by S. L. Stacy
He sighs, running a hand through his hair. “When you reached out to me, touched my hand with your own, I transferred them to you through the magic of my touch.”
“Please don't give me this ‘magic’ crap. I'm a biology major.”
Is that a flash of annoyance crossing his face? It’s gone so quickly I'm not sure if I imagined it or not.
“There’s a fruit on our world whose nectar contains a special compound,” he explains rather reluctantly. “Its effects are most potent if you consume it, but exposure through skin contact works well enough. It gave your body its ability to make wings.”
“Like a mutation?” But this wouldn't make sense, either. If this mysterious alien compound did mutate my DNA, it would most likely impair the proteins I already have, not give me the ability to make new ones—ones needed to grow wings. I’ll have to think about this some more. Right now, I have another, more pressing question for Jasper.
“How could you do that to me without asking first?”
“Do what? I gave you a gift.” Jasper puts a hand to his chest, looking deeply offended. “After which, from what I recall, you and your friends left me for dead.”
My memories of that night resurface, and I can see him sprawled on the ground, a sheen of sweat on his pale skin. I can hear his voice, how he struggled to speak to me, as if pain sliced through him with every word.
“I felt sick and ran off. My wings were about to emerge, but I didn’t know that,” I explain. “Anna and Jimmy were worried and went after me. We came back to help you, but you were already gone. What was wrong with you?”
“Our world is in a universe parallel to this one. It’s forbidden for us to cross over to Earth. Others tried to stop me.”
“Who? The Fringe Division? Does crossing over cause the breakdown of both our worlds?”
“What?”
“You’ve never watched ‘Fringe?’” Jasper’s response is a tilt of the head and quizzical slanting of his eyes. “It was a TV show,” I tell him.
He shrugs. “I don’t watch a lot of television.”
“My people are difficult to kill,” he continues. “We’re virtually immortal from a human’s perspective, but death does not completely elude us. I was quite sure I would die that night. As a last effort I sent up a signal for help.”
“How did you know I would see it?”
“I didn’t.” He smiles as if this is the most beautiful realization of all. “I had just gotten to Earth—I had no idea where you would be or how I would ever find you. Fate let you and your friends see my signal—brought you to me that night.”
"I don't believe in fate." Even so, his assertion makes me shiver.
Again, a fleeting look darkens his face—this time of disappointment—but he quickly returns to storytelling mode. “You and your friends left, and that’s when Eric found me.”
“Wait—you mean Dr. Mars?”
Jasper nods. “He took me to one of your hospitals. The warmth, rest and fluids revived my self-healing abilities. My condition and unexpected survival were something of a mystery to the hospital staff.” He smiles at the memory. Meanwhile my mind has latched onto “self-healing abilities.” Jimmy. If what Jasper says about me is true, why does Jimmy have them, but I don’t? Actually, why does Jimmy have them, at all? I don’t ask him, though. He doesn’t need to know about Jimmy.
“Eric took me in. I enrolled in his department—”
“How did you manage that?” I wonder. Jasper sighs at the interruption, but I go on. “You don’t have a high school transcript.”
His lips curl into a wicked grin. “I can be very persuasive. Anyway, I blew through undergrad in three years and am three years into the PhD program. Just biding my time. My plan was to seek you out again once you were older. Then you showed up in Eric’s class, and I didn’t have to.”
“Please,” I beg him, holding up a cautionary hand, “do not tell me it was fate.” I manage to say this around the hard lump of fear congealing in my throat. This can’t all just be coincidence, but right now it’s the most comforting explanation. If there are any other more rational, less creepy alternatives to his account, none are coming to mind.
He doesn’t reply, but his expression tells me he believes it was fate, indeed.
I glance back at the Sigma Iota house. We’ve been in such deep conversation I almost forgot why we were standing in the middle of the Quad in the first place. The SI brothers are escorting my sisters out the front door.
“I guess the mixer’s over,” Jasper says. We walk the rest of the way to the black-and-white clad crowd lingering on the lawn.
