A hum of voices filled the large, dark space, reminding her what was expected of her, what she was supposed to do. She balled her hands into fists, then relaxed them again. It would be ok. It was always ok.
She took a deep breath, held it in for a few moments, then let it out, blowing out a puff of steam. The temperature was quite low, but it didn't bother her, not even in her skimpy outfit. She ran her hand over the faux leather of her tattered jacket, over her injured hip covered by what one could barely call a skirt, and closed her eyes.
'One, Mississippi,' she muttered under her breath. 'Two, Mississippi, three, Mississippi...'
The young man standing beside her took her hand into his, squeezing it lightly – a reassuring gesture they shared. She squeezed his hand too, and even though she could only make out the outline of his figure, she could tell he was smiling. And she smiled back.
An eerie creaking noise echoed through the space, and the murmur of voices died down almost instantly. Footsteps echoed on an old wooden floor, and she felt anticipation hanging heavily in the air. A wolf howled in the distance, and she took in another breath, this time slightly rushed, almost tasting the gasoline and ammonia in the air.
The comforting hand left hers, and she balled her hand into a fist again, feeling her arm tense, then relaxed. The corners of her mouth twitched into a wicked little smile. The next moment, a spotlight blinded her as music burst to full volume, and she struck her rehearsed pose. To her right, the other five skaters did the same. The crowd started cheering wildly, and her wicked smile turned into a full grin.
It was Thriller, and it was going to be awesome.
'Great job, guys!' said the petite coach as the six skaters left the ice in the cheers of the crowd. The younger skaters clapped admiringly, and the six performers bowed, grinning.
'Craig, 15 minutes!' called the coach, pointing towards the lockers. 'Jubilee, you might want to lend a hand there, you know how he is with heavy makeup.'
'Yes, ma'am!' she replied, chasing after her partner into the men's locker.
'And stay warm!' came the final advice from the coach. Two hands appeared in the doorway and gave her the thumbs-up, then disappeared.
'And grizzly ghouls from every tomb are closing in to seal your doom.' recited Craig, taking off his black, destroyed jacket, keeping his holey red shirt on. He put his arm around his partner's shoulders, grabbed a camera from a table and snapped a picture of them both together. She promptly snatched the camera from his hand.
'Dude,' she laughed. 'We really look dead!'
He grinned and high-fived her.
'Then we looked our part.'
She grinned back, and dove into her coach's makeup bag.
'Come on. Take 'em off.'
'Aw, shucks, miss Jubilee,' he said, feigning shyness. 'This relationship is going way too fast. How about you buy me dinner first?'
She shoved his shoulder playfully.
'You don't want any of that makeup on your costume. Move.'
Craig chuckled and made a show out of removing his shirt. Jubilee rolled her eyes and shoved him into the chair in front of the vanity, then took a seat on the table in front of him and started removing the ghoul makeup off his face and neck.
'Your Tom Jones program will make the audience scream,' she told him, wiping off his black eyeshadow. 'They're in for such a surprise...'
He grinned.
'Hey, I did keep it clean enough, didn't I? There are kids watching.'
'Yeah, but still...'
'You know, Jay, maybe we could do a pair number once, “You can leave your hat on” and all that...'
'Hell no.' she replied, moving on to his other eye.
'Aw,' he pouted. 'C'mon...'
'No.'
'But whyyyyy?' he whined, and a giggle escaped her lips.
'Because we're decent people, and decent people don't grope each other in front of an audience.'
'Right.' he replied. 'But decent people do skate to Cinema Bizarre...'
'That's an entirely different definition of “decent”, Craig, and Mel is only skating to it because she lost the deal with Marty. Open your eyes.'
He did as required, and she pushed his head to the right, then to the left, to check if the makeup was gone for good.
'I would honestly rather watch Mel skate to Cinema Bizarre than see Marty skate to Cats.'
Jubilee shook her head.
'It's going to be a sad, sad day when Marty skates to Cats.'
The door opened, and the remaining two boys of the team walked in, singing the chorus to Thriller and dancing accordingly.
Jubilee grinned.
'You really look the part, guys.'
'Agh!' came Jacob's theatrical cry. 'A grizzly girl-ghoul in the men's locker room!'
She stuck her tongue out at him, and resumed cleaning Craig's jaw.
'Where were you guys anyway?' he asked, turning his head to look at the other two skaters. Jubilee
promptly grabbed his chin and turned his head back to face her.
'Watching little Evelyn's solo,' replied Martin, grabbing the bottle of makeup remover from the table. Jubilee snatched at it, but he held it just out of her reach and poured some on a cotton pad. 'She was absolutely brilliant. Honestly, her layback spin is the prettiest this club has ever seen.'
He noticed the girl still grabbing at the bottle, and handed it back to her. 'You should have seen Maurey. She was absolutely beaming.'
'Yeah,' piped in Jacob, fidgeting with little success with the zipper on his pants. 'Her show is turning out pretty well so far. And Evelyn has more potential than five Olympic gold medalists put together-' He fell silent as he tugged erratically on the zipper. 'What the HELL?'
'Dude,' called Martin from the other side of the room. 'Don't try rushing that zipper, you'll never take those pants off if you do that.' He had removed the pasty grey makeup from half his face, and was admiring his new look in the mirror, striking random poses and making faces, wiggling his eyebrows at Craig and Jubilee who were shaking with silent laughter.
'How about you lend a hand if you know so much about zippers?' grumbled the annoyed skater, still pulling at the stuck zipper.
Martin struck a macho pose and flexed his non-existent muscles.
'Hell, no, man,' he retorted over his shoulder. 'I ain't going anywhere near your bits!'
The door swung open, and the remaining two girls of the team waltzed in, carrying a load of bags.
'Did anybody say “bits”?' chanted the curly redhead.
Jubilee pointed at Martin, and the two girls made little disgusted noises, then broke into a giggle fit.
'Jake, that look really suits you!' giggled the brunette.
He bowed.
'Why, thank you, Mel. Now, if you and Chelsea would be kind enough as to tell us what you're doing in the men's locker rooms...?'
Chelsea dumped the bags on a bench and took a seat next to them, then began to unwrap the scarf from around her neck.
'Girls' locker room is full of kiddies. This place is quieter.'
'Also,' added Melissa, pointing a finger at the vanity, 'all the good makeup is on that table over there.'
Jubilee glanced at her, made a final wipe on Craig's face, then closed the bottle of makeup remover and tossed it at the two girls.
'How long does Craig have?' she asked.
'About seven more minutes,' replied Martin from the corner, still struggling with his zipper. Melissa scoffed and walked over to him, and opened his zipper before he could blink. Jacob wolf-whistled, and she promptly stuck her tongue out at him.
'Men...' she muttered.
Martin stared at his zipper for a moment, then at Melissa.
'Ok, now could you girls get out for a bit and let us change?'
'No way,' replied Chelsea.
'It's not like we haven't seen you in your undies before,' added Jubilee.
The three boys exchanged glances as the girls laughed.
'Take 'em off, guys,' said Melissa with a wink.
Craig rolled his eyes, took his skates off, then removed his trousers, and made a show out of crossing the locker room in his boxers to get his costume.
'And that's why we love you,' giggled Chelsea. He blew her a kiss, then started dressing up.
Melissa tossed the makeup remover back at Jubilee.
'You'd better start getting ready too, Jay. Not sure you'll manage in 10 minutes.'
'I always manage in 10 minutes,' she replied, hopping down from the table.
And she did. Within 10 minutes, she was out of her ghoul outfit and into her sparkly yellow dress, her messy hair was in a neat ponytail, and her makeup was redone to fit her program.
Melissa limped to the door, holding an ice pack against her very swollen knee, and opened it enough as to poke her head out into the hallway.
'They've been screaming since His Hotness Craig set foot on the ice,' she giggled.
Chelsea followed her, holding a handful of hairpins, which she proceeded to put into the other girl's hair.
'And he only takes off his shirt halfway through the program,' she added. 'Why don't you guys get that kind of response from the audience?'
Martin rolled his eyes.
'Because we have decency.'
'That,' said Jubilee, stretching for her spiral one last time, 'can only be said about you. Jake...'
'I only skated my “Candy shop” program once!' he defended. 'And it was well received!'
'Riiiight!' said the three girls in unison, breaking into giggles immediately afterwards.
'It's still art,' grumbled the annoyed skater.
The crowd cheered louder than it did before.
'That's your cue, Jay!' called Melissa. 'Break a leg!'
Jubilee skipped out the door, high-fiving her friends on the way.
'I'll see you out there!'
The hallway was dimly lit and buzzing with kids preparing themselves for their upcoming performances. She smiled at everybody, ruffled a little boy's hair, checked her angel pendant one last time, high-fived a shirtless Craig who seemed very proud of himself, and stepped on the ice in the cheers of the audience. Then, she was walking on sunshine.
'What are you doing?'
The man in black froze – it was as if she had read his mind. He relaxed his body, letting the anticipation of a shift disappear.
'Alaryon...' she sighed.
'My lady.' he returned, turning to face her, head bowed respectfully.
'Let it happen.'
He straightened himself, gathering the courage to look into her haunting golden eyes.
'My lady...'
'I know. Let it happen.'
He turned away from her, summoning a small ball of fire which he twirled between his fingers.
'She's happy,' he said, almost desperately. 'She's happy the way things are. Why should I take this away from her?'
'You're not taking anything away from her. And it's not your call. Give her the choice. Let her decide. It's her life.'
He shook his head stubbornly.
'Alaryon,' she warned, a barely distinguishable edge to her voice. 'It's her life. Let it happen.'
'And what if she makes the wrong choice?'
'I don't think there's a right and wrong in this matter. And she'll deal with the consequences just fine. You trust her this little?'
His eyes blazed blue and his fists clenched at the question, but he didn't reply.
'I thought so.'
Her small hand lightly touched his shoulder.
'Let it happen, Alaryon.'
He bowed his head again, this time in surrender.
'Yes, my lady.'
She stared at the empty table in front of her, then at the hands she had folded on her lap, then fidgeted slightly in the uncomfortable chair, but stopped immediately, feeling it was an improper thing to do.
Footsteps echoed from behind her, but she didn't turn to see who they belonged to. An arm extended above her shoulder and placed a gun on the tabletop – she knew the model, she had fired an old Ruger before. She stared at it, then her gaze followed the owner of the footsteps as he crossed the distance to the other end of the table. In the dim light that fell from a hole in the ceiling, all she could distinguish were the outline of his body, his gleaming glasses, and the two tattooed fists he was resting on the table.
She stared at the gun again.
'Go on,' said the man in a thick Russian accent. 'It's your turn.'
She looked up at him again, and thought she saw him smirk.
Her right hand moved slowly towards the gun, grabbed it, and lifted it off the table. The weight was something she wasn't accustomed to, and she had to make an extra effort to handle the heavy gun with a single hand. Slowly, but without hesitating, she lifted it to her head and pressed it against her temple. The barrel was still hot, a sign that the gun had been fired not too long ago. One bullet gone, who knew how many more to go...
Her throat was suddenly very dry. It would soon be over. Soon. Her eyes closed for a brief moment, then opened again. Her blazing blue gaze fixed the point where the man's eyes must have been, then her finger twitched on the trigger, and-
She woke up with a jolt and sat up, hand pressed against her mouth to muffle a scream she wasn't sure she'd stop from emerging. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest and icy cold beads of sweat ran down her face and body.
It had been a dream, nothing more. She curled up into a ball, hugging her knees. The scream, she could stop, but the tears were different. The dream had to materialise into something, all of them did, be it into tears, screams, or worse. She let herself cry silently for a minute, while the tension left her body.
Looking around, she noticed the other five sleepers hadn't even stirred. That evening's performance had taken its toll on all of them, and she briefly wondered if they would have woken, had she screamed. She extracted herself from her sleeping bag, and tiptoed around Chelsea and her new favourite pillow – Craig's stomach, hopped over Martin's sleeping form, nearly tripped on Jacob's feet, and stopped herself in good time from stepping on Melissa's face. Their slumber parties always resulted in the host's living room – Martin's, this time – turning into a mine field of limbs, food, and other random objects.
Managing to reach the kitchen without incident, she checked on her five sleeping friends again, and closed the door behind her.
Martin's mother's laptop was sitting on the counter, and she woke it from sleep mode. A Facebook home page greeted her, and she couldn't suppress a giggle.
Catherine Ive has the Six Pack over tonight!
Martin Ive likes your status.
Maurey Nichols may the lord have mercy on your soul.
'What's up Jay?'
She jumped at the unexpected intrusion.
'Sorry,' apologized Martin. 'Didn't mean to scare you.'
'It's ok,' she replied, sinking into a chair.
He walked over to the fridge and pulled out a tub of ice cream.
'Bad dream, no?'
She hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
'Get two bowls out of that cupboard, will you?'
She obliged, and he proceeded to spoon chocolate ice cream into the two bowls.
'Did I wake you?'
He finished filling the bowls with ice cream and stuffed the spoon in his mouth before he put the ice cream back in the fridge.
'Hm?'
'When I walked out of the living room,' she clarified. 'Did I wake you?'
The blond pulled the spoon out of his mouth and nudged her shoulder before sitting down.
'You know me, Jay, I'm a light sleeper, especially with you guys around. I don't want any repeats of last year's post-Regionals party.'
She gave a guilty smile and suddenly found her ice cream very interesting.
'Yeah... sorry about that.'
He pushed his ice cream around a bit.
'Well, you did pay your debt... you helped repaint the living room, so it's all forgiven.'
She grinned, and he grinned back.
'So, how about you tell me what the nightmare was about?'
She stuffed ice cream in her mouth and shook her head no.
'You know what they say, if you don't tell somebody about your nightmares, they may come true.'
She choked and started to cough. He patted her back sympathetically.
'Just messing with you,' he smiled. She shot him a glare, then began pushing a piece of chocolate around the bowl.
'Don't ever say that,' she grumbled. 'You have no idea how bad it was.'
'Yeah, it usually is,' he agreed.
She sighed, set her spoon down, and fluffed his short curly hair.
'Thanks, Marty. Yanno, for being here.'
He grinned.
'Don't mention it, Jay. Even with your nightmares, you're the least weird of you girls. That makes you pretty easy to be with.'
She raised an eyebrow.
'Least weird? My eyes all but glow in the dark, and my ears look as if I just stepped out of freaking Lord of the Rings. How does that make me less weird than Chel or Mel?'
'Chel has so many ducks on her, she's a maniac. And Mel's nails glow in the dark, and she talks in her sleep about the most insane things ever. You at least have the decency to not drive us nuts with your “perfect recipe of raisin almond vinegar cookies” at 2.45am.'
She had to laugh at that.
'Yeah, I just scream you all awake instead, and get it over with.'
It was his turn to laugh.
'Sorry... your nightmares are no laughing matter.'
She shrugged.
'They've been going on for so long, I sometimes don't care.'
'Yeah, and sometimes you sit in my kitchen eating the exact thing you were supposed to stay away from, no?'
'It's not like you're not doing the same thing,' she said with a giggle. 'I won't tell if you don't.'
'Deal.'
He grinned, and she grinned back, then shoved a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth.
'I wush fhinking...' he mumbled, his mouth full.
'Didn't your mama teach you not to speak with your mouth full?' she mock-chided. He swallowed and stuck his tongue out at her.
'So I was thinking,' he spoke again, this time clearly.
'About what?' she inquired.
'Hold still and close your eyes.' he instructed. She shrugged and did as told. He leaned slowly and brushed his lips against hers, then pulled back. She waited a few more moments with her eyes squeezed shut, then opened one eye, and then the other. He was biting his lip, eyebrows knitted together in thought.
'That was...' he began.
'...weird. Let's...'
'...never do it again.'
'Definitely.'
'So... I won't talk about it if you don't?
'Deal.'
'Good morning, puffy eyes!'
She glared at her cheerful big brother as she put her seatbelt on. Immediately, the car lurched forward, and she braced herself for his manic driving.
'Nothing good about it,' she retorted, sinking into her seat and closing her eyes.
Chad reached over and patted her shoulder.
'What was it this time?' he asked, his tone serious.
'I was playing russian roulette. With an old Ruger. And I had no idea how many bullets were still left. One player was already dead.'
His hand withdrew from her shoulder, and she opened her eyes.
'Chad, before last night, I had absolutely no idea there was such a thing as a Ruger revolver. Makes no sense that I knew about it in my dream. Plus, I knew I had fired one before.'
'You know, Freud said something about something similar-'
'Freud,' she interrupted, 'is dead. Unless you can bring him back to life to figure out why I suddenly know so much about revolvers, leave him out of it.'
She sunk a bit more in her seat and put her arm over her eyes.
'Hey, calm down, kid.' he soothed. 'What else was there?'
'A Russian man with tattooed fists.'
She didn't see her brother's hands clench on the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.
'Maybe you watch too many movies,' he suggested, his tone only slightly strained.
'I haven't watched a movie in two months,' she grumbled. 'Last one was “Ice Castles”. Hardly the movie to contain Russian men with tattooed fists, don't you think?'
'True,' he replied. 'So, have you had any sleep last night?'
'Only two hours or so, before I woke up. Then I was too scared to go back to sleep, so I sat with Marty in the kitchen until the rest of the guys woke up.'
'What, was he afraid you'd turn his kitchen floor into a skating rink?'
She removed her arm from her eyes and glared at her brother.
'Ok, sorry, crabby one,' he said. 'We'll get home and you'll get some sleep, maybe you'll be more
sociable after you rest. Do you have ice time today?'
'No, Maurey ordered us to get a week of rest. Mostly because she freaked about Mel's knee. I swear, it was twice its normal size after last night's show.'
'What about your hip?'
She didn't reply, suddenly finding the street they were driving down very interesting.
'Jubes, did you tell her?'
She kept her eyes glued to the front door of someone's house, until it opened and four men dressed in black leather walked outside, two of them banging their heads to the music that was echoing from inside the house.
'Are we getting new neighbors?' she asked, staring at the four men.
'Yes. Answer the question.'
She looked at her lap.
'No.'
Chad gave an exasperated sigh.
'Why?' he demanded. 'Do you plan on having hip replacement surgery before you turn twenty? Do you plan on spending your retirement years in a wheelchair?'
'I just don't want any fuss about it!' she replied. 'I'll see the doctor next week, get an x-ray, take a break from jumping, whatever, I just don't want her to go crazy over it – just like you're doing now.'
Chad pulled into the driveway and stopped the engine.
'It might not seem like much now, sis, but you'll regret it later. All of it. The amount of exercise, the eating habits, the untreated injuries...'
'Are you done?' she snapped.
He gave another sigh and leaned his head against the headrest, listening to her unbuckle her seatbelt, open the car door, jump out and slam the door behind her.
She ran inside the house, darted up the stairs and into her room, slamming her door in the process. She punched the wall, then woke her computer from standby, killed the music player and the windows she had left open – everything was redundant. Everything could wait. She opened the search engine and punched in the word she wanted to research. A few clicks later, and she had a photo of the Ruger revolver, along with a description easy enough for her to understand.
After printing her findings, she crouched in front of her desk and opened the bottom drawer. Covered by a large amount of random items – bouncy balls, pens, slinkies, hair clips, light bulbs, and batteries – was a dark blue scrapbook. Wrapped in its shiny plastic foil, it looked brand new.
She removed the foil and flipped through more pages of content than she would have liked, until she reached a clean one. Taking a deep breath, she ran her fingers over the white paper, as if asking for permission, then pulled out a small box of utensils and found a comfy spot on the floor to settle down in.
'Sunday, September 19th' she wrote in blue ink. 'Russian Roulette.'
The image from the previous page stared at her – a black Mercedes, entry dated Thursday, September 2nd. Next to the date, she had stuck a round, purple sticker. It was a recurrent nightmare. She gave a shudder, then grabbed her old teddy bear off her bed. The fluffy animal gave her a feeling of security, so she set it on her lap and began cutting the photo of the Ruger out of the sheet of paper.
A short knock came from the door.
'What do you want?'
The door opened, and Chad walked in, carrying her garment bags.
'You left these in the car.'
'Yeah, thanks.' she mumbled. She tossed the bear back on the bed, got on her feet, took the bags from him, and proceeded to put everything in their designated places.
'I still think your room is absurdly tidy,' he said, leaning against the door frame. She snorted, not sparing him a glance.
'Ok, I'm sorry.'
'That's a start,' she mumbled.
'I shouldn't have nagged you. You know what you're doing, it's your sport, not mine.'
'And...?'
'And I'll drop your hip problem.'
'Thank you.'
He crossed the distance to the scrapbook and crouched beside it.
'So that's the Ruger from your dream?'
She glanced at him, then at the picture of the gun, then returned her attention to hanging her exhibition dress in the closet.
'Yeah, an A .357 Magnum, Blued Ruger Blackhawk, with adjustable sights, and a 4 5/8" barrel.'
He stared at her for a moment, then took a seat on the floor.
'How many times did you rehearse saying that?'
She shot him a glare.
'I told you it was familiar. It's almost...' she sighed and bowed her head, rubbing her eyes in exhaustion. 'Almost a natural thing to say.'
He suppressed a shudder and began to flip through her scrapbook, encountering her narrations of nightmares, along with drawings, photos, and other things that helped illustrate them. A page caught his attention, and he took a long moment to appraise it carefully. She had drawn a large dark silhouette, and another, smaller one in front of it, most likely running away from the first. He could tell it was her most horrifying nightmare so far, judging by the blood that stained the paper, mingled with the layers of graphite.
Small hands took the scrapbook from him, and he jumped at the intrusion.
'There must be a pattern.' she said coolly, flipping back to the page she was working on. 'Something connecting all of them. And it has got to do with... whatever it is that I am.'
Chad gave a small sigh and stopped himself before attempting to argue with her. No use telling her she was human when she wasn't. Carefully planned stories had made others believe it. She, however, didn't believe it. He didn't believe it either.
'You need to get some sleep.'
She shook her head.
'Not before I finish this. The memory won't be as fresh later as it is now. I want to get every detail. And...'
She paused, bit her lip, and flipped back to various pages, all marked by a round, purple sticker.
'And you're hoping it won't become a recurrent nightmare.'
She nodded.
'You can't imagine what it's like to put a gun to your head willingly, and pull the trigger willingly, and not know if you'll live or die.'
He watched as her hand gripped an invisible revolver and brought it to her head, her finger twitching in the spot in which the trigger was supposed to be located – and the whole image troubled him deeply. Reaching over to his sister, he took her hand, and she seemed to snap out of a trance.
'Hurry up with the scrapbook then. You really need some sleep.'
She pushed her hair behind her pointed ears, letting her hand linger a little behind her right ear, over the place where he knew was her tattoo.
'And what if I dream again?'
'Let's hope you won't. And if you will, just call me. I'll be in my room.'
She nodded somewhat uneasily, and he smoothed her hair.
Standing, he took another look at her. She ran her fingers over her angel-shaped pendant, then resumed working on the new page in her book of nightmares. He backed quietly out of her room, and shut the door to give her privacy.
'I hope you'll be able to keep her together,' he mumbled to the empty space in front of him. 'Because I'm not doing a very good job at it.'
'Jubilee Hall, to the principal's office, please.'
The announcement echoed in her head as she waited in front of mrs. Mathis' office, her hand hovering in front of the door, ready to knock. What was she being accused of this time? Something was amiss, accusations only started around noon. It was barely 10am. Also, Mondays were always the slowest days for her and her friends – they were rarely up to no good that early in the week. What on earth could mrs. Mathis want?
She pushed the hair out of her face, straightened her shirt and skirt, drew in a deep breath, and knocked.
'Come in, miss Hall.'
The door opened without much effort. She remembered how hard she had to push on that blasted door until it opened, back when she was younger, in her early days of mischief. Before her growth spurt, she had been only slightly taller than the doorknob. Hobbit Hall, they used to call her.
'You wanted to see me, ma'am?' she asked politely.
