Rejon has told them that he is awaiting someone before he does this. Her name is Ethereal. She is a wicked and unbelievably evil goddess he met many centuries ago. She is the one who must help Rejon in the war against Zeus. The prophecies say that he needs her to be successful.
Daniel looks around, to make sure that no one is listening in on our conversation. He tells me that he heard Nate say once that if ‘she’ comes back we are all doomed. Nate met her centuries ago as well, being a Greek demigod himself. She’s the kind of girl who will smile at you while she slits your throat. Nate said that she has hair the colour of blood and eyes that match.
I shiver.
I do not like the idea that Rejon is working on resurrecting this particular girl.
The bus that Nate ordered for our trip arrives.
We all make our way outside and get on.
Daniel sits beside me.
The sun streaming in through the window soon lifts my mood.
So does the irresistible smile Daniel gives me every time I refer to him as my ‘boyfriend’ in conversation.
I am suddenly very glad I got up today.
*
Spiders are a funny kind of creature.
The Black Widow might, depending upon her mood, eat her husband after mating.
The tarantula likes to poison people.
A lot of spiders like to mimic ants. This way the ant lets the spider near enough to eat it.
We are looking at a tarantula now, in the reptile house of the zoo. It is a fearsome sight, a hairy creature of a distinctly disturbing orange and black colour.
It would poison me. It would leave me to die and run away.
This is how it brings things that are bigger than it down to size.
It enjoys it.
I know because I can see its brain. I can see how it thinks.
I was happier not knowing.
It is so dark in the reptile house, so as not to disturb the animals. I would very much like to move onto somewhere else.
Not so with the other Arachnes, oh no. This place is like a second home to them. Fifteen teenagers all looking at this tarantula like it’s some kind of god. Normal people must think we’re so weird.
Daniel tells me that each of us is related to a specific kind of spider.
Our behaviour can even be related to it. Those of us who had tarantula blood involved in our transformation have the ability to poison people.
Some of us were changed using the blood of a spider talented at mimicking. These people can make their eyes seem human, they can blend in better.
Those whose transformation involved the blood of a Black Widow are a threat to their partners.
“Which are you?” I ask.
“Tarantula,” he says breezily. “I don’t poison people though. I made that choice a while back.”
He hasn’t taken his eyes off the tarantula since we came in here.
He explains that Arachnes are always enchanted by the spider they are related to.
“Which am I?” I hope that he knows.
He doesn’t. Nate didn’t examine the blood before it was used on me.
Daniel tells me not to worry. It will probably become obvious before long anyway.
I leave them staring at the tarantula and wonder through the rest of the reptile house.
The Iguana looks at me funny. I have a paranoid moment where I think he knows that I’m not human.
I would like to be related to the mimicking group, I think.
I’d be able to make my eyes green again.
This would make me feel a lot more human.
I like my blue eyes, but they do serve as a constant reminder that I am something new now.
Then a new creature catches my eyes.
I am instantly fascinated. It seems so majestic and wonderful.
I don’t understand how anyone could look at anything else in here.
A spider.
It is a sleek black colour with a red hourglass marking on its abdomen.
The red contrasts so perfectly with the black.
Nature has designed its legs perfectly. The ends of them jut out like little black swords, deadly and beautiful.
I don’t even notice the others catching up on me.
I ask Angelica to take a look at this spider. It just has to be the best creature in the world, nothing could possibly beat it.
She doesn’t seem to share my enthusiasm.
She does look extremely amused though, “Do you like this one, Katy.”
“Yeah!” I exclaim, “How could you not love it?”
She laughs. Then she brushes my hair away from my neck.
“Nate, look,” she says, her voice heavy with glee. “On the back of her neck . . . the hourglass symbol!”
Nate comes over to inspect, looking extremely sceptical. It’s as if he thinks Angelica is trying to play some sort of trick on him.
I don’t pay much attention to either of them. I am still far more interested in the spider than in anything else going on around me.
Nate seems amazed, “That’s so rare.”
Angelica sounds delighted, “I know. Isn’t it just brilliant? I just have to tell Daniel! Hey, Danny, Come Over Here!”
Daniel walks over, looking quite reluctant to leave the tarantula.
“Looks like we’ve got ourselves a Black Widow here,” Angelica tells him.
I am still looking at the spider, “Yes, she’s wonderful. Isn’t she?”
There is a silence after I say this.
My attention is finally drawn away from the spider by Daniel’s voice.
He sounds more than a little shocked, “She wasn’t talking about the spider, Katy. She was talking about you.”
What does he mean? I’m a black widow?
For a moment I don’t understand.
Then it dawns on me.
I was changed by Black Widow blood.
This surprises me.
I think of this spider in the wild, the way she just kills her mate heartlessly.
I remember what Daniel said earlier about the human version also being a danger to their mates.
