Daisy

Clouded

"Hey Daisy. Do you want to go to get cheese curds today?" Alora asked. I could see he mouth salivating at just the thought of those deep fried, cheese filled, ranch dipped goodness.

"Sure, but let me call my padre first."

When I unlocked my phone I saw the voicemail that I had forgotten about after lunches upbeat discussion of who's hotter. With us girls fantasizing about Klaus and Nixon, and Apollo growling unapprovingly. I laughed at the memory, and hit the voicemail button.

"Please enter your passcode," the electronic voice came.

"1234," I whispered as I typed in the password. When the message started I heard ragged breaths and deep sighs.

"Hey kiddo. I need you to be strong, okay. I believe the hunters have found me and by the time you get this..." he stopped. My breath had become ragged and I could feel the sting of tears. "I need you to save your brother and trust your friends. Yes, trust your friends. I love you dearly and always will, okay. It will always be you and me against the world. You and me till the wheels fall off okay." And then the message ended.

I dropped everything, my backpack, my phone, jacket. All I had was my keys, and I ran to my bike. I heard Alora and Graces worried voices calling after me, but all I heard were my dad's words, replaying themselves in my head. I got on my bike and got out of that parking lot as fast as I could.

I got to my house in record time. When I got there the door was open. I walked slowly up to the door, I didn't want to see what was beyond it. I got to the door, I saw the inside. The inside of my house was destroyed. I could tell it was my dad fighting as there where scorch marks throughout the house. Broken glass, from pictures and broken vases littered the floor. I got to the end of the entry way, I froze when I looked to my right. There laying on the floor was my father. I ran over to him, sliding the last part on the hardwood floors. I slid up to his head. My hands reached out and placed his head on my . I flinched as I touched his skin. The warm and caring man I had known as father, was now just a cold lifeless shell. I tried opening his eyes, just to see the warmness they held every time he would look at me, but all I got where dead. I was always jealous of my dad's eyes. They would change color depending on his outfit of the day, but now, looking into them made me want to puke. The coldness looked back at me as if he had never even known life or happiness.

It felt like a dream that I would wake up from at any moment, but I knew this was no dream that I would awake from, and it killed a part of me to even think that.

I found a little bit of laughter though as I ran my hands through the remains of his beard. He had been growing it out for a while, and would boast about it as much as he did me. Now instead of the full, luxurious beard, he had one that was blotched upon his chin. Parts seemed to be torn straight from the flesh, covered in blood. The rest of his body was just as bad. He was torn from head to toe. I could see the remains of his plaid black and grey pajama pants, and what seemed to be the distant colors of blue and green from his Seahawks sweatshirt.

This couldn't be happening. He was the only one I had. He was always there for me. You heard the stories about the knight and shining armor saving the princess. He was my knight and now he was gone. I don't think I could handle this.

I felt myself being lifted from my father.

"NO! I need him! He can't be dead... He can't be..." my sentence carried off as I cried into the two shoulders of my best friends. They were just standing there, trying to sooth my now broken heart.

I willed myself to stop crying. My friends led me out of that house and into Alora's car. On the way out I saw Apollo hanging up the phone, he looked like he wanted to run to me, but he stopped himself.

........................................................

I ended up at Alora's house that night. I was nested between my two best friends. They were both asleep next to me, but I couldn't fall asleep. I felt like I was suffocating. I could still feel the coldness of his body. I could see the shattered pieces of his eyes. All was still vivid in my mind, and I know the image would never fade.

I crawled my way out of the cocoon my friend had put me into, and made my way outside through the kitchen, past the living room, and out the sliding glass door, and into her backyard. The night, I'm sure was cold, but I couldn't feel anything.

I laid down in the middle of her yard. I looked up at the stars and thought about all the time I had spent with my dad. The time I asked him if we could make a snowman, and he said one day we would. That day never did come around. All the nights we would stay up talking about the most random stuff. The homework problems he would push me through, never giving me an answer, and every time I would figure it out on my own he would get a proud look in his eyes, that I knew was directed at. I tried all my life to get that look. It always meant the world to me when it was directed at me.

With all these thoughts swirling in my head, a new emotion took over my body...anger.

How dare he leave me here, alone, in a world he said we would together. Always me and him against all the odds, and he left me here to face those odds alone. How dare he have the audacity to tell me to be strong, when he knew the only one that ever kept me strong was him.

"HOW DARE YOU LEAVE ME HERE ALONE! YOU TOLD ME THE WHEELS WOULD NEVER FALL OFF!" I could feel the tears streaming down my face. I could taste the saltiness as some made their way into my mouth.

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew they would never be true, I would never be able to hate my father.

I laid there in the grass, thinking about the last message. He told me to save my brother and trust my friends. I closed my eyes, thinking he was crazy, why in the world would Jackson need saving, but then again, he did always have an annoying habit of being right.

Then it hit me like a door. He was Jedidiah King. One of the most feared and wanted elementals ever. Of course they would want to erase the likely hood of another King ever ruining anything again. But why the hell would he need me.

No matter how much I thought, I knew I would need help. I slothed my way back to Alora's room, only to see both of them up. They looked at me expectantly.

"I have to tell you both something."

I began at the beginning with my mom and me setting her in flames. I went on about everything. From the Moon Goddess, to Apollos true self, the council, elementals, the training my dad tried to pass down. By the time I was done, I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. What happened next seemed to drop that bag of bricks right back onto my shoulders.

What I expected to happen was them to tell me I was crazy, or tell me I was flooded with grief, but neither happened, the opposite actually.

They looked at each other and seemed to be having a conversation with their eyes. When they turned back Grace gave a big sigh, like she found out she had a surprise calculous test. I tried looking at Alora, but she never found my gaze. Grace then turned to me and said six words, that I had a feeling would change everything.

"We have to tell you something."