The Hirt

Chapter Nine

9

Heather dropped her bags on to the bed closest to the door.  Ivy sulked into the room, followed closely behind by Jimba.  Ivy thrusted her monstrous bags onto the other bed and looked at Jimba pointedly.

“You can sleep on the floor,” Ivy snapped at her.  Jimba shrugged off her bags and plopped down on the space between the beds with a contented, “Okay!”

Heather looked around the tiny hotel room.  An old, three-legged wooden stool stood in the corner by the door.  To the left of the door was a small bathroom, with a clean mirror and a pristine white countertop. A small TV sat in front of the two twin beds, and a huge window overlooking the dirty parking lot took up most of the side wall.  She could hear Matt and Henry shuffling around in the room next door through the paper-thin walls.  Heather heard a tentative knock on their door, and Jimba rushed over to greet the guest.

Damien’s white-crowned head poked through the door.  “Good night, girls.  We start immediately tomorrow morning, so get a good night’s sleep.  We’ve set up the Kidellian Headquarters in an empty building down the street, so that’s where we’ll meet tomorrow at 8:00 am, sharp, alright?”

“Yes, Sir.  Thank you, Sir,” Ivy groveled, standing up straight when she saw it was Damien.

Heather ignored her.  “What exactly are we starting tomorrow?”

“Our search for Lykos’main Mordans, duh.  He’s got three of them, remember?  That’s the whole reason we’re here,” Ivy scoffed.  Damien had opened his mouth to explain, but Ivy rushed in and took any opportunity to make Heather feel dumb.  Damien closed his mouth, and nodded with a half-smile on his face.

“That’s right, Ivy.  Anyway, I should get going.  Sleep tight, girls,” Damien said.  He quietly shut the door behind him and slowly trudged down the hotel hallway.  Heather turned to face her bed and flopped down on top of it, completely exhausted.

Jimba giggled.  “Tired already? We haven’t even started yet!”

“How are you not? Just hearing what we have to do tomorrow is enough to make me want to sleep forever,” Heather stated, rolling over so she was lying on her back and stared at the ceiling.  “How are you guys not stressing out about what we have to do?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Jimba laughed.  “Maybe it’s just because Damien has trained us how to handle stress and how to channel all of our excess energy, which helps me not to be tired.”  Jimba sat down in between the two beds and crossed her legs.  Ivy joined her, leaning her back against her bed and bringing her knees up.  Heather sat up on her bed and turned around so she was facing the two girls sitting on the floor.  She looked at Ivy, studying her flawless features and Heather could see the strength beneath her cat-green eyes.

Ivy shrugged.  “I’ve never really known anything different.  I’m just used to it.” Ivy directed her gaze towards the floor, unable to meet Heather’s eyes.  She fiddled with her hands under the intense stare.  Heather glanced over at Jimba questioningly. 

Jimba shook her head in confusion.  “No one knows that much about Ivy.  She doesn’t talk to us much, but we’ve just kind of accepted it as her being Ivy.  I’ve never much thought about where she came from.”

“I’m still here, you know.  I’m sitting right next to you.  I can hear everything you’re saying.” Ivy snapped.

Jimba shrunk back, hurt coming over her face.  Ivy sighed.  “Sorry, Jimba.  It’s just . . .” Ivy took a deep breath.  “When I was four years old, my parents, my two younger sisters and I were on vacation.  I don’t really remember where, but it was somewhere tropical.  Anyway, we were at a fancy restaurant, and I remember getting ready for it with my sisters, they were twins.  The twins were my best friends, and we tried doing each other’s hair, but gave up when Rose got a hairbrush stuck in Lily’s hair,” Ivy stared off into space, lost completely in the old memory.  Heather assumed that Lily and Rose were Ivy’s younger sisters.  “When we got to the restaurant, we immediately knew something was wrong.  Well, at least I did.  It was just, something in the air . . . I could just tell something bad was going to happen.  We were seated on the back patio of the restaurant, eerily alone.  Lily, Rose, and I were play-kicking each other under the table, without a care in the world.  I heard footsteps approaching our table, but my focus was under the table with my sisters.  A loud crack sounded, and I heard my father scream my mother’s name.  All three of us looked up.  A man stood holding my limp mother by her oddly-bent neck.