Soraya stared at the man before her. He was wearing the same cloak, hat, goggles, and glasses she had seen during their first conversation. She also noticed a lavender jacket over a faded yellow, collared shirt, but one feature in particular stuck out the most to her.
He's only slightly taller than me?
"I know what you're thinking," Jon's voice was like the sea, calm with an undercurrent of power. "You thought I'd be taller, didn't you?"
"Yes..."
Jon looked amused, his grin growing wider with each passing second. "When Mülock first mentioned you, I thought you'd be older," he looked her over with his hands tucked into his deep coat pockets. "What are you, ten?"
"I'm thirteen."
"You have the voice of a ten-year-old," he teased.
"Hey!" Soraya stomped her foot on the wooden boards beneath them.
Marlot smirked at her outburst. "I take it back... a nine-year-old."
Soraya pouted, folding her arms over her chest. "I promise I'm thirteen..."
Jon chuckled. "Okay, young lady, I suggest properly dressing like one."
The girl looked down. Because she was still using her telepathy spell, the vision in her left eye was pitch black, but through her right eye, she could see she was still in her pajamas.
"I'll be... right back..." her face turned red, like a bed of roses, while she held open the door leading into the dormitory. "Um, can you just wait on the roof for me?"
He raised a faded golden brow.
"I can join you there shortly. I don't want you to be seen by anyone else."
"Ah. Understood."
Before Soraya could slip behind the door, Yabo waltzed between Soraya's legs and meowed up at Jon.
"Hello there. What's your name?" Marlot murmured. He crouched down, holding out a gloved hand towards the pandacoon.
"That's Yabo, my pet," Soraya said, eyeing Jon warily. "Please, don't hurt him..."
Jon paused, sliding his red sunglasses down onto the tip of his nose, so his eyes were staring into Soraya's. They were sky blue, like hers, but mixed with red and green hues from the other souls he held trapped within himself.
"I only hunt for survival, and he's your family, not food."
Yabo rubbed his face into the man's fingers, chirping as he did.
"Your guardian loves you very much," Jon whispered to the pandacoon while stroking his furry back. "You both have a similar aura, very sweet and caring."
He glanced up at Soraya with a half turned smile. "I suggest getting ready for the day, I was serious about taking you out for tea."
"Oh, um..." Soraya stammered. "I don't know if I should leave school..."
"With a stranger?" Jon winked. "We don't have to do that today or at all if you're not comfortable with it. Speaking on the roof is fine."
He scratched behind Yabo's ears, and the pandacoon closed his beady eyes, purring his little heart out. "Just remember I can't contact you with that Telpathia spell, and it's best not to use the phone or letters to discuss our plans. We can always meet up outside of school with your friends accompanying you if that makes you feel safer."
"Alright..." Soraya watched Jon and Yabo for a few more seconds before beckoning for her pet to come back. When the pandacoon ignored her, she darted inside the dorm, changing into her day clothes as quickly as possible while glancing at the clock hanging in the locker room.
Eight forty? Wow, I did sleep in a lot!
The first break in the school schedule started at ten, so she assumed her friends would visit her around then. Through her left eye, she could spot her friend's souls clustered altogether.
They should all be in Azakuin Literature class right now, a pang of guilt strummed at her heart strings. I told them about Norma Whispers and what I did to her, but I still have to tell them about the deal I made with Mülock...
Soraya had been afraid to fill them in on everything that had transpired. Her friends would be even more worried and paranoid than they already were. The girl also feared they would be disappointed in her decision to join forces with the demon.
I have to fill them and Jon in on everything... Today...
Soraya went back to the balcony and found Marlot gone. Yabo was inside the dormitory with her, pawing at the glass to go back out. She knelt down and scooped up her pet.
"He left a good impression on you, didn't he?" Soraya mused, kissing Yabo's nose before sneaking to the coat closet. She pressed on a small, inconspicuous cut out in the wall. It flapped open, like a door, and she crawled through to the other side, where the spiral staircase leading to the roof lay hidden. After closing the panel behind her and clambering up in the dark, she made it to the ceiling and pressed on the top, lifting it open.
Jon stood up straight, looking out over the expanse of the great blue Valtic Ocean with his hands behind his back, his long, black coat flapping dramatically in the wind.
"How did last night go for you?" he asked without turning his head.
"I... well..." Soraya swallowed. "I made a deal with Mülock..."
Jon half turned, so his crimson sunglasses glinted in the sun overhead. "I had a feeling you would be the one to convince him to take it."
"You already know?"
"Sort of-"
"Mow?"
Yabo interjected, leaping onto the ground to rub himself against Jon's legs. The man gently scooped up the pet, placing him onto his shoulder.
"He wanted me to stop the kidnappings, since he was able to possess me at the time. But then, he found out about you," a wry smile formed on his thin lips. "And you resisted him. Not only that, but you contacted me, giving me some ideas for fighting back. So now, Mülock has no choice but to work with us rather than trying to have me murder you."
