Half and half

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

That night I figured I had had to drink three gallons of hot chocolate-didn’t that make you dream weird?-to dream what I did.

A storm is brewing. I feel it in my bones. My abilities haven’t gone away entirely. Thunder makes the earth tremble, telling me they are close. I peeked behind me. I am shivering in my thin clothes. Mairym has not prepared me for the dark. I cannot see light. I am afraid, so afraid. They must not take blood. I am one of the four. If they take my blood.... I mustn’t think of it. My bare feet slap painfully on the frozen ground.

The dream changed.

I scream. I want it to end, but I do not know how to take my own life. I cannot think. I cannot feel anything but pain. The world spins. I do not know where I am. I open my eyes. I gasp. Black eyes. So beautiful, so terrifying. I peer into them, unable to help myself. I am tumbling through the sky. I laugh in recognition. I loved flying. So did Ash. A face fills my head. Sparkling golden eyes, wind-swept black hair. It is so unusual for an angel to have black hair. That is the trait of a Hunter. But Ash was the opposite of Hunters. He has a beautiful smile that make girls swoon at his feet. A scene from my last day at Mairym.

The dream changed again.

I hold his hand, my forehead pressed against his chest. He strokes my head. Tears are falling down my cheeks. “It will be okay.” He murmurs. I sob. I can’t help it. “What if I’m starcked?” I ask in a frightened whisper. He assured me that it wouldn’t happen. I believed him. “And if you were starcked,” I flinched, “I’d know. I promise I’d go looking for you.” I gasp, horrified, “you cannot! I will not allow it!”  I stick up my chin stubbornly. His laughing golden eyes are filled with thousands of specks of all sorts of yellow. His mouth curled up in a grim smile. And I knew. I knew he’d move heaven and Earth, literally, to find me.

