Disclaimer: I don't make any claims to Elvish or Dwarfish either, or anything of the great J.R.R. Tolkien.
Chapter III
I was really grateful to have Caitlin and Brad in class with me. It made things a lot more interesting. Our next class was English/Lit. but we were top of the class anyway, so we sat in the back whispering the whole time.
"So, got plans for your birthday yet?" whispered Caitlin.
"You know I do! You, me, Courtney, and Hana, next Saturday, New York City to see "The Phantom of the Opera"!"
"You're going to a musical for your birthday?" asked Brad, impressed. He knew my family had a lot of money, but even this seemed a little extreme.
"Sweet Sixteen," I explained. "My parents made a big deal out of Daman's, so now it's my turn."
"Are you having a party too?" asked Brad.
"Yeah! This Friday, on my actual birthday. Oh by the way, you're invited. Sorry, I would have invited you earlier but you and Cait hadn't been going out when I started planning."
"S'ok."
I smiled. Brad was such an understanding guy! I was really happy for Caitlin to have found him. They were so happy together, and I hoped they stayed that way.
"Hey! Talkative Trio back there! Are you paying attention?"
Instantly Cait, Brad, and I were sitting up and paying attention. "Yes. Mrs. Flemingcoff," we said in one voice. Mrs. Flemingcoff rolled her eyes.
"Then perhaps one of you would care to come up and correct this sentence?" she asked, gesturing to the grammatically incorrect sentence she had written on the board. I groaned quietly. We were way too old for this kind of thing.
"No, not really," said Caitlin coolly. I grinned.
"All right then, Soul, why don't you do it?" said Mrs. Flemingcoff. It wasn't a request. Grudgingly I went to the board where she had written:
'the boy, and his dog, are inseparable. They is always together all the time. I like dog's do you.'
I corrected the grammar and checked for any hidden mistakes. Mrs. Flemingcoff liked to try and hide very subtle mistakes that looked like they were right. She never once fooled me, and she was determined to do so before the end of the school year. There were none this time, so I put down the dry-erase marker and went back to my seat.
"Wow, that was brutal," joked Brad quietly. Cait and I muffled our snickers while Mrs. Flemingcoff checked my work.
"Amin n'rangwa edanea (1)," commented Caitlin.
"Uuner uma, n'dela no'ta (2)," I answered. Caitlin grinned, and Brad looked confused. He never had much of an ear for Elvish. Caitlin and I picked up on foreign languages really easily for some reason, even made-up ones like Elvish and Dwarfish from Tolkien's books.
"So what'd you dream about in History this time?" asked Brad.
"How'd you know I fell asleep in History?" I asked.
"We heard you talking with NitWhite," said Caitlin.
"I see. Same thing as before," I said.
"The Pillars again?" asked Brad.
"Yup. And I haven't touched any of my "Legacy of Kain" games since I beat "Defiance" last week, so I dunno where this is all coming from. I'm still mad about how "Defiance" ended."
"So write a fanfic about it and get over it."
"Thanks Cait."
'I'm just saying!"
"Well don't!"
Caitlin looked at me thoughtfully for a moment. "Amin dele ten' lle (3)," she said gently. I smiled.
"Don't," I said. "I'm fine, Cait. Really."
"I don't know about that," said Caitlin. "I've been having weird dreams too. Seeing you, wearing that Halloween vampire costume from last year, standing by the Pillars with something long and glowing in your left hand. You use it to stab on of the Pillars and the whole world rips apart or something."
"That is strange," I said thoughtfully. "What do you think it means?"
"I don't know. Maybe you really did come from Nosgoth through an inter-dimensional rift?"
"Don't get my hopes up."
"Maybe we should pay attention?" suggested Brad. Mrs. Flemingcoff was watching us again with one of her beady little eyes.
"We'll continue this at lunch, then," I said. The others nodded, and we pretended to pay attention for the rest of class. When the lunch bell finally rang, we bolted. We were, by no means, eager to choke down whatever chemical by-products that they called food that was being served that day, merely to continue our conversation uninterrupted. We joined Hana at our usual table far in the back after getting our lunches from the kitchen line – though line is not the right word to use, as it's more of a feeding frenzy, a hunger-induced stampede that invariably crushes those who don't understand enough to fight their way to the front like everyone else – and continued talking, after getting Hana's confirmation that she was coming to my party.
