Luxor wondered if it would have been better admitting she wasn't paying attention rather than be here, with Hunter who was adamant to annoy her at every opportunity. But then again if she wasn't here, she wouldn't be getting to know him better.
"I'm taking it that's the reason you couldn't just write ‘family tree’ instead of making me work for it because of your condition?"
"I wasn't going to make it easy for you. Watching you shake, your hands between your legs, well I could have helped there."
Innuendo number two.
Luxor glared at him and removed her hands which once again were there. To him it must have been a sight to see, but it was the only way to contain the tremors.
"If you are on a genius level why are you still in high school?"
"Just because I have the capabilities of knowing how to expertly do everything in a field, I still want to experience it. Kind of like sex, you may know how to fuck, and know every way to make her scream, but the yearning is strong for the experience to fuck a virgin, even if it's just once."
"You know what study, session over." Luxor slammed the book shut and pushed it towards him, getting up to leave. She had no use for it, just like she had no use for this study session anymore.
Hunter quickly got up to stop her, his hand wrapped around her wrist sending a jolt her way. "It was an analogy Angel, no need to get your panties in a twist." He smirked. "By the way what colour are they?"
Luxor pried his fingers off and slapped his arm with the back of her hand. "It's a stupid, off track, perverted analogy," she hissed, moving away from him. "And none of your friggin’ business.
"I can describe it in depth if you wish."
Sexual innuendo number three.
Luxor scrunched up her nose. "No thank you. Why do you do that? I mean don't you realise those comments are offensive and disgusting?"
"Travel into a guy's mind and ninety percent of the time he's thinking of sex," he said matter of factually.
"Thinking and blurting it out at every opportunity are two different things."
Hunter shook his head. "If you assume, I'm going to censor my words so I won’t offend your virgin ears, then forget it, I don't play that way."
Hunter returned back to the table and tapped along the keys, moving the mouse in order to close down the laptop. A thought had just occurred to her. If he couldn't read then how was he typing?
Luxor ripped out a page from her notebook and removed the pen from her ear before scribbling down four words. "What does this say?"
You're such a liar.
Hunter picked up the paper and squinted. "That's not very nice Angel."
"What does it say?" She repeated.
"Verbatim or a simplistic answer."
Threads of her nerves were being frayed. "Just read it and prove you aren't dyslexic," she huffed.
"Why the hell would I lie about that?" He snapped and scrunched the paper into a ball.
"Seriously anybody would have thought you were sipping away at stupidity juice. Did they add a dash or two in your thrice daily intake of soy latte?"
Hunter slammed his laptop with a whack and forcibly shoved his laptop into his backpack. “Breathe a word of any of my revelations and it’ll be the last you take. I don’t care how important you are.” He walked off without a second glance.
“Another threat? Seriously? It’s getting pretty old,” she yelled out to his retreating figure, leaving her to wonder what just happened.
Luxor scurried out no more than forty-five seconds after Hunter stormed outside. The initial shock lasted thirty seconds, ten seconds swearing under her breath that this confirmed his bipolar tendencies, and five seconds to leave.
Hunter crossed the street from the opposite direction to where she was in the direction of the water fountain in the middle of the Village Bowl, not bothering to check the roads for incoming traffic. A slew of horns beeped at his disregard for road rules, and for a moment she wished the damn truck would run him over.
A tinge of anger and confusion settled in, and Luxor looked around her surroundings, not sure if he wanted her to follow, or whether she should. Despite the stillness of the town on her side, she still crossed at the zebra crossing. It was the city girl in her. If she was honest with herself, she probably should have left him alone to sulk after his bizarre reaction. But there was a stirring to not leave him, to be near him. Although the question lingered, since when did he let the smallest things get to him?
Luxor descended down the trails of steps and ventured closer until she blocked his view. "Is that it? Study session over?" She crossed her hands across her chest.