The elderly woman didn't look up form the papers she was apparently signing.
'Yes, miss Hall. Sit down.'
Jubilee stared at the chair for a long moment. Principal Mathis never asked her to sit when she was accusing her of something. This was beginning to worry her.
Mrs. Mathis looked up from her papers, and Jubilee quickly crossed the distance to the chair and took a seat.
'Is...' she cleared her throat. 'Is there something wrong?'
'No, actually everything's fine.'
Mrs. Mathis sketched a smile, a rare gesture she made in front of any member of the Six Pack. It was usually a frown or a scowl.
'You have heard of Rutherford.'
It was a statement, not a question. Of course she had heard. The most expensive and exclusive boarding school in the country, filled with snobs and children of snobs, and...
'Yes, ma'am, I have.'
'They have a transfer opening for us.'
'A what?'
'Basically, miss Hall, they're letting us send a bright student there, for a better chance at getting into an Ivy League university.'
'This request came from you?'
'Yes.'
She nodded, feeling more confused by the second.
'And why are you telling me this? You want me to take the message to your nominated student, or...'
'No, miss Hall, this opening is for you.'
Jubilee simply stared.
'Ma'am, are you saying that...'
'Miss Hall, you are being offered the opportunity of going to Rutherford. What do you say?'
Her mind raced through all possible answers, and came up with the only decent one she could give.
'I say you have the wrong person.'
The principal's eyebrows shot up from behind the thick rims of her glasses. 'Oh?'
'I, well, I'm...'
'You're a rebel. Yes. However, let's face it, it's only because of your friends. If it weren't for them, you'd be the quietest student we have.'
She opened her mouth, and closed it again, not finding anything to say. Heat started rising in her cheeks – a rare feeling, given her permanent low body temperature – and she looked at the hands she had folded on her lap.
'Don't think it's not visible, Jubilee. There's more to you than pranks. You have potential. Every single professor has told me so – before or after complaining about your behaviour. It's time that your days as a wild child come to an end.'
She ducked her head a bit more, her hair falling over her face like a copper curtain, blocking her from the intransigent face of the principal. She was way out of her comfort zone. The principal's office was there for her getting reprimanded for doing this or that, for her parents or brother to have talks with mrs. Mathis about her behaviour, or for trying to wiggle herself and her five friends out of tricky situations. For that, and not for psychoanalysis.
'Mrs. Mathis, I...'
She paused again.
'Yes?'
The door burst open.
'She didn't do it!'
She turned to see Jacob and Martin standing in the doorway, chests heaving, most likely from having run to the principal's office.
'I am honestly touched by your wanting to get your friend out of trouble, boys,' spoke the principal, pushing her glasses up her nose. 'But I'm afraid that she's not being accused of anything in this meeting, so you're off-topic here. I'm going to have to ask you to leave us. Also, I will investigate what it is that you say that miss Hall didn't do. Good day.'
She shot the surprised boys a sympathetic glance and shrugged. They took a moment to compose themselves, then cleared their throats, bowed their heads, and backed out of the office. As soon as the door closed, she could hear them running down the hall, most likely to remove the effects of whatever it was that they did this time.
'So, miss Hall. Are you interested or not?'
She stared at the principal, then at the carpet, then at her shoes, then at the skirt her fists were clutching. She released the fabric and attempted unsuccessfully to smooth out the wrinkles.
'I...' she started hesitatingly. 'I...'
'I think it's the first time since I've met you that you're this scared, my dear.' she said, her voice a bit kinder.
She gave a nervous chuckle.
'Scared barely even begins to describe it, ma'am... I'm thinking about the implications here. I'd have to leave everything behind. My friends, my family, my skating... and I won't even be able to visit home very often. Rutherford is in West Virginia. The distance is too big, it's not worth flying or driving there and back for the weekends. In fact, I don't think I can even make it from there to here by car in a weekend. And I won't be able to skate there, the nearest rink is in DC, so I'll have to quit skating altogether...'
The room started spinning and she stopped mid-speech, clenching her jaw. Quitting skating... the words only hit her full-force when she said them out loud. How would her life be without skating? What would give her purpose? What would motivate her, if not her sport? She had only been off the ice for two days, and she was already going into withdrawals. What would she do, knowing that she wasn't going to skate again, at least not at the same level?
'It's a big move, ma'am,' she said, her eyes still downcast. 'And I'm not sure I'm ready.'
'You're as ready as you'll ever be.' said the elderly woman encouragingly. 'And you need it. Personally, I'm hoping you'll accept. I'd hate to give this to a student who isn't cut out for it, not like you. You have a week to decide.'
Jubilee drew in a deep breath, put on her best 'I'm-not-afraid' show face and nodded.
'A week.'
The door closed heavily behind Jubilee like it did every time. Years of practice had helped her develop the technique needed to stop it from slamming, thus avoiding to further scorn the elderly principal.
'What did the Mathis want?'
She jumped at the sudden question, crashing backwards with a loud bang into the door she had just closed.
'Jesus Christ, Chel! Don't do that!' she hissed, grabbing her friend's arm and dragging her down the hall.
The door opened, and principal Mathis stuck her head out into the hall.
'What's all this?' she demanded, all her kindness suddenly gone.
'That was me, ma'am,' said Chelsea, turning around and curtsying. 'Sorry!'
The woman mumbled something about the Six Pack being out of control and disappeared back into her office. The brunette shrugged, linked her arm with Jubilee's and walked on.
'So?'
'Something about one of those academic competitions she keeps sending me to,' she lied. 'No big deal. What did the boys do?'
Chelsea giggled.
'They all but destroyed the chem lab. It wasn't even on purpose.' Jubilee raised an eyebrow. 'This time,' added the brunette with a smirk. 'Craig looked like he was going to be sick. I hoped they managed to deal with the damage somehow. Scruffy said he'd help. '
Jubilee shook her head.
'We owe Scruffy big time.'
'Melly's got it covered for now. She told her mom she forgot her lunch, and asked her to bring her some leftover mac 'n cheese. Good thing Scruffy loves it.'
They passed a glass case filled with medals, trophies, photos, and banners.
Big Rock, Home of the Six Pack
The biggest banner featured the six of them, dressed in their gala costumes, posing for the camera. In the very middle, Jubilee stood tall, practically beaming in her favourite forest green velvet dress. In a moment, the space her image occupied in the banner became blank, and she had to stop and stare at the empty stretch of plastic.
'Jay, are you even listening?'
She looked at her friend, then back at the banner. Her image was standing there again.
'It's just our old banner, what's so interesting about it?' asked the brunette, stepping closer to inspect the photo. 'If anybody vandalized it again, there will be hell to pay.'
'No, it's fine,' she mumbled. 'I thought something was off, that's all.'
Chelsea shrugged and walked on. Jubilee followed her half-heartedly, turning her head to catch a glimpse of the banner until they turned a corner and the glass case disappeared from sight.
'So, I've been thinking, how about we do something more mature for our Christmas exhibitions?' Chelsea went on. 'Maybe a group number again?'
The hall was spinning, and Jubilee stumbled slightly.
'I don't think people will want something more mature, Chel,' she spoke, trying to push her practiced balance into action. 'It's going to be Christmas, after all. Light and pretty, with lots of tinsel.'
'Ok, but this time, if we find a darker version of some carol, it's mine. You had too much fun with that rock cover of Carol of the Bells last year.'
'I might do it again...' mumbled Jubilee, stumbling to the wall and leaning on it for support.
'Wha- Jubes, are you ok?'
Chelsea's voice sounded like it was far away.
'No, but I'll be fine in a bit...'
She wasn't sure she had spoken the words, or just thought them, as the world went black.
~*~
'How long has she been out?'
'Twenty minutes now, we called you as soon as she was brought to us. Miss Morgan was with her when she blacked out. She's inside with the rest of the Six Pack.'
Her sensitive ears picked up the muffled voices from the other side of the door, along with the rhythmical breathing of five people. Her friends. She didn't want to open her eyes, she didn't want to deal with them, or with anybody else for the moment. Despair bubbled in the pit of her stomach, and she swallowed to keep it down.
The door opened.
'Guys, can I see her for a bit?'
Chad. Of course it was Chad. Her parents were probably too busy with who knows what to see their own daughter.
Five sets of feet headed outside, and the door closed. Another set of feet, her brother's, approached the bed she was lying on.
'I can tell you're awake now,' he said, worry obvious in his voice. 'What happened?'
She opened her eyes, blinked a couple of times, then pushed herself into a sitting position. Her mouth opened and closed without letting any sounds escape, and a tremor began to run in her body. Tears filled her eyes.
'I don't want to quit skating!' she gasped, then broke into sobs.
Had she payed attention to her brother's expression, she would have noticed that confusion never crossed his features. He sat next to his sister and put both arms around her.
'Hey, easy, kid...'
'I d-d-don't w-wanna quit!' She choked out. 'I d-dont wanna! It's m-m-my life!'
Her distress showed him that everything he wanted to say on the subject would be of no help to the crying girl. And he wasn't going to lie to her, telling her that she didn't have to quit. He'd have to wait for the proper moment to have a serious talk with her. But first things first, she had to calm down.
The school nurse poked her head inside, and he signaled her that everything was under control. She nodded and left him to deal with the girl in hysterics.
'I understand you're very upset,' he said, rubbing circles in her back, 'but I'd rather have this conversation at home. How about I excuse you from school today?'
She pushed him away.
'You knew?'
'Yes, I knew. So, home?'
She stood in one sudden motion and briefly lost her balance, stumbling to the side. Chad reached out to catch her, but she took a step backwards and out of his reach.
'I can't believe you! You knew, and you didn't tell me! I could have used a bit of a warning, and you didn't tell me!'
'Jubilee, this isn't the best place for this conversation,' he said seriously. 'It's either you come with me, or I leave alone. Your choice.'
She glared at him, her chest heaving with anger.
'What will it be?' he demanded, standing up.
She wiped her tears with the back of her hand.
'I'll get my bag and jacket,' she spat, and pushed by him and out the door – and ran into Craig's rock-solid chest.
'Good heavens, Jay!' he exclaimed, catching her. 'What's wrong with you?'
'It's nothing, my blood pressure must have dropped,' she mumbled into his chest.
'Then why are you crying?' asked Melissa.
Jubilee glared over her shoulder at her brother who was talking to the school nurse in the doorway.
'Chad's being an idiot, no big deal.'
She felt more arms around her, a group hug from her five friends, and let herself relax a bit.
'You should go home for the day,' said Martin. 'How about we drop by in the evening?'
'Sounds good,' she said. 'I'll make caesar salad.'
'You're not making anything,' said Chelsea. 'You're resting today. We're bringing the salad.'
'Fine, I'll buy some ice cream. But that'll be our secret, no telling Maurey!'
The six teenagers gave a collective chuckle.
'Okay then, you should get going,' suggested Jacob. 'Chad seems pretty unhappy.'
'Yeah...' she mumbled, not looking at him. 'We wouldn't want him to spontaneously combust, would we now?' The five laughed. 'I'll see you tonight. Don't have too much fun without me!'
The boys gave a guilty grin and snapped a salute.
'Yes, ma'am!'
She smiled.
'At ease, boys.'
'Jubes, come on...' sighed Chad. She glared at him, then turned back to her friends.
'Hitler calls. Alas, I must go. Bye, guys.'
Chad opened the door for her, and she walked out into the main hallway, not sparing him a word or a look. She retrieved her things from her locker, shrugged on her jacket – more out of formality then out of necessity – and slung her bag over her shoulder, ignoring her brother's offer to carry it for her.
He led the way to the parking lot and unlocked the car, watching his sister follow out of the corner of his eye – something he'd done most of her life, a simple action which helped foresee potential trouble, at least most of the time.
As he strapped on his seatbelt, she climbed into the car, dropped her bag on the backseat, buckled herself in the passenger's seat and slumped a bit.
He reached into his pocket for the envelope he had been wanting to give her for days.
'This is for you.'
She looked at him, at the envelope, then back at him.
'That's from Rutherford, isn't it?'
'Yes. Your principal gave it to me. She was hoping I'd be able to convince you.'
She didn't take the letter, covering her eyes with her arm instead.
'I really should remember to take my sunglasses with me...' she mumbled.
Chad put the envelope back in his pocket, revved the engine and pulled out of the parking lot.
'Or try to sleep more through the night,' he added. 'You're as rested as uncle Jim is after his night shifts.'
'Don't forget, sometimes my nights in dreamland are more intense than his will ever be in the ER. At least he doesn't get dragons. With big claws. And big teeth.' She slumped further into her seat. 'I won't get rid of the dragons, or of the cars, or of the guns, or of the people chasing me, if I go to Rutherford. From this point of view, it will be the same. Only I'll wake up in a strange place, and there will be nobody there when I'll scream. I'll probably scare a bunch of blue-bloods to death too. And then they'll kick me out, because they'll think I'm crazy.'
'You won't be the most messed-up person there.'
'Gee, thanks,' she grumbled. 'That's comforting to know.'
He ignored her.
'The rich kids have a lot more issues than you.'
'At least they're human.'
'Don't pull that card again, Jubilee.'
'Then don't insist on me going.'
'It's the best for you.'
'Oh, yes, I can see how it's the best for me! Sacrificing my happiness, my friends, my skating, my entire life, to get a better education, to have a better chance at getting into an Ivy League university, just to have it all crushed later by something as simple as my abnormality. Definitely the best for me, Chad, don't you think?'
'You have no idea what you're saying,' he grumbled.
'I don't? You want me to leave everything behind, and I mean everything, to move halfway across the country, to the snobbiest of boarding schools, where I have nothing and no-one, just to study. I'll be alone there, Chad, and I won't even be able to go home on weekends because it's too far away!'
'You'll make new friends.'
'You know how long it took me to make friends! And my group of friends has stayed the same since I was seven!'
'That doesn't mean you can't at least try to make new ones. And it's just for two years-'
'Two, years, then I'll go to college, where I'll be alone again!'
His foot slammed on the break, and if it weren't for the seatbelt, she would have probably flown through the windshield.
'And what would happen if you stayed?' he demanded hotly. 'You'd skate for a few more years. Because of poor school performances,-'
'My performances aren't poor!' she snapped. He ignored her interruption.
'-you'd get into some lame university nearby, which would allow you to continue skating, you'd finish uni with mediocre results, perhaps join some skating show company, skate as Snow White or Pocahontas for a couple of years, then quit skating because your joints can't take any more jumping. You'll be left with few prospects, a CV that sucks, and a ruined body, which, by the way, means pain for the rest of your life. Is this what you want?'
She unbuckled her seatbelt and jumped out of the car.
Chad sighed, leaned his head against the steering wheel, composed himself, then got out of the car and walked behind his sister.
'Get back in the car, Jubilee.'
'Leave me alone.'
'You're acting like a child.'
'And you're acting like a moron.'
'Jubes...'
'Chad, you're the last person I want to see right now. Leave me alone.'
'So, what, you're going to walk home?'
'Yes.'
'What if you pass out again?'
'If it happens, it happens thanks to you.'
'Don't do this, kid. Just get in the car.'
'Why, so you'll keep on nagging me about going to Rutherford?'
Chad gave an exasperated sigh.
'I promise not to nag you for the entire trip. Now will you please get in the car?'
She turned to shoot him a teary glare, then began to walk back to the car. He let her get a head start, then followed her.
The week ahead was going to be a tough one.
Chad looked up from the Rutherford letter to see his sister walk down the stairs. Had it not been for the neon green stripes on the sleeves of her jacket, he wouldn't have noticed the small figure move around the house at all.
'Why... are you dressed like that?'
She sat on the bottom step and pulled a boot on.
'None of your business.'
He took a look at her outfit – black trousers, a black jacket with neon green stripes running down the sleeves, and a neon green hairband holding her hair together into a neat bun. The team outfit.
'You're going to the rink?'
She pulled the second boot on and stood.
'Yes.'
'Maurey said you weren't allowed to skate this week.'
'Maurey is out of town, she won't know.'
'Sit down for a minute.'
She gave him a skeptical look.
'I'll drive you there, but I want to have a word with you now.'
She grabbed her coat.
'I'd rather walk.'
'Jubilee, please...'
'You're not solving anything by nagging me to go, Chad.'
'I'm not going to nag you. I just want to talk things over. Sit down.'
She hesitated, then put her coat back on the rack and walked to the armchair opposite to the one her brother was sitting on. He set the letter on the coffee table between them and set his elbows on the armrests, entwining his fingers – a gesture Jubilee knew he did when he was bothered by something.
'I understand why you don't want to go.' he said calmly. 'I know it's going to be hard for you if you do go. But I still think you should go. There's nothing for you here, and I mean nothing. I want more for you than to be stuck in this little town.'
'You have a good job.' she pointed out.
'True, it's the best job I can have without having to leave for good. But you know I'm doing it for you.'
Sadness and guilt appeared on her face, and she opened her mouth to say something.
'Don't think about it that way, kid,' he said quickly. 'I'm not sorry for staying, and I'm not blaming you either. But I want more for you than to waste your life building websites, or to skate until you're 25, and then quit because you ruined your body.'
'I...' she mumbled. 'I... might not even live that long.'
He clenched his jaw, holding back what would have been a futile argument.
'I could come into contact with something as ordinary as aspirin that might do me in. Or catch a common disease, like chicken pox, and die because of the treatment, like it nearly happened when I was 10...'
'Nothing happened when you were 10, you were hallucinating.' he said. She dismissed his comment with a shake of her head.
'...or I could just drop dead one day, just like that, for all the differences between me and... and humans.'
'Jubilee...'
'Stop trying, Chad, you're not fooling anybody here.'
He sighed and dropped his head a bit.
'But wouldn't you like to know that you're doing your very best to have a good future, just in case you live a long life?'
She stared at the Rutherford letter.
'I want to be happy.' She said quietly. 'I want to wake up in the morning and look forward to the day ahead, not to hide under the covers and will time to pass faster. I've come to terms with the fact that I may never find out what exactly I am, and that I may not live a long life, but that's as far as I'm willing to go. No more uncertainties. I'm happy here. All my life is here.'
'You do know that Craig, and Mel, and Chelsea, and Jake, and Martin, they will all go, sooner or later. Their lives will go on. They won't stay here forever. And then you'll be alone.'
'What's your point?'
'I'm saying you should take the first step and break away from all this. Take the leap. Go, leave it all behind, start over. You can be whoever you want to be out there. And it's better to start now. You have time to mess up and fix things later.'
'I don't know if there will be a 'later' for me.'
'How about you try to make a 'later'?'
'What do you mean?'
'Stay out of trouble. Face it, you're in more danger skating than you'd be over there. You've slashed your femoral artery with your blade when you were twelve, for God's sake. At least you'll be safe there.'
She looked at her lap and grumbled something along the lines of “you have a point”.
'Also,' he continued, 'Rutherford is offering you a full scholarship. Tuition, boarding, meals, books, uniform, parking space,-'
'You have that memorized?' she grumbled.
'It's in the letter,' he replied, picking up the paper. She took it from his hand and scanned it.
'Why would I even need a parking space? I don't own a car, nor would I be willing to drive from here to there if I had one.'
'It's standard. Remember who's attending that school.'
She looked at him, then at the letter again.
'You want me to be in that very select company?'
'They can't all be that bad. And you also get your own room.'
'Honestly, Chad, you sound like one of those shopping channel guys. If I call now, do I get a free squeegee too?'
'Jubes...'
She folded the letter and placed it in its envelope.
'Have you finished your argument?'
He studied her expression for a moment, and understood that the conversation was over. Anything he would have to say next would either have no effect, or would turn around and hit him in the face.
'Yes.'
'Then drive me to the rink.'
An hour later
Maurey Nichols smiled at her young students as they improvised to “The Bear Necessities”, the song she had chosen for their group exhibition number. Oh yes, they were having fun. The song would stay. Oops, Dylan fell on his toe loop combination. That was ok, he'd get up and try again. And he nailed it. She nodded at him, and he beamed with pride. Then he went for it again.
Maurey loved her skaters' perseverance. Of course, at age nine or ten, they didn't possess the skills her older skaters did, skills which had sent them to the ER more than once as they practiced them. The little ones also fell from a shorter distance, which meant less bruising and less chance of a serious injury. She wondered if the enthusiastic tykes would be scared off by the sometimes gruesome accidents that had a high chance of happening at higher levels of skating.
The Six Pack sure weren't. But they were different, they were always supporting each other, and injuries were so much easier to overcome with a lot of support, some borrowed confidence, and a little contraband food. The spirit of competition, so obvious between other skaters, lacked inside this particular group. Being in direct competition with one another usually made friendships falter, but not this one. The six teenagers couldn't be happier for each other's achievements, and cheered each other on until that particular jump or spin finally came out right. Then they celebrated.
The group of skaters she had left in California hated each other to death. They were selfish and envious. To them, skating was a war, not a sport. When she had moved to Big Rock, Montana, seven years ago, Maurey had been reluctant to take on the six then-novice level skaters who were training together. She didn't want any more drama, sabotaged skates, and gossip. But the six kids were beyond her wildest dreams. They were best friends who skated together. No malice. No envy. No competition. Just the joy of practicing their sport together. They were Maurey's favourite skaters in the world – not that she'd let them know, they were the biggest divas anyway.
The horn of the Zamboni broke her train of thought. Fred, her husband, was bringing the surfacing machine to life, signaling her that the session was over. She gathered her skaters at center ice, they curtseyed, as was customary, and left the ice.
The Zamboni roared past her, leaving a smooth trail of ice behind it. Maurey grabbed the back of Harry's seat and let the machine lead her around the rink.
'Did you have a good session, hon?' he asked, reaching back to squeeze her hand.
'Yeah, the little ones seem to have settled for 'The Bear Necessities'. Can't wait to start on the choreography. Maybe the Six Pack will join in, the kids love working with them.'
'Speaking of the Six Pack,' said Fred, 'one of them is in rink B, blasting Metallica.'
Maurey sighed.
'Sounds like Craig. I told them to stay off the ice for the week. I'll go kick him out.'
Fred gave a chuckle.
'Remember how you used to punish those brats back in California, making them run extra laps?'
'Yeah, that doesn't work for these masochists... they all enjoy it. They'd run laps until they die, and still be happy. Sometimes I worry...'
'Yeah, honey, so do I. Go kick him out. I'll think of a way to make him stay out too, while you're out of town.'
'I don't know where I'd be without you,' she smiled, released her grip on the Zamboni, and left the ice.
Rink B was smaller and colder than rink A, but the Six Pack had a soft spot for it. During their first years of training, the tiny Big Rock ice rink was the best thing they knew. Then Maurey and Fred came along, and added a larger rink and some extra facilities to the building, turning it into Big Rock Ice Arena, a proper training complex.
Maurey entered the rink, immediately pulling her jacket closer to her body. They needed to replace the heating system in that damn rink. A flash of copper caught her eye. So the rebel was Jubilee. What was she up to?
Curiosity made Maurey take a seat at the top of the bleachers and watch her skater improvise to what sounded like Craig's selection of music. He was one for metal. The song ended, and Bon Jovi's 'It's my life' began. Maurey sat back and watched the effect rock music had on her rebel skater. It gave her a bit more energy, a bit more spunk, a certain feel that other types of music, be they more appropriate for her, didn't.
Double axel, good, footwork into lutz, and a controlled double. Good. Wait, double lutz? Was she being cautious? Jubilee was never one for caution. To her, jumping triples was as common as buying bread. She only jumped doubles if she had to – and she made sure everybody knew she wasn't happy about it. Layback spin – travelled a bit, but it was ok. She, however, pulled out of the spin, took a look out of the corner of her eye at the trace her blade had left during the spin, noticed the travel, and frowned. It wasn't good enough for the perfectionist she was. More footwork into a triple flip- oh dear, now that was a fall. Jubilee crashed on her side and slid a good few feet before she got back on her feet. And then she tried it again. A fall like that, thought Maurey, would have made anybody think twice about trying that element again. Hell, it would have made anybody think twice about getting back up. The second attempt at the triple flip was also a fail – she over-rotated the jump and fell on her stomach.
