Prophecy

When I woke he was already gone.

I was disappointed, but I knew that it was necessary as it would have been pretty hard to explain the presence of another person in the cell to the jailer.

“Looks like you handled the night a lot better than I’d expected.” said the woman officer who had processed me earlier yesterday afternoon, as she slid the door of the cell open.

“I’m innocent and didn’t have a thing to worry about.” If only! I could dream right. On the other hand, I did dream. I smiled slightly.

“If you say so,” she replied blandly. “Enough small talk, we are going to be late.” she prodded.

The courthouse was only a few blocks away from the station. I’d noticed a small throng of people standing at the door. I could see my father waiting there also. He and mother had worried expressions written all over their faces.

“There is quite a crowd here for just a bail hearing.” I commented softly as I kept my eyes peeled out the car window.

“There are more than one hearings today, but most are here to see you. You’ve become quite the national sensation, as people of your...ilk rarely makes news,” she replied.

She was right though, but she had no idea how much. Shifters have committed crimes but they are never caught. This was something definitely new and which would grab attention, not just of a whole nation, but a whole race. Coronas everywhere will be watching. The fate of our whole race’s risk of exposure rested on me and my parents.

Of course Omayra would be watching also, this was her plan after all and I couldn’t wait to see it all explode in her face.

The car came to a stop and the attention of the crowd had turned towards us. Many faces were unsure and some expectant. I saw my parents move towards the car, the throng followed suit. As I exited the vehicle, I was surrounded by reporters and camera flashes.

One arm was secured by the police officer, and my father held the other, as we pushed through the crowd until we were safely inside.

Today was a busy day and I had to wait as several cases were being presented before the judge. I turned to the back of the courtroom several times. Where I found my whole family sitting quietly and sending longing glances in my direction.

I’d also seen Detective Adams in the room I tried as much as I could to ignore him, but his probing eyes kept on digging precipices into my back.

“It will be all right,” said dad. I looked at his face and smiled, as he squeezed my bound hands.

“I believe you dad,” I said sounding more confident than I felt.

“Case number 2-4-0-5-9-0,” called the court clerk.

“That’s us.” said Dad getting up. I followed him over to the defendants’ podium. I also saw Adams move to the opposite podium to stand beside the prosecutor.

“This is a bail hearing for a one Summer Dayse on charges of assault.” continued the clerk.

“Proceed,” said the judge, who seemed surprised at my very puny name, but he hid his amusement as soon as it had appeared.

“Your honour, I am hear by requesting bail on behalf of my client on the basis that the charges brought up against her are false and hence there is no reason to keep her incarcerated.” started dad.

“Your honour, we the prosecution ask for the denial of bail pending further investigations, as the defendant has not only been suspected of committing assault against a fellow student, but evidence has appeared implicating her in the murders of her aunt and uncle and the attempted murder of her cousin and also the abduction and possible murder of another student, Elizabeth Lewis.”

“Your honour, these charges have only recently been added on the basis of evidence that is strictly circumstantial as the prosecution has no way of placing my client at the scene of any of these crimes.”

“This is just a bail hearing, not a trial. I agree that the evidence presented so far is circumstantial, hence, bail will be set at the price of one million dollars. Based on the nature of the charges being brought against you, Ms Dayse you are also required to surrender all of you travel documents, to eliminate the possibility of you being a flight risk. Next case.” he said slamming the gavel on the bench.

I exhaled with relief. The tight expressions on my family's also melted. Detective Adams’ wasn't as pleased. He shot us a chilling glare before disappearing outside the room. The jailer led me back to the courtroom lock up, with my dad in tow.

“Summer wait here. I’m going to post bail.” said dad following an officer to another room at the back of the courthouse.

“Can’t really go anywhere.” I said raising my hands to him as he looked back.

“Those will be off in a jiffy.” he said and continued out with the officer.

“Well that’s that.” said Dad returning sooner than I’d expected. I rubbed my wrists as the cuffs had left them slightly chafed, an annoying symptom of this human façade.

“So until we see each other again,” she said smiling and attaching the cuffs to her belt.

“I highly doubt that you will. I’ll prove my innocence by then.” I said returning the smile. I then turned and pushed open the wooden door and walked straight into my mother’s awaiting arms.

“I was so worried about you.” she said squeezing me tightly.

