this is the chapter where you have to remember the story about shaunee's necklace, so if you forgot, go back and read about it (Chapter 5?)
any way... i like this chapter :) i smiled :)
and the end of this was inspired by the song I WAS WRONG by SLEEPERSTAR (mostly the last 42 seconds)... if you want to listen and read, start listening at the page break indicated by . . .
:) ENJOY
Chapter 7:
Shaunee
The next day Shaunee went to all of her classes, like normal; she pretended nothing was wrong, like normal, but at the end of the day she didn't meet up the rest of the group. Usually she would meet up with them in the cafeteria and they would eat their pre-dinner snack, but she told them she had to skip and study instead. Both Erin and Aphrodite gave her a "what-the-actual-fuck?" look, which made her think Aphrodite and Erin were more Twin-like than her and Erin had ever been.
Shaunee let out a sigh and was walking out of the field house when she saw Nisroc's dark figure lurking in the shadows. She gave a quick nod so that he knew she had seen him, and he flew away.
She started heading toward the wooded area of the campus where she saw Nisroc disappear. Better for keeping secrets she thought. Inside of her one-shouldered bag were notebook paper, a sharpie, a few pencils, and a simple book she had picked up at the library. She didn't know how (or why) she was going to teach Nisroc anything about literacy, but here she was. She didn't have any younger siblings, and she never babysat, so she never had any experience in teaching reading, or talking, for that matter.
At a small opening, Nisroc was sitting on a gray flat rock. It was a particularly dark night and the stars twinkled, as if they were using the monthly small moon as a chance to shine brighter than everything else in the sky.
Nervously, Shaunee looked back through the protection trees. Any onlookers wouldn't be able to see them, unless they were looking for a raven mocker and a teenage girl…
When Nisroc noticed Shaunee come close, he stood up, but said nothing. Shaunee inspected the rock more now that he was no longer sitting on it. It was a nice flat surface. A perfect desk.
Shaunee dropped her bag next to the rock. "Ready?" She asked as she took a seat on the dirt and criss-crossed her legs. When she looked back up at Nisroc he seemed about ten feet taller than usual. Shaunee decided to distract herself from the fear she was overwhelmed by and prepped the 'work station'.
She grabbed the paper and writing utensils, to start, and it was then she noticed that it was far too dark to see anything, so she stood back up, found a stick, crumpled some paper, and made a small fire. It was big enough that it would create light, yet small enough that it would not cause too much suspicion amongst fledglings. Quietly she called her element.
"Fire, I need you to light the woodpile for me, but please don't make it too noticeable." She whispered, and instantly the wood caught aflame. She looked to Nisroc and saw his eyes widen. The fire seemed to reflect in his eyes, which canceled out their red tint.
"Okay, that's better." Shaunee brushed her hands together in accomplishment. "What?" she asked Nisroc, who was still looking surprised. "My element is fire, I can control it." She informed quickly.
"Intriguing." He said. It shocked Shaunee that he used such a large word, but she knew he didn't have a problem with words, it was putting them together correctly was the problem.
"So let's get started." Shaunee sat down once again. This time Nisroc sat down beside her, adjusting his large black wings to accommodate his new position on the ground.
Shaunee began to think about where to begin, and after a few moments, she had nothing. Goddess, I wish Damien was here. He's so much better at this than I am. She thought. There was huffing and puffing as Shaunee tried hopelessly to think of a way to teach Nisroc. The longer she waited, the longer the silence grew between them, and the more Shaunee could feel Nisroc's gaze landing on her. More time went by and suddenly an idea popped into her head.
"Okay, I'm going to give you a subject, and then you're going to give me a short sentence that has to do with the subject. If you're wrong, I'll correct you, and then you'll repeat after me. Understand?"
Nisroc took in the information and paused for a moment, but eventually he nodded his head, so Shaunee started.
"First, how would you introduce yourself to me?"
"Nisroc." He put his palm on his chest.
"Okay…but this time, say it more like, 'My name is Nisroc'."
"My name is Nisroc." He repeated.
"Yeah. Good. Sometimes you have to over explain things. I don't know why, it's just what people do. I understood you before, but the second one is what people do now." She explained and when Nisroc seemed to understand, she continued. "All right, hmmm, let's see. The next topic is…" She looked around for inspiration and then smiled. "Fire."