The flip was her best jump. What was wrong with Jubilee that day? Maurey watched her get up and try again, and this time she managed to land it – albeit rather shakily – on one foot. Apparently, the shaky landing was good enough, and she didn't try a fourth time. She grabbed her right hip and stopped at the rail for a few moments. So she was in pain. The coach made a note to ask her about her hip problem when she'd confront her about being on the ice. 'Neurotica' came on, and she began improvising again. She seemed comfortable with the song. Maybe she'd build an exhibition program on it later. Another fall, this time from a flying sit spin.
Maurey stood and walked down the stairs towards the rail. Her rebel skater should leave the ice before she hurt herself. A sheet of paper lying on the rail caught her eye, and she picked it up. Then everything became clear.
~*~
The music died in the middle of Jubilee's backspin, and she stumbled out of it in surprise. Heat rushed to her cheeks when she saw Maurey standing next to the rail, beckoning to her.
'I thought you were out of town!' was the first thing that escaped her lips, then she blushed even more and silently cursed herself for her lack of tact.
'I leave tonight.' said the coach sternly. 'And that doesn't justify you being on the ice. Get out.'
Jubilee glided to the rail, head hung low.
'Sorry.' she mumbled as she put the blade guards over her blades. 'I needed to...' she hesitated. '...sort out a few things.'
'Like this one?'
The skater's eyes found the sheet of paper her coach was holding, her face showed distress for a moment, then she walked to the nearest bench and sat down, head in her hands.
'Like that one,' she replied.
Maurey sat next to her.
'How's the hip?'
Jubilee cast a glance at her coach. 'How...' She bit her lip and changed the question. '...long have you been standing here?'
'Long enough,' was the woman's dry reply.
Jubilee's hand went to the painful hip in an unconscious motion. 'It hurts.'
'How long has it been bothering you?'
'Two weeks now.'
'And you didn't say anything?'
'You're already fussing over Mel's knee-'
This seemed to anger the woman.
'So what, an injury per group is the maximum I can handle?'
Jubilee cast a glance at her coach.
'Sorry. I should have told you.'
Maurey pointed to her skates.
'Take 'em off.'
Jubilee dutifully began to unlace her skates, then took each of them off, slid her feet into her boots, and proceeded to wipe the water off the blades.
It was a cathartic ritual for her, to sit by the rail after practice and wipe even the smallest traces of condensation off the smooth metal, as her tired muscles slowly loosened up, and the pain induced by the falls dulled. Along with the droplets of water, she would wipe away worries, fear, and anger caused by failed elements, and she would leave the rink feeling better.
But right then, the wiping of the blades didn't have that effect. It had no effect at all. For a few long moments, the only sound in the vast, cold space was the faint swishing of terrycloth over steel.
Maurey broke the silence.
'Remember when you were nine? You had just seen Peter Pan, and wanted to skate as Peter so badly...'
Jubilee gave a chuckle and ran a finger over the sharp edges of one blade, then put the dry skate in her bag and started wiping the other one.
'Yeah, but one of the older boys had already claimed Peter for Regionals, and they were teasing me saying “Peter Pan is a boy, you're just a little girl, go skate to Snow White!”, even though in Disney on Ice Peter is always skated by a girl.'
Maurey gave a nostalgic smile.
'And you kept saying “I'm no Disney princess!” and were pouting all the time...'
'So you brought me the music from “Hook” and asked me if I wanted to skate as Tinker Bell. I was so offended!' Jubilee gave a short laugh. 'Then you told me I was magical. Just like her. And that argument somehow worked, because I accepted... I still have that little green dress at home.' She paused and sighed. 'Things were so simple back then...'
'Jubilee, look at me.'
She put the second skate in her bag and looked at her coach.
'You... have an amazing opportunity. You can go further with your academics than you can with your skating.'
Maurey stopped talking and looked at her lap.
'Just say it,' said Jubilee, sensing her hesitation.
'It hurts to say this, but odds are you will never be a champion. The skating world is all about little girls with big jumps, and you're not a little girl any more, nor are your jumps big enough. You're a wonderful athlete, but...'
'But I'm not that good,' she interrupted grimly. 'I get it.'
Maurey nodded.
'I'm sorry to lose such a good skater, but don't let this sport hold you back from having a great career and a wonderful life. Go.'
Jubilee drew in a deep breath, then cleared her face of all emotion – Maurey had seen her do that before competitions, when her nerves were in danger of getting the best of her. It always took her 24 seconds to compose herself – Maurey had counted on several occasions – but at the end of those 24 seconds, nothing could touch her any more.
'Thanks for the advice, coach,' she said, her voice devoid of emotion. She reached over and hugged the woman, then stood, slung her skate bag over her shoulder, and left.
~*~
Chad heard a door slam and looked up from his newspaper, to see his sister walk in his direction, her face blank, eyes staring at the floor.
'How did it-'
'I'm going.'
His eyes widened in surprise, and he opened his mouth to speak.
'Not a word,' she said quickly. He nodded, stood, put his arm around her shoulders, and walked her out of the ice rink. She didn't look back.
Chad turned the radio on, heard the familiar song, and turned it off the next second. He shot an apologetic glance at his sister, who was pretending not to have noticed the song she had skated to just three days ago.
'How about we stop by Fred's and get some pancakes?'
'I'm not al-' she stopped mid-speech, reconsidered her words, then spoke again. 'I don't feel like it.'
'Is there anything at all that you'd like?'
'Nothing is going to make me feel better about this, if that's what you're asking.'
'Look, kid, if you're going to make yourself miserable, you'll get nowhere. You could at least try to see the full half of the glass here, because you need to live with this choice. You might actually get a life there.'
'I have a life here!' she protested.
'Sure you do. Goes like this: skating, school, skating, homework, workout, sleep. Rinse and repeat.'
Chad glanced at his younger sister, saw that she wasn't going to reply, and went on. 'You could even meet some boy there.'
'What, you want me to go out with some snob?'
'There might be some normal guys there too, who knows.'
'Chad,' she said sternly, 'this day will go down in history as the day you told me you'd actually like to see me go out with a guy. What the hell came over you?'
'Language, please.' he said casually. 'Thing is, kid, you're 16. At your age, normal teenagers have loads of fun. Go to movies. Go hang out at the mall. Go out with their boyfriends. Not pound their bodies in an ice rink or in a gym for 7 hours a day, 5 days a week. You and the rest of the Six Pack must be the most bruised kids in this state. And I don't know about their families, but I'd honestly feel more at peace knowing you're out on a date than at the rink. You slashed an artery once, I can't help but wonder what you'll slash next.'
'It's better than ballet.' she grumbled. 'That damn thing took away six years' worth of memories from me!'
'You're not missing anything important,' he replied quickly. 'So what happened at the rink?'
She stared out the window, at the house they were approaching.
'Let's drive around for a bit longer, I don't want to go home yet.'
Chad sped up in response, and they passed their house and made a turn into the next street.
'I ran into Maurey.'
'Wasn't she supposed to be away?'
'That's what I thought too. She made me leave the ice. Then she confronted me about the letter. Then we had a talk. Then I left.'
'How did she find out about the letter?'
'I left it on the rail, like an idiot.'
'What did she say?'
'She said that...' Jubilee sighed and began chewing on her thumbnail. 'That I should go. That I have a better shot at life going, than I have staying here. She also said I'd probably never be a champion, which is another reason why I should go.'
'So you decided to go.'
'Yeah.'
'I don't get it.'
She looked up at him.
'I mean, I'm happy you're going, but I don't understand you. I tell you almost the same thing, and you tell me to – pardon the language – go screw myself, then you talk to her, and do what she says. Why?'
Jubilee took her thumbnail away from her mouth, looked at it, then resumed chewing it. 'She's been more of a mother to me than Mom ever was, remember?' She slumped in her seat a little, a faraway look on her face. 'She drove me around for all those years, she spent five hours a day with me almost every day, gave me a shoulder to cry on, saw me fall apart and helped me put myself back together so many times... she's my hero. She was also the one who talked to me when I hit puberty, and it was her that I had my first serious conversation about boys with.'
'I thought you had that one with me,' he said quickly.
'I said serious conversation' she grumbled. 'You told me boys were bad, that they had cooties, and that I should stay away from them.'
He grinned. 'Well, I had to give you an answer. You were very curious at that age. You still are now, only less funny. You were wearing that little pink tutu from your Nutcracker exhibition, remember? What were, you, eight?'
'Seven,' she corrected. 'I had overheard some older girls talking about boys in the locker room, and I couldn't see what the big deal was.' She turned to look out the window again, and touched a finger to her lips as the awkward memory of Martin's kiss returned. 'I still can't see it.'
'Maybe you need to grow up a bit more then.'
'Meh,' was her reply.
'Your pocket's singing,' Chad pointed out. She immediately dug her phone out of her pocket, the chorus to “Dream On” filling the car.
'Hello?'
'Hi, honey!'
Jubilee glanced at her brother, who raised his eyebrows in return.
'Mom? Where are you?'
'Vegas, dear! Didn't your father leave a note?'
'I thought you'd leave the note!' came her father's comment from somewhere on the other end.
'Oh, never mind,' said the woman with a giggle. 'Sorry about that. We'll be back on Saturday. I'm sure you and Chad are having a great time.'
She rolled her eyes.
'Yeah, you know us... partying all night long and stuff...'
Her mother ignored the sarcasm. 'Well, just don't wreck the house, you two.'
'Yeah, whatever. Hey Mom, Rutherford is offering me a full scholarship. Can I go?'
'Sure, honey! Just be home for Christmas!'
She showed disappointment for a long moment, then replaced it with a blank expression.
'Yeah... thanks, mom... I need to hang up now. Have a nice trip!'
'Thanks, dear! Have fun!'
She ended the call and shoved the phone back in her pocket.
'Am I the only one who thinks she has a mother for nothing?' she mumbled, slumping even further in her seat. Chad wondered if her back wasn't hurting her from being in that unnatural position.
'I thought you'd be used to it by now.'
'No, every time I try to get used to it, they do something new. Like Vegas. Freaking Vegas. They leave for Vegas and don't tell us anything. Some parents we have...'
Chad nodded.
'They're worse than teenagers. I know kids who are more responsible than they are. Like you and the rest of the Six Pack.' He stopped the car to let an old lady cross the street at snail's pace. 'That's why I'm sure you'll do a great job at Rutherford.'
Jubilee counted the small steps the old lady was taking. Twenty-seven steps, from one sidewalk to the other. She briefly wondered if she'd be physically able to cross the street in that many steps when she'll be as old as that lady, taking all her injuries into account. Then she wondered if she'd even make it to that old lady's age. Chad was right, she'd be safer at Rutherford. Safer from pretty much everything, including her biggest passion. Then, another thought crossed her mind, and a tremor ran through her body. She clenched her fists to stop her hands from shaking, and she looked up at her brother with teary eyes.
'Chad, how am I going to tell the guys?'
'Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam...'
The three girls fell over laughing. Jacob raised his chin a little more, and continued reciting theatrically.
'And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva...'
Martin clapped, laughing loudly. Next to him, Craig was gasping for breath, and giving him the thumbs up.
'So tweasure your wuv.'
Jacob pointed to Melissa.
'...and do you, Pwincess Buwwercup...'
Tears were running down the brunette's face as she laughed, and she clapped loudly.
'You...' she gasped. 'You're a complete maniac!'
Jacob bowed, then pointed at Craig.
'Your turn, dude!'
Craig wiped his tears and stood to take Jacob's place in front of the couch.
'Jay, a little help here?'
She got to her feet, still shaking with giggles, and went to stand beside Craig. They both took a few moments to compose themselves, then he put an arm around her waist, and proceeded to drag her beside him as he strutted around the living room, singing in his bass voice.
'I can see that we will share
All that love implies...'
The others instantly burst into another fit of laughter. Jubilee bit her lip to stop herself from laughing out loud, and let him drop her on an armchair, on which he then propped a muscular leg.
'We will be the perfect pair,
rather like my thighs!
You are face to face with destiny.
All roads lead to
the best things in life are
All's well that ends with me!'
Jubilee dropped her head in her hands and gave in to her fit of laughter, as Craig struck a macho pose and flexed his muscles.
'Have you...' managed Chelsea between giggles '...thought about doing Gaston on ice? You're definitely a he-man!'
He smirked.
'That...' he kissed his biceps '...would be a good idea.'
'Yeah,' said Martin, 'and Jay could be Belle! You two have always clicked well together.'
Jubilee's smile immediately melted away
'Um, about that... guys, I need to tell you something.'
'Shit.'
She looked at Jacob, who had a pained expression on his face.
'Jake...'
'I know that look on your face,' he said. 'And I know those words.'
'Last time you said that,' spoke Melissa, her face grim, 'you had stress-
fractured your back in that accident with the hockey players. You spent 6 months off ice.'
'This is your “bad news” thing.' said Chelsea, gathering her hands into fists. 'I'm not sure I'll like what you'll tell us.'
'Guys... please don't make this harder than it already is.' pleaded Jubilee, voice shaking. She stood from her armchair, opened her mouth to speak, closed it again, and sat back down, head in her hands.
'Rutherford is offering me a full scholarship.'
She felt five gazes upon her, but received no reaction.
'I'm going,' she continued.
A few long moments of silence followed, during which she didn't dare look at her friends. She had hoped for screaming matches, and for them not to let her go without a fair fight. But silence was worse than anything else.
'You're leaving us,' said Melissa, voice slightly shaking.
Jubilee nodded, still looking at the ground.
'Leaving for good,' continued Martin.
'I'll be home for the holidays...'
The raspy, broken voice sounded nothing like she knew her own voice to sound. She wiped a few hot tears off her face and looked up at her five best friends. Chelsea and Melissa were crying silently, and the boys had tear-rimmed eyes too, but they were doing a better job at resisting stoically, and at shooting her betrayed looks.
'I'm sorry, guys,' she said, and noted that it had come out like a desperate plea.
'No, Jay,' said Craig. 'We understand.'
'Yeah,' added Jacob. 'You get to do more than skating. You get to leave this little town. And you're going to Rutherford. It's... wonderful.'
'Listen to yourself, Jake,' she sniffled, 'you don't believe that yourself.'
He looked at her for a brief moment.
'You're right, I don't.' He sighed. 'I'll miss you so much...'
'We all will,' said Melissa. 'But you will come visit, won't you?'
'Yeah, and skate with us in the holiday shows,' said Martin.
'And go dancing every Saturday night while you're here,' added Craig.
'And be a team again.'
She stared at the source of the last intervention, the redhead, who didn't look back at her.
'I can't believe you're leaving,' she continued. 'I thought... I thought we'd be The Six Pack all our lives!'
She broke into sobs, and Melissa wrapped her arms around her.
'Chel, please don't cry,' begged Jubilee, on the verge of tears. 'I'll lose it if you start crying.'
'W-well,' she said, 't-too l-l-late for th-that!'
Jubilee broke into sobs too, and the rest of her best friends followed. Arms pulled her into a group hug and held her in a steel grip.
'What about your skating?' asked Jacob.
'I'm quitting,' she said quietly. 'I can't handle them both, Rutherford is too far away from DC to go practice there every day, and I'll either skate or... not skate. And, let's face it, it's not worth fighting for it, I'm not going to be a champion.'
'But you love skating,' protested Chelsea.
She sighed, freed an arm from the huddle, and wiped her tears with her sleeve.
'I do. But... it's time to do something that can offer me a future. God, that sounds so cruel... but for my abilities, the best thing skating can bring me is to skate as Snow White or Pocahontas in Disney on Ice. And I want more than that. At the point when I'll have a family, I want to be able to support them properly, and I'm not just talking about money.' She glanced at her family photo, which hung above the mantelpiece, and fresh tears appeared in her eyes. 'Touring wouldn't allow me to be with my family.'
She broke free from the group hug and picked up the Rutherford envelope from the mantelpiece.
'This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. The hardest decision I've ever had to make. And... and I'm not going to reconsider it. I'm sorry, guys. I'm really sorry. I don't want to leave you, I swear, but it's the best thing I can do.'
'I hope you're happy in the end,' mumbled Chelsea.
Craig recognized the reference and gave a short, sad laugh.
'Remember how we decided upon the colour combination for our uniforms?'
'Yeah,' said Martin. 'We had just seen Wicked, and had gotten those Defy Gravity jackets. That was all we wanted to wear for practice for, like, a month.'
'So much for Dancing through life for our Jubilee,' added Melanie. 'Look at you, off to prove yourself in the Emerald City... don't screw up, you hear?'
Jubilee set the envelope back on the mantelpiece.
'Yeah... I'll try my best not to.'
'And promise we'll conference call often?' asked Melissa.
'Cross my heart.'
'And come home as often as you can, for every little holiday. And hang out with us. And we'll do stupid stuff, like we always do. And eat ice cream, even if it's the dead the of winter. And take crazy photos, and keep adding memories to our scrapbook.'
By the end of her list, Chelsea was trying hard not to cry again.
'I'll still be part of your lives,' said Jubilee. 'I swear. I'm not going to the end of the world, I'm just going to Maryland.'
'Which is so far away it may very well be the end of the world,' grumbled Martin.
'I'll fly over, it's only a few hours.'
'I can't believe our dreams ends here,' said Craig. 'All those things we said we'd do and never did, like go to Worlds together...'
'We can still go to Worlds together,' interrupted Jubilee. 'I'll be in the bleachers, cheering for you guys.'
'But you won't be on the ice, with us,' he retorted. 'You won't be in our world. You won't share those moments with us. It will be very different.'
Jubilee blinked back more tears, attempting not to show how much his words were hurting her.
'I know... but I probably would never have made it to Worlds anyway. I'm not cut out for that. I'm a good skater, like hundreds of thousands of other skaters in this country. And like them, if I'd keep skating, I'd probably never even make Top Ten, let alone World Team.'
'Jay,' said Martin seriously. 'It's your life. Your choice. We want you to be happy. Will you be happy with this choice?'
She looked at him for a long moment, then leaned against the mantelpiece and dropped her head in her hands.
'I have no idea,' she groaned. 'But I hope it's the right thing to do.'
'Look,' said the redhead. 'I... we all hate that you're leaving us. But we love you very much, and we'll support your decisions, no matter what.'
Jubilee looked at her gratefully.
'Thanks, Chelsea. Means a lot.'
Chelsea nodded and smiled.
'Knock knock?'
All six teenagers looked towards the door, where Chelsea's mother stood with a pleasant smile on her face.
'Hi Mrs. Meisenhelder,' chanted the six.
The woman, looking like a slightly older copy Chelsea, walked over to the group and kissed the top of her daughter's head.
'That's Mom to you, duckie' she said with a smile, smoothing her daughter's hair, then walked over to Jubilee and gave her a hug. 'Jay, dear, how are you feeling?'
'A bit woozy, Mrs. Meisenhelder,' she replied, forcing out a small smile, 'but I'll be up and running in no time.'
'Always a fighter,' said the redheaded woman, squeezing her hand. 'If there's anything I can do for you, just ask.'
'Your husband's shotgun would be nice,' she replied earnestly. Mrs
. Meisenhelder laughed, and the kids followed her lead. When the laughter died down, they exchanged glances, which the woman didn't notice.
'Oh, sweetie, you crack me up every single time. Glad you're still yourself.'
Jubilee nodded, and was pulled into another hug by the woman.
'I hate to break this little party you have here,' she said, 'but I must get this lot home. It's way past 10 o'clock, and their parents won't be happy.'
'If they ask,' said Jubilee, 'blame it on me.'
'Don't worry, honey,' said Mrs. Meisenhelder jokingly, 'I will.'
Everybody laughed again.
'Really, kids,' she said seriously, 'get moving.'
The five groaned and gathered their things, wrapped themselves in their Montana-weather-proof clothes, and gave Jubilee another collective hug.
'I'll see you guys tomorrow,' she said, walking to the door with her friends.
'You sleep well, you hear?' said Craig, ruffling her hair. She slapped his hands away and stuck her tongue out.
'Yeah, you too. All of you. See you in the morning.'
Jubilee remained on the porch and watched with a sad smile as Mrs. Meisenhelder whisked the five to her minivan, poking fun at the ducks that adorned her daughter's jacket on the way.
'You ok?'
She looked over her shoulder at her brother, who walked over to her and wrapped a scarf around her neck. She loosened it a bit, then crossed her arms over her chest.
'Not really,' she replied. 'But I'm glad that's over with.'
Chad nodded and fell silent for a moment. She waved at the departing minivan, and nudged her brother in the ribs, reminding him to do the same.
'I've only been out here for a few seconds, and I'm already freezing,' he said. 'How about hot cocoa?'
'Whatever,' was her absent reply, as her gaze followed the car down the street.
'Ok, so no hot cocoa then,' he mumbled. 'Are you really tired?'
She turned to him, unwrapped the scarf from around her neck and put it around his.
'Not really, no. And I'm not exactly eager to go to sleep either. My Russian guy is driving me mad.'
Chad watched her in silence for a few moments, silently debating wether to say something or not. He then blinked the thought away, and pushed his sister back towards the door.
'Come on, then, I want to show you something.'
'What am I looking at?'
Chad looked at the machine, then at his sister, then at the machine again, then again at her.
'Uh, a laptop computer?'
She rolled her eyes.
'Really? I thought it was a giraffe.'
He gave a chuckle and sat at the kitchen table in front of the computer.
'Come on, have a seat.'
She pulled up a chair next to her brother and watched him wake the system from sleep mode. The OS looked sleek and shiny, but unlike anything she had used before.
'This isn't Windows or Mac OS,' she noticed.
'No, it's not. It's time you learned to use Linux, like a big girl.'
She shot him a puzzled look.
'Don't look at me like that, this baby is yours, you'd better learn your way around it.'
'Mine?'
'Well, you'll need a computer with you at Rutherford, won't you?'
'Yeah, but why one that runs Linux?' she turned the laptop around, looked at the lid, then picked it up and looked at the bottom. 'And it's a no-name machine. I don't get it! I could have gotten myself a decent, normal computer.'
'No, you see, kid, when you work in the industry, people who custom-make these things are quite easy to find. And you won't find anything nearly as good as this on the market.'
She regarded the simple, shiny black machine for a moment.
'Big brother, you're beginning to freak me out. It sounds like you got as contraband it from some secret agent person.'
He laughed.
'Come on, let me show you what it's made of.'
He hit a few keys, and she tilted her head as the black window that appeared on screen seemed vaguely familiar.
'That's the console,' she said.
He nodded.
'Very good, Jay,' he said, giving her a broad grin.
'This really looks like some secret agent-y gear.' she said, watching him type some text in the window.
'You really need to stop saying that, kid.'
'But it's how I perceive it!'
'Hundreds of thousands of people use Linux, they can't all be secret agents.'
'Yeah, but still...'
'Jubes.'
'Ok, fine.'
Chad shook his head and typed some more into the console.
'And this is how you...'
'Do you really think I'll understand any of it?'
He looked at his sister for a long moment, and she began feeling uneasy.
'Yes.'
She narrowed her eyes.
'Chad, is there something you know that I don't?'
He kept looking at her for another seemingly endless moment, then his features softened in a smile.
'Yes. Linux. And I'm more than eager to share my knowledge with you.'
'Chad...'
He groaned inwardly. He had gone to bed well after 3am, after showing his sister around her new computer. As expected, she had taken to it almost immediately, and had demanded that he show her more and more. As happy as he was with her newfound passion for all things Linux, he had to first ask, then demand, then insist that she go to bed. When that failed, he threatened to take her laptop away for the rest of the week, and that did the trick. And now, a mere moment after he had finally hit the sack, she was there, waking him up.
