Prophecy

My cell phone vibrated in my pocket.

I wondered who could be calling me now. I was still in the middle of a class. I took out the phone and held my head down, pretending to get something from my bag, which was on the ground.

“Hello, I can’t talk now. I’m in a class.” I whispered huskily into the speaker before I hung up, pushed the phone back into my pocket, and straightened myself up in my chair.

It was only ten minutes in class and I was already bored. I flipped around to the back of my textbook and started shading a flower I’d started drawing from a previous class.

I was surprised, when a hand placing a piece of paper on my desk suddenly appeared in front of me. I closed the textbook quickly.

“What’s this?” I enquired quietly.

“The last chemistry test.” replied my teacher.

I flipped it over and frowned when I saw the big fifty-two percent marked out in bright red ink at the top.

“Is everything alright Dayse, you seemed to be a little distracted over the past week. Is something going on?”

“Oh, no everything is fine,” I said surprised that he’d asked. “Why did you ask?”

He pointed to the test paper I was holding. “That isn’t your usual grade and you seem spaced out during classes.”

“I’m fine . . . Really,” I added after he’d raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “I just had a lot on my mind. I’ll do better on the next test.”

“I hope so Days.” I nodded and then he walked over to the next desk.

I felt awful that I’d failed my chemistry test. If it were physics, I wouldn’t care, but I was accustomed to getting good grades in all my other subjects, so I was disappointed with this mark.

For the rest of class, I made an extra effort to pay attention, but I was grateful when the bell rang, signalling the end of school. I put all books except my biology text in my bag.

As I hustled outside, I spotted Ms McLeod coming from another class. I called out to her and she stopped. I remembered that she’d asked me to check off a list of lates and absents for her, earlier today. I’d put the list in my Biology book so that it wouldn’t get lost.

I flipped to the pages, between which the piece of paper was wedged. “Miss, here is the list you’d asked me to check over this morning,” I said handing her the slip. “Some persons weren’t here today so I couldn’t confirm whether or not they were late or absent.”

“Oh thank you,” she said looking over the list before tucking it under her pencil case.

“Well there is one of the absentees standing over there,” she said. I closed my book and looked in the direction in which she indicated. There he was leaning against the wall. I tore my stare away from him and followed behind her quietly.

I stopped a little way off, as I waited for her to finish speaking to him. She was asking him why he wasn’t here. He said something about some family emergency. I wondered what all that was all about.

I didn’t know how I should be feeling now. I’d been planning for days exactly what to say when or if I ever saw him again. I was angry that he’d left so suddenly, the first time we were supposed to spend Valentine’s day together.

I was angry and hurt. I mean how dare he leave for so long, where I couldn’t even reach him using the gem. A million of the most gruesome thoughts ran through my mind, as my brain had dredged up some of the worst possible outcomes as to what could have happened to him. It was like he was totally cut off from me, as I couldn’t feel him anywhere. He could have been dead, for all I know.

Now here he was just standing there looking so fricking calm and beautiful as if nothing had happened over the last few days. I mean, how dare he look so fricking handsome, when I was going through hell!

Ms McLeod had finished speaking to him. I hadn’t turned from looking outside even after he’d walked over to me.

“Summer, how are you?” he asked in his velvety voice, which seemed to ring of unusual uncertainty.

I turned to face him. My face was still unreadable. I hadn’t decided what to feel as yet.

“How, am I?” I said with my voice trembling, as I stared into his grey eyes. “Honestly, I don’t know as yet. I think I will tell you how I feel after you explain what happened.” I tried to sound calm.

“I will tell you everything on the way home. That is if you are not busy.”

“Anything I have to do will have to wait,” I said piquantly and stormed off towards the parking lot. I wanted so badly to turn around and hug him, but my rage, uncertainty, and anxiety had all clouded my mind, and by hugging him I might end up crushing the wind out of him.

I waited until he’d disarmed the alarm, before jumping into the front passenger seat. He got into the car and closed the door. I folded my arms and chewed on the inside of my cheek.

He was about to start the car, but he seemed to change his mind. “Summer just say what’s on your mind. I know that you were holding in your real emotions until we were alone.”

“I am assuming that you like this car?”

“Yes,” he answered as if uncertain of where I was going with this.

“Is this car fire-proof?”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Well, it is better that neither you nor I say anything else until we get home,” I said turning sharply to him. A small smile seemed to be playing at the edge of his lips as he turned the key into the ignition.

“Why are you laughing?” I asked heatedly.

“Nothing. It’s nothing love.” his smile receded only a tinge as we drove off. I turned away from him and folded my hands over the bag I had resting in my lap.

Tree. Tree. House. Tree. House, house, apartment, bakery. Human kid, kid, kid, goat kid. Stoplight. I repeated all that I saw on the side of the road as we drove along silently. As I did this, I decided not to make a big scene, before Thorn had explained what had happened.

Bush. House. Driveway. Home. I sighed deeply, as I exited the car. I pushed the front door open. Thorn followed silently.

