by Sean Hayden
I knew what a scooter looked like, but the only brand name I could come up with was Vespa. They seemed to be in every movie I've ever seen. I concentrated on the image of one as hard as I could. I pictured a dull red one complete with dents on the sides and scratches. I pictured missing chrome trim and lots of dirt. I pictured a barely working model and pulled with my mind like I'd done with the swords. I opened my eyes and there sat a scooter.
A brand new, straight off the showroom floor, shiny, perfect Vespa scooter.
“Crap,” I said to no one.
“Where the hell did you get that?”
I spun around and found my sister standing there in her cheerleading outfit with her hands on her hips. She looked furious. I’m sure I looked like an idiot. I stammered and tried to come up with an excuse. Words failed me. I meant to say, “What scooter,” but what came out was, “Clarisse bought it for me.”
“Who’s Clarisse?”
“Claire,” I said quickly.
“Claire?”
“Awl? She’s a senior…”
“Oh, my God. Does Mom know?” My sister looked like she might pop at any moment. I wouldn’t mind, but I wouldn’t be cleaning the mess up. I might hose the pieces off the driveway, but that’s it. Seeing her standing there pissed off six ways from Sunday started to make me feel a little better.
“She met Claire this morning.”
“I’m talking about the scooter, assclown.”
“I don’t know, I just got home and found it here. Claire said she left a present for me, but I wasn’t expecting this,” I said with the biggest grin I could manage.
“Argh!” She literally stamped her foot and then went inside.
My work here was done.
I hopped on the new scooter, satisfied with my cover story, and turned the key. It roared (okay, coughed) to life, I hit the throttle and shot down the driveway faster than I expected and hit the road. I almost hit the curb before remembering to turn. With one last glance over my shoulder, I sped down the street, toward the mall.
* * *
She wasn’t at the food court. I knew without a doubt she was at the mall, I just couldn't tell where. I closed my eyes and thought of Clarisse. I tried to picture her smiling, but it just didn’t work. I pictured her with a wicked gleam in her eye and immediately her face came into focus. She was working. Clarisse had a job at the one place no teenage boy would be caught dead going into. She worked at the lingerie store.
“Hahaha!”
Everybody in the food court turned to stare at the crazy boy laughing for no reason in front of Burrito Bob’s. With a blush I started heading toward the far end of the mall. I concentrated very hard on my feet and the tile below them.
I stood by the bench outside of Angelique’s Closet. I could see Clarisse ringing up underwear and other things for a hefty middle-aged woman. She spotted me standing there staring at her through the half-inch thick glass with a goofy smirk on my face. I tried very hard not to laugh out loud again when she saw me. I'd never seen Clarisse blush before. It made her look a lot more human.
She finished ringing the woman’s items up, swiped her card, shoved everything in a bag with a big swirly "A" on it and said something to one of the other sales girls on duty. Whatever she said, the girl didn’t look happy, but nodded and stepped behind the register. I could almost smell smoke as Clarisse walked through the entrance of the store and made her way over to where I stood.
“What are you doing here, worm?” Wow, did she sound pissed.
“I needed to talk to you, and I had to do it tonight.”
“Well, I don’t have time for this, I’m working.”
“Since when do you have a job?”
“Since before you were born, dumbass,” she said and motioned me to follow her. I guess she didn’t want to have a conversation within earshot of the store.
She headed back to the food court with me in tow and got on line at Papa Luigi’s. The pizza smelled pretty damn good. I hadn’t been eating much lately.
“Clarisse,” I started, but she held up her hand.
“Wait until we sit down, worm. I’m starving. Do you want anything?”
“I’ll have a slice and a coke,” I said, figuring she’d pay. Okay, I hoped she would pay.
"Want to rethink your order?"
"Huh?"
"Cheese. Don't forget you're lactose intolerant. Very."
"Crap."
"They don’t serve that here, but you can eat it."
