“Here goes nothing.” I mused to myself, touching intermittently, the oversized sweater I was wearing. This was the first time after all I would be going out without a bra and panties. And I needed it to be not so obvious. Not that I could change anything with this touching here and there, not that there was anything to see. The sweater was big enough to hide my breasts and long enough to cover my buttocks region. I doubted I would be tried for offensive dressing on the first day. Wheew. I couldn’t wait to go shopping. Does the community have a mall? I had seen the clothes that Peter and his family wore, and although they were quite good, they were not in the league of the Dolce and Gabbana collections. I hadn’t seen their entire wardrobe, but at least I had seen Diana’s. Did the villagers make their own cloth? If that was so, they would just be taking my measurements, right? And if that was so, then I wouldn’t be seeing the clothes for a week. No. Hopefully no.I remembered Dia
The meeting ground was just as Laura had described. A hall tastefully designed. Even the chairs were intricately patterned beautifully. This community was really creative. I thought as I let my eyes wander through the entirety of the very large hall. It was even bigger than the hall back at home that had been used for my sendforth party. Remembering that hall brought a bitter taste to my mouth and heart, such that I tuned off my admiration antenna, and let Laura lead me to one of the seats. It was then that I became aware of the glances thrown in my direction from left, right and center. Of course, everyone knew everyone here. I wasn’t inclusive.“It's okay, Maya. They don’t bite. They are just not used to seeing new faces.” Laura mentioned, as she pulled my hand so that I could sit my buttocks on my seat. The many stares had me petrified at the spot. I hadn’t experienced that before. For a moment, I thought that some unseen force had kept me at attention to allow the members of t
I was more involved with my thoughts than with what the Queen was talking about. My mind kept thinking back, to many events, trying to point out if there had been a time when I had shown an indication that I had a magic trait. But no matter how much I tried, nothing came up. There was no pointer. There had been no event to indicate it. The only time I had felt different was during and after sex with Adam, after he had marked me. That had been when my sensors had gotten sharper and keener. But that's all. Could it be that sex with Adam had triggered something that had laid hidden with me? “Maya, you should listen to the queen before she calls you out. She knows that you are distracted.” Laura said, shocking me for the third time since we entered this hall. The queen knew I wasn't listening? Could she read my thoughts too? I wondered, hoping it was not so. I might die if that was so. Okay, an exaggeration. But I wouldn’t be happy. Maya, focus still, unless you want to be called ou
We were currently standing outside the Queen’s private meeting hall. According to Laura, it's a place where the queen meets people privately, away from the eyes of the others. It was different from her private office which was located in the palace; someplace I was yet to see, someplace I was curious to see. I have been asking myself, since the meeting had been over fifteen minutes ago, this particular question- If the hall had been so carefully designed, then how would the palace be? “You can come in now.” A lady said to us, gesturing that we come in after she opened the door. It turned out that the queen was available to see us. It turned out that when she had said that Laura should bring her family, that had included me. I had tried to wait back in the hall, till the queen was done meeting with Laura and Peter, but Laura had touched my shoulder, and told me that I was part of her family; that she was sure that the queen wanted to see me too. It was probably to know who I was a
At the Queen’s question, there was a notable silence, in which I believed that Peter and Laura were gathering genteel strength; checking to ascertain if their earlier decision of keeping me had been right; if I was worth the trouble of going against the queen; if they should have submitted me to the Queen first.With the shadowed scared look on Laura’s face, I actually said a little prayer for them. I didn't know the punishment for going against a queen’s order, but from the way they were acting, the queen wasn’t all smiles and happiness. “Peter..??” The Queen called again, darting glances between the couple, wondering what was holding up the answer. “Well..” She was talking now, deciding not to wait for their input. Bad if you ask me. “She can stay at Laude and …” She was still speaking when Peter cut her off guard with his sharp reply. But I noticed that he had looked at Laura hard and long before giving that reply. “We have decided to let her stay with us.” “We?? She doesn’t
