“What? It was really good. Especially the chowder! Ask her,” he said, looking at Michelle. Haneul looked at Kahl with disappointment.
“Jeonbok, and you didn’t even think to tell me?” Kahl laughed and told Haneul that he needed to take that up with Elliot because he was the one that fetched the shells from up north. As soon as Elliot’s name was mentioned, everyone became very quiet and all attention focused on Michelle, who had no intention of being at the center of things.
“Well, should we go study?” Michelle hoped that Rion would notice her expression of alarm and get her the hell out of there. Rion was no fool and he told everyone that they would have to continue that conversation later because he and Michelle were going into the classroom to get some peace and quiet.
Once in the classroom Michelle looked at Rion and just shook her head. “You guys argue like a bunch of little kids. I thought you were all supposed to be old and wise.”
“We’re not old really,” he said, trying to hide his bruised ego. “If you think about it, we’re just not on the same schedule as you humans are, and anyway I’ve seen plenty of old people argue. Haneul happens to really love fresh abalones. It’s like hamburgers or pizza for Koreans.” Michelle didn’t understand the big deal since it was still open season and Haneul could just go up the coast and get some himself.
“Can’t you guys breath underwater? It would be totally easy,” she asked Rion excitedly.
“I am not aware that we possess any secret gills anywhere,” Rion said, amused that Michelle would think such a thing. “What else did Elliot tell you, that we have tails too?” Michelle told him that she just assumed that because Elliot was able to stay underwater for such a long time. Rion corrected her, telling her that they could just hold their breath for longer periods. He then told her that once he dove into a lake and searched for almost an hour for a ring that his wife had hurled into the murky depths.
“She thought I had been unfaithful to her. I found the ring, eventually, but she left me anyway.”
“Were you?” Michelle asked in a charged voice. But Rion asked her what she considered to be unfaithful, especially because as king it was customary to have more than one wife. Rion laughed when he saw Michelle’s face at his mention of being a king, and then proudly stated to her that he was a true romantic and it didn’t matter how many women he was married to.
“I don’t want to hear any more stories like this.” Michelle put her hands over her ears. “I’ve had enough with you people and your fairytales. Next you’re going to tell me that Elliot was a king too but somehow forgot to mention it?”
“Only two times that I know of.” Rion enjoyed getting a rise out of Michelle; it brought out different aspects of her character and it made Elliot’s relationship with her less of an enigma to him. Michelle felt uncomfortable. She couldn’t tell if Rion was teasing her just to see her reaction and she definitely wasn’t sure why he was telling her how romantic he was. She was by no means interested in him, even though he was unquestionably very handsome, tall and masculine. And he didn’t exhibit any of that apprehensiveness that Elliot did while he was around her. Michelle concluded that Rion, although a trickster, was definitely more mature.
They sat down at the large table and Rion leafed through Michelle’s schoolbooks, asking her where she and Elliot had left off. Elliot's name always seemed to bring Michelle to a standstill, so Rion decided that from then on he just wouldn’t mention it. They studied and practiced for almost two hours straight, and although Rion was being very patient he remembered all over again why he hadn’t wanted any children in a very long time. It was a kind of an oxymoron that he thought he possessed neither the time nor the patience to raise them and guide them when in fact he had all the time he could ever want. During a break they decided to order pizza, from Little Napoli of course, and luckily they both agreed on the toppings. She heard Rion order two extra large pies and asked him if he didn’t think that most of it would go to waste because she could only eat three slices at most. Covering the receiver with his hand, he assured her with a wink that he knew what he was doing.
When the pizza arrived Michelle followed Rion to the front door, taking some money out of her pocket to help pay for it. Rion laughed and told her to put her money away.
