by P. S. Power
Keeley’s mother might just know about her now, but that wouldn’t make her OCD go away. Knowing food had even been in the room would probably bug her. Even if the wrappers got thrown in the trash can in the corner.
The whole thing was a mess now though. Or it seemed like it. At any moment Keeley expected some Demon or Vampire to burst through the wall and attack, taking care of the problem before it became a real issue.
The problem being her.
Sigh.
Darla left the same way she came, just stepping sideways, to the left this time, but from a different position, a single blue flash of light in a line, one slightly more intense in the middle, which left a spot in her field of vision and then a sense of Darla, moving away. Quickly.
Keeley just worked the rest of the night.
It was handy, having learned how to not need sleep anymore. She could do it, fall asleep, if she wanted, but for now it left her with a lot of free time to get things done. First her homework. That took all of an hour, since she tried to hurry, making herself really feel the knowledge seep into her long term memory. Then she looked up caterers in the area. There were seven of them that she could find listings for, which meant looking them up online, just to save time in the morning.
One of them had a big wedding the next day, so that was out and another had more bad reviews, clearly written by several different people, than any company actually still in business should have. Most reviews, for anything, were a trick of course. Either people promoting themselves, or attacking a rival. These had that rare feel of being genuine though. Those people and their loved ones had been taken in by a slick appearance, but the goods just weren’t delivered.
The rest looked promising enough. They could still be busy, sure, and just not have that advertised on the web, but it couldn’t hurt to call or visit.
It took until nearly five in the morning for her hand to really heal all the way and Keeley had everything she could get done at the moment actually finished. It was cool, but reminded her she should find a hobby or two. Maybe martial arts? Smiling she shrugged.
When in doubt, read, right?
It took about ten minutes to work out that every single martial arts program in the world, at least the ones she could find on the web, proclaimed themselves as being the very best in all ways. She was able to find a nice, very old, book on the subject though, that stripped the subject to its bare bones, using only what really worked. It was, with some minor changes, what Darla had been showing her the day before.
The work had been written in the nineteen-forties, but didn’t have a specific date on it. The whole thing felt logical though. Sensible, without a lot of space wasted talking about emotions, honor or social conventions. After a bit Keeley got that it had been written by someone not human. Maybe not one of her people, but someone with a similar mindset for sure.
She committed the whole thing to memory, and found a small avalanche of information hitting her from Tarsus’ library in her head. It made sense that some things about fighting would be in there, didn’t it? It came up.
She got ready for her day in the normal fashion, but dressed in slightly nicer clothing, black slacks and a button up blouse in white. It looked like what the band kids wore to perform in, but that was fine. It beat blue jeans for professionalism and wouldn’t leave her dad thinking she was going out to pick up men instead of working.
She hoped. It probably wouldn’t work, would it?
Mental problems were like that. Irrational. Kind of why they were a problem.
Keeley waited in the living room, just sitting and playing with her ability to control her body and mind, practicing really. She ran through the normal stuff, first making something happen, then making the feeling go away. She remembered the fear of Balthias standing in front of her ready to kill, and then damped it down to nothing. Then she remembered what it felt like to be jazzed up, on a caffeine high. It made her sick, and feel both jittery and like she wanted to die, just a bit. She made the bad parts go away, just leaving the energy.
Then she tried something she hadn’t before. Making it stronger. It took more focus, because it wasn’t just a memory of something she already knew, just imagination. It still worked though. Yes, it took a lot longer, minutes instead of seconds, but by the end of the first three Keeley wondered if she could survive doing this for long. Her heart was racing faster than it ever had, her skin had stopped tingling and vibrated. Literally, to the point where her body was actually making a light humming sound.
She smiled and damped it back down. There was no need to run through thousands of calories in energy in a few seconds like that. It was definitely beyond what was normal though, wasn’t it? A regular person probably couldn’t have done any of that at all. Or survived if they had.
Then, remembering what she’d thought about before, with the strength and speed thing, wondering if she could do something similar there, she tried to remind her body what it felt like to move really fast. She fought for blinding speed beyond all she’d even known then, gracefully, quickly put her left foot forward and threw a single punch with her right hand, just as hard and fast as she could.
It was decent, but didn’t seem all that special.
Then she tried to increase the speed part. After two minutes of concentration she readied herself and tried again, feeling a little excited. Throwing the punch felt good, but it didn’t seem any faster at all. A little slower even. She was ready to feel a little disappointment when she turned her head and saw Sherry walking in.
In slow motion.
It didn’t take long for her to figure it out. It had worked, she just didn’t feel it the way she’d thought.
Interesting.
It didn’t seem like anything at all to her. Her mom was still taking the next step, and hadn’t noticed her yet, just starting to look up. That gave Keeley full seconds to get back to normal, didn’t it? That was easier to do, because she knew what it was like to be normal. It happened almost with a snap, and Sherry started walking at regular speed between one heartbeat and the next.
Keeley turned smoothly, smiling.
