Authors: Cheryl McIntyre
The repulsion rolls in her stomach. She fights the urge to vomit.
Fights the overwhelming urge to smother him. It would be so easy. He’d never see it coming. Just like she never saw his betrayal coming.
Kill him as he has killed her.
Dustin shifts. Opens his eye enough to see Lila. To recognize the expression on her face. He tries to see past the murkiness clouding his vision. He’s certain it’s the vision. Lila looks murderous.
Looks like she does when she’
s facing a Demon. Not how she looks at him.
“What’s wrong?” he asks
,
his voice thick with sleep.
Lila doesn’t answer. Can’t speak. The tears spill over. Drop from her chin.
“Lila?” Dustin sits up awkwardly. “What happened? What’s the matter?”
“You’ve been branded by t
he Hierarchy. Branded for treason.” She turns to leave. Dustin grips her wrist trying to stop her. She whirls on him, yanking her arm from his grasp. “Don’t touch me!” Her breathing is erratic. She pants, her chest rising and falling quickly. “Don’t ever touch me again.”
“Please, let me explain.”
“There is nothing to explain. Did you
help Apophis? Did you give him Keely to murder?”
Dustin doesn’t say
anything. He stays very still,
afraid if he moves at all she will walk out of his room and out of his life. He can’t live without her. Doesn’t want a life without her.
“That’s what I thought. There is no justification for what you did.” She turns back to the door. Turns her back on Dustin.
“Please, Lila. I love you.”
She pauses. Wipes the tears from her cheeks. “Well I hate you,” she says just
loud enough for him to hear
and walks out the door.
*
**
Keely chan
ges into a
shorts and tank top pajama set. Pulls her hair into a sloppy pony tail and gathers the pencils from her bed. Sprawls out on her stomach and leafs through page after page of Asmoday. She blows out a big breath and tosses the sketchpad on her nightstand. Today was an exhausting day. She’s had quite a few of those lately. When things settle down—if things settle down, she’s staying in bed for a week.
Keely wonders how far
she is falling behind in school
an
d if she is able to attend the A
cademy, if
it will matter. She just wants to graduate this year.
The cord vibrates in her heart and Keely sits up expectantly. She hadn’t realized it, but now knows she had been waiting for him.
“How did you fare today?” Asmoday asks immediately.
“Fare?” Keely smiles at his
sometimes
strange terminology. Like he came from another time
, not just another place
. “It was all right, I guess. I have to go back tomorrow to find out whether or not they want to kill me.”
He rubs his lips together and nods. “They like to stretch these things out.”
“Apparently. I just want to know where I stand. I hate feeling like I don’t belong anywhere.”
“
You belong with me.” He says this as if he were talking about the sky being blue. As if it is a widely known and accepted fact.
Keely hugs her pillow to her chest. She smells his sunny, summery scent on it. “You’ve been coming by a lot.”
He nods and picks up her sketch pad. Examines the first picture o
f himself. “I think you draw
me better than I am.”
“I think it’s a
very accurate rendering of you,”
she says a little defensively.
“Yes, but you give me more depth in my eyes than I truly have.” He turns the pad so she can see.
She stares at the drawing then looks up into his eyes. Too many seconds go by before she looks away. “It’s accurate.”
“I a
m a handsome man then,
”
Asmoday says with a grin.
“You know you are.”
“So you agree?”
His smile turns wicked and Keely sighs.
“I guess so. You’
re very
…
symmetrical. I like to draw you.”
Asmoday kicks off his shoes and
lies
on Keely’s bed beside her. “It’s ver
y relaxing for me when you draw.”
His eyes graze over her. “
You’re calm. I like that.”
“You know what I like?
” Keely asks, folding her arms over her chest. She doesn’t wait for an answer.
“
I like how you make yourself at home in my bedroom.”
“I like that too.”
“I was being sarcastic.”
“I like that as well. You a
re quite good at it.”
“You bring out the best in me,” she says
with a tight smile
.
“Yes, there it is again. You’re in a mood this evening.” He sits up and leans on his elbow.
“I’m tired. And I’m stressed.”
Asmoday touches her cheek gently.
“You’re scared.”
Keely stares at him. Takes a shaky breath. “That too.”
“May I hug you?
” he asks softly.
“
This is something brothers and sisters do, correct?”
“Yes, it is. But it wouldn’t feel like a hug from my brother. You’ll turn it into something else
and make me feel uncomfortable
and I’ll just feel even worse than I already do.”
Asmoday winces
at how true her words are
. “It will only be a hug. You need one.”
Keely nods her head. She does need one.
She leans into Asmoday and he wraps his arms around her. Sometimes she holds things inside too long. So long that a simple hug breaks all her
resolve. Opens the flood gates. This is one of those times. She bursts into tears and Asmoday holds her tighter.
He doesn’t say a word. Just allows her to cry.
Th
ey stay this way
until her tears finally dry.
“I always wanted a brother,” she says as she wipes her face. She sniffles. “Not the way I imagined it, but you’re not so bad.”
