Disclaimer. This is not my story, if it was, I would be bragging about it. Probably. All characters and names belong to Libba Bray.
"I will not tolerate this disruptive behavior in my class! Ann, there shall be no painting for you today. Now, let us start our class, we've to start a most tiring and busy day. Ladies, who shall translate of my first painting?" Nobody answered. Miss Moore looked around the left side of the classroom. Oh god, please don't let her choose me. Felicity shot me a stare. I looked away from her. Not tonight. We were not to go into the realms tonight; Kartik said that something horrible was to happen. For some reason, I believed him. The Rakshana had been keeping a rather close watch on me, since the runes of the runes of the realms had been destroyed. What they fear, I do not know.
The dress I was wearing today was most suffocating. I struggled in my seat on the rock and stopped as a loud Pmmpph filled the classroom. Felicity looked my way and started laughing out loud, most unladylike.
Miss Moore shot her a stare and she instantly shut her mouth. How I wish Ann were here, she would be able to explain to Felicity why we could not go into the realms. "…..Right! And Miss Gemma, would you like to tell me of what worthy things Felicity had just said?" I smiled at her, a most nervous smile.
"Um..." I started, "Yes Miss Moore, I shall. Felicity was explaining to us that…" Really, I had no idea what Felicity had been just saying. I looked at her with a pleading look in my eyes but she turned around, just as I did to her. I grumbled in my seat and Miss Moore walked to the front of the cave and ignored me. Tom shall never forgive me for this. Fine, young women, we are supposed to be. What would he think of me when he learned I was dozing off? I shook my head and looked at my drawing of a banana. It did not look much like a banana. Perhaps clay misshaped and pounded on with something unnamable. I frowned and painted some more white around the edges and stared at it again. It looked as if it needed more light, but I could not quite place were to put the white. Now it looked like a blinding light. With clay in the middle of it and little red dabs around the edges. This was most unpleasant.
Miss Moore walked over to my side, gracefully. "How is your...banana coming along dear Gemma?" She smiled at me. I couldn't quite place it but there was something quite unnerving about her that made me uncomfortable. "I can't quite get it." I grumbled.
"Here, let me." She took hold of my lanky brush and dipped it into the watery black paint residue beside me. Then, she squinted at the banana or what was supposed to be a banana and dabbed a big dot on the top right corner of it. I gasped, "What have you done?!" I asked her. She replied calmly as if she hadn't just destroyed my etiquette painting, "Dear Gemma, when will you ever learn? You cannot just keep putting white around your banana. Where is your stem?" I blushed. Of course. How could I have forgotten something so obvious? I shook my head and scolded myself for making such a silly mistake.
I was just getting to making my banana perfect when Cecily shouted in that snobby voice of hers, "Oh Miss Moore!" She shot up from the ground instantly and began hopping around the cave like an overexcited child. Ann started giggling at her corner of the cave and Cecily glared at her and fell in a heap on top of poor Ann.
I started laughing out loud, not caring what the other ladies were thinking of my boldness.
"That will be enough Gemma!" Miss Moore walked over to Cecily and helped the tangled girl up from on top of Ann.
"Ann, you must'n be so careless," Cecily started. What was the problem with this girl? On and on she goes all day ranting about herself and scolding people for her own mistakes. Oh, look at me, I'm Cecily, I've got a rather large head with nothing inside. I'm much too snobby for the gorgeous Gemma; perhaps I shall go busy myself by jumping off a cliff and making everyone's lives better. How delightful! I snickered at my own little joke inside my head and looked outside at the darkening sky. Perhaps Kartik was right, the clouds were forming in a rather eerie bunch and it looked as if a storm was coming our way.
I wondered if it ever would be safe to go into the realms again.
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On our way out of the caves, I spotted Kartik hiding behind a rather large tree, with its branches uprooting much too high. My eyes widened at the sight of him and I shooed him away with the motion of my hands. He did not move. My heartbeat quickened, Miss Moore was approaching the tree by which Kartik was hiding. I nudged Felicity in her skinny arm and she yelped, "Ow, wha—" I silenced her by bringing my hand hard across her lips and she glared at me. "Look," I whispered and nodded towards the odd looking tree, "Kartik is hiding behind there, and he won't leave. Why must he be so stubborn?" I shook my head and Felicity grinned.
"Well then Gemma, do something about it will you? Don't just let him stand there and get caught. After all, he is your admirer." She giggled as she said the last word and I silently prayed the Kartik found his mind and had moved from the tree, we were approaching it. A bird cawed nearby, shrieking so loudly we all covered our ears and ran towards the safety of the schoolhouse. Miss Moore had a rather mischievous grin as she looked up towards the sky at the bird. It was a black crow, much like the one I had seen in the realms on my most recent visit there, when a dainty little butterfly fluttered out of my hands and turned into a crow. It was horrifying. I shook my head of the thought and decided to get a proper sleep tonight; perhaps that was what I needed to refresh my rather crowded mind.
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Upon entering the schoolhouse, I ran up to my room as quickly as I could and desperately hoped Ann was not there. I wanted some time alone, away from the childish girl who was my friend. To my delight, when I opened the large wooden door, my room was empty. Hollow, it seemed. I ran over to my bed and picked up a piece of white paper that almost fluttered away outside through my open window. I held it tightly with my hands as a frown formed over my face as I gently opened the note.
