by Carmen Caine
I sighed.
Wasting time moping was just as useless as wasting time being angry.
Neither one would change anything.
I was just going to have to focus on moving forward.
I’d always managed to shove my thoughts away and ignore them in the past.
It was really hard to do this time.
Mechanically, I made my eyes look around my room, reminding myself that I was glad to be home.
Maybe things would calm down just a bit so I could recharge. So much had happened that I couldn’t begin to understand the full meaning of it all.
And then I noticed Ajax standing at my feet, alert and watchful. “Thanks for being here, Ajax,” I felt obligated to say. It was my way of extending another olive branch of peace.
His dark eyes didn’t seem too impressed.
I grimaced.
We’d probably never like each other, but I was still grateful that he was there all the same. Having an evil fur-coated guardian was better than not having one at all.
Moving to my dresser, I watched Jerry snoozing in his nest, admiring the new tube Betty had given him for my birthday and wondering if he liked it as well. I couldn’t resist poking my fingers into his cage and tickling his tummy.
He stretched and woke up, giving me the excuse to take him out and cradle him against my cheek and to wish for the days when things had been much simpler.
There was so much to think about, but most importantly, what was I supposed to be doing about it all?
The Tulpa?
The Brotherhood?
I didn’t know about this Tree of Life thing, but I knew in my heart that I’d never intentionally harm anyone.
But what if it was unintentional? What if I made the wrong choice?
My head began to spin, but then I heard Rafael’s soft voice in my mind echoing, “When in doubt, do nothing. Wait until the way is clear enough for you to see the next step. The next step is all you have to worry about.”
That was good advice.
Mostly because I already knew what my next step was.
I had to rest before I collapsed.
With a wide yawn, I tucked Jerry into his bed and got ready to sleep myself.
Taking Rafael’s birthday present out of my pocket, I rubbed the top of the case before tucking it away in the top drawer. I still wasn’t sure I should accept it, but that was a problem for another time.
And then reaching into my pockets, I pulled out the programmable atoms and placed them securely into one of my rolled up socks in the drawer. They would be safe there until I needed them again.
Sliding out of Rafael’s clothes and into a comfortable t-shirt, I wiped the Fae makeup off my face, catching myself thinking of his mysterious, eye-lined eyes more than once.
I liked him calling me ‘pixie’, and if I were honest, I wanted him to kiss me again. But then, I knew that was terribly irresponsible. It would mean the destruction of the Tree of Life … whatever that was.
I directed a surge of annoyance at destiny.
Just when I finally meet the first guy I’m genuinely interested in, destiny has to label it a disaster.
How fair is that?
With a grumpy frown, I crawled tiredly into bed, anticipating sleep before my head hit the pillow.
But to my surprise, sleep was long in coming.
I tossed and turned with my thoughts in turmoil. How could anyone sleep under the circumstances? I couldn’t stop thinking.
Thinking of Hello Kitty made me smile. It felt good to fight back, even if only through a kitty. I wished I could take more concrete action like that right now. It would felt better than lying in bed, waiting for the next thing to happen.
I thought of Marquis for a bit and then Jareth’s childhood and the female Fae wearing the white cloak. Who was she? From the looks of it all, she’d created the chupacabra, and she’d messed with Jareth’s genetics.
But why?
And the Brotherhood of the Snake. They seemed to think that Jareth was one of them.
Was he?
That thought was abhorrent.
I tossed in bed for a while after that, finally growing drowsy, but just before I drifted off to sleep, I recalled the images that I’d seen in the Hall of Mirrors, the ones of Jareth turning into a snake, Rafael wearing a white mask, and of me in a Coke bottle.
I knew those images of Jareth, Rafael and me meant something real.
They had to.
But what?
Chapter Thirteen – Brock the Troll
I woke up to the sound of Ajax barking.
