“Oh, my face.”
“Exactly. Now shut up before I give you the punch line.”
“Hey, punch line, I get it. That’s a pretty good joke, Shel.”
Fed up, Shel grabbed her ice cream and shoved it in Bart’s mouth, pushing him against the table. He tried saying something, but the ice cream stopped him while Shel smiled.
“Don’t bother trying to speak. Until the end of lunch, you’ll be my bowl. If you swallow or close your mouth even a tiny bit, I’ll use your eyes like cherries.”
He mumbled something, but whether it was his concerns or consent they couldn’t tell. The comedy duo was interrupted, however, by Coraline, now a very meek little thing. Her face was somewhat reconstructed from the fight, but it still looked like a hot mess.
“Uh, Anna, you’ve been asked to see the headmaster,” she said, glancing at Anna’s knight.
“What for, sister?” Anna said, pushing her tray away.
“Um, I wasn’t told why. He just said it was important.”
Sighing, Anna said, “All right, then. Come on, knight, let’s go and see what this is all about.”
As Anna’s knight walked past Coraline, she flinched in fear. Coraline’s knight pulled her behind him. Anna’s knight just laughed at this and kept on walking, garnering a look from Anna. As they walked along the corridors, there was an awkward silence between them until he finally said something.
“So, what’s on your mind, buttercup?”
Sighing again, she said, “Everyone in my family already doesn’t like me. Having them hate and fear me is even worse.”
“Pfft, don’t get so full of yourself. Your sister doesn’t hate and fear you. She’s scared of me, plain and simple.”
“I don’t care. That’s just as bad. If I ever want to be accepted, I need to gain their respect without hurting them.”
“I don’t know why you want to be friendly with them anyway. They’re a bunch of jerks.”
“Because…I don’t know, all right? I guess that everyone just wants to be in a happy family. You can understand tha—oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”
“Nah, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I know what you meant.”
The sighs just rolling along, she said, “Growing up with them, I thought they were the coolest people ever. They were always so strong and poised and amazing. Who wouldn’t want to be close to them? You’ve only known them through how Coraline picked on me, but that’s the thing—they’re only mean to me. They’re so nice to everyone, and I guess I just began thinking that it was my fault. Just look at me, I’m obviously the runt of the family. I’m a disgrace to them. I can’t even do magic. I…I…”
They had stopped walking now. Anna’s tears were cutting streaks in the ash on her face. She realized this and tried wiping them away, but it only served to make her face even more of a mess. She couldn’t believe herself, showing so much emotion to someone she barely knew.
“I-I’m sorry. I just got carried away, and…”
“Pat, pat,” her knight said, patting her head softly.
Pulling herself together, Anna smiled and took his hand off her head, holding it gently. Not knowing his true feelings was a pain like always, but still, he was a good enough listener. Letting go of his hand, she started walking to the headmaster’s office again, and soon enough they were there. Knocking, Anna heard him grant her entrance from within. Stepping through the door, she bowed respectfully and took a seat. Looking at him, the headmaster seemed to be a normal old man with gray hair and a well-trimmed beard. Anna had never seen another headmaster before, but she thought that they all should look like this.
“I suppose you’re wondering why I’ve called you here,” he said in a kind voice.
“Yes, very much. I’m not in trouble, am I?”
“No, no, of course not. You’re not in any sort of trouble. I just wanted to ask you on behalf of a certain someone you know if you would submit your knight to a few tests. For scientific reasons, of course.”
Anna had a feeling she knew who he was talking about, but she asked anyway, “And who exactly are you asking for, may I ask?”
“Your older brother Cornelius. He’s in his last year and is intending on doing his final term paper on knights, and—”
“And because mine is so special, he wants to add it to his paper.”
“Exactly. I’m sure he would have asked you himself, but—”
“But he’s just so busy with his studies, he wasn’t able to.”
They shared a laugh at this and said their goodbyes, Anna heading back to her next class. Anna and her knight finished the day, then went home to clean themselves off and get a good night’s sleep (well, she did, at least). When Anna woke up it was Saturday, and she would be spending it with her brother, doing whatever it was he wanted. Cornelius was the other sibling her mother had birthed, and he was a studious boy, always a book in his hands. Unlike her other full sibling, Coraline, and her half-brothers and – sisters, he had never been particularly mean to her, but that was only because he had never had anything to do with her, really.
So Anna wasn’t worried going up to his room within the school. It was probably just going to be a few questions. Anna had barely knocked on the door when it was pulled open, and she was greeted by the face of her brother. While Cornelius had inherited their father’s face and build, he still had their mother’s hair and eyes. To most people, he would be considered handsome, but all Anna could see were his thick glasses.
“Ah, yes, thank you for coming, little sister. Please come in,” he said in an offhanded tone.
“Yes, I couldn’t refuse a request from my brother, now, could I?”
“Mm.”
Stepping inside, Anna saw that his room was a well-organized maze of books and tools. She sat in a chair that he offered and waited for him to start questioning her. First, though, she would have to wait. Cornelius was preoccupied with studying her knight from every angle.
