Clouds change over my head, as I get out of bed. I walk down the street, thankful for the shoes not letting it burn my feet. She sits in her room, alone I presume. Watching her brush her hair, I see she is fair. Waterfall may not like it at all, but she has pushed me to the strongest Impact I have ever had from a fall.
The bell rang for class two seconds ago, and I was still at least a hundred feet away from the Guild. I sprinted to the door and quickly slipped in before Joseph saw I was late. A hand grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me into a dark corner.
Clapping a hand over my mouth, and twisting one arm behind my back, I can’t scream or squirm away. The person whispered in my ear, “If you don’t want to get in trouble by Joe, you’ll be quiet. He’s right around the corner.”
I stopped moving and watched as Joseph walked around the corner and locked the Guild door. He walked away quietly and when he was gone, the hands released my arm and my mouth. They shoved me away and walked out of the shadows.
Waterfall was wearing a new pair of faded jeans, but still had on his same beanie and hoodie with the hood pulled up. A little tuff of blonde hair stuck out the front of the beanie, just like it had every day.
“Let’s go before he comes back.” Waterfall gestured toward the stairs leading to the locker room. I nod hurriedly and we sprinted up the stairs. Waterfall and I had become quite good friends, well, in my book. It had been a little over a week since Waterfall first moved to our Guild, and since then we had stuck pretty tight together.
I hadn’t seen his sister again since that first night, but that’s probably a good thing. She was the one person I had found in the 17 years I’d been alive that could stop my heart so fast. It can’t be healthy to see someone who can stop your heart, it’s almost like instantaneous death. But whether my visit there had bothered him or not, he had stayed loyal to me as I had him.
We ran from the locker room down into the Guild Training Arena. Waterfall and I sat down right before Joseph walked in with a clipboard and pencil. This was unusual for him to bring in something besides weapons.
“Okay, line up and sign in on the clipboard. We’re taking a field trip today.” He tossed the clipboard down on the coaching table and continued, “Once you’ve signed in, come get on the bus outside.” He walked across the Guild floor and out into the dark sky.
It was still dark outside. The sun wouldn’t rise for another two hours. Just a normal school day for me. Get there before dark, leave after dark. Waterfall was still getting use to it, but he always showed up on time.
Everyone signed in, and we got on the road. Joseph sat at the front of the bus, and everyone else sat at the back. He turned to face us as he spoke. “Okay guys, I have a friend up in the Rocky Mountains that has agreed to help us out with today’s Weapon Training. So I hope you boys are ready to take a swim!” we all cheered and whooped for the idea of swimming. Everyone except Waterfall.
The bus ride was a couple hours long, but we had all went to sleep anyway so I guess it didn’t matter. I shook Waterfall awake as we pulled up to a rundown shack. He stirred a little, but I didn’t know how to get him awake.
I grabbed his right arm, because he was on my right side, and shook him as hard as I could. He pushed away my arms and curled against my shoulder. “Uh, Water? Water, wake up! Come on!” I pushed him off and shook him once more.
“What?! I’m trying to sleep Squirt!” I reeled away in alarm. His voice sounded just like his sister’s! That’s not normal!
“We’re here dude. You need to wake up.” I stayed on the edge of the seat. He looked puzzled as he grasped that something was wrong.
“What’s up? What’s making you jumpy?” we both grabbed our bags and got in line to get off the bus.
“Well, it’s kind of weird for a 16 year old guy to sound like his younger sister.” I didn’t know if the mention of his sister would set him off or what, but I sure didn’t expect what he said next.
“I don’t have a younger sister.”
“What?! How old is she then?”
“I don’t have a sister. What are you talking…” something seemed to dawn on him as he said this. “Oh her! No, she’s not my sister.”
“Oh, guess I was wrong. But you still sounded like her. It’s weird dude.”
“Uh, I, um, I don’t know why.” now he looked nervous about our conversation.
Joseph interrupted what I was about to say when he grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the shack. I looked back at Waterfall in surprise and he had the same expression. Turning back to Joseph, he whispered out of the side of his mouth, “Be on your best behavior. Your father has set up this meeting against his better nature. Don’t screw it up, she could be your life partner.”
