Red Rain

Chapter 6 - How You See The World

I stagger back to the campfire, not looking where I'm going, despite the fact that failing to do so just led to me being run into by a dead dude. Paul has put on some Haim ("Don't Save Me") and the retro-style white zone seems to have gotten some of those around me into a more amorous mood. Everywhere I turn, couples are making out. Nobody I know, though, thank God-

"Ouch!"

I jump as the loud female voice hits my ears, then look down and see that I've just accidentally stepped on someone's cape, causing it to choke her a bit.

"Shit!" I cry, jumping back. "Oh God, I'm so sorry."

The girl looks up, allowing me to recognize her face - it's Juliet, and Dani's sitting next to her, staring into the fire. Guess she decided to give in to Paul's "peer pressure" after all.

"Oh, hello," Juliet says, peering up at me with black-lined greenish-gold eyes. An unusual color, very rare in Heaven. "No, it's okay, don't go away," she laughs as I try to walk away from her. "It's all right. Total accident, right?"

"Um...yeah, I guess."

"Seriously, I'm fine," Juliet says, still rubbing her neck. She then adjusts her black wig and smooths down her Goth-girl pleated skirt. "I'm glad I layered up under my fishnets," she adds, shivering as the breeze picks up a bit. "Which I actually had to borrow from Dani, believe it or not."

"You can keep it," Dani says. "Didn't I tell you that?"

"Yeah, but it's not really my normal style either," she laughs. Then she looks back up at me, and I feel oddly captured in her gaze. "Um, you're Alec, right? Alec Snow?"

"'Alex,'" I correct her. "With an 'x.'"

"Whoops, sorry about that." She laughs, reminding me of Fionna for some reason.

"It's all right. It's a pretty common mistake, surprisingly. And you're Juliet, right?"

"Juliet Ripley. That's my name, don't wear it out."

"Any relation to Sigourney Weaver in Alien?"

"I only wish I was as badass as her."

We both laugh at Juliet's joke, as does Dani. In the background, the song changes, this time to "Moves Like Jagger." "Ugh," I grumble. "So has the Steve Walker Memorial Playlist run out of good stuff already?"

"It keeps switching between good and bad," Juliet says. "I saw you go into the woods just now, right? Count yourself lucky you missed out on the ten-trillionth repeat of 'Thrift Shop' while you were gone." She vents her feelings about that song by sending a jet of elemental-powered air into the campfire, causing the flames to scatter away from her for a moment.

"You don't like 'Thrift Shop' either, huh?" I smile at Juliet, earning a smile back.

"Nope. I don't like rap, period." She thumbs her nose, which has a small, hook-shaped scar on the end, barely visible in the firelight. "And speaking of being gone, what happened out there?"

"Huh?" I ask, pretending to know nothing about it.

"You were walking up to the fire looking kinda weird. Like you might've been sick or something. The Castledown demons didn't spike our drinks or anything like that, did they?" Juliet clutches her soda can, then looks at the fire, like she's contemplating getting rid of it as soon as possible.

"No," I say. "That shouldn't even be possible. Not with sealed soda cans."

"Okay." Juliet sips her Coke, satisfied that it's safe. "So what's wrong, then?"