Unveiled: The Chronicles of Luxor Everstone

by Jacklyn Daher

  Principal Wright grimaced. “Story? If you want a story go to the library. This is history.”

  “Funny, I thought I already had that class,” Luxor said to Evie who snorted.

  Principal Wright whipped around. “The MBT have been well versed in this topic, would you prefer to join them?”

  Luxor shook her head not even having to think twice, and eyed them off.

  “Feeling is mutual.”

  Luxor heard someone mutter from the side but she wasn’t sure who.

  “I was going to leave this until next class but since you are all so attentive, I’ll give you a double dose of work.” Principal Wright retrieved a USB from the pocket of his slacks. Inserting it into the laptop on the desk he switched off the lights, pulling a chair to the side to sit off.

  “Let’s bring out the popcorn.” Evie reclined her legs and stuck them on the table, crossing them at the ankles.

  Thirty minutes later the lights were switched on, much to the chagrin of Luxor. Sitting in the dark with the temptation to look over at Hunter eradicated was a welcome relief.

  “Did I miss much?” a soft voice from behind her said. Luxor yelped and held her chest turning her head around. Ayla was propped up on the desk beside her.

  “Where did you come from?”

  “A galaxy far, far, away.” Her lips tilted to the side.

  Luxor rolled her eyes. “And you were allowed to miss most of the class? Lucky you. If this was History it would be a whole different story.”

  “Call it drastic circumstances. Remember I told you I’m a great helper. Well Principal Wright needed my help.”

  Before Luxor could ask what circumstances could be so dire that a person of authority couldn’t deal with, Principal Wright cut off any further continuation of the conversation.

  “Choices, choices. Pick a topic of some deity and gather yourselves in groups of three and discuss,” Principal Wright said.

  Ayla swept off the desk and dragged a chair to the front of the desk opposite to Luxor. "Who are we choosing to study? I think we should choose Zeus. It'll be easy after watching that mini-movie. What do you think was the biggest lesson learnt from the Trojan War?" Ayla asked getting in a teacher mode and straight into work.

  Luxor pulled out her notebook and pencil. "Zeus wasn't in the slideshow. Was he?" She should have paid attention rather than attempting to sneak glances at a certain boy.

  "No, But Helen of Troy was. She was the daughter of Zeus," Ayla explained.

  "So, we're studying Helen instead, not actually Zeus." Luxor twirled the pencil, between her fingers.

  Pieces of video footage came back to her where both males vied for Helen's affection resulting in the long triangle, between her husband Melanus, and Paris who she ran off with. Not once was there mention of Zeus.

  "Kind of both, it'll be more in depth. I've read about it. Basically, he transformed himself into a swan and raped Helen's mother Leda."

  Luxor balked, her fingers snapping the pencil in half, the pieces trailing off the table. Numerous times she attempted to say something, to show her disgust, disregarding the fact Zeus transformed into a swan which was bizarre on its own, but more to do with his heinous act. But Evie beat her to it.

  Fire flashed in her brown eyes. "You want to write about a God who raped a woman, producing a child who then started the Trojan War?" Evie screeched louder than when she tried and failed to "sing" her metal tunes.

  Ayla exhaled loudly. "It’s not as simple as that. She indirectly was to blame, but love makes you do stupid things."

  "I refuse to do it." Luxor shook her head vehemently, and turned her back, not wanting any part of the impending argument. There would be no way she would be studying anything on this matter. In red pen, across the page she scribbled the only word that summed Zeus up.

  Rapist.

  Ayla hit the table and it reverberated. "I've got it?" She burst out, the shy little wallflower dissipating for a fraction of a second.

  Luxor jumped out of her stupor and let out a yelp.

  "Okay, Zeus the rapist is out. Why don't we go completely out of the box and study The Book of Enoch?" Ayla suggested, gathering up the printouts and scrunching them into balls.

  “So what Principal Wright was saying before they,” Luxor inclined her head towards the window “interrupted.”

  “So, we’re swapping a rapist for demons,” Evie said in a bored tone.

