Chlorine Halos

Hide & Seek

As her long, dark eyelashes accentuated the blinks of disbelief, Jake stood silently before her father. The trickling fountain filled the quiet void which followed the only word Jaime managed to mutter. He took a step toward his daughter; She took two steps back. 

"Jacoba," he begged in a whisper.

Her reflexes fired a defensive, open hand and a quick turn of the head. "Stop." Her warning dropped a weight on Jaime's shoulders. After a deep breath, she brought her gray-eyed gaze back to him. "I have spent my entire life feeling like an outcast—like a mistake." Anger slithered between every one of her words. "I never had the chance to be anything but broken. Yet despite that—oh, how I tried to be more. Did all of my misadventures, my escapades, make it through to your end of the grapevine, daddy dearest? Are you proud of your little girl?"

"Jac—"

"Stop! It is a 'yes-or-no' question. Do not try and apologize to me."

From the screened back porch, Blue's voice carried down the pebble path of the garden. "Avian! Jaime! Breakfast's getting cold, fellas!" One of the porch doors swung open as Maestro pushed against it with his back. Holding a full plate of food, he froze on the first step.

"Jake?" he asked, meeting her empty stare with one of his own.

"Wonderful," she sighed. "Hello, Thomas."

Maestro handed his plate to Oz, who followed him out. "What are you doing here?"

"Just meeting the milkman," she replied, turning to Jaime. As Maestro moved closer, everyone inside slowly walked outside, spreading across the path and the thick, manicured lawn, mumbling amongst themselves.

"You shouldn't be here," Maestro stated. "Your little 'liaison' title doesn't give you free rein on the grid."

"And I would like to thank you for all of those restrictions you suggested to the Roundtable. You have always had the heart of a boy scout—honest to a fault. Tell me, Thomas—do you remember when you asked me why I am the way that I am?"

"I remember you couldn't give me an answer."

"Well, now I can. I was destined to be this way." A gusting breeze threw everyone's head to the side. Jake looked down on all of us, standing atop the stone siding of the Monroes' mansion. "I am an error in judgment, an unwanted product of a coward and a whore," she denounced, spitting at Jaime.

I tilted the illuminated strata in my hand.

Shift.

Before I could reach the roof, a strong current forced me to avert my eyes. Jake was gone.

"Avian Dale Douglas!" my mother yelled, unleashing her scolding tone. "Get back down here now!" I sighed, hoping the distance blurred my rolling eyes.

Shift. Shift.

As my feet touched the grass, I tried to focus more on Oz and Riley's astonished expressions rather than my mother's deep disapproval.

"Whoa," Oz said, slack-jawed. "Avian flew."

Grabbing my arm, my mother pulled me to the side. "Listen to me, your abilities are not something to flaunt in broad daylight," she explained while Blue stood behind her, nodding. "It attracts the kind of attention you don't want. You have to keep it in check. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, ma'am," I replied, embracing the formality I remembered. "And I'm sorry. I just wanted to help. Jake doesn't understand the situation. I'm not sure if I understand it."

Maestro sprinted across the yard and around the side of the manor.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Blue shouted.