Chapter 2: One-Eyed Freak
I stormed into English class. I pushed past the two popular girls, sparking words of contempt from them, but I could care less. I marched straight to the back corner of the class and dropped my stuff. I sat down with a huff, crossed my arms, and glared at my desk.
Beside me, my friend Summer-my only friend in this damn school-said, "Rough day?"
I growled.
"You know better than to growl at me, Brooklyn." She tutted. "What's going on today?" She leaned back in her chair, tipping it against the wall. She threw her feet on the desk, revealing her ugly Helixes-ugly furred snow boots that didn't go with anything. Definitely not Summer's black long-sleeve shirt and blue jeans.
I groaned in frustration, leaning my head back against the wall. "Where do you want me to start?" I asked her miserably. "I was woken up and was told that if Lili and I could make it on time, we could be driven to school today. Made it out on time, and he still left!"
Summer clicked her tongue. "I wish you'd let my brother and I come to pick you up." She'd long since given up on the 'I'm sorry' because, after all this time, I was tired of hearing it wherever I went. So now she resorted to bargaining with me, trying to help me reach out when I didn't want to.
"I told you, Summer. If he found out, I'd be dead." Or as good as. He never took any sort of weapon to me. No, he just used his hands and left me wishing-
"He's an asshole," Summer muttered. I snorted. That wasn't half of it. She sighed. "Well, what about the rest of the morning? You normally don't get this upset about that."
I took a deep breath and let it out through my nose. "There's a new kid," I said. "And he's bothering me."
"Flirting with you?"
"Pssh. No one flirts with me. People just call names."
Summer frowned but didn't push. "I feel you. Another new kid's been bothering me, too."
I peered over at Summer. Her dark, choppy hair was done in a ponytail, but some escaped and hung over her caramel cheeks. Her eyes-a mix of gray and brown, almost hazel-were staring at something off to my left.
I followed her gaze to a guy about our age-which is to say 17 years old-sitting in one of the seats near the teacher's desk. He had darkly tanned skin, lighter than mine, and dark brown hair. His hairstyle kind of bugged me. He had the sides of his head shaved, but the top was long and combed to the side. Ugh, why do people think that hairstyle is cool or cute? He was spinning something in his hands. I thought it was a pencil or a pen, but I couldn't be sure.
"Says his name is RJ García," Summer explained, seeing my frown. "Keeps on running off before I can give him his jacket back." She hefted a white and ice-blue jacket from the ground beside her.
"I have almost the same problem," I said. I lifted the orange and red jacket that Eli had left. "Except I stormed away the second time because I was mad that he didn't think Lili could talk."
Summer sighed. "You're going to have to start realizing that not everyone knows she can, Brooklyn. She's deaf, and most people think that that makes her mute. And Lili isn't bothered by everyone thinking she can't talk. I would love it if everyone thought I couldn't speak. I hate talking in class."
"So do I," I replied shortly. I knew Summer was right-she often was. But people should treat Lili like an actual person, not some entity that doesn't have basic comprehension skills. I'd once broken some kid's nose when they made a comment like that about Lili. Some dick in her year who was picking on her. He hasn't bothered her since, as far as I was aware.
Feeling the need to do something with my hands before I ended up punching something, I grabbed Eli's jacket. I usually wouldn't go through another person's things, but...
"What are you doing?" Summer hissed as I started to rummage through the pockets. "That's not yours."
"He left it with me," I argued as I felt around in the pockets, which were much roomier than I had thought, "so I can look through it. Probably." I felt around until I found something. "Aha!" I pulled out what seemed like a card. I blinked in surprise.
Frayen Searcher License
Name: Eli Lee Sophia
Father: Hyperion
Time left until recall: 10:35:26
I stared at the last line.
10:35:25
10:35:24
10:35:23
"S-Summer." I showed Summer the card. Her eyes widened.
"'Frayen Searcher License'?" She said aloud. "His father is... who's Hyperion?"
