Forever Now

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Everything was set, we were in place and the plan was working so far. My position, as boring as it sounds, was going to school. But not just going to school to learn, never did that anyway, but to spy. Janice was in school today, one of the few days she attends school, and today was the day. Today we would confront her, tell her to reveal her secrets and either change her, I still have no idea how that is done, or kill her, which I hoped I wouldn’t have to do myself.

Everything was ready or it was until Alec decided it was the perfect moment to explain himself to me. He approached me during our liberal arts class that took place near the communication building and the soccer field. Kryzstofer, who was pretending to be a student, was lying against a tree a few feet away. He eyed me before giving a silent command of ‘deal with him before I do’. I sighed and waited for Alec to talk, which all in all didn’t seem like a good idea.

“I aligned myself with her out of desperation,” he whispered. “I had all these new powers and I didn’t know what in the hell was happening, Janice too. So when she approached me... well, I said I’d help. I never knew it would lead to you or that her tutelage would force me to lose the one thing I’ve wanted.”

“You expected her to help you and not ask for something in return?” he nodded. “Are you stupid? Seriously, I can’t believe you took that mad woman’s word. You could’ve just as easily come to me for help.”

“Well I didn’t know what you were, now did I?” He grasped my arm tightly to keep me from looking at Kryzstofer. Even without looking I knew Kryz had risen from his seat and was debating whether or not to come and intervene.

“Under the right circumstances,” I whispered. “I would’ve told you. Or, I would’ve lied my arse off and concentrated on getting help. Or, I would’ve called on Hixak for help or Kryzstofer. But you chose to go straight to the one person who, other than myself, has done nothing but lied to you. She wants me dead, Alec.”

“I know,” he muttered sadly. “I’m to be your-“

“You are to be her nothing,” Kryzstofer suddenly appeared, dislodging my arm from his hand. “We are done here, Mikaela. We should go, today was not the right day for this.”

“For what?” Alec asked confused.

“You are not privileged to that information,” Kryzstofer told him sounding like a secret agent. With a hand on my lower back, he pulls me away from Alec and away from my class. No one notices or if someone did, they said nothing. Alec remained where he stood for a moment, a faint smile on his face, before he too left.

We walked out of the campus in a hurry; Kryzstofer led me away without another word. I felt the tension in his body beside me and wondered what it was that caused it. Was it the idea of Alec killing me or that Alec spoke to me for such a length of time? Whatever it was it wasn’t as much as my worry. Kryzstofer had a Lifestream, Hixak’s glistened here and there but didn’t remain permanent, unlike Kryzstofer’s. Its dark grey color seemed to pop out from his dark clothing as if begging to be looked at. And so I did, as he led me home.

We walked, I don’t know why since I had a car, all the way home, all the way from downtown to the loop... all 5 miles of it. I tried not to complain, although ‘why the fuck are we walking’ did manage to slip out, and thought of it as a training exercise. What better way to get back in shape than to walk five miles home, right? To his credit, Kryzstofer did slow down at around the 3-mile mark when the complained slipped out. After that, although waking at near turtle pace, we managed to get home a few hours later.

Exhausted, I slammed the door open and was about to crash on my couch when I remembered. I had no couch; the psycho ‘bee with an itch’ that lived downstairs had vandalized it. Suddenly, aware how quickly my thoughts had become dark towards Janice, I wondered what Kryzstofer was feeling towards her. Rather than annoy him, I thought, I should wait for the proper oppor-

“I don’t hate her,” his voice says behind me, snapping me out of my thoughts. “I can hear you, remember?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Why is that? You never told me.”

“The tattoo,” he replied walking to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and took a beer, since when do I have beers? Taking a long sip, I watched in amazement as he actually went as far as swallowing before his eyes went wide and the can slipped from his grip. Amused and shocked I walked towards him. He stared at me, at the beer can now spilling on the floor, at him hands and back to me. I nodded as if to confirm what had just happened before he turned around and barfed in the sink.

As he turned back around, wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve, he leaned back on the counter before his arms reached for me. I stepped into them and embraced his shaken body. Trembling like a child, a quite sobbing reaching my ears, I clung to him. What in the hell was happening? He didn’t reply, his chest heaved as tears fell from his eyes. Never mind how weird it felt to have his cry in my hair; I felt a need to comfort him as he comforted me once.

Behind us, in the living room, the door slammed open. I didn’t turn; Kryzstofer didn’t let me, but feeling a bit of tension leave Kryzstofer’s body I knew we were not in danger. Whoever came in seemed to pause behind us before sighing loudly. Two people sighed unless this person was a ventriloquist and could sigh twice at the same time.

Hadrian and Hixak.

“How can this be?” Hixak asked distressed. “How did this happen, Kryzstofer? Talk to me, for God sake!”

Two strong hands pulled me away from a sobbing Kryzstofer. It was Hixak, Hadrian was at his side, his clothing a bit ruffled but that didn’t matter now, who pulled me from him. Hadrian pulled me to him, wrapping an arm soothingly around me as Hixak gripped his brother’s arms and shook him lightly. Trying to snap him out of his thoughts only made Kryzstofer fall into Hixak’s arms. He was now sobbing in the embrace of his brother, Hixak, looking confused, rubbed his back and cooed.

For his part, Hadrian pulled me away from the two, guiding me my bed. He pulled me along with little strength even as I tried to pull away he pulled me along and finally deposited me on my bed. Locking the door behind him, making any escape attempt futile, he eyed me.

“Did they touch?” He asked me. His voice full of authority seemed out of context. His eyes were narrowed slightly in worry and something else as he looked at me awaiting an answer. I racked my mind trying to figure out who he meant before it struck me.

“Yes,” I murmured. He’d gripped my arm and Kryzstofer had pulled me away from the grip... and they touched. Just a fleeting touch as Kryzstofer pulled me away from Alec.

Hadrian shook his head, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. He turned away, leaning on one arm on the wall before pushing himself away. He growled, visibly growled, scaring the crap out of me, at the sky. Noticing my reaction he turned back to me and mumbled, “I apologize.”

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s complicated,” he replied.

“I can take it,” I tell him standing up. “What’s wrong with him? He took a sip of beer and then barfed. He turned back around and he was in tears. What in the hell does that mean?”

It took a moment of silent battle before Hadrian nodded. He opened his mouth and shut it again. He did that for a few seconds before nodding to himself.

“Earlier, the Whisperer touched Kryzstofer,” I nodded. “And using a power taken from the Cleaner Franco, he took his eternity.”

“His what?” I asked confused.

“His eternity,“ Hadrian repeated with a sigh. “He’s human, Mikaela. Kryzstofer is human.”

Oh, SNAP!