This isn’t good news.
Angelica walks off; obviously thinking that her work is done.
“Daniel, what does this mean?” I ask.
He inhales deeply, “Let’s go to lunch and we’ll talk about it . . .”
I know by his tone.
This really isn’t good.
*
That night I write all about my lunch with Daniel in my diary.
We got a small table for ourselves at a burger place. I was pleased that we were away from the rest of the group, in a way. It’s always nice to get some time alone.
He explained everything to me. Being with a human version of the Black Widow is like a game of Russian Roulette apparently. You are taking your life in your hands.
You may die. You may not. It’s a chance that you take.
Just like with the spider version.
Depending on her mood she may just let you go.
I was very confused. I told him that I would never hurt him in any way.
He already knew this. The thing is, he explained, it won’t be my choice.
He was trying to explain the mechanics of the whole situation to me. His attempts were kind of hilarious to behold.
He didn’t want to say the word ‘sex’ or ‘mating’ but there was no way to say what he needed to say without doing so.
He kept starting off again.
It will only take effect when . . . Well, it only happens if . . . You know if we ever . . . It kind of happens when . . .
In the end I said it straight out, “If we have sex you could just spontaneously die. It wouldn’t be my choice.”
We’re not like the spider version in that we don’t kill our mates ourselves. Death itself decides whether or not to come upon them. We just increase the chances.
He looked relieved that I’d grasped it without him having to spell it out, �
��It’s a fifty-fifty chance, every time. If the human Black Widow’s mate is still alive twenty hours after they . . . em, you know . . . then he’s in the clear. The death always happens in the first twenty hours after . . . you know, the act . . . if it’s going to happen at all.”
I just sat back, rather saddened.
He was surely going to break up with me.
There was no way he’d stay with me if that was the situation.
He just bit into his burger and said, “Some chances are worth taking. I think.”
I don’t think seven simple words have ever brightened my life as much as those.
We would be staying together.
I made a mental note to look into a cure for this condition.
There is no way I’ll sleep with him while there is still a chance that it would kill him.
There is no way that I’ll go on forever not sleeping with him.
There is a cure, or maybe a spell, I told myself.
I shall find it.
“What are you writing about?” Angelica asks me, innocently reading her book about frogs.
I tell her that I am writing about nothing.
Nothing at all.
She wonders aloud why I write everything down. She finds this behaviour awfully unorthodox, she confesses.
I write because I am paranoid about forgetting my memories. I am about to tell her this when we are both distracted by someone bursting into the room.
It’s Daniel.
“What are you doing here?” Angelica chastises, “This is the girl’s dorm!”
He ignores her and closes the door.
It’s then that I notice his fear is at a dangerously high level.
I’ve never seen this amount of terror in someone’s head.
Angelica senses it too. She asks him what’s wrong.
His hands are shaking. He can’t speak.
He hands me a piece of paper.
It is a cut out, from the newspaper this morning. It’s the article about the poor man who was buried alive and left for dead.
Daniel gestures that I should turn it over.
I do so.
On the back there is a message.
Hi Daniel
It Will Be Your Turn Soon.
Regards,
Rejon
Chapter Six
I am frozen.
Rejon, a powerful creature of untold evil, is targeting the boy I love.
Angelica grabs the piece of paper from me. She reads it.
Her eyes just stare ahead when she finishes.
She crumples it in her left hand and throws it to the side, “This means war.”
“Angelica there isn’t anything we can do,” Daniel says sadly.
His tone tells me that he is resigned to his fate. This worries me greatly.
“There is,” she smiles insanely. “We can kill him.”
“We don’t know what he looks like,” Daniel argues.
I know why he’s arguing with her, why he won’t let us help.
There is a new fear in his head; it has to do with Angelica and me.
He is afraid that we will get hurt if we help him fight off Rejon.
He would much rather that he was only Rejon’s only target.
“We won’t just sit back and do nothing,” I say to him.
He gives me a look that says he is grateful.
Then his face turns regretful again.
He sits down on my bed.
This is his battle, he tells us. He will find Rejon himself.
There is no use in all of us getting killed.
Angelica argues with him again. He is being stupid. No one can stop Rejon alone; he has hundreds of followers and amazing powers.
He takes a deep breath and repeats, this is his battle.
I am suddenly terrified of losing him.
He is everything to me. I couldn’t bear it.
Angelica looks at him suspiciously, “Why are you so keen to do this alone?”
He states the obvious. He doesn’t want us getting hurt.
“Are you sure that’s it?” Angelica asks in an accusing tone. “Or is it that you know you won’t get hurt. Are you Rejon, Danny? I’ve been getting awfully near to tracking him lately. Is this supposed ‘threat’ a ploy to take suspicion off yourself, so I won’t find you out?”
