Mana Pool Snippets - Keystone

Part 3

“I’m talking about Andrea. You said you wanted to know, right?”

Jaruka sighed, and nodded. He took off the bandana to let his dreads roam free, but not the DNA mask. He had to wait until he’s inside the ship.

Scott gave the full explanation, and had some choice words on Morgan’s outright burn on his daughter. Even Katie tried so hard not to cry nor blow Morgan across the room with magic. Jaruka would agree. Would. Just because of the human factor. Scott even showed his nasty scar from the Reaper, but that did not work either.

“Now Andrea has nowhere to go, or she does and Brenda agrees. Andrea might take over my room but I don’t mind at all,” Scott finished.

“Damn,” Jaruka said, and paused. “You’re a wimp.”

Scott blinked. “Excuse me?”

“I told you, hard action works. Maybe if I didn’t hang back I would be helping you”

Scott shook his head. “This is different, Jaruka. Me and Katie try our very best to not cause fights and not get in them. Also this is not space.”

“For the better, niceness will kill you two if you don’t step up,” Jaruka cleared. “No matter the species, niceness gets you nowhere.”

“And where were you when Katie asked you what offense spells you know? And you pomised? It might help you know.”

Jaruka said nothing. If anything was true, it was he spends all his free time getting drunk at the ship.

Scott pinched the bridge of his nose. “Jaruka, sometimes I think that what you care about is yourself.” Scott walked back into the house, closing the door.

Jaruka made sure he wasn’t watched, then sprinted away from the motorcycle and around the estate. The first thing Jaruka did was survey the whole estate in the first few weeks, down to the small hole under the foundation when critters enter to make home. He knows all the rooms, the packed attic space, and the plant plots. Not to mention the winery, down to the underground aging cellar, but stays away from it for he has no clue how his plat-based bodily fluids would react to the winemaking process.

Katie’s room is on the second floor facing the vineyards, best known for the recent porthole and “hawkhouse” Arana uses. Along the wall, with Jacob’s and Robert’s room windows were, was a wire mesh for a vine plant called a Boston ivy. He climbed the strong wire before, just for a test, but as he did it again—still in human form—he realized how weak he was. Halcunacs are naturally fit because of good genes and how they are raised, and the DNA mask only works as a cosmetic disguise and cannot modify the person’s real potential.

“I need to stop drinking,” Jaruka said after one huff of air. Of course, that is an impossible goal to meet.

Between the first and second floor is a roof running two-thirds of the building just like the patio. Jaruka ducked under the master bedroom window, where the parents sleep, then back up, looking into Katie’s room. Spying on someone he personally knows is not him, but someone unknown he was fine with. But if Katie was still with her, he had to wait it out. Jaruka peeked inside. He smiled.

Andrea was the only one, sobbing on the bed, and facing away from the windows. “Perfect,” Jaruka whispered. “Got to do this before the guys notice.”

Katie’s room has large windows, and lucky enough she likes fresh air all the time. Jaruka slowly raised the window all the way to fit through. Andrea’s sobbing was dulled to a low cry; that’ll help.

He got his head inside and cursed without a sound. He forgot that Katie was collecting books from local bookstores in town, all about human magic and hoping to use any of it to merge with uncharted terran magic. Jaruka was aware of her obsession, but not this far.

On the other hand, he never seen Katie’s room before.

Jaruka pushed himself through the window and landed on the floor. Andrea gasped and turned, sitting up too. “You!” she said.

“Hey,” Jaruka said. Standing up, he still missed his true legs. “Came by to talk.”

“Y-You didn’t use the door.” Andrea wiped her tears away with her sleeve.

“I have issues with Jonathan and Brenda. Look I came by to talk about what happened. Scott told me everything.”

Andrea sniffed, and yet, she was quiet. The look in her eye hinted Jaruka she was remembering something. At least the DNA mask has one benefit.

“You can trust me. I won’t even hurt you, just talk.”

The girl sniffed again and her tail came around her legs. “My parents… they never act this way. They are so protective of me, not to protect themselves.”

“I can see the reasoning,” Jaruka said.

“And they don’t want me anymore, not even my totem,” Andrea said. “I hope Katie and the others takes me in. I always liked them, even her.”

“Scott is thinking about it,” Jaruka added. “But you did survive out there, right? Where I come from that’s a sign that you’re a young woman able to watch out for yourself. For a hybrid that’s… let me think… way better. I’m not sure what terran magic can do for food gathering, but everything else is easy, I think.”

“I never used any magic,” Andrea admitted. “I’m afraid of hurting somebody.”

“It does not hurt to be prepared.”

Andrea plopped back down on the bed, head half buried in the pillow. “I just want this nightmare to end.”

Say that again and riches will come, Jaruka thought.

Andrea looked up, tucking her hair back. “And I know you.”

“You do?” Jaruka asked.

She sniffed and said, “Friends from school show me YouTube videos of you. At the ship. You scare a lot of people, even me. I watched a lot of Disney movies that tells me you just need a hug.”

Jaruka felt uncomfortable from the comment. “So much for this stupid disguise.”

“No, I like it,” Andrea said. “Makes you stand out. Makes you cool.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Jaruka said. “I’ll ask you this. Do you love your parents?”

“What?”

“Do you?” Jaruka repeated.

“Right now, no.”

“No now, before the change. Did they house you? Raised you? Protected you?”

Andrea sat right back up, and nodded. “I do, and I want it to come back.”

That’s for sure, they respect families as much as my people do, Jaruka thought. “I will be honest,” he started. “Scott and Katie did their try, and I can tell they cannot slap those old folks even if they were ordered too.”

“Slap them!” Andrea covered her mouth.

“Oh… figuratively,” Jaruka cleared.

“What’s that?”

“Meh, I don’t know. I’m still learning English.”

Andrea nodded.

Jaruka pulled out his pistol but did not activate it. Andrea became concerned. “It’s safe. But I know this. When I see a youngling treated like crap, I get mad, really mad. Give me until tomorrow night to get ready and don’t tell Katie and the others about it. We’re going back, and I’m calling the shots.”