CHAPTER 20 - Werefremds
I woke up with the knowledge that I wasn’t alone.This was almost expected now. But why was Jari pacing the floor? He was usually far more arrogant in the mornings.
“Go away,” I mumbled and rolled over.
“Sorry, I..., sorry I will go,”
“Scott wait, I thought you were... Ohh, damn,” I felt his emotions and knew that was the wrong thing to say, “Jari usually wakes me for the morning run, sorry. What are you doing here Scott?”
“You,” he paused uncomfortably, “You dreamt a lot last night.”
“Ohh, sorry,” I blushed as I remembered some of my dreams.
He climbed into bed and held me to his chest, “I am not.”
We held each other silently as the daylight found us. Then without any words he kissed me and left me to get dressed for school.
“No! There is no way I am going to do that!” I heard Scott furious tone before I had even opened the door. I walked out of the room to find Jari and Scott squaring off to each.
“You have no choice,” Jari said in a calm but firm voice.
“No! Natalie did you know about this?” Scott whirled to me as I walked into the conflict.
“Scott, is struggling with the secrecy element of you new status,” Jari huffed.
“No, I am struggling with the fact that you want me to throw my races today,” Scott yelled in clear frustration, “I won’t do it. I won’t lose on purpose.”
“You have all the abilities of a Watcher so you can’t draw attention to yourself. You also can’t use these abilities for personal gain. That is wrong. You have a higher function and must be set above everyone else.”
“Shut it with your sanctimonial crap Jari. I will win without using all this... I will win using my own talents. Just like before.” Scott turned to me, “Natalie, don’t make me do this. I can’t do this. It’s what I do.I can’t lose.”
“Can you still run without, well you know, running? Because Jari is right we can’t use these abilities where they can be seen. But if you can control it...” I couldn’t finish my words because Scott face lit up and Jari’s darkened considerably.
“The question is, Natalie, why does he want to win?Is it pride or something else?”
Scott scoffed, “It’s the one thing I do really well.It is who I am.I lose and everyone will start asking questions, they will blame our relationship.”
“Jari, Scott is right about that. He has always been good at this if that suddenly changes then we will draw a lot of attention on us. But can you do this Scott?”
“There is more to this than he is telling you Natalie,” Jari said quietly.
I looked at Scott who looked away, “The selectors will be at the Regionals. If I want any hope of getting selected for a decent college team I need to impress the selectors.”
I looked at Jari who was looking at me with an expression that I couldn’t miss. Ohh hell, Jari’s face told me everything I needed to know. I looked back to Scott who was still talking about the various college football teams and his athletic prowess.
“We can discuss this later, Kids.It is time for school.” Jari’s eyes didn’t leave me and I knew that I would have to be the one to tell Scott. But this was not the time or the place to do it. Jari hurried us out the door.
I sat silently in Scott’s car.
“Please Natalie, please understand what you are asking me to give up. I know it isn’t your thing but it is what I love. It is my future. I need this.”
“What do you think this Irin thing is Scott? I know that we haven’t been told much nor are we even properly trained yet but this watcher thing is more than a pastime. It’s more than something you do on the weekends. I might be wrong but it looks like a full time job and a serious commitment.”
“Yeah ok, but that we still need to go to school. And me winning or losing isn’t really going to change that.Let me do it today. If I can run normally today at the tryouts then will you let me do it?”
“Scott this isn’t about asking my permission.”
“Isn’t it? You are the Qaddis and from what I can see I am not much more than a sidekick to your role.”
“No! We are equal in this, no you are wrong Scott.”
But Scott just shrugged and got out of the car. He didn’t say anything more as we walked hand in hand into school. My mind was so preoccupied with Scott’s accusation that I hardly noticed the blatant staring. He gave me a quick kiss and left me at my locker.
The morning was difficult. I couldn’t find Jari and I needed to talk to him. I also became well aware of the looks I was getting, the snide comments became more and more direct and I was jostled more than was necessary in the hall between classes.
Gef, who was back to looking like Geoff, explained.Public opinion was that it was me that broke up the perfect couple, Kirsty and Scott, and the rumours oscillated between me using him for sex, using him to get good inside intelligence for my next scoop, and/or just being plain vindictive to poor, innocent, heartbroken Kirsty.
But whatever the reason I was the ‘other woman’ and every girl at school looked at me like was a Jezebel. And the guys, well they looked at me up and down and clearly speculated, after all, as Gef explained, Scott was with me instead of Kirsty and it wasn’t because I was better looking. Great, just great.
Scott found me by my locker before lunch and pulled me into his chest while kissing my forehead. “I hear that we have been very active!” he laughed.
“You had better be careful of me. I am corrupting your innocence.” I whispered back as he laughed into my hair.
“You can corrupt me anytime.”
We walked into the cafeteria and stopped.I looked at Scott and he looked at me. The great divide, whichever side of the room we sat on we would be alienating some part of the student body and making a statement. With my hand in his he pulled me to a table which was normally vacant. It was more or less off to the side and halfway between. I was about to say something to Scott when Jari slumped into the seat opposite us.
“Young love, ain’t it just bliss,” he smiled sarcastically.
“I’m not in the mood for you, Jari,” Scott warned.
Jari smiled and shrugged, “You’re not my type either.”
I grabbed Scott’s arm to prevent him from standing to challenge Jari who was leaning back in his chair thoroughly enjoying himself.