He paused to pet Yabo, then turned to fully face her. "He didn't tell me everything for why the kidnappings must stop. He sees me as beneath him, a pawn to be used and discarded. He fears you more than I, ironically enough, given that you're a nine-year-old."
Soraya opened her mouth to protest, but restrained herself. Jon noticed and smiled for a brief moment before his face hardened once more.
"I'm aware of how powerful you are. You can perform Apollryük spells that I cannot," Jon lowered his sunglasses, his multicolored eyes boring into Soraya's. "Please, fill me in on that deal," he folded his hands together and bowed low to the ground. "I promise to protect you as best I can. You have my word."
She could hear the sincerity in his voice. Between that and Yabo doting on him, she decided to believe him. "Thank you, sir," Soraya bowed back. "I'll tell you everything."
* * *
When Soraya finished explaining the previous night's events, Jon stroked his golden goatee in thought.
"Zinvi has a demonic army, and he wants to sacrifice girls to link our world with the demonic realm, which may result in the end of all things."
He lifted one finger at a time as he listed off their goals. "We must save the kids, kill off Zinvi and the other hybrids, and find the lair hidden somewhere in a forest of Blood Oaks."
"Yes, that's right." Soraya nodded.
"See how I condensed all that information down?" Marlot smirked. "You could have just said that instead of giving me a long, drawn out play-by-play of last night."
"Oh..." Soraya blushed and hung her head. "Sorry."
Jon laughed heartily. "You are very entertaining when telling stories. Sometimes, it's better to get straight to the point, is all I'm saying," he glanced at Yabo, who chirped and nuzzled into his cheek.
"I'm sure even if we succeed in doing all of that, Mülock will try to possess us again," Jon pat the pandacoon with his gloved hand while staring at Soraya. "You're a threat to him, and he doesn't like competition."
"That's true..." the girl grimaced. "If only I could purify more land, so we don't have to worry about him being able to contact us again..."
"That would take a lot of Water Magic," Jon mused. "We could always try infiltrating one of the MagiCorp headquarters and stealing magic. We'll need lots of fire for burning the Blood Oaks anyway, might as well take as much as we can."
"That's a good point," Soraya recalled the Blood Oak forest and grit her teeth together. "But could we actually get away with stealing from MagiCorp?"
"Only one way to find out," Jon flashed her a grin. "I think it's best to wait until the school year ends before we set off on our journey. With your father and Yosef missing, we should probably add me as an emergency contact to your paperwork, so the school releases you without asking too many questions."
Papa... Yosef...
Jon noticed Soraya's crestfallen face, and his eyebrows knitted together in empathy. "It's alright, they're still alive, and we're going to find them."
"Okay..." Soraya sniffed.
"I must warn you, part of preparing for rescuing your dad and his friend means switching up your tactics..." he folded his arms across his chest. "I'm giving you a G for how you handled Norma Whispers."
"What? A G?" Soraya blinked in surprise. "Th-that's an average grade!"
"You did well not to run back to your friends. Mülock would've used you to murder them all, so that's why I'm not giving you a failing grade of a D or E..."
Soraya stared glumly at her friend's souls through her left eye.
"However, I'm not giving you an A or B simply because you let Norma live," Jon shrugged his shoulders. "She's going to cause even more problems now that she believes demons are afoot on school grounds."
Soraya grimaced. I don't want her dead...
Jonathan adjusted his sunglasses, so they covered his eyes once more. "You were smart to not possess her while Mülock was there, but you should have hunted her down afterwards, or tried harder to knock her completely out, so she couldn't run away at all, though," Jon chuckled. "It sounds like she deserved a good scare."
"Well, it was pretty fun to do," Soraya rubbed the back of her neck. "But even so, she doesn't know it was me. Plus, Mülock should leave us alone for a while."
Jon scoffed. "You can't trust him. I'm sure he'll make it look like he's keeping his end, but don't expect it to last. He'll say something along the lines of," Jon made air quotes with his fingers. "Time's up, even though that was never specified."
"Do you think... making a deal with him was foolish?" Soraya asked, her lip quivering.
Jon shook his head. "No, especially since you pointed out our common goals. If anything, you bought us more time before we actually have to deal with the demon, and you gained more information for us to work off of," he gave her an encouraging smile. "You did your best to manage a tough situation, and you did well."
Yabo leapt down from Jon's shoulders, waltzing back over to Soraya with a jump in his step.
"I was thinking of fusing with Norma, actually," Marlot said thoughtfully. "Adding her to my collection, gleaning information from her. It would be useful to know what side she's on, steal her Earth Magic, and..." He cracked a wide grin. "I could pretend to be her during your therapy sessions. I promise I won't interrogate you like she does."
"Can you mimic the features of the souls you have trapped inside you as well?" Soraya asked, her blood turning cold at the very thought.
"I can..." Jon placed his thumb and pointer finger on his chin. "I store them in my body mainly for spare parts, and for transferring pain I endure in battle to them. Mimicking features for longer than twelve hours is difficult, however."
