Shielded

Ray was so much more than I could have ever guessed. If I was right about the Tracking then she had five Gifts. Two of which were very rare and one that no one even knew about. I have heard stories of a Royal in Japan who has four Gifts and he is the most famous, sought after, and powerful Valkyrie of our time. Connor was right. There was no way that Ray will stay with us after she fully understands everything she was capable of. Valkyries embraced a modified class system and we were several rungs down from the Royal level while I would guess that Ray would one day rule our world. The best we could do was try to enjoy the time that we had with her and hopefully, she would look back on her time with us fondly.

--Max

As much as I wanted to disappear into the void and read Max’s book cover to cover, I was just too tired to handle priceless heirlooms that contained invaluable Valkyrie secrets right now. I was so sleep-deprived that I felt slightly nauseous and a little drunk. I didn’t have the mental capacity to deal with my newfound allure so I cloaked myself heavily and tried to use my remaining brain cells to pay attention to class. Hamlet sounded like gibberish and I did the same step in my calc problem three times before realizing my mistake.

The history teacher was gone for the third day in a row and we were still watching Pearl Harbor because it was the longest movie known to mankind. I let out a relieved breath and laid my head down on my arms and started to doze off. My rest bit didn’t last long because Connor sat in the chair to my right and waved his hand over the top of my desk. Because I wasn’t sealed off in the void, I wasn’t incorporeal and he ended up smacking me in the face.

“Owe,” I grumbled and pulled away from the void enough so he could see me. “Leave me alone.”

“Fuck,” Connor said and pulled his hand away from me like I was going to burn him or something. “I am so sorry Ray. I wasn’t expecting you to be laying on your desk.”

I opened my eyes so I could see his horrified face and huffed out a sigh. Boys were weird. “You didn’t really hurt me, Connor. Don’t worry about it,” I murmured before turning my head away from him and recloaking myself. Not even a grumpy Connor was going to keep me from my power nap.

I woke with a start when the bell rang and thankfully didn’t call any weapons because I had lost my cloak when I fell asleep. I looked around and noticed that at least half the class was staring at me. Oh no, what was this fresh hell? I continued to scan the stunned faces until I reached Connor’s and he looked like he was trying to keep himself from laughing. “What?” I asked and a little of the exasperation I was feeling seeped into my voice.

“You snore,” Connor said while forcing his lips to remain in a flat line.

“I do not!”

“Like a chainsaw,” Connor said and laughter overcame his self-control. His guffaws pulled the attention of the remaining students and they started laughing with him. “No one wanted to wake you, but we couldn’t even hear the movie over the noises you were making. It was quite impressive.”

“It was very distracting,” a prim voice said from behind Connor. I looked around him and saw Maddison Clearly sitting in a desk that had been pulled close with her hand entwined with Connor’s. She looked cute in a short black flippy skirt and a pink fitted t-shirt with a large red heart on the front. Her blond hair was in a french braid that was tied off with a red bow that matched her red lipstick. All of the pink and hearts reminded me that today was February 14th, Valentine’s day.

“It isn’t really appropriate for you to fall asleep during class. You should be ashamed of yourself,” Maddison continued to say and I felt her words like a slap. She was right, I was the type of student that respected my teachers and cared about my school work. But if she thought it was okay to make out in public during the exact same class then I didn’t really think she had the right to say anything to me for dozing off.

I kinda thought that Connor would say something to Maddison but it was a guy I had never met before that came to my rescue. “Maddison, you haven’t acted appropriately in class since the seventh grade. Give it a rest,” said a tall scrawny guy who was wearing baggy blue jeans and a sweatshirt that featured The Clash.

“You know better than to address me directly Ronny,” Maddison said as she somehow looked down her nose at the taller man. “Now why don’t you crawl back to whatever whore house you currently call home.” The insult must have hit home because Ronny just clenched his jaw and diverted his eyes instead of replying.

Maddison pulled on Connor’s hand saying something about how she made him and Blake lunch but I didn’t follow when they left the room. When Connor looked at me over his shoulder I gave him a hard look before turning my back on him. He had the power to stop this shit, but he just kept quiet. It kinda sucked.

