by C. S Luis
Edward had seen these visions throughout the lands of this world. There were signs in the many gardens, as well as the grounds of the palace, inside and out, and even throughout the forests of the kingdom.
Not sensing his master around, he came inside very slowly, spotting his mother’s youthful figure upon the royal bed; she seemed to be sleeping very peacefully. Usually, she slept under Quinn’s spell, and Edward feared he wouldn’t be able to wake her if he had to. Years apart, she seemed to still be near his age. It was odd that he had never found it strange then until he was recalling the events of that day. And perhaps he would have never found it strange until their journey to this world had brought her age into question.
Edward neared the side of the bed; she didn’t stir as he took a seat beside her and caressed the top of her head in hopes she’d awaken. Upon her neck, he saw the very collar that had kept him a prisoner just as it now kept her. He recalled the man in the black cloak’s hand as he pulled it off his neck without a struggle, and now he wondered if he had the power to do the same. But he found the laughter of the man in the black cloak mocking his thoughts.
She is lost…
He kept saying it, but Edward dared not believe him.
He put his hand on the collar and jolted back when the necklace jewels snapped at his fingers. He realized he alone could not free her from it. His mother didn’t move. She hadn’t since he had sat upon the bed beside her. No doubt she was under Quinn’s control. His control stretched beyond the palace.
He panicked, part of him longing to escape, and yet he didn’t want to leave her. He had failed to make the man tell him how to free his mother before he retreated. Even if he could free her, he didn’t know how, but there had to be a way. He knew that if he tried to move her, the master would know and come immediately.
Then he saw it as clearly as he heard it humming from the linens of his collar. The crystal glowing filled the white of the collar in the dark blue aura. He lifted it from the linens and gripped it tightly in his hand; part of the pointy end faced out, and he carefully brought it down over the jeweled collar.
The collar was glowing a bright red; in fact, it seemed to have been awakened by the light of the crystal, the blue beaming clashing with the bright red radiance of the collar. But nothing happened until both touched, and then immediately the collar snapped apart and dropped beside his mother’s head. At once, she opened her eyes and looked up as if she had just awoken from a deep, restful sleep. When she caught sight of him, she immediately sat up and pulled him to her.
Edward held her tightly as he breathed her in. “I thought I had lost you forever,” she whispered into his ear.
“You’ll never lose me,” Edward replied, holding onto her tightly. She pulled away, suddenly confused by their sudden freedom, and she searched his eyes for the answer.
At this, he lifted the crystal and said, “We don’t have to be afraid anymore. We can get away from him. He can’t hurt us as long as we have this.”
Dr. Edwards thought about it now. Had he really believed he would never hurt them?
The thoughts, or perhaps the words of a naïve boy then, but nevertheless, the color blue meant safety, meant energy, good energy. The dark blue was a stronger energy no doubt. She, Claudia, was strong like his mother. Of course, what else could it have meant? Only now he knew better. He recalled what he had wanted to forget.
9
High School Acquaintances
Mrs. Jenkins certainly had quite a bit of spare clothes, old garments from the previous students who had left them behind in the gym. A donation box was set up in the nurse’s office.
After towel drying my hair, I went through the items, but there was no way I was going to wear any of them. My life as a student at Milton High might as well be over if I had done so. Some items seemed older than the seventies.
The bell rang as I left the nurse's office. Mr. Vasquez and Mr. Claypool were standing in the hallway when I came out. I tried to ignore them, even though they did a very poor job of pretending to not notice me. Of course, I knew they were there. They were very bad about not looking so obvious. I thought of coming up to them but decided on just walking to my next class instead.
The second bell rang as I entered history class, and I found a seat in the back. I hurried before my eyes found something to stare at; I only hoped that the teacher didn't call on me to introduce myself to my fellow classmates, seeing as I was the principal’s granddaughter. They might have figured it was something required.