Gemma, meet me by the forests at midnight, please.
Kartik
I hurriedly slid the note in the side of my dress, I was not to loose this. I wondered what was so important, that I had to come at midnight. I frowned, what if something was wrong? What if the Rakshana found him and threatened to do something horrible because he had helped me escape? I gasped at that thought, I wouldn't be able to handle it if that were to ever happen, it would be all of my own fault. The wind howled outside in the eerie darkness outside and I gasped when Ann entered the room, she angrily slammed the door and fell onto her mattress.
"Ann, what's wrong, dear?" I asked the troubled girl.
She muffled something into her pillow and I groaned.
"Ann, what happened? Did Miss Moore scold you?" I walked over to her mattress and lowered my legs so I could turn her over. Tears soaked her pale, chubby cheeks and she turned back over, into her sulking position.
"Ann! What is the matter with you? Stop acting like a child and tell me what's wrong." I gently slapped her back and she sniffled and wiped her runny nose with the back of her hand. I inched away from her. She giggled.
"Fee's going away." She murmured, so low I wasn't sure if I heard her right.
"What? Where's Fee going? What are you talking about Ann? That's rubbish," I frowned at her but she held her gaze.
"I'm not joking Gemma, she's really going away. Miss Moore saw her with that Indian boy, what was his name again? Oh yes, Kartik. Anywa—" I cut her off what on she was about to say, "Wait a minute. What was Fee doing?" I asked, there was a tone of worriment in my voice that I couldn't hide. Ann looked at me strangely.
There was this feeling within me, it related back to the dreams I had at night, very bold dreams, where Kartik was inside. He was in the realms with me, which was impossible, and I showed him that we were doing nothing bad of the sort and there were no dangers at all. Then he would laugh and jump around with me and stare into my eyes with his big brown eyes and all I would be able to focus on would be his full lips. His beautiful lips, so large and sensual. I would touch them and he would start, "Gemma….."
I'd cut him off by tracing his lips. But then I would wake up, shaking my head of such impure dreams. Impure dreams that pleased me. The dream never got farther than that, and it frustrated me, I wished for it to continue. I was still upset at Kartik, for following me around everywhere I went and I was embarrassed by the kiss we had shared near the gypsies. I knew it was nothing, only a mere act to show the gypsies I was his. I decided not to go to the forests tonight. Let him wait, he deserves it. I have nothing to do with him anyways, and he shall just tell me about the dangers of the realms. I do not need to hear from him.
I snapped out of my deep thoughts as I heard Ann shouting, "Gemma, Gemma! Gemma, are you even listening?" Ann asked worriedly.
"Yes, of course. What do you think?" I snapped back at her. I wish I hadn't done that. Now she would just go back to mourning, as always.
"Oh. Sorry." She looked down at her rather large stomach and asked me a question that I could not decipher, "So what should Fee do?" She whispered. Why was she whispering? What did I miss? "Fee should…..do what is best….or what she feels is right and will protect her..erm…dignity…" I trailed off. Ann's eyes widened and she started laughing very loud.
"What's the matter with you?! You must'n laugh like this in the midst of the night. Miss Moore shall hear you. You know that." I pierced my eyes into hers.
"What do you mean? Her dignity? Her dignity is absolutely fine Gemma. She didn't do anything with Kartik, simply tried to tell him to leave. For your sake." As she said this last sentence, I could have sworn there was a bit of jealousy in her eyes. I shook my head. Why was I getting worried, nothing happened between them. Nothing to worry about.
"Oh. Well then. Why is she in trouble?" I asked again.
"Gemma, she did something horrible. I think that all of the power you have, well, power corrupts. You do know that right?"
"Quicken it already, Ann. I haven't got the whole day." I sounded irritated but this girl was way too much to handle.
"As well as getting Kartik to erm, leave you alone, for your chastity, she believed that he could give her the power she needed to enter the realms on her own. Oh Gemma, it was horrible, the things she said about you. She was ready to hurt you." She finished the last sentence quickly.
"You're lying. You're just jealous because Fee pays more attention to me than she does to you. Stop being childish, Ann. She very well knows that the Rakshana have no power. None at all."
"Believe what you will. Stay away from the woods tonight. I wouldn't recommend that you go out. Fee's not what you think Gemma. Please, don't go anywhere." She pleaded.
"I won't." I lied. Now there was all the more reason to disobey poor Ann and go into the woods tonight.
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Was there no mercy in this world? I covered my ears as tightly as I could, but try as I did, I couldn't block out the horrid sound of Ann's snoring. I groaned and turned over in my hard mattress. The moon was exceedingly bright tonight; it would make it easier for me to make my way to the forest. I sighed.
Chnoooochnogruuhhhhhh. Ann's nose sounded very stuffed up and her snoring shall kill me. Oh god, why not just kill me. Make me ugly. But stop the horridness. I prayed to the night and shut my eyes closed. In a few half hours, it would be time to go out into the beautiful dangers of the night.
Yeah, I know it's short. But bear with me, please. Don't mind the typos. If you see them however, point them out to me, kindly. If I am going to fast, tell me. Criticize me; it's the best form of admiring one's work. Thanks.