by J. W. Lolite
Unfortunately, in addition to sensing my feelings, she could also tell when I was lying. I knew this by the vague “uh-huh” and the unimpressed look she shot me.
“But you’re right,” she said, looking closer. “It looks like the scabs have already formed. Don’t pick them or it’ll scar,” she finished in a motherly fashion.
I smiled at her and then looked around the intersection.
“I’ll be sure not to do that. Anyway, where’s Tybalt. He’s going to make me late. What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
Lesia gave me a piercing stare before responding. “Now you know how we feel.”
I chuckled for a few seconds, shaking my head. “Yeah, but this is different. This is my big return to homeroom. I can’t have Ty ruining my grand entrance. Do you think Mr. Alcor remembers what I look like?” I joked. Then I thought about it a second and turned serious. It had been two months.
“I wouldn’t worry about that. You do stand out.”
She’s got a point, I thought as I caught my reflection in one of the windows of a building across the street. Bright lavender gleamed back at me. “Like a radiation hazard.”
“Oh, Ingrid, your personality isn’t that bad,” she teased before laughing at my half-hearted glare. “I’m sorry. I was just joking, but I really do think you’re wonderful.” My heart warmed with little fuzzies at that. “And here comes Ty. He can tell you as well.”
I turned to look down the street, and sure enough, there strode our charming friend. He pointed at us and shrugged his shoulders.
“Damn, I really am running late this morning. Even Ingrid’s here before me.”
“For your information, Tybalt, I got here first,” I bragged, feeling rather proud of myself. “And get this, I was early.”
Ty gave me a skeptical glance before turning to Lesia. “It’s true,” she confirmed.
Upon hearing the affirmation, Ty broke out in wide grin and slug an arm around my shoulders.
“I guess finally getting your dear friends sent to the lair really set you straight. I’m proud of you,” he said, sniffing and pretending to wipe a tear. “My girl. Punctual.”
I felt my face heat up. “Yeah, well, I’m a team player,” I replied, looking at the ground in an attempt to hide my face. Why couldn’t my hair be just a little longer?
“Let’s go team!” Ty exclaimed, throwing his other arm around Lesia. I tried to sneak a look at her through my hair, but Ty’s body blocked my path. “Today is the day we finally escape Ursa’s cycle of pain and discipline. The three of us together in homeroom at last!”
“Jeez, Ty, you don’t have to be so enthusiastic about it.”
Not that it would have made much of a difference if he wasn’t. As we walked into the schoolyard, we were soon the focus of every set of eyes on campus. I couldn’t blame them; this was a momentous occasion. For the first time in months, Ingrid Fairheit was at school on time.
I let out a huge yawn, trying to force my concentration on the blackboard in the front of the room. The wonders of the early Twentieth Century floated delicately through my left ear and straight out the right. I was way too tired for this, but I did make a promise. I bit the inside of my cheek trying to jolt some energy back into my body. It didn’t work. I vaguely wondered why I was so excited about being on time today. Other than a flabbergasted look from Mr. Alcor, the day had proceeded as it normally did – long and boring. My eyelids started to feel like closing bear traps when an announcement rang out over the intercom.
“Ingrid Fairheit, please report to the principal’s office.”
I creased my eyebrows in confusion before standing and gathering my things. Ignoring all the “ooh’s” from my mature classmates, I excused myself from the room and made my way down the hall. While this certainly wasn’t the first time I’d been beckoned to Ursa’s office, this was the first time I couldn’t think of a reason why. A smirk found its way to my mouth as I imaged her really checking to see if I was sick. Maybe she really did enjoy those morning conversations.
“Kids still okay, Tania?” I asked, walking into the office and looking at the secretary. She didn’t even pause in her phone conversation as she pointed her pen over to the principal’s door. I took the hint and knocked. I waited for the entrance cue and walked in.
“Good to see you are indeed alive and well, Miss Fairheit, if a little,” Principal Dipper stopped and glanced down at my knees, “worse for the wear.” She indicated to one of the chairs in front of her desk, and I walked over and took a seat.
