by Quil Carter
“Fuck a puff. I’ve been stealing cigarettes,” Nero said. He seemed to be taking great offence to Sacario’s comment. “I take shots of his liquor all the time and he lets us.”
I didn’t really know what to say about any of this. I didn’t think Sacario did drugs but perhaps that would explain his odd behaviour… he was high out of his mind.
“I believe you,” Sacario said with a partial smile. He seemed to be starting to relax. I handed him his plate and we sat down on the couches with my brothers and sister. Garrett’s eyes were full of inquisitiveness, but Ellis looked horrified at the conversation. “Ever smoke weed?”
“Y-yeah…” Nero said, tripping over the word like they were a gravel road. “All the time.”
“He’s lying,” I said. “King Silas smokes it on the balcony and in his room. Nero’s never done it and Silas says he can’t until he’s an adult or he’ll grow up retarded.” Then I paused. “More than he already is.”
Sacario smirked and reached into his pocket. He withdrew a baggy and tossed it towards Nero. “Pipe and five joints. Show me you can smoke, chimera.”
Ellis suddenly rose to her feet. “I’m going to An-Mei’s. What I don’t see can’t be used against me. Garrett, are you coming? I can drop you off at Mantis’s.”
My younger brother looked lost. “Don’t be such a wuss, Garrett,” Nero said annoyed. He opened up Sacario’s Ziploc baggy and the skunky smell of weed started filling the living room. “Are you going to stay with your brothers? Or leave with the girl.”
Garrett crumpled where he was sitting. He had his hair brushed to the side with a flip, and was wearing a wool argyle sweater with a white dress shirt underneath, and trousers with a crease.
“Go with her then, wimp.” Nero reached over and speared the last half of Garrett’s uneaten eggroll. “Let the big boys have their adult fun and go hang out with the chick.”
“Nero, do you have to fucking use me in your insults?” Ellis called from the entrance. “Be a bit more creative, doucherag.”
“Bite me, you old–”
“I’m going to stay,” Garrett suddenly piped up. “I want to stay.” And with that admission, Ellis bagged up her food and left us on our own. I locked the entrance door behind her and double-checked the space between the entrance and the floor to make sure no smoke would escape. There was a thien guarding the elevator door at night and I didn’t want him to smell it. If we got sold out by a thien I would be really pissed off.
I didn’t even know why I was going along with it. This wasn’t like me at all, but then, perhaps that’s why I was liking this so much. I felt dangerous, and it was a high in itself to be doing something so forbidden.
It was Silas’s fault for leaving us alone for the week. We were teenagers, surely he’d be expecting some mischief.
My attention turned when I heard a lighter flicking, then sat down to Sacario lighting the first joint. I took in a deep breath and mentally prepared myself for it.
Nero chuckled. “I can practically see your two sides fighting, Eli.” His voice rose as he mimed, “Should I obey Master God Silas, or should I actually be a teenager and a real person? Hmmm…”
Sacario laughed in the middle of taking a drag, and a plume of smoke burst from his mouth. This was followed by coughing and as he passed the joint to Nero, he took a drink of soda being offered to him by Garrett. “Oh, my god,” he said through coughing. “You’re absolutely right. He acts like such a prince, but I know he’s cool. I knew he was the first time I laid eyes on him.”
I scowled at this. “Silas has been drugging me since I was eight… I doubt this is going to be much different.” Nero blew out the smoke he’d inhaled; he was a bit too good at doing that, and handed the joint to me.
“He has? With what?” Sacario said in awe, but I waved my hand at him, not at all planning on answering the question, and slowly inhaled the marijuana smoke. I did it slowly and that’s what saved me, even though my lungs burned and I felt like coughing, I kept it in, then passed the joint to Garrett.
The high came only a minute or two after, and I immediately felt myself relaxed, like a warm weight was pressing down on my limbs. It was pleasant, and soon the four of us turned on some cartoons (Animaniacs, which was Sacario’s apparent favourite) and relaxed with our food.
