Dominion

by Melody Manful

  “I hope not,” Gideon answered, and although I couldn’t see Doreen’s expression, I was sure she was surprised and maybe a little embarrassed.

  “They always come around,” Doreen said and then turned and walked out the door.

  “What a jerk,” I mumbled as I collected my things.

  “Now, Miss Cells, that’s a bit judgmental, don’t you think?”

  At the sound of Gideon’s voice, I froze. I didn’t know when he got there, but Gideon now stood directly beside me. I had been a good four seats away from him. Breathe in, breathe out—I thought I might collapse. Maybe if I closed my eyes and prayed really hard, a meteor would crash into Earth. Worst-case scenario, but it would be the best thing that could happen to me given the situation.

  “Do you have a sight problem?” he asked, and then without warning, he sat down beside me.

  “Excuse me?”

  “It seems, Miss Cells, that you have a hearing problem, too,” he said as he took my history book from the table.

  “I don’t have a hearing problem, and there’s nothing wrong with my eyes.” I was going to apologize for calling him a jerk, but he could just forget it.

  “Are you sure?” he asked. “You did run into me.” He opened my book and started flipping lazily through the pages.

  “I was—” I decided to leave the pee thing out of it.

  “Go on, I’m listening,” he said, his eyes focusing on the contents of the history book.

  I had no idea how I went from wanting him to disappear to talking with him. Now I wished I had only thought he was a jerk rather than saying it out loud. “I was—”

  “On second thought, don’t tell me,” he cut me off.

  “You don’t have to be rude,” I replied, snatching my book away from him. I stood. I didn’t want to go outside and have people stare at me, but if it meant I’d be away from Gideon, I’d take it.

  He stood, too. “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that I’m not—”

  “Used to thinking before you speak?” I finished for him, feeling a surge of confidence.

  He smiled. “No, I was going to say not used to human conversations.”

  “Human conversations?” I asked. What the hell was that supposed to mean? “I’m pretty sure non-human creatures have brains, too.” I shoved my books into my bag.

  “I know what this is,” he said as I shoved my laptop into my bag. “You’re angry.” He dangled my notebook in front of me.

  “What gave that away?” I snapped.

  “Your heartbeat.”

  I wasn’t expecting that answer.

  “So, where are you taking me?” Gideon asked, a cocky smile playing on his lips. “I figured since you bumped into me, you owe me a tour.”

  “I’m pretty sure I heard Doreen offering to take you.”

  “Eavesdropping doesn’t suit you, Miss Cells.” He handed me my notebook.

  “Abigail,” I corrected. “And I wasn’t…” Suddenly I couldn’t breathe because he stepped closer toward me.

  “Abigail.” Gideon leaned toward me. My heart started thumping. “Breathe,” he whispered, and then he proceeded to tuck a loose strand of my hair behind my ear.

  The sound of him speaking my name was alluring. My name on his lips brought with it an accent I hadn’t heard before, making the name itself seem intimate and special, as though on his lips it made sense. Come back to Earth, Abigail!

  “I…I can’t take you on a tour.” I turned away from him and untucked my hair from behind my ear in an attempt to hide my face. I glanced up at Mr. Bernard, but he stared at a book in his hands. His focus was lost on us.

  “Why not, Abigail?” Gideon asked.

  I zipped my bag. “Because,” I breathed out, shaking off my sudden shivers, “I’m trying to avoid going outside, and you’re…” A stranger. A jerk. Scary. All of the above.

  “That doesn’t sound like enough of a reason,” Even though I was kind of annoyed at him, I wasn’t completely immune to his charm. “Come on, it won’t take long.”

  “I just…” I just can’t because you freak me out. “I’d like to give you a tour, but frankly, you’re kind of a jerk.”

  He sat on the table. “Heard that this morning.”

  “And arrogant.”

  “My middle name.” He smirked, making my heart jump.

  “Are you a serial killer?” I asked without thinking. His smile quickly disappeared before returning with less enthusiasm.