  “Oh, but it's all so defining." She began to recite and explain a story taken from Jewish Apocrypha, which according to her was of the factual variety. A breed of fallen angels called The Watchers, or Grigori, mated with human females and impregnated them. The outcome were hideous monsters named the Nephilim. It took drastic measures by divine intervention to eradicate them all.

  "In the end they got kicked out of Heaven, good riddance I say," Ayla spat. Darkened blue irises turned cold and sharp as if they could cut glass.

  "You're getting awfully feisty over a mythological story," Luxor observed. "It's too bizarre to be factual."

  “It’s pretty stupid though, diluted demon babies. I wonder if they would be born with horns and a long tail?” she chuckled.

  “What if it is true? From what you’re all saying The Book of Enoch is well known, like the Bible," Luxor said.

  “Of course, it isn’t,” Evie interjected. “It’s folklore, like a scary story you’d tell at a campfire. This one time at Sunday school we played a game of true or false and that question came up. When I asked my dad, I was grounded for a week for speaking such evil. Can you imagine them around? Yuck!” Evie shivered.

  "Somebody should eradicate them all,” Ayla said. "They are the catalyst of doom and destruction, but eradication? That would send off a chain of events nobody would be ready for."

  She waved her hand about. "Seriously, I don't care."

  Time out was needed from the fact versus fiction argument raging on with Evie and Ayla. Evie seemed to be winning the argument, her voice raising an octave the more Ayla talked. Meanwhile Ayla was adamant angels walked among the mortals, and the stories in Greek mythology and the Jewish Apocrypha were real, with Evie responding by twirling her finger at her temple making "coo coo" sounds. To add to the mix Ayla was trying to inform Luxor of all the half-breeds or "demi-gods" but she wasn't interested. Just like Helen of Troy, it was these half-breeds that caused destruction. All three of them were making her crazy. Well crazier.

  The shrill bell rang and Principal Wright thrust his hands in the air, exasperated. Luxor stuffed her possessions in her already overstuffed backpack relieved the snooze fest of the class was over, and followed Evie.

  "Miss Everstone, can I please have a moment?" Principal Wright called out.

  Luxor paused mid-step and returned to the desk. Evie mouthed ‘outside,’ to indicated she could wait for her.

  "It's been brought to my attention that there's conflict arising in the school with another student."

  Luxor swallowed the lump in her throat, and prepared the same excuse she would give Meredith. Time for damage control, how could she explain what happened. There was no doubt he'd eventually find out, secrecy was non-existent in the school, but she didn't prepare for word to spread that quickly?

  "As you're know, I'm aware of your history." Luxor opened her mouth to protest, but was silenced with a firm upturned palm. "Miss Kingsley and her tendencies to create conflict is well documented. I've already told you if there are any problems to come to me."

  "So, I'm not in trouble?" Luxor said hesitantly, not sure if she heard right.

  "No. I'm here to help. I'll be speaking to Miss Kingsley about her bullying." Momentarily Luxor was rendered speechless and confused that he was on her side.

  Nothing good would come out of Scarlett’s taunts being made public to Principal Wright. No, it would only add fuel to the spark that had ignited and she didn't need it to spread into a blaze.

  "We sorted it all out." Luxor forced a smile and prayed he believed her.

&n
bsp; After school, Luxor hiked one kilometre up the driveway to the derelict state of The Chalet, and stopped short of the cracked steps to absorb the damage in the daylight. On one and a half acres of land, the wooden logged house was staggeringly worse than it first appeared.

  The aftereffects of the scorching heat and neglect meant The Chalet needed more than a coat of paint and flowers to spruce it up. A grand oak tree to the rear towered over the roof, with strips of the brown trunk peeling off in flakes. Deep orange weeds sprouted alongside the front porch and up the frame of door, joined by the wilted grass which had been sucked of all their life.

  It was hard to imagine The Chalet being prized property.

  Why would Scarlett care that I lived here? I imagined she lived in her own piece of paradise.

