Thaw Fickle Buskin

Unpredictable Climates

We all sat in a small circle underneath the falling gazebo. Kanoa was trying her best to hide the light shining from inside while I was doing my best to calm the boy down. The clouds above had become darker, but there was still no sign of rain. The air was heavy and still. There was a certain sting in the static air, like the hurt of being find out. The pain of a secret being exposed to the wrong person at the right time.

I picked at the chipping paint of the bench we were seated at. I flinched at the sudden bite of a sliver. The boy turned his head quickly at my sudden movement. His dark brown eyes were coated over by uncertainty and an unknown fear. I could feel Kanoa becoming more and more cautious by the second. I knew she didn't want this boy to know. But we had no choice.

I leaned over to Kanoa and whispered, "I'm sorry. We should have been more careful."

She shrugged and gave me a weak smile. "It's fine. Who knows? Maybe he'll end up helping us."

Kanoa said this with no ounce of believability. She was just trying to make me feel better about the situation. If I had a choice, I would take all of her pain and put it on myself just to take the fog out of her eyes. But I knew that wasn't an option. I just had to do the best I could for her.

"Okay, then," I sighed, turning towards the boy. "Let's start small. My name's Beatrice and this is Kanoa. We're seniors at Etaim High. You're the new kid, right?"

He nodded. "Uh, yeah. My name's Garrett. I just moved in last week."

I rubbed my hands together. "Now that we have that out of way, why don't you explain why you were listening in on our conversation?"

Garrett gulped and bit his lip. I shrugged at Kanoa, who leaned forward and softly said, "Don't worry, we won't judge you. This is a public place, after all."

Garrett scanned Kanoa's face for a minute. I was wondering if he saw what I saw; that constant storm thundering across her face. The rosy cold bringing up color in her cheeks. The small hairs falling lazily in front of her gaze. The absolute natural beauty that was Kanoa. Or maybe he just saw the raw power she possessed. The part of her that wasn't really her.

"I was running away from a guy," Garrett finally said. "I think his name was Griffin?"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, him. The jerk."

Garrett let out a laugh. "Totally. I was just grateful the others weren't with him. Anyways, I was trying to go through the bushes so he couldn't reach me--I assumed he was too big to squeeze in the thick bushes--when I heard you guys talking. At first I thought it was a joke, but then I saw her. I saw you," he said directly to Kanoa. "And you had that weird glowy thing everywhere...it looked to real. And then I tried to run away from that when I tripped on a rock. And now we're here."

Kanoa took in a deep breath and looked down at her hands. She burrowed her eyebrows together. She then put them in her pockets, entire body suddenly uncomfortable. There were now symbols of an unknown language trailing up and down her skin. I wanted to ask if she knew what they were, but I had a sickening feeling she didn't want me to know.

"Are...are you scared of me?"

This question through both Garrett and I off. She sounded so defeated. Garrett was clearly in a dilemma. I remembered being frightened of Kanoa when I first saw what she was capable of, but she was just a human. No matter how bad she got, it was all--more or less--in her head. It was connected to the outside world somehow, but that wasn't her fault. She was just being human. A human that needed somebody's help.

"If I'm being honest, yeah," Garrett said truthfully. "But I also don't think you're dangerous. Were you the one who distracted those bullies the other day?"

Kanoa hesitated before nodding slightly. I could see Garrett perked up with familiarity as he became a little more relaxed with us. He ran his fingers through his mousy-brown hair and shook his leg up and down.

"Right. And I thank you for that, really. So I guess I really can't judge you for whatever that is." He pointed towards her arms. "If you want me to keep it a secret or something, I can. You just have to promise me that it won't hurt anything or anyone."

She didn't say anything back. I think she was having a hard time committing to that promise, considering the storm nearly obliterated Bennu. Since I had more confidence in her than she did, I answered instead.

"Of course. Nothing bad will come out of this."

Garrett shrinked back in his chair in relief. "Good. Then I have something to put on the table for you two."

Kanoa and I shared a skeptical glance before she asked, "What?"

He crossed his arms. "I heard Beatrice saying that you needed help. And if that's the case, then I want to help you guys."

"In return for what?" Kanoa said, voice low.

"In return for...for being my friends?" He said slowly. Then he put his hands up. "Just pretend so my parents think I'm fitting in. This whole move to a new town is really hard on them too, and with having a son like me--I just don't want them worrying about me is all."

My heart went heavy for Garrett. He looked at us, impatiently waiting for a reply. Kanoa was still trying her best to not let Garrett see her magic running up and down her arms, but the act of hiding it was making it worse. It was like she was trying to put a veil over herself, but the truth was already out--from both sides.

"I think we can work with that," I said.

Garrett's shoulders sagged in relief. "Thank you."

We sat in silence for a while, soaking it all in. Every once and awhile, Garrett would glance over at Kanoa's arms, making her shrink back even more. Clouds had officially covered the sky, but the air was still hanging low and warm. There was enough in Kanoa to hold back her feelings. Kanoa and I made a silent agreement to not involve the weather part of Kanoa's powers by not putting that part of it into our explanations.

Garrett got up, signifying that our talk was over. "Just tell me what our first plan of action is, and I'll be there."

He didn't seem to confident in his statement, but the fact that he was so willing to help was good enough. We let him walk away, his pace getting faster as he got farther away from the gazebo. Kanoa let her arms hang loose once Garrett was out of sight. She traced a finger along one of the unreadable symbols with a melancholy stare.

"These only have occured once," she breathed. "Right before I came to town. The first day of school they were glowing like this so I had to wear a million long sleeve shirts."

I nodded understandingly. "Do you know why?"

She shook her head. "Not really. Maybe it's a sign that something's coming. I just don't know what that something means."

Then we left it at that. We said our goodbyes, promised to talk within the next few days, and parted to different trails. I realized that she never said where she was staying--I doubted she was going back to her foster home--but she probably didn't want me to find out. All I needed to do was get her signal and I'd meet her wherever she needed me to be.

I left the lake filled with an uneasy feeling. I wasn't sure how to feel, knowing that there was now a third variable in this situation. But Garrett was new. He didn't know anyone; he wouldn't be able to share Kanoa's secret that easily. But people are willing to believe a lot of things around here.

I just hoped and prayed that Kanoa would stay safe. Above the lake was a layer of light grey clouds. They were slowly dispersing and revealing the crystal sky, meaning that Kanoa was calming down. It was nice, knowing how she was feeling at all times. But for her, it probably felt invading. Like someone was constantly watching her, monitoring exactly how she feels.

So for her sake, I looked back at the ground, watching my feet make marks in the drying mud as I left.