Psyche

Chapter Four

I didn't know what she was thinking-that I was some shining, polite, white, knight-or something? Well, when she just ran off when I said something so trivial, I knew I had to investigate. She set foot on my property, why should her castle be sacred?

I followed behind her calmly, not needing to run, because I could smell her everywhere on the trail I kept. Her footprints, a hair tangled around a branch-she certainly wasn't trying to avoid someone following her. Maybe she really had been that distraught . . .

I shook my head, circling the house she had led me to. Darkness was swiftly falling-autumn's beckoning to winter. I saw the lights flick off, one by one, in the house, the eyes made of windows blinking, and going to sleep like the people inside. I heard someone faintly inside, maybe watching TV, by the sound of it. But other than that, nothing, except the soft breathing of humans. I scanned the outside of the house. Some idiot landscaper had planted trees too close to the house, and in a couple years, they'd probably have problems with rot under the clapboard from where the tree dripped on the house.

I went to one of these trees-a strong oak that would be capable of screwing the foundation-and grabbed a branch, pulling myself up and walking silently along a branch, climbing up a few more. I laid myself out on a long limb, able to see through a second-story window and completely hidden by the leaves.

Well, what was Patchy looking for? Her paint color (light blue)? Her computer screen saver (inspirational quotes intermixed with what looked like album covers of bands I didn't recognize)? Her sheet patterns (pink stripped)? I didn't have much to look for.

I thought for a second I had been discovered, as the girl called out, but, as I observed closer, it was only in her sleep. She'd hit the hay early (for me, at least). She rolled over, and cried out again, "N-no . . . no . . . stop . . . stop looking at me!"

I raised an eyebrow. Well. Didn't the shining knight feel like a jerk. The girl really did have nightmares. Well. Damn. I wasn't sure it was what Patchy was looking for though-she probably just had stress.

Suddenly, the girl's gray eyes flew open, and I almost slipped off the branch and crashed to the ground. Her mouth was parted slightly, her eyes wide, and a pearly color. Images seemed to be flashing across them, or maybe some kind of crystal fire burned inside of her mind, and made her eyes look like that.

One thing for sure: Patchy's boss certainly had one hundred-percent human non-human.

***

I couldn't quite sleep right that night (no, father, it wasn't a guilty conscience . . .), and awoke feeling drained. Moving around constantly really took it out of you, human or not. Sometimes you just needed a place to sleep, for a few nights in a row, and no pressure to be doing anything. But I never knew when someone would discover who I was, and hunt me down. So I always had to move. And I didn't mind. After all, my only home had been destroyed.

I finally got to sleep sometime around four in the morning, and actually slept past noon. School was almost over. Oh, damn. Be kind of a waste to go for last period just to have to sit for three hours of detention . . .

I wanted to go to the school anyway. If the girl was there, then that would mean what happened last night-what she had seen subconsciously and visibly displayed-was normal. And that meant she was special, and the Jack hadn't gotten to me after all. Good deal. If I was right.

I strolled down the new sidewalks in town, visited my friendly neighborhood soft-serve seller, and got myself a chocolate again. The vendor smiled at me. I, for once, smiled back, because I happen to have a soft spot for soft-serve. Then again, I shouldn't be eating all those empty calories and wasting what little money I had on ice cream. I could just dazzle the man with my gorgeous eyes, but I know I'd feel rotten swaying a happy-go-lucky ice cream man. Hell, I'd just dazzle the grocer.

I swaggered onto school campus, and found students rushing all in one general direction. Following the flow and licking at my ice cream, I found a monster stadium below the hill the school sat on. Geez. Who knew this had been hiding back here? Nice one Phoenyx.

Music was blasting from speakers, and kids were stretching and jogging and doing warm-ups. Announcers were talking strengths and weaknesses and the like. I walked to the edge of where the hill started dipping down to the stadium, and leaned against the black chain link fence, scanning the darting figures. Looked like the triple jump was already done, and they were starting the long jump. I flicked from one girl to the next. All of them had bobbing ponytails, all of them were blonde, and all of them were too ugly to have gotten onto the cheerleading team. Maybe I was just cynical, but there didn't seem to be a girl there who wasn't wearing shorts that could pass as belts.

Suddenly, my eye was drawn to a flash of red, and I saw her walking towards a group of stretching girls. Her eyes looked tired, and though I wasn't in danger of reading her from all the way over here, it didn't take a genius to know that she wasn't 100%. That she was even preparing to run today was impressive, after what I'd observed.

"August!" One of the girls waved, "They let you run?"

The girl opened her mouth to answer when a gruff man shouted, "Park! Get ready!"

August. Park.

Nice name. Not prissy. Not butchy. Exotic without being cold. What had I heard about the girl across campus yesterday? 'Cool and Spicy'? Exactly that. A summer's warmth, with a bite of winter's beckoning.

I saw August start at her place. The announcers called out that the 1600 was starting. 1600? Tough girl. I felt a surge of respect and admiration. I heard the starting crack of the beginning of the race, and saw August pull forward from all her competitors. She knew the value of a large head start.

I looked down at my scarred hands. They had done much in my many young years. These hands had seen much more grief and pain than 'any person should have to endure'. My father told me before he died, that when I was born to him and Mama that Iris-my favorite sister-told them a prophecy she had had that was about me-that I was supposed to be a savior. Simply, savior. I used to think that meant saving my people-and when I failed, I was so lost that I never wanted to find myself ever again.

But my profession had led me into the lives of many people-and none of them had needed saving.

I heard screams and shouts, and looked up to see August sprawled across the track. With barely a need for thought, I leapt over the fence with one hand and skidded down the hill. People were closing in, and I had to get there first. I sprinted to her side, next to her coach, who was taking her pulse and saying loudly, "August? Can you hear me?"

"I can take her." I said louder, "To a hospital. I've got a car. Five minutes, tops."

"We have protocol for this, young man-." The coach said absentmindedly, "I can't just let you-."

"Excuse me." I shoved him aside and picked her up in my arms, standing and stepping sideways through the crowd. People hardly knew what was going on, and by the time they did, I was already on the school drive, looking for an unlocked car. I found one, and with a charge to the ignition, had it started.

August was laid out in the seat next to me. I drummed my fingers against the steering wheel as I drove in silence, glancing at her every so often. I finally pulled off the road into a small unpaved lot that began a hiking path. I cut the engine, and leaned my head against the wheel.

What was I going to do? Smooth thinking there chief, kidnapping some girl-and to what end? Fulfilling some destiny that your crazy favorite sister bestowed upon you?

"Bardus! Bardus!" I muttered.

I heard a murmur next to me, and looked over at August. Her eyes flickered, and she sighed, staring out the windshield. She sat up and rolled her shoulder, shaking her head, "What the hell-." Her head snapped around to look at me, "What-what do you want?"

I stared at her for a few moments, then smiled, "What do you know about destiny, August Park?"