“Hi Aunt Liz,” I said as I entered and saw her in the kitchen.

“Summer, you’re home early,” she said looking at her watch. “Where is Caleb?”

“He is still at school,” I replied.

“So how did you . . .?”

“I took her home, Mrs. Matthews. Good afternoon,” said Thorn entering the front door and closing it behind him.

“Well, Thorn it’s good to see that you’re back and well.” she smiled. “Summer was in quite a state while you were gone.” she prattled.

I cleared my throat before she went on any further. I didn’t want him to know that during one of my fits, I’d thrown my phone down the hill.

She’d apparently caught my meaning and then stopped. “Well, I guess you two have some things to discuss. I’ll go and start dinner.” she smiled again.

“Thorn,” I said starting up the stairs.

“It was good to see you too, Mrs. Matthews.” he said before following me up the stairs.

I waited until he’d come in before I closed the door and pushed in the lock. I placed my bag and textbook on the table beside my bed. I turned sharply, ready to exact my judgment, but was startled as he was standing right in front of me.

I started to get a bit heady as the cool scent of winter air tinged with fresh pine needles emanated from him. Oh gosh, there goes my angry resolve. I tilted my gaze slowly up to his face, where I found his grey eyes staring steadily into mine.

His arm snaked slowly around my waist, pulling me closer to him. Oh my, frickin, frick. I thought I’d gotten used to this already. I reminded myself how to breathe as his face lingered close to mine.

“I didn’t want to leave that night, but I had to. I wanted to tell you so badly that I had to go, but there wasn’t any time,” he said huskily.

I pulled away from his hold and kicked off my shoes before plopping down in the bed. I adjusted the pillow behind my back and leaned against the headboard. He then came to sit beside me.

“Why did you leave, where did you go and what was the rush? I want to know everything.”

“I went home the Friday before Valentine’s day. . .

He told me about the eclipse and the weakening effect that it had on them, and about the journey to Tir na n-Óg. He also explained why he’d disappeared from the gem. He described in detail the beauty of the glacial, coniferous forests, a towering waterfall, and of a grand ice palace, with a lake filled with midnight blue water. I laughed as he described with much detail, the small room in which stayed, and of the miniature waterbeds that they had to sleep in.

I got a bit nervous when he described the encounter with the member of the Guard and the fact that he had to participate in some sort of trial, to be tested if he was good enough to be a member of the Royal Guard.

I was happy to find out that our bond was able to assist him during his competitions, although I shuddered when I was told that he’d been offered a place in their army after winning all but one of their competitions. He also recalled an event of diving from a hundred-foot waterfall. He seemed to have enjoyed doing it, but I would have fallen into an epileptic fit if I was there to witness it.

He mentioned an encounter with this other guard Scarlett. I chewed on the inside of my cheek as he told me about her. I appreciated his honesty in telling me about the girl, but I wished he didn’t. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. I didn’t know what I was expecting. If human girls reacted so strongly to his presence I should have expected that others of our kind would too. Omayra did. I knew it was wrong, but I felt secretly happy when he told me that she had died at the hand of some other Lune. Tragic. Just tragic.

Lastly, he told me of their hasty exit from the island, with another Lune named Marc, after the staging of a coup by one of Ay’s followers. I thought that the old leader of the Lunes deserved the fate that had befallen him. Such treachery needed to come to an end. Although he said that he didn’t think that this new leader was any better. He described it as swapping rotting cabbage for a decomposing carcass.

“We arrived on the island today, and well here I am.” he finished.

I climbed into his lap and hung my arms around his neck. “I’m sorry for my initial reaction. There was just so much that I didn’t know, and I was scared that something bad had happened to you. Will you forgive me?”

His lips tilted into a slight smile. “I’m not going to forgive you because there is nothing there to forgive.” He smiled wider. “Besides, I was expecting more of a chastening, considering the fact that you totally trashed your old phone and had gotten a new number.”

“Who told you about that?” I asked a bit surprised and embarrassed that he’d found out about it.

“I saw Caleb earlier,” Caleb. I was going to kill him. “Although he didn’t give the particulars of how it happened.”

“It fell,”

“Fell?” he asked raising an eyebrow.

“Into another community,” I added shyly.

He threw back his head out and let out a throaty laugh.

“It’s not that funny, I was a bit angry and it was the closest thing to me at the time,” I said trying very hard to hold back a smile of my own.

“I am so glad that fate had brought us together. My life would have been so dull not to mention meaningless without you love.” he brushed the back of his hand against my cheekbone.

“Mine too,” I replied before my lips were crushed against his. One of his arms was tightly fastened around my waist, while the other was knotted in my hair. I was now reminded of all I was missing when he was not here.

“I missed you.” he smiled.

“Same here,” I said pulling away from him, as a car had driven up into the yard. “Caleb’s here. It must be around six-thirty. Time really flies when you’re having fun.” I said giving him a final peck on the lips before sliding out of his lap. “Do you want to join us for dinner, or do you have to go?” I crossed my fingers behind my back, hoping he would say no.