I jerked awake. My hair was plastered to my forehead. I breathed in deeply. Then I felt pain in my hands. I frowned and looked down. I unclenched my fists and saw five identical trails of blood slithering down five half-moon shaped cuts. I studied the other palm. The same. The dream had been so real I had actually dug my fingernails into my own flesh. “urgh.” I said, disgusted. I leapt nimbly out of bed and walked to the sink and held out my right hand. I gasped and stared at it in astonishment. Five crescent-shaped scars on my palms. No blood except drying. I dried it off my palms. It didn’t even hurt. For a moment, I thought, damn it. I’ve gone insane. I recalled all the events. The ‘shadowing’ the way Thaila had called it. Thaila. Dimitri. Italy. The shears, the lightening…. The list went on. Okaaaaaay, I thought, I’m definitely going mad. I shrugged. “Whatever. At least I look sane.” I surveyed my pale complexion in the mirror and against my will, thought how similar it was to Dimitri’s. And in some level, to Thaila’s. Almost as if I had summoned them, I heard a scornful voice right behind me. Like, right behind me. “Admiring yourself?” I almost jumped out of my skin. I spun around, crouching. Thaila was leaning casually against the wall beside my bed. She was stroking almost lovingly a wicked-looking black dagger. I straightened in surprise. “Thaila.” I said stupidly. She rolled her stormy green eyes, “Dylan.” She said, mocking my tone exactly. “How do you guys do that? It’s weird.” I was starting to get uncomfortable. “And what are you doing in my bedroom at…” I glanced at the digital clock on my bedside table, “at three am?” she rolled her eyes and held out her hand. “The Principia doesn’t sleep. Duh. And apparently, Dhaile is quite… insistent of you coming for a tour.” I raised my eyebrows. ‘Insistent’ didn’t sound too good. “Well, maybe the principia doesn’t rest, but I do. So goodnight. Or goodbye, since you guys don’t sleep.” I turned toward the bed. Suddenly, Thaila gasped. I looked up. Her face was pale and she was staring at my arms. “What?” I asked, looking down. My eyes widened. My arms were completely covered in tattoos. Ant not just any. They were graceful with surprising detail and they were beautiful, they crept up my arm and disappeared beneath the rolled-up sleeves of my white shirt. They were identical to the ones in the girl of my dreams. I yanked of my shirt. My lean and hard back and front were covered with different types of tattoos. I gaped openly at them. They were beautifully creepy. Just then I noticed Thaila was gawking at my torso. I couldn’t even blush when I realized something. “I’ve been starcked?! But I’m not a fallen angel! Not fair. Good, I guess you guys can track me now.” I grinned. Thaila gaped openly at me, “how did you know that?” she demanded. I shrugged. “dreams. A girl, falling. And angel called Ash. A vow.” I remembered. If she could’ve looked more shocked, she would’ve. Suddenly, she knelt at my feet. “Uh, Thaila? What are you doing?” I stammered. She rose, but her head was bowed. “Welcome to our world, Shadower.” She said it with so much respect; I expected she’d tap-dance if I asked her. I looked her up and down. “Are you okay?” I asked her, seriously worried for her sanity. I figured if I was mad at least I could be a good mad person by helping other people before I tore out my hair and started raving on about bald weasels. Sorry, don’t know where that came from. She looked up, her eyes shining, “am I okay? I just met one of the Four! I couldn’t be better!” before I could make up a coherent answer than didn’t involve strings of swear words, she leapt forward and clamped her hand on my wrist. Before I could protest or even complain, the world decided it was a gymnast and began to rolling around like a drunk badger. Finally, my feet touched down on the ground. I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again. Daylight streamed through the trees. To my surprise, I was standing in a snow-covered lawn. We were in the middle of a clearing and around us; the trees sagged beneath the weight of thousands of pounds of snow. Directly in front of me towered, huge, intimidating black iron gates. I took a step back in surprise. Behind the gates was exactly the same scenario than behind me. I frowned. “Why would they put gates in the middle of nowhere?” I wondered. Beside me, Thaila rolled her eyes, “they’re not in the middle of nowhere idiot. It’s dawn.” The she took two steps forward and was about to place her hand in the middle of the gates when she paused. She turned to me. “These gates open by the touch of a Hunter. Put your hand there. I wonder…” I walked forward nervously and put my hand on the gates. Immediately, they swung open. I stumbled backwards. Thaila, on the other hand, walked forward with a smug grin. The moment she walked through the gates, she disappeared. My mouth dropped open. My eyes couldn’t be wider as I searched nervously for her. Was this some kind of dumb prank? I stepped forward closer to the gates when suddenly; a hand shot out from nowhere and grabbed the front of my shirt. I yelped and the hand violently tugged me forward. I sprawled forward and to my surprise, my head landed in a plush carpet. I jumped to my feet and looked around wildly. I was standing in a long hall with plush red carpets and elaborate chandeliers. Torch rackets hung