  “Miss Cells, that’s an odd question. But no, I’m not.” His green eyes watched mine.

  I dusted myself off just for something to do and slowly shrugged on my jacket. My eyes met Gideon’s, and the moment they did, my heart took a violent leap. I was sure he heard it, but he studied me calmly. I didn’t know what else to do, so I grabbed my bag and started to walk away.

  He called after me, “Jake likes her, doesn’t he?”

  “Who, Doreen? Yes,” I answered.

  “I’d rather have a friend than an enemy,” he said, his eyes still on mine.

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “I’m telling you because you think I’m a jerk,” he answered. “I wasn’t trying to be. Jake seems like an awesome person, and I didn’t want to ruin any chance of becoming friends with him. That’s why I had to decline her invitation.”

  Okay, so maybe I had misjudged him, but it still didn’t explain why he was rude to me. “I have to go,” I whispered and continued to the door.

  “Miss Cells?” he called again, pushing away from the table. “You forgot this one.” He pointed at one of my books, which was still lying on the table. “The sight problem I was talking about.” He tipped his head to the side and smiled at me. He was being a jerk again, but he was a handsome jerk.

  “The jerk thing I was talking about,” I smirked and walked back to him.

  I reached out for my book at the same moment Gideon did, and our hands touched. In that second, it was as if the whole world stopped turning, and we were the only two people caught in the moment. I felt the heat of his palm, and my whole body warmed as my pulse climbed. Suddenly it felt as if the air between us electrified, amplifying Gideon’s touch and making me feel as if he were touching every nerve in my body.

  Gideon was the first to pull his hand away, breaking the connection.

  “I…” I was tongue-tied. “I…” I had no idea what I wanted to say.

  “Your...” Gideon gave me the book. He didn’t continue what he was saying; he only stared at me, confused.

  I was confused, too. “Thanks,” I whispered and then rushed out of the classroom. The moment I stepped outside, I breathed in, not remembering at what point I started holding my breath.

  What the hell just happened?

  TITANIC

  “You give a lonesome heart, someone to love.

  You give a sad heart, a memory to smile about.

  You give a hopeless heart, something to live for.

  But what do you give a broken heart?”

  Melody Manful

  

  “Gideon, let’s bounce!” Jake said as he walked toward the door.

  School was over, and the classroom was almost deserted hardly two minutes after the bell rang. Only my friends and I remained in the classroom, even the teacher was gone.

  Danny, Tristan, and Jake were now friends with Gideon. It had been less than a day since he came to school, and already they acted like best friends. Sarah, on the other hand, would have befriended Gideon despite his intentions. She had texted me about him all day, and each message included the word hot.

  “You’ll love this pizza place,” Danny told Gideon as he joined the group by the door.

  Sarah, standing beside me, nodded in agreement.

  “It’s a shame you and Tristan won’t be joining us,” she said to me, winking.

  “Like I said, I’m busy all week, and I only have time now to work on the Titanic speech,” I replied, explaining yet again how busy my life was. The re
st of the week was filled with dinner plans with my mother, reading sessions at the library, and training.

  “What is it you’re so busy doing, Miss Cells?” Gideon asked smugly. He knew I hated it when he called me Miss Cells, but he continued doing it anyway. I gave up trying to correct him.

  I sounded annoyed when I answered, “None of your business, Mr. Chase.”

  “Gideon is just fine, Miss Cells.”

  Gideon irritated me, and I didn’t know how the others could stand being around him. Maybe what bothered me most was the fact that it was only me he annoyed. Throughout the day, everything that came out of his mouth was antagonistic. He had joined my friends and me for lunch, and although I didn’t protest his joining us, I didn’t want him around me.

  Sarah sensed the tension between Gideon and me.

  “What is it with you two?” she asked.

  Gideon answered first. “It seems Miss Cells is bitter that she can’t join us.” My friends laughed and agreed with him.

  I felt my face turning red with anger.

  “I think we’d better go before she explodes,” Gideon said—again to my friends’ agreement—and their laughter increased as they followed him outside.