He analysed her voice - she was oddly calm. Actually, it was unsettling to hear her being so calm. On the upside, however, she hadn't had of her worse kind of nightmares - she would have woken up yelling bloody murder and...
'Whatever it is, kid,' he grumbled, eyes still closed in an attempt to grab at the sleep that was now leaving him, 'it's not real.'
'But...'
'No Russian guy will get you tonight. Please, go back to bed.'
'It wasn't a dream, Chad,' she insisted. 'It was real.'
He gave up trying to keep sleep within reach and sat up. She sat beside him, clutching her teddy bear.
'Ok,' he said. 'What was it this time?'
She took a deep breath.
'I saw a woman die. It was like I was standing there and watching it happen. She turned around, looked at someone, and dropped dead. Then the room started burning for no reason.'
Chad started shaking his head, and her expression turned from worried to outraged.
'You don't believe me!'
'It didn't happen, kid. It was just another dream.'
She stood up and began pacing.
'It wasn't. It felt different. I know it happened, and it happened just now.'
'Calm down, Jay,' he said calmly.
'No... we should call the police.'
She started walking towards the door, and he jumped out of bed and grabbed her hand.
'And tell them what? Oh, hi, I had a dream about a woman being killed, thought you might want to know. Also, yeah, I'm Big Rock, Montana's resident weird kid, but that's beside the point. That would work really well.'
Her mouth opened, then closed, and she fixed him with her best glare.
'It was real!' she growled. 'That woman is dead now. I saw it happen.'
'Listen...' he sighed, pushing her into his chair and crouching to her level. 'It might have happened, it might not have happened. If it did happen, you don't know where it happened, or who that woman was.'
She opened her mouth to speak, and he anticipated her words.
'Yes, you can find out where a fire was tonight, and who died, but kid, you can't draw that kind of attention to yourself. You can't step forward just to be viewed as a psychic - at best -, as a freak, or as an accesory to the supposed murder. Your hands are tied, you can't do anything about it. Do you understand?'
She considered his words for a moment, then nodded, eyes still shooting daggers.
'Good. Now, could you please go to bed?'
She looked at her lap and tightened her grip on her bear.
'I won't be able to sleep,' she replied in a small voice.
'Try. Please. If you don't sleep, you're not going to school. I don't want any repeats of... of that episode, and I doubt you do.'
He saw her grip on her bear tighten even more, and he knew she remembered the day.
'Ok,' he said quickly, grabbing her hand and snapping her out of the memory before it upset her even more. 'Off to bed.'
She stood reluctantly and dragged her feet out of his room and down the hall to her own. Chad followed her, and stood in her doorway until she reluctantly crawled under the covers. He flicked her night light on and turned away.
'I still say it happened,' he heard her grumble.
'Sleep, kid,' he called back. 'Or no school tomorrow.'
She grumbled some more, but he ignored her. He walked back to his room, closed the door, and grabbed his phone. He had some research to do.
'Pancakes, eh?'
Jubilee took one look at her brother, who was standing in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. He seemed either tired, or upset, or both. She ducked her head and pulled her laptop closer, like a shield.
'Yeah,' she spoke half-heartedly, 'as if I could get any sleep whatsoever after witnessing a murder...'
'Jubilee.'
She ducked a bit more behind the laptop.
'...Yeah?'
Chad walked over to her and removed the laptop, then placed it on the desk and closed the lid.
'Pancakes.'
Her security object gone, she sat up on her bed and slumped her shoulders.
'Sorry.'
Chad leaned against her desk and regarded her expectantly.
'Also, don't use the laptop in bed like some silly little teenager.'
She looked up at him, eyes wide in protest.
'But I'm learning my way around Enchanted, it's not like I'm chatting mindlessly or anything-'
'Kid.'
His big brother stare was as intimidating as ever, so she looked down again.
'Ok.'
'I'd...' Chad gave a large yawn and rubbed his eyes. '...like to hear your plans about the kitchen, now that it needs repainting.'
'Can we paint it green this time? I never really liked that yellow...'
'Yes, I agree, yellow doesn't really work with oily pancake stains on the ceiling.'
'It's just one stain!' She protested half-heartedly. 'And it's not even that big!'
'Yes, thank heavens you didn't make larger pancakes.'
'Mom might not even notice.'
Chad sighed.
'You have a point there. It's not like she spends that much time in the kitchen. However, that stain has to go. And I'd be really grateful if you didn't go paint the kitchen ceiling with pancakes next time you'll have a nightmare.'
'Chad, that wasn't a nightmare.'
She looked up at her brother, all intimidation gone. Her hands balled into fists, then relaxed, and she stood up and started pacing around the room.
'What makes you so sure-'
'It didn't feel like a nightmare!' she snapped. 'Stop questioning it, if anybody, then I should be the one who knows if I'm dreaming or not.'
Even thought he'd never admit it, it was Chad's turn to be intimidated. The slip of a girl that was his sister had moments when she could make him feel like a stupid little kid, and now, when she was pacing around the room, her glaring eyes making his entire body freeze, was one of those moments. Finding nothing better to do, he crossed his arms over his chest and adopted a seemingly relaxed pose, and listened to his sister.
'When I'm having nightmares, there's always the sensation of drowning, like I can't breathe, like I'm never going to escape, like I'm being pulled down, even if the majority of those dreams have nothing to do with water. The horror is always there, in varying amounts. But last night...'
She sighed and walked to the window, then leaned her forehead against the cold glass.
'Last night it felt like I was there, at the crime scene, watching it happen. I remember every single detail of it, even now, hours later, when usually dreams feel pretty fuzzy. I'm telling you, that was no dream. I was sneaking a peek at someone else's nocturnal adventures.'
Chad clenched his jaw and looked at the floor, hating the fact that he couldn't tell his sister the truth. Of course, that wouldn't put her at ease. If anything, it would get her even more wound up. She would find out soon enough that, indeed, a woman had died that night, with no apparent cause of death, and that she had a connection with his sister. And from what Jubilee had told him, he had a pretty good idea about who had done it.
'What are those guys doing out there?'
He snapped out of his thoughts and walked over to the window, to see their new leather-clad neighbours look at the sign post in front of his house with great interest.
'No idea,' he mused. 'Maybe they're- hey!'
Jubilee had shot out of the room and was already climbing down the stairs urgently.
'What on earth are you doing, kid?' called her brother, chasing after her.
'Going to take a look, of course,' she replied, pulling on a boot first, then another. She was out the door before her brother reached her.
'What are you doing?'
The four men had been so absorbed in their sign post, that they hadn't heard Jubilee walk towards them. They jumped at the sound of her voice and took a step backwards, looking very guilty.
'I thought you said this street was deserted during the day!' hissed the shorter one.
'Shut up, Carter!' hissed the blond back at him.
The four exchanged nervous glances for a moment, then looked at her.
'Um, hi, kid,' spoke the tallest.
'Hi.' she replied. 'What are you doing with the sign post?'
'We were going to-' started the blond.
'Uh, repaint it,' said the one with the very neat goatee.
'Yeah, repaint it!' confirmed the short one.
'But you don't have any paint,' said Chad, putting a hand on his sister's shoulder.
The four looked even guiltier than before.
'Do we tell them?' asked the blond.
'We have to,' said the tall one.
All of them nodded, then took a step closer to Jubilee and Chad, as if preparing to tell them a big secret.
The one with the goatee looked around, as if to check for witnesses, then he leaned forward.
'We're on a Geocache hunt,' he whispered.
'On a what-now?' asked Chad, pulling his sister a step backwards. She shook his hand off and stepped closer to the four men.
'I thought you were muggling,' she said. The four seemed instantly relieved and gave large grins.
'What, you're talking Harry Potter now?' asked Chad, visibly confused.
'Well, no,' said Jubilee. 'You see, muggles are-'
'Pretty much what you are, mate,' said the blond. The others snickered.
'A muggle is a non-cacher, who may mean trouble for the cache,' explained the one they called Carter. 'They could steal or vandalise the cache.'
'And what makes you think there's cache here?' asked Chad, eying the sign post.
'Because rest of the Six-Pack and I planted it,' she replied, looking at her brother, 'that day when you said we were acting weird.'
'But you're always acting weird,' he replied.
'Weirder than usual then. You didn't let us take the ladder, so Melissa had to stand on Craig's shoulders to plant the cache.'
'So you really meant the hint from the website?' asked the guy with the goatee. 'It really is higher that you can reach>?'
'Pretty much, yeah.'
'Then we need a ladder,' said Carter.
The other three mumbled something in agreement, and turned to leave.
'Nice meeting you, Six-Pack-Girl!' said the tall one. 'Maybe you'll come along on our next hunt.'
'Yeah, maybe,' she said. 'See you around!'
'Or not,' said Chad on a low voice, watching the four leave. 'I don't like them.'
Jubilee rolled her eyes and started walking back to the house, pulling her brother along by his sleeve.
'Honestly, Chad, don't start brooding again. They're our new neighbours-'
'Precisely. How much do we know about them? Who knows why they're here and what they're up to-'
She pushed the door open, walked in, and took a seat on the bottom step and began kicking her boots off.
'You wouldn't have said that if they hadn't been wearing leather. If they'd been wearing Armani suits, you'd probably have invited them inside for coffee.'
Chad took a quick look out the door, then closed and locked it.
'No,' he said through gritted teeth. 'I wouldn't have. Listen to me, kid.' He spun around and crouched to her level, looking straight into her eyes. 'People in suits are the most dangerous kind there is. You need to be skeptical about any person in a suit who ever approaches you.'
Jubilee stared straight at him, visibly tense, her eyes showing something that could have been fear. He maintained visual contact for a few more seconds, to let his words sink in, then stood.
'You've been watching too many movies, big brother,' she said, in a feeble attempt to lighten the suddenly heavy atmosphere. Chad knew his message had been understood properly. He smiled down at his sister and reached for the phone.
'Ok, now that that's been said, let's call your school and tell them you're not going today. And I'm calling your principal too, to give her the news.'
Jubilee stood suddenly.
'Let me talk to her.'
She took the phone from her brother and settled back on the bottom step. Her fingers dialed the number from memory, slowly. She was not eager to seal her own fate.
The first ring. She noticed how dry her mouth suddenly was.
The second ring. Her hand clutched the phone tighter.
The third ring. She wanted to hang up, but she didn't.
'Hello?' came the voice from the other end.
'Good morning, Principal Mathis. This is Jubilee Hall speaking.'
'It's awfully loud.'
'What?'
'Your mind.'
Jubilee woke up, the strange, male voice echoing eerily in her brain. That must have been the shortest nightmare she'd ever had, she mused. The conversation had sounded innocent enough, as absurd as it was - her mind was always quiet - but the voice, to which she couldn't give a face, made her hair stand on its end. She wished she had her scrapbook near, to write the dream down, but the black book was somewhere in her suitcase. The dream description would have to wait.
'He said she'd leave soon,' she heard her mother's hushed voice from behind her, 'but I didn't imagine it would be this soon.'
Jubilee thought she could hear regret in her mother's voice. Odd. Since when was her mother sorry to get rid of her? Her new life would allow both her parents to enjoy life as they wanted. No underage daughter to take care of, no kid to be responsible for. And who on earth was "he"?
'I know, Laura,' replied her father. 'There's nothing we can do now. She's made up her mind, and it's a great opportunity. We haven't interfered much so far, we can't start now.'
So that's what he called parenting. "Interfering". Jubilee clenched her fists. If they had such a view on raising their children, why did they even bother having kids?
'I'll miss her, Adam,' sighed her mother. 'It's not that easy to pretend not to care. Adopted or not, she's still my little girl.'
'Laura...'
Things were getting interesting, Jubilee thought, as she strained herself to hear her parents' conversation.
'She'll be fine,' he father continued. 'She's a good girl. Tough cookie. You know her.'
'No, I don't feel that I do,' replied Laura. 'Chad is the only one who does.'
'And he says she'll be fine, honey. Trust him.'
Chad returned to his seat beside her, and she immediately pretended to be asleep.
'Kid, you sleeping?' he asked, gently shaking her shoulder. She slapped his hand away.
'Yes,' she grumbled. 'Leave me alone.'
'You need to wake up now, we'll be landing in a little while.'
She fake-rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sat up straight in her seat.
'I'm SO not excited to get there.'
'Could you try to see the positive side of things?' begged Chad. 'You're making things hard for yourself.'
'Ok, fine,' she huffed, and closed her eyes. A few moments passed before she said anything.
'Nothing.'
'Come on, there's got to be something.'
'There isn't anything.'
'How about getting a new perspective on life? New place, new stuff to do, new opportunities...'
'There was nothing wrong with my old perspective, or with my old place, or with my old stuff, or with my old opportunities,' she grumbled. 'Sod off.'
Her brother sighed.
'Look, I'm sick and tired of seeing you so miserable-'
'Well, aren't you lucky,' she cut him off suddenly. 'After today you won't see much of me at all.'
Chad dropped his head in his hands.
'You know I'm against bribery,' he groaned, 'but really, I'd do anything right now. Is there anything you'd like to have?'
Jubilee immediately sensed the rare opportunity. Ever since she could remember, her parents offered her money or other prizes for behaving herself, for not doing anything weird in front of guests, for keeping her temper in check, for going to her room and staying there like a good little girl. Chad, however, would never do that. Rewards for a job well done, sure, but never bribe. He was the one who kept her from becoming spoiled rotten. In retrospective, he was better at parenting than their parents. She was sorry to see him so desperate, but the opportunity was simply too good to miss.
'Anything?' she asked, just to be sure.
'Anything, just stop moping, emo kid.'
'A switchblade.'
The words had left her lips without much prior thought - she had coveted her brother's switchblade since she had first seen it, years before. She had lowered her voice to a whisper, attempting not to draw anyone else's attention. After all, that word, spoken on a plane had a great potential of causing panic among passengers, and a thorough search of her and her family's luggage. And if she knew she was clean, she couldn't guarantee for Chad. Something was always off about some of his belongings, the ones he never let her touch.
His eyebrows shot up in surprise, he opened his mouth to protest, closed it again, glared at her, then spoke again.
'Deal.'
It was her turn to be surprised.
'What, really?'
'Yes, really,' he grumbled. 'You can have mine as soon as I get my suitcase. Do I get to see that mopey face of yours show any sign of happiness now?'
She smiled.
'Good enough,' he sighed. 'Couldn't you have asked for a car, or something that's, you know, legal in all states?'
'I'm not sure me walking around is legal in all states,' she said blankly, drawing a scowl from Chad. 'The switchblade is nothing.'
'My one condition is for you to be careful. You do know you're not supposed to carry one of those, right? Being underage and all...'
'Yes, just like you're not supposed to carry it in Montana, and in 21 other states. I'll be careful.'
'Good.'
She slumped a bit in her seat and looked out the window, at the shaking wing of the plane, and imagined gremlins gnawing on it. She immediately shook the idea off, not wanting any more nightmare material, and turned to her brother.
'Can I name it Steve?'
'She,' he grumbled, 'already has a name. Mara.'
'It's a pretty name,' mused Jubilee. 'Why Mara?'
Chad shrugged.
'Why Steve?'
'Good point.'
'Did you name your laptop yet?'
'Yeah. Tinkerbell.'
Chad snorted, and Jubilee replied with a shrug.
'Blame the guy who named that OS Enchanted,' she said, slumping a bit more.
'Yes,' he mused, 'I can't imagine what they were thinking. Now, don't forget what we've talked about.'
'Yes, big brother. Nobody touches my laptop.'
He nodded.
'Nobody gets to go through your files, nobody gets to know your password, and-'
'I'm not an idiot, Chad.' She cut him off. He spared her a look and kept going.
'Now, your dream diary...'
'... stays hidden, I know.'
'And you remember to take your pill every morning, don't break that habit.'
She pressed her lips together for a moment, an expression her brother missed.
'I'm not skating any more,' she protested half-heartedly. 'Why should I-'
'You' he said sternly 'still need your vitamins and minerals, Jubilee, even if you've stopped skating. I have spoken to doctor Albert, and he will send your prescription every month at school. He's giving you those supplements for a reason. Now keep taking them.'
She looked at her lap to hide her discomfort. Her brother would stop being creepy any moment, she just had to pretend it was all cool.
'Ok, fine,' she grumbled, for his peace of mind. But she had decided that the little orange bottle would go to the trash the second she started unpacking.
The Washington Dulles airport came into view, approaching rapidly. One part of Jubilee's mind imagined the plane crash violently on the runway, due to the gremlins having eaten the landing gear. Another part of her mind told the first one to shut up. She let her brain fall quiet and finally accepted her new life. She had a feeling she was in for a bumpy landing.
'What have you done?'
Alaryon's mouth pressed into a fine line as he recognised the despair in the female voice, but he didn't stand from his desk.
The silver haired woman crossed the distance between them and roughly grabbed his shoulder, turning him along with his swiveling chair to face her.
'What,' she repeated, 'have you done?'
Alaryon looked at the woman for a moment, then stood and walked past her to the window, and stared into the frozen wasteland.
'What I've done is none of your business.'
'How can you say that?' she shrieked. 'How can you... it's a human life... a life, Alaryon, you can't just...'
'Asarthé.' he said sternly, turning to her, chin raised, hands behind his back. 'It doesn't concern you.'
She showed intimidation for a moment, then shook it off and stomped to him and grabbed the front of his shirt with both hands, giving him a good shake.
'How can it not concern me, Alaryon? We're in this together!'
'We're not,' he replied simply, looking down at her. The smell of burning fabric reached his nostrils, and he grabbed both her wrists and removed her hands from his shirt. Two burnt patches of material remained, but he ignored them.
'Control your temper, please.' he said. 'You are not a child any more.'
He released her wrists, and she held her ground, glaring at him.
Alaryon pulled the burnt shirt over his head and tossed it on his chair, then turned to the young woman again.
'I did what I thought was best. But you knew that already. Why are you here?'
Asarthé looked at his bare torso for a moment, then concentrated on his face again.
'What will the Lady say if she finds out?' she said in a small voice.
'I will deal with her when the time comes.'
The young woman's lower lip trembled.
'But what if she decides to-'
'It will be her decision, and I will respect it. It won't be anything that hasn't been said or done before.'
'But I don't want her to-'
'Asarthé, I accept the consequences of my own actions. You should do that too.'
She opened her mouth, closed it again, then looked at the floor, eyes teary.
'It's not easy, Alaryon,' she whispered. 'And she's not worth it. We should have let this go when we still had the chance.'
'Little one,' he said, his tone softer, 'this isn't about you and me. We're just pawns in the game. She is worth it. And so is he. I wish you could just see it.'
'And I wish I could think like you.' she sighed, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. 'I say we're fighting for a lost cause.'
'The Lady wouldn't be fighting for a lost cause, Asarthé. She knows what she's doing. You trust her this little?'
'Between you being in danger and the two spiraling out of control, I don't know what I believe in any more,' she said, then broke into sobs.
He pulled her into her arms and stroked her hair.
'Then have faith,' he said to her, kissing the top of her head.
As the Asarthé sniffled in his arms, Alaryon became aware of the Lady's gaze upon them.
'And this will be your room.'
Jubilee followed Principal Franklin into what was to be her new room, and instantly got goosebumps. She took a step back and hid behind her brother, who pushed her forward again. She glared up at him, and he glared in return.
'Don't be rude,' he mouthed.
'This room creeps me out.' she whispered.
'It's a perfectly normal room, what's creepy about it?' Chad whispered back.
Principal Franklin cleared her throat, and both Jubilee and Chad straightened up instantly, partly due to the prison-warden-like vibe the woman was giving.
'As you can see,' she continued, eying the two for a moment longer, 'we like to give every student their privacy. Everybody gets their own room.'
Laura squeezed her daughter's hand. 'Isn't this wonderful, Birdie?' she asked excitedly.
'Yeah, Mom,' replied Jubilee, trying to sound impressed. 'Just great.'
'And you can put all your medals right on that wall, the light is really lovely.'
Jubilee shot a pained look at her brother, who simply shrugged.
'And on that wall,' continued Laura, pointing at the wall the bed was next to, 'you can put that nice big photo of you and the girls at Sectionals.'
'Make her stop,' mouthed Jubilee at Chad. He nodded and stepped between her and his mother, but as he tried to find something to say, Laura's phone rang, and she immediately left the room to take the call.
'Whoever that was, bless his heart,' sighed Jubilee.
'And through this door,' said the principal a bit louder, to get her attention again, 'is your bathroom.'
This seemed to snap the girl out of misery, for she gave a large, incredulous grin.
'I get my own bathroom?' she asked excitedly. 'Really?'
'If I'd known that your own bathroom makes you so happy, I would have started your tour here, miss Hall. I take it you haven't read the room descriptions?'
Jubilee tried not to look guilty.
'Can't say I have, Ma'am.'
'Well, I certainly hope you'll show more interest towards this school,' said the woman dryly. 'Our students take it very seriously, and I expect no less of you.'
'Don't worry, Ma'am,' said Chad. 'Just give her time to take it all in, then she will fit in just fine.'
'Yeah,' she said, and tried to make it sound convincing.
The principal looked from one to the other skeptically, then gave an unconvinced 'hmph'.
'Alright, then. Miss Hall, the folder on your desk contains the student handbook, your schedule, maps of the grounds, and a list of means of transportation you can use to reach Washington, DC - if your parents sign your permission slip, that is. That one is in the folder as well. If they sign it, you are to drop it at the front desk. Your uniform is in the closet. Should it not fit properly, talk to the front desk. Should you ever need anything,-'
'Talk to the front desk?' she asked innocently.
Principal Franklin shot her a sharp look, and Jubilee felt her body grow tense involuntarily.
'Yes.' Said the woman. 'Talk to the front desk. But you don't want to use that attitude with me, young lady.'
For lack of anything better to say or do, Jubilee gave a short nod.
'Good. Welcome to Rutherford.'
The woman shook her hand, then Chad's, turned on her heels and left the room, and Jubilee gave a relieved sigh.
'I thought we'd never get rid of her,' she said on a hushed tone, in case the principal was still within hearing distance.
'Indeed. But you promised you'd behave,' said Chad accusingly.
She shrugged.
'Jubilee, this isn't Big Rock any more, people are different here.'
'Clearly,' she grumbled.
Chad opened Jubilee's folder, found the permission slip the principal was talking about, and signed it with a perfect imitation of his father's handwriting.
'I'm signing this so you can have the freedom to get out of here and catch a break, but I don't want you spending all your free time outside school walls. You're supposed to behave and fit in.'
'Like that will ever happen,' she snorted.
'You behaving? Indeed, that's highly unlikely.'
She glared.
'I meant fitting in,' she said. 'And what the hell's wrong with this room?'
Chad looked around the room, scanning every piece of furniture.
'There's nothing wrong with your room, kid. Everything's fine.'
'You don't get it. There's something so wrong, I can feel it in the pit of my stomach.'
'That might be the airline food,' her brother suggested. 'Remember when we went to Disneyland, and you got so sick, you threw up all over Daisy's feet?'
She giggled.
'I never liked Daisy too much anyway.' Her face changed from a smile to a frown, and she let herself drop on her bed. 'And I wish the parents hadn't come.'
'What, to Disneyland?'
'No, here. It's not like they wanted to come.'
'I think they did.'
Chad walked over to the closet, opened it, and looked inside.
'You're still their kid,' he continued. 'Not knowing how to deal with you is one thing, but their love for you is another thing entirely.'
He closed the door, ran his hand over the top of the closet, then looked between the back of the closet and the wall.
'What are you doing?' she asked.
'Checking for things that might be making this room creepy for you,' he said, crouching to look under the bed. 'Now, I know for a fact that Mom is genuinely sad that you've left home.'
'Yeah, I've heard her on the plane. And it's nice of her that she's trying to cheer me up by talking about my skating, only she seems to have forgotten that I quit. If she sends me a Tania Bass dress again to cheer me up, I'll have a total meltdown.' She watched Chad lift the mattress with her still sitting on top of it, then set it back down, nodding to himself. 'Dad, however, didn't seem too heartbroken.'