“What?!” a shriek escaped my mouth, that I’m not particularly proud of. The quiet silence behind us caught my attention, and I understood that all eyes were on me and Joseph. I could feel the confused stares on my back, and it made the hair on the back of my neck raise up.
Joseph whirled around and faced me eye to eye. “Listen to me! Her name is Clorina, she’s 15, has the same interests as you, and she’s very beautiful. Try to make this work, I know your father has worked very hard for you to get a chance to meet her. I know I know! The men of our village don’t chose their life partner until they finish their Training period, but it doesn’t mean you can’t try to have a girlfriend like other boys your age. Please just try, please Squirt! I’m begging you! You’re like a son to me, and I’m tired of seeing you get whipped for not liking or doing the right stuff. Just try to like this one.” He turned back to the shack and led me to the door.
The door swung open wide, and a man walked out with his arms raise in the air. He walked up to Joseph and they hugged each other tight. “How are you my old friend?” he stepped away and gestured to me, “Is this Kanjort?”
The name startled me. My father hadn’t told anyone that was my name since my mother had died. I smiled and nodded my agreement. “Yes, this is Kanjort. Kanjort, this is Stanley. He is Clorina’s father, and my very best friend.” Still smiling, I nodded once more.
Stanley told Joseph to lead the rest of the students to the dock and let them swim while I became acquainted with Clorina. Joseph left us and rounded up the group of students. I looked back at Waterfall with a grim expression.
Waterfall looked confused, but he’s eyes didn’t leave mine. “Clorina! Clorina come out here!” I tried to smile at Waterfall, but it fell short when Stanley jerked on the sleeve of my shirt.
I turned back to the shack and saw a young girl standing in the doorway. She had silky long brown hair that came to the center of her back, she had blue eyes like me, and stood around 5’8”.
“Yes daddy?” she walked up to Stanley and glanced at me for a brief moment. An embarrassed shy smile tipped the corner of her mouth.
“Sweetheart, this is Kanjort. Mason’s boy? You remember him?”
“Yes daddy, I remember.” She paused for a moment, then turned to me and said, “Hi, it’s been quite a few years hasn’t it?”
I nodded nervously, and I could still feel at least one pair of eyes watching me. Probably Waterfall I told myself. My mother had once told me you could tell pretty quickly, if someone was destined to be your life partner. So far, Clorina still felt like any other girl at our school.
“Let’s go swim with the rest of your classmates while we catch up.” She grabbed my hand gently and led me to the dock. Coming to the edge, I could see the shock on Gravel’s face and had to clear my throat to keep from laughing.
Something bothered me about this picture though, but what? I scanned the water, looking for something out of place. Then it hit me, I didn’t see Waterfall anywhere in the water. Clorina was taking off her cover up top and skirt, to reveal her two piece bathing suit.
She ran and jumped into the cool water. It was the hottest time of year, but I still wasn’t sure the cool water was warm enough. Poking her head back out of the water, she shook it wildly to get some of the water off. “Come on! Just jump in! It feels great!” she waved me in, but I still scanned the shoreline.
I saw Waterfall lying on the beach with his arms thrown over his forehead and stomach. “Um, I’ll be in in a moment.” I turned to walk over, but her hand shot out and grabbed my ankle.
I looked down at the hand on my ankle. Looking back at her, I got a strange feeling. Was it the way she batted her eyelashes, the way her body moved in the water, or was it the way her fingers seductively stroked my leg that made me want to jump in right then?
I cleared my mind of anything else, and focused on Waterfall. “I’ll be right back, I promise. I just have to see if my friend is okay.” She sighed heavily, but she let go of my ankle. I guessed it was just for good measures, but she batted her eyelashes one more time and shot me a wickedly sweet smile.
I tried to smile back, but something about her set off my defensive side. Making sure to step out of grabbing range before turning my back, I sprinted back up the dock and over to the spot on the beach where Waterfall lay.
“Water, what’re you doing?” I grinned in humor.
“Oh ha ha. Like I haven’t heard that one before.” He didn’t smile or even grin. He sat very still on the warm beach.
“Sorry dude, didn’t mean to make you mad.” Sitting down slowly seemed like a good approach.