“Don’t let him get to you, Scott,” I tried to defuse Scott.
“Have you seen this place for what it is yet?” Jari looked at us exasperated when we looked confused. “Do I have to spell everything out? Have you opened up your eyes? There is so much to see.”
“Before we do Jari, how does this work? Gef is looking like Geoff again.”
“Because you are new at using your EON you will only feel the benefits of it for a short time. As you become more experienced you will see that way effortlessly. Then you will have to concentrate to turn it off. Of course some fremd have better defences against EON, like me. So don’t assume that because you see human that they are human. They might just be better than you are.”
I looked at Scott and we smiled at each other then we concentrated and the whole cafeteria started to shimmer. I gasped as the light changed. Scott and I held hands and looked out to find the student body a diverse mixture of human and fremd. The fremd were all shapes, sizes, colours, textures and, for the want of a better word, races.
“I don’t understand, how come they look like humans? Are they all were-monsters?”
Jari laughed, “Were-monsters? No. They are just Fremd. If they choose to live amongst the humans when they come through the portals they must disguise themselves as humans. They wear a device that projects a shell that hides their true nature. Only the EON can penetrate the illusion and see their hidden identity. Some fremd, like Sid choose not to wear it and not to be seen in public and then there are those who are disallowed the device.”
“Why are there so many of them here? At School?”
“School is a good place to socialise. It also keeps them all grounded. A fremd on his own tends to be more likely to go off and upset the balance. So a fair few go to school. This school in particular because you were here.”
Scott was looking towards his own friends. Sitting at his normal table Alistair’s skin was blue and Sarah had pointy ears and sharp features. As Jari had said the more disturbing transformations were on my side of the room. My eyes quickly flit to the places where I knew the people.Matthew, my editor had huge ears and a long sharp nose and chin but he was at least humanoid, which was more than I could say about Tod, John, Joel and George. These were on my list as potential Irin.I almost laughed.
How do your past girlfriends look? I silently laughed at Scott.
Let’s just say no worse than normal. I am eternally grateful that Erica turned down my invitation to dinner last year.
I looked over to where Erica would sit and found a long haired feline creature. I laughed and Scott pulled me closer.
At least she has legs and arms. I am not going to even mention the possibilities on my side. I supposed that explains why no one ever asked me out.
Scott leaned in and whispered in my ear, “I asked you out, and you still look very good to me.”
I turned to find him looking me over.So, no tail, coloured fur or anything frightening?
“It’s hard to say, I might need a more detailed examination.” He mumbled into my hair as his arms snaked around me.
“Get a room!” Gef sat down. “Come on guys how am I supposed to be subduing the rumours when you are giving them extra material.”
“Yes I have been meaning to talk to you about that Gef,” Jari said with annoyance in his voice.
“I am doing my best but... once they announce themselves things will settle down.”
“Gef’s area of expertise is information gathering and dissemination.” Jari snorted at the word ‘expertise’. “I have another job for you Gef. It seems that Scott here is keen to compete despite his responsibilities. What will the gathering make of this?”
“That is a tough one .After all there are a number of us who could easily rub some smug Jock face into the ground. But we are forbidden. I don’t know. There is a lot of respect for the Irin but... I will make some discreet enquiries.”
Gef, did a small bow then scurried, yes literally scurried off. I had noticed that tendency he had before but now, well now it seemed comical.
“Gef said yesterday that he looked after me.What did he mean by that?” I asked carefully not sure I really wanted to know the answer.
“For all intensive purposes Gef has been your bodyguard. You have been marked for this role from birth. So Gef protected you from anyone who might wish you not to take up the Tower and also he kept a look out for the change.” He looked into my eyes, “What you are going through now when your watcher tendencies start showing themselves and of course finding him.” He nodded his head towards Scott.
“See I told you,” Scott took a deep breath and turned his head from me.
“But Scott would have had protection too?”
“I hope that Scott has had protection,” Jari smile spread slowly across his face. I merely look a deep breath narrowed my eyes at Jari. “You have heard of a joke before right? Ohh well, never mind. No it was you that was marked. You could have chosen any one of the Nephilim. We had to wait to find which one would be your Irin. Now we know and now you are linked so you protect each other.” Jari sent a Scott hard glance, “Don’t worry he is less strong at the moment because he is only starting to wake up, by the party you will have your full abilities and strengths, otherwise I wouldn’t be announcing you.”
“So we will be equal.” I said without thinking.
Jari laughed loudly, “So that’s what you were worried about,” he turned to Scott whose jaw was set and his muscles strained, “Don’t worry you aren’t her lap dog.”
“Don’t be a jerk Jari.”
He just laughed louder and picked up his tray and left.
Scott took several deep breaths then turned to me, “Sit with me this afternoon. I have spoken with the guys and they have promised to behave. Please. You are still technically in my team.”
“Is that an order, team captain?”
“If that works then I will be placing some other orders as well!”
“Let’s not get into a long drawn out conversation of innuendos based on appetite and certain hungers, OK?” Then I looked at him seriously, “You are my equal Scott, and that’s the way it has to be.I am starting to trust you more and I think we can make this work but something like that could easily derail us. So tell me if anything is bothering you.”
“Something is bothering me,” his lips curled into a seductive half smile.
I just rolled my eyes at him and picked up my tray twisting out of his arm.