'Dad has no idea how to be a father,' replied Chad, studying the armchair in the corner. He then moved on to inspect the desk. 'He was taken by surprise by this whole parenthood thing, and never got the hang of it.'
'And still, you came out normal.' She stood, followed him into the bathroom, and watched him check the toilet. 'Or not. Please stop being creepy now.'
He looked around the bathroom one last time, then grinned down at her.
'Ok, I'm done.'
'Thank heavens,' she sighed.
'I thought you were an atheist.'
'I am. It just sounds better than thank the ozone layer.'
'True.'
'Found anything you like?'
'Nah, your room is boring.'
'I hope you're right. Do you think the parentals are going to be on the phone for much longer?'
'Why do you ask?'
'I heard them say something weird on the plane.'
'Oh?'
'They said that "he" said I'd leave soon. Who were they talking about?'
Chad's mouth narrowed for just a moment.
'Probably uncle Ted. You know how he says things.'
For a moment, Chad was worried his sister wouldn't buy his explanation, but she shrugged.
'Yeah, sounds like them to believe what schizo uncle Ted says.'
'Now don't be unfair,' protested Chad, 'he was right a couple of times.'
'Whatever,' she waved him off. 'Maybe he can call them now and tell them to get out of here faster. I want to get rid of them. They're just...' she gave a frustrated sigh. 'They're just making this awkward and difficult. And Dad didn't even see the school, he spent the entire tour talking on the phone. And now Mom.'
'You're going to miss them, kid.'
'I'm going to miss everything that's connected to home. Even them. But I still want them gone now.'
'I'll be going with them, you know,' he said.
Jubilee grabbed her brother's arm and pulled him back in her new room.
'I could use having you around for another while, creepy as you are. I'll probably end up crazy by the time I finish unpacking my stuff.'
'Then take advantage of me while you still can,' he said, walking towards the two suitcases they had left by the door. 'Let's each take one, we'll probably be done by the time the parents are back-'
'Guys, we need to leave now,' said their father as he walked through the door. 'Your mother and I need to be in Helena as soon as possible, there's a fire at the power plant.'
'Fire?' asked Chad, suddenly alert.
'How?' asked Jubilee anxiously. 'What's the damage?'
'They're still trying to put it out,' he said, visibly nervous. 'But we need to go now.'
Unexpectedly, he pulled his daughter into a hug.
'Honey, have fun, and be safe. Don't do drugs, don't drink, and try not to get pregnant. If you need anything, we're a phone call away. I love you.'
Just as unexpectedly, the hug was over, and he was dialing another number on his phone.
'Yeah, Dad, I'll be ok. Don't worry. I love you too.'
He nodded, waved good-bye and left the room in a rush.
'I hope the damage won't be too big,' she said, following him. 'And that there won't be any casualties.'
'Yeah, and I hope they manage to contain the media too,' mused Chad. 'For that, we really need to go. Now, remember what we talked about.'
'I'll be fine, big brother. Don't worry about me. If there's anything wrong, I'll call.'
'Good,' he said, taking her hand and leading her out of the room and down the hall. 'Let's find Mom.'
Laura was standing at the end of the hall, next to the staircase, talking rapidly on the phone. Upon seeing her children approach her, she said something into the phone and ended the call, then ran to her daughter.
'Birdie,' she said, hugging her so tightly, Jubilee felt the air leave her lungs. 'I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you. I'll fly here on a weekend and take you shopping, how's that?'
'Yeah, Mom, that's great. Look, go take care of the situation in Helena. I'll be ok.'
Laura's embrace tightened, and Jubilee found herself wondering how a woman so thin could pack this much power.
'I love you, baby.'
'Love you too, Mom,' she managed breathlessly.
Laura kissed her cheek and rushed down the stairs, phone in her hand again.
'I'd better go too,' said Chad. 'Take care, kid.'
'You too. Stay in touch.'
'Will do,' he said. And with a smile, he was gone too. Jubilee stood at the top of the stairs, listening to his footsteps, then a door on the ground floor creaked open and slammed shut, and then she was alone.
Mister Stone lit his sixth cigarette, brought it to his lips, took a long drag, and inhaled the smoke into his lungs. The woman said she'd be there at nine-thirty. It was already a quarter to ten. He exhaled, filling the air in front of him with a cloud of smoke. She'd better show up fast. He wasn't a patient man. And he was now determined to make her pay twice for whatever it was that she wanted.
'Mister Stone, I presume?' a female voice asked. He turned around to see a woman standing behind him. She wore sunglasses, a large hat, and a scarf that went up to her nose.
Stone studied the woman's appearance as took another drag from his cigarette, then blew a puff of smoke in the woman's direction.
'You sure don't want to be recognized, lady,' he grumbled.
She handed him a manila envelope.
'Let's get to business,' she said, disgust obvious in her voice.
Stone weighed the envelope in one hand, then took another drag from his cigarette.
'You're late,' he said.
'Don't worry, mister Stone,' she said, and he imagined she couldn't be older than 30. 'I'll make it worth your time.'
Stone gave an unconvinced snort, but tossed his cigarette on the ground, opened the envelope, and pulled out the contents.
'I know you have a very talented boy,' the woman said. 'Just what I need for the job.'
'It's a lot of work, lady,' said Stone, reading the first sheet of paper. 'And it would mean a lot of changes for my boy.'
'He's been there before, maybe he won't mind going back,' she said. 'And he's reached a dead end now, anywhere would be better than this place. You should see the opportunity, mister Stone.'
'You seem to know a lot about him,' said Stone, looking straight at her, trying to notice something, anything, a trait that could help him pinpoint the woman's identity. He found nothing.
'I know a lot about you, too,' she said boldly. 'Not that I want that to put a strain on our business relationship,' she added.
'Myes,' grumbled the man, suddenly feeling somewhat uneasy. The feeling was so foreign to him, it frightened him more than whatever might have caused it. He hoped he'd be able to cover it well enough until the woman left, then he'd have his best trackers on her tail. Flipping through the papers, he found a photo. 'This is the target?'
'Yes.'
'How old is she?'
'Seventeen.'
Stone looked at the photo for a little while. This certainly was new, they'd never had such young targets.
'It's a shame,' he said.
'That doesn't concern you,' replied the woman dryly.
'Is she some somebody's daughter?' Stone asked. 'Someone you want to get something out of?'
'No,' she said. 'I just want her dead.'
'Why?'
'It's none of your business, mister Stone.'
'It is if you want my boy to do your dirty work, lady,' he said, managing to sound menacingly. 'We don't run around the globe killing little girls for a living.'
'I believe there's a first for everything, mister Stone.'
'And there's a reason for everything as well, lady. This isn't your average murder. Tell me why, or I drop this thing right now.'
The wind howled around them for a little while, and Stone felt a chill creep into his bones.
'She poses a threat to the ones I love, to put it simply,' said the woman eventually.
Stone raised his eyebrows.
'How can a seventeen year-old-'
'I gave you the reason, mister Stone,' she said coldly.
He stared at her, then shook his head.
'Fine,' he said. 'But the costs of this,' he waved the papers in front of her for emphasis, 'of all this, are on you, in addition to the fee.'
'One million dollars should cover everything, if I am not mistaken,' she said carelessly.
Stone froze. What kind of a person was he talking to? A woman willing to pay this much to have a seventeen year-old girl killed troubled him to no end. He had seen many ugly things in his career, but none of them had been as extreme as this. If the reason given to him by the woman was the real one, then he felt sorry for the target. That was no way for a child to die.
'Who knew murderers had feelings?' she said mockingly, noticing his hesitation.
'In front of monsters, even murderers have feelings,' he retorted.
The woman held out a gloved hand, and he shook it.
'You're no better than me, mister Stone,' she said, and he could tell she was smiling. 'I will transfer half of the money now, and half after the job is done.'
Stone cleared his throat.
'How do you want it done?'
'Surest way. Bullet through the head,' said the woman. 'Fate's been on her side so far, and I don't want to take any chances. Not for what I'm risking to get this done.'
'I see. How do I contact you?'
'Oh, I will contact you, mister Stone,' she said, and there was a malicious edge to her voice. 'I will be eagerly watching the progress of this operation. Until we meet again, mister Stone.'
She turned around and walked away. Stone wondered if he imagined the spring in her step. He shook his head, and tried to stop feeling bad for the girl. No. Target. She was a target, like many others before her, and like the many more who would follow. He dialed a number, and waited for the person on the other end to pick up.
'Yes?'
'Start packing, you're going to the US.'
Pens and pencils went into separate jars. All writing instruments were organized by size and colour, from short to long and from bright colours to dark. Books stood on shelves according to size, subject, and, ultimately, according to how much Jubilee liked their contents. Too much order, her brother had said when she was eight, but a specialist had had a different opinion - OCPD. 'But if it sticks to this,' he'd said years before, 'then it's not much to worry about. And look on the bright side, you won't have to worry about her keeping her room clean.' Then he'd laughed. And then her mother said she was just special, and put her hair in a french braid, like she did every day. Around the time she turned ten, Laura Hall stopped braiding her hair.
Somehow, around that time, Maurey took over the maternal role, driving her to the rink, lacing her boots, helping her with homework between freestyle sessions, doing her hair and make-up before competitions, and being there with a kind word whenever she needed one. Meanwhile, Laura Hall slowly distanced herself. No more special mother-daughter time, no more tea parties with just the two of them, no more bedtime stories, and attending fewer and fewer of her daughter's practices and competitions. And it didn't take Jubilee long to adapt. Thanks to Maurey, she never missed having a maternal figure in her life.
Until the day Jubilee moved to Rutherford, Maurey had been on her speed dial, right after Emergency. But while unpacking, Jubilee had removed all of her speed dial contacts. It was no use calling home, when home was so far away. You're right here, right now, Maurey had told her whenever she'd had trouble focusing. And right here and right now were her room in the Rutherford dorm, which, in spite of making her feel uneasy, wasn't that bad. Sure, everything was ass-backwards, but it wasn't as horrible as she'd expected. With a bit of getting used to, she would actually feel comfortable there.
She put away the last of her things, looked around the room for any object that might have been out of place, found none, and prepared for bed, carefully avoiding looking at the metal trash can from which the small orange pill container was looking up at her reproachfully. No more skating, no more vitamins. No more bruises, diet, or restrictions. No more routine. But, she thought, if the routine was gone, what was she supposed to do?
Once in her pajamas, she found a comfortable spot on the unfamiliar mattress and curled up on one side. The feeling certainly was unusual. At home, her room was the most familiar space she knew. At any given moment, day or night, she could tell what object was where, without a moment's thought. In her new room, things were... wrong. The closet was on the wrong side of the room. The bed was next to the window. The desk was in the corner. She spent an indefinite amount of time making mental maps of what object she had placed where. This comforted her somewhat, and she relaxed into the pillow that was too soft for her taste.
At home, before sleep, she used to count the glow in the dark stars on her ceiling. There were 47 of them. 47 was a prime number, she liked it. And when she counted more than 47, she knew it was time to sleep. Here, the only things she could count were the holes in the side of her closet. Dart marks, she was sure of it. Whoever had previously occupied that room had liked to throw darts at stuff.
She flopped on her stomach and started counting. Reaching number 168, she counted again. This time there were 170 of them. She counted them once more, with a different outcome, then hopped off her bed, opened the bottom drawer of her new desk, and grabbed her own bag of darts. Sitting back on her bed, she threw all 15 darts at the side of the closet. There. Whatever the original number of holes was, there were 15 more of them now. As an afterthought, she pulled the switchblade - Mara - out of its hiding place, flicked it open and threw it at the side of the closet. Its black handle hit the wooden panel with a thud, and fell unceremoniously to the floor. She picked it up and tried again. Three tries later, the knife was sticking out of the side of the closet, among the coloured feathers.
Seemingly content with her new decorations, Jubilee grabbed the pillow and moved it to the foot of the bed, curled up on her side in fetal position, and waited for sleep to claim her.
'Maybe sleep can't find me,' she thought after half an hour of staring at the wall. 'Since I moved. Maybe I'll develop insomnia and go crazy. Or maybe I already am crazy. I am talking to myself after all.'
She hugged the corner of the blanket, wishing she had brought her teddy bear along.
'Twinkle, twinkle, little star,' she sang to herself, for lack of anything better to do. 'How I wonder what you are...'
She rolled her head backwards into an unnatural position to look out the window, only to see a thick blanket of clouds.
'Stupid clouds. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky... and then you turned into a supernova and went boom.'
Jubilee yawned again, brought her head back to a normal position, and waited.
'I'm not tired,' she sighed after another half hour. 'Not tired. Can't sleep if I'm not tired.'
Grumbling, she kicked her blanket off, sat up and peered out the window.
Her window overlooked the huge courtyard. It was the biggest courtyard she'd ever seen in her life, and it was all green. Apart from a few concrete, gravel and dirt paths, there were grass and trees everywhere. She had fantasized about going for a run around the grounds ever since her arrival there. Running on grass was much easier on her joints than running on concrete, and her joints were very much feeling the sudden change in altitude. She felt her movements were stiff and sluggish, as if she'd practiced her jumps without warming up first. She may have quit skating, but that didn't mean she was going to get out of shape.
She opened the window and drew in a breath of air. For someone who had spent all her life in the cold, Maryland was a bit too warm. But if with the temperatures came those amazing grounds, then so be it. She could adapt to exercising in warmer weather.
Another thing she liked about her window was the lack of bars. Her window at home had had bars ever since she could remember, apparently because of some paranoid idea her parents had had. As far as she knew, she'd never had any suicidal tendencies. And she doubted a fall from her window could have done much damage anyway. A fall from that fourth-floor window at Rutherford, however, would have easily killed her.
She contemplated her body going splat for another moment, then climbed on the windowsill and swung her legs outside.
There was a slight breeze, and the trees below her feet rustled. An owl screeched somewhere. Two floors down and three rooms to her left, judging by the music and the cheers that were very audible, someone was having a party. According to the rule book, dorm parties were prohibited. So many things were prohibited. There were rules and regulations for everything, as if Rutherford were a prison, and not a school.
The wind picked up speed, and the rustling of the trees grew louder. She tuned out the noise and leaned slightly forward to feel the breeze on her face.
'So here I am now,' she said. 'Not sure what comes next. Maybe something good, without ghosts or monsters.'
As she spoke these words, Jubilee didn't think about looking down at the dark figure that was watching her from the shadows of the courtyard.
Chad dropped his head in his hands and tuned out the noise of the conference room for a few moments. It had been a long night, and he was starting to feel the effect of too much caffeine pounding on his nervous system.
'I need some air,' he told his father, who nodded and patted his shoulder gratefully.
The businessman Adam was had insisted he took part in the discussions. He'd always praised Chad's cool head and rational thinking, and his ability to say the right words at the right time. Chad, for his part, couldn't say no to an attempt to fix such a crisis, even though it wasn't his battle. It had been a while since he'd taken part in anything like this though, and he'd forgotten how taxing it was.
'Are you ok?' his father asked.
'I'll be fine,' replied Chad. 'You want me to bring you back anything?'
'I'm good, thanks.'
Chad stood and left the conference room quietly. The hallway was just as loud as the room, but at least nobody was yelling in his direction any more. There was a cafeteria somewhere down the hall to his left, but the thought of food made his stomach unhappy, so he went the other way, to the staircase. The key to the roof door had to be in the set of keys he'd swiped from his father moments before. Sure enough, after a couple of tries, he found the right key and walked out into the smokey atmosphere of the city.
To his left, the power plant had finally stopped burning. Fire trucks were pulling away, but the press was still there. His parents had made more statements than he could count, but the press still wasn't satisfied. He knew the right people to bribe in order to get some quiet, but he wasn't going to waste his resources on a matter that would take more than his best efforts to silence.
He leaned against the wall next to the door and let out a sigh. All he wanted to do was crash somewhere and sleep for an indefinite amount of time. He remembered his phone, switched to silent the evening before, and checked the screen. There were several missed calls from people who could wait, and a text message from someone who couldn't. He hit the 'call' button and waited.
'Hey, Chad,' said the voice at the other end, and he felt relieved to hear no hints of distress, anxiety, or panic.
'Hey, kid,' he replied. 'How'd you sleep?'
'Great,' said Jubilee, 'Rutherford has nice and comfy floors.'
'I'm sorry,' said Chad. 'Rough night?'
'Fell out of bed twice before I figured I should just sleep on the floor. There's no place to fall to from the floor, you know.'
He smiled.
'Good strategy. Any nightmares?'
'Nothing I haven't seen before. I'm good. How about you? You don't sound so peachy.'
'Rough night, Jay. I spent the past many hours helping Dad reason with unhappy people.'
'That sucks. How are things at the plant?'
He let out another sigh.
'That bad, huh?' she asked.
'Yup. Mom and Dad are working their magic, but it's going slow. So many people are unhappy.'
'Well,' she said, 'if anybody can pull this off, it's them.'
'Yeah, that's true. But this is going to take so much more effort than anything they've done in the past. People are very angry here.'
'I bet they are. Then I should let you go back to getting yelled at by people. Call me later?'
'Sure, kid. You take care.'
'Yeah, will do.'
Chad ended the call and was about to put the phone back in his pocket, when a familiar number flashed on the screen. He contemplated not answering, but they had called earlier as well. He might just get it over with, whatever it was that they wanted.
'This is Hall.'
'Good morning, mister Hall,' said the voice at the other end. 'You're having fun, I see?'
'If an organizational crisis is fun, then yes, mister Kane, I'm having enormous amounts of it. What can I do for you today?'
'I understand young miss Hall is now at Rutherford, conveniently close to DC, and to us, and I was considering the option of...'
Chad balled his free hand into a fist, and made an almost superhuman effort to sound calm.
'How about we let her grow up a little more?' he asked, keeping his tone as neutral as he could manage.
'I'm sure I don't have to remind you that by our standards, she's a bit late in the game, mister Hall.'
'And I'm sure I don't have to remind you that she doesn't fit into anybody's standards, mister Kane. She's not included in any official plans you have, and if the rules can be bent to accommodate her, then I'm sure another year or two won't be making any difference. Surely you haven't changed your mind about-'
'No, no, certainly not,' said Kane quickly. 'I do remember our agreement.'
'Good. Then you won't mind postponing anything you may have planned for another while.'
Kane paused for a moment, and Chad knew he had upset him. Fine, let him be upset.
'No, I won't mind,' he replied eventually. 'But please keep me in the loop regarding her development. We all are most interested in how she evolves.'
'I will, mister Kane.'
'Good. We'll be in touch then.'
Kane ended the call before Chad could say anything. That man always liked to have the last word. Chad had fantasized about punching the living daylights out of him for years, and if it hadn't been for his sister, then maybe he would have done it too.
'They're not paying me enough for this...' he said to himself, and switched his phone off.
After having spent the Sunday exploring the school and the grounds, map in hand, Jubilee felt somewhat ready to face the week. She had identified all the rooms her classes were in, the shortest routes between rooms, and the shortest routes of escape from almost anywhere in case of a fire. Ignoring the alarmingly long run from the girls' lavatories to any emergency exit, the school was built satisfactorily, and her newly-found knowledge gave Jubilee a little more courage to face the day.
Her tie was choking her. She tugged at it a little, but didn't loosen it. She was going to go through the day in full uniform, looking her best, and a loose tie didn't cut it. Plus, if all the other kids could do it, than so could she.
Her new, black shoes clacked against the floor when she walked. Back at home she'd wear running shoes or boots. Those allowed for stealth, for sneaking around. She felt like a walking alarm in the new shoes. Back at home, she would have preferred walking around barefoot to wearing shoes like those. But there, at Rutherford, she had to put up with them. And with the clacking. And with the blisters that were stubbornly forming, even though she'd put blister tape on her feet before leaving her room.
Damn shoes.
Damn tie.
Damn Rutherford.
She hadn't made much of an effort to be social over the week-end, and her presence was easily overlooked by the other students there, not that there were many students on campus over the week-end anyway, as the lady at the front desk explained. They all returned, driving their fancy cars, on Sunday evening. Jubilee had failed miserably at talking herself into saying hi to her fellow schoolmates and retired to her room, promising herself she'd do a better job in the morning.
'Let's use the term morning liberally,' she had mumbled to herself when she'd skipped breakfast and headed straight to class extra early, in an attempt to avoid running into too many students at once.
The room she had her first class in was almost empty, except for a handful of students who were either chatting among themselves or snoozing on their desks, and a balding teacher who was watching something on a laptop computer, snickering.
'Um, good morning?'
The teacher immediately closed the lid on the laptop, yanked his headphones off, and sat up straight, seeming flustered.
'Ah, miss Hall, is it?'
'Yeah-'
He stood and shook her hand forcefully.
'Welcome to Rutherford!' he exclaimed. 'We're very excited to have you here!'
She wondered how rude she'd seem if she pried her hand out of his.
'Thanks, sir,' she said, hoping he wouldn't dislocate anything of hers. Thankfully, he released her hand in a moment.
'I hope you'll enjoy your time here,' he said. 'Please take a seat wherever you like, and fill out the test in the folder.'
She looked over her shoulder, noticing the folders which were lying on every desk.
'Test?' she asked, confused. 'But I only...'
She turned back to look at the teacher, but he had sat back in his chair, re-opened his laptop, and had put his headphones back on.
'Right,' she mumbled, 'I'll figure it out on my own then...'
Jubilee made her way to a desk at the back of the room, hoping she'd manage to stay invisible for a little while longer.
The folder stared at her ominously.
Who knows what I should have studied for this thing and haven't, she thought as she sat at the desk. Way to start my career here with an F.
Two desks to her right, hunched up over a magazine, sat a redheaded girl. The notebook lying next to the magazine had a star-shaped sticker with the name "Anjuli Porter".
Before asking her for directions, Jubilee looked at all of the options she had. After all, almost every time she'd interrupted Melissa from reading, her friend had shown symptoms similar to anxiety attacks.
A couple of desks in front of her sat three girls, chatting excitedly, and a boy who was sleeping face-down on his desk, snoring softly. It was never good to approach groups, thought Jubilee. Groups were intimidating. And waking the boy from his slumber couldn't possibly be the start of a nice friendship. Apparently, she decided, the redhead was the best person to ask for directions.
'Sorry, Anjuli?'
The redhead sat up and faced her so suddenly, Jubilee nearly fell off her chair in surprise.
'You said my name right!' she said quickly, pointing a thin, long finger at Jubilee.
Jubilee considered running for the nearest fire exit.
'And you're new!' said the redhead, still pointing at her.
'Um,' she stammered, 'yeah, this is my first day here-'
She relaxed and grinned, then grabbed Jubilee's hand and shook it forcefully.
What is it with people shaking your hand like that here?'
'I gotta say, it's nice to have someone say your name properly.
'Tell me about it,' said Jubilee through gritted teeth, attempting to pry her hand out of Anjuli's.
'So you have a weird name too?'
'Yeah.' She managed to free her hand, and wiggled her fingers for them to regain blood circulation. 'It's Jubilee.'
The redhead burst into laughter.
'Marvel heroine? What were your parents thinking?'
'No idea,' replied Jubilee. 'I was adopted.'
Anjuli became serious.
'Oh. I'm sorry.'
''S ok. But I wanted to ask you...'
'You're new.'
Jubilee turned to the source of the voice, to see a blonde leaning over the desk she was occupying, staring at her right hand pinkie finger.
'Yeah, hi, I'm-'
'Hi, Abigail,' said the redhead casually.
'It's Abby,' said the blonde quickly, not sparing her a glance, and grinned at Jubilee in a way that made her want to crawl back to Big Rock, where people were normal.
'I know that scar!' she exclaimed triumphantly, pointing at Jubilee's hand. She looked at it too, then removed both her hands from the tabletop.
'It's just a scar,' she said defensively, 'no reason to get so excited about it.'
