Royals Rise

by K. Manna

  Eli helped me clasp the necklace around my neck, then we sprawled on the grass to watch the starry sky.

  “I love watching the stars, especially here, away from the city. They’re so much brighter here,” I said.

  Eli yawned. “Yeah, they are.”

  I tried finding the constellations that we had learned in school.

  That must be the Little Dipper there. Wait, is it there? I’ve never been very good at … cool, a shooting star. Wow, there’s another one. No way! There are so many! What is going on here?

  “Eli, do you see this?” I asked, wide eyed.

  No answer.

  Eight, nine, ten …

  More and more shooting stars began to zoom across the sky. The stars looked like they were falling closer and closer, and I began to wonder how close they would come.

  Poking Eli in the ribs, I asked again, “Eli, are you seeing this?”

  Eli shook awake. “What? Did I see what?”

  I pointed toward the sky where dozens of brightly lit stars soared over our heads. I felt like I could reach out and pluck one out of the sky. We watched in amazement as hundreds of the glowing missiles smashed into the ground and violently burst into clouds of purple smoke and sparks.

  POOF! POOF!

  This is magnificent! I can’t believe this is happening!

  POOF! POOF! POOF!

  Eli tried dodging a falling star that came right at him, but it flew too fast and landed on his arm with a little poof.

  “Wow, I hardly felt a thing!” Eli yelled.

  With hundreds of falling stars bursting around us, the air became a huge cloud of purple smoke. It wasn’t long before we couldn’t see our hands in front of our faces. Eli grabbed my hands, pulled me up, and swung me around and around and around …

  Friday morning, I woke feeling refreshed and full of energy. Never in my life had I felt so confident and proud of myself as I did those first couple days after my first healing. My group was so proud of me yesterday after I told them about my bloody shaving incident and how my magic fingers had healed the crap out of it. They were all very impressed, so impressed that they wanted me to reenact the bathroom scene. And I mean the entire scene, blood and all. Eugene even asked a servant to bring us water, shaving cream, and, of course, the razor-sharp shaver.

  And let me tell you it was not easy reenacting that situation. The thought of hurting myself, on purpose, made me cringe. It took a while for me to find within myself, buried deep inside, the crazy girl with the courage to do it. After a number of tries, I finally found the right angle and applied just the right amount of pressure for the razor to, once again, shear the skin from my ankle. And once again, I used my natural healing abilities—abilities I never knew I had before—to heal the nasty wound.

  After seeing the chunk of bloody skin dangling from my razor, Indee screamed so loudly that he caused us to jump. Yeah, the thing was nasty, all dead and squiggly, but it wasn’t anything that I hadn’t seen before. Maybe Indee’s parents didn’t let him watch the screen. In any case, with a power like mine, I was sure that I was going to become very familiar with the sight of blood, pus, and any other disgusting liquid that comes out of a wound.

  Eugene wanted to toughen Indee up, so he decided that he would have Bree and Indee reenact the scene, too. A group exercise, he called it. Indee didn’t mind shaving his legs—no surprise—but he did mind the razor slicing off his skin. For a second, we all thought he might pass out from the sight and pain, but thankfully he didn’t. It took him a while, but eventually Indee managed to heal his wound. Bree, on the other hand, had no problem at all. She made it look easy.

  Since we did so well yesterday, Eugene said that he would like us to work on burns today. That didn’t sit too well with me. To heal a burn, first you have to create a burn. Cutting ourselves was one thing, but burning was another. Burns hurt way worse than cuts, in my opinion. Bree, Indee, and I all looked at each other, scared, knowing how horribly bad this would hurt.

  “Oh, you will all be fine. Don’t look so terrified. Remember, the pain that you feel will help you to heal more quickly. Here, I will show you.” Eugene unzipped his black bag and pulled out a cordless curling iron.

  “Um, Eugene, can I pass on this? I can’t stand the thought of burning flesh, especially my own.” Indee winced.

  Eugene shook his head. “No, all of you must participate. I must prepare all of you for the Royals Rise. Who knows what might be expected of you?”