“Thanks for saying something,” I told Ronny awkwardly. What did you say to a person after that kind of insult? That I was a foster kid and didn’t judge where he lived?

“No problem. Maddison is a bitch and I have seen you hanging with Jack. He is good people. Figured it was the least I could do after everything that went down yesterday with Amy.”

“Yeah that shouldn’t have happened,” I said through clenched teeth and started walking towards the south cafeteria with Ronny. People stared at us as we walked through the hall and I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise. I really didn’t like all of this attention. If I wasn’t walking with Ronny I would have cloaked myself.

Ronny must have noticed my discomfort because he said, “It is because you started hanging out with the Berg twins. They are the kings of this school and people are wondering if you are going to be the twins’ new plaything.”

“What do you mean?” I asked as we waited in line to get food. Ronny must be on the free or reduced lunch plan too.

Ronny gave me a quizzical look before explaining, “The Berg twins pick a new girl every month and they share her. At first, people talked like crazy, but now it is kind of an honor around here to be picked to be ‘their girl’. Blake will bang other girls but Connor only ever touches the girl of the month. But once their time is gone the twins never look back at the girl. I think the longest a girl has kept their attention was six weeks. I am kinda surprised that you don’t know this. It’s practically all anyone ever talks about and is why Madison is being so catty with you. She thinks you are going to replace her.”

Wow, that was a lot of information. I don’t judge what consenting adults do behind closed doors, but it sounded like Connor and Blake were pretty callous with their relationships. I mean I didn’t think that every high school romance would be a forever kind of love, but putting a timeline of the relationship and fostering this kind of competition was borderline cruel. Also, not that I necessarily had anything against it, but the idea of one girl with two guys was something I had never considered before and was a little uncomfortable with. Why would one girl want more than one boyfriend? But what did I know about dating? I had zero experience in this area so I guess I could be missing something. Ronny was talking like this was a normal thing so I was most likely overreacting.

“What about Max,” I found myself asking without really meaning to do so.

Ronny was quiet for a moment as he grabbed a tray but started talking as we moved through the line to get pizza. “Max is more of a serial dater. He started taking girls out back in the sixth grade and hasn’t stopped since. There isn’t really a pattern like with the twins, but he has gone through his fair share of the female population here at Skyline. I think he is starting something up with Annabell.”

“You really seem to know a lot about them,” I commented. It was weird that this guy knew when Max started dating girls. We each swiped our meal cards at the checkout and Ronny turned to face me.

“It pays to know what is going on with the people that run this school. They seem to have inducted you into their little club, but for the rest of us, our lives can change at their whims. Just two days ago word went out that Jack was untouchable and he went from a street rat nobody to someone that people started paying attention to. Any other day Jack would be rotting in jail after beating on that creep teacher. But he is untouchable just because those three said so. Of course, I know about their shit.”

“Is that why you are talking to me now? Because you think that I can protect you or get you an in with them?”

Ronny looked down at me and gave me a toothy grin that made a shiver run down my spine. “Talking to a pretty girl like you is no skin off my back. And right now you are an unknown. Getting on your good side can only work in my favor.” God, I hated politics. Why couldn’t people just live their lives instead of always jockeying for power?

“Right,” I replied tersely. “Well, I better get going. It was nice to meet you, Ronny.”

“Call me Ron, Sweetheart,” he drawled and when I walked away I felt like I needed to take a shower. I was clearly out of my depth here.

I walked over to my broken table and found Max and Annabell already there but there wasn’t any sign of the twins. That was okay. I wasn’t up for another round with Maddison Cleary right now. Max introduced me to Annabell and we made small talk for a couple of minutes before she turned her attention back to Max and their plans for later tonight. Max was taking her on a romantic boat ride that included a fancy dinner. The whole thing was sweet and I was glad to know that at least Max knew how to treat a woman.

When Annabell asked me what my plans were for Valentine’s day I explained that I had a shift at Polly’s and she seemed genuinely interested in what being a waitress was like. It sounded like she was planning on waiting tables to make some extra spending money before going to some fancy college on the east coast. She was going to major in journalism and one day hopefully be a newscaster. She definitely had the bubbly personality for it.