He lunged off the bed, launching himself straight at the buzzing alarm clock. With a vicious snarl, he chomped down on the plastic casing and flipped the entire thing back over his head.
It bounced once before its squawking turned into a muddled warble as the case cracked open and the insides spilled out all over the rug.
Betty’s head popped through my bedroom door.
“Are you ok, honey?” she asked with a concerned smile. “That alarm’s been going off for a while!”
I lifted my head groggily and mumbled, “Sorry.”
She came into my room and picked up the pieces of the wailing clock. “This old thing probably frightened poor Ajax,” she clucked in sympathy.
Ajax had the audacity to flop his ears down in the most pitiful way, clearly eating up the attention while sidling closer to Betty.
I felt like throwing my pillows at the manipulative devil.
“Poor baby,” Betty crooned, scratching his chin. “Doberman’s are so high-strung. But they’re the sweetest dogs on the planet.”
“Well, Ajax isn’t your normal Doberman,” I muttered with certainty. “Maybe he’s pure evil because he came from a different dimension, and the normal Doberman rules don’t apply.”
A look of confusion fled across Betty’s face, but then she smiled. Waving pieces of the clock, she said, “I’ll see if Al can fix this for you, honey, but you better hurry now. Breakfast is ready.”
I frowned and rubbed my eyes tiredly. I hadn’t had enough sleep yet.
“Are you sick?” Betty moved closer to hover over me. “Do you want me to call in for you?”
I wasn’t sick, but my brain was still asleep. Yawning again, I asked, “Call who?”
“The school, dear,” she replied, beginning to look worried.
“Oh, yeah.” It was tempting, but I knew staying home was a cop out. I really had no excuse. “I’m fine,” I said, heaving a sigh. “Just give me a minute.”
She eyed me a moment, but then nodded and left.
I watched Ajax strut back to the bed with a pleased expression, obviously proud that he’d broken my clock. And I scowled as he jumped onto the pillows and blankets, and stretched out with a loud sigh.
It was then that I realized I was curled up without a blanket at the bottom of the bed while he was splayed out at the head like a king, clearly settling in for a nice, long nap.
Wearily, I tipped myself out of bed, repeating, “High-strung? More like evil incarnate!”
I didn’t doubt for a moment that he’d broken my alarm clock just to tick me off.
Ajax opened an eye, watching me as I stomped about my room getting ready for school. But apparently even that was too much effort because after a minute, he rolled onto his back and went to sleep.
I threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, thankful that Betty had washed my clothes. I wasn’t used to someone doing that for me. I pulled on my least scuffed pair of tennis shoes, shrugged into my favorite sweatshirt, and then jammed my hand into the pocket, to search for Rafael’s rune.
With a sigh of relief, I felt the smooth, white surface of the protection rune slide through my fingers. I wasn’t about to go to school without it, not with all the chupacabras running around and a legion of drunk Protectors in Avalon probably headed my way.
Jerry was awake, building a huge nest in his new tube. I watched him scurry about, burying seeds in the middle o
f the tube, seemingly unaware that I could see his secret stash through the clear plastic.
He always made me smile.
He’d always given me a sense of home, but as I looked around my bedroom, I realized that sense of home had expanded to include Al, Betty, and Grace.
With a silly smile on my face, I threw some more seeds into Jerry’s cage to keep him busy and stopped to inspect myself in the mirror.
I looked terrible. My eyes were puffy and red-rimmed from lack of sleep. Everything about me screamed of exhaustion.
But there was nothing I could do, except wish that I could sleep for a week straight.
With a tired grin, I threw a kiss at Jerry and grabbed my backpack, pointedly ignoring the Doberman snoozing in my rightful place on the bed. I knew he was just pretending to be asleep, so I hoped he sensed the angry vibes I directed his way.
As I entered the kitchen, Betty offered me a mug of tea and a waffle. She was listening to the radio, shaking her head.
“There’s a big storm on the way,” she warned.