“Yeah, well, some of us have to be the ducklings,” I replied, pushing my skirt down so it covered my knees.
She leaned forward, the light bouncing off her thick frames. “That is true,” she commented. “Did you have some kind of accident?”
My mind sped into overdrive. Ursa had a knack for picking up on falsehoods. Many years experience from lying students, no doubt.
“Uh, kind of. I got into a rush going home and tripped,” I lied. I looked at her face as she leaned back and the light shifted off her lens. Stone gray bore into me thoroughly unconvinced.
“You should be more careful, Miss Fairheit. It’s always a good idea to pay attention to one’s surroundings. I wouldn’t want one of my students missing school over a careless running away incident.”
I didn’t respond as I continued to hold her gaze. This old woman. She knew I was lying. That much was certain, but what else did she know. She hadn’t said anything to indicate she knew exactly what happened, but what was with that look and . . . could it be possible? No, I pressed firmly into my mind, she doesn’t know what happened. She just knows I’m not being completely honest. And even if she did have a few good guesses, I seriously doubted any of them involved cloaked creepers.
“I’ll be sure to do that, Principal Dipper,” I said at last. “Is that all you wanted to talk about? The next class will be beginning soon.” I leaned over and grabbed the strap of my bag.
“Not quite so fast, Miss Fairheit.” She stopped me. “The reason I called you here is to give you this.” She reached into one of the vast amounts of drawers that lined her desk and pulled out a white envelope. “A very dear friend of mine wanted me to give this to you. I think it would be in your best interest to consider it carefully,” she added with a stern voice, handing the envelope to me.
I reached out and grabbed the envelope with care. Flipping it over, I noted the envelope was blank of any writing, but instead had an image on the front. My eyes wandered over the sketch. It was a strange figure made of dots and lines. The dots were arranged in an odd pentagon on top of a thin-topped trapezoid. From two heavy dots on opposite sides of the pentagon, a pair of stick-like arms were attached. One of the arms was sticking up and ended in rectangular V. The other arm was more horizontal, and at the tip, a squiggly vertical line of dots formed the shape of a backwards C. Ursa’s friend really needed more practice making connect-the-dots patterns.
“Um, ok, Principal Dipper. Thanks for giving me this. I’ll be sure to look at it.” I looked at the odd little pattern again, bemused. Giving up on making any sense of it here, I put the envelope in my bag and stood up.
“Make sure that you do. This is a very important matter, Miss Fairheit.”
I exited the office just in time for class change. Hurrying to my next class, I could practically feel the letter burning a hole in my bag demanding to be read. It looked like I’d be wide awake for Biology.
Chapter 7
Astronomy
I sat in my seat and waited patiently for the second bell to ring. Why did five minutes have to take so damn long? I reached into my bag and grabbed my biology book and notebook. After tossing the pair on my desk, I flipped the pages around to what I thought the day’s lecture would be on. Glancing around, I dug for the letter and tucked it under my notebook. Mrs. Mizar was notorious for taking up notes, and I really didn’t want her snatching this little treasure before I had the chance to read it. I saw Lesia and Ty enter the
room together. Lesia caught my eye and came over to take her seat beside me. Ty followed suit and sat behind her.
“You’re really on the ball today. First homeroom and now Biology. The teachers will suspect you’re up to no good,” Ty teased, taking his seat.
“Half the time, they’d be right,” I said, looking at the clock. “I just got out of Ursa’s office at the beginning of class change.”
“So?”
“So?”
“So,” Ty began again, “what was that about?”
“Oh. Nothing really.” I hated lying to my friends. “She just wanted to make sure I wasn’t dead or something since she and I didn’t get to have our usual chat.” Okay, that wasn’t totally untrue. She did say she was glad to see I was alive.
The late bell chose to end my suffering, signaling the beginning of class. We all turned our attention to the blackboard as Mrs. Mizar began her lecture on the more fascinating aspects of taxonomy. Shifting my gaze around, I noticed that not two minutes into the lecture the majority of the eyes in the room had that distinctive glazed over appearance. Lesia, one of the few exceptions, was focused acutely on the board, pausing only to jot down a few notes. The only other exception was Ty. His eyelids were all that captured his attention. Seeing my opportunity, I slid the note out from under my notebook with the gingerness of a ninja. I frowned at the strange stick figure, still clueless as to what it was. After quickly making sure Mrs. Mizar’s back was still towards me, I eased the envelope open and took out a single note.