Sacario was a god to us during the next several hours. His funny nature was hilarious to my stoned brothers and I, and we hung on his every word when he told us jokes and stories. Sacario loved the attention, of course, but probably not as much as the never-ending supply of food.
It was just passing ten o’clock when my personal remote phone began to rang.
We all stared at it like it was a living bomb. Why? Because there was only one possible person that it could be… Silas.
“You have to answer. He’ll–”
“I know!” I hissed. I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes for a second, then I picked up the phone and put it to my ear.
“Hello?” I said, making my voice sound as normal and alert as I could.
“Yes, Prince Elish?” It wasn’t Silas. I breathed an internal sigh of relief, it sounded like it was one of the thiens guarding Alegria. Maybe they saw a prowler or something. “This is Officer Black from downstairs entrance… do you know a Ryan Brittan?”
My blood ran cold. At first, my stoned state was worried he was going to find out I was stoned and bust me, but then I realized something must be terribly wrong. I was going to see him at school tomorrow, if he had something to tell me… why wouldn’t he wait?
“Yes, I do,” I said. I looked around the living room. I couldn’t invite him up here… not tonight. “What is it he needs? You can hand him the remote phone if you wish… he’s my teacher.”
I heard the thien speak to someone, assumingly Professor Britain, then there was a rattling as the phone got passed.
“Hey… Elish.”
Immediately I was flooded with suspicion. The professor didn’t sound right at all, he seemed hesitant.
“What’s wrong?” I said. “You don’t sound right.” I got up, my brothers and Sacario giving me inquisitive looks, and walked to where my shoes and jacket were.
“Oh, nothing is wrong,” Professor Britain said quickly. “I didn’t know how else to reach you since I won’t be at school for the rest of the week…” He paused, and I heard a second voice, one that didn’t belong to the thien.
Red flags were flying up all around me. “Why not?” I said sharply. I tuned my hearing and attempted to hear who that second person was. He sounded younger than Britain and the thien.
“I’ll be leaving to visit family…” he said. There was definitely something wrong. “But I’ll be back some time next week.”
The second voice spoke again, and I realized with an explosion of anger just who it was.
It was fucking Todd.
And all the pieces fell together. Todd had brought him to Alegria to tell me that he wouldn’t be coming over. Was that asshole that fucking jealous? And why?!
It didn’t matter why. I wasn’t going to let him get away with this shit.
“Give the phone back to the thien,” I said coldly. “Now.”
The professor sputtered for a moment, before I heard the rustle of the phone being given back.
“Yes, Prince–”
“Here are your instructions, I need them followed to the letter,” I said to the thien. “You’ll call for a replacement guard and immediately take Professor Britain back to his home and personally make sure he’s there for the rest of the evening. Tell the young man who is with him to stay where he is.”
“Yes, Prince Elish,” the thien said, not a hesitation on his lips. I did love the fact that I had an entire law enforcement at my disposal, and the military as well. “I’ll call you once I return.”
“Thank you,” I said, and I hung up the phone fuming.
“We have shit to take care of,” I said lowly, not even the weed smoke making the world tilt and shine wa
s calming the anger. It had been however, just one toke. “Get your shoes and jackets on.”
“Ohh, what!?” Nero said excitedly. He appeared near me and grabbed his legionary boots. “You sounded pissed off. Come on, tell us!” If it was Silas on the other end of that line Nero, well, all of us, would be scared shitless. But since it was personal issues… my brute brother was all over it.
“There’s a nice teacher who I have become friends with and one of his students, some little shitsnake has a problem with that,” I said while lacing my boots. “We’re going to make sure the shitsnake stays away from him from now on.” I grabbed my jacket and opened the door, just as Nero and Garrett both exchanged gleeful looks.
“Just a sec… take the elevator to the chimera cave floor, I gotta grab some stuff. Garrett, come with me.” Nero and Garrett took off and I didn’t stop them, I left the apartment with Sacario following behind, and headed towards the elevator.
Once I was inside of the elevator, I noticed the hesitant look on Sacario’s face. I made eye contact with him, and he stuffed his hands into his pockets.