“Good morning!” She made her voice bright, but not too loud. After all, it was early and her dad didn’t have to be up for nearly an hour. “You look good.”
Her mom did, wearing a nice light green sun dress and black flats with nylons on underneath, showing on her shins. Her make-up was tastefully done, nearly perfect. It wasn’t exactly dressing to pick up men, but it was clearly dressing up to impress someone.
Keeley was willing to bet that wouldn’t be her school’s principal either.
“Thank you. You look good too. Ready for your big day?” The words were innocent, just throwaway mom words that anyone might use. There was, now that she bothered to look for it, a slight hesitancy under them though.
She nodded anyway.
“Really? I don’t know. I’ve never done anything like this before. Are you going with me to school?” It would help, really. If her father went, who knew what would happen?
“I was thinking I would, if that’s alright? I wanted to borrow your van, so I can pick up my flower delivery, so this way I can dump you on Mr. Carmichael and leave directly from there.” It was a sensible and orderly plan and she sounded pleased enough with it.
Shrugging, Keeley thought about it for a second. It made sense. Frieda was actually Darla’s van, a, enameled cream colored, very nice, classic Volkswagen, with an engine that was never designed for such a machine. It wasn’t exactly a speedster, but you could drive it on the freeway with no problem at all.
“Sure, after all Darla lent it to me so you could have it for the flower deliveries and all that stuff, kind of half the point of it being here. Let me get you the keys. The insurance is some expensive super plan that Mrs. Gibson pays for, so anyone driving it is legally covered at all times. Just be careful not to speed. It doesn’t look like it, but it can creep up on you, the engine is really good.”
Honestly Keeley was
n’t sure the engine was a real engine. It might have been part magic. That was Darla’s thing as a Demon, making very complex machines and magical devices. Tarsus did that memory thing and Finias could read anyone’s mind. That reminded her not to think about who knew what, since Darla didn’t want things given away yet.
For some reason.
Easy enough, she had things to do anyway. It would be a good time to really practice living the role, wouldn’t it? If she could do it with a telepath, then it should work for almost everyone.
Nothing happened for another ten minutes or so, but finally the phone rang. Keeley expected “Mr. Carmichael” or possibly Darla. It wasn’t either of them, but Hally. Her friend.
That was kind of weird, having friends that would do things like call before school. Really this was the first time that had ever happened.
“Keeley?” The voice on the other end was small and weak sounding.
“Hi Hally, is everything alright? Do you need a ride to school or something? I can pick you up on the way, no problem.” It was a poor plan to assume things, but really nothing else made sense as to why the girl would be calling her, did it?
“Um, yeah, could you? I kind of need to talk to someone. Is that OK? I know we just met, but… There’s this thing, with my parents and I don’t know what to do. I’d ask Darla, but I can’t reach her.”
That was a little odd, but then it was just possible the other Demon needed to be off at work being Mrs. Gibson that day, after the extra work she was causing with the silly party idea.
Keeley tilted her head.
“Right. I’m not going to school today really, but I’ll come get you and we can talk on the way? Is that alright do you think?” Keeley looked over to see her mom giving her a funny look, so she held up her hand and mouthed Hally’s name. At least they’d met before, so she had some clue who was meant by that.
It was a mess as far as the schedule went, but the girl sounded pretty bad.
“OK. Thank you. See you in about, ten minutes?”
“Eleven. I have to explain things to my mom first, or, hey, would you be OK with her coming along? I need her to spring me from school, and then she needs Frieda for the flowers.”
The line was silent for a while, “um, sure. I… Maybe I should just catch the bus?”
“Nah, she loves you, I’m sure she’d love to talk to you, especially if you need help with something. Don’t worry about it.”
“OK. Yeah, that might be good, having someone adult to talk to. I don’t know.” The voice still sounded really lost, and little. It wasn’t totally out of the way she thought of Hally, but it wasn’t how she handled most things either. It was an odd tone.
Then it would be, wouldn’t it? At least if it had to do with the fact that Hally’s parents were wanted fugitives accused of murder. Or had been a week ago. They hadn’t done it, but that information was just now coming out. The evidence was a confession to the crime by the person that had actually done it, gotten from the man by Balthias, her pet Lesser Demon.
Eat that, Lassie. Keeley smiled at the thought, but had turned away so her mom didn’t see.
A very handy thing to have around, Balthias, at least when it came to extracting information or revenge without getting your own hands dirty.
She no more than hung up when a soft knock came from the front door. She’d been distracted, but she got that it was Finias before she opened the door, the scheme of reality just tended to organize in some strange, but perceptible, fashion around her kind. It was kind of obvious once you paid attention to it.
“Good morning!” He said, looking good in his to expensive suit, a deep gray, with fine lighter colored lines through it, slightly shining. The shoes were a polished black, real leather, high quality, but handmade. So worth hundreds of dollars or more. The man was kind of hot, in a slightly sleazy business man way.
“Mr. Carmichael, good to see you again.” Sherry spoke calmly, but with a slight edge that cried out for attention. It was really obvious.
