by Brindi Quinn
“For tea,” he said.
“Oh.” She shifted her eyes to the ground, which was littered with mismatched stuffed pillows. There were no couch or armchairs, but a low metal table sat in the center of the room. Tide pointed to the pillows. “You sit there?”
Grinning, Rye nodded. He was enjoying the sheltered girl’s reaction to his unconventional pad. He allowed her to stare in silent observation.
“It’s cool,” said Tide after a minute. Then she let out an impressed laugh. “It’s really cool in here!”
Rye gave one of his goofy smiles. “Thanks! So . . . throw your jacket there, have a seat, and I’ll make some tea?”
“Er-”
Rye’s smile deepened. “Never had tea?”
“No.”
“Great! Your first time can be with me!”
“Ech-!” Tide nearly choked on her own spit. Rye hadn’t meant anything by it, but that didn’t stop Tide’s bothersome heartbeat from starting back up. “Get a grip!” she scolded under her breath. Rye didn’t hear, nor had he noticed her reaction to the invitation. He was already busying himself over the sink.
A few minutes later, the princess and the Second sat together at the low table. Tide stared at the clouds. The reflection turned her eyes gray. Rye didn’t mind. She was still just as pretty, even if a bit forlorn-looking.
“This is good.” Tide took another sip from the steaming cup in her palm.
“Glad you like it.”
Tide nodded. She was relaxed now. The tea was helping her be calm. That was good. If she could just remember to keep breathing, she might actually seem like a normal person. Rye stared into his cup. He knew what he had to do, but he didn’t want to. Still, there was no getting out of it.
“Okay, now it’s time for me to be your sensei,” he said.
“Right.” Tide set her tea onto the table. Truthfully, she’d kind of forgotten the main reason she’d come. “Okay, I’m listening.”
“About that day . . . I left you.”
Tide nodded.
“But it wasn’t my choice. I was forced to go.”
“Forced?” said the princess. “By who?”
Rye wrinkled his nose and rubbed the side of his face. “Grrr. You really don’t know anything, do you?”
“Hey!” Tide feigned offense.
“Nooooo. I don’t mean it like . . . What I mean to say is that you don’t know much about people like ME, do you?”
“Aside from what you’ve told me . . . not much at all,” she admitted.
“So then, you don’t know that Seconds and their Mains can’t exist at the same time.”
Tide blinked at him a few times. “What?”
Rye raised a finger. “True story, young caterpillar. Seconds and Mains can’t coexist. I don’t know why, but once a Second appears, that’s just how it is.”
Tide didn’t get it. “What do you mean they can’t coexist? Then where-”
Rye had been having fun playing ‘sensei’, but with his next response, his silly grin fell.
“Darkness,” he said. “That’s all there is. And then we reawaken where our Main desires.”
“Reawaken?” Tide said. “Wait . . . you mentioned before that some Mains are cruel to their Seconds. That they lock them away and stuff, but how is that possible? If they . . . if they don’t ‘exist’ at the same time?” Tide tapped her chin. “I don’t understand.”
“Huh? Oh! No, our bodies still exist! It’s just that they’re . . . uh . . . kinda empty-ish.”
“Empty? Like . . . dead?”
“Ha!” Rye chuckled. “NO. They’re still warm and fleshy, if that’s what you mean, but they’re just vacant, I guess.”
“Oh . . .” Tide thought back to the cute, sorrow-filled boy she’d seen with Y on her way to the Weighted Dome. Could he have been ‘vacant’ at that time? Looking back, it certainly seemed that way. “I think I know what you’re talking about,” she said.
Rye continued, “It’s like . . . once a Main chooses to return, their Second has no choice but to drift away. To disappear into darkness. Our bodies wander on their own to a place of the Main’s choosing. It’s pretty messed up. And when we awaken, sometimes only a few hours have passed, but sometimes it’s been days. And you never know just where you’ll wake up.” He squirmed in remembrance of his most recent return. “It’s pretty freaky, actually.”
Tide was listening to what he was saying. She was listening very intently, but there was something about it that sounded . . . familiar.
“But that . . . happens to me,” she said.
“What?”