'You got it by practicing Biellmanns!' said Abby, seemingly very proud of her deduction. 'You're a figure skater!'
What the hell is wrong with you?
'Um,' she said slowly, wishing she could punch the blonde in the face, 'not anymore. I quit.'
Abby's grin melted from her face.
'Damn.' she huffed. 'It would have been cool to have someone to compete with.'
Before Jubilee had a chance to say something, the blonde left her desk and sat at the front of the room.
'She's nuts,' said Anjuli. 'Don't worry about her.'
'There are figure skaters at this school?' asked Jubilee, feeling some loathing towards the blonde who apparently managed to balance Rutherford and skating.
'Two,' replied the redhead. 'That one and her twin brother.'
'And how do they manage?' she blurted out. 'This is a demanding school, and the nearest rinks are in DC.'
'You don't know anything about this school, do you?' asked Anjuli, leaning back in her chair.
'I've read the brochures and the handbook-'
'Those are the official things,' the redhead cut her off. 'Thing is, you can make almost any kind of deal with this school. For instance, if you're an athlete training for something the school cannot help you with, they reduce the number of classes you need to take. We also have students who only spend several weeks per semester here, and the rest of the time somewhere else. You can work around the curriculum any way you want.'
Jubilee glared at the back of the blonde's head, feeling very jealous.
'You don't like her, do you?' asked Anjuli. 'Can't really blame you there. Typical American blonde. Very shallow and somewhat slutty.'
'Can you be only somewhat slutty?' asked Jubilee, confused.
'Oh, yeah. There are several degrees of slut. This school has all of them gathered here. You seem to be on the lowest level. I'm guessing total nun.'
Jubilee looked around the classroom, and noticed deviations from the uniform in all girls, varying from stilettos, coloured socks and downright creepy hair accessories to uniforms that seemed two sizes too small for the wearers, emphasizing cleaveges that were too pronounced to be naturally grown for seventeen year-old girls.
'I think you might need a new category for me,' she said to the redhead.
'Oh?'
'Weirdo.'
Anjuli laughed.
'We have those too. Ranging from minor harmless to severely deranged. See Jacey over there?' she asked, pointing to a blonde with pink streaks in her hair. 'She's going to therapy every week, and thinks she is seeing the ghost of her goldfish. Don't worry, you're normal.'
'You have no idea what you're talking about,' mumbled Jubilee.
'So you're new here,' said Anjuli, standing from her seat and moving to the desk next to Jubilee's. 'Let me guess, your parents are sick of having you at home, so they shipped you off to this jail to get rid of you?'
'Hardly,' she replied, feeling uncomfortable with the interrogatory. 'It was my decision.'
'Ah,' replied Anjuli. 'Well, suddenly, you're not so normal any more. So, are your parents anyone we know?'
'Have you seen the news on the Helena power plant fire?'
'Yeah. What, they set it on fire?'
Jubilee felt her jaw drop.
'What? Hell no!'
The redhead raised her hands in defense, amused.
'Adam Hall is the general manager,' explained Jubilee, 'and Laura Hall is the public affairs director.'
'And you're their figure skater kid?'
'Their kid who used to be a figure skater.'
'Huh,' said Anjuli. 'It's weird that they didn't try to force you into a business career.'
'Nah, it's not weird at all. They're like Do whatever you like as long as you're happy. Goes for my brother as well.'
Anjuli grinned.
'Brother, eh? Is he here too?'
'No, he graduated college years ago. He's a freelance web designer now.'
'Cool. Is he hot?'
Jubilee stared.
'He's my brother.'
'Ok, fine. Introduce us when he comes by, will you?'
'Whatever,' mumbled Jubilee. 'So what's this thing all about?' she asked, opening the folder.
'You mean they didn't tell you?'
'Tell me what?'
'It's career month.'
'And?'
'And we fill out these tests today, receive results by the end of the week, then the next three weeks will be full of seminars and stuff for the careers we've got aptitudes for. We can also do short internships if we want to, and if we get selected. It's actually pretty neat.'
'Huh,' said Jubilee, picking up a pen. 'It is. Let's see what I get.'
Achilles Grimoire stepped out of the Washington Dulles airport and caught a taxi to his father's apartment. Given his prolonged absence, all that would be waiting for him there were dust, and maybe a few spiders. Being back in the mild climate of D.C. was a welcome change. Returning to school, not so much. After all, it wasn't academics that made him good at what he did. The incentive in his bank account tipped the scales in favour of him coming back, at least for a while, and with no promises of staying. Nobody cared anyway, as long as there was money to make everything right.
Well, almost everything.
Reaching the apartment, he left his luggage lying in the hallway and headed for the living room. Dust flew as he threw the dust cover off his favourite couch and crashed on it. He opened his wallet and pulled out a photo, the small version of the one he had in the folder he'd received from his employer.
He had spent the past days looking at that photo. Every free moment was spent with it, in an attempt to figure out what it was that was so wrong with it.
'Your girlfriend, son?' the old man who had sat next to him on the plane had asked. Caught off guard and without a cover story at hand, Achilles only managed a nod.
'She's very pretty,' he continued. 'What's her name?'
'Jubilee,' he replied, not understanding what it was that the old man was finding so 'pretty' about the teenager in the photo.
'You seem to miss her very much,' said the old man. Achilles stared, startled, unsure of how to respond. 'Don't give me that look,' said the old man with a knowing smile, 'it's all over your face when you look at her photograph. How long has it been since you last saw her?'
'Forever,' he replied earnestly, wondering what it was that the old man had seen on his face.
Since that conversation, every time he'd tried to fall asleep, he saw her face tattooed on the back of his eyelids. He tried to visualise completing the job - the feel of the pistol in his hand, the squeeze on the trigger- her eyes. Her unnatural eyes. He imagined her stare as he pointed the gun at her, then her blank, lifeless gaze.
For the first time, he felt he couldn't do his job.
He'd have to shoot her from the back, he decided. Cowardly as it was, it was either that, or giving up on the assignment.
'What's wrong with me?' he sighed, letting the photo drop on his chest. She wasn't his first kill, and she wasn't going to be his last. Jubilee Hall, 17 years old. How could a stupid teenage girl he'd never seen before cause him so much grief? How would he react when he'd see her? How was he going to pull the trigger, when just looking at her photo made him feel so uneasy?
'I hate you, Jubilee Hall,' he said, tossing the photo on the coffee table.
As the week progressed, Jubilee found herself paying more and more attention to even the smallest of details. The texture of the paper she was writing on. The sound the point of the pen made. The depth the keys on her laptop reached as she pressed them. By no means were any of the things she was noticing new, but she'd never payed them attention before. Noticing so much without even trying was somewhat unsettling, and, by Thursday, she was having more trouble sleeping than before. The information that seemed to come at her from every direction was keeping her awake. People walking up and down the corridor. The crunching noise gravel made four floors below as the occasional car drove over it. The rustling of the trees in the wind. None of it was louder than before, but she felt like she had lost the ability to tune the world out.
'What the hell are they feeding me?' she asked herself as she walked out of her third class of the day. 'It's like life here is in freaking high definition.'
'Talking to yourself?' asked a voice from behind her.
'Abby, hi,' she said, turning to acknowledge the blonde's presence. 'Just thinking out loud.'
'I knew a guy who did that a lot,' said Abby, checking her manicured nails. 'He went mad.'
'I'm not far from that,' she mumbled, but the blonde missed it.
'Oh, by the way, have you seen this?' she asked. Jubilee turned to see what she was talking about when a shoulder bumped into hers, causing the books she was carrying to tumble to the floor. She turned around to see a group of solid boys walking away, talking loudly among themselves, as if nothing had happened.
'Hey!' she called angrily.
The boys stopped walking and turned around, regarding her silently. She felt intimidated, but stared them all down and raised her chin defiantly. She had faced a larger audience before, after all. They all stood in silence for a few moments, during which neither looked away. A brown-haired boy walked back over to her. She held his gaze as he approached, and ended up craning her neck to look him in the eyes when he stopped in front of her, next to the books he'd made her drop. He shot a glance at Abby, who blushed instantly, then, he looked at Jubilee again, smirking. Without a word, he crouched down and gathered her books, then stood, handed them to her, and gave her one last look before turning away.
'At least this one has an attitude,' she heard him say to his friends, who chuckled as they departed.
'Asshole,' grumbled Jubilee, glaring in his direction. 'You were saying, Abby?'
Abby said nothing.
'You ok?' she asked the blonde, who was staring at the departing boys, eyes wide, and for a moment Jubilee thought she would start hyperventilating.
'Do you have any idea who that was?' she managed, her face glowing bright red.
'Some jock?' asked Jubilee, returning her attention to her books. They were no longer in their proper order - smallest on top, largest at the bottom -, and the cover of her French textbook had suffered an ugly tear. She'd fix it with some sticky tape when she'd reach her room, but it was in worse shape than any of her textbooks had ever been.
'Some jock??' shrieked the blonde, causing a few heads to turn in her direction. 'That was James Wright!'
Contemplating sticky tape, Jubilee shrugged.
'So?'
'SO?' Abby seemed outraged. She glared at Jubilee, then began pacing.
'He's, like, our football star! He's the most amazing-'
'You have a crush on him.'
Abby stared, mouth slightly open. Jubilee resisted a giggle.
'Yup.'
'I...' stammered the blonde. 'I... uh...'
Someone nudged Jubilee's arm, and she turned to see Anjuli, who seemed to be amused.
'You have to teach me how to do that, Marvel.'
'Do what?' asked Jubilee, confused.
'Shut her up like that.'
The surprise on Abby's face changed to annoyance.
'Shut up, Angela.'
'It's Anjuli,' replied the redhead casually. 'Did you guys hear our test results came in?'
All the annoyance Jubilee had felt was immediately replaced by excitement.
'Where are they?' she asked quickly. 'Do we have time to get them before class starts?'
'Mail room,' replied Anjuli. 'If we hurry, we'll manage. You coming, blondie?'
Abby shook her head.
'I already got mine. Apparently I'd make a fine-'
'Don't care,' said Anjuli quickly, grabbing Jubilee by the arm and dragging her away.
'You were pretty rude,' said Jubilee half-heartedly.
Anjuli snorted.
'Like you're not happy you got away from the dumb blonde.'
'True,' mumbled Jubilee. 'So, mail room?'
'Right through here- aw, crap, I should have imagined there would be a line.'
Anjuli peered around the line of students in front of the mail room and sighed.
'10 people or so,' she guessed. 'We'll probably be late for class.'
'Then maybe we should come back later?'
'I'm not waiting another hour for my results,' said the redhead. 'And you're not going anywhere either. Whoever you have this period won't mind.'
'Mister White in chemistry?'
Anjuli shot her a pitying look.
'You have White?'
'Yeah, why?'
'He's such a jerk. The kind of guy who gives you his best smile, then tells you you've failed his class.'
'Just my luck...' sighed Jubilee. 'And I'm not stellar at chemistry either.'
'He wasn't supposed to teach juniors, that was Mrs.Rogers' job. Not that she was much nicer or anything, but you can only take so much White.'
'What happened to her?'
'She died in a fire a couple weeks ago.'
Jubilee froze.
'Fire?'
'Yeah,' replied the redhead. 'You ok?'
'I'm fine,' said Jubilee.
'You sure? You look kinda pale...'
'Yeah, I'm good, it's just that... I think I know a Mrs.Rogers. What did she look like?'
Anjuli pulled her phone out of her bag and made a quick search, then handed the phone to Jubilee.
'This is she. Or was. Good riddance anyway.'
Jubilee stared at the woman's photo. Her heart pounded in her ears and she felt sick.
'So you know her?'
She kept staring.
'Marvel?'
Fire. Fire everywhere. Fire that engulfed the dead woman's body. She couldn't find her words.
'You're getting creepy, Marvel.'
Anjuli took the phone from her hand, and Jubilee looked up, the memory of the murder getting pushed back by the present moment.
'Y-yeah,' she managed. 'I knew her a little.'
'Huh, she must have made some impression on you if you had that reaction to her death. You sure you're ok?'
'I'm fine, just... I'm surprised, I guess.'
'Shocked is more like it,' said Anjuli. 'Ah, good, here we are.'
She walked inside the mail room, and Jubilee followed.
'So what was the cause of the fire?' she asked.
Anjuli shrugged.
'Hell if I know. All that matters is that she's gone.'
The bell rang, signaling the end of the break, and Jubilee shot a look at the lady behind the counter.
'Hall and Porter, please,' she said. The lady started looking for their envelopes, and Jubilee checked her watch nervously.
'Chill,' said Anjuli, 'you'll be a couple minutes late, it's not like it's the end of the world.'
'You said he's an unpleasant guy,' replied Jubilee. 'And do you think it was murder?'
The redhead snorted.
'With so many people hating her? She would have had it coming. But apparently she had a stroke or something.'
Anjuli's envelope was set on the counter, and she tore it open to read the letter.
'Yes!' she exclaimed, bouncing on her toes excitedly. 'I got a high score for computer programmer! I'm so going to MIT!'
'Nice,' said Jubilee half-heartedly. 'Will you be applying for an internship too?'
'Duh,' replied the redhead. 'I want to get as much hands-on experience as I possibly can. I love, love, love computers.'
The lady at the counter finished flipping through the envelopes and shook her head, giving Jubilee an apologetic look.
'Sorry, dear, it looks like yours didn't arrive.'
'Lucky me...' she sighed.
'If we do find it, we'll let you know,' promised the woman.
'Yeah, thanks,' she mumbled.
'It happens every year,' said Anjuli. 'With so many tests, a few always get lost. But I'm sure someone can talk to the people who ran the test and have them mail your results to you again. But you seem too weirded out to care anyway. Are you sure you're ok?'
'I'm fine,' she said, and Anjuli shot her a skeptical look. She looked at her feet and walked out of the mail room and into the deserted hallway. 'Let's just get to class. I have a feeling White will be displeased with me being late.'
'He's always displeased,' replied the redhead. 'Anyhow, I have English now, catch you at lunch?'
'Sure, whatever.'
Anjuli darted up the stairs and Jubilee walked without too much enthusiasm to the Chemistry lab. She could hear a male voice beyond the door, droning on about something.
Doesn't sound too menacing, she thought to herself. She took a deep breath and knocked.
'Come in,' said the male voice. There was an edge to it now, and Jubilee thought twice about going inside. She composed herself, then opened the door.
'Please excuse me for being late, sir, I-'
He glared, and she wished she could shrink in size and run away.
'Miss... Hall, is it?' he said coldly. She gave a nod. 'How nice of you to finally join us.'
'I'm sorry,' she tried. 'I was-'
'What is the element listed in the periodic table as Fe, miss Hall?'
Jubilee felt some relief at the question, and was somewhat proud of being able to give a response.
'That would be iron, sir.' That's what always comes up bad in my blood tests.
His glare remained the same.
'And Pb?'
'Lead, sir.' That's what the Police Chief got intoxicated with last year after he got shot.
Mr White tensed his jaw and kept glaring, making her feel uncomfortable enough to nearly offer to come back at another time, or just drop the class altogether, but after a moment of silence, he opened his mouth again.
'Have a seat, miss Hall.'
'Thank you, sir.'
She walked to an empty seat as quietly as possible while the teacher resumed talking about whatever it was that he'd been talking about. Very little of it reached her as visions of the dead woman danced in front of her eyes. She needed to call Chad, and tell him what the situation was. He'd know what to do. He always knew what to do.
The door opened again after a while, and the lady from the front desk stuck her head inside the classroom.
'Excuse me, mister White, there's someone here to see miss Hall.'
The teacher shot Jubilee a glance full of loathing for disturbing his class for the second time, but nodded.
Jubilee gathered her things as quickly as possible and gave her best to walk quietly across the room, in case her footsteps would represent another source of annoyance for him.
'Hall,' he said, right before she walked out of the classroom.
'Sir?'
'Don't bother coming back.'
She gave a nod and closed the door behind her.
And so I've managed to blow all of my chances of passing Chem this year, she thought as she followed the front desk lady down the hall.
'Right through here,' she said, pointing to an open door.
Before walking in, Jubilee thought she saw worry on the woman's face, but didn't have time to dwell on it as she noticed the person who was leaning casually against the teacher's desk.
Suit.
'Hello, Miss Hall,' he said pleasantly.
Suit.
'I am Agent Nelson from the CIA.'
Suit.
'I'd like to have a word with you.'
She stared at the suit, at the man in the suit, at his artificial smile, and at the ID he was holding.
'People in suits,' Chad had told her only two weeks before, 'are the most dangerous kind there is.'
'I didn't do anything,' she said quickly.
He chuckled.
'That's not why I'm here.'
'Why are you here, then?'
He lifted a file.
'You and your classmates have taken a career test a couple of days ago. We have access to the results for headhunting purpouses.'
She felt confused.
'Well, apparently, my test got lost, cause I didn't get an envelope.'
'No, miss Hall. Your evaluation went to us. Obviously, we couldn't let you receive an envelope, as we'd prefer that as few people as possible know about your career recommendation, in case you decide to follow it.'
'C-career reccommendation?' she stammered. 'So you want me to, what, to join you?'
'We want you to consider a career with the CIA. After you hear me out, of course.'
The prospect of running out the door was very tempting, but if he was an agent, then he probably had experience in chasing people down. That, and there were no witnesses around. She suddenly felt very vulnerable.
'Am I the only one in this school with such aptitudes?' she asked, backing up a couple of steps.
He stood at his full height and took a step towards her. Even with the door behind her providing an easy escape, Jubilee still felt trapped.
Come any closer and I'll scream.
'There are three other students,' he said with a glance at his watch. 'They should be here any moment now. Have a seat, please.'
Jubilee shot him a skeptical glance, then sat on the chair nearest to the door.
In a couple of moments, another student walked in. A third student arrived shortly after, followed by a the fourth. All three of them - two boys and a girl - looked as confused as she was.
Jubilee tried to shrink in her chair as agent Nelson told the other students why they were there. The other girl then stood suddenly, thanked the agent for his time, said that she didn't want to get involved in that kind of work, assured the agent of her discretion, and left.
Agent Nelson looked disappointed for a moment, but returned his full attention to the three remaining students the moment the girl left the room.
'Now,' he said, giving a mechanical smile. 'I don't know what you know about the CIA, but it's a safe bet that you learned most, if not all of it, from the movies, am I correct?'
The boys nodded, and one of them looked somewhat embarrassed.
'I can assure you,' he continued, 'that not all our employees walk around in disguise, use fancy equipment and are involved in covert operations. Some do, but there are so many other kinds of assignments, and so many other ways to serve your country. All of them are thrilling, and all of them offer the satisfaction of a job well done.'
'But,' said the boy who had looked embarrassed, 'they're not as interesting as covert operations.'
'And nowhere near as dangerous, either,' said the other boy.
The agent gave a nod.
'We'll get to that too, but not here and now. We would like to know if you are interested in a career in the CIA. For that, those of you who are interested will submit a cover letter stating what you wish to do as agents, the reasons for that, and the qualities that you have in order to succeed.'
'Until when?' asked the first boy.
'Monday morning,' replied agent Nelson, 'on this email address.' He handed each of them a card, giving them the same automatic smile as he did so. 'We'll see where we go from there.'
'Can we go now?' asked Jubilee, feeling increasingly uneasy.
The agent gave her an odd smile.
'Yes,' he replied, his eyes fixed on her. 'That would be all for now. I look forward to receiving your letters, and I thank you for your interest in joining the first line of defense our country has. Also, I would greatly appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about this meeting.'
'Then what are we supposed to say?' asked one of the boys.
'That your test results have been found, and that an important pharmaceuticals company has expressed interest in meeting you.'
'That's not plausible,' said Jubilee. 'I'm bad at chemistry.'
'Experts in chemistry aren't the only people a pharmaceuticals company needs to hire, miss. Plus, your school has seen this before. I doubt there will be trouble.'
'So this is your cover?' she asked.
'Pretty much, yes, for everyone except for the principal. She needs to know the situation of the students we intend to recruit. If they are recruited, their schedule will suffer some alterations and they will benefit from some privileges, but that's a discussion for another time.'
The bell rang, and the agent pressed his lips together for a moment.
'Thank you for your time,' he told the three students.
Jubilee took that as her cue to leave. She muttered a good-bye, walked out of the room and ran down the nearest corridor, looking over her shoulder in case the agent was following. She could still feel his eyes trained on her, giving her that odd look. Whatever it was that showed up in her results was of interest to the CIA, and, is spite of her fear, she felt a bit of pride. The CIA seemed to think that she could be more than a freaky small-town girl.
This is one twisted ego boost, she thought. With another look over her shoulder, she decided it was unlikely that the agent was following her, so she walked to her next class, taking detours on her way, just in case.
By the time she reached the Trigonometry room, nearly all the desks were occupied. She took a seat next to a girl who was doodling on her notebook.
'Hi,' she said politely.
'Hey,' replied the girl, not looking up.
Jubilee took her notebook and pens out of her bag and placed them neatly in front of her, then glanced at her watch.
Something buzzed in her brain.
She looked around her, experimentally covering her ears.
It was a muffled voice.
...stars and flowers.
She turned to her desk mate, who was still doodling.
'Sorry, did you say something?'
The girl looked up from her notebook, raised an eyebrow, shook her head, and looked at her notebook again.
Creepy new girl, heard Jubilee, this time clearer. I think I should change pen colours today. I wrote with green yesterday, maybe I could write with purple today? Yeah, purple.
Jubilee felt despair wash over her as the girl picked a purple pen out of her bag, uncapped it, and started drawing little purple flowers and stars on the corner of the blank page.
I'm going mad.
She looked at the girl again, and heard the buzz of her thoughts.
Maybe I can get a purple cape for the Halloween party. And be some kind of a vampire princess.
Oh, God, thought Jubilee, I really am going mad.
She started reciting the multiplication table in her mind and gathered her notebook and pens, then stood and hurried out the door and into the hallway.
Two times five is ten. Two times six is twelve. She reached the courtyard and broke into a run. Two times seven is fourteen. Two times eight... I can't be going mad... Two times eight is sixteen... I need something normal. I can't be going mad. Two times nine...
Her footsteps echoed in the dorm building as she ran up the stairs. Blessing her stamina, she reached her room on the fourth floor without breaking a sweat.
Her trash can was empty, except for a few discarded items. She fished the small orange container out, popped the lid off it, poured several pills into her mouth and swallowed them dry.
'I'm going mad...' she mumbled. 'This... is not right... I'm going mad.'
She hit the speed-dial for her brother and pressed the phone against her ear.
'You have reached the voicemail of-'
'No!' she cried, a note of hysteria in her voice. 'I need you now, Chad!'
Tears were stinging at her eyes, and she wiped them with the back of her hand.
'I need you...' she said again, this time desperately.
She wiped the tears from her eyes again and dialed another number on her phone.
'Hi, I need a taxi at Rutherford high school. At the front gate, please.'
'One moment, please,' said the voice at the other end. Some music came on as she was put on hold for a few moments, and she resumed reciting the multiplication table.
'Four times four is sixteen. Four times five is twenty. Four times six is-'
The music stopped.
'A taxi will be there in five minutes,' spoke the voice.
'Thanks!' said Jubilee, feeling a little bit of hope. She hung up, shoved her laptop and a few essentials in a bag and took of running to the gate. It was a longer run, especially since she avoided the paths and the security cameras overlooking them.
'Hi,' she gasped breathlessly as she reached the taxi. She opened the door and climbed in, ignoring the look the driver was giving her.
'Shouldn't you be in class now?' he asked.
She handed him a fifty dollar bill.
'None of your business,' she said. 'To the Washington Dulles airport, please.'
The driver eyed her, then the money, then shrugged and took the bill.
'You'll be there before you know it.'
Jubilee gave a relieved sigh, rubbed her forehead, and resumed reciting the multiplication table in her head.
