Archaic

by Regan Ure

  "Are you okay?" he asked with concern. His deep green eyes searched mine. He held me by the arms while he studied me closely. Was he looking for physical changes?

  "I'm fine," I replied, shrugging out of his hold. I walked away from him and he quietly followed behind me as I walked to my next class. The rest of the day went by quickly, and after school Jared gave me a ride home.

  "Thanks for the lift," I mumbled as I quickly got out of his truck and ran into my house. He remained in his Jeep and watched me. Our eyes met briefly as I turned in my house to close my front door.

  I needed to be alone. I was feeling weird, and being around people wasn't helping. Keeping up my usual self in front of people required energy I just didn't have. Upstairs in my room I closed my curtains. I walked into my bathroom and I looked at my reflection.

  There was nothing specific that seemed to be out of place or that shouted to me I was turning into something else. I don't know what I was expecting. If I were changing like Catherine had suspected, would those changes be physical? I looked down to the palms of my hands. There were no scars like Jared had showed me.

  What would I be changing into? Mason had attacked me and he was Hue, so did that mean I would change into a Hue? I closed my eyes for a moment as I contemplated that. Becoming a monster that would hurt innocent people truly scared me. Or would I be changing into something else?

  I let out a frustrated sigh. I hated not knowing and wished there was a way to find out for sure but the only person who had the answer was Mason.

  Could the changes be emotional? Could that explain why I'd felt so weird since the attack?

  I leaned against the bathroom wall and slid down. So many thoughts ran through my mind and I struggled to focus on one. Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm myself down so that I could think.

  Could I really be changing into a Hue? Was that even possible? A nervous laugh escaped my lips. Was it possible? After everything I'd experienced, I knew anything was possible. How much would I change? I dropped my head into my hands. Would I become a Hue completely? Would I become a cold psychopath?

  Dread filled my chest and it became harder to breathe.

  What would Jared do if he knew? What would they do with me? I thought about Anne. If I was turning into a cold-blooded killer, did that mean I was a danger to Anne and others around me? No, I wouldn't let myself hurt them. I would stop myself if I needed to.

  I wouldn't let myself become like Mason.

  Just the thought of his name brought back the wave of memories from my attack. The cold, dead eyes that had looked at me with no remorse while he'd tried inflicted an unbearable pain. I shook my head, trying to stop the thoughts of him and the attack.

  Jared was convinced Mason would return but we weren't sure why. If he'd intended to kill me, I would be dead, so what was the purpose behind my attack? It didn't matter how much I wracked my brain, I wasn't going to be able to answer that question. I was going round in circles and getting more frustrated with every passing minute.

  Deciding to follow Jared's request to not go out, I went downstairs and started flicking through the channels to try and find something that interested me, but I couldn't find anything to watch. There wasn't anything to do and I was getting restless.

  I thought about calling my parents but they were going to be unavailable for the week. In my last conversation with them, my father had told me they would be staying in a remote city where there wasn't cell phone reception. It had been a last-minute romantic getaway. He assured me they would call me as soon as they were able to.

  Bored and needing something to do, I decided to start with supper. I decided to make some pasta. I took all the ingredients out and tried to keep my mind focused on the task of cooking. While I chopped up the onions, my thoughts wandered back to my previous thoughts, and my hand slipped and I cut my finger.

  Ouch! The cut was quite deep. I got a paper towel and held it on the cut while I looked for a Band-Aid.

  Once the bleeding stopped, I put a bandage over the cut and threw the bloodied paper towel into the trashcan. That is what happened when I didn't concentrate on what I was doing. Ignoring the slight throb of the cut under the bandage, I finished preparing supper.

  Anne made it home at the same time she usually did. She would always give me a quick rundown of her day and then she would ask how my day went. We chatted while we ate.

  It was hard pulling myself out of my heavy and chaotic thoughts to appear as my usual self in front of my grandmother. After we'd finished eating and I was in the kitchen, Anne hollered that she was going to go and have a bubble bath.

  I quickly did the dishes and went upstairs.

  In the shower I noticed the bandage I'd wrapped around my finger a couple of hours earlier had fallen off. The cut was gone. I studied the skin carefully for any evidence of the cut but my skin held no evidence of my slip-up with the knife in the kitchen. There was no evidence that my finger had been cut a couple of hours before. Jared had told me that they healed faster than humans.

  That's when the reality hit me. I was definitely not just human anymore.

  It was my first concrete evidence that I was changing. Any doubts that I'd had before disappeared. I just wasn't sure exactly what I was changing into. And that thought scared me.

  I lay down in bed, thinking about all of this. Unable to sleep, I tossed and turned for most of the night.

  Just after one in the morning, I began to sweat. A slow ache began to creep over my body, and everything hurt. I couldn't help but wonder if this was part of the change.

  I was too scared to go to Anne. How would I explain this? What if she wanted to take me to the doctor? Would they find out something they shouldn't? Going to Jared at the moment wasn't an option. If I was becoming a Hue, I would be their enemy and what did that entail for me?

