Calvin whistled. “Boy, a war against Chaos is going to be a whole lot harder without the Elves on our side.”
“That it will be,” Barius said with a nod. “As I said, they are terrible foes. We Runegard train for years in the art of warfare—Elves train for decades. Each of their warriors chooses a weapon at a young age, much the same way you all chose yours. Then they spend year after year after year perfecting every block, every parry, every possible stroke with their chosen weapon. They have warrior castes that have preserved the fighting skills of their people for millennia. And to top it off, more often than not, the Elves have magic on their side, as well.”
“Well, fantastic,” said Blade. “So they’re better fighters than us, and they’re wizards, too. So our advantages are…” he made a show of counting on his fingers, “…exactly none.”
“Not true,” said Cara. “You are fledgling Realm Keepers yet, but you are more powerful with your elements than many Elves will be. We have a slight edge when it comes to magic. That is all we have. We will tread carefully in the Elven kingdoms. We will disturb no stone, we will cut no firewood, we will hunt no game and we will not stray from the paths. We will make ourselves as small and as quiet as possible. But if it should come to blows, remember this: you are still the Realm Keepers, and that is something for all the Free People of Midrealm to respect. Perhaps even to fear.”
The meat in my mouth was suddenly tasteless. I forced myself to swallow it down, then packed the rest back into my travel sack. I took a swig of water to wash away the gummy residue.
“Come on,” I said, getting to my feet. “It’s time we were on the road again.”
I hit school the next morning, feeling calm and relaxed.
That changed almost the instant I walked through the front door.
Almost immediately, eyes turned to watch me. And when they found me, they didn’t look away. I was getting looks. Guys and girls were staring at me as I walked down the hall toward my locker. Some of them were smirking. Some of them were smiling. Others were laughing behind their hands.
The only thing they all had in common was that they were all looking at me.
What the heck is this all about? I thought. This was my second day at school. I would have thought, if people were going to make fun of me for the time I spent away, they would have done it yesterday. It couldn’t be about that. This had to be something new.
I turned the combo to my locker. Just before opening it, I paused. What if someone had rigged a booby trap in the locker? A can of paint to come tumbling down on my head? Some sort of spring-loaded can of snakes? That might explain all the weird looks, if enough people knew about it. I looked the locker over. Nothing there.
Cautiously, I stepped to the side and pulled the locker open. Nothing happened.
If anything, I was even more weirded out. I grabbed my books and went down the hallway to my first class.
The whole morning, I was getting the looks. Everyone watched me. In the classroom, in the hallway. In the cafeteria, in the gym. No matter where I went or what I did, at least one person was watching me, looking at me funny, or outright laughing to their friends at the edge of earshot.
By the middle of the afternoon, I was a nervous wreck. I’d run to the restroom at least five times to make sure no one had taped a sign on my back. I kept checking my face to make sure I didn’t have some kind of monstrous zit. There was nothing. I had no idea what was going on. All I could think of was that someone had played a huge prank on me, and I hadn’t seen it yet. Or they were planning to, and the whole school knew about it. I couldn’t ask any of my usual friends—they weren’t even hanging out with me these days.
Finally, between classes, Raven came up to me as I was digging more books out of my locker. I’d forgotten them in between my last two periods, disturbed as I was by all the attention I was getting. Raven settled into a lean against the locker beside me, a serious look on her face.
“What’s up,” she said.
I looked at her, a little annoyed. “Nothing. Why? Is something wrong?”
She cocked her head. “You tell me.”
I looked over my shoulder, then back at Raven desperately. “Is this about the way everyone is acting? Do you know what’s going on?”
Raven leaned back slightly. “Don’t you? I mean, if anyone would know, you would.”
“I don’t!” I said, too loudly. A few kids stopped in the hallway and looked at me. I gave them dirty looks, and they moved on.
Raven stared at me for a moment before realization dawned on her face and she shook her head. “Oh my God, no one’s even told you, have they? And obviously it’s not true.”
“What’s not true?” I hissed.
“It’s all over the school,” she said, with a hint of what sounded annoyingly like amusement. “You and Kurt hooked up.”
I blinked.
I gaped.
“WHAT?”
Raven looked over her shoulder in amusement, then back to me. “Hey, chill out. It’s just a high school rumor.”
My face was on fire. I was sure the blush in my cheeks could have set kindling on fire. “Are you freaking kidding me?” I asked, reining in my volume again. “Is that what people are saying? All we did was see a movie. We haven’t even kissed yet!”
Raven shrugged. “Hey, that’s just what people are saying. Rumor is, you two ditched the movie and drove to the hills. There’s a few variations. You know how it is. Some stories are more detailed, some less. But they all agree on the important part.”
“That part is a lie!” I said, blushing from shame now instead of embarrassment. “It’s not true. Why would anyone even say that?”
Raven rolled her eyes. “Whatever, drama queen. Who cares what people are saying? You know it’s not true. Kurt knows it’s not true. I guarantee he isn’t as upset by the rumor as you are. Heck, he probably enjoys it a little. Maybe he started it.”
Without thinking, I grabbed the front of Raven’s shirt. Her eyes went wide with shock, huge in her white-painted face.
