Original Souls (A World Apart #1) (22 page)

"You okay, dad?" Corinth said without any sensation of concern in his voice.

"Are you? That's a much better question, kid. I can't take all this nonsense with the walking away while I'm talking to you, and the saying whatever you want to me, like yo
u’
re suddenly an adult. I'm your dad, Cory," he was still breathing hard as he choked out the last sentence of his appeal to his son's more respectful side.

"Yeah, I know." Corinth started off explaining himself slowly. "But ..." he hesitated to say it, but he knew it was imperative that he articulate this message. He had to get this across to his father's wiser side. "But you don't seem to understand that I'm not exactly that little boy you knew two years ago." Criston heard that loud and clear. It put him back on track with his breathing. He stood upright, as he was very intrigued by his son's assertion that he lacked a certain understanding. "I may have been in a coma, but I wasn't dead. I grew physically, mentally, and yes even emotionally. I'm just trying to get settled in to my own skin again. And I know that I'm going to be doing that mostly on my own, here at this school." Corinth took a look around at the grounds of the large school as he spoke of it encouragingly. "Put yourself in my shoes, and think about it. I know I'm still only twelve, but
I’
m not a baby, like you and mom always treat me."

All Cris could make out was, "message well received." He was otherwise stunned silent by-his son's ability to transform into a much more mature version of himself on command. Cris just looked down at his feeble twelve-year-old son and said, "then go on, I see you've got this under control." Corinth smiled and started walking away again. "Wait! One more thing." Cris interrupted Cor
y’
s short-lived moment of superiority. "You must not, under any circumstances, mention that the dog there is a mangy mutt."

Corinth looked at his dad with squinted eyes. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that he'll flip out on you if you call that dog anything but the most beautiful creature you've ever laid eyes on." Corinth glanced over at the pup walking on the grass and bending down to chew at will. He thought that it'd be hard to look at things that way. He felt like he was about to have another, Gavin, The Watcher, situation just outside the Watchtower walls. "You got it?" his dad pressed on.

Corinth didn't turn his line of sight from the ruff looking pooch when he answered. "Yeah, I think I can manage."

They parted ways for now. Criston knew that it was he who had the harder feat to pull off, but still he wanted Corinth to get settled just as badly as Corinth wanted to feel settled.

He had to catch up with a nonstop train headed for the Diamond Atrium. Sena. Hendri
x’
s house felt very inviting to her after the day she had with an ever questioning Corinth. She knew he was confused, but she didn't know how much longer she could stand his constant need for an explanation to everything. She took the long way to get to the three dorm buildings and the main class building that formed the diamond shape of the atrium that surrounded her home. Cris was right, she did take that path on purpose. She couldn't leave without first talking with her favorite pupil ever. That was out of the question, but she did always like to keep him on his toes. Cris caught up with her quickly, but it came at a price.

"Breathing harder than usual, Sen. Gambit?" she asked a rhetorical question that Cris decided to answer.

"I wouldn't be breathing so..." he had to stop and take a huge gulp of air into his lungs. Again, he doubled over fighting for oxygen. Sena. Hendrix hovered over him with a smug look that actually had a slight resemblance to sorrow. She wasn't very good at expressing those types of emotions. It came off a tad bit haughty.
"…
so out of breath if you'd just talk to me in the hospital roo
m—
up in the tower."

"Well, if I'd done that, Corinth wouldn't have gotten this opportunity to see the school grounds close up, and mingle with some of its more lively characters. Like, Gavin and The Well Read Walker fellow his chatting it up with right now," she was speaking in that know-it-all manner that Criston had grown accustom to over the years.

"You could have been showing him around during the two days I was out of commission."

Sena. Hendrix now looked on at Criston with a more disappointed look in her icy blue stare. I
t’
s as if she wanted him to see beyond himself, and more clearly into the realm of possibility. Cris was
n’
t a visionary. He was a problem solver, but never saw pass the issues themselves. Problem, solution, and done. Tha
t’
s why he never did well in Sena. Hendrix's premonitions course.

"Are you a willing idiot, or are you just naturally stupid?" she said with a resolute tone. She gazed across the grounds at a more simplified Corinth talking with that bibliophile, Walker, that she never trusted, but held high hopes that she could one day.

"Mom, there's only but so many of those hits I can take before it starts to get personal," he challenged her with sensitivity.

"Nonsense!" her tongue chirped in a mocking fashion
.“
I have my reasons, as always
.
”

Criston decided to stand up tall, and present himself as a respectable figure in Sena. Hendrix's eyes. He caught his breath, and pushed past the insults being hailed at him, into more personal territory. "I've been through a lot these past days and
I—
"

"Ha-Ha!" Sena. Hendrix was overcome with giddiness as she listened to her selfish former pupil try to appeal to her sensitive side. The problem there, she doesn't have one. A cold calculating woman indeed.

Cris looked on as she snickered and giggled at him. He was attempting to explain his position in all this. Just as his son had just done with him. But there was no reasonable response from Sena. Hendrix, not like he'd given to Corinth. No, she just looked right through him, as if he were some mischievous sewer rat in her eyes. Graveling, simply to get a sample bite of praise from this monstrous excuse for a woman. A woman that could not be pleased by simple applause alone. She wanted an encore presentation from Criston. But with a different act entirely.

"It's personal now, you've made that more than clear," he told the woman glaring at him in addition to the sinister grin twisted around her lips. He turned away in disgust. "Why does it always have to be this way with you?"