I can’t believe she would say that.
Evidently Daniel can’t either.
His voice is quiet but you can hear how much her accusation has hurt him, “Angelica, I am afraid for my life here. Could you please put your paranoia behind you, just for once, and be my sister again. I kinda need her right now.”
She doesn’t answer for a moment.
Then she sits down beside him and puts her hand on his shoulder.
She has a plan, for tonight at least.
Daniel can sleep in her bed. She will sleep in Daniel’s room.
This way if Rejon comes tonight he won’t find Daniel in the obvious place.
If Rejon comes she fully plans to kill him.
She begins packing an overnight bag.
No matter how much Daniel argues she won’t take no for an answer.
He finally resigns himself to the fact that her mind is made up, “What are you going to tell Greg Harshaw?”
I remember now that he’s Daniels room-mate. Angelica just arriving in for the night probably would be a surprise for him.
She just giggles, “I don’t think he will be too upset to see me.”
Daniel and I glance at each other. Perhaps this is a case of the less we know the better.
She leaves, telling Daniel to be careful.
The look in her eyes says a lot. She obviously still cares deeply about her brother.
“Wow, that was strange,” he remarks when she’s gone. “She didn’t even accuse you of being Rejon! She just left me with you . . . It’s like she trusts you completely. She doesn’t even trust me! What did you do that I didn’t?”
I tell him that I have no idea why she trusts me.
I couldn’t even answer her question about how I woke up during Nate’s spell.
Yet she seems to trust me completely.
Maybe, despite everything, she knows that we’re friends.
This realisation makes me laugh softly. She is, indeed, a very quirky girl.
Daniel gives me a heart-melting smile now. He tells me that I have a cute laugh.
With that I suddenly become very aware that we are alone.
We are alone for the whole night.
This makes me begin to giggle nervously.
He pulls me close and kisses me.
I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the feeling of being helplessly absorbed by him.
I love it.
I really wish we could just do this all day.
I find myself wishing that we could do more.
My phone begins ringing.
Daniel pulls away briefly and tells me that I should answer it.
I ignore this and kiss him again.
He is all I want in this whole world. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.
The phone doesn’t quit ringing.
In the end I have to answer it.
It’s my Mom. She thinks that we left things on a bad note earlier.
She thinks I should really talk to her now.
She wants to know that I’m alright with everything.
“Oh yeah sure, I’m fine with it,” I assure her, wanting to get back to Daniel.
This doesn’t satisfy her. She knows me too well.
I’m hiding my feelings again, she thinks.
Daniel has just noticed my diary on the bed.
He picks it up.
“Daniel, don’t read that!” I shriek, trying to grab it from him.
My Mom’s voice sounds stern suddenly, “Daniel? Katy, who’s Daniel? Where are you?”
I assure her that I’m in my room.
Then I tell her that I have to go now. I’ll call her
soon.
I hang up and grab my diary off Daniel.
He looks at me amused, “What have you got in there?”
I give him the same answer I always give his sister.
There is nothing in there. Nothing at all.
A sudden flash of light makes us both look to the window.
It was lightening.
That wasn’t forecast for tonight.
A horrible rumbling of thunder soon follows.
I sit down near Daniel again.
I am not afraid of thunder or anything. It’s just nice to have someone around when it happens.
Daniel remarks that at least the electricity hasn’t gone.
Then the lights go out.
The darkness, coupled with the sudden storm, causes a lot of students to be afraid. There is so much fear going around the place now that you can see it in the air.
I don’t know who it belongs to.
Daniels tells me to snack on some. We won’t get to go to an Arachne meeting tonight now, not in this weather. I will need to fill myself somehow.
I think about it and decide to leave it until later.
I rest my head on his shoulder, “I’m glad you’re here.”
I feel his arm wrap around me.
It feels like pure comfort, the kind I’ve been after for a long time.
He kisses me again.
This time we end up going a bit further.
Before long I am lying down and he is kissing my neck.
I can only see him when lightning flashes across the room.
Every time this happens I am taken by how attractive he is.
I love what he is doing to my neck.
We are so close. I wonder if he can feel how fast my heart is beating.
He begins to remove my top.
Now this is getting dangerous.
Daniel is seeing how far he can push it.
I shall have to be the one to say ‘stop’. I know it.
He isn’t strong enough.
Every instinct in me is screaming just to go with it.
Still, I know the consequences, “Danny, you should probably go over to your own bed now.”
I push him gently away.
He looks disappointed, “Why? Things are a lot more fun over here.”
He makes an attempt at kissing my chest.
Again I stop him, despite wanted him to continue, it takes a lot of strength, “Daniel Knight, get to your own bed now!”
He sighs and looks into my eyes, “I am not getting lucky tonight, am I?”
Elysium's Love Triangle Page 6