  In that moment, I realized I had no one I could turn to for help. I was alone. With that thought, tears silently fell down my face as I quietly endured the pain, closing my eyes when the pain spasmed through me.

  The next morning I woke up, feeling better. I glanced over at my clock and it was nearly time to get up. Although I still ached a little it was nowhere near what I'd endured earlier, and it was manageable. Slowly I sat up and tried to get out of bed but when I tried to stand up I swayed as a dizzy spell hit me, so I sat back down. Staying home wasn't an option. Jared would come to check on me and he would know there was something going on. I had to go to school.

  For a few minutes I sat on my bed, taking a few deep breaths and trying to ease the fear I was feeling. This time I stood up and I could walk without my world tilting. I decided to go downstairs and get something to eat, hoping it would help me feel a little better. Downstairs, still dressed in my pajamas, I made myself some cereal.

  I ate it quickly and began to feel better. Back upstairs, I got ready for school. Jared would be waiting downstairs for me soon, so I pulled a brush through my hair and brushed my teeth.

  When I opened the front door, Jared's Jeep wasn't parked in front of my house, but instead there was a black SUV. I hesitated until I saw Tyler jump out of the driver's side and walk around the vehicle to open the passenger door for me.

  "Hi," he greeted me with a genuine smile, which caught me off guard. It had been the first time he'd ever smiled at me. "Jared had some stuff to take care of so I'm going to give you a lift to school."

  "Oh...okay," I replied nervously, tightening my hand around the strap of my bag. I hadn't really spent any time around the other Archaic. The only ones I'd really felt comfortable with were Jared and Catherine. The others were strangers and they made me nervous. It was only when I climbed into the passenger seat that I realized that Neve was seated in the back.

  "Hi," she greeted me with a friendly smile that reached her eyes.

  "Hi," I greeted back.

  I was even more nervous now that I was in a car with two Archaics. I fidgeted with my hands as Tyler got into the driver's seat. He started the car up an
d pulled away from my house.

  Their mom, Jennifer, didn't like me very much, but they were very friendly and I was pleasantly surprised by this. They acted like any brother and sister would: they spent most of the ride arguing about who was going to be driving the SUV back home after school. Apparently they had to share the SUV so they took turns driving it.

  "Do you have siblings?" Neve asked me.

  "No."

  "You're so lucky!" she exclaimed. "You don't have to share with anyone." She threw her brother a glare. He just laughed it off as he shook his head at her.

  As an only child, I'd always wondered what it would have been like to have a sibling. By the end of the short ride to school, seeing Tyler and Neve interact, I had a glimpse into what it would have been like to have a brother.

  Maybe it was a good thing I was on my own. As Tyler pulled into the school parking lot, he'd crowned himself the winner of their argument.

  "Why do you win?" Neve asked as she glared at her brother.

  She looked like she wanted nothing better than to wrap her hands around his neck and throttle him. He switched the car off as he turned to face her.

  "Because I'm older than you," he replied smugly and I had a feeling he used that reasoning on a regular basis.

  "That's so unfair," she said. "You're only ten months older than me."

  Ten months. That was close, for siblings.

  I got out of the car and when I saw Felicity walking toward the car with a scowl on her face, I had an urge to get back in the car and hide. Tyler had walked around the car and stood beside me. Neve stepped forward and pushed Felicity toward the school, but not before Felicity turned back to me and threw me one more look that said, I wish I could make you disappear. They walked into the school entrance.

  "Don't worry about her," he said. I pulled my gaze away from the school to look up at him.

  "Easier said than done," I muttered back. He smiled.

  "Her bark is worse than her bite."

  I didn't believe that for one second.

  "Give me your phone," he said. I pulled my phone out of the pocket of my jeans and gave it to him.

  "Jared isn't going to be at school today so I'm going to be keeping an eye on you," he explained as he keyed his number into my phone.

  "I'm giving you my number so if anything happens you can call me, okay?" he asked as he handed my phone back to me. I nodded.

  I wondered what rumors would be going around school today when the rest of the students saw Tyler following me around. I was going to get a serious reputation as an easy girl. One day I was with one boy and the next I was with another. It wasn't true--they were only protecting me, not dating me--but that is what they would probably think. I couldn't control what people said behind my back, though.

  As always Stacy was the first to ask, "Why is Tyler walking you to class today?"

  "Jared isn't at school today so he asked Tyler to keep an eye on me."

  "So there is something going on between you and Jared?" Kennedy asked. I shrugged. It was no use trying to deny it because my friends would think what they wanted. I thought it was better they thought that something was going on between Jared and myself than me being the type of girl who went through boys like underwear.

  Tyler followed me around for the rest of the day. I missed Jared. I knew I was nothing more than a responsibility to him, but I couldn't help missing having him around. On the other hand, it was maybe better that he wasn't around, because I was scared he was going to figure out what I was hiding.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  I was hungry when I got home, so I made myself a sandwich.

  I was becoming compulsive about checking my features in the mirror, looking for anything that would confirm what I was becoming. In my bathroom I studied my reflection in the mirror but there were no changes. It seemed my changes weren't noticeable on the outside. I opened the bathroom door and as my hand wrapped around the door handle I felt a shock shoot through my arm. In that same moment a thin film covered my eyes before disappearing.