“Where is your knight, brother?”
“Off at some bookstore trying to find me a log on theoretical math equations.”
“Oh,” she said, not knowing what else to say.
Cornelius scratched his chin thoughtfully as he said, “Hmm. From what I can tell, it appears to be an ordinary knight. Can you make it do something that would prove it’s more than a brainless metal ape?”
“Well, four eyes, can I punch you in the face?”
“So, it can talk and make idle threats. I guess that is something.”
“What exactly are you going to do? He won’t answer any of your questions about his creation.”
“I’m not really interested in how it was made special, but what makes it special in the first place. I’ll ask it some questions, put it through a test or two, and we’ll be done. Are you both ready for a long night?”
“Whatever it takes,” Anna answered.
The two siblings looked at her knight, who said, “All right, all right. I’ll do all the weird nerd things you want me to do.”
“Great. Then let’s begin.”
Chapter 6
For a testing area they choose the gymnasium, which used to be the small ballroom. It had hard oak floors and the latest sports equipment money could buy. Here, the brother and sister would be able to test out all of her knight’s physical abilities and retire to the bleachers for any written or oral tests Anna’s brother had planned. First, they decided to do laps around the gym to measure his speed. Her knight, like all knights, ran far faster than the average man. Next, they did a test of strength, and, of course, he was able to lift more than ten times his weight. Then they did a series of tests that involved jump height, accuracy, finesse, and resistance to attack. He passed all of these, obviously. Anna was curious by how much, so she asked her brother before they started the more mundane tests.
“Well,
brother, how did he do?”
“Hmm. Above the average man, but it also seems to have exceeded the normal standards of knights.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that it is actually special besides the novel fact that it can talk. The rumors also say that it has complete free will. Is that true?”
Turning to her knight, Anna commanded, “Knight, go make me some tea.”
“Don’t feel like it,” he said, waving her off.
Back to her brother. “As you can see, he has the ability to say no to any of my orders.”
“Hmm. All right then, that’s all I have for now. You may return to whatever it is you do.”
“But aren’t you going to ask him questions to see what his personality is like?”
“Personality?” Cornelius scoffed. “It’s a knight. And while I admit it is somewhat special in physical capabilities, you must remember that it’s not human, dear sister. It doesn’t have feelings or thoughts like we do. This whole thing with it disobeying your orders is just a deformity in whatever spell that was used to create him. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some important tests to study for.”
Anna didn’t know what it was, but she felt like she needed to say something to her knight. She opened her mouth to speak, but he was already gone, off to do whatever. Anna just closed her mouth and followed after him, wondering what she should do next. For the next few months, up until the middle of autumn, nothing spectacular happened, no fights or arguments. She simply went to class and spent time with her two friends. It wasn’t until All Hallows’ Eve that the excitement from the first weeks of school picked up again at Shel’s house.
“What are you two going to dress up as for Hallows’ Eve?” Bart asked with bountiful energy.
Shel huffed at this and said, “We are not children, you simpleminded cretin. This year I will be attending the Hallows’ Eve ball at school. It’s where the cool kids will be.”
“Oh, come on, you want to go rub elbows with a bunch of hobnobbers instead of getting a butt ton of candy?”
“Yes, you idiot. We need to grow up eventually, and now is the perfect time to prove to everyone that we are indeed grown up. No one our age dresses up in costumes anymore.”
Anna raised her hand and said, “Um, you know the ball is going to be a costume party?”
Shel got a sour look on her face that was made even worse by Bart’s snickering.
“Hey, Shel—”
“If you say anything, you’ll be going to the party in a body bag,” she said in a low grumble.
Trying to avoid a murder, Anna said, “I was planning on going as a cute little black cat. How about you, Bart?”
“Well, thank you for asking. I was going to go as a jester…”
“Big surprise,” Shel commented.
“Who is secretly an axe murderer!” he finished with that same energy.
“And what about you, Shel?” Anna asked.
“Hmm. I don’t want a costume that will make people think I’m a hussy like the older girls, but I also don’t want to look too boring.”
“Ooh, you can go as a zombie bride. You wouldn’t even have to do your face up because you already look half dead,” Bart said, giving an insulting compliment.
“Not a bad idea. Also, expect a bit of arsenic in your meal one of these coming days.”
“Meh, I’ve swallowed a lot of poisons when I was little because my stepmom was pretty careless leaving it around my room all the time. Come to think of it, I don’t know why she put it in my room in the first place. If it hadn’t been for my old servant, I’d probably have died on numerous occasions.”
More than a little disturbed by the revelation, Anna asked, “Did you get along well with your servant?”
“Oh, yeah, we were the best of buds. He’d always laugh at my jokes, even if they weren’t that funny,” he said, losing his bluster by the end.
Curious, she pressed him. “Is there something wrong?”