He took off his glove, revealing the hand Soraya had seen the other day. Much to her surprise, it looked completely normal. There was no mouth or eyeball in sight.
"I cast Orchal out of my body already. That worthless twit is a puddle of skin and veins somewhere in the ocean, probably shark food by now."
Soraya shuddered at the gross picture popping into her head.
"I know it's weird, but if we're going to take on other demonic hybrids, you have to use your powers to their fullest extent, do you understand?"
"Yes... I know, but..." Soraya hugged herself. "My fusions don't work that way."
"Maybe today they don't, but I think in time, you can learn to do many things," Jon held out his hand for her to shake. "Would you like to fuse with me?"
"Oh," Soraya glanced between his hand and his face, which appeared calm and stoic. "I don't know about doing that quite yet..."
Why am I turning him down?
Guilt crept into her blood as her hand faltered in the air.
Jon simply lowered his arm, placed his glove back on, and took a step back. "I'm not going to make you do something you don't want to do. I understand your hesitations. We're both demonic hybrids with slightly different abilities, so I'm actually not sure what'll happen either if we try it."
"You're... alright with me saying no right now?
Jon gave her two thumbs up and a sincere smile in reply. "Absolutely."
"Thank you," Soraya let out a small sigh. "And sorry."
"Don't apologize," Jon waved his hand dismissively in the air. "You've done nothing wrong."
Soraya found herself enjoying the man's company. He respects me, it would be much nicer to have him be my therapist than Norma...
"Are you actually going to fuse with Ms. Whispers?" the girl asked, her wide eyes brimming with curiosity.
"I think it's a good idea. How about you?"
His question hung in the air for a few moments as Soraya's brain studied multiple possibilities from several angles, like how her boyfriend's brain would assess a situation.
So many outcomes... no wonder Rhys is quiet all the time, he mulls over every little detail!
"It makes the most sense to do," the girl said while pacing in small circles on the roof. "But what happens if she's part of something bigger than herself, like MagiCorp, and she has to report to someone constantly? You can't keep up her appearance for longer than twelve hours, and my features always come out mixed when I fuse with someone else, so neither of us could pull off living her life and ours at the same time."
"Good point."
Marlot stood still, but Soraya knew his eyes followed her movements.
"I can visit her in the night, fusing with her while she's sleeping," the man suggested. "I should be able to pick her brain and steal her Earth Magic. If she's a member of MagiCorp or some other organization, I'll let her live, convincing her she had a horrid nightmare, but if she's not tied to anything..."
Jon didn't finish his sentence, but his grin stretched unnaturally long from both corners of his face. A pungent odor of iron and ashes overpowered Soraya's nose, causing it to twitch.
This smell, this overwhelming feeling of dread...
Soraya's heart pounded in her ears. She took a step backwards, nausea rising from her stomach. Even Yabo's fur spiked up in terror at the sudden change in atmosphere. The smell immediately faded when the man hid his teeth under thin lips.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you both like that," Jon took out a bracelet made of large, circular beads from his coat pocket and studied them, his thumb lightly tracing over each one as he did.
"What are you doing?" Soraya managed to ask once she felt more stable.
The man paused and glanced up at her. "I'm thinking of mantras and prayers. My parents taught me to do this whenever I feel the urge to rip someone apart."
"Does it work...?"
"Mostly," he chuckled, placing the beads back. "It's just a nice distraction for curbing my addiction," his demeanor relaxed as he added, "I'm glad to see you don't have to deal with bloodlust like I do. Maybe, you're not as demonic as Mülock thinks. You seem to have a holier aura surrounding you."
Soraya looked down at her feet. "I'm not sure what I am..."
"It doesn't matter. You're you, and you're a good kid."
Before the girl could reply, Jon swung his legs over the edge of the roof. "I'd best be off. We'll meet again soon," he promised, waving his gloved hand. "Contact me tomorrow, I'm off to hunt down that therapist, and hopefully satisfy my craving..."
Soraya's stomach churned at the thought.
"Remember, she threatened the safety of your friends. She's not going to play fair, and we shouldn't either," Jon added, his tone serious as he studied her torn expression.
"You're right," the girl nodded her head slowly.
"Stay safe, both of you."
"You too, sir." Soraya watched him clamber down nimbly.
How is he going to clear the wall surrounding the school?
The girl received her answer, however, when he turned into a shadow and slid his way down to the ground, slithered across the grass, and disappeared out the front gate.
He can use that spell too...
Soraya took in the grand view of the sparkling Valtic Ocean one more time before heading back with Yabo. She couldn't help but think about Norma Whispers and the fate that awaited her, and shivered.
He's right though... she's a threat...
The girl climbed back through the closet, shutting the small panel shut behind her, and entered into the dormitory. All was quiet, there were no other souls in sight. Soraya placed her precious pet on the bed and kissed his face before grabbing her school supplies.
I got enough rest in, I should head to class and fill in my friends on everything during the break.
*3,046 Words