The way the teacher looked at me, I supposed it was personal. Perhaps the old man had something to do with that. You don't get disliked as much as I did until the news starts spreading that you’re related to the head of the school. It was apparent the news had been passed around fairly quickly. The teacher appeared resentful. A few students looked back at me in the same manner, whispering and staring here and there. They probably thought I got special treatment because of the old man.
"Hey. You’re Claudia Belle, aren't you?" A girl in front of me spun around to face me. Her bouncy brown curly hair fell over her square dark-framed glasses. Caught by surprise, I didn't answer right away. I didn't want to admit it, but it didn't seem to be a question, it was clear she already knew.
"I'm Tina Watkins," she volunteered a hand. I hesitated. Did people still shake hands?
"I think that's so cool, you being related to the principal. I bet you can get away with a lot of things," Tina exclaimed with a grin. A sigh of relief escaped my mouth. This was a fact I hadn’t considered.
"So, how do you like Milton so far?" Tina asked. I found her strangely odd, almost robotic in some ways. She seemed overzealous, extremely pleasing, and yet could it be that perhaps I wasn't used to someone as friendly as Tina?
She seemed to be far more interested in me than what the teacher was writing on the chalkboard. The teacher cleared his throat at one instant to get her to turn around. Then he moved away as their eyes met briefly. How strange that she had him look away. The teacher continued with his instructions on the chalkboard again. Writing a list of what we would need for the class and our very first assignment of the year. After a few more minutes of this, the bell rang above us.
I exited the class with the rest of the students, with the teacher now standing behind his desk watching the class clear. I only turned back when I noticed Tina slowly pass the teacher’s desk and eyeball him. But it was the manner in which she did so, slowly sweeping a single finger upon the edge of his desk. But she did not just simply sweep a finger, she used the end of her fingernail to scratch the top of the desk. I didn’t think much of it. I had seen my share of students go rogue enough to know that perhaps she was one of those. So I moved quickly and hurried away. But as soon as I thought I was far from the classroom, Tina appeared alongside me in from among the crowded hallway.
“Hey, what’s your hurry?” she said nonchalantly. Almost with a clear idea I was trying to desperately escape her. That I felt I had to justify my sudden escape.
“I’m just getting to class.” I tried to say.
She stayed right alongside me.
I had never had any girl friends. Then again, I had never had any real friends at all. Perhaps I just didn't know how to be friendly or how to react to someone like Tina who seemed nothing but polite.
"So, who do you have next?" Tina asked. I noticed the teacher, Mr. Peterson, staring back at us from the doorway a distance from the classroom.
"What's his problem?" I asked. "He hasn't stop staring at me since I got into his classroom.” Or correction, was it her that troubled him and now my unnatural alliance with her was making me a target of further trouble.
Tina started laughing. "Oh, don't let him bother you. He's a religious fanatic. Probably thinks you're a demon or something and wants to exorcise you," Tina sarcastically said.
"What?" I uttered, staring back at Mr. Peterson who was standing outside his classroom. The man grabbed at the golden crucifix from around his neck.
"I'm just kidding with you. That man is way bitter,” she said. "He thinks Dr. Edwards is the devil.”
"What? Why?" I exclaimed.
Tina laughed, "He thinks everyone's the devil. Ever since Dr. Edwards made him take down the crucifix from the walls, he's been like that."
"A crucifix? So I guess he still believes in prayer in school?" I asked.
"Something like that." Tina grinned. “I think he thinks he’s like Jesus Christ reborn.” She laughed.
"Great," I whispered. "As if I need any more problems."
"Some teachers get so attached to their classrooms you think it's their house or something. And they think they can hang up all sorts of crap," Tina added, rolling her eyes. She glared back at Mr. Peterson, a look that sent the adult fleeing into his classroom. I found it odd that a grown man would scare so easily. Maybe he really was crazy.
"So…" Tina asked, turning back to me. "Who do you have next?” She smiled, revealing a set of straight white teeth.