"Har har. What are you having?"
"Pasta," she said with an evil grin.
I sighed and gave her a quick, "I'll have the same, please."
She placed her order and mine and handed the greasy looking teen a twenty dollar bill. I smiled at the free food and offered to carry the tray. We found a secluded table pretty far away from anybody else in the somewhat deserted food court.
Without speaking she dug in and started chewing. Clarisse looked everywhere but at me. I started to get a little worried. “Why are you so mad at me?”
“I’m not mad, worm. Eat.”
“Then why aren’t you talking to me?”
“I’m talking to you. Eat.”
“Clarisse…”
“Connor, eat your food and then we’ll talk.”
I gave up and tore into it. I hadn’t realized how badly I wanted something to eat. By the time I finished, I’m sure I had tomato sauce from ear to ear. I probably got some on the ceiling, the floor, and quite possibly the windows of the stores around the corner. Clarisse’s face confirmed it, I was a pig.
“Hungry?”
“A little, sorry.”
“Worm, I can’t even begin to tell you how much energy your body burns. Eat more before you eat somebody.”
“Very funny, Clarisse.”
“I’m not kidding.”
I looked at her face expecting her to start laughing. She didn’t. I felt the spaghetti coming back up. What the hell did I get myself into? I concentrated on the condensation forming on the side of my Coke. “Okay, then. Clarisse, what is going on? Ever since the swords–"
Her hand shot across the table and covered my mouth. Her eyes started glowing and she leaned closer very slowly. “I told you, it never happened. Forget about it. If you ever draw them again I will kill you myself. Do you understand me?”
I shook my head.
“You don’t understand or you don’t agree. Tell me now, because one way or another, this discussion is over.”
I reached up and grabbed her wrist, squeezed as hard as I could, and pulled it slowly from my mouth. The look of surprise on her face made me feel a little better about the whole situation. “Clarisse, you told me to do something and I did it. Now you say it was completely wrong and won’t tell me why. If you give me a reason, I might consider it, but until then my answer is no.”
She sighed and sat back in her chair. She brought her fingers up to her face and covered her mouth with them. “Connor, I can’t. I really need you to trust me with this one, okay? We are forbidden to talk about it. Just don’t ever bring them back.”
It was her use of my name that made me believe her. I nodded and she smiled. “By the way, if anybody asks, you bought me a scooter.”
“Huh?”
Chapter 14
“You need to start practicing calling another weapon. Think of something deadly. Just don’t call the twins anymore,” she said as we exited the mall. I expected her to go back to work, but she didn’t.
“Now?”
“Well, not at the mall. Let’s go to the clearing.”
“Clarisse, it’s dark!”
“Schmuck, you can see in the dark.” Her bug was parked in the handicapped spot right outside the mall. Talk about shallow. I gave her a dirty look as she popped the door with the little key fob in her pocket and started the engine.
“What do you mean I can see in the dark?”
“Come on, I’ll show you,” she said and motioned for me to get in.
&
nbsp; We drove the whole way in silence. She turned on the radio to break the awkwardness filling the car. When we turned off the main road, she killed the headlights. For a second, I sat there, completely blind. Moment by moment, everything came into focus. The coolest part of the whole experience was that it wasn’t like looking through night vision goggles. Everything looked almost normal, but had a silvery sheen to it. I stared at Clarisse and she looked over at me and smiled.
“Cool.”
“It is. Welcome to not being human anymore,” she said and killed the engine. She opened her door and stepped out into the chilly night.
I did the same and by the time I caught up to her, her wings were visible and she wore some sort of leather outfit. I looked down at my jeans and T-shirt and figured they were good enough. “What are we doing?”
“We’re going to practice calling a different weapon. I need you to always reach for it, instead of the twin blades.”
“I wish you would tell me what the big deal is,” I said one last time.
