Uprising

by Gareth Otton

  He was so hung up on that thought that he didn’t realise a customer was waiting until the man snapped his fingers and called him by name. It was more than his name that made Leon look up, it was the voice that called it. It was familiar, and one Leon never expected to hear in Cardiff.

  He looked up to find a tall, handsome man who was only two years younger than his own age of twenty-five. His dark hair was cut short in a stylish cut, his deep blue, bordering on purple, eyes sparkled in a way only an eidolon’s could, and his smile was every bit as charming as Leon’s could be.

  “Deo, what are you doing here?” Leon asked.

  “Months away from home and that’s all the greeting I get?” he asked with a cheeky smile.

  “I’m sorry, you surprised me. It’s good to see you.”

  “It’s always good to see me, my friend,” Deo answered, slipping into their native Greek. “I just wish it was as good to see you.”

  “What does that mean?” Leon asked.

  “What were you doing with that reporter?”

  Leon’s heartbeat sped up as an unpleasant situation got worse. He had known Deo since he was a child. As one of the few other eidolon his own age, they formed a fast friendship as they were the only kids they could be their true selves around. However, for all that, they weren’t as close as they used to be, and Leon didn’t want to test that friendship’s boundaries by making him think he was turning against his people.

  “She was being a pain and asking questions about something my cousin is doing,” Leon said. “I never told her anything except to leave. You might have seen her get marched out just now.”

  “Oh, I saw that. It’s the only reason we’re talking instead of me calling home.” Leaning in across the bar, he asked, “What’s wrong with you? What are you doing here?”

  “Nothing’s wrong with me. I came to spend time with my cousin.”

  “Sure you did. Well, you know as well as I that she is not the right person to be seen with right now.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Leon asked, heart beating so fast he thought it might explode.

  “You know what it means. She’s been breaking our laws and ignored the warning your grandmother delivered a few months back. The council have met, and it’s time for you to put distance between you. You need to come home or—”

  “Or what?” Leon snapped, not needing to fake his anger in the face of that threat. “Or they’ll come for me as well? I’m not breaking any laws, and Stella hasn’t either. No one knows what she is and she hasn’t given anyone reason to suspect.”

  “That’s not our only law. She’s been building power, too much of it. Rumour has it she used Authority the other day. Tell me I’m wrong.” When Leon couldn’t answer, Deo shook his head in amazement. “You knew and you’re still here. You’ve changed.”

  “We all change,” Leon said. “Stella changed a lot this year, and she’s trying to cope with that. She didn’t know our laws and is adjusting, she just needs more time to adapt.”

  “She’s run out of time. If you don’t get your head on straight, so will you.”

  Leon leaned back, staring at his friend like he’d never seen him before.

  “I though you were better than this, Deo.”

  “I’m not above the Eidolon Council. No one is. I thought you of all people would understand that considering your family history.”

  Leon’s frown deepened, and he was about to say something else when he was beaten to it.

  “Leon, you better not be chatting when you should be working,” Rachel snapped from the other side of the bar, her anger sounding genuine this time. “There’s still a delivery to put away.”

  Of course she couldn’t know he’d already finished that delivery as no one could be that fast. However, it was the excuse Leon needed to cut this reunion short.

  “Think on what I said, Leon. It’s not to late for you. Come home.”

  “See you later, Deo,” Leon answered as he stepped off the bar and headed back for the stockroom. As soon as he was inside he closed the door tight and leaned against that door, shutting his eyes and taking a deep breath.

  What just happened? he asked himself, unable to cope with the events of the last five minutes.

  He’d gone from being as happy here as he had been anywhere to suddenly being terrified that he had screwed everything up. First the reporter and then Deo…. He shuddered as he thought of the potential fallout from the last five minutes.

  After banging his head against the door in frustration, he fished out his phone and typed a simple text.

  Stella, we need to meet. It’s urgent!

  Pressing send, he sighed and tried to put it from his mind as he went back to work. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.

  13

  Friday, 25th November 2016

  15:16

  “What the hell does he want now?” Amanda asked with an overly dramatic sigh.

  It dismayed Jen to find Tony marching towards her, Amber trailing a few steps behind. It looked like Tony was working himself into a rage.

  “Hell no,” Katie said, talking to Tony. “None of us want your brand of crazy today. Why can’t you leave us alone, you dead freak?”

  “If I wanted to hear the braying of a donkey, I might ask for your opinion. Until then, shut the hell up,” Tony said.

  “Who the fuck are you calling a donkey?” Katie snapped, squaring off to Tony like she might slap him.

  “If the teeth fit,” he answered, and Katie flinched in horror, hands covering her mouth as her eyes filled with tears. Jen hadn’t thought about it before, but Katie’s teeth were big. Considering how hard she took the comment, it was a sore topic. It was typical of Tony to hone straight in on that.

  Despite her mortification at him embarrassing her friend, Jen struggled not to smile. Katie had been annoying her recently with her constant cattiness. Though Jen had her own frustrations with Tony, for once she didn’t mind his sharp tongue.

  Amanda stepped in front of her friend and glared at Tony.

  “Don’t call her that, you freak. You’re just lashing out because you’re ugly.”