  Luxor entered inside and turned the knob for the fan to maximum, the cool air creating goose bumps on her arms. Untying her shoelaces, she flicked her sneakers through the foyer and almost hit the fan. A tinkling sounded in the distance. Usually she wasn't messy, but today her energy and care factor was low on the list.

  Luxor dropped the backpack near the side of the couch, and took the stairs two at a time up to her bare little bedroom. The mattress sank under her weight as she bent over and massaged her cramped and sore calves, courtesy of the hike.

  Luxor couldn't wait until June when she turned seventeen. In a mere four months her hopes of freedom crawled closer, and she would be able to drive, perhaps attaining a semblance of normality where chaos didn’t follow in the process.

  The kitten popped into her mind and she did a prompt sweep of the room; under the bed, under the chair near the balcony, even inside the open bottom drawer of her side table but it was nowhere to be seen.

  Another casualty of my oh so charming personality.

  Full boxes lined the walls beside the window, but Luxor had no inclination to unpack. Once she did it would be official. This would be her new home. And she wasn't ready to face reality.

  Luxor changed her jeans and rummaged through the first box marked tops, exchanging her hoodie for a long-sleeved black top, with a white t-shirt on top. They would have to need a good soak to remove the stains, all thanks to Scarlett's tantrum.

  What was wrong with her?

  Luxor couldn't deal with someone with that amount of hatred in case it rubbed off on her. Her aggression resembled a beast, a struggle she fought to contain daily. Once unleashed she felt as if she had turned into a monster, the venom contaminating her system. Steering clear of Scarlett was the best idea, although that was going to be hard. With a town and school that small there would be nowhere to escape.

  Summer used to be her favourite season but now she covered up, even if it was scorching hot. It was either that or join the circus, like Scarlett, with the likes of people who had an extra leg or some other deformity.

  Does being a grade A bitch count?

  Luxor released the elastic from her hair and ran her fingers through her platinum locks, eradicated the tension. She removed her contacts and replaced them back into their case and turned the faucet on. Water gushed up in a heavy stream, and cupping her palm she refreshed her face, letting out a contended sigh before drying off with a hand towel.

  Luxor’s stomach gurgled and urged her to eat. She had only realised she hadn’t eaten any food since Ayla gave her some liquorice at lunch. She applied pressure and headed downstairs where she surveyed the contents of the fridge. It was pretty much bare; last night's pepperoni pizza, a bag of apples, a litre of soy milk and a loaf of gluten-free bread. She grabbed a bottle of water from inside of the door and bumped it shut, hoping for luck in the pantry, but apart from cereal, peanut butter, baked beans and tuna, there was nothing.

  Last night, Meredith had grabbed only the necessities, but Luxor almost squealed when she saw a tub of Ben and Jerry's chocolate chip cookie dough in the freezer. Before she could get excited, she also noticed a tub of lemon sorbet beside it. For a moment, she contemplated indulging in the chocolate decadence. Intolerant or not, her body wasn't going to take away her chance of eating ice cream. If she suffered stomach pains and might throw up, it was worth it.

  But logic held her back, the nagging voice whined at the back of her mind, yelling at her to stop being stupid and taking risks. It was another thing taken away, and she would have to deal with it.

  A yellow Post-It note was stuck on the fridge.

  Luxor

  Hope you had a great day at school and no drama came up. Doing a double shift tonight, not sure what time I will be back. Enjoy the ice cream.

  M

  She peeled off the note, scrunched it up and threw it in the sink.

  It was business as usual, Luxor was used to being alone.

  As a toddler before the move to Hampton Cove, life was different. They lived in a suburban town called Deer Park, in a small but homely house wrapped in a white picket fence, with a pathway which led from the gate to the front door. At every opportunity, Luxor rode her pink Barbie bike, with the tassels on the handles, and Meredith protecting her from falling backwards. When Meredith had to work, she would take Luxor to the next-door neighbour to be looked after, to go to work as a midwife. Bundled in her Minnie Mouse pyjamas and robe, with fluffy bunny slippers, even at that age Luxor knew when she went next door, she wouldn't see Meredith until the next morning.