  “So are you telling us that you don’t know what we will have to do?” Indee questioned.

  Eugene set the curling iron on the highest setting and waited for it to grow hot. “The ceremony itself is a closely guarded secret. I honestly do not know what will be taking place during the Royals Rise. The Zylo has given me an outline to follow in order to prepare each of you, and then I leave on the Friday before the big day. All of the instructors will leave that day. We do not take part in the actual event. Only certain members of the Royal family are allowed to be in attendance.” Eugene sighed. “But I would love to watch. All of you will be amazing, completely amazing.”

  Eugene suddenly took the hot curling iron and pressed it against the inside of his forearm. Gasping from the pain, his face grew red. His eyebrows scrunched together as a large, greenish vein began to pop out of his forehead.

  “Okay already, take it off!” Bree screamed.

  Eugene removed the iron from his arm, revealing a painful burn. He looked instantly calmer and handed the iron to me. Immediately, Eugene laid his opposite hand over the raw flesh, closed his eyes, and paced back and forth. Within minutes, he stopped in front of us and slowly pulled his hand away, revealing perfect-looking skin.

  “Voila!” Eugene hollered.

  Craziness! I still can’t believe this is real. How is this all happening to me? To us?

  “Hot damn!” Indee yelled, gripping Eugene’s arm and pulling it up to his nose.

  Okay, weird.

  “What are you doing, Indee?” I asked.

  Indee dropped Eugene’s arm and looked at me. “Smelling his arm to see if it still smells burnt.”

  Bree and I gave Indee a strange stare, a stare that read “You are a weirdo.”

  “What?” Indee asked, looking back and forth between the two of us.

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Oh, nothing, Indee. It’s just a little weird is all.”

  Eugene took a seat on the ground and dug through his bag. Much to our horror, he began pulling out more curling irons, one for each of us. I realized then that I was still holding the iron that Eugene had used to burn himself with, and there was a disgusting smudge on it from the burnt skin. I didn’t know if I could go through with it, healing powers or not.

  I set the iron down and grabbed a new curling iron that was cool, clean, and unused … but not for long.

  I can’t do this. Seriously, how can I burn my own freakin’ flesh?

  My hands went clammy even before turning the stupid curling iron on. I gripped the thing so tight that my knuckles turned white.

  Indee licked his finger and quickly wiped it against the hot curling iron in his hand. “Whoa, that’s hot! Eugene, I’m not kidding when I say I can’t torch my skin. Come on, let’s just say that we did it. Nobody will know but us.”

  Eugene shook his head. “Indee, you have to do this. All of you must be prepared. What’s that old saying you kids brought back?” He looked to the sky and thought for a moment. “Oh, yes. Indee, you need to man up. Be a brave, strong man and man up.”

  Hearing Eugene say “man up” sounded odd, but funny. These words were totally not his style. He seemed like the kind of guy who acted more old school, but was trying to relate to us kids and be cool. We all grew a smile with his effort.

  I gave Indee a playful punch to the shoulder and said, “Indee, you have to man up, dude. It’s the only p
ossible way.”

  “I don’t want to man up, but I guess I don’t have a choice.” He looked at Eugene and gave him a sad, helpless expression.

  All right, enough is enough. Either way we have to do this. Yes, we will have to experience excruciating pain, but like Eugene always says, it will pass. We will overcome the pain and heal ourselves and feel on top of the world after we prove to ourselves that we can do it. Right? Yes. Okay then, distract yourself and just do it for crying out loud!

  I imagined that I was getting ready for a party and pretended to style my hair. I took a lock of my hair and set it in the hot iron. One curl, two, three curls … then, bam! I pressed the burning iron against the side of my neck. It was only there for a moment, but it felt like an eternity. I was impressed with myself for being able to resist the urge to remove the iron immediately, but it didn’t take long for me to lose it. The pain was terrible, and I couldn’t see anything because my eyes were watering so badly.

  I hollered, “Frickin’ A! It burns like hell!”