“Yeah, I know.” He sat up suddenly and I cringed away. “By the way, whose that chick?”
“Oh, that’s Clorina. Dad thinks she could be my life partner or something. But whatever, I’ve never listened to him before and I don’t think I’m going to now.” Looking back at Clorina, I realized she hadn’t taken her eyes off me yet.
I heard Waterfall moving, and turned my attention back to him. He was stood up with a determined posture. “Where are you going? Aren’t you going to swim?”
“No, I have something I need to do.”
“Oh, if you’re looking for the bathroom or something to drink it’s in the shack. Clorina told me that.” His face turned a reddish purple and his eyebrows furrowed in anger.
“Thanks but no thanks. Go have fun with your girlfriend. Sorry, I mean, life partner.” He stomped away in a huff.
“What? What just happened?” I stared after him in confusion. Soon I was soaking wet from the water dripping off Clorina who was now standing over me. “Hey! I didn’t want to get my clothes wet!”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to. Come on, let’s go swim. It’s fun! I promise, and the water isn’t as cold as you think it is!” she batted her eyes at me and grabbed my hand in a pleading gesture.
Some undesired force moved my legs and soon we were walking down the dock. We got to the end and I sat down to hang my legs in the water. She sat down by me and stroked my forearm with her finger.
Everyone else was preoccupied with other things, and secretly I wished I could be doing the same as them. Every molecule in my body wanted this to work out with Clorina, but some part of my mind screamed “no”.
“I think you could probably sit out of training today if you wanted to stay with me.” I looked into her hopeful blue eyes, and saw my own reflection. But it wasn’t my reflection, I had changed somehow. My hair was the same, my shape, my size, my…
My eyes. My eyes looked half present half distant. They didn’t have the same proud spark in them as they use to. My eyes were the one thing in my life that I have always been proud of no matter what. The way they shone bright blue like an endless sea under a wonderful clear blue sky. They were beautiful eyes, if I do say so myself.
But these weren’t my eyes. They were blue, but they didn’t show bright. You couldn’t look into the depths of them, as my mother had once put it. Something was really wrong. But how could I change them back, how did they change in the first place?
“Hel-lo? Did you hear me?” she waved a hand in front of my face and I snapped back to reality.
“Yeah, I think I should probably train though. I already suck, they’d just be getting a head start on me.” I tried to tear my eyes away from hers, but I couldn’t. They were hypnotic in a weird sense.
“Come on, please!” her lower lip pouted, and no madder what I tried to do to stop myself, I agreed to sit out.
It was late afternoon when I started missing Waterfall. I hadn’t seen him since he had stomped off that morning. Training was over, and everyone was doing homework in pairs by the beach.
I still sat on the dock with Clorina, except we had removed our feet from the water. She held my hand tighter when I scanned the area for Waterfall. I had gotten used to having a girl like me in a real way, not for some sick joke.
I smiled down at her, and told myself the defensive feeling I had toward her was just because Gravel was nearby and he always set off my defenses. Without a sound, she whirled around to face the woods set about thirty feet from the edge of the beach.
Clorina turned back to me quickly, and if I hadn’t been looking at her eyes that second, I would have missed the terror and agitation that quickly disappear. She stood up and pulled me up with her.
She leaned into my chest and hugged me close. By instinct to comfort, I wrapped my arms around her. “Kanjort? Do you like me?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I? You’re an awesome friend.” She was confusing me again, she tended to do that often.
“No! I mean as more.”
“Oh! Um, I’m not, I mean, I don’t know yet. I still don’t know you that well yet.” Truth was, every time I looked at her as more than a friend, the girl from Waterfall’s house kept popping into my mind. Her angelic face and perfect shape, size, and complexion would smile at me from the memory of her in her hallway. It would pull me out of the spell, as I called it, Clorina had put me under.
Clorina stepped back and looked up at me with determination. “Maybe we should find out.” She started to lean in, and something in the back of my mind began to rattle with alarm. Her lips were almost at mine, when a loud scream caught my attention and I turned away.
It had sounded like a girl, it had to be because I knew these other guys didn’t scream like that. “Do you have a sister?!” I was about to rush off, but her hand wrapped around my neck.