“You didn’t have to I was fine. I wasn’t really alone.” I said as my eyes flickered to Thorn’s face, which unlike the rest of my family’s which showed little sign of relief. His expression was faraway and seemed almost impassive. “We should probably go out into the hall.” she nodded in agreement and we walked out of the room.

“My sister, the jailbird,” teased Alex as she hugged me.

“Too soon Alex to joke, too soon.”

“Maybe a tad bit early." she agreed.

“Glad to see that you are okay Ms Dayse.” said Jae placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Same here,” said Nick as he hugged me slightly and I was soon passed on over to Seidon.

“We should probably leave before the press starts pouring in.” added Thorn who stood outside the circle. He didn’t seem so blank as he did earlier, but his tone was still very sombre.

“Yes, we probably should. Our cars are parked out back, it is best we leave that way.” added my father, leading the way.

As the rest of my family walked ahead, I fell back to keep pace with Thorn. He took my hand but he didn’t say anything. Our family looked back at us, then continued walking ahead, as they all knew who I would be travelling with.

“Thorn is something wrong? Did something happen?” I asked softly, breaking the silence that had been a constant fixture throughout the majority of our journey home.

“No,” he said with his features relaxing. “I just had a lot on my mind.”

“Like what?” I prodded.

He exhaled deeply and he started to frown again. “This whole situation has got me thinking about our life and about the limited time that we have to spend with each other.”

“We get a couple centuries. I wouldn’t actually call that limited.” I jibed.

“Yes we do, naturally. But anything can happen between now and then. Take your aunt for instance, she was married to a human so her lifespan was shortened to only a couple decades, which I bet she was looking forward to spending the rest of her time with Frank, but things didn’t quite turn out that way.”

“Thorn, I . . .” I stumbled into wordlessness. What could have happened since last night and today?

“I’m not trying to hurt you Summer, but what I’m getting at is that I hate spending time away from you, no matter how short the period, and I can’t wait for us to start spending the rest of our life together.”

“What, what are saying to me?” I stuttered.

“I am saying that I don’t want you to be my fiancée anymore. I want you to be my wife.” The car came to a stop as we pulled up into the driveway of his house. “Summer will you marry me? I know we are already engaged, but we didn’t really have a say in that, so I am asking you now.” he said unleashing the full length of his soft grey eyes on me.

“Oh,” I muttered and swallowed hard. When I’d seen his expression earlier, I was expecting a barrage of negative outcomes; a fire consuming Kingston (again), Omayra attacking (again), a hurricane in March (never actually happened before), but this, this hadn’t even began registering in my mind.

I always knew that our engagement always meant that we would get married... eventually, but I’d never thought that eventually would be so soon.

White dresses and lily bouquets were the furthest things from my mind. Staying here at Thorn’s house wasn’t so bad, but marriage would mean the two of us, alone, living together forever and ever. It wasn’t that I didn’t love him, I would give my life a thousand times over if I thought it would save his, but a wedding now?

“Summer, did you hear me? I said that I love you and I want you to be my wife.” he said earnestly as he took up my left hand and kissed it softly.

“Yeah, yes. I heard. I love you too. Excuse me.” I said abruptly and I pulled my hand from his before pushing through the car door and I ran straight into the house. “Excuse me,” I said rushing past mother and Seidon in the kitchen. I ran upstairs, nearly slipping more than once on the icy floors.

I needed somewhere to be alone right now. The room I was staying in had no locks on it as they’d been temporarily removed for safety reasons. The only other place I could go where I would be completely alone was the bathroom.

I skidded down the hall and launched myself into the bathroom, slamming and bolting the door behind me. I hurriedly stripped out off all the clothes that I’d been wearing since yesterday morning. I then slipped into the glass shower enclosure. I turned on the full spray and allowed it to pound down on my head as I took in sharp gasps of air.

It was strange that no one had come up knock on the door demanding to know what was happening. I figured that it was because Thorn had already filled them in. My stomach clenched tighter at this realisation. I rubbed the bar of soap more vigorously over my body.

I slowly rinsed off and stepped out of the shower. I found a towel and then wrapped it securely around my body. While picking up my clothes, which were strewn across the bathroom floor, I came to an abrupt stop in front of a huge mirror, which panelled half of the wall.

I looked at the long, curly mess on top of my head from which dripped small beads of water. I had changed without realising, which was becoming very common whenever my emotions had started running high.

I touched it thoughtfully as I remembered that day in his room when he’d playfully called it goat hair and the intense make out session that followed after. That was a happy time, probably the best day we’d spent together so far. That or our first night together at the engagement ceremony. I wasn’t sure, probably a tie.