“He wouldn’t,” I said, my voice barely more than a growl. “He’s not like that.”
Raven shrugged my hand off. “Jeez, okay, fine. It wasn’t him, then. I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal out of this.”
“It’s a huge deal!” I said. “You think I want people in this school thinking I’m the kind of person who…does…that?”
“What, like you’re the only one?” Raven asked, almost laughing.
“Hey, maybe you don’t care about what people say about your clothes and your makeup and whatever,” I said furiously, “but I actually have a life here, remember? I have something to lose.”
Raven just stared at me for a moment. Then, as I watched, the shock and amusement on her face turned into something else. Something cold. Distant.
“Oh, of course,” she said. “I forgot who you were for a second. Princess Sarah. Class President Sarah. Volleyball assistant captain Sarah. That’s right. You know, you’re a pretty awesome Keeper of Earth. And seeing you act responsible, and mature, and collected over in Midrealm? I guess it just makes me forget what you’re really like here on Earth.”
She turned and walked away. I watched her go, feeling my heart sink into my shoes. I hadn’t meant to snap at her, hadn’t meant to say something so cruel. But her answer…is that what she really thought of me? Did she see me as some spoiled brat, even after everything we’d been through in Midrealm?
I could feel tears starting to build. They were threatening to well up to the surface, to spill out of my control where everyone could see. I shoved my books back into my locker and snatched up my backpack, running for the school’s front door.
For the first time in my life, I left school early. I ditched my last class. I ran out the front door, onto the street and down the sidewalk, and I didn’t stop running until Roosevelt High was far, far behind me.
Then I finally let myself slow to a walk. Tears were already coming hot and h
eavy by then. I found a patch of grass away from any houses, fell onto it, and let them fall. I wrapped my head in my arms and let myself really, truly cry. It was something I could never do in Midrealm. The others were relying on me—the other Realm Keepers, and the Runegard as well.
I don’t know how long I sat there, but eventually the crying stopped. Eventually I could find my feet again. And eventually I continued the long trek home. I couldn’t just walk in the front door—even with the time it would take me to get home, if I went straight in I’d be home from school way too early. I’d have to wait until three thirty to call her and tell her I was taking the bus home. Until then, I’d hang out at the corner store near the house.
I gave a long sniff and wiped my nose with a tissue from my backpack’s outer pocket. Another sob racked my chest, but I pushed any further tears away. They wouldn’t help now. Nothing would. People at school believed a horrible lie about me. It was only a matter of time before one of them told their parents. Those parents would tell my parents, and my parents would ask me. And I’d tell them it was a lie, and they’d believe me. Mostly. But there would be a doubt. There would be a difference in the way they looked at me. Every time I went out with Kurt again—if they even let me—they’d be wondering if we were where we said we were, or if we were off doing…something else.
And I knew the stink would never leave me at school. Even if Kurt came out and told everyone the truth—and that was assuming he wasn’t the one who’d started the rumor—there were a bunch of people who wouldn’t believe him.
Doo-doo-doo-dee-doo
My phone rang, startling me. I pulled it out of my pocket. Calvin’s name and photo showed up on the screen. Above them was the time: three-thirty. I groaned. I was still a mess, my nose still running, my eyes still watery. But what if it was important? Knowing Calvin, it probably wasn’t, but I clicked “Accept.”
“What’s up, Calvin?”
“Sarah? Where the heck are you?”
“I’m on my way home,” I snapped. “What do you need?”
“Your mom was supposed to give me a ride home, remember? We were going to meet up after school?”
I sighed and closed my eyes. I’d completely forgotten in the wake of the news from Raven. “Crud, Calvin. I’m sorry. I completely forgot. Stay there. My mom will be there in a few minutes. Tell her I got a ride home with a friend.”
I gave another loud sniff. I couldn’t reach into my backpack with just one hand, so I just used the back of my sleeve to wipe my nose instead.
“Sarah?” came Calvin’s voice again. “Are you okay?” He was tentative. Timid. Completely un-Calvin-like.
“I’m fine,” I lied. But I couldn’t stop myself from sniffing again, not unless I wanted my nose to run all over the place.
“Are you crying?” he asked.
“No, I’m—”
“Is it because of what everyone at school is saying?”
I stopped dead in my tracks. The line went completely silent. Despite myself, I could feel tears welling up behind my lids again.
“It is, isn’t it?” Calvin said with a sigh. “Yeah, I was afraid you’d be pretty upset about that.”
“Of course I am!” I said. “Who wouldn’t be?”
Calvin sighed like a teacher about to explain a tough lesson to a slow student. “Listen, Sarah, I know this is hard for you right now. To you, this is like when Anakin found his mom had been killed by Tusken Raiders. Or like when Spider-Man’s uncle Ben was killed.”
“Calvin, I don’t even understand what you’re saying, and it’s really not helping,” I said, hating my voice for cracking.
“It’s really upsetting, is my point,” he said hastily. “But you just need to figure out the lesson. That’s what you’ve got to do when stuff like this happens. That’s what all the big heroes do.”