I tried not to let Tina's zealous smile overwhelm or disturb me. I looked down at my schedule card and found math with Mr. Thompson and PE on the list. I had already missed my first two classes: English and Science.
"We should memorize each other’s schedule cards,” she suggested with a full smile. It sounded a bit odd to me, but I figured there was no harm to it.
"You have English with Mr. McClellan." Tina frowned. "Oh, bummer,” she simply said.
"Do you have him?" I asked her, wondering why it was a bummer as she had put it.
"Nah, I had him last year. Now I have some old hag named Mrs. Whitman. God, I hate her class,” Tina said.
A few students passed us by, and she waved in a robotic-like way, as if she was programmed to do so. She seemed almost unreal, just as unreal as her smile. I wondered why she was talking to me. Could it be my status in this place, being the granddaughter of the principal? Or was there another reason? I wasn’t much for conversation with others, I faired alone better. And often wondered whether that was the attraction to others, my distance?
"Hey! What lunch period do you have?" Tina suddenly asked. I didn't answer right away, so Tina looked down at my card.
"You have B lunch like me. Maybe we can sit together!" Tina suggested like it wasn’t a question. I smiled, nodding, unable to offer anything else.
"Well, I got to get to class. I'll see you around. Don't be a stranger," Tina said and was swept away by the crowd in the other direction.
I felt alone and unpopular as I moved through the crowd.
After math class with Mr. Thompson, I came down the hall towards the cafeteria. I spotted the old man in the hallway and decided to go in the other direction. I knew I couldn't avoid him forever and that eventually we would have to talk. But for now, I wanted to avoid him if I could.
He hadn't been there all my life, and now he wanted to be a part of it. No amount of apologizing was going to make a difference. I honestly didn't care to know what his reasons were.
Did my father have the slightest idea about why he had never been part of our lives? Could it be the reason I had sensed sadness in my father?
There was a drawer in his office that was always locked and I often wondered why I’d find him urgently closing it just as I would come into his office to tell him dinner was ready. What did it contain?
I noticed Mr. Thomas, the security guard, along with another security guard, a Hispanic fellow. He appeared to be in training. They both glared at me as if I were up to something. I tried to smile; although, neither one of them smiled back. I figured they thought I was just another troublemaker like all the other kids they run into. And it didn't matter if the old man was my grandfather; they seemed like the kind of men that didn't care for such details.
A few students behind me wandered out of the stairwell and into B-lunch, catching the guards’ attentions. I stood at the entrance of the crowded cafeteria for a few seconds, staring into a mass of faces, none of which I recognized. But finally and reluctantly, I walked in and got into the lunch line.
I figured it was get in line or have lunch with the old man, and I didn't feel like having a discussion about my troubles with someone I didn’t even know. What did he know about what had happened? What did he know about their lives? He claimed he didn’t mean to leave or abandon my family, but he did.
I paid my lunch and wandered around, trying to pretend I knew where I was going. It was my only defense, even though I might as well have been walking in circles.
Then I saw her with her arm stretched upward; you’d think she was signaling a plane down. Tina would have stood on the table just to get my attention. She waved me over when I looked in her direction. A great big smile surfaced on her distant, soulless face, like she wasn’t all in there. She greeted me, sitting in the far back of the cafeteria apart from the rest of the student mass. Just a few friends surrounded her.
I followed the pattern of her thoughts, and a wave of distorted sounds greeted me from the hollow of her head, and I got a raw glare shot from her so quickly, it nearly frightened me. I stopped sensing; it had been rude of me. And just like that, she smiled at me most innocently, tilting her head slightly sideways like a puppy. Perhaps it had been rude of me to wander into her thoughts, but I sometimes didn’t realize I was doing it. Either way, it was a bad habit I couldn’t control.
Tina’s friends immediately looked up as if I were someone important, and she introduced me to them. They all seemed friendly, except for one.