“Rye, I . . .” But the demon swallowed the memory before she could utter it.
“What is it, Tide?”
“No . . . nothing. Go on.”
“Hm.” Rye showed his suspicion but continued. “Well, there’s something else. I hear that Mains can always see what’s happening through the eyes of their Seconds, which means that HE knows everything I do.”
Foster. He was talking about Foster. But Tide knew that topic was off-limits, so she’d make her next question as general as possible. No specifics. They were talking about two groups of people, here; NOT Rye and Foster.
“Well, where do the Mains go when the Seconds are in existence?” she asked. “Do Seconds get to choose where they end up, too?”
“No. I have no idea where they go. Maybe they just . . . evaporate. Because, even though it’s possible for a Main to see their Second’s body, it’s impossible for a Second to see its Main’s. For instance . . .” Rye cleared his throat. There was no way around it. There was no helping it. Better to get it all out at once anyway. “Okay,” he said. “I’m going to break my own rule. For you, I’ll do it.” He took a deep breath. “Phew. Here goes. An example. Since the time that we split, I’ve never seen Foster. I’ve only been AWARE of him. His presence is stronger at times and weaker at times, but I’ve never actually encountered him even though this apartment is his home as much as it is mine. I don’t have any control over him. Not in the way he has control over me.”
Tide shifted uncomfortably. Since they were being honest –
“I met him,” she said.
“What?!” Rye straightened up. “For real?! When?”
Tide recounted the tale.
Rye settled back down. “Hm. I guess it was inevitable.”
“What do you mean?” said Tide.
“Well, since he and Charles are friends and all. Uh- . . . hmm . . . you’ll probably think this is a little stalker-like . . . but that’s kind of why I took interest in you at first. Remember how I told you that I share a lot of . . . of HIS memories? Well, I know your partner. The person you call ‘Jobe’, I call ‘Charles’. I remember him from before the split. And even if Charles won’t acknowledge it, to me it’s like WE were friends.” Rye smiled in remembrance. “He was always a real asshole, you know? He was always mean to people – girls especially – for no reason. And blunt to boot . . . He was always so dang blunt! But he was also a good guy . . . deep down. Anyways, I missed him, so I’d go to the dome to watch him. I saw the jerk pass up his chance to become a hunter twice. But then the day that you were there, he suddenly took it! He took you. I was . . . intrigued. You were special. Aside from your crazy skills, he took an interest in you. That’s how come . . . I . . . eh . . . approached you.”
“Oh,” said Tide, a little disappointed. “So that’s why.”
Rye stared into the gray sky. “Uh-huh. Anyways, I’ve tried to talk to Charles a few times. I’ve tried to talk to all of our old friends, but they just don’t . . . you know. They don’t get it. And it’s like, I know what I am. I know that they have a reason to feel weird towards me, but there’s something else. It’s normal for a Main to be unable to look at their Second – since the Second usually embodies something incredibly painful – but it’s that way with ALL of our old friends. It’s weird. None of them,” – Rye flinched – “can stand me. I mean, it’s fine. I’ve met new people, and a
ll, so it’s good, right?” He smiled at Tide.
The princess bit her lip. “Rye . . .”
“There’s only one who can. A man. I can’t remember his name, but I know him from before. He’s kind, and he checks up on me sometimes, and he looks at me like a real person, and he isn’t depressed. He works at the library near the dome. I think he’s a legalman or something.” Rye tugged at his hair. “And that’s that!”
“That’s that?” The young girl felt for him. So much so that she wanted to place her forehead against his and share those painful parts. Up close. Flesh to flesh. She knew, though, that dwelling on the badness would only make it worse. The way they were now, it would do no good.
“So . . . do you get it?” asked Rye.
“Yeah,” said Tide. “I think I just need to say it out loud to get it all straight.”
Rye gritted his teeth. “Uh, sure. Go ahead.”
Tide summarized, “You’re Foster’s Second. When you’re in control of your body, Foster disappears to somewhere, but he can see everything that you’re doing. However, when Foster’s around, you lose control of your body. He sends it to wherever he wishes and your mind disappears into darkness?”
