Of Smoke and Dust 🖋

Chapter Two: a faerie beetle, a new friend, and a mutinous brother

CHAPTER TWO

Past

August 5th 2016

10:13 AM

Maia never would have put the beetle inside the older boy's shoe if it weren't for Kitty.

At least, that's what she called the girl in her mind, because she was wearing a purple shirt with a grey cat on it proudly, and anyways, she hadn't introduced herself as anything else. For all Maia knew, the girl's name was Kitty, and she was wearing the shirt for the exact reason. It wasn't impossible. And since Kitty hadn't thought introductions were very important when she'd run up to Maia just a couple of minutes earlier, Maia hadn't bothered to share her own name, either.

Maia had been sitting on the sun-warmed sidewalk just outside her house, searching for small, glittery stones hidden among the rocks decorating the path on each side of her, when a small black bug scuttled past. She wouldn't have even noticed it if it weren't for it's shell - which, when it caught the sunlight right, turned a shimmering green.

Maia was sitting criss-cross-applesauce like she'd been taught, so when the beetle slowed to a stop right by her left sneaker, it stayed in her line of sight. Curious, Maia paused her searching to examine it. For a creature that was supposed to be icky, she noted, it was very interesting and even kind of pretty - like what she'd expect a faerie's beetle to look like. Maia was too old to not have doubts about things like 'magic', but still, it was fun to imagine. So fun that she decided to press her finger to the ground, allowing the beetle to crawl up and onto the palm of her hand.

Enter Kitty, and a whole bout of craziness Maia wanted to say she regretted, but couldn't quite manage to.

After all, her parents had taught her not to lie.

"Hey." Someone tapped her shoulder, and Maia startled, almost dropping her new insect-friend. "What's that?" A small finger jabbed in the direction of the faerie beetle.

"A bug." Maia said. To make up for the fact that she'd almost jumped, she didn't give the stranger the satisfaction of turning around. "Duh."

"I knew that already." The stranger scoffed. "I meant what kind. Is it poison?"

"No." Maia said, even though she wasn't sure. She gave the beetle a doubtful look. Suddenly, she didn't want to hold it any longer. "Here." She said, turning to face the stranger for the first time. "You take it, if you want it so bad."

Brown eyes blinked owlishly at her. "I," Said the girl, soon to be regarded as Kitty, "Have a better idea."

Which was how Maia and Kitty-not-Kitty ended up creeping towards an unsuspecting boy of about ten years of age sitting on the pouch of a house just down the way.

He had short blonde hair, brown eyes just a little lighter than Kitty's, and (most importantly) flip-flops. If Maia were to guess, she'd say that Kitty was his sister.

An assumption only solidified when Kitty bounced right over to him and sing-songed, "Evvvvvan, I found a new frrrrrieeeend."

Maia wasn't sure when they'd become friends (they didn't even know each others' names), but she was happy with the development all the same. She'd just moved here over the weekend, was going to school the next week, and couldn't be happier that she now had someone to play with. Better yet, this someone resided just down the street.

So, yes. Maia had been willing to go along with Kitty's plan. But who could blame her?

"Oh?" Evan was playing some sort of video game on his I-pad, and paused to give the two girls what Maia assumed was supposed to be a and-why-should-I-care look.

"Her name is Blake." Kitty said brightly, the picture of innocence.

Meanwhile, just as Kitty had instructed, Maia was oh-so-subtly inching towards Evan's exposed foot. But at this, she froze. "What?"

Kitty gave her an exasperated look and Maia clammed up.

Evan stared at Kitty. "Lee," He said, "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything." Kitty informed him. If Evan noticed the slight inflection on I, he dismissed it.

And that's when Maia dropped the beetle on his exposed foot.

And that's when Kitty took the cue to start laughing uproariously.

And that's when the two, behaving like any eight-year-olds would, ran away in a fit of giggles, convinced their tiny prank was the funniest thing in history.

And, at least in Maia and Kitty's book, it was.

Until it wasn't.

Evan ran after them, screeching at his younger sister. "Can't even do it yourself, had to get a friend! Brat!"

Maia and Kitty darted in the direction of Maia's house. As Evan, with his older, more experienced legs, closed in, Maia dove into the hedge surrounding her yard. And Kitty followed her.

It was itchy. Their hair caught on stray branches and snarled. But they were having too much fun to care.

Evan continued to shout at them with increasing frustration, clearly not willing to crawl into the shrubbery himself. Then, abruptly, he stopped. Blessed silence fell over that particular plot of land on that particular street, and the two could hear quiet footsteps racing away.

Understandably, both Kitty and Maia were suspicious. And they were right to be, for hardly a minute later, small noises akin to what one would hear as a child attempted to tip-toe towards a cookie jar grew steadily closer. Maia and Kitty leaned forward as one, attempting to peer through the leaves and spot whatever horror Evan had managed to find and intended to inflict on them.

Kitty caught sight of something green and distinctly plastic-looking, and her eyes widened. She tugged on Maia's arm. "He got a water gun for his birthday, we need to-"

But they were too late.

"Ha!" Evan crowed as water doused the hedge right by Kitty's head. The two girls shrieked and hurried to clamber out, but Evan was relentless. As the pair fled to the safety behind Maia's house, Evan targeted Kitty again and again - while he sprayed Maia occasionally, it was clear his ire was with his younger sister. By the time Maia managed to yank open the back door, the two were soaked and laughing hysterically.

"Your fault." Maia gasped out as puddles collected near their feet.

Kitty simply shook her head, clutching her stomach.

And so began a glorious friendship.