"I don't know," I responded. "Check RJ's jacket." She nodded before grabbing it and going through it.
I started looking through Eli's jacket again and felt something. I was about to pull it out when Summer said, "Frayen Searcher License. Name: Ricardo Jeremías García. Mother: Lydia. Time until recall: 10 hours, 34 minutes, and 42 seconds. 41 seconds. 40 secon-"
"I get it!" I felt around the thing I had found in Eli's jacket. I started to pull it out again, my palm against the object. Unfortunately, it was sharp. "Ow, shit!" I retracted my hand and saw blood spilling from a slice on my palm. "What the hell?"
"How did you cut yourself?" Summer demanded, grabbing my hand. "Is there a knife or something in there?"
I grimaced as she checked over my hand. "I don't know. It felt like it. Ow!" I yanked my hand out of her grip.
"Sorry. We should get you to the nurse's office. We don't want that getting infected."
"Fine. You raise your hand." She did.
"Yes, Summer?" The teacher-a skinny, balding man-asked.
"Brooklyn accidentally cut her hand. Can I take her to the nurse's office to look at it?"
The teacher thought about it for a moment. "Alright," he agreed. "But come back when you're done."
"Thank you," Summer said. We gathered our stuff, me being careful of the slice on my hand, and headed out. I glanced over my shoulder before exiting the classroom and saw RJ staring at me. I could've sworn his eyes glowed before the door shut behind me.
I shivered at the cold wind that blasted through the school grounds as we walked to the office. Lili still had the jacket and was on the other side of the campus. I was left to freeze. Unless...
"I'm going to regret this," I muttered as I slipped off my backpack.
"What are you doing?" Summer asked as I pulled on the orange and red jacket. "That's not yours!"
"I don't care," I snapped at her. "It's cold, and today has been a horrible day already." I finished putting it on. It was huge on me, almost reaching my knees, and it smelled like campfire smoke. That Eli kid must have gone camping recently.
I slung my backpack back over my shoulders and resumed walking. I stared at the still bleeding cut in my palm. "I don't even want to know what is inside these pockets anymore. I just want this day to be over." Summer gave me a sympathetic look but didn't say anything as we walked.
*~*
The visit to the nurse's office was fairly routine. She examined my cut, slapped a bandage around my hand, and sent me back to class with the reassurance that if it continued to bleed, I would come back to her.
Summer and I walked back to class silently. I was still wearing Eli's jacket, and Summer held RJ's. We walked through the doors to where our classroom was located. Unfortunately, it was on the other side of the campus, at the edge.
Someone was coming through the gate that separated the campus from the parking lot. But me still being in a foul mood, I ignored them.
"Hey," the person called. I spared him a glance. He was a little shorter than Eli and had blond hair and fair skin. From this far away, I couldn't see his eyes clearly. "Do you two girls need help?"
"No, thank you," I replied as politely as I could. Well, as politely as possible with my current attitude. My hand was still hurting, and I was still pissed off at Eli and the day as a whole. We kept walking, and the guy kept coming towards us.
"Please, let me help you," he insisted. I should've been able to see his eyes by now, but still couldn't.
"We said no," Summer snapped. He smiled creepily.
"Feisty," he said. "Makes you Godlings all the tastier." That stopped us in our tracks.
"What?" I yelped. We started backtracking toward the school quad. He walked towards us, his long legs covering the ground faster than we could. "Listen, dude, we don't want whatever you've got."
Now he was in front of us. "No. You are what I want." He grabbed me by the throat and lifted me up. Summer started to scream, but he cut her off by grabbing her throat. "It is rare that I find Godlings here. And you two are extraordinary. Distinctive. I can smell it."
I started kicking and thrashing. The monster of a man only gripped my throat tighter, cutting off my air supply. I began to choke, flailing my legs wildly. Then he growled.
"No, I will have my feast," he snarled at whoever was behind us.
"You aren't gonna eat anything, man," said an unfamiliar voice behind the man.
