Zodiac

9

I spent 5 extremely uneventful hours in the cell before anything happened at all.

Finally, the sandy-haired boy was dropped of in the same cell I was in. "Hey, wasn't there another cell?"

He gave me a cocky grin. "You don't waste much time, do you? They put a mugger in that cell, so they decided to put me in here, where I'm less likely to be slaughtered." He glanced at me. "Although, from what I hear, you aren't much safer than he is."

I rolled my eyes. "That was an accident."

"Sure it was." He extended his hand. "I'm Aaron. Aaron Chase."

I eyed him warily before accepting his handshake. "Jackson. Jackson Davis."

He nodded and sat down against the wall. "So who was that girl?"

I smirked. "You were checking her out."

"I was not!" He burst, blushing, "I'm... just curious."

"Everybody in our school checks her out. It's a fact of life."

His blush faded. "So you're the lucky guy?" I tried to keep a straight face, but the idea was hilarious. "What's so funny?" he demanded.

I calmed my fit of laughter, still smiling. "We've known each other since fourth grade. If anything, she's more of a sister than a crush."

"Ah. I see." He couldn't hide his relieved tone. "So did they call your parents?"

I shrugged. "Probably, but they're out of town. Did they call yours?"

"They don't need to. My dad works for the police here, and my mom died in the military." He turned his head. "I was born in an Afghan village."

We shared an awkward silence for a while. He waited until the police chief had to go home before whispering to me. "Hey Jackson." He waved me over, watching for guards.

I scooted over to him, unsure of what he was doing. When he was sure the guards were looking away, he held out his palm. Inside of it was a pure red flame, with a single symbol shimmering inside.

  ♈  

My eyes widened as I watched him extinguish the flame. "How?!"

"SHHH!" He shushed me. "I can see that you're one of us. Show me your sign."

"I uh... don't know how." I muttered. He stared at me. "Honestly! I barely know what my sign is!" He shook his head and pressed his hand to my shoulder. I felt a shock and my vision cut to a large, golden roman two.

I pulled away and everything returned to normal. He signed for me to be quiet and gestured for me to make the sign.

I nodded and held my hands out, one over the other. I concentrated on the shock feeling from earlier and pulsed. Golden lightning flew from my higher palm to my lower, forming the exact symbol I saw.

  ♊  

He grinned. "Congratulations, Gemini."

He looked back out of the bars, where an officer out of uniform stood, gaping at us. He had clearly just seen my sign, and was surprised. Aaron's color drained. "Oh. Hi dad."