'Hi, I'd like a ticket to Helena, Montana, please.'
The man at the counter took one look at her, then returned his attention to the screen in front of him.
'May I see your ID, miss?'
She handed her driver's license over the counter, and the man took a quick look at it.
'I'm sorry, miss, but you need to be checked in by an adult, or have their written consent to fly alone.'
'But,' she protested, 'I'll be eighteen in a couple of months, I-'
'You're underage,' said the man, 'and rules are rules.'
'Sir, please, there's gotta be some way...'
The man leaned forward and dropped her driver's license on the counter.
'Look, either you leave now, or I call Security and let them deal with you. What will it be?'
Jubilee sighed, took her ID and left before the man figured she was weird and call Security anyway.
Apart from Chad, there was just one other person in Big Rock who had gotten her out of trouble time and time again. She wasn't as easygoing as her brother, but had never left Jubilee, or any other member of the Six Pack, hanging, in spite of them repeatedly asking for it.
Jubilee hit the speed dial button, then remembered she'd removed that particular setting, and dialed the number from memory.
One ring, two, three. Then the phone was answered, and familiar music greeted her. Jubilee pressed her lips together as she recognised one of the younger skaters' program music. In a moment, the music stopped, and the voice of her former coach came through.
'Jubilee?'
'Hi, Maurey.'
'Shouldn't you be in class now?'
'I-'
'Ladies and gentlemen, this is the boarding announcement for flight UAL491 to New Orleans. Please proceed to gate 3, and have your boarding pass and identification ready. Thank you.'
Jubilee held her breath as she imagined her coach's disapproving look.
'Jubilee,' she said, 'what are you doing at the airport?'
'I want to come home, Maurey. But I can't board any planes unless an adult checks me in, and there's nobody here.'
'What happened?' asked the coach. 'Are you ok?'
'I... no, I'm not ok. I'm going insane here. I'm seeing and hearing things, the people are very strange and scary, and I just want to come back home, where all is normal and safe.'
'Slow down,' said the woman. 'What happened?'
'I think I'm losing my mind, coach, I'm-'
The phone gave a warning beep, and Jubilee pulled it away from her ear long enough to glance at the battery icon.
'And my battery's dying,' she said, her voice breaking.
'Ok, Jay, listen to me,' said Maurey urgently. 'You need to go back to school. Call me from there, and we'll talk all you want-'
'But I want to come home, Maurey! I don't want to stay here any longer!'
'Jubilee, I can't help you from here right now. Go back to school and we'll figure something out-'
The phone went silent.
Jubilee blinked back tears.
'Me and my rotten luck,' she said, letting herself fall in an empty seat. 'I should never have come here. I should have said no and stayed home...'
The dead phone regarded her quietly.
'Of all possible times, you just had to pick now to die on me, didn't you?' she asked reproachfully. All it did in reply was to show her her teary reflection.
'Bastard,' she mumbled, then dropped the phone in her pocket. 'And now what do I do?'
She dropped her head in her hands and let the tears come unrestricted. Crying usually did her good. It usually had a liberating quality as it cleared her anger and frustration, but it didn't work that way for fear. Fear had a tendency to stick, and there was nobody around to make it go away.
'Oh, come on, why are you crying?'
She looked to the source of the voice with a sob stuck in her throat. A man in his early twenties had taken the seat next to hers, and was regarding her with a concerned look on his face. He didn't seem like a threat, but agent Nelson wearing something other than a suit would have seemed harmless too. She sat up straighter and scooted closer to the edge of her seat, ready to take off running.
'You're not CIA, are you?' she blurted out.
He gave a laugh.
'What makes you think I would be CIA?'
Jubilee didn't sketch any movements. After a moment, the man gave a chuckle and shook his head.
'I'm not CIA, kid. Name's Eric.' He rummaged in his pockets for a moment and produced an ID badge. 'I go to Georgetown University. Linguistics. I think I'm innocent enough, no?'
He flashed a grin and handed her the ID. Jubilee took it and observed it carefully.
'They could easily create a fake,' she said.
Eric lifted his hands in defense.
'Hey, it's the best I can do, you'll just have to believe me I'm not CIA, FBI, NSA, MI6, KGB, or who knows what other organisation you only see in the movies. Can I have that back?'
She handed him the badge, and he put it back in his chest pocket.
'So what do you want from me?' she asked, relaxing a little into her seat.
'Just to know what a nice kid like you is doing, crying alone in a place like this.'
She regarded him quietly, unsure of what to say or do, then wiped her tears with the back of her hand.
He took a pack of tissues from a pocket and held them out.
'These aren't poisoned, I swear,' he said, a smile playing on his lips.
'What are you doing here?' she asked, not taking the tissues. 'You don't have any luggage.'
'I'm not going anywhere,' he said. 'I just dropped my grandmama and my grandpapa off for their flight back to Wisconsin. You going to use these?'
She took another look at the pack he was holding, then removed a tissue from it and blew her nose.
'Good girl,' he said. 'So, what happened?'
'Why should I trust-'
Eric placed his hand over hers, and her eyes gave a blank look for a moment. He then removed his hand, and she blinked a couple of times, then rubbed her forehead.
'Sorry,' she said, 'I'm tired.'
'It's ok,' he said, giving her the same smile as before. 'You were saying?'
'I was saying something?'
'You were telling me what it is that's so wrong that you ended up sitting in this airport alone, crying.'
'Ah.'
Jubilee leaned back in her chair and looked at her lap. Her hands folded, then unfolded, then were shoved into the pockets of her uniform jacket.
'I changed schools. I moved all the way from Montana to attend this place, and I'm all alone. And it's the first time I've ever been so alone, so far away from home, for such a long time. And everything's so new and so different, and it's so hard to get accustomed to everything. And the people, they're... different. Some are very scary. Like they might come after me.'
She stopped talking for a moment and looked around, scanning the faces of the people in the airport.
'So someone scared you?' asked Eric.
'Yeah. But that's just part of the reason why I ran away. I think... I think I'm going mad. I think I'm losing my mind. I don't want to be insane and end up in the loony bin. I...'
'Easy,' he soothed. 'What makes you think you're going crazy?'
She looked around again, then leaned closer to Eric.
'I'm hearing things,' she said in a low voice.
'Are you hearing things now?' he asked.
She looked at her lap and listened attentively.
'No,' she said after a moment.
'Maybe you just need more sleep?' suggested Eric. 'Skipping nights for various reasons can mess up your head quite nicely. Take it from someone with experience. I didn't get any sleep for two days in a row before my first final. By the time I left the exam room, I was hearing colours and tasting sounds. My friends thought I was on crack.'
Jubilee gave a small smile.
'Ok, maybe I do need more sleep. But that still leaves the people. The scary people. One of them... god, this seems so crazy, there's no way to put it so it would seem less nuts... one of these scary people thought I am actually good at a certain something, that I can do something big with my life, that there's more to me than just me. And the thought scared me so much, that I didn't think I could put enough distance between myself and that person. And then I thought I was losing it. So I just ran. I got scared, and I ran. I didn't know what else to do.'
'You know,' said Eric, 'running isn't necessarily a bad thing.'
'It is... it is, because I feel ashamed of myself. I don't know what else I could have done, but I'm still ashamed. No, scratch that.' She balled her hands into fists. 'I'm ashamed twice, once for running away and once for not coming up with a better solution than running away.'
'Hey, hey, relax,' he said. 'You're young. You're what, fifteen?'
'Seventeen.'
'Same thing,' he said, waving his hand in dismissal, 'you're young, you're allowed to get scared and run away, you're allowed to make mistakes and be confused and question everything. It's part of life. It's part of being a teenager. Yeah?'
She looked at her hands and nodded. He leaned sideways and bumped her shoulder with his.
'Yeah, kid?'
'Yeah,' she mumbled.
'And as for that person who thought you could be good at whatever it is that you could be good at, maybe they're right. What if they're right?'
'That's a scary thought,' she replied. 'All I was ever good at was figure skating, and I quit that when I came here.'
'Ok, so maybe there is more to you than just figure skating. What if you're actually good at something else? Would that be such a bad thing?'
'I don't know. It would change my life.'
'Sounds like your life has already been changed,' he said. 'You did move here. I'm not saying that you should accept all changes. Change should always be taken with a pinch of salt, that's what my grandpapa always tells me. But maybe some of the stuff that's happening to you is good. Maybe you should stop and think about things for a bit, see what could be good, what has potential for you. And go with that. Just saying.'
'I guess you're right,' mumbled Jubilee.
'Good. Now, if you care about my two cents, I say you should get back there and go get 'em. What do you say?'
She put her face in her hands.
'I'm scared,' she mumbled.
'It's ok, be scared. Experiment. Make all the mistakes you want. You get to do that now. You're allowed. Make the most of this part of your life, cause you'll be an adult soon, and then everybody will expect you to do everything properly. Heck, my grandmama got so upset when she saw me wash coloured socks and whites together, I thought I'd never hear the end of it!'
Jubilee smiled at Eric, then looked at her hands again.
'I think I should make a decision now,' she said. 'And try to stick to it.'
'Sounds good,' said Eric. 'Let's hear it.'
'I'm going to go back. And no matter how many scary people I'll encounter, and no matter how mad I'll think I'll go, I won't run away again. I'll find a better solution than running. I'll stay and fight if I have to.'
Eric grinned.
'That's the spirit!' he said cheerfully. 'Let's shake on it!'
Jubilee smiled and shook his extended hand.
'I think you picked the wrong major, you know,' she said.
'Oh?'
'You should have picked psychology. You're good with people.'
He shrugged.
'Maybe it's not too late to change my mind. I could experiment with that a bit. I may be older, but not that old,' he said with a wink.
Jubilee stood and slung her bag over her shoulder.
'Good luck, then,' she said. 'And thank you, Eric.'
'Don't mention it, kid,' he replied. 'Good luck to you too, kid. And take care.'
'You too.'
He watched her walk out of the airport, then dropped his head in his hands.
'Well done, Elleron.' said a gentle voice in his mind. 'You've made good progress with her.'
He gave a small, tired sigh.
'Thank you, my lady,' he replied. 'Take me home, please? This form is taking its toll on me.'
'Of course,' came the reply.
Nobody in the crowded airport noticed him fade into thin air.
Achilles' fingers drummed nervously on the wheel as Rutherford came into view. He'd made the trip so many times before, but he'd never felt nervous about it. He'd always felt he was in control of the situation - any situation. And if he wasn't, then he'd just gain that control. But the current situation had an unknown variable, and her name was Jubilee Hall.
Something was off. The air was wrong. It felt electric, and almost thick enough to choke on. This change in the environment he knew made him feel uneasy. He briefly wondered if he was imagining things, if it was all in his head, but then decided that that wasn't the case. His senses never lied, and there was no reason for them to start lying right then.
Gravel crunched under his tires on the familiar path after he passed the iron gates. Nothing had changed at his old school. The only thing that changed was his ability to focus, which he felt he'd gradually lost as he'd neared the school. His gaze moved of its own accord to a fourth floor window in the dorm building, and, for a moment, the world around him disappeared. He hit the brakes hard, moments before his car could hit a tree.
A curse died under his breath as his focus returned to the window with an odd fascination that frightened him. He climbed out of his car and walked closer to the dorm building, keeping his gaze on the window. He knew what was beyond the window. He couldn't see, but he knew what was there. He closed his eyes and turned around to walk back to his car. He felt like the needle of a compass, always pointing to the North. To her. She was the North. He realised how aware he was of her presence. He could almost feel her heartbeat and hear her thoughts. He wondered how hard it would be to...
He closed his eyes again, and there she was, almost within reach. He imagined taking one step closer, and then another, and reached forward.
There was a jumble of thoughts and images that could only be a dream she was having. The general feeling of it made his hair stand on its end. Then the feed changed, and was replaced by semi-coherent thoughts. She'd probably woken up.
He took a step back, and left her mind. The feeling was so different to the one he got when reading other people's minds. Hers stood out. He could see all the other minds as well, but hers was like a bright beacon, and it drew him to her like a moth to a flame. He had to take a moment and marvel at the difference - her mind was much more complex than any other mind that he'd encountered. The brief connection he'd made had left him the impression that there was so much more going on beyond the dream she was having. Hidden processes, layers upon layers of mental activity, and something akin to a nuclear reactor - a core of raw power, shining dimly through everything he'd seen. That was something he'd never encountered before. It was something part of him wanted to investigate, but another part of him promptly rejected the idea, and he felt fear. He gave a shiver, and felt goosebumps.
Making a connection to Jubilee Hal's mind gave him a sick feeling of achievement, as if he were somewhere he wasn't supposed to be, as if he were breaking some rules.
That's so stupid, he thought. There are no rules for reading people's minds.
He wondered how easy it would be to place a thought, an image to hurt her, to torment her, to drive her crazy. An illusion, only for her to see and to fear.
No.
He turned around and walked back to his car, unable to stop himself from looking back, over his shoulder, to the dark window
What the hell is wrong with me? He asked himself. The will to hurt others had never been there. Not without reason. When on assignment, the reason why he did what he did was... purely professional. He never harmed another living being just because he could. And he could.
'What are you, Jubilee Hall?' he mumbled.
His hand hovered over the door handle, and he couldn't convince himself to leave, not just yet. He glanced at the window one more time, and froze.
The girl he'd only seen in the photo was looking straight at him.
~*~
Jubilee tossed and turned in her sleep, in the middle of what she jokingly called "a routine nightmare". There was nothing specific about the dream, just a general feeling of dread that woke her with a start, lingered for a little while, and then was gone. But something was off. She was always the sole spectator of her own nightmares. In the riptide of this dream, however, there was someone watching. The dread turned to terror as she became more and more aware of the watcher. Whoever they were, they were close. Close enough to reach, close enough to touch.
She woke up with a start and choked. The air felt thick, almost material, and her head swam. Her conservation instinct kicked in and she remained still, analysing the change in the atmosphere. Electric was the only word for it. She moved her hand in front of her face, almost expecting to see sparks. Seeing that nothing happened, she breathed in, then out, glad that oxygen reached her brain, but was still terrified.
The watcher was there, somewhere near, and very real.
Her breath hitched and she sat up and inched closer to the wall on her right. Mara, the switchblade, was still sticking out of the side of the closet. She reached out and grabbed it, gripping the handle until her knuckles turned white. There was little a knife could do against a threat she couldn't see or describe, but it was better than nothing.
The watcher was located somewhere to her right. The courtyard was to her right. Her only comfort was that it was four floors below. With that thought in mind, she crawled to the window, moving slowly, switchblade in hand.
She half-expected a face in front of her window, some ghoul or zombie, some mythical creature she'd never dismissed as unreal. But there was nothing there to go "boo!". Instead, on one side of the gravel path stood a car and a boy.
He looked up, eyes wide in surprise, and stared at her for what seemed like a terrifying eternity. She couldn't move or look away, and felt that even if she did move, run off and hide somewhere, he'd still be watching her.
Surprise slowly left his face, and was replaced by a hateful glare. Quietly, he broke eye contact, climbed into his car and drove away.
'Oh, god,' breathed Jubilee, watching his car head for the garage. She gripped the handle of the switchblade tighter, and slid to the mattress in fetal position, shaking with fear.
I always thought I was alone in my head, she thought. Looks like I was wrong.
Elleron's hand reached for the wall the moment he appeared in the familiar room, and he leaned on it for support, breathing heavily. Slowly, he shrunk in size, shifting to a shape more comfortable to him. A smaller body needed less energy, and he felt less like he was going to collapse as a small fennec fox than as a human. Nevertheless, he curled up against the wall and let out a deep sigh.
A ball of fire hit the wall above his head, and he flattened his large ears to avoid the flames. Alaryon hit the wall the next moment, but jumped right back at the creature he was fighting, hands ablaze.
'Is this going to take long?' asked Elleron.
Alaryon threw another punch at the creature, then let it disappear.
'You're back already?' he asked, surprised.
'She's a very reasonable girl,' replied Elleron. 'Thank gods. I can't remember the last time I've been this tired.'
Alaryon sat on the floor next to the fennec and waited.
'Well?' he asked after a couple of moments. 'What did you do?'
'I spoke to her.'
'And?'
'And convinced her not to give up.'
Alaryon balled his hands into fists.
'You had no right, Elleron.'
'I was following orders.'
Alaryon hesitated, then spoke again, sounding less sure of himself.
'She had no right, either.'
'Don't let her hear you say that, old friend,' replied Elleron. 'None of us get to question her judgement. I'm sure she has her reasons.'
'And I have mine!' snapped Alaryon. 'I have watched her all her life. I have been there ever since-'
'One moment too late,' said Elleron faintly.
Alaryon's flaming fist hit the floor.
'Don't.'
'You are biased, my friend,' replied the fennec, unaffected. 'You still see her as the child she was then. And it's been twelve years. Things change in twelve years. Soon she'll have to decide where her life is going. How is she supposed to decide if you want to make her decisions for her? You really trust her this little?'
'She's young-'
'She's not a child any more!' Elleron stood shakily and glared at him. 'You've seen her grow, but you weren't really watching. You weren't paying attention. You're so consumed by guilt that you want to put her in a glass bubble and keep her from the world, just in case she gets the chance to become something.'
Alaryon glared back, then his shoulders hunched forward in defeat.
'I'd rather keep her from becoming anything than to have her be unsafe,' he said slowly.
'I understand your point of view,' spoke the fennec. 'But I also see the Lady's. And I know the girl. She's been extraordinary from day one, she can do so much, there was no reason for her to run away from everything she could be. All we have to do is let her grow a little.'
'I don't want her to be harmed.'
'None of us do. But it's part of life. Like death is.'
Alaryon glared.
'Don't go there, my friend.'
Elleron shook his head.
'I'm not going anywhere. I just want you to understand that she's perfectly capable of looking after herself, all we have to do is let her do so. And some things just need to happen.'
'Like they needed to happen for Achilles?'
'There's nothing we can do about Achilles now. There's nothing anybody can do about him, really. Gods help us all if we touch him. But that's not the case with her, thankfully. She could easily be one of us.'
'You know what that implies.'
'I know.'
'It's too dangerous. For her and for those around her.'
'And just because it's dangerous we should abandon the idea?'
'We need to find another way.'
'There is no other way.'
Alaryon looked pained for a moment.
'There is no other way...' he echoed.
'And what if it becomes her choice?'
He looked at the fennec, eyes wide.
'You wouldn't-'
'Of course I wouldn't. The question is, would you interfere?'
'I...'
'Think, my friend.'
'...I don't think I could. I would, but I don't think I could.'
Elleron nodded.
'None of us could.'
'Achilles could.'
Elleron gave a nod, then started pacing pensively.
'Interesting that you mention that... he's there now, with her.'
Alaryon stood sharply.
'He's there? Why?'
'I can't answer that.'
Alaryon's face turned into a mask of anger.
'I think I know who can,' he said, disappearing into thin air.
Dun-dun.
Dun-dun.
Jubilee turned in her seat and glared at the three students who were watching Jaws on a laptop at the breakfast table. They took no notice of her, and it wasn't like they were breaking any rules anyway. It was Saturday morning, and hardly any students were left in the school. Most of the ones who'd stayed were skipping breakfast and sleeping in, so apart from herself and a couple of other students scattered around the dining hall, they weren't annoying too many people.
Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun.
Gotta admit, she thought, that the song is quite appropriate.
Her eyes darted around, waiting for the watcher to show up.
The air still felt electric, and the feeling of dread lingered at the back of her mind, making her jumpy. She had taken her pulse before, during and after her morning run, and the odd twenty extra beats per minute she'd registered in all measurements, as opposed to the ones she had taken the days before, couldn't possibly have another cause but the stranger who'd been in her head.
He was still around, on the school grounds, but no longer forcing his way into her mind.
For the moment.
The freshmen behind her made small frightened noises, and she turned around, glancing around the room for danger.
'Where the hell have you been, Marvel?'
Jubilee jumped and turned back around. Opposite from her, Anjuli set her tray on the table and sat down, regarding her inquisitively.
'What?'
The redhead picked up her fork and stabbed the air in Jubilee's direction.
'Yesterday, you weren't here. Where were you?'
'I wasn't feeling well,' replied Jubilee. 'So I skipped lunch.'
'And class as well?'
'And class as well.'
Anjuli raised her eyebrows, then nodded approvingly and started prodding her breakfast with her fork.
'Skipped half a day of classes, nice! I didn't think you had it in you.'
'Thanks,' mumbled Jubilee, doubting that skipping school was indeed an admirable action.
'What about your phone?'
'Battery died, and I didn't notice until late last night.'
'But still,' sad the redhead stabbing the fork in her direction again, 'geographically, where were you?'
'In my-'
'You weren't in your room.'
Jubilee suddenly felt uncomfortable. Coming from a Rutherford staff member, that question would have been legit, but not from a fellow student whom she barely knew, and especially not while feeling cornered by a watcher she'd only seen once.
'What's with the interrogatory?' she asked, defensively.
'I bloody had to cover for you in Trig and English,' snapped Anjuli. 'You could tell me where you were.'
Jubilee stared.
'You covered for me?'
'Duh.'
Confusion took over for a moment. Sure, back at home, the Six Pack were covering for each other all the time, but that was different. They'd known each other for as long as Jubilee could remember,
'...Thank you.'
'Don't mention it. But give me a heads-up when you run off next time, so I'll actually have time to prepare a decent excuse.'
It took a moment for the surprise to wear off and for Anjuli's words to sink in.
'Decent?' asked Jubilee. 'Wait, what did you tell them, Anjuli?'
The redhead looked at her fork.
'That you had gotten your period and weren't feeling well.'
Jubilee felt her face heat up in embarrassment.
'You're mad!'
'Hey,' said Anjuli apologetically, 'it's not like anyone was going to ask questions after hearing that!'
'Yeah,' groaned Jubilee, 'and unfortunately the earth can't swallow me whole, either!'
'Hey,' snapped the redhead, 'I did you a favour!'
Jubilee gave a defeated sigh.
'Yeah, you did save me from some trouble. Thanks.'
'Don't mention it. So, what really happened? And why... do you look like you've seen a ghost?'
Jubilee stared terrified at the door, feeling her hands and feet suddenly go very cold. The watcher was standing there, regarding her quietly. Her eyes darted quickly to the door to her left, and she calculated the time she would need to put a safe distance between herself and him. Then she calculated the odds of him catching up with her, and things didn't look promising.
'Marvel?'
Anjuli turned in her seat to look at him.
'You know him?' she asked.
'Dunno,' managed Jubilee.
'That's Achilles Grimoire,' said the redhead and, to Jubilee's horror, waved to him. He nodded back. She turned around and resumed pushing her breakfast around her plate. 'He was a junior last year, then he dropped out of school. Looks like he's back.'
Jubilee couldn't look away from him. He started talking to a student, but kept looking at her every other moment with a cold gaze.
'Why is he back?' she asked, lowering her voice, for fear that he might hear her.
'Beats me, probably to finish his education. And Rutherford is pretty much the only school which would have him back. Why are you staring at him like that? It's rude.'
Jubilee glanced at the goosebumps on her arms, and tried to suppress a shudder.
'He's creepy.'
Anjuli shrugged.
'He's not that creepy, compared to some people here.'
'He's creepy enough to me,' mumbled Jubilee.
She watched him fill a cup with coffee and leave the dining hall, then allowed herself to relax a little.
'Never mind him,' said Anjuli with a wave of her hand. 'So I got an invite from an IT company for a two-week internship. Is this cool or what?'
Jubilee raised her eyebrows.
You're that smart?
'Yeah, that is pretty cool, actually.'
Anjuli grinned.
'Starts in a couple weeks. I can't believe my luck! Too bad they couldn't find your test, who knows what neat invite you could have gotten.'
Jubilee sighed.
You have no idea what came up in my test results...
