The Thean Tale

/4

CAIN

I don't know how to keep myself in check around that girl. I never could. Alexandra Mason was and always will be the only person on this planet who makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time. I couldn't stand her but she was practically my sustenance as children. She's the very death of me.

But it's been ten days since she's walked out of that room and I don't feel any more alive than before. I do, however, very much deserve her behaviour. Because – let's face it – I am an absolute, world-class jerk. For these ten days, I've been wallowing in self-pity and complete and utter boredom. And the Council? They're disappointed with the way I handled the entire situation. So now they've given me random, useless and terribly dull tasks to do as a sort of punishment.

Which is why I'm here now aimlessly walking along the Boundary. But I guess Fate decided ten days is enough and wanted to bring back that spark of interest in my life, because about twenty feet away from me, someone just randomly decides to vault themself over the Boundary.

I've always loved the Boundary. It's my favourite feature in all of the city. I find it to be the most fascinating thing in all of Vaythea. But the rest of the Council will most likely disagree with me because they're jealous that the Guard came up with the concept of the Boundary and not them. And it's a very important part of Vaythea. It acts as a fence for the house that is our city.

But the only thing the Boundary has in common with a fence is that it keeps people out and in. Cool Fact Number One about the Boundary: it's practically invisible. One can't see it no matter how carefully they look. The only time it's visible is when artificial light falls on it. So if you're looking for a route out through the Boundary, you'd need a torch.

Cool Fact Number Two: it's charged, got its own individual generators that keeps it humming with electricity all day long. Don't even put a finger on that thing unless it's off (which is basically never) or unless you're looking for a more . . . electrifying form of suicide. So, if you want that way out, you need to have those kind of skills to vault over a ten-foot high wall. Unless, of course, one particularly enjoys being fried to crisp.

And that person didn't get fried to a crisp. Wow, they've got some serious skill up their sleeve, then.

Surrounding the Boundary is a forest, thin at first but then thick enough to be a part of the prehistoric ages. This person is about to run into the forest, but as a Council member, it's one of my jobs to stop, question and then permit a person to just do something like this. So I yell out for them to wait and they turn. That's when I realise it isn't just any person. It's Al.

I frown. "Well, this isn't what I expected."

"Aw, when is any situation with me ever up to your Council standards?" The Boundary muffles her voice and blurs her features slightly.

"No, let's not do this. I've realised my mistake, okay?" I plead.

"What mistake could you have made? No, if anyone's made a mistake, it's me. I shouldn't have punched you in the face. You had every right to call me useless after I saved your goddamn butt from a bloody monster," she says, a saccharine venom dripping from her tone.

"Don't be like this, Alex. Please."

"Be like what? Am I still not useless enough for you?"

"Why are you doing this? I'm . . . I'm hurting."

She scoffs. "Oh, you're hurting? I hurt you? That's rich. Was it my lack of 'obedience' that hurt you? Or maybe it must've been when I called you out for being a true and proper jerk? Or maybe -"