“Have dinner with me tomorrow night,” Jasper asks me abruptly. When I don’t respond right away, he adds, “I think you still have questions for me. And I’d really like to get to know you better.”
“I thought we already knew each other so well. You know, in my past life.” Jasper flinches as I splash him with this next round of verbal acid. He’s bringing out my sarcastic side. I’m starting to sound like Carly.
“We did. But it was foolish of me to assume you’d still be that same person,” he admits. “Your experiences in your new life have shaped you into the woman you are now. I want to get to know you, Siobhan.” The intensity with which he voices this final wish makes me wonder exactly how we knew each other in the past—if we even did. I push this unsettling thought to the back of my mind.
“Okay,” I reply. “Mind if I bring a friend?”
“I don’t really think we need chaperones.” Jasper sounds annoyed, but then he follows it up with, “If it makes you more comfortable, please do, although it kind of defeats the purpose. We won’t be able to talk candidly.”
“I’ll bring Anna.”
He nods. “I see. Well, in that case, I’ll bring a friend along, too. I know someone who wants to meet her.”
This strikes me as odd, but I don’t press him because I see Victoria coming out of the Sigma Iota house, hiking up the floor-length skirt of her black dress to avoid tripping. While she says something to Liz, her eyes dart from me to Jasper a few times, her brow furrowed. Liz follows her gaze.
Liz’s jaw hits the sidewalk, her eyes popping out of her head in fury.
“You stupid bitch!” she growls. Liz takes off at full speed in my direction, leaving an even more confused-looking Victoria in her wake.
I’m frozen as I watch Liz barrel toward me.
She’s about to plow into me when Jasper steps around me and reaches out to halt Liz with one firm grasp on her shoulder.
“You don’t want to do this—” Jasper’s words of caution are cut off when Liz knees him hard in the crotch. He gasps and, although it doesn’t look as painful for him as it would be for a human, she succeeds in startling him. It frees her from his grasp and she knocks into me, pushing me to the ground.
“You stay away from him! Slut!” She lashes out, her arms swinging like pendulums. Victoria rushes over and tries to pull her off of me. I writhe and kick, but Liz’s holding me to the ground with almost inhuman strength. I mean, I know I’m tiny, but I would never have thought she was this strong. She doesn’t even work out.
“Liz, please.” It comes out as a croak. Her legs straddle me to keep me down while she clutches my neck with her hands.
“Stop it, Liz!” Victoria shrieks.
“Get out of the way!” Jasper snaps at Victoria. “I’ve got this!”
“Oh, I think you’ve done quite enough!”
I actually feel the air starting to go out of me. The world is fading in and out, and Liz’s crazed eyes and snarling lips are the only things I can see when it blinks back into existence. I have the strangest sense of déjà vu.
“Please, get out of my way!”
Jasper swiftly picks Victoria up and sets her aside as easily as if she were a paper doll. His hands grab Liz’s and pry them off of me. He wraps his arms underneath her armpits and drags her the rest of the way off.
But it might be too late.
I hear myself moan, and then everything goes dark.
Chapter 13
“Siobhan!”
“Do you think she’s alright? Should we call an ambulance?”
“She’ll be fine. Look, her eyes are opening.”
“Siobhan!”
My eyes flutter open. Blinding artificial light greets them, and they squeeze shut again. There’s something wonderfully soft underneath my head. It feels like a cloud. I open my eyes again halfway until they adjust to the light. The three faces floating above me flood with relief. Tanya sits at my feet, twirling a lock of fried blonde hair around her pointer finger. Victoria stands over me, her amber eyes even larger and rounder than usual as she looks at me with concern. Jasper crouches next to my head, smoothing the hair back from my face. I’m lying on the couch. The cloud is a pillow.
“How are you feeling?” Victoria asks me.
I rub my neck and collarbone. “Sore.” It still hurts where Liz tried to strangle me.
“Do you want us to call Student Health? They have an emergency number,” Tanya says.
I shake my head. “No. I’ll be okay. I want to sit up.” Victoria reaches out to help me, but Jasper beats her to it, his hands clasping my forearms with gentle firmness. Her eyes narrow as she watches him guide me into an upright position.