Hunter’s attention remained fixated on his mobile, zeroing on the screen of his mobile as his thumbs mechanically typed in a slow and leisurely manner. No doubt if the lettering wasn't so hard to decipher, he would have finished long before now.
"You got answers, you're free to do what you want. Go, stay, I really don't care," he replied abruptly, tucking his phone into his front pocket. He lifted his head an inch, although because his cap hung low on his eyes, she couldn’t fully make out his expression. Staring at the cracks in the ground, crouched over, with his arms on his knees, she didn't need to.
Body language 101: He was peeved.
Well this is a change.
Hunter cocked his head to the side. She took advantage of the open invitation and removed her backpack. She positioned it between them as a small barrier, in a physical and metaphorical sense.
“How did you know I’d follow?” she said and took a seat.
“Because you can’t resist me.” He gave her a half smile.
Yeah right.
“You can try.”
No, he didn’t, I mean it’s impossible, isn't it?
Luxor's mouth turned bone try and she swallowed hard. She needed to ask him about his ability to guess what she was thinking. From the start there had been too many instances, his clean-cut comments. But what would she say? 'Oh hey, did you just read my mind?'"
"Ummm...what are other, you know capabilities of your, you know eidetic memory?" Luxor said hesitantly.
"I already told you, observation. Why?"
"So, it doesn't go deeper in minds, I mean other people?"
"Angel, if you think I have some magical power to analyse the inner workings of others, then you are giving me too much credit. But hey, anything that increases my IQ is okay with me."
Luxor studied his features; the slight curvature of his lips and the twinkle in his eyes confirmed her suspicions that he could indeed read her mind. She wrung her hands, irritated at him for all the times he was privy to her intimate thoughts.
"What are you thinking about?" Hunter asked.
"Nothing."
Everything.
Luxor scrunched up her nose. She would have to be more on guard with any words she thought.
"Liar. You know Carl Jung once said, 'Thinking is difficult, that’s why most people judge.' I may be a self-imposed ass, but not to the point where when I am privy enough to know another person's thoughts, I'm going to think different of them. I guess I expect the same."
Finally, a confession.
“Fair enough,” Luxor replied, having nothing else to say. "Okay, I've really got to go. Thanks for helping with the tree, although illegally." She rose up and looped her backpack over one shoulder.
"Anytime Angel.” He got up and pointed over to a red Ducati. “Come on, I'll drive you home, it’s not safe after dark."
"I'm not getting on that death contraption!"
"You'll be safe with me," he assured.
Safe, yeah right!
Luxor shook her head in defiance and walked off on him.
"Fine, I'll walk you home."
Luxor had hardly taken a few steps when she yelled and crouched over holding her hipbone. A breeze infused with crackles swam in the air spiking the hairs at the back of her neck, leading the lampposts to begin flickering wildly.
“What’s wrong? Is it a girl thin
g?” Hunter said. But by the way his eyes widened it was abundantly clear he knew better.
Luxor ignored him and concentrated on anything but the searing pain invading her insides. “Something is wrong,” she croaked and dropped to her knees, her eyesight glazing over. “Very, very, wrong.”
Hunter hunkered down and crouched beside her, placing the back of his hand against her forehead. He withdrew it instantly and shook off the droplets of sweat from fingernails. “You’re burning up, let’s get you home.” He wrapped his arms around her waist to help her up.
A cackle of voices of different tempos came from either side of them. “Yeah, not going to happen.”
“Oh, shit,” Hunter swore under his breath, surveying the Village Bowl. “Sit. And wait.” He fled to where an elderly man hobbled forward.
Luxor waved her hand away to signal for him to deal with the immediate danger. Lying back on the grass, her world spun around on its axis, and she squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating on the sounds of her ragged breaths as she inhaled and exhaled. Luxor pretended all was fine, and her life might not be in peril, and eradicated all those thoughts. It must have worked because her core temperature dropped to the perennial icy freeze which usually inhabited her body.
