Bursting with Confidence (5 page)

“
Aw," Abigail said in a sing song
voice. "I think you just broke his little heart."

“
Abbie, that’s not funny. Look, I
think I should go,” Haley said.

"No, you promised you'd stay and
keep me com-pa-ny!" Abbie whined.

"Abbie I…" Haley began.

"Nooooo!" Abigail wailed rushing
across the room. She stopped in front of Haley and grabbed her
friend's shoulders.

“
Haley, don't go. It's almost
Peter's bedtime and we can watch that one vampire flick that you
like,” Abigail said. "Twice…"

“
No, it's best if I just leave.
I’ll call you tomorrow,” Haley said quickly.

“
Peter is fine.
Look, I’ve been babysitting this kid since he was two. So I know
the ins and outs of his weirdness. He’s strange but
not
 
crazy
strange
 
if you know what I mean. So just sit down, get comfortable and
take a load off. You know, you might hurt his feelings more if you
just up and left. He’ll have all kinds of
 
abandonment
issues
 
and stuff.”

“
Stop trying to guilt me into
staying, Abbie.”

“
Is it working?”

“
Um, no.”

“
Well, let me
turn on
all
the charm…”

Abigail pulled Haley into a hug
with a low wail.

“
Please, please stay with me
Haley. I’ll be extra special nice to you. I’ll make you ice cream
and feed you cake!” Abigail whined.

Haley pushed her friend away from
her with a laugh.

“
Ow! Get off of me,” Haley
giggled.

“
So, you’ll stay?” Abigail
asked.

“
I hope she does,” A low voice
said.

Abigail and Haley turned away from
each other. They stared in the direction of the voice.

The two young women looked at the
doorway of the room.

A tall young man stood in front of
the small stone staircase.

The young man had wild black hair.
He was dressed in a pair of tight fitting blue pajamas. Large
crumbs adorned the front portion of the young man's
clothing.

A pair of small black slippers
encased his feet.

Gold designs decorated the top
portion of the dark footwear.

The young man looked at Haley. He
grinned at her before he waved.

"Hello Haley!" the young man said
cheerfully.

Abigail and Haley
screamed.

Chapter
Three

Abigail rushed from Haley. She
moved to the wall near the television and snatched one of the
swords from the stone partition. She held the weapon out in front
of her and moved the blade in quick jabbing motions while rushing
towards the man.

Abigail stopped near Haley and she
thrust the edge of the weapon in the young man's direction while
she spoke.

“
Who in the hell are you? And
where’s Peter?” Abigail roared.

“
Peter!" Haley shouted. "Peter!
Where are you?”

“
I’m Peter,” The young man
said.

Abigail and Haley looked at the man
with shock.

The man raised his right hand and
he placed his limb atop his heart with a nod. He stared at Haley
and curved his lips into a lopsided grin.

"It's true Haley. I've come for my
kiss," the man said.

Abigail and Haley turned away from
the man. The two young women looked at each other.

“
I’m calling the cops,” Haley said
pulling her cell from her pocket.

"And I'm gonna kick some intruder
butt," Abigail said.

"Don't you guys believe me?" the
young man asked.

"I'm not getting a signal!" Haley
cried.

"He'll be dead by the time the cops
get here anyway," Abigail said with a shrug.

"Dead?" the man asked.

Abigail walked across the room. She
stopped in front of a wall, glanced at the assortment of weapons
that hung atop the partition before yanking a large axe from the
barrier.

"Yup dead," Abigail
said.

"But I just wanna kiss Haley," the
man whined.

Abigail turned from the wall. She
held both weapons in her hand and aimed the lethal edges of the
blades in the young man's direction while charging towards him with
a banshee like scream.

“
Gonna cut me off some balls!”
Abigail screeched.

The man stumbled backwards with his
hands raised in Abigail’s direction.

“
Wait!" the man shouted hoarsely.
"I’m Peter Larsen. Really I am. Look! Let me show you just wait!
And my Dad will be real mad if you break that axe. Its fifteenth
century."

Abigail stopped running. She looked
at the man with a slight tilt of her head.

Haley looked up from her phone. She
glanced at the man before she looked at Abigail.

"Your Dad will be mad?" Abigail
asked in a choking voice.

"Yeah it belonged to my Mom's great
great great great great great…" the man recited.

Abigail raised the axe and she
threw the weapon across the room.

"Abbie no!" Haley
shouted.

The axe sailed through the air with
a loud swishing sound. The blade flipped in rapid circles while
hurtling in the direction of the man's head.

The man fell to his knees in a
clumsy duck with a loud cry.

The axe flew from the interior of
the room. It soared through the opened doorway and flew into the
hall before slamming into a stone wall across from the entrance
with a loud clanging sound and a bright white spark as the blade
struck the stone.

"Damn. My aim is off today,"
Abigail said.

The man rose to his feet. He turned
around and looked at the axe behind him with a gulp.

"So are you going to tell us who
you are before I cut your tongue out?" Abigail asked.

The man turned around. He looked at
Abigail with wide eyes.

"I already told you! I'm Peter
Elliot Larsen the Third!" the man said with a high pitched
squeak.

Abigail lowered the sword in her
hand. She thrust the blade in the direction of the man's
middle.

