Illusion: Destiny Awaits (In Editing)

8 - Christi

I'm done for. My mom's never going to let me out of the house like this. Just like Sabrina, I've been grounded. Better yet, she says that I need to catch up on the homework I missed during the past few days.

"Mom, can't we just—"

"No!" She cuts me off. I almost scream but hold back my attitude. I slowly walk up the steps and into the house. Mom glares at me, a motherly glare (yeah, really hard to describe). I run up the carpeted stairs and into the hallway, where I retreat to my bedroom. Then, I forget about everything and ponder my own words to Sabrina. I had said that Skifter wasn't meant for me. He did say some hurtful words though. Maybe I just overreacted. Maybe. Or maybe his words did mean something.

Once I got to the beach close to my house, Skifter interrupted my thoughts.

"Christi!" Skifter said. I turned around but found no one.

"Skifter?" I responded, but it wasn't out loud. Skifter's voice bounded in my head, my eyes darting around in response. What came next was a shock. The greatest shock of all.

"Christi. I don't understand why you would do such a thing! You abandoned me, you betrayed me."

"What?" I screamed in my head. "Betrayed you? I would never..."

"Christi! Hold your thoughts, they are obviously not worth my time." I had started to object, but his words cut me off.

"I was chosen for you, to protect you, and what have you given me? Nothing! You have been ignorant, a shame to me, and all of Klenouzlo! I should have been sitting with the council, fresh out of training, and appointing meetings with my clan! But no! Where did they put me when I had aged to see my destiny? I was stuck with you of all people, and Lupo and Sabrina, who seem to have been getting along just fine! But you and I are never, I say never going to get along. Mark my word, girl." I gasped, pausing long enough to hear him utter, "if you're even intelligent enough to know what that means."

"I'm smart! If they knew as much as me, they would have known the Pythagorean theorem!" I shot back, trying to call back some education memories. But he had a better comeback.

"Oh, really? Do you think that's smart enough to even put a dent in Zaroho? The Pythagorean theorem? If even!"

"What do you know?" I screamed in my head. I pouted, horrified. Skifter wasn't meant for me, he was a traitor. He glared at me through his glowing black kite eyes, his hawk eyes. For such a calm collected bird, he had the ability to kill. And not just with talons, with words too. Then he left, and I was there alone. And I was lonely. So lonely.

What was he talking about? What's a Klenouzlo? His clan? What are those things? Are they important? I rub my temple where Skifter mentally scarred me. His voice had pierced my brain in a way I don't understand. He's always been so nice to me, and I loved him, but why has he taken it all out on me? Sighing, I flop onto the bed, too busy thinking about hurtful words to think about anything else.

Sabrina said that there was something about a mentelavar. What is mentelavar? I spot my phone lying lazily on my glass desk. I quickly call Sabrina.

"Yo! W'sup, bestie?" She whispers, picking up the call.

"What's with the sudden silence?" Being quiet is so unlike Sabrina.

"I'm in the secret hiding spot."

"Ooh!" I respond. There's a spot near my house in like this garden area. It's kind of near where we usually picnic in the summer. "Okay, Sabrina. Go home, and quietly sneak back into your room. I have a plan." Sabrina responds to me, then hangs up. My idea is to bribe my parents. They like picnics. Simple times to just relax and talk. They won't be able to handle their inner excitement. That's how much they love picnics! Peculiar, isn't it?