by Amanda Churi
Her mouth dropped in temptation, her taste buds watering as her body encouraged her to pursue what was right there. Grunting, Sybil stretched her fragile arms, her slick, sticky skin suctioning her to the cage. Slowly, she pulled herself forward, panting when she reached her destination. Her eyes twinkled in excitement, a bit of life returning to her as the potent, salty scent penetrated her pores, causing her stomach to do somersaults.
She dipped her sharp tongue into the blood, energy immediately flooding her limbs. Before she could stop herself, she plunged her entire head into the dish, swallowing as quickly as she could; it had been too long!
Her slurping and gurgling were very loud for such a tiny thing, many heads instinctively turning towards their little experiment. Eyes widened; uncountable Encryptors called to each other in excitement, racing towards Sybil as she pulled her bloody head up from the bowl. They congregated at the door of her cage, staring ahead in awe and hugging one another as cheers permeated the air. They did it; they actually did it!
Across the base in the medical ward, Flye sat on a lone barstool, twitching uncontrollably as she cupped her hands to her mouth, desperate to hear good news. Laelia had been in critical condition for over two weeks now. Flye had been called down here earlier today in regard to her short-lived friend, but the staff wouldn’t tell her why.
“Flye,” a gentle voice came. Flye snapped her head up towards whoever had spoken, her eyes boring into a young lady. She was dressed in a silver gown and had a red scarf around her neck, signifying that she was from the critical care unit.
“M-Megan,” Flye began, unable to stop shaking as she held both of her hands in front of her chest. “How is she? What happened?”
Megan frowned, taking a sudden interest in her feet. She sighed deeply, shaking her head and motioning for Flye to follow her as she turned and vanished beneath a white curtain.
Flye felt her heart stop. No…
The darkness encroaching about Flye at that moment put Griffin to shame, regardless of how terrible he felt.
Griffin groaned, his skin burning and heart beating uncontrollably. His jaw quivered as he searched for consciousness, sweat pouring down both his face and chest. He didn’t know why he was out; all that he had been doing for the past weeks was trying to learn the ways of technology, and after going to bed one night, sleep suddenly did not want to leave him: in fact, it couldn’t.
Maybe I just screwed up wiring again, he thought glumly. Maybe I fried myself… Maybe this is Purgatory—dammit, I knew I should have prayed last dinner!
Griffin tried to focus, commanding his eyes to open, but instead, they crossed their lashes and refused. He huffed, thrashing in frustration as he tried to break free of the strange presence that had captured him.
“Ey, calm down!”
Griffin ceased his tantrum at once, drawing a startled breath. “Justus?”
“Yours truly.”
Griffin grunted, trying to open his eyes once more. “I-I can’t see.”
“I know,” Justus replied simply, his voice becoming slightly more distant.
“W-what are you talking about?” Griffin mumbled. “What’s going on?”
“Oh, nothing, nothing!” Embry answered instead, Griffin moaning when he felt her cold, metal hands caress his face. “Just remain strong, little pupil!”
“Embry!” Justus scolded. “Hush!”
Embry retreated from Griffin. “Yes, you are right. I am very much apologetic.”
Justus huffed, accepting her condolences but not responding. All fell silent except for the clanking of metal on metal as Justus continued to work on whatever had captivated his attention.
Griffin lay there quietly for minutes more; it was good to know that he wasn’t dead at least, but considering all that he had been through lately, it wouldn’t have surprised him. The level of technology that Justus exposed him to was, put simply, insane, and Griffin did not take to it well; he could hardly understand the basic concepts. Still, Embry remained supportive at all times, and Justus never gave up either, though that wasn’t to say that he didn’t get irritated. It felt nice… To have a place where he was actually appreciated, even though he screwed up more often than not. It made him… Happy.
“…Can you please let me open my eyes?” Griffin tried again.
“Nope,” Justus told him, offering no more information.
Griffin blew a raspberry, showing just how dissatisfied he was.