“Uh-huh.” Rye nodded, but hearing Tide say those things was gut-wrenching. He fought for grounding.
“Before you split from Foster, you and Jobe were friends. And now Jobe is my partner. And that’s why you talked to me that day?”
“Pretty . . . much.” But something was happening to him. Tide noticed a change in his eyes. They were unfocusing.
“Are you all right?” said the concerned princess.
Rye said nothing. It was too much. Talking about everything had rubbed in the fact that he wasn’t real. Rubbed in the fact that . . . “I’m fake.”
“Fake?” Tide didn’t understand the technicalities of it. Disappearing Mains and vacant Seconds. It didn’t make any sense at all, but there was one thing that she knew to be true. “No! If anyone’s fake, it’s Foster! Think about it, Rye. Your body never ‘evaporates’. HIS does. Even if you lose consciousness, YOU never disappear.” She put a hand against the skin of his arm. “This is as much a part of you as your thoughts. Just because I sleep and lose consciousness at night, does that mean I’m a ‘fake’ person? No, it doesn’t. That’s just silly, Rye! You’re REAL. I can feel you.” She squeezed his arm. “So you’re real. Even when you’re sleeping, you still exist! That’s the nature of things, isn’t it?”
The words worked. Rye’s eyes focused and saw the pretty girl across the table who was fighting for him.
“Oh . . .” he said. And then, “Yeah.”
The princess’ hand was still on his arm. Rye slowly looked downward. Embarrassed, Tide lifted her fingers, but Rye caught them with his own.
“Tide, when you saw him, did you feel anything strange? Did you recognize him?”
“Strange . . .?” Tide remembered the throbbing beneath her ribs. “Yeah. You could say that, but I don’t think I recognized him at all. I did like him, though, . . . because . . . because I thought of you.”
“Hm. So you didn’t . . . I was thinking that maybe . . . To me, it still feels kind of strange between you and me. Like we’ve been friends for a lot longer than we have. I don’t remember you from before at all, but I was thinking that maybe you . . .”
“Nope.” Tide’s attention shifted to the defined hand holding hers, and the bottom of her stomach tumbled.
“Hm,” said Rye. “Okay then. I want to try something.”
“Something?”
Rye nodded. Things were about to become dangerous.
Still holding Tide’s hand, the Second used his other to remove the striped scarf from around his neck. It fell to the ground, exposing the forbidden mark. Tide’s eyes moved there on their own. “Red,” muttered her mouth.
“Bear with me a sec,” said Rye.
Gaging her reaction, the Second brought her hand upward so that it was almost touching his neck. Then he released it, but Tide’s hand didn’t fall. It lingered in the air just out of reach of the nonsense design. It was Tide’s turn to undergo a change. Rye watched as her eyes grew large.
“If I tell you to do whatever you want, what will you do?” he said. He tipped his head forward so that a shadow befell his eyes. He was more than baiting her this time. There was something unique about their situation, and he wanted to understand. He wanted to know why he felt as though she were familiar to him. If they hadn’t met before the split, then why . . .
Tide said nothing. Her floating hand twitched.
“Go on,” said Rye. “What do you want?”
“I want . . .” muttered Tide.
The air was quiet. Heavy. The outside sky was still on the verge of rain. Rye’s head was still forward.
“Do it,” he ordered quietly. And for some reason, he felt guilty.
Tide was straining herself. Every impulse wanted her to touch the red marking, but there was something else that was warning her not to. An unseen force telling her it was bad to go there. Telling her it was wrong.
“Do it,” said Rye again. “And then tell me why you’re familiar to me.” He had to know. It was killing him. But then he searched himself. Familiar. Familiar. Was that the right term? Or was it something closer to . . .
“Precious,” muttered the mouth of the princess.
“Precious.” Rye repeated it. “Is that it? It’s not ‘familiar’, but ‘precious’?”
“Huh?” Tide’s eyes drifted from the tattoo. Again, she couldn’t remember the thing her tongue had just spoken.
Rye was talking to himself. “Maybe . . . Could that be it?”
