Centum Malediction

Chapter 4-14

Friday, September 24th. 2010

Alexander

Despite Heather's protests, Alexander insisted that Satori sat in the backseat with him on the ride back. Brianna drove in silence as Alexander explained what happened to Satori. Her eyes grew heavy with worry when Alexander explained Xkaein's attacks.

"He took quite a beating, he was really brave." Heather interrupted, leaning back around the front seat of the car. Satori smiled at Alexander, clearly agreeing with Heather's statement.

"I was more desperate than brave." Alexander murmured, not enjoying the sudden compliment. In his mind he did what anyone else would have and only succeeded because of luck.

"Don't be like that, it's true." Heather argued. Satori nodded, reaching her hand forward and placing it on Alexander's face just as she had in the past. She was still smiling, which was unlike her. It was rare to see her so happy. "Why are you telling her this anyway? She doesn't talk." Heather said, breaking the connection between Alexander and Satori. She withdrew her hand and looked down, her expression returning to a blank one.

"Heather!" Alexander scowled, giving her a mean look. An awkward silence overwhelmed the car stopping Alexander from telling Satori the whole story. He tried to resume where he left off, but she just looked away as if she weren't interested. It was clear that Heather's words had offended her.

When Brianna dropped them off back home, she was quick to rush into the house. Heather leapt forward, hugging Alexander tightly. This time Alexander did push her away, having recovered enough to stand on his own.

"Should we meet tomorrow morning?" Brianna asked Alexander, looking into his eyes.

"I guess we have no choice if we want to put an end to this once and for all." Alexander shrugged. His mind was still on Satori. He was anxious to follow her inside and make sure she was okay.

"Don't worry, as long as you're there I'm sure we can put a stop to all this nonsense once and for all." Heather grinned. Brianna looked as if she wanted to say something, but remained silent.

"Well, I'm going to check on Satori." Alexander said hastily. He turned and all but ran to get away from them before Heather could object. He didn't trust her at all. First she wanted magic, and was willing to risk her life to get it, now she wanted to seal the spells? Part of him wanted to break off any relationship he had with them in general. But he felt bad for Brianna. She was always being forced around by Heather. If only there was a way to talk to her without Heather there, or a way to exclude her from the group entirely.

He couldn't believe how he was thinking. For a moment he was acting like a normal boy his age, anxious to exclude an annoying friend from his clique. There was much more at stake than personal relationships. Once this was over he could resume life as normal, finish his degree, and become a world renowned philosopher. Of course now that he knew of magic's existence, could he really philosophize?

"What happened?" Ms. Aoki was on Alexander the moment he stepped into the house.

"I don't know, she was fine a second ago." Alexander looked for Mr. Reynolds, but he was nowhere in sight. No one was going to help him out of this one.

"She went with you because she trusted you, maybe that was a mistake? It's not easy for her to trust someone you know." Ms. Aoki scolded.

"I know." Alexander let out a heavy sigh, a thought coming to his mind. "That's why I want to learn sign language. I know she's fluent in it."

"That won't work." Ms. Aoki shook her head. "Satori's refusal to communicate goes beyond simple speech. While she is known to sign on occasion, generally when she gets frustrated with me, she only uses it as a last resort. Remember she is capable of speaking just like me and you, she just chooses not to. It's a psychological condition that we have been working to overcome for years."