“Ey, no being a crybaby!” Justus joked, hardly able to stifle his laughter. He snorted, clearing his airways before continuing his project. “Believe me, when you see this baby, you will be shocked.”
“Good or bad shocked?” Griffin rounded bluntly.
“Why, good, of course!” Embry exclaimed. “Why the latter? We wouldn’t want to hurt you!”
Griffin frowned. He thought of Laelia screaming—crying as she fell to the nightmares in her brain. He never quite knew what to think of her… If she was a friend, foe, or something far greater that he was just too blind to realize. He knew she had feelings for him, but he never returned them because he wasn’t so sure about what he felt. He wanted Laelia in his life, but as a person who stood beside him in a romantic fashion? Eh…
“You wouldn’t hurt me on purpose…” Griffin reiterated softly.
Justus came to a pause in his work. “What?”
“Nothing,” Griffin dismissed.
“No, come, do tell!” Embry prodded, playfully poking his side.
Griffin scoffed, knowing it was no use. If he didn’t say it, they would get technology to somehow. “I have a question, Justus.”
“And I possibly have an answer,” he replied humorously.
Griffin wasn’t amused. “What do you do if someone likes you, and they’re your friend, but… You don’t feel that way?”
He didn’t respond right away, and, of course, Griffin could not read him since he was blind at that moment. “Ey, well, shame on you for keeping them in the friend zone!”
“Huh?”
“If you are friends, best friends with that Laelia girl, because I’m sure that’s who you’re yabbering about, then why can’t you be involved romantically? Seems to have worked fine for Eero and Mabel.”
“It’s not the same,” he objected strongly. “They never hated each other, and they have this supernatural connection crap. Laelia and I… I used to wish she would burn because she was so stuck up. Then… One day we both just stopped. She learned of my past, and she suddenly seemed really empathetic. She stopped insulting me, started hanging closer, and… Somewhere in there, she developed feelings. And I didn’t.
“I can be her friend, but I just… Can’t be more. I am very protective of her, but it’s not the same. And I feel like if I told her the truth, I’d crush her…”
“Hm,” Justus said, his tone a bit queer. “Well, you can’t keep leading her on, you know…”
“I’m not trying to! But I think she confuses my worry for her as a person as the protective instinct of a lover. And I’m not that… I just. She’s not it. I—” He paused, remembering his older brother. “Kevin told me to look after her… And after all of the pain I caused him, it’s the least I can do.”
“I comprehend respecting his wishes, and that is commendable,” Embry pushed gently, stroking Griffin’s hair. “But he is not you, and he does not know what your heart desires. But… Please explain; how would you know who is ‘it’?”
“I don’t know…” he admitted quietly. “Shouldn’t my heart race when I look at them? My mind spin when I think about them? Be unable to imagine a life without them…?”
Embry sighed, but it was not out of sadness. She continued to stroke Griffin’s hair. “Some believe in love at first glance and love as strong as such. But that is rare… Perhaps once in a lifetime rare. Many times, you don’t realize they are the one at first—and sometimes, when you think your heart hath found its missing piece, you turn out to be wrong.”
Griffin slightly turned hi
s head, imagining Embry’s face. “Can you feel love, Embry?”
She giggled, pulling her hand away. “I can feel emotions,” she told him, “and yes, I believe I experience love because I love Justus as a father. But love as in romance? It is probably something I will never know just because of the way I am, and I am content with that; I have no need for it so long as I have those around me.”
“Besides, how old are you?” Justus asked; he still sounded a bit off.
Griffin answered, but he was a bit hesitant. “Almost sixteen.”
“Ey, you’re young,” he replied dryly. “You’re not expected to understand love yet—heck, you don’t even need it right now.”
His reasoning ruffled Griffin’s feathers. Kevin fell in love with Lucy when he was fourteen. Eero and Mabel were hardly older than he was, and they were inseparable. Those weren’t merely crushes; their relationships had a much deeper meaning that Griffin could only hope to have some day. He was tired of being an outcast and fending for himself; he wanted to have someone else to help hold him up when he felt he could no longer stand.
