Bloodlines: Everything That Glitters (12 page)

I took in a deep breath and watched as white birds flew swiftly through the openings of the clouds. “Start fresh,” I whispered.

Before I could get a reply from him I was awakened by the sounds of a crying baby and the chirping of the nearby birds. “How long did I sleep?” I whispered to myself.

I slowly looked around the nest; no one else was in it besides my daughter.

“You were out for several hours, I’ve just returned with something to wear for your baby,” Centure replied as she glided closer to the nest. In her hand she held a small knitted dress and a pair of tiny shoes for the child’s feet. “You are all healed as well,” she continued while dressing the girl. “What shall we call her?”

“Alizarin,” I replied calmly.

“As much as she is a part of you, she will be of me as well.” Centure pulled a single strand from her long wavy hair and tied it around Alizarin’s wrist- forming a strong bond between the two. I watched a portion of her power leave her then she inhaled deeply as the hair she‘d tied faded into the flesh of the baby.

Centure had made herself a Godmother- a sacred tradition I’d only thought existed for the fairies. What seemed to be unclear were her motives for doing so, everyone knew that Godmothers were weird people- they grew old and died in a matter of years; much like the humans. But during their lifetime they held a power like no other, the ability to protect and serve on a grand scale.  

“You didn’t have to do that, mother. You’ve never done that for anyone else,” I said as I reached out and took Alizarin from her arms. My daughter’s hair was full and curly; I played with it momentarily as I held her close to my heart.

“I didn’t have to, I needed too. She has great power, I’m sure Phlinx has felt it, and by now, Masaya is gathering her soldiers,” she replied as she straightened some things in the middle of my nest. “If you want to save yourself and your baby you should leave at nightfall.”

“Yes, I’ve already planned on it.” I hugged the child close to me and looked in Centure’s deep blue eyes.

“There are thousands to choose from on this planet. Which have you chosen?”

I thought about it carefully but I’d already made up my mind whether Hero liked my choice or not. “I figure we all naturally dislike humans. What about them?”

She looked across the forest and studied something before replying, “I will travel there with you. Others have also decided to join.”

“No need, mother. I can handle myself. Hero has vowed to join me.”

Instead of the tongue-lashing I was sure I was in for, she just stepped into the middle of the nest and sat down. “Look, Psenora, there are more things at stake here. We have all tried very hard to overlook your deceit and in the end, we reason, you are family. A family should stick together.”

“I did not mean for any of this,” I cry, wishing she was but a bit closer so that I could bury my face from shame. The vines came forth from the tree and wiped my tears away before I continued. “Who has agreed to travel?”

“All of us,” Felicia answered as she drifted forth, holding a baby of her own. “Nikko’s father is dead, there is nothing left here for us.”

I handed Alizarin off to the vines and the three of them held her gently as I floated up to my sister. Felicia among them all was my favorite. “You all do not have to do this.”

I caught sight of Skylark’s depressed demeanor and flew over to her. “My dearest, Skylark, stay if it is what your heart seems good to do,” I comforted.

Instantly she flew away from before me, leaving only a trail of tears behind. But to my surprise, she returned minutes later with a few sacks around her shoulders. “One family,” she whispered in despair.

Alizarin

Friday September 3, 2010

That moment was a revelation for me, you have to be grateful for the little things in life; at least I wasn’t in the hallway when I blacked out and I was at least around semi-trained professionals. When I came too I was on the ground, my head and vision were still slightly spinning but it was controllably moderate.

Bethany, the nurse and the deaf kid all surrounded me, they’re lips were moving but I could barely make out the sounds of what they were saying. I finally just gave up and nodded, my hearing would come back to me in no time but I assumed the questions were something along the lines of: “Are you alright?”

I felt it only right that I continuously nod and get up from the floor. I brushed my pants off like I had landed in dirt and smoothed my shirt. A high-pitched ring rang through my ears and the voices were back. Once again thoughts consumed my mind and I figured I must have been back to ‘normal.’

My headache was even more extreme now that I had tried to crack my skull on the hard floor. The nurse held out two pills and a plastic shot of water, I took the pills and gulped them down with the water. “Time to go,” I said heading for the door.

Before I got any closer the nurse held on to my arm, “Are you sure you don’t want me to call someone to come and get you? You should probably go home for the day.”

I thought it over briefly, I really did not want to be here and an excuse from the nurse was always legit. I decided against it thought because I wanted to make a promise to myself that I would see this whole school thing out. I shook my head, “I’ll be fine.” I forced a smile and walked closer to the door.

“I’m going to stay here and translate for Dominic,” Bethany said from behind me. “See you in class next period.”

“Suit yourself,” I responded, walking out of the nurse’s office.

I seriously wonder what that was all about
? I thought as I entered the mass of people walking to and fro.

Through the crowd,
I caught sight of Ash charming some strange looking sophomore with red hair and deep freckles. I paced swiftly to the small circle that had started to form around Ash and stepped into the middle of it. “Hey did you remember to pick up that wart cream this morning?” I announced loud enough for only the huddlers to hear. Crawling under his skin was my specialty, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ash forced through clenched teeth. He yanked my arm and pulled me to the side. “Take it back and walk away,” he said angrily.

“Why? I’m weeding out the losers for you. You’d do the same for me right? I’m simply returning the favor,” I responded, patting his shoulder. “By the way, mom called, she said she couldn’t find your size in the disposables so she just got you the cloth diapers instead.”

“She’s joking!” he declared suddenly, with a shy chuckle. The damage was done though, the girls walked off in every direction shaking their heads. “Why the hell did you do that?”