"Left or right? Choose now,"
Abigail commanded.

"Huh?" the man asked.

"Which ball do you want to keep? Or
which one do you want me to lop off first because if you've done
anything to Peter I swear I'll…" Abigail said with a
hiss.

"I am Peter!" the man shouted.
"Don't hurt me! Look Abbie. Just look!"

The man ripped off his
shirt.

He pointed to a long ragged scar
that was located on the lower portion of his abdomen.

“
See?" the man said. "It’s my scar
from having my appendix removed when I was eight.”

"Lots of people have their
appendixes removed," Abigail said slicing the sword in his
direction. "I’m still not convinced! Commence with the ball
removal! No anesthetic! No sterilization of the wound
area!"

"Wait there's something else!" the
man said.

The man turned around. He raised
his left arm and bent it awkwardly before lowering his limb and
slapping his palm against the pale flesh near the center of his
spine.

A tiny patch of scarlet colored
flesh was located in the center of his spine. The scarlet marking
resembled the shape of a large wolf.

“
There's a birthmark there. It
looks like a wolf. It's right there," the man said.

Abigail moved closer to the dark
haired man. She stopped a few paces away from him. She stared at
the center of his spine and saw the bright red mark.

"Its not make-up," the man
said.

The man raised his hand from his
spine. He licked his palm before lowering his limb and rubbing at
the center of his spine.

"Yucky," Haley gagged.

"It's not coming off. It's my
birthmark. You scared me when I was six. You said that I'd be a
werewolf," the man said.

The man lowered his hand from his
spine. He turned around and looked at Abbie.

"You said the only way I could stop
the turn was if I ate raw beef milkshakes. And you made me one on
the night of a full moon. Remember? I drank it and it was pretty
good so you wanted some. We both had three. We both got sick but I
didn't rat you out when Dad asked how I got sick," the man
said.

“
No way,” Abigail whispered. "You
can't know that!"

The man pointed to a scar on the
left side of his chest.

“
This," the young man began. "See?
I have this scar across my heart from when I was dancing on that
glass table in the dining room and fell in. I was seven. I almost
died. The doctor said that the glass piece was three…”

“…
inches from your heart!” Abigail
finished with a gasp.

“
And here’s those chicken pox
scars from when I was five that I scraped off that looks like the
milky way on my bum…” the man said.

The man turned around and he
grabbed at the waist of his trousers.

“
Hey! Hey!” Abigail
cried.

“
Don’t!” Haley shouted.

The man turned around. He released
his grasp on his trousers and stared at Abigail.

"You got your heart broke by some
idiot guy. You came here to babysit for me the next day. You were
crying and I made you a chocolate sprinkle smoothie with tobasco
sauce."

“
No way," Abigail whispered. "You
can’t know that. Nobody can know that. Except for
Peter,”

"That can't be. It's not him,"
Haley said.

“
It's Peter," Abigail said. She
lowered the sword in her grasp with a solemn nod. "No one would
know that but him."

Abigail looked at the man. "You…how
did you do this?"

Haley stomped across the room and
she stopped beside Abigail. She looked at the man warily before
grabbing Abigail's shoulder.

Abigail looked at Haley with a slow
blink. "Haley I always knew his family was weird."

"Hey!" the man said. "We're
magically eccentric."

"But," Abigail continued. "I had no
idea they could do stuff like this. I mean. What if they decide to
like blow people up?"

"The family took the Human
Protection oath in the twenties so we can't do that anymore," the
man said. "But we can war with other Magical Clans. When that
happens it's really awesome. Haley if you want I can take you on a
Magic Raid."

"Abbie," Haley said ignoring the
man. "Please just stay with me okay. Please listen to me. This man
isn't Peter. He just some crazy person. And he can't do magic.
Don't believe what he's saying. It can’t be him. It's just not
possible.”

"Haley," the man said.

Haley turned from Abigail and she
looked at the man.

“
Anything is possible in this
house,” The man said.

The man moved closer to Haley. He
stopped in front of her with a grin.

“
Can we kiss now? We’re the same
age,” He said.

“
No! I’m not kissing you!” Haley
cried.

“
Is it because you think I’m still
a kid? Or is it that you don’t believe me?” He asked.

“
No, I’m not
kissing you because you are a
 
crazy
person
!" Haley said.

Haley turned from the man and she
moved closer to Abigail. "Gimme your phone Abbie I'm calling the
cops!"

"But he's really Peter," Abigail
said.

"Give me your damned phone!" Haley
shouted.

The sound of a loud rumbling noise
filled the room.

Abigail and Haley looked around
them with wide eyes.

"What?" Haley asked.

"What was that?" Abigail
asked.

"The security system," the man
said.

Haley and Abigail looked at the
man.

"It's sensitive. It can sense anger
and danger and stuff like that. Dad has to calibrate it better.
He's been experimenting with it," the man said.

Haley turned to Abigail.
"Look Abbie. I don’t care what you say. I’m calling the cops. This
man is crazy and probably from the asylum around
here…and
 
Peter is missing
.”

"Peter is right there," Abigail
said pointing at the man.

"Fine," Haley said taking a step
from Abigail. "I'll find a phone myself."

"Haley," the man said.

Haley turned to the man. She looked
at him with a menacing glare.