Things were tough now, but I knew that there would be more moments like those. Those were the moments we lived for. People spent lifetimes seeking what we had and have never found it, and yet at eighteen, I had it all.

What was I thinking? What was I so afraid of? I knew that Thorn loved me and I loved him. Us spending our lives together was inevitable. I sometimes craved for him, all of him, and if we were married I would get what I wanted. We would both get what we wanted.

Despite the cold shower I just took, I could feel a sudden heat creeping down my neck and into my back. Making our commitment to each other official might not be such a bad thing. Until death do us part, suddenly had a pleasing ring to it. I twisted the excess water from my hair before taking up a sock, which was still on the floor and unbolted the door and walked back to my room.

I had finished dressing and had even gone back to the bathroom to brush my teeth. No one had come up, so I figured that they were waiting for me to come down. I finished combing out my thick mane and pulled it back from my face using a white scrunchie, which matched the sundress that I was wearing.

I quietly stalked down the stairs and into the kitchen. Thorn was standing at the counter leaning casually against it with his feet crossed and his hands in his pockets. I knew that he’d heard my approach but he didn’t look up from the ground.

The rest of my family was sitting in the living room sitting and pretending to watch the television, as I knew that they were all secretly waiting to hear what would happen next.

I silently stood in front of him and rubbed one hand down his chest, smoothing out a wrinkle, which had formed in his crisp cream shirt. He lifted his eyes up to my face.

“I heard what you asked in the car and my answer is yes. I want so badly to be your wife.” I said smiling shyly and ducked my stare to the floor.

He cupped my face in his hands and lifted it up to his face. He smiled as he placed a soft kiss on my lips.

“Good because it would be such a shame if you’d said no, since I’d already picked out the rings.” said Alex from the other room.

“You all knew about this?” I said finally pulling myself away from Thorn and walked into the living room.

“Alex saw it coming before I did.” replied my mother.

“So we have fortune tellers in the family too?” I asked sarcastically.

“No I had this niggling feeling that wouldn’t go away until I told mom about it. I acted on a hunch to go and buy the rings and the day after mom called and told me about Thorn’s proposition.” she said flippantly.

“Great, now I have to deal not only with one, but two know-it-alls.” I grumbled. Alex was the elder child, so mother’s gift had been passed on to her and she would become the next Grand Corona.

“Welcome to my world.” said Nick from across the room. The room echoed with laughter.

“There are conditions of course,” said mother.

“Okay,” I said listening. I walked over to where Thorn was sitting. There were empty seats in the room but I preferred to sit in his lap.

“Both of you will have to finish high school.” started Seidon.

“Doable.” I commented.

“We will have to conduct training sessions with the both of you, so that you will learn how to exist as a unit in every way.” added my father and I nodded.

“And it has to be after all this mess with the police has been cleared up.” stated my mother.

“I knew that there would be a catch.” I miffed.

“We already have a lot on our plates, and frankly I want the wedding of my youngest daughter to be memorable and not marred by the events now facing us.” finished my mother.

“But that could be months or years from now. Isn’t the whole point of us getting married now is to try and spend as much time as possible together?”

“Yes it is, you are assuming that our little problem will take that long to clear up.” answered Thorn.

“And how do you know the time span of the investigation?” I said turning to him.

“I just have this niggling feeling.” he smiled as he’d repeated Alex’s words.

I rolled my eyes. “I stand corrected. I’m stuck with three know-it-alls.” I said affably and he gave me a crooked smile.

“Excuse me,” said mother and she left the room to answer her cell phone.

“So when do I get to see the rings?” I asked Alex.

“On your wedding day. I want it to be a surprise.” she beamed.

“Gum-machine rings, now that would be a surprise.” I choked.

“That’s an idea, too bad I didn’t think of it first. However, I pride myself on having good taste, so I think you will like them.” she grinned.

I couldn’t argue with that. Alex had always been the fashionista of our family. Colour coordination and style were her fortes. Even while we were pretending to be destitute, she could dress in rags and sell it off as haute couture.

“I have some bad news.” said mom coming back into the room. “That was your school.” she paused. “Summer they are expelling you. The school board thought it best that you didn’t return, due to the charges being brought against you.” she said broodingly.

“Well what about my exams that are coming up in a month?”

“I asked about that. They said that they will allow you to sit them, but it will be under special conditions, away from the rest of your classmates.”