The bell rang and I used the void to walk unmolested to my sixth-period class. Web design was my elective and I was just starting to get the hang of coding in Javascript. I was surprised to see that Blake had this class with me, but when I arrived at the classroom I almost walked through him and Maddison kissing goodbye at the door. I really did need to pay more attention even here in the void. I sidestepped them and sat down at my designated computer. This was a rather large class with rows of over fifty old desktop computers and we all had assigned seats. The teacher had us work through an online program that taught us how to code and set up websites at our own pace and I knew that I had been far enough ahead at the beginning of the week that I wouldn’t fall behind from missing two classes.

My assigned seat was near the back with the other students whose last name also started with an O which meant that Blake would be sitting up front with the Bs. I uncloaked myself enough that he would be able to see me if he wanted to, but Blake walked to his seat and started talking with his neighbor without ever looking to the back of the classroom. When the guy who sat behind me tried to start a conversation with me, I recloaked myself and focused on my work for the duration of the class. It was silly to think that Blake would be looking for me. I was just some Val that he felt responsible for because I didn’t know anything about their society. We had only known each other for a few days. We were barely even friends.

But that thought didn’t sit well with me. I may have only known Blake and the others for a little while but I felt like they were important. Maybe it was because they were Valkyrie and this was my body’s way of trying to align myself with my own people.

I was being childish. I had been cloaked for the entire school year. I couldn’t be mad at Blake for not knowing that I was in this class. When the bell rang I uncloaked myself and walked so that our paths would cross as we both left the room. The moment Blake saw me his whole face lit up and he gave me a huge smile. See I had nothing to worry about.

“Ray Ray, I didn’t know you had this class,” he said while slinging an arm over my shoulder. Warmth and a sense of rightness surged through me and I smiled back up at him.

“Do you feel that?” I asked and his smile dimmed a little but he squeezed my shoulders once in acknowledgment before we had to break up to walk through the door.

“I keep forgetting how much you don’t know about our kind. What you are feeling is the clan bond. Valkyries are a social people. We feel better, are healthier, and our Gifts are stronger when we live and socialize with other Valkyries. It’s why we all live in the same house with Elijah and D.” Huh, I don’t ever remember feeling anything like this with my father. But he also never touched me unless he was compelling me to do something for him.

“Actually, now that I think about it, you must be really strong to not have been affected by your isolation. The only times I hear about a Val living outside of a clan is when they are banished or jailed for breaking the Law.”

“I don’t think it has anything to do with strength,” I tell him as we pause at the entrance to my next classroom. “I just didn’t know any better and didn’t have a choice in the matter.” Blake gave me a weird look but before he could say anything else some of his buddies called his name from down the hall. I watched him walk down the hall until I felt a different arm wrap around my shoulders and a face was pressed up against mine.

“Ah honey, that package of hotness isn’t worth the heartache,” Chasity said and I had to fight not to push into the void to get out of her hold. I was not used to people being so carefree about touching me.

“So I’ve heard,” I murmured and Chasity let me go with a soft giggle.

“Nothing to worry your pretty little head over. Blake is just your typical Val with mommy issues.” Did everyone know more than I did? I was too tired for another truth bomb right now, but I also didn’t want to miss my chance to figure out information.

“What do you mean?” I asked and Chasity looked at me like she thought I was pulling her leg. I just leveled her with a flat look and she cocked her head to the side.

“It’s against the Law to tell humans about the supernatural world so when a Valkyrie gets a woman pregnant they take the child and disappear. It’s a barbaric practice that leaves all Valkyrie men to grow up without mothers. I suspect that they are so fast and loose with women because they know that they can never have a true relationship. Only the Royals get wives, mothers, and sisters.”

Chastity took one look at my shocked face and pulled me over to the corner of the classroom before harshly whispering, “what rock did you crawl out from? How do you not know this? You are a female Valkyrie. Wars have been fought for the pleasure of your kind’s company and it is the rest of the supernatural world that is used as cannon fodder.” When I just looked at her and let my ignorance shine through my eyes she dropped my hand and said, “You are playing a very dangerous game here. It would be wise for you to fully understand the consequences before you act Delia Ray Olsen.”