  “Ouch, a shot straight to the heart,” Tony said, feigning an arrow wound in the chest. “How long have you been rubbing your two brain cells together to think up that zinger? It’s a good job your pretty, because if you had to rely on that brain of yours you’d be screwed. Good luck with the stripping career, it’s about all you’re good for.”

  It was Amanda’s turn to flinch, and Jen decided it was past time to stand up for her friends before Tony reduced half the school to tears.

  “What do you want?”

  “Your boyfriend is at it again. I need you to stop him.”

  He was so worked up he actually grabbed her arm, but Jen wasn’t Katie or Amanda to be so easily trodden over.

  “I already told you. This has nothing to do with me. If the kids have a problem, go to a teacher or—”

  “I told you last time, they won’t do anything. I’m fed up of this. I have better things to do than come here to sort this shit out. The kids are getting hurt and I want your help.”

  “I already said, no.”

  Tony opened his mouth like he would argue, but Amber grabbed his hand to hold him back. Unlike every other time she did that, Tony didn’t immediately calm down. While he said nothing spiteful, his expression only hardened.

  “Fine. You won’t help, I’ll deal with this my way. Don’t say I never gave you a chance.”

  Before Jen could ask what he meant, he stormed off, heading away from the school and towards the waiting buses. Jen watched him go, worried about what he might do. She was so preoccupied with that she didn’t realise Amber stayed behind until she grabbed Jen’s arm.

  “Please, you’ve got to go after him. I’ve never seen him like this before.”

  “I have,” Jen whispered, not liking the memories that went along with Tony when he got like this. Tony was always a pain, but every now and
again he went off the deep end and that was when he was truly unpredictable. Last time he upset Tad so much that Tad kicked him out and went blind as a result. She had seen it on other occasions as well and never liked it.

  “That idiot can do whatever the hell he wants so long as he’s not anywhere near us,” Amanda said, wiping tears from her eyes.

  “Jen, please,” Amber repeated. “He’s worked up and I don’t know what he’ll do. He hates that Robert boy for doing this.”

  Jen winced when Amber mentioned Robert’s name. She didn’t want to believe he might be involved in this.

  “Let him go, Robert will kick his arse,” Katie said, glaring at Tony’s back.

  “But he’s the Dreamwalker’s ghost,” Faye whispered. “He won’t hurt them, will he?”

  Jen looked from her friend to Amber’s worried face and then to where Tony was approaching the edge of a crowd of children that had built up in a way that only happens when they’re watching a fight.

  “Shit,” she said as she made her decision and reached for Dream.

  A second later she stood at the edge of the crowd and was just in time to head Tony off. He showed no surprise at her arrival, but the other kids jumped away, yelling in shock.

  She didn’t use her powers at school, not liking to stand out. She saw how other kids interacted with ghosts, and she didn’t want them to look at her in the same way. This time she didn’t have a choice.

  “Out of my way. Your boyfriend has pushed it too far this time.”

  He’s not my boyfriend, Jen wanted to yell. Instead she said, “Let me talk to them.”

  “Oh, so now you want to talk? Now that your precious—”

  “Tony, let me do this,” she snapped. “That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

  “Fine, but you end this, or I will.”

  She nodded, taking the threat and turning to the crowd who were half watching her and half watching the action. As she stepped forward, she was horrified that kids leapt out of her way like she was toxic. She didn’t have time to dwell on it as she was presented with a tableau that truly horrified her after the crowd opened up.

  Three children, all of them younger than her and one of them so young he was from the primary school next door, huddled on the floor, covering themselves as best they could while seven larger boys took turns kicking the terrified ghosts.

  Jen didn’t recognise the two ghosts who came to this school, but the youngest child was Andrew, the first child Amber found and someone Jen met multiple times. Her heart broke for him when she saw his terrified face and suddenly her frustration at Tony, the mortification at him embarrassing her friends and her annoyance at being forced to reveal her powers vanished as a familiar warmth built in her.

  Jen wasn’t angry, she was furious.

  The seven larger boys were in their teens, the youngest being her age. They dwarfed the kids on the floor and this was not a fair fight. Worst of all, Jen recognised the boy standing at the head of the group.

  Before Jen broke her back, Robert Maxwell wouldn’t have given her the time of day. Dark hair, dark eyes, a year-round tan and classic good looks, he was considered the best-looking boy in their year. He was also the best at football, really funny, and the most popular kid in school. Jen had never been unpopular, but she wasn’t in his league.

  However, after her return to the school, he was one of the first kids to ask her how she was. Everyone else was nervous around her, but not Robert. He had become a good friend, and she hoped he might even ask her out. He was a nice boy who cared about her and was a good person.

  His expression now was a mixture of glee and hatred. She could hardly believe it was him.

  “Stop!”

  The word cut through the noise of the crowd like a headsman’s axe, killing all sound. Movement stopped so abruptly that one boy froze mid kick. This wasn’t the same trick Stella used, but a simple command augmented by Dream so it sounded like she used a megaphone.

  All eyes turned to her and the kids nearest shuffled back.