You have many questions. Come to the temple at the edge of town for the answers.
Gee, whoever sent this sure had a lot to say. I flipped the note over to see if anything was written on the back. Blank as my classmates’ brains. I stuffed the note back inside the envelope and glared at the stick-dot thing. Was it so much to ask that I actually got a break every now and then? Shit. What was that? Like two whole sentences? And it wasn’t even on a full piece of paper, either. Just some little cheap-ass note card . . . when did it get so dark?
Startled, I looked up and into soul-stealing black. Mrs. Mizar was standing beside me, her ominous shadow casting over my desk. Her eyes moved down away from mine. I looked down and saw what caught her attention. The envelope laid in full view right over my notebook. I contemplated snatching it up for a second before deciding that would probably only land me in more trouble. Besides, if she really wanted to read my little love note and embarrass me in front the class, she was going to be disappointed.
“I, uh –”
“Well, well, Miss Fairheit. I’m glad to see you’re finally taking an interest in the sciences. Unfortunately, it seems that while you are up in space, the rest of us are still here on Earth mastering classification,” she quipped, turning and walking back towards the board. “But I assure you, astronomy will come soon enough. Right after genus and species. Kings play chess on fine green sand, children.”
Relief washed over me, and I pushed the envelope back under my notebook. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lesia looking at me. Ignoring her, I spent the rest of the period lost in taxonomy land with Mrs. Mizar, determined not to get caught again.
I managed to make it through the rest of the day without much incident, but it wasn’t like I had to keep sneaking a peak at the note to know what it said. It was pretty straight to the point on what I had to do. I’d been waiting for Lesia to ask about the letter, but she didn’t say a word about it. It was a bit unnerving, to tell the truth. I knew she was fully aware that something was up, but all I got was feigned ignorance. It crossed my mind that she was probably trying to respect my privacy or wait for me to bring it up, but the more exciting part of my mind concluded she was just waiting for the right moment to spring. Either way, the suspense was really starting to get to me, and her patience far outweighed mine.
The more I thought about all that happened, the more I wanted to spill everything to my friends. They had always been there for me, and I for them. This time was different; I knew they would only freak out if they found out about the attack and stop me from going to that temple. I couldn’t let that happen now that I was so close to potentially finding out something about what had happened last night. I would tell Ty and Lesia everything soon, but right now, I needed to do this more than anything. I needed to know about those strange guys, and maybe I might find out something about myself. A surge of determination flashed through me as I resolved to go seek out the temple. I just hoped the note wasn’t some bogus lead.
We made our way down the hall and out to the front gates when Ty turned to speak to us. “So, ladies, what do you want to do for the rest of the afternoon? I managed to find some spare change around the house ‘cause I know a certain someone’s been dying to go to the arcade,” Ty sang out while pulling a bag of change from his pocket. It was so true. I’d been itching to get on the joystick and earn some respect. There was nothing more satisfying that kicking some poor arcade junky’s ass with a sword-wielding Chinese girl to the beats of a Japanese dance machine. Resolve, Ingrid, resolve. No! I had to go to the temple. I already decided! It’s a shame determination didn’t come with the same entertainment value as a video game.
“Sorry, Ty,” I declined, my voice laden with disappointment. “I can’t. I already planned to go . . .um,” I paused, trying to think of, well, anything, “home.” That was hard. “My aunt. I didn’t see her this morning, and I need to go check on her.” Why did lying have to take so much effort and brain power?
“I see,” he said, giving me a skeptical look. While I was on the issue, why did my friends have to be so good at detecting my lies. “How about you, Lesia? Any other plans?”
“I think I’m going to head home, too. I have some things I need to catch up on.”
