was a glowing string connected to it, and as my eyes followed the string I noticed that our entire group each had a ring like mine. After Calamine had stopped skipping around us she held up the strings to show us that we were in her hands now. She pulled on the strings and led us down a flight of stairs that were off to the side near the wooden door that Thorn used. She guided us past several doors before opening one of them. It was a plain room with two beds and a single circular window. I felt the ring leave my wrist and saw that Eris’s was off too. Calamine looked at and did some motions with her hands. I think she was signing something to us.
“Go to bed? It’s not even night time yet,” Eris pointed out.
“Sorry lass, Cala doesn’t know how to say much with her hands. Thorn taught her how to say that because Thorn got tired of telling me to go to bed. I think what she’s trying to say is that this is where you’ll sleep,” Jakey explained.
“Oh, okay, that makes way more sense than what I thought she said,” Eris laughed. Jakey smiled and checked his phone.
“Come on Cala, let’s get the rest of them to their rooms,” he said as he walked away. Everyone followed behind him except Lander and Gabriel. Lander winked at me before following and Gabriel looked like he was gonna rip off both Lander’s and Jakey’s heads. He looked at me and nodded. He looked at Eris, turned a deep shade of red, quickly looked away and ran off to the others.
“Wow.”
“What?” Eris asked looking at me.
“I go from having a huge asshole for a roommate to having you for a roommate. Not to mention I think my last roommate has a crush on you,” I laughed. She blushed and quickly closed the door. She turned towards me and sighed.
“Yeah I know. Okay, but problem is that I ain’t mighty too sure how I feel about him no more,” she mumbled.
Chapter 11
“What!” I said a bit surprised. Eris rubbed the back of her neck and sighed.
“Let’s change and talk about this later okay?” she offered. I shrugged in agreement. On either side of the room was a dresser: one a plain white oak, the other a dark mahogany. I figured that the oak was mine so I went to that one first and upon opening it I saw that it was. It held nicely folded white shirts and pants. I took out a pair of pants and a random shirt and threw them on. The shirt was plain with a V-neck and two strings near the top. The pants were stretchy and plain as well. I turned around and saw Eris wearing a gray belly shirt, a denim jacket, and a pair of jeans. She looked nice.
“You look good,” I said.
“Thanks! You don’t look too bad yerself,” she said with a smile. I walked to the bed that was covered in deep purple sheets and sat down.
“So…about Gabriel?” I asked, looking over at her. Eris turned red at this and quickly looked away.
“Well, I think I might have feelin’s for him. Don’t you dare tell him either or my hammer is going through yer skull,” she said, pointing at me with a stern look. I threw up my hands in mock surrender. Eris shook her head as she threw her bag on the bed. Something caught my eye as the light bounced off the metal.
“Eris…what is that?” I asked pointing at it. Her eyes widened as she quickly snatched up her bag.
“Nothing,” she replied with a nervous smile. I stood my ground as I crossed my arms.
“Eris...” I said. She sighed.
“When I was five and out flyin’ through the forest near my old home, the Vie came in and killed everyone I knew. When I returned my whole village was destroyed. Mere ashes. Everyone had light comin’ from their eyes and mouths. In the middle of my grief a member from the Vie came up behind me and if it wasn’t for a very kind girl I would’ve died. When I turned around, I saw a tall girl who seemed to shine in the sunlight. She was outta breath and looked as though she had very little combat experience because she held her sword like she had never used it before,” Eris said sadly.
“Her hair was long and pure white. Her eyes were a milky white so I assumed she was blind. She wore a long, white, simple dress that touched just above her feet. She looked at me and I saw fear in her eyes. I told her thank you, she nodded her head and whistled. Just in that moment, I saw a blur of red hit her and then she was gone. I looked at the spot where she stood and saw something sparklin’ in the light of my people. When I picked it up I was surprised to see that it was a silver tiara with little white pearls around it. I still have it...” Eris continued as she pulled it out of her bag. She handed me the tiara and looked to the ground sadly.
“You are the only person who knows that I have this. I don’t know why she had it, I just thought it would be a good idea to take it,” she rubbed her arm, looking away from me. It took me a minute to process what she told me. I know it would be mean to say this, but she really is not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to certain things.