Tide’s eyes returned to the red. Her hand was turning. Her fingers were moving apart. They were reaching. She was almost there –
But a strong hand caught her wrist. “No,” said Rye. “I don’t think you should.” And he was studying her with worry. He too could feel that there was something dangerous about the situation. He shook his head. Things had been fine. The talk had even gone fine, but he’d made things weird again. All because he’d been curious. He was an idiot. A bona fide idiot. “Listen, Tide. I’m sorry. I . . . I don’t know what came over me.”
Tide’s eyes were still zoned in on that seductive color. “For someone who hates over-apologizing, you sure apologize a lot,” she mumbled.
Rye laughed. “You’re probably right about that.” Then he let out a sigh. “What a bizarre thing. What a strange, strange . . .” His thoughts trailed. “Hmmm . . . Oh yeah! That reminds me that I’ve still got to tell you about what happened yesterday.” He shuddered. “Good God! Just thinking about it makes me break out in hives. For real! Look.” He pulled up the sleeve of his t-shirt.
But Tide said nothing, because even though Rye had escaped the spell, she was still lost. Rye continued absentmindedly holding her wrist, but her arm had other plans, and it yanked itself away. Vigorously.
“Uh, Tide?”
“I want . . .” What did she want? She fought to understand. “Rye, I want . . .” Her hand pointed to the tattoo.
“No,” said Rye, coving it with his palm. “I changed my mind. You can’t. It feels . . . off, doesn’t it? I’m worried that something bad will happen. Crazy, I know, but just humor me, will you?” He scanned the room in search of distraction, and his eyes again found the gray outside. “Guess it’s rain again for us, huh? That’s okay, though. Maybe it’s a trend? . . . I know! Let’s go up to the roof! Won’t be that impressive or anything to you probably, Miss Huntress, but it’ll be a great view of the storm that’s coming! What do you think?” Already back to his excited self, Rye rubbed his hands together.
But the princess wasn’t listening. She was staring. At him. And she wasn’t in control. Her body was. It wouldn’t listen to her. It wouldn’t listen to anything. Things were about to get even more dangerous.
“Red,” muttered the mouth that was Tide’s.
“Tide . . .”
“Red.” And her body shif
ted into a crawling position.
“Whaaa?” A very startled Rye froze as she started to slink, cat-like, towards him, without regard for pillow or table or any other object that littered the space between. Determined, she pushed them aside, her only goal the confused boy before her. Rye allowed his mouth to fall open. She’d gone from cute to sexy in a matter of seconds. “E-eh?! Tide?!”
The princess ignored him and continued forward. She moved slowly, so that her black hair swayed loosely around her shoulders, until she reached him. Once there, she settled her hands onto the floor on either side of where he sat. Rye leaned away from her, feeling guiltier by the second, and gripped at the bottom of his t-shirt. He’d promised not to try anything . . . but what was she doing all of a sudden? She couldn’t just come onto him and expect him to remain neutral, could she?!
Tide persisted. The demon laughed.
“T-tide?! Snap out of it!”
But he didn’t want her to stop. Inside, he felt like jumping. Like yelling. Like throwing his arms around the pretty girl who was leaning over him. Like pulling her close and rolling her over. He couldn’t, though. He’d given his word. So, struggling to contain himself, he fell backward onto his elbows.
Tide was consumed by the tattoo. She lowered herself over the struggling boy. Rye stared into her olive eyes and his breathing turned shallow. He couldn’t help himself. He reached up and tucked a lock of dark hair behind her ear. His hand stayed there and ran along the top of her ear down to where a small star earring was. From there, it traveled around her neck and to the back of her head. He held her there and stared into the eyes that wouldn’t look into his – the eyes that were stuck on his neck.
“Look at me,” he whispered.
She wouldn’t. Her hand moved from the floor, up his stomach, and to his chest. It stayed that way a moment before sliding upward toward his neck.
“Gah!” Rye let out a cry. “You’re making this difficult for me! I really don’t think you should!” He gritted his teeth. “But you’re so fricking cute! Argh! Uh. Okay. Hm. Well. Maybe it’s okay? I mean, I wanted her to touch it before, right? I mean, what could happen, right? Right?! But there’s clearly an ominous feeling in the air! I can’t just give in just because . . . Urg! I’m such a lech!”