A shuffle pricked Luxor’s ear and she sat upright and noticed Kitty on the road. That cat seemed to have the worst but sometimes best timing. Right now, it was the former. Luxor could contemplate locking the damn kitten in the house if it wasn’t for the fact Meredith didn’t know yet she had it.
Luxor removed the elastic band from her hair and slipped it through her wrist and flicked. She winced. It did just the trick to transfer one pain to another. She hoisted herself to her feet, her attention never wavering from Kitty.
From directly across the road, a boy no older than ten closed the distance, Kitty became his unsuspecting victim. Luxor was unable to view his features in the shadowy dark, but she felt every inch of his evilness. He advanced at a rapid speed, his agile body bouncing around like a child high on straight cordial. The boy stepped out under the lamppost exposing his features. Chunks of skin peeled off his face showing off the rotted raw flesh underneath. The boy coughed up a chunk of sticky, green phlegm and spat it out on the pavement.
“Hey, kitty, kitty come and play.” The boy pulled out a bouncy ball from the pocket of his board shorts.
“Oh, no you don’t.” Luxor flicked the elastic band again three times in succession.
The boy sensed her presence and dropped his ice-cream cone before changing direction, his brown eyes transforming from a warm brown to crimson embedded with an evil glint. Luxor froze, her feet cemented to the spot, she’d seen those eyes before except they were in a little girl.
“Run,” Hunter ordered, swiping his finger in the direction of the silver Range Rover. The orange lights blinked, as an opportunity for a safe haven presented itself. As appealing as it was, Luxor refused to move. “For goodness sake move!” he yelled out.
An elderly man snuck up from behind and kicked Hunter in the ribs with his slippers, his strength well and beyond the capabilities of his age. Turning around, he whacked Hunter across the shoulder blades with his cane walking stick, before pressing a switch. A blade protracted out, and as quick as a whip he sliced it across Hunter’s back.
Hunter wordlessly dropped to his knees, holding in whatever pain he might be in. He jumped up high in a leap and landed on his feet, and pulled a gleaming silver object from the inside of his boot. Wrangling the cane from the man, he returned the favour swung not once, not twice but three time across the man’s rib cage until he collapsed in a crumpled heap. The object flicked open to reveal a three-prong knife. Hunter raised his arm up wide and thrust the knife deep into the man’s skull, leaned over to whisper in his ear before lodging it in his heart. He back away just in time as the body exploded into miniscule pieces of dust.
Luxor rubbed her eyes and snapped out of her fear. As it stood, she had three issues to deal with and fix—keep Kitty safe, deal with the boy, and somehow assist Hunter who was now joined by a couple of other “people.” For this to happen with she would have to put herself first.
“Why are you running away?” The boy said, his voice dropping to one of an innocent tone.
“Okay I’ll play. Come and get me little boy,” she sucked up her courage and goaded, curling her fingers forward in a come and get me gesture.
The boy cackled and barrelled forward at an unnatural speed, his spine hunched. Within five seconds he was at an arm’s length away, his dirty nails extending long from the cuticles.
Luxor retracted back on her heels and side-stepped, the boy pirouetting a full three-hundred and sixty degrees. “Well ain’t that anti-climactic? Is that all you’ve got?”
“You think you’re so smart, don’t you? Wait ‘til father gets his hands on you. Then you won’t have a tongue to spew your smart-ass words,” the boy hissed, squatting down and prepared to ricochet.
Luxor thrust her leg out as the boy made contact and stumbled over the edge of the fountain, cracking his head. The boy let out an agonising howled and jerked wildly. Before he could regain any composure, she kneeled on his spine and screamed out at the contact, her legs losing any mobility, the pain continuing its descent from her birthmark to her toes. Fighting through the agony she leaned in closer, wafts of a mixture of singed hair and sulphur invaded her nostrils.
“I’d stay down if I were you.” She dunked his head under, her own eyes hazing over.
The guilt chewed her up inside, he wasn’t normal, but he was still some kind of living being. Or was the boy’s face scorched and stripped away his skin before becoming limp. She released her hold and slunk in the shadows and moved to Hunter. Except he disappeared.