“Mm
m
. I
think you paid me a compliment,
”
he says, though he doesn’t sound happy about it.
“Simmer down. Don’t let it go to your head or anything.”
“May I sleep with you?”
Keely goes very still. Feels as if she is made of stone. Her stomach dips like she took the plunge on a roller coaster.
That came out of nowhere
.
“Ugh, what?”
“May I sleep here tonight
? I slept so well this morning
and I believe you will sleep better with me here as well.” He glances at her and smiles devilishly. “You t
hought I was asking to have sex
.” He laughs. It’s such a wonderful noise to Keely’s ears. “I thought we were not allowed to do that?”
Keely pushes herself off the bed. “We’re not.”
“Yet, that is the first place your mind ventured. I find that fascinating.”
He stares at her, his expression one of amusement.
“Don’t, you’re a total perv most of the time. It’s not such a leap.” She digs out her old
boy band
sleeping bag from under the bed. Unrolls it and sways her hand Price is Right style. You just won a night on the floor.
He eyes
it with disgust. Raises a
brow
. “I cannot fit in that…what is that?”
“That is your bed. Take it or leave it.”
“May I have a pillow?” He stands beside the bed and loo
ks at her with sad dark eyes, b
ut she feels
happy and content inside. Knows he does as well.
Big faker
.
“I only have the one. Sorry.” Keely pulls back her bedspread and snuggles into her bed. Smiles at Asmoday’s struggle to get comfortable on the floor. She set his bed up in such a way that they have no trouble seeing each other. She hadn’t meant to do it. At least no
t
consciously. She sighs and throws the pillow at him. He needs it more
than she does
.
Asmoday looks at the pillow like it’s a brand new car. As if she has given him an amazing gift. “But you only have the one.” He looks up at her, his expression unreadable. She tries to capture his feelings through the cord, but they are changing too rapidly to get a fix on them.
“I’ll be fine. I have a soft bed
,
”
she says.
“You are going without so I can be more comfortable.”
“O.k.
,
don’t make
a big thing about it. I just thought you could use it more than I could.
” She lies back and closes her eyes.
“Thank
you, Keely.”
“You’re welcome. Good night.”
“Yes. Good night,
”
he whispers.
*
**
Kimberly fumbles the plaid suitcase from her closet and heaves it on the bed. Begins to fill it with the necessities. A few family photos, a couple changes of clothing, toiletries.
Kevin joins his wife and hands her the envelope of cash. She shoves it in
side
the inner pocket of the suitcase.
“Did you pick up the hair dye?”
Kevin nods. “Three bottles.” He pulls out a bag from the top drawer of the night stand. “Two black and a red.”
Kimberly stands up straight and brushes the hair out of her face. “I always wanted to be a red head.”
“She
’s never going to agree to this,” Kevin sighs.
“
She’ll hate us.”
“Maybe at first, but I can live with that. It’s better than the alternative.”
“They may decide to help her. That woman said she was special. A leader.”
“What our daughter can do… She is too powerful. They can’t take the chance that she could one day turn against them. They will never allow someone with this much control to live.
”
Kevin looks out the window, unable to look at his wife. “I hate what you’ve done to this family.”
Kimberly stares at his back. The way his head sags. “I’m trying to fix it.”
“No, you’re not. You’re dictating it. Just like before.”
“Do you want her to die?”
Kevin curls his hands into fists. It takes everything inside of him not to scream. He punches the wall once as hard as he can. Glares at his wife as she flinches at his outburst. “What the hell is wrong with you? How can those words leave your mouth? I
love
her. I almost wonder if I love her more than you do.
I want what is best for her. And I’m struggling with this. I don’t know if running is best. What if they were going to help her, but we leave? What if that Demon gets to her? Or that
Demon
King? You and I alone can’t protect her! And not one time through this have you stopped to ask me what I thought. What I want. What Keely wants. Well, I
can guarantee you this, darling,
she doesn’t want to leave her friends and run away with you.” He waits several seconds for her to respond.
Kimberly turns back to the suitcase and continues filling it. Pretends as though he never spoke a word. Kevin walks out of the room slamming the door behind him.
**
*
Asmoday watches Keely sleep as he listens to her parents’ argument. She has no idea how vulnerable she is. So small. So soft. She is potentially the most powerful person he has ever known. Even more so than the Demon King. Yet she lies here, delicately sleeping like a child. He could take her right now. Hide her from everyone in another rea
lm. She wouldn’t know for hours
. It could take an eternity for anyone to find them. She could be his.
He tries out his newly learned empathy. It’s his favorite trick. He knows he doesn’t do it correctly. He is supposed to place himself in her position, imagine these things are happenin
g to him. But when he does
, he just doesn’t care. His whole life has been someone else making his decisions. Someone else telling him what to do. When to do it.
How to do it. Telling him what h
e should think. Where his loyalty lies. This is nothing new to him. So instead, Asmoday imagines what Keely’s reaction would be. How it would make her feel. It is almost always the oppos
ite of what he would do.