“Another time then. I’ll see you both tomorrow, but don’t expect me to have any more change,” he replied, giving us a half-hearted wink. “See you later!” I watched him turn and leave with a knot in my stomach. I really did want to go to the arcade with him. Hell, I wanted to go anywhere with him. I sighed and looked at the ground. Soon. Soon I’d have my answers and be done with this. I saw a slight movement out of the corner of my eye and almost jumped out of my skin when I saw Lesia still standing beside me. Her doe eyes stared into mine, and I feared she heard my thoughts. That or I had done something stupid like say them out loud. It wouldn’t be the first time. In times like this, I found it’s often useful to use one’s best defense. Play dumb.
“Aren’t you going home, Lesia?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, Ingrid.” Damn. “I know something’s up. I just wish,” she began, looking sadly at the ground, “I just wish that you would trust us enough to tell us what it is.”
Wow, I felt horrible. Seeing her so sad and concerned only made the guilt burn deeper into my chest. The thought that she felt I didn’t trust them filled me to the point I could feel the truth rising in my throat. Resolve.
“That couldn’t be further from the truth!” I blurted out, instead. “I trust you guys more than anyone else in the whole world. I trust you guys with my life! But it’s just . . .” I faltered, not sure what to say at first. “You just have to trust me on this. I have to figure this out on my own for now, and then I promise,” I declared, grabbing her hand, “I will tell you everything.” She didn’t say anything as she continued to look at the ground, but I could feel her fingers tighten around mine.
“Just tell me,” she pleaded, “does it have anything to do with your injuries?”
I bit the inside of my cheek, debating if I should answer that question with honesty or not. She chose that moment to look up at me, and I knew in an instant what I was going to say.
“Yes.”
“And that note?”
So, she did see the letter. I didn’t even contemplate lying to her this time. It was senseless at this point. She already knew what I was going to say.
“Yes.” Simple, but effective.
“Can I see it?” I opened my mouth to p
rotest. “Just the envelope, I mean. I won’t read that note if you don’t want me to. It’s just I noticed it had some design on the front.”
I didn’t see any harm in that. I dug in my bag reaching for the little envelope. Besides, maybe she could make some sense of the weird thing. I sure couldn’t. Handing her the envelope, I looked at her face then took a step back. Her brows furrowed as she turned it around in her hands, looking at the sketch from different angles. Her eyes darted to the sky for a moment, and she held out the envelope for me to take back.
“Okay, Ingrid. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said, turning to leave. I looked after her, grasping the note in my hands.
“It’s Orion!” she called, glancing over her shoulder and pointing up. “The constellation.”
So, here I was – making my up an enormous hill. The temple, like all other temples in the world, was built on the summit. The walk across town hadn’t been as bad as I thought it was going to be. I had the nerve to think that would be the hardest part. Proven wrong for the umpteenth time. I took in a few deep breaths and continued to hike up, the Orion envelope in my inescapable hold. I didn’t know what awaited me at the top, but I knew one thing for sure; if what awaited me was a bunch of jokesters with telescopes, there was going to be some serious hell to pay. I leaned against a pine tree to catch my breath, enjoying the shade it provided. The only saving grace of this trip was the fact the temple was right beside the forest. The trees shielded me from the glare of the afternoon sun. Gathering the last of my strength, I made the last stretch to the top.
I leaned over and let my body relax from the test I just put it through. Once my heart rate returned to near normal, I looked around. I’d never been to the temple before, so I had no idea what to expect. It looked like the whole top of the hill had been flattened to make room for the grounds. An expansive building centered at the far end of the grounds closest to the forest drew my immediate attention. It had a tall, sloped roof, and the whole thing appeared to be made of wood. Deep green lining added decoration around the edges of the roof. Almost a dozen other smaller buildings of similar style were scattered around. Stone walkways weaved around, cutting through deep grass and connecting all of the buildings. Off to the side of the buildings, a large dirt field sat. The whole place had a distinctively Asian feel to it, which was a definite oddity considering it had been built nearly a hundred years ago in the middle of the United States. A log cabin Chinatown. Impressed, I made my way to the central walkway and started towards the large building.