in the walls but they were empty. The walls seemed to emanate a light of their own. Creepy. I looked closer. At least twelve people had stopped what they were doing to gape openly at me. I looked at the body imprinted in the carpet and discreetly messed it up with the toe of my sneaker. I cleared my throat. “Hi. My name is Dylan. Now if someone would please tell me where the heck am I?” I said, smiling politely. A few boys laughed and the girls reconsidered me. “Come on twerp, let me show you around.” She grabbed me by the elbow and dragged me along the hall. I saluted some of the girls I passed and they laughed. Thaila’s eyes still sparkled but the respect was long gone. She kept muttering, “I need to take him to Dhaile, I need to take him to Dhaile…” I wasn’t sure I wanted to meet this ‘Dhaile’. What a weird name. I wondered if it was a girl or a boy. She led me down rows and rows of identical doors. The Principia was huge. Finally, she stopped abruptly and I bumped into her. She shot me an annoyed glance and knocked on the door. After a few moments, the door swung open by a short girl about 22 years old with auburn colored hair in a neat bun. Her eyes were electric blue and her face was covered with freckles. I frowned. Dhaile didn’t look very impressive. “Hello Kylee. Is Dhaile available?” so, this wasn’t Dhaile.  “No. she’s seeing your brother. She’s giving a report about that Hunter you found…” her eyes widened when she spotted me. “Hello.” I said cheerfully. “Wait a moment.” Not-Dhaile said. Or Kylee, whatever. She ducked back inside the office and shut the door quickly. “Well, that went well.” Thaila looked at me like she couldn’t believe I had spoken. “What?” I asked her.  She shook her head slowly and knocked again. This time, a much more impressive girl opened the door. Not. The door swung open and a girl about 19 opened the door. She looked flustered. Her wild red-hair tumbled past her waist. She wore a light summer-dress identical to Thaila’s. She was blushing. “Hello Scarlett. Now, where is Dhaile?” Thaila asked patiently.  Second-Not-Dhaile shrugged and was pushed aside suddenly. A girl about 6 stood in Scarlett’s place. She was cute, with an upturned nose and a splash of freckles. Her eyes and her hair were the ones that made me want to step back. Her hair was completely white, not as an old lady’s would be, but smooth, silky and shoulder-length. Her eyes were startlingly golden. I frowned. Just as Ash’s eyes were. “Hello. You must be Dylan.” She said, extending her hand. I shook it. Her grip was surprisingly strong. “My name is Dhaile.” During the years, I had perfected the art of remaining impassive, no matter what the situation was. If I hadn’t done that, I would be gaping at ‘the Dhaile’ with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. As it was, I only gave one nod and greeted her. She seemed surprised with my reaction. Or lack of reaction anyway. “You do not seem startled by my appearance.” She noted. She turned to Thaila, who was gaping at me, “unless, of course, someone told you of my curse.” She looked at Thaila pointedly, who turned to Dhaile, “I didn’t-” I stepped forward, cutting her off, “you curse? I’m afraid I’ve missed out on the details. I am truly sorry if I did not seem surprised at you appearance, but I’m afraid I’m a little lost to what is going on.” I was laying it on thick but Dhaile blushed and patted her hair anyway. I didn’t want Thaila to get in trouble. Suddenly, my appearance settled on her. She looked at my low-waist pants and lack of shirt. Her eyes widened when she saw my tattooed torso and arms. “One of the Four!” she gasped. “My second favorite f-word.” I muttered. She stared at me and burst out laughing with the sound of tinkling bells. “Come on.” She told us, still grinning. She ushered into the office. I looked around me and was surprised to see a normal wooden floor with normal looking desks and normal looking windows showing normal looking kids in black clothes holding daggers. Wait- what? I blinked. The teenage boys ranged from 9- 20 in ages. I didn’t see anyone older than that. They all held some kind of weapon. Heck- I even saw a kid with a bazooka. Some were fighting with each other. What freaked me out was all the kids were all the same and surprisingly different at the same time. They all had the same stormy eyes I had, varying from different shades of grey and black. Some had icy blue eyes. No brown or other tame colors. All of them wore black, from black jeans to black exercise pants. There were no girls. All of them wore indifferent expressions. Like the boy ten feet in front of me wasn’t feeling the way he hurt the younger boy. Like the younger boy couldn’t feel the knife gashes or the numbing punches. The nine-year old kid didn’t even flinch. But each was different. Some expelled an aura of power so strong I could feel it across the wall. Most of the power radiated from a boy fighting all the way across the field. He whirled around, fighting nine other boys at the same time that couldn’t seem to touch him. A line of grim boys stood a few feet from the combat area. I couldn’t figure out what they were for until the boy fighting the nine crippled a 19 year old boy with his dagger. He didn’t seem to notice the older boy on the ground. Instead of stopping the fight, one of the boys lined up stood forward and dragged the 19 year old to a side. The