"These Godlings belong to Glasseia." That sounded like Eli. Wait, why was he here?
The man threw Summer and me onto the ground and knocked the breath out of me. Spots danced in my vision as he began to transform. His body grew until he was almost eight feet tall. His torso thickened until he appeared super overweight, his stomach bulging. His arms and legs were now bare, thick brown hair covering them. And his head-oh god. Instead of two eyes, there was only one green eye in the middle of his forehead. And his smell-just, ew.
I swore softly, breathing heavily, as I saw the guy who was behind the monster. He had dark brown hair and dark, tanned skin. It was RJ, and his eyes were glowing icy blue, almost white. In one hand, he held a black, pointed object-a knife. He spread his arms, and a cold wind raced through the grounds.
"Brooklyn, my jacket!" Eli yelled above the wind. I rolled over and stared at him. His eyes were glowing orange, and he held one hand out, waiting for his jacket. His face was so fierce, stalking toward us, I half thought he was going to attack us. But his gaze wasn't on us. Instead, he was glaring at the monster roaring at RJ.
I fumbled to throw my backpack off as the monster stomped toward RJ. He roared at him again, and briefly, I wondered how no one had noticed the commotion the man was making. Then, with a quick glance at my surroundings, I realized that no one was outside.
Lockdown.
The word rang through me as I ripped off Eli's jacket and threw it at him. Despite the vicious wind, it flew right to him. He stuck his hand into the pocket and dragged out a white sword. The double-sided blade was pure white, practically shining with its own light. The hilt was a black material with an even darker black, almost purplish, pearl embedded deep in it.
Eli twirled the blade in his hand before getting into some stance, his sword pointed upright.
"How are we going to deal with this one?" Eli yelled. I looked back to see RJ throwing-were those snowballs? From his hands?
The snowballs that seemed to form in RJ's hands were only making the monster angrier. It batted one aside and yelled.
"You're the one with the sword!" He shot back. "All I'm doing is making it mad!" As if on cue, the monster roared at him. It forced RJ to back away until he was against the fence. "Anytime now, Eli!" Snow flew from his hands, but it did nothing. The monster tried to grab RJ, but then he shot into the air. But the beast was quick and grabbed him by the ankle. RJ yelled out as it started to swing him around. "If you let me die, I swear I'm haunting you first!"
With a battle cry, Eli launched himself at the beast. He sliced downwards across the monster's back, earning a cut that spilled sand all over the ground.
The monster threw RJ away with a roar. RJ screamed as he flew through the air, flipping end over end toward the cars.
I watched, terrified, as Eli went to stab the monster again. But this time, the beast was ready. It threw a fist at the brown-haired kid. Eli braced himself, and the monster's massive fist connected with him, sending him tumbling away. He flipped to his feet, but he'd lost his sword.
It skidded to a halt in front of me. I reached for it, but the monster slammed its foot on my wrist. I screamed out in pain.
I barely noticed the monster picking me up by the back of my neck. I heard Summer scream, "Brooklyn!"
The monster held me right in front of his face. He grinned triumphantly. "I will enjoy feasting on your flesh, Godling," he crowed.
No, no! I can't die! I thought. I can't leave Lili alone!
As the monster squeezed my neck, I thrust my hands out in a last-ditch effort. My vision turned black, but then the beast roared in pain. It let go of me, and I fell to the ground. Pain shot up my leg as I landed feet first before collapsing.
As the darkness receded, I saw Eli standing before me, his sword raised. He thrust one hand at the monster, and flames spewed from it. The beast tried to swat out the fire, but Eli lunged forward, driving his sword into the monster's chest.
The beast let out a roar, then began to turn to dust. Eli pulled his sword away without a word and stepped back, letting the beast fully dissolve. After a few seconds, all that was left of the monster was a mound of dust and its foul smell. RJ walked up, panting, and a wind blew the dust away.
Eli stared at me, breathing heavily with his sword still in hand. "We need to talk."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone