Necromancer

Blood

。O  。

"Hello Peter's friend," Mum switched off the vacuum cleaner and turned to us as soon as we'd walked in the door. "It's Simon right?"

"Nice to meet you." He looked polite but didn't smile. Rigid, the arms at his sides stiff.

He'd studied my two-storey residence as we'd crossed the footpath. Eying the red tiled roof, how it curled over my arched bedroom window. The white-panelled home with the maintained gardens was probably like a movie to him. An unbroken home.

"Yes," I could see she was forming an opinion of him in her head. "You two should stay upstairs, I'm still finishing off down here. Me and Dad are going out for that work party, we won't be home till late." she said that last part to me. "Megan will be at Stacey's so you'll have the house to yourself. You'll have to sort out dinner Peter. No other friends over, understand? No parties."

"Alright." I gave a half-smile on my way past.

Simon followed me to the stairs and we hopped up quickly. He briefly paused at my sister's ballet shoes, slung over the railing. We went to my bedroom and I hopped onto the mattress, reaching under for my laptop. My crush stood in the doorway, surveying. I got a nice tingling at the thought of Simon Chernosky being in my bedroom.

"What do you think?" I asked him.

"It's nice."

He walked over to my cluttered desk, found the script for Enchanted Kingdom. I watched him flick over the pages lazily, my own lines were highlighted.

"Performances start at the end of next week. We're doing three all up."

"You like photography?" He'd wandered over to a pinboard where I'd set up some scenic photos.

"Sure, a little. I take photos whenever we all drive somewhere new as a family."

"Hm." Simon didn't go for drives with his step-Dad, I was sure of it. He'd drifted away and was now looking through the contents of my shelves. Toys and relics, each with stories a decade or more old. I only ever caught glimpses of Simon's bedroom. The floor had been messy, with no toys or posters in sight. Just a lamp on his desk where he could do his reading.

He stopped his slow venture around my room when he reached the headrest of my bed. Wiping a single finger down its arched edges.

"You okay, Simon?" He looked pensive.

"Fine."

I showed him my video games. Then I showed him the books in my cupboard. I was in the premier reading challenge in primary school, and I'd gone through a sci-fi phase. Simon had been sitting on the edge of my bed, but when I turned to show him my books he was standing behind me. Curious to know.

I heated frozen lasagne in the oven when it got late. Mum always had those easy meals on hand in case. I sprinkled extra shredded cheese and handed a plate to Simon. We ate in silence at the breakfast bar. It was just us in the house. He was still being pensive about something.

We had one heater, but it worked well enough to warm the room quickly. An imaginary fireplace. After eating I left our plates in the sink and we went upstairs.

"You look like you have a lot on your mind."

"I do." Simon admitted. "I read something about moving mists, so I need to go back over the websites and find it again."

"Really?" I was shocked. "So we will finally know what's going on in Scone?"

"Yes... I believe so."