boy behind him on line stepped forward to fight. Suddenly, the boy stopped fighting defensive and offensive at the same time and whirled around to face me. I couldn’t see his face very clearly, but I could tell he was smiling. One of the boys fighting him didn’t see him stop and swung his short black sword toward his unprotected back. In a movement faster than I could recall, the boy swung around in a circle with his dagger extended, making the boys cry out in alarm and jump back. The boy with the sword seemed to find his opponent not in the same place because he stumbled forward. Bodies blurred and when everything cleared, eight boys were on the ground, groaning with slashes all along their torso, their black shirts torn to shreds, and the boy who fought them was standing behind the leader with a dagger poised on his throat delicately. He dropped the dagger, and side-stepping his opponents, made his way toward us. My eyes were huge. I heard someone chuckle behind me. I glanced back and saw Thaila’s irritated expression and Dhaile’s amused one. “Come on, Dimitri will be joining us shortly.” my mouth dropped open, “That’s Dimitri?” I asked. I knew he moved fast, I mean, when Thaila appeared in Italy, he took less than a second to jump to his feet, leap behind Thaila, get his dagger out, and put it on her throat without gutting her before finding who she was first. Yeah, I’d call that pretty fast, but I hadn’t known he could fight nine opponents with nothing but a dagger without breaking a sweat. That wasn’t normal. But really, what was normal about any of this? From me being here ‘teleported’ from my bedroom at three am with no one noticing. As I said, not normal. “You know Dimitri?” Dhaile asked, bringing me back to the present. She looked surprised. “We met cordially when I tried to incinerate his sister.” She stared at me. Before anyone could reply, there was a knock at the door. Dimitri poked his head in without waiting for a reply. “Dhaile.” He greeted, nodding at the girl. He turned to Thaila and grinned, “Sis.” Thaila muttered something that would have gotten me in detention for a month. Dimitri promptly ignored her and let himself in. as I had suspected, he hadn’t even broken a sweat. He turned to me, “Dylan. I’ll be testing your abilities shortly. Please meet me in that spot of the training area. No one will take it. It’s mine.” Then he turned and let himself out the door without a further glance. “Okaaaay. What a lengthy meeting.” I noted. Dhaile laughed again and said, “Go meet him. We’ll talk about this later.” She turned around, apparently dismissing me. I shrugged and trumped out after Thaila. “Have you ever fought with a dagger?” she asked me. She sounded annoyed. I shook my head, paying attention to my surroundings. I felt something weird inside me. Something that was gnawing at my insides, trying to get out. My back ached, right where my shoulders were. I rolled them uncomfortably. Thaila took a turn right and headed outside. Even more boys had joined the fighting grounds. They were clearly surprised and a little awed by seeing the only girl fighter in campus walking with a half-dressed guy. “seriously, I love my abs, but you didn’t have to go around showing them in public.” I commented teasingly. She laughed. I saw Dimitri juggling four knifes. He always caught them by the hilt. I frowned, “you’re seriously making me fight against this guy? He beat nine others without breaking a sweat. I’m sooo done.” I muttered. Thaila turned to me, her expression deadly serious, “search inside you. Feel battle reflexes, watch through somebody else’s eyes. Imagine yourself watching at the edge of the fight. Feel for an opening. Detect his weaknesses and exploit them.” She advised me. I grinned, “What makes you think I’ll stay alive that long?” then I closed the remaining distance between Dimitri and I. he kept juggling, even if his eyes were centered on mine. “Which one?” he asked casually. I tried to concentrate on the daggers, but they were moving too fast. Dimitri smirked, and I got the feeling this was some kind of test. Instead of trying to single out a knife, I focused on the middle of the circle and used my peripheral vision. Immediately, everything slowed down. I could feel a leaf falling in slow motion behind me, could feel the boys’ expectation. I saw the daggers, looking as if they were hanging in mid-air. I discarded the one with a skull embedded in it. The one with the black blade seemed a maybe. But one immediately took my fancy. I focused on it and the world went into normal timing. I just realized I had stopped time. I blinked. “Not seeing them clearly?” Dimitri asked, smirking broadly. One of the boys snickered. “I want the one with the half-silver half-black blade with the leather worn grip and the initials a.k engraved on it.” I replied immediately. Dimitri’s eyes widened and the juggling slowed. There was complete silence. “What, you think you’re the only one who can stop time” I teased him. And without even thinking about it, I snapped my fingers. Everything froze except Dimitri and me. I lifted an eyebrow. Dimitri looked around him, barely looking surprised. “Not bad newbie.” I scowled and time resumed the crowd still noiseless. “I’m really interested in what you’ll be able to do fighting.” He tossed me the requested dagger. I caught it, miraculously, by the hilt. “I’m looking forward to it.”