Sena. Hendrix looked on at the man she viewed as still a boy, and felt regret. Regret that she hadn't taught him any better in so many different ways. "You play the fool all too well!" Cris turned back to her, rubbing his left hand over his forehead. "Has it not occurred to you how scared your son is? He is the one who's been through so much, not you my dear boy. As sorry as I am to admit it, you've turned out to be a horrible father." She was cutting in deep, but Cris decided to take it on the chin for now. "That boy over there in the meadow, he refused to leave your side the entire time. He could not be coaxed out of that room up there in the tower. He wanted to be a part of your healing process
.
” She grabbed her own head, like she was going to twist it off
.“
Mind numbing question after question.
When is my dad going to wake up? What are you putting in his arm? Are you sure tha
t’
s facing the right direction?
His display of affection for you was, and is, undying. Even as you constantly disregard his deeper feelings at every turn." With every word, she inched closer and closer to her son, who she's been disregarding since his first breath. "Perhaps, I'm partly to blame for some of your failings as a parent."

She turned away, and began to pace intently from the nearest oak tree back to Criston, and then round about again. Criston began to think back to the days when his mother chose to work rather than dine with him, Evan, and his father.

"I wasn't there for you much once I achieved the GM position," Sena. Hendrix admitted genuinely. She quick stepped back to Cris like a lightning bolt, and got right in his face. "I never wanted to hurt you, your father, or even that little street orchid you call a brother, Evan. The three of you were my life, but the demands of this position were never to be taken lightly. So, I took on as much as I could manage. At the expense of family, of course."

"Well, i
t’
s nice to finally hear you say it. I suppose i
t’
s better than nothing." Cris felt sick to his stomach to rehash those faraway feelings.

The memories of his mother's distance never crept into mind. He always shut her out. In thought and reality. She hadn't even met Corinth, her only grandchild, until two days ago. She'd heard of him, but was never graced with a formal visit. Not even when he was an infant. Sena. Hendrix possessed similar ideas to Sebastian about mixed relationships. Julia, being La Envidian, was a problem to Hendrix. She hid that truth to most, considering her job forced her to interact with people from every World and walk of life. No less, her opinions made it impossible for her and Julia to see eye-to-eye. Even when Julia attended Aurora Boreal, alongside Criston, she never carried much affection for her boyfriend's mother and teacher.

A while before Corinth was born, Criston cut Hendrix out of his life. He did
n’
t agree with his mothe
r’
s irrational thinking anymore than Julia did. The last they saw of one another was at the funeral of Criston's father. Sena. Hendrix and he had already divorced before his passing. Criston and she barely spoke to one another during the ceremony.

All those memories flooded both their minds like tsunami waves. It was a crushing realization that the two of them essentially hated one another. They stood between two oaks, and just stared past one another into their opposing views of the darkening sky.

"We have many other matters to attend to," Sena. Hendrix stated formally.

"Yeah, we do." Cris scratched his head, and looked down at the stone path he and his mother stood on. He felt like a kid again, who just got caught doing something very-very naughty. "Maybe we should go inside for a cup of tea or something, and talk it out." He was trying to be rational and considerate of her incorrigible demeanor. She appeared unfazed by all the sad mistakes they both made in the past. She seemed ready to move passed it, but Cris wasn't as heartless as his mother had raised him to be. His father, as mad as he may have been toward the end, made sure of that when he and Evan were younger. Cris knew Conrad wasn't the best of teachers for that sort of thing. Still, he respected the fact that his father tried to teach him at the very least.

"No, I think the other matters are much more urgent." She was back in full throttle. No longer did sensitivity bleed through the tone and the phrasing of her statements. "All that must be done concerning our future, and your debt to this 'ominous figure,' as you put it back in the tower, can be dealt with right here and now."

It seemed Sena. Hendrix had no intention of forgiving her son for keeping her grandchild away from her just yet. Likewise, Criston would never truly want his mother to be a part of Corinth's life. Had it not been for this dire need that came about, h
e’
d never want them to meet. She'd tear his fragile heart to little pieces with her contempt for mixed breeds. He knew how awkward his son felt about being and looking so different from most. His eyes were beautiful, but they made the, often times, timid little boy stand out more than he wanted to.

"So, what is it all about?" Cris asked as Sena. Hendrix peered across the way over to Corinth and The Well Read Walker once more.

Walker allowed Corinth to play fetch with, Oliveto, that green furred mangy mutt of his. Corinth seemed at ease. That's all Sena. Hendrix ever wanted, was to see the smiling face of the young darling. But she also realized how big a lesson she learned from this time away from the Gambit family. A family she used to have a place in, before she divorced, and changed back to her maiden name.

She led Cris over to a nearby bench, and they sat down to discuss the prospects of the coming days. What they meant, and what must be done about them.

"I must say," Sena. Hendrix began, "i
t’
s not often that I get a chance to sit out here and take in all the scenery." She looked around to absorb the final moments of the twilight. Dusk had settled in. Now the silver light stripes running up and down all the marble pillars, strategically placed throughout the Olympus Grounds, started to spring to life, illuminating every pathway. The walkways, trills, gazebos, everything was now lit by artificial light. The silver pixie dust sprinkled on all the grass and shrubbery began flickering with the echo of crickets and other small creatures under the night sky. "It all is ... quite beautiful."