“I think I’ll stick around for a few more hours.” he smiled.

“Great. Well, can you give me a minute so that I can change out of my uniform?”

“I’ll be outside,” he said getting up and walked out the door.

I hurriedly stripped out of the white shirt and grey skirt that I was wearing and flung on a pair of pink shorts and a white tee. I rolled my socks off and placed them, along with everything else, in the wash basket that stood under my closet.

It was amazing, despite the fact that Thorn had already seen me mostly naked, he had no objections to me changing privately. He had this profound sense of modesty and self-control when it came around to such matters. As if it was left up to me, I’d have probably have been deflowered weeks ago.

I smiled gingerly at the thought, as I pushed my feet into a pair of sandals that I usually wore around the house and headed out the door. I found him standing out on the front balcony. I joined him at the rail.

“It is quite a view from here,” he said staring at the thousands of multi-hued city lights in the plains below.

“Yeah it is. It took me some time to get over when I first came to stay here.” I paused momentarily allowing him to take in the scene. “Ready?”

“Yes,” he smiled and ushered me back into the house.

When we arrived downstairs, Caleb was already seated around the counter, digging into his dinner.

“Thorn, I wasn’t sure if you were going to stick around for dinner, but I still made you a plate.” said my Aunt from around the counter.

“I am, thank you.” he said moving to the place beside Caleb. I walked around to the opposite side of the counter.

“So Thorn, I see that you are still in one piece . . . unlike the phone Summer threw away,” he said before erupting into a fit of laughter.

“He might still be one piece, but you might not be after I am through with you,” I growled before stuffing my mouth full of rice.

“Oh what are you going to do, throw me down into Havendale?” he started again.

“Don’t tempt me,” I said more cheerily at the thought.

This time Aunt Liz had joined him in the outburst. Thorn seemed to be enjoying their jest as he seemed to be choking on his rice. He quickly took up the glass of water on the table and gulped it down.

“Excuse me,” he said clearing his throat and putting the glass down. He tried to hide his smile as he shoveled in the next fork of food, but you could see the amusement shining in his eyes. “Is it usually this lively around here?” he said turning to Caleb.

“Not always, but most of the times, especially when Summer is up to some weird antics, like frying lizards and colliding into banana trees.” he hooted.

“Not like some of it wasn’t your fault,” I mumbled. I wanted to slap Caleb so hard right now. Aunt Liz knew about the lizard, but I’d evaded being asked about the banana trees up until now.

“What was that about banana trees?” asked my aunt poignantly.

“Aunt Liz that was an accident, for which I accept partial responsibility, as I was distracted, by someone whose name I will not call, but who is sitting in this room jabbering away, and I sorta . . . crash-landed in them,” I said as I felt that it was time for me to finally fess up to what I’d done.

“Frank and I’d been wondering about that, but we figured that it was probably something like that,” she said nonchalantly.

“Oh,” I whimpered. All that skirting around over the past weeks for naught.

“So Thorn, heard that it was your first time at Tir na n-Óg. How was it?” said my aunt, directing the conversation towards Thorn. My aunt knew and she didn’t say anything! I forked another load of rice in my mouth before I erupted.

“It was a pleasant stay, for the most part, until we had to leave in a hurry after Ay’s assassination.”

“Ay’s dead?” gapped my aunt in disbelief. “Does Sonya . . .?” she paused.

“Dad and Naeht had left earlier I think to inform her of the details. She will probably inform you of the details soon,” he replied in a sombre tone.

I detected hints of alarm and worry in his tone as if there was something that he’d left out of the story he’d told me earlier. For the remainder of dinner, I sat quietly and listened as Caleb questioned Thorn about Tir na n-Óg. Which wasn’t a surprise since, like me, he’d only recently discovered that he wasn’t exactly human.

After we’d all finished, Thorn helped me with the dishes before we went back upstairs. I’d given him a brief summary of all that I’d done in class during the time he was gone. I also gave him some insight into what he could expect in tomorrow’s lessons.

I closed my C.S. notebook and placed it on the table with all my other books.

“Thorn, when you were speaking earlier to Aunt Liz about the assassination, I don’t know if I’m overreacting or what-not, but I picked up that there was something that you’d left out of the story you’d given to me earlier,” I said before biting my lower lip. His forehead creased as if deciding how to answer.

“You picked up on that huh,” he said after a long pause. “I’m not going to lie to you Summer, this new shift in power may put us at a greater risk than usual, but we don’t know just how much, as we don’t know what to expect from this new leader. But I can and I have promised you that I wouldn’t let any harm come to you, and I intend to keep that promise,” he said earnestly.

“So what do we do in the meantime?” I asked with a frown crossing my face.

“We’ll just have to wait. If they act, we’ll just have to react accordingly.”

“Newton’s third law,” I whispered.

“What was that about Newton?” he asked with the lines reappearing across his forehead.

“Nothing,“ I smiled weakly. “Just thinking out loud.” Funny, when Mr Black had told us that physics was everywhere and in everything, he wasn’t joking.

The physics of war.

Warstro-physics?