Sean looked like the class president. He had dark hair, framed glasses, and well-combed locks. He looked up at me from the pages of his Chuck Palahniuk novel. He smiled and put the book down; it seemed his attention had been diverted from Mr. Palahniuk to me. Somehow, I thought it was rarely ever diverted, but for some reason, today was different. He seemed out of place, an intellectual in a cafeteria filled with misfits, quite the opposite of Tina and the other two. He looked like an English gentleman in a sea of high school idiots.
“Hello,” his musical voice said, and I blushed.
Ruben, a skater, seemed to be in the middle of stuffing a piece of bread into his mouth when I happened to step into the picture. Ruben had shady golden locks and a delicately structured face; there was a surprising metallic ring piercing his lip. He froze up when I looked in his direction, swallowing the bread and nearly choking it down.
"That's gross," Alex exclaimed. She was dressed in black and lace with a corset. I couldn’t tell if she was ready for a funeral or a heavy metal concert. She rolled her blue eyes when Ruben directed his attention towards me, he then shyly waved in greeting.
She wasn’t as welcoming as the others, sizing me up with a not so friendly glance. She pushed back her black, shoulder-length hair, darting her clear blue eyes over at me with a sneer.
"Oh look it’s Pocahontas…with daisies." she rudely said.
I assumed Pocahontas was in reference to my long brown hair and bronzed skin. The insult wasn’t a new one, but I was embarrassed that she insulted my daisy-patterned blouse since it was my favorite flower and top.
I took a seat next to Tina, facing Alex and Ruben.
"It was my mother's favorite," I admitted, feeling slightly childish. I assumed the Goth girl thought so too by the way she stared back at me when I said that, rolling her eyes as she did.
Ruben and Sean seemed to silently absorb my every word as Tina had. I wondered if they both knew about my parents. Maybe it could explain their behavior. Perhaps they felt a little sympathy for me?
“I think it’s lovely,” Ruben said with a smile.
“Daisies have always been one of my favorite flowers,” Tina proudly voiced.
“They’re known to represent innocence and purity,” Sean said with curved lips.
Alex wrinkled an eyebrow. “Innocence and purity?” She rolled her eyes at them. “Really?” There was an uncomfortable silence for a long second among the table.
"So, what do you guys do during lunch other than ea
t?" I asked, hoping to break the icy silence.
Alex glared at me, but the others seemed eager to answer my stupid question.
"Mostly talk about other people," Alex said, her red lips curving at me. I managed a smile and figured I had already been one of her victims.
"So, your grandfather is the principal, huh?" Alex asked. Sean’s eyebrows folded over his brown eyes. He seemed bothered by the sudden turn in conversation. Somehow I sensed this hadn’t been news to them. Who didn’t know by now that I was related to Dr. Edwards?
I nodded, hoping to get off of the topic, and then I picked up my fork and started picking at what looked like mashed potatoes.
"So like, you can do whatever you want?" Alex asked.
"I guess," I managed to say, distracted by what appeared to be meatloaf on my plate. I looked up suddenly and noticed the two assistant principals enter the cafeteria.
Alex looked back and saw them too.
"Friends of yours?” she asked. “Looks like your bodyguards are here. And just in time,” she added in a musical tone.
"Alex," Tina firmly said, darting her eyes at the raven Goth girl’s cold face. She turned to me with a glance that said, “ignore her”.
"They're not my bodyguards," I answered back like a little kid to her bullies, but it was impossible to defend myself from a stupid comment like that.
I hoped Mr. Claypool and Mr. Vasquez wouldn't see me, but right at that moment, they looked over at me and both waved and smiled. I just about died, wanting to return the smile but dreading the consequence of doing so, especially when Alex folded a lip and grinned back at me.
"You know them?” Alex asked, but it wasn’t a question. It was clear I knew them. Nevertheless, she made me rethink my answer. They all immediately darted their eyes over at me. Was knowing school officials a big no-no among them? Or were they merely curious about what my answer would be?