“And you are how old?” Griffin growled, frustration fueling his body.
“Nearly nineteen.”
“Not much older than I am,” Griffin mocked.
Justus slammed something down, Griffin jolting in place. “Knock it off,” he griped painfully. “I am three years older, and I have seen many and more terrible… Terrible things than you have. I find it quite… Quite pathetic to allow yourself to develop feelings for someone when they can very well be gone the next day.” His voice was breaking, sobs closing in. Griffin quickly regretted his words, wanting to take them back, but he stayed silent.
“Justus…” Embry cooed.
“It’s fine; I’m fine,” he said in a rushed, slurred voice, shooing her away with his tone. “I just…” His voice trailed off, and regardless that Griffin did not have his sight, he knew that Justus was looking at him. “I don’t need love… Or affection to survive here… But yes, sometimes, it’s a nice feeling to know they care… And that you have a friend.”
He looked away from Griffin, picking up the item that he slammed down. “You ready, Griffin de Vaux?”
“Hm?” Griffin mumbled, almost instantaneously feeling strength and control return to his body.
Justus smiled, dipping his head with pride. “My dear friend… Open your eyes and see.”
***
I fiddled with The Star of David around my neck as I leaned against the wall outside of the training room, separated from Mabel and Virgil, who were inside. Seek stood in front of me, biting and licking her lips as she watched the ground with immense interest. She wanted me away from Mabel at the moment; judging by her unrest, I figured she had a pretty good idea of what transpired last night.
Ever since the attack, Mabel did not speak to me. It may have only been a few hours of the silent treatment, but even so, her turning the blind eye on me made me feel worse than I could describe. I told her that I didn’t mean it—that I couldn’t help myself.
…But I don’t think she cared.
“She will forgive you,” Seek assured me, able to sense my worries and inner conflict without blinking an eye, “but know that she will never forget what happened last night. There will always be a piece of her that subconsciously remains on guard.”
“Fabulous,” I bleated in dejection. “Just one more thing I epically messed up.”
“Hey, don’t be like that!” she badgered, resting her soft white palm on the side of my face without fear. She smiled, trying to bring hope into my vessel which felt like nothing but a carcass lately. “If we never acknowledged our mistakes, we would never correct them.”
“There are a lot of mistakes you can’t correct.”
She winked at me. “True, but most of the time, you can reimburse them somehow.” She placed her other hand on my opposite cheek so that she now held my face in both of her hands. Her white-gray irises began to glow as her eyes merged with mine. She leaned in, her lips hovering close to mine.
My body locked up, my golden eyes nervously flashing around as I wondered just what was happening. “Uh… What are you doing?”
“I’m going to help you,” she said softly. “Just… Relax…”
“T-that’s kinda hard to do when you’re practically breathing down my throat!”
She giggled. “Good! That’s exactly what I need to do.”
I cringed. “Excuse me?”
“Open your mouth.”
“L-look,” I stammered, trying to pull away, though she held me firmly in place. “I know I’m irresistible, but Mabel’s my girlfriend.”
Her face twisted in disbelief. “Are you stupid?” she spat. “Believe me, I’m not after you. Now, open your mouth, and afterward, please shut it so that I do not have to hear your nonsense.”
Terribly skeptical, but not wanting to test her fuse, I cautiously opened my mouth.
She smiled, closing her eyes and lightly touching her lips to mine. My eyes ballooned in size, and immediately, I tried to break away, but she wouldn’t let me. With her lips still against mine, she inhaled deeply through her nose, slowly releasing the air through her mouth and filling my lungs.
My breathing shallowed, a strange trance taking hold of me. Screams rang in my head, but cries of praise surfaced in my blood. The air had a strange tint to it—a taste on my tongue that I could only remember but never possibly describe. The strange air bubbled in my stomach, the acid within growling obnoxiously and acting as if it possessed the mouth of my body. It wasn’t pleasant, but oddly enough, I felt stronger—calmer.