I laughed out loud and walked away in the same manner the girls had and shook my head. “Doesn’t feel too great when the shoe is on the other foot does it?”

“Revenge will be sweet, so be ready for it,” he threatened, turning his back and walking to class.

I shrugged and continued walking, I could totally handle anything he dished out and then come back three times worse.

***

The air was cold in the stuffy classroom; I blankly jotted down intangible notes as the teacher began explaining the assignment. Somehow I knew I was on the verge of a breakthrough with the thought sorting, I just felt it.

Usually the voice would join me at school and drag on about different plots of world domination, but today she was quiet.
It would be so much easier if I had help
, I thought to myself, silently wishing I could handle removing the clarity just to hear my brothers’ thoughts. A low growl rumbled in my throat, this was frustrating.

Behind me someone ripped a page out of their notebook and slid it through my chair. I casually grabbed the note and read it.
Roses are red, Violets are blue and I would really like to speak with you.
It was signed by Wade- the weird kid that bumped into me in the hallway yesterday. I wondered what it was that he could possibly want to speak with me about; he’d never wanted to talk before.

I shrugged and put the note in my binder, giving a small nod then went back to barely writing notes. My mind ventured off with ten more minutes of the teacher dragging on with the boring lesson. More visions of Nikko danced across my mind, they were always enough to make me want to run an ad in the paper to find him.

Class couldn’t end fast enough, I wanted to know what it was Wade wanted to talk about. Anxiety built up as I waited for the last three minutes of class to end; I gathered up my books into my backpack and got up from the desk- behind me Wade was doing the same. “So what’s going on?” I asked, stepping around the desk.

“The hallway,” he replied pointing to the door.

I walked over and out of the door then stood against a random locker, the students in the hall walked briskly to their different destinations, paying us no attention. “Yesterday when I bumped into you in the hallway, I saw some stuff and the only reason I bring it up is because I know you won’t think I’m being weird. I know what you are, Alizarin.”

I paused for a brief second and wondered over the things that happened that day; he’d barely touched me at all so it couldn’t
technically
be called a bump. “Stranger things have been said, what am I and what are you?” I responded trying to sound casual, but the words nearly jumped from my mouth.

Wade looked down at the ground as if all of the words he wanted to say had fallen down there. “You’d think I would have had enough time to come up with a way to tell you,” he said lowly. 

Anticipation built up from the pit of my stomach, I actually wanted to know what he knew and
how
he knew it- hopefully it would answer a lot of the questions I’d raised. I slowly started to murmur, I’d deal with the migraine. He had taken long enough.

“You don’t have to do that,” he said looking up to meet my gaze.

I lost myself for a moment as I stared back into them. I couldn’t help but lean forward to look deeper into them- nearly forgetting about everything else for a second. “Dude, what color are your eyes?”

“Not a normal human color, I can tell you that much for sure,” he smiled. “They’re royal blue.”

“They’re awesome,” I replied with a hint of jealousy. I snapped back to reality. “Walk and talk with me, what is it I don’t have to do?”

“You don’t have to say that.”

I relaxed my body, confused that he knew about the clarity too. “So, is there an easier way?”

“There are a pair of listening ears. Madison Park is right down the street, maybe ten minutes from here. I’ll be there at 3:00. I can tell you everything I know.” A second later he stalked off down the hallway.

“What was that about?” Ash questioned, walking up from behind me.

“So you’re the listening ears? Doesn’t surprise me at all. What did you miss?”

“I heard the whole thing. I just wanted to see if you would be honest and tell me,” he smiled, “I’m also really just curious as to what he knows.”

I stared off into the crowd as I wondered over it too. “You and me both, brother. I know you’re not going to want me to drop you off at home so just keep your distance; I don’t want him to pause off from telling me again. I gotta get to class.” I turned my back to him and walked off in no rush whatsoever.

This was my most dreaded class of the day but luckily it was also the last. The bell rang just as I pushed the classroom door open and wakened into class. Bethany looked up from her phone and smile; the teacher did the same. I walked to my desk and sat down in the snug chair and table concoction; I was totally gaining weight now that I had gotten lazy and stopped working out. 

My thoughts gradually drifted off as the teacher got up from her desk to begin the lesson; since I had decided to put my powers to good use, I was now an ‘A’ student all across the board, it was naturally called cheating of course, but no one would ever be able to prove it.

I felt a little different today though, like I sort of wanted to pay attention in class and learn something the old-fashioned way. I directed my thoughts and attention toward the teacher; she was merely reading directly from the textbook sprinkling her own words in every now and then.

Opening my own book I followed along attentively and asked questions about things I didn’t understand -or pretended not to understand- just to keep my mind focused. This was a strange yet interesting sensation, learning and listening.

By the end of class I was surprised at myself; I was smarter than I gave myself credit for, if I applied myself to anything I did I was sure to come out on top. I sulked a little when I realized how close my words came to something my mother might say -and probably has said- and that was never cool.

The final bell rang in no time; I never realized how fast time would fly if I paid just a little more than the usual attention in class. Bethany rushed over to my desk as I stuffed the homework packet in my backpack; it never occurred to me how we had become so close over the last few weeks, we talked, texted and hung out nearly every weekend nowadays.

I never bothered trying to stay out of her head, she usually had a lot of words left unsaid and that always upset me, even more than the words her self-doubt was nearly intolerable and I was having the hardest time trying to break her out of it. She was a pretty girl and had features most people would kill for, but she covered it with long black hair and huge dorky looking glasses- most of the time I was a little embarrassed to be seen in public with her.