Luxor was left to fend for herself with no weapons, and up against those things, she’d be no match.
“Get Kitty and bolt,” she urged herself, and surveyed the area relying on her hearing.
Luxor was about to flee when she heard a chorus of grunts and against her better judgement, she travelled closer. Hunter now fought with a teenage girl, her grey complexion a perfect accompaniment to her washed out black hair. Their eyes flickered from each other and in unison focused on Luxor. Their blank expression gave nothing away of their true intentions, but she was positive Hunter was on her side.
“You know it’s only a matter of time,” the girl sang out.
A lethal expression crossed Hunter’s features as he charged straight on with an almighty roar, his opponent mimicking the action. Nobody backed down as blows were exchanged, but the girl had the upper-hand as Hunter’s moves slowed down and became sloppy.
“Damnit,” Luxor swore, unable to watch the girl’s continued attack. “Stay here, I mean it,” she told Kitty, pointing the finger at her as she plopped her down underneath the park bench.
Luxor flicked her elastic and psyched herself up. The closer she got to the brawl, the greater the fever pitched. By the time she reached them, Hunter had the girl by the ponytail and wrangled her to the ground. He kneed her in the back and she fell splat against the concrete. He twisted his torso to reach into the inside of his jacket and let out a deep growl.
The girl hissed and writhed underneath him. “Give up now, it’s only a matter of time.”
“Ironic coming from somebody currently incapacitated.” Hunter turned towards Luxor. “Are you going to help or just stand there looking pretty?”
“I don’t know what to do?”
“Pathetic. And this is why she’s easy prey,” the girl muttered, a lone eye swivelling sideways.
Hunter grabbed the girl’s ponytail and banged it against the pavement until there was a crack. She continued to wriggle around and twitch only at a slower pace. “Dig your knees into her spine and hold her wrists.”
Luxor eyed the body warily. She still suffered even at the close proximity but skin-to-skin contact, she couldn’t do it. There was no doubt in her mind she would pass out. “I can’t.”
“Then make yourself useful and get my knife from the inside of my jacket.”
That she could do.
Luxor reached in and held a hand on Hunter’s shoulder to steady herself and grazed her fingertips across the grooves of his torso and up his broad chest. She held in her breath as her chest compressed so hard, she was afraid it would burst, the pounding in his ears too much to bear. A single touch and it was enough to have her turn into a pile of mush, the pressure and the feel of his body over his T-shirt had her wondering what it would feel like with no barriers. She didn’t miss the way his heart sped up, a booming lub-dub-lub-dub. She could have been mistaken considering the circumstances but if it rivalled hers, then it was a sure thing.
“Today, Angel,” Hunter said, his voice strained.
“Angel, how ironic,” the girl slurred.
Hunter smashed her head once more with force until it cracked open like a coconut. “Time to cut this shit out.”
Luxor whipped out the knife and thrust it at him blade way around and jumped back covering a hand over her mouth before she turned around. If the next part was a repeat of the elderly man then she didn’t want to see it.
Behind her there was a slight poof followed by tiny particles of dust wafting in all directions. The atmosphere was devoid of evil spirits and transformed back to the mundane town she had become acquainted to. The lights had stopped flashing and she relished at the stillness caused by the eradication of the rabid electricity.
“Are you okay?” Luxor kneeled down beside Hunter who gurgled and spat out on the grass. She dusted off residue of dust and helped him to sit up but his body was like dead weight. “Your lips are blue.”
“Liquorice overload,” he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He attempted to stand but his knees buckled and he dropped down to the ground. “Let’s take you home. Adventure is over.”
“Home? No, you’re going to the hospital, I’m calling an ambulance,” Luxor said, her fingers already on her mobile ready to call triple zero. He couldn’t stand and yet he put her first. It was an insane notion.
Unveiled: The Chronicles of Luxor Everstone Page 39