"So anyway, you were saying how you think you came from another world that isn't even supposed to exist," said Brad. I laughed.
"Hey, it could be true for all we know," I said.
"Well, that would explain your name and why it's so weird," said Hana.
"Thank you."
"I didn't mean it like that!"
"Whatever. I came before the games anyway."
"Why did your parents name you Soul, anyway?" asked Hana.
"What's your full name, anyway?" asked Brad at the same time. They looked at each other in surprise, then turned back to me, obviously waiting for my answers.
"In this order: I don't know, and Soul Antares Reaver," I said. "My parents are weird; you know that."
"Yeah, but your dad has the coolest job," pointed out Brad. I smiled. My dad worked with video gaming companies, selling his – and sometimes my – ideas to them for them to make games out of. It was pretty cool, to have a dad who imagines up video games. Honestly, I have a wilder and more vivid imagination than he does, but that's why we work together a lot. If he needs a new idea for a deadline, he just asks me and I have a presentation ready for him by the end of the week. But he does a lot of it on his own.
"What's Antares mean?" asked Hana.
"It's a star in the constellation Scorpio," I explained. "The brightest one."
"Cool," said Hana, and resumed valiantly trying to eat what we were told was pasta with meat sauce without being physically ill. I grinned evilly.
"Soul, don't you dare!" warned Hana, but it was too late.
"Ever think about what they do with the carcasses of the fetal pigs after the bio kids are finished dissecting them?" I asked. "Well, y'know that sauce you're eating? It's meat, all right, but it comes from-"
"Stop it!" shouted Hana, though everyone else was laughing.
"And those so-called "noodles"?" I asked, making air quotes around the word. "Remember how theories of spontaneous generation of maggots in rancid meat were disproved? I'm not so sure that-"
"I said stop!" cried Hana. "For once, none of your gross-out stories, OK? I just want to eat my lunch. I know it's not organic, I know it's all chemically produced, but could you just let me eat it?"
"Be my guest," I said calmly. Hana slowly lifted another forkful of the pasta to her mouth, watching me to see if I would start up again. When I didn't, she took a bite. I opened my mouth as though to speak, but she made desperate noises behind a mouthful of half-masticated noodles and meat sauce, so I desisted. I loved doing that, though, grossing her out so badly. If I was really on a roll, I could actually disgust her so badly that she couldn't eat.
"Anyone know what the weather's supposed to be like Friday?" I asked.
"Sunny and warm, why?" asked Brad.
"'Cus if that's the case, then the party's going to be outside…" I let my voice trail off and let them wonder for a moment what I was going to say before adding "…at Hangman's Falls."
"Sweet!" shouted Caitlin. "That'll be so awesome! Outside or in the caves?"
"Yes," I answered. Cait laughed. Hangman's Falls was a waterfall deep in Stryker's Woods – the woods where my house was. They were named for the nefarious Captain Stryker, a pirate who had terrorized the colonists back in the old days. He was hanged on the old gnarled tree at the base of the falls – hence the name of the falls! Legend has it that his treasure is buried somewhere deep in the caves, which my friends and I have come to refer to as Hangman's Caves. We toyed with the idea of Treasure Caves, but that seemed too generic. We had found them by accident, when one summer we were playing around in the river and Courtney, my other best friend, pushed be through the waterfall. When I didn't come back, she and Caitlin came after me, and we discovered the hidden entrance to the caves. Since then, we allow no one inside but ourselves. I went there often when I was sad or scared or angry, or I just wanted to be somewhere peaceful and undisturbed. We discovered we could keep food fresh out there by keeping it in a stone fridge-like structure, and I actually ran a few cables out there so we could have electricity. Mom and Dad had no idea. If only I knew what those caves would soon be for, I would've had the foresight to stash a gun out there as well…
Elvish- 1 I don't understand these humans
2 No one does, don't worry about it
3 I am worried about you.