Aliana. Queen Aliana. Not a bad name for a queen. “Does the name sound familiar, Maya? You are not saying anything.” Queen Aliana mentioned.Saying anything? Should I be saying anything because she told me her name? When I tell my name to someone, I don’t wait for them to say something, I just move on to the next subject, unless I didn’t know their name, then I expect them to say their own.The queen knew mine. What was she expecting me to say?“You have no questions at all to ask me, do you?” she asked, and I shook my head without wasting any time.I needed to be out there, with Laura and Peter; we were supposed to be on our way to the market. But this woman…does she do this with every newcomer in her pack? “Honestly Maya…” She stood up from her seat as she began to speak again, and strolled to the window, peering away from it. “I know that you remember so much more than you let on. I know that you didn’t lose your memory a hundred percent.” She whispered, as if she was talking t
I didn't know how long I stood at the same spot, just beside the entrance door, staring at the wall where Queen Aliana had just passed through, but when a resounding knock on the door reverberated through my ears, I was brought to attention to my environment again. “My Queen, can I come in?” I heard from the other side, and half expected the Queen to appear again through the wall, but my hopes were dashed; she didn’t appear. As the entrance door was opened, the former girl that had ushered us in, peeped into the room, a bit stunned—when her nose almost touched my cloth—at how close I was to the door. Behind her were Laura and Peter. They had been waiting all this while. How long had I stood staring at that wall? I didn’t know. I didn’t know either when I opened my mouth and asked the girl the first thing that rang in my mind. “How did she do that?” I asked, pointing at the wall. Now, Peter and Laura had stepped into the room. “Who is the she?” The clerk asked, her eyes furrowed,
‘Wife to their king.’ This phrase kept ringing in my ear, undaunted by my selection of clothes from the community’s mall. It was smaller than the malls in the human world, but at least they had one; my pack had none. Clothes were bought from the human malls. “Maya, don’t you like the clothes?” That was Laura. I wasn’t aware that she had been standing beside me all this while. I nodded, then shook my head when I thought that she might misinterpret my nod. I liked the clothes, all of them. They were comfortable and beautiful. Laura had mentioned at one time during the tour that some of them had been made with magic. They were of course costlier than the others, due to their value, but she had managed to snag me two. A sweater, and scarf. When I had touched them, I had felt peace. I had literally felt the magic running through them. Laura seemed to think that I could feel those because I had the magic trait. A normal person wouldn’t even notice. “I like the clothes, Laura. How c
Expectation?I didn’t really have one for her, only that she stays true to herself and to me, just as Naomi had done.At least I had a new friend. Hopefully it will be enough to convince Laura to sleep tonight without scolding me. I was sure that the news of today had reached her ears. Peter’s too. “Thanks so much, Levina. You are a lifesaver.” I finally responded, piquing my eyebrows when she chuckled at my statement, when she loosened my hands from her waist, and turned aside to look at me. “I think there is a misplacement of some sorts. You are the lifesaver, Dora. It is because of you that I will be able to have a better school and social life; my life actually as a whole. I should be the one showing the appreciation.” She said with a beautiful laugh, her eyes sparkling under the board of moonlight, a sharp contrast to the first time I had actually noticed her. In the cafeteria, her eyes had been empty, totally void of feelings. She had been totally lost. I felt happy again th
It took me three hours to finish detention. Three hours of trying to fight my worst fears. Three hours spent cursing professor Bulock. How could such a cruel thing be used as detention? How could such a cruel method be utilized? I remembered his last words to me in class this morning, his last words that had sent a chill down my back. ‘No way for her to learn about our ways, for her to learn about respect and discipline in class if not through that.’ ‘That’ meaning detention. It would explain the reason why I had been the only one in detention. No one wanted their worst fears thrown at them. No wonder the sheer decorum in school.The bullying had only continued because of who the bully was. But I was sure that Rachel would repent if she was subjected to her fears. Three hours of living with them, and I knew that I wouldn’t disrespect Professor Bulock in his class again, so far as he let me be too. You are still giving conditions? My mind taunted me and I shrugged my shoulders.
