Myopia (Young Adult Zombie Paranormal Romance) (Wisteria Series) (8 page)

A few of the other Family nobles in the hall nodded in agreement.

“We have decided to send a small cohort of empirics to the island to discover how the Terrans came to possess the obsidian crystal,” Sen Aleix announced. A cohort was a group or members of the Family travelling or moving together. “They will, of course, renew an appropriate number of the Terrans, but not enough to cause serious concern.”

“How many empirics are you sending?” Bach asked.

“You do not need to concern yourself with the details,” Lord Rafel replied. “When they arrive, you will know them. Just ensure they are well received and point out the right Terrans for the renewal.”

“As you know,” Belem said softly, “If we renew them en-mass the Terrans could realize what is happening and those who hold the secrets we are seeking could destroy the evidence and themselves.”

“Sen.” Bach stepped forward. “That could still be a risk, if too many people arrive. Since Felip left, they have been very suspicious of all strangers. There is no way they will take in a large group.”

“Didan, what do you think?” The Sen pointed to a white-haired man, dressed in the long black coats worn by the Sentinels. “We will not send many. Forty of the Family will go,” Didan replied.

“That sounds reasonable.” Yordi nodded.

“That many people entering the island at once will be the same as trying to renew them all. And once they see we all have green eyes, they will assume the worst,” Bach interjected.

“We can conceal our eye color,” Didan snapped.

“Are you suggesting we send a smaller group?” Rafel asked.

“Impossible,” Didan protested. “Obsidian coral is fundamental to our way of life. It makes it possible for our people to safely travel through the thresholds to this realm or any other. The fact that the Terrans are trying to synthesize it could mean they too want to travel to our realms and this must be part of their plot to destroy us.”

“We are agreed,” Sen Aleix, Bach’s father, said.

“We must send the right kind of people and enough people. This is not a game,” Didan continued. “This is not like toying with a Thayn on the beaches of the Jade Ocean.”

Bach sensed Didan’s comment was directed at him, but he did not respond. “Sen Aleix, the humans will be more comfortable around a smaller group, provided you send the right people.”

“Humans?” Rafel questioned.

All reasonable Famila referred to humans as Terrans, which meant the dirt people.

“You call them humans now?” Didan jeered. “Intriguing.”

Bach searched his brain for a reasonable explanation.

“Of course he calls them that,” Yordi interjected. “Sen-Son Bach has had to blend in with them and learn their ways. How else could be earn their trust? He is not a fool.” Turning to his father, he stepped forward. “Father.” Yordi was the first child of the Sen and that made Yordi the Prime of his Pillar, so he got away with referring to his father, Sen Aleix, casually in these formal settings.

“Yes, Prime Yordi.” His father’s countenance softened at the word.

“Consider what Sen-Son Bach is saying. He has lived among free Terrans longer than most of us in this room.”

While the Great Walk was mandatory, most Famila chose to spend it on the Family home realm. Bach’s decision to spend 1,000 days on Earth was quite unique.

Their father sighed and turned to Didan. “We will consider what you have said,” Sen Aleix stated firmly. “You must do everything in your power to ensure the Terrans trust the empirics we send and we get the source of the obsidian crystal. I will never tolerate failure, especially from my sons.”

“Sen, Bach will not fail,” Yordi swore. “He will get the answers you are seeking.”

“Your oldest brother is very loyal to you, Sen-Son.” Their father, Sen Aleix, looked over at Bach. “Do not disappoint him.”

The brothers left the Triad hall.

Bach decided to return to the Isle of Smythe to visit Wisteria again since his father wouldn’t make a decision about the cohort any time soon. He might surprise her with a gift for her mother, although he’d have to give it to Lara. Leaving his brother, he reached the Third Pillar’s courtyard and saw Alba gliding back into the hall.

“Look away,” a familiar voice warned and the giant frame of Enric, his best friend, approached.

“What are you doing here?” Bach asked happily.