  Sarah hugged me, but I stiffened in her arms.

  “See you guys later,” she told Tristan and me, laughing as she walked out.

  “I hate that guy,” I whispered.

  “I heard that!” Gideon shouted from the hall.

  I walked over to the classroom door and slammed it shut. Tristan, who was laughing too, stopped instantly.

  “Is he getting under your skin?”

  “Getting under my skin?” I retorted. “That son of a—”

  “Titanic,” Tristan interrupted, stopping me from saying what I wanted to. When my eyes met his, we started laughing. And that was all it took for my anger with Gideon to subside.

  Since we had been assigned as partners on the Titanic speech, Tristan and I started working, and about an hour later, we had a full, seven-minute speech that sounded good.

  “Okay, so you take the last sentences,” Tristan said as he pointed at my laptop screen where the speech had been typed.

  I read my lines aloud, “The Titanic was like a kingdom that people didn’t know they were building. When the Titanic was built, it became a dream that people couldn’t believe was coming true. When the Titanic sank, the aftermath became a war that people didn’t know they were in. The death of the people aboard the Titanic became proof, the survivors of the tragedy became voices, and their voices became a weapon.”

  Tristan started clapping when I finished.

  “I’m imagining this is what will happen after we finish the speech,” he said. We laughed.

  “Hopefully,” I said. “Mr. Bernard said the speech has to be a minimum of ten minutes, so we still have three more minutes before we can hope for an A.”

  “We could focus more on the 1997 movie directed by James Cameron,” Tristan suggested. “What do you think?”

  “That’s an idea. Maybe we should act out the last scene. You know…it’s the sacrifice that Jack made that became so popular.”

  Tristan closed my laptop, and then he took my hand and led us to the front of the classroom. I started laughing when I realized we were actually going to act out the scene.

  “Ladies first,” he said, and I giggled.

  “Hmm…right, okay…Jack, I love you,” I whispered and laughed afterward. “This is just awkward. We aren’t actually going to act out the scene in front of the whole class, are we?”

  Tristan stepped closer to me. “Winning that ticket, Rose, was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

  His expression sobered me. “Hmm…” I mumbled.

  Tristan took both my hands in his, looked me straight in the eyes, and said, “You must promise me that you will survive—no matter what happens.” Immediately my smile disappeared. My cheeks flushed as I realized how close together we were standing.

  “I—”

  Tristan cut me off and continued, “You must do me this honor.” He sounded so sad that it made me sad, too. His words reminded me of the reason why I cried whenever I watched Titanic. “Promise me, and never let go of that promise.” At this point, we were so close together that I could feel his body heat.

  I whispered, “I promise.” I stared up at him and continued, “I’ll never let go. I’ll never let go.” Then both Tristan and I slowly leaned closer into each other. The closer we got, the louder my heart pounded. Soon, our faces were inches apart, and I could feel his breath against my lips. Our lips were inches away from touching when Tristan pulled away.

  “That is definitely an A-plus,” Tristan said as he let go of my hands. “I’m a good actor. I didn’t even know that I could act.”

  And just like that, I was pulled back to the real world. Act. The whole thing was an act to him. Now I could tell Sarah I knew for sure Tristan didn’t like me. He didn’t even look like he was affected by how close we were.

  I faked a smile as I walked over to pack my things and said, “Yeah, I didn’t know I could act either. I don’t think we should do it.” I couldn’t stand being that close to him again and knowing that he was only acting.

  “Why not?” he asked. “Unless Mr. Bernard says we can’t, I don’t see why not.”

  “I’ll go check and see if he’s still here and ask,” I said, pulling my bag over my shoulders. “I guess that’s it. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I whispered, more to myself than to him. I didn’t wait another second before hurrying out the door. I couldn’t believe I had allowed Sarah to plant the idea that Tristan liked me into my head. Now that I knew he didn’t, it kind of hurt a little, even though I never really did believe her in the first place.