“Eris… did it ever occur to you that the tiara might belong to her?” I asked, holding the tiara carefully. She thought a moment and I swear I could see a light go off in her head.
“Wait, so would that mean she is really good with metal?” she tilted her head.
“......uh...no...it means she’s the… ” I said slowly. She’s a different kind of special.
“.....Thorn is the-” just as she was about to say what we both were thinking there was a knock at the door.
“Now who could that be?” I looked over at her and hid the tiara before answering the door. I groaned when I saw it was Lander.
“Great to see you too, flower. How you feeling?” He was leaning against the doorway with a smirk that I wanted to slap off his face.
“I would feel much better if you weren’t here,” I sighed, “What do you even want?”
“I just wanted to see my flower,” he said leaning towards me. I leaned away from him as far as I could without falling.
“Well, your ‘flower’ doesn’t want to see you,” I replied slowly closing the door, “bye bye now.” He stopped the door with his hand before I could fully close it.
“Ha ha. Nice try beautiful. Not getting rid of me that easily,” he pushed it open as he stepped towards me.
“Oh for the love of Ke Ahi!” Eris groaned as she stomped over, picking him up with ease. He seemed as surprised as I was when she picked him up. I mean I’ve seen her pick up Gabriel but he’s like five feet, five inches and looked like he only weighed about a hundred fifty. Lander, on the other hand, was easily six foot and at least two sixy with all his muscle. What the hell, Eris?
“Woman! Put me down!” Lander yelled as she carried him out of the room.
“You don’t know the word no. So you gotta go,” she replied calmly. I held back the laugh as I followed behind her. She walked up the stairs to the deck and straight to Jakey.
“Brother, I need some help,” she called out. Jakey turned to face her, or well he turned to look up at her. I never noticed that she was taller than everyone. Geez.
“What do you need, lass?” he asked.
“He won’t leave the poor girl alone,” Eris said as she dropped Lander. When he hit the floor he looked up at her and growled.
“I can keep an eye on the lad. He shares a room with me anyways,” Jakey shrugged. Lander looked like he was about to blow his lid so I snuck away to another part of the ship to get away from it. I walked a good distance before going to the edge and just standing there looking out at the horizon. I could hear Lander yelling at Eris and all I could do was shake my head.
Day one of our cruise was basically just that. Arguing. Trying to get used to things. The food was terrible I must say. Okay okay! Don’t hit me I was just kidding! Geez! Sit back down and let me finish this damn story….thank you. Anyways where was I? Oh right.
The next morning was as cold as a winter night. I
swear that Witch was having guy troubles again. Then again, when wasn’t she? I spent most of the day alone. Not because no one wanted to be around me but because I avoided all of them. It’s harder than you think since there was maybe ten of us if I counted correctly. Yeah, me, Gabriel, Eris, Mona, Ethan, Leo, Lander, Calamine, Jakey, and Thorn. That’s ten. I was able to spend most of that time in my room since Eris was mostly with Jakey. Not because he’s good looking or anything, but because he could catch her up on what had been going on since she was gone. I sat on my bed lost in thought and wondering where we were going when I was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Yes?” I said looking up from my pillow. The door opened slowly as Gabriel peeked his head out.
“Hi, Snowdrop,” was all he said as he stepped in and closed the door.
“What do you want?”
“Well, I was wondering if you could help me be...um...nicer?”
“I uh...what?” I sat up fully now. That wasn’t something I thought I’d ever hear him say.
“I want to be nicer. I’ve noticed how much being an asshole doesn’t help our...current situation so I want to change that,” he smiled nervously. I took a deep breath as I looked him over.
“You just want to be nicer so you can try your luck with Eris, don’t you?” I asked. He quickly looked away from me mumbling something about how I didn’t have to say it out loud. I just stood up and walked over to him shaking my head.
“Look, Lassi, just keep yourself from calling others names and just being asshole-ish in general. Then there you go! Though it would help if you helped out every now and then,” I explained.
“Huh...really? It’s just that easy?” he asked. I nodded in response. He seemed surprised at first until that dumbass smile crept onto his face. So many things wrong with this picture.
“If it’s that easy then why are you so mean?” he asked with that dumbass smile plastered on his stupid face. All I could do was stare blankly at him. It was that stare you give someone that you are just done with.
At Death's Door Page 6