To the man at the door as well, who smiled suddenly, making his gaze linger on the face of the chipper woman. She played with her hair just enough to signal sexual interest without being obvious about it. As if having to tear himself away, Dan reoriented on Keeley, who still stood between them, and gave her a wink.
What was with all the stupid winking from these people? Did they constantly have things in their eyes or something?
“Keeley. You look nice today. You both do. What’s the plan?”
It took about thirty seconds to get through it all, and would have taken longer, but Dan nodded when she got to the part about her friend needing to talk and having to go get her.
“I’ll meet you both at Raintree then? Or, maybe Sherry would like to ride with me? We can make plans for the day and not bother you and your friend as you chat?” He made his voice almost bland when he said it, but seemed secretly eager.
Perv.
Flirting with her mom right in front of her like that. Finias smiled at her and nodded just a little, letting her know that he’d heard her. Also that he agreed, and was a pervert. Grrr.
She smiled though. It was kind of funny in a way. Sherry jumped at the chance, but looked back over her shoulder as she spoke, knowing Charles could be coming out at any moment. That was just a constant problem in their lives. It kind of made every day a little less bright.
Well, nothing for it now, Keeley shrugged and got the keys to Frieda back and took off, leaving the others to figure out what they were doing. They were all adults and old enough to know what the heck was right or wrong, and what would just be asking for trouble. Given they were, mainly, regular people, Keeley had no doubt that they did indeed know what to do. They’d also probably mess it up.
People did that, didn’t they?
She didn’t think of it again as she pulled out, carefully. The van was just on loan after all and Keeley couldn’t afford to have it fixed if she got in an accident. In the review mirror Keeley watched as her mother drove off in Dan’s car, headed toward the school.
Riding with a Demon.
Chapter four
Hally wasn’t outside her front door waiting like she normally did, but rather stood on the street corner nearly a block away from the brown single level ranch style house her family lived in. The Yorks weren’t rich people, but had managed their money pretty well and lived a decently comfortable life.
That was what everything about them said at least. Hally’s parents took every possible precaution they could, trying to look like normal, friendly people, ones that cared about keeping kids off of drugs and who did drug counseling on the side. Both were recovering drug addicts.
Except they weren’t really, that was just their cover story, meant to explain any slips they made. No one expected much of a junkie, and they all had dark things in their pasts they didn’t want to share.
They were really recovering con artists. Good at their jobs too. They were largely just pretending to be straight now, not because they loved their lives so much, but because the alternative was prison, almost without a doubt. Keeley pulled to the side of the street and leaned over to let the cute redhead into the van. She wore her little cheerleading outfit, and a letterman’s jacket over the top. Advertising for the big game the next day, Keeley figured. Though they were supposed to do that on game day.
Keeley steeled her nerve and reached a hand out to help the other girl in, catching the sum total of what the girl was and had been through all at once. Again, having done it before, which made it easier. The first time was always the worst. That’s when whatever you thought about a person got trashed, those first moments, as everything they’d ever done wrong, each dark thought and desire, washed over you.
Most people did a lot of things they weren’t proud of. Hally was no different, but refreshingly, most of her issues were so minor that no one else in the world would really care. She hid over the counter diet pills in her closet for instance, afraid her parents would be mad if
they found out. She also had a slight crush on their friend Gary, who was gay, which she didn’t feel happy about, because it was confusing, not because of anything else.
Then, she had a crush on almost everyone she knew. She was friendly like that.
Once she was in, she just sat quietly, not moving for a long time. She didn’t even buckle her seat belt. Finally she looked in the back and saw it was empty, but didn’t bother asking where Sherry was, or why they weren’t moving. After several minutes of this she just spoke, her voice almost imperceptible it was so soft.
“I… Keeley. My parents… I, they… said something.” Then she went silent again.
“OK. Seat belt please.” She had to help her with that, then they drove… right back into the York’s driveway.
Amazingly Hally just got out, not even asking anything at all. Her face was pale and she shook a bit, clearly scared and not having any clue about what to do about it.
That kind of made sense, didn’t it? Keeley didn’t have a big plan for her either, but leaving her alone wouldn’t help at all. She had to get Hally out of the van, walking around to the far side and taking her hand to ease her back to the ground. Then, slowly, making sure that the girl didn’t stumble, they walked back to the front door.
There was yelling coming from inside. It was loud and angry sounding too.
Goody. It was always fun to walk up on a tense situation, wasn’t it?
She couldn’t make it out, but knocked firmly enough to make it stop after the third set of four raps. Hally blinked a bit and stared at her, as the door opened.
“No… I… School…”
“It’s alright Hal, you just need to change. It’s Thursday, you need to wear your uniform tomorrow, not today.” Besides it was an ugly set of colors, bright blue and orange and should be worn only in an emergency. The only person it had ever looked good on was Darla, and really Keeley suspected she cheated somehow to make that happen. Magic or special make-up tricks she hadn’t shared with anyone else.