(The New) Power of the 8 Elements: Part Two

Chapter Two: Discovering Help

"Failure will never overtake me if the determination to succeed is strong enough." - Og Mandino
PRESENT DAY
CELESTE

The next day, I think Lucifer and I forgot we had sex and as soon as we woke up, we just stared at each other and turned bright pink. The bonus of that dilemma was, we had woken up at 4 in the morning which gave us enough time to pretend like we hadn't slept in the same bed for a good ten hours. Mama would never suspect a thing. The only downside was Lucifer and I had to catch up on about two hours of sleep.

As the two of us walked down for breakfast, everyone practically pretends like nothing had happened the other day. Lucifer doesn't bring up how we had sex. But at least we could go to school and say that we did it. I'm not in any mood for any kind of French pastry for breakfast, so I pour Lucky Charms into a bowl and begin eating (picking out the cereal and eating the marshmallows)—too lazy and tired to get milk.

As Rune walks down the stairs, she grabs the remote from the island counter and turns to GMA. They, of course, do that thing where they list all of the stories they're covering, one of which happens to be about the body they found.

"The body was identified as the missing Curtis Kingsley, a senior who goes to Diamond Hills High school."

"I didn't even know Curtis was missing. Everyone said he was in the hospital," Lucifer says. He's a little less terrible-looking than me, but I can still see the dark shadowy circles under his eyes. (It's only a dark one thing.)

"Apparently he was. Did you know him?" Silver asks.

"He's in theater with me. He played the—what was it—the flute."

"Aw, poor kid. Seemed like he had a great life ahead of him."

"He did. He got a scholarship to Harvard and was actually really excited about graduating."

"All the means to give him justice," I whisper.

Unfortunately, my secret comment isn't so secret, and Lucifer hears.

"What was that?"

"Uh...nothing," I say, denying everything.

The two of them stare at me awkwardly, and then return their gazes to the television just as the story about the murder actually begins playing.

"No, no, no," Mama says, taking the remote from Rune's hand and turning the TV off.

"Mama!" she complains.

"No murder stuff at 6:30 in the morning. We're going to have a regular breakfast."

"Where's Proteus?" Rune asks after a long moment of silence.

"Early shift. He's not going to be here for dinner unfortunately."

Proteus actually has a degree in history and has a job as an archivist. He says he enjoys the work to us, but sometimes I can hear him complaining to Mama that he wants something a little more ambitious when they expect us to be asleep. After an incredibly awkward breakfast, Lucifer and I get in his car. It is a fifteen to twenty minute drive to school. Sometimes it's twenty five minutes depending on how bad the traffic was.

Unlike yesterday, the highway is pretty smooth. When it gets too quiet, Lucifer turns on the radio to block out the deafening noise of two people refusing to talk to each other.

"So...are we going to talk about...it?"

"What? It? Oh, that..."

"I saw you pretending like it never happened at the table."