*Chapter Two*
“Right, can I have an explanation about this?” My throat was hoarse, and I hope I didn't show any emotion on my face.
Zach came home a few hours after the incident. Well, the expression on his face when he saw three corpses on the ground, the guy that I never get along, and a girl who went missing years back hugging me in our very house, was quite funny if it weren't for the circumstances. I was still in a state of disbelief over the fact that my aunt had just been killed. It hurt to think about it. Zach didn't show much, but knowing him, he was probably pretending to be clam so I wouldn’t freak out. It was such a typical move of his. I knew that he was hurting as much as I was.
I was currently sitting on the table in a house a few miles away from my house. Castina had insisted that it was no longer safe back there. Castina was cooking breakfast, and she shot Ray a worried glance. He just shrugged.
Normally, I would have freaked out. Right now, I felt drained. My entire body felt heavy, and the thought that Marilyn would never come back scared me like hell. Something within me urged me to accept what Castina, no longer how absurd it may seem.
“She has a right to know.”
“Wait,” I cut him off, “first of all, who, or what, are you?”
“I'm a runar,” Castina answered.
“Really? I'm a unicorn.”
The corners of Ray's mouth twitched, but it was gone as soon as it appeared. Castina wasn't amused one bit.
“Runars are messengers. They can easily travel through dimensions. There was an immense war seven years ago in Holsina where the runars lived. It completely destroyed that dimension. Very few runars survived. I would say less than a few hundred survivors.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. For all I knew, this could all be a hoax.
“She's not lying. We're not humans.”
My head snapped to Ray. “You are in my school. How doesn't anyone know? Hell, I've known you for all my life and I’ve never suspected.” I let out a huge breath. “You have always been such an ass to me that I tend to avoid you whenever I can.”This time, it was Castina's mouth that twitched and Ray simply looked annoyed.
“Yeah, I don't like you.”
“Right,” I rolled my eyes, “I didn't expect that.”
I heard footsteps and Zach appeared in the kitchen.
“You owe us an explantion,” his tone wasn't friendly at all.
“I will explain everything once you two eat properly.”
“No-”
“After you eat,” Castina peremptorily cut him off.
Zach and I were the only ones eating. Castina and Ray just sat nect to us and watched us eat. I practically shoved everything into my mouth in a haste to finish or more like to escape their gaze although I didn’t have much appetite for anything. As soon as we're done, Castina led us to the living room.
“Have a seat please.”
Zach and I sat down and they sat down across us.
“Okay,” Castina clasped her hands together, “I'll start with the legend. It's going to be a long story so bear with me.”
~Hell~
The room was dark except for the occasional flicker of candles. The air was chilly and smelt of moss. The dark master was deep in thought, but he was disturbed by a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
A young demon about a few decades old came in. He bowed. “We found Roland and Drake.” The dark master remained silent so the servant continued. “They're...dead,” the servant said hesitantly, half expecting himself to be killed right then and there for bringing the bad news.
“Do you know who killed them?”
“No, we're currently trying to find them.”
“Bring the corpses back.”
The servant was beyond surprised, but he knew better than to ask. He kept his head down and walked backwards towards the door. As soon as the door was shut, he let out a breath that he was holding ever since he stepped into the room.
Inside the room, the dark master smiled. A smile that would send chills down any being's spine.
~The human world~
“Right, phoenixes now have two colors; moreover, they exist! What a surprise!”
Castina gave Zach an exasperated look. “Look, I know it's hard to believe-”
“Hard to believe?! That's freaking absurd. Runars. What on earth is a runar? I've never even heard about it. Do you think I'm stupid? I'm sorry, but I really think you need to check yourself out, mentally.” Zach stood up from the sofa and gestured me to do so as well. “Let's go.”
“You can't go,” Castina pleaded. “It's too dangerous.”
“I have lived here for my whole. Freaking. Life.”
I winced. Zach almost never gets angry. I've never even seen him raise him voice.
“Plan B, Cas?”
“Yeah, sure,” Castina muttered tiredly, and a flicker of excitement crossed Ray's face.
Ray grabbed Zach's hand, and with a twist of his wrist, Zach was flying across the room. With a silent 'thump', Zach landed perfectly across a sofa.
“What the-”
“Oh, I'm not done yet.” Ray marched towards Zach, but he was already up.
“Don't kid me, what the hell was that?”
“That was nothing inhuman since according to you,” Ray's voice was thick with sarcasm. “Supernatural creatures don't exist.”
“You're just strong, okay?” Zach held him ground, but his voice shook a little.
“And you're just stupid.” They were glaring at each other and the tension was palpable in the room. “Right, Zach, why don't you just sit down and listen.”
“You and Amy are runars,” Castina continued undisturbed as Zach snorted. “The reason why you seem completely human is because you both have a seal on you. It seals whatever power you have.”
“Look,”I interjected, “Zach's right. This is absurd. Sure, you have proved your inhuman strength and all, but honestly? I can say I'm a dragon, and I breathe fire. You would believe that?”
“Well, we didn't think you were so stupid. Not that you're not, just saying,” Ray answered with a smirk.
God do I feel like punching that idiot over there. Speaking of punching, my hand was still red from the previous punch.
“Convince me that I'm not a human,” I challenged.
“I'm sorry, but we-”
“I got this, Cas.”
Ray ignored Castina's curious look and walked up to me. He grabbed me by my arm not too gently, but I refused to show that it hurts. He led me to the roof.
“You hate me right?” he asked smugly.
“No sh-”
“Okay, good.”
I was confused. Really confused, I might add.
“You'll hate me even more after this.”
Before I could even protest, I was falling. Falling down from the roof of an apartment just above the twentieth floor. My shoulder-length auburn hair whipped across my face, and my stomach felt as if some giants were doing acrobatic moves. Anger, but then sadness filled me. This was it, I was going to die. Regret filled me when I realized that I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to Zach. A loathing feeling appeared in me. I’ve never believed in ghosts, but I would so come back and haunt the guy that killed me. Ray would not come out alive after this. I waited for the impact.
One second...two seconds...three seconds...four seconds...
I slowly opened my eyes in surprise. The surprise nearly made me pass out. Instead of hitting the ground and leaving a pool of blood around like I imagined, I was standing right in front of the building. My head snapped up to see Ray smirking at me. That bastard! I followed my first instinct: I rushed into the building. The lifts were all up so I ran up, twenty floors, in less than ten seconds. Yeah, I was good at sports, so was Zach. I was going to kill Ray. When I reached the roof, I found Ray still wearing that hideous smirk of his. Castina was standing with Zach at the side. Zach looked at me worriedly, but Castina was fuming.
“YOU PIECE OF-”
“Language,” Ray chided.
I was not amused at all. I marched up to him and grabbed his collar.
“YOU JUST TRIED TO KILL ME!”
“You didn't die, did you?” he said calmly.
“YOU'RE AN ASS!”
“I'm so hurt,” he said sarcastically.
That's it. I snapped. I punched him hard in his gut, harder than I have ever punched in my life. There was a sickening snap. Ray's eyes bulged in surprise as if he couldn't believe what was happening. What I didn't consider was the fact that because of the force, he actually fell off the edge of the roof.
“Amy, relax,” Zach was next to me.
“I'm perfectly relaxed now that he's dead.”
I knew better than that. If I did not die, there wasn't a chance that he would die just by falling off a roof.
“I have to admit,” Castina walked up to me and clapped me gently on the back, “that punch was awesome.”
I gaped at her. Shouldn't she be worried?
“He'll be fine,” she waved her hand dismissively when I realized that I had voiced it out.
The roof's door opened and came out a grumpy-looking Ray. He was perfectly fine apart from his slightly messy hair.
“That was not needed,” he stated flatly.
“It was,” I stated in the exact same tone.
“Ray, show me your stomach,” Castina commanded.
“No.”
“Ray.”
“I said no!”
I was caught back by his altitude. I know I punched him hard but was it that bad? Castina pinned him to a wall. To my surprise, he didn't dodge or more like he couldn't. Castina lifted his shirt, just enough to show a deep purple bruise, pouring blood.
Oops.
“It doesn't hurt,” he assured Castina and added pointedly,“at all.”
Castina gave him a hard look.
“Yeah, I guess you deserved that.”
Ray's expression was comical. I would have laughed if it weren't for the guilt starting inside me.
“Don't feel bad, Amy,” Castina comforted me, “he'll be fine in two days,” Castina took my hand gently, “this doesn't look good, I'll heal it when we go back.”
That kind of wound would heal in just two days? In comparison, my hand was nothing. I felt so guilty.
“Let's go back.”
Zach followed her inside.
“Are you going or not?” Ray snapped from behind me since I was blocking the door.
My head snapped up to him. I didn't realize that I was actually spacing out. “Hey, I'm s-sorry,” I said it so quick that the whole phrase sounded like a single word.
“Say what?”
“S-Sorry,” I mumbled it
“What? Louder, I can't hear you. You know, I just might have damaged my ear when I fell.”
Okay, he so did that on purpose.
“I am sorry,” this time, I said clearly.
“Oh,” he said flatly.
Right, reply with an 'oh', I thought.
“You deserve the guilt,” he smirked at me.
I was so shocked that I just stopped walking. How could he say I deserved it? Is he mad? In an instant, the guilt was gone, and I glared at his back. We were so back to when I hated him with a passion.