To be Human

1: Letalis Loquacitas Lincoln

My name is the worst. 

I should probably inform you that my parents bonded over their mutual love of Latin. Yeah, my parents are nerds of the highest order. Yes, they passed that down to me. I am fluent in Latin, not that anyone even speaks Latin anymore aside from my family. I love books, sarcasm, and anything nerdy. I am home schooled and Mom pretty much just lets me teach myself so, yeah, that's cool. Unfortunately that means I don't really have friends, and yet somehow I still have enemies. Only me, only me.

My older sister escaped the worst of it; Belle is a fairly normal name even if my parents intended it not in French but as Latin, Belle meaning prettily, charmingly, and handsomely. Belle went to a private school for middle school and high school so that she could take part in theater. She is currently in college studying Shakespeare and Theater and that sort of thing. I am still here, at home in the middle of nowhere, forests all around, no neighbors for a few miles in any direction aside from the Smiths across the road.

A bit about the Smith family; rather ordinary family, one mother, one father, and two sons. The older son is Adam and is currently dating Belle. The second son is my age. Well, two weeks older but close enough that our parents always combined our parties. Not that I ever really had any friends to invite so it was just my family, his, and his friends. Everyone just seems to assume that Arthur and I will fall in love. A quick note: Arthur is annoying and, while not bad looking he's kind of a jerk to me at least.

I refuse to fall in love with him. It's that simple. Mom says hes just pulling my pigtails. I think he's just an ass.

Back to me, my name is kind of a pain. It's pronounced  Lee-tahl-ees Low- qua-see- tahs.  Belle nicknamed me Lee and Adam (surprisingly a really nice guy) calls me Lilo, as in Lilo and Stitch. I am of average height with dark dirty blonde hair and eyes somewhere between  blue, green, or gray. I am a bit on the chubby side, not fat, not thin, just sort of in the middle where I could stand to lose a few pounds, about a size eight or ten depending on brand and cut and other variables (Don't even get me started about the frustration that is women's clothing). My hair is annoyingly straight as in it won't stay curled or stay up so I hacked it all off about a year ago and it's something like a very sloppy pixie cut. My hobbies include reading, writing, Latin, and crocheting. I also enjoy a bit of knitting though I just learned so I am terrible and very slow. 

"Letalis, are you almost ready?" Mom yells.

"Yeah, just a sec." I grab my bag. Honestly not even sure what is in here or where we are going but my bag has everything I could ever need. I pull on my combat boots and black hoodie. I feel a strange tugging sort of feeling in my gut. It's not the right time of the month for cramps. Must be a stomach bug or something. I ignore it and head downstairs.

"Letalis, are you okay? You don't look so well." My mom puts her hand on my forehead, "No fever. Is it that time of the month?"

"No! Mom! Do you really have to talk about that?"

"It's perfectly natural dear..."

"Ow." I wrap my arms around my stomach as the tugging grows more insistent.

"Susan, I think she's being summoned." Dad puts his arm around Mom.

"Oh. Letalis, listen to me very carefully. We love you. Don't tell anyone that you're human. You remember your Latin right? That is very important. Be careful what you write. You don't have to obey him. Make him explain everything to you. Write that down if you have to. Threaten it at least."

Dad shoves a leather bound journal and a quill and a vial of ink into my hands, "Family heirlooms. Love you."

"I love you guys too. What's going on? Why are you acting so weird?" I'm starting to worry now. The tugging is more insistent and then everything goes white as the pain stops. I think I might have fainted. I still seem to be awake though. 

"Human?" A male voice asks shocked.

"I have a name asshole."

"Of course this is the human I wind up with."

"Why do you say that as though you weren't one?" My head hurts and I think I might, yep, nope, I'm good. No puke. I reach up and flail my arm about looking for the source of the voice.

"Silly human, do you really think I am so simple? I summoned a human didn't I?"

"Is that what happened?" He has a nice voice, I'd enjoy listening to him talk if he was less creepy.

He chuckles, "Have you never been summoned before?"

Slowly the world starts to reassemble itself into clear images rather than blurry white specks. I am staring up at a stone ceiling, like a dungeon or something. The floor feels cold and hard, probably also stone. I sit up slowly and process my surrounding, I was right in my first assumption, the room looks a lot like a room in an old castle; stone bricks and firelight and a window, actually a glass window. That seems a little out of place for a castle.

I turn towards the voice I heard earlier and focus in on a young man not much older than myself. Dark hair, not long, but not short either. Black clothing in relatively medieval style, basic fantasy story kind of clothes; black cape, black leather jerkin, white shirt, black pants, and black leather boots. A silver buckle on his belt, a sword hangs from the belt, a leather bound book in his hand. Blue-green eyes watch me as I study him. 

"Explain this all to me." I demand.

"A human with attitude. I do not think you understand how this works little Human. I summoned you, not the other way around. You take orders from me."

"Is that just happened? I was summoned?" Dad said something to that effect. 

"Indeed."

"So, um, what?"

"I summoned you, Human." He sighs in exasperation, "I have said this yes? Are you daft?"

"If I wasn't so dizzy I would come over there and smack you, you arrogant prick. It's not like I've done this before. So, um, what exactly is happening? You summoned me and now what?"

He sighs, "You can write yes?"

"Of course I can!" I grab the quill and open the ink pot and dip it in and begin to write 'And then it began to snow inside the room' He dives and snatches the quill away from me, "Stop that before you kill us both!"

"What?" I screech, "That was my dad's! Give it back."

And then a small, cold, white flake landed on my nose.