“I think it’s time for you to go. We have a curfew. Sorry.” Victoria’s smile is anything but apologetic. There’s a note of familiarity in her condescending tone. It’s the same tone Anna uses when she disapproves of something Jimmy does.
“Siobhan’s had a rough night. I’m sure you can make an exception,” Jasper counters. Victoria opens her mouth to argue, but then we both look up at the same time to see a dark figure appear on the stairs. She steps out into the living room light.
“Liz.” I know my voice is panicked, but I don’t even care. I clutch the pillow to my chest and try to back further into the couch, as if I can disappear there.
“Just leave us alone for now,” Victoria says. Liz ignores her warning, but her pace is slow and hesitant as she crosses the room to us. She hasn’t changed out of her black and white checkered dress. Her cornrows are slightly frizzed and look like they’re starting to come undone.
“I just wanted to say I’m sorry,” she says, stopping a few feet away. “I don’t know what got into me. I feel terrible.”
“You should,” Tanya reminds her. “You tried to choke her to death.”
“It’s fine,” I mumble, but I avoid meeting Liz’s hurt, pleading gaze. “Let’s just forget it ever happened.”
“I know it’s not ‘fine.’ I don’t know what I can do to make it better. I…” Liz trails off and looks at Jasper as though she’s only just realized he’s there. Her eyes follow his hand as he strokes the back of my hair to comfort me.
“Let me know what I can do,” she adds quietly through gritted teeth. She turns away and heads back up the stairs. I don’t know if it’s because she’s really ashamed of attacking me or if it’s because she’s resisting the urge to do it again.
Liz is gone, but just then someone swipes their key in the front door. As the door swings open, I catch a glimpse of two long legs in tightly woven black fishnet stockings.
“Victoria, I just saw your text,” Farrah’s saying as she enters. The sequins of her black mini dress send spotty shadows along the floor. “What happ—”
She falters when she sees Jasper.
And it’s as if two planets soundlessly collide inside the space of our sorority house.
Jasper had his arm around me but abruptly pulls away from me. I watch him stare at Farrah. Jasper, who is usually so sure of himself, so calm and collected, is now silently screaming Are you shitting me?! as he looks at our house mother. A moment later his dark blue eyes become black pits and his body trembles with pent-up rage. In the next, he relaxes, his eyes clear again, and he looks confused and almost hurt.
I’m so transfixed watching Jasper that I forget about Tanya and Victoria. I look over at them, but they’re both still fussing over me. I think I’m the only one who witnessed what passed between Jasper and Farrah.
Farrah’s rosy lips are parted in quiet uncertainty, but she recovers herself quickly and politely offers Jasper her hand. “I’m Farrah, the girls’ house mother.”
He takes her hand and gives it a brief, stiff shake. “Jasper.”
When their hands touch, the temperature in the room plummets about a gazillion degrees. I suddenly feel small and insignificant, like I’m looking up at the Milky Way in the night sky trying to comprehend the vastness of the universe. A power I don’t understand is filling up the room, pushing against me from all sides, pushing me away, pushing me out…
“I should go,” Jasper says. Victoria shoots him a look that says, Ya think? Jasper gets up, but then leans back down to whisper in my ear, “I added my contact info to your cell while you were out. Text me and let me know how you are.”
“Goodnight,” he says to the rest of the room. He gives the back of Farrah’s head one last, long menacing look before he leaves. Farrah takes his place on the couch beside me.
“Please tell me exactly what happened.”
When I just sit there quietly, staring at my hands in my lap, Victoria takes over and recounts Liz’s freak out. “Liz almost choked her to death,” she finishes. “Siobhan was unconscious for about ten minutes, but then she came back.”
“Yeah, she does that,” Farrah mutters. Or at least I think that’s what she said.
“I didn’t know she felt so strongly about him,” I finally say, my voice shrill and defensive. “We weren’t even doing anything!”
