Peppermint

Chapter 3 - Normal Person

***GABE***

Finals - done. Harris and I cross the street to go home just long enough to drop off our school stuff before meeting the two halves of Fionsi, plus the Patel brothers, at the movies to see Warcross.

At least, so our plans go.

I get the feeling those plans are changing the second we see this one guy flying rapidly down from his balcony on the third floor. Our floor, but he lives on the other end of the building from me and Harris. Anyway, he's flying, his white wings snapped wide open as he streaks through the air down to the ground.

At first, I think he's just showing off. Probably a newcomer - you can usually tell a brand-new scriv. Harris actually broke his arm in mid-June in our first week together as Guardians, because he was so eager to try flying that he just leaped out the window in Bearville and collided with the next building because he was looking back at me to look at my reaction. We ended up both benched for a month as a result.

This guy, however, I don't think he's showing off. When he reaches the ground, he dusts himself off with one hand, while in his other, he holds something that I can't really make out at this distance.

Harris and I both find ourselves walking his way. While we've got our pre-existing friends here in Spellman, we've had trouble making new friends in town, probably because we've had experiences none of the other average undead people around here have. But we've both agreed that we should try and put ourselves out there a little more. Especially in the event that we find some other queer dudes to make friends with. (I'm still a little bummed that Annie didn't move Kyle's scriv to Spellman with us - instead, he got reassigned to Tahoe to help with ongoing relief after Preston Holly's attack there, and I haven't seen him in six months.)

"Impressive wing work," I say. "You a natural-born scriv, or former human?"

As we get closer to the guy, I notice that the object he's holding in his hands is a pair of glasses with large black frames. He puts them on and blinks to recalibrate his vision, then crosses his arms, which are bare despite the cold. Those arms are ropy, bulging with muscle. He actually reminds me a little of Kyle - tall, beefy, with light brown skin, which makes his white light-scriv wings stand out more.

"Would you believe I'm none of the above?" He folds his wings up. "I actually started out as an angel, but after I died, I got a dual elemental. Light and water."

I look at Harris, whose jaw has been slack (probably from appreciating the sight of this guy), but now he speaks up. "Dual elemental? And you got the opposites of mine." He wrings his hands, hiding the tiny green Peppermint Corporation leaf symbols ink-dotted on his wrists.

"Oh, you got the same marks?" The guy holds out his wrists to reveal his own dots. "Yeah, they told me what these are supposed to be for. Some kind of mind-control shit?" He laughs and fiddles with the strip of cloth tied around his neck like the bastard child of a necktie and a scarf. "What, these green dots would let me hypnotize you?"

"Uh...not exactly..."

"Just kidding," he says with a suddenly serious look on his face. "I know what it's really for. Don't worry, Dom Park's told me to beware of Peppermint people too." He holds out his hand. "I'm Tommy Grant. But you can call me TJ."

Harris and I give him our names. "Short for Thomas?" I ask. "Haha, that's my middle name."

"No shit! Gabriel Thomas...did your parents name you after that one Die Hard villain? No, wait, you were probably born before that movie came out."

I shake my head. "It's my grandfather's name."

"Hey, you wanna come to the movies with us?" Harris asks, pretty much out of the blue.