And still, she mused, what harm would it do to get an opinion, be it for a half-truth, and be it from someone who was still a stranger to her? Chad had been silent for days, and he could stay that way for another while, for all she knew. And as long as she said the right things, she wasn't breaking any rules or jeopardising anybody. It wouldn't matter to anyone anyway, and someone to talk to would do no harm to anybody. The talk with stranger in the airport, Eric, had left her feeling a little more brave. And she'd made that promise, of not backing down, of which she had been proud for a couple of hours. After facing the watcher, though, she had placed it first in the top five worst decisions she'd ever made. She held her ground out of stubbornness, even though she felt him constantly stare into her brain.
This consequence of sharing my problems with a stranger set up a bad precedent, she thought. But another experience could infirm the rule. Maybe.
'Yeah, about the test,' she said without too much enthusiasm, 'I got an invite, too.'
'No way!' exclaimed Anjuli, dropping her fork. 'That's so awesome! So they found your test scores?'
'Yeah, I scored high for' Lie. 'business and finance.'
Anjuli clapped, bouncing in her seat with excitement.
'W00t! So something from your stepparents did rub off on you! Who sent you the invite?'
Jubilee said the first thing that came to mind without blinking.
'A pharmaceuticals company.'
'Big?'
She shrugged, and hoped it didn't look fake.
'I suppose. They talked to a bunch of other kids too, and told us to write a cover letter. Apparently that's what they'll use to choose the lucky winner.'
'So write it! Did you start on it?'
Jubilee looked down and sighed.
'I... don't really want to.'
'Why the hell not?' demanded Anjuli.
'I didn't like the guy who came over to talk to me.'
Anjuli rolled her eyes.
'There will always be a bunch of guys whom you won't like, no matter where you go. Like Grimoire.'
Jubilee felt the dread return, and she looked around the dining hall one more time, in case he was back.
'Good God, I really hope they won't be like Grimoire.'
'I don't know why you find him so creepy, seriously. Sure, he looks a bit off, but he's a good guy, if you take the time to know him.'
Jubilee felt her blood draining out of her face at the idea of getting to know the watcher, and she gave a quick shake of her head.
'Or not,' said Anjuli. 'Didn't think you'd be All the same, you should write the cover letter. Looks good with the teachers.'
'How good?'
'Very good. Even better if you're chosen, but they like to see us try and do something for our professional futures. You might have figured that most kids here are taking things for granted. Can't blame them, either. All Mommy or Daddy have to do is make a phone call and their darling offspring have a job paying a couple hundred grand per year. That prospect is hardly motivating them to take school, or anything else, seriously.'
'Do the teachers also read the cover letters?'
'Not unless you go to a teacher for guidance, no. What are you thinking about?'
Jubilee tapped her chin with her forefinger as cogs turned in her head to produce an acceptable solution.
'I suppose I could write it in such a manner as to make sure that nobody in their right mind gives me that internship.'
Anjuli grinned.
'I like that strategy. Do share!'
Jubilee leaned forward, a smile playing on her lips.
'I'll give you a hint. How do you make sure people don't like something you wrote?'
Anjuli had to think for a moment.
'Bad grammar?' she tried.
Jubilee nodded and grinned.
'I'm going to take that to the extreme.'
Achilles sat at the back of the library, staring at the open notebook in front of him. Pages full of solved equations stared back at him, telling him nothing.
He'd stayed up all night doing algebra, because there was no other way to keep his brain busy. Algebra had always been one of his favourite subjects, and he'd always found it easy to immerse himself in work and shut everything else away. Even Jubilee Hall.
Every time he'd paused, his mind had wandered back to her. To the way she'd looked at him from her window. And to the first person who had ever looked at him like that.
About a year before, he had received a job. An easy task - get in, kill the guy, get out. Easy money, and client satisfaction guaranteed.
He had snuck into the victim's house some time after midnight. His target was in the kitchen, making tea, and not noticing the teenager standing in the doorway with a loaded 9mm Browning. Achilles made sure he wasn't noticed. It was a little effort from his part, but it was easier if the victim had no thoughts of horror to haunt him later. Once he'd refined his technique, sneaking into his victims' minds and making sure he wasn't noticed, his victims didn't know what hit them.
Too confident in himself, Achilles didn't take one variable into account - the victim's cat. Right when he pulled the trigger, the animal brushed against his foot, making him jump. His hand shook, and the bullet hit the target's throat. Momentarily stunned, Achilles stared at the red torrent pouring out of the man's throat as he fell to the floor.
The victim's eyes bore into his murderer's with a knowing terror. The boy in Achilles wanted to run and hide. The trained killer in him, however, stood his ground, and lifted his gun once again. One bullet in the brain ended the victim's suffering.
The target had only looked at him for one moment, but it had been enough to haunt him even a year later. And that girl, that wretched little bitch brought it back with full force. One look at him was enough for him to want to run and hide.
For the first time since his mistake on that job, he felt weak. And as much as he wanted to get rid of her, and of her terrified little face, there was something about her that made him back down. He didn't feel confident enough to rummage in her brain. He didn't feel confident enough to be in the same room with her, in case she'd look at him like that again. The first time, in the courtyard, he'd kept his brave face on long enough to leave with dignity. The second time, in the dining hall, he'd felt his defenses falter. She seemed scared out of her mind, but fear was beginning to get to him too, so he'd left. He hated to think about what their third encounter would be like.
Just by staring at him in terror, she had managed to make the worst parts of him come to light. She made him feel weak, guilty and doubtful.
How dare she?
'Stupid girl,' he muttered. 'You don't know who you're messing with.'
He turned his head to her direction. She had been on the move recently, apparently running around the grounds. All he'd had to do was close his eyes and see her, like a glowing little dot, moving in the dark. Now she was in her room, staying in one place for a while, then moving around, then staying put again, then walking around some more. She was becoming annoying.
Being so aware of her presence made him even more uncomfortable. At first it was interesting, but then he felt like she was permanently with him, reminding him of unpleasant things. Something had to be done.
She had to go, and fast, otherwise he'd lose his mind.
The agent blinked through the rain drops. The balaclava covering her face was so wet, she felt like she was going to drown if she kept breathing through the material. She quickly evaluated the chances of being seen, then removed the balaclava and wiped the wet scope of her rifle with it before tossing the fabric to the side. Not that the wiping did any good, the scope would be rendered useless again in a few moments by the rain. She took those few moments to locate her target - he was pacing around the living room of the house opposite from the building on top of which she was lying flat on her stomach, soaking wet, frozen solid, and completely miserable.
'For the love of...' she grumbled through gritted teeth, wiping the scope again. 'Just stand still,' she then growled at the target. 'I want to get this over with.'
'Talking to me, precious?' asked a voice in her headpiece.
'Shut up, Miller,' she said. 'You're doing mighty fine sitting in that warm room, wearing dry clothes, and not trying to blow someone's brains out on fucking Christmas Eve.'
'Ok, ok, I'll be quiet, love,' chuckled Miller. 'Just wondering how you were doing.'
'Peachy.' She spat. 'I enjoy being out in the freezing rain. You should try it sometime.'
'No, doll face,' he said smugly. 'That's your job. I get to sit at the console and listen to you curse.'
'You're going to listen to a lot more of that if you don't shut up now.'
'Always a lady,' he chuckled again.
The agent muttered a few expressive words and removed her headpiece. Screw protocol. Protocol didn't care about her when they sent her to Blantyre on Christmas Eve. Protocol was for people who gave a damn. She didn't. She just wanted to go home.
A curse escaped her lips as the man walked out of the room. She wiped the scope again, and waited. The door opened again, and she positioned her finger on the trigger. But the person who came in through the door was not her target. She felt her pulse rise as a boy in a wheelchair was pushed in through the door by her target - his father. She didin't know he had a son. She suddenly felt a lot more sympathetic towards the person whose fate her superiors had sealed.
The target wheeled the little boy over to the large Christmas tree in the corner, sat down in front of him and handed him a present.
Even through the wet scope, the agent could see the joy on the child's face. It was something she had seen before, and something she had learned to cherish very much over the past years. She knew how he felt, seeing the happiness on his son's face, and she knew how he felt knowing his child had a problem that was beyond his power to fix. She couldn't...
Without giving things a second thought, she disassembled the rifle and set it back in its case.
In her chest pocket was a phone she wasn't supposed to own, the kind that was reserved for the elite agents, the select few that worked so undercover, only a handful of people in the world knew who they were. She had blackmailed Blair into giving it to her years before, and then blackmailed him again to let her keep it.
She dialed the number from memory.
'Hello?' Answered a male voice.
'It's me. Can I talk to her?'
The man on the other end sighed.
'We've talked about this.'
'Yes, we have. And don't make me remind you what else we've talked about, it won't be pleasant for either of us. Let me talk to her.'
'Fine.' replied the man.
The other end fell silent, and the agent listened to the rain drops as she waited for what seemed like a small eternity.
'Hi Mommy!'
Suddenly, the rain didn't feel as cold, and she felt a smile slowly creep on her face.
'Hey, baby. How are you?'
'I'm fine,' chirped the little girl, 'Ted was just reading me a story about Santa Claus!'
'That's wonderful, sweetie. Did you write your letter?'
'Yes! I wrote Santa and told him I wanted you here for Christmas.'
'I'll be there, baby. I promised, remember?'
'And Daddy?'
The agent fell silent for a moment.
'I don't think Daddy can come.'
'Oh,' said the little voice, and the agent felt her heart break.
'I'm sure he's thinking about you, baby.'
'I guess so.'
'Look, I'll talk to him, ok?'
A half-lie that would make the child feel better, and the agent less guilty. It would work for another while, then she would have to come up with something else. The kid was smart, and she was figuring things out fast. It all was only a matter of time.
'Ok, Mommy,' said the child.
'I love you, baby. Be good, ok? I'll be there tomorrow morning.'
'Ok. I love you too, Mommy.'
'Bye, baby.'
The agent put the phone away, then picked up her headpiece, shook the excess water off it, and put it back on.
'Miller?'
'Yes, love?'
'The rifle's jammed. There's no way I can make it work tonight.'
'Aw, doll,' he said, audibly amused, 'I never thought I'd see the day you'd scratch a mission because of a faulty gun.'
The agent kicked her foot in annoyance.
'Look, bitch, I'm not going to waltz through this guy's front door and kill him. Unless you have another rifle waiting for me here and now, I'm aborting this mission.'
'Hey, hey, no need to get like that,' said Miller defensively. 'So, you're coming home?'
'Yeah.'
'You need someone to pick you up at the airport?'
'No need.'
'Ok, love. Merry Christmas.'
'Yeah, Miller. Merry Christmas to you too.'
'You look like hell, Marvel,' said Anjuli conversationally on Monday morning. 'Did you even sleep last night?'
Jubilee shook her head and took the last swig of coffee out of her travel mug.
'Couldn't sleep.' That goes for the night before, too.
'Did you try sleeping pills?'
'I think I'm too young for those,' she replied, peering through the hole in the lid of the travel mug, to convince herself that it was indeed empty. Visual confirmation obtained, she closed the lid and shoved the mug in her backpack. 'Besides, I don't take any medication before consulting my doctor.'
The redhead rolled her eyes.
'Don't be a pansy, that won't get you anywhere. I know someone who sells some good stuff.'
Jubilee stared, surprised.
'What, in this school? Drugs?'
'Shhh!' hissed Anjuli. 'Of course,' she said in a hushed tone. 'What, you thought this place was clean?'
'I guess I'm still having trouble processing how nice everything looks from the outside and how fucked up it is on the inside.'
'God, you're innocent,' sighed Anjuli. 'This is part of real life. Drugs, corruption, and money that can buy anything. Like you coming here in the middle of the semester and Grimoire returning to school.'
'I got a scholarship here,' replied Jubilee. 'I didn't even consider coming-'
'Believe me when I tell you that that scholarship was bought for good money, Marvel. Someone payed to get you here.'
'I don't think-'
'Please,' she said, with a roll of her eyes, 'you just haven't been in this world long enough. And it will also be very interesting to see if you get that internship. If it's that good, chances are it will be given to the kid whose daddy is the most persuasive over the phone.'
'Is that how you got yours?' asked Jubilee coldly.
'Maybe,' replied the redhead casually. 'Or maybe not. The important thing is that I got it.'
'If this is how things go, then maybe I won't get mine, and I worried for nothing.'
'Keep in mind that the company might want you, in which case they might take you no matter how many phone calls they get. There was this girl last year...'
Jubilee's attention shifted from Anjuli to the approaching Achilles Grimoire. His pace slowed for a moment upon spotting her, then he resumed walking briskly down the hall. He stared at her curiously as he went, and she felt her muscles tense, ready to bolt at the first sign of danger. The only thing that calmed her a little was that the hall was crowded, and he would not attempt anything with so many witnesses around. She pushed her legs to carry her forward, keeping her eyes trained on him until the moment he passed by her.
'Are you listening?' asked Anjuli annoyedly.
'Did you notice he has burgundy eyes?' she blurted out.
Anjuli laughed.
'Burgundy, yeah. I bet they're contacts. He's not the only one with stuff like this around here. And you're not one to talk, when did you have your ears pointed like that?'
Jubilee felt the blood leave her face. In small town Big Rock, people were accustomed to her, the resident weird kid. Eerie as she was, with her pointed ears and her odd blue eyes, she seemed more normal than other kids her age who looked more like pincushions than people. Nobody pointed at her on the street and none of the parents at the rink withdrew their kids from the Learn-to-Skate classes when she volunteered to teach. In Big Rock, she could almost feel normal.
But this wasn't Big Rock any more, and people were bound to notice that there was something off about the new girl. She did have a lie ready, and the fabricated facts to back it up, but that didn't make her feel less uncomfortable.
'Last year,' she replied.
'Huh, nice,' said Anjuli. 'I heard this kind of surgery enhances your hearing. Can you really hear better like this?'
Jubilee felt somewhat relieved by Anjuli's relaxed attitude, but having her anomalies pointed out like that after such a long time felt like violations of her most private space.
'Yeah, but it took them forever to heal.'
'And are those contacts, or were you actually born with your eyes like this?
'No, I was born like this,' she replied. 'My brother jokes that I was adopted from Pripyat.'
Anjuli laughed and opened her mouth to say something else, but a loud announcement boomed from the hallway speakers.
'Jubilee Hall, to the principal's office, please.'
Jubilee stared upwards, puzzled, at the hallway speakers, as if they should have provided her with an answer, and then shot a glance at Anjuli, who shot her an inquiring and distrustful look.
'I didn't do anything,' she said quickly.
'You must have done something!' replied the redhead.
'I didn't-'
'And worse, you didn't tell me!' she continued. 'Don't think that you're not going to tell me all about it when you get back!'
Jubilee shook her head helplessly.
'I swear I didn't do anything,' she grumbled, and headed towards the principal's office.
Heads looked at her curiously as she walked down the hall and up the stairs. Turning a corner, she almost bumped into James Wright, who looked down at her bemusedly.
'Already in trouble?' he said with a grin.
'Hell if I know,' she threw back over her shoulder.
'Have fun!' he called after her. 'And tell the dragon lady I miss her!'
This got a chuckle out of her, and she reached the principal's office a little more lighthearted than she'd been when she'd heard her name in the speakers. After all, she'd been to the principal's office more times than she could remember back in Big Rock. She felt like an expert in the matter.
She knocked, heard the principal's invitation to come in, and pushed the door open.
The principal was sitting behind her desk, smiling nervously.
Someone was sitting in one of the chairs in front of her - a man in a suit. He turned in his chair and gave Jubilee the same smile that had made her so uneasy a few days before.
'Miss Hall,' said principal Franklin, her voice strained, 'come in.'
Jubilee walked inside the office and closed the door.
'Agent Nelson of the CIA would like to have a word with you,' said the principal, glancing nervously from her to the man in the suit. 'Now, if you will excuse me, I will leave you to discuss your matters alone.'
Jubilee shot the principal a startled look, which the woman dodged.
You're leaving me here alone with this man?
'Excuse me, miss Hall,' said the principal, and Jubilee stepped away from the door to let the woman pass. She walked out and let the door close heavily behind her.
In the moments of silence that followed, Jubilee stared anxiously at the man in the suit. He stood from his chair, still smiling, and gestured to the chair beside the one he'd been occupying.
'Take a seat, miss Hall,' he said cheerfully.
She made no move to sit down, staring at the man in the suit instead. He would say something soon. He would probably ask her if she was dumb. He would probably say that she's an idiot for sending him that cover letter. Or he would probably say that she's the CIA's idea of an operative.
The last thought made her feel outraged, and she said the first words that came to her mind.
'You have got to be kidding me.'
Agent Nelson looked at her with mild amusement.
'I'm sorry, miss Hall, what makes you think I would be kidding you?'
Jubilee felt heat rush up to her cheeks. She glanced at the door, and wondered how far she could get, should she need to run, then remembered how nervous the principal looked, and deduced that she probably wouldn't get very far at all. Franklin would back the agent up, and it would be her against the CIA. She felt trapped and scared. This was one situation she knew for sure she couldn't run away from.
'The CIA doesn't send its agents to personally give the negative replies to high school brats,' she said, her words coming out rapidly. 'which is why you're either here to tell me that I've been accepted, or to tie up a loose end.'
'That's a very good observation,' he said. 'And no, I am not here to tie up any loose ends. I am here to tell you that you have been selected for our internship. Allow me to extend my congratulations-'
'Why?' she demanded. 'Why on earth did you choose me?'
'To be frank, miss, there were a multitude of factors, among which was your cover letter as well.'
His words echoed in her brain, and she didn't know whether she should be terrified, outraged or amused.
'My cover letter?' she echoed. 'Has anyone even read my cover letter? Do you even know what it says? Anybody but a complete idiot would have tossed it into the garbage and blacklisted me!'
'I read it, miss Hall, and I thought that it was very interesting, and quite illuminating concerning your personality.'
She rolled her hands into fists, not believing her own ears. Outrage was building up, and she felt anger pushing its way through.
'It was in LOLcat, for heaven's sake!' she said, and her words came through an octave higher than her normal voice. 'How can anyone who writes in LOLcat be considered noteworthy by the CIA? I don't understand what you people are after, kids dumb enough to be cannon fodder for your operations? Stupid expendables to die so that your better staff won't have to?'
'I like how you think,' he said with a smirk, 'but no.'
He stood and began pacing, tapping his finger to his chin as he walked, as if choosing his words properly. As he moved around the room, Jubilee backed up to the wall farthest away from him. Only dignity stopped her from flattening herself against the wall. She hoped that the fear she was feeling was not entirely visible to the trained eye of the recruiting agent.
'You see, miss,' he spoke, 'we need people who show great promise.'
'You're kidding,' she mumbled. He either did not hear her, or pretended not to.
'You could be great. You could be more than you are. More than a little figure skater who has had her ears pointed just to be special.'
She stared.
'What?'
'We did a background check on you, miss Hall,' he said with a creepy smile.
'Of course you did,' she said slowly, feeling even more dread creeping into her mind. She wondered what else they had found out about her, and suddenly felt defeated.
'There's nothing more to me than this,' she said, sitting into the chair that was nearest to her. 'I'm nothing special.' She paused, remembering her nightmares, how she thought she could hear voices, how sensitive her hearing was and how easily she mimicked and learned.
'Nothing special, agent Nelson. You are wasting your time on the girl who wrote in LOLcat to the CIA.'
She heard him chuckle as he walked past her chair and took a seat behind the principal's desk.
'I wouldn't be here if I didn't think it was worth my time. Let's see now, miss Hall, from what I learned about you, you are a driven young woman. You have good results in school, better than your colleagues from your former skating club. You seem to try harder. We like that. Also, you being an athlete gives you physical advantages. You are what, five feet tall?'
'Five foot one.'
'Five foot one,' he echoed. 'You look like a fourteen year-old, you're short and thin, but I'm betting that your weakness is only apparent. It would be only natural, after eleven years of skating. You have strength and resistance to effort, fatigue and pain. That is something we are looking for. You are a good candidate from this point of view. You are also working well as part of a team, but excel when it comes to working alone. You perform well under pressure.'
'I'm not an athlete any more,' she said, her words coming out in a defeated mumble. She looked down at her fancy shoes, which stared back dumbly in return.
'You are an athlete for as long as you live,' he replied. 'Don't tell me you have given up exercising and living a healthy life just because you quit figure skating.'
She continued to stare at her feet, but shook her head after a moment.
'Of course you didn't,' he continued. 'So we have perseverance, athleticism, a sharp mind, the ability to perform under pressure, independence - otherwise you wouldn't be here, at Rutherford, and you are not shy. You fit the profile for many positions. We want to see if you also fit in this Agency, which is why we are offering you the internship. If we like you, you could join us after you finish high school, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.'
'Has anyone else been selected?' she asked.
'No. We have one opening, and you fit the profile best.'
'How can you tell?' she asked. 'It doesn't make sense, it has only been 24 hours since I emailed you my cover letter, and you are already here. I don't think you have considered it enough.'
'Miss Hall, I know a good potential agent when I see one. I don't need to consider things further. What do you say, do you agree to attend this internship?'
'I don't know.'
'The policy,' he said, leaning over the desk, 'is to give you 24 hours to make up your mind. But I do not think that you need all this time to think things through. You already know what we do and what we want, and that you are a good candidate. The worst thing that can happen to you is to perform badly, and to be rejected, in which case all this is over and we leave you alone for the rest of your life. There is no reason to turn this offer down.
He stood, rounded the desk and approached her. She grew even uneasier, and, with the idea of running away already out of the question, stared unblinkingly up at him, feeling her heart racing in her throat.
He stopped a few paces away from her, and shot her a concerned look, which seemed to melt away his rehearsed, artificial expressions.
'Why are you so afraid of me, miss Hall?'
She looked at him, but didn't reply.
'I want you to understand,' he said, speaking carefully, as if to a child, 'that it is not my intention to bring any harm to you. I see potential, and I go for it. That's how I work. I want you to grow and become something great. You grow, you help the CIA grow. You become great, the CIA becomes great too.'
'The CIA already is huge,' she said.
'It is, but there's always room for growth. And we need good people, who are very hard to find.'
'You don't know if I'm good.'
'No, I don't. I'm only here because there are several things about you that fit the pattern that generally applies to good agents. But we can't know for sure how good you are for us until we see for ourselves. This is why we have created this program, and this is why I am here right now. Think, miss Hall. Do you want to take this chance and maybe become something greater than you've ever dreamed of? You could have more than everything you've ever wanted. You could be right there, in our very first line of defense. You could serve your country.'
'What makes you think,' she said, 'that I am the kind of person for whom her country matters this much?'
'You probably don't think about it that way, indeed, you're young. But your country aside, how would you feel, knowing that you are doing something so much more amazing than any of the people you know? And I can tell you it certainly beats what you're doing at this point.'
'I'm fine with what I'm doing,' she said, and immediately noted how unconvinced she sounded. For a moment she stared silently at her shoes, then looked up at the agent, who smiled contemptibly down at her.
'Say that again,' he said, almost like a dare.
She took a deep breath and sat up straight, looking the agent in the eye with the boldness she had been missing throughout the entire conversation.
'Ok,' she said, 'fine, you win. I do want to do more with my life at this moment than to sit here like the perfect little library mouse. A break from this would be very welcome, even if it's for just a couple of days. I'm sick of this. So fine, I will go with you.'
Agent Nelson's face lit up by a broad, proud smile.
'There's the girl that I was talking about,' he said triumphantly. 'You,' he said, walking over to her chair, 'you could be great. Let's see just how great.'
He beamed with satisfaction as he held out his hand. Jubilee looked up at him, thinking how she resented him, but how she resented her new life even more. At least he was offering her something new and exciting - in good and bad ways - which would break her out of her lethargy. She had nothing to lose by going with him, and then she could return to her nerdy life and continue scoring A's like a perfect bookworm.
Without giving things more thought, she stood and shook the agent's outstretched hand. His smile widened even more.
'Looking forward to working with you, miss Hall.'