“You two were gone for quite some time. You missed the rest of the mixer,” Victoria points out. I know she probably thinks I misrepresented Gamma Lambda Phi by disappearing, but she also realizes that now really isn’t the time to scold me. Especially not in front of Farrah, whose expression I can’t even read. I was just assaulted by one of my own sorority sisters. I would have thought she’d be freaking out or overflowing with concern. Instead her face is impassive as she listens to our account.
“We went for a walk,” I insist. “It’s not like he was going to get in my pants.”
“Of course not—” Victoria hurries to apologize, but Farrah talks over her.
“Have you talked to Liz since then?”
I nod. “She was just down here before you came in. She said she was sorry.”
Farrah claps her hands on her thighs. “Well, then it sounds like you girls worked everything out on your own.” She stands up. “You don’t even need me.”
I glance at Victoria and Tanya. Their faces look how mine feels: Mouths gaping, eyes wide in astonishment and confusion.
“It’s not resolved at all!” Victoria exclaims. “How can Siobhan possibly feel safe living with Liz after that? Farrah, we need to put her on probation.”
Farrah arches a skeptical eyebrow, but asks me, “How do you feel about the living situation? Do you feel safe?”
Despite my initial surprise over Farrah’s nonchalant response, what could they really do about it if I don’t feel safe? They can’t just kick Liz to the curb.
“Yes. I don’t think she’ll do it again.” And this is the truth. I can’t explain Liz’s outburst, or why I’m not scared anymore, but I’m not. Just shocked. I want to blame it all on Jasper, but that’s unfair, too. I saw them talking and stomped away like an angst-ridden teenager who saw her boyfriend flirting with another girl. At least that’s probably what it looked like to Liz. Of course he was going to chase after me. So it was probably partly my fault. Not that I deserved to be strangled, but still.
Victoria and Tanya still look uncertain, concerned—like they want to argue with me, but their lips stay sealed.
“See?” Farrah says to Victoria. “I’ll have a talk with Liz, but I think it’s best if we move on.” She gives a dainty yawn, covering her mouth with her hand. “I’m worn out. Goodnight, girls.” Her black hooker boots pound the
floor as she walks to her room.
“You should probably go upstairs and get some rest,” Victoria advises.
I lower my head back onto the pillow. “I’m too tired to get up. I think I’ll just sleep down here.”
“I will, too,” Tanya says. Before I can tell her I don’t need a bodyguard, she bounds upstairs to get her stuff.
“If you change your mind about anything and want to talk about it, you know my door is always open,” Victoria reminds me.
“Mmmhm,” I mutter, curling up underneath the afghan and closing my eyes.
Chapter 14
“You don’t have to go to Chapter today,” Victoria says from the doorway to my room. I’m looping a thin black patent leather belt around the waist of my charcoal gray dress. “Maybe you should rest.”
“I’ve been resting all day. I’m feeling much better now.” Today was the epitome of a lazy Sunday. I stayed in bed and watched videos on YouTube all day until it was time to get ready for our weekly chapter meeting. Plus, tonight is my dinner with Anna, Jasper and his mysterious friend. I couldn’t skip chapter and then leave for that.
Victoria gives a resigned sigh. “See you downstairs.” She disappears. I take my badge out of my jewelry box and fasten it to my dress. Our badge is a gold horseshoe-shaped laurel wreath, ancient Greece’s symbol of victory.
“Siobhan!” Someone—I think it’s Carly—shouts my name from the stairs. “There’s a boy here to see you!”
Crap. A boy? Chapter starts in just a few minutes. Who would drop by without telling me? Is it Max? Jasper?
“Coming!” I slip on my black pumps and hobble downstairs.
When I get to the bottom, the living room is packed with sorority girls wearing business formal, and Jimmy sits on the couch, watching them all with wary eyes. His head perks up when he sees me. The big, happy grin spreading on his face erases my panic and brings a smile to my own.
“Hey,” I say, joining him on the couch. “What are you doing here?”
“Just wanted to come by and check up on you,” he explains. “Anna told me you had a rough night.” I nod. This morning I texted Anna about dinner and vaguely mentioned that I had “fainted” last night. “How are you feeling?”