“So… who’s this teacher?” Sacario asked casually. The elevator doors closed and I pressed the button for the next floor down.
“Professor Britain,” I said acidically. “He’s my English 10 teacher. I’ve become friends with him and some idiot has decided he has an issue with…” I trailed off when I noticed Sacario’s eyebrows had both risen.
“What?” I said. Sacario’s face held many animated expressions, but this one was the first I’d seen.
The elevator went quiet, and when it opened to an empty hallway, Nero could be heard thumping around behind the closed double doors.
“You’re… having Professor Britain over? Are you serious?”
I stared at him. “Yeah, I’m teaching him a language, we planned it early in the week,” I said. One of the doors to the chimera cave opened and I saw Nero’s foot prop it to keep it from closing. “He’s kinda cool. I like him.”
Sacario’s face twisted like he was smelling something awful. “He’s not cool, he’s a pervert from what I’ve heard.”
My body froze, all except for my mouth which dropped open in shock and aghastment. “He is not!” I said defensively. “He’s nothing like that. What else have you heard?”
Sacario raised both hands. “I don’t want to piss you off, Eli. Just… it’s what I heard, it’s what like everyone has heard. He’s currently fucking this little…”
Then it was Sacario’s body that froze. “… this little shitsnake.”
I felt both fury and nausea at the same time. I almost didn’t want to ask… but my mouth formed the words anyway.
“Todd?”
Just as I thought, that was all I had to say. Sacario nodded and lit himself a cigarette. “Yuppers, they’ve been banging apparently. Todd was falling behind in his studies, so he fell behind another behind, if you know what I mean. Todd’s a fucking whore, flirts with any pretty boy with a cock and fucks more than a few too.” Ouch. “And that includes teachers. Prof Brit is just as much to blame though, creeper’s like fucking thirty-four.”
I really didn’t know how I felt, and to be honest, I think I was too stunned to feel anything right now. I could believe that about Todd easily, but not Professor Britain. He just didn’t seem like that type of guy; he wouldn’t let Todd whore himself out.
I wouldn’t, and couldn’t, believe that about the professor until I had proof. Proof from Professor Britain, not Todd.
And tonight wasn’t going to be that night… tonight was going to be all about Todd, and getting some well-needed vengeance.
When we got to the front of Alegria, there was no one there. I honestly didn’t expect Todd to obey the thiens orders to stay where he was, especially considering the fact that the thien was now away driving Ryan back to his house. I knew he couldn’t have gone far however.
“Nero, it looks like the asshole who I ordered to stay has taken off,” I said to my brother, and when I looked in his direction I was quite delighted to see a flicker of hunger in his eye. “What do you think we should do about it?”
Nero’s face split into a grin, he looked towards the entrance to Alegria, the white columns visible through the spotless windows. “I think we gotta do a bit of hunting. This guy was an asshole to you?”
“Quite the asshole, actually,” I said. “And he seems to think he can determine who I can be friends with.” Sacario took in a shallow breath at this; it didn’t look like he really wanted any part in this but I didn’t care what kind of rumors he’d heard about Professor Britain. The professor had been kind to me, a hell of a lot more than that asshole Todd had been, and just like I would defend Sacario… I’d defend Ryan too.
Nero walked ahead and pushed open the glass doors. “Fuck, I love it that Silas isn’t here,” he said, his foot holding open the door. There wasn’t a thien in sight, no one was around but us.
Or so I thought.
“Hey… Elish, some dude just hit the road. It looks like he crossed through the courtyard…”
I jogged ahead as Nero said this, and when I got to where he was, I looked to see where he was pointing.
Sure enough, there was someone quickly walking down the sidewalk with his hands stuffed into his pockets. I recognized that walk, and as I looked closer, I realized it was indeed who I suspected. He was wearing a pair of aviator sunglasses, even though it was the middle of night.
“That’s him,” I said lowly. “Don’t kill him… I just want to scare him a bit.”
