by A. S. Oren
“And that brooder is Lusk. Ignore his bad mood. He’d rather be at home playing with the alchemy set he just got.” His hands are shoved into the pockets of his jeans. His short, dark brown hair is swept back with gel. He has sharp features and his eyes are as grey as rain clouds.
“What model do you have?” I ask.
“2009.”
My eyes go wide and I practically run up to him. “That one has the set of extra-large beakers and it comes with that rare sample of Sangiunaria Canadensis. Have you gotten to use it with anything?”
“Not yet. I was dragged here,” he mumbles.
“Sangiunaria what?” asks Dante.
“Sangiunaria Canadensis, bloodroot. It has some awesome properties,” I say.
“Right. Great, we have another bookworm in the group. As if three weren’t enough already.”
Triton turns to me. “Want to show us that trampoline? So we don’t have to listen to Dante’s whining all day.”
I take his hand and smile. “Sure, come on!”
“That was the day I met the boys. Well, all except for Bullock. I only met him because I needed tutoring in Air magic. You’d think because it’s my element, it would come more naturally to me.”
Dad nods. “You’ll get there. One day you will be a powerful air shifter.”
“Are we done here then?” I move to stand, but he places a hand on mine.
“Not yet. There are still some things I want you to watch with me and remember.”
I sigh and sit back further in the chair. “Fine, but you have to ship in some Dr. Pepper for me.”
He looks at me with a raised eyebrow. “Really? You want me to get you Dr. Pepper?”
“Well, duh. It’s like my favorite soda ever. You know that. You’re the one that turned me onto it.”
He blinks and nods. “Oh, yes, of course. I’m just joking with you.
We turn back to the screen.
Summer Love
I look to be about thirteen. I’m sitting on the beach in a pink tankini. The guys are ahead of me, playing Frisbee. Well, most of the guys are, Amr is off to the side of me reading.
“Why don’t you go play with them?” I ask.
He glances over the top of his book. He looks at the guys, who are now fighting over the Frisbee and rough housing. “Why don’t you?”
“I’ve already beat them three times and they get all bent out of shape if I beat them every time. That includes giving them bruises when they try to tackle me. It wasn’t like that when we were little.”
Amr sighs and closes his book. “That’s because they see you as a girl now.”
I frown. “That’s good, because I am a girl.”
“No. Before they knew you were a girl, but didn’t see you as one. You have boobs and curves now.”
“What does either have to do with it?”
“A lot, trust me.”
“Well, do you see me like they do?”
His nose scrunches up. “Not really. I think of you as more of a sister. You’re not my type anyway.”
I scoot closer to him and smirk. I lean into him. “Who is your type?”
His cheeks flush, before he mutters. “Karen Gillan.”
I frown. “I don’t know who that is. Is she one of the girls staying here at the resort?”
He shakes his head. “She’s one of the companions of the Eleventh Doctor.”
I frown still then it clicks. “Oh, she’s off that show you love. Doctor Whatsit.”
“Doctor Who.”
“Yeah, that show. I never really got into it. I’m a Kardashian kind of girl.”
His lip turns up in disgust. “I hope one day you gain a more refined taste, at the very least stop watching reality television.”
I shrug. “Eh. Television is your drug of choice, not mine.”
“And what is your drug of choice? Triton?”
I look over at him with wide eyes. I cannot believe he just said that aloud. I reach over and slap his thigh. “Shut up! He might hear you!”
“Avvi, go get us some drinks. We’re dying,” says Maverick.
“What’s the magic words?” I call back. The least he could do is say please. Too bad we don’t have servants here to help out.
“Bunny panties!” yells back Dante.
My cheeks heat up and Amr busts a gut laughing. He sees my panties one time, on laundry day, and he will never let me live it down that they had bunnies printed all across them.
“Shut up, D! When are you going to drop that?”
“Never, Fire! I will take it with me into the beyond.” He gives me a wink and I stick my tongue out at him. It is his turn to blush, he turns away from me quickly and goes into the sea.
“C’mon, I’ll go help you get the drinks. I’m dying of thirst, too,” says Triton, as he comes to stand in front of me. He holds his hand out to me, to help me up. I’m glad the blush from before is still staining my cheeks, or else he would see the new one that took its place.
I take his offered hand and stand up. Even though I’m now standing, he doesn’t let go of my hand. I can’t help but let a small smile ease onto my face. He pulls me toward the concession stand and I look over my shoulder at Amr. He grins and holds up his thumb, I grin in return.
As we get to the concession stand, I realize he is going to walk past it. I stop him, but he keeps pulling me on, taking me towards the actual resort. “Triton, what are you doing? I thought we were getting drinks?”
“We will, but first there’s something I want to tell you, and I want to do it away from the others.”
Once inside the resort, he sits me down on one of the loveseats in the lobby. He stands in front of me, for a second, before he starts pacing. Now he has me worried. Whatever he wants to tell me is serious. He runs his hand through his hair and looks at me with those beautiful blue eyes. “Triton, you’re making me nervous.”
He sighs. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to. I just don’t know, exactly, how I want to say this.”