Nisroc used his usual method of communication, and nodded at first. Then, he looked at the fire, and for a long time he just looked at it, and Shaunee thought he would never answer, but she could see determination in his eyes. He is taking his time because he wanted to be correct. He doesn't want to mess up.
Finally, he opened his beak. "Fire burn bright." He said. His voice was deep and it left a questionable tone in it like he didn't know if what he said was right or wrong.
"Good. That's really close. If you want to polish it up you might say, 'The fire burns brightly.' Or something like that. Now you try."
A pause. "The fire burns brightly."
"yepp. Just like that. Now how about a different topic…flying." She said. Maybe if she chose a topic he could relate to, he would learn faster.
This time he didn't waste as much time as before. "I use wings to fly."
"Yes!" Shaunee said with excitement. "These are really simple sentences, and you can make them all by yourself if you take time to think about them." Shaunee praised. "I think if you keep up this pace, we can have you keeping a normal conversation in no time."
"Thank you." He said. Then silence fell between them until Nisroc spoke again. "Why do you help? Why are you no fear?"
"'Why aren't you afraid?'" Shaunee corrected quickly and automatically. "I don't know. Recently, I've been doing things I can't explain, and by the way, I never said I wasn't afraid." She let the last part slip from her lips.
In response, Nisroc scooted away from her and returned to resting his hands on his knees. It was a small gesture, but it definitely made Shaunee feel less afraid. She smiled.
Why am I helping him? Shaunee thought about it for a moment. Maybe deep down she was trying to help Nisroc get closer to Kalona because she wanted to get closer to her father. She knew it was never going to happen… so I decided to help him instead? It was a long shot, but that's what she was going to tell herself from now on. She just wanted to be close to her parents again. It was just a deep-rooted psychological issue that she was fixing through Nisroc. Nothing else.
She fiddled with her necklace chain automatically as she thought about her family.
Nisroc noticed her actions and spoke up. "Something is wrong?"
"What?" Shaunee was snapped out of her trance-like state. Nisroc pointed at her necklace. "Oh, it's, uh, nothing. I'm fine." Shaunee plastered on a fake smile.
. . .
One week went by, and everyday after her classes, Shaunee met up with Nisroc and they had their private meetings. The meetings were short, but Shaunee could see a definite improvement. His speech might not have been sophisticated as it should be, but he did learn quickly, and he could structure sentences correctly.
After tonight's meeting, Shaunee had gone home and felt drained. Since she was spending all of her extra time with Nisroc, so she had no free time and she ended up staying up later trying to get all of her work done. One of the perks of having Erin as a twin: she was the best at talking people out of work, but now Shaunee found herself doing more homework than she ever remembered.
Everyone had left the showers and was tucked into their beds, and once again Shaunee found herself up later than everyone else, and alone.
She was walking back to her room, in her pajamas, as she dried her hair when she heard something rustling at the doors. It sounded like a trashcan was moved. The doors shook beneath their locks. No one ever used the entrance near the showers, and that confirmed that whatever was making the noise, was not acquainted with the layout of the tunnels.
Slowly Shaunee crept forward, and she prepared herself to call her element. She padded over to the wooden doors and listened. Nothing. Shaunee opened the door and instantly transformed her body into a defensive position. She was ready to fight, only no one stood outside. It was just Shaunee and the night. She took a few steps forward and the sole of her foot stepped on a hard object.
"Ow!" She lifted her foot up to find a ripped white cloth with string encasing something the size of a pebble. A gift? Shaunee picked the thing up and unraveled it in her hand. She untied the twine and pulled off the fabric to find a charm.
A piece of metal –it almost looked like a clothes' hanger—wrapped around a red stone. The red color instantly reminded her of two things: Fire, and Nisroc's eyes. Instantly Shaunee knew whom it was from. And now that she looked closer she noticed small scrapes on the metal, almost like he used his beak to bend and shape the charm.
She looked around for any sign of the raven mocker, but he had disappeared into the night.
Shaunee unclasped her silver chain, beaded her new pendant on, and placed her new necklace back on her neck.
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