The Song of the Keepers

Chapter 1 The Principal's Office

I was sitting by the still water of a stagnant pond, dipping my bare toes in the cool liquid. The day was muggy, heavy with the promise of rain, causing my hair to stick to the back of my neck.

"You're going to get some awful disease doing that."
Glass warned, plopping down on the soft soil beside me.

I snorted and rolled my eyes at her. We sat in a comfortable silence for a long while.

"So how are things between you and David?"
She questioned.

I shrugged noncommittally.

"My mother pointed a gun at him, how do you think he's feeling?"
I asked with a sarcastic edge.

"Oh betrayed and hurt I'm sure, but it's you he's in love with not her."
Glass reminded me.

I just shook my head, staring out over the marshy land. So much swirled through my mind.

"When does it end Glass?"

"When we get the freedom we've been fighting for."
She replied firmly.

"Do we have to lose ourselves in order to achieve it?"

"Perhaps. We're going to be the bad guys in the eyes of many. Maybe someday after our deaths, if we're successful, we'll be hailed as heroes. It's hard to say really. I don't think we can be in this for the glory, only for the hope of creating a better future for the generations to come."

"I want that, I just didn't want to have to sell my soul to do it."

"You and I didn't get much of a choice, we were born into the cause, with high expectations placed on us. I think that gives us the right to complain a little, but we don't get to quit."

I sighed heavily and ran a hand through my hair, leaving a streak of mud.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore, my head is nearly spinning. Tell me something else, something to take my mind off this disaster."
I told her wearily.

"Alright, ask me a question, anything you like."
Glass told me, reclining back on a half-rotted log.

I frowned, staring off into the distance. Then a smile crossed my lips as I recalled a question she had never wanted to answer.

"What's your full name and why did your mother give it to you?"
I asked slyly.

"Oh, no fair."
Glass huffed.

"You said to ask you anything."
I reminded her with a smirk.

She huffed again and muttered under her breath.

"Verglas Katia Peterson."

"That's actually really pretty."
I told her.

She shook her head with a wry smile plastered on her lips.

"Katia was my grandmother's name. My mother had meant for it to be my first name until the day I was born. She says I came out freezing cold with a thin coating of ice wrapped about my body like a shield. The nurse called it verglas, and deemed because of it my wielding ability would be strong. I guess the word just sounded right to my mother, and that's what she decided to call me."

"That's an awesome story, why are you always so hesitant to share it?"

She shrugged in response.

"People expect more of you when they learn your name has meaning I think. They want you to live up to it somehow. I just prefer to go by Glass, a name that I get to define, and doesn't define me."

"Hmm. Well, your secret's safe with me."

"Oh, you're not getting off that easily."
She teased.