The Legend of the Blue Eyes (15 page)

“Devin, do we have popcorn?” Arianna asked,
sticking her head in the sitting room where Devin was working.

“Second shelf on the right, by the window,”
Devin replied, still staring at the papers in front of him.

Arianna hurried to the kitchen and found the
popcorn as Turner set up the TV. Though she was beginning to feel
Turner had a motive behind offering to help her catch up in her
school work, Arianna didn’t care. He was different from anyone
she’d ever met. He was so free. He didn’t care what his peers, or
the teachers thought of him. He wasn’t afraid of disappointing
anyone like Arianna was. Arianna stared into the living room as
Turner forwarded through the previews. His loud laugh, and
twinkling eyes, which seemed to always be looking for trouble, were
such a stark contrast to the composed, quiet, thinker, Devin.

“Which one first?” Arianna asked, returning
to the living room with popcorn.

“Here,” Turner replied, tossing the empty
film sleeve to Arianna. Arianna wrinkled her nose as she read over
the back of the cover. “Come on, it’s a classic. Besides, the real
reason this one is good is because the lead actor really is one of
us.” Arianna stared at the cover more. The actor looked human to
her.

After it was over, and as Turner was popping
the second movie into the old VCR machine they dug up in the
manor’s electronics room, Arianna couldn’t wait to start asking
questions.

“The main guy wasn’t a dearg-dul was he?”
she asked.

“No, the writers combined dearg-duls and
baku to make the character,” Turner replied. “When you turn, your
features only slightly change, but when someone turns into a baku,
they look just like that guy.”

“Then the ugly, white, muscle guys are
baku,” she began and Turner nodded his head. “They feed on dreams,
right?”

“More so on emotions,” Turner explained.

“Then why do they drink blood?” Arianna
asked. “I can feel emotion off of people without drinking their
blood. Wouldn’t it be easier to creep around feeling out people’s
emotions than waiting for them to fall asleep to drink their
blood?”

“The energy they get from feeling the
emotion is ten times more than they’d get from drinking blood,”
Turner replied. “And most of them don’t need people to fall asleep.
They have methods to make people go to sleep.”

“Like hypnosis?” Arianna asked.

“Correct,” Turner replied. “Next movie?”

Arianna nodded, and watched the second
movie. Turner added his own comments every now and then. This time
they stopped half way through.

“That’s enough of that one,” Turner replied.
“The rest of the movie is pretty bad.”

“Awwww,” Arianna complained. “Nice puppy.”
She reached over and petted Turner’s head.

“I’m not a dog,” Turner replied with a
playful growl. “That’s the one thing I’ve always hated about that
one. They used dogs and not wolves.”

“So, do I get to see your lycan form?” she
asked innocently.

“Not now,” Turner replied. “One more movie
to go.”

“But I’m a little cold,” she replied. “I
could use a doggy to keep warm.” She smiled as she got another
growl from him. Turner stood and started the last movie.

During the last movie, Arianna often took
the time to steal glances at Turner as he explained everything. By
the time they made it through it, things were getting clearer.
Given the extent of his knowledge, there was no reason for him to
be at the school taking classes.

“Why are you here if you know so much?”
Arianna asked.

“To meet you,” he replied mischievously. He
changed the subject as Arianna became uncomfortable with his reply.
“I really wish I could take you back to where I grew up. Everyone
in the city knows, or is, a night human. It’s completely different
than here. Most stores are open all day long to serve both humans
and night humans. We are free to be ourselves, and never worry that
some bystander might figure out what we are.”

“You miss it, don’t you?” Arianna asked,
noticing the sadness in his voice as he explained everything.

“A bit,” he replied.

“How long have you been here?” she
asked.

“Since August, so about eight months.”
Turner stood and collected the movies. “Seems like forever. I’ve
been home twice since I moved into the dorms, but only for a
weekend.”

“Doesn’t your family miss you?” she
wondered.