Enric was his best friend and had gone on the Great Walk with him.

When they discovered the obsidian crystal on Earth, they’d impressed Bach’s father. As a result, the boys were granted permission to complete the Great Walk early. Enric had journeyed back home three months ago, but Bach had stayed behind to help the Family find the obsidian crystal
. At least that was what he told the Family
.

“Your Great Walk is over, are you not supposed to be celebrating your life as an Ino? Bragging to the girls about your adventures with the wild animals?” Bach asked.

“I was, but the girls kept asking why I left you to complete the Great Walk alone. They made me feel like a
qwaynide
.” Enric laughed.

“So, you returned because you do not want people calling you names?”

“I am here to read and get my sentinel papers,” Enric said.

“Why would you want to do that? You are an Ino.”

The Sentinels were mainly from the Ilac caste, but a handful were from the Mordin and Ino castes. The sentinels were responsible for protection of the Elders and keeping the law and order in the home realm and Jarthan.

“Yes, but as an Ino, I can one day become the General for the Third Pillar,” Enric explained.

“Enric, are you doing this to impress the girls?”

“My father is the Lord of Jarthan. I do not care what women think of me.” Forcing a comfortable laugh, Enric said, “Speaking of girls, I want you stay away from my sister.”

“What?” Bach hadn’t seen that one coming.

“As long as you are entertaining that Thayn in Smythe, I need you to steer clear of Alba.”

“Alba knows about the Thayn and she seems unconcerned.”

“I am telling you…”

“Alba is not my intended, so I do not see what one has to do with the other.”

Enric grimaced. “I heard my parents speaking and it seems your father is keen on you pledging to Alba. You assure me you have ended it with the Thayn or convince your father you are not ready to pledge.”

“Still trying to convince Bach to marry your sister?” Lluc joined the conversation.

Bach laughed to hide his discomfort.

“When Bach returns home, he will be introduced to many Family girls. Hopefully, he will find one he likes or at least one that does not drive him mad. If she feels the same, she will be his intended,” Lluc explained to Enric.

“As long as we have an understanding,” Enric warned and laughed. “I brought some sandwine from home. Let us celebrate.”

“What are we celebrating?” Bach asked as his friend dragged him away from his brother.

“I do not know. We will have to think of something,” Enric replied, with his usual jovial tone.

CHAPTER FIVE

 
“I hope you’re happy.” Hailey shoved Wisteria forward as the girls entered class the following Monday. “Thanks to you, we can’t go to Norton anymore.”

Stumbling forward, Wisteria was able to prevent herself from falling. She spun around to confront Hailey, but the girl was gone.

“Wisteria, inside now,” Lady Milton Davenport, the history teacher, yelled in a shrill voice.

The Year Twelve classroom was more cramped than the one they used last year.

Wisteria wondered if it was because the leadership council actually believed there’d be less students alive this year.

She weaved through the room that was packed full of makeshift tables and desks, until she got to the old dresser where she sat. Climbing on, she found herself sitting alone. This was a bit strange since Garfield normally sat with her. Then, she spotted him sitting next to Amanda.

“Stupid bitch,” Yvette Morel called out and threw something at her. “You’re going to suffer for ratting us out to Coles.”

She ducked as the projectile hit the wall and fell behind the dresser. “I’d like to see you try it.” This was the last class of the day, so she just had to endure it.

“Settle down, you terrors,” Lady Milton shouted. “You don’t want me reporting this to my husband.” Her husband was Sir Charles Davenport, the head of the Leadership Council, and she was Hailey’s mother. Like her daughter, she had long brown hair with ocean blue eyes.

And like a lot of the women in the town, she got the teaching job not because she was a good teacher but because she thought it was easy and there was nothing else she really could do.
Well, that was what Coles said.

“Wisteria, find a proper seat!” Lady Milton demanded, like she did every day.

“There’re none.” She pointed around the class. She hadn’t had a proper seat in class for two years.

