Bloodlines: Everything That Glitters (24 page)

I looked at Corey with confusion. “Is that true?”

“Only in you in Ash’s case,” she replied.

“So you do know more that you’re not sharing.” I tried to refrain from anger as I turned my attention away from her and spoke to Centure. “So why can’t we sleep?” I took a few deep breaths and exhaled slowly.

“Think about it Aliza,” Ash spoke as he moved from one side of the room to the other, “If you remove sleep, the body doesn’t have to take time to renew itself and if you don’t renew you become frozen, and when you’re frozen you…”

“Live forever,” I finished.

I sank into the chair and mentally checked out; living forever should be a good thing yet I felt robbed. “So exactly how long will this last? Who exactly are we?”

“It will all make sense later, soon you’ll even be able to put the pieces together yourself,” Zerra answered. “It all has to do with being in this hell hole. Don’t worry, you aren’t missing out on anything.”

Centure shot her a warning look and she stepped away and left out of the room. “Zerra sometimes talks out of turn. Don’t mind her.”

“So then, do we really have to eat?
Since obviously we aren’t anything close to human.”

“You don’t have to but it is a good idea if you do. We are not as far away from human as you may believe.” Centure went back into the kitchen and finished preparing a light lunch.

I let my thoughts wonder off for a moment while the smell of Centure’s meal filled the room. “Do we have to breathe?” I inhaled deeply and held it in, after a few minutes I was neither lightheaded nor on the verge of passing out; thus answering my own question. “Well that’s cool,” I mumbled under my breath as I leaned my head back to rest on the chair. 

When Centure had finished the food we sat around at her breakfast table and ate silently. After we were finished, we returned outside where our Beasts were still waiting. “Now I will teach you control of some of your individual strengths. Firstly, here are your saddles.” 

Three all black leather saddles drifted down from the sky and landed on each of the beast then fastened themselves. I walked over and stood beside Azlyn then stroked her golden feathers.

“I must show you how to dismiss and recall Aspen, Azlyn and King-Nash. Now this part is simple, tell them to retreat,” Centure continued.

I looked over at my giant then did as Centure instructed. Instantly Azlyn was no more, instead she was replaced with a silver bracelet that nestled gently on the grass. I leaned over and picked it up and held it in my hand; there was but one tiny charm dangling from it in Azlyn’s likeness.

“This is cute,” Ash said as he picked up a bracelet that resembled mine except it was golden. “It’s a little bit opposite,” he laughed when he looked at mine.

“To call them out, simply invite them. Sometimes they will appear whenever you truly need them but experiment with that later. Now, on to other matters.”

I hooked the bracelet around my wrist then paid attention to Centure’s next words. “Just as our
faces, our powers are what make us unique. They separate us from the humans. Reaching our full potential is crucial during the first three years of possessing them; otherwise we will always feel incomplete.”

Wade raised his hand. “My mother never mentioned that part. How will we know when we’ve reached our full potential?”

Centure looked toward the sky and smiled. “Because then we will be invited into the heavens. Unfortunately most of us never do, which will be discussed on a different day.”

I took a seat on the grass and wondered over what she could have been talking about-
into the heavens?

I looked at Ash and shrugged to myself; I had to be to work within the next hour or so, and it would be soon time for me to leave. “So what else are we going to cover today?”

“Control,” Centure answered.

Learning control was probably one of the hardest things about today, in the end I walked away at the back of everyone else. I’d grasped as much as I could in the little time I had, but now it was time for me to get going, I couldn’t be late for my first day at work.

“Great day team,” I said before walking into the house and whistling for Triton.

“Aliza, you’re leaving?” Ash called behind me.

“Yeah, I have that little thing called, work, I have to attend today.”

The trees blew gracefully in the wind, making me feel completely at ease on this beautiful day.

“So I guess I’m taking you home,” I told Wade as he caught up with me while I walked down the path to my car. I put Triton into his traveler then got into the car and drove away; Wade was quiet in the passenger seat only speaking when he had to give directions. “What’s up with all of the silence?” I asked after I’d had enough of it.

“Could you see yourself ever being with someone like me?” he replied.

I looked away from the road for a second to meet his eyes. “What makes you ask that question?”

He inhaled deeply. “Because I know that you want intimacy, and not meaning just sex, I saw how you liked to be touched and held and as badly as I want to give that to you, I can’t.”

“I think we should spend a little more time together before I can honestly answer that question for you.” I gave a reassuring smile.

We pulled up to a neutral toned two-story house and I unlocked
the doors for him to get out. “It was nice seeing you today, even though I rudely summoned you.”

He smiled and opened the door. “
Its fine, she’d given me a heads-up beforehand, and so I made sure I wasn’t doing anything. Besides I learned a lot of new stuff today and I got to spend time with you, so it’s been a really good day.” He got out of the car and closed the door before walking away and going into the house.

When I got home I transferred Triton from one cage to another and put food and water into it. I grabbed the new uniform shirt from the bed and shorts then walked down the hall to the bathroom and taking a shower.

I arrived at work five minutes early, ready to add a new chapter to my life. “So where do you want me?” I asked Louise once I’d found his office amongst the mass of junk beyond the employee’s only door.

“Great, you’re on
time; it’s the other server that’s late. She should be here to train you shortly so keep an eye out for Christina. Until then, your apron is in the employee office, put it on and go see if Jesse has anything for you to do while you wait.” He smiled then dismissed me with the flick of his hand and went back to staring at his computer screen.

“Oh joy of joys,” I whispered to myself as I turned around and left out of his office.