Nero, of course, looked disappointed, and funny enough, Garrett did too. “But we could have him for dinner…” Nero whined. “And… other things.”
I didn’t even want to know what other things were. “No, I’ll have even more of a difficult time fitting into school if I start killing all the students… just scare him.”
Nero and Garrett both sighed. “Fine,” Nero said in an unhappy tone. “Let’s go scare him.”
We stuck to the shadowed part of the staircase and made it to the bottom. Nero and Garrett branched off after that, running left to where the grass would lead to a parking lot and a fence. He was going to cut him off, which meant Sacario and I were going to be doing the herding.
“Do you guys hunt people like a wolf pack often?” Sacario said casually. We were walking towards the street now, the quick walking Todd now about forty feet ahead of us. He hadn’t spotted us yet, but the moment he turned around, he’d know.
“Not me,” I chuckled. I took a deep breath of the air, just starting to become warm as spring settled in. “But Nero? Probably, he’s always been a bit bloodthirsty…”
Todd then glanced behind his shoulder, and I saw his eyes turn glaring when he saw me and Sacario.
“Where are you going so fucking quickly?” I called to him. “Didn’t your prince tell you to stay put?”
“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, Dekker,” Todd called back. He began to walk faster. “I was at the Limelight and now I’m going home.”
Limelight? I glanced to Sacario who didn’t seem happy at all. “That’s a teen nightclub in Skyland,” Sacario replied, then his mouth twisted. “What a lying whore. Fuck, I hate that guy.”
“I think you need to stop walking there, Todd,” I said. “The two of us need to have a talk.”
But Todd kept walking. “Go to bed, prince,” he said flatly. “And while you’re at it, you can stop fucking sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
And after saying that, like the fucking coward he was, his walk sped up.
I felt a pull as Todd’s steps quickened, and my own feet began to pick up. With every step that I took, my pulse rose, pumping cold adrenaline through my blood stream.
And when Todd looked behind his shoulder and saw I was gaining on him… he turned and ran.
That was when I realized I was indeed a chimera.
Before I knew it, I was running after him, my shoes smacking against the concrete
and the wind blowing in my face. Instincts inside of me, ones I didn’t know I had, sprang to life, and I found myself hyper focused on this prey that was dashing away from me at full speed.
“Fuck off,” Todd snarled. He glanced again over his shoulder before turning on a dime and darting down one of the many alleyways of Sebastian Street. I sped up, but was dismayed when I heard Todd scream.
I turned into the alleyway and saw Todd and Nero struggling, Garrett grinning beside a row of trash cans. Todd was thrashing around and squealing like a pig, and Nero was laughing and pinning his arms behind his back.
“I was gaining on him too,” I said disappointed. “I wanted to catch him.” Behind me I heard Sacario approach, he sounded out of breath and about to drop.
“Tough luck, brosy, this little chickadee is mine,” Nero said. He put his arms around Todd’s chest then crushed the man against his front. “I think I wanna play with him.”
“Fuck off, you fucking animals,” Todd yelled. His eyes were wide, the whites shining under the cold LED streetlights only several feet from the alleyway.
“Not until you answer some questions,” I said. I walked up to Todd, and just because I felt the whim, I raised my hand and smacked him across the face. My hand stung from the force of the blow, but I ignored it. “You going to answer me like a good bitch? Or are we going to have a problem?”
“Tell your fucking brother to let me go first,” Todd snapped. He tried to yank his arms out of Nero’s bear hug but he wasn’t having any luck. “You want to talk; we can talk… but let me the fuck go.”
I could outrun him anyway, so I nodded to Nero who reluctantly let Todd go.
Todd rubbed his shoulders, his face, one I’d once thought was rather handsome, scowling.
To my surprise though, before I could ask him any questions, Todd looked past me towards Sacario. “Interesting company you guys, keep,” he said, his nose curling. “I wouldn’t expect a prince to be hanging around with that.”
That? I narrowed my eyes at Todd. “What do you mean by that? He has a name, or is Sacario one of the few gay guys in Skyland High who you aren’t on a first name basis with?”
