City of Magische Geschöpfe [Complete]

Chapter Seventeen: School's Exhausting

Taylor:

I slam the door closed, slide off the backpack, and fall onto the sofa with a heavy sigh. Why didn't the goddamned school make all the textbooks electronic? We had our own school computers and online accounts, but nope I was lugging around so many textbooks I could build a bungalow.

"Tired?" Roman asks.

I crack an eye open and see him on the other side of the very same sofa. There was only one sofa, so go figure. I was at least happy he stopped sitting in Ally's place. Must've caught my discomfort every time he planted himself in the particular place.

"Mhm," I hum non-committally.

I had already been grilled by Chrissy on the way back home. Living in the same direction as her was both a blessing and a curse. That girl was a damned force of nature when she wanted to be.

At first I was so grateful that she warded off everyone else who had started asking me probing questions. She had taken my arm and marched off, giving everyone else the finger. Thought I would finally have some peace of mind for a minute.

Then I found out how very wrong I was. I was alone, yes, but at her mercy. She could ask questions and get answers out of you like no one else. She walked at a glacial pace and spoke twice as fast than necessary. She had noticed Ally and Jay's absence. The first one was a bit of a surprise. Half the city missed Jay, but near to no one had asked about Ally.

I had tried oh-so-hard to stick to the story I told Robinson, but she laughed. Laughed in her maniacal way. She saw right through me. Right before I got to my door I finally just said some damned angel fell from heaven and chucked Ally and Jay back up to where ever he came from and bid her goodnight. Her shocked face was everything. Now who was the one laughing?

"Is school really that difficult?" Roman cuts through my thoughts.

"Mhm," I murmer again. "Though dramatic friends are even harder to deal with. As are jealous ex's."

Stacey had also noticed Ally's absence, but instead of asking after her, she took it as a sign of my emotional availability again. Latched onto me like a damned leech, she did. Sucked the life out of me.

"Ex?" Roman asks, looking confused.

"Yep. Ex-partner. Girlfriend."

"Ah."

"I don't have Ally as a shield anymore. Not that I necessarily used her as one . . . Bah, whatever. Stace won't leave me alone. Perhaps someone else cute will come along and she'll find another boy to throw herself at. Just wants drama, she does."

"Girlfriend? You have many of those?"

I laugh. "Huh, that's putting it lightly. Not at once though. Chrissy and I are competing at this point."

"Chrissy?"

"Christina. One of my best friends."

"You do like shortening names." Roman muses. "Why would you do that? I understand not liking terribly long names, them being impractical and all. Wouldn't it be better to just shorten the name in the first place?"

I shrug. "True, true. I guess it's just affectionate or more informal. Dunno. There are some names you just never say the long form of. Eh, names are weird."

"I suppose that's one way of looking at it." Roman concedes.

"Hey, I think it's weird that you say you're all buddy-buddy with Ally and you still call her by Alleac- whatever."

"Alleacia," he fills in helpfully.

"Mhm, that. It's weird to me."

"That's fair." He nods slowly, mulling it over. "So you have a short form of your name that everyone calls you?"

"A nickname? Yeah. Not everyone though."

"What is it?"

"Well I'm Taylor, right? So just Tay, usually."

"Tay . . ." He tries the name. "No, I do not think I could use nicknames right now."

"Fair."

We fell silent again. It was awkward to say the least. Truth is I missed someone to talk to after school. Some bullshit or someone to lament all my issues to. I had gotten used to spewing all my drama to Jay the moment I strolled through the door and Roman wasn't quite the same thing.

At least he treated me somehow on the same level as him. That was an improvement from his disapproval of my humanity. I understood what there was to dislike; after all, we were a greedy bunch. Doesn't mean I had to like it though.

"When will enough time have passed?" I ask, having to break this awkward silence.

"Passed to do what, exactly?"

"Uh, go to heaven or wherever."

He huffs, amused. "Heaven. You humans and your inability to accept that your existence will just end. You are not that important."

"Ouch."

He shrugs. "I am sorry, but it is true."

"Still, man. Ouch."

He cocks his head to look at me, reminding me of a cat. "Some of you are good. Still, your life will end. Mortality isn't all that bad."

"You still haven't answered my question." I point out.

"True."

"That's a non-answer."

"Also true."

"Oh come on, just tell me."

"Frankly, I don't know. I'm not sure I even want to return until a month later."

"Okay but day, week, or month, what does it matter? Shit's gonna be the same and who's to know when a good time is?"

"Time runs differently there than to earth, so you aren't wrong. I still believe, though, that the longer I spend away, the less suspicion will arise."

"Suspicion?"

"I told you, did I not?" He pauses, awaiting an answer from me, so I shrug. "I had to have a pretense to go to earth, so I ripped out my wings and fell to earth. I have no idea what story was spun as to why I did it, but I am pretty sure it will mark me as a traitor. Some broken law or another."

"Oh, right." I nod. "Yeah, that."

"If the traitor returns . . ."

"Oh come on, I only get a little bit of what is going on, but a war is a pretty good cover."

"It is more of a cold war, right now. The rebel group has taken over. They hold most of the power and they have the king. I am sure they know of out existence, but not the specifics." He sighs and runs a hand over his face. "Neither side will move out of their strongholds just yet. Better to time it close to when we're ready to move."

"So you appear right for the action."

"Right, I suppose so. Perhaps a little before. Planning is crucial."

"Mhm," I muse. "So let's go A.S.A.P."

His head snaps up. "What?"

"Well, you've been here for a while, I have my ass covered for a while, and there's some action gonna go down in heaven soon."

"Stop calling it heaven. That's a human name for the place which you fully misunderstood."

"Okay, okay. So what was the political situation when you, uh, fell from not-heaven."

"The City, you mean. I get what you're getting at, and I concede. Settle your affairs, we'll go in a few days."

My jaw drops and I watch him get up and walk out of the room as if he didn't just do a one-eighty. He was getting more and more confusing by the second. He didn't hate me, though, and could stand to be in the same room as me for most of the day, so I wasn't gonna question it.