“Well, just say what you want to say.” My fingers grip at my thighs. What in the world is he going to say? Am I going to like it? Or hate it?
Finally, he takes a seat next to me. He looks at me and bites his lip. “Avvi, no, Avalon. I like you. More than just a friend. I like you, a lot.”
My smile must be a mile-long. The Sun god has blessed me. “I like you too, Triton, a lot.”
His smile is just as big as mine. He touches my cheek, my heart hammers against the wall of my chest. He leans in, ever so slowly, and hovers just over my lips. “Can I kiss you?” He all but whispers. I give a small nod of my head and close my eyes. His warm lips touch mine. I’m floating on a cloud. We pull apart and I look at him. In my thirteen years, I never imagined my first kiss would be this perfect. I reach out and take his hand. I am over the moon.
Arranged Marriages and a Funeral
“Was there a reason you wanted to go down memory lane with my first kiss?” Something about saying that feels like a lie. ‘You’ve never been kissed on the mouth a day in your life,’ says a voice in the back of my mind. I shake my head. Where did that come from?
“I didn’t mean to show that one, I apologize.” Something in his voice tells me he is lying. I have known my dad long enough to be able to tell when he isn’t telling me the truth. I’ll let it slide. I want to see what else he’s going to show me.
“Carry on.”
I’m fourteen, perhaps, fifteen years old.
Dad and I stand next to our indoor pool. A thin coat of ice covers the top. Chilled breath billows out of my mouth. I’m in nothing but a simple sports bra bikini. Dad holds up a gold coin and flicks it far off into the center of the pool. As soon as it disappears under the surface, I run to the edge of the pool and jump.
I’m so used to doing this training, I don’t even feel the cold anymore. The gold glints yellow and it takes me no time to find and grab it. I’m out of the water before my lungs can even begin to hurt. “Fifteen seconds. You’d be faster
if you were strong enough in your air magic. You wouldn’t even have to get in the water.”
I lower my head. “I know. I’m working hard at it, but I just can’t grasp it beyond the feather. Yet, that’s the only element that responded to me during my Picking.”
“You’ll get the hang of it. I’ll hire you a tutor when you get to Spearwood. I’ll make sure he’s the best at magic and specifically Air magic.” He tosses me a tank top and shorts.
I put on the tank top, over the sports bra. “Thanks, Dad. Sorry you have to go through all that trouble for me.” I put on the shorts.
“Nothing is too much trouble for my princess. Come back inside with me. Your mother should have some pound cake waiting for us. There’s something she and I want to talk to you about.”
“Oh, that sounds ominous. Should I be scared?” I move to walk beside him, we link arms.
He pats the top of my hand. “No, it’s a good thing for all of us.”
Once inside, we sit down at the kitchen table, keeping it informal is how we have always done it around the house, when there are no guests. Mom serves each of us a slice of pound cake, her favorite, and a cup of rose tea. The rich smells make my mouth water. I take a small, dainty bite of my cake and look up. Neither of my parents have touched their tea or cake. I put my fork down. “All right, tell me what the news is, I don’t think I can stand the suspense anymore.”
“We’ve made a decision about your future,” says my mother.
“My future? What kind of decision?”
“We’ve arranged for you to get married after you finish your stay at Spearwood. On paper, you are engaged.”
I swallow hard and my hands form fists. “Please tell me that it’s Triton.”
They look at each other and then down at the table. “No, we have wedded you to Paden Hansen.”
“What! Paden? I haven’t spoken to him since I was twelve and he was fourteen and too cool to hang out with us. I don’t even know him anymore.”
“Regardless of that, he’s a Royal.”
“Triton’s a Royal too!” I stand.
“Sit—”My mother starts to say, but then she starts to cough.
My dad rubs her back and hands her a napkin. She coughs into it. “He’s only a half Royal and with the rarity that you are, we want you to have heirs with a full Royal. We’ll discuss this later. I need to attend to your mother.”
I look at her and the napkin in her hand, it’s stained with red. “It’ll be okay, Honey. The healers will figure out some way to cure you. I’m sure of it. They are the best in the world.
~*~*~*~
The healers didn’t find a cure, and we didn’t talk about the arranged marriage again before her funeral. Two days before it, I was forced to tell Triton of the arranged marriage. He was furious and refused to talk to me about it. He told me that if I wasn’t going to fight it, then we were done. The truth? I felt guilty for trying to fight it while my mother died at a rapid pace.
Now, I sit outside the Shrine chamber, where her body lay. Waiting for the sun to rise and greet her.
The sound of footsteps alert me to the fact that someone is standing in front of me. I look, for a split second, I hope that it’s Triton. The moon is full and bright on this night. “Oh, hi,” I say, to Paden. I hang my head, hiding my tears from him. He takes a seat on the ground next to me.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Which one?” I ask. I glance at him through my curtain of hair.
“What do you mean?”
“Because of our arranged marriage. The love of my life refuses to speak to me, and because it was my mother dying wish, I refuse to fight it. Guess you and I will have to be forced into a loveless marriage, so that we can bear powerful heirs.”
“Who says it has to be loveless? Sure, I’m not your first pick, but we don’t have to be miserable because of our parents.”