“Oh, no. No, I was just thinking about what might have happened to him. I know he was supposed to not be considered human, but I always had a soft spot for the guy. I mean, who else could I practice my routine on and get real feedback from? I’d always get us into trouble, and since he was a servant, he usually got punished pretty harshly, but he’d still laugh at my jokes even after all of that. I kind of feel bad kicking him out. I know no one gave him anything to help him along. But, hey, I got a new knight now who laughs at my witty humor and is an awesome fighter,” he said, back to his old self.
“What about you, Shel?” Anna asked.
“What about me?”
“How was it with your servant and everything?”
“Humph. It was a servant and nothing more. I only dealt with it because I had to. I couldn’t wait for my knight. It’s so much better than that old thing.”
“Oh, well, I—never mind. Let’s go out and have our costumes tailored for us. The ball is this weekend, and if we don’t go now, they’ll never be finished in time.”
The other two agreed, and they went out to the only costume shop for nobles, Costumes & Costumes. This was located within the old circle of the city. The center of that circle was the old castle, now the school. When the king and his family had moved, so too did all the other nobles. The place they’d moved to used to be the poor section of the city. However, with a bit of destruction magic, the way was paved for new, better buildings.
Of course, all the people who lived there were thrown onto the streets. This was back at the height of noble magic. It had been so easy for them then to quell the masses. Now, though, riots and uprisings were becoming more common. Luckily for the nobles, none of these happened near them. As the people still needed a place to live, a new part of the city was added onto the outer wall. Unluckily for the poor men and women, it was wracked with a shoddy infrastructure and crime rates that increased exponentially.
Anna had never visited these slums, though, so it really didn’t come to mind that often. She was more preoccupied with her costume for the ball. The shop Anna was going to was inside one of the old noble’s houses. Back then, nobles had sold their homes to prominent entrepreneurs and used the money to fund their new homes. That being the case, every shop within the old circle was actually a luxurious home for the owners as well. As a side note, they were also somewhat smaller and more compact. Apparently, all the nobles had decided it was a time for an upgrade as well.
The three friends were measured, and the designs for the costumes were drawn up. Once everyone liked what they saw, the tailors went right to work getting ready in time for the ball. A few days later, the costumes were done, and they looked incredible. Anna’s was made from fine black velvet, sleek and soft to the touch. Whiskers were painted on her face. Bart’s was made from a fabric that looked to be coarse and tough but was actually a very comfortable material. Plus he was given a real axe that was somewhat dulled and a mask like a jester had. Shel had on a puffy white wedding dress and veil. Like Bart had said, she didn’t need the tailors to paint her face to look undead. Ready for the party, the three of them and their knights headed off to the school’s ballroom. The place was decorated with all sorts of spooky things, like skeletons and jack-o’-lanterns. All the students had on different costumes.
Bart pointed to the refreshment tables and said, “Hey, look, it’s your sister.”
Coraline was dressed up as a witch, green skin and all. She was conversing with some of her friends. Anna was just going to ignore her and have a good time, when her knight snuck up behind Coraline. The knight tapped Anna’s sister lightly on the shoulder, and when she turned around, screamed in her face. Scared witless, she screamed right back and bumped into her friends, who had to hold her up. Coraline’s knight rushed over to her and made sure she was okay before going to confront Anna’s knight.
Before he could do anything,
his master said through short breaths, “No, please don’t fight him. Remember what happened last time.” She touched her scarred, pancake face as if it still hurt.
The slender knight was about to back off and take his princess away from there. However, Anna came over and grabbed a glass of punch off the table, tossing it onto her knight’s white mantle. Anna couldn’t believe her knight was capable of such cruelty. Anna might not particularly like her sister at times, but they were still family.
“What was that for? I was just having a little fun.”
“If that’s what you consider fun, then you can go sit in a corner for the rest of the night.”
Turning to her sister, Anna said, “I’m sorry, sister. My knight is a complete jerk, and this will never happen again.”
“Just keep that thing away from me,” Coraline said, walking away.
However, Anna wasn’t going to let this go on any longer. “Sister, I am sorry, truly repentant. I never wanted to hurt you.”
Turning on her heel, Coraline said, “Then you are still a naïve child. We are destined to kill one another whether you like it or not. Your knight has realized that, your traitorous friend Shel’s realized it, and so have all of our siblings. When are you going to grow up?”
Tearing up, Anna said, “Please, I just want to get along with my family and be happy.”
“None of us can ever be happy until the rest are dead and one is crowned ruler,” she said, leaving once again.
Anna just stood there looking at her sister’s back as she walked away. Anna no longer wanted to be there and ran the other way, toward the exit. She found a dark, unused hall and sat underneath a window so she could see by the moonlight. Tears welled up in her eyes until they finally began to spill, ruining her whiskers. Feeling desperate, Anna tried thinking of a way that everyone could live and get along, but she kept coming up with one answer. They really would have to kill each other. Her father would have it no other way, and frankly, Anna thought that her siblings actually wanted this themselves.
A Knight of Contradictions Page 5