  “What the hell are you doing?” she demanded, her eyes focused on Robert whose expression changed in an instant. His face transformed from psychopathic hatred to shame and then back to anger in a matter of seconds.

  “We’re showing these ghosts why they don’t belong at this school. It’s a lesson they’ll keep getting until they learn not to show their faces around here.”

  Jen couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This wasn’t the Robert she knew.

  “It’s not their fault they’re here. They’ve got nowhere else to go.”

  “School is for the living. Ghosts don’t belong here.”

  “As stupid as you morons are, it doesn’t sound like you belong here either,” Tony snapped, unable to keep quiet.

  Jen spun and glared at him.

  “Shut up. I’ll handle this.”

  “Well, hurry up,” he said, not backing down in the least.

  “Really, you let that thing talk to you like that?” Robert asked, pulling Jen’s eyes back to him in time to catch the tail end of his sneer. He patted the shoulder of the boy to his right. “You hear that, Sam? The big dreamwalker is getting pushed around by a ghost. I guess she’s every bit as messed up as they said she is.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Jen asked, her temper slipping.

  “They always said growing up with ghosts in your head messed you up. I didn’t want to believe it and took pity on you. Shows what I know. If you’re letting that corpse push you around, you really are a freak. Just like your messed up dad.”

  Jen frowned, stepping forward and ignoring how the teenage boys nearest her flinched away.

  “You don’t know what you’re on about,” she said in a dangerous whisper.

  Robert laughed.

  “Please, the whole world knows. Poor little Jennifer, kidnapped by the world’s biggest loser and messed up by ghosts. I used to feel sorry for you, but I guess there’s no fixing a lost cause.”

  “Shut up,” Jen snapped, falling deeper into her anger to fight back the tears she wanted to shed. Robert laughed again.

  “Oh, does the poor little girl not like to hear the truth? Your just as big a freak as your loser of a dad.”

  “I said, shut up!” Jen screamed, following her words with a stamp of her foot.

  The biggest problem with her broken back was how she had to maintain a constant connection to Dream to animate her legs. It required a lot of mental effort and caused incredible headaches if she left the connection open too long. However, another side effect was that with her connection to Dream open all the time, she often called it without meaning to, especially when emotional.

  When she stamped her foot, Dream decided to help.

  The ground shook so violently that the kids standing closest to the centre of the circle had to hold on to each other to stay on their feet. A large crack opened in the tarmac that spread quickly toward Robert and his friends, three of whom were thrown from their feet.

  Unfortunately, Jen wasn’t immune to the shaking ground, and after the kids started screaming she severed the connection to Dream to stop the damage. Her legs crumpled and Jen collapsed into a heap, barely catching herself and getting her hands scraped up in the process.

  When she looked up again, she saw Robert and his friends had found their feet and each wore fearful expressions. Robert himself looked more terrified than any of them until his eyes fell on her.

  “You used your powers on us?” he asked. “You attacked us, you freak!”

  His shock and fear turned to rage that spread amongst his friends. Suddenly the ghosts were forgotten and the eyes of the seven boys turned on her.

  “You attacked us!” Robert screamed before rushing forward to return the favour.

  His fists were balled and the look of pure hatred on his face was more than Jen could bear. She was so shocked to see it, she never reached for Dream to defend herself. She only cringed away from the kick that Robert leveled at her head.
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  It never landed.

  As his foot closed in, there was a sudden thud and Robert was sent sprawling with Tony atop him, raining punches on the larger boy with supernatural strength. He only got in three good hits before Robert’s friends interceded, but Jen saw blood fly in that brief interaction.

  She was so caught up with the flash of crimson that she wasn’t paying attention to Robert’s friends. Pain exploded down her left arm that was holding her upright as a kick at her wrist swept it away. She felt the impact of another kick, but not the pain as her attacker kicked her leg. However, the third kick was the worst, connecting with her stomach hard enough that she felt sick and lost her breath. She tried to take another breath, but it was impossible and she could only curl up into a ball to protect her head.

  Agony exploded through her as a foot collided with her rib. Another shock of pain made her cry out as a foot hit her shoulder near the base of her neck. The pain was constant and she thought it would never stop… until suddenly it did.

  The frequency of their kicks was frantic, so she noticed when one missed a beat. Then when she flinched for another blow, there was another missed beat.

  For a few seconds she remained in that position, trying to catch her breath and dreading what might come next, but slowly she realised nothing was coming and she lifted her head to look around. Through bleary, tear-stained eyes she saw the attack hadn’t stopped, it had been redirected.

  The forgotten child ghosts were throwing themselves at the boys attacking Jen, trying to protect her. They were batted away and taking punishment for their actions as the larger boys overpowered them. Amber was also clawing at the boys to pull them away, but she wasn’t helping much.

  Each of them were losing this fight and getting severely hurt, all because they wanted to protect her. These poor ghosts who had been bullied for months while Jen did nothing had taken up a losing battle on her behalf.

  Guilt like she had never felt washed over her, and as was her way, she turned that guilt into anger.

  How dare they attack those poor ghosts for just wanting to come to school and find an ounce of normalcy? How dare they attack her for wanting them to stop?