“Maybe you could sit on Steven’s lap?” Yvette called out.

“Say that again Yvette, I dare you,” Wisteria warned.

“Ignore them, Ria.” Steven tried to suppress a smirk, but he obviously loved the teasing.

“All right, very funny.” Lady Milton waved her hands in the air, signaling them to calm down, but the kids didn’t respond. She shrieked in frustration. “Shut up! Wisteria, find a seat or get out of my class.”

“Lady Milton, there are no more chairs.” She couldn’t understand why Lady Milton was insisting she do the impossible. Even if she found another seat, there was no space in the classroom to put it.

The teacher marched up to her. “This isn’t a discussion.”

“Where can I find one, miss?”

“You have a quite a mouth on you.” A lot of Lady’s Milton anger was because Wisteria hit her daughter Hailey once and because Wisteria’s mother threatened the woman.

“You’re asking for the impossible---” Before she could finish, Lady Milton whacked her across the side of the face with a textbook.

Just like she herself had done to Hailey months before.

“Don’t ever speak back to me, girl,” the woman seethed. “Now get the hell out of my class!”

“What are you doing?” Amanda leapt at the woman.

“You can’t do that.” Garfield stormed up to the teacher, but was blocked by Steven.

“I will tell my dad what you did.” Steven spoke in a deep voice in an attempt to sound threatening.

“I can do whatever the hell I like in my classroom.” Coldly, she lifted her book over her head.

It took Wisteria a few seconds to process what happened. “You hit me?” She snatched the textbook from the teacher’s hands and paused for a moment. “You were lucky.” She honestly wanted to whack this snide woman right across the jaw, but instead she walked toward the door.

“Get out,” Hailey murmured.

Stopping by Hailey’s desk, Wisteria frowned down at her.

“Don’t you dare touch her, Wisteria,” the teacher warned and started to charge at her, but tripped on Steven’s out stretched leg.

A few kids laughed as the teacher tumbled.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to touch you.” Wisteria smiled down at her.

“I wasn’t worried,” the girl snapped back.

Smashing her with the textbook she was holding, Wisteria quipped, “You should’ve been worried.” Gathering her things, Wisteria left the silent classroom. She suddenly felt so much better; she’d been taking flack and abuse from those women for far too long. She was now proud of defending herself for once. Pausing, she wondered where she could go. If she left the school building she’d be stopped by the soldiers if they saw her walking around town during the school day. She decided to wait in the school building until the end of the day.

*****

“Hey,” Steven called out to her as she walked out of the school building later that afternoon.

“Crap,” she muttered, not looking back. Quickening her steps, she hurried away from Steven.
Garfield
. She scanned around, but her friend was nowhere to be seen. He was probably off with Amanda.

Ironically, six months ago, she’d have given anything for Steven to want her so much he’d chase after her, because he was really cute, at least she’d thought so at one time.

“Ria.” Grabbing her, he twirled her around. “Didn’t you hear me?”

“Stop calling me Ria.” She yanked herself out of his grip.

“Can you believe Hailey’s mum? She’s almost as bad as Cheung.”

“Yeah.” A cold breeze blew between them and she pulled her jacket closed. She wished the wind would just blow him away. “I’ve got to go.”

“Are you okay?” Steven pointed to the side of her face where Lady Milton had slapped her. “I can’t believe she did that.”

“Thanks for your concern.” She actually wanted to believe his unusual kindness; he had tried to defend her back in class.

“Yeah, listen.” He gazed around, his perfect blue eyes shifting as if he was calculating something.

She inched back.

He reached out and clutched her arm. “Hey, why don’t you come to my place? We got some new DVDs from Garfield--okay they aren’t new-new, but no one else has them in town. We can watch them and catch up?”

“A movie? Steven, what exactly do you want?”

“Or we can forget the movies and keep each other occupied,” he whispered. “We’ve got some unfinished business.”

“What about Hailey? You two are back together.”

“We’re just friends now. Like you and me.”