  When Luxor was seven, she confessed to Meredith about her memory. In hindsight, it should have been clear Meredith was a pathological liar as she replied, "Oh my darling, what an imaginative dream. Let's get you back into bed." Meredith denied her history as if ashamed of her background. By then she was a high society queen, glammed up with her fancy thousand-dollar dresses tightly clung to her body, six-inch stilettos, and diamond earrings. And again, apart from the nanny, it was a lonely night for Luxor. As soon as she turned fourteen the nanny was hardly needed. According to Meredith, Luxor was old enough to be left to fend for herself, with microwave dinners and Verity as her company.

  Verity. The thought of her sent an ache straight to her heart. Not only had she lost a best friend, but basically a sister, and she didn't know how.

  Did she hate me? Was she missing me?

  Strong and vivid memories were constantly there, as Luxor remembered the nights when all they had was each other. They would pour a packet of peanut M&M in a tub of Ben and Jerry's ice cream and mix it together, before demolishing the tub until they felt sick. Nights were spent gossiping about celebrities, laughing at stupid YouTube clips of dancing cats, and of course the hot topic of the boys at their school. Not that Luxor could contribute, the subject of boys was one she wasn’t an expert in, unlike Verity.

  Was I some distant memory, easily removed and replaced?

  The fact Meredith gained a job as a midwife immediately confirmed Luxor's memories as a child were real. Although she was used to being alone, being here in these foreign surroundings terrified her.

  Who knew how long Meredith would be working tonight? Were country hospitals different?

  Luxor ventured into the lounge-room with the tub of sorbet in her palm and the spoon digging from the centre. Dust floated upwards as she dropped on the hard, lumpy couch and she sneezed three times. A long, firm object poked her in her lower back causing discomfort. She wiggled from side to side before she twisted and pulled out the culprit. The remote control.

  Luxor switched the television on and hoped some background noise would erase the buzzing in her head. She switched through channel after channel, from daytime soaps to cartoons, which Luxor used to love. The Smurfs came on and Luxor switched the television off, put off by their blue-ness.

  Why did they have to be cheery all the time?

  Sometimes she barracked for Gargamel to take their happiness away and make the cartoon realistic.

  Oh, my God, there is something seriously wrong with me.

  Luxor retrieved the family tree worksheet out of her bag, spreading it out flat on the coffee table and with her grey lead poised, she began the tas
k. Websites were supplied at the bottom of the worksheet, but since the house had yet to have a phone connection, the internet wasn't even an option.

  Luxor gave up and got off the couch, and switched off the television, placing the remote in front of the television. She conceded the background noise would give her a headache rather than distract her.

  That's where it ended.

  Her sneaker had landed on top of the cabinet when she entered the house. Flicking her wrist, she swiped the sneaker off the cabinet and the photo frame smashed. Shattered glass littered the floor.

  Luxor picked up the big pieces and moved them to the top of the cabinet. "Ow, ow, ow." she whimpered, sticking her throbbing finger in her mouth.

  She scrambled to the kitchen and scattering the contents of a brown paper across the bench. Alongside cotton balls, cotton tips, toothpaste, and mouthwash, she found a box of Band-Aids within the pile. Removing She removed her finger from her mouth, and inspected, but found no cut. Normally she would have assumed she hallucinated the cut, except the strong metallic taste continued to coat her tastebuds.

  Would it be idiotic to still need a Band-Aid?

  To be safe Luxor wrapped one around anyway. Her eyesight could be playing tricks on her and the cut could open up at any time. Blood stains took a great deal of effort to remove from clothing.

  The family tree popped back into her mind. Without a second thought Luxor slipped her sneakers back on, and grabbed her backpack.

  "Screw it," she mumbled, slamming the back door.

  The orders given were clear. Stay out of trouble, and come home straight from school. Today alone Luxor was about to break those two rules, but she was beyond caring. She would cop the punishment because it would be worth it. To fail wasn't an option, unless she changed classes, but then she would need to explain why.

  She only made it as far as the barn before the realisation set in that she had no idea where she was going. She needed to find a library or internet café if there was one, but doubted a town this small would have one.