“Just because I’m younger and a girl doesn’t mean that I expect everyone to pay for me.” Rion told her that he appreciated her valor, but money was not a problem for him because he was fairly wealthy, so she might as well save her dollars for herself. Michelle jokingly asked if he robbed banks as a hobby, and Rion became deeply offended by the implication. Michelle apologized and told him that she came up with that idea because Elliot was able to evade setting off the alarm in her bedroom, which would mean that he would be able to do the same in a bank, no? When Rion heard that Elliot had been in Michelle’s bedroom he just couldn’t take not knowing anymore and plain asked her if she and Elliot had been sexually involved. That question set Michelle’s face on fire and she forgot to breath for a few seconds. Rion was amused at his power to embarrass her, but at the same time felt bad about it and tried to backtrack, but it was too late. Michelle finally found her voice to answer. To Rion’s relief, with her cheeks still burning, she barely managed to squeeze out a small ‘no’.
“Awww… a virgin?” he asked. Michelle still considered herself to be way inexperienced for her age and felt embarrassed by that fact now more than ever. Yet she also felt empowered that she wasn’t some nameless conquest in what was probably a long list of women that Elliot had been with. Rion was once again amused at his friend’s choice of companionship. Michelle might have looked like a little woman, but she was very much still a child. She didn’t have any of that womanly sexual sophistication. What was Elliot thinking, Rion wondered? The girl wouldn’t take it lightly if a man hurt her, and Elliot’s behavior could really damage her impressionable little soul. The more Rion thought about it the angrier he became. Was he actually feeling protective of the little flower that sat across from him, he wondered, all while watching Michelle read over her notes and gnaw on a pizza crust.
There was a knock on the classroom door and Rion whispered to Michelle that the reason he had ordered two extra large pies was about to unfold. The door opened and Ando sauntered in, immediately moving to the table to scrutinize the pizza toppings. Rion invited him to join in, which he did happily. A moment later, Kahl and Haneul joined the dinner party, and about five minutes after that, Xander showed up with a bottle of red wine and glasses, admonishing them that they should all be deeply ashamed of themselves for not opening a good bottle of Chianti to go with such a fine specimen of a pizza. Xander didn’t ask what Michelle was doing there and neither did he mention Elliot. The conversation began flowing freely and everyone seemed to be jolly with food and drink, although Michelle declined the wine and Haneul fetched her some more water instead. At one point Rion told everyone that he had needed to convince Michelle that he could afford to pay for the pizza all by himself and they all had a good laugh. Michelle got a little angry with Rion for joking at her expense, but when she looked at him he just winked. Still, Michelle wasn’t going to let all of them keep making fun of her, and justified her actions by letting them know that she would have found it rude if she was on the opposite end and Rion didn’t offer to pitch in with the bill. “That’s not why we’re laughing,” Ando said, still chuckling. Everyone looked at Rion as he cleared his voice and sat up tall in his chair.
“Michelle, you are quite possibly speaking to the wealthiest person on earth.” Michelle looked at Rion, then back at the rest of them. They all seemed completely serious.
“Congratulations. Did you discover an oil field or something?” Michelle asked. Rion began speaking and the others chimed in, all trying to explain to Michelle how he had amassed his wealth. Rion had been a rich and powerful king, ruling over the hills and valleys of what is today Western Georgia. He had settled there because he realized that there were vast gold deposits in the hill
s and underneath the ground. Together with his top scholars, he figured out the best ways of extracting the precious metal, and mining became a way of life. When the surrounding peoples heard about the richness of the area, they began arriving by land and sea to trade their goods for gold.
“That’s how Elliot and I met Rion in the first place,” Kahl added. He told Michelle about his time as a high official in Egypt, and how the expulsion of the Hyksos from the political ruling class had shaped his own exit from that area. After he faked his death, he set out to Libya with Elliot, and from there they sailed all across the Mediterranean and traded goods for the Greek city-states. Eventually they were sent out on behalf of some king to meet Rion because of the great wisdom he had about mining precious metals. “That’s when we built the ‘Argos’, especially for that trip. We had so many of our kind on that vessel and we raised hell all the way to Clochis and back,” he said, reminiscing.
“Argos is the name of our street!” Michelle just had to interrupt.
“That’s right,” Rion told her. “Elliot named it after the ship.”
“You mean Elliot was here, on this exact street, before this?” Michelle asked, confused.
