The Switch

The Switch II - Sneak-Peek.

The Switch II-Shackled

© SᴀᴘʜEʏʀᴇ ᴀ.ᴋ.ᴀ. Rɪᴄʜᴀ Tʀɪᴘᴀᴛʜɪ. Aʟʟ ʀɪɢʜᴛs ʀᴇsᴇʀᴠᴇᴅ. 2015.
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Luke- Newness.

When I woke up, my palm tingled with a strange sort of warmth.
The sun was in full blaze and the weather was chilly but I was covered in sweat. I was in a bedroom, but it wasn't mine. It looked like Chrysler's.
"Had a nightmare, little brother?" I heard my own voice call out at me.
"Derek" I looked at him, squinting because my eyesight blurred a bit.
"You're up" he discerned "I was beginning to think you might need another week"
"A week...?" my eyes widened "Is that how long I'd been-"
"Out?" Derek suggested "Yeah. I mean, the seal Master Ken did was only temporary...so once you showed signs, and the tattoo began doing weird things-"
"I know" I told him "I remember."
"You what?" he nearly spat out his coffee.
"I remember" I repeated myself "I felt cold in the chest before I blacked out...but I had no control over what I was doing"
"That's...new" Derek's eyebrows bent at a weird angle; impressed "Whatever. The important thing is that you're awake in time for the wedding"
"Today's the twenty-seventh?" I asked him, standing up.
"Yup" he took another sip "get ready; we have to get going"
The eff? Was my reaction, but I figured it'd be better if I kept that to myself.
Kenny's brother's wedding wasn't exactly something to be excited about.

Before I noticed my new tattoo, I was showering, thinking about what I was forgetting. I'd missed out an entire week of school, but then again; that didn't exactly matter. Chrysler had been homeschooling me-or at least, he was trying.
What mattered was that I had missed out on one entire week of elimination duty and one week of library work. That meant that the coming week would be more hectic. Plus this wedding duty was biting a whole chunk of my time off the schedule.
Other than that...well, other than that it was the twenty-seventh of February and I was already running late.

I froze suddenly in front of the mirror.
"Derek!" I shrieked at myself in the mirror.
There were rapid knocks on the bathroom door "everything all right?"
"What happened to my neck?" I demanded.
"What do you mean? You got a different tattoo."
"I can see that...but where's the old one?" he wasn't getting the point. There was a grotesque sword with bandages wrapped around it on my neck. Where was the stick with the wings?
"How does that matter?"
I didn't have an answer to that.
"That's right..." I told myself, out loud "How does it even matter...?"
"What, sentimental value?" Derek punched the door again, mocking me "Stop whooping around and hurry the hell up!" I could hear his voice dulling "Scared me half to death! Idiot..." and he carried on rambling until I heard the dorm door shut.

"So, a new tattoo, huh?" I shrugged at myself in the mirror
"You listen now" I told my reflection, a stiff finger pointed at its nose "If anybody asks, you got the other one surgically removed, because you wanted this one in its place...right. That's right..." I turned my back to the mirror and realization hit me "all within one day?"
I realized again, that I'd been out for a week and somehow managed to hit my head against the towel stand.
"All right, all right!" I grabbed my throbbing forehead, one hand gripping the marble "That's gonna bruise"

I was getting into the clothes Derek had left on the bed when there was another knock.
"Come in!" I called, while buttoning up my shirt.
"Master Luke" Dina came in, smiling "Tea?"
"Yeah, that'd be awesome, thanks Dina" I thanked her, and carried on fixing the shirt.
"Aren't you...forgetting something?" she looked at me quizzically.
"No...why?" I stopped what I was doing "am I?"
"It's been a week since Miss Claire left...she's been expecting you to call back" she said softly.
"Shoot!" Was my unexpected reply "She's gonna...wait, she left?" I turned to Dina, aghast "Where did she go?"
"I wouldn't know" Dina shook her head "She did try to call your phone, though. I told her you were resting"
"Well" I stretched my hand out for the phone which she handed over to me "Did she say when she was coming back?" I asked, hopefully.
Dina sighed sadly "She said she isn't..." there was sadness in her voice too.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I scoffed, but when there was no reply, I understood.
"You're-you're kidding" I declared.
"I'm afraid not" she shook her head "Do call her back...maybe it will help" and went back outside.
I looked at my call logs.
"One call" I frowned.
Why had she left without telling me?
My palm tingled again and I lifted it up to my face to look at it.
So the girl I'd saved on the day White Rose had been attacked, had left me. The only true, normal, human person I'd befriended over the months...was gone. Without even a goodbye.
Who else was there...? It wasn't like I had anybody to lose anymore.
There's always Derek I heard a sinister voice in my head, say. Maybe I could
put him in danger. Then you'd have absolutely nothing to lose.
I slapped myself hard across the face.
"That's going to bruise too" I pointed out in the mirror and was expecting my reflection to grin "now let's get going" then pulled on Flectare and walked out the dorm.
Either way I chose, I couldn't win.
I had been able to have conversations with my Siren side for a while. Call me crazy if you may, whatever, but that's how I'd been keeping it at bay.
The magic of that temporary seal had weakened way before I had let anybody find out.
I was going through a phase where I thought I ought to loose sanity already. I didn't though; because I couldn't watch me do that to myself.
Earlier; I could see him in every reflection of mine, and that's when the whole talking to the reflection thing started.
With the new tattoo, he wasn't visible anywhere. I only heard him in my head. This guy wasn't Dean and in all honesty, Dean had been quiet for longer than I cared to admit. Actually, maybe I just imagined him.