After several dragged out seconds, Seek pulled away from me. Her bony knees racked against one another, while the light surrounding her ever-so-slightly dimmed; nonetheless, she smiled, even if it was small.
My mouth was wide, and I did not move. I didn’t know what she had just done, but it actually scared me to some degree.
“That should be enough for now,” she told me in a trembling voice. She took lax, deep breaths, trying to gather her bearings as she turned back to the closed door of the training room. Still, my eyes did not stray from her, watching Seek drag herself over to the door on legs that could hardly support her pathetic weight.
Whatever she did, it left her drained. “What did you do?” I wondered, remaining rooted where I was.
Seek pressed her hand against the iron door, turning her fragile head towards me. “Consider it a ‘thank you’ for standing with us.”
The doors opened. Seek held my eyes for a moment more before motioning into the room with the tilt of her head. I wanted to ask more, to find out just what the purpose of her little stunt was, but her face showed me that no more information would be given out. Her motives were buried behind her smile, which she hoped I would not see through.
I was the expert of having to portray false happiness to others, thus why I could read Kevin so well and why I could tell that there was true pain behind whatever Seek had done. Regardless, I respected her and did not press it. I did as I was told, letting my feet carry me over to and through the door, preparing for yet another hard day of training with Seek right behind me.
“…so that’s why you need to push past your triggers,” Virgil was saying as we entered the arena. According to Seek, there had been a change in plans; now, Virgil and Seek would be our mentors—not Kaitlyn. Seek said that the queen needed Kaitlyn for some sort of secretive mission for a bit, but I wondered how long a bit would be. Kaitlyn was finally growing on me, and in my eyes, it seemed very odd that someone’s roles would be switched so suddenly, especially since Kaitlyn was Seek’s bodyguard. “I can feel the rush within you,” Virgil continued passionately. “Your strength comes from your heart, not anger, and you need to realize this if you are to succeed.”
Mabel nodded, her face straight and eyes clear as she encoded every piece of advice that Virgil gave her. Her back was to me; even if she knew that I was there, her reaction would’ve been the same.
>
“Ah, Eero!” Virgil exclaimed as I fell in line beside Mabel, who threw me a suspicious glance from the corner of her eye. “Good to have you back! How are you feeling?”
“Uh, fine, I guess,” I replied awkwardly.
Virgil flashed me a questioning glare and then looked at Seek, who moved to stand beside him. She simply nodded, reluctant to say anything else. “Hm, well, alright,” he muttered deeply. “Whatever. Mabel and I were just talking about how to properly access powers. Glad you joined in; this information is just as useful to you.”
Would have been useful to know last night, I thought.
“I informed him that I don’t think training us to the breaking point will make us effective prophets in the long run,” Mabel hissed, challenging Virgil’s intense glare with her own. “We’ve been at this for over two weeks, nearly every hour we are awake! Can’t we have one day to ourselves?”
“Those who are not committed do not survive.” He crossed his buff arms and smiled, revealing his teeth that held a tint of red. “You will thank us later.”
“But our training has been nothing but psychological!” Mabel protested, her volume quickly rising. “Our brains are like voodoo dolls at this point! I don’t like sitting still, and I would like to actually test my skills if you don’t mind!”
Virgil snickered. “Well, well. Seems that I was not aware of what was going on here.” He looked at Seek, a pressing smile holding his lips. “They haven’t fought yet?”
“…They have a bit,” she replied warily. “They have brought their other sides forth, but true combat? No. I didn’t want to press it too soon.”
Virgil nodded, his pupils narrowing as he looked back at Mabel. “Well, you say that you had plenty of training back in Phantome; let’s just see how well it holds up in the modern era, hm?”
Seek’s eyes exploded, a burst of white light igniting her skin in fear. “Prelude, I don’t exactly think—”