Telluric

Chapter III: Shadows, Larceny, and Family Heirlooms

III

Lunchtime arrived quickly, even though it was Monday. Snow began flittering down midway through the day, giving a peaceful contrast to the chaos that ensues normally within the cafeteria during lunchtime. Noah arrived on time, backpack in one hand, and Algebra worksheet in the other.

He sat down next to Mayla at a table on the far side of the room, next to the window. He nervously looked outside, in search for the masked man. Luckily, he seemed to not be there. Mayla was eating a turkey sandwich, Parvati was sleeping, as she normally did, and the boy next to Mayla was eating a bag of chips.

"Who are you?" Noah asked him without looking up. He ruffled through his bag searching for a bottle of water. "Not to be rude or anything, just curious."

"I'm Diego." The boy announced to Noah. Just as he found his water bottle, Noah took a sip and looked at him. Swallowing his water quickly, he began to choke on it. He coughed a cough that would put a 27-pack-a-day smoker to shame; for a good five minutes he coughed before he finally calmed down. When he was able to talk again, he stuttered out his first words.

"You're... e-eyes are... red?" Noah pointed out, hesitantly pointing to his eyes. Diego looked awkwardly at his chips. Mayla glared at Noah and then broke the tension. Feeling guilty and uncomfortable, Noah apologized for his comment.

"Anyway, Diego just moved from Mexico." Mayla spoke calmly, patting Diego on the back and continuing her lunch. Parvati remained sleeping like the dormouse, breathing softly and quietly. Noah nodded toward Diego, who smiled hesitantly.

Awkwardly, they all sat in silence eating their lunches. Suddenly, the tension was stabbed through by an adolescent boy shoving another adolescent boy, and the cafeteria roaring with shouts and teenagers clambering to create a fighting ring around the two.

Noah pursed his lips and just continued. Something caught his eye, however, near the window. A shadow of a small wall of snow was slithering, even though the snow wasn't. Noah squinted and watched the shadow slither across the ledge of the window. He blinked, and the shadow disappeared.

***

The day ended quickly afterword, and Noah began to trek home. He passed the Blackbird's Perch, and shortly after found Clary wandering the paper-white streets. The winter sun was beginning to paint its fire-y colors among the infinite canvas of sky, and the dabs of clouds. Clary approached Noah and hugged him. From under her sunglasses, Noah can feel the salty tears slide down her cheek.

"Clary, what's wrong?" Noah was worried. He had never seen Clary cry before.

"Noah..." She couldn't seem to get the words out. Her black lace-gloved hands wrapped around his head, and she just leaned on his shoulder. She was about a foot taller than him, making him seem quite short. Being shorter than most everyone else, he was used to it. "Something's happened." She whispered in his ear.

"What happened?" Noah asked, still embracing with the 20-year old. He felt impelled to begin rubbing the skin off his hands, but he abstained while embracing Clary.

"Someone broke into my shop..." She stopped herself. Clary seemed hesitant to reveal the rest of what she was going to say.

"What happened?" Noah repeated.

"And they took... my natural cure book." She let go of Noah and looked away, toward the warm colored sky, setting in the distance. Clary's family had always run a medicinal herb and natural cure shop in the middle of town, in a small shack named 'Toil and Trouble.' She hadn't really been too close to her family, but she adored the shop.

"That's horrible." Noah responded. Clary only nodded, still not looking toward him. She sighed sadly, and gripped his hand. "Do you have any idea who did it?" He asked. She shook her head solemnly.

"No. I don't even know that many people. To be honest, I think people are afraid of me. Or at least a bit wary. They stay away most of the time." She nearly whispered the last few words.

"Not me." Noah responded, gripping her hand. She smiled, looking down. Then shook her head once again.

"When I got home, I found this." She held out a small brooch. It was shaped like a spider resting upon a web, with a ruby in the middle, shaped like an hourglass. "It was left in plain sight too." She seemed to know more than she was letting on, though Noah didn't notice.

Noah felt uncomfortable looking at the amulet. It seemed too orchestrated to be a simply larceny. "Have you gone to the police?" Noah pondered aloud.

"Are you kidding?! Those ass-wipes wouldn't do anything for me!" She looked frustrated. The snow had stopped earlier, and as the navy-blue blanket began to cover this portion of the Earth, Clary let go of Noah's hand. "I should go." She told Noah after a while.

"Okay. I should too. My family hasn't seen me since yesterday afternoon." He told her. She nodded, they exchanged farewells, and Noah continued his trek home.

***

Noah's family was just beginning supper when he arrived. They went silent as soon as they heard the door slam. Noah unwrapped his blue scarf and placed around the banister of the stair.

"Noah?" His father called from the dining room. "Where the hell have you been?" He was obviously furious. Noah sighed and closed his eyes lightly before answering.

"Out." He answered, trying unsuccessfully not to provoke his father. Even if he loathed him, he didn't like to make people upset or uncomfortable, because it made him even more so. Noah began to rub his hands together.

"Honey, come eat dinner." His mother called worriedly.

"I'm fine."

"You haven't been here in over a day, at least have something to eat!" She replied. His father slammed his hand on the table, and Noah was sure it startled his mother.

"If he doesn't want to eat, let him starve!" He shouted at her. Noah sighed again, and began to climb the stairs, bringing his bag with him. He could hear his parents arguing downstairs. Well, it was mostly his father, who needed to calm the fuck down sometimes, as Noah would put it.

Noah stripped off his pants, and laid down under the blankets in only his boxer-briefs, the bandage and torn flesh slight stinging with pain, no more than a bee. He put his earphones in, shuffling to random songs that happened to be on an old iPod, updated with Noah's personal preferences, which his dad hadn't wanted anymore.

Noah's eyes began to close then, drowsily slipping downward, and just as they did, something caught his eye. He shot up, ripping his ear-buds out and stared out his window. In the light of the streetlamp, the Plague Doctor-Masked Man was staring up at Noah.

His vision began to become fuzzy, and Noah suddenly became incredibly drowsy. Not fighting it, he collapsed on his bed, and fell into a deep slumber.

***

When he awoke, and dawn's painting was bright and blue, he was surprised to find that it was already 8 o'clock.

"Shit..." He whispered. He jumped up and ran downstairs. There, his mother was just beginning to leave for her job at the hospital. She smiled.

"No school honey." She told him. "Have a great day." And she left.

Noah stood there for a few minutes, letting it sink in. Then he headed back upstairs and fell into bed, attempting to get more sleep on his day off, as the snow fell melancholy into beds as well.