The Demon Inheritance

TWO

I glanced over at said boy, who was beaming brightly at me from two seats away. He'd brushed the hair out of his face to make a bone-white fringe over his lively blue eyes. I planned to show him around anyway, didn't I? His posture was rigid, his hands in his lap. Perhaps if I gave him a chance, I could forget about the dream. Perhaps I could even make friends with him... Or see if he really was crushing on me, in which case, he wouldn't want to be around me after what I'd threaten to him. "Of course, but earlier, Mary said she'd help them move in with me. Instead, can she help me show him around?"

Ace smiled at Mom, showing he approved. In response, Mother dipped her head. "We'll do all the moving while you guys bond."

Bonding was a stretch, but I guess parents never know the right things to say. I just nodded in agreement and turned to the pale boy. "Come on, Oliver." He stood up immediately, scooted his chair in, and followed me through the door leading outside.

Despite the heat, Oliver was wearing a white hoodie . The attire was what probably made his skin so pale, despite being seemingly comfortable in the sun. His hair was laid over his gaze again, showing only one eye through the snow-colored curtain. His slender hands were burrowed in the pockets on the stomach of the jacket, and he followed after me with a lazy walk. I led him down as far as the trickling mini-creek snaking at the end of our driveway, past the mirages on the concrete caused by the especially hot winter morning. Then, I couldn't decided whether I wanted to show him around the forest bit of the area, or the general stores, or the other houses. On top of not being able to decide, I was waiting for Mary, stuck with the strange teenage boy until she arrived.

He smiled at me, leaning against a tree. "So, Emma, what do you like to do? I know a couple things."

"Hmm?" I stood over the trickle in my driveway, crossing my arms over my chest. "Acting is my life. If I'm not doing something with acting, I'm studying or reading or something. And listening to Metallica. What about you?"

Oliver shuffled his feet, smiling shyly. "I'm either reading, learning something epic, or practicing my swordsmanship. Thank you for being curious." His eyes glimmered in appreciation.

I shivered at the mention of a sword, an image of my dreams flashing by all at once. Every night, it is a sword that he gives me that switches into a hammer and is placed into my hand. The eeriness of Oliver actually being able to handle a blade struck me, but I knew that, realistically, there was no way that could play into anything. A dream was something your own mind created. Although it was concerning, I had to push my superstitions aside. Besides...

Nobody could ever make me hurt my mother.

I forced a smile. "Something epic? Not like math and the stuff they actually teach you? What is it that you learn?"

He lifted himself off of the tree and said, "New languages. New weapons. History nobody else cares to learn. All the little things that open up the universe a little better. Perhaps sometime I could help you learn other things, if you'd like."

I ignored his proposition. "What languages can you speak?"

Apparently, I hadn't come off as rude, because he answered my question without even an irritated glance. "Japanese, English, French, Enochian, Latin, Italian, Dutch, German, Chinese, Arabic, more that I don't believe you would care for me to name."

I wasn't sure whether to be impressed or think him a liar, so I just nodded casually. "Why are you wearing a jacket?"

"I don't take it off, save for when I need to or I am alone." His smile quivered. "Still, I like to keep it on, even alone."

"Why?"

"My mother gave this jacket to me."

I tilted my head to the side, thinking of Ace and Carter. Did his birth mother leave it to him or something? Interesting... "Oh..."