“No, I’m an only child.” She leaned in once more, but before her lips could touch mine she let out a blood curdling shriek. She pushed away and grabbed at the back of her right calf. A knife blade stuck out of it, spilling out blood that ran down her leg in a stream.
Clorina screamed again, but this one seemed a little more contained. I stared at it in shock until another knife drove deep into the dock right next to her foot. I turned to see…
Oh my god! She was there! The girl was there, but didn’t look like the happy girl from Waterfall’s house. She ran out of the trees and onto the dock. Pulling a dagger out of the sheath hanging from her belt, she came to a stop between Clorina and I.
“What the hell?” Clorina clutched her hand around the knife wound, but didn’t pull it out.
“You thought you were clever didn’t you. No one even knew about the shape-shifters, did they? I didn’t think so. So, why him? What is he to the world?” the girl wielded the dagger with two hands at arm’s length, pointed at Clorina.
“What are you talking about? What’s a shape-shifter? And I didn’t pick him, my father picked his.” Clorina looked confused, with a hint of the agitation I had seen before.
“Cut the crap, we both know I know what’s going on with you and Stanley. Now tell me why you picked Squirt!”
Clorina’s eyes narrowed and her confused expression faded, replaced with a wickedly evil smile. “Why did I pick him? Because he’s the invincible Kanjort. Son of Mocktanan, wicked emperor of Netterdan, weilder of the Treakton! Why else would I pick him?!”
“I figured as much. But just because that’s what the legend says, don’t you think it might could be wrong?” the girl took a step back, and pressed her warm body against mine, but still held the dagger toward Clorina.
“Even if he’s not the emperor, say he’s nothing to the world. Why do you still care for him as you do?” Clorina cocked her head in, what I could see for the first time was true, confusion.
I couldn’t see the girl’s face, but it must have gotten red as the tips of her ears did because Clorina burst out in uncontrollable laughter. “Oh my god! I can’t believe this! The almighty Agosmith’s first Detroanion daughter has fallen for a Veltron, and a squirt at that! Oh my god! This is just too good!”
My eyes went wide, as did everyone else’s. “I did NOT!! He’s my roommate’s best friend! I’m supposed to care aren’t I?” my cheeks had turned a little pink in all of the excitement and Clorina noticed.
“Oh look, we’re embarrassing the poor boy! I’m sorry honey. I’ll try to stop doing that.” She took a step toward me and the girl gave a warning slash of the dagger.
“Don’t take another step toward him.”
“Are you going to stop me?” Clorina’s voice was light and teasing.
“Don’t. You. Dare.” I could hear death in the words as they slowly left her lips.
“Have to protect our boyfriend don’t you? You can have him, I wouldn’t want a boyfriend like yours. I mean look at the two of you! Isn’t he supposed to be guarding you?”
“HE’S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!” the girl shrieked in rage.
“Waterfall, why is it that you pretend something that isn’t true?”
“What do you mean? No! Stop that! Get out of my head!” the girl struck out again, and Clorina jumped back another foot.
“Take it easy chick! You think I can hurt him while you’re between us?”
That sentence grabbed my attention and I said, “Wait wait wait, what did you just say?”
“Why don’t you ask Waterfall? She seems to have all the answers.” Clorina leaned back against a wooden post and smiled at the girl.
The sentence didn’t make sense to me, so I let it go. But I did understand something was wrong because of the sudden burst of tension go through the girl’s body. She was still pressed against me, and for some reason it just felt…..well…..it just felt right.
“You know the legend isn’t true, so leave him alone.” The girl pushed me a step back.
“Why do you still protect your little boy toy if the legend isn’t true?”
“Because I know not to trust a Hauntear, especially one like you.” The rest of my classmates burst into laughter. Some slapped their knees, others rolled on the ground laughing, but the point is, no one thought she was serious.
“What?!” I heard the words leave my mouth, but it didn’t feel like I said them. “Are you retarded? She’s not a Hauntear! She’s my girlfriend, and one day she’ll be my life partner!” What the hell?! I knew I didn’t just say that. I wouldn’t have said that even if I hadn’t believed the girl. And yet, the words had come out of my mouth.
The girl whirled around to face me with astonishment. “You, you don’t believe me?”
