January 24th, 2010
West building
The floor shakes so violently this time, the ceiling creaked above my head, much like a giant groaning animal in distress. The bathroom was far from my mind, the only thing I thought about was getting out of the west building alive when the people on the top floor stump like a horde of buffalo, their frantic voices muttered by falling tiles.
The toxic sisters weren't a problem. As soon as the first heavy chunk of cement fell from the bathroom ceiling, barely missing Belladonna's face, she was gone, her sisters right on her heels, shouting curses. I had a feeling that the kindness I showed them might give them a different perception that not all Royalleaves are the same. Or at least until they forget my face and go back to looking for that rock with no explanation of my they wanted or their leader pressed the idea of harrasing anyone in their way until find it.
I jog through the deserted corridor, papers and other school items tossed around. My legs still feel heavy from the muscle locking trick the sisters decided to perform. My tote bag drooping freely from my left arm. Who would have expected such bad luck for me, on my final day of school?
The locker doors flew wide open, quicker than I could register the next tremble. It's not long until I reach the final swing doors that lead to the north building, leading straight through the lunchroom which isn't stable either but is much safer than a building that the school should have closed off anyway. This part of the school only housed Science 2 and English 2, one on the top floor and the other on the bottom, between the restrooms and student services.
"What is this?"
Two black-dressed figures block the hallway, grim expressions plastered across their faces, shades blocking their eyes from the light above. Men with matching body shapes, sturdy shoulders, and bulky muscles. I slide to a halt, barreling into an abandoned backpack, flinging the heavy bag into the left man's knee.
He didn't move. Still as a statue in the middle of an earthquake. He looked at the black bag full of papers and other contents falling out of it's unzipped opening. He held his hand out, turning it over so that his palm was facing the backpack. I didn't even need to see what he was going to do next. I remember that same incineration trick they do.
His chunky fingers were in it led with a black fog collecting at his fingertips spreading all the way to his palm that was nearly the size of my face. The fog cast a giant shadow over the backpack slowly decreasing its size, the paper rolling up as it began to fade away into powdery grey ash along with the rest of the backpack.
The man's strange twin nodded in praise to his partner's strange brute nature that they all seemed to have. A taste for destruction.
"This will all be over little girl if you tell us where the moonstone is located, we already have researched and found your kins establishment in Iowa, so you start talking or the repercussions will be disastrous."
"I told your little friends back there, I don't know about any moonstone, if I did, I wouldn't be risking my life and the life of my kin for a piece of rock on a string, you dim bulb!", My voice turned from a demanding bark to a pleading. They aren't supposed to be here!
Footsteps echo behind me, pounding on the tile floor. I've concealed my true identity for years and today just might be the day I put all royalleaves in danger. But I can't do that. Not today, not ever. I knew the footsteps weren't as loud as they seemed on beat to the sound of my heart banging in my chest.
At the same time, I can't let these people die at the hands of me over something they wouldn't even understand.
My teeth clacked together in a steady rhythm as a cold tingle races through my wrist. All I am, all those people behind the thumping footsteps is an illusion to hide what's behind the shell. That's the way it must stay. The last thing I need is conspiracy theories over my head.
"Leave."
I feel my illusion side falling free from my soul, the delicate force that keeps me from using the powers that make me a royalleaf. The ones that I've kept hidden since the accident. The accident that almost got me torn to shreds by the government or worst- taken in for scientific studies leading them to the others. The accident that left my first human friend dead. The memories that swirl in my mind like a blur of colors. Obsidian told me it wasn't my fault. It wasn't my fault the rouge fireleaves thought she was me. It wasn't my fault that a darker aura rose from my soul with my determination to kill those fireleaves.
I vowed to never use that side of me. Never to allow another mistake to happen like that unless I need them. No. The flashing black eyes are too fresh in my memory right now for me to use them. The same carmel brown skin as mine, male, dominant look in his gaze and handgun gripped tight in his hand. The same one-
I stop myself. It isn't worth the risk.
Breathing in, letting go of the fighting of my chest, I step backward, holding out my hands to show total submission, "I tell you the truth and nothing but the truth, those are humans about to burst in here, running for their lives and all of us will be in danger, you know what detrimental humans do!"
The right clone chuckled darkly, the silent standoff finally broke after what felt like an eternity, "We will destroy them, just like we did to that backpack!"