  Ouch!

  Disconcerted for a few moments, I blinked to see if it happened again. Then I stared at my hand, not believing what had just happened. For a few moments I stood staring at the palm of my hand, still struggling to take in what had happened. My hand still tingled. I could definitely heal faster than humanly possible; could I also be developing their defense mechanism as well?

  How could I test it? I'd only seen Jared do it once in the clearing. He'd held his hand out and then the energy had shot from the palm of his hand. I wondered if it was that simple. There was only one way to find out. I had to try. I needed to know what I was capable of.

  First I needed to get out of the house and to the clearing without anyone seeing me. The clearing was the only place I could think of that was well hidden, but I would have to be quick.

  I left my phone on my bed so if Jared came home and checked my tracker, he would think I was safe and sound in my house.

  Before I stepped outside my house, I glanced around to make sure no one was around. Leaving my house, I headed toward the forest hoping nobody saw me. I didn't look back over my shoulder as I disappeared into the trees.

  Quickly, I walked through the forest and into the clearing. I wanted to try and do this before anyone noticed I was gone.

  When I got to my destination, it was empty. I scratched my head, trying to figure out how to expel energy like the Archaic did. I looked down at my hand and tried to imagine a ball of energy but nothing happened.

  They made it look so easy.

  I stood in the clearing with my legs a little apart. I put my one arm out, turned my face and covered my eyes with my other hand and waited for energy to leap out of my hand.

  Nothing.

  I thrust my arm out quickly and opened my hand, and aimed my palm to the grass in front of me. Still nothing happened.

  This wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. I thought back to when Jared nearly lost control in his bedroom while I was telling him how Mason had attacked me. He'd been upset. Maybe the energy was linked to emotions: the higher the emotions, the more powerful the energy. I needed to think of something that would make me angry. I thought of Felicity, but I just felt annoyance. It was difficult trying to think of something that would upset me. I finally thought of Jared, and then thought of Felicity putting her hands on him.

  My anger ignited and flowed through me as I imagined her lips on his. Her mouth moving against his. That did the trick. The negative emotion built, and I felt a slight surge of energy. I put my arm out and opened my hand. There was still nothing.

  Perhaps I wasn't angry enough. I thought about Mason and how he had smiled when he had hurt me. He hadn't even really known me, but he'd attacked me. My anger rolled through me. I felt a bigger swirl of energy inside me and I tried again. This time a weak twirl of white energy sprung out of my hand, and evaporated when it touched the grass. My vision turned translucent silver.

  Wow!

  I was stunned. I looked down at my open palm, not quite believing I'd actually done it. My eyesight returned to normal as I continued to stare at my hand in wonder. It was nothing like what Jared or the other Archaic were capable of, but I was still in awe.

  My fingers touched my eyes. Jared's eyes changed when he harnessed his energy. My thoughts turned to Mason. His eyes had also changed to silver initially but they had darkened to the scariest dark eyes as black as night. Did it mean something that my eyes hadn't gone dark like his?

  Excited and holding on to a little hope, I spent another hour in the clearing, trying to get a bigger burst of energy to shoot from my open hand, but no matter how hard I tried or even how angry or upset I got, only a small flash of white energy would spring from my open hand.

  It was getting late and I needed to get back before Jared discovered I was missing, so I left the clearing and headed back to my house. Deep in thought, I walked back. I saw Jared's Jeep parked outside his driveway, which meant he was home. He w
ould still think I was at home because my phone was there.

  I rushed into my house and when I closed the door I sighed with relief. I was home safe and no one had noticed I'd been gone. Relieved I hadn't been caught, I went to the kitchen and drank some water. Quietly I made my way up the stairs and to my bedroom. I opened the door.

  "Where the hell have you been?" Jared yelled. He was standing in the middle of my room. My phone was still lying on my bed. I looked from my phone to his furious face. I felt the fine current of energy in the air around him and the hairs on my arms stood up.

  "I--" The look on his face killed any excuse I was about to make up. He'd caught me out and no excuse was going to get me out of it.

  "Do you know I've had everyone out looking for you?" he said angrily. He walked over to me and grabbed me by the arms. His hold was firm as his fingers dug into my skin. "I've been worried out of my mind!"

  All I could do was stare back at him. I'd never seen him this angry.

  "You're hurting me," I told him as I tried to pull out of his painful grasp.

  "Sorry," he said before releasing me quickly. My hands rubbed my arms. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

  My eyes held his but then he turned around. Dragging a hand through his hair, he let out a heavy sigh.

  "I thought that Mason got into the house and got you. I had thoughts of finding you like I did the last time," he said hoarsely. Thinking back to that event affected him on a level of emotion that I couldn't dispute and it made me feel bad for putting him through even a second of it. Then he paused and whispered, "Or worse...dead."

  I had known he would be angry with me if he found out I went out, but I hadn't expected him to be this furious or upset.

  "I came around to check on you but no one answered the door."