“I saw you coming out of that room with her in Norton.”

“That?” Steven laughed, running his hand through his sandy hair. “That was nothing.”

“Honestly, I don’t care. I don’t want to be with you. I don’t even like you.” Wisteria had enough of his games and walked away.

“Steven,” Gareth Hubbard yelled. “Where are you going?” he asked Steven while pushing past her, knocking her down in the process. “Ria-diarrhea, get lost.”

“Gareth, what’s your problem?” Steven tried to help her to her feet.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she shouted, charging at him.

Steven held her back.

“Let go of me!” She pulled herself away from him.

“Come on, let’s get out of here.” Gareth poked at Steven.

“Idiot, get lost,” Steven muttered to his friend. “I’m not going with you.”

“That? What? You’re that desperate for points?” Gareth jeered.

“Seriously, Gareth, I don’t have time for your crap today.” Steven shoved past the other boy.

Gareth had never been the same since his younger brother was infected and had to be cured. Once he'd been the class clown, but now he was becoming something darker. Granted, he was always cruel to her, but now he was horrible to everyone.

Walking off, she heard Steven calling her again. “Where are you going?” He hurried to her. “If you’re worried about Hailey, there’s no way she’ll find out. And if she does, I’ll never ask you to hook up again.”

“Hook up? What happened to the movie?”

“Sure,” he smirked. “But you know you want more than that.”

She slapped him. “Get over yourself, Steven.” She kept moving away. And suddenly, she felt like she was going to be sick. Running to the side of the road, she vomited. She didn’t know how long she’d knelt there on the side of road, but when she glanced back, Steven was gone.

She was still throwing up by the time she got home and stumbled into bed. Covering herself with a blanket she fell asleep, but kept waking up. She had to go to work in a few hours. As punishment for sneaking out, she was assigned eighteen extra hours of patrol. Her mother theorized that would make Wisteria too tired to do such nonsense again.

This made her angry, but patrolling did mean she was learning how to take care of herself again.

“Are you all right?”

Opening her eyes, she saw her mother sitting on the bed next to her, stroking her hair. “You’ve been sick all over the bed.” Her mother’s voice was soft and sweet.

Even though she was still angry with her mother for keeping secrets and the punishment, right now she just wanted to be mothered. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” Her throat felt hoarse from throwing up so much.

“Change out of your clothes and lay down on my bed. I’ll change your sheets.”

Slowly, she got up, but her head was pounding.
I have Nero!
She grabbed her mother’s arm. “Are you going to cure me?”

“Baby.” Her mother kissed her forehead. “I wouldn’t have woken you if I was going to cure you.”

Wisteria felt relieved and terrified.

“You don’t have Nero. It’s just the flu that’s been going around.” Her mother helped her out of bed. “There’s water and a cloth to wash with.”

On the dresser, there was a bowl of water, a green cloth, and a bar of soap. Taking off her top, she wiped the dried vomit off her neck and face.

Slowly, her mother strode over. “What is that?”

“What?” Wearily, she turned to her mother. “Ouch,” she cried as her mother poked her back.

The older woman pointed to the mirror.

Wisteria was horrified to see a trail of eight large black spots down her back, just behind her shoulders. “What are those?” She touched one, but it felt like her skin.

“Nothing.” Her mother touched them again. “You’re probably just allergic to something or a side effect of the flu, since you’ve never had it before.”

“Are you sure?”

“No, but I’ll talk to Sabine, and if she’s worried, then we’ll do something. Right now, lay down in my bed and I’ll sort this room for you.”

Getting into her mother’s bed, she fell asleep, but was awoken to the sound of Coles and her mother speaking in hushed tones to Sabine. There were other voices, too. She was sure she heard Jason Webb and, strangely, Thomas Clarkson, the rat catcher.

She wanted to go to the door to listen to what they were saying, but she was still in agony over her other symptoms. Lying back down, she hoped to feel better in the morning.

*****