I didn’t want to, but I laughed. It was a quick thing, little more than a bark. But it made me smile. “I’m not a big hero.”
“Are you kidding me?” asked Calvin. “You’re a freaking wizard. You’re one of the six biggest heroes in existence. And listen, I know this seems really hard on you right now, but try to put it in perspective, you know? I mean, nobody died. You didn’t lose some major battle that threatened…that other place. You did lose something here on Earth. You were Miss Perfectly Popular, and now you’re not any more. And that sucks. But, I mean…and I’m not trying to be a jerk here…is that really a big deal? In the grand scheme of things?”
I gave a shuddering sigh, but it wasn’t followed by any more tears. “No, I guess not,” I admitted grudgingly. “That’s partly why I’m so upset. I realize how stupid this is compared to what we do every day…you know, over there. But ever since we first went over, my life here has been my retreat. It’s a calm, comfortable place where I can just come and relax. I don’t have problems here normally. Now I have things to deal with here and over there.”
“Well, then, freaking get over yourself,” Calvin said matter-of-factly.
It was so sudden and unexpected that I gave a little short peal of laughter. “What?”
“I’m serious,” he said.“Because you are literally the only one of us who didn’t have any problems here on Earth. Every single one of us has been going through major stuff here, and over there since this began. So you’re not perfect any more. Welcome to the club.”
I snorted. “Who died and made you Level Ten Jedi?” I asked.
“Um, Jedi don’t have levels,” Calvin said. “You might be thinking of a wizard. Like in D&D. They’re more powerful the higher they—”
“My point was that that was actually pretty good advice,” I said, interrupting him before he could get on a roll. “So…thanks, I guess.”
“Oh. Then no problem,” said Calvin. I could hear the smile in his voice. “I guess I’m wearing my plus six to Wisdom cap today, because—”
The line went dead. I stared at my phone. Lost connection. I tried dialing Calvin again, but it went straight to voice mail.
“Dead battery,” I muttered, pocketing my phone.
I resumed my walk back home, thinking about what Calvin had said. He was right. Up till now, my reputation had been nearly perfect. I’d thought that most people in the school were my friends. I’d thought they liked me. But now one of them had started a terrible, terrible lie about me, and I’d never get rid of its repercussions. Compared to what the others had to go through, that was a pretty crummy problem.
And suddenly, with blinding clarity, I realized why. I realized what I’d done to cause it. A simple, innocent mistake. One I could hardly be blamed for, and one I found it easy to forgive myself for. But forgiveness wouldn’t fix it. Forgiveness wouldn’t stop this from becoming worse.
I’d known right at the beginning that it was the wrong thing to do, but I’d kept going. And now, this had happened.
I couldn’t change that. But I could keep it from getting worse.
I pulled out my cell phone. Dialed Kurt’s number.
Hey. I should probably have done this in person, but I can’t right now. This isn’t going to work out. We’re not a good match. Sorry.
I clicked “send” and pocketed my phone again.
I breathed a sigh of relief. I’d known it from the start. How could I ever think a relationship with Kurt was the right thing to do? Best case scenario, we wouldn’t have made it through high school. We would have broken up, and I would have wasted all that time and energy. Worst case scenario, we would have lasted through high school. We would have made it through college. Maybe gotten married one day, the all-too-classic high school sweethearts. And then Kurt would have gotten older and older and older. And I would have stayed exactly the same. And one day far in the future, I’d have lost him anyway. And I’d have had to live with that for the rest of my life.
Forever.
I gave another, final sigh, and felt a weight lift from my shoulders. I could have a life here on Earth. I would have a life here on Earth. But it couldn’t include K
urt. Or anyone else, for that matter. At least not in that way.
I reached home a few minutes later. My mom was out, so I left her a note saying I was tired and going straight to bed. Even though I was feeling better, my cry had taken a lot out of me. I just wanted to drift away and wake up in Midrealm, where another freshly-rested body awaited me.
That’s exactly what I did twenty minutes later. I woke wrapped in my blankets on the grass. The sky was still black, though I could see the faintest hints of grey on the Western horizon as the sun threatened to rise.
By the dim light of the campfire, I could see all the Runegard clustered together in a circle. All of them had their backs turned to me.
“Cara?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”
She turned to me. Then she stepped away from the huddle. One by one, the others did the same. On the ground behind them, I saw Calvin. He was sitting on the ground, his arms wrapped around his knees, his face pale, his eyes wide.
“Calvin!” I said in surprise. “What are you doing here? I thought my mom was still driving you home.”
“She’s not,” Calvin said. Something about the tone of his voice made my skin crawl.
“What do you mean, she’s not?” I asked, trying to hide the anxiety in my voice. “She didn’t come?”
Calvin stared at me. “I was waiting on the school’s front lawn, and I wandered a little bit while we were on the phone. Suddenly I looked up and there was no one else around. Before I knew what was happening, I blacked out. The only thing I remember is the smell of…of a chemical.”
“A chemical? What do you mean?” I asked, fighting panic.
“It was chloroform, Sarah,” said Calvin, his voice quaking. “I think…I think I was kidnapped.”
Wyrmspire (Realm Keepers Book 2) Page 8