The Academy

Chapter 2: SIAMESE

“Siamese, play with me!”

I looked down coldly on the little girl in front of me.

Her deep blue eyes, almost black, lost some of their brightness. “Please?”

My voice came out frosty, with a very noticeable British accent. “Does it look like I want to play with you?”

The little girl hesitated, took a step back. I narrowed my eyes, slipping a knife out of my belt, and she ran.

I shoved the knife back with far more force necessary, grumbling. What a bother. I hadn’t been like them when I was little.

You don’t even know what you were like when you were little, said a voice in my mind. I looked down and saw my dear Siamese cat, Lilac. Her green eyes glowed at me,

I hissed in a challenging tone, “What was that?”

You know what they say is a lie. You don’t remember anything, and not because of a head wound.

“Please shut up,” I grumbled. This was my own cat, treating me like an idiot. There are limits!

“You should just be glad I can hear you,” I told my cat sternly, trying to change the subject. “Not just any person can read an animal’s thoughts.”

So you tell me, often. And, don’t say it, not a lot of Mylfasts can control things with the mind as well as you do, either. And I don’t see why you speak in a British accent, when you’ve only been in England once.

I growled at her, “I lived there for ten years.”

She mewed innocently back.

Eventually I started to pace around, every once in a while casting a glance at my suitcase. I was all ready to go. Why wasn’t Mother here yet? She had insisted to see me off, and had promised not to be late… but at this rate, I’d have to leave without seeing her.

Not that it matters much. I knew for a fact that Mother was a complete ditz.

I checked the clock on the wall. Ten minutes, then I’d have to go to the chauffeur waiting to take me to the airport. I resumed pacing.

Moments later my mother burst in, stepping right on Lilac’s foot. She completely ignored Lilac’s noises of complaint while she cried, “I’m so sorry, dear, I was just reading my magazine on women’s fashion and completely lost track of the time, so sorry, it won’t happen again—”

“Enough,” I told her, irritated. “Look, Mother. You’re not going to see me for a long time, and you’re late for the last time you’ll see me!?”

Hey, what about me? Lilac asked me, outraged.

She won’t apologize, trust me, I told Lilac mind-to-mind, so Mother couldn’t hear.

She promptly burst into tears. “Mommy’s so sorry, Siamese!” she sobbed. “I’m so s-sorry!”

And there’s the other problem. Every time I scold her, she starts crying. Every time I greet her, she bubbles over in happiness. She was insane. The Elders tell me it was because she had a forbidden lover. They exterminated him and she never recovered.

When I was little I questioned the whole affair, but after a year I realized they were right. It wouldn’t do to have some non-Mylfast in our Mansion; if they came back even after told not to, it’s fastest to kill them. The Elders, in any house, are always right.

I sighed and patted my mother awkwardly on the back. “It’s fine, Mother. Take care of yourself, all right?”

She brushed some of my raven hair out of my eyes, her tearstained face facing mine. “Such beautiful eyes,” she said softly, lost to the world. She didn’t even fight as I removed her hand from me. “I’m sure you look alike now.”