“My father does,” Turner replied. “My
brother, not so much, I think. We haven’t always gotten along so
good. I’m the younger brother after all. No responsibility. I think
he’s jealous, but there’s nothing I can do about it. He’s the heir
to the family whether he wants to be or not.”

“Like me?” Arianna asked, and Turner
nodded.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” Turner suddenly
asked. Arianna tried to look away to hide her embarrassment, but he
was sitting right next her. Turner caught her face as she tried to
turn. Arianna had surprisingly found that being with Turner felt
easy. Every other boy she had met, and liked, in her life was
always hard to talk to. Even though she was picking up his
intentions, she still felt at ease with him.

Arianna listened in on the room next door,
knowing that Devin stood on the other side of the doorway. “Well,”
she replied, unsure how to answer. Turner quickly leaned forward
and gently kissed her before she could reply.

“I hope everything makes a little more sense
now,” Turner said, standing. “Tonight was fun. We should do it
again sometime. I had better get back, it’s already past curfew.”
Flustered, Arianna could not reply as he left.

Arianna sat on the couch,
staring at the blank TV screen.
He just
kissed me
, she thought. In her almost
sixteen years alive before moving to her grandfather’s home, she
had never kissed a boy before, and now, she had been kissed by two.
Arianna closed her eyes and leaned back. What was she supposed to
do? Two very different boys had kissed her in the past three
days.
Stop
, she
thought.
Why can’t life just stop for a
moment, and let me catch up
. Everything
was moving fast past her. It was all new, night humans, boys,
family, life, everything.
Devin or
Turner,
she asked herself.
Which one should I choose?
Arianna listened to the people walking around the house.
Everyone was heading off to bed. Down a long corridor, a clock was
chiming. The door to her sitting room opened softly.

“You should get some rest,”
Devin recommended. Arianna jerked her eyes open, and looked at him.
He seemed unaffected by what had just happened, even though she
knew he was listening to everything. He was as neutral as always.
Slowly, tears began to drip from the corners of her eyes.
Everything was just too confusing.
Why
isn’t Devin mad or jealous?
Devin moved
around the couch, gently picking her up.

“Are you hungry?” he asked,
and she shook her head
no
as she laid against his chest, wanting to fight
back, but finding herself lulled by the beat of his heart. “You
should get some sleep.” Arianna nodded as the tears continued to
dribble down her cheeks.

The next day, Arianna arrived at school
minutes before class was to start. She had overslept and didn’t
have enough time to get ready. Closely following behind Molina,
Arianna dreaded returning to the classroom where all the people
snickered at her behind her back. Surprised, her classmates were no
longer filled with contempt and hatred of her but now with
curiosity and some with fear. Arianna looked around as she moved to
the back of the classroom, trying to understand the change.

The girl up front from the
day before tried to offer Arianna her seat now. Arianna quietly
shook her head
no
and headed to the back of the room to sit next to
Turner.

“Someone told their parents about the new
student, and they all now know who you are,” Turner explained while
Arianna sat beside him. He acted as if the kiss had never happened.
Arianna looked around the room. The atmosphere had changed, but
Arianna wondered if it was for the better or not. “I found one more
movie to watch,” Turner explained as he stood up. “If you can find
everything wrong in this one, then you are ready for the test.”

Arianna glanced at him. “Already?” she
asked, and he nodded as he offered to take her bag. Arianna
followed him into the hallway. Behind her, she listened to the
students talking as they shut the door.

“She really is Lord Randolph’s
granddaughter,” a boy replied. “I’ve seen her guards before. The
female one tested out of the training at the age of fourteen. They
say she’s the best non-purebred to ever come along.”

“And the guy. I’ve seen him often with Lord
Randolph,” a quiet girl said. “My mom works in the Randolph
estate.”

“I suppose it can’t be helped then,” the
girl from the day before replied to her friends. “I was really
hoping Turner would ask me to the next dance.”

“I wouldn’t count on it now,” her friend
answered.