“I can’t, Connor. I wish I could, but I can’t. Maybe someday, but not until I get permission. I don’t even want to tell anybody you called them. It would make things difficult.”
“Okay, so what do you want me to call?”
“Call just a normal sword, just one?”
“I’ll try.” I held out my hand, pictured a long, gleaming silver sword, and called it into being. It sat in my hand, just like I imagined. “That was easier than I thought it would be.”
“Good! Now banish it and let’s try it again.”
I tossed the sword into the air and it disappeared with a little pop. I went to call it back again when Clarisse’s hefty sword swung in an arc toward my face. I panicked and called the blade back…and blocked her sword with two of mine.
Two matte black curved blades. Crap. “Clarisse…”
“It’s okay, I kind of expected it. Get rid of them. We need to teach you to call the other one when you’re in danger.”
I nodded and tossed the blades away. Clarisse attacked and they came back. I banished them again and tried calling the silver blade to my hand. Every time I tried, the twin blades made an appearance.
“Concentrate, worm.”
“Let me try something different,” I said and pictured a small hunting knife with a thick blade and a horn handle. I actually owned one just like it. It used to be my dad’s and he gave it to me during my brief stint in the boy-scouts.
Closing my eyes, I pulled. Pop. I opened my eyes and a single one of the twin blades sat firmly in my hand. Shaking my head, I looked up at Clarisse in defeat. I opened my other hand in surrender and pop the other blade appeared. “I don’t know what to do.”
“I do. Darius!” She barely whispered his name, but it echoed around us like thunder.
I looked up and saw the clouds start to swirl with a thick green color reminiscent of soup. They formed a hole in the sky and swirled faster and faster until it looked like a small tornado would form and suck us up into the sky.
“Banish them, worm.”
I quickly tossed them away and heard them vanish into nothingness as the Reaper, Darius, plummeted from the sky and landed on the dirt in front of us on one knee.
He lifted his head and stared at Clarisse quizzically. “No. It cannot be.”
“I’m afraid so, Darius. He bears the blades and cannot call anything else. What do you want to do?”
“Um, excuse me. What’s going on?” They both turned to stare at me.
“Call your weapon, brother. Please,” Darius added.
Just for shiggles I called a Swiss Army knife. It didn’t work, the twin black blades popped into my hands.
Darius bowed his head and I saw his chest swell as he inhaled deeply. He took the few steps separating us and reached out his open palm. I took it he wanted to see one of my blades, so I gently set the handle in his hand. Immediately the skin around the handle started to sizzle and burn. Darius ignored it and brought the blade to his face.
"What is it?" I looked to Clarisse, even though I'd asked Darius the question. She brought her finger to her lips, telling me to be quiet.
"They are different, but the same as well. The Script on the blades isn't the same," Darius whispered, but I doubted he was talking to me.
"What does it say?" I really wanted to know.
"I wish I knew. It is in the language of Creation. I only know the difference because I saw the usurper's blades. The runes are longer."
"The Usurper?" I saw Clarisse's eyes widen as I asked the question.
"Yes. The Usurper. You know the tale, brother. There isn't a mortal in this realm who hasn't heard it. He led us against our cousins and bears the brunt of mortal sin. He is blamed for all, even though he is gone."
"He died?"
"No. He merely washed his hands of everything and fled. None of us was willing to search for him either. It is better this way. Clarisse, you feared for naught. While the blades appear to be the same, they aren't," he said and handed me the blade.
I felt a little better with it back in my hand. They belonged there.
"Thank you, Darius." she said and bowed. I did the same.
He nodded and launched himself back in the air, vanishing with a swirl of clouds and a clap of thunder. "So is everything good now?"
"I hope so, worm. I hope so."
"Good. Because we need to talk…"
"More?" She sighed and sat down in the grass. "What now?"
"The Halloween dance."
"Oh, come on. We'll have fun."
"I'm sure we would, but…you see…Clarisse…"
"You want to go with the mortal girl," she finished.