"And then what? If you use your powers, the scientifically educated humans will dig and dig until they find you and eradicate you and all your kind."
The other, a tad bit bigger than the other shook his head, "Why would you of all people in the universe care about my kin? All you and your kind had done was jabbed us with swords until we submitted it to you!"
His voice is harsh, but no matter how hard he attempted to mask the fear, it was there. It's his face that makes me rethink the whole persuasion idea, a long scar reaching from under his glasses, down to his throat. His hand, in which he uses to stroke a mane of a beard, is much larger than my head. His tawny skin is riddled with pale burn marks left from fire or acid, either way, it wasn't good.
"If they find you, it's only a matter of time until one of your stupid boneheaded kin rats us out. You know that you and I are like crabs in a bucket, we always have a way of pulling each other back down into the scorching water."
A weak tile falls free and falls inches away from my shoe. I watch it fall to the ground and crack. My gaze flicked from it, then back to eyes hidden by dark tented sunglasses hiding their identity.
"You have already caused enough havoc messing with the earth's atmosphere, leave!"
The men turn to each other, a hint of some kind of agreement on each one's face, the same expression, "We will leave, for now, but until the moonstone is found, this won't be the last you'll see of our kind."
They turned, again using their powers to disappear into thin air, gone. Me still scared out of my wits. I wasn't sure if it was the fact that I was so close to being exposed or the fact that the was only the tip of the iceberg until they get what they want. Whatever it might be. The only reason I wasn't dead was because they couldn't risk exposure anymore than I could. Their traces are nonetheless still here in the area and it wouldn't be hard for genius humans to figure out. Those tracks wouldn't fade until sundown tomorrow, maybe enough time for them to leave the town until their indication was gone.
I heard my fellow classmates around the corner. Their voices are like jagged knives, yelling like terrified fools while some, inspected the damage, but still striding quickly. I turn forward, back towards the glass doors where the "Men in Black" had disappeared, heading towards the dark cafe up ahead. Not a sign that implied they had just held up the corridor. Well, not one that can be seen by the naked human eye.
Lunging forward towards the door, I slammed my hand into cold cold metal and glass, as if the force was going to open the door by any chance. My mind was on edge at the moment, swimming with thoughts and tricks of the eye. Opening the door, I felt the rush of air blow across my face, slapping me with a light chill.
My taunt muscles relaxed without any warning, a new keen sense of energy blazed like flames in my leg muscles, begging for me to spring from the ramp over to the cement eating area on the other side of the small wooden bridge built only a few feet above the ground. Obsidian.
Looking over my shoulders, it was as if no time at all had passed, the students had only advanced a few steps down the stairs. Sense of smell sharp, I could smell the students, each with their distinctive scents, commonly sharing the aroma of wet salt and sweat. Light scents of perfume it my nose at a random, lavender, and something I couldn't quite place a finger on.
I turned back to the bridge, my legs trembling with energy still coiled up inside of me, waiting for release. Fire licked at my toes in taunt. I sprang. Enclosing the distance in one leap, gripping onto the door handle of the door which was already beginning to rust from the continuous rainy season deteriorating the silver paint.
Something soft flicked at my ankles, a black tail curled around my knee. Obsidian looked up at me with wide green eyes, her nose buried in the palm of my hand as she steadied me with her own body. It was a wordless interaction between us, I was safe. I dropped to my knees, feeling the power drain from my body and back into hers, "I thought they had captured you!"
My lips trembled as I pressed my face into the jaguar's thick fur, the smell of freshly cut grass all over body made me sneeze. I didn't mind it one bit. I allowed my illusion to in circle my wrist, the gold lights shimmering from my wrist to the top of my elbows. Just like her, I was a ghost to the humans.
Grasping on to handfuls of thick black fur, I felt her cool raspy tongue cross over my face, the way she would if I was her cub. I wonder if Obsidian ever had any cubs in her other lives. Her heavy paw rested on my shoulder, the weight a way of assurance. It was hard to tell that wasn't human trapped in an animalistic body.
Tears attempted to force themselves from my eyes, burning until I allowed them to fall. Obsidian drew her tongue against my cheek again, nuzzling her wet nose into the crook of my neck, "The way you held off those men back there without breaking a single nail was quite badass if I say so myself."