I scoff. “You are optimistic.”
He moves my hair out of my face and tilts my chin up. “I don’t feel like I got the short straw. You’re beautiful and strong. I know your world is crumbling right now, let me help you pick up the pieces and rebuild it again. I will be here for you, even if you love someone else.”
I don’t know what to say.
He reaches into the inner pocket of his black suit. “I’m supposed to give you this at the dinner of our families meeting, but screw it. I hope you like it. You liked things like it when we were younger. I hope it’s still your favorite color.”
In his hand is a small red velvet box. Slowly, he opens it, revealing a ruby ring, with a snake wrapped around the stone. He remembered how I used to play with garter snakes, and how everything in my room had to be a deep red.
He lifts it out of the box and I hold up my hand. He places it on my left ring finger. “I really love it. How’d you remember all that?”
He smiles and leans forward to kiss my forehead. “I’m glad you like it, Avalon.” He stands and then bends down. Gently, he picks me up by my arms and steadily places me on my feet. “The sunrise will be here any moment. Soon your mother’s essences will go to meet the Sun god.
I turn to look at my dad. He has no emotion on his face. That was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to relive, his wife died again, and yet he isn’t even crying. “Please tell me that was the last one.”
He nods. “I’ll let you wake up now.” I smile and stand. “Oh, and Avalon?” “Yeah?”
“Your friends might seem a little weird tonight. Don’t pay it any mind, they will be back to normal by morning.”
I give him an odd look. “All right.”
He reaches out and pats my shoulder. My world falls into darkness.
~*~*~*~
“Princess! Clementine! Wake up, you’re freaking your whiney boyfriends out.”
My eyes flutter open. I’m lying on one of the loveseats in my dorm. Lusk stands over me. I rub my eyes. What a strange dream, it felt so real. I’ll have to tell dad about it. “Lusk? Why are you calling me a fruit?”
I yawn and run a hand through my hair. I smile, it’s still straight. That cream actually is long lasting.
“What did you just call me?” he asks.
I look at him and blink slowly, my vision is still blurry. “What?”
“What did you just call him,” says Dante.
“Uh, Lusk, that’s his name still, right?”
“You never call me by my first name.”
I laugh. “Are you high? I’ve always called you by your first name, since the day we met seven years ago.”
“I think we should take Miss Clementine to the infirmary,” says Bullock.
I frown. There it is again, that fruit. “Do I have a new nickname, or something?” I ask. “You guys keep calling me a fruit. Really? A fruit? That’s the best you could come with? I rather have D, here, calling me Fire.”
“That’s your last name, Avalon,” says Triton.
I give him a glare. “What are you doing here? I thought you didn’t want anything to do with me? And in case you’ve suffered some kind of group head injury, my name is Avalon Roseman.”
Yin’s Reflection
Dante puts his hand to my forehead. “You feeling okay, Fire?”
I bat his hand away and mock glare at him. “I’m fine, D. You’ll mess up my bangs.”
“You’re bangs? Are you serious?” asks Horace. “I didn’t take you for the type of girl that cared about things like that.”
I stand and go to the mirror hanging over the mantel. I fix my hair and turn to give Horace a roll of my eyes. “Me not take my appearance seriously? C’mon, Horace, we’ve known each other for seven years. You know how psycho my mother was about being all lady like 24/7.”
"Your mother? Avvi, you don't know who your mother is. You are adopted," says Amr, as he takes a step toward me.
"Dad said you guys would be acting weird tonight. I didn't think he was serious." My eyes travel to the clock on the wall. "Shoot, we're late for dinner with Pad
en. We better go."
I go back to the mirror to make sure I look pretty for him. After all he has done for me, he deserves having me look my best. I walk past the guys. They are all so stiff. I don’t know why they are acting so strange. I hope what Dad said is true, and their weirdness is only temporary. I open the door of my dorm and look back at them, "Are you going to stand in my room all night, or are you going to come with me to dinner? I'm starved."
"Did she say we are going to go have dinner with Paden?" Dante asks.
I twist around to look at them and walk backwards to t the door that leads to the relaxation area. “Stop acting so weird; you’re seriously starting to freak me out. We’ve had dinner with Paden ever since we came here.” I turn the knob and lean into the door, opening it. .
Lusk crosses his arms over his broad chest. “We are the ones acting weird?”
"I think we should take her to Dr. Quinn. There's obviously something wrong with her head. Maybe that Royal put something in her food earlier,” says Bullock.
"I doubt a poison could do this to her, but I wouldn't put it past him, or that Hansen,” mumbles Dante, through clenched teeth.
“It’s rude to talk about someone like they aren’t in the room with you,” I say back to them as we come to three hallways. I take the one on the right.
“The dining hall is this way, Avalon,” says Lennox.
I turn back to face him and fold my arms. “You’re welcome to leave. I’m going to go eat with Paden, and as you know, full Royals don’t eat in the regular dining hall.”
They all go stiff again. “Wait, what did you say?” asks Dante.
I lift an eyebrow. “Uh, Royals don’t eat in the dining hall?”
Dante folds his arms over his chest and frowns. “No, before that. You said full. What do you know?”