“The famous oil press, that was his,” Xander added. “Still is.” Michelle tried to piece some of the puzzle together, and it was almost starting to make sense. All of the guys had helped Elliot build the underground library many years ago. It lay empty and hidden until they returned and had the new school built right on top of it. Elliot owned most of the surrounding land; at one point he sold some of it to the city of Willow’s Creek and that’s how Michelle’s small neighborhood came to be. Michelle realized that she was born and raised on what used to be Elliot’s land, and that his attachment to the area was older and deeper than her own. She began feeling as if she was the new kid on the block. Curious, Michelle asked what the word ‘Vela’ meant, because her street was named ‘Argos Vela’. Xander explained to her that Vela was the Latin word for sails.
“Originally Elliot thought to name the street Argos Navis, after the constellation. But instead he chose the name Vela, which is the name of the bright pulsar within the same constellation. When Michelle heard the word ‘pulsar’ she couldn’t believe it. Was it pure coincidence that she had said the word ‘pulsar’ in that strange dream? She still thought about it a lot. And in that dream, when she looked up to the sky to see the almost blinding white light, was she looking up at the Argos Navis constellation? Was she seeing Vela itself?
All at once everything and nothing was making sense and it was all getting to be too much. The room began spinning and Michelle felt like she was either going to throw up or pass out. A second later all the guys were surrounding her, asking if she was all right? Michelle just looked at them, dumbfounded.
“Did I faint?” she asked, noticing that she was no longer in the classroom, but was now lying on a couch in the living room. Michelle’s pulse was yo-yo’ing from dangerously fast to frightening slow, and her body was likewise alternating between warm and cold at an amazing rate. She tried to sit up and they all helped her. When she felt steady enough, Michelle walked over to the outdoor patio, still surrounded by the guys, who all agreed that the fresh air would be good for her. She sat in the cool evening air while her heart found it’s normal pace and her color returned. Michelle apologized to all of them, telling them that she had no idea what had happened. She did have to admit to herself that she enjoyed getting all the attention from a bunch of gorgeous guys, but at the same time she felt embarrassed that they were all doting on her. They saw her as a little girl. It was obvious, and she didn’t like it.
Back in the classroom, Michelle began collecting her books and papers while Kahl carried the rest of the pizza into the kitchen. Once Rion was alone with her, he asked her what it was that they said that had upset her so much. Michelle told him that she couldn’t think of anything specific, but Rion knew she was lying because when a person lies their facial expressions are different and they project their voice differently. It was easy for one of their kind to pick up on such slight changes. Michelle seemed too frightened and uncomfortable to want to talk about it; Rion surmised that she just became overwhelmed by all the information they were throwing at her. She was human after all, and a human’s brain was too slow to digest such a large amount of data. She became overloaded, and had to shut down for a few seconds to reboot. Rion told Michelle that he was going to drive her home because she shouldn’t be walking after blacking out. What if she fainted again and no one was there to help her, he asked as she protested? He studied her face, and Michelle looked away from him.
“Are you sure you’re ok?” Rion moved in closer and put his hand on her forehead even though he knew she wasn’t running a fever. It was a nurturing gesture that had been instilled even in him. With his hand still on Michelle’s forehead, Rion turned to look at the door because he heard someone approaching, only it wasn’t Kahl like he thought. It was Elliot, and from one moment to the next Elliot’s face changed from shock to anger and then in a millisecond he had Rion pushed up against the wall yelling at him to take his hands off Michelle. Just like before, Michelle never saw Elliot enter the room. It took her brain a few seconds to understand the scene unfolding in front of her. But now it was Rion’s turn to hurl Elliot away from him. Elliot flew across the room, barely missing Michelle before crashing against the double doors.
“What is wrong with you, man?” Rion roared while Elliot stood up. But Elliot didn’t answer back, and rushed at him again throwing Rion back up against the blackboard which split and splintered from the force of Rion’s shoulder going right through it. Michelle yelled at both of them to stop it but it was like she wasn’t even there. Both Elliot’s and Rion’s eyes were glowing and changing shades rapidly. Rion freed himself from the blackboard and noticed that he was bleeding from where his shirt had ripped. Which only made him angrier and although Michelle pleaded with him not to do it, he charged towards Elliot who tried to tackle him. Rion grabbed Elliot by the neck and the two fought fiercely, with Rion trying to subdue Elliot onto the table. Chairs fell everywhere and wine glasses leftover from dinner crashed to the floor spilling what ever was left in them. Rion was practically on top of Elliot with his hands still around his neck. He was yelling at him that he was completely out of line.