I should be in the classroom reserved for detention but I was back at the bleak place again. That place thrummed with filth and despair, just like before.I sighed when a woman's despairing cry echoed in my soul, tearing at me, reprimanding me, drawing me back from the edge of a great precipice. Had I fallen asleep during detention?It was just as before.Every cell in my body craved food and something else, something I could lay my finger on, mostly because I had rehearsed the dream by now. Blood.The hunger raked at me with merciless claws until a red haze covered my sight and my pulse hammered with the need for immediate sustenance. Desperate, I scanned the area above my resting place for the presence of enemies and, finding none, burst through the rich layers of soil, into the air, my heart thundering in my ears, my mind screaming. I landed in a crouch in the midst of dense shrubbery and thick vegetation, and took a slow, careful look around me, not in the least concerned abo
It was the last class of the day, and I was counting down the minutes to the clinging of the dismissal bell. Five minutes to go. I thought giddily, throwing a glance at my watch. I was deathly hungry. After I had left the principal’s office, there had been no time to get to the cafeteria. I had returned to class hungry. It became crazier whenever I remembered the detention—a delay to having Laura’s food. “Well, it seems someone is in a hurry to go somewhere.” I withheld a visible flinch, somehow knowing that the lady lecturing us on magic and music was talking about me. I expected a frown on her face, but I saw a smile on her lips rather; a soft smile, as if I reminded her of someone interesting, someone that she cared about. I forced a smile on my lips too, and hers widened. She shook her head, and gathered her supplies on the table. “I will see you all on Thursday. Make sure to get your assignment ready by then. No excuses.” Assignment? She had given an assignment? I felt m
When we got to the principal’s office, he was in a meeting with someone, and so we had to wait by the door till he was done. We waited for about fifteen minutes before the door opened and Prof. Bulock stepped out of the office. When he saw I and Levina, a still milk-soaked Levina, he piqued his eyebrows, keeping his steely gaze on me. “What did you do to sweet Levina? What did you do this time around?” I snorted. “Does it look like I did anything to her? If your mind was free from prejudice as it should be, you would have noticed that. You would have noticed too, that I was her ally and not a foe. So much for the magic you claim to have for observation. Now, if you will excuse us, Prof Bulock, we have to see Mr Lethon.”Professor Bulock was standing right at the entrance, and his hand clutched the knob tight. Still, he was lucky I had held back from putting the emphasis on the right syllable in his name that would highlight a castrated cow. I wondered what he would do if I ever
“How long has this been happening?” I asked Sinclair immediately we left the cafeteria, enroute to the principal’s office. Levina has refused to say a word since we left, but that was okay. People reacted to situations differently. If I would take a bet, she was contemplating her father’s reaction when he finally heard the news. There was a minute silence, during which I inhaled the strength to shout at him if he chose not to talk about this troubling matter. But then, he started speaking. “For a while now. It’s not regular, but it happens occasionally, sometimes in the cafeteria, sometimes in the training field. Actually since her father had been elected the school’s principal.” I sharply turned to look at him. “And how many years is that?” “Five years.” My tongue tasted something bitter and bland. She has been bullied for five years? How had the father stayed unaware all this time? How had no one thought to slither the piece of information to Mr Lethon? Did they hate him an
There was laughter everywhere in the cafeteria. The matrons serving the food said and did nothing. Sinclair sighed in exasperation. I wasn’t sure of Raul’s reaction to his sister’s bullying. I didn’t look. No. I was already transported in time to the cafeteria back at the pack.I was transported to the past, to the particular time when Noah had poured milk on me; to the time when Daniel had joined them; to the time when the entire student populace, or most, had joined them in throwing food at me; to the time when the matrons had done nothing to help me; until Noami had run and called the principal. My fists clenched, while watching the girl sniff. She was about to cry.I didn’t know when I moved, didn’t care to know how I had gotten in front of Rachel in less than two seconds.I grabbed her by the neck and pulled her out of the chair. “Don’t dare use your magic on me, or you are gone, Rachel.” I said when I saw her hand twitching. It was a gamble. A very risky one, knowing th
At Sinclair’s question, I furrowed my eyebrows, wondering about the edge in his voice, an edge that was barely there.I didn’t think he was even aware of it. We had both agreed that personal questions were off the bet. That had been the reason I hadn’t asked him about the thriving issue between him and Raul. Yet, here he was talking about me and Raul like we had something going, like he was curious about knowing what exactly we had going on. I ignored him. “I want to go to college when I’m done here, or rather I want to use it as an avenue for exploring the world, before taking up my responsibility. But my parents want me to take up my responsibility after school.” I stopped my movement then and looked at Sinclair in shock. He had answered my question, the first I had asked him earlier, after my registration at the principal’s office. I had asked him what his plans were after school, and he had told me that he didn’t owe me an answer.My ignorance of his questions must have no
‘That I care about you.’ These words kept ringing in my head, but I knew it was because of the emotions that Raul had worn in his eyes when he spoke them. I didn’t think I would forget them any time soon. It was foremost, the emotion of sheer attachment, which kept bringing back those words. And it was not like I was remotely interested in Raul. No. He was handsome and all that, but he seemed to have caught Diana’s fancy. A few years would determine if it was a childhood crush, or something else. Somehow, a feeling or gut—call it whatever—chose the latter.I sighed at that. This development wasn't good. When had he developed the feelings? Was it when I had rejected Adam publicly in the eatery? Worse, after my conversation with Raul, Rachel hadn’t stopped staring at me. Sometimes she was glaring, some other times she was just staring at me, in amazement or surprise. But those few times I caught her looking at me in that manner, as if I was holding gold, she righted her face b