With that Chastity turned away from me to walk to her seat and the teacher called the class to attention. I heavily cloaked myself and tried to block out Chastity’s words so that I could gage how far my government class had progressed over the last two days but it was no use. I was too tired and too much information had been dumped on my head today. First, they tell me that I am some long lost princess because I am a girl, then I am given a priceless and fragile book to look after, Max thinks I have another Gift, my new friends are man whores, and my race of people are a bunch of kidnappers with mommy issues. My brain was just too full to process anything right now.

I let my gaze stray to the window as snid-bits of information floated in and out of my head and before I knew it the class was over. I walked to chemistry in a daze and kept myself cloaked even as Max sent over a dozen worried glances my way. Today we were doing the pre-lab write-up for an experiment we were going to run on Monday and I gave myself a break. I would just have to put in the extra time this weekend to complete the assignment. Cause it just wasn’t going to happen today.

At the end of class, Max walked up to me and gently asked, “you okay?”

I pushed free of the void and gave him a weak smile. “It has just been a really long day. I didn’t get any sleep last night and I am not used to interacting this much with people.”

“Anything I can do to help?” he asked and I almost asked if I could copy his pre-lab assignment but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It was my work and I needed to woman up and get my shit done.

“No, I am okay. Thanks for offering though. I will get a full night’s rest tonight and regain my functioning brain. Thank-God it’s the weekend and I have some time to catch up. It has been quite an eventful week.”

“You know you don’t have to do everything by yourself anymore,” Max said as he slid his lab notebook over into my hands. “You’re not alone anymore.” His words hit me like a ton of bricks and I felt my eyes start to water. Before I knew what I was doing I was up and in Max’s arms. My sudden hug startled him but after the initial shock, he gently embraced me back and rested his head on the top of mine. That feeling of warmth and protection engulfed me and I felt better than I had all day. A hug from a Valkyrie was even better than an afternoon espresso shot.

Too soon I pulled away and gave Max a watery smile and thanks before retreating to the void so that I would be able to run and catch the bus. I got on a different bus than the one that I rode home because I had a shift at Polly’s tonight. I had worked at Polly’s since before the school year started. The first thing I had done when the foster system placed me with Stella was make a deal with her where she got to keep all of the money from the state-provided checks if she left me completely alone. The second thing I had done was steal a tent and sleeping bag from her and found the nearest homeless camp. The third thing I did was spend three days in the void looking for a decent person to work for.

Polly Mathieson owned Polly’s but Camila Rodrìguez was the manager and the only reason the beachside restaurant did so well. Camila was a fair boss and employed good people that didn’t give me any trouble. She had taken one look at my dirty clothes and skinny frame and hired me on the spot. First, all I did was wash dishes, but after a couple of months Camila let me fill in for a waitress that called in sick and when I didn’t screw up too bad she promoted me to the wait staff and hired a new street kid to wash the dishes.

Polly’s location on the boardwalk brought in the tourists who were willing to pay fifteen dollars for a basket of fish and chips and top dollar for fruity mixed drinks, so the tips were pretty good. Mostly it was a family lunch and dinner spot, but on the weekends the bar stayed pretty busy until closing at two a.m. I was scheduled to work three shifts a week and I was on the list of people to ask if you needed a shift covered. Having a cell phone might mean that I would get even more work because the more flakey waitresses could call me the day of.

Friday night and weekend shifts were the best because that was when we were the busiest and people drank the most, so all the waitresses wanted to work. Camila had us on a rotating schedule so that we all got a piece of the more lucrative shifts. I was scheduled to work tonight, but I wasn’t the closer, so I should be done around ten. I had tomorrow all the way off and had the lunch shift on Sunday.

By the time I got to Polly’s, stored my backpack, and changed into my uniform of black slacks and a teal boat neck t-shirt it was after four but it was still pretty slow. However, that changed fast. By five we had a full house of love birds and by seven we had an hour waitlist. I quickly lost myself to the never-ending list of small tasks that accompanied getting people their food and drinks. One thing I loved about being a waitress was that it kept you too busy to think about anything else. The time always passed in a blur and as long as I smiled and was polite people left me pretty good tips. There were definitely worse ways to make money.