“They can’t do that, can they?” asked Thorn clinging tighter to my waist.

“I am afraid they can. Although I think that it is probably best. We do not need any more attention being pulled towards us.” she said apologetically.

I sat silently for awhile. “Well it is only two weeks left before they’re given study leave. I won’t be missing much in class and my lab books have already been submitted, so I should be fine. If I miss anything Thorn can explain it to me.” I said turning to him. Despite the worry lines marking his forehead he nodded. “Like mom said, this might be a good thing.” I said trying to convince myself that it was okay.

Thorn looked at me once and shook his head as I knew that he wasn’t buying into my nonchalance about the whole situation.

“Could you excuse us,” he tapped me lightly on the back for me to get up before he held me by the hand and lead me out of the room. I turned to my family and shrugged as their eyes questioned his sudden retreat. We didn’t stop until we were standing outside.

“Could we go back inside, where it is much drier.” I complained as the rain poured down around us.

“Wait,” he said holding back my hand as I’d turned to go back into the house.

I watched as he waved his free hand over our heads. For a moment I was confused, but I soon noticed that the rain was no longer touching us, but it seemed to stop right above our heads and formed a moving dome enveloping us.

“I thought you didn’t want to get wet.” he said softly as I was poking my finger in and out of the thin watery membrane.

“Why did you pull us out of the house? It didn’t have anything to do with the supposed bad news we just heard?” I said wiping the wetness from my hands in my dress.

“Yes, I could see that you were just trying to reign your feelings in so that your parents wouldn’t start worrying. So I brought you out here so that you could vent.” he said calmly.

“Vent?” he folded his arms and waited for me to start. “I was worried about not going back at first, but the more it thought about it, the more it seemed like a good idea. I try to ignore it, but I am tired of people always whispering things about me as I pass, or giving me uncomfortable stares whenever I enter a class. Wait that rhymed.” he rolled his eyes.

“Like I was saying, I really think that it will be best if I stayed home. I don’t like making people feel uncomfortable around me, that makes me uncomfortable. I will miss spending all my free time between classes with you, but we’ll make up for it when you come home and you have to tutor me. I can guarantee that those classes will certainly be more interesting than any I’d have had at school.” I teased and then started walking towards the house.

He didn’t reply, but he followed behind closely behind me. I stopped and leaned on his car which was parked outside, since the extra cars brought by my family packed the garage. I smiled impishly as he came and leaned beside me.

“What is it?” he asked suspiciously.

“They said that we would have to soon start training together right?”

“Yes,” he answered, still sounding wary.

“I want to give you a test to see how long you can hold up this dome.” I said poking my finger through the membrane.

“Okay fine,” he smiled smugly.

I backed away from him slowly. The dome around us expanded with each step I took until it started to thin like an elastic band being stretched. Suddenly there was a sharp recoil, I thought that I would start getting wet, but I realized that I was still covered. He had formed separate bands around ourselves.

“Okay, let me see how you are going to handle this.” I said and broke out into a slight run around the yard. I went faster and faster until the trees around me appeared as patches of green fuzz. I ran in circles, diagonals, straight lines until I started losing my breath, but the band he had around me still held. “That was good but I have another idea.” I said walking towards him.

“Well bring it on love.” he said as if daring me.

As I sauntered towards him, the wide area of rainfall separating us slowly thinned to a delicate film. I took another step and it parted slowly and finally dissipated, forming a single dome encasing the both of us.

I looked into his eyes and he was still wearing the same smug smile, with one eyebrow cocked slightly as he watched my approach. I slowly roped one hand around his waist and the other around his neck, and pulled myself in closer to him. He leaned his head to one side and watched to see what I would do next.

I slowly stood tip toed and pulled his face closer to mine. I then placed a soft kiss on his neck, then on his chin and slowly worked my way up to his slightly parted lips. He turned his back on the car and pulled me in slowly. I closed my eyes as our mouths interlocked and moved in sync with each other’s.

“You’ve never kissed me like that before. We should have these testing sessions more often.” he teased as the shield still held its form around us.

I still hadn’t moved out of his hold and his face still lingered very close to mine. I had one final card to play. “Thorn,” I said brushing my nose slightly against his. “You do realise that once we are married, we never have to stop at just kissing.” I whispered huskily and crushed my lips back against his.

The barrier shielding us suddenly collapsed. The both of us were soon very wet.