  I walked slowly to the teacher’s lounge to ask Mr. Bernard if we could act out the scene. I was ready to beg him to change his mind if he said yes. On my way, I decided to call Sarah and set her straight—Tristan definitely didn’t like me.

  RAPUNZEL, RAPUNZEL

  *Gideon*

  “What a shame, that all we ever learned to do

  was to live and wait to die.”

  Melody Manful

  

  “Did you two nerds win the Nobel Prize yet?” I asked the moment I reached Tristan.

  I’d met Abigail in the hallway on my way back, but she couldn’t see me because I was invisible. I’d watched as she made her way to the teacher’s lounge. I wanted to follow her, but I spotted Tristan lingering in front of the classroom door and changed my mind.

  Tristan reentered the classroom and I followed. “Not yet,” he answered, and for once, he didn’t sound like happy Tristan. I didn’t care to ask what was wrong with him.

  “How did it go?” he asked as if we were having a friendly conversation.

  Since I had nowhere better to be, I played along. “Oh, cool. Jake and I had a ‘who can finish his bottle of water first’ competition, and guess who won?” I sat down on one of the chairs. “Me.”

  I pulled a new phone from my pocket and tried to work it; I had to have one in order to seem normal.

  “How’s that coming along?” Tristan asked, and I looked up to see him eyeing the phone in my hands. He walked over to where I sat.

  “Who are you, the phone police?” What was wrong with this guy? I wanted to punch him in the face, but I needed him around for my big plan.

  I went back to studying the phone, trying to locate the settings, but I wasn’t sure which part of the screen I was supposed to touch. How did humans have the patience for these?

  “You know I’m not going to give you a chance to hurt the girl, right?”

  Finally. I thought he was never going to bring her up. “We’ll see.” I propped my legs on my desk.

  “Please don’t hurt Abigail. She has enough problems of her own and—”

  I faked a laugh, cutting Tristan off. “You mean the fact that her father is part of the CIA and everyone thinks he’s dead?” I asked. “That doesn�
��t sound like a problem to me.”

  I knew Abigail feared me. Throughout the day, she’d been looking as if she’d seen a ghost whenever her eyes met mine, but I wasn’t worried. I was certain that before sunset, Abigail Cells would be dead.

  My first impression of Abigail was that she was intentionally clueless. And then I thought she was brainless and irritating. I still couldn’t figure out how she knew my name before I’d even introduced myself, but none of that mattered since she’d be dead soon.

  “I know the Elders thought I’d be a challenge for you, but you don’t have to be here just because of what they think.”

  Was he kidding me with this? He thought he was a challenge?

  “Don’t flatter yourself. I’m here because I want to be, your highness.”

  “I know you want to hurt me,” Tristan said as if it were something new. “I don’t…”

  Tristan’s lips kept moving, but I tuned him out.

  “Okay, all right…that’s cool.” I should have brought some pillows for this show. He could talk for hours.

  “You’re not even listening to me.”

  “And we have a winner.” I snapped my fingers, turning myself invisible, and disappeared.

  When I reappeared in front of the school, I observed as Abigail waved and smiled from inside a black limo. Other students watched intently. The adoration she received was ridiculous. A second later, Tristan appeared beside me, and we flew invisibly behind the limo as it pulled away.

  I had one problem, and it was the fact that I couldn’t stop thinking about when Abigail’s hands and mine touched. I tried to push it out of my mind, but I couldn’t. For some reason, when our hands touched, I felt as if Zeus had thrown one of his lightning bolts my way. Seconds later, I felt something different—a new, empowering feeling.

  “Felix, is my mother home?” Abigail asked. After about fifteen minutes of driving, the limo was arriving at a luxury mansion that stood on a cliff in front of us.

  “She’ll be late today,” Felix answered.

  An automatic metal gate opened the moment we reached the mansion, allowing the limo onto the patterned concrete driveway. Topiaries lined the driveway leading toward the two-story mansion looming ahead of us. I noticed a tennis court behind the trees to our left and an iron-and-marble gazebo decorated with Greek caryatids on our right.