  I tried to calm myself by closing my eyes and concentrating on taking slow, deep breaths. I placed my hand over the burn. Purple swirls shot across my closed eyelids. The searing pain in my neck radiated up into my jaw.

  Please be over. Please be over. Please.

  As chaotic as my mind was, I still tried to envision the healing process. The wound first appeared red and inflamed but quickly turned into a fluid-filled blister. Then the blister popped, oozing, open, raw. I could almost see the sensitive, cherry-red skin underneath. Next came the scab, an itchy, flaky monster of a scab. And finally …

  Still gasping from the intensity of the moment, I opened my eyes and growled, “This better look pretty because I’m not doing this again. You got it?”

  Everyone nodded in understanding.

  I pulled my hand away from my neck and winced. “And?”

  I studied the expressions on their faces, trying to determine if I had succeeded. Obviously, I couldn’t see my own neck.

  Bree shushed Indee while digging into her pocket and pulling out her compact. She popped it open and held the mirror toward me. All I could see in the mirror was my chin, so I angled it down a bit toward my neck.

  Nothing. The burn was gone.

  “That’s what I’m talking about. Whoop! Whoop! Dang, that feels good!” I howled with joy.

  Bree slapped me on the back. “You go, girl!” She jumped to her feet and shook the nerves from her body. “Okay, my turn. I can do this. I can do this.”

  Bree stared at the hot iron she held out in front of her. She brought it above her head, pointing it toward the sky, and then whipped it around as if fighting with a sword, a flaming-hot sword. After a bit of play fencing, she held the iron aloft one more time, only this time she swung it in a downward arc and pressed the hot metal to her upper arm. Clearly feeling the pain, Bree’s face twisted. Knowing what she was going through, it was hard to watch. Fortunately, Bree was as quick to get it over with. Not caring where it landed, Bree threw the curling iron to the ground and cupped her injured arm. Little noises escaped her mouth, but I couldn’t quite make out what she said. Her eyeballs started to roll back inside of her head, showing almost nothing but white.

  Freaky!

  Then her eyelids closed and quickly flickered back and forth. I crawled through the grass, picked up Bree’s iron, and set it on a tray. By the time I looked up at Bree, she was standing completely still. Her eyes shot open, showing enlarged pupils almost the size of the hazel iris barely surrounding them. Rapidly, they shrank in the bright-yellow sunlight.

  “Stop it. You look creepy,” I whispered.

  “I know. That’s what I was just thinking,” Indee agreed.

  Bree flared her nostrils and crossed her eyes.

  I looked away. “Seriously, stop it. You’re creeping me out.”

  A big smile stretched across Bree’s face. “Okay, fine. I will stop, but it does help me to focus. When I heal, I feel like I’m in a trance or something.”

  “Yeah, we can tell,” Indee said.

  Bree looked down at her hand still covering the burn. She lifted one finger to peek. Then she lifted a second finger. From where we were sitting, we couldn’t see a dang thing.

  “Come on, just show us!” I shouted, too excited to wait.

  Bree removed her hand to reveal her freckled forearm, perfect and smooth, with no sign that she had been burned at all.

  “Both of you have done very well today. Very impressive, ladies,” Eugene beamed then turned toward Indee. “Indee, it’s your turn. Show us what you’ve got.”

  Indee shrugged and mumbled something under his breath as he stood up. He stood stiff, trembling slightly, and instead of looking at us, he looked out into the distance.

  “Indee, Indee, Indee!” Bree cheered.

  Indee jutted his chin. “Shh. I can’t concentrate with all of your noise.”

  Indee had worn shorts on this warm sunny day. They fit snuggly against his thin body, a little too snuggly. The little shorts must have been size extra small, and at his request. He looked so funny standing there with his skintight shorts and skinny beanpole legs. No other guys that I knew would have worn little shorts like that. But then again, none of them even came close to Indee’s style and attitude. Indee definitely was one of a kind.

  Indee held the iron in his hand and swung his arm next to, but not touching, his leg. He swung his arm back and forth, back and forth, trying to psych himself up enough to actually do it. This went on long enough that I began to wonder if he was actually going to go through with it, but then he accidently dropped the hot iron. In his mad scramble to grab the thing, he must have just barely brushed the iron against his knee, causing him to scream.