Wednesday September 22, 2010

I couldn’t say that life was getting better now that I didn’t feel so alone with my problems but I was starting not take things as hard as I used too. But still, it was as if my very soul had been taken from me yet I had never felt so alive. I paced slowly past my bed while looking down on it in disgust; the site of it made me long for my previous human existence.

“I need to have this thing removed,” I thought aloud while unlinking the charm bracelet from my wrist.

I stared down
at the small silver charm; I wondered briefly what it was like for Azlyn to be confined inside of it like a genie in a bottle.

“Hey are you still awake?” Ash said softly through the door.

“Like I have any other choice,” I mumbled. I looked over the bracelet again before hooking it back around my wrist. “Come on in, brother.”

The door slid open slowly and Ash stepped into the room, “I meant were you still here, I thought you might have been off riding Azlyn somewhere.”

I’d thought about it, the imprisonment of these walls was becoming a little too much since now I had too much time on my hands. “Yeah, maybe I’ll get some fresh air in a bit. At this point I’m still trying to gather the image of me never sleeping again.” My legs hurt from continual pacing but I couldn’t sit on the bed.

“Suddenly our life is nothing but time.” he responded lowly. We both stared out of the window for a moment; I felt his calm wash over me as I sank deeper into thought. “We’re in this together no matter what and that’s all that matters.”

A small tear formed and fell softly down my cheek, “Forever.” I whispered. Wiping the tear from my face, I unhooked the charm from my wrist then reached over to open the window. “You ready to go for a spin?” I threw the charm out of the window and watched Azlyn break from the silver and come to life. Her wings flapped gently up and down causing mild winds to blow through the room.

“Mind if we join?”

He tossed his charm out of the window and Aspen fell to the ground before breaking free of his entrapment. I laughed as the house lightly rocked when the tiger rolled to the ground.

“Use your wings!” Ash yelled down to Aspen.
             

“You use yours!” He replied sarcastically.

I climbed out of the window and onto Azlyn’s saddle, “I’m leaving town.” I told Ash as he jumped onto Aspen.

“As long as we can be back before school in the morning, I’m down.”

“Who needs school?” I laughed as I led Azlyn off into the night. Ash stayed close as we danced around in the clouds. I didn’t know where I was headed, I’d go wherever the skies took me and that usually just got me a few cities away on weekdays.

I never actually lingered in any of the cities; more like flew over them just so I could say I’d been there but one day I’d stop to meet the citizens. Azlyn was still working on stealth mode and she’d get exhausted after two minutes and go back to visibility, which is why we stayed hidden in the clouds.

“Is Azlyn still having trouble with stealth?” Ash called over to me through the sounds of the fast winds.

Yeah unfortunately, she’ll pick it up soon though
, I thought in reply.

“I was going to suggest we stop somewhere and talk about what happened the other day, I never got to thank you for the picture. I loved it.”

I caught every other word as I paid more attention to other things until he repeated what he’d said in thought. “Not a problem, we’re good. No need to talk about old stuff.” I looked down at the ground as the tiny lights of a town faded into the night skies. “I feel like a wedge is forming between us, not saying that it’s a bad thing because I think we actually do need to figure these things out on our and within ourselves. I don’t want you to feel the same way I feel about a lot of things because you feel like you have too.” I said at normal pitch, fully aware that he could hear me whether I tried to speak above or below the wind.

How about we land them out of sight and go and see what’s happening down there
? Ash thought enthusiastically.

I thought about it for a moment before decided that it couldn’t hurt anything to stop and see what kind of trouble was out there to be had. “Can we neglect to pick up strangers and bring them into our home to eat our food and lie to our faces this time?”

He laughed and started to dive with Aspen.
Makes life more interesting don’t you think
?

***

Corey was no longer served her purpose and to add insult to injury she was also slowly drifting and becoming a person I no longer thought I knew. Most -if not all- of her bruises and scars at this point were healed and after another wardrobe update she wanted to show a little skin. I thought back to the scared girl I met in the gas station a month and a half ago and compared her to the person that sat across from me at dinner last night; they could never be more different. Although a part of me wanted to be glad that our family was able to help her come out of the cocoon, I still couldn’t bring myself to trust her. I hadn’t seen Centure in a week partly due to having to haul Corey around to look for a job every day after school and all day on weekends. But seemingly, Ash had begun spending large amounts of time with her, and for once in my life I felt ostracized by my very own family.

Azlyn expanded her wing to the window and I walked over and climbed in through it, shaking off all of my unease with Corey. I knew deep down that I should be happy with all of her progress. I looked down at my watch before retreating Azlyn; my mom would be calling for breakfast within the next few minutes. I figured I’d get a head start and go down early, maybe even getting the chance to help my mom prepare something.

I changed out of my clothes from last night and slipped into the pajamas I no longer wore, I ignored the slippers as I walked out of the room barefoot and onto the cold and unforgiving wood floors in the hallway. I walked into the bathroom and washed my face and hands then headed downstairs. I could hear my mom humming in the kitchen as she moved swiftly around doing three things at once. “Good morning,” I said gruffly as if I’d just waken up.

“Morning sunshine,” my mom replied smiling. “You’re up early.”

“Slept off and on all night,” I lied. “Waffles?” I asked while reaching into the refrigerator and grabbing ingredients for the batter.

“Yeah sure, thank you,” she answered while slicing red apples and tossing them into the juicer.

I bundled the ingredients into my arms and walked them over to a cleared counter. My mom questioned me about work and responsibility as we worked side-by-side in the kitchen; I realized that I hadn’t done this since I was younger; it used to be the highlight of my day years ago. I smiled as I recalled old memories at our old house in the kitchen then began pouring the powered waffle mix into a bowl.