“Yippeee!” I heard Grace’s sleepy voice from behind me. “No school!”
“You only have a few days left before winter break.” Betty smiled, handing Grace her tea and waffle the moment she arrived.
“Yeah, but you can never have too many days off, Mom.” She grinned, taking a big bite of her breakfast and chomping loudly as she sat down at the kitchen table.
I closed my eyes and smiled, feeling warm and fuzzy in their presence.
“What’s up?” Grace asked, watching me curiously.
“Nothing!” I practically sang, sitting down next to her. “Just glad to be here.”
Grace’s chewing slowed to an almost complete stop as she eyed me with outright suspicion, but I didn’t care.
I could hear Al singing his way down the hall and into the living room as he navigated the maze of boxes.
My smile broadened.
A moment later, he stepped into view, Tigger padding happily behind him.
“Good morning, girls!” Al doffed an imaginary hat at me, kissed the top of Betty’s head, and tousled Grace’s head.
Reaching past us, he picked up a small box on the table and shook his head with a scowl.
“I’m really disappointed in this company,” he said. “They used to make such high-quality products. First, it was the Stealth Twig and now this!” With an expression of disgust, he tipped the box over and shook out the Alien Time-Catcher watch.
I eyed it with a twinge of envy.
That was my birthday present, the one Brock had accepted in my stead.
For some reason, I suddenly wanted that particular watch, broken or not. I wanted the original gift. It wouldn’t be the same if it were replaced.
“Don’t exchange it,” I said, reaching over and plucking it from his fingers. “I want this one.”
“It’s not working, kiddo—” Al began but then fell silent and raised a brow.
I glanced down at the watch. The digital display was blinking.
“That don’t make sense.” Al’s brows morphed into a frown.
“Doesn’t, dear.” Betty’s eyes smiled over the rim of her mug.
Pulling the instruction booklet out of the box, Al flipped the pages and jabbed a finger at the section titled ‘The Alien Detected Event’.
“What does it say?” I asked, crowding closer.
He didn’t answer.
I leaned over, trying to read the pamphlet upside down. It said something about how when an alien presence was detected the watch would stop, but when the alien had left, the watch would display ‘The Alien Detected Event’ to cue the owner that they’d just encountered an extraterrestrial life form. Then it went into detail about how to press the reset button to set up the next event.
I blinked in surprise.
The watch had stopped when Brock touched it. I wondered if it could detect Mesmers. Maybe Rafael could take a look at it and see.
I glanced up to find Al’s sharp blue eyes locked on me.
“It’s working now. I’ll just keep it,” I said quickly, a little too quickly. I was obviously flustered. Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to slow down. “I want this one, because it’s the real one you gave me. I don’t want a replacement yet.”
His blue eyes smiled, and he rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. “If that’s want you want to do, kiddo,” he said, reaching over to tousle my head as he’d done Grace’s. “It’s got a warranty for a year. We can always send it back later if you change your mind.”
Helping himself to a waffle, he sat down across from me.
I knew he’d picked up on my odd behavior. But then, I was a terrible actress. Anyone would’ve thought I was behaving strangely.
“I’ve got several bids to watch this morning, girls,” Betty said, making her way over to her computer. “Al will give you girls a ride to school today.”
“Then we’d better get going!” Al swallowed the rest of his waffle in two large bites and dusted off his hands. “I’ve got a few errands to run myself before work.”
We scrambled to grab our stuff, stepping over Tigger snoozing on the kitchen floor. And after telling Betty goodbye, we left, leaving her staring at her bid, humming tunelessly along with the radio. As the front door closed, I heard her yelp and saw her get up from her chair to do a little victory dance.
I smiled a little, happy she’d gotten the price she wanted.
Glancing across the street at Rafael’s house, I couldn’t see any activity. His Bentley was still parked in the driveway, though I knew that wasn’t an indication of where he really was. I wondered what Melody had wanted to talk to him about, but it looked like I would have to ask him later.