Her voice was soothing and comedic at the same time, but now the tears were falling faster and my shaking had become worst. Why are you crying? You can't change anything! Those things were bound to happen. The only reason I held them back was because they were scared of being exposed.
"So you aren't holding in your feelings, that's a relief, better to explode here than at the worst possible moment like you did at the salad bar last month.", Her chuckled died off, only to be returned with a thicker laugh. I grabbed her by the shoulders as one of the upstairs substitute teachers burst the door with her pink purse, thin jacket, and emergency folder in hand, a thin red sheet of construction paper I guess she'd rummaged through an old drawer to find held up in her hand, light brown acrylic nails nervously gripping the paper tightly enough to pierce holes in it.
Obsidian grabbed the back of my hoodie with her jaws, pulling me out of the way of the herd of tenth and eleventh graders trailing behind her like this was some kind of field trip and it was almost time to depart. Except for the trip site was the most magical place on earth. We watched the students grouped up as the sub ordered them in a single file. Like they care about what you say. Think again.
Most didn't even give her a second glance, one girl looked in our direction, my stomach twisting under her gaze. She pushed up her giant black horn-rimmed glasses and looked back to the tall boy behind her, quite the most popular eleventh grader named Kerman Tyler. Dim as a rock, but I guess it was his humor and illegal parties that left him at the top of caste system at our school. He started to mimic the moving of the floor when the quake came, flailing his arms around wildly and acting as if his feet were unsteady, trying to balance on one foot.
"Idiot.", Obsidian hiss under her breath.
The redhead laughed at himself and then moved along with the others through the cafeteria doors. The last student entered through the doors, buried in his blackberry, slipping through as the door made a final squeak and slammed.
"You have to admit that waiter deserved it," I wiped my eye with the sleeve of my jacket, putting on a ghost of a smile, "Almost as much as Kerman deserved to fall on his stupid for face for never inviting me to his parties."
"Yeah, like I'll let you underage drink.", She snorted before lightly attempting to pat my head with her paws, claws extended to gently massage my scalp. Returning the jester, I ran my fingers through the thick fur behind her ears.
"Don't worry, I've already had a bite of nephew Justin's rum ice cream, it was disgusting.", I teased her knowing how much she loved his alcoholic ice cream and a lick of beer from my aunt Samantha's unattended beer glass, snickering away when Samantha took the glass off the coffee table to take a drink, so indulged in the television's Modern family to notice. Or drunk.
Trying to stop the huge cat was pretty useless, she did as she pleased when she wanted like a middle-aged woman and a teenage rebel trapped in the body of a black panther.
"Do you think that building two will collapse?", I pointed over to the building, from this angle on the outside, the building looked fine. The grey bricks of the building were still in place except for the small pile over in the field stacked up to fix the steps at the front of the school that began to break from the rest. My eyes roamed over the stone wall, try to pick out the new cracks from the ones that had already been there.
My attempt was useless, they all just looked the same, and I think believe the bricks were only an outer layer. Years of inattention were the main cause of that and with our county as broke as it was or pretended to be, they would either shut off the second building and use the library for the classes in building two or do a quick repair to the ceiling and wall.
Obsidian stood up from the cement and bounded over to building two, the smaller dull building, her claws scraping on the wood. She lifted her nose, scenting the air. Tail went limp as she edged to the stone wall.
"Weak fireleaves. Their scents are even faint, that's probably the reason they didn't kill you but this building is still in tip-top shape."
Just in the instant, she said that another tile from the overhanging where I sat fell on the picnic table with a thud. Turning back to her, she was already speaking, trying to cover up her mishap, "Now, that wasn't building two, that was the picnic area. As a long time professional in this type of-."
She paused, running her paws over her nose trying to figure out the right word.
"Handypanther work?"
"Hey! I know my job, thank you very much, but yes, that.", She paced the cement, looking upwards at the tiles, "I think that I need hands and a hammer for this type of work, which neither I have at the moment."
Laughing, she waved her tail, walking back towards me. Grace and beautiful was in her entire body as she slunk towards me, purring in satisfaction, "That's the smile that I wanted to see, no more tears for now, alright?"
I laced my finger together so she could push her head through the opening. She did, her giant shoulder barely fitting through, laying back on my chest with her tail thumping on the cement, "Yes Obsidian."
She nuzzled my cheek, "Atta girl."