“Idiot, can’t you see I can make him do whatever I want? It’s the most amazing feeling in the world!”
The girl didn’t turn back to face Clorina, she just stared into my eyes as if to find a difficult answer. “Do you believe me?”
Of course I do! I wanted to say, but something held my tongue. I felt a slight pull on my body. My feet started to move away from the girl, but I forced myself to stay. Clorina was doing this, I knew just as clearly as the girl did.
“You have to believe me! She is a Hauntear! But she’s a prototype, a shape-shifter! She turned into a girl named Clorina so she could get close to you because of some stupid legend! Don’t you believe me?!”
I tried to keep my mouth shut, but Clorina forced me to say, “No, you’re stupid and a despicable idiot.” My feet made me try to move around her, but she blocked my path.
A tear rolled down her cheek. I wanted to hold her close to me and comfort her, to tell her everything was okay and stroke that piece of blonde hair out of her face. But Clorina wouldn’t have it.
She force my arm to shove the girl out of the way and the girl fell to the ground. My feet started to move, but my defensive instincts got strong enough to override Clorina’s mind game. I ran back to the girl and knelt down beside her.
Tears ran down her face, and she was still curled up on the ground. Her white tank top, probably the one she had had on the other night, was covered in dirt now. Her jeans had been cut up and bloodstained. And her hair was windblown. But none of this mattered to me, I still had this feeling about her.
I sat down next to her and scooped her up into my arms. I felt like I could punch through a wall with the extra adrenaline boost I got. I could feel her heart beat faster and she looked up at me in surprise.
“It’s okay. I won’t let her hurt you, I promise. We’ll be okay. Calm down, it’ll be okay. Everything will be alright.” I didn’t know where any of this was coming from, but I knew it was actually me talking. I cradled her head against my chest and stroked her tangled hair.
“You, are going to protect her? Ha ha! That’s a good one!”
My voice sounded deadly and threatening, and I didn’t know why. “I will if I have to.” I was just trying to get us both killed wasn’t I? I couldn’t fight Clorina if her hands were tied behind her back.
My defensive side kicked into high gear when Clorina strolled toward us. By reflex, I let go of the girl and stood up smoothly. I faintly heard Gravel call out to the girl, “I hope you didn’t like living! Because you’ll die if he has to defend you.”
The girl stood up next to me, and I pushed her behind my back. I could feel the tension in her body as I did so, but I wasn’t about to let Clorina get close to her. At this point, I wasn’t even thinking about my actions, I was just reacting defensively to what was happening.
“Well, look who grew a pair. Now that you have a girl that likes you, you think your bad ass huh?” I didn’t even get embarrassed this time.
“No, you’ve just pissed me off one too many times. And I don’t take pleasure in what you say about the girl. It’s her instinct to help, just like it’s yours to kill.”
Clorina’s eyes flared red and she launched herself at me. But I was braced for this, so I launched back. When we collided, I could feel the jolt run through my body like a freight train. But Clorina got the worst of the Impact because she had launched at me but when we hit it had stopped her and flung her in the other direction, all at once.
We sailed through the air, and smashed through the wooden rail that lined the side of the dock. The water hit my face with a sting, but I was too focused to worry about it. For what seemed like hours, we tumbled around and around in the water. It wasn’t easy to throw a punch in the water, but it was easy to dodge them.
Before I knew what had happened, I was back out in the air, soaring through it. I hit the dock with a hard thud, but my momentum didn’t stop. I skidded on my back and then started doing back flips before finally come to a rest on my back, two-hundred feet from where I exited the water.
My veins still pumped up and down with adrenaline. I heard a break in the water and lifted my head to see a giant auburn blob coming through the air, right at me!
I may have struggled with Algebra II, but math was my best subject. I quickly calculated it’s velocity and distance, to figure out how much exerted force would be needed to slow it and change direction within seconds of each other. In less than a second I knew exactly what I needed to do.
I stretched my arms above my head and put my palms flat on the dock surface with my elbows arched up. I waited three seconds before throwing my legs up and back above my head. When they reacted by throwing themselves back the other direction, I used my adrenaline to get my arms to push my body off the ground, therefore doubling the exerted force.