Overhead, the clouds were still and gray, looking like they were already planning on dumping loads of snow.
“I can’t wait!” Grace said, pointing up at the sky. “That sure looks like no school to me!”
Her excitement was contagious, and I found myself smiling again as I climbed into Al’s truck and squeezed in next to her.
As the truck rumbled to life, the radio switched on and Jareth’s latest song blared through the radio.
I grimaced.
Grace didn’t miss my expression. “So what’s up with you and Jareth?” she asked. “I mean, doesn’t he have a concert in Los Angeles tonight? What’s he doing here?”
The last thing I wanted to talk about was Jareth. “I’m sure he’s on a plane right now,” I said and then added for good measure, “And there really isn’t anything going on between us.”
“There’s more to Jareth than meets the eye,” Al chimed in suddenly, backing the truck out of the driveway.
Grace laughed. “Yeah, Jareth the FBI agent! That’s more preposterous than your alien theory, Dad! No FBI agent could sing and move like he does!” She waved her hand and pretended to fan her face.
I stared, a little startled.
“Sydney sure agreed with me last night!” Al replied with a light-hearted stubbornness. “But then, she has more intel than you do, she was there when the chupacabra showed up!”
I froze.
Was this a test?
What should I say?
I gave as noncommittal of a grunt as I possibly could and crossed my fingers that Al would read into it whatever he wanted.
Thankfully, Grace switched subjects. Leaning forward to peer out of the windshield, she announced with certainty, “They’re going to close school tomorrow. I can just feel it in my bones! Look at the sky already!”
As she and Al began recalling storms of the previous years, I settled back into my seat and pulled my hood over my face.
What had Al discussed last night? Was he getting suspicious?
I was going to have to hunt down Brock and ask him what they’d talked about.
As Grace and Al chattered, I hunted in my backpack for my cell phone, and finding it, pulled it out to admire the new bedazzled cellphone case Grace had given me. I ran my finger over the crooked le
tters of my name and smiled.
I was turning downright sentimental this morning, but strangely, I liked it.
We finally arrived at school, and when we pulled up to the drop-off circle, I opened the truck door and hopped out.
“Wait, Sydney!” Al called.
Stiffening, I peered at him from under my hood.
“Don’t forget your real work starts tonight, kiddo!” He leaned over the wheel and grinned at me conspiratorially.
“Huh?” I swallowed.
“The Neighborhood Crime Watch!” he said with a sparkle of excitement in his eyes. “As soon as you come home from work, we’ll go. It’ll take about half an hour to make the rounds.”
Grace didn’t say much as Al drove off and I followed her, wondering again how I could possibly concentrate on school after everything that had happened and was probably going to happen.
Lost in thought, I nearly ran straight into Ellison’s tall, skinny frame standing in the middle of the bridge leading up to school.
His ever-present grin strangely wasn’t on his face this morning, and he’d shaved his brown hair into a buzz cut.
I watched him trade fist bumps with Grace and said, “Nice haircut.”
He threw me a confused look before replying stiffly, “Trying to make up?”
“Make up?” I repeated with a puzzled frown.
“I thought you said I should go for braids,” he answered in an insulted tone.
“Braids?” I snorted incredulously. “I never said that! What are you talking about?”
He eyed me suspiciously.
“You’re confusing me with someone else,” I said defensively. “This is the first time I’ve seen your new haircut!”
Both Grace and Ellison stared at me and then Grace asked, “Are you feeling ok, Sydney?”
“I’m fine!” I scowled.
Ellison’s mock anger gave way to a belly laugh. “I wasn’t upset yesterday, Sydney.” He reached over and gave me a chummy punch on the arm. “I thought you knew that! I thought we were just having fun fighting about the braids!”
“Yester—” I began. Abruptly, I snapped my mouth shut and nearly dropped my books. Yesterday, Brock had gone to school in my place.