Michelle, frightened that Rion was going to choke Elliot to death, began screaming at him to let Elliot go. Every few seconds she kept looking towards the classroom door, wondering why no one was coming in to help. Elliot strained to bend his leg underneath Rion and once he managed to do so he kicked him in the stomach. Rion collapsed backwards wincing in pain, and Elliot took that opportunity to pounce on top of him and punch him in the face with such force that Michelle heard the impact of his fist from where she was standing. She cringed at the thought that Rion’s cheekbone might have shattered. With tears of fear streaming down her face, she rushed to where they were rolling on the floor and started tugging on Elliot’s shirt, yelling at him to stop because he kept punching Rion again and again. Elliot was distracted by Michelle’s pleas, and Rion cashed in on that moment and sucker punched Elliot so hard that his entire body was thrown backwards, knocking Michelle off her feet. Elliot landed in her lap and Rion jumped to his feet, taking a defensive stance. Elliot tried to do the same but Michelle leaned over him engulfing him with her arms, telling him that that was enough. Elliot looked up as her tears rolled onto his nose, mouth and chin. He touched his lip, instinctively thinking that it was split open, but when he tasted the wetness he realized that it was too salty to be blood.
“Maybe you should listen to your girlfriend,” Rion said in anger and antipathy. “You’ve got some nerve pulling any rank after what you did to her. She doesn’t belong to you!” Elliot sat up and Michelle noticed that he was bleeding from his hairline.
“Well maybe you should keep your hands to yourself because no one gave you permission to…” Elliot moved Michelle’s arms away firmly and slowly got up.
“Gave him permission for what?” Michelle asked, her voice shaking with anger. Elliot looked at Michelle and he was at a loss. “Rion wasn’t doing anything, and even if he was, that’s up to me, not you. Who are you to tell me or anyone else what to do? I came here because Rion was helping me, because you were gone! Gone is an understatement, isn’t it? You just disappeared without one word to me.” Elliot looked at Michelle suspiciously, and that look from him was like pouring oil onto an open flame. He tried to interject but Michelle was on a roll, and she was angry, angrier than she even thought she was. “At least Rion is man enough to tell me things the way they are and he stands by his words, he doesn’t run away.” Elliot looked at Rion with resentment; what did he do? How did he turn Michelle against him? And what was Michelle even doing there to begin with? He looked back at Michelle, who slowly walked over to Rion and examined at his bleeding shoulder with remorse. Was it all her fault that the guys were hurt? She reached her hand to his bruised cheek and Rion bent his face to her fingers and told her that it wasn’t too bad and that he’d heal in no time. The sight of Rion getting so close to Michelle’s face sent waves of hot burning rage through every muscle in Elliot’s body. Michelle felt him taking a step in their direction. Rion’s pupils focused on Elliot, throwing threatening darts in his direction.
“Don’t, Elliot. Let it go. I’m leaving,” Michelle said, protecting Rion by putting her body in front of him. Elliot hurt deeply. Had he really lost her? He wondered, looking out the window because he couldn’t take seeing them like that. Michelle turned to face Rion and pecked him on his good cheek, which pained Elliot more than she would have guessed. “But I want both of you to know that the only person who gives me permission to do the things I do and make the choices I make is me. Not you.” Michelle turned to look back at Elliot, who was feeling hurt and shamed all at once. He could plainly hear the pain behind her anger, and it was his fault. Rion, on the other hand, was surprised to hear such words coming out of the little girl in front of him and wondered again if he had miscalculated her. It was at that moment that Elliot realized how much he did want Michelle to be his. Her words were evidence to the strength she held within. He had always felt it there. He didn’t want to lose her, he was sure of it now, and there she was slipping away from him. And to make things worse, she wasn’t choosing a mere human over him; that would at least make him feel satisfied in the knowledge that a regular man could never offer her the things he could, but she was choosing someone of his kind, someone who he himself respected, someone who was his equal.
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