My feet connected with its stomach with perfect precision, and the Hauntear was sent backward. It hit its head on a concrete pole sticking out of the water and slumped down unconsciously into the shallow water.
Gravel and Bloodshed were close by, and sprinted up to me with excited chatter. Each one grabbed one of my arms and hauled me to my feet. My legs felt like Jell-O as the adrenaline faded from my system.
Now the rest of my classmates surrounded me with excited chatter. I tried to answer questions about this and that, but my mind seemed to be somewhere else. I caught a glimpse of Joseph getting on to someone very strictly.
He had the girl cornered (you know, my girl? Aw never mind). Joseph was yelling at her with an intensity that I had never seen. He pointed to the bus and her head fell. She had a draw string bag slung over her back, and, what looked like, Waterfall’s hoodie in her arms. She trudged over to the bus and climbed on board. She sat in the seat I had shared with Waterfall on the way up here.
Joseph walked back into the shack with a grim expression. I brought my attention back to my noisy classmates. “Um, will you guys excuse me for a moment?” I didn’t wait for an answer, I brushed past them and walked to the open bus doors.
Those four steps felt like the longest climb I had ever taken. I looked down the aisle and saw the girl gazing out the window. I stood for a moment to see if she had seen me yet. Her gaze didn’t falter, but she said, “Stop staring, you’re burning holes.”
“Uh, sorry. Can I come sit down?” she glanced at me for a second, then turned back to the window.
“Sure.” I walked down the aisle and sat down by her.
“So you’re Waterfall’s roommate huh?” the girl suddenly was focused on me, like nothing else mattered.
“You don’t think I’m Waterfall? I thought you would have believed her since I look so much like him.”
“Nah, after she threatened to hurt me, I kind of caught on to what she was. By the way, I believed you the whole time, she just wouldn’t let me tell you so. Don’t know how she did it, but it was like someone else was talking through my mouth.” I shrugged and tried to act natural.
“Really? That’s weird. I’ll have to tell my father about that one. Would you mind coming to meet him so you can tell him what it was like?” she looked hopefully into my eyes. There it was again!
This strange feeling that runs through me every time she looks at me. I nodded in agreement and she threw her arms around me in a big hug. I jerked back in surprise, and she let go immediately. “Sorry, I didn’t mean, I just, um, I got…”
“It’s alright, you just startled me is all.” I smiled at the way her eyes twinkled in the sun’s light, and the way her hair was still cute when it was windblown and tangled.
“So um, we never officially met. I’m Squirt, or Kanjort, or whatever else you can come up with. But I guess you knew that huh?”
“Yeah, I’ve already met you……I mean, Waterfall has told me a lot about you. You’re his best friend you know?”
“Really? That’s so cool! I’ve never had a best friend before.” Her brow furrowed and she cocked her head at me.
“You haven’t? Oh, I bet it’s ‘cause you’ve had too many friends to just pick one as a best friend huh?” she smiled distantly, but it seemed like that’s where her mind was as well. She didn’t seem to be really paying attention, but paying enough to have a conversation.
“Um, no. I’ve never had a friend.” I smiled at her apologetic expression to show her it was okay, but I didn’t think it worked.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”
“Dude, chillax. It’s cool, I got Waterfall now. Speaking of the devil, where is he?” her face turned pink and she bent her head to keep from meeting my eyes.
“Um, guess you didn’t hear huh?” I shook my head and she continued, “I was Waterfall today ‘cause he had to go run an errand for my father. He asked me to take his place, and told me to make sure and stick close to you ‘nd I’d be okay.” She looked at me wearily and smiled when she saw I wasn’t mad.
I had already know it was her and not Waterfall ‘cause some of the guys had told me so. But if she had wanted me to know, and I hoped she had, she would tell me. And she did! My day brightened up very quickly.
“How did you do that?” her voice was barely over a whisper and I could hardly hear it.
“What? Oh that! Uh, I don’t know. I just….did.” I shrugged my shoulders and pulled my iPod out of my pocket. I stuck one earbud in my ear and turned on some Linkin Park. Soon the rest of the students piled on and Joseph hurried to get us out of there before the Hauntear woke up.
Copyright © 2011 Amanda Woodson. All rights reserved.