They Call Me Daring

Chapter 38

I whirled.
    "Meg?"
    "Yeah?
    "You're a freaking genius!" I grinned, clapping my hands together.
    She smiled weakly. "Thought it might work to have someone on the inside."
    "Yeah!" I clenched and unclenched my hands, my brain whirling, a plan formulating in my mind even as I spoke. "This is great... this is really, really great... this makes it so much easier... it's perfect. Tonight, you'll show up at the meeting, make like you're completely on their side, and-"
    I stopped and turned to her, my smile growing even wider. "And you'll be bringing along a guest."
    She raised an eyebrow. "I'm gonna make a wild guess and say you're going to be there somehow."
    I grinned. "A black hoody, low lighting... it'll work. I'll sit and listen to their plans, see what they're gonna do... Maybe I can even throw in some fake information or something, mess it all up... Maybe I won't even have to show myself!" I said excitedly.
    "Glad I could help." She smiled, getting to her feet. "But in the meantime..."
    "In the meantime?"
    "I think we ought to do something to calm you down enough so your eyes go green again." She said thoughtfully. "And who knows. Maybe you can get your skin back."
    "That would be nice." I agreed.
    "It would." She nodded, and I looked at her curiously. She shrugged.
    "It's a shame to let good features go to waste. You don't look good pale." She said defensively.
    "And you're saying I looked good before?"
    "Liam?"
    "Shut up?" I finished for her, and she grinned.
    "Yeah, you guessed it."
    It was already around 5 o'clock. By the time she was finished with me and what she called "meditative exercise" it was nearly seven. And I couldn't move my arms.
    "This should be a form of torture." I groaned, curling up into a ball and imagining myself pulling my spaghettied muscles back together.
    "It's yoga." She said, and I tried to ignore her amused expression. I was so glad she hadn't made me do this in front of people, like on the lawn. Instead we'd cleared a large space in the center of the attic and found some old yoga mats of my mother's to unroll.
    "Now..." She took a deep breath. "Rising sun-"
    "NO." I flopped back onto my back and splayed my arms and legs out in every direction, trying to ignore the throbbing in every muscle in my body. I close my eyes and tried to inhale and exhale deeply like she'd taught me.
    A minute passed. I heard the sliding of her yoga mat, and she muttered. "... downward dog...."
    I groaned, just feeling the memories pull at the backs of my calves.
    Again, I was infinitely glad she was the only one who knew how unbelievably inflexible I was. Well, her, and the occasional lookout guard who switched posts. Every once in a while we would hear the creak of the ladder, and freeze in whatever painful stretch we happened to be on, while the poor person would stroll quickly through, throwing awkward glances at us like we were doing something strange. Yoga in the attic. It's completely normal, right?
    "Liam, how can you do all those amazing acrobatic moves if you can't even touch your toes!" She nudged me.
    "You really think they're amazing?" I moaned in response, and she kicked me.
    "Besides." I let out a long, low breath. "You don't need to be able to touch your toes to jump off of buildings, do you?"
    "But it's healthy. Look, lots of people can touch their toes."
    "Yeah. But not lots of people can jump off buildings, now, can they?" I retorted, and I could feel her sneering at me.
    "You done sleeping?"
    "I can't sleep."
    "Well, then we get get ready for round three."
    "NOOOO!" My eyes whipped open and I jerked up into a sitting position.
    She grinned. "Maybe we won't have to."
    "What?" My heart relaxed, and I didn't bother to ask, just lied down again in relief.
    "Your eyes." I heard her say, and I smiled, not bothering to open them.
    "And my skin?"
    "Hmmm... maybe little darker?" She said hopefully, and I shrugged.
    "So, when are you gonna make up with your Dad?" She said after a moment.
    "What?" I sat up again, blinking. "I don't know what you're talking about."
    "Yes you do." She rolled her eyes. "Don't think I'm blind, Liam."
    "How could you tell?" I asked grudgingly after a moment.
    "Well, it's pretty obvious. You two haven't spoken since the 'incident'." She said, making air quotes. "I saw what happened when you lost it in here that day. I saw the look on your face when he backed away."
    I blinked, then shrugged. "Yeah, so what? It- it doesn't matter. No big deal."
    Meg snorted incredulously. "No big deal? Are you freaking kidding me?" Now it was my turn to look down at my feet. "It definitely is a big deal. Right now, with my mom confused and... and against you, against me... I can't stand to watch you and your dad. How you look at him, your face every time someone says his name. If it hurts me, then I don't want to think about how much it's hurting you."
    "It's nothing..."
    "Shut up, Liam. Men." She slapped her forehead. "You'd rather ignore your pain than let anyone know you actually have feelings."
    "Pain? What pain-"
    "Oh my god. No, you're going to make up with your Dad, or-"
    "Or what?" I smirked. "What are you going to do?"
    "Liam Trackerson, you will apologize to your father or so help me I- I won't help you get into the meeting tonight." She grinned demonically.
    "You wouldn't. The future of humankind depends on that..." I stared at her. "And you would risk it all just to get me to- to- wait, you said apologize. Why on God's earth am I the one apologizing?!"
    "Because you're too proud to see that part of it is your fault." She rolled her eyes. "You and your Dad are more alike than you know. You're both too prideful to admit you've done something wrong-"
    "What did I do wrong!?"
    "You would forgive him!" She cried. "Sure, he might have made a mistake. He was scared Liam. Terrified. His own son was turning into a monster. He was confused... And you need to suck it up, bite your cheek, whatever, and forgive him."
    "He won't listen." I said in disgust.
    She raised an eyebrow. "You really think your own father would hate you that much? I'm sure he's just as eager to stop avoiding you as you are him. He'll understand, I'm sure-"
    "No, Meg." I shook my head sadly. "No, he won't. He never has. Never."
    She blinked, opening her mouth, then deciding against it and closing it again. She threw up her hands. "You know what? I give up. You can keep living in your world of poor Liam, but I'm not going along with it. Whatever. You can do whatever you want. But just don't pretend it doesn't hurt, because I can see right through you. Got it?" She stared me down, then abruptly spun away and left, just like that, leaving me sprawled on a dusty yoga mat in the attic while the wind whistled above.