Arianna was surprised as Turner walked
towards the library at the end of the hallway.

“You just don’t seem like the library type,”
Arianna replied, hurrying to catch up with him.

“I’m not, but the head of the boy’s dorm is
in his room sick today. If I take you back to the dorms, you will
get in trouble with your grandfather,” Turner replied.

Arianna spent the first half of her school
day watching the terrible horror film that Turner had brought with
him in the library. Arianna expected things to be awkward between
her and Turner after he had kissed her, but it was like nothing
happened. He was the same happy-go-lucky guy she had met the day
before.

“There wasn’t anything correct in this
movie,” she complained after they finished it.

“So?” Turner replied. “Seeing the blood
spurt like it was streaming out of a fountain was worth it.”

“That was horrible,” she replied, laughing
at the scene replying in her mind. “Why are you here at this
school?” she asked a second time. “You already seem to know
everything.” Turner smiled but didn’t reply.

Arianna sat down at the computer at the back
of the room. Turner had pulled up the exam, and convinced her she
was ready to try it. As she started to read the questions on the
screen, Arianna was surprised to find she could actually answer
them. She had jumped into this new world without any idea of what
it meant, but with the help of Turner, things were now starting to
become clear. As she finally finished the last question, Arianna
was surprised to find it was already time to leave school for the
day.

“So, was it as hard as you thought it would
be?” Turner asked from the doorway. Arianna turned to him. She
hadn’t heard him enter the library test room, nor did she know that
he spent most of the time sitting with Devin, watching her.

“Nope,” she smiled as she replied. Walking
to the printer, she took the sheet that had just printed. “Only one
question wrong,” she added handing the sheet to Turner.

“See, you kept complaining that this was too
confusing and so unrealistic,” Turner teased.

“Turner,” a boy yelled as he entered the
library. “Are you coming or not?” Arianna looked to find Turner was
no longer wearing his school uniform.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” Turner yelled
back. “As a reward, I’ll take you on a date,” he offered.

“But,” Arianna started to turn him down.

“Tomorrow after school,” Turner said, before
kissing her forehead, and running out the door behind the other
student.

“But,” Arianna said, as he left her without
waiting for an answer. Arianna turned to Devin who was uninterested
in their conversation.

Huffing, Arianna ignored
Devin too. She walked back home with Devin and Molina in
silence.
What am I supposed to
do
, she wondered. It wasn’t that she
disliked Turner, she just didn’t know about her relationship with
Devin. She felt something for Devin each night as she lay down to
sleep, her heart beat uncontrollably, and the butterflies in her
stomach tumbled and twirled. Devin had told her he liked her, and
yet, the night before after Turner kissed her, Devin had no
reaction. Not anger, not jealousy, nothing. Arianna hurried to her
room and changed out of her school uniform while pondering her new
predicament.
Does Devin really like
me
, she thought. Arianna lay on her fluffy
bed and tried to sort everything out. Devin was always caring, and
treated her like she came before everything, but was that because
he liked her, or was it just his job?
He
did kiss me
. She didn’t notice the time
passing as she was stuck in thoughts about the day.

“You should get some sleep,” Devin
suggested, opening her bedroom door and interrupting her silence.
Arianna nodded as he sat down on the edge of the bed next to
her.

“Doesn’t it bother you Turner asked me on a
date?” Arianna asked, lying down in bed to avoid his eyes.

“No,” Devin replied, lying down next to
her.

“But didn’t you say you like me?” she asked,
still trying not to look at him.

“Yes.”

“Then, shouldn’t it bother you?” she
pondered, sitting up to finally judge his reaction. “Did I
misunderstand?”

“You are not an object I can own and do with
as I please. I have no right to decide your life for you,” he
explained. “And I promise, I’ll never ask to be your boyfriend. So
you may kiss anyone you please.”

“Then you don’t like me?” Arianna asked,
confused by his response.

“No, I like you very much,” he replied.