  “Ow! That hurts so bad!” Indee dropped the iron on the ground again and started to rub his knee. Bree and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows. What a scene.

  “Well, that won’t leave much of a mark for you to heal. Indee, you must keep the iron on your skin for a longer period of time,” Eugene said.

  “Ain’t happening. I can’t do it,” Indee complained.

  Bree rolled her eyes. “Here, I’ll help you.” She stood and picked up Indee’s iron. Before he could respond, Bree pressed it into his thigh.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Indee screamed before falling back to the ground.

  “It had to be done. If you don’t have the balls to do it, then someone has to,” Bree said impatiently, while bending down beside Indee and forcing the hot iron against the same area on his leg.

  Indee screeched in pain and began calling Bree a number of things that I won’t repeat. It was all very uncharacteristic of Indee; he usually seemed more disciplined. Bree didn’t seem bothered by it. We all knew it was the pain talking. No need to take it personally or anything.

  Bree threw the curling iron on the tray. “All right, buddy, heal the pain away, and stop your complaining already.”

  Breathing heavily and gasping from the pain, Indee carefully placed his hands over his bright-pink flesh and began to hum. Sweat dripped from his temples now, and he shifted his body back and forth. It reminded me of when I was young and waited too long to go to the bathroom. Rather than just go to the bathroom, I’d wait until I’d feel like I was going to explode. Playing with my friends was so much more important. Unconsciously, I came up with a little wiggle dance to keep it in as long as possible. My mom came to know this dance all too well, and when she saw me doing the wiggle dance, she would yell, “Margo, go to the bathroom right now before you wet your pants!”

  How embarrassing.

  Shaking my head, returning to reality, I asked, “Is it gone? How did Indee do?”

  Indee pointed to a light-pink mark on his thigh. The burn had definitely healed some, but not entirely.

  Indee squinted his eyes at me. “Didn’t you watch me, Mar
go?”

  “Yeah, I did, but the little dance that you did reminded me of something.” I suddenly wiggled from having the urge to tinkle. “Ya know what? I have to go to the bathroom really bad now.” I stood up. “You did awesome, Indee. So did you, Bree.”

  As I jogged off, I heard Eugene encouraging Indee to keep working on healing his wound completely. Jogging made my full bladder bounce too much, so I slowed to a brisk walk, my hips automatically settling into the wiggly potty dance.

  Mom, if you were here right now, you would be yelling at me to go to the bathroom, just like when I was a little girl. I wish I could see you and hear your annoying voice lecturing me. Where are you right now? What are you and Dad doing? I hope the two of you are all right. You would be so proud of us if you knew what we could do. I miss you, and I know you miss me, too.

  Mmm, this steak is so juicy; it just about melts in my mouth. Steak and mushrooms are the bomb.

  My tum-tum started feeling full after my second helping. Lottie sat next to me eating a massive slab of prime rib. All that food looked so delicious when they first set it in front of us, but then I felt overly full after eating it all, and the sight of food became disgusting. My stomach felt hard as a rock and a touch queasy.

  Across from me sat Bree and Sasha. My eyes were glued on Sasha as she happily spooned bites from her third helping of cheesy pasta into her mouth. It amazed me how much that girl could eat. She continued to slurp up the long, white noodles as they dripped sauce down her chin. She seemed oblivious to the mess until Lottie pointed it out. Sasha took her napkin, quickly wiped her chin, and then kept on eating. When she finally finished her third plate of pasta, she asked Keendra to bring her a piece of cherry pie.

  Dang, how much more food can Sasha cram inside of her?

  Keendra nodded in surprise but returned within minutes, cherry pie à la mode in hand.

  “You guys should try this cherry pie. It is the absolute best,” Sasha mumbled, her mouth full of pie.

  “No more food for me. I can’t fit another bite in this belly,” I said, slumped in my chair, rubbing my hand over my full stomach. Thankfully, these pants had an elastic waistband.