"How did you know?"
"Because I've been alive for a very long time. There's something we need to talk about first…"
I braced myself for "the talk". My parents had tried to give it to me several times in the past year alone. It never went well. "Clarisse, I know all about that stuff. I don't need to hear it from you, too."
She stopped talking and laughed. Hysterically. "You think I'm going to tell you about the birds and the bees? You moron!" The laughter continued for several more minutes. When she finally finished, she wiped her eyes on her sleeve and gave out a final bark of laughter. "No, you dolt. I need to talk to you about humans. Don't forget. You're not one anymore."
I panicked. I did the first thing any young man would do in this situation. I cupped myself. There. My eyes must have gone completely white and terror must have shown on my face because it set Clarisse off on another long laughter train. I felt stupid and embarrassed. "What?"
"Relax for a minute, Connor. Everything still works. Even as a Fallen, we still um…yeah…you know. I've just got to warn you about becoming too involved with a human."
I raised my eyebrow skeptically. "Why?"
"Because we live forever, they don't. They’ll grow old and die. We won't. All we can do is watch it happen. There's one other thing. Should we ever um, have offspring with a human, the results are bad."
"Like not healthy?"
"Like doomed to suffer until their mortal life is extinguished and they take their true form as a Chosen or Fallen. History is littered with examples. None of them good."
"Like?"
"Goliath. Most of the Greek Heroes. Merlin. Most have considerable power, but never have a happy ending. Humans call them Nephalim. We call them screwed."
"Really?"
"Basically. Their true name is The Cursed, but screwed fits the bill. I can't tell you what to do, but mating with humans is selfish."
"Clarisse! I have no intentions of mating with her. At the dance."
"Just be careful, and fine. Our date is cancelled. But I want my scooter back."
Chapter 15
"Connor! Wake up," my father's voice cut through my dreams. "You promised to help me clean the garage today. Let's get it done."
I moaned, rolled over, and planted my face firmly into my pillow. "I'm still sleeping!"<
br />
"No you're not. Get up. Don't make me send your sister in here to wake you up."
I bolted out of bed. Having ice water dumped on me would be preferable. "Come on, let's get this done," I said and walked past my dad. I slept in my jeans and T-shirt, so I ran to brush my teeth and met him in the garage.
He was staring at my shiny red scooter with a peculiar look on his face. "Where the hell did this come from?"
"It was a gift. From a girl."
He spun with a goofy smile on his face. Then he tried to look all parental and failed miserably. "Which girl?"
"Claire. Mom met her yesterday."
"Connor, I just don't…"
"It's cool, Dad. I tried to give it back and I tried to say no. She bought it and her parents told her no way in hell was she keeping it. She has tons of money."
"It's still not right, Connor. You don't take that kind of gift from someone. Especially a girlfriend…"
"She's not my girlfriend!"
"But your mother…" Dad looked really confused. She must have told him about meeting Claire. I felt sick.
"We're just friends, Dad. I promise."
"Friends with whom?" I spun and saw Jessie standing outside the open garage door. She tilted her head to the side and looked like she'd caught most, if not all, of the conversation.
"Hi, Jessie! I thought you weren't coming until noon?"
"Check your watch. It's five after. Who were you talking about?"
"Just Claire. She gave me a scooter. Dad assumed we were going out. Dad, this is Jessie. Jessie, my dad."
"Hi, Mr. Sullivan," she said and stepped into the garage. I reached out to take her hand, but somehow she knew it and stepped around me. My father gave me a look over her head. It spoke volumes.
I sighed and stood next to Jessie while she shook my dad's hand. "Nice to meet you too, Jessie. Go ahead, Connor. I'll finish the garage. Thanks for your help."
"My pleasure," I said and winked, thanking him for letting me go. "Want to go upstairs, Jessie?"
"Sure," she said. "Right after I meet your mom. Don't you have a sister, too?"